Sionnach (closed)

“If I had known that being an adult was this bloody difficult, I would have stayed a kit forever.” Riley growled as Marth gave her his opinion.

She stared st that collar for the longest time before she scooped it up and made her way towards Andre’s tent, leaving Marth with her belongings. She didn’t even knock or ask permission to enter, she simply pushed aside the flap and stepped inside. Andre was there, that same dark look on his face.

“I am a bullheaded, stubborn, irresponsible kit most of the time. I admit to all of my flaws, but I can’t help what I am. What I say isn’t meant to anger anyone or make them think that I’m being ungrateful for the help that is being offered. I’m sorry that you didn’t have the childhood that I did and that your mother was treated terribly. I sometimes forget that there are those out there that don’t have the luxury of feeling safe.” Riley offered to him, still holding the leather collar.

“If wearing this stupid thing means that I will remain safe among your men, I’ll do it. I won’t like it and I’ll complain at great length, but I’ll do it.” Riley finally conceded.

"I understand the humiliation it may cause you," Andre murmured, his tattooed collar still showing. "But it will give my men the right to interfere on your behalf, and it will keep most folk from questioning you and your motives if you appear to be a slave under the government. Just until Jani is free, then you can cast us all off and that collar, and take her home to prepare for war. Because I promise it's coming."

“And what side will you fall on when you’re free?” Riley asked, moving to put on the collar. “Joachim is your brother, but can you continue to support him as you have?”

"I don't intend to pick a side if I can help it. Once we're away with Jani, my men can choose their own fates. And while I do support Joachim... I never wanted this fight. I just wanted to find a way to take my mother somewhere safe and far away. Now... Maybe I'll go to some far away neutral place and try to find some peace."

Riley stared at him as he said that, wanting to find peace away from the turmoil. "You have a beautiful gift that you would waste in self imposed exile."

"I would kill for the chance to be a caller." She finished buckling the collar in place, adjusting it to make it more comfortable and finally giving up when it wouldn't sit properly on her ruff.

"What makes you think it's so wonderful?" Andre looked up at her with a furrowed brow. "If you know anything about your mother at all, you'll know it's caused nothing but pain."

"For you, yes. Without freedom, being forced to do something you don't want to do, I can see it being a curse." Riley countered. "For me, it's a family tradition. Something that would make me more than just a silly, stubborn kit in my family's eyes."

"I'm not talking about my experience. Have you actually looked at what your mother and grandfather suffered for this so-called gift? Is being special worth being an empath who can't help but feel the pain of dragons around you? Of being driven nearly mad by ever being away from your partner and the dragons you love? And has your mother ever told you what happened to her mentally when she squared off with my father in Sweden? Do you even want to know what it's like to face off against another Caller in a bid to keep the dragons around you from eating you alive at their orders? Because she and I know what that's like. I've done it several times to save my own skin. Not to mention how awful it feels to exercise those abilities to control a dragon's mind. Callers are not automatically great, Riley. What makes us different from you is an ability to control and call dragons to us. It was an ability cultivated by Dragon Slayers long ago to force dragons to kneel and let themselves be slaughtered, or turn on their own kind to aid a Slayer, and to steal their memories to find our where their families and fellows are. It's not a gift, it's a means of control and enslavement. And you come from one of the families that refined it. It's only in very recent centuries that people like your mother became Callers instead of what they really used to be- Arbiters. Ask your Elder Dragon about that, learn what we Callers really come from and why he used to hate us so much."

Riley physically shrank back as he rounded on her, scolding her for what she thought she knew about her own family heritage. It was obvious that Riley had a specific picture of how things should be and it was at odds with how things really were. She suddenly felt embarrassed and incredibly uneducated. Without a word, she turn and left the tent, retreating not to her dragon but to the woods beyond the camp where she could hide and lick her wounds.

It was some time before Riley heard footsteps drawing near, and saw a lantern lighting up the darkness. She could see an Imperial uniform, likely one of the Johania Riders out looking for her, a Drake trailing behind on a lead.

Riley was quietly sitting on a rock beneath the trees, leaning back against a thick trunk when she caught sight of the lantern in the darkness. It was only a matter of time before they came looking for her, she thought to herself, and still she said nothing until her dark brown fur was illuminated in the light.

“You didn’t have to come looking. I’d have returned sooner or later...much to the chagrin of everyone at camp.” Riley said bitterly.

As the figure drew near, Riley saw it was not simply one of the other Riders, but Andre himself. He sighed, setting the lantern on the rock beside her, and he leaned on another tree just across from her. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I shouldn't have been so harsh. You couldn't have known."

"Don't apologize. People usually don't when it comes to me." She said as he leaned against a tree across from her. "I'm just the wayward daughter of the Queen Rider. Everyone bows before my mother but won't give me the chance because of my reputation."

Riley stared down at the lantern, dark thoughts in her head that she couldn't seem to shake. She was the kind of person that could take a lot of abuse, absorb the thoughts that she would never amount to anything but a stubborn brawler, but everyone had a breaking point.

"I don't know any of this because my parents saw it fit to keep the truth from me. I wasn't raised knowing the stories of what happened in the war nor what my place is in all of this. I only just recently learned about what Joachim's father tried to do to my mother. I also learned that there was discussion of terminating me among my parents because of the war. I'm thankful they didn't, but now I'm left unprepared and with a reputation I can't shake. I'm either the daughter of the Queen or a hellraiser. There is no in between and there is little way to make people see that I'm neither."

Leaning her head back against the tree, she stared up at the canopy above them and sighed. "I thought that one day I'd be like my grandpa. I'd be able to help the old ones and the young ones by talking to them. I thought that it would give me a purpose and some respect. Now, I feel like the only thing I'm destined to do is die young because that's what everyone expects of me."

"Destiny is a farce," Andre told her. "It's the will of people and your willingness to resist or align that decides where you go. Some wills are enforced with threats, and others are enforced with people's inability to hope or change. You aren't a destined troublemaker. You're only a troublemaker because that's what everyone expects and sees and remembers. And until you do something huge and crazy, they won't change their minds. That's what all this is, isn't it? A chance to change the fate your family and the Empire imposed upon you? That's the way Joachim and I are looking at it for ourselves, escaping what is expected of considered inevitable. And Joachim would like to remove the power the Empire has over people's fates, especially our people. You're in the right place to change things. Just be prepared to learn, be open to things you never knew. This is the real world and it's terrifying and it will constantly challenge everything you thought you knew. It's made some of us cynical and too blunt for our own good. But I can see you using all this new knowledge in a more constructive way, in a way that's not so... Hopeless."

"Brothers or something more?" Riley asked him bluntly. "I think it's wise to know how far you're willing to go to protect him."

"Brothers," Andre confirmed. "I would die for him, I would go to die at his order because I trust him to make my life and death useful to people who need help. But I am not blinded, if you are worried about that. I question all he does, to make him keep track of himself and not grow self-absorbed. But I believe in his intentions."

"My brother, crafty little mite that he is, whom I trust above all other judgement, warned me not to trust him." Riley said, looking Andre straight in the eye. "You're telling me that he's wrong. I'm conflicted."

"Your brother is not wrong, but he's making the mistake so many do- equating Joachim with the Council and the evils of the Empire. Frederick Barbarossa embraced the mantle of a conqueror left unworn by Lothair, and he supported the greed of nobles as long as they fed into his war machine. My father was his Golden boy, willing to do anything for his title and land and increased power, and even happy to donate his own money to building war machines and armies. All of that laid the groundwork for the Council that exists today, mostly made of men under forty who were raised on the mantra that they could do no wrong and they owned the world. Joachim was kept separate from them until he was old enough to work with his regent and eventually dismiss him. Now, Joachim has the ideals of his professors and common folk who felt for the North while also wanting better for their own people. Put that up against nine men who think they deserve everything they could ever want, and Joachim is left the figurehead helpless against those he represents. What your brother doesn't trust is the Council, not Joachim."

"Then I suppose it's time to make my own decisions on the matter." Riley said as she pushed herself off the rock and stood before Andre. "My mother meant what she said that afternoon. If she could do anything in her power to find your mother, she will."

Reaching behind her for the lantern, Riley lifted it from the rock and then turned back to Andre. "I say that not as a bribe, but as another were."

"I'm not going to hold out hope," Andre said bluntly. "So I'll focus on what I can change right now... Tomorrow, we head for Vienna. Jani's execution will be in two days, and we're going to report as security detail for a high-profile execution. If we're lucky, some of the council will be there and we can ruin some things for them or worse."

Riley gave him a nod, motioning for him to lead them back to the encampment. In the morning, the riders saddled up to fly to Vienna. Riley donned her armor that had been loaned in order to blend in, the irritating collar still about her neck. She had decided that she absolutely hated the thing, but if it meant that she was doing the proper thing, she would grit her teeth and bear it.

That morning before taking off with Marth, she had been given a hood to wear. It would help to disguise her even further and help pass her off as more of a wolf than a fox. It seemed that they weren't leaving anything up to chance.

The Johania Riders in full armor and tack had lined up with their partners, Joachim among them as Andre approached with his own partner, a grizzled blue female that appeared to be a water dragon. Andre walked down the line, inspecting his men and giving each a specific task in German, and they took off one by one til Andre came to Riley last.

"Stay in the middle of the flight pattern, let the smaller and faster dragons deal with any other Riders we come across. Just keep up high and avoid giving anyone a good look at you when we get close to Vienna," he advised. "I'll be giving the signals, just follow Lukas' lead if you aren't sure what to do. When all hell breaks loose, we flee with Jani and scatter, and we reconvene in Dublin. I have one messenger who's already gone to speak with Queen Sarah Monaghan to explain what's happening. She'll be suspicious, but no one in the Empire will expect us to go to Ireland."

"Sarah doesn't suffer fools gladly. If this is all a trick, she will bring down her full might upon you." Riley said as Andre laid out his plans. "And I'll be the least of your worries. Marth and I will stay out of danger...until we can't any longer."

"At this point, telling you we aren't planning to betray you is a waste of breath and my time. Just fall in line and don't get my people killed," Andre sighed, moving back toward his dragon. The older female leaned down and he climbed up, fastening his harness before taking off.

Riley watched him take off before she climbed into her own saddle and was soon off behind him. She was on edge, knowing that something could go wrong at any moment and she needed to be prepared to take care of both herself and her partner. Smoothly they joined their spot in the grouping, hidden among the most senior members and more colorful dragons.