11-26-2018, 09:41 AM
As the king speaks, she manages to smile, but the brightness that her crooked grin usually holds is tainted with sadness, never really rising to meet with the depths of her eyes. The effort behind the gesture is genuine, noting his kindness and simultaneously wishing that they could've met in different circumstances. Really, they should have met sooner, and though she had already apologized she truly regretted her lack of ambitions in doing so. When the metallic youth notices the remains they had brought with them, the strained smile she had been wearing quickly runs from her face. Sighing, her gaze breaks from his to stare plaintively at an outcropping of onyx slag, preparing herself to impart upon him the news she so dreaded to share.
The pause only lasts a few seconds, but it's not the sound of her own voice she hears when her eyes rise to meet with Kromium's again; Leilan had taken the opportunity to answer.
It's direct and to the point, the delivery he offers Kromium. It could be the best way to share information with some, and so she watches quietly until Leilan is done speaking, gaze drifting smoothly between them before focusing on the metal stallion, attempting to gauge his reaction. While the leopard mare appreciated her lover's willingness to divulge the hardest bit of information to the young sovereign, it was perhaps not the best method. An approach more empathetic or delicate might have been more reasonable. She had felt the mutual love between father and son when she had discovered Klaudius's emotional memories and while the relationship might have been strained somewhat, the love at the root was still there. For all of the lavender stallion's downfalls, he at least felt something pure for his children.
"Leilan is correct, that is your father," she says with a shallow nod of her head, "and you deserve to know the whole truth surrounding his death." Her scaled stallion had given Tephra's lord a fair summary of the events, but for the sake of justifying the death of a ruler's parent and for the sake of simplest decency, she believed Kromium should hear all of it.
"When Wishbone ruled Nerine, she contracted Loess to capture Klaudius shortly after he attempted to make a claim of Tephra against her father Warrick. It's my understanding that she wished to find out his motives, so when she left the crown to me, your father's fate became my inheritance as he was still being held prisoner within the caves of Nerine. I needed to understand him, to get an idea of who he was or what he was capable of, so I went to question him myself. I can see emotional memories and when he was not the most forthcoming with his answers, I saw images of his past. And while his reasons for wanting Tephra at the time were not unreasonable, it was the forcible raping of two mares that warranted caution. One had been a Leviathan, and the other had been his sister, Krone." Here she takes a moment of pause to catch her breath and to allow a lapse of quiet. It's likely he might have already known how he and his sister had come to be, but regardless she would not elaborate further.
"When I turned to leave that day, he threatened to make me one of his victims, and somehow the magic binding him weakened and he was able to escape. With my back turned he attacked me, and left the scar you see on my neck. He returned later in the year looking for me but found Sabra instead. Unfortunately, she bore the brunt of his aggression and as Leilan already said, raped and killed her. I witnessed the attack from a distance, as did some of Nerine's warriors, and having had the knowledge of Klaudius's past and his current behavior, they acted in accordance with what they thought best to protect our home. I was not close enough to intervene before Klaudius was dealt with, had I been, things might have turned out differently. But they made their decision before I could say otherwise, and I will stand by it." It had not been ideal, and had she been quicker Klaudius might still be alive, though detained indefinitely. But what was done was done, and it was left to her to make certain that these recent unfoldings wouldn't bring Nerine and Tephra to the brink of war.
"If there is blame that needs to be placed, then I ask you to place it upon me instead of Nerine, for my lack of action and failure to prevent a life from being lost." The purple pegasus had been a vile creature, she would never deny that, but he had also been the product of an unfortunate upbringing and it saddened her all the same that the past that had shaped him had helped to steer him towards an early end. Now looking into the eyes of his son so inspiringly different from the one that had sired him, her sadness mixes with telltale regret. "I am sorry for the loss of your father, Kromium."
@[Kromium] @[Leilan] well that only took forever. tried to cram everything into one post to wrap it up. :p
The pause only lasts a few seconds, but it's not the sound of her own voice she hears when her eyes rise to meet with Kromium's again; Leilan had taken the opportunity to answer.
It's direct and to the point, the delivery he offers Kromium. It could be the best way to share information with some, and so she watches quietly until Leilan is done speaking, gaze drifting smoothly between them before focusing on the metal stallion, attempting to gauge his reaction. While the leopard mare appreciated her lover's willingness to divulge the hardest bit of information to the young sovereign, it was perhaps not the best method. An approach more empathetic or delicate might have been more reasonable. She had felt the mutual love between father and son when she had discovered Klaudius's emotional memories and while the relationship might have been strained somewhat, the love at the root was still there. For all of the lavender stallion's downfalls, he at least felt something pure for his children.
"Leilan is correct, that is your father," she says with a shallow nod of her head, "and you deserve to know the whole truth surrounding his death." Her scaled stallion had given Tephra's lord a fair summary of the events, but for the sake of justifying the death of a ruler's parent and for the sake of simplest decency, she believed Kromium should hear all of it.
"When Wishbone ruled Nerine, she contracted Loess to capture Klaudius shortly after he attempted to make a claim of Tephra against her father Warrick. It's my understanding that she wished to find out his motives, so when she left the crown to me, your father's fate became my inheritance as he was still being held prisoner within the caves of Nerine. I needed to understand him, to get an idea of who he was or what he was capable of, so I went to question him myself. I can see emotional memories and when he was not the most forthcoming with his answers, I saw images of his past. And while his reasons for wanting Tephra at the time were not unreasonable, it was the forcible raping of two mares that warranted caution. One had been a Leviathan, and the other had been his sister, Krone." Here she takes a moment of pause to catch her breath and to allow a lapse of quiet. It's likely he might have already known how he and his sister had come to be, but regardless she would not elaborate further.
"When I turned to leave that day, he threatened to make me one of his victims, and somehow the magic binding him weakened and he was able to escape. With my back turned he attacked me, and left the scar you see on my neck. He returned later in the year looking for me but found Sabra instead. Unfortunately, she bore the brunt of his aggression and as Leilan already said, raped and killed her. I witnessed the attack from a distance, as did some of Nerine's warriors, and having had the knowledge of Klaudius's past and his current behavior, they acted in accordance with what they thought best to protect our home. I was not close enough to intervene before Klaudius was dealt with, had I been, things might have turned out differently. But they made their decision before I could say otherwise, and I will stand by it." It had not been ideal, and had she been quicker Klaudius might still be alive, though detained indefinitely. But what was done was done, and it was left to her to make certain that these recent unfoldings wouldn't bring Nerine and Tephra to the brink of war.
"If there is blame that needs to be placed, then I ask you to place it upon me instead of Nerine, for my lack of action and failure to prevent a life from being lost." The purple pegasus had been a vile creature, she would never deny that, but he had also been the product of an unfortunate upbringing and it saddened her all the same that the past that had shaped him had helped to steer him towards an early end. Now looking into the eyes of his son so inspiringly different from the one that had sired him, her sadness mixes with telltale regret. "I am sorry for the loss of your father, Kromium."
@[Kromium] @[Leilan] well that only took forever. tried to cram everything into one post to wrap it up. :p