[Henceforth I'm retconning a bit of my last RP since the Ongin rebellion ended a bit different to how I thought it might. The most important detail is rather than demonising all the Ongin, Telleth and the Naotik slandered just the ruling Agannu for their cooperation with the Hashas. Thus the Naotik war is framed as one of liberation rather than overt conquest.]

Telleth was by no means satisfied with the army that had eventually assembled behind him. Although the 2100 was a far cry from what Naotik alone could raise, most of those that now stood behind him had received a few months of training at most rather than the desired lifetime of experience, and nearly half were recalcitrant rebels who were conscripted only to keep them from being a nuisance at home.

Still, Telleth thought, they had been remarkably well indoctrinated. The process of convincing them to join in a liberation effort had not been a difficult one, not only because they themselves wanted to be liberated but because Hashas - or rather Ashad in those days - rulership was still deeply embedded in Radeti oral tradition as something vile, untenable and altogether regressive. They did not, after all, respect the nad as the Ongin did. It was unconscionable to have the respectful Ongin inhibited in their ancestor rites in favour of Hashas fire-related nonsense.

Not all of Telleth's forces marched, however. Nearly half were embarked upon a fleet lead by his wife Arla, which was to be sent ahead of their forces to Melia. There the fleet was to assess the situation in Melia, laying a blockade or ousting the foreign garrison if that were relevant, or supporting the city in its endeavours if it already proved free from tyrannic yoke. If possible, they would incite the Radeti enclave within the city to help them take the city or else join their army.

Arla and a small guard of a dozen axe-equipped val'kash (warrior women) sailed ahead of the rest of the mixed felucca-proa fleet, intending to sail into port as diplomats rather than conquerors. Dressed in finely decorated bronze, the severe looking woman and her entourage made directly for the port of Melia, intending to determine what was going on inside the city.