Prelude: Eat, Drink, and be Merry

[Olligarchy]

Giving a weak smile, Amlaíb takes another drink and digs into the now somewhat cooled down chicken, content with companionable silence for now. They could talk more in private later on anyway, and it seemed like these celebrations would last through the night as they were meant to.

[TetNak]

Eus frowns, "Enough talk of this," he says to Dewin and Berwyn. "If I wish to hear of it, I will mention it, but for now, drink and shut up." The king pours another cupful of wine and makes his way among the other guests to speak to them, leaving Dewin and Berwyn by themselves.

[Tisben]

OOC

After the King walks away

In a soft voice that only Berwyn can hear, Dewin says, "My dear Berwyn, it seems you have been taken for a fool. You should have learnt by now, that Angles, Jutes and Saxons are one in the same. Death to all of them, I say. However, I agree with your Father that now is not the time for this discussion. It is a time for celebration. Will you drink with me my friend?"

[Hayabusa]

"You heard your king!" Nuallan stands up, not enjoying somber thoughts too much himself. "There's wine and mead to be purged so we should get to that."

[Wbweather]

Berwyn spends the next half hour doing his duty as the king's son as he makes his way around the room greeting guests joining in the festivities. Soon though he tires of the celebration. He has already begun to feel his wits dampened from too much mead and meet after several days of starvation. He is afraid to let his guard down. There is still a large group of potential enemies camped outside the city and he has not seen Bearnoch since his aunt led her off, no doubt to use some spell on her. His father has men patrolling, most of them having drunk quite a bit already. It would take very little for a conflict to break out. He had hoped to speak with his father, but that door had been slammed in his face.

What he needed was some fresh air and some solitude. Standing up, he makes his way toward the door and slips outside with the intention of walking around the town to see if any trouble might be brewing and also just to have a few moments alone to sort out in his mind what he should do.

[TetNak]

The party lasts late into the night. King Eus seems to have pushed the current issue aside and jumps into the revelry with his guests and family. Eventually, Trahaeran returns as do Bearnoch and Rhedyn. Wine is drunk, venision eaten, and King Eus laments as he drinks the last cup of his prized Roman wine.

Soon, guests are escorted home or into the guest chambers nearby the longhall. Bearnoch has been relatively silent, and has stayed close to Berwyn and Rhedyn the entire night. Eventually, though, she too falls asleep and is taken to Eus' personal guest quarters where other kings have slept in the past.

"Before we all sleep the haze off us," King Eus says to his teulu, "We decide what to do about the Angles. I decide, actually." He walks into his chamber and slumps down into his chair. The aging king takes a deep breath, "I have thought about this all night. And I know there will be some disagreement, and I will hear your words, now that we are in private." His eyes flicker to Amlaib briefly. "Sister, what do you make of the girl?" He looks to the druid now for her advice.

[Wbweather]

His mind refreshed by the night air, Berwyn ambles around the town for some time and seeing nothing amiss, decides to get back to the festivities before his absence is noticed. He is much calmer as he enters the hall. He actually is able to relax a bit and enjoy the rest of the evening. As the night winds down and the guests leave, his father calls a council to address the issue with the Angles. Berwyn sits back and listens to the others' responses before speaking his own mind.

[Muskrat]

Rhedyn says, "I sensed no attempt to deceive us on her part. The heir to her father's throne is now her seven year-old younger brother. So, barring treachery--which I hope we are above--or accident, there is little hope of Berwyn inheriting the Angles' throne. I'm not quite sure why they want to ally with us. Bearnoch said her mother, a seer of Roman descent who worships not the Christ but their old gods, had seen an evil omen of some sort in the heavens--something about the war god Mars coming to destroy the world. I have trouble believing that the whole world is literally in danger, but the Angles may be in danger of being obliterated by their foes. I suspect they're desperate to escape whatever evil Bearnoch's mother foresaw coming. The question is, what gain would we have by binding ourselves to people under such a doom? I feel pity for the girl, but I think we should avoid allying with these ill-omened people."

[Olligarchy]

Amlaíb had spent the eve in the company of his friend Nuallán and the rest, drinking and eating heavily... as was suitable for an event of such magnitude. When the teulu was called to gather in private, he takes his seat with the leftovers of some mead and a half eaten carcass of a fowl of some sort in front of him, hearing out his father... bristling a bit at the discreet stare.

As he hears out his aunts speech, at first he is worried she might be veering towards the direction of an alliance, but relaxes as she finishes. Clearly the two of them were of one mind in this.

Content that his aunt was on his side, Amlaíb continues picking at the chicken, offering choicier bits to those besides him as he sips his mead in somewhat sullen silence.

[Tisben]

Sire, I don't have much to say on the subject other than how can we ever trust these Angles. They are essentially Saxons. Once they think they have our trust and have infiltrated our society they will strike and try to destroy us.