Suikoden VII

Chapter One: Part Ten

Note: As a reminder, I upload new AI character images for Suikoden VI and VII every Monday on deviantart. Once again here's the link: https://www.deviantart.com/ladysolita/gallery, and I am always taking requests for characters.

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Chapter One: Part Ten

His name was Regulus Cairo. Lord Regulus Cairo. The youngest sitting member at the age of twenty-seven of the Council of Five in the Bianca Alliance. Dawa had heard of him, but this was the first time she laid eyes on him. She knew from the moment she saw him that she disliked him.

The full suit of the accursed white armor he was sporting didn't help matters, either.

Dawa stood on the pier of Potsfurt's harbor, the entire city guard standing behind her with their weapons drawn. Unperturbed, his lordship continued to approach in his small boat. A much larger vessel could be seen on the horizon. In the smaller boat with Lord Regulus were three other people; a nondescript man who was propelling the boat with a Water Rune, and two women in the same white armor. One had red hair the same shade as a candy apple; curly and tied back in a ponytail with brown eyes. The other had orange chiffon colored hair but it was cut short in a pixie cut with matching eyes. She looked older than twenty-three, so Dawa's brow rose at seeing an older soldier having short hair. As long hair was seen as a symbol of power and experience in Zelant, it was always unusual for her to see older people with short hair.

But his lordship has short hair as well, she observed, looking at Lord Regulus. His black hair was indeed short and stylized with a slight forward Mohawk style. As he drew nearer she could see that he had intense green eyes. He was smiling, but it did not reach his eyes. The two female soldiers were also smiling very fake smiles. All of them though appeared to be unarmed. It was because of this—and because Lord Regulus was a high-ranking member of the Bianca Alliance—that Dawa and her soldiers did not launch an attack on them.

Because she was ready to attack. Even after learning that Astraea had miraculously survived the Massacre of Innocents, Dawa was ready for war. Hearing the news that she was alive...the euphoria that filled her had mingled with still lingering pain of believing she had lost Astraea. The guilt that she had not protected her younger sister. But Astraea was alive...and she still could not be by her side, because called her to stay in Potsfurt.

Astraea is alive...but Milo, Barrett, Ritta, and the other children are dead. There must be retribution for them all.

Six meters away from the docks, Lord Regulus's small boat came to a stop. "Greetings!" Lord Regulus called out, his tone painfully polite. "You must be Lady Dawa Thorin!"

"I am," Dawa responded coldly. "And you are Lord Regulus Cairo of the Council of Five."

"That's correct," Lord Regulus confirmed. "We were in the neighborhood and decided to pay a visit to your lovely island. May we have permission to dock?"

His casual demeanor quickly got on Dawa's nerves. "Due to the escalating conflict between our two nations, you are hereby denied entry," she said with forced politeness. "I would advise you to return to your ship, Lord Regulus."

"Ah yes, the "escalating conflict"," Lord Regulus said gaily. "Such as our warship you sank yesterday unprovoked? And the 527 Alliance soldiers who were killed?"

He was still smiling and his tone was still light, but Dawa heard the underlining edge and saw the brief flash of anger in his eyes. Dawa however did not take the bait. "We have confirmation that the warship was sailing in Zelantan waters. It was perceived as a threat and it was handled accordingly."

"It was a miscalculation based on wind gusts," Lord Regulus said. "We have the message logs from the warship to confirm this. What we don't have, however, is message logs of any attempts by your forces to communicate with the ship to leave yours waters. Care to explain that, Lady Dawa?"