Aris Cretu walked into the dining hall with more than a bit of trepidation. A secret summons from Queen Shalahai was unexpected, and could mean a problem had arisen that needed dealt with. Or it could mean that she was Most Displeased with one or more of his recent decisions. Or that one or more of the other Lords of Althiem had gotten tired of the 'uppity human' and decided to trump something up serious enough to get the Queen involved.

Queen Shalahai sat at one end of the table, a neat square of black cloth folded on the table before her, a smile danced at the corners of her lips. Lord Wavethunder sat to her right with an urchin's grin plastered across his normally stoic face. Ilelahne SiDabolo sat to her left, a curious humor dancing in her eyes.

Aris relaxed mentally, but held his body at attention, "you summoned me my Queen?"

"Yes I did, Captain-Chronicler Cretu. Take a seat."

Aris took the offered seat, "Captain-Chronicler?"

"I see we caught you off-guard and unaware. Lord Wavethunder, would you care to elaborate?"

"Certainly. My Agents, Swords and Daggers both, have been following up leads tossed up in your wake. Lady Ussi has been most helpful as well, given her previous position in the Overlord's network. Between the two of you, we have broken open and rolled up several of the Overlord's spy rings and action cells. In particular, the documents we recovered from the Siren's safe in Chedal led us to the action cells that hit the Ironbark Company."

Aris' throat tightened up at the memory of the fallen friends he left behind.

"We didn't know what we had until we were sifting through the post-battle wreckage. Had I known, I would have called you in to lead the assault in person."

Aris' eyes locked onto the folded square of black cloth. He didn't need to see it unfurled to know what icon graced its front: The silver tree of Ironbark.

Ilelahne rested one hand on top of the Standard, "more than just the Standard, I have a full copy of the Logs too."

Queen Shalahai speaks softly in the silence, "We called you Captain-Chronicler for a reason, Aris Cretu. The fate of Ironbark rests in your hands, and your hands alone. What say you?"

I could reform Ironbark, but do I want to? It would mean giving up so much here, setting aside all that I would stand to build and see grown. On the other hand, do I dare let nine hundred years of history be consigned to oblivion?