Late and probably a little boring but the next one is supposed to be a big one. Thanks for sticking with me through this. I know these slow uploads can be frustrating
Trust
Erek desired little in terms of conversation or any sort of human interaction at the moment. Guardian or not, sitting in that cemetery, from dusk till the next dawn, did nothing to endear him towards the living. Either way, he makes no effort to hide his footfalls and indeed draws some quick and worried glances from his team.
Bag slung loosely over his shoulder, he offers the both of them little in words of greeting, nor to the others that had come to see them off such as Aro and the Vanguard. They were occupied at the moment anyway. Kayla with Ikora and Daniel speaking with Aro in tones reserved only for the two of them.
Erek berates himself for staring and stomps up the plank into his ship. He starts it up, opening his hand to release Eren so that she could check over their ship and the others. Old habits…
Erek hears his name being called. After weighing the consequences of just ignoring the request for his presence and launching himself into orbit, he stepped out.
The Commander gave them his words, reminded them of the importance of what they were about to embark on and what was at stake. As if the three of them weren't intimately aware. Report what you can, when you can and in the end, he tells them all to just be careful. Things were coming to a head. Another thing Erek didn't need reminding of.
"Be brave, Guardians." Ikora was already turning to leave. "And good luck."
Zavala follows her. Kayla steps over to give her goodbyes to Aro before embarking, while Erek remains distant. Daniel puts his hand to Aro's shoulder and pulls the other man into a kiss, their foreheads pressed together for some time after they part. Then Aro's lips move and whatever he says has Daniel both laughing and shoving him away. He doesn't turn away, however, until he reaches the boarding plank of his ship. Then with one last look, he too makes his way inside.
Cayde had never left. And as Erek's luck would have it, the Exo had eyes for no one else but him. "You alright, kid?" He asked.
"Fine," Erek answers too quickly.
Cayde scoffs. "You can lie better than that." Erek just frowns and refuses to meet his eyes.
Choosing not to push, Cayde shrugs and says, "Take heart, kid. It won't be as long as last time."
"It'll be long enough. Not that it matters," Erek said, "I want to go."
Cayde's head cocks in surprise. Erek offers no further explanation. Instead, he says, "If you find Lust anywhere in the system, any sign, any whiff of his presence, I want to hear about it. Immediately. Can I trust you to do that?"
"You can certainly trust me to consider it!" Cayde spun on his heel and strode off with a wave, ignoring the glare aimed at the back of his head. Hearing Daniel's ship begin to start up was his cue. He turns back and climbs the walkway, closing it behind him.
Mira let herself fall behind cover. The incoming rocket slammed against the wall, rocking her violently enough to knock the breath from her lungs. No time to catch it, no time to even let her shields regenerate, she needed to move before the follow-up.
She was smart to do so. Cloaking, Mira rolled to her feet and ran off to the side. A Titan slammed down where she had been not even a heartbeat later. The blow had been avoided so closely, the impact stumbled her. Mira flowed with it, dropping down to her knees and sliding just a bit further away, the shockwave helping her momentum. Still on her knees, she twisted, pulling up the rifle clutched in hand and aiming down the sights.
She heard it coming, instead of. Rather than confirming what she heard, Mira simply reacted. She leapt backwards, behind another wall that she was lucky to have in such proximity. It was just barely enough. The second rocket rammed hard into it and the resulting explosion was enough to leave her uncloaked and shaken, but not yet dead.
Not until the Titan finished the job.
Khan woke her in a different part of the arena. She needed only seconds to shake off the fog of death and regather her bearings. Too long; she needed to reenter the battle. Lord Saladin had taken notice of them. If she didn't feel the pressure to impress before, she was feeling it now.
They weren't impressing. They were behind by a moderate amount of points. The chatter in her comms consisted almost completely of shouting, every voice so intertwined with another, she couldn't begin to make sense of what was being said or who was saying it.
A bullet ricocheted off the rusted metal bar just behind her head, so close, she could almost feel the wind of it. She dropped into a crouch, hoping she was out of sight or at the very least, a harder target. Another sniper shot rang out, another clang of metal right above the crown of her helm and she was running, away from danger and right back into the fray.
They won; pulled themselves into overtime and then just managed the last point.
Mira's head was pounding. She could feel vein throbbing in her temples whenever she pressed her fingers to them. After the match, the group scattered without a word, Katrina's team going their way, Mira's going another; she didn't know where any one was.
She didn't want to either. She was sick of other people. Mira had secured a bench to herself just outside the gym, which was mostly empty at this time of night. She had stripped off her armor and placed herself against the wall with nothing but a damp towel kept warm by Solar Light over her head, blocking out the light, which had already been dimmed.
Only her Ghost spoke to her, running over the match and why this one seemed to go so badly compared to the others. There was nothing off in their placements post-match. She topped the list, Katrina and Jessie tied for second and Shino came third, followed by May and then Sora.
"We mostly did well enough." It hurt just to think that to her Ghost. "But there was so much going on in the comms today. It's like we were panicking. I could barely make anything out."
Khan didn't respond. Mira lifted part of the towel to reveal one eye to the Ghost floating just a short distance away from her.
"Mira?"
Mira flinched at the sudden, sharp sound of Katrina's voice and let the towel drop again. The click of heels came even closer. "Mira."
"I'm not here right now."
An exasperated sigh. "We need to talk about today."
"Is second place bothering you that badly?" Mira's grin was as slight as it was hidden. "You'll get the next one. Or the next. Or maybe the next, if I'm not there."
"Shino and May. What was that about?"
Mira's smile dropped. "What are you talking about?"
"Did you not hear them? How could you not hear them? Shaxx could hear them!"
"I heard a lot of things," Mira answered, "Mostly yelling."
"It was them, Mira. They were yelling."
Mira gave pause. Then she lifted the towel just slightly to be greeted with sharp, blue eyes and an equally blue face tight with annoyance and exhaustion. "Shino and May-"
"Got into it. Loudly. In the middle of the match."
Mira's eyes ran over her face. Then she sucked her teeth and pulled the towel the rest of the way off, glaring at the wall ahead of her; unable to tell if she was angrier at the fact that they had let this happen while in a fight or at the fact that she wasn't at all surprised by it. "They've been at odds for a while now. It started off relatively tame but it's been…escalating."
"Over what?" Katrina crossed her arms, "What caused this?"
"It's about Aro. And…" She didn't need to finish the sentence. Katrina's face was already lightening. She knew about their friend from all those years ago. She had attended the funeral, long before Mira had ever come to know her personally.
Her brow remained low, however. "That doesn't make it any less irresponsible. Or ridiculous. Aro is not responsible for his brother."
"Yes, he is," Mira fires back purely on instinct and she grimaces inwardly, breaking her gaze away from Katrina's. Despite the initial disappointment in herself, she forces on. "The Gate. The Heralds. Pride. That was all Aro, even if he doesn't remember. Pride found us on the Moon when we came to rescue May. He blocked our transmat. If Marie hadn't run back and served as a distraction, neither I nor Shino, nor May would be here today. Shino's...just having trouble letting that go. And May doesn't think that's fair. Not to Aro."
"It isn't."
"Nor is it fair to Shino to just dismiss how he feels." Mira exhaled. Her fist squeezed the towel and some of the water trickled down her leg. "Now, every little thing sets them off. What was it even about?"
It was Khan who answered. "May at Shino for doing nothing to help her when she ended up against two people on the enemy team. Shino at May for not laying down cover fire when he needed it. Innocent mistakes they've both made before. Things that maybe would have warranted talking afterward but not this."
Katrina sighed. "Look., I'm here because I need to know if this is going to be a problem later down the line."
"If you're worried about your standing in the IB, then-"
Katrina cuts her off, "My team and I can take care of ourselves in that regard. I'm talking about on the field, under fire, against the Heralds. Against Pride." She paused, seeming to want that to set in. "The last time we went against Pride, we almost died. Permanently. Pride, just on his own, wasted us. Can I expect the two of them to at least keep it under wraps while our lives are on the line or is that asking too much?"
Mira's offense showed on her face. Katrina moved quickly to disarm it. "We were never meant to be here," she said, her voice dropping. We stumbled into this mess by accident. My team has no connection to the Heralds, personal or otherwise."
"It's the same with us."
"Is it? After what happened to your friend?"
Mira looks at her but then turns away, conceding her point with a grunt and nothing more. "We have no connection. None whatsoever. We're only here because the Vanguard needs us watched. They want to ensure we remain quiet by bringing us into the fold. That's fine, but we don't want to die for this. Not by the Heralds' hands and certainly not from infighting. We can't afford it. Not now."
Mira's sigh devolved into a growl. "I'll talk to them."
Katrina observed her for a few seconds more before humming her acknowledgement and turning. Mira didn't move until she was gone. Throwing her towel into a bucket hard enough to shift it across the tile, she got to her feet and went out the opposite way.
May would be difficult to pin down. Khan could just track her Ghost and they make it an official order that she tell them where she and her Guardian were but tempers were flared enough as it was. She probably wouldn't be found by other means. May was very good at disappearing when she wanted to, even going as far as to avoid her usual haunts.
The Titan wasn't so unpredictable. A pissed-off Shino could always be found in the bar or at the gym. It was the latter, this time. Mira found him beating on a punching bag like it owed him money. His expression was tight and fiery but there were no burn marks on the punching bag, no electricity in the air. A good sign, Mira supposed. Silently, she couldn't help but wonder who he was imagining, going in as hard as he was. She wouldn't ask him, of course, and she certainly wouldn't offend him by asking if it was May. Pride was more likely. Just Pride. Hopefully. He noticed her coming into his little spot but Mira made no effort to hide herself. She goes into the corner on his left and climbs up the stack of blue mats, sitting cross-legged at the top, watching and waiting.
Predictably, the silent treatment only lasts minutes. "I'm not apologizing," he says simply, striking the bag even harder than usual.
Her response is easy and cool. "I'm not here for that. You're not a child and I'm neither of your mothers. I expect you to do that on your own." He pauses only to affix her with a withering glare before shaking his head derisively and continuing, reverting back to silence. Which was good, because she wasn't done speaking. "This has been going on for months now," Mira says, "I've let it slide, hoped that the two of you would remember you were friends and work past this. But you let it spill out today. On a battlefield, no less. That was a step too far."
"Do you expect me to just let this go? Do you expect her to?"
"No, I don't. I don't expect you to just stop feeling how you feel," she explains, "What I do expect is for it to be kept under control."
"Will May be getting this same lecture?" he mumbled bitterly. Shino pulled away from the bag and reached for his pack, wiping the gleam from his face.
"As soon as I find her, she will." Mira watches as he gathers his things. "But this stupid little quarrel between you two? It needs to be kept away from the field." She hops down and moves in close, keeping him from just walking off. "Keep it away from the field, keep it away from the others and the public and-" she pushed him back when he tried to shove his way past her, "And for the Traveler's sake, keep it away from Aro. Man's perceptive enough, I know he's noticed. The last thing any of us need is the guy at our forefront distracted any more than he already is."
"So fake how I feel about him?" Shino demanded.
Mira knew there was animosity there but it was jarring to hear someone like Shino just so blatantly say it aloud. "If necessary."
The corner of his lips curls up. "Like you do?"
Shino stands there for a second longer before moving around her and with her ears burning, her head ringing and the breath knocked from her chest, Mira finds that she doesn't even have the strength to stop him. He's gone before her voice returns but she finds she has nothing to say.
Instead, she wordlessly orders Khan to track down May and leaves the gym behind.
Aro rolled the golden crystal between his fingers. Like a river running downstream, his Light flowed into the shard from his stores. Maybe it wasn't an exaggeration to call them bottomless. He slept with the thing near him now and through the night, it drank and drank far beyond what should have reasonably been its fill and still, he felt no difference; just the gentlest of tugs to remind him it was there. His fingers moved away from the crystal and he let the thing float into the air. It responded so well to his Light too, easier than the ball he regularly used for practice. Rahool had referred to them as like engrams; potential made physical. There was no way to know when it would be ready, what it would do when it was ready and what that would mean for him. All Aro could do was wait and watch.
"Aro?" Kain pulled his eyes from the shard. "It's time. We ready?"
He let the shard fall and his hand swiped it out of the air before it could thump against his chest. Aro rose from the position he had been, flat on his back across the mats of the meditation room. "Are you? I still don't know how to pull you in with me."
"I usually barely even notice," Kain admitted, "It feels like…"
"Stepping into another room?"
"More like the room changed while I remained in place. It's so subtle, if your mind wasn't firing off in surprise anytime you did it, I might not even notice."
Aro took a deep breath, crossing his legs. His eyes roved over the room, the grey walls, the low lights and the hum of the ventilation. He took another breath, feeling his chest rise and fall. Then he closed his eyes.
He knows that he should keep them closed when he stops feeling the floor beneath his body. He knows that he should keep them closed when the sound of the air conditioning disappears. He knows to open them when it returns, gradually and louder than before. It was still jarring when he did; the change from minimal color to pure black-and-white, the twisted spires and long towers off in an impossible distance, the flashes of sourceless lightning.
"Kain?"
"I'm here, documenting. Move around a bit."
Aro looked down and found dark solid ground beneath his feet again. He dropped to his knee and placed his hand flat against the surface. Cool and coarse like stone and still struck him as strange. When he lifted his hand and strained his eyes to look at his palm in the dark, neither rubble nor sand dusted it. "Strange," Aro thought, looking up at the endless black sky. "You'd think with the winds…"
He opened his palm and called on his Light. Nothing happened. He looked down at his body, ran his hands down it, his chest, arms and legs. He felt everything about himself. He was tangible. Yet, Aro knew, at the same time, that this wasn't his real body but more of a projection. His real body was back in the Tower, seated in the same position in which he had left it. So he was sure, he was a projection but if not of his Light, then of what?
Ringing. In his ears, so sharp and jarring, he felt it in his teeth. Aro spun around on his heels. He didn't know why he did it, why he felt the need but as soon as the urge slipped into his mind, his body moved to react. His heart was thundering in his chest and his breathing was becoming shallow. He felt sluggish and heavy, like a hand on his shoulders or around his throat. His nose filled with the smell of soil after rain and it only grew stronger the more he searched for its source.
All he needed was to look down to find the cause.
The figure before him sat square on the ground, cross-legged in a fashion similar to the one he left himself in back on Earth. A dark figure dressed in black, the shadows and the distance hid its face. But it was undoubtedly human, with all the arms and legs being so entailed. It looked human but somehow, some way, it simply wasn't. What kept him from moving forward, from taking those few steps just to get a closer look was the fact that every little bit of dread he hadn't been feeling before but was suddenly feeling now, was coming from this thing before him.
It was when he was only just able to calm the rising panic in his stomach and start telling himself to back away did the figure move. Its head had been down, fist pressed against its cheek. Now the head was rising, the shoulders were squaring and when the figure finally opened its eyes, it brought out the only bit of color in this black and white hellscape.
Pride's hands lowered into his lap, long fingers clasping together. He didn't even pretend to not notice Aro. His eyes roved over him, flitting back and forth, boring into him, keeping him rooted to the spot.
It wasn't lost on Aro that this shouldn't have been as jarring as it was. He dreamed about Pride all the time and the area surrounding them, full of monsters that want to tear him limb from limb, looked like this. But this isn't a dream. This isn't a vision. Pride was here and by the way he sat, casually, almost as if he was bored, he had been waiting.
Pride's quiet tone rang out in the sharp silence, "Keep your focus, Aro," he told him, "Physical distractions break the connection. You're not here physically, like I am. You have nothing to fear from this place," he said, his lips turning upwards slightly, "You have nothing to fear from me."
Aro hears him and refuses to believe, taking a few steps further back. Despite his fear, his voice is coming out before he can stop it. "Where is here?" he demands, "Where are we?"
Pride leans back slightly and sighs. His head turns from Aro and shifts upwards, eyes roaming over the sky as if finding the best way to answer. Too human an action for Aro's taste. "Depends on who you ask, honestly. The Sea of Screams. The Overworld. The Ascendant Plane."
Aro dares to take his eyes off Pride, copying his movement and running over his surroundings. "How is this possible? How am I here?"
"Most beings connected to either the Light or the Dark can find their way here," he explained, his tone reminiscent of one speaking to a child. How Aro used to explain things to Maya. "The stronger ones don't need help. And the strongest…" Pride's sharp grin lit up the darkness, "Tend to do it by accident."
Any steeling of nerves Aro had done was quickly coming undone. He didn't know much about the Ascendant Plane but he knew about Ascendant Hive and their own connection to this place.
"You've seen me here," Aro stated.
Pride's eyes flicked back over to him. "Aro..." His tone carried warning.
"You've been seeing me here. What else can see me here?"
"Focus, Aro...we're not done here."
"No," he spat, "No. I have nothing to say to you. I'm leaving."
He didn't. It should've been immediate, as if waking from sleep. But he was still here, the wind still rushing in his ears and Pride still sitting before him. Aro squeezed his eyes shut and forced it, tensing every muscle, clenching his teeth, doing whatever he needed to shock himself back into his body and after a few moments, the sounds of the winds began to die away.
Pride's weary sigh was his only warning. Aro snapped back solid, so suddenly, he felt his knees shake and then give out beneath him. Unable to stop himself, Aro toppled forward, falling to the ground with his hands pressed against his stomach, which burned like Solar Light.
As quickly as it had started, it stopped. Still trembling, Aro moved his head across the ground and locked onto Pride again. Pride's body lifted off the ground without him moving a muscle. He unfolded his legs beneath him as soon as he was high enough before lowering back down. Then he strode forward, stopping before Aro and crouching down. "We. Are not. Done."
He watched as Aro fought to catch his breath and regain his bearings. Then he reached out for him. Aro swiped at his hands on instinct but before his arms could swing past, Pride caught them and held tightly. He rose and brought Aro with him, his hand on Aro's chest in order to support him. "You said I couldn't be hurt here," Aro's voice came out as a wheeze.
Pride's hand moved from his chest to his shoulder and smiling, he answered, "When it comes to the two of us, Aro, I'm the exception to a lot of rules." He pat Aro's shoulder, hard enough to shake him before slipping away. "I'm surprised it took you this long to start making your way here on your own."
"On my own?"
"You slip in here so often. You'd think you would have figured things out a bit quicker. Though I suppose not, since it mainly happens while you're asleep."
Asleep. "My dreams?" Aro asked, "Since the day my Ghost found me, I've been coming here?"
Pride starts walking, pacing in a circle around Aro. His steps are silent and Aro looks down to find his feet just inches off the ground. "Which strange dreams, exactly? The ones of a roiling dark or the prophetic ones?"
"Proph...damn it, either! Both!"
"The prophetic ones are mostly your own. Sometimes your Light reaches into the future. Other times, it's the Traveler talking to you. Warning you, probably about me."
Aro looks through his memories, recalling every dream he's had that has come true. One sticks out the most. "A year before Wrath(K) came for Asura, I had a dream of the Heralds."
Pride stopped walking, his back to Aro.
"There were six of you, Gluttony was gone," he continued, "And my people, my team were behind me. Asura, Crona, Daniel, all of them."
Pride turned his head just slightly and folded his hands behind his back. "
"When I looked back at the Heralds, something felt off, even though nothing had changed. I turned back to my side and saw Asura missing. When I turned back again, he jumped at me. Took his knife and…" Aro's hand came up, his fingers ghosting over his face, as if he could still feel the blade tearing into the skin and muscle.
Pride sighs again. "Seems about right," he said, "Though my abilities of foresight were always just a bit stronger than yours."
"What does that mean?"
"You saw your friend with a knife, right?"
Aro confirmed, "I did."
"I saw him shoot you." He turned fully this time, "Do I even need to ask which one of us was more accurate?"
"...I-" Both men pause. Their gazes break away from each other and focus off into the distance. Pride's eyes sharp and unblinking, Aro's wide with terror. A few seconds of silence follow the abrupt cut to their conversation. Then a roar echoes off in the distance. They had both felt it coming.
"We're done here," Pride said. His body lifted off the ground again, this time floating off, most likely towards the source.
"What was that? Pride!" Aro starts to follow, running across the stone path to catch up. "Answer me, Pride! What's going on…" Pride only gets further away, ignoring him all the while. Aro lets out a sharp, frustrated growl. On instinct, he jumps.
He doesn't fall. Aro glides up and over the gap between his place and the next path, broken and crumbled in the air. The realization that he could actually use his Light breaks his concentration and he drops, hand latching onto the edge just before he could fall past. Now he was roaring. "Damn it! Pride!"
Aro hauls himself up over the edge of the walkway and is greeted by the sight of legs. He twists his head to look up into Pride's eyes. Unlike before, the Herald doesn't move to help, leaving Aro to struggle in pulling himself all the way.
The pain in his stomach returns. All the strength leaves his arms and Aro finds himself both struggling to maintain his grip on the ledge and unable to push past the pain and call on his Light.
Pride's hand darts down and takes hold of Aro's wrist. With just one arm, he lifts Aro up until they were face to face. Aro's free hand immediately goes to his stomach, clutching it, as if he could squeeze out the pit digging its way deeper.
They both hear the roar again and Pride turns away to stare in that direction again for just a second before turning back to Aro, eyes locking with his. "Leave."
He released his grip. Aro doesn't fall for even up to a second before he feels something solid and cool hits his damp back. His breathing is hard and labored but beneath it, as his senses come back into focus, he can hear the soft sounds of ventilation. His eyes focus on the light above his head, dimmed due to the lack of movement. The walls were no longer black and white but a dim grey and aside from his Ghost, Aro was alone once again.
"How long?" Aro's voice doesn't rise beyond an extremely weak whisper.
"Five hours." Kain floated up from his lap to meet his eyes. "Pride. Pride was really…"
Aro shakes his head and unsteadily pushes himself to his feet. He takes another look around the room. Mats stacked against the wall had been pushed out of place, some so forcefully, they had been toppled over. He looks down at his hands, feels the humming beneath the skin.
He shuffles his way across the floor to the window. Kain opens it slightly for him to look outside. It was dark. The center of the City was a dim glow in the distance, far from his area of the Tower. "Five hours," Kain tells him again, "It's nearly midnight."
Aro braced his arms against the wall and awaited the question that would inevitably be asked.
"Who do we tell, Aro?"
He doesn't have an answer, so he remains silent. The Warlock pushes away from the wall and moves over to the mats, picking them up and arranging them the best he can.
"The Vanguard, of course. The Speaker, as well." He watches Aro continue in silence but Aro could already feel the impending suggestion on his mind. "What about-"
"No."
"Aro, Daniel saw the future, just like us. He's the only other person on the team who knows and-"
"And the man can't bring himself to leave me alone around his family!" Aro exploded, a mat falling from his hands and hitting the ground. "I'm so much within ten feet of Maya and he nearly throws a fit. How well do you think he's going to take the fact that I'm talking to Pride?"
"'Talking?'" Kain repeats, "So you plan to continue?"
Aro glowers at his Ghost but only because he was annoyed with himself for being so easily caught. He bent down to pick up the fallen mat. "He offered me answers to questions I've had my entire life. But only if I go to him. Isn't this a better alternative?"
"He's proven he can hurt you, Aro. That he can keep you there and force you out on a whim. We don't know how long he can keep you there. It could be forever."
Aro put his hand to his stomach, the memory of the pain like a knife breaking skin. "I don't know," he admitted, his previous fire gone. "But if he wants the Gate, I'll have to come to him physically, won't I?"
"Or he can come to you. Hold you here and assault the City."
"He wants me to come to him, Kain. Willingly." He turned away from his Ghost. "And we've already seen that it's possible I might do so."
Aro turned away from the restacked mats and started towards the door. The lights shut off as he stepped out into the hall, lights also dimmed for the night. Few people littered the long hall and most of them were leaving as well.
"Trust," Kain said inside his head. "We're going off of nothing but trust."
"Yes," Aro responds. "I'm trusting that he wants me to come to him of my own free will. I'm trusting that he speaks the truth when he said...when he said that he missed me. I'm trusting Pride to keep his word."
He can feel Kain's frustration welling up, so much nervousness for so small a creature. "And I need you to trust me, Kain." Aro finished, stopping and turning towards the Ghost over his shoulder.
Kain turned to look back, his blue eye running across Aro's face, his thoughts roaming through the planes of Aro's mind. Then he turned away again. "I trust you. I've always trusted you." He turned back to look Aro in the eye again, "And I always will."
He continued on and after a short while, Aro moved to follow.
Corsairs to the front and behind them, escorting the trio like prisoners to be sentenced. The bows Erek had received upon landing, docking and disembarking told him this was not true. Didn't mean he had to feel otherwise. What else do you call someone trapped in a place they had to be? Erek and his team were led silently and unnecessarily, as though he were both prince and stranger, through the base's great hall; a long, ornate path that connects the throne room to the rest of the Vestian Outpost. It was the second nicest part of the base, if only to remind those traversing it what awaited them at the very end.
The massive doors split open of their own accord and revealed the rest of the path, the great hall's only better. Served to even further remind you of who resided here; their prestige, their importance, their power. Erek would be lying if he said he always hated it.
The Corsairs pause respectfully and then continue forward, taking their guests along with them. Over the quiet rustle of banners and deep, purple velveteen drapes above them, their steps filled the room; Kayla's light footfalls, Daniel's heavy stomping and Erek's deliberate masking. From ahead, eyes bore into them. One in particular has a measure of presence and pressure.
The Queen. His sister.
Bright eyes in the dark, low and lidded, offering no emotion or interest and barely, if any, notice or acknowledgement. But Erek knows her. Knows she's smarter than that. She notices them. She sees how they've changed. The demons simmering beneath the surface. Maybe burning, in Erek's case.
This wasn't like before; a discussion of alliances hidden behind a diplomatic front. There was no need for introductions and at this stage, the Queen had little patience for them. Only the Corsairs go to their knees. Mara stands from her throne and takes each step down one by one.
Behind her throne, Variks' staff clinks against metal. Petra stands and Uldren, eyes for only Erek, sheathes the knife he had in his hand and pockets the small, smooth whetstone in his other. Erek recognizes it. He had given it to him.
The Corsairs remain on their knees and the Guardians, at the very least, bow their heads as she strides past them, beckoning them to follow after she has. "Shall we begin?"