[ S E K H A Y M - V - K A N O N / S E C R E T - I N - C A N O N ]
Reach into Twilight
•Koliinhaym Tsitadii, Arakhkhar•
•08:18, November 15th, 2029•
Wispy pale fog had risen from the dark sea - licking and lapping against the dark forms which remained shrouded in their ghostly embrace, rising, falling, each moment casting shadows of the white light of the sun which had pierced it in wide bands, which danced as spots upon the cold surface of the waiting Earth. Yet where the light had fallen, it was almost immediately in a shunned place - for light was a luxury here, a forbidden fruit afforded to few in the perpetual pursuit of the Empress's ultimate vision for this world - like chasing the setting sun, perhaps - yet that thought had not occurred, nor did anyone dare present it to their open mind - for the mind was a book for those who knew how to read it. To read, perchance, to look through the forbidden glass and to see past the illusions which were readily cast by the waking, conscious mind - to see and to appraise the soul of a man. The white light had set upon the great Citadel - the towering walled fortress which stood high above the ocean around, and which looked down at the rocky surroundings below, the black-sand beaches against which water had sloshed, and cast around the darkened spires of black, against the elegantly carved doors too tall for any reasonable usage - the inscriptions bore upon them to make each worthy of study as a masterwork of art - they told stories in and of themselves, of a storied past and of a promising future. The pale light had twisted, contorted through the stained glass which had made up the windows of the Tsitadii - light had been absorbed, only certain aspects of it - to transmit a corrupted, purple hue to the pale faces which watched silently at the stirring sea under the fog. At last, a voice spoke from this calm - the voice of a ruler, dignified. "She's here."
"I can sense her presence, even... even here. I suppose we all can. You... more than anyone. I... can't imagine what it's like - feeling that... presence, always. Has she told you why she's come on this occasion? To this... to this meeting?" A pale face shifted forward - towards the window, to reach with her eyes - the choppy waves came and broke endlessly in cycles against the grey rocks not far from them, the fog swirling, rising, and clinging to the rocks to drape them in their eminent cloak. The Vicereine's eyes bore little in the way of any appreciation for the questions of those who had not earned the right to question the decisions of her mother - nor for the questions of fools. "I have not given you cause to speak. Prepare chambers for her arrival." A momentary stun - and a quick bow.
"By your will, my Vicereine." - the sound of steps away, swiftly and in with due haste all according - to prepare the Imperial guards, the reception, the countless minutiae which went into the arrival of one so eminent among all mortal beings - the decorum and the military necessities... although in truth, she had known such a thing was wholly unnecessary. The coldness of the palace was enough to know that she was not far. In fact - quite... near indeed.
"My daughter."
A bout of ice had flown through her veins. It wasn't unpleasant, not particularly. She found that frozen embrace comforting - she had given such an embrace on so many an occasion, and it was one she had known so well for years. The voice of a nation had spoken - and with all the grandeur and eloquence it had provided, the articulation which had defined an Empire - and which had defined them each. She turned on her heels with a small step. "Mother." She was immediately brought to bow deeply - for stood there before her was none other than the Empress of the Lirvittians - in all her eloquence and in all her usual regalia - the pale face of death and the visage of a woman who had borne her. It was beauty - it was cruelty - callous, and kind. "It has been some time." The Empress took a few steps to gaze through the window - a pensive look, perhaps, and to gaze out at the sea. "Yes... you wished to see our guests? They are coming, soon."
"It was mostly that I had wished to see how you're handling the first few decades of your rule, Se'vana. They're... typically among some of the most difficult. The uncertainty of some who fail to put their faith in you - the... challenges in a new region, almost a whole world away from Virae. Some, in a... nascent arrogance, had made mistakes. Pushed too far where things could not give... tried to force situations. They had suffered for it." The Empress withdrew her hand from where they had been crossed in front of her - taking to trace along the windowsill with a single finger - watching carefully to find not a trace of dust on the end of her pale finger. "You've done well for yourself. Thus far. And I must admit - your affairs here have interested me - a... mark upon this place, deep into the land - a monolith into this continent of sand and terror. I must confess - I also have something of an interest into these... Janpians - I wished to see them for myself. You, naturally, engage with them more regularly than I do - how would you consider them?" The Empress turned around to face her daughter once more - examining her with some degree of appraisal in her view - never had the Vicereine ever felt that she was not under the constant and unremitting judgement of her immortal mother - she had grown well used to it by that point. When she spoke next, it was with that in mind - a calculated response. "The Janpians have proven useful thus far. Pragmatists, despite initial impressions. What occurs today will... define how we interact with them for the next ten, twenty years or so - barring some radical shift." The Empress nodded silently, shifting along and watching outside now - speaking softly. "An adequate assessment."
Quiet had prevailed throughout the room as the two had taken in each other's presence - perhaps there was nothing that had needed to be said as the two rulers stood together in silence, or perhaps silence itself had spoken for them and conveyed within all that had needed to be said. But, the circumstances which had brought them together were simple enough - a month prior, early feelers had been reached out to the Janpian Union - there was a growing necessity, for the future, to define the nature of the relationship between the Janpians and with Arakhkhar - and by extension, the Lirvittian Empire. Furthermore, and of greatest interest to the young People's Marshal and her backers - the necessities of defining the relationship between the International Security Directorate and the Kalisight Treaty Organization, which had, since the founding of the former, been historically aligned - with the two powers both being members of the Directorate. What was more, in the course of mutual military endeavors - much to the utter shock of many hardened Communists and Imperial hardliners alike - there had been a growing military cooperation, with the sale of Imperial VzR DRAK-III Raiding submarines to the Janpians, the Imperial adoption of the SOLORADE decoy as the ChShR-190 in the imperial arsenal. Tensions were beginning to grow in the Badlands and elsewhere - and somehow, in the most unlikely of times and in the most unlikely of partnerships - the two states had experienced a growing, worrying cooperation - worrying, perhaps, to the world at large - yet there remained questions that had to be settled, the minutiae of which had in each moment the potential to rupture the entire endeavor. There was potential in this conference for a great reconciliation and, in equal measure - a chance for a fuse to be lit.
And so - in a citadel upon a rocky shore, where purple eyes stared out endlessly to the white sun and the boundless horizon, the sun which desperately tried to pierce the white veil which had set out upon the land - for somewhere high in that sky, a Janpian plane flew high above the grey waters - directed to arrive soon enough via the airbase located not particularly far off. There, time would tell what conversations would be held among the delegation that sat down there - and for the young Natya Anya, her first true state visit - and, perhaps, an opportunity for... greater understanding. Or for climbing an immortal Empress. Time would tell what lay in wait - and in the meantime, the waves had sloshed and crashed against the rocks as they always had - the fog had stirred - the great vineyards beckoned, and the spires reached out to heaven - and all of it lay in wait for the arrival of their diminutive guests.
"I can sense her presence, even... even here. I suppose we all can. You... more than anyone. I... can't imagine what it's like - feeling that... presence, always. Has she told you why she's come on this occasion? To this... to this meeting?" A pale face shifted forward - towards the window, to reach with her eyes - the choppy waves came and broke endlessly in cycles against the grey rocks not far from them, the fog swirling, rising, and clinging to the rocks to drape them in their eminent cloak. The Vicereine's eyes bore little in the way of any appreciation for the questions of those who had not earned the right to question the decisions of her mother - nor for the questions of fools. "I have not given you cause to speak. Prepare chambers for her arrival." A momentary stun - and a quick bow.
"By your will, my Vicereine." - the sound of steps away, swiftly and in with due haste all according - to prepare the Imperial guards, the reception, the countless minutiae which went into the arrival of one so eminent among all mortal beings - the decorum and the military necessities... although in truth, she had known such a thing was wholly unnecessary. The coldness of the palace was enough to know that she was not far. In fact - quite... near indeed.
"My daughter."
A bout of ice had flown through her veins. It wasn't unpleasant, not particularly. She found that frozen embrace comforting - she had given such an embrace on so many an occasion, and it was one she had known so well for years. The voice of a nation had spoken - and with all the grandeur and eloquence it had provided, the articulation which had defined an Empire - and which had defined them each. She turned on her heels with a small step. "Mother." She was immediately brought to bow deeply - for stood there before her was none other than the Empress of the Lirvittians - in all her eloquence and in all her usual regalia - the pale face of death and the visage of a woman who had borne her. It was beauty - it was cruelty - callous, and kind. "It has been some time." The Empress took a few steps to gaze through the window - a pensive look, perhaps, and to gaze out at the sea. "Yes... you wished to see our guests? They are coming, soon."
"It was mostly that I had wished to see how you're handling the first few decades of your rule, Se'vana. They're... typically among some of the most difficult. The uncertainty of some who fail to put their faith in you - the... challenges in a new region, almost a whole world away from Virae. Some, in a... nascent arrogance, had made mistakes. Pushed too far where things could not give... tried to force situations. They had suffered for it." The Empress withdrew her hand from where they had been crossed in front of her - taking to trace along the windowsill with a single finger - watching carefully to find not a trace of dust on the end of her pale finger. "You've done well for yourself. Thus far. And I must admit - your affairs here have interested me - a... mark upon this place, deep into the land - a monolith into this continent of sand and terror. I must confess - I also have something of an interest into these... Janpians - I wished to see them for myself. You, naturally, engage with them more regularly than I do - how would you consider them?" The Empress turned around to face her daughter once more - examining her with some degree of appraisal in her view - never had the Vicereine ever felt that she was not under the constant and unremitting judgement of her immortal mother - she had grown well used to it by that point. When she spoke next, it was with that in mind - a calculated response. "The Janpians have proven useful thus far. Pragmatists, despite initial impressions. What occurs today will... define how we interact with them for the next ten, twenty years or so - barring some radical shift." The Empress nodded silently, shifting along and watching outside now - speaking softly. "An adequate assessment."
Quiet had prevailed throughout the room as the two had taken in each other's presence - perhaps there was nothing that had needed to be said as the two rulers stood together in silence, or perhaps silence itself had spoken for them and conveyed within all that had needed to be said. But, the circumstances which had brought them together were simple enough - a month prior, early feelers had been reached out to the Janpian Union - there was a growing necessity, for the future, to define the nature of the relationship between the Janpians and with Arakhkhar - and by extension, the Lirvittian Empire. Furthermore, and of greatest interest to the young People's Marshal and her backers - the necessities of defining the relationship between the International Security Directorate and the Kalisight Treaty Organization, which had, since the founding of the former, been historically aligned - with the two powers both being members of the Directorate. What was more, in the course of mutual military endeavors - much to the utter shock of many hardened Communists and Imperial hardliners alike - there had been a growing military cooperation, with the sale of Imperial VzR DRAK-III Raiding submarines to the Janpians, the Imperial adoption of the SOLORADE decoy as the ChShR-190 in the imperial arsenal. Tensions were beginning to grow in the Badlands and elsewhere - and somehow, in the most unlikely of times and in the most unlikely of partnerships - the two states had experienced a growing, worrying cooperation - worrying, perhaps, to the world at large - yet there remained questions that had to be settled, the minutiae of which had in each moment the potential to rupture the entire endeavor. There was potential in this conference for a great reconciliation and, in equal measure - a chance for a fuse to be lit.
And so - in a citadel upon a rocky shore, where purple eyes stared out endlessly to the white sun and the boundless horizon, the sun which desperately tried to pierce the white veil which had set out upon the land - for somewhere high in that sky, a Janpian plane flew high above the grey waters - directed to arrive soon enough via the airbase located not particularly far off. There, time would tell what conversations would be held among the delegation that sat down there - and for the young Natya Anya, her first true state visit - and, perhaps, an opportunity for... greater understanding. Or for climbing an immortal Empress. Time would tell what lay in wait - and in the meantime, the waves had sloshed and crashed against the rocks as they always had - the fog had stirred - the great vineyards beckoned, and the spires reached out to heaven - and all of it lay in wait for the arrival of their diminutive guests.
