Going to war--preparation tiemz (kinda open)

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

Stepping down one of the main roads towards the castle was a trio of finely dressed men, standing straight up in their navy blue uniforms with gold buttons and iron medals, they walked towards the castle with the eye of everyone they passed on them. Everyone stared at them NOT because of their well dressed display, but because it was very unusual to see these men this far into the country... People in the port cities were well used to seeing Undian Marines and Sailors spending their wages in every bar in their city while on shore leave or between destinations. But with the capitol being in mainland, the sights of Undian military was a rarity and perhaps even worry some..

The man leading the three was an older gentleman, late fifties with a graying beard and dark brown eyes - an Eastern Undian with the rank of Admiral, the highest rank achievable in the Undian Navy besides Fleet Admiral (often held by one of the President's captain, Zaria being the current one). His name was Admiral Caperton and he was the leader of the 2nd Fleet.

The three stepped up towards the Santo-Lucian guard and spoke with command and urgency, "I am an Admiral of the Unda Navy, we have important information we must relay to your king immediately."

[alexanderthegreat]

One man stepped forth, the guard giving a polite bow in respect to their allies...or so they definitely appeared to be.

"Ah yes. Give us just a moment, Admiral..." he spoke quickly, his gaze turned to the doors for only but a moment as suddenly the entire area before the three Undian men lit up with a blinding light, a large, floating face appearing before them with a mighty beard and with a voice that roared...

"STATE YOUR NAME AND BUSINESS SHOULD YOU WISH TO PROCEED!"

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

As the giant face appeared the other two sailors behind him reached for their blades, the face was certainly a frightening thing to see!

The Admiral waved for his guards to calm down as he faced the large face and spoke, "Admiral Caperton of the 2nd Undian Fleet. I'm here to discuss urgent matters of war." The Admiral didn't exactly like this ridiculous party trick (why didn't the guard ask for the information!), but he wasn't exactly about to go shoving Unda's allies through walls over it.

[alexanderthegreat]

The guard watched the interaction between the Admiral and the floating head, his own hand resting on his weapon and his expression showing that this was a normal occurrence at the castle doors. The face on the other hand took a moment to stare down Admiral Caperton and after a delayed period of silence the light trick dispelled and in its place stood a cleric that held the very same resemblance in facial features as the large face did. He was garbed in armour and cape, a staff in his hand as he gave the Undian men a stern look.

"Forgive our procedures, Admiral Caperton. Your appearance here is off-putting to start, and in these times it's hard to know who to trust without the proper precautions," he spoke to them sharply, ushering the three men to follow him, "come this way, please. The king is in a meeting but I'm sure he'll make an exception."

He marched the men along down the hallways, taking them straight to the large white doors that were currently closed, a highly unusual blonde woman with golden skin standing attentively in front of them with hand on the hilt of her sword. Even the cleric that lead the three men here seemed slightly put off by her as he spoke to her.

"The...king, please, miss," he said, her head tilting to the side as he spoke. She stared at the gentlemen for only a moment when she stepped aside and swung the doors open for them.

"King Alexander, Admiral Caperton of the 2nd Undian Fleet is here," the cleric called into the room, disrupting Alexander grumbling away about something regarding their own military with Holmes at the large white table in the middle of the room. Alexander's eyebrows raised at the mention of Undian officers of any kind showing up now but he wasn't in any mood to argue. He waved that they come in and as the cleric saw, he stepped aside to let the three gentlemen through.

"This better be good," Alexander mumbled to Holmes, who simply bit his lip and nodded.

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

The Admiral - who's heart was still beating unusually fast - grumbled as the guard explained about the precautions. The lady with golden skin was a rather scary one, she must have been powerful if the castle's own guards were nervous of her!

The Admiral alone walked into the throne room and bowed towards the king, "King Frexton, I bring news regarding Undian forces currently stationed in Santo-Luce. If I would have a moment of your time, I'd like to discuss this with you."

[alexanderthegreat]

Alexander rubbed his temples as he stared at Holmes, who stared back at him, and simultaneously they turned back to the door where Holmes gestured they step inside.

"Come on in, if you don't mind..." Alexander spoke, gesturing to members of the Order and Liatris specifically, "The Prism and her Chromatic Order. Anything the three of us can get together now would be wonderful."

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

The Admiral polity bowed his head towards the Chromatic Order before taking a seat across the King, "I bring word from President Brea..." The Admiral began, looking between the group of people before continuing, "He's ordering the dispatch of 2/3rd of the 2nd Fleet to war. That'll cut the numbers of Undian warships stationed in Santo-Luce down to 8..."

The news was probably not what Alexander wanted to hear right now, and the Admiral watched carefully to see the King's reaction.

[alexanderthegreat]

Silence eerily hung in the air as the words of Caperton filled the king's ears, sitting with hands folded now on the table deadpan in expression. He glanced at Holmes, whose mouth fell slightly agape as the Undian President's orders were relayed to them, and currently he sat staring into his king's eyes and for those long highly awkward seconds watching it was like they were trying to read each others' minds. But more accurately so, Holmes was trying to piece together a way to solve this so that in the next couple of moments that were sure to follow, the king wouldn't have a panic attack.

As Holmes dug for solutions, the predicament dug into Alexander's brain and sank in. That's when he turned back to the Admiral, blinking as his mouth shaped into a highly contorted smile...

"What?!"

"Sire..." Holmes's voice prodded gently, first order of business was to keep him from losing his cool.

"No no no nonononono no," Alexander shook his head, index fingers raised at all four gentlemen around him and shaking them as well, "you see, I helped Brea. If he wants to stay on my good side, he helps me now..."

"Sire, we're not left with nothing. Let's look at that first..."

"Eight ships, Holmes...eight ships doesn't cover the Santo-Lucian coast!"

"Eight Undian warships, Sire. And our own navy isn't inept by any means--"

"Do I have to point at the map again?" Alexander said it and without waiting for an answer whipped out a book that had a map of eastern Allorum on it, slamming his index finger down directly on Santo-Luce, "I pointed at the map, Holmes. Look where we are, look at what surrounds us."

"Well first let's establish a few things, like our strength being on the land..."

"It's not the land I'm worried about, that's the problem!"

Both men sighed at the same time, both rounding on the Admiral and his men with him.

"The President cannot do otherwise?" Alexander asked, a lot more calmly than before but every bit as bitter about the whole thing.

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

The Admiral had expected such a reaction, a rightfully so action, and any diplomat in Brea's place might have resisted calling on the 2nd Fleet in hopes of not destroying any relations the countries have built. But Brea was a military man, and he knew damn well that Unda needed to be secured.

The Admiral was able to pick which ships stayed though, and he picked an arsenal of the 2nd Fleet's greatest ship-to-ship destroyers including the flagship, which was a monstrous beast all by itself.

"I understand your annoyance of this matter," The Admiral began, "But the President has made it clear that he wants these ships back."

The Admiral brought his hand to his face and ran it along his graying beard, "The ships remaining will serve Santo-Luce valiantly, your Majesty. Wherever you need them they'll go."

[alexanderthegreat]

Alexander sighed heavily again, despite the Admiral's words of how hard the remaining ships would fight for him he wasn't impressed.

"I've only a general idea of where these ships could go," he finally said with a huff, "I'm the leader of a nation, not a damn battle tactician. This is the kind of thing my captain normally would handle..."

He turned a glare to Holmes so deadly that it took everything in the older man to actually not back away with an 'oh my...'

"There's been a lot on everyone's plate, sire. Without Zeke, he's..."

"He knew about this meeting."

"....That he did, sire..."

Alexander folded his hands in front of him again and his stern gaze met every others' in the room as he addressed them all.

"Then gentlemen, this is what we'll do," he spoke hotly, first turning to Holmes, "he's fired. I can't do this anymore--go."

Holmes then immediately leaped out of his own seat and marched out the door just as Alexander turned a wry smile to the Undian Admiral.

"As for Brea...fine. I'll take what I get. And let it be known that all of my own men, especially my clerics working for him incognito in Unda are staying there to help him despite him dropping his own promises for me."

He sat back then, giving a shrug as he ended it with, "That is all. Unless you gentlemen have anything else to add I'm done here."

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

The Admiral shifted uncomfortably, the King wasn't happy - understandably so - but addressing his commander in chief without his title and than openly admitting he had troops in Unda without consent of his country showed something of a disrespect from Santo-Luce.

Of course the Admiral wouldn't openly speak his thoughts, he simply stood up and bowed respectfully, "May faith, freedom and prosperity guide our countries through the coming dark days. Good day, your Majesty."

With that the Admiral turned around and stepped out of the room. The coming days would test everything the two countries had. The Admiral simply hoped Santo-Luce was ready to fight for every inch of land.

[Liatris "The Prism"]

It was a rather unsightly exchange between Alexander and the Undian Admiral, an exchange that was best to avoid poking one's head into. That said, Liatris was busy enough with her own undertakings, such that any urge to interject was secondary to all that encumbered her. Doing her best with juggling military notes, the exchange of words between military advisory and Satno-Luce's leading military personnel, and words between herself and members of The Chromatic Order, Santo-Luce's new military mind certainly had her work cut out for herself.

Holmes had been kind enough to supply her with all that was needed though to get up to speed on the nations current military efforts against Duo, and perhaps it was her own ego influencing her judgement, but The Prism was all to confident that Santo-Luce would be fine, even with the reduced number of naval units at their disposal.

"Fear not, Milord," Liatris began as the Admiral dismissed himself from the room. "Even should enemies pierce our naval defences, I'm well informed on the strategies of Santo-Luce, and know full well the power of your ground troops, or more specifically, your Clerics." Liatris placed the documents that ladened her hands upon the table in front of her and excused herself from the various individuals that sought her attention, approaching Alexander's side.

"You're clerics are your shield, and we, The Chromatic Order, are your sword. There's is no weapon that shall break our defences, and no defence that shall stand firm against our weapons," Liatris announced, her tone not carrying a tone of pride or confidence, but rather a calm almost "matter-of-fact"inflection.

"But I apologize, my Liege, for I must return to your Advisors and notes, for should our "blade" and "shield" be needed, I must make sure that they are polished, keen, and at the ready." Liatris gave Alexander a gentile bow before doing a brisk about-face as she made sure footsteps towards her mound of military notes, taking but a moment to pause and direct her attention once more to her King.

"And know this, my Liege, unlike some commoner who thinks himself leader, I shan't falter in my promises, or my endeavours," Liatris spoke with a sense of steely determination. Turning her focus back to the table of scrolls and books before her she continued her strides, The Prism taking no pause as she swore upon her father name that she'd succeed.

[alexanderthegreat]

Alexander gave the Admiral and his gentlemen a silent nod as they left, leaving him at what he thought was almost a complete loss until Liatris spoke. Her words were at least reassuring, and that was what he felt he needed the most right now.

"I greatly appreciate your efforts. My resources are yours, feel free to mention it to myself or Holmes if you need anything at all," Alexander said quietly, smiling weakly at Liatris just before she went back to work. Rising from his own chair he made his way out of the room and noting he could really appreciate the long walk, his usual troubles sending him in the direction of his favourite study. Everything that just happened seemed so unreal, like one giant nightmare coming down on him at once. His own allies pulled the rug out from under him, his captain was missing on him, and the other one was...

'I wish you were here, Zeke. I want you here.'

The thoughts of Zeke brought the king a slight comfort and some pain at the same time, his worries for his love's safety and his own selfish desires of having him warmly in his arms at the moment, a way of chasing away all the negative airs around him. He hugged his arms around himself, thinking if there was any way he could have cheated it, to have Zeke here for only a moment just for that pick-me-up he would have traded so much for it. At this point he probably would have traded the last of those Undian ships he had to 'help' him just to even hear Zeke's voice right now.

"Your majesty, he's not here, though I've sent word for Captain Darkend to meet us the moment he's--" Holmes voice wasn't what Alexander wanted to hear at that moment coming up behind him, but he'd take it anyway. His arms dropped and his pace quickened.

"Walk with me," Alexander interrupted, gesturing the man follow. Holmes marched beside Alexander, the two of them closing the space between them to have a hushed conversation on their way down the hall.

"You've handled everything very well, sire, " said Holmes.

"This entire thing with Unda has been nothing but a mess. And I mean everything," Alexander said gravely as he shook his head, glancing at Holmes, "starting with Benjamin, the very moment he stepped foot in this castle." His hot comments made Holmes go silent for all but a few moments, recapping the events the king had had with Unda until now and addressing all matters individually.

"I don't think allying yourself with Benjamin was a bad idea at all. The events that followed that turned this sour."

"No. Benjamin made it quite clear at the Dämmerung Ball that if we didn't work with him, we were apparently against him. Then he told me to help him invade Roccia, and I did when I really should have put my foot down and ended it all there," the king grumbled, "I lost Seigmand because of it. When someone as truly evil as Duo tells me to help him, I tell him no even when I know the consequences of doing so. Benjamin I wanted to impress, I thought he was a good guy, and I was afraid to stand against him. It's all disgusting."

"That may be but I still don't think that was at all a bad call made by you. Remember how smoothly everything went until Benjamin was murdered," Holmes took to the stairs first as he spoke, opening the door when they reached the top to allow the young king in before him, "you said it yourself when you first told me of the incident. The moment Benjamin's body hit the floor, everything turned to chaos."

"I told him...I told his senators... I told all of them that I was helping them. I just..." Alexander shook his empty hands up in mid-air as the door closed behind them, leaving them in complete privacy so the king could raise his voice a little over the situation. He paced about the room, hands back up at his head to massage his temples.

"They knew I was sending help, Holmes. I gave them soldiers, I had my own groups of clerics go as we had agreed on. I held meetings, I wrote letters, I sent you with the one from Benjamin himself even--for Brea I worked hard to help. I trusted Benjamin that Brea would be a decent enough replacement, I trusted that Brea would have remembered just how much I gave him--especially him--and Unda. I trusted that I wasn't going to be left with basically nothing!"

"Well sire, as Liatris has said...he is a commoner. He's a man of the military, he's not a leader. He kills, he doesn't manage public relations," Holmes shrugged, "I've no doubt he's a good man, he's just not a smart one. And because he's not anything more than a military officer I'm not surprised that this is the kind of decision he made, and neither should you be."

"This Chromatic Order better be ready for a good fight, then," Alexander sighed. Holmes smiled.

"Sire, you've no idea. Their level of skill is something legends are made of, you'll see. We have us, we have our own resources. You have the Chromatic Order, and don't forget you still have your little 'guardian angel' running around in the hallways. Worry not about Unda, it's as you said. People will see your efforts and remember his lack of for you. Right now we worry about Duo. We worry about Unda after."

Alexander nodded, finding nothing else to add to their conversation at the moment. He flopped down onto the sofa in the corner of the room, staring at the old man for awhile before he weakly spoke up again.

"Tea time?"

Holmes smiled.

"After all of this, this is a time your father would say 'whiskey time' instead," he answered with a chuckle. Alexander shrugged, jumping out of his seat.

"I'll take it," he said as they both disappeared back out the door.