HOME | DD

Description

Special Quest: For the Empress' Eye

For several days Aya has seen an old man around the palace gesticulating grandly at various disinterested, important-looking people. He seems to have boundless energy, but one day she notices him slouched dejectedly against a statue's sculpted posterior muttering to himself. It's a little sad to be honest, so she offers him a biscuit and an open ear when she gets the chance.

After horfing down the biscuit he confesses to her that he's the mayor of a little town next to the ruins of the old Droste capital. Despite its noble past, the land is not very arable for historical reasons so it's rather insignificant in the current day... that is, it was rather insignificant until Empress Renata came digging for antiques. Now that Her Imperial Majesty has taken a special interest, he'd hoped that he could appeal to her directly to deal with a corrupt local Onbram who's being protected by a chain of nepotism. Alas, he can't even get past the hurdle of being seen.

He jokingly asks if she could get him an audience, then chuckles and ambles away sighing. Call it sympathy or whim or whatever - the thought of somehow helping him if she can lingers in her mind. She may be a simple valet, but she certainly knows more people - and knows nobles better - than him.

"There's something to it, there's something hiding in Droste. If we help him, perhaps we'll uncover secrets left in that small town. Undeniable ones, things that bring up more questions. Whatever it does, it will change something, it will do something. And besides... he's a good man. Call it pity, but the least he's earned is an ear. "

"Aya, I've told you. Any movement you make at court is dangerous, and you in particular are already precarious. I protect you as much as I can. Though we've been playing it safe, if you were to start engaging directly in politics it can be a fine line to walk--"

"Then I walk it, love. My connections are few, and your disarming charm is your own, but I have methods, too. And, if you would pull your own threads, perhaps we could pull the weave in the right way. At least, in a way that would give us something more than just... questions. Mourning."

"... And if that means cozying up to usurpers, lion heart?"

"I have endured worse."

Description

Special Quest: For the Empress' Eye

For several days Aya has seen an old man around the palace gesticulating grandly at various disinterested, important-looking people. He seems to have boundless energy, but one day she notices him slouched dejectedly against a statue's sculpted posterior muttering to himself. It's a little sad to be honest, so she offers him a biscuit and an open ear when she gets the chance.

After horfing down the biscuit he confesses to her that he's the mayor of a little town next to the ruins of the old Droste capital. Despite its noble past, the land is not very arable for historical reasons so it's rather insignificant in the current day... that is, it was rather insignificant until Empress Renata came digging for antiques. Now that Her Imperial Majesty has taken a special interest, he'd hoped that he could appeal to her directly to deal with a corrupt local Onbram who's being protected by a chain of nepotism. Alas, he can't even get past the hurdle of being seen.

He jokingly asks if she could get him an audience, then chuckles and ambles away sighing. Call it sympathy or whim or whatever - the thought of somehow helping him if she can lingers in her mind. She may be a simple valet, but she certainly knows more people - and knows nobles better - than him.

"There's something to it, there's something hiding in Droste. If we help him, perhaps we'll uncover secrets left in that small town. Undeniable ones, things that bring up more questions. Whatever it does, it will change something, it will do something. And besides... he's a good man. Call it pity, but the least he's earned is an ear. "

"Aya, I've told you. Any movement you make at court is dangerous, and you in particular are already precarious. I protect you as much as I can. Though we've been playing it safe, if you were to start engaging directly in politics it can be a fine line to walk--"

"Then I walk it, love. My connections are few, and your disarming charm is your own, but I have methods, too. And, if you would pull your own threads, perhaps we could pull the weave in the right way. At least, in a way that would give us something more than just... questions. Mourning."

"... And if that means cozying up to usurpers, lion heart?"

"I have endured worse."