Thread: Under the Thumb of a Tyrant (Valanaer x Swagbeast)

The council meeting was held in the cathedral's vestibule below the dais where a long, slender table had been refurbished to comfortable seat twelve. Among the noted was Warlord Z'onz, an elephantine man whose jowls trembled when he spoke, Lieutenant Isoobal from the Black Morass with his obsidian breastplate and pauldrons, Lady Nefertiri, her paramour Meereen and a handful of others who all differed in appearance. Edmure and York flanked the table, each circuiting to their seats adjacent from Ammon who, surprisingly, did not sit at the head of her table. As roguish as she appeared in her Palan battle garb her place was with her men. The man who sat in the high seat whose name was nefariously breathed as the Bear. You've no squires to feed us? Questioned Lady Nefertiri sardonically. She was ever so elegant dressed in lace and silk, but feared among her people. They found it queer that she took women into her bed in the stead of men, but it never drew from her feline arrogance. Ammon gazed through her, not at her, which caused goosebumps to prickle Lady Nefertiri's forearms. She shuddered. Squires, ladies and lords, sires, pages, sers, such terms are nonexistant here. You are not in the Stone Kingdoms anymore, Nefertiri . You are a visitor in the Yelapagos. Our lands are of morasses of mangroves and archipelagos and deserts so vast they could dwarf your seas in one swallow. Lady Nefertiri bristled but her paramour Mereen intervened, gently stroking her lover's hand as she would a child's cheek. Meanwhile an evidently discontent Warlord Z'onzz stirred in his chair, gnawing and gnashing on a haunch of boar. We are not here to broach the subject of geography, Que'coti Qaaz Ammon, we are here to negotiate. I have heard you wish to involve Yemenese pirates. Is this true? York chuckled his usual brazen chuckle, flipping his locks as if he were a young maiden trying to impress her future husband. Sailors are hardly pirates, warlord, he grinned dubiously, We're looking to procure their ships to cross the Sandsea. The usurper Hespith has found allies in the Barrens. The Barrens!? Warloc Z'onzz nearly choked on his boar. Then he's found allies in a clan of primates and godless monkeys. What you've often called my people, Lieutenant lsooba chimed in. He was an enormous man with an ebony complexion and a voice so soft the entire room had to lower their voice to make out his words. Que'coti Qaaz Ammon is our emisarry and potentially one of the most capable people I have had the pleasure to meet. Although his mien appeared arguably obsequetious, he had some fire to him. We all have some degree of qualms with the usurper Hespith and his ideal of purging and converting godless men. People of the Morass have worshipped the Drowned God since we knew how to erect crannogs over the marshes. If he is bold enough to brave the Sandsea and come to the Yelapagos, we are all, indeed, in grave danger. A conscious effort to discuss the matters at hand civilly would be most wise. He eased back in his chair and gazed momentarily at Ammon with his big, black eyes. Enough, barked the Bear. His thunderous voice cracked like a whip, silencing the entire council. Ammon was the only one brazen enough to speak her peace. I have appointed a new general and I have given him governance over my men, many of which came to me to request his elevation. He will be going to Yemen to speak with the pirates and I will be joining him. In the mean time, the remainder of my numbers will remain with Edmure. York will be taking two score to the Morass with Lieutenant Isoobal to quell Hespith's influence there. We must cross the Sandsea and return to Pala if we have any hope of bolstering our numbers enough to meet Hespith's numbers in battle.