• Memory • Children of the Empire (Praetorum)

[Luther]

27th of Ymiden, 708

-and I couldn't help but laugh when the recruit accused me of engaging in 'dishonorable combat'. He was still too young to understand the purpose of my unit, too full of the songs bards would sing to spread the Empire's glory. I did not punish him for speaking out of turn, as there was no harm in a recruit's ignorance. Besides, he would see the results of my squad soon enough.

This trial I've been instructed to order some in my unit to soften up an encampment before our legionnaires come in for the kill, and I am curious to see how the newest among them will perform with these mission objectives. In particular, I have high hopes for Luca, a recruit who I believe has great potential for sabotage and infiltration-

"Luther! Luther?! By our holy protector, where are you?!"

With a roll of his eyes, Luther carefully closed the leather-bound journal he held in his hands. He looked out to his pacing mother, Marcella, in crop field, attempting to appraise the severity of her annoyance from a distance to see whether or not he could sneak in a few more minutes of reading. Seeing that she had not yet resorted to cursing, the youth figured he could work in a couple more pages. Luther began flipping through the journal to find his place again, but stopped as a sudden crack filled the air. The teen blanched white. She had skipped cursing and gone straight to breaking things. By the Empress, he was doomed.

Nearly tripping over himself to arise from his secret reading place, Luther rushed over to where his seething mother now stood with a broken hoe in had.

"Mama! I'm real sorry, I was just finishin' up some chores is all," Luther began, the excuse running off of his tongue before even his feet had stopped moving towards the women. It wasn't quite a lie, his parents always did say learning was the first chore to be done, and he couldn't think of a better way to learn than by reading his grandfather's war journals. The fact that he wasn't even supposed to have taken the book from his elder's study was another matter entirely.

Still, he could feel the disappointment in her gaze as he approached; she obviously being in some way dissatisfied with his appearance. It was true that Luther was a bit raggedy in appearance; wearing nothing but patched brown trousers held to his waist by a set of rough suspenders and a white work-shirt stained with mud. No boots clung to his feet, and his hair, while short, was a tangled mess of chocolate brown knots. He looked like a farm boy, and Luther figured that was because he was one. However, totrial his mother had different opinions on how he should look.

"Son, I see that book in your hands. You were off reading stories, not doing chores." His mother began, her voice level despite her apparent anger. "Beyond that, you weren't even supposed to be doing chores today. You were supposed to be getting cleaned up with your brothers." Nostrils flaring, it was clear the woman was starting to lose her temper. "And you look a mess! We're having company over today. Your grandfather's old unit coming over to visit, and you look like you lost a wrestling match the pig."

"Hey! Me and the pig agreed it was a draw!" Luther shot back, the joke spilling from his lips before he thought to stop himself. The youth got a swat to the back of his head for his humor, but he still saw an amused smile struggle to be suppressed on his mother's face.

"Just wash up already, they'll be here soon," Marcella replied, an exasperated sigh signaling that there would be no argument on the matter.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry," the teen relented, heading back to his family's homestead by his mother's side. With a smile, he looked up to her. "Love you Mama,"

"Love you son," came her immediate reply.

With a hurried step, the two traveled quickly back to the study, if spartan, shape of their home. Judging from the noise within the house, their guests had already arrived. His mother split off, moving to enter the house so she could entertain the guests and explain her son's tardiness. Luther rushed a quick wash of his face, his hands, and his feet from the nearby well before joining her. He peeked his head in, a nervous smile spreading across his lips as he caught the first sight of these strangers.

"Sorry for being late, I, uh, guess I got just lost in a book," the teen admitted, figuring it was best not further annoy his mother by perpetuating his not-quite-lie.

[Praetorum]

"It was a brilliant maneuver, really. The old watcher had us make cuts in the saddles of the enemy, not enough to destroy them, but enough, just barely enough to weaken them. Then he had us put poison in the horses feed, to make them ill and cantankerous, and that was all. No assassinations, no poison in the water supply, nothing that would be noticed by the generals in charge." Luca waved his hands exuberantly as he spoke, his eyes alight with the retelling of the story. Riding besides him, Vitaria rolled her eyes, the barest traces of a smile on her lips. "You lads should have seen the battle the next day; it was a total rout. Half their mounted troops thrown from their horses, the other half falling off as their saddles snapped. Wasn't three breaks before the entire encampment was throwing down their weapons."



"Don't discount the rest of us, darling." She reminded him. "Your horse is trying to veer left Serinus. Prae, could you?"



Prae nodded, riding a little closer to his brother to coax the horse back on course. "I can do it myself." Ri grumbled, tugging at the reins.



"I would never dream of underselling your part in the tale, love." Luca grinned at his wife, blowing her a kiss. "You know, watching her gallop down that hill that Saun trial, lance in hand, leading the charge towards the enemy, that was—"



"— the moment you fell in love." The twins chorused, sharing an exasperated glance. "So you've said, father." Praetorum added. 



"Repeatedly." Serinus laughed. 



"And no doubt, you'll hear it again." Vitaria gestured ahead, to where a modest farmstead lay. "We've arrived."



All four of them considered the place as they rode up. "I must say, I have a hard time imagining the old spy here." Luca mused. "Although I suppose that is his specialty." Praetorum was inclined to agree. The stories his parents had painted over the years had left in him an indelible image of a clever, silver-tongued old fox, as much a ghost as a man, capable of slipping in among the enemies of the Empress and sowing the seeds of discord before disappearing without a trace.


This house, and the humans emerging from it, seemed as plain as could be. Serinus looked at him, a gleam in his eyes asking: well, what did you expect?



Praetorum's muzzle twitched. Not that much, but not this.


There was a soft, amused huff from Ri. You listen to too many of dad's stories, idiot.



"Hush, you two." Vitaria said, long since accustomed to the twins' silent communication. "Socialize."


Almost as soon as the four of them dismounted, they were ushered into the house in a whirlwind of greetings and introductions. Five humans, three generations, it seemed, with Luca's former Watcher, Caedro, at the head. The room they were shown into was large enough for the nine of them, and it wasn't long before they were all settled in, the sound of laughing and chatting beginning to permeate the room. The ithecals had declined the offer of chairs, electing instead to kneel on the floor, which put them closer to eye level with the seated humans.



Socialize, Vitaria had said, so the twins socialized, making small talk with the pair of brothers. Praetorum couldn't help but notice that the pair had pulled up a third chair with them though, and in a lull in conversation, pointed it out to them. 


"Oh" One of them said. "We're actually waiting on —"



"Sorry for being late, I, uh, guess I got just lost in a book."



Praetorum turned, peering over Serinus's head to see a young human, just now walking into the room. Prae smiled politely at him 



"It's no problem, we've been there before." Serinus said



"You've been there." Praetorum teased. 



"I've been there before. Nice to meet you. I'm Serinus, and this oaf— " Ri elbowed Prae lightly— "is Praetorum." The twins each extended a hand for him to shake. 



"Those two are our parents." Praetorum added. "Vitaria and Luca."

[Luther]

Luther had seen ithecal plenty of times before, after all they were a common sight in the Empire. However, he couldn't help but marvel at the presence of them in their human sized home. Next to the chairs and table of the room, it became truly apparent how massive the species could be. They looked so different to the collection of humans in front of them, but seeing how this Praetorum and Serinus acted as brothers, it became quickly apparent that they were far more simalr than reptilian appearance indicated.

Smiling, the teenager slipped his smaller hand into Prae's and Serinus' scaled claws and shook both at the same time. He then turned to Vitria and Luca, their two parents, and gave a respectful bow.

"Real nice to meet y'all," he offered.

"If you meant that you'd be on time," Magnus, his eldest brother, chided him seriously.

"I said I was sorry, Maggie," Luther shot back, smirking as his brother bristled at the nickname. The eldest opened his mouth to chastise the teenager again, but Marcus, the middle brother, stopped the conflict with a gentle hand on Magnus' shoulder.

"Guys, let's not," Marcus pleaded.

With a irritated huff, Luther bit his tongue in silence. Neither boy apologized, but such was the nature of his relationship to his brothers. Magnus and Luther constantly butting heads and Marcus playing the peacekeeper. He turned his gaze to his mother for support, but the adults of the group were too deeply embroiled in conversation to pay them any notice after introductions were done.

"Anyway," Marcus drawled, ever-conscious of the quiet lull in conversation that had occurred between the five boys. "I know from my grandfather's stories that your parents are soldiers. How much have they told you of their time with him?"

Luther's mood perked up at the mention of soldiering and his grandfather's stories. His gaze turned towards the two ithecal kneeling across from them. "I was reading about one of your mother's first missions with our grandfather! Have they told you about it? Oh, what's it like growing up with military parents? Do they want you to be soldiers? Do you want to be soldiers?"

The teenager beamed at the two strangers, excited to hear their replies and unaware of how rapidly he was interrogating the two.