The Pretender Chronicles - Sawsan\'s Audience with Alphros

(Sawsan is summoned)

You open the door and step into the Tower Lord\'s bedroom.

_-\' Lord\'s Chambers `-_

The inner sanctum of the Lord Fotud. It is a beautiful room...the floor is made of white marble, with the ceiling painted to look like the boughs of a shade tree if one were to look up. In all, it is cheerful and cozy, with pale greens everywhere, a respite from the harsh colors of the desert.

A large four-posted bed dominates the room, with a painting of a grassy green field hanging on the wall above it.

Against the far wall is a desk, covered with documents that bear Fotud\'s haphazard handwriting, and a large bookcase. There are books on navigation, astronomy, mathematics, battle strategy, herbs and healing on its shelves, all well-read and slightly used.

On the other side of the room is a dresser with a fine mirror, and decking the walls are several swords that one might guess to be trophies of war, as well as several paintings. The paintings show different scenes...one of the Umbar docks and another of a foreign, desert city.

In the far corner of the room, shielded partially by a screen is a marble bathtub and on the other side of the room is a balcony that offers an incomprable view of the city.

Contents:

Alphros

Lord Alphros sits alone in his chambers, waiting in silence. His veil is removed, though the shadows of the early evening shroud his visage and keep his face mostly concealed. Candles burn dully, and a single guardsman stands within to keep the Lord company as he waits.

Sawsan is led to this room at this time and shown inside. When her eyes sweep the room and find it is indeed His private chambers, her spine stiffens just the tiniest bit, though the single guardsman\'s presence is small comfort. She brings her solemn, grey gaze to the Lord and dips a curtsy, her head dropping forward as well as she shows respect to the one in power.

Alphros glances up as Sawsan answers, and he gestures to one of the seats nearby, far enough across from Alphros and his wide desk that traffic between them is obstructed by a wide wooden table. \"Be seated,\" he suggests, regarding the Gondorian woman from the corner of his eye. \"...Sawsan, was it not?\"

Sawsan moves forward, limping a little bit to show she\'s favoring her right leg. Once she reaches the chair, she perches on it, smoothing her skirt down with her palms, then folding her hands together. \"Thank you, Lord Alphros.. and yes, I am Sawsan.\" She speaks calmly, quietly, her gaze never wavering.

Alphros regards Sawsan silently for a long moment. From what can be seen of his shadowed face, closer up, is skin far fairer than most Umbareans, and features not unlike those of Gondorians, indicative of his strong Black Numenorean heritage.

\"A strange pseudonym to take,\" he notes without a smile. \"Sawsan.\" Then with a shrug, the Lord looks back to something on his desk. \"So you have come here, to the lost province of your kingdom now in the grips of your so-called enemies. A great risk, especially for one so young.\" A pause. \"Why?\"

Sawsan watches his face with those solemn, grey eyes, not denying the labelling of her name as a pseudonym. When he asks his question, she lifts her chin just the smallest bit. \"Because, as learned as my teachers are back home, they do not know everything. I came to plead for a chance to search for different ways to heal..\" She frowns the tiniest bit, \"I\'ve been told that .. that may not seem reason enough.\"

Now a very faint grimace, one that is self mocking, touches her lips for a moment and is gone. \"It\'s just.. I see our people, our men, poisoned and sickened and our methods to fight it aren\'t as successful as they could be. Should be. When I overheard.. \" and she flushes, \"... when I was listening in on a conversation I should not have heard, I wormed my way in. A chance to come here, to meet the Lord Alphros..\" she tilts her head slightly, watching him, \"..I am sorry if I ramble. I am not a politician at all, not even in my dreams. And, I admit, I am a little scared and know fully well I am in over my head.\"

Alphros does not mock Sawsan in answer his manner is direct, without a certain aristocratic formality but yet also verging on blunt. \"You\'ve been told correctly. And I cannot fathom that any man or woman from the land of Gondor, no matter how young or untried,\" the unveiled Lord pauses as he turns back to her, \"Would think they could simply walk into the heartland of their enemy in search of a favour, and to satisfy a curiosity.\"

He brushes away her apology with a gesture. \"You need not speak lowly of yourself speak honestly, whether in poetry or disorganized mutterings, but so long as I see that you do so with truth, I will listen openly. So tell me, Sawsan, why should I care if your men sicken and die? For they are fighting men who cling to the service of your false Steward and his cabal of misguided Lords. Why should I want to help you at all?\" He is not speaking with rhetoric he asks a genuine question, almost hungering to hear her answer.

Sawsan crinkles her brow a little, leans forward just a touch, as if she can scaresly hold herself still, her eyes sparking with some hint of fire. \"Because, if you do not side with those of the Eye, then some day you will be under it\'s scrutiny.\" She then sits back again, her small shoulders held back, \"I may be young, and untried, and damned by my own idealistic urges, but even I can see how this evil will sweep over land, see and air and goble up everything that stands in it\'s way.\"

Sawsan shakes her head slightly, then murmurs, \"Lord Aphros, I knew in coming here that my life would likely be forefit.. that even if You and your people didn\'t kill me, if my own find out I came here willingly, I\'d be accused of treason and likely killed. I did not make this trip lightly, despite what some may think. I fight, not only for my own people\'s lives, but perhaps in my own way, yours as well.\" She now smirks oh so faintly, \"Or maybe I just dream I do.\"

Alphros\'s fingers rap against the wood of his desk, audible in the otherwise silent chambers. \"When last I checked, the High Priestess of the Eye confirmed my appointment to Lordship,\" he notes, but there is a strangeness to his words that betrays that is not the full story. There is little love in his voice at the mention of the Dark Lord. Then he smirks a little.

\"You are right in that way, young Sawsan. I am claiming the Kingship of Gondor and why should I not extend the hand of goodwill to its people? Why should I not show my benevolent intentions?\" Then flatly: \"Because I have no doubt that this Kingship must be sanctified in the war and fire and blood of pretenders. And that just as the great Lords of Gondor would seek my downfall, so would lowly men and women come under a banner of peace with ill intentions for me. Others have already tried. So I am not yet convinced that you have any genuine belief in my claim yet. Unlike others.\" A small chuckle at this, and Alphros adds: \"Of course even if I were to extend my hand in goodwill, and you were to accept it in good faith, I am pragmatic enough to know that you could not so easily speak of your friendship with the would-be King of Gondor once you return without bringing doom down on your own head.\"

The Lord of Farside leans back in his chair and steeples his hands in his lap. \"You... puzzle me, Sawsan. I am at quite the impasse.\"

Yussef pages: Not yet!

Sawsan dips her head slightly, \"And likewise, Lord Alphros, were I to just accept your claim, would that not make me the fool as well?\" She shakes her head a tiny little bit. \"Would you rather the blind acceptance, or those that thoughtfully take up your banner and are truely of the mind that you do, indeed, belong in the seat of rule?\"

Unclasping her hands, she smooths them over her lap, as if easing away wrinkles, then folds them once more, lifting her lashes to look at him again. \"Where in this world will be a place for man if the dark Lord is successfull in his endeavors?\"

\"We do not need to debate the merits of the Dark Lord of the East,\" Alphros says flatly, and his manner brooks little argument.

After a moment, the Lord chuckles. \"Did you perchance bring anything of merit with which to exchange such information for, Sawsan? Healing knowledge from Gondor that might benefit we of Umbar? No, do not answer that. Yet. I will grant you access to my archives, you alone, in the company of a librarian to assist you and a guardsman to keep an eye on you at all times. But you will be left alone to your research. And when you are done, we will speak again before your depart, and I may extract my price then if I require one.\"

Sawsan looks surprised, then her face flushes with nothing short of pure joy. She even starts breathing a little faster, and her smiles is bright as the morning sun breaking over the horizon. \"Thank you, Lord Alphros. Thank you.\" She smiles all the brighter, \"I know I may not find the cures I seek, but your kindness just.. just.. thank you.\" She nods, lowers her chin and lifts it again, getting her joy as much under control as she can.

Alphros doesn\'t smile he merely nods. \"Your delegation from Gondor is polite, at least much more so than those with whom I traded barbs at the Poros. You may go, and we shall speak again soon.\" And then he turns back to his shadowed desk in silence.

Sawsan stands and dips him a curtsy again, then heads out, so excited that she forgets to temper her limp.

(End)