Thread: An Empire in 100 Nights (Rosewood x LeatrixSage)

He listened to her refusal to eat or drink and found himself further intrigued. No doubt it was compassion for her people but he wondered if there was an ulterior motive. An attempt to gain sympathy for her people and get them fed? Unlikely, she saw him as a mindless conqueror and it was unlikely she'd think him capable of mercy or sympathy. Most likely it was a sincere response that also served to build up a foundation for future arguments, she'd likely use her starving people again in a future argument, now that she had introduced their existence here. Fine by him, it wouldn't matter any more later. Fair enough, he said amicably, with a small gesture of both hands. He listened to her response to his proposed subject in silence, already knowing where she was headed and using the time her turn in the conversation gave him to think his responses through. She seemed to not understand the position that she and her nation found themselves in and that would have to be corrected first. With all due respect, lady Nordanvind, but I think you are under a bit of a misunderstanding here, he began as he sat up straight and treated her seriously for the first time. His brow furrowed slightly, dark eyebrows pulling together a little as he held her eyes. We did not come here with our vast armies and our powerful siege engines and cavalry and the like to devastate your nation. We came here to conquer your nation, he said, sharply emphasizing the word 'conquer' to help it sink in. In other words, we are here to add your nation to our Empire. That will also mean a reorganization of your nation as it exists today. We will leave your culture and your way of life alone but you will have to pay taxes, enter into trade agreements with the other nations that make up the Empire and you will have to abide by imperial law. So both your future and the future of your nation are not only up for debate but will be debated, here and now. If you don't want to enter into that negotiation yourself I understand but then you should pick a suitable representative who can do so, the Emperor explained. The earlier levity and amicability were gone, as though they had come from a completely different person. Rest assured that this doesn't have to be something hard, scary, difficult or cruel. You mentioned your people starving in the capital before. But once we've worked out how your nation will fit into the Empire they won't just be your people. They'll be our people. And I will be just as responsible for their starvation as you and I will do whatever I can to relieve them of this famine, the Emperor said, the hardness and cold seriousness slowly slipping from his voice as he seemed to return to his usual state. I had you summoned here because, as my spies told me, you were leading your country during this difficult time and you led well. Both on the battlefield and off the battlefield you did quite well. You did your best to keep your people safe and healthy through this difficult time and fought back as hard as you could, harder than one might expect. So I don't care what those men outside think. As far as I'm concerned you are the worthiest representative of your nation and thus I would like to handle this matter with you. But...if you insist I will allow you to leave here and treat with the men outside so that you can work out with them who the representative of your nation should be, he explained and now his voice went back and forth between sympathy and respect. For the most part he meant it, the woman had fought like a lion and everywhere they went people had readily risen up against them. Even when they offered food and water for their hunger and thirst and blankets and wood against the frigid cold the northuns had simply taken these gifts and then promptly killed the troops who had handed them out only moments ago. Clearly these people were committed to their queen and commitment was something one could only earn, not receive or buy. Whoever those other pigs were outside, they didn't deserve to sit here with him. She did. The Empire from whence he hailed didn't believe in what they called 'old-fashioned nobility'. Instead they believed the worthy led and the less worthy followed. The incident of one's birth was irrelevant, all that mattered was one's merit as a member of society. If you wanted a position you either had to take it or prove worthy of it and then you needed to stay worthy of it or you'd be replaced by someone worthier. Military officers were only promoted if they won battles using their wits and their character. Nobles earned their position by being capable administrators and leaders. Soldiers were only promoted if they could prove they were competent enough for the position they strove for. And this queen was clearly worthy of being a member of the imperial aristocracy. Beautiful, strong-willed, capable, noble of spirit and intelligent. It made perfect sense to him she was the absolute leader of her nation yet some regressive law or rule about who should rule was seemingly holding her back, if her words of 'That isnt up to you, it will be up to those men standing outside' were anything to go by. Ridiculous, why should blood or rules determine who led? Leadership, more so than anything else, belonged to the worthiest and that was clearly her, her prowess showed itself in every word and every action. Which would make taming her all the sweeter....