Having failed miserably to convince Paarthurnax that she must return home, Xerxes had departed the borders of Noctisardor empty-handed and heavy-hearted. Nita would be furious, and yet she would also be devastated to know of the crimson sandflower's fate.

And so the old Persian set his jaw, and after the span of several days, he returned unto the borders, intending another attempt to woo the Roman's Caius away from her mate, that she might rise to become a Shabanu in his beloved sands.

But she was hasty, and Xerxes decided to seek out her mate instead. Tipping back his crown, the man called for the Roman who ruled the Bypass, and fell silent. His retinue of guards, four strong, muscular Persians, formed a quiet semicircle 'round their lord, and the three young wolfesses stood alongside Xerxes, contemplative and beautiful.

And as he waited, the Shah's heart grew hard against this man who had taken Paarthurnax and turned her soul against the possibility of returning home.

Proud, yes, he was, and he burned with a king's fury at having been left standing near the borders as if he were no more important than the emperor's slaves. Thusly, his own eyes flashed with fire as at last the Roman appeared. Drawing himself up, the Shah watched the silver man impassively for a long moment before he spoke.

"Ego Xerxes, mercatorum de Samarkand," he said in the tongue of the man before him, without hesitation. Cato, one of the guards who stood nearby, had been raised in the recesses of Roman land; he had taught the words to Xerxes on long military forays in their younger days of ceaseless battle and campaigns against the enemies who fought to break the Shah's southernmost gate.

"Ego patrem Paarthurnax," Xerxes added, meeting the Roman's eyes and holding them coldly, easily. "Vos have bene servavit; tibi gratias ago quod pro," the Persian added in the same tone; he did not truly believe that Shadow had done well by his sandflower, for she was not happy.

"Hic non est eius domi , tamen. Est et cum matre in regionibus harenae." His meaning was blatant, and at last he fell silent, awaiting the man's reply.

Θα έχουμε μια διαφορά κατά τη γνώμη επί του σημείου αυτού, Xerxes retorted lowly; if Shadow wished to bandy words like a scuffing buck, then so be it. The Shah would repay him in kind. Yet he returned to his senses quickly — ears thrust forward in rapt attention.

It seemed the Roman, while he would not favor Paarthurnax with the amenities to which she had been accustomed to during her rearing in Samarkand, would also not deign to command her. While the Persian would ironically not have appreciated Shadow demanding that the sandflower return home, he remarked inwardly upon the obvious weakness in the other, based upon his inability to control his wife.

She is a stubborn creature, as I am sure you know. But she is not happy here. His emerald eyes grew cool. Why is that, eagle of Rome?