Thracian Empire

Nikos knowing that Isadore was Mihael's brother took the boy off guard for a minute. He lowered his gaze and nodded sadly. "Yeah... I... I couldn't believe that he did that... the rest of us didn't see it coming at all and we didn't manage to stop him in time... I'm really sorry. And now he's killing even more people..." Mihael clenched his fists tightly at his sides. "I don't know why he did it... or why he's doing this now..."

Antony glared at Isadore, the impact of the slap infuriating him. He pushed the drunk away from him, crossing his arms. "That's enough! You can't even speak properly when you're in this state! You are the one who sounds like a plebeian! What kind of governor are you!?"

"Cato..." Sascha looked at his friend, feeling very thankful for his support. He didn't know how easy it would be for him to stop drinking, though. Cato needed a lot of rest and that was time where Sascha would be alone with his thoughts. He sighed. "I don't know what else to do." Meilyr's death had left him feeling defeated.

Nikos frowned. Having a brother like that was probably hard for Mihael, and he didn't want to make the boy feel like he owed him answers or anything. "It's okay... I know it's not your fault..." He could see that Mihael didn't approve of his brother's actions at all, which was a relief. "It's not fair... he just did it, and now he's doing this... and he's... getting away with all of it..."

Isadore wasn't prepared for the push and stumbled backward a lot, but managed to keep from falling down. A little of his wine spilled over the edge and got on his fingers, which didn't do anything to improve his mood. "Do not insult me!!" he shouted. "I want you outta my shight, right now! If you say one more damn word to me... I'll have you eshcorted out of here immediately!" Isadore tried to sound like he was serious, but the slurring took away from it.

"It's okay... I know that you must feel really helpless right now, but..." Cato knew all about feeling helpless, and he didn't want Sascha to feel that way at all. "Maybe you could find a way to work through your feelings. I'll talk with you about this whenever you want, but when I'm not here... maybe you could try writing it out? It'll be hard to deal with this... but you'll feel better when you do, okay?"

Mihael nodded, feeling frustrated and helpless. Isadore's reign of terror was showing no signs of stopping. "He just... he doesn't care what happens to people." He sat on Pavel's bed and absently fiddled with his hair. "He was never like this until recently... our father was always really against this kind of stuff, too... um, but his brother is helping Isa... and ever since then, Isa's been getting really violent and horrible." Mihael didn't know if Nikos needed to hear all of this, but it was something he felt the need to explain.

Antony wanted to retort, but it was apparent that there was no point of talking to Isadore while he was like this. He'd have to address this the next day. "I have no further desire to speak with you anyway," Antony responded darkly before turning sharply and walking away from Isadore.

It wasn't long before Cheyenne finally tracked the governor down. He was apparently getting even more drunk, which was concerning. "Isadore... what is going on?" she asked, her tone a bit incredulous.

Sascha appreciated Cato trying to help him. "Yeah... I'll try that," he said, meaning it. He wasn't sure if writing it out would work, but it was really worth a try. He didn't want to just throw Cato's advice away. "And thanks for..." His voice broke, surprising him. Tears welled up in his eyes and he trailed off. There was a lump in his throat.

Nikos listened to what Mihael had to say. He had heard that the previous governor was a good man, and it sounded like Mihael's brother was being influenced by someone, but Nikos didn't really see that as an excuse for his behaviour. "I see... I can understand... that he must have... a lot to deal with, but..." He sighed. "I... I can't ever forgive him... there's nothing he could do... to change that..." Nikos didn't think that Mihael was looking for forgiveness for his brother, judging by how he seemed to feel about the whole thing.

Isadore glared at his uncle as the man walked away. He couldn't believe the nerve of that man. As he took a gulp of wine, Cheyenne approached and started speaking to him. He stared at her for a moment before replying. "Oh, I geddit, I geddit," Isadore said. "You're jus jealoush, 'cause I married this... other chick. Well... well too bad!" He finished off his glass of wine. "I'm taken!"

Though the situation was so sad, Cato managed a small smile when Sascha agreed to try his idea. His friend then started to become very emotional, and seemed as if he was about to cry. Cato pulled Sascha into a hug. "You don't need to thank me... I just want to help you through this," he said gently. "You can do it. I know you can."

"Oh... of course not," Mihael agreed. He definitely couldn't expect Nikos to forgive Isadore and at this point, he didn't think Isadore even deserved it. "He did the worst thing to you he could possibly do... I couldn't ever forgive the person who killed my father either..."

Cheyenne's eyebrows shot way up at what Isadore was saying. She crossed her arms. "Who you marry is no concern of mine," she responded. It was true that she'd been engaged to Isadore but she hadn't developed romantic feelings for him in that time so the engagement being broken off hadn't been heartbreaking. If anything, eeing Isadore's behaviour at the wedding made her feel relieved she hadn't married him. However, she was still concerned about him. "You are not acting like yourself at all."

Sascha returned Cato's hug, immensely grateful for the gesture. "I... hope you're right." Falling into his best friend's arms was a relief and Sascha felt like he could finally let everything out of him. He sobbed into the man's shoulder, mourning the loss of his parents, of Meilyr and of his own future for what felt like an eternity.

Nikos hadn't even realized that Mihael could kind of relate to what he was going through. The boy's father had been murdered as well. "Oh yeah... I guess you kind of... know how I feel. I'm sorry... you had to... go through that. They still can't find... the one who did it?" Nikos the only thing that could make the massacre at Elis worse was never knowing who was behind it.

Isadore hiccuped. "What're you... talking 'bout? I'm just like myself!" he slurred indignantly. "You're the one acting weird! Shtop talking nonsense!" He tried to drink from his glass again, only to find that it was empty. Isadore held it out to Cheyenne. "Go fill thish."

Cato allowed Sascha to cry into his shoulder for as long as he needed to. His friend had so much to deal with and Cato wanted to help him in any way he could. After sitting in silence for a while, he spoke up. "Tonight I'll stay up later with you and we can talk, okay? You can talk to me about anything you need to."

Mihael shook his head sadly. "They still have no idea... I'm really sorry you have to go through it too... it's the worst feeling in the world." Nikos seemed like a decent person from their conversation and even if he wasn't, Mihael didn't think anyone deserved to lose a family member. "I just wish stuff like this didn't have to happen at all..."

Cheyenne looked unamused by Isadore's behaviour. "I will not," she responded when he demanded that she fill his wine glass. "I wish you could see what a fool you're making of yourself." She was concerned by the situation but it seemed that Isadore was in no mood to listen, which was frustrating her.

Sascha cried into Cato's shoulder for a long time. He didn't even have it in him to feel ashamed. He sniffled, lifting his head when Cato spoke. He drew in a shaky breath before nodding at his friend. "I.. I'd appreciate that. I'm really sorry, Cato... you don't need this on top of everything else..." He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He was a mess and he knew that he'd probably said some impolite things to Cato while he'd been drinking.

Nikos nodded in agreement. He couldn't think of a time he'd felt worse than right after massacre in Elis. Nikos had been trying so hard not to think of this and he didn't want to let it get him down. "I know... but I'm sure that... all these incidents... will make the emperor... crack down... more in the future. And... the killers... won't be allowed... to get away with this." There was no point in dwelling on the negatives of the situation.

Isadore narrowed his eyes at Cheyenne when she refused to do as she was told. "I'm not makin' a fool... of anything! Because... because I'm the governor! Sho there! You... have to listen to me!" He swayed a little and then started eying the wine table.

"It's okay, Sascha... I want to help you. Getting you through this and seeing you happy again... that will make me really happy, too," Cato assured his friend. "I haven't been able to help someone in so long..." He really didn't want Sascha to feel like a burden; the man had been a blessing to him.

Hearing Nikos' optimism gave Mihael a bit of a boost. He'd lost hope that anything would change, but the boy was right; something had to give. "Yeah... you're right... I guess we can't really change anything that happened but we can try to stop it from happening anymore. Things can't be allowed to get worse... Isa--the governor is affecting everyone in the empire." Elis was an example of that.

Cheyenne heaved an exasperated sigh. This conversation was hopeless and the last thing she wanted to do was get in an argument here. She threw up her hands. "Very well. Just continue what you're doing, then."

Just then, Ophelia approached the two. She could see that Cheyenne was deeply irritated with the drunken governor, which was funny to her. That girl had always seemed way too uptight for her own good. "Aw, do you need more wine?" she asked Isadore.

Sascha gave Cato a small, shaky smile. "Thank you... th-that means a lot to me. You always did know how to make me feel better. I guess... some things don't change." Sascha was still in a bad place mentally, but having Cato there with him eased the strain a bit. The last thing Cato said brought the boy Sascha had always known to mind. "Yeah... you were always great for that. You were always willing to help anyone." Thinking about better times was bittersweet.

Nikos was glad to hear that he had lifted Mihael's spirits a little bit. "Yeah... the governor will... be stopped for sure. There's no way... what he's doing could be... ignored. There... aren't any other... governors like him in the empire... so they must get... stopped quick." Nikos hadn't heard of anything like this happening before, so he thought it was safe to assume that the other leaders were much more peaceful.

"I will!" Isadore yelled at Cheyenne as Ophelia approached. He looked to his new wife. "Yeah... yeah, I do. But... she wouldn't go get it!" He shot Cheyenne an accusing glance before shoving the glass into Ophelia's hand. "Get me shome wine... lotsa wine!"

Cato smiled back at Sascha. He was glad that his friend didn't seem to be so hopeless anymore, and Cato was happy to be the reason for that. He couldn't help but be a little worried that he wouldn't be able to give Sascha all the help he needed in his state, but he knew he had to try. Sascha was doing so much for him that he deserved it. "I guess I was... it'll be just like old times, won't it?" Cato liked that thought. He hoped it would feel that way, despite how much he had changed. "I wish things didn't have to be so rough for you, but... it'll be nice to cheer you up like I always used to. Maybe we can do some things that you used to enjoy."

"Ohh yeah... that's a really good point." Mihael hadn't thought about it like that, but he'd never heard of anyone doing what Isadore was doing. "Um, actually in one province--Daradae--there was a governor who wasn't doing his job right and he got replaced and he wasn't even killing anyone... so the emperor must pay attention to that stuff."

Ophelia giggled. "Yes, of course, dear." She accepted the wine glass and filled it up for Isadore. She was curious to see just how much he could drink. "Here you go. It's good wine, right?"

Cheyenne huffed and turned on her heel. She'd had enough of listening to Isadore's foolishness and didn't want a part of this if he was going to drink even more. Without another word, she moved away from the two. She couldn't believe that this was what the heir to Carystos, Chorasmii's closest ally, had been reduced to.

"Yeah..." Sascha hoped it would be more like old times; everything was a lot easier then. However, he knew that things could never be that good again, which was disheartening. He shook his head, trying to focus on what Cato was saying. "That sounds great..." He really appreciated the effort Cato was making just for him; it meant a lot. He tried to think of something light to talk about and recalled the play. "Heh, you'll never guess... what we did not too long before coming to Thracia." His voice was still weak, but he told Cato the story of the play.

Nikos attempted a smiled and nodded. Talking to Mihael was nice, like talking to Caimbrie. It was refreshing not to hear about doom and gloom all the time. "Is that so...? That's great... and Pavel always thought... I was stupid for... thinking that... the emperor would help. He just... always thinks... nothing good will ever happen." Thinking about Pavel again made him remember what had just happened, and he shuddered.

Isadore was pleased to see Cheyenne walk away. She had been very annoying. Ophelia handed him his glass of wine, and Isadore immediately took a long drink from it. "Yesh... it's excel... exshellent. Excellent." He downed some more and hiccuped loudly. The glass was almost empty, so he drank the rest. The excessive amount of wine he'd had was really getting to him, so Isadore started to sway quite a bit. He was tired, but that just allowed him to mellow out a bit. "Thass the best I had... is there... is there any more?"

Cato was curious about where Sascha was going with this, so he waited to hear the whole story. A big smile came to his face when he heard the name of the play and that his friend actually got to act it out in front of an audience. "Wow... you actually got to officially perform the play with costumes and everything. I wish I could have seen it... you always knew that play so well, so I'm sure it was a wonderful performance." Cato found that he was proud of Sascha for putting together something like that.

"That's a really depressing way to think..." Mihael knew how horrible it was like to feel completely hopeless and he couldn't imagine thinking that way in every situation. He fiddled with his hair, picking at the ends before twirling it around his finger. "It must be hard to listen to... especially at a time like this..."

Ophelia looked amused when Isadore's response was to ask for more wine. Apparently he was enjoying. His speech was hilarious; he sounded worse than the plebeians he hated so much. "Oh, there's lots more where that came from." She picked up a bottle. "Why even bother wasting time using a glass?"

Sascha couldn't help but feel a small swell of pride when he heard Cato's reaction. Cato's approval had always made him happy and apparently that hadn't changed. "It was a lot of fun... and I think we did pretty well. We didn't win, but we placed third, which wasn't too bad considering the short notice... and the fact that our Juliet was male." Talking about the play was definitely a nice distraction.

Nikos nodded. "Yeah... it's not helping... any of us here. I don't know... why he has to do it." It was nice to hear that Mihael agreed with him about Pavel.

Some time later, when things had settled down a bit, Emmett decided that it was time for the resistance to make themselves more known. If they ever hoped fight back against Isadore, they needed more people on their side. Currently, the only people who weren't too injured, sick, or busy to help out were Caimbrie and Calyx, and Matteo by extension, so Emmett called them to meet with him in his and Ronan's room. He sat on his bed, waiting for them to arrive.

Emmett smiled when they entered the room. "Hello," he greeted them. "If you don't mind, I'd like your help with something. Things have only been getting worse here in Carystos, so we need to start letting the people know that we're here to oppose him. We need to get out there and talk to them."

Isadore eyed up the wine bottle Ophelia had. "You... you're right! Who needsh... a glash, when you've got... this! Gimme that!" He snatched the wine away from his wife and took a long drink from it. "Thish is probly... probably the best ever..." he slurred, and then leaned against a nearby table.

Cato gave Sascha an amused smile. "Maybe that made your group stand out among the others. It must have been a... unique take on the role." It was nice to hear that Sascha got to have such a good time with his friends before things went badly. "Did you mind being on stage?" It was a bit hard to picture Sascha acting like that in front of a large audience. The two of them had only ever acted for their parents.

Mihael nodded in agreement; Nikos was definitely right. "It'd be better to try and keep his spirits up..."

It wasn't long before he knew Ronan's soup broth would be done so he excused himself and went to finish the soup with Emmett's help. Not long after, Emmett called some people for a meeting, so Mihael took the soup to his brother. "Here, Ronan... um, how are you feeling?"

At first, Caimbrie was worried that there had been more issues with Nikos and Pavel. She tentatively agreed to meet with Emmett and joined him and the others in the room. When she heard what he had to say, however, she was excited to help out. "Yeah, definitely!" she agreed. "But... how are we going to get their attention? We can't really just go up to random people and start talking to them, right?"

Matteo sat next to Calyx, staring at Emmett as he spoke. It seemed that the time to take action had come and he intended to stand by Calyx through it all.

Ophelia watched Isadore drink straight from the bottle with a laugh. "Hey, why are you leaning on the table?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're such a lightweight that you're already done..."

Sascha considered Cato's question. It wasn't something he'd done before, so he could understand why his friend would ask. "Well, I felt kind of awkward at first," he admitted, "but once I got into it I was fine. It was actually fun." He hadn't really felt comfortable admitting how much he'd enjoyed it to the others, Meilyr in particular, but Cato knew all about this side of him.

Ronan had heard some commotion elsewhere in the inn that morning, but he was feeling pretty unwell and didn't want to get up at all. Emmett filled him in on the events before going to help Mihael with the soup, and it made him quite sad to hear that the two cousins had had such a fight. Whenever he got the chance, Ronan wanted to help out Mihael with easing Nikos' pain. When Mihael arrived with the soup, Ronan smiled widely. "Thank you so much..." He coughed. "I feel pretty much the same as before, but... I know this soup will make me feel much better!" Ronan tried some of it and then nodded happily. "This is really great!"

Calyx was pretty curious to see what Emmett needed to say to him, since this didn't seem like a normal meeting. When he arrived in Emmett's room, somebody else was there too. The only girl in the group was Caimbrie, so it had to be her. Calyx listened to Emmett and then nodded. "Yeah, sure, I'm all for getting more people against that guy," he said. "But like she said... I'm not going to just walk up to people and remind them how awful the governor is."

Emmett was pleased to see that they all agreed to help; Matteo's staring probably meant that he was on board as well. He shook his head. "No, I don't think that will work either," he agreed. "They need to want to talk to us. That's why I think we should have posters that make a bold statement. We'll need someone with artistic ability for that."

"Heh, not me, that's for sure." Calyx had never been good at drawing or painting.

Isadore was a bit out of it, but he could tell that he was being challenged. "What? No... no! Never!" He put the bottle to his mouth again and drank as long as he could. After he finished, Isadore hiccuped. "Shee...? I can do thish... all day long! Allll day..." He drank some more, as if trying to make his point. However, Isadore had nearly reached his limit and when it hit him, he felt incredibly unsteady on his feet. Shortly after placing the bottle on the table loudly, he lost is balance and fell to the floor. "Oh... that wash... n't shupposed t'happen..."

"I think I'd feel a little awkward, too..." Cato hadn't done anything like that before either. "But I'm glad you had fun. Maybe... we could go see a play together sometime. There must be a theater in this city somewhere..." It was a bit embarrassing that he had lived there for three and a half years and didn't know about it.

Seeing Ronan's smile, Mihael couldn't help but smile back. It was troubling that he wasn't feeling any better at all, but Mihael hoped the soup could help with that. "Oh, I'm really glad you like it!" he said. "And I definitely hope it will make you feel better... but at least you don't feel any worse, right?" He gently put his hand to Ronan's forehead.

Matteo was struck by the urge to laugh when Emmett said that they needed an artistic person to make posters and couldn't stop himself. He couldn't help there.

Caimbrie nodded in agreement with Calyx. "Yeah, I wouldn't be any help there either... I think Pavel could, though!" It seemed quite convenient until she remembered something important. "...Oh, crap. I don't know if the arm he broke is the one he draws with."

Ophelia cracked up when Isadore fell to the floor. "It's okay, it was a great fall," she assured him, shaking her head. "But can you get up? I mean... you're the governor. The governor can't just sit on the floor."

Sascha hadn't felt like doing much since Meilyr's death, but he had to admit that seeing a play with Cato sounded like a good time. It was odd to him that Cato didn't know where the theatre was, though; even if he hadn't been up to actually attending a play, theatre buildings tended to be quite distinctive and Cato had been there for three and a half years. "You know, I'd really like that," he said. "I guess we'll have to track down the theatre first... hopefully it's not too elusive." Maybe it was just in a difficult location and that's why Cato hadn't seen it.

"Oh no, I don't feel any worse," Ronan replied before eating more soup. It felt really nice in his throat. He smiled when Mihael felt his forehead. "Just having you here makes me feel better, though!" Ronan set his soup aside and pulled Mihael into a hug. "I'm just so glad you're safe..."

Emmett decided not to question Matteo's laughter, and listened to Caimbrie instead. "Hm, we'll have to talk to him about it. If he's able to do it, then that would be a great help." Emmett didn't know anybody else that was artistic, and he knew that Pavel would agree to help.

Now that Calyx thought about it, he recalled Pavel mentioning something about drawing before. "Oh yeah, that would be really handy..." He couldn't see Pavel refusing to help. The only problem was his broken arm. "I can go ask him about it. Should I do that right now?" Emmett nodded, so Calyx left the room and went to Pavel's. Once he was sure it was indeed Pavel in the room, he greeted his friend before getting to business. "So, I've got a question. Do you think you'd feel up to some drawing some anti-Isadore posters?"

Isadore was quite comfortable on the floor, but in his mind, Ophelia was right. "Yeah... I can't do thish. I gotta... gotta..." He tried to use the table next to him to pull himself up, but he only grabbed the tablecloth. When he pulled, it came off and landed right on top of him, along with his bottle of wine and a plate of cheese. "Uh oh..." Isadore pulled it off his face and saw the bottle, which had spilled some of its contents on the floor. "Noooo... not th'good wine..."

Cato smiled when Sascha seemed to like his idea. However, his friend seemed a bit concerned about finding the theatre. "Oh, finding it won't be too hard... I'm sure I walked by it before and didn't really think about it. It's probably on the other side of the city or something," he said. Cato honestly didn't remember seeing a theatre at all, but he didn't want Sascha to find out just how little he left the house. "When I was alone, I found it harder to do things like this, so I'm really looking forward to it."

Mihael beamed at what Ronan said and returned his brother's hug. "Being here makes me feel so much better, too..." Being in the mansion felt like a distant nightmare when he was wrapped tightly in Ronan's arms like this. "Especially with you... I'm really glad you and Emmett joined together." He couldn't imagine not seeing either of them again; it was too painful to think about after having almost experienced just that.

Caimbrie really hoped the situation would work out; she knew that Pavel hated Isadore, so it all depended on his arm.

Pavel looked up when he heard Calyx enter the room. He was almost afraid of what his friend would say. The more time Pavel spent thinking, the worse he felt about what he'd done to Nikos. What Calyx did end up saying surprised him. Pavel was glad his broken arm wasn't his dominant one; working against Isadore was what he was here to do. "I'd always feel up to doing that," he replied with a small grin. "What's this for?"

"Oh no!" Ophelia feigned distress, trying to conceal her laughter. Isadore was covered in pieces of cheese. "Quick, Isadore! You have to pick the bottle up and drink the wine before it all goes to waste!" She was having entirely too much fun with Isadore in this state.

"Yeah, we can go looking for it tomorrow or something, if you're feeling up to it," Sascha replied. "I'm looking forward to it too." He found that he really was; it would be nice to get out and do something with his friend, especially something so pleasantly distracting.

Ronan recalled how he had joined with Emmett in the first place and wondered if Mihael should know about it. The man seemed harmless enough with his brother, but Ronan was still concerned. "Yeah... I'm glad I am too. He was the one who saved you, after all!" he said, and then looked a bit sad. "I got so down when you were stuck in that place... I... never even thought I could try to save you. I'm sorry, Mihael..."

Calyx was glad to Pavel's spirits lift a little after how he had been before. It was also good to hear that he would be capable of drawing. He grinned back at the boy. "Great. You'll be a big help. We need these posters to get people's attention and make them want to join our side. I don't know what's going on the poster, so I guess we're going to talk about that with Emmett."

Isadore heard urgency in Ophelia's voice and knew he had to act. "R-right! I gotta... do that..." He grabbed the bottle, which hadn't lost too much wine, and started chugging. When it was empty, he tried to put the bottle up on the table, but it didn't quite make it and fell to the floor. Isadore barely noticed. Sitting up was difficult, so he flopped onto his back on the floor as everything spun around him. He wasn't that aware of what was going on anymore. "Okay... that... that was... that was..." Isadore passed out before he could finish the thought.

Cato nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe I'll get up a little earlier tomorrow..." He didn't know if he actually could, though.

As it got closer to nighttime, Cato tried to do as he had said and stay up with Sascha. However, it was getting very difficult. It was past the time he usually took his medicine and his body felt heavy and worn out. At least if he didn't take the sedative, Cato wouldn't fall asleep while talking with Sascha. However, the problem was, he really wanted the sedative and it was making him feel very on edge. He couldn't push it out of his mind, no matter how much he tried. "So, um..." Cato wanted to start a conversation to distract himself. He was fidgeting a bit. "Sascha, we should... go back to that park sometime. That one we went to after we met..."

Mihael smiled when Ronan talked about Emmett saving him; it had been the best thing that could have ever happened to him. He knew Theodore would have been happy to see it, too. His smile quickly disappeared when Ronan apologized; he didn't want his brother beating himself up over this. "Ronan... don't be sorry... you probably couldn't have saved me because... Isa had a lot of security and stuff. The only reason Emmett could was because he knew all about the mansion... we got out through the wine cellar. And you helped me a lot when I got back here..." Ronan had healed his wounds, after all. "I just wish I didn't have to make you worry..."

Pavel nodded. "All right," he agreed. "Either way, this is going to be great. The more people we can get talking, the better. So I guess I'll go with you to talk to him about it." He wasn't necessarily looking forward to seeing Emmett after how disapproving the man had been earlier, but Pavel knew he had an important job to do so he was fine with following Calyx.

Ophelia watched Isadore pass out. He'd been able to drink more than she'd expected and she couldn't believe how easy it was to get him to drink all of that. All in all, she thought, the wedding had been a success.

Selene had been keeping a careful eye on Isadore from a distance. It was disgusting that he'd shown up drunk, but at least things were going as smoothly as they could under the circumstances. It was then she saw Isadore fall. With an irritated sigh, she walked over to him. Sure enough, he'd passed out from drinking again. She knew that meant it was time to get him home and to bed. She felt like Antony was trying to make a fool of her; he'd told her that Isadore was a mature, responsible governor.

"Yeah, definitely. We can--" Sascha frowned as he spoke to Cato. His friend had been gradually becoming more and more agitated and it made Sascha concerned that something was wrong with the man. His injuries could have been acting up. "Hey... is something wrong?"

It made Ronan feel a little better to hear what Mihael had to say. However, he still couldn't completely forgive himself for giving up like that when his brother needed him. He would never allow it to happen again. "Yeah... I guess that's true." Ronan offered Mihael a small smile. "And it's okay, you're my little brother so that's my job. All that matters is that you're okay now, and I'm going to keep it that way."

"Yeah, exactly!" Calyx said with a nod. "Let's get planning." He brought Pavel back to Emmett's room, where the man and Caimbrie still were. "We've got our artist."

Emmett gave Calyx a small smile. "Thank you." He then looked at Pavel with a more serious expression. "All right, so we'll need to go into town today for supplies. Do you have any ideas for a symbol or something that would catch the people's attention?"

Isadore awoke the next morning lying on top if his sheets, still wearing the clothing he had gotten married in. At least he assumed he had gone through with it, as his memories of the night before were hazy at best. Slowly, he got out of bed. Despite the terrible headache and nausea he had, Isadore knew there was work to be done. He wasn't able to get through washing up and getting dressed without vomiting, but he tried not to let it slow him down. Once Isadore was in his office, he sat at his desk and started looking through his paperwork. Focusing on the works only made his head hurt more and he wanted nothing more than to be back in bed.

Cato wasn't really surprised that Sascha noticed that something was off. He hoped he wouldn't be insistent. "Oh... um, not really... I just feel kind of... off tonight. I think I'm just tired... I'm... I'm sorry, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to stay up with you..." Cato wasn't able to keep his gaze on Sascha the whole time he was speaking. It was so pathetic that he was going to leave his friend like that when he really needed someone to be there for him.

Mihael looked genuinely happy to hear what Ronan was saying. He believed that Ronan, along with Emmett, would do everything he could to keep Mihael safe and after everything he'd been through, it was truly comforting to hear. "I know you will... and I'm really, really glad I can be with you... I feel like maybe everything will be okay again some day..." Things would never go back to the way they were before Theodore had died, but Mihael had to believe that they'd improve from the way they currently were. He picked up the bowl of soup and putting it in Ronan's hands. "And if you're gonna be okay again, you have to eat all of this soup," he said, somewhat teasingly.

"Hm..." Pavel took a seat on the bed, his brow creasing in thought. "It needs to be something that'll get people's attention and maybe even shock them a bit... but it can't be obvious enough to get the governor's attention. That'd screw us over before we even got started." There was no doubt in Pavel's mind that Isadore would take action if he realized what was going on. Suddenly, it hit him. "What's Carystos' crest or whatever?"

The spectacle that had been Isadore's wedding hadn't been forgotten by Antony. He was still furious about it the next morning and wasted no time making his way to the governor's office. He burst in without knocking and without a greeting. Glaring, he crossed his arms and stood in front of the desk. "Just what were you trying to accomplish yesterday!?"

Sascha's frown deepened. "Don't be sorry," he replied. "I'll be fine on my own. I don't want you to exhaust yourself." Cato really did seem like he could use some sleep and Sascha hoped that's all the problem was. "Maybe you'll feel better after you get some rest."

Ronan nodded at the first thing Mihael said. He was going to make sure that everything would be okay again. For Mihael, he wanted to make things even better than before. Ronan's smile became bigger when his brother handed him the soup, insisting that he eat all of it. "Of course I will. You made it for me, after all!" With that, he grabbed his spoon and ate some more of his soup. "You did such a great job on this! You should make soup even when nobody's sick."

Emmett agreed with Pavel; there was a fine line they couldn't cross without risking retaliation from Isadore, which would almost certainly be violent given the stories. Pavel mentioned a crest, and Emmett liked where he was going. "Oh yeah, Carystos has a pretty distinct crest. I don't know the best way to show it to you, though..."

"Everyone would recognize that for sure! To see it you could probably head to whatever kind of town hall this dump has," Calyx explained to Pavel. "What are you planning on doing with it?"

Isadore was startled when his office door was forcefully shoved open and winced in pain when Antony started yelling. His head had been killing him as it was, and he glared at his uncle. "You are never to enter the governor's office in such a fashion." Isadore's head hurt too much for him to feel like yelling at the moment, so he made sure his tone showed just how angry he was. "The events of yesterday are no longer relevant and I forbid any discussion about it. Do I make myself clear?"

Cato sighed. He had to wonder how Sascha would feel about him if he knew the truth. It was his own fault that he couldn't stop taking his sedatives and it was so selfish to choose them over his friend. However, Cato didn't feel like he could physically handle a night without them. "Okay... yeah, that's probably it. Just some rest..." Cato slowly got up from his chair. "I'll... I'll stay up with you tomorrow night. So, um... good night..."

He went to his room rather quickly and found his medicine on the night stand immediately after closing the door. After taking his usual dosage, Cato got into bed and felt a sense of relief. He was guaranteed sleep for the night and this was the routine he had become very accustomed to over the years. It wasn't long before he was completely sedated.

Mihael's face lit up when Ronan praised the soup. "Aww, I'm really glad you like it! Um, I think it probably turned out so good because Emmett helped me make it but if you like it a lot, I could make it more often... hmm... I don't actually know a lot about cooking," he admitted in the midst of his rambling, "but Emmett's really good at explaining it..."

Pavel looked pleased with both Emmett and Calyx's responses; they seemed to like where he was taking this and Calyx even told him where he could see the crest. "I'm going to set it on fire just like that asshole's done to half his people," he replied to Calyx's question. For clarification, he added, "I'm thinking I'll draw it in flames or something like that."

"The events of yesterday will be on the tip of everyone's tongue for quite some time," Antony retorted, not softening in the slightest. "You made a fool of not only yourself, but this province! Everyone in attendance was embarrassed for you and rightfully so! Is that how you want people to see Carystos!? As a province led by a drunken idiot?"

"Really, don't worry about it," Sascha assured Cato. "Just get some sleep, okay? Good night, and thanks for staying with me." It really did make him feel better to talk to Cato and he fully intended to just try to go to sleep once his friend left, rather than drinking until he passed out.

Sascha tossed and turned a bit through the night, but he was quite tired so he managed to get some sleep. When he woke up, he recalled that he and Cato had decided to go find the theatre. It was quite late in the morning, so Sascha supposed that they would have to get moving soon. He gave Cato a few more minutes, but his friend didn't emerge.

People overslept sometimes and Cato had seemed quite tired the night before, so Sascha wasn't too worried. He knocked lightly on Cato's door and when he didn't get a response, he entered the room.

Cato's room wasn't what Sascha had expected at all. While the rest of the house barely looked lived in, Cato's room was the opposite. However, it didn't look homey; it looked--and smelled--like it had been lived in and forgotten about. There was dust everywhere and it had a stale smell to it, almost like a pantry that needed to be cleared out. Sascha didn't understand how it could even get like that. He understood that Cato's physical condition made cleaning difficult, but this room wasn't just messy.

Sascha shook his head and went to Cato's bed, giving his friend's shoulder a gentle shake. "Hey... Cato? Cato, wake up... it's getting late."