Alone in the Dark

King's Censure

Wyn walked into the King's chambers on the large ship, having been summoned once Lyana saw to her wounds and she'd had time to clean up and eat something. She hesitated in the doorway, seeing Lyana sitting down on a bench watching her hands with an odd expression on her face, Lord Shiar standing off to the side, looking angry and the Knight Keana standing in the corner, his features half obscured by the flickering shadows of the room.

She heard the door close behind her as her eyes settled upon Caelur, who stood on the opposite side of a table, upon which a map was stretched out.

"Lady Wyn, thank you for joining us." He murmured, glancing up to her for a moment, then back down at the map. His expression was oddly cool, more the King than the man, and she adjusted her expectations for what the conversation would entail.
"Your highness." She offered him a bow and moved to stand between Keana and Shiar, glancing around the room again, then back to Caelur. "You asked to see me."

"Apparently the Sellexun men are calling you the Lady Shadow-killer" Quipped Keana, straightening enough for her to see his amused expression, before he shifted back into the shadows, chuckling even as Caelur growled at his next words. "But not everyone thinks you should be fighting with the big boys."

Wyn fought a smirk, appreciating the contrast in expectations between an Aupanan man and those from Sellexu. Kannein had always been so protective of all those he believed his "younger siblings", that she had never seen an Aupanan male react to the benignly sexist behaviour of the Sellexun propriety. Keana seemed to care as little as Nerini about protocols and tact, and Wyn found herself liking the man already.

"I had made myself very clear to Lord Shiar that you were to be asked to board my ship before he set forth with reinforcements." Caelur said hotly, looking at his High Lord Commander with an expression promising death.

"Yes, and I told him if he tried to force me to leave the ship, I would knock him senseless and swim ashore myself. He was more in need of a rest than I was, if we are going to be completely honest, he shouldn't have been fighting." Wyn snapped at the King, causing the room to go silent as Caelur blinked in surprise. Wyn plowed on before he could recover himself to respond. "I respect you as the Regent of Sellexu, I value your opinion as a friend, Your Highness, but I will never be ordered to retreat to my own personal safety when my abilities could help save anyone's life, let alone be of assistance to another friend. High Lord Shiar had no other choice but to leave with me when he boarded, and if you're intending to punish anyone, you can arrest me for stealing your prized warship with your High Lord Commander under my sword as a hostage."

"You could have been seriously hurt." Caelur breathed, his gaze intent on her. "You were hurt. I was merely trying to protect you."

Wyn shook her head slowly, giving the rogue a hard look as he chuckled once more. Wyn clenched her jaw, letting out a calming breath before responding. "I understand that you've been raised to believe that women are weaker creatures that need to be protected from the world, but that is not me. I'm honoured that you value our friendship so much that you seek to protect me, but I'm Aupanan. I've been raised alongside brothers and cousins, boys and girls, as an equal in everything. I can fight and die just as well as any man, and you do me great disrespect in not trusting in my abilities as you would with Shiar, or any other of your friends. I have the right to help people in need, I have a DUTY to serve my people like that."

"You mistake a key part of Sellexu customs and perhaps it is not your fault, because a great many of our own people do as well." Caelur replied stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Women aren't barred from fighting and power struggles because they are weaker or less valuable. In Sellexu, they teach us that women are superior to us and it is the men who are servants. A King may inherit, but he gets everything from his wife, the Queen. It is her the people love, it is her who gives him a reason to fight. They raise us to be your servants, to keep you safe, because we, the men, are the expendable ones."