aionlogs | EVENT #5: SOVEREIGN CITIZENS (GODSBLOOD)

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EVENT #5: SOVEREIGN CITIZENS (GODSBLOOD)

Sovereign Citizens

GODSBLOOD

At the height of the Sovereign's moon, Vaeka Lovenskol's execution is announced. Outside of the City Hall, a dignitary of Achamoth is flanked by an entourage of Kenoma, reading the words of Regent from an unfurled letter: Vaeka stands accused to conspiring against the Regent and abetting the fugitive menace known as the Pleroma. Though the details are not made public, rumors spread quickly, some far more wild than the actual truth. The full truth, after all, is something only the Regent's agents and the Pleroma themselves know, and even to them the manner of her exposure is unclear.

Though losing a proud daughter of an influential family, there seems to be little that the people of Godsblood can do besides accept it. After all, they are still a city of the Regent's empire, and for all the freedom they've enjoyed, there are limits. If she was truly aiding the Pleroma, the sworn enemies of the Regent - and in an organized manner, if the rumors are to be believed - can they truly object? Or would challenging the Regent's claim simply invite more death?

As with many things, the families of Godsblood are torn. Tensions are thick for the five days leading up to Vaeka's appointed execution by hanging, with everyone having an opinion and few wanting to go on record talking about it too loudly. As such, the people's frustrations come out in other ways. Bloodites are uncharacteristically unfriendly to strangers in this time, keeping to their own and treating everyone else with overt skepticism.

Those that have arrived as part of the Regent's official envoy, or seen guarding Vaeka, will receive a particularly icy reception. No longer are the Kenoma curious wanderers on personal business. Now, they are here as the hands of the Regent; few of the Godsblood citizens are foolish enough to challenge them outright, but they are ever an honest people.

Early on, the Kenoma and the rest of the Achamite contingent sent with them will be able to take over a jail in downtown Godsblood to hold Vaeka until her execution, clearing out all other Bloodite prisoners and employees in the meantime. This means they have a relatively secure position to guard their prisoner from, which is a good thing; after all, the Regent did outright invite the Pleroma to stop them, and Pleroma are nothing if not stubborn.

EXECUTION DAY

After five agonizing days of waiting and several high visible conflicts between the Pleroma and Kenoma, finally the hour of Vaeka's execution arrives. A gallows is set outside of City Hall, ready to welcome its newest victim, and a massive crowd has gathered in an spirit of anxious anticipation. Some worry that violence may break out in the streets, even without the Pleroma's agitation, but gradually the minutes tick by and the gallows remain empty.

First one minutes passes. Then five. Then fifteen. Slowly, it becomes clear to the people of Godsblood that Vaeka will not be arriving. Are the rumors true? Has she been saved? Have the Pleroma been successful, despite all odds?

As the hours pass and the crowds disperse, Vaeka Lovenskol is not officially reported as either living or dead. Fortunately, Godsblood is a place where information has a way of getting around, whether those in charge like it or not. Some are saying that she was seen being whisked away as if by powerful magic, following a bloody fight at the jail in which she was being held. Where did she go? Maybe her supposed connections to the forest people did her good, some surmise.

The days following Vaeka's failed execution carry a strange and uncertain energy. Where before there was tension and distrust, Godsblood now finds itself in a surreal reality where the Regent's word is apparently not absolute. Then again, do they really want a repeat performance?

QUESTIONS

What is the best way for Aions to travel to Godsblood?
For Pleroma, this is very easy, as they are likely to either already live there or be able to easy take Greentruth's portal. For Kenoma, they may come directly from Achamoth by boat as part of the Regent's envoy or arrive via Eustace's portal which is set up in a shed a fairly long jaunt outside of town. Once there has been some time to get established, Misa will be setting up another portal leading straight to the prison where Vaeka is being stored.

Are the Kenoma permitted by the Regent to kill other Godsblood citizens?
Though the Kenoma are authorized to kill any Bloodites that try to physically fight them, they are expected to keep things clean. The Regent prefers to only punish the guilty, and having the lines be clear will create less of a hassle in the future. Generally, Godsblood is not in a state where physical resistance is likely to happen unprovoked.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ "don't fuss" falling on deaf ears...but even if he sighs, he does let himself be ferried right back to the bedroom, to sitting down. he'll draw the line at laying back down, but, fine, he'll rest. ]

I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have...

[ have, what? too many things. run off. been so stupid. gotten drawn into fighting that man, or anything that happened next. he swallows, then shakes his head. ]

I didn't mean to scare you.

[ or for any of that to happen. but that's harder to say, especially when he's unclear on what abel does or doesn't know. ]

[ once he's gotten Rand seated, Abel looks at least mildly placated, but... the concern isn't going anywhere where it sits heavy and oppressive in his eyes, drowning out just about anything else. ]

...Rand. When I made it to the street, you were already-- Amos had knocked you out, but...

[ that gathering of storm clouds; the scent of ozone in the air. the pooling of blood welling between cobblestone in the street. ]

What happened...?

[ his gaze flicks downwards. abel's open concern can be hard for him to take even under better circumstances, and these are

not that.

what happened? it's less that he's reminded of that night than that he's drawn back into the memory. the kenoma hadn't let him forget; that what they'd done with him had simply been what he gets for his choices that night. he doesn't even fully disagree. ]

I ran into someone. That guard, the Achamite. [ he speaks slowly and without looking up, hands wringing in his lap. ] We fought.

[ i don't know how it happened goes unsaid. it was an accident. instead, carefully, deliberately, he says the thing he'd been told (reminded) over and over. ]

I killed him.

[ heavy, like stones dropping in a lake. ]

I didn't see Amos coming. [ there has to be some stupidity to him hesitating now. as if channeling is a worse admission. but back home, it would be. ] I...drew down lightning. But that didn't stop him. [ ... ] I think you must've gotten there after that.

[ ...it wasn't so much the explanation he had been looking for as much as Rand's expression as he gave it. how the Achamite lost his life was one thing, but... how Rand felt on the matter was something entirely different.

Abel sinks to sit beside his company, settling his hands loosely in his lap for the moment - and that is where his gaze ends up drifting, too. ]

Did you mean to take his life...?

[ had it been intentional? an act in the heat of the moment? had Rand lost control over himself?

...the admission he had utilized magic - the kind Abel has seen him use before after the Regent's address - is shelved for now. they have a good bit to talk about that takes precedence, after all, but... suppose Abel isn't going forget this bit, either. ]

Does it matter?

[ comes quickly, with an eyebrow raise, but without hostility. he's had somewhere under two days to dwell on the point, and he's not sure he can find a difference. remorse doesn't make the man any less dead. intent didn't stay his hand. nothing that happened, happened any less for what he meant to do.

he shrugs, but it's still hard to meet abel's eyes.

what was it that misa had said? i'm doing what i believe is right for the world. what you did was for the same reason, wasn't it? he hadn't fully denied it, even then. maybe he would feel sorrier about it if the guard hadn't been an enemy. hard to say if sorry is the word, exactly, even now; a few hours' sleep hasn't made the past few days feel any less like an awful fever dream. some part of him still feels like he's waiting to wake up. ]

It doesn't lessen the weight of what you did, but... yes.

[ blue eyes finally shift from his lap to the man beside him, and the look Abel fixes his young friend is one of patience - but something firm behind it, something probing as well. it's clear this isn't just lip service to him. ]

A life taken in anger, in intent, is different than one taken in fear. It will not bring him back, cannot absolve you of that sin, but-- it is important, Rand.

[ has he ever heard abel be this serious before? he must have, things being as they are in horos. but in this moment, he can't think of a single instance. and this is — a topic that isn't to be taken lightly. of course it isn't. the fingers of his one hand tap against the back of the other; partly nervous energy, and partly a reminder that all that freezing numbness from misa's power is gone.

finally, he shakes his head.

no, no, of course not. he's never looked at another person and wanted to take their life. (though never feels — almost untrue after some recent interactions with the kenoma, like the truth stretched thin.) just as amos as pointed out: he'd gotten the drop on rand because rand had been too horrified by his own actions to notice anything around him. he hadn't meant to do that. he hadn't even lost his temper. aware of his own combat inexperience, he hadn't expected to so much as land a blow. and maybe he should say all of that, but for now the nonverbal will have to do. ]

Edited (sorRY) 2022-07-26 14:45 (UTC)

...I didn't think so.

[ Abel accepts this confirmation with a slight and rueful sink of his head in acknowledgment. he doesn't believe himself so terrible a judge of character that he would fail to notice a streak of malice in this young man - one grown powerful enough to cause him to take another's life in callousness. even so, hearing it aloud was just as important as distinguishing the difference between that intent. ]

You're already punishing yourself. I can see it in your eyes.

[ Rand isn't attempting to rationalize nor justify what he'd done. and that, too, is reassuring - even if it's also heartbreaking. ]

...I'm sorry, Rand.

[ something about that — the lack of accusation, of anger, that he hadn't realized he'd been expecting —

he shifts positions, moving so that he can lean more comfortably against the adjacent wall, draws his legs up to leave room for abel without any unfortunate kicking incidents. that doing so allows him to busy himself momentarily without looking at abel is not the reason, but it is a benefit.

what he says, once he's settled, is, ]

I'll start accepting apologies once you've done something worth apologizing for.

[ twice in the last ten minutes, isn't it? from the one of the two of them who didn't...kill a man and generally make their entire situation right now harder. anger really would've been easier to take. ]

...The weight of having taken a life is a heavy burden to bear, and I know it isn't one you invited upon yourself willingly. Even so...

[ a man is dead, and Rand had paid dearly for that decision; he had been hurt - and badly - at the hands of the Kenoma, imprisoned, and even now is still clearly dealing with the consequences of his actions. ]

You'll have to learn to bear it. And part of that is learning how to make amends - both within yourself and for those whose lives have been forever changed.

[ that man might've been an Achamite, but he was just a man. had a family, friends, people who cared for him - and even if he was the enemy, a person is still a person after all. ]

[ seemingly out of the blue, he thinks: how many months has it been since i saw my father? maybe...three? four? it'd been a while even before horos. or: it'd been longer than it's ever been, before horos. there had been a time after losing his mum that he'd promised himself never to leave his dad alone for long.

but homesickness has no place in this conversation. in his life, as it's become now. the most he can do is try not to be a total disappointment to the memory of tam and kari al'thor.

abel is clearly going somewhere with this, he thinks. not uncharitably: the man isn't so unkind as to leave him in the dark without guidance. abel nightroad wouldn't be here, otherwise. ]

How?

The first step starts with you.

[ Abel isn't... sure, exactly. he isn't sure if this is simply ornamental or if it holds some sort of significance to Rand, but-- call it a hunch. call it some prickling instinct, or even some feeling of sentimentality, one Abel might relate to, that accompanies their shared Legacy of the Martyr.

he hesitates just a beat before reaching into his cloak, drawing out a certain sword hilt - the blade shattered and gone, now - from the interior pocket, and he holds it out for the boy to take, if he will. ]

...It's time for you to decide who you want to be. If you are the sort of man who takes lives, or who uses the weapons he is given to protect them. You cannot be both, Rand.

[ the burst of emotion rand feels when his eyes land on the hilt would be obvious even without their shared legacy.

it's there in how his eyes widen, in how he seems to stop breathing for a brief moment. it's there in the way he starts-stops to speak, a, ]

When...?

[ but because they do share a legacy, it's mostly there in the violent upswell of something like shock, and misery, and pure grief, intermingled. he does not reach out to take the sword hilt, gold heron gleaming on the surface, as if half-afraid it'd vanish like a mirage if he does. and he is, but mostly, he's

been composed, if very angry, in most of the time since abel saw him last, because he couldn't afford to be any less, could he, around people so ready to do him harm;

but mostly, his hands are clenching over his knees, as he starts to shake, breath catching somewhere in his throat with a choked sound, and

(if being around abel nightroad isn't safe, then there is no safety in all of horos)

he drops his head and starts to cry. ]

Edited 2022-07-27 22:23 (UTC)

[ ...Abel understands immediately that his instinct had been correct.

the grief that swims through their bond is overwhelming, steals some of the air from the priest's lungs - and next thing he knows, he's gently reaching out with a grimace at his lips, resting his hand lightly atop Rand's head. ]

...You aren't so lost that you can't find your way.

[ purposefully, delicately... he strokes soothingly in an effort to calm some of this aching pain pouring from this man like a sieve. ]

So take the time you need... and find it. Find it with us, Rand... you aren't alone. If you trip, if you fall along the way-- we'll be right here to keep you going. ...I promise.

[ there are three things he's known to be true, since moiraine disappeared:

he is alone; horos is dangerous; he cannot afford to be weak.

if there anything that he'd learned while trapped at the mercy of their enemies, it is that all of those things are true, and that he still hadn't taken them seriously enough. weakness saw him naive and deceivable, saw him captured, gave the kenoma targets just to get at him. he hadn't realized how dangerous horos really is, and for that, he'd suffered. worse: he'd brought suffering on other people.

but if he were really alone, then ernesto and akua would not have come for him. abel would not be here, unflinching in the face of everything. himeka would not have reminded him, we don't leave our friends behind. it doesn't add up with what he'd believed.

which means he's done something wrong. because he knows in a bone-deep way that he does not get any choice in what kind of person he is. he does not get to decide that. he will inevitably drag people down with him, because it's already begun. it isn't even what he does, it's what he is.

so the pitch of the misery radiating off him doesn't abate with abel's kind words. they are so, so hard to hear. but he isn't ready to speak yet, let alone look up, so he just shakes his head. ]

[ this isn't the first time Abel has seen a glimpse at the depths of some hidden, concealed pain that lingers and churns in Rand's heart. it is no less horrid a thing to witness despite this, and there is an empathetic weariness in blue eyes that settle on the boy's dejected posture, shoulders sloped in misery. ]

...This is not who you are meant to be.

[ a man who takes life, a man who buries his emotions until they burst forth out of him in a fit of vitriol and anguish. Abel understands there is much this boy is keeping behind lock and key - and that isn't a good thing. ]

Whatever it is that's led you here, Rand... to where this pit sits in your stomach this way? You choose where the next step will take you. This isn't all there is... it doesn't have to be. It won't be, unless you make it so. Do you understand...?

[ the tears have to slow, eventually. come down till his eyes and face might be wet, but his shuddering breathing points to — maybe not calming. certainly not soothing. but emotions dulling, anyway, less acutely painful if still present. closer to what he's been getting used to living with. in those early hours after hearing the truth in the Ways, in fal dara, in the beginning in horos, his miserable resignation had been suffocating. but it'd given him space to be functional, and that'd mattered more.

he reaches up to dry his face, exhale harshly, try to find those tattered scraps of composure. when he answers, it's soft. ]

What do you know of who I'm meant to be?

[ could so easily sound combative. if he'd said this at any other time, it might be. but, right now, it's plaintive. the earnest question of a lost child. ]

How could you know? I haven't recognized myself for a long time.

[ before he took a life. before horos. this runs deeper, further than he's let anyone see. ]

Because I don't know the Rand al'Thor who came before Horos.

[ Abel's hand falls away once Rand begins to compose himself, though there is no less shimmer of something compassionate, empathetic, in his eyes; clearly... Martyr or otherwise, the priest truly feels this boy's pain. ]

...I know the one who is sitting here in front of me. [ that hand newly fallen from a head of red hair now halts, taps, at Rand's chest above his stubbornly beating heart. ]

This world... and all the worlds we come from... are meeting you for the first time. Whatever you'd been, whoever that Rand was -- all the wonderful parts, and all the broken parts... you are who you decide to be from now on. This is your chance to choose that first step, and it's up to you to keep walking it after that. Even if it's hard. Even if you might tell yourself you don't deserve it.

[ another, lighter tap to his chest - and then... a soft try for a smile. ]

Whether you recognize him... I've decided 'Rand' is a friend of mine. And he's coming with us from here on out.

[ should that be comforting? the sentiment is so unbearably kind; but the rand al'thor that abel professes to never knowing is the person that he wanted to be. wanted to stay, for the rest of his life.

the person that abel does know is a version that can never go back to that simple life, that has been pulled apart and put back together for use by the Pattern. since the kenoma had started appearing in godsblood the first time, since the regent's address a matter of days ago, since his stint in captivity, he's moved closer and closer to being the dragon reborn. he'd told ernesto not so long ago: if i could stop being a channeler by wishing, believe me, i'd've done it already. running from being this person has always been an exercise in futility. and the running means abel can't know who he's talking about now, not really.

there's the old fear of being honest, or being open, but he's been cracked open already, the truth given in parts to people like ernesto, like akua, like amos, like misa, even the regent. why stop now? ]

Twenty years ago, I was born in the snows of Dragonmount. You saw it, in Venera. [ it'd been visible from the window of a dreamed hallway in tar valon, had started to smoke and shake as he'd come closer to the truth of the dream. his eyes raise to abel's face as he speaks. ] The mountain. My mother died, I think; I never met her. My dad found me there, and brought me home to his wife. My mum. They raised me in the mountains, in the village you saw. I learned farming, and sheep herding, and I was happy.

[ the burnt village that had haunted rand, reminded him of the what was the real world and what was the innocence-fueled dream. ]

There's someone in my world very like the Regent, and he sent an army to Two Rivers looking for me. He chased us across the continent. And he promised me better things than the Regent has, because the Dragon Reborn was destined to seal him away and save the world, or cause another Breaking as he — I — did the last time, three thousand years ago. Someone told me that denying the Dark One meant my death at the Last Battle.

[ well, not exactly. but that's how he'd understood it. ]

But our world would live. [ and that's what matters. a beat, before confessing, ] I don't know what I did wrong.

[ because: here he is, alive. and his world is dead. small wonder he'd reacted so strongly to the regent. small wonder, too, that he'd woken in the shrine of the martyr. he's lost any chance to return to the life he'd had. he's lost the purpose that he didn't want, but was a duty, and would've at least guided him to the end of his life knowing he'd done something worthwhile. instead, he's here, grasping for purpose, for identity, and to make sense of himself as much as his situation as much as his past. there's no leaving any of that behind for the new world he's in, when it haunts him in real, tangible ways.

so maybe — maybe now it will be easier for abel to understand why his reassurances are so hard to take. ]

[ in a way... this clears up a great deal. Rand is far too young to have so shadowed a look in his eyes - but here he is carrying it around regardless, far too morose, far too serious for a man his age. it is the haunted look of someone who has seen, experienced, far more than he should. and it is a horribly sad, horribly common occurrence here in Horos.

perhaps Abel even understands far better than the average man should - what it means to feel as if one is bound by fate, their future preordained. trapped, even; bound by forces beyond normal human understanding. resisting the temptation of a force that offers peace, and solace, and unending tranquility. a fulfillment of every wish before they could even think to want after it, in exchange for an End. the End of everything.

but it is that same understanding that also prevents Abel from failing to see where Rand struggles, in a way. so, to guide this boy to that point - to have them seeing eye to eye... ]

You denied it. Denied that power... and you were willing to give up everything. [ his life, included. ]

Can you tell me why?

[ he blinks, taken aback. of all the questions he might've expected, this wasn't one. his answer comes as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. ]

Why should anyone else have to suffer if I could help it? Or lose anything, just for what I want?

[ let egwene and nynaeve go to the white tower, if that's what they want. let mat and perrin go home, the light willing. let his father and two rivers folk rebuild. let strangers live their lives without having to fear the onslaught of darkness. let there still be a world for them. he doesn't have to be in it for that to have worth. ]

And that choice... you know in your heart it was the right one, despite how hard it must be.

[ he had given of himself so that others might continue to live, and despite how easy Rand makes that choice seem... Abel is well aware there are many who would not have the strength nor resolve to commit to it. ]

...Because there is a little instinct inside of you, one that I think you've let grow buried since coming to Horos. Its edges have been softened by the fear and uncertainty that you feel, and that... is completely natural. Feeling a little lost... a lot lost-- it is something all of us are grappling with. Making mistakes, fumbling along, even falling flat on our faces here and there-- I think it's inevitable, right? You've been dropped into another world, been told your own is well and truly gone, that everything you had been prepared to sacrifice... and sacrifice it for has been rendered meaningless. You've been thrown into a war you did not sign up for, body altered and changed, and told to make sense of it all with little guidance at your back.

[ laying it out this way... it must make sense, surely. how any man, any person, would be struggling in these circumstances. how Rand is warranted in struggling, even the baggage from home set aside. ]

But that piece of you... the part of you that led you to make that choice back at home, makes it sound like it were easy-- it is alive and well, even if it's grown a bit weary. If it weren't, then... none of this would pain you as it does.

[ ...Rand. ]

As much as it might seem wrong, feeling that pain-- that's proof that you're going to be okay. It's proof that you can wield a sword, [ he lightly pushes the sword's hilt closer to the boy's side on the bed, ] ...and you can decide to continue fighting to protect what you treasure-- what you left behind, and what you very well might return to one day.

None of it will truly die, Rand... unless you let it. You are still the only one who can protect it, now. Unfair as it is... and much as I wish it weren't necessary... I know you can-- will-- do it.

[ it was so easy to choose to die for his friends. it is so hard to figure out how to live after making that decision.

not even in the world he knows. not even — not even, not even. abel lays it out aptly, doesn't he? rand doesn't know what path to take anymore, or even where he's going now, should go, might go, could go: not with everything he's lost and everything he's been given in its stead. for a minute, he can acknowledge the truth of that. of course he'd struggle. maybe his missteps in horos haven't been an inherent weakness. maybe anyone else would feel the same.

maybe.

he still doesn't reach out to take the hilt, but he doesn't reject it. a part of him simply worries that if he does touch it, he might come undone again. there's only so much grieving his father he's willing to do right now, to do in front of another person, even abel. the sword had been — is — maybe the last of tam al'thor's presence in this world or any world. certainly the last piece rand can carry with him.

because, of course, even if his world does live: he can't go back. and maybe the flicker across his face is familiar to abel now, the expression he can't help when there's yet another thing he doesn't say that briefly breaks through to the surface. that's a comfort he can't take, even as he tries to accept the rest. some of the rest, at least. it'd be nice to think he can still protect his home, his loved ones, from here. it'd be nice to think he can protect the people he's growing to care about here, too. that there are people here who feel the same way about him, and might despite everything. he can consider the possibilities, whether or not he's ready to accept them yet.

it seems so inadequate not to say anything. it seems so inadequate to try to answer with any stupid, fumbling thing he might say. so in the end he swallows, and he nods. ]

Edited 2022-07-30 03:56 (UTC)

[ it's alright; how does the saying go...? Rome was not built in a day and all that. these things take time and change... acceptance... forgiveness is a process many men struggle with. God knows Abel is the last to preach about such matters considering the embarrassing span of his life and how little he has to show for it.

...he leaves the handle of the sword where it lies at Rand's side on the bed, slowly pulling himself back up to his feet. ]

I think... I've dumped quite a lot to mull over in your lap for one day, haven't I?

[ a slightly sheepish, apologetic smile steals over his face; the edges are lined by a genuine sorrow. he doesn't like to see Rand this way... truly. ]

Let me make you something to eat, alright? And then I'm going to chivy you for some sleep, and-- I don't want to hear any protests. This is non-negotiable, okay?

[ time is another problem, isn't it?

maybe he has more of it than he'd been expecting. maybe being an aion means he has more of it than he would've at home. but channeling more in the past day, the past week, than he has in the past month means he

can feel it, sort of. something a little bit wrong inside of him that hadn't been there before. or maybe it's just in his head, given all the wrongness he feels right now. or maybe that's what he's afraid of trusting: his mind.

or maybe,

he's just spent. tired. which isn't to say he doesn't open his mouth to protest; because, of course, abel knows him well enough by now. ]

I haven't done anything but eat and sleep all day,

[ he grouses without any heat, and which is only sort of true. very early this morning he'd still been in ciel's hands, after all, and — this is much better care. ]

But, alright. [ and: ] Can you cook?

[ is there some real, vague concern? maybe. imagine if ernesto left for a few hours and rand accidentally let abel burn his apartment down. ]

Edited 2022-07-31 02:09 (UTC)

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