solo_sword | Room 313, Saturday late afternoon

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

Room 313, Saturday late afternoon

Jaina had gone for a run, figured out she didn't actually remember the course she'd done with John because she'd been distracted pretty much the whole time, and created her own. She'd been gone long enough that by the time she got back to the room, she was more than happy to shower and change, and sit down with a datapad for a while like she'd been lazy all day.

[For

vkandis_son in particular, but open. ETA: And I fail. Door's open.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Definitely not. You can always talk to me," she said, gesturing towards the desk chair.

With a grateful smile, he sat in the chair, setting his notes down on the desk. "I was reading through the information I brought from Valdemar with me, and I have come to a conclusion that...will not be taken well by the other members of the Alliance."

An extreme understatement, and he rubbed his nose again. "I would very much like another opinion, but there is a great deal of background information necessary for any of it to make sense."

"I've had to exposit quite a bit so far this weekend," she assured him, nodding. "I can take it as well as I can dish it out."

And this was why he'd come to Jaina. "You are certain you don't mind?" he asked, the corner of his mouth lifting in a half-smile. "It starts some two hundred years ago."

"I'm pretty good at history. Start talking, Karal," she smiled.

He sat up straighter - automatic reflex - and nodded. "All right. Two hundred years ago, the Sun-Priests changed, became inflexible and close-minded, and Karse became insular, hating everything that was not Karsite. Valdemar, which borders Karse, became its bitter enemy, and much evil was done by the Priesthood and by ordinary Karsites to Valdemarans. Hatred and fear were all that existed between the two countries, becoming more entrenched with each generation."

"It's scary how much I understand that," Jaina told him seriously. "Not a fun way to live."

"I wish you didn't," he said, searching her face. "As you say, not fun, and I'm sure you can imagine my shock on arriving in Valdemar, reading their histories and discovering it was my people who were the 'bad guys', and that the people we had painted as demons and hellspawn were no such thing."

He folded his hands, head bowed. "But I travel ahead of myself. Vkandis Himself had been abandoned by the Priests, they mouthed the words, but He had no part in their rites and the Priesthood served none but themselves."

"Which of course helps no one but themselves, either," Jaina sighed. "So what changed?"

Karal's smile took on the wonder he always felt, remembering that day. "Vkandis Sunlord. When I was twelve years old, He chose to act. The then Son of the Sun stood ready to counterfeit a miracle with magic, and Vkandis Sunlord struck him down, obliterated him with a bolt of lightning." He looked at Jaina as he spoke, wondering if she would believe this.

"He manifested in the world to set Solaris in place as the new, true Son of the Sun, and she overturned the corruption. She set my Master and I to discovering the old ways. As we uncovered generations of lies, I wondered why He waited so long, but I think I understand now."

"Wow," she said, having been listening closely. She'd never seen anything like that herself, but it'd be a little hypocritical to not believe that it could happen. "Why do you think He did?"

That was a little sigh of relief at her acceptance. "Because of what is happening now, and because of what happened in the country of Hardorn. Vkandis does not interfere in the free will of His people. He will not intervene unless absolute disaster threatens and there is no one who can prevent it. Had He not acted when he did, had the false Son of the Sun still ruled when Ancar of Hardorn acted, Karse would likely be no more. May I tell you of Hardorn? It is important, I promise."

She nodded. "I'd like to hear it."

He nodded, but he wasn't so certain of that. "Hardron is a country which borders both Karse and Valdemar. Not long after Solaris ascended, Ancar, heir to the King of Hardron, became tired of waiting for his Kingship." Karal swallowed hard and folded his hands together more tightly.

"He slaughtered every member of the royal family, no matter how distant the connection. He used blood magic to enslave his people, only women, young boys and old men were left. He drained the land of its vitality, its energy, to help him, and he turned his attention to conquering the lands around him," he explained, voice surprisingly steady. "Ancar was insane and he was evil, with an intense hated of women to drive him. Karse and Valdemar were both ruled by women, and so suddenly two ancient enemies shared a common threat."

"It sounds like what Hapes could be if they could use blood magic," Jaina frowned. "And so the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my uncomfortable, often reviled, ally," he corrected, making a note to ask about Hapes. "But Valdemar needed Karse, for Ancar had true magic, which is not known in Valdemar, and so Karse and Valdemar became allies. Valdemar's heir, Princess Elspeth, found other, stranger allies, neighbouring countries sent what aid they could, and all of them together defeated Ancar utterly."

He smiled. "A good thing, and it cemented the Alliance, but it was soon discovered that Ancar, too, had allies of a sort, from a far away land called the Eastern Empire. The Eastern Empire consumes countries, invades them and makes them their own, and now they knew of the countries of the Alliance."

Jaina sighed. "Which is probably where the real fun starts?" Though at least if Karse and Valdemar were still around...

He nodded. "Hardorn was now leaderless and its people, those few who were left, were in dire straits indeed. So there was no one to resist when the Imperial Army arrived. With a hostile army on their borders, though the Imperials had not yet made a move against any of the other countries, the Alliance stayed strong, and when the mage-storms began - vicious waves of magic that warped the world, destroying active magics and visiting terrible destruction -- together, they began to search for a solution."

"Mage-storms?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows. "Okay, that's a new one. But at least it kept people working together."

"To the mages as well, and we wondered if they might be a weapon unleashed by the Empire, but we were wrong. Up until this point, I was a secretary to my Master. Altra arrived, sent by Vkandis himself, and the Imperials were still quiet. Or so we thought." Now he folded his arms around himself, and took a deep breath, striving for calm. "They had an agent in the palace, an assassin, and he murdered a number of the Envoys, including my master."

His voice wasn't quite steady, but after a moment's pause, he kept going. "Solaris named me Envoy in his place and we kept searching for the solution to the mage-storms. One was found, a magical breakwater that would repel their force, and put in place, which brings us to now."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, because she knew losing his master had to be hard.

"So the breakwater's still in place?"

"He is safe in Vkandis' arms," he replied quietly.

Unfolding his arms, he sat back. "The breakwater stands, but it is eroding. At the most it will last another six months, and there is no permanent solution. All the countries of the Alliance will stand unprotected, as Hardorn does now." Karal sighed.

"The Hardornese have done nothing wrong, and they suffer. The Imperial Army is cut off from the Empire because of the storms, the ordinary soldiers of that army have done nothing to the Alliance, and they suffer. I spoke against attacking them, said that we should simply leave them be, and was reviled in the Council. Now I think we need to go further than that."

Jaina so far was pretty firmly on Karal's side on this one. "How much further?" she wondered.

He reached for the papers he'd set on the desk and held them up. Kind of pointless, since they were written in Valdemaran, but he did it anyway. "Valdemar has spies in Hardorn. This is a report from one of them," he explained. "It says, the Imperials are protecting Hardorn. "They have taken over the town of Shonar, and they are protecting it. They're helping the citizens, they're keeping them safe from the effects of the storms. They are acting like the legitimate authority."

Karal leaned forward. "Added to that, they have a very strong magical tradition, different from any of the people of Alliance. I think, I think, that consideration should be given to bringing them into the Alliance."

Jaina thought that over, and said slowly, "It does make sense. They're not at fault for what happened, and if there's been any cultural climate change, they might be open to whatever assistance they can get. I'd say it's at least worth a shot."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject