Where Lies and Truth mingle

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"Is that right-" Cesar raised a brow looking over the shifter that had been sent to him via by the king.

"Aye milord. The king's request nothing less."

Lavender eyes drew up as the room was cooling down after a hellish heat had been unleashed on the harpy but she made very little qualms about it. It warmed her which was fine but it made the cold all that much more unbearable when the heat vanished and the chill sought her frozen flesh. "Bound and gagged. Our king does enjoy his torment. Probably why he is revered so heavily."

The soldier merely blinked but nodded nonetheless. The butt of the smoke flew off into the distance. "Bring her down and do as the king asks. We want to be ready for his summon."

"But if we open the cage-"

Cesar stabbed a finger into the man's chest, "She is wounded, weak and scared. She lunges at you, and she'll be caught by the barbs. The harpy is nothing to fear, especially-" he cocked his head slowly, "If you want to displease our Lord. Now which is worse? Death by a weak harpy or death by a murderous king? Your choice?"

Hearing the man swallow, a bellow went out to drop the harpy. "That's what I thought."
 
Roman hadn't slept. He hadn't eaten. He had barely spoken. But he'd paced. Like a caged animal he paced and he schemed, hundreds of ideas flitting through his head in a never ending torrent that he more frequently discarded rather than keep. He was desperate. Anali, who had sat on the bed all night, watching, suggesting plans, enduring the snapped replies and worrying as she held the feather tight in her grasp, had never seen her cousin so distraught over anything.

She hadn't been there when his parents had died, not even born yet, but she could imagine he'd been something like this and it was a side of Roman she'd never witnessed.

It scared her.

Her cousin was unflappable, caring about everyone but not letting it effect his judgement. But this Harpy...she'd touched something within the Prince that had been closed to the world since his mother's untimely demise. Anali wondered if Roman even realized that, but she knew now was not the time to point it out. Nor was it the right time when morning came and with it, summons from the King.

Roman froze upon hearing them, panicking inwardly. He didn't have a plan! Nothing was working, nothing was fitting into place! He didn't know what to do! It was a frantic desperation that threatened to overwhelm him and might have if Anali had not struck him lightly across the face, across the livid bruising that had already formed, the contact shocking him back into control. He gasped with the pain, though, the sound escaping and Anali looked guilty, whispering her apology.

The Prince shook his head. It had been needed. He said not a word, though, as he forced himself to move, to clean up just a little, pull his hair back. Make it seem to the casual observer that he was not bothered by what had occurred the night before. But he knew the King would see past it, Cesar would, anyone who looked closely enough would know he was not fine. How could he be? He'd brought an innocent into this place of vipers to be paralyzed by their poison and devoured whole. No, Eryn's death would be on his hands.

The thought nearly made him sick and Roman swayed, his cousin lending support for just a minute until he found his balance and with a look to each other, they left the room, knowing they went into the jaws of hell itself.

--

"Let them in."

Sione kept his tone even, regal, every bit the King he should be, but inside he was chortling in elation to watch his nephew walk in - his daughter close behind, but she soon separated and came to his side where she belonged - those gray eyes immediately casting about, searching for something they did not find. The flicker of fear then was a suitable reward indeed for it was gone behind a mask well-constructed that Sione wanted to gauge it from the brat's face. How like his mother he looked, and how well her training had done him, even at such a tender age.

Well, he could go join his mother in hell soon enough.

"Ah, brother-son, I hope my summons were not too early for you?" There was silence, such a long stretch of it that Sione began to lose his false smile, eyes narrowing, and then Roman spoke.

"Release her." The tone of his voice was hard to decipher. Somewhere between resignation and cold anger. How interesting. Sione raised a brow, feigning surprise. "Release who, dear nephew? Your cousin? She is perfectly free, as you can plainly see!"

Those gray eyes didn't so much as flicker. "Release the Harpy Eryn. She is under my protection and authority, not yours."

Now the atmosphere seemed to plummet and Sione's face sparked with fury at the direct challenge, his powerful form rising from the throne, his presence dark. "You have no authority here, you witch's whelp! I am a King! You do not command me, you who consort with enemies of Aladura! What have you to say for yourself and your actions by bringing that abomination into this place?!"

"Release her."

It was intoned in nearly monotone and Sione seethed at hearing it, wanting a reaction. He needed a reaction! This would not be enough to brand the brat a traitor. No, he needed more. He gestured for a guard to bring the Harpy in, never taking his eyes off the gray ones that watched him, unblinking, unwavering. Unnerving. His mother's eyes, curse her.
 
The door creaked open and her eyes snapped shut from the piercing light being strayed in. Arms grabbed around her shoulders, chains rattling against the wooden floor. She wanted to struggle, snap and bite, scream anything. But she was weak.

Numerous lacerations riddled her frame, no piece of flesh safe as the gag was tied tight to her mouth. Blood dribbled in slow semi dry rivers while others bleed freely. Bound by the kings words, wings had been stained in her cruor; as Cesar grabbed her tightly behind the neck once the guards brought her in enough to be shown.

Just like that, the moment the fox touched her... the guards released. And she was given a brutal shove towards the floor before the spies feet. He smirked with a impish bow to the prince. "Should really keep a better handle on your guests, Roman. Poor little thing tried to steal from our King. You know that's a deep crime."

Raising a boot to set it down on Eryn's neck with a slight press, he laced his elbow over top his knee. He turned slightly to look at Anali. "Thanks princess. You did what takes me days to achieve, the seed of doubt is a powerful tool but only merciless by those with wicked tongues." Cesar chuckled as Eryn let out a raspy plea as he pressed down a little further, "You are a true gift from our lord."
 
Anali paled so rapidly it looked like she might be ill, her breathing coming in small, ragged draws that were nearly silent, but made her dizzy. The sight of Eryn's blood, the state of the Harpy washed horror over her in brutal waves and Anali didn't try to hide it, knowing that her reaction might just be taken for squeamish at the moment.

But inside she was infuriated, sickened by the entire thing and her fist clenched around the feather in her hand, careful not to bend it, but holding it tight, wishing she knew what to do to end this. Giving in to Cesar's taunting was not going to help, though, nor was glaring at her father as he laughed, thinking the comment by his spy a pure compliment toward his daughter.

Anali worked not to vomit.

--

Roman saw it so clearly, far more clearly than anything else in the room.

He saw Cesar reach down to mockingly caress Eryn's hair, nothing more than a glorified pet, smirking as Eryn tried to jerk away, applying more pressure to her neck, slowly threatening to suffocate her or snap her bones completely. He saw the fox Shifter produce a blade and question the King about that gag order and whether he wanted it permanent. He saw his Uncle laugh and glance at him before nodding. Roman watched as the gag was cut away and Eryn's mouth forced open. He watched blue blood pour from her mouth, heard the screams the Harpy gave even as her tongue was thrown aside to splat on the floor. He heard the laughs of the King, of his spy, of the guards.

The world seemed to still and Roman could see the decision laid out before him. He saw what he could do to change this and Roman, upon discovering that - not even knowing how he did it - didn't hesitant one moment to do it.

The Prince moved forward before anyone could react and his shift was the fastest he'd done in his life as his body tore and changed midair. It was an enormous tiger that met the shocked gaze of Cesar before that great, weighted body plowed the fox Shifter to the ground. Roman didn't roar triumph, didn't pause to see the fear in Cesar's gaze, he simply struck, his powerful jaws closing over the male's head, fangs puncturing bone, shattering skull, scream cutting off.

Roman's head whipped around then, taking in the startled expressions of everyone present, from the guards to his cousin, and then the livid expression of the King as Roman shifted back into his humanoid form, blood staining his chin, streaked across his face and trailing down his neck. Ignored. "I commanded you to release her. I won't say it again."

"TRAITOR!!" Sione's bellow echoed through the throne room, his expression that of black rage as he rose from his throne. "Seize him! False Prince! Harpy-lover! Traitor to his own kind! Seize him!"
 
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Bone crunched as blood leaked and horrors were unleashed, Eryn felt the wash of air suck desperately into her lungs with a scrapping cough as the king began to scream at his nephew. Trying to focus her attention, trying to see past the incoming and outgoing blur of motion that made her focus impossible; talons scraped against the floor in her chains.

The door slammed open with a deafening bang, more bodies filtering into the room at the kings loud summons; weapons draw as if on cue.

Then came something she might have been able to sense if she was upright.

A violent crack came to shake the foundation of the palace. Shuttering so strongly that men toppled on their feet, knees buckled and she found herself sliding into the a bookcase to topple books out on to the floor.

She knew that feeling. And it was one that the king himself would know.

Mar'luin was beneath the city itself and he was making a threat now. Or was she delusional?

Blackness coated the sides of her vision, ears listening to a white noise like a babbling brook swell around her; a sound above all else sounded like glass being scraped.

Then came out a screech like a banshee.

Only a few select harpies gave that cry. And there were a few select harpies now making loud noises on the roof above the chamber.

"Milord!" A soldier cried, "Three of them...." another quake rocked the palace.
 
Everything happened so fast, Roman felt like it was too much to comprehend. His head hurt like metal being put to an anvil, pounded by the hammer and sounds were blurred. Nothing felt as clear as the vision had been, nothing, no one but Eryn. Her he saw and focused on even when the earth gave its ominous warning, rumbling its anger, the mountain groaning its protests to the power that made it move so far beneath this great peak.

The Prince pitched forward with everyone else and found himself close to Eryn, gray eyes searing into pale-sapphire before Roman moved, rolled to avoid the strike of a sword to his person from a guard who'd managed to rise. His turn put him right before Eryn, though, protecting her as he lashed out with his feet and took a knee out, a scream answering his efforts, drowned out once more by the shaking earth and the banshee wails of more Harpies outside.

Roman had never been more grateful for their presence as he turned to Eryn, working his way to his knees and then pulling her up with him, trying to be gentle, trying more just to get her on her feet and out of here, to her people where she would be safe once more. He'd just gotten them both to their feet when he felt a hand latch on to his shoulder, wrenching him around and forcing him to release Eryn as he came face-to-face with Sione.

The King looked crazed, ranting, but Roman didn't hear him. No, his attention was riveted on the jewel around his Uncle's neck. Something drew him to it where he'd never paid it much mind before. An inner voice whispered words he did not comprehend, but also urged in a way he did understand and in a moment, Roman's hand darted out, closing around the chain that held the precious gem, applying tension that immediately caught Sione's attention. He stopped spewing his poisonous words and instead looked down to Roman's hand, the world seeming to slow for the two royalty as they looked again at each other.

Roman moved first, pulling back with strength, determination and then Sione followed suite with his own action, full of malice and hate.

The Prince didn't at first understand where the pain came from. It was sharp at first, starting in the oddest of places, his stomach, and then spreading across his abdomen, only getting worse when the cause of the pain slid out again. A dagger wet with his blood. Roman blinked, shocked, feeling the warmth bloom over his clothes, but his hand stayed locked around the chain he held. It might not have remained that way for long if not for what happened next for his Uncle was already reaching for the gem that was shimmering, breaking up and becoming a scale intead, a sneer of triumph on his face.

He never reached it, though, as the next moment he was bellowing in pain and Roman just barely caught sight of his cousin with a bow in her hands.....and an arrow in her father's shoulder. Anali met his eyes, giving a firm, resolute nod and Roman knew he couldn't save her. Not this time, not yet. He didn't even know if he'd live as his life-blood drained from him at a steady rate.

What he did know was that Eryn's people would take her away from here for the guards were dead or had fled the crumbling throne room - some out of terror, others to find the Harpies. And the King was staring at his daughter in disbelief, distracted. Roman lurched toward Eryn then and he pressed the scale into her hand as blood, his own, bubbled at his mouth, but from a bite to his tongue or internal, fatal bleeding was unknown.

"H-here. For..for your...p-people..."

He collapsed then, the world fading out of focus, but not before he saw the Harpies tear their way through one of the windows. Eryn would be safe soon.
 
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The sound of water was dripping somewhere in the cavern far away, echoing with a rhythmic pattern that seemed to get softer and louder all at once. Focus ringing like bells in her ears as she felt like someone was sucking her back into the waking realm through a pipe. Forceful.

A wet cloth to her brow startled her eyes opened, blurred that required frantic blinking to clear and a face looming over hers that only caught her by sheer surprise. Lit up by firelight and a solemn smirk that was ever so famous. More blinking and she thought of getting up only finding his hands pressing down reassuringly to her shoulder. "No." his head shook slowly, "No, you must rest yet Eryn. The shamans can only do so much in the ways of healing but not enough to gain what was lost in blood and water."

"Yulin?" she quirked her head softly feeling the rough nest beneath her head. Bits of fabric, string, sticks and feathers making her comfortable as possible.

A smoothing hand to her brow to adjust the cloth, he nodded. "Mar'luin sent us to lie in wait. The earth said a time would come for us to strike.... we waited."

"But..."

"Eryn, you scared me." he frowned just as suddenly, before helping her sit up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, the other pointing. "But not as much as seeing what lies we have believed in." Eyes began and tried to focus in on the nursing figure in a nest like the one she sat in. Draped in heavy blankets and a old bandaged tossed aside in the firelight riddled with blood dark and rich. Question must have been on her face for Yulin nodded slowly. "Mar'luin wanted him. Wanted him to come and be safe with us. We save our own Eryn."

"He... is one?"

A squeeze to her shoulders, "When one saves another of our own, there are no questions asked."
 
Anali.

She was screaming, the whip descending again and again without ceasing, steady in rhythm, giving her no chance to even breathe properly. She was bruised, battered, cut but she refused to repent. She would scream, moan, curse, but no words of apology came from her mouth, no renouncing of what she'd done to save her cousin, nor the Harpy.

The blond Shifter - with rune-etched manacles around her wrists to keep her form as this - mumbled to herself, though, a phrase Roman only barely caught past her sobs of pain and his own horror.

"I will not be a coward. To live in truth and die with honor is better than living in lies and dying with no soul." She muttered it over and over to herself, a chant, a talisman of strength as her father's wrath descended on her shaking body over and over again.

Roman woke with a cry of grief, blind to where he was, deaf to the sounds around him, not caring. His heart was breaking inside for the one family member he still loved and the Shifter curled into himself, his body starting to shift by subconscious desire alone. It caused agony, a tearing sensation to the wound in his stomach, but he didn't heed it and there were none here who could stop the process.

It was a ferret that curled into an impossible ball beneath the heavy covers, small body shaking as the sobbing sounds stopped, the grief now contained inside again, just as Roman wanted, instinctively knew to do. Even in this fevered state, he knew he could not appear weak and so he put himself in a form where he didn't even have the ability to cry.

But his soul screamed and he shook terribly even in the heat of the blankets.

It was a mercy when his small body slipped into the darkness again, and Roman's body shifted back, unable to retain another form if he was unconscious for reasons other than sleep and that included sickness induced passing out. The bandages came back with him, but there was bleeding anew.

Roman probably would have apologized for that if he'd been in his right mind.
 
It was an unusual request that she found herself wondering about intensively. But she wasn't one to ignore orders -generally- when they came from the spectre Dragon.

A large bonfire was being fed sticks and dry wood that must've been harvested in her brief absence. The few nests created by the even fewer shamans were spaced around the fires warmth. Essential for Harpies, essential for healing. A bowl of water had been drained into the prince once a new session of healing begun. Yulin was guarding, alerting the healers of the shifters erratic heartbroken behavior. They worked feverishly on Roman to mend the puncture in his belly but they could not fix what was I'm his mind.

Mar'luin came daily, something intriguing him about Roman, but what was never uttered.

Crawling across the ridge of the nest, shuffling bits of loose bedding around to stuff it back into place, the female youth sat up on her knees with a curious intent. The scale was returned but there was still unbalance in the lands of shifters. The king was the poisoned root and that was enough for Mar'luin to save Roman. If the kings enemy was Roman, then the prince was there ally.

Wings flitted and opened widely to shift and readjust themselves as Eryn drooped down to crawl on her hands and knees.

She had fallen victim to a stupid ruse. Letting doubt sew into her to allow brash actions to rule.

Tugging at the blanket over him as she circled around his head, creening softly- shifting his pillow into place; the female came around to his left side and laid down. Her head level with his hip, crossing her hands over the other to rest her chin on, and let her frame touch his. To work at not overheating the shifters and allowing her to borrow the heat unwanted.

Great sorrow flitted through Eryn, knowing that Roman took a very dangerous route that now labeled him against his lands. She would change that if she could. She would repay her debt somehow to the shifter.

Eryn laid there, keeping a watchful eye on the prince.
 
Roman flitted between consciousness, darkness and the world of visions that would not leave him. His fever raged for hours and then cooled again, never entirely leaving and if not for the coolness of the Harpies around him, his body would have burned itself out, the King's objective accomplished for him by a simple sickness. But Roman lived, he continued to breathe and as time passed, he grew quieter as the visions visited him less frequently as he gained some strength again.

The wound in his stomach was starting to heal, showing sign of improvement and it was nearly a week after being stabbed that the Prince truly started to wake.

The first thing he became aware of was that he was warm, very warm, and it was almost past the point of uncomfortable. There was a cooling source near him, though, keeping the heat from becoming unbearable and Roman wanted to draw closer to it, but rational caution bid him not to move and he didn't, working on controlling his eyes instead as they seemed uncharacteristically heavy and uncooperative. He soon had them cracking open to let in the light of a fire and though they watered at the sudden brightness, Roman persevered and finally acclimated, casting his gaze slowly here and there, registering that once more...he was underground.

It confused him.

He'd expected to be dead or perhaps in a dungeon, but under the earth? That didn't make sense....unless...was it possible? And why? Such questions, reasoning passed through his mind as his gray eyes finally came to rest on Eryn. Roman blinked, uncomprehending for a moment, almost wondering if he'd not woken at all and he saw only a vision, but no, this didn't feel like a vision. It felt real. It felt present.

It puzzled him all the more and after a clumsy attempt at getting his mouth to work, he rasped out a question.

"Why...was I...saved?"
 
From what she could tell by the movement of others in the cavern, it was late suppertime. One single shaman was close, checking periodically on the shifter as she kept close as per instruction. Supposed being cold had its advantages. Staving off fevers being one.

His body moved and her eyes sluggishly opened to hone in on the ripples of current.

Waiting a time before she shuffled around to circle around his head and shoulders like and overgrown dog comforting their master, Eryn tipped her chin on her hands.

"You dear boy have a heart of good and your people need you alive to save them from the darkness." Mar'luin chimed having been so quiet that Eryn hadn't noticed him there either. "Would you rather die knowing that you hold salvation for many by you simply living? Or would you rather let your uncle corrupt and destroy thousands more?"
 
Roman's mind came into sharp focus upon hearing the dragon and in that moment, he forgot about his weariness, about how he hurt. All he felt was a sweeping rage come over him when he looked upon the creature that had driven him to this.

So intent on his war had the Spectre been, that he'd been willing to kill Roman. He hadn't listened! He hadn't weighed judgement, nor given the Prince any chance to prove himself. He'd not waited to see what kind of person Roman was - good or bad. He'd simply done as his vengeance demanded and Roman had been left to scramble to save his people, to prove there was another way. He had lost his home, his people, his cousin and nearly his life all for this dragon's foolish pride and his refusal to even be open to finding another path.

Yes, fury was the most potent of emotions coming off of Roman right now, his gray eyes dark with it and expression the same, heated, scathing words rising in his throat like acid, but before his tongue could move to form them, memory stirred, like the faintest wisp of a gentle touch. His mother's voice, from when he'd been nothing more than a small child.

"Anger is not evil. It is not a curse, but nor is it an absolute strength. You must never let anger control you, Roman. In the heart of a good man, anger can be a powerful weapon, but so can mercy, compassion and forgiveness. You must never forget that, my little tiger." She had curled over him then, his form resting in her lap and her fingers had brushed his hair back, her lips finding his cheek in gentle affection that made him giggle.

"There will be many who will sadden you, betray you, cause you pain with their thoughtless actions and decisions, but you must be wise, my son. You must learn when anger, no matter how justified or righteous, is better left alone in favor of forgiveness and tolerance. Think with your head, Roman, but listen to your heart." Her fingers, slender and precise, had tapped each as she'd spoken them and Roman listened solemnly, nodding.

"Balance the two and you will be a great King."

The words lapped at him now, tempering the rage down to a simmer, letting him think, choose his path.

He could give in to the anger, lash out and deal with the consequences of such a thing....or he could choose to let the anger go - even if he could not yet trust the dragon - and cooperate, choose to forgive and take that path instead. He knew which would be easier, but he also knew such would lead to death. He could see it clearly, his city barren, bereft of life, covered in blood.

It would be far easier to die for his people than to live for them, and that was the truth. But in that moment, Roman could see a new path opening before him. One that showed the glimmering promise of something better even as it did not show him clear images and Roman knew that harder though it might be....living for his people was the wiser choice.

So he released the anger, let the words on his tongue dissolve in their own time and he let his body relax, his expression gentle as it would, not forcing the issue, but having made his choice and expecting his actions to comply with it. When he truly felt calm again - and subsequently tired and painful once more - Roman let his clear gray eyes rise again and he spoke.

"Thank you for this chance." It was sincere, and so was the very hint of a smile that touched Roman's mouth. "I did tell you I would help you, though. I am glad to see what is yours returned to you." It was a subtle ribbing, but really...Roman felt he deserved that much at least.
 
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It was enough to curl her feathers when the surge of anger came off of Roman, forcing the little harpy up and to skitter up and out of the nest to crawl along the floor and into a further nest. Mar'luin took notice of Eryn's behavior knowing she was one of the better empathise they had even if she didn't understand stand it, and her fleeing away said the anger behind the man.

But he had the right, just as anyone else.

So he waited until Eryn stopped shuddering to say the fury had ended and Roman spoke. "Much grace is upon you for your actions, Roman." the spectre rose up and simmered through a wall to disappear fully leaving the harpy girl and shifter be. The single shaman was mixing something further away trying to pretend they seen or heard anything.

The only sound given now was the scraping and rearranging of sticks being shifted. Eryn trying to keep herself busy and out of sight. She knew she did wrong and blamed herself fittingly for all that happened. She would soon offer Roman the right to take her head for her foolish actions. She destroyed his life, it was only fair he took hers.

An eye for an eye.
 
Roman was doing his best not to think overmuch right now. The dragon spoke of grace, but Roman didn't feel it. He felt exhausted down to his very soul after what he'd done, he felt grief clawing at him when he pictured his cousin's face and the face of those who'd mourn his absence, he felt fear for his people so acute that it threatened to overwhelm him. So he tried not to think about what had occurred, nor what the future held, instead forcing himself to focus on what was going on right now.

Like how warm he was and how much his stomach hurt. The former he solved by carefully sitting up, using his arms to help reduce the muscle exertion in his abdomen and then waiting for the world to stop pitching and his ears to stop roaring with his own blood, he carefully moved the blankets back, relishing the cooler air that hit his skin. Goosebumps rose along his arms, bare back and chest at the abrupt change in temperature, but it brought relief and he was able to relax again, just a little before looking down to the bandages around his stomach. They were wrapped well and the blood that showed through was brown showing it was old and that was a good sign, but it didn't feel like it was getting better at all.

Or perhaps that was just the memory of it, so fresh in his mind, that was hindering his view of the injury's true progress. He imagined he could still feel the blade slipping into his flesh and jerking back out, see his Uncle's eyes, filled with such hatred it had chilled the Prince to the core. It had stabbed deeper than the dagger ever could and just remembering it made Roman want to curl into himself.

The slightest movement to do so caused a flare of brief agony, though, and the Shifter stilled, stifling a moan and he made himself breathe past it and then didn't let himself go back to such thoughts. No, better to focus on something else, something... Eryn.

His gray eyes sought her out and when they finally found the elusive little Harpy, Roman studied her closely, taking in the healing she'd already been through. Her cuts and bruises looked better than his - the one across his face was turning lovely shades of green, yellow and purple - but he had noted that Harpies seemed to heal faster than Shifters did. He was glad to see it, glad to know she was all right.

At least he'd done something right, even if he'd made a messy job of it.
 
Sticks flew out of the nest as she clawed vigorously at the bottom before shifting around and dropping her weight to see if it felt right, only to get back up and start again. It went on for a few minutes until she felt a gaze probing at her. Eyes drew up in a dart and her own came to hold the gray for a time.

Guilt came into play then. Vivid like a painted sky of reds and yellows; the harpy flattened back her ears and came crawling out low to the ground. Slowly but surely coming closer to the edge of his only to drop fully down to the ground, her gaze following suit.

She stayed that way for a while.

It was only by the sound of another that had her tossing a look to the side of her eyes. "It is good to see you both awake." Yulin commented as his even stride was caught by the shaman and then the healer was sent out. A dagger was drawn out of his belt and flipped around so that Yulin was holding the knife tip in his fingers. His green eyes looked over the younger harpy with a slight sorrow before returning his attention to Roman. "Harpy customs are very easy and very basic to understand Prince Roman. Once they are made clear." he seemed eerily calm, poised as it was. Yulin stopped before Eryn though she didn't move, just remained as she was. "Here is your first lesson Prince. When a harpy does wrong in their own eyes, they seek to fix it. Any means necessary. Drastic? Yes and barbaric. Even intelligence tells us that but we are creatures of balance. And we aim to sit on the scales of good rather than bad. So when a negative action is achieved such as Eryn going into your uncles room and attempting to steal back the lord's scale, she invoked dark matters to play out against you. You have lost much because of drastic actions." The female had closed her eyes remaining silent. "You have now been outcasted, seen as dead to your own. Your life has been torn from things you loved. Unfairly of course. She has spoken to me about her choice and her actions against you, Prince Roman and she wishes to fix it."

Yulin cleared his throat, as he dropped the dagger down into the nest. "A broken life is paid by blood, Prince Roman. Eryn is giving you her life so you can balance back the power of your own. This is how she wishes to repay her debt." the male powerhouse pressed his lips, "We are still animalistic. I did not say we were smart in such ways, just we possess brilliance that isn't always the way."
 
Roman knew something was wrong the moment Eryn crept toward him like a beaten dog. Any time she'd done that it had not signaled anything good and he grew far more attentive and wary of her intentions as he watched the Harpy. He didn't understand what she wanted of him and so the silence stretched, and Roman was almost relieved to see Yulin coming toward them. Almost. Seeing the blade in the Harpy's hand didn't inspire a great deal of confident trust and the Shifter's heart rate accelerated slightly, his body growing tenser as he watched the dagger with far more interest than he did the male himself.

His stomach ached, reminding him of the intimate feeling of a dagger sliding into his flesh and it was only when the thing was flipped that Roman risked looking away from the glinting steel and to the matter at hand, listening in absolute silence to what the male Harpy said. And he found himself agreeing that yes, such a thing was barbaric and it made his stomach roil in rebellion to think that such was accepted here, accepted and expected by Eryn.

But he held his tongue against expressing that distaste, instead choosing his words more wisely, taking a long, long minute to think about them that stretched on. Finally, he spoke. "There were dark matters set against us regardless of what Eryn chose to do. She was not the one who put the hatred for me in my Uncle's heart. Eryn hardly caused my banishment and my choices to rise against my race were my own. She was only doing what she felt was right for her people and her first loyalty was to them...as mine should have been to my own. You speak of unfair actions against me, but your people have suffered them as well. Perhaps my loss is debt payment to your people." He shook his head at the last bit, partially believing it, but thinking it wrong either way, an endless cycle that only caused grief.

Roman picked up the dagger then, looking down at the thing as if it was fire in his hands even as he instinctively held it properly, his training not permitting anything less. "Eryn giving me her life is not going to give me power in return. A broken life is not mended by blood, it is not satisfied by vengeance. Blood is not going to give me peace, but heartache and guilt. It's going to make what I gave up, what my cousin gave up, worthless."

The dagger went sailing then, thrown with such violence that when it stabbed into a long branch not yet used to weave a nest, it buried itself almost halfway and Roman glared after it before he turned his piercing gray eyes on Eryn, speaking to her alone now.

"If you want to restore any kind of debt to me, then do not ever ask me to do something like this again. Do not ask me to take your life when I chose to save it. Help me build peace between our two peoples, that is all I ask from you, Eryn, and if you don't succeed at that, I still won't want your life. It might be the Harpy way and it might even by the Shifter way sometimes, but it is not my way."
 
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There was no sense of disappointment in Yulin as Roman spoke his truth with a power that was humbled and frightening all at once. Not that he realized it. But he had a right to stress his thoughts in the way he sought and while he could see Eryn was being affected by it in a way that only seemed to take her more into a guilt, Yulin understood Roman's position. And he valued the prince for it.

Unlike himself, Eryn was firm in her traditions. She thought she was doing right by her actions only to be scolded effectively, Yulin stopped himself from getting defensive about it. He knew Eryn needed to hear what Roman was saying but that didn't mean he was enjoying how she took it. But that was because of how naive she was.

Watching the sailing of his dagger go into the branch of a dead tree, drawing his green eyes back as Eryn didn't lift her gaze up. He knew why and he could see it as the drips of tears pattered downwards. The moment the last period was spoken by Roman, Eryn took to fleeing. Scampering away only to lunge and latch onto a cavern wall and skitter away. Roman might as well struck her with a hot iron poker at this point, but Eryn was taking his words in the wrong way. Didn't help that she was a natural empath and unfortunately picked up on other's emotions that sometimes made it difficult for her to realize her own. She'd go out of sight and she'd stay away for a while. It was hard watching both parties. Only because he understood enough of each to know the merits of both.

Clasping his hands behind his back as he scrolled his attention back to Roman, Yulin offered a sincere smile in response to him.

"Thank you for your generosity and compassion, Prince Roman." he was thanking the man for sparing her life. More than once.
 
Roman couldn't have said why that ice curled in his middle again, heightening the pain of the wound there, when he took note of Eryn's tears....right before she fled from him. It was like being stabbed all over again, but this time the Shifter made himself breathe, closing his eyes for just a moment, cursing whatever fate had brought him here.

He was aware of his surroundings again, focused once more when Yulin looked back at him and the smile was not what Roman had been expecting. Nor the words. They caused him to blink, confused for just a moment or two before he looked away and shook his head slowly, his dark hair falling around his face as he risked the wrath of his stomach to bring his knees up and wrap his arms about them, mouth on his knees and voice muffled, but not so much that the words were not clear.

"I can do nothing right with her."

It didn't truly need a response and knowing he looked like a child, Roman unwound himself again and brushed his hair back with his fingers, knowing he needed a brush....and a bath. He regained the calm mask once more and cleared his throat, nodding back to the male Harpy. "Please, call me Roman. I am no longer a Prince."
 
Yulin gave a soft chuckle to the shifter before him. Watching his emotions that seemed full of life than the mask he wore to hide them. And he knew there was no need for a response but Yulin was apt to give one. Only because he didn't want to have ire spreading through the prince for his sacrifices.

"It is not what you did wrong. You just simply need to know this. I know my sister well;" Yulin lifted his brow, "She gave you one of her feathers and that is a great honor to any being outside of the harpy clan. She trusts you and now that she feels she has done nothing but betray it, she wants nothing more than to restore a faith. Her actions while cryptic were her way of trying to right a wrong. Not that I agree with her drastic actions and I am grateful for your reprieve. But with Eryn being an very inexperienced empath, she feels more than you might think. And it confuses her in turn which leads to her feeling in a sense unaccomplished. She merely seeks to restore what was taken from you. She's young, and it shows."

He tucked his hands into another, "You might not think it is important, but your word is important to her. And to know that her actions of retribution was the incorrect one only made her feel like she is incapable because she doesn't understand. She will calm in time. Do not worry yourself. Now-" his pale green eyes took more of a life in the moment, "I shall call you Roman as you ask but you are still a prince. Your uncle is still a king though false and you will return to free so many from a wrath that is a monster of your uncle. Your cousin will be freed and you will have the power of us behind you. But you must connect with your other realm as well-" Yulin held up a hand, "Do not ask me what I know or what I am saying. That is a discussion for Mar'luin and he will see you when he can. Right now Roman, it is time to move and rebuild your strength. I will take you further down into the cavern where there is a bubbling pool of water where you can soak. I know how you shifters enjoy a bath."
 
Knowing why Eryn was behaving as she was only helped slightly, but it was better than no information at all. It didn't help him know how to handle the situation, nor how to reach the female Harpy on her own level, it only told him that what he'd done had not been right in her eyes, but confusing and frustrating. It showed him how Eryn, thought, which would be good for future things like this....but it didn't help him now. He couldn't kill her! That was not a solution and he didn't know what kind of things she'd think were payment for a debt or a wrong done.

Roman saw no wrong, unless it be her willingness to believe Cesar about the Prince's character when she had seen for herself what Roman was like - perhaps not all of him, but enough. But even that was a minor wrong at most to Roman. After all, Anali had lied to him, too, and he loved her all the same. He didn't need a sacrifice or blood to balance out his life. He couldn't let Eryn do it.

But he'd earned no favor in her eyes by refusing, that was clear...and Yulin was telling him to not worry over it. Hm, easier said than done, but Roman didn't say as much, instead paying closer attention to the male near him, noting that Yulin had gone to another topic entirely and what he had to say surprised Roman greatly, his eyebrows rising and some of the pain he was in forgotten.

His other realm? What did that- Roman resisted a sigh at hearing what he could only assume was the Spectre Dragon's name. Well, at least now he knew it....and knew he'd have to wait for the information he was now curious, extremely so, to hear. He still gave a slight scowl to the male Harpy, though, even as he was helped to a stand by the other. "Sure, tell me that and then tell me I can't ask. If this is the Harpy method of torture, I can see why I should be grateful I was only imprisoned last time." It was half jest, half frustration, but it kept Roman from intently focusing on the pain shooting through his abdomen.

S**t, walking hurt! Rebuilding his strength, his ass! This wasn't worth it!

But Roman pressed on, fighting the tears that stung his eyes harshly as Yulin finally helped him down to the aforementioned pool, helping lower Roman down, the Shifter's head spinning, able to feel each throb of his heart in his belly. But still he spoke quietly, eyes closed and teeth half clenched, but the words sincere anyway.

"Thank you."

He wasn't sure if he would have been able to do that himself even if his life had depended on it.
 
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