#but choosing the older white man to represent that farther left is her way of appealing to them

[gaperezmakes]

Original Fic Fest Day 2 & 3 – Romantic & Non-Romantic Relationships (Iblan Light | Black Empire)

...That is still a title, but that��s okay. We’re getting through it. Anyway, welcome back to here, I’m glad you’ve decided to join us here in the super secret second entries for Days 2 and 3 of @originalficfest. If you somehow found these before the other not-secret entries, you can find them here. Anyway, let’s get to what you’re here for!

Day 2, if you missed it, was Romantic Relationships Day. For Black Empire, I stretched myself a little by writing about Synoth and Orvyn. For the Iblan Light series, we’re going to look at a relationship that has a lot of depth to it, but never really gets focused on: the marriage of Joseph and Helen Burmen. They are an interesting couple. Joseph is a biomancer, a mage with magical powers that are banned throughout most of the world. In fact, there are only a handful that are allowed to exist. Helen is a refugee from Nobe, a country that literally walled itself off from the rest of the world by creating a mountain range on their borders (Nobe is a country of geomancers). Her brother had potential to be a biomancer and was extracted from the country so that he could be trained to become one.

Then he escaped and they haven’t been able to find him.

Also: Joseph and Helen aren’t even their real names. They’re in some kind of like witness protection program. Because Joseph is a dangerously powerful mage and Helen is a refugee from a hostile foreign nation.

I don’t know, can I write anything more interesting than that? Probably not, but I can write this thing.

Joseph looked in the mirror, adjusting his tie. Helen walked up behind him, checking to see what colors he was using. “Black and white again?”

“Black and white again,” he nodded, “We have yet another fundraiser to sit through.” He watched her sigh and roll her eyes, “Is the babysitter here yet?”

“I just called, she’s on her way,” Helen nudged Joseph aside, comparing some of the jewelry she was thinking of wearing with Joseph’s choice of color. “Do we have to go dressed so plainly?”

“We can’t stand out too much, you know that.” Joseph pointed at the pair of earrings he preferred Helen wear: a pair of small hanging diamond earrings. She shrugged, knowing he wasn’t a fan of the hoops anyway. They both walked away from the mirror, Joseph walking to his closet and Helen to her jewelry box.

“You know what you should wear?” Helen looked over at Joseph, who was already shaking his head, “Why not? I worked very hard on yours.”

“I know you did. But you know we can’t risk the Imperials finding us. Nothing would stand out more than a couple of Imperial shiroshi at a National fundraising event.” Joseph looked at the several black suit jackets he had. “Pinstripe or no pinstripe?” He whispered to himself. He looked aside and saw Helen eyeing her traditional dress longingly. He walked behind her and kissed the back of her head.

“You know, only the man’s robe is called a shiroshi. Mine is a shirashe.” Joseph looked at the light blue robe. Wrapped around it was a brown soft leather belt. On the cuff of the right arm were three brown stripes, each getting thinner as they got farther from the cuff. The outer two stripes were connected by diagonal lines. Above the stripes was a very stylized depiction of a brown boar. Although he couldn’t see them, Joseph knew there were three water lillies just to the right of the boar. The left arm had been removed and replaced with a jade-colored arm with a silver dragon swirling around it. This arm had no stripes on the cuff.

“I did not know that,” he told her, “You’ve never told me. What do the colors represent?”

She smiled, “You know what they stand for.”

He kissed her temple, his facial hair tickling her face, “But I forget, love. You know that I am an aged man, after all. We forget things, sometimes.”

“You are not a jungdshi, not yet. You still have a few years to go. This,” she ran her fingers across his mustache and goatee, “helps you keep from looking old, however.”

“You know, here in the Union, most young men try and grow this to look older.”

She gave him a peck on the cheek, “But you’re not a National, dear.” She walked to the robe and touched it, “The brown represents earth, and is most often used by farmers. My uncle, as you know, was not a particularly wealthy man, but he did well enough for our family. We are of the clan Dyunhou, represented by the boar, a strong and hearty animal. I remember on our family farms, we bred huge pigs that we used to till our lands.”

“Did you have a favorite?”

“I had a small piglet. I named her Basleunne, after the peach tree she loved to sleep under. I assume that she has been slaughtered by now, although whether for food or by the government as a price for our desertion, I will never know.” She shrugged sadly, “Or perhaps she’s still alive today. I hope she is, and that she still naps under her favorite tree.”

“We can get a pig.”

Helen laughed, “I am not raising a pig in this house, Joseph. You already give me enough messes to clean up.” She continued looking at her shirashe, rubbing the delicate silken cloth between her fingers, “The blue represents health. My family was very hearty, very healthy. Sicknesses would roll through our village and my family would remain untouched. The jungdshi in the village would often say that a Dyunhou chooses when he is ready to die.”

“Must be nice. What about the other arm?”

“That’s from your shiroshi. I made yours before we married. The colors and the dragon are normally reserved for the royal family, but you--the exceptional person you are--you deserve these colors. For what you are, and what you’ve done, the Emperor and his family are right to fear you and those like you.” Joseph watched her stare at the garment a few seconds longer before sighing in defeat.

“You know what? I think we can afford to show off a little bit.” Helen turned around and saw her husband undoing his tie, walking back to his closet. “Let’s show these uppity Nationals some culture.” Joseph pulled out a wire hanger with a long white bag hanging off it. He unzipped it, revealing his long jade-green robe covered in intricate silver details. The left arm had been replaced with a light blue one with a brown boar on it. He looked and saw Helen covering her face, the excitement glittering in her eyes.

“You will have to help me wear this properly, however,” Joseph told her, hanging it up on a hook nearby. He walked up to her and took her hands, “We can’t do this all the time, but tonight we will indulge in your pride.”

I like domestic Joseph and Helen. Again, they’re an interesting couple, and it’s a shame they don’t get more attention in the main series. But that’s okay, because that’s what this is for, right? Right.

Anyway, feel free to keep reading below if you want to catch up on the interesting friendship between the Dealer and Ellis the Damned.

So the Black Empire Day 3 entry (for non-romantic relationships) will focus on a duo that might or might not get a lot of attention in the main series: the Dealer and Ellis.

I mean, it probably will get a lot of attention, because they’re kindred spirits. Everyone in the Black Empire series is absurdly old, but none of them actually have any response to their age (everyone is basically an ageless, beautiful 20 or 30-year-old). Only Dante and Ellis are really aware that they’re old. Like, really old. And it bothers them.

They’ve also bonded thanks to Mira. They were both her mentors and saw something valuable in her that they wanted to cultivate. And then, well...

So we’re gonna introduce the dynamic between the Dealer and Ellis.

Dante’s eyes shot open. He closed them and sighed, sitting up in his bed. He rubbed his forehead, letting his fingertips slide into his hair. The dull thudding in his head had not ceased. He opened the drawer in his nightstand and pulled out the small bottle of ibuprofen, dropping one of the white pills into his hand. He filled a small glass with some water and downed the pill. It would work eventually.

He stood up and stretched, feeling the satisfying crack of his back. One.Two. Three. Four. Aw yeah, it was going to be a satisfying day. He put his shirt and jacket on and walked out his door. He walked past Ellis, who was leaning on the wall just outside his door. As he walked by, Ellis started following him.

“You slept for 30 minutes this time,” Ellis said plainly, “You must have been tired.”

“Hey, look, you’re learning sarcasm! That’s nice.” The Dealer put his hands in his pockets, “Did you get concerned? Think I was finally dying?”

“It’s funny that you think you’ll die peacefully in your sleep.”

“Oo, two for two! We’re making progress!” He pulled his hands of his pockets and fist pumped for a second. “So, what’s going on? Anything new happening?”

"Still the same as it was thirty minutes ago. The anomalies have not been able to break through our wards, and it doesn’t look like the Children have noticed we’ve put them up. Or, if they have, they don’t seem to care.”

“That’s still good. Any news on the Carter Investigation?”

“High Magister Carter has been interviewed, but Magnus Embras is not cooperating. We have subpoenaed her, but she is ignoring our summons.”

“I will get Synoth to sign off on a warrant for her arrest. Embras will cooperate one way or another. I don’t have Deathwatch for people to ignore it.”

“I appreciate your assistance.”

“Anytime, Ellis. Anytime.” The two continued walking down the hall until the Dealer suddenly stopped. “Do you ever think about her, Ellis?”

“Of course I do,” Ellis continued walking, passing the Dealer, who started to follow, “I’ve just accepted that she’s gone.”

“No, you haven’t. I can see it in your face.”

“I didn’t love her like you do.”

“Ellis,” Dante’s stern voice stopped the death knight, “You’re a bad liar.”

Ellis stayed silent. He sighed before turning to the Dealer, “I didn’t love her like you do. But I do think of what we lost. Orvyn is a good Grand Paladin. He will make a fine leader for the Prime.”

“But he can’t replace Mira.”

“No one can replace Mira,” Ellis shook his head, “But I’m not going to replace her. I can’t. You can’t. So, we won’t.” Ellis turned away, “Now let’s go, General. You have a busy day ahead of you.”

The Dealer and Ellis will get a lot more attention as friends as the books go on. I think the next book in the Black Empire series does a better job of establishing their dynamic. Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you’ll check out some of the other things I’ve done.