"The... Citadel?" Akaritori spoke, as soon as Allia was blown into her desk, losing herself briefly in the memory of the room in which she'd been coronated, so many years ago. She remembered every detail - the procession, the decorations, being given Masayoshi... And the oath. The oath brought her into deeper memories, darker memories, of the war that she'd won only to destroy her beloved Exae herself. But it hadn't been her beloved Exae for a very long time - since she was coronated. They'd let her down. The Judges, the Magisters, the Judge-Magisters... Everyone - her brothers and sisters in law, her so-called family had let her believe her family alive for two years before... They had forged letters back, told her sweet nothings to ensure that she kept focused on saving their worthless hides. They were just as corrupt as the plague that should have taken them. They had deserved to burn.

But this girl? If she was from Exae, if she had suffered because... If she had survived the war... It was a horrible thought. Then, it had been a horrible act, and Akaritori knew the act exactly for what it was when she performed it. She had thought them all evil, those who survived, but this little whelp of a girl? She was glad that she hadn't burned with the rest of them. It was a horrible way to die, even for the scum that the council of Exae had turned out to be.

"... I happened to Exae. After... After I won them the war, they told me that my family had died. They'd impersonated them for two years without telling me to make sure I saved their worthless hides, and in my grief I destroyed everything... I suppose that includes your family, and your dragon's family too..." She started, beginning to sound a little mournful - sad - guilty, even. 

"I was the Pride of Exae... I was the Champion that held back the war... And I broke my oath because they broke theirs. I... I'm sorry, for what happened to your family. And to your dragon's. If there's anything you'd ask of me, anything you want me to do in penance... Please, let me know. If it is in my power, I will grant it to you - that I swear."