Love in the Balances

[moonblade]

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: If you have not read The Dusk of Eternal Night (LW 31), turn back now--this fanficlet will spoil part of the book for you!






























... still here? Okay. This is a ficlet that has been knocking around my head since I read through The Dusk of Eternal Night. I think we can all agree that Sesketera is complete scum. Even so, his death and the backstory filled in by Oriah makes for a shockingly human portrayal of someone who is consistently described as utterly ruthless. Oriah's sufferings feel particularly relatable to me, as a mother of a very young child and a former child welfare employee. With that in mind, I thought about Sesketera's end in the vein of a "your quest and life end here" description and wondered if his final words to his wife, and her measured response, conveyed regret. 

Trigger warning (in case someone finds their way here from the internet at large): This story contains explicit references to child death.



You stumble backwards, shocked beyond belief at the sight of your blood covering the weapon of the accursed Kai who stands across the room from you. The howl of a pitched battle has faded to little more than a shocked silence. Funtal Khazullo's eyes dart fearfully towards the man who has defeated you as he attempts to conceal his bulk in the fleeting shadows of the room. The wretched Kai warrior himself watches you with a sickening pity as strength slowly fades from your legs. Without the least will of your own, you totter, then fall to your hands and knees in front of your wife.

Oriah. Surely she understands--she must know that you did these things for her sake, for her love. You raise your gaze to her face, and she returns your stare, impassive as stone, unfeeling for your plight. How? How did twenty years go by without you ever being able to call love into this woman's face, no matter how you pleaded? No matter what you threatened? No matter who you punished?

"Oriah," you gasp. It is hard, so hard to talk now. Your mouth feels numb, your chest cracked. Is this truly the end? "All that I have ever done, I did for you, my wife. My love."

At the last word she visibly stiffens, and her face tightens with the distinct impression of disgust. When she speaks, you feel the force of the word she has chosen. "Husband." Not my love. "I would have you rest now. Your schemes have failed, but perhaps with time your people will not remember the full extent of your cruelties. And the world will not remember you as the fool who sacrificed us all for this shameful exhibition that you think of as 'love.'"

As bitter as her words taste, you cannot look away from her even as she turns her back to you. Your eyes are dimming and your senses are failing, but you would swear that she is glowing--flushed with long-suppressed feeling, welling to the surface at long last. She is more beautiful now than she has ever appeared to you. Is this what it took to bring her joy, at the last? Is she ... pleased by your demise?

"Oriah," you beg, one last time, reaching for her hand. The world feels very still, as if it is waiting for your final passing. You touch her skin and are shocked at the electric impulse that passes through you--you can literally taste the acrid flavor of simmering rage as she meets your eyes one last time.

"Tell me," she murmurs, "in your final minutes, can you finally see all that you have done? What you have foolishly given up and thrown away? The hearts you broke and the lives you ended in the unthinking anger that you call 'love?'"

You remember it all too well. You see her even now, huddled over the unmoving infant lying on the stone floor, the deep violet bruise on the left side of her face a perfect match for your hand. She is trembling as she wraps her queenly robes around the dead baby, pulling it close and rocking back and forth. She is weeping. And as always, not a single one of those tears is shed for you.

The thread of your life is beginning to fray. She pushes your hand aside.

"I would have brought them back," you insist, your voice grown watery. She does not respond, and you wonder at how bold she has grown to openly ignore you. Then you feel it--the mild pull of impending death grown insistent and strong. You open your mouth to order her back to your side, but no further words escape. As you grow cold, the sensation of sliding becomes irresistible, the lights of the chamber fade away into sparks that melt into blackness, and the Plain of Despair opens its maw wide to swallow your soul and bring you to your new, horrifying and eternal home. 

Your life and your quest end here.

[Rusty Radiator]

That was Boss.

I like stuff from a villain's POV. Great bit of writing.

[andyc]

Yeah, excellent bit of writing there Moonblade. It was certainly refreshing to get a bit of nuance to Sesketera in Book 31 with his deluded love for Oriah. Made a rather one-note villain into something a bit more three dimensional.

[moonblade]

Rusty Radiator and andyc , thank you both! <3

Of course I can only take a little credit, I'm only building on what we were given, though it was more than a little startling to see Sesketera proclaiming love for Oriah right up to the end, the creep! One trembles to imagine what that poor woman endured at his hands over the years.

If there are other villains (major or even minor) whose ending paragraphs you would like to read about, give me a shout!

[Rusty Radiator]

Mar 1, 2021 23:54:59 GMT moonblade said:

Rusty Radiator and andyc , thank you both! <3

Of course I can only take a little credit, I'm only building on what we were given, though it was more than a little startling to see Sesketera proclaiming love for Oriah right up to the end, the creep! One trembles to imagine what that poor woman endured at his hands over the years.

If there are other villains (major or even minor) whose ending paragraphs you would like to read about, give me a shout!

The characters of Sesketera and Oriah were interesting because they show evil in a microcosm, not just the huge scale this setting normally alludes to.

[GhostofLandar]

moonblade,

Although we weren't shown much about Magnaarn, I did feel a twinge of pity for him heading closer to a state of undeath/wraith-iness when using the Nyras Scepter and Doomstone. There's no doubt, the Drakkar are mockeries of human beings, but we are told half-Drakkar can be good or neutral. Sesketera is a man with severe flaws, tyrannical nature but has something of humanity left in him, just warped. What would Magnaarn's last thoughts be as he's destroyed by Lone Wolf? Did some part of him want to throw down the artifact, to ask Lone Wolf for help? Seeing Lone Wolf again, did he realize it was all over? What was going to be the fate of his soul had not Lone Wolf killed him? Captured to fuel the Doomstone and scepter?

Rusty is right---we got to see (to a large degree) a very human evil in Sesketera and his attempt (perhaps because he was raised in it) to make things right by appealing to powers who might even grant what he wanted but at a price borne by everyone else (and likely twisted in end result.)

Considering what might be developing, perhaps Vonotar's death on the threshold of the Shadow Gate in Haagadar. Or maybe it would be better to have an interplay with the deaths of the other Villains of Sommerlund to bring out different facets. Like is the Poisoner of Tyso really the same type of evil (or Falco....the Highwayman) as Vonotar? Did they make common cause just to get back home? You can be a cutthroat and murderer and not want the world to be stricken with disease and slaughter. That might be worth exploring. I get the impression Roark was an arrogant, spoiled lordling but remember his relationship with Arla, his sister. Maybe he went from someone who dabbled in the occult for power's sake to someone who was desperate to avenge himself on the world because of Arla (that might be stretching it, he seems like a foul character from the beginning but perhaps driven by extreme insecurity.)

And just a thought maybe Senator Chil (in my playthroughs the Senate always votes to allow me into the Cauldron so I have no reason to hate the others)and his death would be something to explore. Unlike many, many villains in LW, he doesn't seem a slave to Evil or its gods or power but may think the situation is hopeless and the only way to save Tahou and Anari is to betray Lone Wolf.

[moonblade]

GhostofLandar, it’s hilarious to me that you mentioned Senator Chil! I was actually just thinking about President Toltuda the other day. The senator in particular would make an excellent ending ficlet. I’ll get on it right away.

All of your other suggestions are also excellent. Magnaarn seems as though he had in absolutely nightmarish end, as did Roark. I imagine any of the four villains of Sommerlund would have to be pretty foul individuals to be thrown into a shadow gate, but you make an excellent point that perhaps some of them truly might have found a different road have they not joined up with Vonotar. I will certainly mull over these options. Several of the characters that we think of as “bad“ are frequently guilty of nothing more than standing in the way of our progress, and their deaths frequently are rather pitiful when you think about it. Poor Kekataag!

[moonblade]

Senator Chil stood quietly at his post in the Anarium, along with the other eleven senators of Tahou, awaiting the presence of President Toltuda. His mind was full of the portentous information that one of his most reliable gossips had passed along just before departing the city for parts unknown--"Did you know that damned Kai is headed here? Headed for the Cauldron, I'll be bound. You'd best do something about it unless you want this place to look like those dunghill towns in the Tentarias once the Darklords pay you a visit."

Chil gently tugged at his ceremonial robes, trying to find something inconspicuous to do with his hands. This couldn't happen now, not with his retirement so near. He had devoted an entire career to the successful administration of Tahou, and by extension, Anari. The current president was too young for Chil to have any hope of replacing him, but the satisfaction of privately being called 'the savior of Tahou' by several of his constituents made up for not quite achieving his political peak.

President Toltuda entered the anteroom formally, as was his wont. He was polite, but hardly approachable, and Chil had never quite warmed to him. But he was a shrewd politician, and Chil respected his acumen, even if it rankled that he had never mastered the art of influencing Toltuda's vote.

First time for everything, just the same. Perhaps tonight luck would be with him. He could already tell that pie-eyed fool Zilaris would vote in favor of this ridiculous request and probably take at least half the senators with him. Chil sighed ruefully. Why did it feel as though no one else recognized the basic fact that this green-clad madman attracted danger? The most simple solution would be to turn him out to the Darklords and let him fend for himself. What did Anari owe to Sommerlund?

Chil firmed his jaw, and rehearsed his speech in his head as he and the other senators swept forward into the imposing marble hall.

***

Chil sat alone in his velvet-lined chambers, quickly writing a missive to a visitor who waited just out of sight. The letter was brief and to the point--He's dead, I saw to it personally. The Lorestone remains lost. Anari is of no threat. Withdraw your forces, as previously agreed.

He signed it, stamped the warm wax with his signet ring and handed the letter off, glad to get the messenger off and away. The silence of the night felt cloying and clinging. Somehow, impending retirement did not seem like such a certainty.

... But no. He had made his decision and he would abide by it. The agreement would surely be honored now that the chief obstacle had been forcibly removed. The people would return to live at peace in their homes, and he would be called the Savior of Tahou again. It would all resolve for the best.

***

The sound of alarm bells dimly reached Chil's ears as soldiers entered his chambers unbidden to tell him that his presence was required in the Anarium immediately. His questions went unanswered as he hurriedly put on his formal robes and walked as quickly as he could while quite dressed nor quite awake.

President Toltuda stood in the center of the dias, surrounded by the senators. Chil had never seen them allowed to crowd so close. He quickly joined the group. More than one eye fell on him balefully.

"... and from what I've been given to understand, the armies of the Darklands are within an hour's march of the main gate. Now, we--"

"President, forgive me, but what did you say?" Chil interrupted, and everyone present stared at him as if he were a child, and not a very bright one at that. Glowering, President Toltuda repeated the statement distinctly, adding,"They are at our door, Chil. And this despite the vote. I understand that you sent assassins after the Kai once his request was denied. I sincerely hope they are good enough to take on an army."

"That can't be!" Chil roared. "We had an agr--"

The words fell into dead silence as the President's expression solidified into disgust. The senators recoiled as guards approached with drawn swords. Chil felt his heart lurch sickly.

"Take him into custody," President Toltuda said stiffly. "Once this is behind us, we will begin immediate proceedings for a charge of high treason--"

The sound of cracking stone went off like rapid fireworks above them all. Some of the senators, recovering themselves, took to their heels. Others had to be dragged away by the screaming guards. And still others stood paralyzed as the dome of the Anarium caved in and several tons of ruined rock came pouring in. Chil had time to reflect on his carelessness for the final, exceedingly painful minutes of his life as he lay under a collapsed arch, unable to even call for the help that he already knew could not come. And so, his life ended there.

[GhostofLandar]

Wow, that's great stuff, moonblade! You have an eye for the physical or social tone and detail. Love the rich reversal of LW being the Savior of Tahou and supplanting Chil.