Noctisardor Bypass bloodwine

for @Paarthurnax <3

he is traveling with a retinue of four guards, two concubines, and a female slave ... because that's how he rolls okay and this is a ridic long post srry

The fierce Nita Frostfur had borne Xerxes enough children for him to recognize the fifth thickening of her otherwise slim waist, the contented look in her beauteous eyes. You are with child, he had stated, somewhat surprised that Ahura had blessed them this late into their lives, and Nita had confirmed it. Xerxes had ended their wanderings there; the royal pair had returned unto Susa, renamed Samarkand after Dariush' passing. Having left the lands in the care of his second-born son from their last litter, the Shah expected his courts and decrees to be firmly intact, for his sons and daughters to greet himself and their mother with aplomb and excitement, for the gods to smile down upon the hotlands, for Nita had returned home to bring forth the next generation of Samarkand. Instead, and bile roiled within him as he remembered, the royal courtiers had been dispersed. The land lay untended beneath the fierce visage of the burning sun. Viinturuth had left to seek his own birthright, as he had not wanted the reins of Samarkand, and this Xerxes understood, but Sahloknir was quietly afraid, Nebuchadnezzer had been gangpressed into service among Samarkand's soldiers, who had been sent on a crusade far into the fiery southern reaches of Xerxes' kingdom, and Atarxerxes cowered in fear, the marks of Sahrotaar's rage evident upon his slight body. Vashti and Esther had been closeted away into the guarded, locked reaches of the harem, an unbefitting place for royal daughters, and Paarthurnax was nowhere to be found. Xerxes had immediately shouted for his second son, who slunk into his presence with resentment flaring in his green-gold gaze. The Shah had demanded to know what had transpired in his absence, and in the next breath he stripped Sahrotaar of his title as acting ruler, vowing in a rage to recall Viinturuth from whatever frozen waste he had sought and instate him as Shah. Nita was ferocious; savagery burned in her, despite the fact that her sides had begun to softly round with Xerxes' newest brood — she lashed Sahrotaar with her tongue until he, defeated, revealed the scheme he had devised for Paarthurnax, true apple of the old Shah's eye, for she resembled Nita so closely — he had sought to sell her in marriage and servitude to the harem of a neighboring foreigner, with whom Xerxes himself was on unsure footing. Marriages of alliance between countries was not unheard of; any of Xerxes' daughters would have fetched fine dowries and prolonged advantages for their father's military and political gambits, and each of them understood this. But to send Paar away to act as a mere concubine to an unknown dog, to strip her of her rightful and royal titles — it angered Xerxes to greater heights of fire. It seemed his daughter had escaped her shameful fate; she had run away from Samarkand and her brother's greed, but there was no true word of where she had gone. Xerxes, enraged and desperate to locate his desert flower, sprang into lawful motion to undo what his faithless son had done. He immediately sent a regiment of guards to reverse Sahrotaar's jealous order that his brother Nebuchadnezzer be forced to fight as a commoner upon Xerxes' southernmost borders, and to bring him home. Atarxerxes was tended by Nita, with whom he had grown closest, and another battalion was dispatched to seek out Viinturuth with an order that he return to Samarkand immediately. And though Nita did not like to hear it, Xerxes disallowed her from traveling with him to find their Paar; not only was pregnancy full upon her, her presence as Shabanu would aid her in cleansing Samarkand of the wicked stamp Sahrotaar had placed upon it. Upon his departure, Xerxes ordered that Sahloknir help Nita to repair the political damages Sahrotaar had wrought, and his second son he placed under heavy guard, to await punishment once his father and brothers had returned. The ageing Shah had traveled for a month in the vague direction of the Seahawk Valley, but missteps by his guards, unfitted for the more frigid lands, had resulted in Xerxes' emergence at the Teekon Wilds. Three of his soldiers had perished; the rest of his entourage buried them where they had fallen and pressed on. It was a crisp autumn morn that found Xerxes upon the Rome-scented border of Noctisardor. His four remaining guards fanned into a protective stance around him; the two concubines and their handmaid hung back shyly, though curiosity shone in their eyes. The trek had been arduous, but Xerxes' familiarity with the climes had resulted in a better awareness of where to find prey and shelter. Paarthurnax was here; the Persian had caught gentle breaths of her scent along this claimed land. He did not hesitate in tilting his crown to call her to him, for it was high time she returned unto Samarkand and her role as its princess.