The entire room flinched from the sound of a fist hitting the desk.

Sarman looked at his father, his eyes pleading for him to say anything at all.

“Out.” Ordwell strained to keep his voice down. “Now.” His face was red. Veins were visible across his forehead. Muscles bulged under his clothes as he forced himself to keep appearances while others were in front of him.

“Father!” Sarman raised his voice over the sound of clothes rustling and shoes walking through the room's door.

The room emptied quickly. The only person still in the room besides Sarman and Ordwell was Senator Alberie, who was hovering near the table. He was fidgeting as if he had something he wanted to say as well.

“Sarman, leave!” Ordwell’s voice was raised. His fist slammed down on the desk again as he shouted at his son.

“No. Not until you give me your answer!” Sarman responded by imitating his father; raising his voice and slamming a fist on the desk.

“Answer?! I need time to think!”

“No, you don’t! This is your chance to finally make a step towards avenging Mother! And you’re going to sit here and ‘debate’ with yourself whether or not you want to take it?” Steam had started to billow from the closed fist on the desk. All three of the people in the room could feel the heat rising. “That isn’t something that you would do! You would take the initiative! You would at least let the senate-”

“Shut it!” Sarman was cut off by his father suddenly standing up. “You think I’m a coward for this? Fine! At least I’m not letting my feelings for a girl get in the way of my rational thinking! You only want Sanum to join so that you can join Yuuki!”

What he was saying was true. Sarman already knew that she was the reason he felt so driven to join the alliance.

He knew all that.

He had not realized that his father would feel this way.

“I have spent years making sure you get the best education! Make sure that you would be ready to take up this seat when I step down!” Ordwell grabbed Sarman’s collar, locking him in place. “So I know that you know better than this. Better than letting your emotions dictate your actions like this.”

Sarman grabbed the hand holding his collar. His vision was going red with anger, listening to the hypocritical words that Ordwell was saying. Ordwell let go once Sarman’s hand heated up to unbearable temperatures.

Seeing his father look at him in pain, Sarman finally responded.

“I know better? Sure, maybe. I don’t care. If you refuse to even think about bringing this up to the senate, then I will step away from Sanum.” Sarman spat in the face of his father’s words. He meant everything he said. He had no intention of simply lying down and letting Crystalia and Aric go through things alone. “You’re right, I do want to help Yuuki. And I won’t let her deal with this alone.”

His words cut deep.

It was plain to see on Ordwell’s face.

His father may have expected Sarman’s emotions, but he had underestimated how far Sarman was willing to go.

With Sarman’s emotions beginning to flare, the room was gradually warming up. It would quickly become a sauna for anyone else. As a Demi-Human who was part phoenix, Ordwell didn’t show any signs of the heat affecting him.

The same was not true of Paul Alberie.

His shirt was already beginning to become drenched from the sweat pouring down his skin.

Which is why it came as no surprise that he was the one to step in between them. “Ok ok ok! Stop!” Alberie put his hands in between father and son. “Ordwell, I understand why you are hesitant to bring this up to the Senate floor… Which is why I will do it myself.”

Sarman watched as his father’s face contorted through a wide variety of emotions—surprise, pain, and finally confusion.

Sarman himself was feeling that same confusion.

Paul Alberie was the biggest opponent his father had in the Sanum Senate. Even with everything that had just happened with his son, it was pretty odd for him to speak up in a way that would benefit Ordwell.

“Paul…? Why would you…” Ordwell’s voice disappeared as Alberie shook his head.

“I may be your political opponent, but that doesn’t mean I hate everything you do. And even I can see the good in this proposed Alliance. If nothing else, I see this alliance as nothing but good for our City-State.”

Alberie was concise in explaining his reasons. And with that done, as Ordwell looked at him incredulously, Alberie turned to Sarman.

With a flick of his head, Alberie motioned for Sarman to walk with him out of Ordwell’s office.

Sarman took one last look at his father’s confused face before following the Senator out of the room.

“What do you get out of the alliance?” As soon as the door to his father’s office was closed, Sarman started questioning Alberie. The hallway had long been cleared out of anyone passing by, leaving just the two alone.

“Hm?” Alberie raised an eye to the question before finally answering. “Nothing myself. But it would be good for your father.”

Sarman nearly stopped in his tracks when he heard the answer.

“You’re doing it… for my father? But aren’t you his political rival?” Sarman was running everything through his head, but it wasn’t making sense.

“Yes, but only out of respect for the man your father once was in the senate room. After he lost Lily, Ordwell changed. The way he ran this City-State changed. And I didn’t like it. So I fashioned myself into a worthy political opponent for him. Every time I pushed him it was because I wanted to see him become the man I admired when I was younger again.”

Paul’s words were too good to be true.

Honey words spoke to what Sarman wanted to hear. Yet, Sarman couldn’t find it in himself to outright deny the words said by the man.

“How will the Alliance change my father?” Instead of denying them, Sarman instead tried to get to the core of what was being said.

“The thing that changed your father was Lily’s death. He became much more reserved. You never experienced what this city was like before Lily’s death.” Alberie softly smiled as he thought about the past. “In the past, Ordwell was much more into the continual growth of the city, and the inevitable change that would bring.”

“Sanum was a city at the forefront of change for all of Kronul. Of course, the entire world is still struggling with Irradiation, but Ordwell was always working with other City-States and Nations. Members of our city were always there when new City-States were formed. We were always there when new ways of detecting Irradiation were discovered. When others went to war, it was often Sanum that intervened and acted as a mediator.

But in the twenty years since your mother’s death, the city has stagnated. Ordwell stopped pushing for advancement and instead became a benefactor of the political faction that believed in Sanum staying precisely as it was. The only thing that he allowed change with was our police force. It has become much more militaristic in recent years. I can only imagine the two are related.”

Paul Alberie shrugged his shoulders.

The two were nearing the doors that led to the main entryway. Yet as he listened to what Alberie was saying, Sarman stopped.

Just a few more steps.

Yet he turned around.

The spark of a flame was in his hand.

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He had known that his father had changed after his mother’s death. He was often told this by the maids in their house.

But to hear that he has forced the city to stagnate. That was the last straw for Sarman.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” Alberie grabbed Sarman’s shoulder. His fist gripped tightly, forcing Sarman to look at him.

“Are you sure about your assessment of what my father has been doing?” The anger in Sarman’s heart seeped into his words.

“I am.”

“Then I’m going to slap some sense into him. I may not have many memories of Mother but I remember how much she loved this city! And it wasn’t because of how the city was in that moment.”

Sarman was barely a year old when his Mother, Lily, was killed. He had almost true memories of her, only snippets here and there. But when he had turned fifteen, one of the maids had given him her journal. His father had tried to get rid of it, but the maid had saved it.

That journal had shown him the kind of person his mother was.

She didn’t love Sanum in a single moment of time.

She loved how it grew and changed.

And yet his father spat on that. He refused to let the City-State continue to grow.

“Don’t.” A hand grabbed Sarman’s shoulder and stopped him from moving. Alberie was shaking his head slowly as he spoke. “Your father is still grieving after two decades. If that was thrown back in his face, it might make things worse.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Give him the one thing that will naturally make him let go of the guilt.”

Sarman’s eyes went wide. His brain had finally connected the dots.

Alberie’s sudden insistence in having Sanum join the Alliance.

An Alliance whose enemy is known to use the same poison that killed his mother.

“If the senate joins the Alliance, Father will have a reason to go after the man who killed Mother way back then…” Sarman whispered the words to himself.

“So leave the rest to me.” Alberie gave Sarman a smile before opening the door to the entrance hall.

The Senator finally left Sarman alone as he walked back into the Senate chambers.

The entrance foyer was fairly empty. Most of the group that had arrived with Sarman were nowhere to be seen. Only four people remained waiting in the hall.

Nic, Aria and Kayde were discussing something in a small huddle while Yuuki was lazily listening in from the side. Her face lit up when she saw Sarman enter the room. As soon as Alberie walked away, she made her way over to him.

“Did everything go well with your father?” Her voice was laced with concern. Her eyes were scanning everything about Sarman’s body, trying to pick up on his mood from it alone.

“No,” Sarman gave her a quick smile. “But everything will work out fine, I’m sure of it.”

“What happened with Senator Alberie? Is he mad about his son?” Yuuki looked at the doors that Alberie had walked through. The worry on her face had turned into pure concern about the Senator’s actions.

Sarman shook his head before answering. “Senator Alberie is fully on our side. Honestly after hearing everything he said, I feel like Rudy was simply left in the dark just as much as we were.”

“I see.” Yuuki’s voice was just a bit tight as she responded. Sarman assumed that she was feeling off about how easy the Senator was on their side.

If Sarman hadn’t heard the Senator’s words himself, he probably would have felt the same as her.

Sarman gently took her hand in his. The action caught her off guard, so Sarman got to see her face grow ever so slightly red. The expression caused his body to relax as he began to feel a bit warmer himself.

“So what were they doing?” Breaking the silence between the two of them, Sarman motioned towards the three other people in the room.

“Discussing what they would do if Sanum didn’t join the Alliance.”

“Well they don’t need to discuss that any longer.” Sarman jumped at the sudden appearance of his father behind him.

Ordwell’s words caused everyone in the room to look at him.

“The Senate meeting is going back into session. If you all wish to see the results with your own eyes, you may take seats in the back of the hall.”

Ordwell stood in front of the door to the Senate Chamber. His hand stopped just before opening the door.

“Sarman, I-” His father tried to say something to Sarman, but he cut off his own father.

“Whatever you have to say father, save it for after. Right now, you need to be the leader the Senate needs..”

Sarman found himself sitting in the top row of the Senate floor. In a line next to him was Yuuki, Kayde, Aria, and then Nic.

The sound of two pieces of wood hitting each other resounded through the room, quieting the many Senators that had been chatting amongst themselves. The person who had hit them together was Ordwell Chapman who was standing in a center box.

Elevated slightly off the floor, his father’s position on the Senate floor put him directly in the center of the room. That position was also directly above the single highest point on the mountain that Sanum was built above.

“Quiet down, this session has now reconvened.”

As Ordwell spoke up, his voice reverberating throughout the room, the many senators finally sat still and looked down upon him. Of the faces that he could see, Sarman noticed many looking at his father questioningly.

They were wondering what was happening to Alberie. Both father and son.

Especially the one still on the Senate floor.

“Rudy Alberie has been arrested on multiple charges. Charges that Paul Alberie seemingly had no knowledge of. Because of this I have let him return to the Senate floor. No one should have a problem with this, correct?”

The room fell quiet. No one responded.

No one had a problem with this outcome.

“Good, then let us get back to the topic we were discussing before all of this.”

Sarman felt his heart sink slightly.

He wasn’t giving up as Senator Alberie had promised him it would be brought up.

But Sarman was disappointed that his father would choose to go down this route. Clinging to a never-changing Sanum.

Yuuki’s hand gripped tightly onto Sarman’s arm.

“Hold it!”

Yuuki’s grip loosened immediately.

Paul Alberie had stood up. His voice boomed through the hall.

“I thank everyone for allowing me back on the Senate floor, but that was not all that we heard while on recess Ordwell.” Alberie’s words caused some commotion amongst the senators. “If you won’t bring it up, then I will.”

“Senator Alberie, that won’t be nec-”

“Yes it is, Ordwell.” Alberie slammed his hand down on the small fence in front of him. “You may not want to face true change, but the rest of us have the right to hear the truth! Every single Senator here has the right to hear about the newly formed Alliance of Free City-States!”

Paul Alberie’s words caused the room to stir. Whispers of excitement reached through every corner of the Senate hall.

No matter how much his father denied it now, Sarman knew that this was the chance that they needed.

A chance for the Alliance to represent itself.

A chance to preach their own beliefs.

So he stood.

“Father! If the people of the Senate want to learn more about the Alliance, they should hear it from the Alliance themselves. The leaders of which are sitting right next to me!”

Sarman’s words boomed through the space. He projected his voice into every nook and cranny that could be found.

He drew everyone’s attention.

Sarman could hear a small snicker coming from Kayde as he struggled to keep in a laugh.

“Would you all not want to hear from our guests?” As Sarman pointed his question to the Senators, the edge of his vision drew his attention.

Alberie was smiling.

He gave Sarman a small nod as he realized that the Spirit King was looking at him.

“We would!”

“Yes!”

“Absolutely!”

Cheers of affirmation came from around the room.

Hearing them all, Sarman looked back towards the center of the room. “Well, father?”

Ordwell heaved a sigh in response. He waved a hand, inviting Yuuki and Kayde down to the center of the room.

And so the Alliance of Free City-States was allowed to give their pitch to the entirety of the Sanum Senate. If Sanum was to join the Alliance, it would happen at the discretion of every leader of the city.

Kayde took charge as the elder of the two leaders. He didn’t mince words as he recounted the tales of Aric, Sanum and Crystallia. Kayde laid out the evidence of a hidden group working in the shadows. With some input from Yuuki here and there, the two managed to make a convincing argument.

At least, the reactions that Sarman saw pointed towards that.

By the time that the two sat back down next to him, the Senators had already come to an unwritten agreement with each other.

All that was left was for Ordwell Chapman to hold a vote.

“Alright then,” Ordwell did a full circle as he looked at every senator's face. “I believe this isn’t needed, seeing all of your faces. But in the honor of tradition, let this Senate vote commence. All those in favor of Sanum joining the Alliance of Free City-States, please raise your hands now.”

With his words, most of the senators in the room raised their hands. By Sarman’s count, only a handful didn’t.

“I see, you may put your hands down. All those not in favor of joining the Alliance, please raise your hands.”

Sarman expected the handful who hadn’t raised their hands before to raise them now. Instead, they continued to keep their hands down. They were simply abstaining from the vote overall.

“Then that settles this little debate. Kayde. Yuuki. The city of Sanum would like to officially join your Alliance.”