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Lion has returned to Caliban in the silent and unexplained typical of him. It sent the Dark Angels and indeed the population of Caliban itself scattering at the return of the Grand Master of the Order returning.
Lion for his part cared not for the fuss that his return had created. Luther met Lion at the spaceport and his gain-brother greeted him as he left the shuttle. Lion was as the Lion ever was, not inquiring about the status of Luther or Caliban but the status of the Dark Angels that had been trained. It was three days after Lions return that he finally told Luther why he had suddenly returned.
The Emperor has ordered that the brothers learn more of each other. As the first of the Primarchs he would be the first to visit so as soon as possible he wanted to get it ready for his brothers to visit. Caliban had to be ready for his brothers to visit.
One of the things that were being prepared was clothing for his brothers. The brother sizes were provided to the seamstresses and then to the embroidery to be embroidered reflect his brothers. This sent a wave of gossip and speculation through all of the Dark Angels about the symbols and the meanings on them.
Roboute Guilliman was the first of the brothers to arrive. He had been passing by relatively close to Caliban as he been on his way and had decided to take time out of his schedule to attend to his brother.
The set of clothes that had had been prepared for the Lord of the Thirteenth was standard clothes that might have been worn by any noble pre-contact with the Imperium, made of the finest materials that they had available.
The arrival of the lord of Ultramar was as full of pomp as would be expected. The Ultramarines flanked his shuttles as they landed and Roboute Guilliman emerged, dressed in the clothes that he would have worn in the senate, a blue toga with a cream-colored tunic under it, golden laurels revealed first by the their glint in his golden hair. Lion waited for him in ornately laminated armor, a step down from what he may have worn as the Grandmaster. The meeting of the First and the Thirteenth would be whispered about by all of the observers as they exchanged their greetings. Guilliman went to grasp his wrist but was pulled in so that they were holding their elbows. The crowd that had come to watch were far enough away that they could not hear what had passed between the two. Only watching as the two brothers walked together.
At some point the clothing that had been made for Guilliman was given to him but any reactions had Guilliman had upon receiving the clothes was lost to time but he did wear it the next day. The intricate embroidery that had been painstakingly stitched into the seams and edges of the doublet and leggings.
Astartes and especially the Dark Angels would never be so callow as to run into pillars or walls, but they were shocked all the same upon reading the codes permissions. These gave Guilliman permission to know about most of Caliban’s civilian population and policies applied to them, this was something that would be reasonable that they would expect, but the rest of it was a look into Lion’s mind that they had never expected. He had used symbols that they had not thought that Lion ever knew. Old ones that the neophytes had to ask for their meaning.
They were old, and most only remembered them due to the stories that were associated with them. It was the marks of the Commanders of the Land. In the past of the Caliban when the keeps had been weak, command had been split between two Commands one to defend the castle and the other to go and hunt the Great Beasts. There were many stories, legends and epics about the returning hunting knights being returned to the valiant defenders who kept their homes ready, but as the keeps become better this rank and concept were retired. What did it mean when Lion had applied it to Guilliman’s clothes? Some thought that it was a concealed insult to Guilliman, and some wondered if this was a compliment to him. The ones that actually knew remained silent not mentioning that the rooms that Guilliman had been placed in for the duration had a secret entrance that was curiously clear of dust and the gears recently oiled. If anyone had proof or had caught the Lion going to Guilliman’s rooms, it was also not spoken off, but if they walked a bit more secure that even the Primarchs had their moments of humanity that was only known to them.
