<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/79/Tevinter-aesthetic.jpg)</div><strong> Ualan Yoson (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=274532.msg13563593#msg13563593)</strong><br/><strong>Time:</strong>Y1S4, immediately after the battle.<br/><strong>Location</strong>: Aka ka Clan fields, site of the battle against Midori Oshiro<br/><strong>Tagged</strong>: Midori Oshiro, Kogatana<br/><hr/><br/>The battle was mercilessly swift, and yet it still managed to churn the entire hillside into a miserable bog of slurping mud and fresh gore. The cloying earth simply gave under the weight of a horse’s hooves whenever the beast tried to ascend the incline, turning to formless sludge; Ualan had no choice but to dismount and proceed through the battle’s aftermath on foot. Despite the chill wintry air and the relative lightness of his armour, he was still drenched in sweat from the exertion of combat, and his legs felt like leaden weights as he slogged up the muddy gradient. When he finally crested the hillside, Ualan tugged off his dented helmet to let the crisp wintry air wash over him, and took stock of the last remnant of the Oshiro detachment. Most of the survivors had already been rounded up and stripped of their weapons, but a final, defiant ring of samurai surrounded Lady Oshrio with swords in hand. Ualan deliberately slowed his pace as he approached, and signalled for a couple of shield-bearers to take up position next to him. He draw to a halt, close enough to easily be heard but far enough that an unexpected lunge wouldn’t claim his throat, and for the first time he regarded Lady Midori Oshiro up close.<br/><br/>“Hmmph. I had all kinds of clever speeches saved up for an occasion like this,” Ualan said, “but now the moment’s come, they suddenly seem hollow and puerile.”<br/><br/>Ualan looked around at the bloodshed surrounding him, his expression sour. It was true: the battle had been determined by blind, bumbling luck alone. It seemed that the kabuki spirits had turned on their benefactor, masking Lady Oshiro’s movements with fogs and storms all the way to the enemy’s heartland only to reveal her at the worst possible moment. Ualan’s victory had been given, not earned. He was no conquering general, just a witless catspaw for the ethereal realm of sinister spirits.<br/><br/>“Lady Oshiro, I’ll speak plainly. The Aka ka Clan is not in the habit of taking prisoners. In fact, we don’t even have a castle to imprison you within, and given that we can’t risk a rescue attempt, there are only a few options available. The first is that your men are killed, and you are sold as a prize to Clan Gunba.”<br/><br/>Ualan didn’t elaborate on what that captivity might amount to, but Midori would’ve heard the same rumours as everyone else. There were whispers of ‘Lady Denka’, and the timely appearance of Takeda’s elegant consort less than a year after Emiko Oshiro’s disappearance. These inferences were on top of the unusual indignities that awaited imprisonment. Ualan patted the hilt of his sword, hinting to the obvious alternative.<br/><br/>“You already know the second option. Die in combat. Spit in the eye of those who’d turn you into their possession, and let your life end here in a blinding flash of defiance, rather than the long years of captivity and degradation in a sordid prison.”<br/><br/>It would not be a fair fight, and Ualan made no allusions otherwise. Battle-hardened veterans surrounded them on all sides, blades levelled, while several vigilant archers waited with bows in hand just in case. Midori was being offered the chance to die with courage, not the chance of escape. There was, however, one final alternative to submission or death. Ualan almost baulked from voicing it, not wanting to give the noblewoman that chance to ridicule him.<br/><br/>“The third option is the hardest for both of us, and Kogatana may want to slice my head off for even suggesting this. Perhaps rightly so.”<br/><br/>Ualan lapsed into silence for a moment before taking the leap.<br/><br/>“Join us, Lady Oshiro – not as a whipped lapdog, but as an equal. We merge our Clans into something new, and share leadership through a ruling council. I could make it work. The Oshiro would get their ancestral lands back, and the Aka ka could finally stand on its own feet rather than playing loan-sword to a patron Clan.”<br/><br/>Ualan had already given a great deal of thought to the possibility – how the power would be split, measures to prevent betrayal by either side, and so forth – but now that he was saying it out loud, a treacherous worm of doubt was already gnawing away at his gut. He was being a naïve fool. He was envisaging a place where survival meant more than a grudge, and never in all his years of watching had he ever seen a ruler who adhered to such a principle – far less two. Still, he<em>had</em>to try. Otherwise, Oshiro and Aka ka would bleed each other out in fruitless stalemates, their rivals stealing march after march against them every time.<br/><br/>“I implore you to think on it. We are both in the very centre of Shindo, meaning that every other Clan has a knife levelled at our backs. However distasteful it seems, a merger is the only way that<em>either</em>of us survive the coming storm.” Ualan sighed, as if already resigning himself to failure. “It’s a lot to ask. Now, I’m sure you have either questions or defiant witticisms you wish to voice. I’ll entertain both, but make it quick. Kogatana will be here soon, and I need to know whether I’ll be presenting a prisoner, an enemy’s head, or a future ally.”<br/>