better do as he says ;; hadley

Keyan was never the sharpest tool in the shed when he was younger, and that was probably why his primary source of income was being a henchman for sinister men like the overlodian of Deilig. For a while, Kole was giving Keyan menial tasks until just recently. When he was offered this job, he accepted the job with enthusiasm.

Today he found himself in Earalas, and though it took some time to navigate, eventually he found the overloridian's estate. Keyan wasn't very good with manners, so let's just say, when the doorman answered, Keyan was a tad bit on the forceful side.

After a little bit of a struggle, and possibly a black eye later, the rumpled doorman led Keyan to where Hadley was.

After introducing the brutish idiot to his overloridian, he walked away while mumbling something like, "I don't get paid enough for this shit," before permanently leaving the estate to pursue his dream career as a male ballet dancer.

Hadley was struggling to get through some braille sheets that Alicia had typed up for him to practice. It was about as fun as pulling teeth, but he knew he needed to get the hang of this if he was gonna continue being an effective overloridian. He couldn't just keep having the staff and/or Nila read things to him forever.

He was momentarily distracted by some unusual, struggle-y sounding noises coming from the front hallway. He stopped, debating whether or not to call for the estate guards, when Doorman's disgruntled voice floated through the room, introducing a visitor called Keyan.

"I don't get paid enough for this shit,"

I pay you plenty, Hadley would have said dismissively if he'd known what "this shit" was. He waited for the mystery visitor--Keyan--to say something, and when he didn't, said, "Can I...help you?"

"Yes, yes you can!" Keyan finally responded, after standing there awkwardly for a moment. He couldn't tell if the man sitting down in front of him was blind or not. He was just staring through Keyan blankly. If Keyan was smart he would have figured out that the overloridian was reading braille, but alas, Keyan was not.

"I come here on behalf of the overloridian of Deilig," he said, as professionally as he could. "I am here to deliver a message."

Hadley froze. The last time Kole had sent someone to "deliver a message" to him, he had woken up in the hospital, blind and with several cracked ribs. That had been different though...he'd been out alone at night, on the notoriously dangerous Theodore Lane. Now he was in his estate, where he kept over a dozen trained guards. He debated calling them again. "What message?" he asked tensely instead, worried that suddenly yelling for the guards might provoke this guy to do...something.

Keyan stood there, thinking of how to relay Kole's message. He was worried that he'd sound unprofessional or stupid. As he stood there thinking, his daemon nudged him.

Say something before he kicks you out! Bella hissed.

Oh right! he replied.

"The overloridian demands your starpiece," he finally said aloud. "Or you will suffer the consequences."

There was a long pause, during which Hadley wondered if Keyan was attempting some kind of non-verbal communication or something. clio did that sometimes, nodding or shaking their heads and whatnot as if he should be able to know what they were doing. When Keyan finally answered, he clenched his fist, crumpling the sheet beneath his hand into a ball.

Kole demanded his star piece. For all intents and purposes, this was essentially a declaration of war. "What consequences?" he asked sharply. Not that it would matter. Handing over the star piece would mean handing over all of Earalas, and Hadley couldn't imagine any consequences worth his entire country.

He wondered just how much this Keyan guy knew about Kole and his plans. He didn't seem very bright, so probably not much, but if he called for the house security to arrest him he could have him interrogated...

"Well..." Keyan replied. "If you don't surrender your star piece...you'll never see your parents again."

It never registered to Keyan that he could possibly get arrested, being here in Earalas. He didn't have a lot of common sense. That was probably why Kole chose him for the job. Poor, stupid Keyan.

Hadley let the threat sink in. My parents. He should have known. They were the easiest targets for Kole to take, given the fact that they lived in Deilig. A long, long time ago, he'd tried to convince them to move to another eilemaiden a couple times. Of course his stupid, careless parents never did anything they didn't wanna do, so they had stayed put against all logic and reason.

"Hm," Hadley leaned back in is chair as if he were contemplating what to do. "Security!"

What? But--Hadley, your mom and dad... Nila said weakly. He'll kill them.

If he hasn't already, Hadley replied as the footsteps of the security team approached. "Arrest this guy," he told them once they'd gotten to the room and presumably surrounded Keyan. "Take him to the police station and have him questioned." The police would know what that meant, though it had been a very long time since Hadley had last had someone "questioned." "Have them find out what he knows about Kole, Deilig, and if possible my parents."

If the security team found these orders strange, they didn't say so, and dragged Keyan off. As soon as they were gone, Hadley let his mask of calm slip off. "Fuck," he muttered. "Fuck!" His parents would die, if they weren't dead already. Sol was in danger. Remy was in danger. All of fucking Earalas was in danger as long as Kole wanted to get his fucking hands on it. This was going to be a war.

He had to get in touch with Tamar. As much as he didn't like her as a clio, he couldn't imagine a better ally to have against Kole. He'd also have to find someplace for Remy and Sol to go where they'd be safe. His insides squeezed a little bit when he thought of Remy's pregnancy. Great. We're going to have a baby during a fucking war. All the more reason to send her off.

He got up to get to work on these tasks, trying not to think about his parents in their final moments, if they were in fact still alive. I don't have a choice, he kept reminding himself, over and over and over. It's them or Earalas.