THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xxxv. war

Nerluce and Lyana arrived at the banquet later than most people. In Nerluce's defense, it was Lyana's fault. She was the one who was supposed to get Nerluce - who'd been on the field, going through some basic motions Taayir had first taught them when learning physical magick. In Lyana's defense, she'd fallen asleep. Nerluce was the one who was supposed to wake her up if she ever fell asleep.

The fault fell on both parties.

But, to be clear, they weren't late. They'd scrambled to put on their formal robes and wash their faces - forget having time to comb their hair - but they weren't late. Just... a bit later than most people.

Regardless, they made it with plenty of time before the official ceremony started, where the new Serpahs would be recognized. Last year, Nerluce had been more focused on the food than the ceremony, but this year he was a bit better acquainted with those being made into Seraphs. There was a total of ten in all. Two from fire, four from earth, one from water, and three from air. They were gathering at the table in the front of the hall.

And Nerluce and Lyana had at least beaten a couple of them.

They were too late, however, to pick the topic of conversation, which Nerluce generally would steer away from anything that would cause major conflict. However, by the time he got there, it had already devolved into his least favorite subject: politics.

Poltics were... boring to Nerluce. He never felt like they affected him so he never paid them much attention. He was neither heir to the Hebikoti Clan nor planning to pursue a position as an advisor in the Empress's Court, so there really was no reason to study politics. Besides their general dullness, Nerluce also found they brought out the worst and most bitter arguments in people, especially hot-tempered fire Affinity students.

"-not as bad," Corbett was saying to Eko. "All things considered Riedith could have gotten off a lot worse."

"Yes but it still was Dumore's fault," Eko said. "They should be held responsible."

"Not at the sake of crashing their economy!"

Lyana frowned and Nerluce realized this was going to become a battle between homelands. It happened less these days - Ethera kind of beat it out of you - but it still happened. "Are you talking about Dumore's invasion of Riedith?" Lyana asked.

Corbett huffed, realizing a real opponent had arrived. "Yes."

"Which one?"

This seemed to upset Corbett, though Nerluce didn't know why. He tried wracking his brain for Dumore and Riedith's relationship but he just knew that the two hated one another. In fact, most of the seven kingdoms hated one another, so that didn't really clear things up. Nerluce did know that Dumore had invaded everyone a long time ago. And then it tried to do it again, more recently only to have the shit kicked out of it.

"You know which one," Corbett said. "Because that was not an invasion. Your king asked our king for assistance with the barbarian problem."

"You're right," Lyana said, crossing her arms. "That was genocide."

Nerluce clasped his hands together, silencing Corbett's response - whatever it may have been but certainly doing nothing to diffuse the situation. "I am awful at history so anyone care to explain what lovely event we're discussing tonight. 'Cause whatever it is, I feel like I don't have enough alcohol in my cup to understand it."

Both Lyana and Corbett scoffed, seeming upset with Nerluce for whatever reason, but less like they were going to bite one another for it.

Tragically, Eko offered Nerluce an answer to a question he really didn't want an answer for. "We were discussing how Dumore's fall was caused by their last military campaign last century but now we're talking about how Dumore sent several thousand swords to assist in the slaughter of the Horse Clans."