Date: July 13, 1998
Place: Western Sky - Above Haven
Cast: Argivus, Dante, Elidi
Scene: A Praetor and an outcast Empyrean exchange harsh words in the sky above Bordertown. Outright violence is averted by the arrival of a Hound.

Western Sky - Above Haven:
      Wind swirls around you, caressing your face and body with its cool touch. Here above the city, you are totally free of the trappings of the earth.
      Below lies the western quarter of Haven, and from your vantage point, you can see the cresting white caps of the sea as it rolls into the harbor as well as the ships docked there and the various shops of the port.
      Also below you, the lush, verdant expanse of the city's garden spreads out, appearing as a giant green patch of vegetation in the middle of the hustle and bustle of citylife. Nearby, the shanties and slum-like neighborhood of Fairway Corner seem to be almost a blight on the relative beauty of the city, snuffed away in its corner.
      In the distance to the east, the spire of the Delphic Citadel pierces the skyline--the highest point of the city and a beacon for skyward travelers.

Elidi's pale wings beat powerfully behind her as she slowly flies over the city, her coppery eyes roving the terrain below with a narrowed gaze.

Dante hovers, ashen hawk-wings flapping hard, above the greenery of the old city garden. A short-bow depends from his hands as he circles the spire of a tall snag tree and fires arrows into it.

Elidi slows to a hover herself, body canting to a more erect posture as she does so. One leg bends, the knee flexing, and her hand falls to the hilt of her broadsword as she studies the dark man.

The man continues to circle, apparently stepping up the rhythm as he fires until running out of arrows. A quick movement drops him to the snag's' top, where he begins to pull his bolts and return them to a hip-mounted quiver. Another leap, and he's back at it, harder and faster still.

"Interesting," is the comment made by a husky contralto. Elidi's mouth curls upward a bit at the left corner in something of a smirk and she continues to watch as if to assess his prowess.

Dante finishes the quiver again, arms gleaming with a thin sheen of sweat even in the cool air. After replacing his arrows, the blade jumps out, another appendage, and begins to hack at the strudy column of deadwood. A comment floats back from him, even past the whoosh of his massive grey wings. "Was there something, Servitor?"

Elidi asks with something of curiosity in her voice, "Do I know you, Halfbreed?" Lightly, she bobs in the air with the motion of her own raptor's wings, white feathers perfectly pristine. "You appear familiar to me, but perhaps that's because you all look alike."

Dante sheathes his blade, jaw setting at what to him is an epithet, and rises to the Praetor's altitude. "No, I don't believe you do. And I don't know you." The chill is a degree or two below the air, nothing more. He doesn't say he's glad of it. "At least, I think not--you all look alike, after all."

Elidi's laugh is as husky as her voice, and sharply amused. "Female Servitors all look alike to you, hmm? Perhaps you are losing your sight, 'friend'. A visit to a healer might not be an unwise idea." She very slowly grins, pearly teeth fiercely showing. "I seek a halfbreed like yourself. Perhaps you can assist me."

Dante shrugs midair, glancing, friendly-like, at the brutalized treetop. "I don't know any halfbreeds, Servitor." He flashes his teeth again. "I generally only assist under pay... perhaps I'll just lend you the favor."

Elidi's penny-bright eyes glint with a superior sort of amusement and she loosens her blade in its scabbard. "What if I offered to pay you, dark one? What then? Would you 'sell out' one of your own for the right price?"

Dante narrows his eyes into fiery slits, obviously not partial to the turn of subject. "One of my own? No such thing. Name your job and I name price. That's my work, Servitor. I'm no Praetor with orders for a backbone." His wings flap more slowly, powerfully, now--he's been exerting himself, and the endurance tests begin to take their toll. "What do you want?"

Elidi replies in an authoritative tone, "The dark-skinned, dark-haired halfbreed who gives his name as Dimitrius Origanos and claims to be of House Thanatos is required to recant his lie before both Deus Thanatos and Deus Augustin. Find him. Take him to the Hounds or the Palladium and give him over to those who seek him... either Deus Jove or those previously mentioned... and I shall make it worth your while."

Argivus flies in from the north...

Elidi's hard, coppery gaze is narrowed upon Dante. Her broadsword has been loosened in her scabbard and she watches him with an expectant intensity as her great, raptor's wings beat the air slowly to help her hover in place.

Dante flaps yet more slowly, looking rather irked, actually. "Now the price, Servitor. None. I'll do no such thing." A harsh chuckle escapes his lips, windworn face stiff. "Those House Thanatos darkies... must be a severely tainted bloodline. Not inbred enough, perhaps, for your tastes."

Argivus passes the two Empyreans. He slows as his glance catches the sight of Elidi's loosened broadsword. He swiftly maneuvers up, giving the two a wide berth, but watching in a lazy gyre, like a vulture.

Dante hovers with slow, powerful wing-strokes above a much-battered treetop, looking none too friendly toward Elidi.

Elidi's mouth curls into a slow, but lovely smirk, her coppery eyes beginning to blaze like molten metal. "I am not inbred, dark one. No matter what your fantasies might make you imagine. I can claim kinship to several Houses. My name is Elidi Eleinos Tritonides. Remember it. Or, if you prefer, I can help to make certain you never forget."

Dante tenses slightly, still maintaining wing-beat rhythm, a heavy thud-thud-thud. "Is that a threat, Servitor? I certainly hope not... this is far from Citivas Dei, and in Bordertown, you're on my ground." He grins toothily, none too friendly. "If you're going to accost innocent citizens, I suggest you get on your way."

Elidi's body cants forward as the rhythm of her wings changes and her gaze narrows further. She hovers there like an asp waiting to strike. "You do not bear the look of innocence to me, Halfbreed. Nor are we exactly 'in' Bordertown... but above it."

Argivus seems to have forgotten whatever urgent mission he seemed to be on, now wholly distracted by the tempers of Dante and the woman Servitor. He now keeps a vigilant eye upon the pair.

Dante spread his hands wide, exhibiting his unarmed status, weapons safe at his hips. "You swans think you own the sky from horizon to horizon... but it's all of ours here." He sneers rather convincingly. The tensions build invisibly, ready for whatever strike the asp may make. "And as to 'halfbreed', I've likely got a better pedigree than your entire House. And twice the innocence of your whole backstabbing race."

Elidi's sword remains in its scabbard, but at those words, she is diving toward Dante, hands balling into fists. She draws back her right arm in preparation to strike as she swoops toward the much darker man.

Dante backwings calculatedly, not bothering to draw as he launches backward several meters--just out of the way. His hands spread wide, a grin flashing on and off his face.

Elidi tries to change her angle of flight to adjust for his movement, her face oddly hard and enigmatic. No anger is visible upon her features, but there is almost a conflagration in those eyes of hers. She seems ready to chase him all night if she must.

A cruciform shadow sweeps over the form of the dark man and his adversary as Argivus dives to intercept any blows that may pass. As he wedges between the combatants, he demands in a voice that is at once commanding and respectful, "Domina! Please!"

Dante just laughs, tossing his head back, black locks in the breeze of wings, motivation a complete mystery. His hands remain wide, though, and far from his belt.

Elidi's own voice is tight and low, a husky contralto that hints she's had practice at giving orders as well. "I will have satisfaction! If not here, then where... name it!" Elidi averts her attack, swooping aside only to hover once more... slightly higher than Dante as if ready to go again.

Dante simply continues to hover, sheened with the sweat of his interrupted exercises. "As I said, Servitor, it's not Citivas Dei." There doesn't seem to be any mockery in his tones... the smooth, steady wingbeats fall back into rhythm.

Argivus , in a clipped, frigid tone, speaks, "I would suggest wherever you choose to solve these matters, you do them away from the prying eyes of the lower races." He points to a gathering crowd of mongrels, Varati, and others below.

Dante snorts loudly and contemptuously. "What lower races? I think the good folk below are entitled to a little sport from the barbarians on high, no?" His tone grows increasingly cordial--a bad sign.

Elidi smiles, fiercely, and it is far more dangerous than friendly. "I, for one, would not mind giving them such sport," she practically purrs, huskily. Her eyes drink in Dante's form, assessing it and cataloguing what she might believe are his strengths and weaknesses.

With a curling of a wing, Argivus turns his back on Dante, focusing on the Praetor. His voice remains calm, yet respectful, as he speaks to Elidi, "You are playing into his hands. While true civilization means nothing to him..." He pauses momentarily to nod toward Dante, "...knowing the Archon as I do, I would suspect that one of House Tritonis would realize the importance of Law and Reason over petty quarrels."

Dante coughs quietly from behind the Hound. "Good sir, if this is the way you normally enforce law, it's no wonder 'civilization'" --and the word oozes contempt-- "seethes with such crime. I thought better of the Hounds. And after meeting the Archon, I thought I knew better of the Hounds." He shakes his head, still treading air with his vast wingsails. "The legendary impartiality is just that, it seems. And the honor of the Guard seems to have declined yet further since I left, as well."

Argivus tugs his wings again, moving a bit upward and settling down again facing both the woman and Dante. He speaks, still cold and unmoved, "Sir, my apologies if you feel slighted. I am sworn to protect all equally under the law, and that I shall do, whether one is a mongrel or a Praetor. Similarly, I will lock away anyone disturbing the peace, regardless of race."

"I respectfully request that you go find some citizens that need protection, then. This little meeting does not require your presence. There are none here that feel they require your aid in the matter. Perhaps there is an elderly mongrel that needs your help in crossing the street instead," offers Elidi to Argivus, but her copper-eyed gaze does not drift from Dante for the slightest instant. She looks at him with something akin to anticipation.

Dante snorts yet louder. "And yet, o upholder of equality, you insult the people below for their race, you ooze epithets at a man far from mongrel, and you speak fair to one of your own kind? I call that equal, perhaps, when the sun rises in the West and the sky turns silver. I don't call it just."

Argivus breaks his calm demeanor with an indomitable smile, "I will let my actions speak for themselves, sir. I wish merely for you to move along."

The dark Empyrean's eyes narrow momentarily. "So the Servitor can file a report on crimes I did not commit? Can you stand for that, good sir?" His smile is just as wide.

Argivus regains his stoic bearing and replies, "If the Servitor reports anything, it will be investigated. If her charges are deemed false, then it would be she who suffers." He takes another deep breath, then adds, "It is the way of the law."

Dante shows his teeth, finally exhaling with a nod. "The law. Of course. The law must serve who it is meant to serve." He rises with a few more wingbeats, shaking his head. "And the poor and just suffer." He flicks Elidi the Praetorian salute and, smiling bitterly, drops down through the foliage to disappear.

Dante soars downwards toward the old city garden.

Elidi scowls, her hands still clenched into fists. "Damned 'raven.' I'll find him again."

Argivus asks, "What did he do to anger you so, Servitor?"

Elidi explains, simply, "He exists." And, with that, she turns as if to go, white wings beginning to move in a faster rhythm.

Argivus gives a calm, "Good day, domina." He then cuffs his wings and begins a slow descent.

Argivus soars downwards toward the old city garden.

FIN  

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