Passing of the Imperial Blade

[Itosaki]

(Note: Akara and I have already talked about this off-board; thus I will be taking a couple liberties that I normally wouldn't take. Akara, if you've any issue just poke me on Skype.)

Throne Room, Castle Ravenlock, Central Lunitaris

Ito was on his throne, leaning over a lap-mounted desk, about the size of four large books when folded, with various intelligence reports scattered across it, along with one certain document that he always carried when he was in the castle. The work of state was a grueling business, indeed, and he was preparing to summon spies for various missions, when one of his personal pages approached him. "Imperator", the page said. "Imperatrix requests your presence, and that of the Imperial Blade, in her quarters." he said simply. Ito shuffled papers around the desk, stacking them together so that he could get to them when the time was needed to deal with these matters again. "Thank you. We are not to be disturbed until new orders are given." the Morleian said smartly, and the page nodded. "Yes Sir." With that, Ito took the desk under his arm and went into the royal chambers; what he didn't know is that this would likely be the last time he'd pass through that door of his own will.

Upon arriving, Ito closed the massive door behind him, and stood in front of it. "Yes, Akara?" he asked, still hefting the fairly weighty wood and metal desk under his left arm. "You wanted to see me?" Sure enough, he'd brought the Imperial Blade, as ordered.

[εмρяεss αкαяα яαvεηℓσcк]

Akara had sent a page to request Ito’s presence. She needed to speak with him and she felt that if she told the page to inform him to bring the Imperial blade with that he just might understand what this meeting would be about. She sighed softly. Ito had become a dear friend to her in the years since they had met and been married. Her dress was much more conservative than she would normally wear, despite the fact that her top was a corset. While normally it would have been one that tied in the front, this time it was traditional and laced up the back. Black leather and stamped with the Ravenlock crest across the front. Her skirt was full and of a crimson hue, no slits up the side of the ball gown style skirt. Normally she would have had a form fitting skirt on with a slit up each thigh. Her midriff was exposed, the hint of a fresh tattoo peaking out from the bottom of her corset on her right side. A loose fitting belt hung askew slightly below her hips.

She was pacing the room by the time Ito had arrived, quieter than she had expected him to be or she had simply been that distracted by her own thoughts. She turned on her heel to face him and her brow quirked up as she noticed the compact desk he had tucked under his left arm. “Ito, this is not an easy thing for me to say. We’ve had some wonderful years together, but we’ve spent more of them apart.” She sighed softly and forced herself to continue. “Most of those years you’ve spent off on one quest or another because you get so restless here. It would seem to me you’re not cut out for ruling on a large scale and that you don’t want it either. I care for you deeply, but I feel that I should set you free because we both know that I won’t stay with you and then take other lovers. I’ve always been the one man type of woman.”

Akara wasn’t sure if she should just right out tell him that her eye had been caught by another. Ito had never been the jealous type and she didn’t think he would overreact or swear vengeance or something of that nature. She simply didn’t want to hurt him that way, even though she knew the truth as the best thing she could offer him right now. She crossed the room to him with long strides and swept up the Imperial blade. The blade had been infused with blood magic, a protection spell to encompass the wielder born of her own blood. It was an impressive blade, infused with magic, the Ravenlock crest stamped on the blade nearest the hilt.

“To be honest with you, another has caught my eye. Whether or not I have caught his I do not know, I can only hope. You and I both know this is best for both of us even though I dislike hurting you in any way. You weren’t cut out for this life and this will solve any future problems we may ever have with Morleia as well. They want you to take a proper Morleian wife, and they will continue to rebel until you do. You prefer a simpler life, filled with battle. There will be a woman, joyous to be chosen by you and I would bless that marriage, I just don’t believe that you and I are working anymore.” She let her gaze fall because she wanted to hear his reaction before she had the heart to look at his face. She felt horrible for doing this now, especially after already having felt like she had caged Ito since their return from Morleia nigh one moon prior.

While her gaze was downcast, she slipped the imperial blade into the belt she had worn for this exact purpose and her thoughts strayed toward Finn.

[finnirialson]

Finn reclines on his own throne, attendant shades forming a phalanx of intimidation behind him as he broods over the only woman left in his life. So quickly and so unexpectedly did she come into it, and with her came the death of the queen he had come to believe would always be there. Before Donya's death, Sorcha had allowed her brother-son to seal her away behind iron walls that would withstand whatever attacks her sister could throw at them. All others were simply court girls, nothing special, and certainly nothing worth betraying the fierce and wild queen of Ravenlock for. Even his mother is hidden away on her throne of skulls in a distant place he will never journey to, simply because here in Faerie he is free to be whatever he wishes to be.

His eyes drift to the floor and consider the ruby crystals that remain there, the only evidence of the dual judgement that he and Akara perpetrated upon the monster of the fae. He remembers the screams of the Raven as she boiled alive from within, the delicious taste of her pain and suffering as he ate it and fed it out to his court to revive them, heal them of all that was done to them. He remembers the fear in her eyes as he knelt before her, his cruel intentions visible to only her who would know what he was capable of. He remembers the anger of her shade when she was forced into servitude, and yet the glee when she realized what she could do as one of his guards and the sudden willingness to serve a king she knows would wage a war with no compunctions. More than the Raven though, he remembers Akara as she was given the power of two courts.

He remembers how it overrode her, how she could not control it all at once and was forced to run and try to bleed it away safely. He remembers the taste of the lightning as it struck again and again. He remembers the power it gave him, the speed that he could summon and the distance he could travel. He remembers his apprehension at needing to confront the dragon within her. More than that, he remembers seeing her face again, tired and weary, spent in a way she was not used to, and still somehow glowing and nearly...content. Akara Ravenlock, the queen he never expected. She is never far from his thoughts anymore.