Location: Meraton Royal Palace, Meraton, Khomeria Lady Remis whispered to herself as she was alone in the royal chambers. The three Lords of House Stormborn, House Steelskin and House Shattershield arrived to act as regents for the king while he was gone, she thought these men to be empty headed fools, chasing a prize they could never attain, however, with the arrival of the three arrived Mertenis Steelskin, younger brother to Maridan Steelskin. But her thoughts quickly reversed to her older brother Dorias, who was forced so quickly to grow up and lead this nation and by all accounts, he ruled the country perfectly, but he was rather ignorant of the outside world and it's customs, something which could very well make him a target for the more cunning nobles of the Empire, but she realized that he had Vermias with him, a strong young man, but also a cunning one, he would be Dorias' shield in any way he needed him to be.
As she was pondering, she heard a light knock on the door that awoke her from her thoughts, it was either one of the servants, or one of the three thick headed lords, if it were the latter, even if she did not like them, she had to be respectful towards them. "The door is open, come in!" she said in a sweet tone. And the door creaked open to the sight of a person she wished to see, Mertenis Steelskin. She wished to run, to embrace him and to kiss him, but she was the younger sister of the king, she needed to act the part and instead rose from her chair and bowed to the young noble. "What brings you here, Sir Mertenis?"
Mertenis had already entered the room and was now carefully closing the door and soon turned towards Remis and said with a relieved smile. "You have no idea how happy I am to finally see you again, my love!" he says, only for Remis to wrap her hands around him and placing her head on his chest, almost crying with joy.
"I missed you so much, my dear!" she said, refusing to let go him under any circumstance. Mertenis hugged her back and lightly pressed his lips upon hers. The room then fell silent as the two were embracing, however, he noticed a small pile of letters on her desk, on top there was one where the sender had only signed himself with a R and several numbers after it.
"What is that letter about?" he asked, releasing Remis from the embrace and staring curiously at the letter.
A tad dissapointed, Remis got back in her seat and looked at the letter briefly before answering. "It is a letter from one of my informants in Kawachian South Ethica, apparently, two members of the Swiftwave family have been taken by the Inquisitors of the Argentum and by extension of House Tlaerie." she answers. "House Swiftwave and House Tlaerie have been at one another for quite a while, but with Emperor Taramyth favoring the Swiftwave's there wasn't much action the Inquisiton could take against them, but now that he's dead... well, we'll see what the future holds."
"Do you think they'll go to war for this?" Mertenis asks, still staring at the letter. "I mean, House Tlaerie doesn't even have a proper army and without an emperor, I doubt anyone is going to intervene should it come to war."
"It is too early to say, my love, but in these troubled times, everything's possible and as always, we'll take the neutral stance, should a war truly break out." she answers with a heavy sigh. "My love, what did your brother wish with me?" she asks. "Since I'm sure you used this occasion to visit me, but also to give your brother's message."
Mertenis chuckles and answers. "I had nearly forgotten about it!" he says. "He and the other two lords wish to see you, what for I have no idea, but my brother instructed me to get you, they probably want to talk to you.
With a sigh, she raises herself from her once more and says with a weary smile. "Then let's not keep them waiting, shall we?"
---
Imperial Capital, City of the PhoenixMardanis walked through the city, he was a royal guard with nobody to guard. He believed that he maybe could have prevented Taramyth's death somehow and all this chaos that the empire was now in, but Taramyth had refused to take him along. Though in truth he felt somewhat relieved that he hadn't been taken him along, after all, he could have lost his life in whatever accident the emperor had. He quickly pushed those thoughts out of his head and stared at his surroundings. When he first arrived here ten years ago, he was fascinated with the size and the beauty of it all, however, time dulls everything, and in his sight, after only two short years, the city had become something dull to him and soon had grown to miss the sights of home, the majestic mountains, the tall green trees and the most of all, the snow.
Again however, he pushed his thoughts away as he had reached a small tavern and entered it. He didn't bother to look around, he knew for what, or rather for who he came here. He quickly noticed the ones he searched for, they were from the Royal Guard as well and from the same lands as he. "Laikar!" he said in a stern tone. "It is your duty as my second in command to discipline the other men, not get them drunk and in bed with you!" he said, glaring at the man, who was a bit tipsy, on the seat next to him was beautiful woman with long white hair tied in a pony tail and with shining light blue eyes, she seemed to be a bit tipsy as well.
Laikar stared at Mardanis before smiling and saying. "Ah, calm down, now that there's no emperor, we can stop following the emperor like little dogs!" he said raising his mug towards Mardanis, wanting to hand it to him, however, he moved the mug away from his face and stared at Laikar, anger clearly being seen in his eyes.
"It's worse than this, now that there's more competitors for the throne, we have to spread out and guard them all, since they're all potential emperors or empress!" he said, almost raising his voice to a shout. "And as my second in command, you need to do your duty as a royal guard!"
But a calm and soothing voice intervened in the argument of the two. "Mardanis, instead of trying to guard all of them, why don't you try and guard and the one you wish to be emperor, that way, you can maybe affect the choice of the other electors." the other guard had said, it was Marianna Stormborn, a person Mardanis and Laikar both fancied quite a bit. "After all, if you don't guard them, they'll be so easy to get rid of, am I correct?" she asks, a devious smile forming on her face.
Uncertainty had begun to show on Mardanis' face. At first he wanted to refuse this outright, but then he thought of the one who would be a fitting emperor, it was Jankinus Valarien, a very honorable man, a man experienced in battle, a man who had the Great Protector shielding from danger, he believed that he was the man that would lead the empire to glory yet again and silence the bickering between the lords taking place in the city, he would be the one who would finally conquer the North and place it under the Imperial Fold and much like his forefather Morgas protected Lalaifia during her conquests, he would be there to shield him from danger with the same shield that Morgas used.
Laikar stared at Mardanis' thoughtful expression and stood silent for a few seconds before asking. "Well, what is it ya decided, should we guard all the little boys and girls of the royal family or only one?" he asks. "In my opinion, we shouldn't guard any of them until the actual emperor emerges, but hey, I'm not the one in charge, now am I..."
Mardanis was still thinking, however, not not for long, his expression changed from a thoughtful one a determined one. "Get up you two, we need to move!" he ordered to the two. "We need to get the Royal Guard ready for the arrival of the emperor, Laikar, get Morgon and the rest of the Royal Guard and have them come at the gates of the city, we will greet our new emperor as it fits someone of his stature."
With a wide grin, Laikar raises from his seat and says: "On your command, I shall do so, sir!" he said and hurried for the Royal Palace to fetch the rest of the Royal Guard, meanwhile Mardanis had been left alone with Marianna.
"The two of us, Marianna shall go ahead to the city gates and await for Emperor Jankinus to arrive!" he says and helps her raise from her seat.
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