Panem et Circenses

[Csephion Draxus]

Trivo was perplexed at her indignation.

"Their considerations are forfeit. They are condemned criminals and are due the fate that their deeds have provided them. For all of the offenses they have committed unto Necia, they have little to spare them."

Draxus knew this would be the conventional resistance to his plan, and he pondered how he would overcome it.

"Necia could destroy every one of these prisoners, that is true. It is our right as victors to do so. That being said, our goal is the restoration of the sanctity of State, and our ultimate goal is the return of the Lantern. I think that we should not divert from this end goal."

Trivo was less than convinced. As the Oratorium's steps came within reach, Draxus pondered what the other Satraps would think of his plan.

[Ariadne Fyrian]

And as suddenly as her harsh demeanor had come, it passed just as quickly, and Fyrian paused at the front step leading up to the Oratorium.

She spoke so that only Draxus would hear.

"I fear that I am unworthy to go any farther, Satrap."

She watched Trivo continue on as if unnoticing the Glaucan woman's hesitance. He was unable to see further than his own nose in her estimations, and she found herself despising him for that.

That Draxus had taken her subtle misguidings as some sort of merchantile tndancies and advice was all the better, but it still did little to quiet the nervousness that Trivo himself had planted within her. If he remained unconvinced of her suggestions, how on the great continent of Asga was she to persuade the rest of Draxus' fellow Satraps? It was a sobering thought to say the least.

"I fear I do not belong here," she whispered.

[Csephion Draxus]

Draxus bade her on, and whispered to her.

"If you value your convictions, stay with me. I believe your suggestions are sound. Our task is simply to convince others to this end. All of Necia's great questions are answered in such a way."

The steps ascended toward a vaulted entrance flanked by austere columns. All around it were smartly-dressed people eager to hand petitions to whatever Satrap might catch them. It was both solemn and anarchic at once in a way.

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Into the heart of the monster. The belly of the beast, as it were once again. Fyrian cast one more look above her at the architecture threatening to swallow her whole, and with a minute nod of her head, she bowed to Draxus' wishes. With every passing moment and every word that he uttered, Fyrian was drawn ever closer.

She was to parlay for the lives of her crew in a manner that she never thought possible.

Denetion give me strength.

And through the crowds of those hoping for any attention they could garner from whatever Satraps would give to them, she reached a hand out to grasp his own.

Her grip was swift, and she sought as much comfort in the touch of his flesh as she could before releasing him at the entrance to the Oratorium.

Her answer was soft, and an acquiescence to him.

"Stay with you."

[Csephion Draxus]

The shadow cast by the superstructure of the Oratorium was vast, and soon they were under the sway of lamps, and a faint influx of light allowed through portholes in the dome, so that the entire interior of the building took on a strange pantomime between light and shadow. All around, the sixty Satraps milled about, eager to call their assembly to order and to divine some sene of grand purpose from the din and legislated anarchy of their modus of governance. The petitions here continued ever in a shrill tone, and Draxus had the good grace of his honorarium to beat the tide back. But at least at the Oratorium, he had to go it alone. Captain Mako and his men were not allowed into the hallowed ground, and they stood behind while Draxus, Trivo, and Ariadne entered. The shouting rose as a din as the Satrap assigned by lot to be the counsilary chair rapped his staff on the ground.

"Order! This meeting will come to order! Do not make me threaten contempt!"

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Surrounded on all sides now completely, Fyrian was unable to help that ever growing feeling of being so entirely overwhelmed. A look of calmed nervousness masked the barely controlled panic she held in check.

Sure to stay as close to Draxus as possible without making herself look like a scared child, the Glaucan kept her hands folded into each other, fingers wrapped through one another.

Another stolen glance toward the doors that they had entered through, and Fyrian knew in the pit of her stomach that there was no running from this.

And yet, from the moment that she'd stopped in front of the Phressian Satrap on the road from Tirgatia, was there ever?

[Regulus Varo]

Standing to indicate his intention of having the floor to speak was a plainly-dressed man with a hard expression on his face. Regulus Varo was the Satrap of Gnaedos, and a fierce nemesis of Csephion Draxus. He had aligned a faction of Satraps against the Phressian, who had in turn aligned a league of Satraps loyal to himself. Each of these two men held a heavy amount of sway within the Oratorium, and therefore, throughout the Necian League.

"I would like to welcome our esteemed colleague, the Satrap of Phressia back to Demos, so that he can resume his sacred charge of legislation."

Nobody applauded as it was fairly obvious that the greeting was of a dry and mocking nature. Not that it mattered one bit to Varo.

"But I must ask, why has the Satrap's chair been empty for these past weeks? Where has Csephion Draxus been? We hear of haughty excursions into Tirgatia and greater Asga beyond, no doubt financed by a petty tyrant king, who perhaps has lubricated the Phressian Satrap's mind with spices and wine..."

He looked to the well-dressed woman at Draxus's side, in attendance as well. It was not unusual for guests to attend the Oratorium, as civic governance was open to all to see, but it was politically expedient for Varo to skewer Draxus on this coincidence.

"...or women?"

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Fyrian stared wide-eyed at the speaker, taken aback at his tone of voice and the inference that he made in his last words.

Varo, the Satrap of Gnaedos, was a rather well known figure to her, and she had heard enough stories of the man's nature. He was not one to anger, she was well enough aware of. But that knowledge still did not stop the Glaucan woman from ticking her ears back and digging her nails into the palms of her hands.

Just the sound of his voice was enough to make her wish for this exercise to be at an end.

She spoke not a word. This was Draxus' arena, and she would gladly fall to the wayside during these dealings.

[Csephion Draxus]

Draxus could sense the discomfort in Ariadne, and frowned momentarily. He knew that Varo would strike without mercy, and was quick to end this rhetorical assault.

"My apologies, I appear to have been remiss in avoiding your bluster!"

The counsilary chair rapped his staff at that retort, and commanded Draxus to dull the rhetoric and keep it to the point.

"While you men of quality have been debating endless matters of importance, I too have attended to matters of importance. Yes, I traveled west to Tirgatia, and the lands of greater Asga at the behest of the Tirgat king, who many know to be a keen ally and friend of our state. While under the gracious host of the Tirgat king, our mutual trade agreements of quarried stone were discussed, and I can safely assure a lucrative understanding was reached. Further, it should be known that pirates of no less than Fyrian's band were captured by the Tirgat militias. Though our main villain and his prize remains at large, we have struck a crippling blow to this menace."

He looked toward Ariadne.

"My colleague is a merchant of these familiar routes to the west, and has a keen understanding of the criminals we face. She has a plan to exploit their avarice, and to compel their betrayal."

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Fyrian bent her head so that her gaze rested on the floor beneath them. She felt self-conscious at so many eyes upon her, and at the attention that Draxus had rested on her shoulders. A small part of her had wished that he would be the one to propose the idea that she had planted in him, but instead, the way that he was now speaking led her to believe that it was his intention for her to raise her own voice.

Casting quick glances about her, Fyrian gave one last look to Draxus before her eyes fell to Varo. There was something in his very demeanor that put her on edge, and it was not long before she broke her stare away.

These men in the Oratorium were wolves of a different sort. Their teeth and claws were their words, and Fyrian only hoped that, at this session's conclusion, she'd at the very best be able to limp away from them.

[Regulus Varo]

"Plan, what plan?"

Varo's eyes narrowed.

"There can only be one solution. These vagabonds have defied Necia in the ultimate fashion. The State is sacrosanct from the Gods. Defiance of the highest edicts of the State is sacrilege. Does your Glaucan woman have a voice of her own? Can she explain this case of leniency she supposes?"

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Fyrian steeled herself, knowing that she had been called upon by the Satrap of Gnaedos to explain herself and her reasoning. All it seemed in the Oratorium waited as well, and she smoothed a portion of her clothing to mask a slightly shaking hand.

"Necia has been wronged, it is true," she started slowly.

"And in a way that no nation should be. I call no country my own save Denetion's waters, but it is not outside of my grasp to be sympathetic to your anger and the injustice wrought upon your people."

As she spoke, her voice changed from its' timid beginnings to something much stronger, and with iron behind it.

"But you find yourselves now in a position to show that you are beyond the cruel wounds inflicted by the pirate, Fyrian.

"You have in chains his crew, and the chance to show them that you do not stoop to their level of baseless actions."

[Regulus Varo]

"It is true, we have the option to be merciful, but do not mistake the existance of an option for the presence of credible possibility. If posterity is looking upon us for an example to make, the example that should be made is that defiance of the State merits death. Less than this, and our enemies are emboldened, and will expect lenience. What then, do we gain from this folly, I ask you again?"

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Emboldened, Fyrian locked eyes with Varo, this time unyielding.

"What do you gain? Good and noble Satrap, you gain the Golden Lantern."

There was a hard, mocking tone to her voice then.

"Being that you are a man of philosophy and thought, I would recommend that you exercise your high-bred intellect and think about it."

[Regulus Varo]

"Do we? Does it manifest itself into our possession upon our act of bribery? Not a kernel of trust exists between ourselves and scurillious pirates in the best of times. When offered an olive branch of mercy, I expect the condemned to do nothing short of lie about the color of the sky to avoid their fate."

Varo shook his head.

"I will afford not one drop of mercy until the Lantern is returned to our Beacon, and Fyrian's body is thrown from the Palisade Rock. Perhaps they lie, perhaps they speak true. They have no names, and no reputations. Their words are just disturbances of air without integrity to back them up."

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Fyrian felt herself to be in full swing now, and held herself with a sort of reckless abandon.

"These men are who they are because of greed. They steal because they covet that which they do not have. Not once has the option presented itself to them out of good graces. They expect to be crucified and put to the sword.

"The Golden Lantern means nothing to them. It was most undoubtedly a whim of Fyrian himself to take it for his own. They cannot attach any physical wealth to it, so why should they lie about its' whereabouts? It has brought them nothing but the rage of a whole nation upon them, and with their captain fleeing to the southlands and leaving them to your discretion, they have seen now that their leader abandons them. What do they have that is so precious to their hearts to protect?"

Fyrian raised a hand and pointed it to the Gnaedos Satrap.

"Nothing, save their own lives. And to them, that is far more precious to them than your Lantern."

[Regulus Varo]

"The southlands?"

Varo had disregarded his previous bombardment, and looked sharply to Draxus.

"Is this true?"

[Csephion Draxus]

Draxus was as surprised as his nemesis, and he looked to Ariadne for some affirmation.

"I was not aware of this."

[Ariadne Fyrian]

Stupid!

In the heat of her words, Fyrian had let slip something that she most certainly shouldn't have. She glared long at Varo.

"It is."

She could salvage this. It was not a difficult task; simply an obstruction.

"I was in Tirgatia, in the marketplace when Satrap Csephion Draxus descended upon Fyrian's men. I saw Fyrian gathering provisions with his ship's navigator. They left through the southern gates.

"If I say that he travels south, it is only because that is the direction that I watched him leave. If he's deviated from that course than I will retract, but my eyes saw him ride for the directions of Ha'lainn Inniu and the Ruins of Nusakar."

This much Fyrian knew she'd not disclosed to Draxus, and so if nothing else would come of their time here, at least his surprise was genuine.

[Regulus Varo]

"Well, then what confessions do we need of the condemned?"

Varo, looking mildly pleased, addressed the larger body of the Satrapy.

"To this end, I suggest we raise an Expeditia to pursue to the farthest southern reaches of the continent, and bring Fyrian into account."

He looked at Ariadne as an afterthought.

"Crucify the balance of the prisoners."