[center][h3][b]Zakroti Unalim[/b][/h3] [sub]Husband of Aymiria Cassiel and Kasari Liesma[/sub][/center] Zakroti listened to Kasari intently and gave a short nod in response to the comment about his grandfather being aggravated. That was true, certainly, but then again when wasn't the old man aggravated? "There is no need to apologise. I am certain my grandfather won't care that you struck a whimpering wretch, provided it doesn't harm our name. As for his preference of punishment, I am afraid that he does not take lightly to insubordinace, he- is a very unforgiving man." Zakroti gritted his teeth and grimaced as he finished speaking, casting a glance towards the Muthseran. He seemed to relax somewhat as she continued, nodding lightly "And naturally, I understand your fury, there is no need to apologise for it. I gave you command of his fate, you exercised the power. You let him live which is more than most in this room would do. People have died over less than that." He spoke with noticeable scorn when he said 'most in this room', shaking his head grimly as he spoke about death. This was usually a violent night but so far it was unusually eventful. "As for your hand I am glad to hear that it shall be fine and again, no apologies are necessary. Ultim-" Zakroti cut off as he heard a flute playing and turned to find the source, noting Miry was standing there in the centre of the room playing on her flute. He cocked a brow and glanced along to his Grandfather, who seemed to have his own brow raised in curiosity. Tyrlal stood up to stop Aymiria, only for Nastaki to raise his hand to signal for him to stop and say something that Zakroti couldn't catch. It was now that Zakroti recognised exactly what tune she was playing and it wasn't hard to imagine that many would take it as an insult or an act of rebellion. Zakroti glanced back to Kasari in concern for a moment before looking back towards Aymiria "This will end badly." He commented gravely And indeed it did, as no sooner had Miry finished playing than the consequences began to unfold. There was the sound of a singular applause... One of the southern lords, sitting a table across, had apparently decided to set an example for any other brides who might show approval. He took the girl by the throat and with his powerful grip crushed her neck, letting her fall limp to the floor before raising his goblet in a mocking toast. A section of the crowd let out a dark, cruel laugh at the macabre display and yelled, mocking the girl as she fled from the room. And almost as quickly as things had changed, they returned to normal again. The topic of conversation had shifted somewhat, of course, but many a Drakken appeared to be deriving amusement from the occurrence. Zakroti grimaced as he heard Kasari hiss something that he imagined probably wasn't meant for him to hear, but none the less he glanced over to her and gave a small nod "He didn't have to take the girl in the first place. The Drakken are- every bit as monstrous as you may have been led to believe, I am afraid." He replied, glancing to his grandfather who had already sent Tyrlal after the girl. Nastaki looked his way and gave a bried nod to him before turning his attention back to his food. Zakroti stood up quickly and motioned for Kasari (after the events of tonight so far, he wasn't willing to risk letting either of them out of his sight for the moment... He did he want Kasari to attempt anything reckless if left with his grandfather.) and two of his Blackguard to follow with a hurried command of "Vain, Kzaar kree, hilyat." The two Blackguard who were named quickly moved away from the table and took up positions flanking him. [center]***[/center] Gaikus watched in surprise as the little girl, Aymiria, shoved past him and darted into the room. He remained silent as he approached her, peering down and listening to the girls sobs. [i]. “I killed Astrae, I kill..k-k-killed Astrae, I can’t… I don’t… I n-never wanted a-a-anyone to—to d-die… Liiren… Liiren l-lied… music doesn’t bring… m-music doesn’t make p-people h-happy, it makes them kill each other, i-it’s my f-fault… I’m s-sorry… I’m s-s-sorry, A-Astrae… I d-didn’t… I j-just wanted to make you sm-smile, I just… I’m s-so-so-rry...”[/i] Slowly, he pieced together what he could and guessed that she had... Perhaps played something on her flute which had offended one of the Drakken lords enough to cause him to kill this 'Astrae' girl. "The little girl needs to learn to blame the guilty and not herself; you are not in the Gemminite Kingdom where everyone is nice and polite, you are in Drakka where dynasties are built upon the corpses of the weak. Here, being weak makes one a wounded animal and they circle like vultures, ready to pick the bones clean." Gaikus said quietly to her before turning away and heading back to the door, just in time for Tyrlal and another pair of knights to stride past him. The trio approached Aymiria and stared down at her, still clutching her rabbit. One of them glanced to Tyrlal and motioned to the flute on the floor with a grin. The young knight chuckled darkly and bent over, snatching the flute from the floor and backing away to be behind the other pair of knights "What a pretty little thing. Would be a shame if something was to happen to it..." Tyrlal commented mockingly as he examined the flute and gave a wry smile, then glanced down to the rabbit in Miry's hands "You've dragged us away from the feast... And I'm fucking hungry." "Don't worry. One rabbit stew coming right up." The second knight replied, taking a step in advanced as he drew his sword and glanced down to the rabbit "Should be enough, if we weren't greedy. Might even be enough for her, the provider should get her share too." The third knight said with a cruel smile "Hand it over, girl." The Knight raised his blade into the air... Only to find a hand closed tightly around his wrist. "Zuthi, return to the Muthseran. The girl is not yours to deal with." Gaikus said firmly, staring at the knight... The knight stared back at him for several moments before attempting to pull his hand clean of Gaikus' grip As quick as a flash Gaikus twisted the knights arm painfully, causing him to drop his sword as he struggled to get loose. Then Gaikus swept the knights leg and sent him clattering to the floor. The knight turned over slowly ontoi his back and looked up to the Blackguard "The girl is not yours to deal with." The Blackguard repeated simply as he drew his sword and pointed it to the downed knight "My lord shall deal with her. Away with you." Tyrlal and the other knight drew their blades and readied themselves for a fight "We'll have your head for this." Tyrlal barked as the pair advanced towards him. The knight scrambled out from below Gaikus and away to hide behind his comrades, his sword still lying at Gaikus' feet. The Blackguard brought his shield to hear and prepared to fight the two but the action was halted by the words of Zakroti, echoing from the doorway "What am I seeing? Sheath your blades, the lot of you." Zakroti shouted as he ran his eyes over the scene, glaring at Tyrlal in particular "An Muthseran heldon odzi kala haelia geh yuize nit evia, Muth." Tyrlal said as he sheathed his sword and looked towards the short Lord before him. Zakroti examined him for a few moments and took note of the flute that the warrior still had clutched in his hands. Of course they had taken her flute; that may well have been a direct order from Nastaki himself and he was in no position to force them to give it to her, lest he incur his grandfather's wrath. In truth, Nastaki probably didn't care what happened to the girl so long as she was not able to do anything like that again, so it made sense to take her instrument. What would they do with it? Anybodies guess but he imagined that Nastaki would probably sell it on if he hadn't ordered them to break it. "Gais haelia?" Zakroti demanded, folding his arms slowly in front of him and giving the knight a stern look "Haelia." Tyrlal replied with a small shrug "Edeew geheiz 'Bunny' e geheiz 'Flute'... Sepew geh, camorew geh. Naan carac odzi gaiar kala roew." "Wre jusla Aymiriaeiz emeratu admia, nit a zan haelia ro. Kros odzi, Zuthi." Zakroti said matter of factly as he waved his hand dismissively. Tyrlal nodded, grinned and waved the instrument through the air to taunt Aymiria before dropping it onto the floor and stamping on it several times with an armoured boot, causing it to crack and split on the floor. He chuckled before turning slowly and marching out of the room. The disarmed guard cautiously picked up his sword before backing away, as if expecting another blow, and then followed his comrades out and into the hallway "And wipe that smirk off your face Tyrlal, or my berserker shall do it for you!" Zakroti turned back towards Aymiria and noted the expression on her face and the tears. She had been crying. Well, of course she had been crying. There was absolutely no way this poor little girl had been prepared to see someone's neck broken. He would wager that she had suffered more here tonight than at any point beforen in her life. She had said that the flute was precious to her and now it was shattered on the floor, he wasn't even sure how she would respond to that. "Have you been touched, girl?! What in Vivari's name possessed you to do that?" Vain exclaimed at her in disbelief, before noticing her state and cutting himself off. Zakroti raised a single hand to his head before sighing heavily. He glanced towards the others before looking back to her and speaking. "Vivpre Vain, vivpre... Aymiria, I'm sorry about the girl, and your flute. The response has been overzealous. Things were getting heated, the atmosphere is... It was not the right time to do something like that." Zakroti commented as he approached the flute on the floor and knelt over it; it had split into two pieces and cracks ran along it. He didn't know much about musical instruments but it didn't take an expert to get that it was completely ruined. Zakroti muttered a curse under his breath as he shook his head "Vain take Aymiria to the bedchambers... I think she could do with time away from the 'folk of quality.'" Vain nodded in response and looked down towards Aymiria, approaching her and taking her hand "Come, Aymiria." Vain said in a far calmer and more friendly tone than he had less than a minute earlier. Well, this had been an eventful evening [@WeepingLiberty][@RomanAria]