RP:Propose a Trade?

Part of the Lies Within Us Arc

Summary: Hoping to broker peace between Larket and the Mage’s Guild, Queen Josleen visits with Quintessa and Kasyr who were captured by King Macon during a recent confrontation between the Hard City and The Guild. Josleen strikes a deal with Quintessa who will go to the Mage’s Guild to propose a trade: Kasyr for Peter + Brenwyn’s demotion off the council. Larket believes Brenwyn is to blame for all of this and he must suffer consequences (though in truth Josleen hopes for something a little more lethal).

A Hotel in Kelay Tavern

Josleen had hoped this day would never come, but in the rare moments of personal honesty, where the truth pierced through the thick royal veil, she knew in her gut that it always would. Her city, Larket, and her hometown, Xalious were at odds. More specifically, Larket and the Mage’s Guild were at odds, but that tiny burr of a village that clung to the Xalious Mountainside had long kowtowed to the whims of the Mage’s Guild and become the only de-facto mageocracy on the continent. Years ago, before she was Queen and when her responsibilities were few, Josleen was a Xalious activist protesting the mageocratic rule of then-Archmage Tiphareth and agitating for democratic mayoral elections. Where had that energy gone? She has learned since her marriage to King Macon that the weight of the royal crown exerts a pressure on the skull that compresses the brain until it leaks out any notions of nobility or integrity that fly in the face of the crown’s best interests. A mageocracy with her own father serving on its council best serves the crown. And yet despite that arrangement the Hard City and the Village of Magic are at odds, tugging on Josleen’s loyalties in opposite directions in a game of tug-of-war, though there is no question as to the winner. The weight of the royal crown has already made sure of that. On the brink of war, the King has called upon his Queen for an 11th hour effort at peace. First she visited her father, Kyl’oriel, who also hoped to avoid war. There she gleaned the information necessary about the guild and its members to come prepared to her next audience with Kasyr Azakhaer and Quintessa Dragana. Roald greets the Queen’s carriage when it arrives and he fills her in on what he knows about Kasyr and Quintessa as he escorts her to Quintessa’s room, where the furniture had been rearranged an hour prior to the Queen’s arrival. Loveseat on one side of the room. Desk. Two chairs near the foot of the bed. All seating is spaced apart so that while seated, no one can touch anyone else. Quintessa is instructed to sit on one of the chairs opposite the Queen who takes the loveseat. They are soon joined by Kasyr, who is escorted by Wendell and instructed to sit in the remaining chair. Roald and Wendell each stand sentry at opposite corners to provide security. The Queen who dons a delicately-embroidered navy blue gown, her filigree crown embedded with gems and marble, and golden jewelry with a retail value high enough to buy every property in the city of Xalious except the Mage Tower. She gives each prisoner a moment to bow their heads in respectful greeting. If they do not, she won’t make a fuss, but the slight is noted. “On my trip over here I kept thinking about a strange coincidence. Kasyr,” she looks at him, “we both attended Balgruff’s “carnival” in Xalious during the Frostmaw Civil War. We never formally met, but I saw you from afar. And Quintessa,” she looks at her, “more recently, we both attended the May Day festival in the Sage, and likewise did not formally meet. In both cases, we were ostensibly on the same side. Kasyr and I were allied with Queen Hildegarde, and at the May Day festival, you, Quintessa, were friendly with my father and my son, with no enmity between us. And yet here you both are, by all appearances on the opposite side of an issue to me, and yet I don’t believe that is necessarily the case nor does it need to be. You know the Larketian position. I’d love to hear yours, in your own words.”

Dragana has been cooperative thus far, so she sees no reason to be rude to Queen Josleen when she arrives. A slight tilt of her head is given to the woman in a show of politeness, but there was a distinct air of nonchalance around the changeling. Wearing the same velour catsuit as the day she was captured, Quintessa sits with one leg crossed over the other, a barefoot bobbing up and down as she fidgets idly. The hex blade had expected some sort of interrogation, but not by the Queen herself. “I have no personal qualms with Larket,” she deftly lies, her sapphire and topaz eyes exploring Josleen’s face much more closely than she had the first time they met, “This entire situation is simply a result of following orders. I have served the Mage’s Council for months, Kyl’oriel included. In fact, it was he who approached me about tutoring the prince in the first place. Your father knew I was willing to do whatever asked, that my loyalties were unquestioned… Until very recently, anyway. Administrator Brenwyn’s latest actions have left me… disillusioned.” Quintessa allows her gaze to drift over to her teacher, Kasyr, and she gives him a look of curiosity. The changeling had no idea that the two had met in passing before.

Kasyr's captivity has been an altogether cordial experience, asofar, perhaps due to the relative lack of hostility that had been offered up by 'Team Spell Blade'. A train of thought that actually winds up being fairly galling to the Kensai, given it boiled down to a bloodthirsty changeling and beleaguered drunk keeping some facsimile of peace and retain level heads during that moment. That said, when he finds himself introduced to the queen, there's some part of him that intuitively bristles, a caution fed by every particular rumour that's been heaped onto Larket over the years. There's a brief moment where he finds himself feeling uncertain, though in the end, he finds himself returning the nod and taking his seat. It's starting to dawn on him why any requests for a drink had been met with water, now. "Well, I'm grateful I left an impression, au moins." He offers up a crooked grin, before his head tilts off to one side, "To be fair, I might be one of the most impartial individuals to this whole mess- since my introduction to it was that afternoon." And he -really- can't help the way he emphasizes the word mess. Even now, the mental image of Odhranos' breakdown, and the diplomatic fall out that ensued sits uneasily in Kasyrs mind. "I don't have any illusion that Macon's appearance there wasn't ...an intentional attempt at causing them to make a misstep. Honetement, I can understand that decision. Et, I can appreciate the fact that he didn't . . ." There swordsman falters here, before finally settling on the words, "seem to be keen on things escalating to the way they did. Hence, why I did my best to keep the peace."

Josleen :: As Quintessa speaks, there’s a scritch-scratching at the door. Roald, without asking or doubting himself for a second, opens the door just wide enough for a fat, standard sized poodle to snake his way in. Roald closes the door promptly behind the High Majesty Pooch Gigi whose physique has taken on the shape of the sausages he loves. Kasyr, the closest stranger to the door, gets the Royal Sniff. Gigi sticks his nose in Kasyr’s crotch to familiarize himself with today’s guest’s bouquet. He also sniffs pockets and hands for any trace scents of meat andJosleenor garbage. Josleen does nothing to heel her dog, because who would dare heel such a perfect good boy? The Queen meets Kasyr’s diplomatic deference and brief flirtation with a wry grin. “Precisely, Kasyr. I believe we are more aligned than recent events suggest.” Her attention shifts to Quintessa again. “Yes, I spoke to my father before coming here. I normally would not disclose his confidences, but seeing as how we are in extraordinary circumstances -- it is my understanding that Brenwyn may be the sole agitator in these events. My father’s newfound opinion of Brenwyn aligns with yours. And…” She waivers here, looking torn between betraying her father’s confidences and negotiating peace. Her expressions is delivered with the precision and detail of a master actress. Indeed she is. She was a bard, and a bard fond of the stage, prior to getting involved in politics. It’s astonishing how well life on the small stage prepared her for life on the largest stage of all. “I do hope you can keep the information I tell you close to your chest. Given your positions in the guild and in Vailkrin,” here she smiles a little to Quintessa with no malice, though again who is to say what lies behind her perfectly controlled face, “I trust you know how to deftly wield information, too. Kyl’oriel told me that it was Brenwyn who insisted on passing you up for a promotion.” She gestures a little as if she has no idea what all this ‘promotion’ business is about but is simply relaying what she heard. “At the time, he believed the motive was personal, but now…” Josleen tilts her head side to side as if sizing up her words carefully, “This may sound paranoid, but my father is a reasonable man not prone to paranoia. He believes Brewnwyn became so obsessed with taking Peter that he knew it would escalate tensions between Larket and the Mage’s Guild. He left you out to dry as a rogue agent to pin the blame on, and honestly, to hear my father tell it, Quintessa, you do not deserve any of this. My father is not blind anymore to what Brenwyn is trying to do here, but Brenwyn wields more power than my father. I do have an idea, however, for how to get you out of this pickle within the guild, and prevent war.”

Quintessa nods her head slowly at the Queen’s words, letting the information rattle around in her brain a moment as she prepares a way to speak. Kasyr’s own concerns on the matter are echoed as short responses of “Yes,” and “I concor,” as the changeling brings a hand up to her mouth to rest her knuckle against her bottom lip. Soon, Josleen brings the conversation to the topic of Quintessa’s personal motivations, her position in Vailkrin and the fact that she had been passed up for promotion. It was no secret now, but the fact that a forien noble was bringing it up unnerved the girl. “Yes… It’s better that what is spoken in this room stays between us.” A mismatched gaze is cast at her master, but she already knew she could trust him to remain clandestine. The interrogation, however, was heading down an interesting path, one that implied that Brenwyn was the cause of all of this and that Quintessa was the scapegoat, and her paranoia took this and ran with it. “Of course…” she mutters, her eyes trailing away in thought as Josleen continues. The hex blade had been suspicious the whole time, and to make matters worse, they took advantage of her rabid loyalty. “I have a lot of respect for your father,” Quintessa says, locking eyes with her once more. It wasn’t untrue, out of all the Councilman, she probably hated Kyl’oriel the least. “And you’re right- I don’t deserve this. The Administrator is going to get a lot of the younger mages killed in this fruitless conflict, a lot of my friends. If you have an idea how to stop this war, I’m willing to listen.”

Kasyr is trying to do that whole diplomatic thing, where he gets a gauge on their emotions, using his empathy- but, it's admittedly pretty distracting when you find a poodle snorfing and sniffing between your legs, and then burying it's face right into the various pockets of his coat. For a brief moment, the Kensai considers trying to nudge the dog away, but when his hand draws near- it earns him a growl, the dogs attempts at getting what's in that lower pocket only intensifying. With a sigh, Kasyr refocuses his attention, one hand reaching back to the deflated looking backpack he carries- only to rummage around for a moment and draw out a surprisingly well preserved pig knuckle sandwich. It's this item that he dangles in an attempt to stop the pooch from getting a faceful . . . whatever was in that pocket. Really, Kas doesn't even know. Only with that out of his way can he direct the crux of his attention back the matter of hand, as Josleen and Quintessa exchange words about Brenwyn. Kasyr does his best not to interrupt, simply taking mental note of what's being said, and comparing it up against that uncomfortable few minutes spent in Odhranos office, watching Brenwyn at work. Had Odranos involvement at the meeting been a calculated? One meant to place the already shellshocked Terramancer as yet another person to place the blame on. "I think war is a matter we'd all like to avoid- so I'm certainly open to suggestions. I had my own questions as well, but I think this takes precedence, at the very least."

Josleen nods in agreement when Quintessa says Brenwyn will get young mages killed. “At this point, Larket wants two things. As always, we want Peter returned to his family. If the Ealhstans at any time wish to enroll Peter in the Mage’s Guild we will not prohibit that, of course. In Larket we value freedom above all else. At issue is the kidnapping, and I am appalled that a member of the Mage’s Council would even consider such a thing, let alone ask someone of lower rank to do it then leave them out to dry. The coward!” A little rage flushes her cheeks and curls her lips into a snarl. “Which brings me to the second thing we now want…” She controls herself a little though the anger is evident in the sharpness of her enunciation and the tightness of her expression. “Brenwyn must be removed from the council. He must suffer serious consequences. …’Serious’,” Josleen chuckles dryly as she air quotes the word. “If anyone had ordered the kidnapping of -my- son, I’d want to see that villain kicked off the council so hard he’s buried 6 feet underground! But! In the interest of peace, no one is asking for anything so extreme. The Ealstan’s will be satisfied with the return of their son, and my husband, the King, will be satisfied knowing Brenwyn is no longer in a position to make his foolish and dangerous ideas into policy.” And Gigi too will be satisfied with a pig knuckle sandwich. He scurries away from Kasyr should the Kensai have second thoughts and eats the sandwich at Josleen’s feet.

Quintessa furrows her brow as she tugs her bottom lip, her gaze drifting again as she thinks things over. There is a moment of consideration before she says, “I will do everything in my power to return Peter to Larket,” she says with conviction, happy that at least half of their goals aligned. “But how will I bring Brenwyn to justice? I am but an Arcane Stewardess, shunned by the Administrator's puppets on the council- any grievance I express will be ignored I-” She pauses, realization filling her eyes, “Unless the council wasn’t involved.” Quintessa doesn’t divulge anymore about what her devious mind was thinking. She already felt like she had said too much. Quickly trying to cover for herself, she looks over at Kasyr. “You said you had some questions, Master?”

Kasyr is mostly just grateful the dog has been placated. Well, that- and the fact that cooler heads may, in fact, prevail. "Honetement, all of this for a child, no matter how talented- seems ridiculous to me, especially when measured against the potential loss of life that's been gambled." On a pragmatic sense, given the expected loss of students and knowlede if things break down into an actual war- it's ridiculous. Frowning, the swordsman fumbles around at the side of his head for a moment, before producing a cigarette from nearly thin air (where does he keep those). That said, he has the courtesy not to light it up, instead choosing to alternate between balancing and chewing on it. "You monologued again." The cigarette is briefly pointed towards her, and yet, he doesn't really offer anything else as a comment. Frankly, this felt a whole lot like someones stupidity coming home to roost, and that was fine by him. As long as he got to go back to being an overglorified supply teacher, and fending off an apocalypse in peace. "Right. The questions. So, i'd wanted to ask this earlier- but it didn't make for the best card game conversation. That said, even to this day, Larkets treatment of witches remains a popular talking point for people in the Mages guild- et was, in fact, brought up repeatedly during the ... parley." Kasyr pauses here, his expression decidedly neutral as he peers at Josleen, trying to see if there's anything that might give a glimpse into her feelings, as he continues, "That said, i -was- curious as to whether the incidences of witch burning remained a common practice, or if they were many individuals that were imprisoned for either the practice or suspicion of it?" Being in personal exile for a few years does help to keep you out of the loop, as does generally avoiding Larket due to those same rumours.

Josleen notices Quintessa pause her speech abruptly, but lets the mystery lie in favor of giving Kasyr the floor, which she immediately regrets. The Queen waves a hand dismissively as Kasyr mentions the parley. “The Ealhstan’s are a traditional, middle class Larketian family. Peter is not a witch. He is not mistreated. Any justification for Peter’s kidnapping made on the grounds of Larket’s policy on witches is post-hoc, bad faith reasoning. The Mage’s Guild said not a word when the witches invoked an earthquake that claimed many Larketian lives, or when they cursed all Larketian children including The Prince. Nor did the Mage’s Guild offer any complaint as my husband sought justice for those transgressions. To bring it up now in a conversation about the kidnapping of Peter Ealhstan is a distraction and beside the issue.” Josleen’s attention turns back to Quintessa. She continues quickly before Kasyr can respond, “I think you can negotiate with the Council. You were there when Peter was kidnapped on bad orders. Offer everything you know about Brenwyn. My father will back you up. We are freeing you as a gesture of good faith. We’ll keep Kasyr until both sides reach an agreement. Kasyr for Peter and justice enforced against the man who got us all into this mess, Brenwyn. His demotion is quite a light sentence, all things considered.”

Quintessa coughs twice, as if trying to clear her throat as Kasyr brings up the witch burnings. It was a topic the changeling was trying to avoid given that this was the reason she hated Larket to begin with. Hearing Josleen dodge the question and excuse their action made Quintessa’s blood start to boil, but she remains calm. Larket would face their justice one day too, but for now she had personal enemies in the Mage’s Tower to deal with. “I believe at least one person on the council will side with me. Kasyr for Peter is more than agreeable, so I’ll take the knowledge of this ransom to them and advocate for Brenwyn’s punishment. Logically this makes the most sense.”

Kasyr suppresses the urge to roll his eyes, both at this turn of events, as well as the manner in which Josleen chose to gloss over the subject. "I don't really have a qualm with this- if you think it might pressure them into making a sound decision, that's fine. I'd rather not have them try to make me feel obliged to join yet another wide scale massacre ou quoi-ce-soit. Especially- since you've clarified that Peter was in no danger. As for my query, I'd simply wanted to clarify things,since if the Guild was so concerned about the matter of Witch and magical lives within larket- perhaps offering them up non violent nuisances suspected of witchcraft or general magical numbskullery you didn't wish to deal with would sate their need." The Kensai -direly- needs to resist the crack about how much lumber this would save Larket on a yearly basis. Pragmatically, offloading problematic individuals on the guild -would- be a double edged sword, but still potentially useful, and could at least come off as almost sincere on a surface level.

Josleen nods as Quintessa agrees with the plan, though she dearly hopes she’s done enough to ensure that Quintessa will deviate from that plan, fatally so for Brenwyn. Only time will tell if Macon, Roald and Wendell’s assessment of Quintessa as an easily-provoked, violent, murder-happy but shrewd reprobate will prove true. “Yes, to be clear, the exchange rests on Brenwyn’s punishment as well. Brenwyn must face consequences if Kasyr is to be freed.” She smiles disarmingly at Kasyr while still eliding the witchy subject, “I’ll ensure your stay is comfortable and appreciate your complicity in achieving peace.” The Queen now smiles at both of them and wields a protracted silence to signal the end to this conversation. “I thank you both. Quintessa, Roald will set you on your way shortly.” Also, Larket’s lumber industry is booming due to all the demand. No worries, Kas.

Quintessa feels she has nothing more to add. Her freedom was right within grasp provided she could end this conversation without any hiccups. Kasyr seems to be determined to bring up the treatment of witches, so Quintessa reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. “Don’t worry, I think I know how to handle this.” She says with a small smile, one of those rare genuine ones the changeling shows sometimes. As her long digits slide from his arm, her gaze of mixed hues flickers back to the Queen before her. “Roald will be returning my equipment then? I won’t be able to negotiate without it, you understand.”

Kasyr lets out a slow exhale,a decidedly intentional attempt at warding away any annoyance that might try and creep into his voice and features. Instead he chooses to lean on his more prominent trait: That sickly sense of exhaustion that's dogged him since the his final tourney bout. That, and the lingering sense of disgust that now seemed to rest somewhere squarely between the two negotiating parties in this terrible debacle. Quintessa's gesture anchors the Kensai before that need for a drink can grow too strong, the swordsman turning towards her to offer a small smile, "Mmm. Well, then I'll see you soon, then." That said, perhaps continuing an alcohol free diet for a bit longer might be prudent. Even if it does make already miserable days just that much worse. "Oh, and Queen Josleen. I do appreciate the audience, at the very least."

Josleen is just as determined as Quintessa to not let Kasyr get in the way of revenge and (fingers crossed!) murder. The Queen nods to the Countess. “Yes, you are free without conditions and your things will be returned to you.” She rises to leave just as Kasyr thanks her for her audience. “Of course. Come, Gigi.” She leaves with the fat, decidedly male, poodle at her heel.