Hamlin stared into the stand mirror facing him, throwing back the reflection of a man wearied by battle and politics. Gilt ran along the edges of the object, fanciful designs made to portray wealth, yet even such features did not comfort him anymore. Lines creased a bronzed face, scarred emotionally and physically, hiding the pain and anger of a man resentful of his position. A growling escaped his lips, low and dangerous, twisting his lips into an enraged position. Leather-clad hand tightened around the sword resting on his hip.

Reducing his facial features from disgust to a simple sneer, he stalked towards the table in the center of his room, a massive affair of costly wood imported from some land in the south. It had belonged to his father, as had the mirror and every other item of furniture and decoration in this room. How he hated it!

"Light curse you, Father! You and mother always took the most inopportune moments to do things," he yelled, blood pulsing quickly under his skin. Spotting a letter lying on his desk, he snatched the piece of parchment. No use reading it again for its contents were known to him. Looking to a small candle lit in the corner, he strode quickly over to the ornate wax stick and stuck one end of the message into the flame. Smoke curled almost instantaneously as the fibrous material caught fire, crisping on the floor as Hamlin let the item drop.

Already he was entangled in the webs of politicking which he so despised and now Sora Amarr had decided to call a meeting! The purpose of it he could not be sure, but it likely related to the Trolloc hordes bearing down upon Almoren.

"Let them come," he whispered. "My blade thirsts." Realizing the parchment at his feet had reduced itself to burnt pieces of ash, he sniffed before turning away towards the door. Crossing the distance quickly, he slammed the portal open. If the fools desired a meeting, he would make himself heard. His bodyguard and friend since childhood, Carso Baren, stood to attention, clad in armor.

"Carso, it is time we made our position clear in Almoren. Prepare the House's armsmen. Then we go to this meeting. It is time for a change, my friend," he commanded. Carso smiled grimly. He knew what was coming.