Ni 13 Ave Solveiteri,
Auinti Cuidade,
Parthian,
Ni 14 Dia dol Senis
Ama Arinne,
Zargostieri nal alla ventra koposkos ve Parthian...
You should know that it was sudden, our armies were killed to the last man at the very walls of the city less than an hour after the black arrow arrived. When they broke the gates we expected them to do the same to everyone left within. But they have not. Parthian is now the prize of the Empress of Zargoza. No doubt part of the wider Maithan belief that we are the Jewel of the Agnosteri, and that to hold the city is to hold the world.
Although Abacus fell not three hours after us, you do not need to worry about the people of the land. Only the senators and their families have been slain. Along with every clerk and clergyman who had any knowledge of how to run the republic. The rest of us are left alone to go about our lives as we see fit, provided that we take care not to visit the Temple of the Triumvirate, or send post by the usual means.
We are fine. The wine you sent us for Hekresel's Day was awful. Your son has entered puberty, and our guest room has been transformed into an oasis of stink. Although we are fond of him we will be sending him back to you shortly. He has been mistaken for an Elizan by the guards once already, apparently they are trying to deny that our neighbours in the south even exist.
We are sending him on the next barge to Abacus.
I hope this finds you well.
- Vergrese, Adaro
As he put the finished letter aside to let the ink dry, Adaro sighed deeply and sat back in his chair. He was tall by the standards of the wider world, but somewhat average for the standards of his homeland. His stature and build both betrayed the fair and balanced diet of even the poorest of his people, and his skin was smooth and bronzed. It was little wonder why the wretches of Zargoza had aspired to control Parthian.
The only surprise about the invasion had been that it hadn't happened sooner. It had all taken place less than two weeks ago and the city was still heavy with the surreal atmosphere of a place where both everything and nothing had changed. Yes the senators were publicly and very messily hacked to bits on the stairs of the Senate, and yes they had piled the corpses inside and set the whole thing on fire (after looting everything that wasn't nailed down); but the people were left to live their daily lives, most of which was not one jot different from before.
Except for the post.
As he shifted his gaze from the scattered papers across his desk, he caught sight of the latest night of pageantry along the Ave Primadenae through his open shutters. Even this was not really a strange sight. Their own army (Adair rest their souls) had taken to doing the same thing in recent months. The constant drumbeats and marching had become something of an evening fixture. Still this was not their army. This was the army of Zargoza, now the largest empire in the known world and the most devout of all the Maithan states.
Adaro rose from his chair and leant with folded arms against the window frame, watching the setting sun catch on the highly polished armor of the marching soldiers. Soon there would be a subtle knock on the kitchen door, and the real postman would take his letter to the waterfront.
A slight chill crept into the room upon a breeze as he gazed without thought. The oppressive heat of the day had finally broken and soon his appetite would return enough to motivate some sort of culinary effort. Tearing himself away, he retrieved his clothes from the floor and pulled them on half-heartedly. In all honesty he much preferred being naked, and normally wouldn't bother to do more than hide his modesty in the evenings.
However, he also preferred not to receive the kinds of looks his adoptive nephew had been giving him in recent months. Sergio's being sent back to his mother had very real little to do with being mistaken for an Elizan.
Adaro hovered in the doorway to his room for a moment, decided not to make two trips, and quickly folded and addressed the letter. Then he left the room to rejoin the bubble of noise now slowly rising in the rooms below.
(Let me know what you think!<3)
