[Here is the thing: when Yuan had first heard that Kratos was captured, he had assumed that was it. Aurion, enemy officer, there was very little chance of him not being executed.]
[When he hears that Kratos has been spared on his sister's request, he can't begin to guess if it was love or hatred. What he can do is guess where Kratos will wind up -- among the prisoners of war slated for slavery as some measure of "repayment" for the costs of the war -- and set things into motion to attempt to acquire him before someone else does. Yuan cannot imagine anyone on this side having good intentions for an Aurion.]
[It costs more than he would like, and Yuan is under no illusions about why. He has to call in more favors than is ideal, too. He saved the life of a spouse of someone in the business of brokerage; it is something he reminds her of with little regret.]
[He knows what people must be saying. Yuan has not been subtle about this quest, too impatient and too driven to bother. But he's no stranger to those sorts of rumors, either, and so he pretends he does not hear, and he carries himself tall and rigid, and waits for Kratos to be brought out to him.]
[Theoretically, Yuan understands that capable warriors are often carefully lamed when they are taken into this kind of service. He knows the conditions prisoners are kept in; he has no illusions that Kratos will be treated kindly. All the same some part of him expects to see Kratos as he always had, broad-shouldered and straight-backed and impossibly fluid in motion with a sword.]
[What he sees when Kratos is brought out seems more like the ghost of his erstwhile rival. Yuan entertains this flight of fancy for about two seconds before dismissing it. What else had he expected? He watches Kratos's pace, his bearing, and aches for the strangest of losses.]
[But life isn't nothing, after all.]
[Yuan's mouth is a flat line by the time he takes the lead-chain from one of the guards. The look on the man's face makes it quite plain what he thinks. Yuan is -- mostly -- inured to this by now, and favors him with a narrow-eyed glance in turn.]
I have it from here.
[He does outrank them, after all; and he is still in uniform, with the braid in his hair a form-perfect indication of his rank additional. Yuan does not get the argument he might have gotten, and when the guards have gone he looks back to Kratos with no idea what to expect. This was as far as he'd planned. After acquiring Kratos had seemed somehow less important.]
...how well can you walk?
[Yuan assumes they'd both like to be spared the indignity of needing to carry Kratos. It means reassessing his initial plans, but better done now than later.]
no subject
[When he hears that Kratos has been spared on his sister's request, he can't begin to guess if it was love or hatred. What he can do is guess where Kratos will wind up -- among the prisoners of war slated for slavery as some measure of "repayment" for the costs of the war -- and set things into motion to attempt to acquire him before someone else does. Yuan cannot imagine anyone on this side having good intentions for an Aurion.]
[It costs more than he would like, and Yuan is under no illusions about why. He has to call in more favors than is ideal, too. He saved the life of a spouse of someone in the business of brokerage; it is something he reminds her of with little regret.]
[He knows what people must be saying. Yuan has not been subtle about this quest, too impatient and too driven to bother. But he's no stranger to those sorts of rumors, either, and so he pretends he does not hear, and he carries himself tall and rigid, and waits for Kratos to be brought out to him.]
[Theoretically, Yuan understands that capable warriors are often carefully lamed when they are taken into this kind of service. He knows the conditions prisoners are kept in; he has no illusions that Kratos will be treated kindly. All the same some part of him expects to see Kratos as he always had, broad-shouldered and straight-backed and impossibly fluid in motion with a sword.]
[What he sees when Kratos is brought out seems more like the ghost of his erstwhile rival. Yuan entertains this flight of fancy for about two seconds before dismissing it. What else had he expected? He watches Kratos's pace, his bearing, and aches for the strangest of losses.]
[But life isn't nothing, after all.]
[Yuan's mouth is a flat line by the time he takes the lead-chain from one of the guards. The look on the man's face makes it quite plain what he thinks. Yuan is -- mostly -- inured to this by now, and favors him with a narrow-eyed glance in turn.]
I have it from here.
[He does outrank them, after all; and he is still in uniform, with the braid in his hair a form-perfect indication of his rank additional. Yuan does not get the argument he might have gotten, and when the guards have gone he looks back to Kratos with no idea what to expect. This was as far as he'd planned. After acquiring Kratos had seemed somehow less important.]
...how well can you walk?
[Yuan assumes they'd both like to be spared the indignity of needing to carry Kratos. It means reassessing his initial plans, but better done now than later.]