Aquila's Resolve

The carriage rolls steadily along the long road back to Ferendaux.

Raum spends one day decompressing from his rough exit from Deram. By the next, he wakes up composed enough to properly consider the more vital things he’s learned during his stay.

Ecqoi. Being part of Raum’s paternal legacy, the place is more than some random curiosity. Further investigation is necessary, as is an eventual revisit, but those priorities rank equal to finding a gravesite for his mom. Presently they’re destressors, distractions.

Still, Raum notices something. Truly restricted material, that is, information the Whitewoods wanted leaking by utterly no circumstance, is likely not kept in Ecqoi. The place has too much traffic, too many eyes. So maybe there is a smaller, secret archive in some other family stronghold? Raum makes a mental note to check the manor for hidden rooms in his free time, then judges the topic of Ecqoi concluded for now.

The agent. It’s Raum’s father. Or so the evidence suggests, but even Raum’s most impassioned attempts to be critical yield only more support for his theory. As such, his conception of this individual shifts from ‘the agent’ to ‘Mason’.

Though Raum wishes he could be more sentimental about this reunion, the implications of this discovery force only seriousness into his mind.

Mason’s been working with Aquila. Probably, since the beginning.

At the funeral? It was after Mason returned to the gallery that the cathedral fire began, and in his exact location.
At castle Indris? Cut away theories of Aquila holding on to a months-old envelope with Occam’s Razor; the recording trap was baited with Mason’s handwriting because Aquila had instructed Mason, alive then, to write it. And then, as Raum figures, place it.
And now in Deram, hunting after Reyl on Aquila’s instruction.

The logistics of ‘how’ Mason can be doing this is easy. Aquila can resurrect people. So Aquila has killed Mason at least twice, or let him die at least twice, and resurrected him each time into new bodies for the sake of doing his handiwork.

The logistics of ‘why’ are more difficult. How could anyone be so willing, or so desperate, to consent to something so twisted? He’s blatantly being used — even abused — as in retrospect he’s been tortured by Reyl, likely burned to death twice, forced into dangerous grunt work in Sebilles… why would Mason say yes to that? Rather, if Aquila cared about him, why subject him to more?

Was it to secure him freedom from exile, and sever all ties to Ordanz? They achieved that once he died the first time. No, it’s nothing that simple…

Mason wants to help Aquila execute his grand plans. Raum has no doubt about that.

But what is so compelling about these plans that Mason, as a confidant, didn’t pull Aquila aside once Step B became ‘ok now personally murder your children’? Is he seriously just that loyal? He’s never acted like it.

Though identifying Mason as Aquila’s co-conspirator is a major piece of the puzzle, Raum cannot find where to go next. Where one hand remembers ‘Mason pissed off the royals’, the other intuits a deep sense of trust on Aquila’s behalf toward Mason. Maybe Aquila has enlisted Mason specifically because he could leverage a chance to redeem himself toward the royal family? No, that’s still strange. It’s just as wobbly a speculation as any, though it’s the best Raum can unfortunately figure.

But that discomfort may be irrelevant in the face of the third vital clue: the cyphered note.

Raum recalls enough of the note to decode the important bits and fill in the rest. “6/28 + LANDLORD". 6/28 is the date two days before the upcoming party. ‘Landlord’, of the Cardinal House, is either Phoenix or Aquila. Phoenix doesn’t make sense, so Mason likely means Aquila.

‘Scan this area on 6/28 in the company of Aquila’. If Raum has interpreted this note correctly, then Aquila and Mason made prior arrangements to trawl through this region together. Given that ‘this region’ means the monarchs’ old living quarters, including the bedchambers of Phoenix, Aquila’s parents, and Aquila himself, Raum can conceive several innocent reasons why Aquila may want to join in for that.

But, he can also conceive less innocent reasons.

Mason’s attitude about Aquila flipped 180 over one night. By directing Mason somewhere that Aquila only meant for him to go later, did Raum accidentally lead Mason to find something he wasn’t meant to see? Raum’s gut says: ding ding ding, hole in one, kiddo.

What, if anything, he found doesn’t matter. If there’s even a chance Aquila’s masterplan went wrong last night, Aquila needs to know.

Raum’s fear of angering Aquila dampens under the guilt of failing to work in his interests, and a slight, but growing urgency to right things before they fall off the rails. He’ll still need to be careful about how he divulges his own meddling, but he no longer feels reluctant to expose what he’s done.

Raum’s first business upon reaching Ferendaux will be a chat with Aquila.

In the meantime, he crosses his hands over his knees, staring through the breeze as verdant green slowly cloaks the crags.

Raum’s wagon rolls into Ferendaux on midday of 6/28.

As planned, Raum goes straight to Aquila. His pissiness over their ‘argument’ before Raum left for Deram seems to have faded, at least enough that Aquila receives Raum without dismissing him two seconds later. Rather, Aquila has been expecting him, since after pleasantries he’s the one to initiate with: Now, where is Kingslayer?

—Uh.

The black sword that Toreas formerly wielded, Aquila explains. You received it.

No. He didn’t. What?

After some back-and-forth, Raum grasps what has happened. Aquila sent Mason to Sebilles equipped with this sword, then ordered him to return it while supervising Raum’s trip to Deram. Retrieving the sword, while achieving some practical end for Aquila, justified allowing the trip in his mind.

This little plan, like his others, has gone bust. Aquila’s eyes flick about as if chewing on an algebra textbook.

Raum doubts Mason simply forgot. Rather, his failure to complete this easy mission on day one suggests he already had some misgivings, or uncertainties, about Aquila’s judgement. As Raum feared, the cogs supporting Aquila’s machinations steadily are unwinding.

Raum broadly divulges what happened in Deram, but Aquila is only half-listening. Whatever plotting is distracting him, though, Raum is predictably not privy to it. Hey, how bad is this? What does this all mean? Is this guy running off AWOL (and did the hunt for Reyl just get cancelled)?

Only that last question gets a response: No. His movements have been exactly what Aquila expected, with nightly visits to Sebilles, as normal.

Right, the feather. So Mason held on to it.

What on earth is he up to. Unsure that it registered the first time, Raum again warns that Mason likely went to the west wing, and his attitude after that toward Aquila was unamicable. Raum knows Aquila is thinking about this, but the fact he so obviously is (while not exploding at Raum’s part in the mess…) underscores that he’s flustered. Whatever plan he’s in the process of conjuring up, is he sure he wants no second input?

Aquila looks away as if some faraway voice has called his name, unconsciously shaking his head. Then he returns his gaze to Raum, nods his thanks for the information, and marches skittishly off like a roe. As Raum leaves the palace through the balcony walkways, he spots Aquila again from afar, trekking to some corner of the grounds, this time armed with his rifle.

Raum purses his lips, slides his crooked, crossed fingers down the banister.

He stands at the base of the palace’s front steps, staring over the city. The guy can run a decent country, but he’s graceless once it gets personal. Raum cannot even imagine what outcome to hope for, outside the unhelpfully vague category of ‘good’, since, given how knotted and veiled and criminal is Aquila’s bond to Mason, to an observer as Raum, it is impossible to identify what future this relationship could pursue that even goes in the direction of ‘good’.

Raum sighs pertly. Aquila has stakes in this. Whatever comes of this will be well-reasoned, strategic. And, again, until Aquila decides he wants Raum’s input, Aquila will do what Aquila will do.

So what will Raum do. What can Raum do.

His stomach rumbles.

Well, go to lunch, he supposes.