[AW] thy kingdom come. [meeting]

[Rhoswen]

Rhoswen ►

It wasn't the smoke that woke her, nor the scent of blistered earth -- it was, instead, the sound of her daughter's voice chiming like a church bell through the night: 

"Mother."

The world materialised before her dark iron eyes, and it was nothing like the one she had left upon losing herself to sleep. Sabine stood beside her bed -- a spectral figure against the hum of florid scarlet light that bled into the darkness of their room through the yawning window, and with three breaths, Rhoswen's mind swam. There was an urgency in her daughter's eyes that crushed the air around them - air that was already suffocating beneath embers, and smoke, and the promise of revolution. Sabi, again, pressed her nose against her mother's shoulder to urge her from her sheets; as if she needed any encouragement. Rhos swung afoot, her heart a war drum hammering at the bearskin of her chest: what was happening? There was only heat, at first; a great swallowing torridity that encased them from every angle, and Rhos knew, in an instant that took her breath away, that it was the mountain. The plumes of smoke were too thin here, the heat too tolerable, and the ominous light that poured in from outside only testified to the fact. 

Quickly, Rhoswen swept into the corridor, glancing once at the unmade bed she left behind: Raum was absent, of course he was. With a muted Sabine at her side, the red woman seared down the hall - watching the feverish glow through each passing window until the call came: Aislinn's call. Denocte -- that was her now, Calligo had branded her with a feathered Corvine hand to reel her sunkissed soul back into the dark, and oh, there was no escaping the shadow in the valley of Night. Rhoswen emerged into the moonlit courtyard slowly, her auburn skin illuminated thematically by the backdrop of a dragon-forged sunset; in the distance, the sky melted beneath an inferno that raged to break them all and Rhoswen burned at the very sight of it. She was a fusion of conflicting emotions: the mountain had been her salvation and her captor - a guide to a new world, and a wall to keep her from it - who, then, had dared to scald it so. Aislinn; Aislinn, and Isorath. Eyes that broiled with an expression that was both nameless and familiar turned from the Arma to rake over the silhouettes that waited patiently for their people. Their people? Rhoswen's lip threatened to curl, a snarl promising to crack, no: Reichenbach's people. It was with a gaze that was as pyretic as the blaze to their north that she demanded an explanation. Rhoswen could not have expected what was to follow.

”The Raven Gates at the Arma Pass have been closed.”

No. The ground beneath her feet dropped, and deep within her stomach a new violence churned, though outwardly there was only a mask of fire and slow, calescent anger. More words passed from the Regent's lips but they were just further testament to the rage that bubbled in gunpowder in her blood. How could this be? The Raven Gates had been open for a year, no longer! How could the regime have failed so miserably as to retreat within such a pitifully short amount of time; this could not be happening. Trapped. Here, in this pithy cold lair where the sun did not glitter and the light was purged of gold -- here, where the desert sea was only a dream and her nightmares were brought to life. Where the fuck was Raum? Her head swung from left to right, scouring the growing crowd for a flash of silver - but his absence was deafening, and her ire was stoked again. This time, Isorath stepped forth, and Rhoswen might have hissed like a sandsnake if it weren't for the shock that was still pumping through her veins. When Reichenbach had elucidated the events of months past, concluding with the announcement of his new love, Rhos had been wary; what was a sibling if not protective? And this burning austerity had only grown with the time she had spent watching Isorath, and hearing of his deeds.

This was a man she would never trust. 

The kirin's voice boomed over the congregation, but Rhoswen was only biding her time, waiting until at last their address was at its end. She moved from the throng like an amazonian arrow carved and sharpened by their words, their actions. Rhoswen is, at last, a forest set alight. Her cardinal hair whirled in the whipping of an easterly wind, her eyes glimmering with fury, but her voice - her voice was but a low, raw murmur, "where is Reich?" Her glance flitted between regent and emissary, razing them with a question that gleamed like a knife. There was only time to continue,

"There is no we - no our - You have danced with chaos, your actions have threatened this nation, and now you are making your precious people suffer for it. How long did we roost like little birds behind those gates, how many centuries of silence? The future is one of freedom, and you are no better than fools."

And just as quickly as she had come, Rhoswen was gone. Turning back into the night with a haste that was feverish, they had to find Raum whilst there was still time, and she lingered only for Sabine to cast a final curious glance at the regime, before they both disappeared into the black.

@isorath @Aislinn @reichenbach welp, there she is. I assumed Reich wasn't there / hadn't turned up yet?