Today, the dining table felt hollow and strangely cold, occupied only by Lady Seraphina and Lorian. Lorian was utterly lost in thought, his eyes were fixed on a point somewhere past the food which was cooling on his platter. The heavy silence of the room was disturbed only by the occasional, rhythmic clinking of his fork and knife; as result of a half-hearted, mechanical attempt to go through the ritual of eating. Seraphina watched her son in silence. Her maternal instincts were telling her that something was troubling her dear child.
"Is it Selena?" she asked, as a suppressed smirk played on her lips.
Lorian, still submerged in his mental depths, simply nodded his head, "Hmmm."
With a clear hint of a tease in her voice, she replied with a knowing smile, "I thought so. You are missing her, aren't you?"
"She is in trouble," Lorian again responded absent-mindedly.
Those four words were powerful enough to shake the Lady to her core. Her smirk vanished instantly. "WHAT? What has happened to the child?"
Her desperate demand shattered Lorian's trance and dragged him back to the real world. He blinked, realizing he had let the secret slip. However, a part of him felt a deep sense of relief. Deep down, he was feeling need to share this with someone, to feel the crushing load off his chest. Lorian did not hide anything, and told his mother everything, detailing the possible betrayal in Valoria and the capture of the Stormholds. When he finished, he looked at her. He didn't speak, but his eyes did the work of a thousand words, pleading with her for guidance.
Seraphina fell silent. The air in the dining hall had now turned heavy. Finally, she broke the silence with a long, deep breath.
"My child," she spoke in a soft, steady voice, "I know what is going on in your mind. I am not going to tell you what you should do. Your father had great faith in you, and so do I. You know best how to deal with this situation."
She paused, then walked toward him, ruffling his hair with the same simple affection she had shown him since he was a toddler,
"You must remember, Lorian- you are not just a boy named Lorian, or even just another Thorne. You are the Lord of Veridia, the Great Jewel of the East Coast. A pauper's only responsibility is his own belly, but a Lord's heart must beat for his people first."
Lorian nodded, absorbing the message. But his mother wasn't finished.
"Both your father and I believed that as power increases, responsibility increases equally. However, our views only matched to that point. Your father focused on the weight of the Responsibility. I, on the other hand, prefer to consider that responsibility as a mark of power."
Lorian looked up, slightly surprised, "With due respect mother dear, focusing only on power can make a ruler a tyrant. It can get over his head and cloud his judgment."
Seraphina patted his shoulder in appreciation of his caution, "And you are absolutely right. I am not telling you to ignore your duty. I am simply telling you to change your perspective. Instead of seeing your responsibility as a burden like a pessimist, and becoming gradually miserable as a result,- you should see it as a testament of your power, like an optimist."
She leaned down and hugged him tight.
"To the weak, responsibility is a chain that is holding them down. To the strong, it is the proof that they are the ones holding the world together. Think about it."
With that, she left the room, leaving him to his thoughts. At the door, she looked back one last time. "Just remember- whatever you decide to do, your mother will always support you, and it will always make your father proud. He is always watching over you from beyond the Golden Shore."
The motivation Lorian needed finally took root. He finished his food and went to the garden to take a stroll, his mind working at lightning speed. It would be foolhardy to simply declare war on Valoria. Serana was a guest, but driving the entire city-state into a bloody conflict for one family was a bridge too far. The people might rally behind him initially while the momentum was in his favor, but a prolonged war would spell doom for the economy, and the poor would be the first to suffer.
He needed more information. He decided to raise the topic tomorrow,- not in the private Obsidian Hall with his core team, but at the Gilded Hall. Every minister of every stature and every noble were to be present without fail. It was to be the first general meeting he would preside over.
He checked his inventory of rewards, the spoils of his obsessive night at the lever. He was practically showering in boons:
Architect's Glimmer - 22
Aura of Trust - 49
Bargainer's Charm - 42
Blueprint Fragment - 29
Contract Sealing Wax - 33
Diversionary Dust - 41
Political Undercurrent - 37
Scribe's Minor Haste - 84
Social Echo - 58
The Gossamer Earring - 26
The Misfit's Key - 12
Vial of Clarity - 71
Weak Point Revelation - 21
He had the boons; now he had to find a way to utilize them. Suddenly feeling the pressure of his station, he decided to cool off and find a distraction. He summoned his gang- Zara, Jax, Kaelen, and Elara. On his instruction, they all donned disguises and left the palace via a secret path.
Their destination was The Whispering Door. It was Elara's first time, and she was evidently uncomfortable walking through the shady, damp alleys. She didn't object, realizing the other four were frequent on this path; but she stayed close.
The Red Sun had set into the Green Sea, and the Docks were shifting colors. The smell of fish and spice was being overwhelmed by the reek of cheap ale and fried food. Elara looked as though she wanted to run away, her sense of duty being the only thing keeping her feet moving. Suddenly, Kaelen felt a sharp pain in his arm. He turned to find Elara's fingers sinking into his skin, her knuckles white. She was visibly terrified.
And she had every reason to be. Standing in front of them, blocking the narrow path, was a grim-looking Half-Orc.