Reidier

23: Astall

They leave Yvette a week after. Astall had feared that they would never leave at all, but after many an impassioned plea from him and several bouts of bickering Dahlia had finally relented. Astall isn't sure why he didn't just slip out, on hindsight- but then he realised. He is scared. Fear paints the journey to Tesserect in blacks and reds- and Astall is sure some terrible calamity will befall them all. 

In any case, Dahlia and Rivera would not have allowed him to leave. They never once asked him to leave them, at any case. 

Why, though? Is he just such a pitiful being? 

This is his quest and his quest alone. Eryl had asked him. Only him. 

They probably pity him. Perhaps they want to murder him for the Mandate and sell it. 

Astall finds that the prospect is not particularly repellant. Perhaps he even can stop thinking so much that way. The way his ideas race through his head often leave him dizzy and lightheaded, and being unable to voice them or put them into words frustrates him. What is the point of this mindless struggle for power, anyway? 

Think about the city. Do you think the Grand Duchess' rule will be kind to the people? 

He has always resolved to be a kind and just ruler. His people will love him. 

All the more reason to find the Mandate and rule. Clear his name, with Eryl's help. 

Eryl's deal... why put him through this task? Why not just send Reid after the Mandate and kill Astall? 

Do you think the Grand Duchess will miss that chance? Of course. Eryl surely feels safer with the Golden Whirlwind by her side. The rumours of his skill with a blade, be it his signature rapier or a dagger, are more than enough to deter even the greediest of assassins. 

Together the two are unstoppable. Eryl's cunning allows them to evade traps and even reverse a few of them to catch the Falcon, and Reid's combat skill will keep most attackers away. 

Procuring the Mandate... that will win them... Insurance. They will be able to reverse everything and sentence the Grand Duchess with the help of the arms of their Khalry allies and the words of the sacred Mandate. The Basilisk has clearly cast it away in order to ensure Eryl's claim to the Archduchy is uncontested by Astall- since Astall's name is in the Mandate- but it has backfired. It has allowed Dalicia Varre to sink her claws into power. 

The more Astall thinks about, the more sure he is. Though Eryl, like him, wants power, she is willing to trade the mantle of ‘Archduchess’ for something less powerful and important. So that she can keep it indefinitely, for sure. 

The train enters the station, its coat of black and navy varnish gleaming. This train is very new. The first services only started two years ago, and it only travels to the relatively neutral crossroads city of Seleway. There is a second railroad that will bring them to Philade, and a third, still in progress, that stretches west to Reidier... though it will be years before that one is finished. The distance between Seleway and Yvette is less than half the distance between Seleway and Reidier, and even then the railroad had taken many many years to finish- from the start of the Gaslight Rising, in fact. 

It is a grand building, the station. There was a great stained glass skylight, trimmed in green and bearing the bird-of-prey motifs of Yvette's Blood families. The Kite is looks down, benevolent. For a moment, Astall imagines that he can see his father smiling down at him from the Kite's painted eyes. 

The Hawk of Yvette- the bird of the Celelia. He sees his mother's figure in the graceful sweep of the Hawk's wings. 

Then the snowy white Falcon. It looks so innocent in the stained glass- but the Falcon he knows is no tame creature. She had always been subservient, to Basalent Khalry, in particular, but now, she is turning back to attack her masters.