"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
The Chamber. A place that’s been leaking out of mouths everywhere lately. Tiberios hears the whispers on his journey here, and he’s not sure if he likes what the hushed rumors are circulating. Kidnapping, attacking, magic. The Chamber was restless, and somehow he believes his son has become an object of interest. How the Falls has come to tangle themselves in political warfare escapes him, but there were a lot of loose ends with the Falls these days - loose ends that Tiberios was ready to tie up. It would be hard to re-awaken the sleepy kingdom he now ruled, but he was willing to try anything to see it happen. Even death. When it came to his son’s safety, however, the fire-wielding sabino was eager to dole out a severe sentence to any involved.
He’s surprised that the Chamber and the Falls aren’t interacting more. The two kingdoms bordered each other, and the Falls was neither good or evil. An alliance wasn’t too far of a stretch in his mind, but he wonders how Straia will approach the idea. Force-wise the Falls has nothing to offer, but the strong arm of the Chamber is mighty enough to strike a blow without too much help. They have the healing waters, but with magicians in tow one finds a journey simply to heal is a little inconvenient. Straia is an adept maneuverer, and Tiberios will have to tread carefully to match her cunning. But he’s up to the challenge.
He arrives calmly enough, amber gaze flicking slowly through the shadowy forest before stopping at the Chambers borders. He’s not here to show his backside, but he’s not here to be walked upon either. In a last minute decision he rouses his gift, giving himself a makeshift crown of white-blue flames. From a barren branch a raven caws, feathers puffed up against the colder weather. He turns to peer at the curious creature, tail absently swirling at his hocks. “Straia.” He calls, to none in particular. He assumes the queen will hear either way.
Kushiel, for all his other faults, liked to give credit where credit was due. Straia and Gryffen’s plan seemed to be working remarkably well. Suddenly, people were paying attention. Mission accomplished. If only Kushiel hadn’t been dumped unceremoniously in the Deserts. That, certainly, wasn’t part of the plan. He still had sand in places that were not fit to be mentioned in polite company.
Good thing he wasn’t polite.
But still, a little sand between the cheeks was a small price to pay for the fun they had. It was bonding really, to strike a mighty blow beside one’s Chambermates. Kushiel had never pictured himself as a brother in arms, but suddenly, the idea of a little sweat and ash didn’t seem so bad. He’d gotten some good laughs out of it as well. Like that hugely fat colt that had nearly run Shaytan to the ground.
Truly hilarious.
All in all, it was not a bad day’s work, and Kushiel still found himself thinking back on it fondly. However, a memory was just that, in the past. As nice as a life of indulgent leisure was, it didn’t do much to get a man’s blood up. Luckily, Kushiel had made his home in the most happening spot in town. And it looked like the newest visitor had just arrived.
Kushiel recognized Tiberios from description. There weren’t that many white fire wielders around who had nearly burned off half of their body. Kushiel meandered his way over to the king, and spoke to him in an exaggerated stage whisper.
“Hey, I can do that too.” With a dramatic flourish Kushiel’s own flames leapt up around his head in a crown to match Tiberios’, expect Kushiel's was orange and red, rather than blue and white. He grinned roguishly at the other stallion.
“Though, if you’re trying to impress Straia don’t bother. I’ve already tried it.” That much was true. Kushiel had tried the same crown trick on her, and it hadn’t had the desired affect, namely, to woo her. He doubted Tiberios would have any more luck, even if his fire was a pretty color.
It took him long enough. Really how do you go this long without noticing your own child is missing? Since he had stolen the colt and spirited him off to the Chamber, he hadn’t seen him since. It was assumed Straia had stored him into a cabinet somewhere, a place where nobody would find him and he would not escape. And then they had waited. It seems today the wait is over. His own feathery raven, swirling with shadows and nightmares, brings him the news. Since he had risen to Master of Whisperers he had started to understand the language of his raven. So far it had only been his raven, the others kraws and caws were simply just that. His raven however, the kraws were a white noise in the background of it’s words.
The bird has flown through the pines to the scarred burnt ground that had yet to regrow. His own personal graveyard that the Chamber ghost could haunt when he wasn’t terrorizing the Mountains. It’s talons close sharply onto the white stallion’s shoulder, reopening old wounds that he’s long grown accustomed to. The falling water man is here but he is two faced. Gryffen narrows his red eyes as it crows into his ear. The bird usually spoke in riddles or gave odd descriptions and he didn’t always pick up right away what it was trying to tell him. This time though, it was pretty easy to figure out. The water part at least, the second part not so much. In the distance he hears a call ring out. The raven was right, they had a visitor.
Ruffling his feathery wings, he leaves the snowy clearing and makes for the border. His hooves crunch over the fine layer of snow, his crimson gaze brighter in the stark whiteness of his surroundings. Kushiel is already there, comparing fire stories it seems. He takes in the newcomer quickly, noticing the flicker of white flames around his ears. Neat trick. ”Our visitor is armed. This seems to be a not so friendly visit.” He muses aloud, unfurling his wings as he closes the distance between them. His raven calls out, an alarm sound, although there is no need for it. A cool and calculating look is given to the stallion, now able to see the burnt side of him. Ah, two-faced. Makes sense now. ”I suggest you douse your flames. We wouldn’t want to perceive you as a threat now would we?”
He’d expected to be greeted by others before Straia herself came. In a kingdom that thrived off of chaos, a new face at the border is just irresistible it seems. What he does not expect is the manner in which they receive him. The first to arrive is a fleshy grey character, and Tiberios only offers a half-hearted smirk at the whispers and the matching crown. He’s interested in the stallion, because before this he’d never gotten to personally meet another fire wielder. There’s a reason that his flame is a blue color, but he won’t explain this to the other stallion because it’s a pointless conversation. “Oh don’t worry.” He says to his strange companion, “I doubt anything could impress Straia these days.”
If it had just been these two together, conversing rather oddly until Straia had made her appearance, Tiberios would have been somewhat appreciative. But things never go so smoothly, and this is made true when another stallion appears - white of coat and sharp of tongue, Tiberios takes an instant, yet secretive disliking to the meddlesome creature. He turns a rather disappointed eye to the loud-mouth, but only flicks a single ear in his direction at his veiled threat. “I must admit, I’m flattered that you’d be up in arms over a single horse against your entire kingdom.” He smiles here, a low chortle echoing through the woods around them.
“You speak rather boldly, stranger. I wasn’t aware the Chamber had a king?” His head tilts, and he contemplates the red-eyed nuisance through his own narrowed gaze. Straia was keeping rather strange company it seemed. “Have no fear. I’m here for peace, not war.” he suspects this will disappoint them both, but it’s not their place to decide. He relaxes then, offering another bold smile to both before shifting to get comfortable. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Tiberios, King of the Falls, and I’m here to talk to Straia.”
He laughs but it holds little warmth. His red eyes hold a steely gaze as he takes in the stallion before him. "Simply a suggestion. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to offend Straia or her subjects? We are a rather sensitive bunch” Slightly joking, slightly not. He is silent while Tiberios speaks, the puzzle pieces starting to click and he brushes off the insults for the moment. A smirk finds his lips as he finishes, now having all the clues solved. It explains why the stallion is so haughty and confident, that usually happens when a new crown falls on their heads. ”Peace is what you seek is it? What happened to your Queen… For I wasn’t aware there was a King of the Falls.” He pauses for a moment, considering the half burnt stallion. ”I’m Gryffen, Master of Whisperers.” He gives a slight roll of his shoulder, feather wings ruffling at the movement. It was just one of many names and titles he was known by. It amuses him, this stallion. As if you needed to be a King to have any sort of power. ”This is Kushiel, one of our diplomats. I’m sure we will suffice till Straia is available.”
He knows that the ravens would be calling her out as they had started circling the moment his own raven had called out. ”I would think that the King of the Falls would be aware of our current standing with your Kingdom. Especially after members of yours have so boldly come to our home before. Is that a common trait in your kingdom…. To seek out members without much of a brain?” He pauses for a moment, red eyes hardening with a glint in their depths. Thinking of Chezter of course. That idiot was what had made the Falls a sudden target for them, why they had increased their steals and challenges towards the weak kingdom. Surely the King would be aware of this. ”But then again, that was before your time I suppose. Perhaps changes will be made.” Perhaps not. They were the ones holding his son hostage after all but it seems Tiberios is unaware of that little fact which made it all the more fun for him and what keeps him in place and waiting for the Queen's arrival.
The call in unnecessary. Ravens sit in the trees everywhere, and they alert her of his arrival. Though she knows some still either call out of courtesy or simply because they don’t know the extent of her connection with the ravens. Either way.
She is hardly the first to arrive, but she is simply on time, and everyone else is early. She’s caught pieces of the conversation as she weaved her way through the trees to close the distance between herself and her visitor. She has no real interest in the Falls, new king or not. Unless he proved to be actually worth sometime. But she had offered at least some level of friendship to the Falls, and they hadn’t care. And so she moved on.
Straia doesn’t beg. And the Chamber certainly doesn’t need the Falls.
“If you are here for peace, why do you wear your flames like you are scared?” she says, emerging from the shadows nearby. “Tell me Tiberious, when, under my rule, have you ever heard of the Chamber hurting a diplomat?” They were all running scared though, wielding their powers on the border as if the entire might of the Chamber couldn’t bring them down in a heartbeat.
As if she couldn’t simply stop their hearts with a blink of her eye. Which she could. But unlike the raven magic, she has not told anyone of the second gift the Chamber had given her, and nor would she. That one was best kept as a surprise. “And you are assuming I’m even willing to talk to you. Maybe I’m not.” She pauses, just letting that hang there for a moment. She’s tired of playing nice with kingdoms that continually waste her time. “Make it quick, or worth my while.” She says, giving him his window.
He kind of enjoys the way that Gryffen gets so ruffled over a few words, and the hard glint in the red eyes actually make him feel a little less irritated at Straia’s pet. He was, after all, only an extension of the queen herself. A pawn, until he was useless to her and then he’d move on or die or something else. There’s nothing that Gryffen can say that will evoke any sort of emotion out of the marked stallion, so he only watches him fumble for an insult curiously until Straia herself arrives.
When she opens her mouth, Tiberios can feel a sensation akin to confusion. The power had certainly gone to everyone’s head around here it seemed, and she was incredibly eager to turn away the father of a child she may or may not have had a hand in snatching away. Her boldness takes him back, but he lets her talk nonetheless. “I’ve heard plenty of things, Straia, but idle talk isn’t my forte so I don’t indulge in it.” His tail flicks absently at his side, amber eyes watching her closely. She contradicts herself next, and it almost rouses a laugh from the sabino but instead he quells the urge with a warm smile. “Well you’re here now, so I suppose it was a correct assumption.” Traited or not, Straia is still a horse, and (for all he knows yet) she still has a beating heart.
He understands her lack of time, her need to press upon him this sense of wickedness she’s displaying now. Always, in all aspects, she must maintain the upper hand. Tiberios is through playing the Chambers games though, so he moves on. “The Falls is under new leadership, and I intend to change things drastically. I came here to offer you an alliance, and a seat for one of your trusted members to sit on a council.” He makes sure to put a slight emphasis on the word ‘trusted’, but doesn’t pause in his offer. “The seat is a representation of goodwill between our kingdoms, with the member voicing the Chamber’s needs. This seat also ensures you unlimited and unquestioned access to the healing waters at any time, for any of your members.” He finds it needless to say that those who do not represent a seat, will not be granted access to the Falls.
“The Falls has had her chance at neutral peace, and it has stifled her. It’s time for change.” He says, putting the matter to rest once and for all. He flicks a solitary ear to the side, thinking carefully about his next choice of words. “It was my hope that my only son, Prince Khalis, could find a suitable place in one of the Kingdoms on the council as a symbol of trust between the Falls and her allies, but to my dismay he’s gone missing.” He blinks, slowly, knowing that she knows but he will not verbally accuse her. It’s a knife’s edge sort of dance that Tiberios despises. “If we were to become allies, I would ask for your help in recovering him, wherever he may be.”
She isn’t bold, or wicked, or trying to make a show of it. She just doesn’t care enough to be polite. Nothing more. She doesn’t even contradict herself. He had assumed something. Maybe she wouldn’t have come at all. And maybe, she doesn’t actually want to talk to him. Alright, not maybe. She doesn’t. The only reason she’s here is because she has to be. Truthfully, she’d rather left Gryffen chase him home to the butterfly kingdom he comes from. The Falls wastes her time constantly, and she’s rather done with it.
So far, he has no proven himself to be remotely worthy of her time.
But she doesn’t say anything to his snide comments in return to hers. At least, in that, he wasn’t cowed. Though he was annoyed enough to say something. But she does not, because the banter is no longer amusing and she’s already moved on to his little speech.
“I beg to differ. Shatter still rules along side you, not that she’s been seen much lately. So I don’t think that’s entirely new leadership, unless you simply intend to ignore her completely and do whatever you want.” Of course she knows. The ravens keep her constantly up to date. Shatter still sits, rather worthlessly, on the other half of the Falls throne. And so Tiberios and run around and say things are changing, but in the end, it could prove to be a lot of talk and nothing else. “Has she agreed to all your changes?”
She pauses for a moment, waiting for an answer. And then she addresses the rest. She is against having access to the healing waters, but the Chamber doesn’t need it. They have two magicians, though magicians are fickle. But so are alliances. “Essentially what you are offering me is healing waters, that we don’t really need. In exchange, you get one of my members and make them spend a chunk of their time in the Falls so they can be on this council with no real power. You also get the power of the Chamber army behind you. Tell me Tiberios, what can you offer the Chamber that would actually be of some use to us?”
His next bit, she smiles a bit. “Ah, we agree on something. The Falls does need change. Though I really wonder if we share anything in common on what that change ought to be.” She laughs a bit. Even if Tiberios has a thirst for chaos, the rest of his kingdom did not. And no monarch sits on the throne long when they go against everything their subjects want.
Then he mentions his son. “He didn’t tell you? What a shame. Your son has come here, and he’s really rather enjoying his life in the Chamber. You are welcome to see him whenever you want.” She doesn’t bother to say he was captured. The boy may or may not tell his father that detail, but at this point, it was irrelevant anyway. The Falls Prince liked the Chamber, and had no desire to go back to the Falls. So how he got here was rather irrelevant. She’d rather point out that his son was happily living here, far away from his parents.
He sees, rather quickly, that this meeting has completely gone awry. Straia has no time for him, and Tiberios is wasting his own time trying to reason with her. If she will not have the alliance, then so be it. They have the Jungle and they had the Dale. With any luck, Tiberios reasons, they might be able to procure the Deserts as the final council seat. When Straia makes her intentions clear Tiberios does nothing but roll his shoulders and nod. “Time will tell, I suppose.”
Then the subject turns back to his son, and he’s all ears. Straia wears a smile, a reaction that Tiberios burns into his memory for a later date. He garners no reaction though, no step sideways, no irregular breath. He begs to differ that his son is enjoying it here, in fact - he knows it to be false. Khalis undoubtedly misses his home, his parents, the Falls. Straia knew nothing of his son, but she could lie well. He only offers a subtle “Hmm.” in response to her statement of him visiting before sighing deeply. “Well, lucky for me I can always make more sons.”
The sabino smiles again, dipping his head in a makeshift bow before taking a step backwards. “You know where to find me if you need anything.” He comments, turning on his heel and taking his exit.
Tiberios
