It took a long time for Leon to fully process his impression of the rather vagrant-looking Archelaus.  When he and his people were returned to Alhamachim via river of Lumenite, he hardly spoke a word until returning to his consulate building, and when he did, he sat quite heavily in his chair at the head of the meeting room he’d commandeered.  The rest of the party he’d taken with him assembled around him, with the mood largely upbeat and celebratory, Leon having told them of the outcome of his chat with Archelaus before they left.

Tauri, in particular, was overjoyed, laughing and joking with Marcus and Alix the entire way back, and even attempting to flirt with Red a bit, though the wyvern had none of it, ignoring Tauri completely.

As he sat mulling over everything that had happened during the day, he felt a hand on his arm.  Looking up, sapphire eyes filled his vision; Valeria asked, “Everything all right?”

Her question silenced the room and drew all attention back to Leon.

After taking a couple seconds to think over what he wanted to say, he slowly, deliberately, said, “I got what I wanted from Archelaus.  He recognized my power, yet he’s allowing me to walk away.  He gave me everything, asked for little save for peace, and even recognized me as a Strategos.”

“These are good things,” Tauri said, grinning.

Leon nodded his head in agreement, though exchanged a meaningful look with Clear Day.  “Too good.  I feel like a sword now hangs above my neck, and at any moment, it will fall.”

“What is the area of concern?” Gaius asked, his tone indicating he immediately went into problem-solving mode.

Leon appreciated his demeanor and shifted his attitude to match.  “The south.  The King’s Ocean.”

“If it’s the ocean we’re worried about,” Marcus said, “then we should also look west.  Beyond the mountains, the ocean also lies.”

“But getting past those mountains will be harder than heading up through the plains and the river in the south,” Gaius pointed out.  “It’s good strategy to plug the leakiest hole first.”

“But we can’t ignore all others,” Marcus pressed.

“And we won’t,” Leon interjected.  He sighed.  “We have a lot to do when we get back.  Fortifications raised, scouts dispatched, contact made with anyone around us.”  He turned his attention to Tauri.  “What else can you tell me of the surroundings?  I want as complete of a picture of the political landscape as possible.”

All traces of levity had vanished from Tauri’s demeanor during the short exchange, and he nodded once before conjuring a large map from his soul realm.  It wasn’t as detailed as Leon might’ve liked, but it showed a wide perspective, nearly half of the Storm Lands if he wasn’t mistaken.  Even Archelaus’ Despotate appeared small upon it, and Alhamachim wasn’t even marked.

“All of these lands,” Tauri explained as he indicated the southwestern corner of the Storm Lands, which was where they found themselves, “are the lands of the Anax Yun.  Under Yun are five Basileis, including Ramin.  Under Ramin are seven Despots, including Archelaus.  And under Archelaus are five Strategoi, including Djoser.  This is the current state of affairs as far as I understand them.”

Yun’s land covered roughly a sixth of the Storm Lands, Leon noted.  The lands of the other Anakes shown on the map were smaller, but from what he could tell, more densely populated.  Yun had a lot of land, but fewer people.

Much more notably, he noted that past the Bolt Mountains, within which Alhamachim was situated, no one ruled.  There were a few cities far to the north, but in his little corner in the farthest southwest, there were no cities, nor any other kind of marking that would indicate ownership.

“Who issued this map?” Leon asked.

“A cartographer in Yuncheng,” Tauri answered, indicating Yun’s capital city.  “I had this commissioned about forty years ago.  Skirmishes continue in the border region, so some of the Despots and Strategoi may have more or less land than what this map indicates, but more or less, this is the region as it stands.”

“Skirmishes…” Leon murmured.  “With other Storm Lords?”

Tauri at least looked a little embarrassed from Leon’s judgmental tone.  “Ever since the fall of the Thun—uh, the last Storm King, th-the Storm Lands have bickered continuously over the matter of succession.”

Clear Day finally spoke, asking, “What of Thunderbird claimants?  Have there been none since the last Storm King?”

Tauri shot Leon an anxious look.

Leon made a bit of a show of lounging in his seat, and after providing such example, ordered Tauri, “Relax.  My Clan once ruled these lands, and should my Ancestors walk with me, we will again.  But I do not rule them right now.  This fact has not escaped me, there’s no need to dance around the issue.”

“O-Of course.  There haven’t been any—I mean, as far as I know, at least in the past few tens of thousands of years, there haven’t been any, I think, no Thunderbird Clan claimants.  Uh, anyway.  Um, right.  It’s in the, uh, in the east that most people concentrate their attention since that’s where most of the, well, current claimants are based.  Notably the Anakes Kamran and… I think his name is Halbad?  No, it’s Halbast!  No one of great significance has looked west in… well I don’t know, really.  Since long before my time.  The last time Anax Yun came to these lands, Alhamachim had yet to be founded.”

“Thousands of years?” Leon asked.

“Tens of thousands, easily.”

Alix whistled in amazement while Cassandra muttered, “That’s a long time to ignore one’s western flank…”

“The King’s Ocean lies to the south and west,” Tauri explained.  “There’s… some conflict between the Ocean King and the Storm Lords, but it’s been relatively low intensity for several thousand years.”

Leon stated, “I’ve heard that the current Ocean King is ambitious and prefers to establish buffer zones with his ocean.”

“That’s true,” Tauri confirmed.  “At least as far as I’m aware.  The land you’ve claimed was once decreed to be one such buffer zone, though it’s been so long since anyone’s lived in those meadows and dales that who can say how much water that decree still holds?”

Leon thought of the artificial shapes, most likely underwater arks, that Maia’s river nymphs had spotted off his southern coast and deeply frowned.  His eyes flickered to the map once again.  “How populated are the lands to the north of Artorion?”

Tauri looked at the relevant section for a moment, then conjured another map, this one mostly showing Archelaus’ Despotate and the land to the west all the way to the coast.  There were a few cities in the north, but no particularly large states there.

“No Themata,” Tauri explained.

Leon nodded as he projected his magic senses to follow along with the Hamachian’s explanation, seeing the cities for himself.

“The cities here are fairly rich, though.  There isn’t too much competition, and people are mostly allowed to live as they please.”

“That’s surprising,” Valeria quietly opined.  “I thought such cities would’ve been subjugated by someone…”

“The people are fat and happy, for sure,” Tauri said, “and my fair city has some contacts up there, but their wealth isn’t enough to attract the attention of the Basileis of the Anakes.  As I said, all attention is focused in the east, and on who might claim the title of Storm King.”

Leon breathed another sigh of relief.  “I’ll want to make contact with these cities.  Your contacts will help in that regard.”

Tauri nodded, though he appeared a little nervous about doing so.

“Is something the matter?” Leon asked, noticing his mild reticence to agree.

“No, Sire, of course not,” Tauri claimed.

“You’re not convincing me,” Leon pressed.

Tauri grimaced and stared at the smaller map for a long moment.  Finally, he said, “We in Alhamachim want to be left alone.  We’ve acknowledged you as our King and Strategos, yes, but we do not wish to become involved in the dealings of great mages.  We want to live as we always have, no more, no less.  I will do as you command—I have acknowledged you as my King, my honor demands no less.  Moreover, I am still immensely grateful to you for saving my city from those pirates.  But my people…”

Tauri paused, as if searching for the right words.

“My people… may grow resentful if too much is asked of them.”

Leon gave him a thin-lipped smile, his dark brown hair casting shade over his eyes as he leaned slightly toward Tauri.  His golden eyes glittered in the light as he stated quite simply, “I ask nothing of them but what has already been promised.  They will provide the promised tribute.  All else—joining my army, doing business with any of my other vassals—is for them to decide upon themselves.  I ask you, Tauri, and perhaps a few of the great men and women of this city, to aid me in providing introductions.  And of you, specifically, Tauri, as you are this city’s Speaker, I ask for counsel.  Do I ask too much?”

“No, my King, no you do not!”

“Then where does your hesitance come from?”

“I… I only wish… I do not wish to labor under misconceptions.  I will do as asked, in the interest of ensuring good relations between us.”

Leon stared at the garishly-dressed man in exasperation.  “Then consider our misconceptions dispelled.”  He stopped for a moment and looked around the room.  Red was glaring pointedly at Tauri now, after having spent much of the meeting draped over her armchair looking like she was about to fall asleep.  Gaius and Marcus were more professional, but Leon could see the judgment in their eyes.  Alix and Cassandra were less disguised with their annoyance, while Valeria and Clear Day were utterly stoic.

With another sigh, Leon said, “We’ll organize these introductions later.  It’s been a long few weeks.  I release you to your civil duties, Tauri, which I’m sure are numerous.  We will speak again soon.”

Tauri nervously smiled and bowed slightly.  “Yes, King Leon.”  He lingered for only a moment, and after looking around the room to find no sympathetic faces, bowed once more and hurried out of the room, leaving the maps on the table.

Silence lingered in his wake, breaking only when Alix muttered loudly enough for them all to easily hear, “Cockhead.”

Marcus and Cassandra burst out laughing, while Gaius and Valeria were more restrained.  Red made more of a chuffing sound with her lips and even Leon cracked a smile.

“All right,” Leon said as they all calmed down.  “I think we all have a lot to think about.  The north is no threat, and the east is… pacified.  At least stabilized.  Now we need to consider the threat from the south and the west.”

Even as he said that, though, Leon’s eyes landed on the larger map, and slid off the eastern edge.  ‘There lies Kamran,’ he thought.  ‘And this ‘Halbast’…’

Aloud, he added, “Naiad’s already informed me of potential scouts from the ocean to the south.”

“We’ll have to start establishing some riverine and coastal defenses as soon as we finish those around Artor Valley,” Marcus mused.

“If anyone comes ashore, we should burn them,” Red lazily added.

“That’s… always a possibility,” Clear responded.  “Or perhaps we confirm their hostility first?”

Red scoffed.  “All who intrude upon one’s territory is hostile, and ought to be ended before damage can be done!”

“These are not your aeries, wyvern,” Clear reminded, a smile of warning spreading across his aged face and narrowing his dark red eyes.  “We should not treat all those who cross the border as hostile immediately.”

“You would have us bare our necks to interlopers, to thieves!” Red growled in annoyance as she straightened up and appeared to ready herself for a more intense argument.

Leon jumped in, heading off any more intense debate that may start between them.  “No one’s saying the coast will open to anyone and everyone, Red.  But we have to be ready for anything.  I don’t want our people to start settling that land only for someone to jump out of the water and attack unexpectedly.”  He looked at Marcus and Alix.  “You two will work with the Jaguar on defensive strategy.”

“Got it,” Alix replied.

“Understood,” Marcus acknowledged.

Leon then glanced at Clear Day.  “I want you to take point on contacting these northern cities.  Keep on Tauri’s ass if he drags it on those introductions.”

Clear smiled and nodded, but asked, “And what about our need for wisps?”

“Make them when you can.  Contacting these cities shouldn’t require you to leave Artorion, anyway.”

“I can work with that.”

“Good.”  Leon looked around at his small group of followers.  “Anything else anyone want to bring up?”

Gaius, Red, Alix, Clear, and Marcus all shook their heads.  Cassandra, however, asked, “I was hoping to learn more about those ruins we found beneath the Artor Valley.  Someone here has to know about a Clan moving in over there, right?”

Leon frowned.  “Those ruins might be older than Alhamachim, honestly.  And even if they aren’t, thousands of miles separate this city from our valley, and those people specifically built their city underground.  Maybe they were just that enthusiastic about settling around a river that supposedly bears the souls of the dead to the afterlife, but I think maybe they may have wanted to avoid being seen by anyone.”

“Could be both,” Cassandra suggested.  She sighed in disappointment.  “Who were those people?”

“Maybe we’ll find out,” Leon replied.  He cast his gaze about the room, silently asking for anyone else to speak if they had business.

When his eyes landed upon Valeria, she hesitantly offered, “… My father… could help in this situation…  He has many friends in the east…”

“And apparently those people are concentrating only on the east,” Marcus pointed out.  “How powerful might these friends be?  How trustworthy might they be?”

Alix added, “Can they even reach this far west?”

“Are they concerned about the Ocean King?” Marcus finished.

Clear lightly scowled.  “These people, fighting over a crown instead of seeing to their people…  In acting only to aggrandize themselves, they prove themselves unworthy.  A King should concern themselves with all the people they might rule.”

Leon didn’t pay much attention to these statements; he reserved his attention for Valeria.  He allowed them to speak, however, so that he could temper his response.

“I’d rather Justin continue his current work,” Leon diplomatically stated, though his icy demeanor cracked when Valeria’s face fell.  “I’m sure he could help, but we can manage for now.”

Valeria nodded.  “For the best.  Word can spread fast.  Better not let Kamran hear of us until we’re more prepared.”

‘Logical argument,’ Leon thought.  ‘Not heartfelt, though.’

He laid a hand over his wife’s hand.  Aloud, he said, “Your father will send word back soon.  Until then, let’s focus on nearer problems and trust that he can handle problems more distant.”

She nodded, quickly falling back into her usual stoic demeanor.

“All right, then,” Leon said as he stood up, followed immediately after by everyone else, “let’s get back to Artorion.  Talking about what to do is all well and good, but it would be better to do it back there.  We still have much to do if we’re to be ready for the next wave of colonists from Aeterna.”

With that, Leon led his people out of Alhamachim and back onto the multi-day journey back to Artorion.  For all that they were getting ready, however, a certain sour feeling settled into his stomach that urged him to do more, to spur his people to faster and more decisive action.

The feeling stemmed from how quickly Archelaus was to acknowledge his Lordship over his claimed region.  If Archelaus was so willing to use Leon as a buffer state against the Ocean King, then that spoke volumes as to how likely the Despot thought the Ocean King was to attack Artorion.

It would be less than a year until they received reinforcements from Aeterna.  Leon hoped they could stave off any further attacks until they arrived, but the longer he thought about the problem, the more he feared he would have to hold back an ocean with what he had at hand.

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