War Changes Everything [Reboot] Past Thread

Reifer was glad to have them around, her information things would be invaluable. "If I go through with meeting and attempting to form an alliance, would you care to come? Your insight and presence could help a lot but this is only if you desire to go."

Iliara was a bit surprised, but nodded slightly. "I suppose... if I may be blunt, Lord Reifer, you are putting a strange amount of faith in the 'insight and presence' of a fallen princess that was blindsided and deposed by her own uncle..."

"You made a error in judgement that cast you a lot, but that doesn't make everything else null and void." Reifer pointed out to the young woman. "They'll probably come a time where even I make some large blunders, every great leader has them. The fact is, at the end of the day you still have more experience then I do. I've only come to be my position very recently."

"I suppose, but I wasn't a leader either, that was my sister Kenshin. Kenshin is the ruler of Akashi, and I was her second in command, and even that was fairly recent. Our father only passed a year or so ago, and we've been embroiled in war with Takeda the entire time." Iliara paused. "But again, I will do the best I can to help you, Lord Reifer."

"That's all I can really ask." Reifer was grateful for another set of ears and eyes for things he might not of caught. He felt Iilara was too hard on herself but it was only his opinion. Talking to the young woman and doing other task distracted him from his insecurities and fears. He didn't have it all together but he did try to put on the best front even when internally he was panicking.

"When you're done, would you like to grab something to eat? Hector is actually making something, he's a surprisingly very good at cooking. Not as good as Felecia though, even if she thinks otherwise." He really wished his child hood friend had more confidence in herself.

Iliara paused, then nodded. "I'd be happy to. Any word on when the healers will be done with your mother?"

"No, nothing new so far." Reifer sighed a bit, it wasn't something he liked dwelling on too much. "There hasn't been any changes or anything but they would let me know if something came up." Aryll was suppose to be doing something later, but he wasn't really sure when. "Her illness, I always felt wasn't natural. Like it was something made and given to her, but there's no proof of that."

Iliara paused, frowning. "Like poison, or a curse? ...Have you ever tried to think of who might possibly want to do such a thing?"

(I'm gonna move them along unless something you have planned, in that case, I'll edit)
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"Of course. The thing is however I don't have any idea who would do it. The 'why' is obvious. As kind as my mother is, she has enemies due to being a ruler. No one is immune to this. With my father passing, its possible someone wanted a last kick in but didn't have the resources, or weren't brave or strong enough to confront my mother directly. So its very possible someone did, but again there's no hard proof."

It did frusterate the young man, but he had made some peace with it. Years of searching for a cure and coming up short each time had drained him. As a result, he had developed a self defense coping mechanism to be very cautious of any new leads. Even now with Aryll a part of him didn't have much hope though of course he wished otherwise.

Nothing for it. That aside, he did promise his mother not to let her condition completely bring him down; which was easier said then done.

Reifer lead Iliara to where Hector and Lenneth were currently at. The former was making something or another while the later was sitting patiently at the table before she spotted the former princess, waving at her. Though, because she was too short, amusingly only the short bob of her hair was seen as she sat patiently at the table.

"Welcome you two. It'll be done in just a moment. Lenneth can eat a lot more then her small size would let on, so I have to make extra." Hector mused. Lenneth slightly to his surprise seemed very fond of Yuki and that was clear when they parted ways. On that front he was going to make sure to visit, when he had the chance.

Iliara blinked. "I'm surprised that you do the cooking, Hector. Most people in positions of power prefer to have the servants do that. I'm... impressed."

Hector smiled, shaking his head. "I am a man that grew up but nothing but rags and the food I could scavenged on the ground, wondering where my next meal would be. It gives me a different perspective of some of the rules around, no offense to you Reifer."

"I'm not that easy to offend and you have a point. Your life experience is different then mine." Reifer knew this fact about his friend to begin with.

"Of course. Though that doesn't mean better by itself, just different. I think we can all learn things even with people we dislike a lot. At least, that is my view on things." Hector sat down the plates for the Wind Demon and dragon to eat. "But honestly, that part of me has never changed too much despite where I am now. Depending on how things go, I might step aside to live a more quite life. As is, I feel like there's too much for any changes in the near future."

Iliara nodded, smiling a bit. "I understand. My sister and I were spoiled when we were younger. Our mother hadn't meant to make us that way, she just wanted us to be happy. When she passed away, our father decided we needed to be.. reeducated. He had mages change our appearances, and alter our memories so we couldn't remember who we were or where we came from, then had us dropped off in a slum, and left us there to fend for ourselves for three years. I was fourteen at the time, Kenshin was thirteen. We were later told that he had guards secretly placed to prevent either of us from getting killed or seriously hurt." She paused a bit here, a strange look crossing her face. "The guards were not perfect, though... anyway, after three years, our memories and appearances were restored, and our father explained why he did it. It was... well, we understood his reasoning, but I know I never trusted him again." She shook her head, sighing. "Kenshin... well, she's unwaveringly loyal, despite everything."

Both men were a bit disturbed by this, Reifer didn't have children but he couldn't imagine doing anything like that to them even if it was in good intentions.

"That..seems overly harsh." Hector said slowly. "From a purely pragmatic perspective I can understand, as an parent, its harder for me to wrap my head around." Lenneth wasn't his by blood but just thinking of doing something like that threw him off.

Iliara shrugged slightly. "Regardless, it is what happened. I would not do the same, neither would Kenshin. I'd say it's a mercy that our father went against our uncle's suggestion of not even putting guards around to keep us safe." She sighed a bit. "We should eat before I ruin everyone's dinner with troubling tales."

Hector agreed with that and decided on a change of subject as well. "In any case, while fist contact with new places is always a nerve wracking experience even for veterans, I find there's a to look forward to if things turn out well with Yisse. I've heard a lot of good things about the leadership and people there."

Iliara paused. "While that is true, keep in mind that it's a double-edged sword. A lot of territories are going to take issue with it if you side with one of the human kingdoms. I'm not saying it's wrong, just... be prepared for backlash. Not to mention possible war with the enemies of Ylisse. Which is why you need to really consider when you do what. A lot of your goals seem to have a good chance of leading to wars. You don't want to be fighting on multiple fronts, so you want to settle one before risking another. To that end, you don't know how long it will take to settle one, so you won't know how long it will take before you can move on to the next goal, so you need to figure out which goals are more important to handle first."

Reifer nodded a bit. "I understand it comes with risk. So in your opinion would it be best not to go through with it for now?"

Iliara nodded softly. "Yes, I would say it's best to wait. You can reach out and state your intentions, but I would keep it quiet for the moment. I think they would appreciate it as well, I doubt they want to be dragged into a war they don't have to either. So I think it best to establish friendly relations in secret, let them know your desire for eventual alliance, but that you wish to wait until your own situation is less volatile... that is just my opinion though, and I admit my track record with decisions is not a good one..."

Reifer could see where she was coming from, it made a great deal of sense. "No, I agree with you. I'll see about sending a message and going from there. It's not something we should just rush into you, you're correct."

Hector added his own two coins. "I'll send someone who's very discreet when the time comes."

"So Suzume or Eon then." The voice came from the doorway, where Aryll was standing. She was in a tank-top and jeans now, something that none of those here would recognize yet. She hardly cared. "Don't worry, I wasn't eavesdropping, just overheard that last part about sending someone discreet."

Both men were surprised at the entrance, tensing briefly but relaxing when the woman they both knew revealed themselves. Considering her knowledge of things, Reifer wasn't sure it mattered unless the time line had changed notably. The clothing was a bit strange, if only because it didn't exist at this point in time.

"Already ahead of you. Eon or Suzume were my prime candidates." Hector didn't comment on the clothing, he just assumed it came from her time. "What brings you back with us? Good news I hope."

Aryll shrugged a bit. "Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news, is I was right in my suspicions about your mother's sickness. She was indeed poisoned. By a toxin that won't have an antidote for... oh, a good couple hundred years. By the look of it, they've been slowly poisoning her over the past couple years. Without treatment, she'd be dead within two years. Good news is, none of that meant anything to me, so Sela is going to live a nice long life and will be back on her feet in a few days... oh, and I know who was poisoning her and why, if you'd like to know."

This caused the young dragon to tense, but he tried to keep his emotions in check. "Go ahead." While he wanted to rip in half who ever had did it, he needed to keep himself under control. Raging out didn't really help anyone and being a leader he couldn't afford to let his emotions do something that he shouldn't.

Aryll nodded. "For one, you have a traitor in your ranks, who is the one administering the poison. A nobody, really. Just some idiot that was willing to betray the people he serves for a chance at a position of power some day. The person who was calling the shots? Far more interesting, I figure. I haven't actually asked him why he did it yet though. Figured you'd want to confront him yourself. I did trap him in a time bubble though, so he is currently unaware he's been found out, or able to escape. I figured you'd want the honors of interrogating him. I admit, even I'm curious. In the original timeline, nobody ever found out what happened to Sela, just that she got sick and eventually passed."

While Reifer was eager to meet the person behind it all, what caught his attention was the fact they apparently weren't acting alone. He could assume things worked out as he was apparently still in one piece in the future but it didn't settle well with him. "I want to 'meet' them but the person above him, are they anyone I know?"