"I've sent the messages.", Corvus stepped into Ezran's tent where both he and Aanya sat, chatting.
"Thank you Corvus. Let's hope this works."
Aanya gave him a glance of appreciation, "I can see why you find him valuable, Ez, he's very good! That was, what, three hours?"
"Madam, I am the Crow Lord of Katolis Castle. Fifty letters in three hours is slow in my book.", the tracker said proudly and not entirely convincing.
The queen smirked wryly, "Well, it's acceptable to boast a feat so inoffensive, I suppose."
Corvus shrugged, "Is there anything else I can help you with tonight, Majesties?"
There was not and he left them to their chatter. From what he could tell, Aanya was regaling his king with tales of court intrigue and how to avert it.
The tracker appreciated his own standing with Ezran, valued it. He wasn't high born and yet had the boy's ear. He was a more careful king than his father, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Harrow had often caused more harm than good with his idealistic choices. He'd been lucky to have a gifted mage by his side. A good man, doubtless, but maybe a weak King. Corvus frowned. It was not his place to think those thoughts, especially about a dead man.
Walking to his own tent, he yawned and shook his hand. Fifty letters, ow. He had only written a quarter of them, getting three other officers to help him out, but still his wrist ached.
In the morning, every noble family in Evenere would have read a detailed account of their king's words. Ez and Aanya were well within their right to inform the nobles of the protocol of this meeting. All they were doing was to repeat what Jorge had told them in writing. "To be fair", Corvus thought snidely, "There's no better way to insult this particular piece of work than to quote him."
He took off his jacket and pauldron and slipped in his sleeping bag. Outside, there was a gentle breeze, cold, but not unforgiving. Corvus listened intently to the sounds of nature, becoming muted in the advancing autumn. He frowned, realising his birthday was coming closer and closer. He was not one to celebrate the passage of time.
A few moments later, a Guard approached his tent. "Sir, a message from General Amaya."
Corvus opened the flap of his tent and took the guard's proffered lantern and letter.
"Ezran, Corvus, We are at the eve of war. Xadia intends to declare it so in the morning.", there was more but Corvus jumped up.
"Majesties", he greeted curtly as he intruded on them, "Bad news."
He read the letter out to them, "We are on the eve of war. Xadia intends to declare it so in the morning. I've taken a decorated elven Legate to the front to see if we can stall on a ground level. I don't know if this is going to work, obviously, but I feel the need to try. It might be easier to form a rapport with less conceited people. Please let me know how you are progressing with Jorge as soon as you can. I am in reach of ravens now, skirting the breach on the far side.
Ezran, I'm afraid I have terrible news for you…"
Corvus trailed off, accidentally having read too far.
"Well, you might as well finish, Corvus, you seem to be chosen for delivering `terrible news` to me", Ezran said with upset, already expecting another punch to his stomach. He grabbed the table in front of him as though it would help soften the blow.
Corvus cleared his throat, then continued, "... from here it looks like Rayla might have passed. We tried to send a message to her using the arrow I mentioned before, but it would not fly. Callum is presumably fine since we were able to send the message to him. Maybe you have some insight into this? I'm sorry. I thought you should know. Keep your head up. General Amaya"
Ezran breathed slowly, wrestling for composure. Having the confirmation in writing was just so much worse than the vision itself. Aanya leaned over to place a calming hand on his which he was digging painfully into the table. "Ugh. I guess that's what it's going to be from now on.", the young King said after a short pause, "War, eh? Great. So our little shouting match with Pet Peeve was for nothing."
"This sometimes happens, Ezran. We fought for peace and now I guess we're going to fight to end the war.", Aanya got up, "I need to return home. The border may be secure but who knows how long we will hold. It's not like Xadia is going to go easy. They've already shown how much they like killing us."
He got up, extending his hand. On an impulse, she quickly hugged him. "Let's not get killed, Ez. It was good meeting you."
"Yeah… let's not.", he replied and she strode out.
Ezran looked after her, baffled. "Is she weird? She seems a bit weird."
Corvus frowned. "I think she's worried. Under all that regalia, she's still a child."
His king gave him a questioning look.
He smirked. "No offense intended, I just tend to forget how old she is when she talks to me. Either way, I figure you made a good impression on her."
"That wasn't hard, given the Jorgish contrast.", Ezran said, rubbing his hands. The tips of his fingers were reddened from his anguished grasp on the table. "Corvus, you're a soldier. How do I deal with people… dying?"
Oh boy. It was a necessary conversation, but far from easy. Corvus sat, "Majesty", he started but Ezran interrupted weakly, seating himself across from him, "Don't be formal with me. Not right now. Not after that letter, after that vision."
The young king took off his crown and dropped his head, left cheek down, on the table next to it. Silent tears stained the wood, rocked his body.
Corvus felt the need to hug him, but that was not proper. He had no children of his own, not even a partner. His service had been his life. But now, he felt a great many fatherly instincts for this boy. "How to deal with death… hm. Frankly, I don't have a good answer, Ezran. The cruel fact is that over the coming years, so many will die that there won't be enough tears in the world to honor them all."
"Then w-what do I do?", Ezran sobbed.
"I will say the best way to honor the fallen is to be aware, conscious of what consequences your orders might have. Be prepared to lose an engagement to save your soldiers. If you want to minimise death, you will fight a different war, a different style. Someone like you, who has scruples, is always at a disadvantage. A soldier trying to keep his opponent alive has to make sacrifices, in stance, advantage, strike targets."
Corvus wrung his hands. He felt cold, talking to the boy like this. This was all very extreme, but he found no other good way to talk about what was in store for the young king, "Lives are cheap in all out war and ordering the destruction of an entire village and the killing of its people can be a valid tactic in some cases, because it starves your enemy of personal resources, for example. Not doing those things, categorically, puts you at a strategic disadvantage if your enemy does make use of these tactics."
Ezran nodded, his head still on the table. "I couldn't stand for it. All I want is to keep the elves away. That's my goal."
"I think that's good. Aanya will agree to this, no doubt. Though, I'm fairly sure Jorge will charge headlong into the Auxilia tomorrow, destroying his army and buckling our northern front almost immediately. Then there is the question of Del Bar and Neolandia. I've informed them of our meeting and will shortly tell them about this letter, as well, but it's obviously too short term to have a solid joint strategy beyond what's already in place in terms of defense for the twenty-second. We can only hope that they will help us hold the line. Del Bar is already present at the Breach together with us, Evenere and Duren and the last I heard out of Neolandia was that they were mobilising. How long it will take them to make progress toward helping us… I can't say."
Ezran scoffed. "Neolandia. Always have to have their own song and dance..."
Corvus sat back, "We can hold the Katolin border for tomorrow, I'm sure of it. The Elves are attacking from across and below and are at a disadvantage. I don't know how our luck is going to go from there. Plus, there are dragons coursing above us already. That's something we'll have to address somehow."
Ezran looked up at him, wiping his face.
"I think I need to go there."
"Pardon?"
"I need to be at the border, Corvus. We need to talk, not fight."
"That would be foolish beyond my ability to explain, Ezran. We can't have you become a prisoner of war, or worse. Katolis needs you to keep the government going."
Ezran flared, slamming a fist on the table. It was atypical, but Corvus understood. He'd been there. "I can't just sit in my room and listen to Opeli gripe! She's got a handle on things."
"She does, indeed, and that worries me. She is not you, and you are a far better king than she is a queen."
After a moment of angrily staring at the table, his king frowned, deflating. "Alright, I can see your point. I would send you, but I need you."
"I won't lie. I'm glad you aren't sending me to the front, but I would go."
Ezran scoffed. "From what I can tell, we need to hope the front doesn't come to us!"