Her heart started racing as she watched the twelve Kathars flying down from the airship. This was truly happening. Every part of her body was screaming at her to run. She had spent more than eighteen years evading their capture. Lives were lost. People got hurt. All of that and now they finally had her anyway.
“You can't! She's one of your own, how can you let them take her? She will be lucky if all they decide to do is execute her!”
The orkhan woman wasn’t wrong, she had no idea what the Imperium would have in store for her. They had enough resources to tie down a demigod, even force him to do the Emperor’s bidding. If they planned on keeping her, there was probably nothing she could do to fight it. Veriel reached out to place a hand on the senator’s shoulder and squeezed it briefly. There was no hiding that her words had touched her. “I know you will. We Ailosians know that better than anyone else. Which is exactly why I can’t ask you for that. No more blood should be spilled for me.”
The comms in her ear suddenly crackled to life. “Veriel, don’t do this. Please,” Valron’s familiar voice pleaded. She had never heard him sound so desperate before. She looked up to where he was and for once, the man didn’t hide his emotions from her. The pained look on his face told her everything she needed. Still, all she could dare offer him was a sad smile before pulling out the enchanted shell from her ear.
She took the chance as an excuse to approach the trio of dawnmartyrs, her friends-in-arms. She nodded to Torchthief and Tukor, before finally turning to Neverfall. Veriel reached out to let her take the shell. “It seems like I won’t be able to join you on your return, Knight-Marshal.” Her own eyes had started burning but refused to let the tears form. She had half the mind to step forward and pull the orkhan woman into an embrace, but she didn’t want to risk giving people a reason to question the dawnmartyrs’ impartiality. There were so many things she wanted to say, but couldn’t. Not with so many eyes watching and ears listening. “We will meet again.”
She felt like breaking apart the longer she was looking at them, so the siltori finally turned away. Her legs felt heavy as she walked into the center, facing Irdan who had been waiting for her. Out of everyone, to have him as the one who would shackle her… The gods must have quite a sense of humor.
He hadn’t said a word since their meeting started, but that fucking smirk was goading her to punch him. Even the way he was tossing the cuffs was grating on her nerves. She was thankful though. It gave her something to feel - the anger, she latched onto it. She let that heat grow until it stifled the cold fear that threatened to burst through. For a brief moment, the Kathar wasn’t in his suit. He was in an armor darkened with blood. Ryo’s blood.
The thought of the hands that took Ryo’s life touching her made her recoil, but she knew she could not afford such sentiments right now. Looking up at Irdan defiantly, Veriel finally held out her arms in front of her - deliberately nowhere near enough to let him cuff her with ease. He would have to either close their distance or grab her to snap them in place. She wasn’t thrilled to be detained, after all. “You seem like you’re having fun.”
