Xath's Report

[The_Universe]

Xath stares out of the window for a few moments. Then quietly she speaks. "You must think me the worlds biggest fool. It's not as though I've never lost anything before, lost any battles. This one just...hit me harder than I expected is all. You'd think that the more you lose the easier it gets. But that doesn't seem to be the case. But...." and an edge of resolve enters her voice. "I cannot afford to be weak now. There will be time enough for sorrow when the war is won."

"There will be time for celebration, as well. All is not yet lost, and much may yet be won. I swear that as much as prudence allows, we will try to retrieve your son no less than mine. I owe you at least that much - it is because of you that I still have a daughter."

 

[Xath]

"Is she a comfort to you?"

 

[The_Universe]

"Is she a comfort to you?"

"I would die if she was not. They will pay for taking my son, even if he returns without a hair upon his tiny head disturbed - but I will not, cannot focus on my loss. I take joy in her presence - and I would bid you bring Archonus here, when he is ready. My husband may never see the children that would have been his to care for, but I will not deny their true father a chance to see...to see the one we have left."

"I will continue to do what I have always done. But I will not give up on my son. If time permits, I will seek audience with the Bluestar to find out what his terms are. And then I will be faced with a choice."

As I have said, I would not ask you to give him up - nor will I order it. But I would caution you against seeking aid from the Bluestar. We owe him much, already. As a friend, I ask this; not as a Queen."

 

[Xath]

"I would die if she was not. They will pay for taking my son, even if he returns without a hair upon his tiny head disturbed - but I will not, cannot focus on my loss. I take joy in her presence - and I would bid you bring Archonus here, when he is ready. My husband may never see the children that would have been his to care for, but I will not deny their true father a chance to see...to see the one we have left."

As I have said, I would not ask you to give him up - nor will I order it. But I would caution you against seeking aid from the Bluestar. We owe him much, already. As a friend, I ask this; not as a Queen."

"They may be able to twist your son, but nothing they do will change the fact that he is your son. She told me, and told me to tell you," and in almost a perfect mimickry of Ahrianna Blackadder's voice, Xath repeats, "“I shall let you live, you can tell your queen that her son will be raised a prince of a true Dynasty; and you may rest assured that your husband’s child will never want for anything. It will be the first of its kind, but not the last. And if you yet live when the time comes to unleash him against the remnants of your race, we will together feast upon you. Don’t come for him, you fool. It is my child, now.”

Her voice returns to normal. "My son will not be my son if I cannot get him back in time. If that happens, I fear the day when I will have to kill him myself, lest he be loosed on the world."

 

[The_Universe]

The Queen's brow furrows in though as her daughter stirs in her arms, "If what the sorceress told you is true, then there is nothing that can be done now to get your child back. If indeed he has somehow become hers in every way...your son is already lost, and all that grows in her womb is an enemy."

 

[Xath]

"Which is why I fear the Bluestar is my only chance of getting him back."

 

[The_Universe]

"Which is why I fear the Bluestar is my only chance of getting him back."

"Go if you must, then. But he is Archon's child, as well. I would ask that you speak to him of it before you do anything. Unlike my husband, he has never been...comfortable...with our arrangement with the Deathlord."

 

[Xath]

The sarcasm returns to Xath's voice, this time tinged with anger. "I doubt he would have time to speak with me unless it were pressing business which concerned the outcome of the war."

 

[The_Universe]

"Do not be so certain of his feelings. He has lost much, as well; do you know his very thoughts so well than you can predict his reasons for whatever has so inspired your ire?"

 

[Xath]

"Perhaps it is because he has told me so. That I have no time for weakness. That the children are gone and there's nothing we can do about it. That we have no time to invest resources into that because the war is everything and this is merely a distraction."

Xath's voice is becoming more agitated as she speaks and once again tears fill her eyes. She looks away. "He implied that were he not restraining himself, he would attack me in revenge. And when I asked him to comfort me he said he had no time for such frivolities. And then he...he implied that he loved another."

She sits back in the chair which she had previously occupied. "I suppose you feel I am just getting what I deserve."