The man had never been one for quiet and he made no exception now.  Marching up the hill Brokel, Chieftain of the Riders of the Finnupave, muttered his annoyance at the incline growing quiet only when he reached the the reason for his march.  Even then the man punctuated the silence with a clearing of his throat.

Quartes, last of the Landians and Heir to Lehn, hid a smile under his cloak, saved it only for the crimson haired bard next to him, before turning with a stern face towards Brokel.  “Are you looking for me Brokel?”

The man stared back at the Landian, staring into legend’s pale and pupil-less eyes.  Brokel’s jaw cocked, his spear clutched in a hand, he stared about the area in response, briefly noting the view the Landian and the bard had been enjoying.  Quartes waited patiently, letting Brokel find his words.

“I do not care for the path that the Aenesi are taking us down,” Brokel announced.  For his part Quartes offered little reaction, only turning to the bard for a moment, before shifting back to Brokel, an eyebrow raised.  Brokel answered with his own silence, his piece said, and crossed his arm as he awaited the Landian’s reply.

“Would you expand for me what you don’t care for?” Quartes offered as the Landian gestured to the empty log by the campfire.  Brokel nodded and stepped over the log before settling down.  Immediately he gestured the spear into the space between him and the Landian.  The half thrust startled the bard but Brokel’s gaze remained fixed on the Landian.  Quartes continued to wait.

“We have fought Dragons and their ilk and have made the land a better place.  I have enjoyed this effort, have appreciated Bard Keto bringing me in to do this,” Brokel nodded toward the red hair woman before looking back to the pale gaze of the Landian.  “However, the Aenesi appear to be making this effort as much about themselves as the good we are doing.  In my thinking they are using our efforts to build their own power and dominion, vice just freeing the world.”  Brokel shook his spear.  “I am proud to fight with you against beasts but I am not here to make a kingdom for them.”

Keto was smiling, the bard staring at the Landian with a sparkle in her eyes.  Quartes for his part was set on looking only at Brokel, seemingly ignoring the Bard’s amused gaze.

“Do you disagree that without structure the Dragons will return to the lands we have driven them from?”

“No,” Brokel gave as his answer.

“You disagree that the structure has the Aenesi, and you, at the head of it?”  Quartes further clarified.

“Yes,” Brokel agreed, “We are to move on to more battles and should leave the structure to others less we become consumed with leading more than freeing.  That is where I think the Aenesi head.”  To the side the bard covered her mouth with her hands, the red of her face beginning to match that of her hair.

Quartes took a breath, sitting back before he lowered his hood and looked down to the spear Brokel held before taking in the man once again.  After a moment the Landian reached to his and drew forth the hilt shard of a broken sword.  Despite its damage the blue steel of the blade still gleamed, with almost a look like rolling storm clouds beneath its metal.  With the blade Quartes gestured to Brokel’s spear and the similar colored shard of metal held in the middle of the weapon’s head.

“You and I are bound by the carrying of these relics,” Brokel nodded his assent as the Landian continued.  “You agree that we both obtain power beyond own, far beyond our own, because we carry them.”

“The Aenesi carry their own relics,” Brokel offered.

“I agree but you agree that they are lesser than what you and I carry and that even your shard is less than mine.”

“You carry the main shard, as well as others, so the greater powers is yours.  After all, the blade is a part of your legacy.”

Quartes gave a slight smile but leaned forward now, watching Brokel.  “If we did not have my Shards of Lehn what would we have to do?”

Brokel leaned back, the large man’s gaze rising as he though.  Once more Quartes gave him space and after a moment the man’s gaze returned to the Landian.  For her part Keto had recovered and was watching the pair, her hand idling plucking at the strings of her harp.  “We would have to adjust how we did things.  We alone would not have the power to continue what we have done.”

Quartes nodded and looked to Keto but she only gave the Landian an inquisitive tilt of her head.  Hiding a sigh Quartes looked back to Brokel.  “I expect Brokel that I will not be here for all of this war that we have started.  The time is long and I am out of the time I should exist in.  When I am gone it will be up to you and the Aenesi to find a way to finish what we have started.”

Brokel sat staring for a moment again and then nodded.  “We will be forced to find a way, to adjust, how we are doing things.  We three will not have the power to continue as we have.”  His vision gazed, “You think that building a kingdom, to lead may be the right way to grow our power?”

Quartes frowned now.  “I don’t know the right way for you all to continue when I am gone.  That will be a decision for you to make with the Aenesi.  The way forward is for the three of you to agree to, not for me to dictate.”