Baked

An Offer

"Satori, it's been a while! You haven't changed... A bit." The man said as he arched his brow, looking Satori down and up. 

Satori sighed, having a small smile. "Likewise Aich, although you have changed." Aich laughed in response, waving Satori to follow him.

Satori had just entered the mansion being kindly greeted by servants who took their belongings to their rooms. Now he was following Aich with Lenlin behind him, though he discreetly glanced at him and shook his head, telling him to leave before their host opened a door.

Lenlin curtly nodded, stepping back.

"We can chat in here, it's my office." He held the door open while Satori walked in, closing it after. "It's quite nice, far different from Kou that's for sure." He said, taking a seat on a nice plush chair. "I can't tell if that's a compliment but I'll take it..." Aich took the seat in front of Satori, taking in a deep breath.

Although he said he had two things to attend to in Parthevia, he actually only had one thing he had to do which would be in the capital. Where he was now was for personal reasons, taking advantage of the trip. 

Aich was a very old friend of Satori's, someone he had met as a teenager at the palace of Rakushou.

"I see you're still stuck in Kou, still close to the royal family." Aich started, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his lap. Satori only looked down with half-lidded eyes. "Yes... I believe I'm too deep in, I've tried to leave on numerous occasions but, they have me on a short leash."

"You're barely in the country yet you can't escape it, how ironic." He sighed, his face drooping with sympathy.  "I'm not you Aich, I can't just leave and expect them to forget about me. I've been trying to get my brother to replace me, but it'd take a lot for them to accept him. He wants the position but... He so incompetent." He let out a sharp and hard breath, disappointment lingering in the back of his mind at the thought of his older brother.

"Why don't you just leave, they'll give your spot to someone else easily. You could come here or even go to Riem." Aich suggested, pushing himself up. 

"Don't you get it? I'm not someone they can simply ignore, I know a lot, maybe even too much about the Empire's plans. Maybe I could get away, but I'd just live in fear, and my family would be shamed because of me. I've looked at Riem and here too, neither really appeases me." 

Aich felt bad for his friend, as dedicated as he was he couldn't leave, meanwhile here he was, lavishing in his riches separated from the Empire. "I could help you, I have connections in the palace, if you change sides, they'd give you protection."

Satori slowly looked up at him, his eyes dim with his brows sorrow. "I appreciate the thought but, I'm trying to escape war, not continue in it. That and, I doubt there's much Parthevia would do, Kou is willing to ally with them, and I'm sure it's the same for Parthevia. That's why I'm here right now, to discuss being 'allies'." Aich's eyes widened at this, thinking about what that meant for him. Groaning he brushed his fingers through his brown hair, slouching into the couch. "Thanks for the heads up. Good to know this country is going to shit sooner than I thought."

"Yeah..." He muttered. He had no other reason for being here other than catching up with his friend. But it was nice to talk about his worries, even if it didn't help them. 

On every one of his missions outside of Kou, he thought about moving to the countries, wishing he could. He was stuck in Kou, all thanks to his father being careless, and him being naive enough to think he could fix it. The Emporer was far too fond of him, something he thought he could actually benefit from. If only he had known about Kiyumi's connection to the royal family sooner, then he wouldn't have ever gotten so close. His wife had a very twisted relationship with the Empress, Gyokouen. The Empress disliked her for no reasonable cause, she acted on it once and that was enough to tell them they had to leave. Leave before their beloved daughter got involved. Though Satori feared it might be too late for that.