We Used to Be Friends, tag: maeniel!

[Urien Madox]

Wren was going to kill him.

Provided he didn't die hanging in a noose first, of course. He really couldn't tell what his fate might have been after this day, given the unusual circumstances surrounding his seizure by the authorities. Though the longer he sat alone in this room -- nine by nine, with two chairs and a sturdy oak table between them, one barred window of light adjacent to the seat and opposite the only door out, manacles around his wrists and ankle -- the less likely his imminent demise seemed to be. The guards hadn't brought him to an interrogation chamber because they'd ran out of space to house new inmates. Someone wanted answers. Well, good. So did he.

Even after he'd been knocked out, cuffed, and transported to his very own cell, Urien still had no idea what crime he'd performed that required a warrant out for his arrest. Ostensibly, it was smuggling -- but that wasn't anything new. If that was really worth locking him up, it should have happened a long time ago. And besides, last he'd checked (though admittedly he was not as up to speed with the law as he ought to have been), it wasn't so severe an offense on its own that he needed to be imprisoned, even if temporarily. He wasn't violent. He didn't dabble in slavery or illegal substances. And he wasn't any threat to anyone important. Sure, he was a repeat offender, and he had resisted the officers who'd come for him in the tavern (in self-defense, he might argue), but couldn't they have just handed him a fine and a slap on the wrist and sent him on his way already?

None of this made sense. Why him? Why now?

Whose daughter had he fooled around with to land himself in this piss pool?

At least one good thing about being isolated was that it had given him time to finally think about his situation with no distractions. It wasn't that Wren was bad company -- quite the opposite, she was a delight -- that was actually the problem. He liked her too much, and had found himself far too invested in fitting into her day that he didn't take enough caution in plotting out his. He'd promised her that he wouldn't get arrested, and he'd failed to keep it. (Though, in retrospect, he should have probably altered that oath to discount penalty for being taken in, so long as he managed to get himself back out.)

Overnight, Urien had given his circumstances as much attention and scrutiny as he could manage...and still couldn't come up with a reasonable cause for his incarceration. None of the men standing watch outside the bars seemed to have much information to spare, either, probably of too low rank to know who he was or why he was important, just following the command to stay vigilant around him. Nevertheless, the people who ordered it believed he was aware of the reasons, else they wouldn't have wanted to talk instead of simply sentencing him come morning. And the more they thought he knew, the greater chance he had at getting out, whether that was through talking his way to freedom, or just buying himself some time to think up a solid escape plan.

Urien was still contemplating what questions they might ask him, and wondering if he could get a toilet break soon because that singular mug of dirty water in the morning was finally reaching his bladder, when the door to the room swung open.

[Maeniel Keskhari]

”Urien Madox sir. He’s in the interrogation cell below.” The sergeant saluted Maeniel, a smile trying to hide on his face. The man was stupidly pleased with himself, Maeniel could see it on his face, in his posture. He had an arrogant stance about him, like he deserved a medal pinned on that puffed out chest of his. The High Admiral stared at the soldier, his face impassive even though he was just about boiling. He had made a hard effort to keep people off Urien, to ignore the man’s smuggling of people into the city. It wasn’t a crime that was specifically huge in terms of punishment, though illegal, it was something that Maeniel had been aiming to keep a blind eye to.

For personal reasons.

Thanks to this gung-ho, order ignoring soldier, Maeniel’s former best friend was sitting in shackles in the pit of a room below him, and there was nothing he could do to turn a blind eye now.

“Wonderful.” Maeniel’s tone was laced with heavy sarcasm. “Another pile of shit on my already steaming heap. Who gave you those orders?” Maeniel pushed a leather parcel of paper on his desk aside as he took the report the soldier put down. ”I…uh..well.” “Ah, acting out of your given orders, being a hero? Trying to gain a medal of somekind or a promotion?” Maeniel looked up at him from under his brows. “Get out of my office. Your posted at the gate, until I give you other directions.” Maeniel growled, and the soldier saluted stiffly and left the room.

Once the man was gone, Maeniel rubbed his forehead with his hand. Had this been any other criminal idiot, Maeniel would’ve left him in the room for a day or two. But this wasn’t, this was someone close, personal. It was someone who Maeniel had wanted to see but never could. And now the man was sitting three floors below Maeniel’s feet, waiting for whatever was going to walk in that room.

Maeniel rose from his seat, brushed his curly hair back with his hand, and made his way from his office to the bowels of the barracks. As much as he wanted to see Urien, he didn’t.

Not like this.

When he reached the door, he ordered the two soldiers away. They were reluctant, but left Maeniel to himself. For a moment, the High Admiral kept his hand on the handle, and thought. Urien had become a fast friend when Maeniel was his superior. They had become brothers of sorts. They shared stories, beers, no doubt women on their drunken excursions. Urien had been someone Maeniel could confide in and trust. Maeniel had been devastated when Urien left the service, he had tried to keep contact with him, and he had more often than not let Urien’s ship through un-checked. When rumors of his smuggling began, Maeniel didn’t believe it. He still didn’t, but facts were difficult to disprove.

He pushed the door open.

He almost froze, keeping his face a placid mask as he shut the door, walked over to Urien without a word and un-hooked the shackles that were on his wrists and ankles. When he was done, he sat down silently in the chair on the other side of the table. For a while, his eyes remained on the table-top before him, before he looked up, locked gazes with his friend…his best friend.

And he smiled.

“You always were a pain in my ass weren’t you?’ Maeniel chuckled. “What did you do to get in here Urien?”

[Urien Madox]

He couldn't believe his eyes when the uniformed officer strode into the room. Urien sat in complete silence, brain trying to catch up with what he was actually seeing. Even after the man had undone the pieces of iron that had weighed down his limbs, he still couldn't seem to understand what was going on. He rubbed at his wrists, a little red from chafing against the cuffs, but didn't take his gaze off the other man for even a second.

Then he sat down, smiled, and laughed that old and all too familiar laugh.

"Maeniel Godsdamned Keskhari," Urien breathed, finally, breaking out into a grin of his own.

Urien had grown up with three brothers—scratch that, three half-brothers—and yet none of them had ever been so endeared to him as the man whom he shared no blood with, at all. Standing shoulder to shoulder on the decks, facing storms of arrows and rain alike, getting tossed about in the seas, established a sort of bond that couldn't be replicated elsewhere. Though he cared for his crew dearly, it was never quite the same as what was forged with Maeniel, his true brother-in-arms, the best friend he'd ever known.

How strange, then, to be sitting opposite each other, reflective of their divergent statuses. It was like looking into some dark mirror, or seeing two halves of the same coin.

Urien leaned back in his seat, still massaging his wrists as he put his elbows on the table. His head tilted to one side, lop-sided smirk on his lips, "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me that, actually."

[Maeniel Keskhari]

Maeniel laughed at him, pleased. "Y'know I did consider changing my name to include that as the middle. You did say it enough." Maeniel reached over the table, patting Urien's upper arm. "It's good to see you Uri."

It was, in honesty. Even under the current circumstances it was great to see him. A childhood friend, someone he could trust and share stories with. No matter the crimes Urien had been committing Maeniel struggled to make moves to actually do something about it. The financial fines were little compared to the thought of bringing his friend in under lock and key. It was wrong, sure, to give favoritism to someone who was against the law. But this was Urien, former sailor soldier, former best friend of Maeniel Keskhari. He was a good man, just doing the wrong things.

When Urien didn’t know why he was here, Maeniel gave a little sigh and leaned back.

“I had an over zealous officer convinced you were just the apex of criminal minds and had to be brought in.” Maeniel shrugged lightly, grinning. “I told him you weren’t that smart, but hey.” The Admiral laughed, trying hard not to be practically bubbling over in joy at seeing Urien.

“Half of that is true actually. I did have an over zealous officer, though his reason for bringing you in was complex – and stupid.”

Maeniel took note of Urien’s wrists and how he kept rubbing them. With a sigh, he glanced around the room. “I hate this pit, and you’re not the criminal scum that deserve to be sitting in it."

He had always called Urien brother. Though not by blood, the bond the men had shared in their time together made them as such. Maeniel only had a sister, so to share the kinship him and Urien did made Urien special, an exception to rules that Maeniel always followed. Perhaps it was this kinship that made Maeniel want to sit and chat with Urien like they had in the past, to catch up on things they had been up to in the years they hadn’t spoken. And to share information that Maeniel was sure both of them had for the other.

"You're here because of the shit going on in Woodbrook and Kettlemarsh. If you've been in the city I don't doubt you've heard all the colorful rumors about it going dark and what not and creatures causing the problems." Maeniel sighed. "Some people think you could be responsible for bringing our new friends to the Islands. After all, you're pretty much the most notorious smuggler in my roster of trouble-making ships." Maeniel shrugged lightly, smiling. He didn't care much about the fact that Urien smuggled people. He didn't much care about anything but knowing his friend was safe-enough.

Maeniel would have his back, always.

"Do you know anything about it Uri?"

[Urien Madox]

He wasn't sure whether to be pleased or slighted by the fact that Maeniel didn't register him as much of a threat. On the one hand, good, he didn't need to draw so much attention to himself. On the other? His ego was a little bruised.

"Oh ye of little faith," Urien muttered in response to the remark about not being 'that smart'. He'd gotten out of tougher binds than this before, though admittedly none on Escovan soil. But Maeni was only teasing (...wasn't he?) with his attempt to wound his pride, because that's what guys did. It wasn't as if their collective cunning hadn't been a total pain in the ass to their superiors back in the day. No, Maeniel knew what he was capable of doing, when he put his mind to it.

What it came down to was that, no matter which side they were on, his old friend trusted him enough to think he wouldn't try to escape, even without any chains to tether him. And in spite of Urien's honed self-preservative instinct...the man was absolutely right. They had each other's backs.

Unfortunately, even with the new details his friend provided, Urien still didn't have a solid grasp on what he was being accused of. Something about a couple of towns, and some troublesome creatures. Ooh, spooky. What in Pryyo's name was he talking about? "Woodbrook... Kettlemarsh... Those places sound familiar," he shrugged, brow drawn together in thought.

He sat in pensive silence for a while, only to surface with a detail that was far more irreverent than was probably appropriate. "Isn't Kettlemarsh that place we got sent to, after the Ir'Sathyr fiasco?" Urien didn't feel the need to specify which of their shenanigans he meant, though it did involve a life boat, three sheep, and a lot of rum, and resulted in a punishment that got them landlocked for at least a month's probation. He scratched at the unruly amount of stubble that had set in on his jaw as he recalled those days. "There was a girl you liked, who worked at the inn. Blond hair. Doe eyes. You know, the one with the face, and the..." he crudely gestured to his chest, where a woman's pillowy endowment might have been. "You know. What was her name? Illy? Elsie? Gods, she was pretty."

Though his tone seemed light, even attempting to be humorous, Urien wasn't that stupid. He knew that being flippant, when Maeniel just wanted to help him out, was only going to make the situation worse. Before the other man could even get mad at him for treating his question as a joke, he let out an exasperated sigh. "Look, this is the first I've heard about towns going, what'd you call it, dark?" It was true -- Wren hadn't said a word about creatures, though she'd been understandably preoccupied with the Masked Avenger guy, who posed a more immediate threat to her than trouble in a place she'd probably never even heard of or been to.

He flattened his palms on the smooth plane of the table. "I just got back from Kasi City. That's at least a month abroad, here and back, in travel alone. I even stopped by Landis a day before docking at Kyha. Check the logs." As if the High Admiral hadn't done so already. Urien knew that absence didn't necessarily break all ties to the disturbance outside the city, but at least it proved he didn't know anything was even happening.

Urien met his eyes with a stubborn look, "You really think I have something to do with it?" Whatever 'it' was -- he was hoping his friend might be able to enlighten him. Just because he wanted to be innocent didn't mean he didn't care what was happening on home turf.

[Maeniel Keskhari]

In retrospect, Urien wasn’t the threat that Maeniel considered worth hunting across Escovian soil and arresting and throwing in the noose. No, bringing people in illegally was of course a very hefty fine, and he would probably have to give the fines to him now that he was in custody and on record. In comparison to the issues going on now, Urien was as bad on his list of problems as a petty thief. But he wouldn’t tell his comrade that. Back in the day the two were a dynamic duo who would cause more problems than any criminal mastermind could. Their superiors had often attempted to separate the two from being in the same regiment. But Maeniel had always pulled rank or favor, and demanded that Urien remain in his ranks due to his, exceptional teaching of novice soldiers.

Ah, the good ol’ days.

Maeniel knew those cities were familiar to Urien. They’d caused enough trouble back in the day in both cities to make the Queen herself to mad, had she been queen then. If she had, no doubt she would’ve cuffed them both for idiocy and thrown them from the barracks. The two were lucky that the former High Admiral liked them enough to keep their shenanigans under wraps. When Urien brought up the Ir’Sathy fiasco, Maeniel nodded and smiled. Oh yes, he remembered alright, and Maeni knew he would. He sighed a little, a fond memory of sheep, a boat and more rum than a tavern could provide flooding into his thoughts. It almost made him laugh, and even their punishments almost made him laugh. They were young then, trouble making rabble. Good fun. “Elsie, yes. Y’know I almost proposed to her when I was drunk remember? You had to convince me she had more diseases than a dead rat to keep me from making that mistake. And then we drank a tavern under the table and I stumbled up to her room and…well you remember.” Maeniel laughed. There was no need to remind Urien of Maeniel’s stupidity when he was drunk and infatuated. He was sure his companion heard everything anyway.

Maeniel knew that Urien was just bringing up past stories for the good of it. He took no offense at the side-glance he’d given the question. Urien would respond in due time, it was how he was, how he’d always been. And Maeni was right, in a moment Urien seemed to come back to serious reality, and confessed that he didn’t know anything about the towns going dark. Maeniel believed him, instantly. “There’s been a lot going on. Rumors are more common in the city than fact, we’re trying to keep it quiet.” He didn’t blame Urien for not knowing. Especially when he confessed just being back from Kasi city. He didn’t have to explain to Maeniel the time frame that it took to get there, and of course he’d already checked the logs. Maeniel knew these things practically the instant they happened.

The stubborn look caused Maeniel to laugh. “Oh I don’t suspect you knowingly had something to do with it Urien. I’m more asking in regards to your…forte of profession.” Maeniel leaned back in his chair. “I’m sure the entire city knows your cargo isn’t just goods. Have you brought in anyone…odd, recently.”

[Urien Madox]

His profession. The disdain Maeniel had for his...alternative activities wasn't even remotely disguised. It made sense, of course -- as one of the highest ranking members of the nation's collective armed forces, how could he not see fit to uphold the law and look with scorn upon those who broke them?

But that was where their philosophies differed. Urien knew he was doing something he wasn't supposed to do, but that didn't mean it was inherently wrong.

If he'd wanted to be a rebel just for the sake of it, he might have chosen a more profitable activity to engage in. As far as he was concerned, he shouldn't have had to smuggle anyone. Escova should have welcomed those poor people with open arms, but the law insisted otherwise. Urien was saving lives by taking people far away from a dire situation the rest of Escova deliberately ignored. The war with the Barbarians wasn't imaginary. There was a reason these people were called Refugees and not just immigrants.

It made him bristle just a little, to be talked down to, like he was just being a nuisance and needed a slap on the wrist. Maeniel meant well, wanted to protect him, but he still couldn't see the bigger picture on the issue of the Refugees. Citizens were far quicker to blame the outside world than even consider the possibility that the trouble started within. So it bothered him, of course, and made it harder for him to even want to cooperate readily. Maybe (absolutely) that was petulant behavior, but it wasn't as if Maeniel was giving him a lot to work with, anyway.

"Odd?" Urien echoed back, offering nothing in the way of an answer. "I think you're going to have to be more specific, Maeni. There's all kinds of characters on that ship who're just part of my crew, people you might consider odd. Like I said, I don't even know what's happening out there. How'm I supposed to discern what's normal?"

[Maeniel Keskhari]

Urien really didn’t know. Maeniel had to let that settle in a moment, he sat upright a little in his chair, and he took a breath. Sure Urien had been away and hadn’t been around to hear all the rumors that people were talking about. Maeniel had believed that Urien had heard at least something in his port trips, or even in the time he was here on land in Escova. Yet he didn’t have a clue, not a damned clue.

Maeniel couldn’t expect him to, but for some reason he was hoping that Urien would be the great key in the giant puzzle he was facing.

Sighing, Maeniel nodded softly. “I’m sorry Urien. I guess I hoped you would be bursting with information for me. There have been disappearances in Woodbrook and Kettlemarsh.” Should he be telling him all of this? Either way he would hear something eventually. “Rumors have come in that strange creatures are the cause of it, odd, people looking creatures.” Maeniel shrugged. “It’s a rumor of course, but the fact is something – or someone- is causing the cities to fail communication to us here.” Maeniel offered his hands to Urien. “I have also lost one of my patrol ships off the coast on the other side of the Island. Gone, vanished.” Maeniel ran a hand through his hair. “You know how hard it is to sail over there, with the reef so close and having to move around it carefully. But the entire ship is gone, no traces.”

Urien needed to know something, had to know. Maeniel needed him to give him information, so he could let him go and pretend that Urien was actually the hero he once was, and not the criminal he now was. He didn’t want to let his friend fall.

“Is there anything…anyone….any situation that peaked that little voice in your head that used to tell us when something was wrong? Out of place?”

[Urien Madox]

"A whole ship? You're losing your edge, Keskhari," Urien joked, because...well, it was him. Approaching a grave situation without even a touch of humor wasn't his style. But he knew how much his friend prided himself on his work ethic, on being a good soldier—it was Maeniel who'd pushed him to be not just better, but the best, when they served together. He wasn't High Admiral of the entire Escovan fleet for no reason whatsoever. One ship in hundreds still meant a lot, especially one that didn't fall in battle or by accident. It had simply vanished. Meanwhile, villages were unreachable. Thinking the two events were connected didn't require much stretching of the imagination.

And that was a problem bigger than either of them. Even a fool like Urien could understand that.

His smile faded as he tried to think of anything that could help. But what did he know? Urien didn't bring people aboard that he found threatening or menacing, who might in any way endanger himself or his crew; it was mostly families, women and children, veterans who just wanted a new life. It had never been about the money, though he didn't object to compensation. He still had a business to run. Still, his gut would have warned him, if not his crew. And how could he even be sure he hadn't brought in something months, or even years ago, that seemed benign at the time, and the danger it posed was only manifesting now?

"I wish I could tell you I knew something, anything," because he was still a patriot, and he cared about his country, even if he didn't always agree with her policies, "but I just...don't. I'm sorry." He shook his head, "Nothing's leaping out at me, and I can't even tell you whether the problem stems from a person, or an object. If you think it's magic that's causing trouble, I'm not the person to ask. I import things all the time, legally, for members of the Guild. I'll hand over log books if you want an expert to look it over. Heck, send a patrol to the Star. She's due for an inspection, anyhow."

Urien sighed, and leaned back in his seat. "You could've just sent a note, y'know. We could've talked about this over dinner and drinks, like civilized people." His answers would have been the same, though he wouldn't have had to sleep in a piss soaked cell after having the shit kicked out of him by overambitious soldiers. It only occurred to him then, though, that the lengths the Military had gone to arrest him wasn't just about getting answers. Normally, smuggling was something that got a slap on the wrist, not a punch in the gut. The port authority had warned him for a reason. "Unless the crown needed a scapegoat for adding to the so-called 'Refugee problem', and I'm the lucky winner to draw the short straw on that."

There were plenty of other smugglers, far less selective and more greedy, and much crueler, than he was, that could have fit the bill. But he was the only one who had a personal history with the High Admiral. He was accessible, and of a higher profile. Why not make an example of his flagrant disobedience? He narrowed his eyes. "Has Her Majesty forgotten she's not a native daughter, either?"

[Maeniel Keskhari]

Sure, Maeniel was losing his edge. He wouldn’t deny that. He could feel it in his bones. Since Astrea was suddenly married and the events of the two cities being lost in the dark, Maeniel could feel something unraveling. He was losing control, there was a fear that he had let something slip, he could have ignored something that was valuable, more than it had seemed at the time. When Urien said that, Maeniel gave a sigh, and dropped his head a little, his hand moving to rub his eyebrows. “Yeah, I’m beginning to see that.” Was all he said.

He was hoping Urien had something, anything. He was hoping that once Urien heard all this, he would suddenly remember seeing a strange ship, a strange people, anything that made him go ‘what the hell?’. It seemed like no one knew anything. It was frustrating, overwhelming, it gave Maeniel a headache.

Maeniel listened to Urien and gave a slight sigh. He appreciated everything that Urien was offering, to look over his ship, to investigate logs, everything. That meant a lot, it showed Maeniel that while he was doing things that weren’t entirely legal, he still cared about his country. Maeniel gave a nod. “I understand Urien, I really do.” Maeniel gave a sigh. “I don’t need your logs, or to inspect your ship.” Maeniel gave a wave of his hand. “Urien, let me be frank with you a moment okay?” The High Admiral gave his friend a smile. “I know what you’re doing, I know the type of people you’re brining here, and while it’s illegal, I understand why.” Maeniel knew Uri, he knew the man cared about people, and had that feeling of righteousness and the need to do good.

For his comment about drinks and dinner, Maeniel laughed. “It wasn’t my idea to bring you in. You’ve been on our ‘list’ for a while Urien, one of my officers decided to take it into his own hands to find you, how he knew where you were is beyond me. I’ve been doing my best to keep you off my radar.” Maeniel gave Urien a smile, though it was soft, and lost immediately. “You are technically a threat to the nation, but I’d like to think that you won’t destroy us. You were once an officer of the crown, I can’t forget that.”

And he never would.

At Urien’s comment about Astrea, Maeniel bristled just a little. He defended Her Majesty with all he had, and to hear a cut, or what he assumed was one, irritated him, even from Urien.

”I’m sure she has not. What she does remember, is that she is responsible for everything in this nation, including me. Towns gone dark and ships gone lost is something that’s hard to maintain control over. Even for Her Majesty.”

Maeniel sat up a little. “This pit reeks. How about we go into my office Urien. I trust you won’t sprint for the door if I let you out?” Something more civil, more friendly. Less..criminal and cop.

[Urien Madox]

Urien studied his friend's reactions carefully, especially the moment after he'd brought up the Queen. Maeniel had always been the chivalrous sort—he fit in far better with those highborn lords than Urien ever had, despite his father's best attempts at reigning him in as a boy—but the immediate rise to Astraea's defense was more intense than he expected.

Ooh. Had he touched a nerve there?

If their conversation had been a touch lighter in tone, he might have jabbed him about it, asked if he had the hots for the Ice Queen (har har). But given the ferocity of his manner, the joke would probably be ill-received. Especially at a time like this. Urien was already toeing the line with him, anyway. Best not to get himself thrown back in that rotting hole by being his usual oh-so-charming self and offending his only ticket out of the joint.

He matched the other man's posture, sitting up at attention with his hands flattened on the table. "No sprinting, I swear. Maybe a jog or a skip, though?" he grinned stupidly, because it was a stupid joke. But he was eager to appear as utterly harmless as he felt at the moment.

Uri reached up to scratch at the stubble on his chin. "I could use a drink. Or a bath. Probably a bath more." His clothes had been clean when he'd been brought in, but he was in dire need of a good scrub, even moreso after his sleepover. "The conditions of those cells are abysmal. Nothing but the best for the nation's most wanted, though, eh?"

[Maeniel Keskhari]

A jog or a skip. Maeniel chuckled lightly. He appreciated Urien’s ability to continue to joke and be silly, even at the roughest of times. It was one thing he had always admired about the man back in the day, and it was something even now, under the tight noose that was closing around his throat, made him feel a little better. At least someone still had a sense of humor around these parts.

Maeniel stood, nodding his assent to Urien as he motioned for the man to follow him with his chin. He opened the door, pushing it aside and leading the way out. The two guards started to turn, to rush in and drag Urien back to the cells, but when the man stepped out behind Maeniel, they balked, suddenly unsure what to do. “He’s fine boys.” Maeniel chided them like dogs, turning to view his friend. “He’s here to help. Let him be.” One of the soldiers turned to Maeniel. He was a young boy, with a beard trying to grow on his chin in patches. “Sir. Isn’t he wanted sir? A danger to society?” The boy looked back at Urien questioningly. Maeniel laughed. “The Masked Avenger is a danger to society. He murders those for the fucking fun of it. Urien runs a ship, that according to recent logs, hasn’t been under scrutinious eye in quite some time. So dangerous isn’t he?” Maeniel dropped his chin, his gaze dark. “I must be mad to let him out huh? He’ll surely cut me up and throw the pieces to the sea, feed my dogs with my fingers and toes, and run about with my skin wrapped on his head like a crown.” Maeniel’s voice went from sarcastic irritation to something akin to hatred. “To your posts. Question me again and you’ll be cleaning this filthy pit with your teeth.” Maeniel watched as the two guards snapped to attention and went to their posts like statues, silent as the grave.

He glanced to Urien, and gestured the man to follow him again.

As they walked from the grungy pit of the cells towards Maeniels office, Urien’s comment about a bath and a drink came back into his mind, and he gave a small nod. “We’ll head to my rooms then, a drink between friends and I can call a bath up for you.” Weird, a criminal being treated like a respected guest. Maeniel didn’t care, there was something stronger than duty between him and Urien. A brotherly bond that even to this day was hard to sever, despite their differences. Maeniel only had a sister, Urien was his brother. He wasn’t going to ruin that on account of some illegal charity.

As they reached Maeniels’ rooms he let Urien enter first. They weren’t ridiculously extravagant, but they were certainly a step up from the places they had been in the past. Thick navy blue drapes hung from large windows, wood paneling lined the space in the color of burnt cherries. There were comfortable chairs, padded elegantly in crimson, and through a narrow doorway was the shape of a bed, lined in navy and gold.

Maeniel didn’t show off his room, instead moving right to a small table, and pouring two mugs of an undiluted wine. “Here, this might help your spirits for a spell. The bath is that way if you want to run in right away. I’m sure I can find something for you to wear.” The high admiral took a glass of wine himself, and held it up in cheers to Urien.

A silent ‘to friendship’ hidden in his eyes.

[Urien Madox]

Urien had a quip or two on hand to throw back in the faces of those guards, but he stood back and let the High Admiral have at it. Seemed like he needed to get it out of his system, anyway, considering how awfully graphic those descriptions got. He tried not to make a face at the idea of wearing a human skin bandana, stiff upper lip in front of the boys and all, but it was hard to avoid blanching just a little. (Not that he'd never said anything worse to his own men, but still...) So he turned his head to stare at a wall as if it was very interesting.

Once the verbal reaming was done, Urien flashed his friend a grin and continued strolling along.

The High Admiral's quarters were nice, about as lavish as could be expected for someone of his standing without seeming frilly. It reminded him a touch of his own cabin on Bright Star, but a little bigger than what one might find on a ship. He accepted the cup of wine gratefully, not exactly quenching compared to water, though it filled a different sort of thirst. Would've helped more last night, between the stench and the shouting of his fellow prisoners, yet he wasn't displeased to have it now.

"Nice digs," he observed, walking up to one of the cabinets and running a finger over the wooden top. He gave it a little rap with his knuckles. Solid. Rich. "That mahogany?"

He scratched at his beard again upon the offer of a bath, "I could use a little refreshing, I guess. But I can wait until a full bath is drawn." As for a change of clothes? Sure, something might fit, but anything of Maeniel's would be comically oversized on Urien. They already knew that, though. Sadly, Urien had filled out, but not grown much taller, since the days when he was a fresh-faced recruit. Together, they made a classic big guy, little guy duo, even though Urien wasn't that short in his opinion. Maeniel was just a freakin' giant. "Guess you could have someone bring in a spare uniform while they're at the bath thing. Almost missed wearing some scratchy linen."

Urien made his way toward one of the chairs, settling down in a manner opposite of gracious. "So...the Masked Avenger thing..."

[Maeniel Keskhari]

Maeniel drank the wine faster than he should’ve. As amazing as it was to see Urien alive and well again, it was stressful. He poured himself another glass and drank half of it before turning to respond to his friend. Nice digs, yeah, they were fine. Too flashy for Maeniel, but he would accept it. After all, compared to the place that him and Urien had been in before…this place was a palace in its own right. The question of Mahogany made Maeniel grin and nod. “The finest. It’s nice isn’t it?” He commented lightly, taking a much smaller sip of his wine this time.

Urien agreed to a bath, and a spare uniform. He nodded, heading to the door he caught a guard and gave the orders. A bath to be drawn, a platter of food, and a uniform with specifications on the sizes. The guard nodded without question, saluted and left.

Returning to the room, Maeniel approached the chair opposite Urien, sitting down much more graciously than his companion. “Mm…yeah.” Maeniel didn’t want to talk about it, but he would. For a while he wanted to avoid this conversation about Urien and the ship and missing people…

But it lingered in his mind. “Yeah, someone decided it would be fun to kill somebody, write a message in their blood, then sign it the Masked Avenger.” Maeniel sighed, rubbing his brow.

”Just another idiot that’s taking their personal mission too far.” He pinched his nose. ”There’s been a few refugees who have done the same thing, though not using murder as a means to gain attention. “ He rolled his head, leaning it back on the chair. “I should’ve stayed a sailor.” He laughed with mirth, though it faded when there was a rap on the door, and a maid came in carrying pitchers of steaming water. She bowed lightly, and hurried into the washroom to fill the basin. Another maid hurried in behind that one with two more, and when they had finished, they hurried out.

“There’s your bath. Food and clothes are coming.”

[Urien Madox]

At the comment about staying a sailor, Urien nodded, "You should've. Or you could have come with me. You'd make a fine First Mate." He grinned at the other man teasingly, tipping back the rest of his cup. That probably wasn't the way it would have worked out if they'd stuck together, given that Urien looked more the part of the zany sidekick than Maeniel, with his tall, dark and handsome appearance and understated charisma. He just exuded cool out of every pore.

Now, Urien wasn't jealous, as he'd had a whole lot of things just handed up to him in his stupidly lucky life and couldn't complain about his position, but he knew they were better off in their own separate spheres. He had his own ship, and Maeni was the freaking High Admiral. Yeah, they were doing pretty good for themselves...minus the whole being on opposite sides of the law issue.

When the maids came and went, Urien gave the younger of the two women a wink as they passed by. She was rather on the homely side, but she seemed to appreciate the attention, even coming from a man who looked like a filthy bum, blushing as she ducked out the door with her empty bucket.

He turned back to his friend, expression darkening just a little as he reached for more wine himself. "Heard about the Avenger thing. Have a friend who had a run in with him. Sounds like she was lucky to get away unscathed." As far as he knew, anyway. Wren had been very tight lipped about it. And Wren was probably very, very pissed off at him for being thrown in jail. He couldn't help smiling at the thought of her spending the night worrying over his safety. "I should...probably let her know I'm alright as soon as possible."