ellerie
(smirks) Rosetta! You should have
told me you were coming.
I would have prepared
a warmer welcome.
rosetta
Well done, Ellerie. It did not occur to me for a
second your hatred for me could run so deep.
ellerie
(serious) I would never wish you harm.
I will demolish all that you stood for, crush your hopes and ambitions.
But I wouldn't harm my dear cousin.
rosetta
Is that really all you saw in me? All that our
bond was worth? I only wanted you to live.
ellerie
I know that, I extend
you the same grace.
rosetta
At the cost of your own countrymen
and the people of the Crescent, you've gotten your revenge.
Do you feel no guilt bringing war to these shores?
ellerie
The words of one outsider alone
cannot bring about an invasion.
I did no more than stir up existing
cruel ambitions held by House Heron.
rosetta
Trying to draw some equivalence
between us means nothing.
The Princess would be disgusted
by the lows you've sunk to.
ellerie
Would she? Or would she respect
my commitment to her cause, embittered by the world which
had rejected her goodwill?
You lost the right to judge
when you betrayed our cause.
rosetta
She was a dreamer, Ellerie!
You must have known her ambitions
were doomed by lack of support.
Love blinded you to the obvious,
that it was a path of inevitable ruin!
ellerie
Better an attempt at change than
continuing down a path of decline!
Admit it. It was never about the
practicalities, it was never about me.
You just wanted the easy way out,
whatever benefited you most.
rosetta
You think I did not have to suffer
through countless sleepless nights, her reflection stalking me in the dark?
She meant equally as much to me.
ellerie
Your actions would prove otherwise.
Guilt is no defence for treachery.
rosetta
My decision had no effect on the inevitable.
I had my duties to follow. If there's any way
I could've saved her, I would have done so.
ellerie
That might be what you say to keep the
shades at bay, but I don't need to hear it.
rosetta
Then take your revenge, Ellerie. Strike
me down. I don't need your twisted mercy.
ellerie
But you'll get it all the same.
It's what you did for me, dear cousin.
rosetta
I truly believed I would find a different
person than what you've become.
ellerie
Then you didn't understand me enough.
I want you to live with the knowledge that
you brought to the Herons nothing but ruin.
Your name shall be reviled equally on
the Crescent and on the Mainland.
The last of the Herons, whose arrogance
condemned a dynasty lasting generations.
rosetta
...
ellerie
I had the Crescent, the lands of exiles,
to flee to. You'll have no such luck.
Between the King and the great houses,
who'll first smell the blood in the water?
Perhaps you could beg to marry some
fourth-born son for a scrap of land.
A tragic fate for the hope of the Herons.
rosetta
...
(Rosetta pauses.)
rosetta
I know what you're trying to do. You want
to break my spirit, have me fall on my sword, bypassing your perverted form of mercy.
ellerie
Don't overestimate your own importance.
You're one stepping stone on my journey.
It matters little if you live or die, with
House Heron as obliterated as it is.
rosetta
Then let me live, or prove
yourself to be a vow breaker.
ellerie
Then live, Rosetta. You'll live to witness
how I shall take all of House Heron's lands, trample the Mainland underfoot, to see the
Princess's name be given her rightful place.
rosetta
You're nothing like her. You'll set yourself
alight with the fires you start, Ellerie.
ellerie
Perhaps I will, perhaps I won't.
But it'll be one spectacular bonfire.
(Ellerie leaves.)
rosetta
Is this what you would've wanted, Princess?
To see Ellerie wage war on your behalf?
To forget all those principles you fought for,
to conquer in the name of conquest itself?
But this punishment is what I deserve.
That adventurer's words come to mind.
How could I have possibly justified a
conquest under such flimsy pretences?
Is what's under the facade nothing more
than an opportunist and a powermonger, who dressed up all her desires with the
self-deceiving excuse of moral necessity?
krynia
You let her go, Chief?
After all that?
ellerie
Without House Heron's army, she's nothing
more than another powerless noblewoman.
krynia
As were you, before you conquered the
Crescent! You can't possibly believe that.
ellerie
Fine, I admit my weakness. I thought rage
had hardened my resolve, but even then, I was unable to personally order her death.
For years, she had been my only companion.
krynia
You yourself recounted to me how she
betrayed your trust and broke those ties.
Chief, it's not like you to abandon an
advantage due to soft-heartedness.
ellerie
You've grown more of a backbone to
rebut me so directly. That is good to see.
However, my decision as Chief is final.
krynia
Forgive my impertinence, but this victory
was brought about by the whole Crescent.
It does their efforts, their sacrifice, a
disservice to let our greatest foe live.
ellerie
But I was the one who
made this victory possible.
Does this not make me the
one with the most say?
krynia
I suppose so, but even then, the interests
of the Crescent are being put at risk.
Chief, I can take a ship and go after her.
You wouldn't have to dirty your own hand.
ellerie
Krynia, if those closest to
you would betray your cause, can you say without a doubt
you'd cut them down?
krynia
Yes. I would, if it's what my
position demanded of me.
ellerie
Then you might make a finer
ruler than me one day.
For now, you're still my assistant.
Do not overstep your bounds.
krynia
Understood, Chief.
I'm sorry.
ellerie
Don't be. Your frustrations were perfectly
valid, but allow me this selfishness.