Your signature on this document means war. You know that, don't you? — @hisbitten
his husband's words are met with silence. waging war is nothing new to kleis; he grew up surrounded by its glory, its facts and its fictions. war shaped their culture, shaped the identity of the blood court. without their continued ability to fight for contested independence, the blood court would cease to exist. now, it is not just the blood court kleis must consider, but all of ichoria. the golden coast would be a harder sell, kleis knows this. but if he doesn't give his people the chance to defend themselves from the newly resurrected nation of khard, blood would run in these streets.
the blood court does not shy away from a direct offensive, does not believe in retreats, does not allow for anything less than a decisive victory. this cold war is an insult to courtier sensibilities, a spit in the face of proper warfare. signing this financial order authorizing the treasury to fund the construction, staffing, and maintenance of additional outposts on the khardian border – closer to the actual border than their current ones – is as light handed a movement as kleis can make. it gives the people a release of mobilization, without, technically, igniting war. they will, after all, remain within their own lands.
but they all know it will be seen as an act of war regardless. because it is one.
one that may put off the golden coast's full support, if demos can't weave a convincing enough argument from espionage and court knowledge. and they need mages to contend with the rampant wild magic of khard, the resurrected fallen war elephants and wyrms of the past.
it is not lost on kleis that the fall of khard the first time is what allowed he and demos to marry in the first place, to create such an idea as ichoria, to politically unite the coast and court.
he looks over to his husband, oxblood eyes steady above the leather curvature of his snarling mask. he does not stand from his desk, nor answer his question in words; merely a look of exhausted surety. when he speaks, it is to offer a question back.
“will you have my back, as i have yours?” it is both an evoking of their wedding vows in the courtier custom, reminding demos that kleis knows full well the responsibility they took on when they got married, as well as a question, seeking his other half's reassurance.
the blood court cannot take on khard alone. the golden coast would be overrun without the blood court between them and khard. both must unite, again.
and he asks his husband to be at his side as it happens.
