The burrial of peace

Telaron Lleodred



Telaron was sitting at the grand working desk that had been put for him below the Earth King's throne in the Throne Room. As Onao was at the Seven Nation Summit, the duty of running the kingdom in his short absence fell to Telaron, his closest advisor and the head of the royal council.

The aged man was tired, he had been working too much and hadn't returned home for three days. The only one who informed him about his family's well-being was his brother-in-law, Nuran Shang, who came in from time to time in his function as the ambassador of the Vermilion Dragon Empire. Lord Lleodred sighed, turning another page of parchment, and immersing the sharpened end of his quill into the inkwell right before him. Another petition. He had been in politics far longer than Onao, and he still did not know how the young man put up with all these petitions, meetings, and most of all, with all the pressure related to his duties. Even representing His Majesty made Telaron wish that he would return rather sooner than later. Not that Telaron was not perfectly capable of running a kingdom, he had been trained to become King of Omashu one day, before this heritage was destroyed by Onao's predecessor.
He was merely missing Goralia and the children. Telaron had never wished for a family, not before he was almost too old to start one. Now that he had a family, he felt his time run short. He wanted to see his children grow up, he wanted to see his grandchildren, but he feared he would die before that happened.

With a scratching sound, he signed the petition, deeming it worthy to be brought before Onao when he returned, and then put the piece of parchment aside carefully, taking out the next one. He had read but two lines of it, when the door of the Throne Room burst open.flew open almost violently. With lifted brows, Telaron turned, reaching out for his cane almost instinctively. "Telaron, forgive the intrusion, but..."
Nuran Shang stood in the door, his long hair untidy, his face flashed red and his breath hasty as if he had run all his way to the Throne Room. "The Summit... I just heard..."

Telaron stood up and walked over to Nuran as fast as he could. "Breathe through," he said sharply to the younger man, "and tell me what happened."
He was worried sick, he had never seen Nuran this dissolved before, he thought even to spot a tear in Nuran's eye that the other one blinked away, running his hands through his long hair and trembling where he stood.
"The summit was attacked," he then said, his voice trembling, but his body calm again to the outside. Only Telaron, who knew him close, could see how dark his blue eyes glittered, as if he was still suppressing tears. "There have been multiple casualties, and the Shadow Lands have been destroyed."
Telaron's cane fell to the ground with a loud, clattering sound. "And the King?"
He dared not even ask, he was too afraid of the answer. He had trained that boy himself, he had seen him grow from a teen to a man, from a man to a King. Despite his youth, Onao was one of the people Telaron had the most respect, probably also the most love, for. "I don't know," Nuran shook his head while he lifted up Telaron's cane and handed it back to him, "that was all the information I got. I came to you as quickly as possible, so that you can make your preparations."
"Preparations..." Telaron murmured, the shock had still not settled in fully. "Yes, preparations," Nuran touched his brother-in-law's shoulder with compassion, "I know it is hard, but you should prepare for the worst. Get the Generals together, have sick bays opened for the casualties, if they made it out, and do whatever else you have to do. I should probably go, send a messenger hawk to my superiors at home. I have not told Goralia yet, and would be thankful if you would neither... our youngest brother was part of the Emperor's Vanguard." Nuran and Telaron exchanged a look, and Telaron realized that his own pain was only similar to the one Nuran Shang had to feel, having probably lost his Emperor and his brother on this dark day simultaneously.

"Don't give up hope, they might still all have made it." He clapped on Nuran's shoulder once, reassuring the ambassador as best he could, and then escorted him out of the Throne Room, giving one of his guards in front of the door some sharp commands.

"You there, take some other guards and see to it that the Generals and the royal council join me here within the next ten to twelve minutes. Better make a rush for it. Tell them to give orders to guard the Palace and the City as best they can against attacks from the outside, and to have sick bays installed. Also ring the alarms, I want every man cautious. Also, send me some men up here, I might have need of them in order to give out orders as quickly as possible."

The guard nodded, "Yes, Sir", and rushed off. Telaron stood in the door for one moment, watching how the guard and Nuran reached the far end of the corridor and took different directions from there. He knew what he had to do, and yet he felt completely helpless. Nuran had not even told him who had attacked the summit. Since the ambassador, despite his youth, was a calm and restricted man, Telaron knew that he had been given all the information accessible at the time being. Who knew which channels that information had taken until it reached the ears of an ambassador, how much of it was actually valid.
"Good spirits," Telaron murmered, "all of the Shadow Lands..."
The remaining guard at the door gave him a worried look, but Telaron ignored him for now. They would soon enough all know what was happening. Secrets like that never staid secrets for long.

Who might have attacked them? Nuran was still giving him a heads up, so it could not have been the Vermilion Dragon Empire. What cause should another nation have to destroy all of the Shadow Lands and attack a Seven Nation Summit, with all the leader on it? Who did even have the power to do this?

Deep in thought, Telaron slowly walked back to his chair and sat down, putting the whole bunch of paperwork aside almost mechanically, and waiting for the Generals and Council Members to arrive.

General Yamikura was somewhat disturbed by this suddon summons. He was at home daydreaming about his new girlfriend when a man from the palace came knocking on his door. He quickly sprung up off his couch, grabbed his coat and slipped his belt on. He also had his sword strapped to his back. No telling what might happen at this meeting. He had heard whispers on the wind of war brewing and of death in a faraway land. It would seem there was some truth to these rumors.

Yami left his home and took to the road, heading strait to the palace. He saw soliders and guards buzzing about like angry bees. Something was definitly amiss. Yamikura quickened his pace. He made his way swiftly up the stairs leading into the palace. A thought pooped into his mind. "How do the fatter officials get up these stairs?" He smirked a bit at the thought of a fat rich B*stard trying to climb these steps.

Finally, Yami reached the door to the palace. He went to push it open but hesitated a moment. Something told him that he wasn't going to like what he was soon to learn in there. Something told him to turn around and leave. Just leave, daner is behind that door. His eyes narrowed as he braced himself and pushed open the massive gates, a ting he did out of habit. He never got used to the idea of telling another person to open a door for him. And of course, the gate didn't seem like too much for the extremely powerful general. Keeping his shoulders squared and his face stern, he walked on into the throne room. "Ah, you must be Telaron! Take a look at this and don't forget it because this is probably the first and only time I'll be the first one to respond to a summons!" He said comically, trying to break the apparent tension in the air. Though, his humor was a farce. He really wanted to know what was going on. Every inch of his mind was telling him that there was a great evil in the world. But what was it? He'd soon find out.

While he waited, Telarion paced in front of the deserted throne. He was anxiously planning out his next moves, like he was doing always. This was a game of chess, and he was a good player, he knew that. He was a decent strategic, but he was no soldier. Just like he knew what had to be organised, but he could not do it all by himself. He needed the support from the Generals and the other Councelors in His Majesty's absence.
All the time, the fear of losing the one man that was like a son to him staid in the back of his head and made him even more nervous. When the majestic gates of the throne room opened, the High Counselor Telaron Lleodred turned around and looked towards the entrance.

He was an aged man, stern and determined, fierce and yet no warrior. He made two more steps, accompagnied by the soft *clonk* of his cane on the floor, heading towards the newcomer.

Telaron had met most of the Generals on banquets, council meetings and other occasions
before. This one, however, he had never seen in his life. "Ah, you must be Telaron! Take a look at this and don't forget it because this is probably the first and only time I'll be the first one to respond to a summons!" Telaron just lifted his head only so slightly. The young man was considerably taller than he was, and of course stronger built. Telaron always felt slightly off ease near those large bullies that lead the army, but he had no choice but to cooperate with them. They were like two edges of the same sword, speaking in military metaphor, and both needed to be sharp and ready.

"I must be..." He nodded once, and came closer to the young man, examining him cautiously. "I have never met you before, so you must be one of those newly appointed Generals His Majesty told me about. Let me think... Yamikura, is it?" Onao had told Telaron, that he was slightly concerned about the young man's lack of sincerity, how he tended to make jokes rather than admit that something was amiss. Telaron himself thought, that 22 was a particularly young age to be appointed General, and that it might have been sufficient to give the young man a lesser role in this grand game they were playing. He would have hoped for some men more experienced at the head of their army.

However, these were the concerns he had already sentenced towards Onao once, and he would not repeat them infront of the young newcomer. "Trust me, General, you will come whenever you get a summoning like this. In his Majesty's absence, I am his eyes, ears and mouth, and that means you will come when I call."

Telaron hated to have to start this conversation thusly, but this was an important point. It was why he was against giving people this young so much responsibility. They were reckless. Not all of them, of course, Onao had been considerably more mature when he came to the throne and he had been around the same age. He, however, was Onao, and not some happily grown up little noble boy from the Upper Ring. Onao was special.
Without giving the man time to respond, Telaron talked on. "Putting that aside, I'll have to ask you to wait here with me until the other higher ranks of military and state join us. There is a grave matter I must discuss with all of you, and I don't believe it will be wise to repeat it over and over again whenever another one joins us, as I will still need my voice later on."

In his voice there had been no taunting, no teasing or snobbism. It was cold, sincere and honest. This was neither the time for jokes nor for games. He needed the young man at the top of his game, and could only hope that Onao had put good consideration into making this - little more than a youth - General.

Mojin and Moying were disturbed by a foolish guard. Apparently Telarion has summoned generals and advisors of the king to go to the Throne Room. Since the twins were advisors of the King they had to go no matter what they were doing. "What do you think this is about sister?" Mojin asked bitterly. He was walking slowly next to his twin sister. His long green gown still as he took gentle steps to the Throne Room. His long brown hair was in a braid behind his back. He sensed no urgency in his sister's voice as she spoke, "I am not sure." They moved down the halls for a few more seconds and then the girl broke the silence. "What do you see?" She asked. Mojin replied, "A dimly lit hall." He saw her frown and say, "You know what I mean. Now what do you actually see?"

Mojin shut his colorless eyes and then tried to reach the king. He was far and Mojin had to strain his powers in search of the king. Then he saw a man in flowing green robes falling in the sky. For a slim instant Mojin was wondering if this was the end of their beloved king, but then he saw a large figure save him. He knew he should not get his hopes up so easily. "He is alive," he said almost defeated. They were silence the rest of the way to the Throne Room. The doors opened and Mojin said to Telaron, "We know what happened." He took a seat and so did his sister. "Don't worry our king is still alive," he said almost hurt to speak.
____________________

Liu was training with Earth Kingdom Soldiers when he got the news about Telaron calling all generals and advisers. Since he was both he figured he would have to go. He stopped and said, "Men I have been called to the Palace. You all continue your lessons, I will be back." He changed into nicer looking clothes and made his way to the Upper Ring and Palace. After a good thirty minutes of walking the winding streets of Ba Sing Se. He heard odd rumors about an attack on the Shadow Lands and even some kings were dead. Liu started to run as soon as he got to the Upper Ring. He broke through the doors of the palace and actually scared a few guards inside.

He made his was swiftly to the Throne Room and took off his green scarf so he could speak. "I have heard rumors," he said panting, "are they true?" He looked at all those in the room and he saw a few of them nod. "Is our king alive?" That would be grave news if their king was dead. What would they do? He figured the generals and advisers could set up some sort of council and try from there. He took a seat and sighed, "I can't believe this happened."

((I’ll have the king come in later. It takes some time to get from the Shadow Lands to the Earth Kingdom.))