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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2018 3:31:41 GMT
Echo held her head high as she returned to the throne room. It was a feat to stand tall what with the weight of her thoughts. She found strength in hope; hope that King Roan had spoken out in anger, and not from the heart. If there was one thing she had learned was that, unlike his mother, he had a heart. It was inscrutable, but it existed, and surely he would not sentence her to death by denying her the compassion it was capable of.
After all she’d done for Azgeda — for him.
The knot in her throat was hard to swallow around. Her gaze met that of her clansmen as she found her place at their side. No words were exchanged. The few about the room who spoke did so with intelligible murmurs she paid no heed to. There’d been a time, before Praimfaya, that she would have clung to every whisper, wrung every word of its possible meaning. But tonight there was more pressing things that state secrets.
The tension in the room was suffocating.
The thoughts in her head and the ache in her chest were equally inescapable. The only means of distraction was the flame flickering before her. King. Roan. Her breath caught in her chest as emotion threatened her composure. It wasn’t just him it represented, but all those who stood behind him. If King Roan fell, as would Azgeda, and if that happened—
—it was inconceivable. It was why she had slipped under the cover of shadows to aid the King, in the first place. Banishment hurt, but his willingness to sacrifice their clan when they could ensure victory was even more hurtful. It angered and confused her, and along with every other emotion she felt, Echo felt gripped by a force she couldn’t overpower.
Speechless, with bated breath, she watched the flame unblinkingly. Her gaze darted to the Flamekeeper, who moved across the room to extinguish another’s flame. The fate of a clan sealed. A better chance for Azgeda to prevail.
Her heart beat painfully fast in her chest.
King Roan might have sought to deny her Azega, but it thrummed in her veins. Never could he take that away.
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Post by ash on Mar 29, 2018 8:17:54 GMT
In the face of imminent death and potential survival, sometimes people changed, and sometimes they found strength where there was none to be sought. When the girl screamed at him to find cover, it was a mere stumble that brought him out of harms way for a moment. She sprung into action, turning him away and herself, hiding them, to regroup and find them an advantage, despite him being wounded. The willingness to help him, the desire to save all, all clans, that impressed him. Unlike another leader of her clan, there was sincerity in this one and he knew he stood no chance in a fight against either of these women. He was too wounded. And so, as the deed was done and Luna slain, as only he and Octavia remained, he lay the necklaces, including Azgedas down at her feet and offered her victory without a fight. And yet it was not necessarily victory she sought.
He was being supported, a guard taking over as they walked into the throne room, two victorious, instead of just one. Both their desires met. He stood back, aware that he had offered victory to her and well aware that she would have claimed it and gotten it otherwise. His arm, though shaking, was curled around his injured stomach. Thoughts of giving up crossed his mind, but not yet. He had 100 spots to fill and he had to be wise about it. He knew this was a sign of weakness in his clan. He did not care. If this was to be his end eventually, so be it. As long as his people survived. The guard supporting him brought him over to Echo. He allowed himself to lean on her as he stood, his touch soft, despite the feelings, despite the pain. There was only one thing that mattered in that moment: "Our Clan lives." But they, both of them might find their end in praimfaya, but their clan would survive. At least there was hopefully no way the others could discover Echos interference. They had no mind for that now. Each clan only had 100 spots. So did they. "I want your advice - one last time."
@echx
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2018 3:47:19 GMT
Luna kom Flourku, yu gonplei ste odon
The words had a conflicting effect on her. It was now down to Azgeda and Skaikru — Roan versus Octavia. Echo glanced about the room, searching for Bellamy. Her brow furrowed when she did not see him. Marcus stood alone behind Octavia’s flickering flame.
There was something wrong.
Her knuckles cracked as she curled her hands into fists.
The doors opened, two candles still burning.
Octavia marched ahead as Roan followed behind with the support of a guard.
He was injured, and could have easily been killed.
Why wasn’t he dead then?
As relieved as she was to see him alive, there was a part of her that wished him dead. If his fate were not representative of their people, he should have accepted an honourable death. After all, he casted her out for cheating the rules, but here he stood, cheating death and the rules. One victor, not two.
Echo’s gaze trailed Octavia before darting back to the approaching king. Her face was devoid of emotion as she took on his weight, her arm wrapping around his shoulders, hand fastening around his ribcage.
“I don’t understand—” she replied, glancing back at the Flamekeeper. Octavia was being declared the winner. A quick glance at Roan’s neck revealed the absence of the necklace. Had he traded it for a spot in the bunker? Did he really think they’d keep their word this time around? The stakes were too high. And with Skaikru nowhere to be seen, she felt the flames licking at her insides.
Her eyes narrowed as she glanced back towards the throne, then Marcus, and finally onto her king.
“—and you’ve never heeded my advice before.” There was bitterness in her tone, but her eyes betrayed her coldness. She took the offered cloth from one of the chiefs behind her, and motioned for Roan to move his hand so she could press it to his wound. Her life purpose was to serve Azgeda and the crown, and even with the noose tightening around their necks, she wouldn’t betray her king, even if he had betrayed her.
Still, she didn’t understand.
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Post by ash on Apr 15, 2018 6:40:45 GMT
As Echo steadied him, he knew this would be the end of it, of them, but not for their people. He watched the champion of Skaikru, had to admire her tactic, her resilience and her plan. Their people would not have given everyone spots. So many innocents could be saved now. And he would make sure that the selected for his people knew to carry their culture into the future, as well as move and adapt to it. There were careful considerations to be made to ensure that his people could survive and survive with cultures that were against them so fundamentally, that they had to fear that an uprising would once again occur with the prospect of Azgeda joining them in the bunker.
"She won." He said simply as an explanation. "She won. It would have taken her one blow only and I would have been dead at her feet." And he perhaps should have been. He would be. This was all about making sure they did not waste a single space in the bunker on someone who would end up jeopardizing all of their positions in the bunker. "My fate is sealed. The only reason I gave her the necklace and live now is to see our people safely in the bunker. I will not join them myself. It would be a wasted space anyway." His injuries were grave, he would most likely perish anyway and that by taking the place of someone else? He did not want that. There were better candidates than him.
"That is untrue, Echo and you know it. I did let you investigate Skaikru. This is for the sake of our people. You know them better. You have lived with them far longer than I have." And this was why he needed her opinion and advice. They needed a strategy with it. "We have to make sure the right people go in, the ones who can survive among the other clans and keep our culture alive. And we have to ensure they get to go in. The other clans don't want us. We will ensure our peoples survival."
@echx
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