Thread: The Fall of An Era [ Father x Fruit ]

You miss nothing, Princess. He did not leave the floor, he did not need to do so, his knee still bent even if his pride was not and his shoulders straightened in the reply. A reminder of his confidence. Even unarmed in that room he seemed more competent than any warrior and there was little doubt that he had already estimated exactly what he could do in that moment. The others might not have noticed, but she did, the way his eyes moved to note the spears that the men had and their lax grip upon them. His body tensed just slightly in anticipation, a readying if he needed to move and the words were ones he did not like, and the mental noting of the distance between the two of them. At any moment he could have had one of those spears in his hands, slamming the butt into Arvin's midsection before arcing the blade through the neck of one of the still armed guard, his feet planting themselves as he chose to lunge forward to extend the weapon in one killing motion...in the hopes of counteracting any attempt by her advisors to protect her. It was all there for her to read...just as he had accepted his death, he very well could take her with him. Yet he did none of it. Why did he choose not to act when the options were available to him to do so? Like her, he himself understood the morale of having a martyr to follow, an icon that would rally a cause. It had been on his mind on the way there, the impending death, but she did not move to do anything other than to query him and he could see with ease she was no mere flighty noble playing at general. The forces aligned on the table were by no means easy to see for him, no means easy to interpret, yet the disposition and placement showed an adept sense of battlefield that even the best of his commanders seemed to lack. As his keen eyes glanced down with hers towards the map, his features showed appreciation for the choices made, and nothing was lost on him. Where she might have needed to explain why she had established a flanking action of cavalry, why she had positioned her archers or the hillocks to the west, or why she had swept her phalanxes towards the center to others...she did not have to explain them to Aelius. He gave a slight glance at the guardsman who stood there, curious as to what they would do when he stood, and slowly he straightened to bring himself to his full height in front of them. Humans were given to a stockiness, a strength of limb and sinew, and a height that the more agile and slender elves had trouble matching...it was no different in this case, a man born to war emphasizing every virtue that humanity could have. He did not move, it would be an idiocy for the moment to do so, and instead his voice continued unwavering with his speech. Your demands are a burden my people cannot accept. Perhaps with the other races of our world they might have been understood, but our Empire would rather burn than give hostages to fortune and grovel before the Elven people. Yet we are not unreasonable and I pray...I beseech that you are not as well. Allow me to speak for them, allow me to negotiate, to give voice to their fears and come to a solution we can both accept.