Voice Test

[ashandfire]

I cannot dissuade you from this choice, however I warn you that I will not be easily led. Some are born to be followers whilst others are born to be rulers. I am of the latter, much smaller, group. Why else would I be a King?

{A light laugh follows that speech.}

Now, tell me what you have planned.

Comments

[castleworth]

[ He watches, strained, but the hand holds over his sword's hilt, unmoving. ]

Do not become one of their kind, Ashura-ou.

[ashandfire]

{Pausing, Ashura glances away, a strange longing in nirs eyes.}

I have seen your demise and mine.

[castleworth]

And they have frightened you.

[ashandfire]

How could they not?

[castleworth]

Steel your heart.

[ashandfire]

A steel heart cannot beat.

[castleworth]

Or give hurt.

[ashandfire]

Hurt to you or to me?

[castleworth]

To neither, or both.

[ashandfire]

I shall not cause you pain.

[castleworth]

A lie for an enemy, Ashura-ou.

[ashandfire]

I met my demise. I have no desire to fight you in the Afterlife.

[castleworth]

Your generals won't thank you your kind heart.

[ashandfire]

I have already failed them. I shoulder that blame, Yasha-ou.

[castleworth]

You are too frail for the sword, let alone a burden.

[ashandfire]

Yet I outlived you. Is my frailty a strength, then?

[castleworth]

It is what gives Ashura-ou's beauty.

[ashandfire]

{Ashura's breath catches in nirs throat.}

You never knew my wish.

[castleworth]

Kings have no wishes. Only duties and their crown.

[ashandfire]

We are people too, Yasha-ou. Every man, woman and child should be aware of their mortality.

[castleworth]

Then speak this wish. I shall stand your witness to it.

[ashandfire]

I wished to resurrect you.

[castleworth]

[ The silence is inevitable, hard and hard-won.

Then his hand goes out in a barely-sketched gesture. ]

...Ashura-ou. You are wasteful.

[ashandfire]

{The smile that follows is bordering on bitter.}

My heart says otherwise.

{Regardless...}

It was a wish that could not be granted.

[castleworth]

It was a child's wish, or a lover's. They both turn to nothingness at war.