Tales of Eleutheros

“A resounding victory!” Agron proclaimed to the hall, filled to the brim with nobles and warriors. He raised a bowl of wine and toasted with the celebrating crowd of Dae. “Oros has once again subdued the reckless and villainous Rexunii, bringing peace to our region and to all of Eleutheros.”

“May he live long!” one of the nobles yelled, prompting cheers and applause.

Katrina stood next to Avria, who was beside Agron’s throne. There were several other people of importance up there as well, but she recognized very few. They wore different colored cloaks, blue, purple, green. The man in purple she knew, Lord Cato of House Vonos, the Torre’ financial supporter of the military campaign in the south, and self-appointed Human enthusiast. They must be representing different clans, Katrina thought.

Avria gave her a nudge and gestured toward the other Dae. “Don’t stare. You’ll meet them all soon enough.”

“What clans are they from?” Katrina asked, in her lowest tone.

“The ones in blue are from the Baa’Yega clan. They are to our East, and just South of Torre’. The ones in green are from Exous, a small but wealthy clan far to the South. There aren’t any representatives here from the Sabree, Visgo, Volsung, or of course the Rexunii.” She stopped speaking as Agron said something else that caused the crowd to cheer loudly. “By the way, have you seen Daniel? I sent a runner to fetch him. He should be here.”

Katrina shook her head. “I haven’t really spoken to him lately. He has been keeping to himself.” She saw a softness in her mistress’s eyes, almost pity as she looked away. “I’m sure he’s fine. We just have to look out for him.”

After the initial speech from Agron, all the attending Dae were escorted to a large ballroom, where they began the true celebratory party. The festivities were informal due to the short notice, but many of the women and men had managed to find fine clothing to wear. Katrina always found these types of events fun. No matter how much she learned to fight or how deeply she tried to hide it, she still felt like a Krya while here.

She mainly followed Avria around as she made her rounds through people of importance and admirers. Avria was showered with praise, congratulations, and affection from all she approached. Katrina smiled and greeted as well, doing her best to mirror the impressive woman’s demeanor.

“There he is,” Avria said, pointing to Daniel.

Katrina heard her mutter something under her breath as she strode forward to intercept him. By the time they did, he was in the middle of a conversation with Cato. The cheerful man was flanked by his daughter Phenia, the girl who he was attempting to marry off to Boros.

“Of course, we knew it would be an easy fight. The Rexunii have not been at their best in many years,” Cato said with a chuckle.

“But what about Robert?” Daniel asked. “I haven’t heard anything about the battle, no real details on anything, except that Oros crushed their army and is sieging Thule.”

“Details, my dear Dan, you mustn’t worry about such things. All we needed to know is that the battle is over, and it will be only a matter of time before they parade Alektor through these streets as a corpse or a prisoner. We have to worry about the real threat to Pelemont.”

“And what threat would that be?” Avria said, bowing her head to Cato in respect.

“Ahh, Avria. You have grown so much since we last met. More beautiful than I could possibly have imagined then. I am so happy for you and Oros.” Cato returned the bow but clasped her hands in his. “And Katrina.” He looked at her warmly. “Your exotic beauty is the talk of many here, let me just say.”

“Father,” Phenia warned, rolling her eyes.

“I am just speaking the truth, love. No need to get offended,” he said, defensively.

Katrina blushed, but laughed it off. “No worries. I appreciate it. All human girls love to be admired, whether they like to admit it or not.”

“You see?” Cato looked at his daughter with his eyebrows raised.

“Lord Cato,” Avria interrupted. “May I borrow my squire for a moment? I have to discuss something with him.”

“Of course, Lady Avria.” Cato smiled again. “I shall be around, mingling with the richest people I can find from Exous. I can already smell new trade deals being made. Come, my dear.” He touched his daughter’s shoulder, who bowed, and they both walked back into the crowd of Dae.

Daniel looked at Avria, his expression unreadable. “What do you need?”

“Why were you late, Daniel?” she asked, crossing her arms. “It is important for all representatives of our caste to be present. And one of the Spirit-Sent being absent will not go unnoticed. There are some very powerful people from other clans of Eleutheros here. Agron will be named king of Lokkadonia soon, so we need to be at our best.”

Katrina listened to her light chastisement, somewhat baffled at her calm tone. She was usually much more intense than this.

“I was meeting with one of the Lords from… uh… well, one of those other clans. Sorry, he caught me in the hallway. I probably could have told him to piss off, but he was representing the King of Baa’Yega. I figured I would play nice.” Daniel shrugged.

“I see.” Avria nodded. “Well, in that case, you did well.”

“Avria,” Daniel said. “What happened at the battle? I haven’t heard anything about the details. I have… you know… friends there.”

Avria looked at Katrina, seeing the same curiosity in her eyes. “Well, it was several days ago, and we are now in the process of sieging Thule. That could take a while, however, and there are more forces from other parts of Rexun that have apparently been assembling to fight. It looks like we got there before they could fully mobilize their forces.”

“That’s good,” Katrina said, looking at Daniel.

“And there isn’t any news on Robert?” he asked.

“As of right now we think he’s in Thule. But other than speculation, there isn’t much to go on,” Avria said. “Agron is pulling Oros back and leaving the other generals to handle what remains of the siege. He should be here in a few days, so,” she looked at Daniel, “you will be back with your master soon, it seems.”

“And you with your husband to be,” he replied.

“Husband?” she asked, confused.

“Mate. I meant to say, mate. On Earth, when you are mated with someone, it’s called getting married, and the woman is a wife to the man, and the man is a husband to her.”

“What strange words,” she said. “Anyway, please enjoy yourself, Daniel. I will let you know if there is any word on your friends.”

“Thanks,” he said, turning to walk into the party again.

Katrina was stunned and completely confused at the strangely pleasant exchange between the two. Ever since they had that incident at the practice field, Daniel had been moping around, and Avria had been really nice to him. She fumed at the fact that Avria hadn’t told her what happened. It wasn’t fair, some things she just had to know.

“Katrina.” Avria interrupted her thoughts. “I need you to speak with Boros, make sure he prepares a full military reception for his brother’s victory. Spare no expense. This squashed rebellion will be remembered for many years to come, so we need to be sure that it’s done right. Tell him also that if he screws this up, I will have his head.”

Katrina nodded. “Of course, my Lady.” She bowed and turned to complete her task.

~

Daniel stood on one of the many large balconies attached to the ballroom. There were several nobles scattered around him, but none had even acknowledged his presence. That was fine with him. It was what he preferred. With a sigh, he leaned forward and rested his head on the ledge, letting his thoughts flow uncontested. A very private part of his life was now exposed to someone he did not trust with it. Though Avria might not have understood exactly what she had seen in his mind, he had not brought it up with anyone outside his brothers-in-arms, who had experienced the war in Iraq beside him. Now… “Ugh…” He groaned at the thought again. To make things even worse, Avria was treating him differently now. Like a wounded puppy.

“Dan?” a soft, familiar voice called from behind him.

Daniel turned to see Illya standing timidly behind him, her usual confident demeanor absent. “I… I wanted to speak with you. Do you have a moment?”

This just keeps getting better and better, he thought, but nodded his head to her.

She stepped closer and rested her elbows on the ledge beside him. She paused for several moments as if gathering her strength.

“Listen,” she started, “I know things have been awkward between us the last few months. And I’m not sure how you feel about me right now, but I can’t sit here and pretend everything is alright. You… you should have just told me outright that you had no interest in being my friend. Instead, you embarrassed me in front of the court by ignoring my advances, and—”

“Illya—” Daniel said tiredly but was shut down.

“No, you listen, I have been thinking of what to say for weeks now, and finally have the courage to say what I need to. I don’t know why you seem so repulsed by me, but I need to know. Why? What is it about me that offends you so?”

“Oh, lord,” Daniel said, finally turning to look at her. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you, Illya. Holy shit, I have been here for only about a year now, and the rate in which you Dae started showing interest in us humans is pretty impressive. Boros started the moment he saw Kat. I mean, he didn’t even know what she was, just that she was attractive and different. Or,” he used his hands to make air quotes, “‘exotic,’ as you so bluntly described.” He saw her lower lip start to quiver and suddenly felt horrible.

“Look,” he continued, “the reason I tried to avoid it is because it stressed me out. I mean, you’re beautiful and smart and proper in every way. But you’re also the only daughter of the man who decides if we live or die, so as my old platoon sergeant used to say, ‘Don’t shit where you sleep.’” He reached his hand out and rested it on her shoulder. She shuddered for a moment but didn’t make any move to stop the contact. “I couldn’t risk that, and trust me, a part of me really wanted to, a part of me still does. Maybe once this war business is all cleared up, and Kat and I are a little more stable here.”

Illya didn’t say anything for a long moment, just stared at him with tears welling in her eyes.

“I want you to answer some questions for me then,” she finally said, her voice shaky.

“Sure,” Daniel said, trying to be as comforting as possible.

“Are you, or are you not, sleeping with the Doulos you were given?” she asked, in all seriousness.

“What?” Daniel was more irritated than shocked that he had even been asked this by Katrina. “No, of course not. I don’t take advantage of people. She isn’t mistreated in any way, and I don’t sleep with her.” He tapped his boot on the floor of the balcony, his annoyance starting to return.

“Ok,” she said, her tension starting to fade a bit. “Second question. Are you in love with Katrina?”

Daniel looked at her blankly and said simply, “No.”

“Alright. Lastly, would you consider going to dinner with me, as a friend, for now? Just to get to know each other better. I can understand that my position might scare you a bit, but if we could work that out, would you consider it? You could do a lot worse than being mated with a Krya, after all.” A thin smile crested her lips.

Daniel sighed. “Ok, I’ll go to dinner with you. But this talk of being mated needs to stop. I know that means marriage here, and we are from completely different species. Why would you marry or… mate with someone who you can’t even have children with?”

“How do you know that?” she asked, cocking her head. “It might happen. Humans and Dae are very similar.”

“I guess science doesn’t exist here,” he mumbled to himself, rubbing his face in frustration. “Alright, after this is over.”

“Very well,” she said, obviously doing her best to contain a large smile. “I am very happy we had this conversation, Dan. I want you to know that I admire you very much and will do everything I can to help you and Katrina.”

“Thanks, Illya, I appreciate it.”

Illya nodded to him and turned to leave the balcony. Daniel let out a quiet sigh of relief until he saw the two dozen peering eyes of nobles and spectators who were all shocked at what they had just seen. This woman, Daniel thought in horror. She had clearly planned to make this a public spectacle and had done just that. She wasn’t as timid and innocent as he might have believed once; she was becoming a smart politician.

Son of a bitch, he thought, knowing that this would spread across the court like a wildfire.

-

Over the next several days, word of Oros’ victory over the Rexunii army had spread all throughout Eleutheros, bringing clashes of resistance and cheers of support from the people of the various clans. Agron asked Oros to return, seeing as how the hardest part was over, and to finalize his joining with Avria. Katrina had not been able to get any gossip from the stern woman with regards to her true feelings on the matter, but she knew she was excited about it.

Katrina found herself glancing uncomfortably at Boros and Phenia as they talked in the long hallway that led to Agron’s throne room. The girl had opted to stay, to represent her father, when he decided to go back to his estate in Torre’. Katrina felt some relief in the fact that Boros was now being directed at mating with a Dae girl from a different clan. The constant attention he had shown her over the past year was now starting to subside. Phenia was a nice girl, young and a bit wide-eyed, but she would be a good match for Boros.

“What are you still doing here?” Avria asked, stepping out from a long-winded meeting with the Hego. “I thought you would be resting by now.”

Katrina bowed her head. “My Lady, I decided to wait for you. It just wouldn’t feel right taking an afternoon nap while you had to endure hours and hours of politics.”

Avria cracked a thin smile and gestured for Katrina to follow her.

“Any word on Oros?” Katrina asked.

“Yes,” she said, as her brow furrowed. “It just seems like he doesn’t want to come back. Every reply he sends seems to be rushed, like he doesn’t have the time for it. I don’t know, it just isn’t normal.”

“Maybe it’s because he’s trying to coordinate his siege?” Katrina shrugged.

“Maybe.” Avria straightened up as they walked as if realizing she was showing too much emotion and changed the subject. “What about Boros?” she asked as they passed him in the hallway. “Has he finished the preparations? Aside from all this stalling nonsense, Oros should be here by tomorrow afternoon. I want everything to be ready.”

“He’s on it, my Lady.” Katrina hoped this was true. “He told me he had everything under control. I believe his exact words were something like, ‘If Oros can conquer a clan in a month, then I can plan his damn victory party.’ Don’t quote me, but that was pretty much it.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Avria said, shaking her head.