[center][h1][b][color=cyan]Aubri Silverblade[/color][/b][/h1][/center]
[center][h3]Hathforth Estate, Present Day[/h3][/center]
[center][@HereComesTheSnow][@Estylwen][/center]

It was said that the only thing worse than a city burning was a city being sacked. In both cases, whichever way the wind blew one could taste ash and smell gods knew what burning in the wind. Even though the castle the two children led Aubri and Amerigo to was tucked away from the inferno, the air and bricks of the citadel would doubtless be stained by the blaze for weeks.

The slow trickle of folk into the safety of the castle gates didn't go unnoticed by Aubri, either. Smallfolk and nobility alike were being allowed inside by the guards. Most highborn in foreign ports would open their doors only for the most powerful to take shelter within safe walls, banking favors for later in exchange for safety today. What did it say that the Queen was letting in everyone?

[color=cyan][i]A lapse in security that the guards cannot hope to contain without a riot? Confidence in her power? True care for her subjects? Or does she have so few allies in the nobility she's hoping to rouse the smallfolk to her banner? Curious.[/i][/color]

It reminded Aubri of one of the voyages aboard a family vessel. A day's sail from home port, their holds heavy with cargo, the sea took a turn for the worse- one of the few times his oldest brother had given consideration to abandoning ship. Another ship came up from the waves of the storm, foundering in the wake of a titan's wave. Pater had refused to cast lines and pick up the survivors, urging them to leave the drowning men behind. Later he argued it was too great a danger to cast anchor and try to save lives with the ship as heavily laden as it was. Aubri knew the calculating look in his father's eyes though. The man was worried more for a lost fortune if the vessel went down than more lost lives.

In the midst of his thoughts, Aubri looked up to see that he'd instinctually been following the children through the courtyard and halls. Aubri didn't take time to log the condition of the great hall and throne room. Its decorations, its armaments, the position of its guard posts and pages. If Amerigo did not, there would be time to assess those things later. Aubri was more focused on the action around them. Servants were bringing water up from a well somewhere to the people huddled within. Groups were still clustered together- petty and major nobles in one corner of the throne room, smallfolk and their children elsewhere. 

He did note the empty throne though. Some things, by their absence, spoke volumes.

[color=cyan][i]The Queen is away while her city burns and fiends from Dremora's Shade stalk its streets.[/i][/color]

Within the war room, there was the same disorganized chaos, but with differing purpose. Outside, the focus was on recovery and recuperation. Here, the coming of frequent messengers relaying news that was minutes, even hours old. Knights in armor preparing to defend the keep, while one figure seemed to hold finals say over all action.

A woman. Tall, armored, well muscled, with hair the color of ash and dusk. And the one to whom the children were leading the two. Aubri began to remember his courtly tutor, a mental memory of the crack of a small whip hitting him between the shoulderblades and an wizened old woman cackling [color=lightcoral][i]'Stand straighter like the mizzenmast, or will you billow like a sail in the presence of your betters?'[/i][/color]

He straightened. Took a moment to digest what was said to them by the armored woman. Gave himself several moments to think as though he was a dumb foreigner slowly parsing and translating her speech. [color=lightcoral][i]'Let them think you a fool at first. A fool hears more unguarded words than a wise man.'[/i][/color]

Aubri's father paid a fortune for that crone's tutelage. Her one glass eye always seemed to find fault, and her motherly smile could cut as quick as any knife with the words it spoke. Maybe her advice and courtly tutelage was the best in the Republic, but here? It remained to be seen.

[color=cyan]"Countessa, I greet you as Signore Aubri Silverblade, duly appointed envoy of the Most Serene Republic's Assembly of Notables. And this is my right hand, Brother of the Sea Amerigo Spadoni."[/color] Aubri left other descriptors of Amerigo - heroic, bravado prone, adventurous, deadly - out of the introduction, but shared a knowing grin with him nonetheless.

If Aubri knew his cohort half as well as he thought, Amerigo would likely be chomping at the bit to unsheath his sword and test himself against more fiends after their long journey at sea.

[color=cyan]"We come seeking an audience with the fabled Wizard Queen regarding a matter of some import. A ship of the Republic has gone missing, the [i]Golden Gale[/i], last seen at port in Odonfield some weeks ago. We seek leave in discovering the ship's whereabouts."[/color]

No accusations. No threats. Not yet.