[FRAG] House of Liars

Hour Star stared at the planets.

He'd never seen one before, never set his eyes on a circling, spiralling orb floating high in the sky, soft rings of broken rock and ice floating around them. They hung near the stars, idly drifting through the dark violet nothingness that made up the horizon, blocking out swaths of faraway galaxies as some unseen force pulled them along.

His home had stars, of course. They were distant, tiny little specks, painted on the outermost shell of the Universe, a mere mimicry of what this place was. That's what his home was. A mimicry. What had he gotten himself into?

Suddenly, he felt so very, very small.

"You just gonna stand here and stare?"

Hour looked down, at the red-toned Frag who had greeted him at the teleportation pad. Crvendach smiled back, tilting his head slightly at the other's expression.

He was here for a reason. He just going to finally, finally unshackle his Timeline from the clutches of the fucking Coalition. He had to stay strong, had to keep his head high, his shoulders squared. He wasn't going to let some stars and planets scare him into running home, tail between his legs. What would Neb say? What would Chrysis say? How could he face Marion, knowing he'd failed, staking his honor and dignity on this line?

With a small inhale, Hour stiffly linked his hands over his lap, "No. I- I want to speak with Morning Star."

"Okay, well, do you have an appointment?" Crven prompted.

"I need one?"

Crven gave a light shrug, "It's considered polite, especially if an Overseer has a lot of work, like him - but we can go check if he's busy or not anyways. Next time, just remember to call ahead, okay?"

"...Sure."

"I don't think I caught your name," Crven said, smiling as he reached out a hand politely.

Hour stared down at it, hesitating for a second before he reached forwards to shake. "It's Hour."

"Nice to meet you, Hour! I'm Crvendach, Overseer." the handshake was light, soft - the Overseer didn't cling to his grip, and let his arm drop after only a second. "Welcome to the Coalition headquarters!"

"Thanks, I guess. Where should I go to talk to Morning Star?" 

Crvendach gestured down the way. Hour peered after his hand, at the massive building on the other side of the floating island. It was hard to make out details of it, from both the distance and the throngs of people trotting about the lawn, talking. There was a familiar chorus of life and bustle that was comforting to him, even though he recognized no one in the crowds. 

Soon, he'd go home, and they'd be free. Morning Star would never bother them again, Coalition assholes wouldn't bother them again. They could just live and grow, in Trivea and in Vaulis, as they always had done, as they always would do. No more of the business and bullshit that they kept getting dragged into.

And maybe Chrysis would finally concede, finally stop being such an unrepentant asshole about everything, and they could go back to living as one town, happy, with no fear of attack from their old neighbors and old friends. Maybe, just maybe if he could pull this off, everyone would be happy again. And he'd get to watch the town grow again, see everyone happy, and know that he'd done the right thing.

But first. Morning Star. First, dealing with every one of his stupid, nosy coworkers, who meddled in so much shit they didn't belong to, that they didn't deserve to. 

"I'll escort you there, of course!" Crvendach perked.

Hour blinked, whipped his head around to face the other, "What? Why?"

"I'm not too busy right now, really, and you definitely seem new around here. I don't recognize your face." Crven smiled, "So I can escort you around the premises until we find Morning Star. What do you need to see him for, anyways?"

Hour set off walking towards the building, Crven tailing fairly close. He huffed slightly. "I'm going to sign my Timeline out of the Coalition and I probably need an... uh, Overseer to do it."

"Oh! How come?"

"Aren't the Overseers the leaders of the-"

"-Yes - I meant, how come you're bowing out of the Coalition? Is there something we did that upset you?" Crven half-frowned, then tilted his head, "Well, there is a feedback survey whenever you sign it out, so I suppose you could fill that out. Please do, your opinion of us and our work matters greatly-"

Fucking stars he sounded like some sort of bad commercial. Hour squared his shoulders, glaring up at the imposing structure. It looked too small to properly be the headquarters of an organization as huge as the Coalition was implied to be. But maybe Morning Star had lied about its size? No, no, there were too many people around. It was definitely just as large (if not larger) than it'd always been hinted to be. Ugh.

"-You also need the permissions and signatures of the on-file Timeline guardians...."

Hour tensed. "The who?"

"The guardians of the Timeline! The Fragments who are in charge of it and signed their names to register it at the COR," Crven explained, with a smile. "All on file have to sign to unregister it."

Hour rubbed his forehead. Great, another layer of stupid complexity. Morning Star was likely on file, which meant he'd have to convince the other not only to hand over the forms, but to also sign off. He was on it, too... that was probably it, right? He barely remembered registering for the COR, way back when Trivea had been tiny and before Morning Star actually left.

Fuck, that was so long ago, an entire lifetime ago. 

"What TImeline are you from?" Crven asked.

Hour cracked open an eye to level a glare at the other, "Fuck if I know what it's called. It's the one Morning Star's from."

"Oh. Oh! Triple one hundred!"

"...What."

"AAA-100. Triple one hundred! It's well-known for how many Frags live there," Crvendach explained, still smiling. "Some people think that makes it deserving of mockery or something along those lines, but there's nothing wrong with a lot of Frags in a Timeline."

"...Why do people think that's stupid? That a lot of Frags live in a particular Timeline?" 

Crven half-shrugged, crossing his arms plainly. "People have their opinions. One of the most prevalent schools of thought is that it's immoral to hide out in a Timeline and be safe, rather than risking yourself to try to stop disasters or engage in maintaining the Coalition. But that's the kind of thinking that led to the Haven splinter group... I think it's trite."

"I... see...." Hour trailed off. 

They kept up pace in silence. Hour stared at the floor, at his footsteps against the soft, baked dirt path. There was no sun that he could see in the sky - only stars and planets. Was this place only lit by the light of space? There were lampposts around, but surely they weren't providing all the illumination? The more time he spent here, in this foreign place of strange magic, the more discomfort clung to him. 

He'd go home soon. Just breathe.

"Do you know Morning Star personally?" Crven asked, a second later.

Hour scrunched up his muzzle. "Uh, yeah, I-"

"What about Morning Star?" someone to his right asked.

Both Crven and Hour turned, accordingly, to face the newcomer. They grinned up at Hour, some flowers tucked behind their ears, pastel colors making up their palette. Completely unintimidating.

"Hello, Roseline!" Crvendach replied, beaming back. "What are you doing around here at this time?"

Roseline gave a tiny half-wave, "Evening, Overseer! Waiting on my next assignment from Archise but he got distracted and ran off so I'm just chillin' by the door. Heard you two talking about Morning Star?"

"Why is it your business?" Hour asked, tensely. 

"Morning Star and I are friends!" Roseline replied, still smiling, "And I was his bodyguard for a while. And if you're talking shit you're going to have to get hit."

At the last word, they leaned forwards, muzzle only an inch from Hour Star's face. He scrambled back in turn, startled anxiety overtaking his expression. Roseline's smile suddenly seemed too menacing, too full of sharper teeth to actually be humorous or amused. Still, Roseline leaned back, against the wall, crossing their arms again. 

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Roseline said, looking Hour up and down.

Hour glanced wildly from Crvendach to Roseline, gesturing, "I just got threatened! Aren't you going to do something?!" 

Crven awkwardly gave a tiny shrug, "I mean, I'm not in charge of Research & Remove. And certainly not Roseline's division."

"Oh my fucking stars," Hour hissed, stomping towards the door.

Roseline's hand grabbed his chest, halting his progress. He tensed as they leaned closer, still grinning, "I wasn't done talking yet, buddy."

He remained still, waiting, hands shaking slightly from apprehension, teeth grit.

"I don't know a whole lot about Morning Star's home Timeline or anything, but I've seen fucking enough of him to guess some things. And I'm not going to let anyone else hurt him after all we went through together. Got it?"

"I'm not going to hurt him," Hour shot back. "I'm asking him to sign my Timeline out of this fucking Coalition."

"Yeah, sure. Just remember what I said, alright?" Roseline leaned back, pointing at their own eyes with two fingers and then gesturing at Hour Star. He shot them a dirty glare, but they merely nodded and smiled back.

He turned back towards the door, bristling. Crvendach was busy talking to the person in a window, who was laughing and chatting back. They both turned to smile as Hour trotted up.

"Hiya!" the person said, offering a hand, "My name's Arco Iris! You look pretty familiar."

Hour glanced down at his hand, and then up at his face again. "Oh, I do know you. I was in the, uh, Sanctum for a while. Morning Star introduced us." 

"Nice to meet you again! On better circumstances, I hope?"

"I... think so." Hour shook, awkwardly.

Crvendach smiled brightly. "I was just telling Arco Iris that you're looking for Morning Star to unsign your Timeline."

Arco Iris nodded, "Yeah, he's not in right now, but I texted him. You guys should go in and pick up the forms anyways, you can usually get 'em from Glitter's desk or Mooncake's if Glitter isn't in."

"Great, thanks," Hour muttered.

"Say hi to Morning Star for me, alright?" Arco Iris peeped, grinning as he hit a button. "I've been meaning to invite him out for some milkshakes sometime. Do you know if he likes em?"

"Uh... I don't, sorry," Hour managed, voice rising near the end. 

Arco Iris shrugged as the doors pulled open. "Ah, well. Guess I'll have to take the chance myself. Have a nice day!"

Crven gestured for him to follow, and Hour fell into pace behind him, feeling somewhat disconcerted.

He half-heartedly wanted to ask something - what they'd been talking about, what Roseline was going off about, why Morning Star had had a bodyguard, why everyone here seemed to adore him. But there was a feeling that any answer he'd get would be inadequate underneath his skin, and he hated getting false answers or half-truths. Assholes who thought they could lie to him or withhold something were the worst kind of people.

So, of course, the Coalition was full of these types. He hadn't even done anything to Morning Star. That stupid guy had no reason to threaten him like that, and the Overseer didn't even do anything to stop him. Some fucking world-saving group they were, letting their members threaten whoever they pleased, whenever, for no reason. They didn't know anything about him or his people.

It only made the desire to free Trivea and Vaulis burn harder in his chest. They had to be separated from these maniacs, these absolute brutes who didn't give any actual shits about anyone else but their precious little ingroup. It made him sick.

Although, he supposed that he was the same way. All he cared about was his ingroup. Well, at least he wasn't going around, threatening the Coalition bastards and occupying their headquarters and kidnapping their leaders and getting them caught up in a war of his own volition. He'd never even fought in a war, for fuck's sake!

Crven's voice sliced through his thoughts. "Sorry about Roseline. They can get a little bit tense, and considering everything that happened... in hindsight-"

"-You know exactly what's going on," Hour Star muttered, darkly, "you're just fucking stringing me along and pretending like you don't know who I am."

Crven frowned, glancing over his shoulder at Hour. "I genuinely don't know, I promise."

"Do you know Morning Star?"

"I mean, it's hard not to, Hour! He's made a lot of waves recently, more than anyone thought he was capable of... I mean, everyone thought Magnotris was gonna be the guy to try to stick it to the Overseers. And now that I'm friends with Magnotris I'm wondering how much of that was just his persona?" Crven half-shrugged, "But I'm not close with Morning Star, personally."

Great. This dumbass knew Magnotris, apparently. What fantastic news. This entire trip was exhausting him more and more, making anger and frustration rise to the surface of his mind. He'd always been bad at emotional regulation, but this was quickly churning into an all-new low.

"You're Hour Star?"

Oh, great, another fuckface. Hour came to a halt, letting a sigh escape himself as he looked up, hands balled into fists. Crvendach had also stopped, smiling awkwardly at the Frag in front of them: four-armed, standing tall, two horns on their head, a swishing tail dripping some sort of yellow down to its base. Hour looked them up and down, a tight frown forming as he took in their appearance. 

"Yes?" he said, after a second, directing his gaze up at their face.

Agonizing pain suddenly collided with his skull as the taller Frag punched him, squarely, in the face. 

"OVERSEER STERLING, HOLY SHIT!" Crven yelped, his voice echoing in Hour's head.

Hour squealed as he landed, hard, on his rear, another wave of pain shooting up his spine. He clutched at his broken nose, at the sudden gush of blood and tears alike that spilled out of him. That hurt. 

"Damn, that felt good."

He glared up at Sterling from between his fingers, lips pulling back to bare his teeth in frustration. "What the FUCK was that for!?"

Sterling drew his fist back again, although Crvendach reached to grab his wrist in panic. The other clearly wasn't holding Sterling back at all, but he still hesitated to raise an eyebrow at Hour Star. "For being an absolute cunt?" 

"HOW!?"

"Morning Star is my best friend and we text. A lot." 

MORE OF MORNING STAR'S FUCKING CRONIES. 

Hour scrambled back, climbing to his feet, still cradling his face. The pain was starting to overtake his head and more tears were dripping down his face. Stars, fuck, that hurt. That really, really hurt. His lower eyelid twitched as agony crept down his head, not quite able to cope with it. 

"And I've heard plenty about you, you fucking loser," Sterling snarled, stepping forwards to scoop Hour up by the chin, brushing Crvendach off. "Especially as of recent." 

Hour half-spluttered, words not quite managing to form past the blood, "I'm-"

"-What're you here for, huh? Gonna torture Morning Star more? Planning on driving that little fucking stake into his heart even more? I'm not going to let you get away with anything, you stupid fucking cretin. I don't care if you think your ego is big enough to prance onto our territory and threaten him, but you're going to find that it's a lot more difficult to torture him when you can't corner him."

Hour squeezed his eyes shut, "I'm not trying to hurt him!"

"You think I'm going to believe THAT? After all you did to him?"

"He hurt me TOO! His actions constantly f-fucked up everything I was trying to do! If he didn't keep interfering and fucking over my Timeline I wouldn't have been upset with him!" Hour cried, struggling to pull at Sterling's wrist. 

The other held firm, lips drawn back in a snarl. "Oh, save your fucking self-centered drivel."

Hour scrambled, but Sterling didn't budge, drawing instead his free arm back. After a second, something crackled to life in his hand, something warped and golden and bright, and Hour's eyes widened. Gold? Gold!? The Coalition had someone who could bend gold? 

Gold. 

He was going to fucking die here. He was going to die, Sterling's hand around his throat, gold ready to rip his magic from his body, accusing him of being a horrible person worthy of death.

More tears welled up. Starsdamnit. Fuck. Chrysis was going to be so angry he didn't get to do it. How many times had he tried? How many times had they been, just like this, Hour a second's breath from gold being stabbed through his chest, the other proudly standing over him, ready to end it all? 

Neb wasn't here to save him, this time. Marion wasn't here to save him, this time. What an utter stupid fucking bitch he was, wandering in here alone and hoping he'd make it through Morning Star's apparent army of militant fanatics. 

Hour choked out a sob as the other's arm swung.

"STERLING, WAIT!" Morning Star yelled.

Sterling completely froze, hand only an inch from Hour's face. He let out a loud sniffle, barely able to make out his brother through the tears that caked his vision. 

"Oh my stars, Hour, what are you doing here?" Morning Star half-managed, his hands gently coming to rest on Hour's shoulders. 

Sterling dropped him on the ground, and he crumpled, knees buckling as a tiny sob made its way out of him again. He couldn't even think enough to form words, but the pain had finally begun to subside. It took a second longer for him to realize Morning Star's hands were lit with healing magic. 

"Hour?" Morning Star pressed again.

He wiped at his tears. Stop fucking crying. Stop it. He had to be stronger than that, had to pull himself together. That kind of weakness was unacceptable, in this den of snakes. That kind of weakness was unacceptable, back at home, where he had to guide them without emotion clouding his judgement. Stop fucking crying, he could hear Chrysis, yelling at him, as he sobbed on the ground. 

"I'm fine," he growled, brushing off Morning Star's hands. His brother hesitated, holding up his arms defensively. "I'm fine. I'm here to sign our Timeline out of the Coalition."

"I- Hour, what?" he cried, hands flying up to his face.

Hour glanced up as Sterling moved to stand behind Morning Star, glowering down over the other's shoulder. Crvendach lingered nearby, careful to keep himself out of the action, nervously glancing from Sterling to Hour to Morning Star, playing with his hands. He looked ready to bolt.

"I want to be free of the Coalition. So you stop bothering us, and so we don't have to worry about any sort of occupation or law or whatever anymore. We just want to be left alone. I was going to ask you to give me the papers to sign, but I found out that you needed to sign them too, so-"

"But without Coalition support, you could be in danger!" Morning Star peeped, clasping his hands over his chest as the fear melted onto his face fully.

Hour gestured, throwing his arm out, resentment overcoming terror, "I don't care! You're the ones who keep dragging us into danger! What if we don't want your stupid fucking help? What if we don't want your stupid fucking help, Morning Star?! Did you ever think that you're not always right?" 

"Hey," Sterling hissed, voice a low warning, but Hour could barely hear him over the sound of his own anger.

"Did you ever think that?" came Morning Star's spat challenge, as tears streaked his cheeks, "Did you ever consider that maybe you're not right either? That the things you said about me and my job were uncalled for? That you were lying about me and my boyfriend?"

"That has nothing to do with this!"

"That has everything to do with this! You're just angry at m-me because for some reason you think I'm the source of all your problems! I'm your scapegoat!" 

Hour swung his fist into the wall, "That's not TRUE! You ARE the source of my problems! Everyone fucking blames me for everything the Coalition does to our Timeline because you left and joined them! We just want to be left alone and I don't understand why you and your stupid friends can't seem to get that! I have to explain to the citizens why we're being attacked, occupied, poked and prodded at! We don't need your help! The only reason we were overtaken is because of you!" 

"That doesn't give you the right to take it out on me! I'm sorry people t-treated you poorly but I didn't know and how am I supposed to help when I don't know?"

"I don't want your help! I never wanted your help! You've only ever made things WORSE for me! And then I had to walk around this entire stupid house of LIARS and listen to people tell me what a great person you are, and it's just fucking salt in the wound at this point! It's really great that you never have to deal with anything hard in your life and you get to prance around making friends and never dealing with real problems!" 

"I KILLED SOMEONE!" Morning Star screamed.

Hour froze, staring, wide-eyed, blood still dripping down his nose. Morning Star, breathing heavily, held his gaze, expression hardened in pent-up anger and frustration. It was disgustingly unfamiliar, on his brother's gentle face, on his softer features. And, for a split second, he saw his own resentful fury staring back at him. 

And, for a split second, he heard Chrysis' voice ringing in his ears.

"Morning Star," Sterling began, gently, setting a hand on the other's shoulder.

Hour's eyes slid down to settle on that hand, on the fingers curled on Morning Star, at the gentle comfort the other Frag was trying to give, at the care before him, at a tangible connection between two people he couldn't understand and didn't know and never bothered to comprehend.

He breathed in. Slowly. 

"I had to kill someone," Morning Star continued, bitterly, voice cracking. "I had to help Magnotris steal magic from people to help cure a disease. I had to fight the Overseers themselves and I had to stop a war and I had to do so much shit that I tried to explain to you so many times but you never believed me. You can be a real jackass, you know."

All the people he'd spoken to. All the people he'd met. Everyone who'd sang Morning Star's praises. Everyone who had spoken with such pride in their voice, such care, such compassion for him. He'd touched all their lives and made them better. 

It was just like him. Just like Trivea. It was just him and Trivea but it was Morning Star and the Coalition. 

Hour Star slowly straightened his back, standing at his full height. He was still the shortest person in the room, now that Morning Star wasn't hunching over all the time. When had he grown a spine? When had he stood taller, taller than Hour remembered? Where did his older brother, meek and withdrawn, a doormat, a pushover gone?

That wasn't even a question. It was obvious. He'd gone through hell. 

"...I'm sorry," he said, voice sounding foreign.

Morning Star blinked. "I- what - Hour?"

"I'm... I'm sorry for not believing you. And for... needling you about stuff."

Morning Star wiped at his eyes, staring incredulously, even though tears filled them regardless.

Hour awkwardly held his arm, drawing his shoulders in, tail curling around his legs. "Listen, I - I just had to get through a pile of people that really, really genuinely liked you to get to talk to you. And all of them either threatened me if I hurt you and just talked about what a good guy you are. And... I realized that, um, we're not... dissimilar, I guess. Like we're both just trying to make life better for the people we c-care about, um, and I'm sorry for calling your 'town' a house of liars. And-"

He let out an oof as Morning Star threw his arms around him to yank him into a hug. The air was rather unceremoniously squeezed out of his lungs as Morning Star cried "HOUUUUUUR!" 

"Hhgh Morning S-"

"HOUR I DON'T WANNA ARGUE AND FIGHT WITH YOU ANYMORE EIIIIIITHER!" there were tears streaked down Hour's back now, "I-I wanna be friends! I'll h-help you sign AAA-100 out of the COR but I w-wanna be friends! I'm sorry I k-kept trying to make you j-join the COR and stuff! Please be friends with me again!"

Hour blinked, half-messily. Sterling was still staring at them, but his eyes were focused on Morning Star, affection and empathy clear on his face. He could feel his brother, sobbing into his shoulder, some sort of relieved hug clinging them to one another. Crvendach was gone. 

Stars. Fuck. This had really been on Morning Star's mind for a while.

"Okay, okay," he managed, past the little air in his lungs, "we'll be friends. OK. I mean like I'm still not one hundred percent comfortable around you, but I guess I'm willing to, uh, try."

Morning Star nodded into his neck.

"But I really want to go sign those papers."

"Y-yeah, I understand," Morning Star managed, pulling away and wiping at his eyes, "I know it's y-your TImeline and stuff. It's not right of m-me to try to keep you and it here. C-Cause I know you care about it."

Hour paused, shoulders tensing slightly. "You... do?"

"Y-yeah. You put a lot of effort into it, I c-could tell from when I visited. You care about it a lot."

"...Yeah. Sorry I told you to fuck off that time."

Morning Star just nodded again.

Sterling stepped forwards. "You okay, Morning Star?"

"I'm alright, just- just give me a second to compose," he replied, putting both hands on his chest and exhaling slowly. He scrubbed at his eyes before opening them, devoid of tears, hosting a tired smile on his expression. "There."

A polite cough sounded from the hall. All three turned to face Crvendach, having reappeared, clutching a handful of papers and a few pens.

Hour glanced down at them as the other spoke, "I, uh, ran off to grab these. I figured maybe it'd help deescalate the situation, but, uh, it looks fixed up already...?"

"Oh!" Hour sprang forwards, reaching out his hands. "Oh, yes, lemme see those!"

Crven willingly handed them over. Hour instantly scrambled through the paragraphs upon paragraphs of print and bullet-pointed lists, eyes scanning for a dotted line. "Looks like there's actually three people signed as Timeline Guardians."

Something died in Hour's chest as he froze, then looked up slowly. "What?"

"Mmhmm, look," Crvendach reached forwards, prying a sheet free from the stack to place on top. He pointed to a small list.

Morning Star put a hand on Hour's shoulder as he leaned in, looking equally as confused. Hour stared at the three names, the inked numbers next to them, the title on top of the paper listing GUARDIANS. 

Morning Star, listed as primary. Of course. He'd been the one to insist it got registered.

Hour Star. Duh. He would've insisted on signing any legal documents about his Timeline. 

The third name made his blood run cold.

"-You've got to be fucking kidding me," he whispered.

"Oh, Chrysis?" Morning Star mused, light recognition in his voice. "Ah... that sounds sort of familiar? Wasn't that your boyfriend, Hour? Before Marion, I mean. Unless you're in a poly tri-"

"-He is NOT my boyfriend," he snapped.

"Oh. OH. Um, s-sorry."

He had come all this way, managed to crawl through enemy territory, nearly got killed by one of Morning Star's friends, apologized to his brother, and Chrysis was waiting for him? Cockblocking him from freeing his Timeline? He'd have to go get that fuckface's signature to be free? 

Hour pressed the papers into his forehead. He should've known. Of course Chrysis would've wanted to sign it, back when they were friends, when Trivea was their town. Of course. He'd always maintained that he'd had the same connection as Hour had to the Timeline. How did he forget? Why did he forget? 

"I'm sure we can just pop into the Timeline and get that signature, right, Hour?" Morning Star asked, putting an arm comfortingly around Hour's shoulders.

Ugh, and now his brother was acting like they were old friends. Hour groaned softly, peeling himself from the stack. "No, we fucking can't. Chrysis fucking hates my guts now."

"...I'm coming with, though."

"What's your fucking point?" he half-hissed, although regret swarmed him when Sterling took a menacing step forwards.

Morning Star waved the other off. "My job is to be a mediator! I mediate conflicts and stuff! This is EXACTLY what I'm good at! You'll have to catch me up on... the circumstances of stuff and where it went wrong, but I'd love to help! It's like the first step we have to be friends again!"

Hour stared at the paper for another second before running a hand down his face. Stars, he'd gotten himself into a complete fucking mess. How hard would Vaulis laugh at him, as a community, when he pranced into their town and begged Chrysis to sign the papers with the Coalition traitor right on his heels? Could he even explain to Morning Star all the nuance of their Timeline's cultural split and the separate cities? Could he even begin to dig into the depths of his disagreement with Chrysis?

Augh.

But he had no choice, obviously.

"Fine."