Under the spreading chestnut tree (Rich and Cain)

Richard sat at the base of the distinctive chestnut tree that he had picked out at the meeting point for his little get together with Cain. He had nothing against the guy, in all honesty Richard liked Cain, but he had to have a rather frank conversation with him about the creature uprising that was brewing. He tapped the tree with a finger as he waited.

Cain was a little apprehensive about what was about to occur, he had almost been tempted to check the stars to see what was going to happen to him tonight but found the strength not to.

Hoping that his meeting with Richard would not end in bloodshed, Cain still took his sword with him to comfort him and to use in case they came under attack from any other creature that might like to take a bite out of them while they talked.

Moving into the glade he saw Richard by a tree and walked closer to him with a bow, as was custom.

"Richard, greetings to you, I hope the stars have been with you since we last met."

Richard noticed Cain slowly trotting into the little clearing and as he did so he closed his eyes with a relaxed smile, looking up at the canopy of the chestnut tree,

"Under the spreading chestnut tree..." he opened his eyes and fixed Cain with a rather blank look, "I sold you and you sold me."

He paused for dramatic effect before grinning and standing up fully, radiating friendliness now,

"Cain my friend! It is nice to see you." he chuckled a little bit and scratched the back of his head, "Sorry for the little song... I like 1984. Anyway...!"

Rolling his neck, Richard walked closer to Cain but maintained a friendly distance,

"I'm afraid I've called you here for more meaningful conversation than songs and stars my friend."

Cain blinked at Richard as he was fixed with a blank stare, it was unnerving that was for sure but when the atmosphere changed Cain felt more receptive and less like this conversation was going end badly for him, there must be a reason why he was called here.

"What an interesting rhyme Richard, although not appropriate in this situation I assure you."

Seeing the man roll his neck, Cain relaxed a little more, but upon hearing what the man had to say he frowned slightly and his hand rested on his sword hilt, clearly Richard did not think before speaking.

"Any friend of a centaurs would know not to insult the importance of the stars in front of them, but since we are old acquaintances I will bid you to be brief on your reason for calling me here."

Richard chuckled a bit nervously as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. If he was honest the only reason he'd even said the little rhyme was because he'd recently re-read 1984. He grinned,

"Well that's reassuring Cain, it really is." he smiled easily, "After all, I like you. You're a nice guy."

He watched, with seemingly very little interest, as Cain reached for and touched his sword. Richard smiled still, as if oblivious to the implied threat,

"Well that's just the problem Cain, I'm not sure if the herd still views me as a friend." he sighed a little bit, "I have been hearing things Cain. Some say the creatures are planning an uprising. I need to find out how true this is and I wanted your opinion and your insight as to the position of the herd on this matter."

He bowed his head,

"Forgive my bluntness but if you feel slighted you are more likely to answer me with the truth and not with what I want to hear, based on our relationship as acquaintances."

Cain raised his eyebrow, the insult to the stars as well as the direction that this conversation seemed to be headed was one that he didn't like at all, and he could think of anything that he had done to prompt such an inquiry by someone he considered a friend.

"I am not a guy, I am a centaur, and do you mean to insult my honour sir? Is this what this conversation is about, betrayal and loyalty? For I have been nothing but devout to humanities protection at the sacrifice of my own happiness. "

Letting a little anger seep through him Cain scowled and turned his head away at the question, he had nothing but compassion for the humans and yet he was being asked such a question.

"What you hear is true, the creatures of this land are rising up against the war, although as of yet my herd under my leadership has not yet made up it's mind as to it's position. I do not trust the leader. Until such a time I will remain neutral."

He could tell that the conversation with Cain wasn't as peaceful as it potentially could have been but there was little he could do about it now. And it was still a lot more peaceful than Cobalt plan. Richard raised an eyebrow casually,

"A figure of speach I assure you Cain." he said, dropping the 'my friend' part of his speach now. The atmosphere didn't lend itself to being friendly, "I do not doubt that you, yourself, are loyal. The thought never crossed my mind. However, there must be some in your herd who are dissatisfied. Not everyone thinks the same after all."

Richard smiled again, the same smile as before, but no the friendliness did not reach his eyes,

"I'm sorry for the necessity of this conversation Cain, I truly do not wish to offend you." his smile dimmed a little bit, "But you have information that we don't. And, unlike you, these creatures are hostile towards humans. Can you tell me the name of their leader?"

Cain raised his eyebrow, this man was taking this out of line and any respect that he had had for Richard was now waiving fast, how could he say these things to him and expect him not to become agitated with him.

No friend of his would insult his herd as such.

"I assure you Richard Centaurs are not like humans, true they may be dissatisfied but they do as they are commanded, many of them now realise the need for change the stars have been calling for."

Frowning slightly Cain crossed his arms: "Those that do not comply have been outcast. Like I was for attempting to help you humans for over half of my life."

To say Cain was dissappointed was an understatement, but he wasn't going to just turn around and leave, his morals forbade it.

"The leader will reveal himself in good time, and I will not send a man to his death."

Richard's eyes narrowed a little bit. The conversation was quickly becoming outright frosty. He took a deep breath to relax himself and idly wandered back over to the chestnut tree,

"I had to ask Cain." he replied quietly, "I realise that I'm being pretty difficult to work with right now but I can't help it. My loved ones are threatened by this Cain. My wife loses sleep and does not take her meals from stress. I'm afraid it leaves me a bit too blunt. I appologise."

He raised an eyebrow,

"Yes he probably will. But if history has taught us anything it's that hostile elements normally reveal themselves first by attacking." he replied before smiling faintly, "You believe he would kill me for seeking him out?"

Cain looked at Richard and tried to calm himself down too but now that his back was up it took a lot to calm him again, he was like his father in this respect, shaking his head Cain frowned deeply.

"You think that you are the only one with loved ones to lose, my sister, Ipolani, her foal Faia, my human friends they are all at risk from this war, forgive me but we have all lost sleep, we have all not eaten for fear of our loved ones death."

Looking up to the stars Cain took a deep breath and sighed once more, looking Richard straight in the eyes as he said what he did now, knowing it was important.

"No. I believe you would kill him Richard. You are an honourable man, but a man who apparently stands in your way, who is not trusted by those even on his side, won't last long around you."

He could tell that Cain was still rather worked up and, truth be told, so was Richard. Richard had been contemplating Cobalt's suggestion for awhile back there but had quickly dismissed it. He looked at Cain over his shoulder,

"Then you know why I can't waste any time." he replied quietly, "My loved ones are in that level of hell yours have also experienced. I will do anything to cut that down. I am aware that I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's why I think you understand why I'm so blunt today. You would be too if your loved ones were threatened. You're too good not to be."

Richard winced a little bit at Cain's assessment. It was a little bit too close to home for him. He tried to be honourable but Cain was right, if someone stood in his way he would cut them down, regardless of innocence. He'd done it before after all,

"Yes... 95% of me is terrible like that Cain." he sighed a little bit, "I want to find him so that I can talk to him about the possibility of peace. I... dislike war Cain, I want to try and avoid it at all costs. Please Cain... just give me a name."

Cain raised his eyebrow and knew what Richard was saying to be true, however he did have his own morals to keep, he could not give the man up so easily even if he did want to help end this war on a happier term, he knew that there was harder work to be done.

Keeping silent while he listened to Richard speak, Cain took in everything he said and was a little bit annoyed by it again, however, he kept his anger down inside of him.

"I will not break my word, my word is my bond and I promised that I would not betray his name to anybody, not even someone that I considered a friend."

Richards plea struck a chord with Cain, but this man was not his friend, they had barely spoken and he sighed:

"You ask a great many things from me Richard, a great many things and I have no reason why I should tell you, you have done me no favours, you did not even thank me for my part in the battle of Hogwarts."

Richard closed his eyes as it rapidly became apparent that Cain was not going to even give him the name of his true target. He sighed a little bit and rested his forehead against the wood of the chestnut tree. Feeling the cold bark of the tree against his skin soothed him,

"Your word is your bond... you truly are very honourable Cain. I respect that." he paused for a few moments, "I can't push you otherwise I would be pushing against your honour. I have no wish to attempt to dishonour you Cain."

Richard stiffened a little bit before looking at Cain. His face was carefully neutral. He didn't want to offend Cain anymore than he already had when there seemed to be no chance of even getting the name out of him,

"Thank you Cain... for defending those who would otherwise have died without your intervention." he sighed faintly, "I don't suppose you could tell me one thing... is he a werewolf? Nothing else..."

Cain watched Richard, he seemed as if he was a man truly on the edge and he wished that he could help him on his search even a small bit, and he decided that he would not be compromised if he decided to give him a clue, however vague, he had done his duty to everybody.

"I shall give you a clue, fiction. That is your clue. Use it well because that is the last you will get from me on this matter Richard, what you will get from any of the group."

Nodding his head when Richard realised that his honour was very important to him, Cain was glad that he wasn't going to be pushed any further.

Unable to stop a large wave of anger running through him, Cain gritted his teeth: "You do not mean that Richard so why say it, you merely say it now because you feel obliged to, Because you have something to gain from getting on my good side."

Cain sighed softly and frowned: "I shall not tell you that. Although there are werewolves amongst us."

Richard really wasn't holding himself together very well and he knew it. There had been a thousand better ways to approach Cain about this issue but he'd gone for the one with the high risk, the highest likelihood of failure but the potential gain had been great. He paused when Cain gave him the clue,

"Fiction?" he repeated with a small frown, "My clue is fiction... I'll have to brush up on my reading perhaps. Thank you for giving me a clue Cain."

He looked at the centaur as he got angry again at the way Richard had to force himself to appologise. It wasn't from a lack of respect as Cain would have guessed which was what got Richard angry in an instant,

"You want to know why my apology was forced?" he hissed coldly, "It's because none of us got thanked Cain! None of us! Sofia wasn't thanked. Briony wasn't thanked. I certainly wasn't thanked Cain! I'm German! They tried to accuse me of helping them in! None of us got thanked."

Pulling his emotions in, Richard took a deep breath. When werewolves were mentioned, Richard flinched without meaning to. He nodded stiffly,

"Werewolves." he repeatedly, bluntly, "Just my bloody luck... hey Cain... did you know that when you kill a werewolf in it's wold form it reverts to human form to die?"

He closed his eyes for a second,

"This is going to be one hell of a war if it starts..."

Cain looked at Richard with an ever gaze, at least he was thanked for this, and he sighed slightly, he still felt slightly bad like he had betrayed the leader even though he had not directly given him away, or even given him any concrete proof as to who he was.

"You are welcome." he said simply.

Eyes flaring with anger Cain placed his hand on his sword and began to draw it out of the holdster, there was no matter that would allow him to be spoken to in such a manner and he roared back at Richard:

"I did not have to come to save you humans, I did not have to come and help, I could have stayed with my herd and remained completely out of it. I saved lives Romain. I saved human lives while I abandoned my herd. If this is the way that I am going to be spoken to for helping you humans, consider it fact that it will not happen again. You force my hand Richard. You force me to contemplate something I have fought against my whole life."

Cain placed the sword back in his holdster and turned to walk away from the human in front of him, if one of his friends wanted to bridge the gap between the herd and them then he would listen. But no more insults would be given to him. No more.

Richard didn't really know where to go from this clue he'd been given. The idea of fiction was massive after all, as were interpretations of it. Did it mean that the idea of one leader was a fiction in itself? Or that something about him was related to fiction? It was going to be a tough one to figure out.

He could see that Cain was getting angry by the way his eyes flashed but when his hand rested on his sword, Richard's eyes narrowed and his wand appeared in his right hand, held at his side but still ready to be used at a second's notice,

"Do you think I didn't save lives? Don't think you deserve some special kind of thanks, some grovelling of how we needed you in our time of need Cain!" he told the centaur angrily as he gripped his wand tightly, "Anyone of us that fought that day could have left the others to die to protect something we love Cain. I could have taken my wife away, especially seeing as the purpose of the German mission was to abduct her. But I fought, just like you did."

Richard stepped back, keeping his eyes on Cain as the centaur began to trot away. He frowned,

"Valerian!" he called out, "If you make the decision to join the 'Fiction'... I will cut you down to protect the ones I love."

Cain turned around and stopped stock still, he needed someone to stop him from making a swipe at this abnoxious human, he had completely shredded his beliefs in a matter of seconds all because he was a little sleep deprived. Frowning at the fact that he had a wand drawn on him, Cain growled lightly.

Picking up the horn that he carried on the other side of his body he blew on it, giving a signal to the rest of his herd to come to the place where he was, he needed some back up against this wizard.

"I do not expect such things, I do however expect you to speak to me like a proper human being, and not just get irate at me for nothing, you Richard, need to take a good long look at yourself, the stars might not be with you at this time but they look up for you. Do not destroy the life that you will lead by making this rash mistake."

Cain smiled sadly and hung his head:

"If you do not need me in your time of need then I will spare myself and the herd the effort of coming to save you, the amount of work I had put in to changing age old views, will be for naught. Choose Romain. Although I will not so lightly take to you threatening the ones I care about, those people who mostly happen to be human, and mostly happen to be members of your staff." he narrowed his eyes.

Both of them were now very tense and they both knew it. He had his wand in his hand and Cain was probably a second away from pulling his sword and charging. When Cain blew on his horn, Richard's eyes narrowed. The horn called his herd, he was willing to bet, and that could easily make this the second time he'd fought a large group of creatures on his own,

"My stars are looking up?" he paused for a second before shaking his head, "You're the expert on stars and their signs Cain, I'll take your word for it. But what I said still stands. You expect gratitude that the rest of didn't get either, I give you my gratitude, more sincerely now than before."

Richard frowned for a few moments before his wand shot back up into it's holster. He shook his head a little bit,

"Neither of us is in the right frame of mind to make an important decision anymore Valerian." he replied firmly but without venom, "Our judgements are clouded. Our possessive instincts to protect our loved ones are active. I do not wish to war with you or your people Valerian, just as you do not wish to war with mine. However, I cannot help but be frustrated by the lack of information I am given. I do not press you for more, I do not question your honour, but I can't help but wish for more."

Cain turned and smiled as the first few centaurs of his heard began to swarm around him, there were about ten of them now and he hoped that Ipolani had not been made aware of what was going on, for she would surely come if she did, and he did not want her or Faia in danger.

Placing his sword back in his holdster, Cain frowned at Richard and turned away from him again, he was beginning to walk back into the midst of his herd, beckoning for them to follow him for a meeting about what had just occured, but he decided to stop and turn his head to Richard to give him one last parting message before he left.

"The damage is done. It is up to you now to make up the losses that you have caused as a result of this meeting. I will not seek your forgiveness and you would do well to ask someone more articulate or with more patience to come and speak to me if you desire a union once more."

Cain turned and walked off, many centaurs within the heard, although young, counting their hooves and seething with anger about the injustice done to their leader by this human, and they drew their weapons, but were stopped by a click of Cain's fingers:

"Enough, he will lose plenty more in the few months to follow than we can take from him. Leave him." and with that he walked away.

Richard tensed ever so slightly when more centaurs showed up. After being surrounded by werewolves they were hardly intimidating by themselves but as such a large group they were certain to cause a lot of damage. But when Cain began to walk away Richard frowned a little bit, he didn't get what he came here for,

"The damage is indeed done." he agreed with a small sigh, acknowledging that this meeting could have gone a lot better, "I will follow your advice on this Valerian, and ask someone else to talk to you in the future. I doubt either of us would be able to keep this encounter from our minds were we to meet again."

When some of the younger centaurs drew their weapons, Richard narrowed his eyes and his eyes glowed electric blue as he drew on his magic and held it within himself like a coiled spring. He let go of some of it when Cain made his young ones stand down but his eyes still glowed,

"I will not lose anything." he declared firmly, "I will make sure of it. Goodbye Valerian, leader of the Centaurs. I prey the next time we meet we will not be on opposite sides of a line in the sand."