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“Let’s start with how you two got onto my ark?” Leon said through nearly clenched teeth. “Had you let me know beforehand, I could’ve arranged better accommodations.”

‘And less vital, should violence break out,’ he bitterly thought.

“It’s easy enough to ask someone if they prove amenable enough,” the tau replied, Keeper seemingly content with letting the bird-in-human-form speak for the time being. “We come under the banner of peace, Leon, I assure you. I will not allow violence of any sort to break out between us. No matter who starts it, I will take Keeper here away from your ark.”

“I have half a mind to toss a couple sparks,” Leon muttered. With a grin, he added, “That wouldn’t be so productive, though. So let’s get down to business. You said you’re having us meet for the purpose of peace?”

“Yes,” the tau confirmed. “I want to end the violence between your two peoples.”

Leon fixed his golden gaze on Keeper, who sat in his shapeless brown robes with his eyes closed, yet still clearly tracking Leon’s movements with his eyes—among other senses.

“Is that what you want?” Leon asked him. “Or are you being forced into something that you don’t agree with?”

Now directly addressed, Keeper finally spoke. “I value peace greatly,” he rumbled. “That is why I have ever opposed the Sky Devils that you have taken as your own. Your Clan and all those that followed you have been a destabilizing influence on Aeterna ever since you first arrived, never once ceasing.”

“And you have always violently resisted them?” Leon asked a tad mockingly.

“I have only ever used violence when necessary,” Keeper responded. “Your new subjects have always made it necessary.”

“Was it ‘necessary’ to attack my home and nearly kill my family before I’d ever done anything to you?” Leon growled, killing intent starting to leak from his body. “What crime was I guilty of then, other than the crime of my birth?”

Keeper’s pupilless eyes cracked open and killing intent began to emanate from him to match Leon’s.

“It is unfortunate that peace and stability can only be maintained with the deaths of certain people who may have never committed crimes themselves, but through their very existence, perpetuate death and suffering.”

Leon glared at Keeper, barely resisting the urge to perpetuate some death and suffering onto him, until the tau stepped in front of them, keeping them from directly staring at each other.

“Now, now,” the tau said in a grandfatherly tone, “that kind of talk will get us nowhere. Surely you both must realize that this conflict must end, no? It cannot be continued forever. Indeed, what we have here is a historic moment: the first moment when a King of the ‘Sky Devils’ made alliances with two of the great Empires of Aeterna, and made peace with a third. Let us not be mired in threatening exchanges and establish a baseline: what is best for all the people of Aeterna, no matter how you quantify that, is peace.”

Leon smirked mockingly as he leaned back in his chair just enough to let one eye see past the tau. “If I didn’t already believe that, I wouldn’t have made peace with the Sunlit Empire; I would’ve destroyed it completely.”

“And that is immensely promising!” the tau exclaimed. “Don’t you agree, Keeper?”

Keeper sat in his seat for a long moment, looking at Leon like he was only just this side of sulking. “Peace,” he finally said, “ought to be celebrated wherever it breaks out.”

“And you’re having trouble accepting that it was me who established this peace, aren’t you?” Leon jeered. “You speak of peace, yet you sit there barely able to contain your pouting that you aren’t being allowed to try and turn Kataigida into the plane’s largest graveyard. It’s all right to admit, you know—that you want to murder my entire Kingdom because you don’t like us. I won’t judge you; if anything, I’d respect you more for being truer to yourself.”

Leon paused as a sly look crept across his face.

“But if you were to act on that dislike… then we’d have a problem.”

“I do not wish for the deaths of anyone,” Keeper declared.

“Horse shit,” Leon immediately responded. “Hypocritical horse shit. How about having some self-awareness. Try and look objectively at what I’ve done and then tell me if I deserve death. You know what; how about you tell me if you would try and kill me if our mutual friend here wasn’t with us?”

The tau grinned at the two of them even as he continued to stand between them. Leon couldn’t sense much of an aura coming from him, but he was certain that if either he or Keeper tried to attack each other, the tau would have little trouble sitting them back down like squabbling children despite their tenth-tier strength.

“He has a point,” the tau pointed out. “I’m more inclined to agree with him, right now. Consider that.”

Keeper’s face was like stone, barely moving at all, but its subtle twisting somewhat resembled a look of shame that Leon drank like water, reveling in it. After a few seconds, his eyes slid back in Leon’s direction, only making partial eye contact thanks to Leon’s slouching.

“I…” he whispered, “respect what you’ve done so far. But I am an old man. I’ve seen so much time pass, yet not once has anything ever changed. The Sky Devils have always been our enemy, raiding the coasts of Aeterna for millennia longer than either of us has been alive. This antagonistic relationship is not one I believe can ever cease.”

“So why try, right?” Leon interjected. “You don’t believe it’s possible, so fuck it! Genocide it is!”

“Are you being, perhaps, a little uncharitable in your interpretation?” the tau asked. “If we cannot even establish that peace would be best for both sides, then what hope can there possibly be of a peaceful resolution to this conflict?”

“Peace would be best,” the Keeper declared. “It is the Sky Devils that I do not believe would keep that peace.”

“The Ten Tribes have a new King, in case you haven’t realized,” Leon retorted. “And I’m in favor of making peace so that we can go about our business in peace, and you can go about your business in peace, and we can all stay out of each other’s way. Don’t mess with us and we won’t mess back. It’s that simple.” Leon glanced out of the projected window on the wall, in which he could see the destroyed Imperial Palace of the Sunlit Empire, and further in the distance, the park where the Sunlit Emperor had met his death. If Keeper wanted to keep this conflict going, he was confident that his Kingdom would come out on top.

“We’re making progress,” the tau proudly declared with a clap of his hands. “Let’s go a little further, now, and actually define what peace looks like. King Leon? What does peace look like to your eyes?”

“Keeper and any warriors he has staying north of the Argonaut Sea,” Leon immediately answered. “We, as a Kingdom, have no interest in the mainland.”

“Keeper?” the tau prodded.

Keeper took another moment to think before answering, “The Sky Devils staying south of Argos. The Sky Devils never raiding the people of Aeterna again.”

“We’re already going to do that,” Leon said exasperatedly. “Here’s the thing, Keeper: after we get done with this conversation and the peace I just negotiated with the interim government of the Sunlit Empire is finalized, I’m going to take my people back to Argos. We’re then going to grab everyone I left to occupy the city and we’re going to go the fuck home. You can sit there and look pretty or whatever it is you do in your ‘Empire’, or whatever it is you call your… state? Nation? I don’t care. I want peace and will proceed assuming that we have peace. If we get peace or not will depend entirely on your actions.”

Leon leaned forward and to the side a bit to make full eye contact with the Keeper. “Put your silver where your mouth is and show that you desire peace as much as I do. As much as I’ve shown. You claim to want peace, that you know it’s best for everyone, that my Clan is the one destabilizing the plane. And yet, I’ve done more for peace between our peoples than you ever have. If you want to make war upon my Kingdom, you’ll be acting alone, and likely have the Sacred Golden Empire at least, if not them and the Ilian Empire knocking on your door. With arks. And some very angry mages.”

“Keeper,” the tau added, “try and open your mind to the possibility. To the possibility of peace. To the possibility of finally laying aside the duty you have so admirably carried for so long. You are the Keeper of Memory; you do not have to make war, you need only remind everyone of its cost. Teach Aeterna what has come before; teach the plane to value peace by showing what was given up to acquire it. As it is now, you only keep your memories so that you can maintain your hatred… but even that’s failed in recent years, hasn’t it?”

Leon blinked in mild surprise as the tau took a step toward Keeper.

“You’ve been keeping your armies in reserve. You’ve had doubts about fighting King Leon, haven’t you?”

Keeper scowled deeply. With seemingly great reluctance, he said in a tone more akin to what he’d use with someone pulling his teeth than discussing war and peace with a respected friend or fellow monarch, “One who has gained the respect of a tau… that is worth consideration…”

“If you value my opinion,” the tau said, “then heed my words: King Leon is rough and quite young, and certainly quicker to anger and threaten with violence than I would like, but he’s shown a willingness to work with others and a determination to get past the past that I’ve never before seen between your two peoples. If ever there was a chance for peace, this is it; do not miss this opportunity.”

“I… I…” Keeper repeated, continuing to sound like he would rather be anywhere else. “Such a leap… I cannot trust the Thunderbird Clan!”

Leon audibly scoffed even as the tau said, “No one said anything trust, young man. You need only stop and wait and see how Leon reacts. Make peace and watch as peace settles—or it doesn’t and war continues, as you believe it will anyway.” The tau paused and took another step closer to Keeper. “If you respect my kind at all, then take heed: you now bear witness to one of the most momentous events in Aeternan history. This right now is either the moment when the conflict between the Thunderbird Clan and the people of Aeterna ends… or it doesn’t. And the choice is entirely up to you, given what King Leon has already expressed. Take a step back and think of your people. Do what is best for them.”

Leon desperately wanted to cut in with some sharp words, but he held his tongue. He couldn’t let his new power loosen his tongue too much. He wasn’t invincible, and some poorly chosen words when it appeared the tau was making progress could easily erase any chance of peace.

“The other Empires have already made peace,” the tau added after a moment of silence. “You will not be alone. By the winged spirits, King Leon has even married into one of the Imperial families!”

With a pained look, Keeper turned back to Leon and said, “I will… watch you, Leon Raime. If you make any moves that put the people of Aeterna in any danger, then I will make it my mission in life to destroy you.”

“That would be a neat trick,” Leon smirkingly replied. “I plan on achieving Apotheosis and taking all of my people away; you’d have to follow if you wanted to make good on that threat.”

Keeper blinked in apparent surprise.

“Right,” Leon said. “Did I forget to mention that? No matter what, my Kingdom and I are only a temporary problem. We’re going to leave this plane just as soon as we’re capable. You can have the whole thing back, as far as we’re concerned.”

“That… that’s impossible,” Keeper declared with a scowl.

“We have our ways,” Leon responded. “Don’t forget who you’re talking to; my Clan came here from a different plane in the first place, and we’re getting ready to regain that capability. Just as soon as we have it, we’re gone. We’re out. We’re leaving.”

Keeper sighed, and then his stony face relaxed ever so slightly. “Fine. Fine. I will return to the east and you can show me your sincerity. If you pull out of Argos and leave none of your people behind, I will consider us to be at peace. Never return, and that opinion won’t change.”

“Heh. I’ll have to come back at some point. Business in Occulara, Ilion, Evergold. Probably parties in all three places.” Leon’s eyes narrowed. “If we manage to secure peace for long enough, I might even ask you for permission to visit my Clan’s old palaces in your territory.”

“Never,” Keeper stated.

Leon clenched his teeth. “So be it. I’ll just steer clear of your lands entirely. Probably for the best.”

Silence fell for a moment before Keeper quietly asked, “What would you seek access to those ruins? Nothing has stirred within them in thousands of years.”

Leon clicked his tongue and answered, “Call me sentimental; I just want to see them. I mean, there is the remote possibility that some tools I’d like to get are there too, but really I just want to see the place. To stand in the ruins of history and wonder at the past. To connect with my lineage and try to correct their mistakes. I don’t want to get too sappy, so I’ll leave it there.”

Keeper regarded him coldly for several long seconds. “That… can be discussed later,” he said. “Until then, show me your sincerity in desiring peace. I will not demand you personally refrain from coming to Aeterna—not that my word means much in other Empires… But I will demand that your armies remain behind. I will object to any arks other than this one that you may use as transport. An escorting party of no larger than two hundred and fifty.”

Leon envisioned slapping Keeper in the face, the sound of his palm meeting the man’s cheek echoing throughout the entire ark. It was a satisfying indulgence in the face of the man’s borderline outrageous demands, but one that remained, to his dejection, mere fantasy.

“It’s not like I was going to bring much more than that anyway,” he said, though he was already making plans to bring an escort of two hundred and sixty the next time he found himself visiting an Aeternan city. He’d abide by the spiritual terms of their peace agreement, though he’d push against the letter of the agreement if only to show the Keeper that he couldn’t just dictate such terms to him.

“Then it sounds like we have an agreement,” the tau exclaimed. “Brilliant! Wonderful! I didn’t even have to resort to using magic! I love it when everyone gets on the same page and agrees not to kill each other! It doesn’t happen nearly as often as anyone would hope it does!”

“As much as the tau are venerated,” Keeper said, “I will reserve my judgment on this decision for later.” He rose from his seat and bowed to the tau. “Thank you for bringing me here. And… giving me… perspective. But I will now return to my Sentinels and inform them of my decision. We will ready ourselves to deploy… just in case.” He punctuated his statement with a glance at Leon, who smilingly met it as he leisurely rose from his own seat.

“I’ll be keeping an eye on you just as much,” Leon said. He then held out his hand in a less domineering and far more cooperative manner than he had with Arcaion not long ago. “Until next time, Keeper.”

Keeper stared at Leon’s hand for a few seconds before reaching out and clasping Leon’s wrist. Each of them kept a tight grip, though neither made a competition out of it. After a moment, they mutually loosened their grip, and Leon watched Keeper leave the room.

“I must go with him,” the tau said apologetically. “I will escort him back to the Sentinels. When I’m finished, I will return, and we can speak at length.” He smiled broadly and unabashedly. “This has been such a productive day! I’m honestly thrilled at how little I had to do!”

“Mm. Great. We’re all thrilled at how little you had to do,” Leon said sarcastically. His expression then turned serious, and he added, “But really, thanks for bringing him here and speaking when you did. This probably wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts you made to make this happen. Thank you.”

The tau bowed. “I will see you soon, King Leon.”

“And I will see you soon, too. Maybe then you can tell me your actual name—or at least, give me one to use.”

“Maybe I will…” the tau said noncommittally as he made to follow Keeper. At the door, he paused just long enough to bow slightly before taking his leave.

And once he left and Leon was left alone, he collapsed into his chair, utterly exhausted, yet strangely invigorated. A smile broke out across his face as he contemplated what had happened in the past few days. His Kingdom was now officially at peace with the Sunlit Empire and had something that looked a lot like peace with the Sentinels.

He felt great and couldn’t wait to get back to Stormhollow.