Private Tales Those Fallen

[Anastasia]

Ana cleared her throat, not mentioning the apology that was brewing in her. She knew it didn't need to be said.He wouldn't want to hear it. Actions would speak louder than words. Being a strong Templar meant also being there for others, she would do both now. She was here for him. The token promised that.

"Now I know you don't like gold but you're a Lord Captain now, it's only fitting. There's just some thing you're gonna have to get use to, like a little bit of gold-- can't go putting faction crests on bronze," she chastized.

 

[Saul Talith]

He chuckled. "Maybe I'll have Berrick forge them both into my armor."

The idea wasn't a half bad one.

He wore the necklace at all times, but the same went for his armor. Especially when it came to moving around the other Chapters. Plus...it would be a nice editions.

"May actually look pretty good." Saul mused to her quietly.

 

[Anastasia]

"If that's what you want," she agreed softly. She sat back down in her seat and reach out, taking his hand and squeezing it. She held his gaze for a moment, eyes warm, before she caught herself clearing her throat and pulling back.

"You look exhausted. I should let you sleep," she flustered, standing and stacking their dishes before her. "Will you be okay? Do you need anything?"

 

[Saul Talith]

"It's fine." He told her softly.

It was all fine.

The work he was doing wasn't life pressing, and sleep...sleep could always wait until a few hours later. He supposed that was the good thing about being the boss, no one could tell him what his schedule was. Saul kept his own hours, even if they were on the brink of what should be possible.

"Sit down." He said quietly. "Relax."

Something she wasn't very good at lately.

 

[Anastasia]

Anastasia fussed with his plate, stacking it over hers before she wiped her hands on her pants a few times and sat down. "I- ahem." She grabbed her cup, finishing off the remnants before wiping at her mouth and sitting on her hands.

"Okay." She fidgeted, trying not to glance up at him. She glanced up at him.

 

[Saul Talith]

He glanced up at her, noting the fidget that ran throughout her entire body. A frown touched his lips for a moment, the Lord Captain take a slight breath.

"You can look at me, you know." He said quietly as he munched on a piece of left over bread.

Saul of course knew exactly why she was...well acting this way. The two of them hadn't had much time to speak since their last...rendezvous on the balcony. She had been decorating this room and he'd been buried in his work, but there was no doubt it had been on both their minds.

His leg unconsciously tapped under the table, a sign of his own nerves.

 

[Anastasia]

"I am," she responded, almost defensively. Her chin raised in a stubborn bout, leaving her to face her embarrassment head on. Her cheeks flamed red, memories she was trying not to acknowledge flickering to her mind.

They always kept falling back to that.

She never walked into those moments intended for it to occur, which made her look at this dinner and flush deeper, strung up over the what if.

Would she even mind? She blushed and looked away, her leg rubbing against the chair as she shook it. "I do."

 

[Saul Talith]

He blinked. "You do what?"

Whatever context she had in mind Saul had missed it.

The conversation so far had not been an easy one, in fact for both of them the subject in general wasn't easy. Saul wasn't the greatest when it came to emotions, and though he had readily admitted his feelings...all of this was still very new to him.

Not to even mention everything else going on.

It seemed odd to him with the weight of the Chapter on his shoulders, with the reunification of the Order looming over them...that this would be the thing most on his mind. Funny how that worked.

 

[Anastasia]

"Idolookatyou," she mumbled, picking at the wood under her nails. It was startling almost how quiet their interacts were without Ana driving them forward. It just went to show how easy and natural she made things feel for anyone in any situation, but now that she was not up to par...

She swallowed hard, internally cursing at herself for the way this was all going.

 

[Saul Talith]

He smiled for a moment and then stood, deciding that the small table was no longer going to cut it for all of this. He didn't want to just stare at her this entire time.

With a few short steps he stood besides her. "Come on."

This was ludicrous. They had known one another since childhood, since before either of them even knew what...well anything else in the world actually was. They were acting like children who had just met in the play yard for the first time It wouldn't do.

"Let's get some air." He told her.

 

[Anastasia]

She blinked up at him ... and then nodded, seeing what he was trying to achieve and appreciating it. She stood up and pushed in her chair, palms sweaty as she wiped them on her pants and headed out. She wasn't sure if he meant air as in the hall or the balcony, come to think about it, but she felt the intense need to be moving so she pushed for the hall regardless.

She let out a shaky breath as he locked the door and pocketed the key, setting out... no where as she started to walk with him. The hall was dark around them, the air cool. The pressure slid off her a little and she breathed easier at his side.

"You said you heard from other fractions?"

 

[Saul Talith]

The Hour was late, and thus most everyone had either gone to bed or made their way to some sort of...other night time activity.

"I did." He said with a smile. "It seemed that word of my...ascension has actually made it's way around."

Saul wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing, but the response he'd gotten from other Chapters were overwhelmingly positive so far. It was something he was glad for, mostly because he wasn't sure what he could have done if that hadn't been the case. They turned a corner as he began to speak again.

"A dozen or so Chapters have all written their congratulations, and half that number have agreed to occupy Herath with us." Saul pushed the door ahead of them open, allowing them access to the walls of the Compound.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana's eyes widened. "Six?" She gasped. Hell, it had been a long shot to get one to agree, now with the new ranks they had... Nine factions in total agreeing to a reunification of some degree.

It was ground breaking.

It was unfathomable.

It was actually happening.

"Saul, that's-..." Indescribable. "Congratulations."

 

[Saul Talith]

"It's good." He agreed with a smile, though he frowned a little as he said the words.

The walls of the Compound were open. Set in an odd sort of pentagon style they looped around the whole of the buildings and met at corners with five large guard towers. It wasn't the most significant, or even secure structure, but it was large enough to loom over the local landscape.

In the distance, Alliria shone brightly with it's night time lights. "We'll see how they are once we all get together."

He mused quietly.

"I doubt cooperation will be..." A chuckle escaped him. "Easy."

 

[Anastasia]

"That's what you have Valerie for," she found herself teasing, wrapping her arms around herself as she paused to look over the view.

Thinking about what the future might bring, the possibilities countless and impossible to gauge ... it overwhelmed her. She gripped herself tighter, swallowing hard. "But they are all coming, so that says a lot about what they want," she reasoned, voice quiet and tight.

 

[Saul Talith]

He nodded quietly, glancing out over the wall and towards one of the distance lights of Alliria. It was encouraging to say the least, the fact that they were at the very least willing to go along with his mad scheme. "We will have to see what comes of it."

Saul said quietly, stopping for a moment so he could get a better look at the lights.

"I'll want you with me." He said quietly. "At Herath."

It would be an undertaking like no other, plus this time there would be no fighting....he hoped. The Fortress however would need someone like Ana, would need someone to actually talk and understand all of the different parties there. Plus...well, he simply wanted to be with her.

Not hundreds of miles away.

 

[Anastasia]

The words didn't come as a shock to her. Of course she already knew what her answer would be. What it had to be. Why give the pendant at all if only to flake on him at the next step. No, she would go. And she would just have to trust in themselves not to let this confusing development between them become a distraction to him.

"Then I'll go," she answered softly, turning to glance up at him. "If you're sure that's what you'll need."

 

[Saul Talith]

"I am." He said the words calmly, a smile flashing briefly on his face.

There was much to be done until then of course, they couldn't just run and do whatever they wanted right now...but at the very least that was settled.

"Do you ever wonder why they built this so far from the city?" Twenty miles, constructed before even the first schism. "The Rangers have theirs in Alliria."

Saul mused. "But here we are, twenty miles away."

 

[Anastasia]

She glanced back out to the distant city. "I-... assume because we deal with threats around the region instead of inside the city itself, usually? Not to mention how much trouble we would have gotten into without twenty miles between us and the streets."

 

[Saul Talith]

He seemed amused by the line of thinking, chuckling at what she said last. It made sense of course, the Templar weren't exactly welcome within Alliria nowadays. Probably less so with what had just happened. Though, that didn't apply to when the Compound was first built.

"Maybe." He mused.

Who knew, in the long run he supposed that it didn't really matter much either. There was nothing to be done about it now, and he was just being silly.

"Valerie suggested that we buy apartments in the city." He said softly. "Allow our people to rotate in and out of living there."

Saul glanced at Ana. "Give everyone a...cooling off period every now and again."

 

[Anastasia]

She slowly raised a brow at the implication, her mind filling in blanks for said cooling off tactic. They all did it. But for a Lord Captain to support it?

"Careful, there. You don't want the others to start thinking we're modern."

 

[Saul Talith]

He chuckled again, smiling as he leaned forward on the parapet. "Well maybe we need a bit of modern."

They had been so wound up within themselves for so long that tradition seemed to be rooted too far into them. It was foolish, doing things simply because 'that was how it was always done'. Saul didn't like it, and something like this was small enough to actually do quite easily.

"Besides." He contended quietly. "It might be a good way of getting Alliria to like us a little more."

Aside from the odd Council member.

"See that we're real people." Not just faceless armor.

 

[Anastasia]

She silently glanced up at him, watching him under the dim light of the moon.

"...You're gonna do a lot of good things for our people, Saul," she commented softly, struck by him in that moment.

 

[Saul Talith]

He chuckled, not quite sure how to counter that statement.

She was right, or at least Saul hoped that she was right. He was trying to do something for all of them, trying to move them into a new age and get them to a place of stability. Not just The Broken Sword, but the Entire Templar Order. He knew that the latter was a big ask, but maybe eventually.

Hopefully.

”Small steps” He said quietly, more musing to himself than anything else. Saul knew that change would not come overnight, that as hard as he pushed there would always be those pushing back.

He would just have to be stronger. ”But we'll get there.”

Hopefully.

 

[Anastasia]

"...Yeah. We will."

She took his hand silently, stepping a millimeter closer and watching the city with him. She didn't have any other words to say, it was as if her brain had shut down these weeks passed, leaving her as just a body, functioning. She felt better with him though-- warmer. Slowly her head tilted to lay on his shoulder. She was tall but he was taller, capable of supporting the weight that slowly leaned in on him.