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The Note (Pre-Time Skip) Though the meeting at large had more or less concluded, Lane had decided to stay in the hall, writing ideas and comments about the meeting down, for a few reasons. One was that he wanted to get his thoughts on parchment while they were fresh, and he knew that, with the impending training, he wouldn't be able to later on that night. The other was to see if anything needed to be addressed regarding the note he had left Reign. It might not have been the clearest, he figured. Sure enough, the note did warrant some explanation, though Reign had to get Sirius back from Zachary, first. With a heavy sigh, the nomad stopped a few feet from Lane and gave him a concerned look. "Are you sure about this?" he asked, glancing down toward his coat pocket, where the note was tucked away. Thinking back on it, it seemed impossible, using the term loosely, but given what the group had gone through up to this point, nothing could truly be considered impossible ... and more likely than not, it was just a case of mistaken identity. "Dark blue hair, brown eyes, right?," Lane asked, looking up at Reign from his writings. "I'm fairly sure, if what I've heard about him is correct. The information matches up, to some extent. The other parts I can check tonight." He paused to put aside his quill, then continued. "What do you want to do about it? Even if we hold it back, it'll no doubt come out eventually." Blue hair was common enough, as were brown eyes, and even that combination of the two, but still ... it was worth looking into, just to be sure. They didn't have a whole lot to do until the Paladin was ready to be transported over to Neviskotia, anyway. "It's probably better to be absolutely sure," Reign said, still mulling over the odds, "otherwise we might just give everyone a big jolt for nothing." As for what to do specifically, some excuse for a plan was starting to come to mind. "I don't mind helping you scout the place to try to find him, again. I know his face and his voice, so if it's really him, I'll be sold. After that, we should probably at least tell Nika and see what she thinks." After that, they'd probably have another meeting to discuss it, and their options for making contact. "I guess it might be a coincidence, so better safe than sorry," Lane said, frowning for a moment before covering that up with a smile. "We'll have to scout sooner rather than later, because if this turns out to be true, and he shows up, there'll be chaos." As he thought more about it, the more the magic user became certain that it wasn't a coincidence. Not with who the man was speaking to in mind, and certainly not with the location in mind. "We should be careful, all the same, since I don't think the Wrathites are really cordial to our group right now." "We never did get along with that bunch," Reign agreed, "but a scouting run's a scouting run, and I know my way around a disguise. When did you want to go check the place out? Tonight or tomorrow?" Reign didn't plan on taking Sirius along since this was at least a little dangerous, but the idea of leaving her with Zach specifically wasn't ideal. He wasn't a bad guy, just overly attached. His paternal instinct was even stronger than his libido, it seemed. Raquel was probably the best choice, amnesia or no. "Tomorrow," Lane said immediately. "I'm working with Raquel on her emblem abilities tonight, like what was mentioned in the meeting. I also want to spend some time in the Archive. Besides, if we end up being caught sneaking about in the night, we'll have a harder time getting out of there without fighting the Wrathites head on." "Alright," Reign nodded, "I'll make sure to be ready by then. Is anyone else coming along?" Lane paused for a moment, to think about that question. "I can bring Tonya along, for some security. If you have anyone else in mind, I don't see a problem with them coming along," he said. "We just have to be careful about it." Both, the man thought, because more people could be made out, and because this couldn't leak just yet, for the sake of the group's stability. "She's the one from that fight in Ursentius, right?" Reign asked, just to have a matching name and face from now on, "That's fine. Just the three of us should do." It was a scouting run, after all, not a normal outing. Best to stay light on their numbers. "Yes, and I hired her on as a guard," Lane said, nodding. "Alright, well, since that's settled, is there anything else you wanted to talk about around this meeting?" Reign shook his head at the question. "I was just curious about the note. If anything else comes to me, I'll be sure to track you down, again," he smiled faintly. "Won't be too hard to find," Lane said, as he gestured to his robe. "Okay, then, take care." A Plea Hell was coming. Tatiana Rusayev, one of the younger representatives on the Neviskotian Conclave, and friend or associate of no fewer than one hundred military and political figures, could only sit at her desk and write, hoping her words would be heeded before it was too late. The Fallen Empire, slightly better known as the nation of Corvus by those living in the northeast, was preparing to launch a coordinated incursion into the three largest nations in Sardius, Neviskotia included. According to Tatiana’s sister, and her associates, this distant empire of winged nightmares planned to use spatial bridges known as ‘siege gates’ in order to send massive armies to strategically critical points and begin their overwhelming assault. Victory, if it could truly be called that, lay in preventing the completion of these siege gates, wherever they were. This latest letter was addressed to the Grand Marshall, and the message was simple enough; in so many words, Tatiana was pleading with Grand Marshal Milena Sokolovna for military aid in locating and destroying the siege gate intended for Neviskotia. This was the young Rusayev’s last resort. All other channels were unavailable for the time being, or hopelessly bogged down in current affairs. Tatiana would have no choice but to leave everything on her father’s shoulders if the Grand Marshall was unable to lend them aid. Thinking back on her numerous failed attempts, perhaps Tatiana’s most frustrating endeavor to acquire the personnel and resources her family and newest allies needed was the Conclave, itself. Bringing up the issue during a regular meeting, despite outward appearances and various reassurances, had been a dead end. Local issues, the unsettling movements of the rebel fleets, and the loss of the Basilisk, Neviskotia's most powerful war vessel, all trumped the threat of an unprecedented, and thus, ‘unlikely’ incursion. Tatiana and the few others that agreed with her, were able to at least force the issue to the forefront long enough to get it some real consideration. In the end though, the majority of the Conclave members agreed that convincing evidence of the impending incursion must be presented before any action could be approved by the body. Not willing to waste her own or anyone else’s time, Tatiana inquired what evidence would be considered ‘convincing,’ and unsurprisingly, the responses were mixed, vague, and in some cases, precluded prior examples. One of her fellow representatives even suggested bringing a fallen with in depth knowledge of the plot to give testimony in Kievan Rus. Veronika, Tatiana’s sister, was in contact with Prince Steinn, one of the Corvian royal family members, but that approach wouldn’t work. If one of the royals of an empire hell bent on invading Neviskotia showed up on their doorstep, they would be lucky to just be taken and imprisoned someplace secure and used as a bargaining tool. Such a tactic would ultimately fail, but the problem was in the attempt itself, and doubtless Steinn was aware of this all too likely outcome. Not only would the prince not risk his own safety, but he also wouldn’t risk that of his bodyguard. There was no trust between the parties, and even Steinn’s written testimony, offered during a special follow up meeting on a different day, was ultimately shelved in favor of the current government debacles. Much as she hated to waste time, Tatiana realized the testimony approach had been dead on arrival. Having given up on the Conclave in favor of going directly to those with the resources to help them, as well as the inclination to do so, Tatiana tried to get in touch with the Petrov family at one point. With Aleksandr, the younger of the two brothers and army colonel, still deployed in the west, Tatiana was only able to get in touch with Aleksey, the older brother, and the co-engineer of the Basilisk. She wasn’t just looking for men and supplies to prevent the fallen incursion, but also strategic advice from certain keen minds. Aleksey was in short supply of nothing. However, as with the Conclave, simply painting a grim and compelling picture of the situation wasn’t enough. Aleksey, for reasons he couldn’t divulge, wouldn’t be able to directly assist her. All Tatiana was able to get out of him in the end was that he had an assignment that was more important than any unconfirmed rumors, at least as far as his superiors were concerned. Thankfully, Aleksey at least believed Tatiana’s story, offering to request reassignment once the truth came to light. Until then, of course, they were on their own, albeit with a fresh perspective on smoking out the fallen in their own territory. This pattern of hopeful requests being crushed by immediate problems that, to Tatiana, seemed so much less important now, continued much the same way as she worked through most of her connections. People were either too far away to reach, or too busy to help. Most gave her the benefit of the doubt, at least. That had been somewhat heartwarming in the days following the fiasco at the Conclave. So then, it now came down to this, whether or not the Grand Marshall would also give her the benefit of the doubt, as well as a large enough force to head off the invaders. If this didn’t work, and Tatiana’s father and his men proved inadequate to counter or at least delay the threat, the Fallen Empire would condemn everyone; the nobility, the commoners, the merchants, the dragons, and especially the Conclave representatives, all of them, to a brutal new reality many wouldn’t even live to see. Fortunately, Milena was in the area. Tatiana wouldn’t have to wait more than a day or two for a response, assuming the Grand Marshall sent her reply on the day she received this important letter. “Gods help us,” Tatiana gritted her teeth as she signed and sealed her formal request to the Grand Marshall, “we are not ready for this, yet …” Indeed. Hell was coming. Day 74 The news Tatiana received on that fateful morning was nothing if not shocking. She’d been awaiting--with a bit of anticipatory dread, admittedly--the Grand Marshall’s response to her plea days earlier. Instead, an aide informed her that a special meeting had been called by none other than the Grand Marshall herself. Had that been her response? Rather than some private back and forth between the two of them, she planned to bring this up as the sole topic within the Conclave? If that was her plan, it was bold, but well within her limits, especially during wartime. In theory, the Conclave was always at its weakest during wartime, as the various generals and their superiors gained special powers to fight said wars as effectively as possible, with minimal external interference. With the rebels and other major threats in the mixture, however, and with some members serving on the Conclave also being active or former military officials, things turned out much different in practice. With Neviskotia nearly always in a state of war, either with Ursium, or extremely large internal factions strong enough to pose a threat, the Conclave managed to secure some wartime powers for itself by holding votes on priority tasks for both the army and naval branches of the military. It came down to either branch to work out the details of how priority tasks were dealt with … but they had to be dealt with. It was this influence on the allocation of personnel and resources that ultimately left the Rusayevs dealing with the threat of the Fallen Empire by themselves, while the military was stretched thin between countless ‘priority’ assignments, the war with Ursium in the west, and the war with the rebels in the east. Knowing she would likely find most of the important people she was looking for in the dining hall having breakfast, Tatiana made her way there to deliver the potentially good news. She wouldn’t hold her breath; the Grand Marshall was bringing due attention to the problem, and giving them one last chance to win the argument, but if Tatiana couldn’t convince them of the severity of the threat, this might all have been for nothing. At least her own father, Mikhail, wasn’t currently on any assignment. One division of troops was dicey, and Tatiana didn’t want her father shouldering all of the risk any more than her mother did, but if things fell through here, the most they could add to their strength were mercenaries and volunteers. It might not be enough … “Good morning, everyone,” Tatiana greeted those present as she entered the dining hall. Not ‘everyone’ was there, but everyone that was needed to hear what she had to tell them. “I have some news, though whether it’s good or bad depends on the outcome. There’s a special assembly happening today. Grand Marshall Sokolovna gave the summons. I was hoping for a direct reply from her, but I guess getting tossed up front and center to plead our case again will have to do.”