Central Plaza

Ryden was a few streets back from the plaza as he saw smoky strands drifting up from the plaza. While he would expect there to be some element of fire there, especially as evening approached, the smoke he was seeing was far too great to come from the simple torches that should be present. He realised hastily, then, that there must be a serious blaze in the city square, one that must be dealt to as quickly as possible.

He flagged down the nearest guard, waving the waiver from Naoki fast enough that he would see the Lady's signature at the bottom, ordering, "The Lady has ordered that I temporarily take control of the city guard until she has finished reco-ordinating her government. Make haste and run to the the headquarters of the nearest mage organisation and get every hydro-mage they have out here, immediately. Run!"

He had learnt from his time in the army that people would usually listen to your instructions if you accosted them with something that looked official and then yelled an order at them. Thankfully, this time, his experience proved constant, and the man ran off, no doubt to the Enclave of Mages. No doubt Ryden's imposing figure and armoured appearance would have aided him in his influence.

He then continued through the streets, rounding up any guard who would come when he explained the situation. He noticed that some of them pointedly ignored him, and made a mental note of it. Bribery and corruption must be rife within the city. He would have to ameliorate that if he got the position.

As they entered the main plaza, Ryden stood at the very limits of the conflagration, the guards that accompanied him spreading out in a crescent shape to either side of him. Each of them had left enough space between himself and the next to provide room for drawing a sword, and accordingly, they were all holding their hilts, ready to brandish the blades at the mass of pyromancers.

"Gentlemen! In the name of the Lady of Isra, and the law she imposes, I demand that you stop this incessantly needless revelry. Your actions are causing danger to the members of the public, and if you do not cease your actions, we will be necessitated to use force to end this party. You have once chance to end this, or we will be forced to subjugate you!"

For all Ryden's smooth speaking in official chambers, when he was out on the street, he had a booming voice that could be heard all around, and clearly to the mages in the centre of the plaza. He alone stood with sword drawn in one hand, and he was readying a ward in the other, in case it became necessary to prevent himself from being burned. He believed his armour would withstand it, but why leave it to chance? He did, however, in retrospect, wish he had asked for a silencer, too.

They were in a state of euphoria, as the bolts of flame erupted from their plans, towards the night-sky. They shot up like fireworks, piercing the very stars of the sky, in a display of defiance against the darkness of the night. It felt natural - as a dragon would release it's breath into the sky, they did much the same and for the first time felt truly dragonic. As disciples of Glavilidom, the Dragon-God they had to pursue hedonism to it's highest degree. This was solemn proof, this dragonic emotion erupting in their bosom, that they were indeed Glavilidom's perfect children, of the flame, of the claw.

They saw the guards fan out, lead by their leader, some stuck-up ponce, most likely, they unanimously decided. They had no fear for the guards - they had them all under their thumb after all. So why on earth were these guards actively mobilising against them? It made no sense. Did the Midnight Sun pay them off again? He had sworn the vast majority were under their command anyhow. Perhaps some stragglers had escaped the influence of the bribery.

They knew whatever this ponce was to say, was of no relevance. If they didn't escape now, they would certainly face several years in a deep, dank cell. No amount of sweet-talking could change the solemn truth that they were criminals. Knowing they could lost them in the ember district, they sprinted off, all with a common objective in mind. To make losing them that much trickier, a wall of flame erupted from the ground between the guards and the pyromancers; the wall starting out thin, but slowly growing in size as each pyromancer consolidated its form.

<exit to the The Street of Red>

Madame Naoki leads the way down the stairs from The Citadel toward the Central Plaza. Artemis, Ryden Greyiron, and two of The Citadel’s honor guard follow closely behind. As she proceeds, she takes stock of the situation in the plaza. It seems as if the majority of the troublemakers have dispersed, and the mages from The Enclave have essentially controlled the flames. Only a few mages remain to quell the embers of the fires, and some have even begun removing the soot that cakes the otherwise relatively clean paving stones. Additionally, the majority of the guards stationed around the perimeter of the square remain.

“If I had known I would be rooting out corruption and stepping through soot today, I wouldn’t have worn my favorite cardigan…” she muses. However, as she steps slowly through the square, examining the damages and making note of which areas would require more than simply a cleaning, only a very minimal amount of debris sees it fit to attach itself to her person.

After a few moments of simply observing, she turns to Ryden, and makes a rather pointed inquiry. “Would you please point out some of the guards who stood idly by and watched this transpire?” Her voice is again, sharp, but not wrathful.

“Hm. I would have liked to have a talk with some of them. I can be quite persuasive, you know." She glances slide long at Ryden, and waggles her eyebrows slightly. What exactly she's getting at is left open to interpretation.

"If you can’t point them out though, fair enough. It is awfully dark; I can’t fault you for that. What have you got in mind?”

As she speaks, her brow remains furrowed, lower lip raised in something of a pout. Lack of discipline within her own ranks isn’t a concept with which she has had much experience. A fact which is mostly true due to the very personal nature of her older contacts. Having hired them all in person, and had the opportunity to weed out the weak sorts at the root, all of Madame Naoki’s employees at The Midnight Sun have only the highest degrees of loyalty, relative to these traitorous worms gathering before her now.

With one hand, she reaches into the black pouch on her hip, and extracts a small citrine marble, which begins to glow slightly with yellow light in her closed fist. 

Ryden stood for a moment, surveying the scene, and carefully ignoring her eyebrows. "It's rather complicated to explain. I intend to have the guards who directly refused to come interrogated back at the castle. I can remember where most of them were posted, so it's a simple matter of finding out who was rostered there at the time. If it is a case of corruption or bribery, which I would suggest it would be, at this point, it's most likely that only the upper echelons of the guard ranks will have been swayed. The rest will most likely be thumbed down under the threat of being dismissed. As such, I'd like for you to prevent any hiring or firing done except by you or myself for the time being until this mess is resolved. If it is the upper ranks who have been suborned, we will have to rely on the testimony of the low-ranked guards, so we need to create a situation where they can speak up without feeling threatened by their superiors. I think it's best that we prioritise the issues of corruption before the issues of the pyromancers." He spoke low, his voice soft enough that he might mellow Naoki's displeasure, while being faint enough that only those around the two - namely, Artemis and the honour guards would be able to hear them.

The marble clutched in Naoki’s fist glows more and more brightly. The light filtering through her fingers- tinted to an orangeish sort of pink by her skin, functions as a sort of lamp. She holds her glowing fist above her head, garnering the attention of the group of guards. Shadows play across her face- her asymmetrical bangs casting the left side of her face into darkness. Instead of responding to Ryden, she speaks up, and addresses the guards with the same steel-edged voice she had used previously.

“This is Sir Greyrion!”

With her right hand, she presents Ryden, inviting him to take a step forward.

“He is the new head of the guard, effective immediately. He has a letter, notarized by yours truly, that confirms this. In light of the recent failures here, he will be changing some things around. You all- and the rest of the guard- are to follow his orders and cooperate with him however possible. There will be no firing- and no hiring, or staffing changes of any sort unless either I or Sir Greyiron approve it. If any of you- or anyone else, have a problem with anything that I just said, or with Sir Greyiron or his orders, a question about the changes, a complaint to lodge, or any other conundrum related to the matter at hand, you are to come see me, in my office. Likewise, do not prevent or discourage any of your fellows from coming to see me. Such behavior would be a capital offense! Any questions?”

The hardness of her tone leaves no room for questions. Some of the men shift uneasily on their feet, others maintain eye contact with Naoki for the duration of her speech. One guard even salutes, but no questions are raised. Her own eyes make careful note of these reactions, storing away the information for later.

“Good. Thank you, gentlemen.”

She nods sharply once in the direction of the group of the assembled guard, before turning abruptly about to face Ryden. The sharp features of her face soften, and her debatably harsh tone of voice is gone, to be replaced with a pleasant whisper.

“Don’t try to placate me, Greyiron. If I were not already the master of myself and my emotions, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. Look at the way the guards are acting. You see that older man on the far right; the short one with the goatee and the captain's stripe? He’s one of the more senior captains- I’ve seen him around. You see the way he looks at the younger captain standing to his immediate right? You see that contempt in his eyes? I would be willing to bet- and indeed, I do! I bet you five gold coins that the younger captain was not here when the events transpired, and the older one was, doing his best to stop things. He resents the younger one for leaving, and is himself loyal. My face is as much a tool as your sword, Greyiron, and I wield it as such. Use your methods to rectify this situation, but realize that my own are often quite effective- especially so when dealing with interpersonal problems such as these. If any of them give you trouble, send them my way, and come up yourself when you’re done.”

With that said, Madame Naoki nods once in farewell to Ryden, beckons for Second Lieutenant Calgary to follow her, and begins to walk back toward the steps leading back up into the Citadel, Artemis always at her side. The honor guard remain, standing at ease behind Ryden, awaiting orders.

As Second Lieutenant Calgary approaches, Naoki pauses in her stride, and turns to face him. She listens as he delivers his report, and mulls the information over for a few moments before responding.

“Don’t bother trying to seal that street off; it’s infeasible. Not only are there likely hidden passages and the like, and not only is it the dead of night, but doing that sort of thing may alarm the citizenry with no real benefit. We know who the perpetrators were, and we know where they live. Stopping them from getting home can only escalate the situation further. I don’t want this to lead to a bloodbath- the street is red enough without blood on it.”

“However, if you can positively identify an individual- even one, who was involved in the burning here, arrest them. Be cautious, obviously. The suspect is, by definition, a pyromancer, but if your men are able to get me an interrogation target, that would be immensely beneficial, but do not risk any lives to do it. One Dawn Rider is more valuable than ten delinquents to interrogate. If you can’t successfully apprehend an individual who was involved- don’t bother. This is not a high enough priority objective to spend lives on it.”

She turns to gaze behind Calgary, to the plaza, and assesses the state of things.

“The situation here seems stable enough to me. After you’ve had those orders relayed, you could stick around the Plaza here to ensure things remain that way, but I don’t expect any more trouble tonight. If your company manages to arrest any of the perpetrators, have them taken to the dungeon, cuffed with magic-inhibiting restraints, and notify me immediately. Beyond that, defer to the orders of Captain Aurelius and Sir Greyiron, and make sure that I am informed if anything of note transpires. Thank you, Second Lieutenant .”

She nods to Calgary, indicating that she is finished speaking, and unless he has anything further to say, he is dismissed.