Chapter Twenty-Five

Yue smirked.

Then she chuckled.

Then she laughed.

Devona crossed her arms grumpily, and muttered, "Well… it seemed to make sense at the time."

The warrior had just finished explaining to the assassin the sequence of events, which the latter seemed to find unnecessarily amusing.

"You honestly thought that something as trivial as an earthy odor was enough to cause Coran to shy away from you?" Yue asked, almost as if she were chuckling at a small child's irrational conclusions.

"I… didn't know what else it could have been." Devona sniffed, cursing herself for again sounding so weak.

Yue made a sound something like a cross between a sigh and a deep exhale. "If you wanted to know what was going on in the dear Headmaster's head, you should have asked me rather than listen to Vekk."

"I was under the impression you didn't particularly like me much."

"Meh… petty jealousy, easily put aside." The assassin dismissed with a flick of her wrist. "We've been over this. Besides, I'd tell you this anyway just to head off the foul mood he's no doubt going to be in, as he always is when he thinks he's failed at something. You've shown you can drill some sense in his head, perhaps you can be successful again."

"He thinks he failed? How? We were outnumbered three to one and only had three casualties… which were quickly revived."

"Oh, but to Coran, there were four; and that fourth casualty was all his fault in his mind, I'm sure."

"Four?" Devona asked quizzically before she answered her own question; herself. "But… Coran didn't order me to attack the Seer. I did so on my own accord. How is that his responsibility?"

Yue rolled her eyes. "I never said it was rational. He does this whenever something goes wrong or not precisely according to his plan. Lyssa as my witness, he still blames himself for the Searing."

"What… does the Searing have to do with anything?" Devona's mind felt like it was being pulled in three directions, and none of them seemed to go anywhere.

"Grazz learned that his kind had discovered a powerful artifact of unknown origin at the northern reaches of their territory… from there, he discerned that the Shamans were planning to use this artifact's powers against Ascalon." Yue explained. "Grazz, naturally, relayed that information to me, and I to Coran."

The assassin paused momentarily to allow Devona to process the information, as she sensed the warrior was still slightly overwhelmed. "At about this same time, King Adelbern and Prince Rurik were planning an offensive to retake Drascir. Coran approached them with what had been discovered, and advised them to hold off on the Drascir Offensive until the threat could be determined."

Yue then spat bitterly. "He was ignored, to put it shortly. What Grazz risked to reveal this information… the hell and danger I went through to confirm it… the risk Coran took as potentially being labeled a traitor for working with a Charr to present this information… and what does our noble and wonderful king do with it? Laugh, tell Coran that he should not panic at ghost stories, and shouldn't bother himself with such decisions as he really isn't 'leadership material' anyway."

"I don't blame Coran for washing his hands of the whole thing." Yue continued with a shake of her head. "Disgusted, he packed up everything, and decided to take a long, scholarly mission of undetermined length. Days later, the Drascir Offensive moved on as scheduled, was predictably routed, and three days after that, the Searing occurred. Coran is quite certain that the Shamans launched the Searing sooner than planned in retaliation for that misguided attack."

"But…" Devona began, but was interrupted by Pyre's gruff, gravelly voice from behind her.

"He's right." The Charr ranger said idly, his eyes staring off into the distance as he dropped to his rump on the other side of Yue. "The magical barrage you call the Searing had been intended for Ascalon's fall harvest, to destroy you humans' crops and spirit in one blow. Your attack on Drascir forced the Shaman's hand; they felt they had to retaliate, and they decided to advance the timetable on using their new toy. They used that success to completely subvert the power of the tribe chiefs, using the decimation as proof that their gods were behind them."

The warrior processed the information, and the bitter tone Pyre used to describe it. "You didn't approve of the Searing?"

The Fierce clan chief snorted. "Of course I didn't. It was the cowards' way. A true warrior, a true Charr, fights with his enemy in sight, so that they can see the power and the fury they face, and know that death is at hand. Make no mistake human, one day the Charr will reclaim everything you humans took from us. The land over our heads was Charr land first. It will be Charr land again."

"You're not helping, Charr." Yue warned.

"Not trying to help." Pyre retorted. "Just stating the facts for what they are, and if the facts that you present are what they are, then yes, the Headmaster of this place does bear some responsibility for the Searing."

Devona jumped to her feet, "I will not have you slandering…"

"I'm not slandering anyone." The Charr ranger corrected. "In fact, I am complimenting him. The wayward prince learned from his prior failings, and addressed future situations more befitting proper action. That's all any of us can do. Though, I suppose if I'm being accused of slander, I suppose I could demean him for getting depressed over his mate getting her mind scrambled a little bit… GRAH!"

Whatever further the Charr had to say was cut off by an electrical crack and the ranger's grating yelp. Pyre hopped to his feet, whirled about to demand an explanation, then stopped short with a timid, "Oh no."

Ten feet away, stood Gwen, a sadistic grin drawing broadly across her cheeks, the wired prongs of the T.A.S.E.R. reeling back to its rest position at the top of the device. "For seven years, I lived for the amusement of the Charr. Perhaps it's time for the Charr to entertain me?"

She looked down at the device in her hand, her grin never changing, as she turned the dial to the left, hearing the barely audible, high pitched hum increase slightly in volume as the dial clicked five times.

Pyre slowly started backing away from the bloodthirsty visage of the young mesmer. Thankfully, none of his clan were around to see it. "Now… Gwen… you're looking quite lovely today. Let's… not ruin what must be a very good day. Don't do anything… rash now…"

Finally, Gwen's grin disappeared, and she looked back down at the T.A.S.E.R., and dutifully gave the dial another four clicks to the left.

At that point, Pyre fell into full retreat, Gwen hot on his heels with an angry yell, leaving Yue and Devona alone once again.

The assassin stood and patted Devona twice on the shoulder. "Anyway, this is something you're going to have to corner him and talk to him about; because he won't do it willingly. You're… probably the only one who can get through to him."

With that pained admission, Yue turned full about. "He's either in his chambers, his office, or with Aresssh in the Paragon training hall… the latter being most likely depending on how responsible he feels."

Devona nodded, and said in parting, "Thank you."

"Just doing what is best for all of us." The assassin dismissed.