Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warnings: None, really. Just plain ol' smartassness.
Authoress Note: Honestly, I have no idea where this came from, but my muse demanded it, and I couldn't work on anything else until it was finished.
Turel allowed himself a satisfactory grin. His celebration ball was going exquisitely. Only recently had Kain and his brood gained control of Meridian, and Turel felt it necessary to show his appreciation to his sire through such a gala.
Humans, his siblings, his brothers' fledglings, and his own sons and daughters feasted and danced to music of Turel's choosing. Seated at the very end of the enormous dance hall upon a raised pedestal was Kain, who managed to look bored despite all the activity around him.
A slight frown etched Turel's features. It did not seem as though his sire was having a good time at all. Of course, he reasoned, Kain never seemed to be having a good time unless he was killing something.
Turel's scowl deepened as he noticed an extreme lack of one of his brothers. Raziel was not present. His eyes narrowed in irritation. If he knew Raziel, he knew precisely where his errant sibling was.
Raziel relished the atmosphere of the study. Books lined the walls all the way around. Below him, he could hear the sounds of Turel's 'festivities.' A heavy sigh left the firstborn. It would've been so much easier to concentrate had his brother decided on another location for his precious celebration. Still, it was better here than to be in the midst of the gala.
Seated at a relatively small desk with only a dim candle's flickering light to illuminate the pages, Raziel pored over maps of Nosgoth. He wasn't entirely satisfied with how easily they had overthrown Meridian. Something in the back of his mind kept nagging at him that it simply was not possible.
A loud knock at the study's door forcefully extracted Raziel from his reverie. So enamored was he that Raziel could only utter a muffled, "Come in."
"Now why is it that I find you conspicuously absent from the festivities?" Turel's voice echoed through the room.
Raziel was glad that he had been seated with his back to the door, for he could not resist the urge to roll his eyes at his brother's mock offense. A heavy sigh left the firstborn as he scooted his chair around so that he could face Turel, the wooden legs making an awful scratching noise against the stone floor.
"What do you want, Turel?" Raziel's tone was exasperated.
Turel's mood switched to match his elder brother, "I had hoped that you would deign to join those that have more on their minds than some phantasmal assault."
Raziel's eyes narrowed, "Fortunately for our father's empire, I do not share your love of ignorance. We overtook Meridian far too easily."
A heavy growl escaped Turel as the secondborn began pacing, "Raziel, what good is our victory if you refuse to enjoy it?"
"I will enjoy it once I am sure of it," Raziel could not help but curl his lip in disgust, flashing a fang, "You can celebrate a pretend victory. I will celebrate a true one."
"Perhaps you will, brother," Anger burned in Turel's eyes, "Or perhaps you shall spend eternity scrutinizing everything and jumping at shadows."
Golden eyes narrowed to mere slits as Raziel allowed his displeasure to decorate his countenance, "Turel, if you have a point to make, make it and get it over with."
Turel leaned down and brought his face mere inches from the firstborn's, "My point, dear brother, is that you are inevitably going to waste the gift Kain gave you. You will spend eternity picking every small triumph apart."
Raziel closed the distance between them until their noses were no more than a hair's breadth apart, "No, Turel, it is you who will waste our master's gift. You have already proven yourself to be decadent beyond belief, and what our father wants is not fancy celebration at every whim. It is power that he desires."
Words dripping with venom, Turel spat, "And you think you can give it to him?"
The firstborn's gaze intensified, "I do not know, but I do know that you cannot."
Snarling, Turel turned his back on Raziel, "I grow weary of trying to force logic into that thick head of yours. Fine, stay up here. Molder in your damn books."
Without another word, the secondborn left the room, slamming the door behind him. Raziel's body vibrated with the desire to hunt his brother down and beat him to a bloody pulp. Slowly, the tension drained out of his muscles, leaving him incredibly tired.
Raziel turned back to the maps, a hand absentmindedly rifling through his raven hair. His body stiffened with remembered anticipation as he heard footsteps echoing through the room. He whirled around to find Kain striding towards him.
His face went entirely neutral as he seated himself once more, "How long have you been here?"
A displeased glint shone in Kain's eyes, "Long enough to wonder if raising Turel was a wise decision."
Raziel quirked a curious brow but wisely said nothing.
A look that the firstborn could not quite place came over Kain's face, "Show me what you've found, Raziel."
Raziel nodded, almost imperceptibly, "Yes, m'lord."
Later on, Raziel would think back to that moment and place his father's expression as one of almost childlike curiosity. Kain? Childlike? Maybe so, but the firstborn would never tell his sire that.
End