[22:25] 14The summit, the third of it's kind and hopefully for both of them not the last, happens in a little shack attached to an ersatz gatehouse overlooking the walk up to the last redoubt of the rebels, workers, and scum that characterize the resistance to Cathak Budokan, Budokan the Halver, Budokan, Lord of Blood, Budokan the Mad, Budokan the Holoc--- you get the idea. House Iselsi [22:25] 14doesn't like him very much, and Iselsi Piu has a job to do. [22:26] 14She has kindled the fireplace and kicked in the wood sitting nearby. This place is wet and dour coming out of its storm season. [22:26] 14As with all important discussions within this hearth...no boys allowed. [22:27] 07Dryas ducks into the gatehouse with her hearth-sister. "Rapid coziness technique. Impressive." [22:27] "Mmmm." 14Piu's in her full killer gear, except for the mask, which is pushed up on her head. So full black leathers with a cloak that's weird in the firelight. [22:30] "So Seiri's...someone else now." [22:30] "But she's not." [22:30] 07Dryas nods. "Whatever she calls herself, she's no stranger to us. Although she is much more... assertive now. I don't know what to make of it." [22:31] 14Piu: "She was the correct choice." [22:31] "I wished she'd had the Blood...a number of times." [22:32] 07Dryas: "What was it they said? Pure of heart, untainted. That was what the Sun was supposed to look for." [22:32] "And unlike what these idiots conjectured, the Sun chose an adult, fully made. He didn't prey on some babe." [22:34] 14She blows on the coals and the temperature in the room goes up noticeably, which is good considering where it was headed. "We gave Stranger the choice and she didn't start the heads and pikes routine. That's good." [22:34] 07Dryas's mouth shifts unhappily. "They're too young up here. Too many, too young. Thank the Dragons for Szalony... but even those ghost-botherering Skullstoners were barely more than children. One of them even asked me for mercy." [22:35] 14Piu: "You gave them mercy." [22:36] 07Dryas: "Did I? Is that mercy? That seems a little too close to the sort of thing they doubtless prattle on about." [22:38] 14Piu: "There's no such thing as a universal principle. When you kill a child who has been turned, by degrees, into a grinning revenant serving death and the perversion of the world, you free them. And I heard there was some after effect?" [22:38] "Some purification." [22:39] 07Dryas: "Golden ashes, floating away on the breeze. Both of them. Different and a little similar to what happened to Hamoji." [22:40] 14Piu: "Well. Better than just a cold corpse on the floor and the cooling blood." [22:40] "...We have to talk about the 'anathema' again, probably." [22:42] 07Dryas: "Technically, I've covered myself in glory. Although I don't exactly feel that way... I don't exactly not feel that way, either." [22:42] 14Piu: "You have. And in fairness, I would describe my position as: It's okay if we kill the right ones." [22:44] 07Dryas: "And what kind of chance do we give them to prove themselves? Or disprove themselves? If I stop to think about it even for a moment, my head starts spinning." [22:44] 14Piu: "Same chance we give other people. That's what they are." [22:45] "They're just people, but larger in some ways. Occasionally smaller in others." [22:45] "They die like people too, when we put our minds to it." [22:45] "Or in the case of Ted, when other people do." [22:45] "That takes away from how scary they are, at least for me. They're just people." [22:47] 07Dryas: "The two I stopped were heartbeats away from killing Seiri -- and, I think, maybe, Sadako, too; they must know something that eluded Salim the time he tried. To say nothing of the rest of the smallfolk." [22:47] 14Piu: "It's all about the jump, babe." [22:47] "They got it on the girls. Salim got it on Ted." [22:48] "We got it on that dead dipshit we hung upside outside his wedding chapel." [22:48] "First in? Last rout." [22:49] 07Dryas: "That your plan for the old man?" [22:50] 07Dryas's tone is conversational, not accusatory. [22:51] 14Piu: "Two boyfriends and an ambush is either a bad night out in the blue light district or a dead dynast walking. And there's no clubs in this town." [22:53] "More support would be nice but...this kill isn't exactly hearth business." [22:54] 07Dryas: "If a pas-de-deux won't do, why not complicate the dance with another partner? Might entice the younger Cathaks... this place doesn't lack for temptations, even without so much as a bar." [22:55] 14Piu sighs. "Enticing the younger Cathaks has never been my problem. I hope the twins come out of this without turning on us." [22:55] "Who do you suggest?" [22:57] 07Dryas: "Grenseal seemed to me ambitious. Shiroi, more resentful. And Budokan himself is addled enough to seriously offend either." [22:58] 14Piu: "Grenseal seemed, to me, like Skullstone's mole." [22:58] "I could be wrong." [22:58] "We might in fact want to compromise and keep Skullstone's mole." [22:58] 07Dryas: "What was it that struck you?" [23:00] "He was ambitious with no chance of realization. He knew it. Even if Shiroi took the mantle up next, she wasn't about to take him as a consort. Though she should have; the two of them are clearly...well, you can't account for bad communication. He was ambitious and going nowhere but he stuck around because something was telling him he had a chance to fix everything." [23:00] "Now, what did Gu Len think he was going to get out of his deal with the cold boys?" [23:01] 07Dryas: "No idea. Half the smartest idiots in this Direction seem to think they'll throw in with Onyx as a last resort." 07Nevermind that, arguably, the Fangs already did. [23:01] "A chance to fix everything." [23:02] "Skullstone offers easy solutions." [23:02] "Kind of a perversion of the Sun's brand, when you think about it. Easy solutions for other people, not the exalted themselves. All you need to do is sign up to death's seasonal program." [23:03] 07Dryas: "Better living through necromancy." 07She shakes her head. [23:04] 14She throws more wood on the fire. "I liked Ted a lot. In retrospect, I think I'm glad I didn't get to know him better. It allows me to justify the belief, to which I have no substantial evidence in opposition, that he was different." [23:04] "But we've met the rest of his fucking crew." [23:04] "Their flag is death and we'll oblige them." [23:05] 07Dryas: "My hand still feels slimy, when I think about it. The day I can wipe it clean will be a good one." [23:07] 07Dryas: "But Ted... whatever he was, whoever he was... I don't think he died like the Starveling did. I don't think he lived like that, either." [23:08] "Well, he definitely didn't die like them. My hand says so. And I hope he lived well. At the very least, all I saw was him living dissolutely. And that's better than the rest of these fuckers." 14She stands. "If we can secure the Lathe and move it to Old Mionzi, and if that means we can reclaim the weapon there and take advantage of the Lathe's benefits, we will have made a [23:08] declaration of war." [23:09] "I think we should do it." [23:09] "We'll have allies and, if we succeed here, a resource base."\ [23:10] "The Realm will have a fleet of careerist slugs...and that terrifying Cathak woman admiral." [23:11] "But with the Empress alive and blasting off to parts unknown, we might be able to send them off on a chase regardless." [23:13] "Jade here, timber in Abalone, if we make a few smart plays with the rest back on the Isle to keep things from going too insane, we might have the free hand we need to make something happen. The Empress lives, and she's looking for a bigger throne. What does that mean for the rest of us?" [23:13] 14Piu: "We have Garnet, and Garnet just wants to live. We have the Empress but better." [23:14] 14Piu: "I think it means we take the archipelago and directly oppose Skullstone." [23:14] "Not to get too vainglorious." [23:15] "But we've got Heaven looking at us directly now, and if we don't want women and men like Salim pestering us until we finally slip, we need to gesture towards a usefulness to their design. And they hate Skullstone." [23:17] "We should hold them at arm's reach. Even the people who hate Skullstone the most don't trust those star-stricken meddlers an inch. We must behave like very spoiled children." [23:17] 14Piu grins, but doesn't take the bait. [23:18] "Also a good play. We're going to have to take one of them into our court eventually, though. You know, in the historical record where we don't just fucking die." [23:18] "Otherwise we get five of them thinking they're smart, hanging out in our bilge deck or whatever." [23:20] "Yes, no good that." [23:21] 14Piu: "What's our direct position on peace here? Reconciliation after Budokan's death, and resource shipments to us?" [23:21] "We might need to bring Garnet out for that last bit." [23:22] "Someone should ask her. I volunteer, if I survive Budokan." [23:23] "I think that is just the right plan. I'm worried by what you say about Grenseal, but maybe you're right that if opportunists like that can see an opportunity in us, it means we're winning." [23:23] 14Piu: "I could be wrong about him. Maybe I hope I am. But twice scorned second sons? Bad business." [23:25] "What else is there... My relation, Cynis Rai, is here as well. I think you would find her respectable." [23:26] 14Piu: "So she hasn't threatened to humiliate, disown, or kill you?" [23:26] "Good woman." [23:27] 14That was delivered straight, not as a joke. We've had problems with House Cynis and House Iselsi. [23:29] 07Dryas nods. The floor is kind of low. "Perhaps one day we'll have the chance to set our houses in order." [23:30] 14Piu's smile is wider than it's been at any other point since they arrived on this benighted isle. "Oh, I'm planning on it." [23:32] 07Dryas: "The ones you hate are far away, the ones you cherish are nearer. It makes me happy for you, I guess. Which feels strange to say. I look forward to your plans." [23:33] "The bitch is only as far away from me as that fucking mirror, and her fucking people. So." [23:33] "But...I see what you mean, and you're right." [23:34] "Anyway. If we can get Grenseal on side, we should. I don't want to saddle Shiroi with a relationship she doesn't want, but if those two are just shaking tailfeathers at each other instead of having real and significant hatreds, then them as one and two of the new order with him flipped if he is informing to Skullstone is our best outcome." [23:34] "Just requires the death of a man permanently on fire." [23:34] "No big deal." [23:35] 07Dryas: "Fortune and glory." [23:36] "Jade and spade." [23:36] 14Piu stands and steals the fire from the hearth. "I'm going." [23:36] "Don't stop Stranger if she wants to follow after. But she'll be more useful in the negotiations." [23:37] 07Dryas glides to the door behind her. "Good luck. I'll try to stir some real shit up for you." [23:37] 14Piu grins. "Seeya when we win." 14She steps out into the rain and shadow, and they swallow her. 15[20:29] The meeting-space is bare, blackened, and free of anything flammable. The crater is deep and wide enough that, with more careful masonry and earthsculpting, it'd make a passable amphitheatre — but for now, the only earthworking being done is the rough-hewn volcanic glass table, pockmarked with the memory of superheated spall. The pillar of fire encroaching upon the parlay point 15[20:29] incites every animal urge to flee, but that's not a sorcerous bombardment or unnatural disaster; that's the man Dryas has agreed to talk to. 15[20:31] Neither of them are alone. Cathak Budokan is flanked by his two lieutenants, Shiroi of his house and Grenseal of his blood. An honor guard of battered and dirtied legionnaires and local conscripts fans out behind them, arranged in what might be a display of force and what might be the natural reticence to get too close to Budokan's rampant anima. 15[20:32] Behind Dryas is Temida, the rebel monk who disavowed her house to lead the rebel militia. Behind Temida is the bulk of Cinder Hearth's forces, visible only as soot-stained shields behind the ramparts of the settlement which has not yet fallen, and, if the Four Fangs win the day, never will. 15[20:34] There are some of Dryas's own people with her, including sailors from her own vessel, and her valet, the blind orphan her kinship hired off of Abalone a season or two back. 15[20:35] Elsewhere, out of sight and mind, Piu prepares to scratch another name off the gant-scribed list of targets handed down by her true House. Where's she set up? What's the plan, as Caedus, Rinca, and her kin understand it? [20:40] 14Well, the plan was to try and ambush him before he arrived at parlay, but that didn't work out. So now the plan is to...4smile! [20:40] 14And flutter the White Veil. [20:42] 10Get his ass. No, not like that. [20:42] 14It also means stuffing Silk Shadow under a rock nearby, or handing it off to a--stuffing it under a rock. 15[20:43] Back on the Prolix & Terse, Caxi enlists Daizo in treating some injuries accrued during the awkward I'm-not-touching-you peacekeeping Ratel put the crew to. She had a quick thumb for the Cathak twins, who've been put to bedrest despite injuries they could definitely fight through. You don't need to be a political genius to understand why. But Ito Pan and Ito Jun speculate aloud. "Is 15[20:43] everything settled out there?" Pan asks Daizo. [20:52] 10Daizo: "Just about. Dryas should already be working her magic at the parley. Feeling antsy about your kin?" 15[21:00] Pan: "About Dryas. What if she gets too horny for deals and the old man just *fwoosh*." He mimes an explosion. [21:05] 07Dryas holds up an arm in greeting. "Good afternoon," 07she exclaims genteelly. Her hair is streaked with dust and sweat, but her cloak is thrown to one side to conceal her wounds. Regardless, her hands are open and the great powerbow is slung casually across her back. 15[21:05] Piu and Dryas look across the table at Grenseal and Shiroi, while Dryas's valet sets out a tea service. Budokan, brow burning, stands behind his lieutenants, looking down at the women opposite through smoking nostrils. [21:06] 4Piu bows gracefully and low, back in her more revealing athletic casual wear. Not much more revealing, but previously, she wore all black silks and buckles covering her entire body and face. [21:07] 10A genuine laugh at that one. "I think she'd be able to get clear in time." 15[21:08] Shiroi: "Lady Dryas." 15[21:08] Grenseal: "Ma'am. Ma'am." 15[21:08] Budokan: "WHERE ARE MY AND V'NEEF'S AWFUL SONS?" [21:09] 07Dryas glances at her hearth-sister: "We are here to negotiate an end to the hostilities." [21:09] 4Piu, cheerfully: "In custody, and nut trusted to represent themselves or the people they led at this table!" [21:10] *not 15[21:13] Budokan's burning eyebrows go up, allowing a glowing sclera to perfectly encircle coal-black irises. "Truly? Then maybe this won't be a waste of time. I'll have their heads for starters." 15[21:13] Shiroi: "Let's take the fact that the traitors are in custody as a sign of good faith." [21:15] 07Where Piu is cheerful, Dryas will be somber - but silent a moment longer. Then, she channels the sort of thing she imagines someone like Deled might say: "A great evil was festering here. It very - very - nearly came to terrible culmination." 15[21:17] Shiroi: "What do you mean?" [21:17] 4Piu smiles benignly and lets Dryas work. [21:19] 07Dryas: "Heresy is like a tree. While its branches flourish, cruel things lurk in the shade." 15[21:20] Grenseal: "Too true, Lady Dryas. What atrocities have you observed here?" [21:25] 07Dryas: "Disguised among the settlement youths were two most ghastly servants of Skullstone. They are not in custody..." 15[21:27] Once the Cathak twins are patched up, Caxi and Daizo leave them be. "Gods alive, I am tired of this place. How are you, darling?" [21:27] 4Piu: "If the two awful sons of yours in custody are a sign of our good faith, let the two awful sons of the black sign of death lying on the ground with their threads severed be a sign of our resolve." 15[21:27] Shiroi: "Children?" 15[21:28] Budokan: "SPIES?!" 15[21:28] Grenseal: "How awful..." [21:35] 07Dryas: "They did not succeed in their goal - to raise a Shadowland upon the blood of the innocent. The rest of the children are safe. And I hold the rest blameless - for Szalony gave her life opposing them. And many others nearly did, as well." 15[21:38] Shiroi: "Barbarians." 15[21:38] Grenseal: "What became of the spies?" [21:40] 4Beaming: "My hearth-sister fucking killed them!" [21:43] 07Dryas blushes: "You look upon the slayer of three death-knights." [21:44] 4Piu: "They're team efforts but we let her take the kill shots for esoteric reasons!" 15[21:46] Grenseal seems taken aback. "Well! Thank you for your service, Lady Dryas." 15[21:47] Budokan: "BAH! A visitor wetting her hands in blood that was mine by right to spill. You've reduced me to a DELEGATOR, daughter of Cynis! Like Bubble." 15[21:47] "Was it a good kill, at least?" 15[21:48] Shiroi busies herself with the tea Dryas's valet has just served her so she doesn't have to offer an opinion on murder dibs. [21:51] 07Dryas: "One of them had a trick to turn men to stone - he was grabbed by master Zhangyu and, from there, met with one of my arrows. The nearly murdered my ward, as well as today's most generous and precise tea-preparer - I impaled him to the ground with a lance-blow. But, then, he tried to talk his way out." 15[21:54] Budokan's burning face curls with distaste. "A chooser and a beggar. Disgusting!" [21:55] *the other [21:56] 4Piu: "They were between twelve and fourteen years old. It was disgusting, what was done to them to create them. What was done to them to end them was a mercy." [21:56] 07Dryas looks away for a moment. [21:57] 10Daizo looks about like he's aged a year in the last hour "You'll hear no argument from me there. I'm sick of it, this whole petty squabble—" 10A disgusted sigh. "I shouldn't feel like this. There's enough here to keep me busy 'til next Calibration, but right now if I had my druthers I'd unlock the ship's ethical limiters and level the whole damn place. Bury the mine, bury the focusing lenses and the chambers, just sail [21:57] away." 15[21:58] Budokan waves his hand. "Typical V'neef sentimentality! A kill is a kill. Let other people flatter their hearts with justice and mercy. Plenty of virtue in following orders." [21:59] 4Piu tilts her head oh-so-slightly, and smiles oh-so-wider. 15[22:00] Budokan seizes the moment to keep talking. "Loyalty is reason enough. My own brother lead a treason against the throne and I was glad to put him down. GLAD to be trusted by the Empress with so important a task." [22:00] 14Deadly are calm waters, as they run deep. [22:01] 07Dryas will give him some line: "Pardon my ignorance, Lord Budokan, but who was your brother?" [22:01] 4Is Shiroi about to serve Budokan his tea? 15[22:01] Looks like it's just about to get poured, yeah. 15[22:02] Budokan, as any old man, jumps at the chance to tell a story. "You're young. Dragons, you're all so young now. Have you ever heard of House Iselsi?" [22:02] 4She turns to Shiroi instead: "Please, permit me to help!" [22:03] 07Dryas: "One of those extinguished Houses, are they not?" [22:04] *4Seiri [22:04] **4Stranger 15[22:04] Dryas's valet lets Piu help without a word. [22:05] 07Dryas, for her part, has never been one to shy from attention. Nor from a good story, really. 15[22:06] Caxi: "Do you want to try? I promise I won't tell any of the other prefects." [22:10] 4Piu: "Oooh. Let's heat this up a bit." 4The fire burns brighter around her. "Oh my!" [22:10] "I'm such a ditz. No, no, it's fine!" [22:17] 4There's a new sheen to her as she presents the newly-poured, not fired-up tea, 14and she knows exactly the distances she needs to close to reach anyone in the room. [22:18] 10Daizo: "Eh. Dryas can have a little jade mine, as a treat. But I do want to grab any of Rikai's toys that aren't nailed down before anyone has a chance to object. The Lathe, for instance—I was able to get a turn on it, and I want to know if it's capable of more than just controlling elementals." 15[22:20] Budokan: "Yes! They still teach history. Glad to hear. My brother and I both married into water houses. But while I got to do real work in the fleets, Ras became a teacher and a teamaster. But a life without real work bred indolence and smugness. He started to think he could do better than his elders, better than our mothers and grandmothers. Better than the Empress!" 15[22:21] "And it made him a mark for the schemers of House Iselsi, their grinning masks, their black jade, black knives, and black hearts." 15[22:22] "They poisoned him, drop by drop." 15[22:22] "And in his heart he REBELLED!" 15[22:22] "With his mind he rebelled." 15[22:22] "With his hand he rebelled." 15[22:25] He holds the silence, clearly relishing the retelling. "He devised a plan to slay the Empress. Of course it failed. Who thinks bigger than our Empress? Who sees farther? Who more worthy of Heaven's Mandate than she? No one." 15[22:26] "NO ONE! Not then. Not now. Not ever." [22:27] 07Dryas nods. In her mind she speaks a message to Piu - Grenseal is the Onyx-sympathizer. Let's not burn him yet, unless it's to save our own skins. [22:29] 07Dryas: "How did Her Majesty learn of his perfidy?" 15[22:32] Budokan: "He was double-crossed, obviously. As all traitors inevitably are. Shenesh saw the writing on the wall and warned the Empress. And that's why Shenesh gets to fart around the Grand Archives for the rest of his days and the Empress bid me to cut my brother down. And his wife. And his wife's family. And all their children." 15[22:33] "The Empress showed me a diagram of the Iselsi family tree, and she took a red brush to mark out the names fit to fall. She'd marked out half the names on the scroll before she was done." [22:34] 4Piu nods and her face turns somber. She serves tea, and quietly: "Peleps Grenseal...Nellens Szalony had a personal message for you. Before she passed." [22:34] "May we speak in private? I will be brief." 4This is additionally a request for leave from Budokan. She's not impolite. 15[22:35] Caxi: "I'm sure it is. The Golden Anathema never built anything just for its purpose. The old Deliberative liked to look at a nail, and then build a warstrider with a hammer to smash it in." 15[22:35] "You sound like you have ideas..." [22:35] 07Dryas clears her throat. "Root, branch, twig, and stem." 15[22:37] "Like a tree! Yes! You see, it all comes full circle." 15[22:37] "Every life you take is a life taken on behalf of the Dynasty. Take comfort in that. And more lives, if you're lucky." 15[22:38] "You're all right, Lady Dryas. A cut above the skimmers and whoremongers your triad likes to send out West." 15[22:39] Grenseal seems eager for anything but this conversation to focus on. "Oh?" 15[22:39] Shiroi clears her throat a bit. "So, with the ice thoroughly broken... we can discuss terms, yeah?" [22:40] 14Once they've stepped away sufficiently, but not so sufficiently as to be completely suspicious: "React with sadness, if you wish, but not with shock. You serve Onyx. Szalony is dead because of you. We know this." [22:40] "But." [22:40] "One of our goals align." [22:40] "When will Budokan certainly be alone next?" [22:42] 07Drya's tongue is barely visible at the corner of her mouth as she processes the Lord's gracious remarks. "Yes, of course, terms." [22:44] 10Daizo: "Just a few. Rikai was powering it with the bleed-off from the Empress's anima. But what if we took it to a place like Mionzi where you can barely breathe for the stored Essence? Could we use it to manipulate the Defense Grid and strike out at Skullstone, or pay back Furia for the blow she dealt us?" [22:46] 14Piu: "I just need an hour's window." 15[22:47] Caxi considers this, lips curling into a smile as she does. "Oh, that's clever. In principle, yes, I think you're right." [22:49] 10Daizo: "It's a long way from principle to practice. But now that we've aroused Her Majesty's ire, we need to look out for number one. This seems like as good a chance as any we'll get." 15[22:49] Grenseal looks hurt and tired. "After the dinner hour. He prays alone." 15[22:53] Caxi: "There's still the problem of turning Garnet into a key that fits the lock of the Grid, for starters." 15[22:53] "Maybe the Lathe can help." [22:54] 14Piu: "Hey. Chin up. You're not marked for death yet. You didn't kill her. You're only guilty of despair. And if you think the stoners are the only ones that can save this Direction...I think we're putting together a comprehensive counterargument. Now let's pretend she confessed her love for you and rejoin tea." 15[22:54] Grenseal, who to his credit looks very convincingly sad: "Yeah." [22:58] 07Dryas: "Terms. The rebels lay down their arms and are pardoned, smallfolk, patricians, and Dynasts alike. Gu Len and Rikai, specifically, are to be transported to Abalone to receive the Empress's justice, as the law demands." 15[23:02] Budokan: "A trial? PERVERSITY! What is gained by presaging their execution with theatre?" [23:03] 4She smiles at Stranger, then sits down next to her at the tea. 15[23:05] Stranger passes her a cup in silence. [23:06] 07Dryas: "Pour encourager les autres, my Lord. We have been all over the Direction. A bit of theatricality can go a long way in some of the satrapies." [23:18] 07Dryas elaborates as tendrils of moss curl around the rug and tentpegs: "Division and insanity are creeping in everywhere. There must be unity, we must restore order. And that cannot be done in secret, it has to be done as visibly as possible." [23:24] 10Daizo seems lost in thought for a minute or two. "Funny you should phrase it that way. I'm still trying to wrap my head around Garnet surviving the destruction of the jar. I think I understand why the Empress couldn't absorb her—she'd diverged too far from the 'original' for the merger to work. Is she a true flesh and blood human now, complete with a soul? Or still a magical construct, but a self-sustaining one?" 10He [23:24] 10 shakes his head. "Well. She made it, that's the important part." 15[23:27] Caxi: "She's got vital signs, at least. I haven't taken samples. I thought you'd find it untoward." [23:28] 4Piu smiles, takes the cup of tea destined for Cathak Budokan's mouth, leans in, sweet-smelling and breasts heavy...and does nothing to the drink itself. Instead, her thumbnail brushes the cuticle of his own. She smiles, but looks away. 15[23:29] Budokan grumbles, whether at the solidity of Dryas's argument or Piu's intrusion on his personal space. But he seems oblivious to the implications of both. [23:29] 14It's very strange, the places that death prefers to apprehend. 15[23:30] Finally: "Who've they got in Abalone now? Is it still Ragara Kou?" [23:30] 4She gives Dryas a look and sticks her tongue out the side of her mouth. The sign that she's ready to wrap. [23:30] 4Piu: "House Mnemon sent in a beancounter!" 15[23:30] "Ah! Then Dusk will decide. Fair enough. She's got her head on straight." 15[23:31] "You'll make sure there's an audience, won't you?" [23:31] 07Dryas: "Oh, indeed." 15[23:32] Budokan ignores his tea, opting instead to scratch his chin contemplatively. "Fine. Agreed. Let the peasants know, will you?" [23:32] 10Daizo: "Hah. I think she's earned a break from being poked and prodded. Well, until the Cathak boys are on their feet again." [23:32] 07Dryas: "Your health." 15[23:33] Shiroi lets out a long breath. Whew! 15[23:33] Dryas's valet speaks up here. "Did you know Sister Dusk, Lord Budokan?" [23:34] 4Piu, brightly: "Our valet was instrumental in killing the Deathlord boys, in her own way!" [23:34] 14Question's already been asked, and he won't be able to answer it soon. 15[23:36] Budokan peers down at her. "Eh?" Grenseal and Shiroi, too, look at Stranger as if only noticing her now. Shiroi looks vaguely irritated; Grenseal's face is harder to read. 15[23:37] Stranger: "Forgive me, my Lord, I spoke terribly out of turn. Gracious! She lifts her blank face up to Dryas. Is Dryas satisfied? 15[23:37] Did she get what she came here for? [23:39] 07Dryas gives a faint smile. "It has been a long day, for all of us. Let us get some rest." 15[23:40] Stranger smiles. "Thank you, my lady. Do excuse, my lord, my ladies. A thousand apologies." [23:42] 14Piu can't actually be surprised that Budokan had a convivial relationship with Dusk. The orphanmaster and the orphanmaker. Nature works in a great chain. Even human nature. 15[23:43] With a settlement tentatively agreed - Temida needs little urging to give Gu Len and Rikai up, once she understands the depth of their scheming and the cost Szalony paid for it - everyone goes to their camps, awaiting the dawn of a new peace in the Neck. 15[23:44] What are the Fangs up to that evening? [23:44] 14To Stranger, once they're away: "Budokan dies tonight. Do you want to ask him again, on his deathbed?" [23:44] "You can come with me." 15[23:45] Stranger: "I don't need to speak to him. But I would like to listen." [23:45] 07Dryas will eulogize Szalony. 15[23:45] "If you wouldn't find that rude." [23:45] 14Piu nods: "With that man, I am past rudeness." [23:46] 07She sees to it word makes its way to, well, everyone but Budokan. [23:46] "Caedus and Rinca will also be with me. You don't have to talk to them. They don't talk much to each other." [23:47] 14Piu will be spending the time until she has to get into position to finish the job resting and respiring. 15[23:48] Budokan's taking up residence in the only structure in Cinder Hearth that can contain him: the stone temple where the rebels' children were trained for an Exaltation that landed elsewhere. 15[23:48] Even that feels hot on the approach, like a kiln working through the night. 15[23:50] Are Rinca and Caedus covering the door? Are they following her in? [23:51] 14Inside the door, facing in. They get to watch but keep their eyes open, and they're in the ambush position. 15[23:52] Classic. [23:57] 14Piu will enter through the smoke and fire at the back of the building, down through the chimney, all black silk and soot. It'll come out in the wash. [23:57] 14And she'll time it the moment the Dragon starts to die. 15[00:01] Budokan is praying silently, with only the crackle of the anima offering heat, light, or noise to the room. Whatever's passing through his mind in that moment is of little interest to anyone watching or listening. But everyone's attention is primed for when his breath catches in his throat, and his uncontainable essence is fouled by a profusion of black motes, like ashes. [00:02] 14The flue blows, the flames all sputter backwards, and a black masked silk shadow descends the chimney to emerge behind the altar. 15[00:03] Budokan grips his chest. "Who? WHERE?!" [00:11] 14Piu: "House Iselsi. Here." [00:11] 14Piu: "House Iselsi. Here." [00:12] "Look at me." [00:12] "LOOK AT ME." [00:12] 14She puts her thumb in his throat. 15[00:14] Budokan hisses and spits. Even Piu's gloved fingers can't disguise the heat coming off him. "I am Budokan, the Scarlet Hand. I won't beg for mercy." 15[00:14] He's looking at her, but his eyes aren't fully focused. [00:14] 14Piu: "I would never ask you to beg, Butcher." [00:14] "I respect death." 15[00:15] "GO ON! TAKE YOUR REVENGE!" 15[00:26] He falls upon her like a bear. It's blind, merciless thrashing. If he weren't so strong it would be trivial for Piu to deflect. As it stands she just has to tough it out and let the poison do its work. But she has to block with her rune-marked hand to do it. 15[00:26] 15 11,664 [00:26] 14Piu, throwing the old man to the floor: "Does it bother you--" [00:27] "Does it bother you at all, really, that you never got to twelve thousand?" 15[00:29] Budokan grins or grimaces. "When I am reborn, when I am EXALTED ANEW, I will fill ever-more necropoli with the cowards and infidels who DEFY OUR ORDER!" [00:32] "I met Peleps Deled. Sent him packing back to the Blessed Isle." 14Piu winds up and kicks him through his fucking head. "Don't pretend you have his faith." [00:32] "I met Peleps Deled. Sent him packing back to the Blessed Isle." 14Piu winds up and kicks him through his fucking head. "Don't pretend you have his faith." 15[00:39] There's nothing his rage permits him to do but keep trying to crush Piu with his bare hands. [00:41] 14She throws him to the ground again, with effort. "I killed Mnemon Dusk with a length of chain." [00:41] "How did you know that slaver?" [00:41] "You want to brag, brag." 15[00:43] "WHO MINES THE JADE THAT WORKS YOUR CHAINS, SNAKE? WHO BUILDS THE FLEETS AND PALACES THAT CARRY YOU FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE?" 15[00:43] "THEIR BONES CRUNCH BENEATH OUR FEET LIKE SNOWFLAKES!" 15[00:44] "YOU! YOUR MOTHER! YOUR MOTHER'S MOTHER! THEY OWE THEIR LARGESSE TO ME!" [00:45] 14She punt-kicks him in the head again. [00:46] 14Then she uses her insole to turn his head back to face her. "I found the Empress." [00:46] "She loves me now. And she'll never love anyone like you again." 15[00:55] Shaking with fury, Budokan's face is completely impossible to see as the black-flecked fire consumes him body and soul. He pounds the earth like an ape, striking with such terrible fury the temple begins to come apart. [00:56] 14Piu steps between the keystones and sticks a finger in the air, rolling it around. That's the sign to Caedus, Stranger, and Rinca to get ready to bail. [01:01] 14Then, as he reaches for her, she captures his left wrist in her right hand, his right in her left, and as he sags before her, she just starts stomping his fucking head in. 15[01:06] He's able to wrestle free of her grasp, swatting a falling boulder away as another breaks his shoulder. He's on his hand and knees now, and the blood sizzles away before it can drip onto the collapsing temple floor. 15[01:06] The fire, centuries kindled, begins to dim. 15[01:06] "A snake... has bitten a dragon." [01:07] 14Leaving him there, she leans down to the mess of his face. "You killed my past. You killed my future. All I have is right now. I've made the most of it. You lived your life all how you wanted to. You get to laugh all the way back into the cycle. But if you're feeling salty about it, if you want to find your vengeance next time you come around, if you want a grudge -- don't curse [01:07] House Iselsi." 15[01:07] There isn't breath enough left in him to reply. [01:07] "Mallaich mi." 14Curse me. 15[01:07] Maybe he does. 15[01:08] Piu's hand burns. [01:08] 14She lets it. She lets it feel good. [01:08] 14Let's get the fuck back somewhere deniable. 15[01:09] NEXT TIME: Red Mountains