everything's blue in my heart

[tsubame]

For some reason, I just feel like posting stuff on livejournal. Possibly because people keep giving me icons, so I feel the need to use them . . .

And I haven't posted any Emrys-stuff in a while. This was actually written some years ago. Italics are Nghia talking, in this case.



You've lost here.

The Dragon Lord straightened up from the trunk he was packing and rolled out his shoulders. "Have I, then?"

You are banished from the kingdom, aren't you? Nghia's voice was only a little smug. Thrown out of a country-- a first for you, I think.

"You seem very pleased with yourself."

I think I'm entitled.

"I haven't 'lost,' Nghia. It's a little too simplistic to reduce the interplay of nations and kings to mere games."

Isn't what what they are to you? Don't try your wordgames with me, Goch'wenan. You can't blind me with a courtier's tricks.

"Very well, then." The Dragon Lord stretched and moved to his chair by the fireplace. "Shall I speak plainly? You say that I have lost because Tarrow is exhiling me from court."

He would kill you, if he could. He knows what you've done.

"He knows some of what I've done, Nghia. No one, not even you, knows the whole of my life." Emrys watched the fire, and turned a thin smile on the glowing embers at its heart. "Although that hardly matters. King Tarrow is young and intelligent-- intelligent enough to know that he lacks the wisdom that only age and experience can bring. That was my role as his adviser, until you interfered."

And now your 'wisdom' is his. All that you've learned from your centuries of meddling-- he has it.

"And he will make full use of it, and he will be a great king. I expect he will achieve peace with the Kruth'gar herd in a decade, and unify the Basin before he dies."

A new age. Centuries of peace.

"But there will never be any peace for Tarrow. Truly, he will be great, celebrated in a hundred songs and stories. But as time goes on, as his kingdom grows and prospers, he will no longer be able to distinguish between what belongs to him and what he received from me. He will no longer be able to tell what decisions are his and which come from my knowledge. Slowly but surely he will come to question every choice he makes, every decision, every move, every word. He will no longer know where he stops and I begin, if he is acting for himself or if he is acting for me. He will be tortured his entire life, and he will die wondering if he would have acheived anything without me."

You are both a bastard and a cynic, and you underestimate Tarrow. He's a much stronger person than you believe.

"You're right regarding me, as always. As for Tarrow, well, time will tell. But if he'd truly been wise, he would have known better than to bargain with me. Either way, it's rather unimportant, wouldn't you say?"

Is it?

"Ultimately, yes. I really don't care about Tarrow or his state of mind. More important is what he acheives. Which is exactly what would have occured here had I retained my position, only rather sooner. So I'll simply have to step up my plans in this part of the world."

You don't seem very concerned.

"Ah, probably because I'm not. Frankly, I don't care what happens in this primitive little kingdom. I'm just as glad to have an excuse to return to a more civilized city-- Prothen Zar, perhaps? Quite lovely at this time of year."

Sour grapes aren't your style, Goch'wenan. What are you up to? Nghia's voice was wary.

"Suspicious, aren't you? Well, perfectly justified, at least in this case. Meddling with Tarrow was an amusing diversion, but my business here is finished."

Your business? What was your business here, if not that?

"Why, distracting you, Nghia. As long as I'm here, so are you, poking around, trying to figure out what I'm up to. And meanwhile my plans elsewhere can forward themselves without your interference. But all of that is finished now, so there's no need to stay here anymore."

Comments

[daharmaster.livejournal.com]

Love it. ^_^

[majochan.livejournal.com]

I am amused that Emrys snippet gets the Sephy icon. ^_^

I like how Emrys turned Nghia's gloating thing into suspicion, and then eventually to "I've been had!" . His evilness is indeed, very evil <-ha, eloquent.

Majo

the way you laugh

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

It's the hair. They've both got such pretty hair.

And, you know, Emrys is packing his bags (well, trunks, in this case). Don't want him to forget his conditioner!

[lucifermourning.livejournal.com]

of course, nghia is perfectly capable of watching many things at once...so one wonders how emrys managed to thoroughly distract him...::suspects more evil::

sekaini hitotsudake no hana

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

You tell me. ::cheerful:: Although I figured that this little scene takes place fairly early in Nghia's ghost-period, so he's not as good at splitting his presence yet. I figured he's up to maybe two places at once, maybe three. Emrys for his part set a whole bunch of things into motion and then moved into Tarrow's country and started politicking like woah. Stuck a finger into just about every pie he could, enough to keep Nghia very, very busy just keeping track of what he was doing. Was pretty much running the country, and I bet Tarrow needed plenty of Nghia's help to get Emrys' hooks out of his kingdom.

Actually I've felt inspired to write a bit more of this scene, so expect a re-post sometime in the next week or so. Hoping to use it to demonstrate a key point of the Emrys-Nghia relationship during this period, at least as far as Emrys is concerned. It's a bit of a break for me, since I won't exactly be doing Emrys-as-filtered-through-someone-else, but hopefully it'll turn out okay.