33 Risen#re

Callum glanced at Elizabeth's hologram, wondering if she was making some silly joke, when he realised that wasn't he shook his head, "This child is truly far too audacious, this is ridiculous!"

A child without any hair on his face wanted to attain a second accord sword saint of the seventh-grade, if that wasn't audacious he didn't know what was.

"Alastor told me that he intends to join the candidate in his campaign, should he survive the trial," when Elizabeth said that she could see everyone's jaws on the verge of falling even the emperor struggled to maintain his calm.

"How did he convince a second accord elite to join him?", Milan mumbled absent minded.

"As I said, he wouldn't give me the details, but whatever it was, it was enough to convince him," she looked up to meet the emperor's eye, feeling slightly more confident in herself.

"I've known Alastor nearly my entire life your majesty, he may have made a foolish mistake when dealing with your son, but I know that he is no fool, he wouldn't make such a decision lightly," she said with conviction.

The emperor stroked his chin as he fell into thought, what he was thinking about was a mystery to them all, "Lord Callum," he said resolutely as he had come to a decision, "Silently offer your support to my son, I don't want Telamon catching wind of this so plan carefully."

"Your majesty, what do you mean by this?" he asked incredulously, if people found out about this it would cause him trouble.

"Just do your job, if anyone asks you questions tell them it's done on my authority," the emperors command allowed now argument.

They looked wide-eyed at the emperor, for the emperor to say such words it could only have one interpretation, the emperor approved of Lirian's behaviour for some reason.

"As you wish," Callum answered albeit reluctantly, he was struggling to understand what crime Telamon could have committed that would make the emperor take this case so seriously.

"I also want you to send a group of elites that you can trust, to the expedition world, I want them to remain hidden and out of sight, they will keep a close eye on Lirian, if Telamon is to make a move that will be his best bet," Albus said thoughtfully, surprising all of them, it sounded as if he was certain Telamon would do something to his son.

"That order applies to you as well Elizabeth," he said pointedly, cutting of the communication and leaving all of them stunned.

"What just happened?", Milan said dubiously, still processing what the emperor implied.

"I'll tell you what happened?" Callum complain, "We just got a very long and annoying job handed to us," he picked up a communicator and began to make a few calls.

To a politician there was nothing as annoying as silently supporting someone, he had to go around convincing people to not be outraged by something that's supposed to make them feel outrage.

Then he had to ensure that what he told them wasn't suspicious at all, and finally, he had to convince them to pretend to be outraged about the thing he just told not to be outraged about, to ensure that Telamon doesn't suspect that someone isn't working against him on the higher levels.

But while pretending to be outraged they would have to lessen the pressure they were putting on the empress and Lirian, while making it look like they weren't releasing the pressure.

In short it was a confusing nightmare of politics that could very easily crumble no matter how much effort you put into it, the design was to ensure that you don't spook your target into taking drastic action.

Callum could feel himself having a nightmare just thinking about it, for now, the best he would be able to do was get people to wait until whatever happens next, before taking a firm stance.

---

In the Clovis home world, Albus sunk into his seat and picked up a frame on his desk, he knew that frames were very old-fashioned but it felt more alive than digital pictures.

He rubbed a thumb over the beautiful face of his wife, he had missed her over the years, it had only been a short 14 years, by a cultivator's standard it was a short time, but to him it felt like centuries had gone by since they last sat down together, and enjoyed each other's company over a meal or just lay down wrapped in each other's arms.

And the occasional dates that they would have over projections would always leave him wanting more of her.

He scrubbed those thoughts from his mind as he regained his focus on the matters at hand.

He had actually suspected that Telamon was involved in the deaths of his children centuries ago, it was due to his uncle's betrayal, when he poisoned Taliyah.

His uncle was a fervent follower of Telamon he used to shadow him for as long as Albus could remember, he was a fervent follower of Telamon and he couldn't imagine that his uncle would do something that would offend Telamon, much less attack his most prized student unless it was Telamon himself that gave the order.

But at the time Taliyah was completely distressed she just lost her twelfth child, became infertile, and he couldn't add another thing to that list, the damage had been done, it was impossible for her to ever have a child again, so such a thing would never happen again anyway.

From the moment Taliyah moved to Xelia with Lirian he had been secretly monitoring all of Telamons movements waiting to see if his suspicions were correct.

It had taken him by surprise when he heard about the Lirian's first day and how he had actually threatened Telamon, but he had thought nothing of it at the time, he felt it could just be the jealousy of a child.

By the gods, he had felt the same jealousy when he was starting to get to know Taliyah, she could speak about Telamon for days and weeks without a break, it was only later on in their relationship that he learned that Taliyah truly only viewed Telamon like a father.

Recently, he was becoming more and more impressed with Lirian's actions because they were confirming his theory about Telamon, a theory that he had been unable to confirm or gather intel about, without spooking Telamon.

He knew more than anyone just how much Taliyah valued her children, and he wished that she didn't but if he couldn't change that about her then he had to ensure that this time her child remained alive and well.

He never wanted to see her experience that loss ever again, every time it happened, he'd feel a piece of himself break, sometimes he wondered if women ever realized the things that can make their husband's heart bleed.

She would weep for her children and he would weep for her, he never wanted to see her in such a state again.