eat sh*t and die } LUPEI

[Straia]

i am the violence in the pouring rain

i am a hurricane

Perhaps they are outnumbered, but it doesn’t matter. The Chamber is strong, and the members fight until they have nothing left to give, and the other side runs scared and uncertain. That is of course what the Chamber demands of her members, but still, Straia is proud. She doesn’t enter the melee, though keeps tabs on what’s happening, sending her ravens to aid whenever and however she can, though the majority of her focus remains on combating the magicians as best she can. Shadow ravens to fight the creatures of light that Yael creates. Metal ravens to peck and claw away at the beasts of stone that Vanquish sends into the fight. Ravens of light to dance around the heads of the magic-made beasts, distracting them from their horse prey.

So many die, though she doesn’t find it all that sad. They wanted war. Everyone knows the cost.

It is quite some time before Lagertha finally finds her. War is never really civilized, war is never really anything but madness. They could have, of course, called the Chamber to the plains. But hadn’t it been Yael and Prague to start the madness. Straia had simply told them it was time for war. She never said where. Not that the so-called good side would ever admit that so much of their was their own doing. They don’t want to admit their hands are dirty. But they are, of course. Isn’t everyone’s, if we’re really being honest?

“Do you still long for battle, Warrior Queen?” Straia asks, ignoring the question for a moment. Why? Because she can. Because it is entirely unclear what side is winning, and she knows that at this point, her enemies have so little to bargain with. She may not have all that much, but she’s always been clever about finding the upper hand. Sometimes not caring much for the result really helps in that. “What if you had asked in the beginning? Could all these deaths have been avoided?”

Perhaps. She wouldn’t have needed a war, if they had simply rolled over on their backs and admitted that the Chamber was stronger. Ah, but they never would have.  Of course, she doesn’t expect an answer to that question. It’s merely food for thought. She’ll have to leave Beqanna with something, if she’s to leave. Not that she’d expected this to end, any differently. End with a bang, yes?

“You speak for the Amazons, but what of the Deserts and the Gates?” she asks again, finally getting down to business. Two ravens appear above her, winging off into the zoo to find the respective Kings of those kingdoms. Not that she actually cares what Mast agrees to. Without the Amazons and the Deserts, he was nothing. But she’ll pretend, for appearances sake.

“Nor will I agree to let anyone have a say in the next monarch.” She’d worked far too hard to let a bunch of goody-two-shoes dictate the future of her kingdom. As a reminder, she reaches for Lagertha’s heart, aiming to do nothing more than brush against it. She has no desire to kill the Amazonian Queen, but it’s a reminder that they are bargaining for lives. And Straia doesn’t have to touch someone to rip their life out. “Besides, I’ve already designated my heir. I suspect you will find him agreeable.” She had picked him for a reason. He could lead the Chamber in a time of peace, and would know when to hand the reins over when he grew weary. Another raven appears and then flies into the melee, hunting for Killdare, asking far too much of him by bringing him into this meeting. He was tattered and torn and exhausted, she knew, but she also knew he would come.

straia

the raven queen of the chamber

@[Vanquish], @[Mast], and @[Killdare]