[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/vHlk0a2.png[/img][/center]

[color=9AF781]Time: Morning, 10:40am
Location: Shooting Range
Interactions: Nahir [@Rodiak][/color]

[color=CBCBCB]
Leo had a favor in mind when he suggested the wager. Had he won he’d have asked Nahir to look out for Charlotte during the dinner she and Duke Vikena were scheduled to have with the Sultan and his family. But the thought would never leave his head. While Thea fared well against the knight, the stranger from House Damien proved more than her match. Had he followed instinct alone, and chosen Verrick, he would’ve won. Perhaps it was a mistake to bet on family, but it was not one he found any regret in. 

[color=9AF781]“A fine set of matches. And your man progressed the furthest, name your favor whenever it suits you.”[/color] Leo showed nor felt any trace of resentment at the minor loss; owing a favor to any royal was only a future chance to further ingratiate himself and this was another opportunity to get to know Nahir. 

[color=904342]"Your sister is a skillful archer."[/color] 

This comment from Nahir only brought forth his most genuine smile. It was refreshing to hear his sister recognized for her strengths rather than the often whispered rumors of youthful mistakes. 

[color=9AF781]“How kind of you say.”[/color] He said, standing as the matches ended and using the conversation as an opportunity to not clap for Verrick, though he was glad to see a Varian win. [color=9AF781]“I hope your day brings you as much delight as your company has brought mine.”[/color] He added before bowing in the Alidasht manner. His words, while meant to appease the ego of royalty, also came with sincerity. Royalty, and most nobles, could see through hollow compliments, so Leo always kept his honest. 

Leo waited for an official dismissal, just as he had with Princess Sadie, before departing. It was more than just maintaining the image of a proper nobleman, these signs of respect were a part of the structures that held society together. Leo believed in order, and he believed in the social hierarchy which kept the order. It all mattered, and it became as instinctual as breathing. 

[hr]

[color=9AF781]Time: Morning, 11am
Location: Athletic Arena
Interactions: none[/color]

[hider= optional flashback][i]The already crowded arena continued to pack people in, noble and ignoble alike had all come for the event. There were even other children here, Leo’s mother had certainly made it sound like this was an event only for grown folks. But Leo hadn’t been convinced, he knew his mother just hated anything exciting. Not his dad though, Duke Feralt never once complained about mud in the house, or grass stains on clothes, or the occasional fall from a tree, Leo’s dad always approved of wild adventures. Even more importantly for Leo; his father never made him feel like being a child meant he couldn’t understand the world.

Today his father had decided to take Leo for an adventure, out to see the execution of some vile Caesonian criminal. His mother had gawked at the suggestion, she had tried to convince him he didn’t want to see such things. Like he hadn’t already killed his very own deer, by his own hand, just a year before. She always forgot those things. And Leo was not afraid, only excited to go to something that he’d only ever heard adults speak of. But there were other children here, some even younger than him. Leo wondered if those kids got to have two fun parents, and then he thought about how many more adventures he could’ve had if he too had a fun mother. 

At least he had one fun parent. That was why Leo had a caramel-covered apple when he went to see his first execution with his dad, knowing full well his mother would’ve complained the whole time about how much of a mess caramel could make. So Leo ate his apple with a wide grin as his little legs struggled to keep up with his father's long, effortless strides. Duke Feralt stood like a tower over his young son, and on a hot summer day like today, a young Leo found relief in the large shadow he cast. 

[color=9AF781]“So, why are they executing him?”[/color] Leo asked as a man was led into the arena with guards on either side of him. The man wore an empty expression, one more like a freshly slain deer than an expression he'd seen on a man before. 

[color=A8FC00]“Leo, how do you think a man stays king? How does one man keep so many people in line?”[/color] Duke Feralt asked and Leo knew where this was going. Well, kind of. His father was doing that thing again where he answered questions with a different question and that meant Leo was supposed to learn something. 

So Leo took a moment to think about his dad’s question. A king’s job was to lead a whole country, so it seemed only obvious that as long as a king did a really good job the people would follow him. [color=9AF781]“I guess by being real good at it.”[/color] Still, Leo felt it was too obvious to be the right answer. 

[color=A8FC00]“Does King Edin strike you as a great leader of men?”[/color] His father asked, but he knelt to whisper the question, using the quiet voice adults did when they said things children weren’t supposed to hear. 

Leo laughed but shook his head, definitely not. His father scowled at the laughter, which was odd because he didn’t normally. His mother scowled at laughter, especially at the dinner table. But Leo didn’t think much about why his father had scowled. He watched as the man, with his hands and feet tightly bound, was dragged closer to the center of the arena and fashioned to a large stake. It was happening, the air in the stadium seemed to buzz in anticipation. One of the guards began to announce the list of crimes the doomed man was guilty of, but Leo’s attention quickly refocused on his father.

[color=9AF781]“Then love?”[/color] Leo took another guess, back home everyone in Varian loved their King. And the Queen too. Enough so that even when the adults in his life spoke of how they disagreed with the king’s rule they eventually ended up agreeing that he was still a very good king. [color=9AF781]“Because they protect their kingdoms. They are the best of us.”[/color] People in Caesonia certainly seemed to love their king, Leo had even once been forced to spend an entire afternoon at a museum all about King Edin. It had been painfully boring. 

[color=A8FC00]“Sometimes,”[/color] His father agreed. [color=A8FC00]“And those men leave behind a great legacy, history remembers them kindly. But that is a very difficult thing to do.”[/color]

Leo nodded, that made sense and he knew these to be things his father often spoke about. He still struggled to see what any of this had to do with executing a criminal. 

The guards had given the doomed man space as one approached with a torch. Flames caught the straw beneath the doomed man and reached their way towards flesh. The quiet air carried panicked screams throughout the arena and everything smelled of char. Eventually, the screaming stopped, and the crowd continued to watch the husk burn, but for a brief moment barely a sound was heard above the crackle of the flames. 

The scent of the air was stomach-churning, Leo dropped what remained of the caramel apple and wasn’t the least bit sorry to see it roll away. The air felt heavy, the sun dimmer. Leo glanced at his father who still watched the burning from where he knelt, and Leo stayed still and watched the burning too. He was supposed to, he was expected to learn something here. Leo felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise.

[color=A8FC00]“Do you think that is how they rule here?”[/color] His father finally spoke, again he used a very quiet voice and Leo shook his head. He understood, here people knelt to King Edin not out of loyalty or love, but out of fear. [color=A8FC00]“And how will this king be remembered?”[/color] 

[color=9AF781]“Not well.”[/color] Leo understood that much. This was what it looked like when a king ruled through fear. Caesonia was not just a fun place they visited in the summers, it was a much darker place than Varian. 

His father nodded in agreement as he stood back up. [/i][/hider]

The first time Leo had witnessed an execution he’d been too young to understand all of it. He now better understood how King Edin ruled; he chose the easiest path, one of brutality and fear. The public executions, and the immediate willingness to offer up a stable boy as a sacrificial lamb, served as a constant reminder of what would happen to those who stepped out of line. It was effective, for a time, but it would not maintain, and eventually, he would only be remembered for his failings. 

Such extreme force could only create opposition. Caesonia was already showing signs of weakness, an unraveling of order. And while Caesonia struggled, Varian would strengthen and maintain. Varian inspired complacency over fear, this was long-lasting. This was the better way. 

The crowd today was somber, eyes all fixed on the event and very little noise was heard above the wind which strummed against flags and banners. This doomed man walked towards his end of his own accord with indignant confidence. There was no struggling, no screams nor pleas for mercy, only mismatched eyes that burned with rage. 

The same sorts of questions floated about; who was the doomed man, where was he from, what had he done, and how will his life end? Whoever the man was he had not drawn himself a packed crowd, his ending clearly didn’t hold as powerful a draw over some of the other events taking place. Not even important enough for the King or Queen to show an interest. 

But the arena held enough of a crowd to see that there were still plenty who saw the value of witnessing such a brutal act. A catharsis of darker and more violent aspects of human nature, to quench the thirst for the old ways and then leave the arena after the execution ready to again strive to live an honorable life. Leo found value in this, it was important to experience all aspects of the world, good and bad, to understand it in its entirety. 

Despite how dark an event it was, this held a memory that had been only his father and him. 

One perfect summer day his dad had taken him to watch a man die. It had been the first time he had been talked to less like a child and more like an equal, like an heir. He’d been let in on the most important part of his father’s life, the part that was The Duke of Stravy before all else. That day felt important, and Leo had felt important that day too. 

It was a strange memory to cherish, but he did, and he found a sense of peace in being here now, on his own, repeating the ritual and waiting for the catharsis.[/color]