Strategy and Discovery

You luckily wake up quite early in the morning as you feel Lexie still curled up in a ball at your side. She's got her arm over your chest, part of her leg over your lower stomach and a huge grin formed on her face as not only is she extremely happy you are back awake but you also gave her a much needed display of pleasure last night. You hold your position as you tilt your head down and just look over the naked and passed out Sunrider. Angling your head down further you give her a kiss on the top of the head before slowly maneuvering yourself out of the bed.

Lexie stirs a bit and begins to wake up "Sorry babe, go back to sleep. Rest up. I have a bunch I want to catch up on." you whisper to her.

"No..." she grumbles out.

"I'm here now, I'm not leaving you again." you bring your head back down towards her, giving a sensual kiss on the lips for a few seconds before standing back up "Now rest, I'll be back."

"Mmmkay..." she purrs as she rolls in the bed and almost immediately falls back into slumber.

Leaving the room and walking back towards the dining hall to grab some much needed breakfast you pass by a few Sunrider's and Warriors who are shocked you are back, but also extremely happy to be back under your command. Not that Ashe did a bad job but you certainly made quite the name for yourself.

It isn't long before you see the Queen of Sicilian sitting around with a bunch of papers out scattered across a table as she's drinking something out of a small mug. "Geez, do you ever sleep?" you ask her as you step up.

Karisi looks up at you, giving a quick smile "Hah, I wish. Never enough time in the day to get much sleep." she takes another drink out of her mug, most likely some type of warm tea. "Sit." she orders you as she waves at someone in the distance.

As you sit down, suddenly you are brought some type of meat and bread as well as the same warm tea that Karisi must be drinking "Thank you!" you begin to inhale the entire meal.

"So you eat and listen. I'll talk." Karisi commands as you just continue gulping down everything in front of you. "A lot has happened since you have been out, but as of right now, Rathkin and Errian are once again fighting one another. Just like they always do, you know this." she once more takes a drink from her tea as she looks around on the maps scattered across the table. "So, Rathkin is asking us to send a force to help defend some of their flanks as well as some of their smaller outer cities. As of right now, Errian and Rathkin's main forces are just at a stalemate holding each other off with neither force really advancing. Since Rathkin has so many smaller cities, it's easier for Errian to send forces out to loot and pillage those cities."

You nod as you continue your breakfast feast.

"I want to send forces as I think it will help keep the peace. Ashe on the other hand..." she trails off, glancing over the maps in front of her, looking at all the smaller Rathkin cities. Her head shakes back and forth, unsure what to do "Plus, I'm not sure who to send. Can I send Ashe with say a hundred warriors? Do I send Rynlee and Ashe each with their own forces? Either way...lots to think about." she begins to rub her temples. "I'd love to know your thoughts since now you're back and I'm guessing Ashe is stepping down to let you take control again?"

You take a giant gulp down and a few breaths as you almost forgot to breath while eating "Let me think about it. When do you need to know by?"

"Well, the sooner the better." she grumbles out as her finger traces certain cities on the map. "And either way, we can't send you." her voice goes a little more quiet.

"Oh? Isn't that for me to decide?"

"Rivianne should be here soon as I requested her presence this morning. She has some news for you regarding...your bounty." her eyes finally leave the maps and look at your own "Since you've been out of the picture for so long, many kingdoms figured you were dead and thus the bounty got lifted. The instant you become public knowledge again..." her words trail off.

"I'm not going to hide, Karisi." you bluntly state "No way in hell."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just saying we need to keep you safe until we figure out who the hell placed this bounty and what we can do to stop it."

"What do you know about it?" you ask.

"Not much. We had other things to worry about. Getting you better, keeping track of Rathkin to make sure things went well. Me trying to get use to the Syndicate." she cups her hands, continuing her gaze at you "The only thing we know is the bounty was placed most likely by one of the more well known bandits in Loner's Reach."

"Who is that?"

"Goes by the alias Shade, but not much else is known about him as Loner's Reach is such a shit hole..." she closes her eyes just thinking "But we know he controls almost all of the drug trade and prostitution in that entire area so obviously he'd become well respected and rich as hell. Let's not even mention with all that money and power he can pay tons of bandits, thieves, murderers and rapists to fight dirty and without honor. Let's just say it makes it a little difficult to get close to him or even know much about him."

"Shade, eh?" you question "Interesting..."

It's at that point Rivianne comes crashing through the dining hall, happy as can be "Darien, I heard you were awake!" she smiles "Your armor is all patched up but next time, don't ruin it!" she smacks your shoulder as she steps up next to you, immediately sitting down "Good to see you awake and alive!"

"Good to be awake and alive!" you grin back "Sorry about my armor. Hopefully you gave it some extra..." you pause, looking at her in the eye "Love." you sensually say the word which causes Rivianne's eyes to go wide, giving you a don't you dare type look. You just return her expression with a sly grin.

"Whatever that means..." Karisi pushes the thought past "Riv, tell him what you told us."

"Yes, Queen!" she begins "That arrow. I made it." she smiles, then frowns, then goes flat, unsure how to react.

"Huh?" you didn't get it.

"The arrow dumb dumb." she gestures at you pretending to pull an arrow out of her chest "The one we pulled out of you."

"How...uhh, okay?"

"It's a Sicilian arrow made by me and I didn't make many of them. Which means yeah, there is a chance somebody found it on the battlefield or stole it from Sicilian." she waits, looking between Karisi and yourself "Or..., the person who shot you is from the Syndicate."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean anything. As you said, someone could have found the arrow, or bought it, or hell, maybe it's somebody trying to frame the Syndicate. There are so many options it could be. Who did you even make those arrows for if you recall?"

You can see her swallow before once again turning her to Karisi who gives a knowing nod "The King of Sicilian."

"Hah." you laugh "The King was on his last leg. He must have sold them off or got them stolen."

"Yeah, most likely..." Rivianne continues "I mean, you'd have to be pretty damn good with a bow. It's actually a fairly hard weapon to master!" Rivianne brightens up as she loves talking about weapons.

"Seriously, if I recall it was quite the far shot where they hit...me...from..." you start to think. "Wait a minute..." you swallow.

"What are you thinking?" Karisi questions.

You immediately stand up "Where's Ashe?"

Karisi just raises her eyebrow at you "Training Grounds probably? Or sleeping in her chambers. Which, I suppose are your chambers now." she shrugs "Why, what are you thinking?" she asks again.

"I'll tell you later. Just need to find Ashe." you place a hand on Riv's shoulder "Thanks Rivianne, I appreciate you patching the armor and letting me know this important information." you smile "And Karisi, I'll fill you in soon." you nod at her before making your way out of the dining room to find your red haired ally.