LOIOLTI GON COS WAMPLEI

[Echo]

She had not gone with Nia to Polis. Had the skykru been there and knew who she was then it could have taken away from Nia's plot--so Echo was ordered to stay behind. While normally she wouldn't have cared--she knew that Nia saw her as one of the most trusted of the ice nation--knowing that the coward commander held the prince made her uneasy. Nia was not going to be pleased over this, and there was no way to warn Roan she was coming.

And warning Roan--or like keeping him abreast of his mother's actions--was Echo's purpose for staying so close to Nia. Yet that was before. Echo strode down the hall, and pushed the door opened to the room at the end. She had been out of the city for the morning, but as she arrived it was just in time to see ash getting officially crowned. King. Nia was dead. Her years as service was over. Stepping back out into the hall, she let that finally sink in.

It was later that day that Echo once again walked in the throne room, this time Roan was alone. Walking forward she dropped to one knee to bow to her new king before standing back up to face. She wasn't sure what to say in this moment, but the relief of finally being out of Nia's control was great. She had both done too, and forced Echo to do evil things, but to serve the prince (not King) she was loyal too, she had done them.

[ash]

He had a bit of a network, friends from days before him, had remained close to him, sent him information, making it possible to wander into Azgeda without being spotted and killed for disobeying his banishment, a banishment that was in itself a disgrace, but he knew where it came from. It angered him to this day. As Roan returned to Azgeda he knew he had a duty to his people, but he felt numb, too.  He knew he had been trying to get back home, but his mother, who tried to usurp Lexa, had not done so for him, but for herself. And now the banished prince was king of a nation he had been a stranger to for so long. He wasn't even sure if he still deserved to call himself Azgeda. But he had to lead them. And he had to do it right, somehow. No more death, no more violence among themselves. 

After the ceremony, the newly crowned king had taken to a bath in the clear cold spring near the capital, washing away some of the dirt from Polis at least. He was made king by the woman he hated with a passion, because she had him banished and his mother agreed and didn't fight. All for the sake of her people and what did it bring them? There was no benefit in his punishment, but the mind of a girl put to rest, who apparently thought a queen with an heir too dangerous for her. He couldn't tell. He didn't care, but he knew his trust should not lay with Polis, only with himself. And with those loyal to him throughout his banishment. Roan sat on the throne - what a joke, him on the throne, now more wild man than prince or king. His task to secure a stable future was  a hard one, but it was his. He wouldn't back down from it. Technically this was his damn birthright, not that he necessarily cared. 


It was the entrance of one of his allies, that made him move for the first time. Roan stood, looking at Echo, truly loyal to him through it all, with what she could give and he knew he couldn't ask too much of her, he had no right. "Echo." He said in welcome into what was now his throne room. "I assume none of us thought we would see each other again in this constellation or this soon." It happened too fast for even him to comprehend.  "Your queen is dead, killed by heda and yet I struggle with it. Should I feel satisfaction or anger? Should I call for justice?"


Echo

[Echo]

Not her queen. Not after what she had to do in order to stay by the woman's side. It was a painful reminder of the loyalties she did have to break in order maintain the level of trust that Nia had bestowed in her. The Skypeople had brought down the mountain--the foes that had shown Echo what hell looked like--and in return she had been forced to lead them into a trap. One that didn't even work. A failed plan. "Not my queen," Echo reminded him, for she had remained loyal to but one in this. Her king.

He spoke of trying to decide on what to do next, and Echo had to be honest. "There has been enough planning to kill her in these lands. Let it be." She couldn't order him, and her while her words were a statement, they were not an demand. "You mother made enough enemies that we should not make more. Ontari, and the mountain man are still here. If you do turn your back on them to look at the coward of a commander then you will find one of them at your back with a knife." His people were restless. A war they been forced to ready for never happened, and if he took them to a war they couldn't win then he would be the one they laughed at--not Lexa. "They will betray you in the end."

[ash]

"They already are with their knives at my back." Roan pointed out. There was only one reason why one of them wouldn't stab him: If he gave her what she wanted, which might actually coincide with his interest to secure Azgeda and give his people stability. He might manage to get her off his back by at least pretending to fully support her cause, which was only to better herself. He did support it to better the others, his people, the ones he actually owed. Or well he was raised to owe them. His mother might very much disagree with that - or would have. She was dead. And part of him wondered if he, as her son, should feel more.

"Tell me, what would you do now, Echo" He needed her advice. He didn't know how to proceed, how people thought of his mother, of him. He was banished, damn it. A banished prince returned a king. Not too great. He needed someone with a better idea and that was her. Roan stood from the throne, striding away to a window. "Do the people expect me to mourn her?" He hoped now. He couldn't mourn a woman willing to have him killed, her only heir - well biological heir.  He sighed. If he wanted peace he needed strength. "I'll have the last mountain man locked up.  He's too risky."



Echo

[Echo]

He asked what the people expected of him. "No one will mourn her." Echo told him, knowing that when you were that blood thirsty and cruel in your rulings; you didn't get friends at your grave crying. Nia had been cold, and she had burned very bridge she could find. There was no one out there that would miss her. The part he should wonder, was who saw the new king as weak, or unable to escape his mother's shadow. He needed to be firm, but not evil in his first few days. If he didn't display power soon, then the people would be restless.

"Kill him." Echo told him, though not an order. She wanted to kill him herself, if she got the chance. But he was't thinking about what he needed to do to get the people to follow him. He was thinking too small! Echo knew she could not speak out against him, but he needed to show them he could rule. "Ontari needs to be trained, and reigned in. If you want the next commander to be Azgeda then we need to start now. The people need to see that you are still moving toward that plan, and they will not be under the rule of that coward of a commander forever."