Qhentii's Princess, Passau's Warrior (closed)

[SwanLake]

This thread is closed for KiwiD82​

OOC: the use of italics in this post indicates that they are not speaking English but their mother tongue.​

"What do you think?"

It wasn't unheard of for the Qagan to ask for the advice of his daughter but in this matter she was silent. It was a question asked out of the blue but Ai knew of what he meant. "I think we have visited the western city states long enough. The migration has come and gone and still we tend to the childish acts of the magistrates as if they don't know right from wrong." That wasn't the answer he wanted to hear but it was what he was getting.

"Humph." The Qagan grunted and shook his head. "I have always shared the memories of your mother with you. Taught you of love and the prostitute of it." He shook his head again and fingers rolled the bone beads one over the other as he stared off into the distance. "I always imagined that you would find love, that you would be in a state of happiness more complete then this one." The weight of his sigh as his eyes settled on his daughter was crushing for the young woman. "But you are too much like your father with these ideals of the perfect match. Of that one person your soul speaks to and hears a response to."

"It is simply easier to call it stubbornness." Ai smiled knowing in a way that her father was right. She wanted to know a person like her father spoke of knowing her mother, not just physical but something beyond that. If it was as simple as attraction she would have already been married but Ai wanted something more.

"Too much like your father." His tone was discouraged but the story of his smile was one of a very proud father. "It is not the only solution." The Qagan ventured as he finished off the cup of tea before him, waving off Ai's offer to refill it. "Your uncles have brought up many valid points."

In the history of Qagan Doulun Jochi's rule there had only ever been a meeting of the three armies twice before. Ai wasn't to sure that this was an appropriate moment for another historic meeting but the word of the Qagan was law.

"Open war is not an option." It was the voice of her uncle, Shiyijan Fu, the older brother of the Qagan that spoke as if war was a possibility. "Kaigze's army is highly trained, well equipped and while I do not doubt he alone could win his proposed war I would rather see the lives of those lost saved to live till the Sky takes them gray and old." But the voice of her other uncle, Xilu Liwei, younger brother of the Qagan wasn't much better. "On the other hand Kaijun's option would just make matters worse. If we ignore the boarder skirmishes, as we have, they are bound to grow, as they have. Which is how we got here. Yet if we pay them off it would be seen as weak and they would continue to cause problems just to get more knowing that they could get more because we gave in once already." Ai was still in the belief that it was at the fault of lazy content magistrates. If they had better control of their men at the city state boarders there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place. But that was also unfair of Ai. The last few years the rain had been sparse and pasture lands had taken a hit as did the herds in the steppes. Even so Ai still blamed the magistrates.

"So what would you with what options are left on the table?"

Ai wanted to be selfish, wanted to side with Kaigze and risk open war if they didn't back off but she couldn't place her happiness before those of her people. "Passau's offer of merger seems not only the easiest but soundest." That the offer involved her marriage to their crown prince was the hardest to swallow. "I can also see the advantages of the union for both our empires." There were some and after the news thirteen days ago Ai had time enough to think of them all. "It would expand our trading bases. With as solid of an alliance as my marriage to their royal house we could stop the boarder fights and divert more attention to the east." The east wasn't a threat yet but the nomadic clans were bound to join together someday and their closest rivals was Qhentii and it was better to be prepared for a battle then let it take you by surprise. It also didn't help that there were rumors of a man with heights of joining all of the east to take over the world. Not something that Qhentii hadn't heard before but he was amassing an army larger then any in the east before him. "For them trading taxes would drop significantly, they would have the protection of our vast armies and loan lines to the wealth of Qhentii."

The Qagan nodded solemnly. "Maybe more like her mother then the father after all." It was not the answer he had wanted to hear but it was the same answer he continued to arrive at. "You will take the command of the bow and the horses with you." He nodded knowing the awe and shock factor of nearly twenty thousand men would make.

If father and daughter had been anywhere but the Qagan's tents Ai wold have agreed with him. As it were she was protected by their privacy and shook her head against the Qagan's words. "I can not take my commands with me when I leave, exposing gaps and weakness in the Qagan's Army." Ai sighed and reached across the table to hold the much larger calloused hand of her father. "This is not a war and I can not approach their palace with a small army at my back."

Never one to like being told no, the Qagan's eyes narrowed.

"I will take my Directions." Four men from the four corners of the Empire sworn to protect the Qnezna with their life. The best of the best at the time of the First Princess' birth.

"And the Command of the horses."

Ai shook her head no.

"The Command of the Bows instead."

Again Ai shook her head no, a touch of a smile turning her lips as she witness her father's frustration raise with every rejection.

The Qagan slammed his fists on the table and stood up from his pillowed seat on the ground. "I will not send my daughter to the Passau's with nothing but four men!" He didn't so much as yell it as pour all his anger at the situation into his words. "You will take a thousand-" The look from his still seated daughter infuriated the Qagan. "You will take a hundred men or I swear to the Sky that I will lead the three armies myself to deliverer you!"

"The Qagan is wise." Ai bowed her head felling the number of men was still a bit high for talk of alliances but knowing her father enough not to push him any further.

"You are the Qnagiz's daughter alone." He cursed falling back onto the animal hide pillows. Refilling his own tea cup and making a mess of it. "At times I don't know how you got like this." The Qagan muttered pushing aside the freshly poured tea. "I don't know who to blame more. Your mother with that mind and tongue of her's that she seemed to pass down to you." For a while he didn't say anything as he looked his daughter over. "Or myself for letting you grow up just like a younger me." He sighed again, feeling the length of the day catch up to him all at once. "Inform your uncles of the choice I have made and prepare the camp for tomorrow." He dismissed his daughter with a wave of his hand.

"As the Qagan wishes." Ai stood, swept her hands to her left hip and bowed. And just before she reached the tent flaps Ai turned around. "I will miss you too." It was a confession of weakness but the genuineness of her words made up for the slight.

Qagan Doulun Jochi looked up from the table he had been studying and saw the daughter of the only woman he had ever loved standing before him and felt his heart clench. She had the look of her mother with her petite frame and long straight black hair. The only thing that Ai seemed to gain from the Qagan was the dark hazel brown-green eyes. It wasn't fair to his other children that he had a favorite but Xiaoai Aiyuru was his. "May the Sky watch you and keep you safe. The Earth hold steady and firm beneath your feet. Winds give you breath to fight and live. And pray the Waters be soft and refreshing." It was an old prayer and because of it's age not heard often. But it was a powerful one and spoke of the love the Qagan had for his daughter.

With nothing more needing to be said between father and daughter, Ai left the tent as saw to the wishes of the Qagan before heading to her own tent to ready herself for the next day. Tomorrow Ai would be leaving with one hundred men to the boarder of Passau and Qhentii. It was there on the fourteenth day that Passau would get the Qagan's answer, be it war or peace.

 

[KiwiD82]

The prince was ranting again.

Lars hid his boredom behind a stoic expression as he stood statuesque while Prince Lothar vented his frustrations within the confines of the throne room.

"It cannot be this way!" argued the prince as his expensive boots carried him back and forth across the room in something that resembled more of a stomp than a walk. "I cannot be married to some princess of the steppes!"

"Don't be so foolish," came the response.

The voice belonged to the ageing king, a man well advanced in years and not expected to enjoy many more. The form that had rested in the throne for close to two decades was slight - a mere shadow or his formerly imposing frame. Even so, his words boomed forth, filling the room. King Heinrich's voice defied the frail body from which it came.

"If we are to have peace..."

"Peace?" Prince Lothar replied incredulously, almost spitting the word from his mouth. "That's precisely what I'm worried about! A political marriage to some Qhentii whore will make conquest all that much more difficult!"

"Conquest was never an option," King Heinrich sighed. "The border provinces are suffering from your incessant warmongering, and so are our coffers. Opening trade with Qhentii will fix both problems. And why do you bring your grievance now? The offer of marriage was sent out almost two weeks ago."

"Never an option?" The prince squealed. "Is Passau not the fiercest fighting nation in all the land?"

Lothar blinked. He suddenly realised Prince Lars had directed the question at him. As Commander Of The Guard, he held a lofty position among Passau's military ranks and was frequently trusted to bear witness to such animated discussions.

Never had he ever been asked to contribute, however.

His blue eyes looked out from under a blonde fringe. He noted that the king seemed equally interested in his response as he looked over the prince's shoulder.

"Passau's military is formidable, it is true..."

"There you have it, father," Prince Lars said by way of interruption, seizing on the words he wished to hear, and perhaps hesitant to hear any more. "We should cancel this arrangement and put the Qhentii diplomatic party to the sword."

There was little love lost between Lars and the Crown Prince. The pair had known each other for quite some time, but the royal heir had frequently flaunted his power and had actively attempted to embarrass Lars in the past.

The prince was not thought of highly, unlike his father, and, for that matter, his younger brother Jorge, whose absence was lamented by all but Lothar himself.

"Lars," King Heinrich responded, "I don't believe you were finished."

The Commander Of The Guard was now being addressed by the highest power in the land. Lars knew he was being used as a tool to settle a dispute. He also knew the king would not remain long in this world. But although it may have benefited him politically to do otherwise, he simply couldn't go against his own honest judgment.

"Passau's military is formidable, it is true," he repeated, "but I would not favour us in a pitched battle with the Qhentii. Though their regular fighters are no match for Passau's finest, they greatly outnumber us, and no victory would be easily attained."

Lars watched as the room fell silent, his words seeming to echo against the stone walls endlessly. Prince Lothar didn't look very happy, but he never did.

In truth, the Commander Of The Guard could have said more: that Qhentii's tactics were unconventional and difficult to contest as a standing army; that hundreds if not thousands of men on both sides would die for little to no obvious gain; that the people who worked the land would suffer most; that the prince was an ungrateful, power hungry fool.

It was King Heinrich's voice that finally broke the silence.

"The offer of an alliance shall stand and we shall have Qhentii's response tomorrow."

"I'll not be the one to hear it," Prince Lothar fumed quietly, leaving the room as his father turned towards Lars.

"Ride to the border at first light as agreed. Receive the Qagan's answer, and greet Princess Aiyuru if she is present - but be prepared to fight if Qhentii wishes these petty border squabbles to continue."

Lars nodded, bowed his head, and saluted his monarch with a fist on his chest. Then he turned to leave and arrange his troops for the following morning. He hoped there would be no battle, but he would be ready if there was.

 

[SwanLake]

The morning light brought with it the sound of Dexiu's voice gently waking up her sleeping niece.

Ai was a light sleeper but she had stayed up long into the night gathering and parting with the many things she owned. The Haizna's voice on any morning would have been a surprise but on this one it was not. "Morning's light to you Haizna." The words were heavy with sleep and Ai tried to roll from her bed quickly but was pressed down by her Aunt.

"The sun has just woken. The time to rush is not now." Dexiu smiled sitting on a pile of pillows near to Ai's bed. "Your father thought that you might like to wear this." The smile on Dexiu's face told Ai that the like part of wearing whatever it was that her father picked out was as far from what she in truth would like.

Still the young woman sat taller and looked in the direction of Dexiu's pointed chin. Laid out on one of the taller floor tables was a garment Ai had only ever seen once in her life. Oh she would hate wearing it, it would be heavy, hot and hamper any quick movements but it was beyond a doubt beautiful. "The Qagan gives my mother's wedding dress to me?" Tears pricked behind Ai's eyes. What little the Qagan carried with him that belonged to the Qnagiz was his most cherished belongs and Ai knew this was one of them.

Dexiu shrugged and handed Ai a steaming roll stuffed with charred meats. "I do only as I am commanded and this he commanded with soft words." She reported. There was a long pause and for a moment Dexiu looked uncomfortable but the moment quickly passed and she jumped to her feet. "When you leave I would like the furs from our first kill together."

Ai took a big bite from her morning roll and followed her Aunt to her feet. On the largest table in the middle of Ai's tent was a collection of bundles wrapped in soft leather and bound with braided horse hair. "That and battle boots for your horse. I have made a vest out of the stripped fur for you to wear in the winter." Ai smiled as she handed one of the bundles to her Aunt. "You are in need of a new winter vest. From down wind we all know when you will arrive." Ai ducked the good nature punch and throw one of her own that Dexiu easily dodged.

"Travel well Ai."

"And you Aunt." It was the first of many farewells to come and as Ai watched her Aunt leave her tent she fortified herself for the many before her.

There was a long ways to travel and with that in mind Ai dressed in travel cottons, carefully packing the wedding arrival dress away to change into later.

"Qnezna!" A shrill childish voice screamed from some distance.

Ai spun around with a snarl and the look of a rabid beast twisted on her face. "I smell the blood of an untested." Ai grunted reaching out for the voice of the child.

"I will slay this beast." Chi laughed kicking his mounted pony with all the might of a four year old. "My fame at your death will grant me life unstopping!" And with that the little prince charged his blunted bamboo spear at the ready.

"And I will eat your eyes for breakfast!" Ai challenged running at the miniature sized mount. It was a game the siblings played often and at the last moment Ai spun to the side missing the spear but close enough to grab the child from his seat. "Your eyes are mine young prince." And with that Ai started tickling the child until he admitted his defeat by dropping his spear.

"I almost got you that time." Chi smiled up at his bigger sister when she released him. "On day I will be as good as father!" He boasted sticking out his chest and holding up his spear.

This was Chi's first migration, something every child does once they learn how to sleep in the saddle without falling and Ai was sad to know that she would be missing the arrival festival when he returned to the Heartlands. "If you are to be as good as father then you will need a horse for such skill." Bringing her fingers to her lips Ai let out a series of loud sharp whistles and waited. Each rider had their own call and each of their horses were trained to come. and within seconds the sound of hoof beats overwhelmed the sounds of the waking camp as nine fine horse came running to Ai's whistle. Of the nine stood a black stallion taller and broader in chest then any of the others, his eyes were clear and his ears swiveled picking up every sound around him. He was Ai's best stallion and he had been with her for seven years from his birth but as fierce as he was in battle there was a softness and intelligence about him that Ai could trust.

At first Chi looked confused but when Ai scooped him up and threw him on the stallion his eyes light up and his smile threatened to split his face in two. "Dusk will see to it that you will be the best spear rider ever known!" Ai assured her younger brother as Duck slowed circled Ai, tuned to the young rider on his bare back.

"A fine mount my son." The Qagan rounded a tent and came into view with a smile on his face and another daughter at his side.

Chi raised his spear and his little legs kicked at the much larger mounts sides but the stallion planted his hooves. As far as the horse knew he was still Ai's and he would carry no one but her. "He is the first of many." Chi promised as Ai bowed her head to the Qagan in greeting.

"Qegze gets your herd stallion?" Esu frowned walking up to the black stallion to pet his thick neck.

Ai knew that Esu had hoped that she would be given Dusk. Esu was in her 7th year, second migration and had her first mare and had wanted to breed the pure black stallion to her silver mare hoping for a silvery black stallion that would shine like the stars. It was an impossible color but Ai wasn't going to tell her sister so. "And in him tent is the fire rock spear points from when I trained in spears." Ai added, smiling to see the excitement Chi had at hearing such words.

"Oh." Esu frowned, her head sagging towards the ground. The Qagan tilted Esu's head and smiled but said nothing as he left her side and picked up Chi, showing him how to halter a full sided horse with his saddle ropes and tie him to his saddle. Until the time that Dusk followed Chi on his own the stallion would be tied to the little rider's saddle. It was the same with the other horses that Ai had given away. Last night she had walked around camp with horses in tow tying them to their new owner's tents. She owned over a hundred horses in her herd and what she didn't give away to treasured friends and allies she returned to the wind riders to take back to the Heartlands.

"I do have this bow on my wall back home tho..." Ai started seeing her sister light up, much like Chi had when she placed him on Dusk. "And I believe there is a person I know who it will fit."

Esu was a bow rider like Ai was, in fact Esu wanted to be Ai and was following in her footsteps with dreams of one day not only commanding the bows but her own army. "Do I know this person as well?" Esu was almost hopping up and down knowing of the ebony wood and shell bow that she had dreams of just touching. It was Ai's first war bow, made with her own hands but had long ago out grew.

"Treat it well and it will treat you the same."

Esu made a noise of excitement and flung herself at her older sister almost topping them both over.

"And don't forget to oil the saddle-" There had been more to say but Esu was squeezing so hard that she could not breath.

There were tears in Esu's eyes when she left Ai go. "Travel well." Esu cried with sadness running away before Ai could see more tears fall.

When the sun was half high over head Ai had nothing left to give out. Of all her horses she kept two with their own belongings, fearing the rumors that Passau kept their horses in tiny rooms were true. Her Directions kept two as well, one from their own stock and one from Ai's herd as a gift. Weapons were narrowed down to her favorite bow, her belted and clipped quiver that she could use on her back or attached to her saddle and a pair of narrow war knives and her father's dancing broad sword given to her when she gained her second command. She brought little clothing figuring that she could acquire some when she arrived in Passau. Everything else she fitted on her spare horse.

The traveling hundred with her were a different story. While Ai had said her good byes the Qagan had collected something of a parade to accompany her. Riders were equipped with saddle bags filled with charms from all over the known world. Silks, gold, silver, jewels and other suck riches weighed down the leather bags. While the Qagan's prized buck rode upfront held fast by one of the front riders upon another one of the Qagan's treasured animals, a gift stallion. Riders without saddlebags held to them other animals, like brilliant birds with men length tails of jewel tones that shimmered in the sun and horses that pulled caged carts with pony sides cats with spots and stripes.

"Your uncles make peace expensive." The Qagan sighed looking back at the long train of men and animals alike.

Ai smiled knowing her uncles had nothing to do with this. The Qagan was a proud man but also smart and had made the effort to make the collection of riders look peaceful as they rode to the meeting place with gifts. "As dowrys go it looks like the Qagan is getting off cheap." Ai quietly teased knowing her words were only heard by the Qagan.

He smiled and nodded. "And yet more then they deserve." The Qagan said just as quietly. There was sadness in his eyes that even he could not hide and Ai fought against the urge to hug her father. "I sent a rider to Shigu last night. She will help you before the boarder meeting."

Shigu was one of the last village towns before the boarder and Ai nodded her head knowing that she herself could not do all that was needed to prepare for the meeting. There was no goodbye between the daughter and father and with practiced ease Ai jumped on to the back of one of the two mares she would take with her and kicked it into a gallop. Four men kept pace with her but the one hundred started off on their own knowing that they would all arrive at the same time.

The hours it took to get to Shigu blurred past Ai in a haze. She didn't remember anything her Directions say, nor the landmarks she rode past or even of the food she ate. All that was on her mind was the future and what it would bring her. When the sun was at it's highest peek the shadow of Shigu darkened the horizon. Ai ready for this to be over spurred her horse faster.

Again everything rushed passed her and as rude as it was not to even put an effort to remember people, Ai wasn't even trying. That she was a princess made the slight bearable. Words and orders Ai followed without thought and she tolerated the pulling, pushing and tugging as best as she could as the three women readied her for the meeting. And when all was said and done Ai could hardly recognize herself.

"So this is what I look like as a true woman." Ai examined herself in the mirror unsure of how she felt without that comforting layer of dirt on her face.

"The Qagan would be proud." One of the women smiled as she lowered the mirror.

"This Passau prince will be stunned by your golden beauty and wonder why he had not done this ages ago." Another assured Ai as the princess shifted and wiggled in her seat.

Ai didn't know what to say to that but by the sounds of it the 100 had arrived and it was time pass Ai's departure. Ai glanced at herself once more as she passed by a mirror and wondered to herself if this was what her mother looked like in the same dress. Was there a weight in her heart that could not be lightened?

Matters were made even worse when Ai was presented with a covered cage of her own. With the amount of fabric she had one and the way it fell and folded riding in a saddle was not possible but having to ride enclosed the hour's worth of travel seemed like cruel punishment. Still Ai smiled and bowed like she knew to do and go into the cage and closed her eyes. If she was going to be in a darkened box for an hour or more she was going to rest while she could. Who know how long it would take to travel from the boarder to Passau's palace.