Return to the lands of Ice and Snow

[Lord Zephyr]

With the sad destruction of the government at the Kerguelen Islands, and the death of one of his close friends, Emperor Zephyr should have been sad to see the island emerging on the horizon, but he couldn't help but smile as the peak of its highest mountain rose into the sky. He'd been waiting for this, or not specifically this but something like it. Finally a chance to visit a place not unlike his home. The people of the desert were kind to him and he was in return, and he had done his best to make the peninsula as much like Novous as he could, but the high dunes and dry climate could not compare to the wonder of the snow filled peaks of Novous. Now he was getting a chance after 20 long years. This, despite the circumstances, was an occasion to smile on.

The emperors private cruiser sailed across the ocean and into the Gulf of Morbihan. The sparse population that lived on the surface at the port aux Francais had been less than jubious at the sight of the Raochin Flag sailing into the harbor. They weren't rebellious however and accepted the Fast reaction squads transports. Now the rest of the Squadron assigned to the task of overseeing the Islands arrived in the Gulf. Not every ship was landing at Francais, only the 5,000 Royal Guards Assigned to the protection of the Emperor and the 1,000 of the original Fast reaction troops were staying at the new temporary capital, and the Reaction squad was leaving the next day on some business in the Antarctic circle with an ally doing something there of interest. The rest of the troops were assessing the situation at other major ports and towns around the islands.

"Now I can't tell you how many people told me not to go," The emperor said to his nephew, who was tagging along because his uncle thought it would be good for him, "but it was alot, and it was worth ignoring all of them." He disembarked from his cruiser along with ten guards to protect the two most important persons. "You might have to deal with that some day." He smiled and turned to the boy, "Well not soon anyway, if I don't die from all these unnecessary risks I'm told I'm taking." They laughed and walked into the town.

Merlin, in charge of the sucurity detail on almost all of the emperor's journeys, wasn't laughing as he watched the Emperor and the boy walk off the ship. He, was eyeing the townsfolk, looking for any potential threats. There were three positions that the guard hadn't covered yet that might have a shot at the two chuckling royalties. The Emperor he wasn't worried about, he had training in the guard which even in his older age was enough to kill anyone, it was the young nephew he was worried about. Although he was eight and had some basic survival skills already, he was nowhere near the capacity to fight actual combat. The good news was he didn't expect these people to be hostile, but there was still a chance that the terrorists who had destroyed the previous government center were still here, hiding.

Zephyr met with the Mayor of the town. They shook hands and had a cup of tea. Alyks, Zephyr's nephew, sat by his uncle's side, waiting patiently for this meeting to be over so he could go climb the mountain that made up the island with the Emperor.

"Now, down to business. I understand that for the moment you are the leader of these Islands yes?" The Emperor said after he gulped some of his tea.

"Yes your Majesty, seeing as this is the old capital and I am the Mayor of it I am the temporary leader. What are you interested in?" The Mayor replied

"Oh cutting to the case eh? Well I'm interesting in making these Islands the Capital of Raochin."

The Mayor's eyes opened wide and he nearly choked on his tea. "What? But even after the terrorist attacks, wait those weren't conducted by you were they, I mean for this to come up so quickly..."

"Calm down, I assure you it wasn't us, I was a close friend with Thomas, and I didn't want to see mountains that bad. I would have never ever even thought of it for any nation."

The mayor composed himself and shook his head, "Yes of course, I've met with Thomas a few times and he's mentioned you. I'm sorry its just... unexpected, though I was suspecting you were aiming at adding this land to your territories."

Zephyr chuckled, "Well yes, what would we have to do in order to persuade the population to accept us?"

"A vote I suppose, you have sent dispatches to the other towns right?"

"Yes of course, it was hard to round up that many diplomatic represenatives this quickly but we managed."

Alyks was getting antsy at this point and he was looking at his uncle longingly waiting for the moment it was time to go. Zephyr noticed this and told the mayor, "If you could organize a vote as soon as possible that would be great. I will appear before your people as soon as you've gotten the news out. For now however, the boy here and I have some business to attend to on that mountain." Alyks's face lit up and he sprung out of the chair and ran outside. The Emperor shook hands with the mayor and followed the boy. He was going to enjoy this hike.

"Merlin," He said to the man waiting outside the door, "send word to Raochin, the Empress is to be notified its safe to come."

"Yes, I'll get on that right away." Merlin Replied.

Edited August 31, 2009 by Lord Zephyr

[Lord Zephyr]

Two more days passed, and the empress arrived along with a few more of the nobles. the emperor Gave his speech to the people of the kerguleuns, and soon after the elections began. Some argues that with military presence in the towns that they had no choice on who to pick, but the soldiers paid for their lodgings and food and tried to get along with the nervous populous. After a few weeks of speeches from nobles, and the most heartwarming speech by the Empress most peoples fears of an invasion were stifled. Military presence moved out of the Islands as an act of good faith, and the remainimg soldiers tried to stay out of the regular populations faces. The election, was not necessarily a landslide, but enough votes were in favor of the acceptance of raochin that it passed. The emperor was happy to say the least. Plans were set in place for the contruction of a new castle, and for the first time in a while, Emperor Zephyr was happy, genuinely happy. Aimee arriveing helped too. The next few day's were spent hiking through the terrain, visiting the ruins of the center where the Dominion once had its capital at, and trying to have as much fun as possible despite that.

"My love I do believe we have found a new home. One that we can appreciate." The emperor said to Aimee as the sun set on the island.

She smiled and kissed him, "Yes, we have."