Several days after the tribunal, Isafael da Florenciano descends beneath the naval fortress gatehouse, where damp stone walls sweat salt and old torch smoke clings to the air. Iago waits in a shuttered records chamber below the barracks.
The townhouse study is absent from this meeting. Here, a scarred trestle table holds family correspondence, naval notices, and one unopened letter beneath the fortress seal.
Iago da Florenciano
You chose a place where walls have ears, but not servants. Sensible, given what Admiral Vale now believes you have done.
Iago places two fingers on the naval notices, then withdraws his hand without disturbing them. His gaze moves from the burned edge of Isafael's report pouch to the sealed letter.
Iago da Florenciano
Vale can strike at our family in three ways. He can ruin our name, cut away our influence, or have the Crown turn suspicion into confinement. I need to know which danger you think he prefers.
Iago da Florenciano
Before we decide how to answer him, tell me what you saw in that tribunal. Was Vale seeking justice, obedience, or leverage?
“"I do not know. He wasn't present at the meeting, but Lucien made it sound like he is a vindictive bastard. I do not know him, he was promoted to Admiral after I left the army."”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Isafael da Florenciano
I do not know. He was not present at the meeting, but Lucien made him sound vindictive. I have never met Vale. He became Admiral after I left the army.
Iago studies Isafael in silence, then turns the unopened letter so its fortress seal faces him.
Iago da Florenciano
That is the answer I needed, not the certainty I feared. You are judging Vale from evidence, not from family rumor.
Iago da Florenciano
Lucien called him vindictive because he has seen the man punish disobedience as though it were treason. But Vale is patient when patience serves him. He prefers a reputation that makes others accuse themselves.
The admission eases something in Iago's shoulders. Beyond the shutters, a harbor clerk glances toward the chamber, then lowers his head and returns to his ledger.
Iago da Florenciano
I will not pretend my judgment is clean. Vale once saved my command from ruin, and I mistook that debt for loyalty. If he reaches for the Crown, I may recognize the hand too late.
Iago da Florenciano
You have given me your limits plainly. Can you bear mine in return, and help me answer this letter without letting either of us stand alone?
“*Isafael smirked widely, teasing his brother,* "are you Asking me to do something fory you, big brother?"”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Isafael da Florenciano
Are you asking me to do something for you, big brother?
Isafael's broad smirk takes the severity out of the room. The fortress letter remains unopened between them.
Iago da Florenciano
There he is. I was beginning to fear the tribunal had made you solemn.
Iago sets the letter down and braces both hands on the table, meeting the tease instead of retreating from it.
Iago da Florenciano
Yes. I am asking. Not as your general, and not as the brother who outranks you. As the man who may have misread an old debt.
Iago da Florenciano
He could have answered with caution. Instead, he gives me room to speak plainly.
Iago da Florenciano
Read this with me. If Vale is reaching for our family, we answer together. If the danger is mine alone, you deserve to know that before you spend your name on it.
Through the shutter gap, the harbor clerk glances up again, then quickly bends over his ledger. Iago nudges the sealed letter across the table toward Isafael.