FE on the Forums: Scarlet Crown [IC]

[rokubiraijuu]

The looks on the faces of the three seem to suggest they agree with Kris' exasperation. "Why would knowing that make any difference?" the cleric fires back at Rhian. "We've already wasted our breath, and for what? You've all made it clear it doesn't matter where we came from or what our reasons were. You've decided based on what you already knew about us even if we hadn't made a goddamn peep."

 

Though more subdued, the mage seems to concur with his ire, meeting Rhian's eyes levelly. Nevertheless, she continues. "As far as we know, she was caught in a blast in the war ten years ago and lost her hearing then. Her parents were Loyalists, though noncombatants. She was separated from them when they were all imprisoned, as most children were. She's been in Soniere ever since, the same as us, although I'm not sure she understands why, since no one could talk to her... Carrac taught her a thing or two with a basic stave so she'd have something to do besides being... harassed by the guards and the other inmates."

 

The other cleric scoffs through his nose. "They got to know our damn life stories now?" he mutters under his breath.

 

"Still, she made the decision to come with us. Her circumstances aside, that much is true. How much she understands..." the mage sighs, looking uncomfortable for the first time. "We're not certain. It seems the trauma she suffered in Soniere impaired her greatly. Regardless, she has nowhere to go."

[rustytengo]

"Hmm..."

 

"Don't get me wrong. I couldn't care less about what you did in the past. I only care about the choices you made that I have seen and you chose poorly."  Kris said to the prisoners rather harshly. 

[ElfCollaborator]

Michi finally speaks up again, having been in deep thought for a while.

 

 "I've been against pointlessly executing you this entire time, and sending you back to prison would do nothing but convince you to break out again. Still.....there ought to be some sort of punishment. If I may speak freely......well, the village will now be in need of better defenses, now that it's clear this place is vulnerable to banditry. Your skills are in need, and we cannot exactly spare our own, not when there are so few of us. In my family, the second lesson we are taught is to waste not. Your choices were poor, but that need not take your future away from you.

 

I'd like to propose a more useful punishment; you assist this village by repairing the damage that was caused and protecting it from bandits and others who might get the idea of preying on others for supplies, if our leader and the village authorities are willing to permit that. A sort of community service, if I may. I would ask you to swear an oath, but you all don't seem like the type and I don't need to; you're fugitives in the middle of hostile territory. Should you break free or continue with your crimes, you'll most likely end up running into others far less honorable and far less willing to talk it out with you. Moreover, there are more of them than there are of you; should you choose to fight it out while our backs are turned, it will likely end in your death anyway.  Any other terms of your eventual release, I leave to our leader to negotiate with the responsible authorities. Assuming, of course, you stay on your best behaviour.  

 

Or, of course, you can take your chances. I'd like you to take a moment to consider. For the sake of the girl, if nothing else."

[rokubiraijuu]

Michi's suggestion elicits a variety of reactions. The mage seems surprised, then her brow furrows in thought as she considers this. The knight continues to look nonplussed, though the momentary raising of eyebrows implies he hadn't expected this either. The male cleric — Carrac, as his compatriot had named him — continues to look disgruntled, though he eventually shrugs after a brief silence. "Beats execution, at least." He turns to the girl and gesticulates some more with his hands, and she tilts her head at him, her expression somewhat blank.

 

"It would be an amicable enough arrangement, if not for the fact that this were the Warriors Village. It's... oh, here comes your leader, I think."

 

Footsteps approach in the darkness, crunching in the soft grass, accompanied by Idriss' heavier movement, his size blocking out the light of the moon as rider and dragon draw near. Johanna looks between each member of the Guard, ascertaining the situation from the looks on their faces.

 

"I take it you've come to some kind of consensus?"

 

...

...

...

 

The night draws on as Johanna hears from various members of the Guard describing the situation. She finally looks back to the prisoners with a frown. "Letting them help...?" She purses her lips, then gives a single shake of her head. "That may work if this were any ordinary village. When I spoke with the elder, he made it clear that the village code would see them killed. Their tradition here is fierce devotion to being able to protect their loved ones; it's tied directly to their sense of honor. From what I understand, no man of the Warriors Village could stand for letting them live and be able to show his face afterward."

 

She looks up at the prisoners with a solemn, but firm look. "In this situation, I don't think the village customs would let them accept help from 'outsiders', as they call us, in good faith. Our orders were to either apprehend or subdue the escaped prisoners so that the continued safety of Caliss may be maintained. We cannot guarantee that without a foreseeable margin of error if you go free, or even if we return you to your imprisonment. So, in accordance with our orders and with the wishes of the village, we will execute you. As Acting Commander of the Allied Guard, it is my duty to take this responsibility."

 

Reaching down, she picks up her axe, hefting it into her hands. "I will make it painless."

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

"Good." Naomi nodded. "I mean it wouldn't exactly be fair when all of their comrades died in battle, and only these make it out right? Now all the bad people can go together. And leave the world better for it."

[Sentient Bowtie]

“...I can’t stay here for this,” Dulcie exclaims. She clutches her bow tightly, as if it were an object of comfort.

 

“I-I’m going to tend to Spirit. Goodbye.” She begins to leave, then pauses, glances back at the prisoners with a pained expression, and then continues on towards her horse.

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian watched Dulcibella leave. She grunted, and seemed to be about to speak, but seemed to reconsider it. She was against this. Can't expect her to take responsibility. She wasn't going to lose any sleep over the soldiers, not much anyway. The girl, though. . . 

"Captain Levenheit." She jerked her head toward the mute healer. "Even her? We were chasing old veterans, not. . . whatever she even is."

[ElfCollaborator]

Michi's expression is, as always, unreadable. The helmet conceals their emotions, and they recused themselves from the scene, leaving them to their fate; it didn't sit right with Michi at all, to watch their execution after having tried their damndest to spare them the axe. It would make them seem as if they'd been okay with this.

 

This wasn't the first time Michi had seen an execution, but it never got any easier.

 

The next words are kept to themselves alone.

 

 "The path back to greatness does not always mean success, Wilhelm. Remember that. Remember what they told you."

[Aurorix]

"No...." Agros couldn't believe this. He can't stand this, he won't stand this! If he doesn't speak up now he could never forgive himself.  "Johanna, please! We can at least try to reason with the village leaders! Even if just the girl it's better than nothing, dammit!" Argos tried to keep his compsure when talking to his commanding officer but his passion and fury over took him. His face grew a few shades redder as he continued.  "Are we REALLY going to execute a deaf girl tonight!? Was THIS what the allied guard was created to do!?"

[rokubiraijuu]

Johanna is about to respond to Rhian when Argos' outburst cuts her off. The receding footsteps of some of the other Guardsmen echo in her ears like drumbeats, even on grass. Her expression hardens. "The Allied Guard was created to safeguard the people of the Republic and the Alliance. At times, that requires hard, even cruel, decisions. You knew this, Argos."

 

"We were instructed to subdue the former prisoners," she adds, this time to Rhian. "I understand the reluctance, but at best we would simply leave the villagers to do the deed, and at worst she would return to a place she had risked her life to escape from."

 

"If anybody else would like to step away, do so now."

 

She walks forward.

[Powder Miner]

Ceridwen struggled to keep her own composure here -- she had not meant to consign them to death. She'd just argued for imprisonment. But it seemed to her that she was the one who had put the final nails in their coffins anyway.

"I..."

Ceridwen blew out a breath and looked down for a couple of moments, searching for words, before she finally looked back up, eyes a bit watery.

"I don't think I have the right to look away."

[Aurorix]

"Grrrrnnnn.... this is so wrong..." Argos grummbled while he clenched his fist. He wanted to say more, he wanted to save them from their life of torment. But he couldn't, unless he wanted to turn against his own comrades. Maybe even some of the folks he killed trying to get to their commander could have been saved too. If only he was faster or stronger or... GAH! The boy begrudgingly stomps away.

 

"I'm going for a walk! I'll be back later!" He then heads out the village to what seems like the direction of the nearby river.

[Sentient Bowtie]

Dulcie is present just outside the village gate, with Spirit. She is gently stroking his flank and seems to be speaking quietly to him.

[Aurorix]

Argos passed through the gates, not noticing Dulcie's presence. He took a short walk to the river back where he plopped himself underneath a tree, grabbing his knees and pulling them towards his chest. He starred at the reflection of the moon and the stary sky in the night river water, letting the sound of the river's flow and the crickets chirp ease his anger. Occasionally he picked up a pebble by his feet and threw it into the river.

[rustytengo]

Kris sighed again this time as acceptance instead of exasperation. This wasn't the first time she had dealt with such a decision nor would it be the last. She was more worried about how this would impact the group. "Hopefully they will learn that life isn't a storybook," She said under her breath as Dulcie and Argos left.

 

"We will give them a proper burial if we are able to right ma'am?" She asked Johanna more to show her support for her commander's decisions than to reassure the prisoners. After all, this is probably just as hard if not harder for Johanna.

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian said nothing, simply nodding at Ceridwen's words while maintaining a stoic expression. She hadn't exactly expected to agree with Kris today, either, but all sorts of unexpected things had come up. She stared grimly ahead, watching Johanna walk forward. Watching the axe. She didn't envy the prisoners, especially the girl, but this was perhaps kinder than what she faced otherwise. Rhian made sure to meet the eyes of each and every prisoner, were they willing. The knight hadn't shied away from what was necessary before, and she wouldn't now.

[Sentient Bowtie]

Argos hears a horse quietly whinny behind him shortly before an archer sits down at his side.

 

“You didn’t want to stay and—“ Watch them die. She didn’t want to say it out loud, even if it was already obvious.

“...To stay, did you. I don’t blame you.”

[Aurorix]

Argos turns back, surprised to see Dulciblella had followed him. Though, I guess it isn't hard to see someone having a bit of a tantrum.  "Oh um..... yea. It's hard enough knowing what's happened to them, and I know it's probably the best thing to do but I can't accept it." He throws another pebble into the flowing water and tucks his head more into his legs.

 

[BlueCalibri]

Verden has remained silent throughout the whole moral discussion. He seems to want to avoid commenting on the situation, in case one of his comments earns the ire of one or more of the fellows he'll be working with... Unfortunately, by holding his silence, he realizes that he may be dooming some unfortunate people to an unfortunate fate. His eyes drift to the people who've been lined up for execution - the cleric, mage, and knight. Probably also the girl. There's a pause, his gaze locking firmly onto the four of them. He speaks the first few words that he's said in quite some time.

 

"For what it's worth, if anything, I'm sorry circumstances lead to this outcome. May the next life you live be kinder to you."

 

He then closes his eyes in prayer for the wellbeing of the souls of those doomed to die. Those particularly near him might feel the feeling of that usual aura he seems to have around him in battle, although now it sees little combat potential. Now, it's more an attempt to calm, to soothe those with worried minds and ease the potential suffering of those who may need comfort. Verden isn't entirely sure if his prayer will work as intended, although he's more than hopeful that it does.

[Sentient Bowtie]

“No. This is possibly the worst thing to be doing. Killing a man with a sword in his hand and your death in his mind is one thing; killing a man you’ve already beaten just to get rid of him is . . . Well, I don’t even know what I want to call it.”

 

Dulcie sighs, and tosses her own pebble into the water. It hits the surface with a dejected ‘plunk.’

 

“I’ve never been in this situation before. When I was just a regular soldier, I didn’t have to... think about very much. It was just fighting whoever was in front of me. Bandits, raiders, a small army or two... Nobody ever asked me what I thought about what I was doing or what was happening, because it didn’t matter. It only mattered that I did what I was told. I was never told to... do anything like this, thankfully... I assume if I was, I’d probably be in jail right now myself.” She chuckles humorlessly.

 

“But even now that what I think suddenly matters, I still can’t even do anything about anything. It’s frustrating and upsetting and just— Rrrgh.”

[Aurorix]

"I know right. All I've ever had to do all my life was protect Goya Village from bandits. At first I thought, just sending back will be fine but then I heard their stories and something about them resonated with me. It almost felt like they were trapped like me, forced to be imprisoned a casted out just for one reason. Although they probably had it much worse in prison and I don't know much about the war or what happened either. It just felt like they were another version of me." Argos lets out a sigh,  "Once that image got into my head I wanted to save them even more. Let them know, while few, there are people in this world that care about them and don't automatically assume they're bad." He tossed another pebble into the river and as it's tiny sploosh he just realized what he said and turned bright pink and jumped out from his own burrow.

 

"Oh... uuuuhhhh... I really just said all that d-didn't I? Sorry for d-dropping all that on you out of the blue, y-you can just forget ab-bout it okay." The boy fumbled over his own words in his embarrassment. 

[Sentient Bowtie]

“What? Why? I think that’s a very kind way to look at all of this. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I feel the same, even. I’ve only heard stories about the war, and of course I know the Imperials were in the wrong and they lost and so on... but surely not everyone who was on that side is bad just because of who they fought with. It’s not all black and white.”

[Aurorix]

"O-oh? Heh heh..." The pink stayed on his face,  "Well that's a bit reassuring and I suppose we both should do a bit more history checking about the war huh?" He scartched the back of his head.

 

  "I just hope I didn't make anyone too mad at me in there... I suppose I have a knack for getting on people's bad side recently, even when I try to do the exact opposite. Have you ever had that problem? You try to do something nice but it ends up backfiring in someway?"

[Sentient Bowtie]

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We can do it together, if you want. I really like reading so it won’t even be too much of a chore.”

 

Dulcie fingers her chin. “...Sometimes, but it’s usually more that I annoy people while trying to be nice. But I still try anyway!”

[Aurorix]

"T-together? I mean sure I guess... I'm not the best reader in the world but I'll try! I spent more time focusing on training lessons then my scholarly ones if I'm being honest. My mother would force me to sit down and read out loud to her. Something like, as long as you can read you'll half the tools you need to be a good business man. The other half were cunning and wits. Which I think I have the latter, or at least in terms of combat."