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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
Asad wanted to keep a close eye on his brethren in the days to come. Hopefully, none of them would do anything stupid and jeopardize their union. The lessons of the War of the Three Sands should still be fresh in the mind of many reapers, so Asad wanted to be optimistic, but it was also good to remain vigilant with these types of things. He had never personally experienced disunity with his kin on such a level as to provoke violence, and he hoped he never would.

The next matter on his mind was Abolish.

They had been quite thoroughly and brutally routed from Sair--and in large part, without the Vanguard's help. All of the Sandlords had been concerned about the Vanguard capturing Abolishers who were present at Dunehall--or in other words, Abolishers who might be able to tell the Vanguard that the Rainlords had been there.

And so the Lords of the Drylands had given no quarter in hunting the bastards down. Asad had even caught wind of a few Abolish prisoners who DID get captured by the Vanguard, only to end up dead anyway under "questionable circumstances."

Asad had little doubt that one or more of the other Hahls was behind it, and thankfully, the Vanguard hadn't been able to prove anything so far.

And this, combined with the Vanguard's simultaneous eagerness to win favor with the Sandlords? It made for a very strange state of affairs, to be sure.

And then, of course, there were the Rainlords back in Atreya. What manner of trouble might be brewing there, Asad had to wonder.

On the one hand, the Rainlords had not been in the best of spirits when he last saw them--as anyone would be, after having been repeatedly battered, trampled, robbed, and humiliated. Even their unity might still be in question, he felt, considering the trouble that had transpired with House Blackburn.

But on the other hand, they were also now under the protection of the young Lord of Warrenhold.