Author's notes: Thank you for the reviews, guys! One of the reasons why I found this concept quite interesting from a writing perspective was because it did give me a chance to explore the darker side of characters who appear generally to be very good people in canon. But even the most wonderful people have their darker aspects, and this story let me try and look at them from a different perspective. None of the characters are going to come across 100 good in any of these pieces, as I'm attempting to portray them as sinners, as opposed to victims of their particular sin. It means that the characterization I choose isn't always one I personally follow, but which I think is still (hopefully) a possibility based on canon. Kitty2Satan, I know all about the horrors of internet connection, so don't worry about it. As for the Tetheus' connection to Raselane, my interpretation (most likely wrong) was that his dedication to Raselane was because she was the most important person to Lykouleon, so his dedication to her still has its basis in his devotion to Lykouleon. If that makes sense. And, this is turning into the author's notes from hell. Thanks as always to Misura, and I'm glad you're enjoying it so far, Angstluver.
Sloth (Alfeegi).
No-one worked harder, everyone agreed. The Officer of the White was without layers or complexities, he was simply dedicated and efficient, a workhorse that 'encouraged' and 'motivated' others to meet his high standards. No-one knew more, no one strived for perfection quite as much.
And no-one worked harder, everyone said. Alfeegi agreed with them all, allowing that, for once, people seemed to know what they were talking about. He was, after all, the one who was up before dawn and did not rest until dusk was a distant memory, and he was the one who bypassed holidays and weekends as though they were old friends that he did not want to particularly acknowledge.
Unrelenting, unparalleled. When Alfeegi was the one to discover that, through reports and logistics alone, that a spy was within the castle walls and identified him with ease, there were murmurs of appreciation and tales spun about his skill and talents. When he'd managed to avert an economy crisis entirely on his own (well, perhaps Ruwalk had helped a little), a nearby farm had named a cow after him in gratitude. Oh, Alfeegi knew that they all moaned and groaned about him in between his moments of brilliance, but even then, beneath their complaints and bereavements, there was always that concession that Alfeegi knew best, and that anything that was important and needed to be dealt with efficiently should be sent to him.
And so, each day was spent at his desk, each night kept company by books and scrolls. Dealing with things that were important, dealing with things that mattered, never with any respite. It was why, when Kai-stern's latest report came in three days late and with a couple of brown smudges marring the bottom corner, he'd angrily stormed around the castle until he had found the other man, thrusting the papers back at him and demanding that he re-write them. Kai-stern had grimaced slightly in response, which had annoyed Alfeegi further still. He'd rewarded the Blue Officer with a nice long rant about how the work Alfeegi did was important, and that Kai-stern was screwing up his system. Before stalking off again, he'd let his gaze drop disdainfully down to Kai-stern's fingers, where small, almost invisible tremors rippled lightly under the skin there. With a somewhat cold comment about how Kai-stern really needed to get his drinking under control he had left, mentally calculating just how much this short meeting had cost him.
Kai-stern's next report was on time, and written on perfectly crisp, white paper. It made a nice change, but Alfeegi didn't really have much time to make note of it. There was a war going on in the west, and money had to be allocated correctly. He did a brilliant job – if he did say so himself, although it helped naturally that others agreed – in making sure that the money spent on the war effort went exactly where he thought it should be. As a result, Draqueen's economy and its people felt few ill effects of the war, something that most certainly wouldn't have occurred if Alfeegi had given into Tetheus' preposterous demands for silver and gold to spend on even better armor and more troops. He'd smugly told the youkai military commander that when he had returned, stating how Tetheus had obviously been wrong as they'd won the war without all that wasted expenditure. Tetheus had simply looked at him, weary eyes speaking volumes but in a language that Alfeegi couldn't quite understand, before turning away and saying quietly that the cost of war wasn't always paid for with simply money. Alfeegi had scoffed slightly in response, said of course it was, as after all, Alfeegi had been the one who had been in charge of paying for the war effort. He'd then suggested kindly that perhaps Tetheus should go and have his shoulder wound checked out, because it looked as though it was bleeding again.
He had to get a cleaner in to get rid of the stains from his carpet, but he most certainly didn't hold that against the injured Officer. No-one might work harder than Alfeegi, but Alfeegi was not so preoccupied with himself to believe that Tetheus did not work very hard as well.
Ruwalk, on the other hand, Alfeegi had his doubts about. If Alfeegi was in the middle of a situation – and he almost always was – Ruwalk suddenly decided they should go out for coffee. If Alfeegi was drawing up very important documents that took weeks to complete, Ruwalk wanted to talk about some bar he'd been to the night before. Ruwalk worked, no doubt, but Alfeegi was of the opinion that he'd forsaken his actual job and had taken on instead the position of Chief Alfeegi Annoyer. Alfeegi was not a child, and constantly having food and drink forced upon him, or even worse, attempts to make him go out and socialize, were never, ever welcome. There were occasions when Ruwalk didn't come, when he holed himself up in his own office and refused to come out even when Kai-stern offered to buy him a drink, and it was in those moments that Alfeegi could finally get some work done. It was what, with a bit of luck, Ruwalk was doing during those times as well.
Alfeegi just hoped that, in Ruwalk's rush to get everything done and to catch up on what he'd missed, that the other man didn't end up missing the little things.