“What are you thinking, Varaelian? You’ve been uncharacteristically quiet since running into that man.”
Varaelian sat with his hands in his lap with his legs dangling over the edge of a cliff and the backs of his armored ankles clinking against the rocky face, “I’m not sure how to take that, Vae.”
“You’re never this quiet unless you’re asleep and even then, I wonder how Tyllanthus tolerated your terrible snoring.”
The lord shot his head up, glancing through the clouds that were scattered across a green-tinted sky, “I don’t snore.”
“That’s what you’re going to take away from this?!”
He couldn’t help but chuckle, “I never had much love for the Free Companies. I refuse to leave the fate of the world in the hands of sellswords and their love of money. I suppose seeing someone with such conviction over their beliefs, such excitement for their cause – It’s different. The Grand Companies are run by fools who don’t see past today, and we need to look to tomorrow. A tomorrow that could be snatched away the same way all over again.”
“The Riskbreakers, hm? Are you sure you should place any sort of trust into them? They are just another band of sellswords.”
“I don’t have to, I just have to make sure they get out alive and then leave Azys Lla. I can’t watch over this place forever—well, I can, but I don’t want to—and they would help rid this place of Garleans. After a good assault on the Castrum, they are like to leave it behind.”
“Lest you forget, they do have a very large airship, larger even than the Argius.”
“I’m no fool and I have no plans on taking it on. I need you to trust me, Vae. Believe in me.”
“I do believe in you, you big idiot. Ryuugan wishes you luck as well, and hopes to see you home soon. Good luck."
Van smiled, “Tell him I miss him, I’m thinking of him, and I’ll be home soon.” With a tap, his linkpearl shut off with a whir. He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose, “The Riskbreakers, let’s see what you can do.” He whispered to the wind, letting it blow the air from his face as his hands pushed forward and falling into the whispy clouds.
“Yes, more things to stomp out.” He quickly replied, irritation lacing his voice as he overlooked a rocky precipice, watching a group far below, “So outside of the Garleans, we now have tourists, wonderful.” He turned away, turning his angered gaze to the heavens above, “It would appear as if one of the tourists was captured.”
“They probably aren’t tourists.” The voice in his linkpearl quipped, followed closely by a sigh, “They may be researchers or adventurers.”
“Do they live here?” He snapped, twiddling his fingers against his armored robe, “I was unaware there were settlements here.”
“Probably not.”
“So they’re tourists-- nosy and intrusive tourists that need to be dealt with but first, the Garleans, lest one of them gets the idea to instead drop this whole continent upon the lands below."
"Only you would think that. I highly doubt they would try the same plot twice, seeing as the failure of the first didn't go so well for them."
He rolled his eyes and sighed, "When did you get so mouthy?"
"Must have been during the five years you were gone and I had to pretend to be you. It was absolutely exhausting to be that callous and sarcastic." The voice replied, laughing after only to be mocked in a return laugh, "How are you not exhausted?"
It was in tears that Antaeus had returned once more to Acchindrazj, his heart heavy with the travels he had been on and the years he had spent roaming the world at the call of a sword he wished would be silent, even for a time. The palace had been a welcome sight to his weary eyes and bones, the warm loving arms of Sunila greeting him and offering him rest.
His rest was fitful and all the while he could hear nothing but of a sword that continue to call elsewhere. He had another to visit as well, his time here was not over, but perhaps it would bring a peace to his thoughts?
Antaeus climbed the stairs that led to Her garden, the tended Garden of White Blossoms. Another stood before the great Tree and her silver bark, staff firmly in hand, white hair swaying in a scented breeze, “I was wondering how long it would be before you came here.” Vaelios spoke softly.
How long had it been since he had seen his old friend? The years seemed to flow past at the blink of an eye. The Avisa bowed his head temporarily, until he heard a laugh come from the elf, “Grand Tender.”
“Yes, well. No need for any of that. Come, Ocean’s Prince.” He lifted the hem of his robes as he turned, bringing them over to the great Tree and sitting beside a pond with glassy clear water, “You have much on your mind. She had told me you’d be coming, but I did not think so ragged.”
“Tactful as ever, I see.” He responded in kind, sighing as he came to rest, placing the sword at his side in his lap, watching as Vaelios placed his staff gently against her trunk and slid to the ground, robes pooling around him, “You have fit well into your role, it would seem.”
“I spend my days much as I always have, but I am not Grand Tender yet. You happened to catch me on a training day.” He laughed, “Now, what is it that burdens you so?”
A simple side glance to the sword he carried seemed to be enough for Vaelios to understand.
“Duty of often the death of love, Antaeus, of desire, of hope. We do our duties not for ourselves, but for a higher cause, one we may never understand, one we may someday understand. Duty means sacrifice, Antaeus.”
“Have I not sacrificed enough?! Have I not given all I have and more? My body is riddled with scars, with each fight, pain and misfortune?! Have I not given enough?!” His voice broke with his tears that ran down his face and soft sobs that escaped his throat and his hands gripped at the grass, “I am so tired, so very tired.”
In his sobbing, he felt a warm, soft hand lay over his and when his eyes glanced upward, green eyes met his own, “But it does not always need to be. Your stories, your journeys, they are the makings of legends, stories that mothers tell their sons before bed. They do no justice in telling what sort of pain you have endured. You needn’t give up on your dreams, because duty compels you to a straight and unwavering path. Instead, let it guide you toward your own ends, not the destiny it desires, but the one you may own.”
His sobs gave way to a sniffle and a tight grasp upon a soft hand, “What of all I have given up? What of all that remains that I have left?”
“What you have left, is love, is your family and those you would call friend. It may not be all that much, but it is what makes you.”
“When did you become so wise?” Antaeus wiped his eyes and sat back upon a hand, looking his elvish friend over.
“I’ve always been wise, you idiot, I merely chose my moments as I do my wine.”
Loneliness bit at him, chipping away at what was left of the persona he had taken on. Memories were fraught with pain and tears and the days seemed to stretch out like a long road leading nowhere. Twice now in his life, his happiness had been stolen from him at the hands of another, leaving behind the husk of a man that did naught but stare out the window in his bedroom.
Options had been laid before him, even one as drastic as taking his own life. What point was there in living when everything he loved was taken away from him at one point or another?
His burning eyes shifted from the vast orchard behind his home to the rafters in the ceiling. Quietly he calculated. Soon enough the night came and tears had come with it. Another night he would spend alone.
Thousands of years to wait for two happy ones and how long would it be again before another would come along? The future became painful for him to watch and caused him to shut his eyes to the possibility of joy.
He took a step onto the chair then kicked it out from under himself.
I’m free…
His hopes for a quick end had been snatched from him as a knife went through the cloth rope and his body fell to the floor, gasping for air, discolored at the throat from where the cloth had worn into his skin.
“You idiot!” Vaelios screamed, holding Varaelian close, “You big idiot.”
Varaelian could hear Vaelios’ choked sobbing as he held his brother, afraid to let go, “Vae?” He choked out, eyes barely open.
His feet had carried him swiftly to a garden of white blossoms and petals that scattered like snow. Her Garden of White Blossoms awaited and greeted him as an old friend, the vines at the door parting to the sound of a trickling waterfall and the fragrance of Her sweet flowers.
“You know, when I first arrived here I had no idea you existed. I was never told stories of the Great Tree.” Vaelios slowly stepped forward, placing a ringed hand upon her silver bark, “I heard you speak to me that day, your voice was soft, soothing--- familiar almost. I was but a child and you asked me to make a wish that day. I had long since forgotten it, clouded by anger and things I could not hope to change.”
He let out a great sigh as he placed his crowned head upon Her, closing his eyes, “I kept asking myself why. When Talisaerim told me you had chosen me, I asked why. I was so desperate to know, to understand what reasoning you could have to chose someone like me.” Slowly the corners of his mouth turned into a smile, “My wish, that I had locked away in my heart. You remembered it, even after all these years, even when I had forgotten..”
Not just your wish, my child, but hers as well. A mother hears and grants the wishes of her children through their lives to their dying breath.
“What wish had you granted that brought me here?”
Vaelios stepped back, looking to Her for an answer before placing himself on the ground, robes pooled on the ground as he sat on his legs.
With the war over and peace finally settling in, now had come a time of celebration and where better to have it than the Sylvannan Woods? A prince had been allowed to come home, his sister welcoming him with open arms and tears and destinies had come to pass.
There was only one thing left: during the time of the last battles, Talisaerim had passed quietly in his sleep and Luljeta was without her Tender for a short time. Now it was the time for one last ascension.
“Are you afraid, Vaelios? I have never seen you shake like this.” Kirian took the younger elf’s hands before he could drop the brush in that threatened to fall, “You’re just going to talk to the Council one more time.”
“I am not afraid of them. The rest of this duty seems more daunting now that it is happening. I am afraid for a future that has not even come to pass.” Vae’s eyes fell to their hands, a smile tugged the corners of his lips, “I have prepared for so long and now it’s happening. In front of all of them.”
“Do not be afraid.” The old knight kissed his love’s hair, standing straight when he heard footsteps approach, bowing his head for a moment as the High Lady came to enter, elegance surrounding her in
“He is right, bhraya. Never have I heard of you being afraid of speaking.” She laughed, her curls bouncing as she moved. Kirian seemed to give a smile and whisper a quick something before he departed with a nod, “Forgive the intrusion.” Her slim hands took the brush from his hands and sat beside him, “You’ve been so brave thus far, why are you afraid?”
He couldn’t manage words, just a sigh. She felt another giggle coming on, “You worry so much of something you cannot control, Vaelios. What will happen will be by the Goddess’ Will and your own. You are so much stronger than you are giving yourself credit for. These long years of fighting are over, now you must stop fighting yourself.”
Vae’s eyes rose to meet hers and his smile finally came out, “Thank you, mother. I suppose I shouldn’t be so afraid. At least not let them see it.”
“Do as you have always done. You’ll have all of us in the Council chambers.”
“All of you?”
“Well, yes. Myself, Rajanikanta, Khushal, Antaeus, Jael, that Dante boy, Kirian and some of Antaeus’ children. They wished to see the newest Grand Tender. This is no small affair.”
“Of course they did.” His expression turned flat, “Because there isn’t anything better to do..” Unamusedly, he pushed himself up, “We should go. Council convenes in a few moments and I’m sure you have plenty of hands to shake and.. questions to answer for people who have never been. Do they realize this isn’t like tennis?” Vaelios smoothed out his robes and reached for his gloves. His fingers traced over the pattern for a moment before a warm hand broke his gaze, tilting his head up, “Hmm?”
“Just say what you need to say, Vaelios. You owe them nothing.” Her gaze settled on him, strong and unmoving, “You don’t answer to them anymore.”
“Perhaps that shall make this easier.” He slipped the garments on, then took her hand, “Come now, we don’t want to be late.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room was filled with light, shining in from the high windows just above where the High Lady and Lord sat. All had come to attend this session, their best robes worn in honor of a retiring Councilman, but for the first time, it wasn’t an old man, but a young one, ascending to a position far out of their reach.
“So, he is to give a speech?” Antaeus sat back in his chair, looking between Kirian and Sunila, “Is that what this is?”
“When a councilman retires, it is usually done with a short speech, prayer and the passing of the mantle to their chosen successor.” Jael spoke up, his voice calm. He hadn’t missed a step since his departure so long ago. His gaze moved along the councilmen who stood, chattering and waving their hands to others across the room, “Clearly nothing has changed in regards to this since I left…”
“It is politics, Jael. Hardly anything does.” The high lady laughed, taking her husbands’ hand and watching as all turned to the doors that opened across the room, showing the young councilmen enter.
It was odd that Vaelios hadn’t been dressed in his best. In fact, he was dressed down, wearing naught but a simple robe and sash. The sash he had worn for years, the councilman’s sash in its creamy color, rest in his hands, being handed unceremoniously to his successor, a young woman with black hair and green eyes, “You will be great.”
“That is not what we do, Councilman.” Fahaloren spoke, an old man with sagging face and crooked nose, “You are to speak her name to the council and before Luljeta, pass off those robes to her. Though it shouldn’t even be her!”
“I named my successor before the goddess and I owe none of you an explanation for my actions.” Vaelios stared back at him, “To question my choice is to question my ordained right by the covenant of Luljeta to the elves. Would you be the fool to break such?”
“Such insolence, even up to your final day I see?” The older man moved closer, taking Vaelios’ face into one bony hand as the elf approached the center of the room.
“I am allowed to do what is my right and if you value your hand, you’ll remove it.”
“You are no longer a councilman here, you passed off your robe, as was your right.” He mocked. Swiftly, Vaelios pulled the dagger from his side and twisted the hand from his face, plunging the weapon right through his palm and into the table, recieving gasps from around the room in awe of such violence.
“I have worked too hard to be told such by a decrepit old man! I have seen to the change this place needed and by my blood and tears and effort, the children of Acchindrazj will grow up and someday replace this room of filthy old men.” Vaelios stood up straight, looking around at all of the faces who focused on him and the wailing old man behind him, “I have nearly died for my position, I have worked for my whole life for a peace that you would so willingly see die all for the sake of your foolish traditions. Your traditions, which would have seen a young man die on the floor because he was too ashamed of who he was. You want a speech? Here it is for you!”
Vaelios threw the gloves on his hands off, holding up his scarred palms for all to see, “For you all, for all of you fools who believed that mere words won the war, for those who have never seen battle, but hide behind a desk and your money. I have stood here and I shall be silent no longer. This world is changing, there are humans who know of us, there is an everlasting peace and now I bring the last of it here. It is by my right that I stand here and confess myself, a Prince of Acchindrazj, that I am guilty only of love. I love my people, so I bled for them, I love my family, so I bled for them, and I love a man, who stopped this bleeding. And it is by my right to tell you…”
He lowered his hands, looking back to the man behind him, “No one may touch me without my consent. You have no right and may this be a lesson to you. May this serve as a lesson to all of you. Bleed for those you say you care for, but do not be silent for it.”
Vaelios left his gloves at the desk, not pulling the dagger from the old man’s hand as he walked away, “May this chamber find peace in wake of a new generation.”
There was applause, the younger of the council, those who may not have been much older than him. Few they were, but cheering all the same. Men rushed forward to aid the injured man as Vaelios departed, picking up a book from his desk and passing through the doors. The High Lady scrambled from her seat, taking off through the doors behind her as her friends and loved ones remained shocked, processing what just happened.
“Elven politics. Dangerous, but never a dull moment.” Antaeus tried to laugh it off, watching Sunila depart in an auburn blur. She lifted her robe and dashed down the hall, catching up to her son and embracing him tightly.
“I’m so sorry it took me so long.”
“It is never too late, bhraya.” She smiled so brightly, holding her beloved son, “I am so proud of you.”
