[h3] Kaldun and Sekhmetara [/h3]


As Sekhmetara made her way towards Kaldun’s quarters, she was passed by frightened human retainers, all hurrying or flat out running away from her brother's room. They all gave her a hurried, deferential bow, as they passed by but they did not stop. Something had spooked them greatly. It took little time to get to Kaldun’s room and in no time she was approaching his door. Two of his sons stood outside, force spears at their side. 

Upon seeing her approach, they banged the spears down on the ground. One of them announced her as she drew close. “Lady Sekhmetara of our sister legion The Tears of Dawn is approaching, Kaldun!” He gave an apologetic shrug as the door opened. “Today’s events greatly angered him.”

The elegant form of Sekhmetara, clad in the kaleidoscopic gown of terror-bird feathers she had worn upon the opening ceremony of the Council moved, flanked by two of her own mortal guards. She would have not worn the gown a second time at the same great gathering, but her brother had yet to be graced by the sight of it and she felt that terribly unfair. With her heightened senses, even the elongated train of the gown offered no difficulty to both herself and the servants that rushed by. She accepted the hurried bows of those she passed, while perhaps good decorum should not be rushed, she was entirely sure that anything which caused mortals to not halt in proper deference to herself was of great importance, either to the Imperium or their own immediate survival.

"I certainly understand any frustration my brother might have." The ebony primach smiled one of her more charming smiles to her brother’s guardians as they reached the entrance, dismissing her own two companions with a quick wave of her hand before moving into the chamber alone.

The room was destroyed. Burns dotted the walls from where lightning had hit them, and there were claw marks across any surface that could have been conceivably reached. The desk that had been put there for Kaldun’s use was ripped in half, its ends thrown on either side of the room. The Thunder of Labrys was jammed into the wall immediately to the right of the room, sunk into the wall several inches from the force of its throw. Chandrian, Kaldun’s second, gave a deferential bow to her as she appeared. “I will leave the two of you to discuss.” He left quickly, moving by her. 

Kaldun turned to his sister, breathing heavily, and gave a bright smile at the sight of her. “Sister! To what do I owe this delightful surprise visit?!” He held out his arms and moved forward to hug her. 

Sekhmetara met the embrace with true warmth, the soft touch of her gown and form against his armour. She had not expected such immediate warmth from her fellow primach, given her previous encounters with her siblings who's unfortunate cultures lacked the emotive expression of her own, but it was a welcome change and no ounce of surprise made it to her expression or slowed her reciprocation.

He looked around the room, a bit sheepishly. “You seem to have caught me in a moment of passion! I do feel bad about running out the human servants! They always seem to be frightened by my yelling!” He grabbed one of the few chairs that had survived his wrath and offered it to her. “Please, sit! It would be rude for me to not offer you what I can!”

"They are but things, brother, they can be replaced." She waved a dismissive hand, the painstaking work of many mortal craftsman dismissed upon the whims of a Primach. She took the offered seat, crossing one leg over the other beneath the long skirts of her gown, the shimmering feathers catching the light as they were intended to. "I do not bemoan the company of any of our siblings, they all play their role in our Father’s grand vision, but some are more trying than others." She offered Kaldun a more personal, conspiratorial smile to the diplomatic one his guards had received while she studied her sibling, for the first time in so proximate and intimate a setting.

"But we need not discuss them if you would rather not destroy more of what is left of your furniture, we have much to catch up on." She chuckled softly, a sonorous noise which spoke of true fascination with one of her estranged fellow Primachs, an increasingly small number of introductions left to give.

Kaldun laughed. “Trying! That is a very diplomatic word for it! Yes, [i]trying[/i] is what Sarghaul and Nimue are! I’ll use that instead of ‘monstrous’ and ‘mad’! Much more diplomatic!” He grinned at her, waving a hand. “But enough about our ‘trying’ siblings! I see that you would like to work together, to increase your legion’s psychic knowledge! Well, you have come to no better place! The Golden Legion is the premier source of psychic knowledge and power in the entirety of the Imperium! We can even train your auxilaries, be they mortal or xenos!” Kaldun grinned, smacking his chest as he made his boast. 

“We have all been born upon different worlds, faced different trials and had to overcome them in our own ways. If anything we would simply get more done if we build bridges between us rather than burn them.” Sekhmetara spoke with a lightly scolding tone, although it sounded as much a jest as any true advice, before smiling at his words on the psychic matter.

“I would like to  focus on the advancement of the Tears in psychic doctrine, as opposed to our mortal or xenos auxiliaries.” The elegant dexterity of her fingers momentarily straightened an errant fold of her gowns, even this corrective measure seemingly perfectly designed to highlight the perfection of the primach herself.

“The combined psychic might of those wishing to take part shall join my efforts in the Galactic North, although I seek to engage in the matter myself, it will primarily be a test of the Astartes themselves.”

“Very well! I will do my best to not accuse our ‘trying’ siblings anymore, regardless of their actions! Our father wants a united front, and the Imperium will only benefit from such unity!” He nodded at her words about the auxiliaries. “Fair enough! We shall  elevate the Librarians of the Tears of Dawn to the level of the Golden Spears! While I wish we would do the same with your auxiliaries, the Legion takes precedent! I will leave the diplomacy to you and your daughters! As you may have noted, my sons and I are ‘trying’ diplomats!” He laughed again, pleased with his joke. 

“How many of my sons do you wish to be on this venture? I cannot send too many, as we are needed to combat the psychic powers of the Eldar on the craftworld, but we do need a strong number of trained psykers to help guide the others! And there is none better than the Spears at training and wielding psychic powers!”

“However many you wish to spare, although this is a matter of research and thought, experience and an ability to teach will likely be far more useful than numbers.” Sekhmetara spoke with an amused smile which matched her brother’s tone, even if her enjoyment was rather more based on speaking with someone not currently accusing the entire room of treason as opposed to finding his wit truly amusing. “My Legion itself will likely be dispersed across an ever growing front, and I will not ask my siblings to commit greater resources than my own Legion can spare, especially to a matter which concerns itself with more esoteric aims than purely our commitments of conquest to our father. Sekhmetara rose from where she sat, her skirts shimmering in the Light of the room, her own grace no doubt throwing into further contrast the chaos of the room about them.

“My Equerry shall provide further details of the administrative side of matters should they be required.” Sekhmetara knew every proposed detail of what she had planned, but did not feel the need to spend her own time communicating such, such was the task of minds that did not also have to consider the cosmic front of galactic war. “But if you wish to spend some time in quarters not entirely ravaged by the wrath of a scion of the Emperor, you are welcome to return with me to  my own delegation, we will be toasting another round of debate survived.” She smiled, with a more direct form of a amusement, the golden flecks of her eyes sparkling as much as her own personal radiance.

Kaldun nodded, thinking to himself. “Very well, I have a number of my sons in mind for teaching! There will only be 500 of them, but they are all patient and skilled in teaching! They will be able to guide research and thinking, and hopefully prevent any accidents!” 

He laughed, looking around the room. “As much as I enjoy toasts, I should stay behind and help clean up my own mess! The poor servants wouldn’t be able to pull the Thunder of Labrys out of the wall, much less repair some of the damages I have done! No, that will require a psychic touch! I thank you for coming sister! We will toast soon, I am sure of it!” He stood himself, waving goodbye to Sekhmetara and turning to begin putting the room he had destroyed back together. 

The Mithran primach moved with her usual effortless grace as she passed from the chamber, looking back over her should to accept the wave of her sibling as she did so. She wasn't a foot from the exit before the mortal bodyguard who currently accompanied her fell into step behind her from their place at the entrance. The first visit of many planned for the day. There truly was no rest for the wicked.