Hunting the elusive Governor beast.

[BetaFlame]

Glenn was a hard man to find. Of course, it didn't help that Aleksei had no real sense of time. He tended to wander in and out of his own world where time was basically meaningless. He hadn't really been able to pay attention to it in many years. This made working on a schedule a little difficult. Once he got focused on something, it tended to overwhelm him till he felt somewhat completed with it.

Lately, he had been focused on getting back into fighting shape, and it showed. His shirts were a bit tight now. Muscle mass had been built. There was a mad man with a large axe on the loose by all account, and Aleksei had been tapped to deal with him. Dealing with him might mean a face to face, and he would rather be back into sword swinging shape if that was the case. After all, he had slammed Agnie into a door hard enough to break her ribs, and nearly severed Renea's arm. He still didn't feel ready, but if he did feel that way he would be overconfident and therefore dead.

And his lack of a sense of time is why he found himself sitting in the waiting room to see Glenn. He realized upon talking to Agnie that had had been secluded for several weeks in his training, and he needed to talk to the man about Renea. He had sent a note ahead, though not much ahead, which should be finding its way to the Governor anytime.

Glenn,

We should discuss Renea. I think you will find it most interesting. I'll be in your waiting room at the office when you get some time. Brought a book.

Aleksei

[Glenn]

The letter arrived to the waiting Aleksei not long after he arrived. It came along with a particularly large sandwich, prize ham, nice, fresh, cheese, and a very long baguette. More than that, a desk had been carted into the waiting area, just for him, if he wished to work while he waited.


Aleksei,

It's a shame you didn't give me better notice. I would have had requested you bring certain pilfered items I've heard about with you. For what it's worth, the rest of your people make you seem like the very life of the party. The women had to be falling over you back home, reason enough if I ever heard it to take a legendary sword. I hope the thing has a name, like Evilbane or Darkscorn. Glassheart, perhaps? Anyway, I'll be along shortly. And if I'm not, I'll send along a rack of lamb in a few hours. Don't worry, it's not a last meal. I'd say more but then I'd require you to eat the letter. As it is, we'll talk about Renea, and then we'll talk about you.

Glenn

[BetaFlame]

Aleksei just reads the letter and sighs. So, they had caught up to him, it seems. Perfect timing. As if his life could not get more complicated at this point? But their cover story was at least decent. Stole a sword indeed. They wanted the sword, sure, but that is not what they are truly after. Either way he penned a letter back to Glenn.


Glenn,

Less interesting than you think, since you already know most of it.

Don't want to eat the letter, paper is not very tasty. Lamb is, however. So is the sandwich. Thanks for the desk.

With that he settled in to read and jot notes on his topic of choice these days - demons.

[Glenn]

"No lamb." Burnie spoke as he walked up. While his clothes, as usual, finely and loosely made, were dyed to earth tones, allowing for some level of blending, it still seemed as if the dust of the trail avoided him altogether. There was something pristine about the Governor, save perhaps, for the ink upon his hands. "That's the bad news." It had only been another hour or so. Dinner was still quite a ways away. "The good news is that you don't have to wait a moment longer. Business finished. Ts crossed and all that. Come in, Aleksei."

The once-mapmaker would walk right past the desk and into his office, casually finding his way the rather plush seat fit for a working governor. The better chair had been pulled out for Aleksei as well. He was getting the prime treatment today. Either it was generally how Burnie treated friends, or they really were fattening him up for the slaughter. The scholar was given seven seconds, before Glenn began to speak once more, not caring in the least whether or not the other man had arrived in the room and made himself comfortable as of yet. "If I give them you, and the sword, but mainly you; you're a pretty big investment, did you know, accusations of treason notwithstanding, then I get a rather cushy trade agreement for Myrken. All sorts of mystic relics and items that I don't want littering my streets or in the hands of my beloved, superstitious population." He scrunched his nose just a little, before holding up a hand to slow any response from Aleksei.

It would buy him enough time to smile once more. "But I'm sure we have far more pressing matters than your rebellious youth (of oh, five minutes ago, apparently). Renea first, then everything else, then you." Of course, considering the sheer multitude of events afflicting Myrken as of late, "everything else" might take long enough to discuss that they would find themselves invaded due to Aleksei before they finished this talk.

[BetaFlame]

Aleksei's follows him in, calmly taking a seat and just letting out a long sigh. "They finally found me, didn't they? I told you I left with things from Rodel, Glenn. You shouldn't be that shocked." He settles into the chair and takes another long drink of his tea. Somehow, he is the picture of calm during all this. Despite the fact one arm was still in a sling, and he moves a bit more stiffly. "You did get the order wrong. Renea, Aeryn, me, then me again, I think this time?"

He looks up at the ceiling and put the tea cup on the edge of Glenn's desk. "In short, something took Renea's soul from her body and.. temporally locked her. Every so often she will.. reset, for lack of a better term."

[Glenn]

"Aeryn." Some real distaste there, and this coming from someone who rarely showed it. "Aeryn Karolinger. You know if things had been different, I might have.." But here a wave. Glenn Burnie had been in Myrken Wood for five years now. Five years. So many things had happened and some were ultimately inconsequential. There was a lazy shrug of his shoulder as he leaned back in his chair. "We hardly have time for what might have been. Too much to talk about."

There was nothing for Aleksei about Rodel. Not a hint. Not a comment. Nothing. He'd let that wait, let the scholar stew, and if they had to talk about him twice, so be it. Or maybe the other matters were more immediately pressing for Glenn. It was hard to say. His smile revealed so little.

"Ah, Renea. She seemed so stable and good tempered when i sought her out for the job. I had Genny question her. She's a fairly good judge of character, when she judges with confidence." The piemaker had never quite fit in with the rest of his inquisitors. On a purely professional level, Aleksei was a much better fit. He had little care how well they meshed socially. Genny needed looking after in ways that it would be futile to even try with the man before him.

Then, of course, Aleksei said something quite interesting and Burnie's smile actually increased. "Her soul, you say. I'm surprised you believe in such things Aleksei, man of science that you are."

[BetaFlame]

"I've met her." That's all he says about Genny, leaning and watching Glenn with a slightly raised eyebrow. His comment about science and souls does cause him to quirk a brow, however. "Why must the two be mutually exclusive, Glenn? There is a form of energy tied to us. Call it a soul, or whatever you like, but its there." He doesn't really get that part of Glenn. Just because the man prefers science to the mystical, it seems he wants to dismiss the mystical out of hand. Was it just spite? Because of how much he hated magic? Who knows. Aleksei doubted he would ever understand, since he had been raised in a culture that used both. "Spells that return the living to life reach out and grasp that energy, pulling it back into the body. Spells that animate the dead, or turn them undead, reach out and take the opposite of that force and use it. I could find you some tomes on the research if you are interested."

He reaches and takes up the tea cup, and takes another drink from it before setting it back down on the edge of the desk. "Would you care to discuss this further, or shall we move on to more pressing matters? I was thinking.. Aeryn." A glance his spared for his arm in a sling with a little shrug of his good shoulder. Seems the damage done to him had something to do with the Daemon.

[Glenn]

"I can reasonably believe that there's some sort of energy within us." Burnie began, regarding Aleksei rather coolly. He wasn't used to being lectured to like this these days. It's not that it went to his head but it was a little offputting. Still, within seconds, and by the time he spoke again, the smile returned. "I just don't like the word soul. It has too many religious connotations that muddy the matter. Let us say that I don't believe in a divine soul. Moreover, I put far more stock in one's mind than in that energy. As best as I can tell, it's just a spark that signifies life. Fire. In itself, just fuel, just a tool. The important parts of someone are to be found elsewhere. The heart allows one to be alive, but the mind is what makes us truly live."

Finally, that raise of his hand, and a shake of his head. "And we'll drink later to the idea of possessing enough luxury time that we can argue one another about semantics. Pressing business. Aeryn." He'd rather washed his hands on the matter as of late. That's how it looked at least. Oh, he moved Constables about and researched things with his staff, but ultimately, he allowed for the delegation, and.. perhaps.. set a few other pieces in motion, just in case.

Cool eyes went up and down Aleksei. "You do take a beating, don't you? I remember that feeling well. I imagine,if you learned something important, or even better, if you actually ACCOMPLISHED something, it feels quite good."

[BetaFlame]

"I find soul works.. simply because that energy retains some of your memories and thoughts. Frankly, language lacks the capability to convey the nature of that energy. In any even. Yes, Aeryn.. you are not going to like this."

He leans back in the chair, eyes venturing to the ceiling as he considers where to begin. Taking a beating might be a mild way of putting it, in all honesty. "Honestly, Glenn. I didn't need the bone shard. You see the.." He gives a faint smile and defers to Glenn's preferred method of address on this subject, "..energy that made up Aeryn and his victims was both a greater part of the whole of the Daemon that made up Aeryn. But also, each was separate from the whole. They existed in two states at once. In a fit of.. I don't know what, I decided that if I could get a fragment of something that was the Aeryn under all that, I might be able to separate him long enough for Agnie to find some sort of closure. Both because I like her, and because she needs to put this behind her to be effective."

He reaches for the tea with that, taking a long drink. He found his throat was a little dry with this retelling.

"With my bad luck, he was near by. He followed me back out of the woods, and I found myself face-to-face with him near a barn dance. I decided to try and face him, rather than run and leave him to eat farmers. Turns out, Agnie and Renea where there as well, and it was a good thing. I don't think I could have beat him alone. Without many details, I can tell you that while Agnie and Renea distracted him, I was able to snap the chain that holds his axe in place. The axe was the source of his corruption." This is part were it gets tricky. Glenn is either like to take it in stride, or give birth to a kitten from his mouth. "Without anything else to do with it, and fearing it would either get back to Aeryn, or coax Agnie or Renea into picking it up... I absorbed it. Into the space inside of me where the Celestial resides. Right now.. they are countering each other inside me."

He meets Glenn gaze evenly. It was dumb, and he knew it. But he didn't know what else to do. They couldn't very well leave the axe laying about, and he didn't trust anyone else's willpower. The Book, a far lesser evil, had been able to influence Agnie and Renea to a high degree. The axe would have twisted them quickly.

[Glenn]

One thing in common between Glenn and Aleksei was that each men was not adverse to the sound of his own voice. Sometimes, the situation just took that long to explain. This was Myrken. Things were complicated. Really it was best to give them the benefit of the doubt in such matters.

Wasn't it?

So Aleksei spoke and Glenn listened. He kept a nice even reaction throughout. Calm. Composed, even wryly smiling. "Four years ago, when I took up employment with the fledgling Cinnabar government," and if that wasn't the start of a long story, nothing was, "one of the first things I did was take a couple of companions and directly interrogate the Ashfiend in his lair." Presumably by now Aleksei had read enough about the Fiend. Glenn would take it for granted. "We came out unharmed; this is, you must understand, before I was much of a martial threat. People had died, and I had personally been attacked by the creature. I came back to report to Cinnabar and he almost threw me through a window, so angry was he that I had put myself at such risk." Anger issues, the former governor. It took a special something to rouse them though. One does not awaken sleeping monsters and all that.

"So, very foolish thing done for rather foolish reasons? Check. The difference, however, is that you are older, more experienced, diligently trained, and generally competent. I had been young, over-eager, needing to prove myself, even a little desperate. So to sum up. I was young. You are an idiot."

Best to just let that sit out there for a few moments. Then, bemused, he would remark. "Is there any chance we can trick your people into taking it, thinking it is the Celestial and hope they destroy each other utterly?"

[BetaFlame]

He actually laughs. He doesn't really disagree with the assessment. But he'd rather be foolish while attempting something good than not have attempted at all. After all, if he had succeeded, they would likely sing a different tune. Separating Aeryn would have weakened the beast at the very least. Oh well. Things didn't always work out according to plan. "Actually, Glenn. When I was a Knight my every movement was directed for me. Being able to make my own choices is a fairly new concept for me. Hell, I didn't even get to decide my own dinner. He looks slightly bemused and takes another sip of his tea and sets it down to brush his hair back out of his face.

"No.. they'd just consider it a bonus. An extra daemon to try and bind, thought I daresay it would not work as well. He's too powerful. It takes my ward, plus all the energy of the Celestial to hold him and keep him from doing to me what he did to Aeryn." He just frowns a little. He's not really sure the celestial will be able to hold the daemon for an extended period, and isn't sure what to do about it. "No, I think the answer the daemon riddle in that That Book."

"So. Which Knights showed up? And you know they don't care about the sword, right? They want her."

[Glenn]

"Well, if things didn't happen so damned quickly," Aleksei was laughing. Glenn was not. He WANTED to dump a demon off on those knights. "then, things could work nicely. You could report back to me and I could tell you what to do. Unfortunately, I need you able to make decisions for yourself, because this is Myrken, and we never have what we need, be it time or resources. We have to make do with what we have, and what I have is you. Lead Inquisitor and Archmage Supreme." He smiled at that, if only to make sure the man across him knew it was a joke. Best he not think that was his real title.

"The Book. The Riddle in the Book." Now, finally, Glenn barked out a laugh. "The Book that you people are working so hard to keep away from me. I'm rather good with books, Aleksei. And Riddles. And Demons. And Curses. I unraveled the Ashfiend mess. And he had painspells and zombies. This has pages and traps and all things that I am very, very good with. And people like Agnieszka are not." He let out an exasperated shrug. "I'm only the Governor though. What do I know? Still, i'm not some sort of dunderhead who would take a dark entity into his own body or something. That's exactly the sort of person we shouldn't let near a curse... oh, you're in the room, Aleksei, aren't you? Apologies."

Utterly deadpan. No smiles here. "It was Roland and some less talkative jerk." Straightforward. "And no, Aleksei. They want her, but they also want YOU. On top of the treason, they called you an investment. I can draw this out, give them the sword, make some other negotiations, but I need to know what forces they can and will call against Myrken. Simply put, I will go quite a ways for you, will fight for you, whatever I can do personally, but if our people are going to be scoured over this, then what I will do is buy you time while you flee, or go elsewhere and set a trap, which i will help you with, but it will be elsewhere. That's what we have to decide now." Just how far did they need to go.

[BetaFlame]

"I would point out, again, that I said you should read the Book. Agnie was the one against it. Just remember the more you read, the greater its level of influence and the easier to coax you into saying things." He offers fair warning, no sense letting Glenn go blindly into something. If it was blindly. But Aleksei had experienced it, and he wanted to pass that on.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Roland. "Roland is the Second. Also, the second oldest next to the King himself. He's the son of one of the original twelve Knights. Although, he's fairly reasoned and patient. He has a form of Earth elemental bound to him. He's the type that would surround a place a wait for everyone to starve to death rather than risk troops." He leans back, considering. "Of course, he's more of a soft heart than I am. He would not risk innocents by fighting me in town square. He's not likely to come in here and bury your town in rubble for harboring me. Likely, if you refuse, he will tell you that he is going to hunt me, and if you get in the way, he'll fight you." He bites the inside of his lip and rubs at his sore arm. "I spent my entire life with these people, Glenn. But we were not friends. There is always the possibility we will have to kill another Knight. You have a silver tongue. We might be able to reason with them, and find a solution."

He narrows his eyes and looks a little concerned. "The other jerk.. black cloak?"

[Glenn]

"Honestly, Aleksei." Burnie's tone was ever so straightforward, matter-of-fact. "Between you and me I think it really goes without saying that I am uniquely qualified to resist such blandishments. Though if it means arguing with Agony, then it may not be worth the grief. I'd almost prefer the screaming demon in my head, not that it's not adorable that she wants to protect me after all these years. Still, I may look soon. There's only so much i can delegate when Myrken's safety is on the line."

"How long lived are your people? There's nothing easier in this world than stalling an elf." He'd allow for a response here, but regardless of what Aleksei said, would continue onward. "To put it bluntly, if I have my way, you return the sword, the Celestial, and the Demon within you. All three. They're not the things I want in Myrken, even in someone on my side. I'd rather you be free of this entire situation. Unburdened by cosmic magical power, or whatever it is. Able to live your life as you choose and with no loose ends threatening to drag you back to who you were before. I think we could negotiate that, but I have a feeling you're going to get stubborn. A voice lives in your head long enough and you get attached. I understand that better than you think. For my sake, and Myrken's, and because I am going to stick my head out for you, I want you to at least consider it though." Burnie smiled wryly. "Otherwise, we might have to take drastic action, like force you to work at the school so that you're always surrounded by doe-eyed, impressionable children to stave off an assault."

Then, to Aleksei's question. "The other had a black cloak with silver, and I do think Roland indicated that it was a 'he' even though we didn't interact closely."

[BetaFlame]

He just nods and shrugs, "Perhaps we should both take a peek at the Book, Glenn. I'd like to find a way to get rid of the Daemon instead of handing it over to the Knights. I.. fear what they might do with it. They would think they can control it, and I assure you they can't." As for his question, he just shrugs. "Normally, just like any human. However, those of us with a binding stop aging as long as the binding holds. After 88 years, you have to be renewed. Roland has been renewed three times, for instance. I had not had a single renewal."

He leans back in the chair and chews on his lip, considering. "The sword I can give back now, so you can make it look as if you are cooperating and speaking to me about terms, if that will help? Glenn, I think I mentioned in our other letters. I told i]Her[/i] that would I let her free at the end of my Binding time. She's been a slave for a long time. Its not right." He seems genuinely frustrated. He made a promise to a living creature to free them in exchange for cooperation, but now he was faced with a situation that might lead to him having to break his word.

"I don't have any good ideas on this, Glenn. The one is the black and silver is likely either Liam or Lysiath. Both are assassins. I could best either of them when I left, but Roland would throw me around like a rag doll." He reaches up and rubs his shoulder, feeling gently at the joint. "Of course, right now I couldn't beat a three year old with a stick and a bad attitude."