A Landen Village in Southern Glacia, Kaeleer [Wednesday Afternoon, Fandom Time]

[glacial_queen]

It was almost time for then to catch their portal home, but Morton had cautiously decided that there was enough time to visit one more landen village before they left. Even Julian didn't have much a problem with this, mollified by the five Blood males (and seven females) that Karla had handwavily, because cons are exhausting offered a place in her First Circle, once she'd made her Offering.

Once there, they'd scattered to their respective duties with an ease that came with having done the same thing many times within the past two weeks. Karla took over whatever building was the largest, more interested in being a Healer than a Queen, taking care of whatever ailments came her way, either with Craft, mundane medicines, or just some brisk advice. Warren sat nearby, making sure she had plenty to eat and drink, while talking to the people about their problems and their woes, making sure they felt heard, understood, and cared for. People who might otherwise have been afraid to come to Karla were set at ease by his openness and, more importantly, his lack of Jewel.

Jono and Julian were teamed up elsewhere, talking frankly about the war that Karla would be bringing to Glacia, about her plans to depose the current Queen and her Ruling Council, and making it clear that any landen who wished to fight--or even learn to better defend his village--was welcome to join with them. Jono made it very clear that the landens that joined with them would be more than simply fodder for the Blood. Their willingness to fight for a Queen that would see them as people too had even Julian offering a grudging respect.

Morton was out in the fields, delivering the Queen's Gift to nourish the crops. A cupful of Karla's blood in a bucket of water was enough to give the tiny plants new life and fullness, ensuring that the village could meet their new tithes while still having enough leftover for themselves. And Kaelas remained outside of the village, keeping watch with his superior kindred senses, which he never failed to point out to their group of tiny noses and ineffectual teeth.

[NFB, and all PCs modded with permission. Violence and dark themes in the comments, because what would a trip to Glacia be without those?]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Jono just raised an eyebrow at that.

"I'm predicting rotten fruit. Possibly being spat on. If you feel so bloody strongly about this, then I highly doubt you'll be the only one. That's fine enough by me. I'm not here to be liked. I don't fight battles back home for the sake of popularity, either. What it's like for Worthington from here on is of little concern to me, but I do think the territory could benefit far more from constructive criticism from somebody who knows what he's talking about than all of the naysaying and snarling you've been doing."

He gave Julian a sharp little smile.

"And you could stand to benefit more from a Queen that you're not fighting every step of the way, yourself."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Rotten fruit is much better than a poisoned dagger in that dark," Julian retorted. "The aristos won't bother with anything so overt. They'll just whisper and make snide jokes and undermine everything that Karla wants to do. I don't give a damn whether she's liked or not, but I'll be damned if I'm serving a Queen who can't even be respected."

As for you and Worthington, Jono, he really didn't care either way, save for how it reflected on Karla. Really! He meant it!

...Mostly.

Looking away and scowling, he added, "What's it to you what I could 'benefit' from?" he snapped. "You think Karla is bloody perfect, and whatever issues you do imagine are worth fixing have nothing to do what would be best for me."

[furnaceface]

Oh, Julian. Step in it a little more. Go on.

"I've seen her time and again push herself bloody near the point of no return for the people that she cares about," Jono intoned, not about to let himself get his hackles up over Julian again. It was easier if he just fantasized about kicking him in the knee. "What's best for you, Julian, is that she survive long enough to liberate your Territory. And if you believe otherwise, then what the hell are you doing in her first circle in the first place?"

He gave a shake of his head.

"She's far from perfect. She's human. I've seen her at her lowest, mate. She can make mistakes and bleed, just like the rest of us. But she's far stronger than you give her credit for."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

Julian wasn't going to be happy until he learned to swallow that foot of his.

"I'm in her First Circle because I bloody well bonded to her, didn't I?" he seethed. "No choice, no say in it--she reached out and took something of me and now all I can do is follow in her wake." Bitching the entire way. "And, yes, I could deny it, but do you know how hard it is to stare at someone who is everything you ever wanted and not go to her? And then to find out that everything you ever wanted is nothing like you ever hoped? That is what she is to me! Can you even understand that at all?! I'm glad she's fighting for Glacia's liberation, but even if she weren't, it wouldn't. Fucking. Matter! I'd twist myself into a monster out of landen children's nightmares if that's what she wanted and I wouldn't even have a choice!"

[furnaceface]

Well, congratulations, Julian. You'd successfully managed to deliver a verbal blow to Jonothon that left him more than a little winded. It took him a moment to recover, to be able to piece words together again, and when he did they were a little softer than he had hoped they might be.

"Count yourself lucky, then, that she'll never ask you to be anything but what you are."

And another deep breath, and Jono's jaw was squared all over again, and aside from a haunted look in his eye and some obvious bleeding out of his soul lingering in his psychic scent, he was as good as new.

"She's not what you expected, no. She's young and hard-headed, she's bringing landens into her court and she's kicking certain traditions in the face, and change is bloody terrifying. Doubly so when the stakes are as high as they are here. But she's committed to making a difference for the better. And, believe it or not, I'm not just referring to villages like this one when I say that. I sympathize with your position, surprisingly enough. I'd be screaming bloody murder if I realized I'd been stripped of that choice again. But you could've done with far worse than Karla."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" Julian asked, his eyes looking almost wounded. "She won't, hmm? Because she and I get on so well and all. You don't think I can't tell she's disappointed that we're bonded? That every other male she's asked to be in her Court hasn't given her more joy than I have? Some part of me thinks she is my everything and wants to weep knowing that she can't stand me."

Then he was turning away, all anger and pride like sharp angles in his psychic scent. "Then why don't I try to be more like she wants, hmm? Why don't I smile and charm and worm my way into your little happy circle? Is that what you're about to ask? Why don't I stop being such a damn disappointment? Because I am clinging to as much of me as I can before I start letting her mold me!" His voice cracked, but he'd thank you very much not to notice, Jono.

[furnaceface]

Jono just stood back, listening to Julian talk, his frown deepening all the while.

And then, perhaps against his better judgment, he reached out and let a hand rest on the other man's shoulder.

"Then cling," he said, simply. "Hold on to whatever part of you it is that makes you who you are, and don't let go for all you're worth. Being torn between a compulsion beyond your control and holding on to your own sense of self..."

He sighed. He didn't imagine Julian wanted to hear it, least of all from him.

"She wants to be able to make you proud on her own merits," he said, pulling his hand back. "I can tell you that much. I've known her long enough to know that whatever disappointment is there, it's because she's telling herself that whatever it is she's meant to be doing here, in your eyes she's already failing."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

Julian jerked his arm away, turning a glower down to the dirt so Jono couldn't see the sting of tears in his eyes, once more grateful for the other male's head-blindness. "I want her to succeed," he said a little thickly. "I want her to defeat Hobart and take black Glacia and bring her back to the Old Ways. But I don't know how she can do that while intentionally hobbling herself."

Once more in control of himself, he glared back up at Jono. "No matter what you think of me, I'm still one of the best friends you've got. She might get rid of Hobart and all the foreign males who support him, but do you think she'll get rid of all the aristos who do to? All the people who fear Black Widows? Everyone who titters behind their hands because their Queen is bedding someone no better than a barnyard animal? My family knows landens. Aristos in Sidra, in Nachfelde, or Kleinhaven...when do you think the last time they met a landen? Talked to one? Even the artisans and burghers, unless they had reason to wander into the landen parts of town? And how do you think they'll see her?"

[furnaceface]

"She'll be a threat," Jono replied simply. "She represents more than a power shift. She represents change. Change is terrifying."

His expression remained unchanging. He didn't need his powers to be able to tell what that look toward the ground meant. He'd spent years doing the same bloody thing for the same bloody reason, after all.

"Don't think I don't know that, Julian. There are less than two-hundred people like me on my entire world. Where I'm from, we don't call that endangered, we call that extinct. I know hate and fear when I see it, and there will be no small number of people who will harbour those things in spades. Especially in the wake of a civil war that will leave this Territory rocked to the core. Especially when so many of those Aristos are going to find themselves having to work that much harder to get by, once Hobart's support vanishes. And, yes, especially with people like myself and Warren serving in the Queen's court. With him serving as consort, meaning one less Blood male filling a role that's been consistently Blood for millions of years."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"So then why the Hell should I be excited to see you lot?!" Julian demanded. "Why should I be happy with this? Why shouldn't I protest when you and Worthington are just two more strikes against her and she's already playing from a shortened deck?!"

...That metaphor didn't really make sense. Julian didn't care.

[furnaceface]

"I can't speak for Worthington," Jono growled, "but look me in the eye and tell me that what we've done on this trip is a detriment, Julian. I've built you an army. Try winning your Territory back without one."

He set his chin and narrowed his eyes, empty white for barely a heartbeat.

"You're thinking of the future, and that's good, Julian. All power to you. But before you can focus on the Court, put a little effort into thinking about the war you'll have to fight so that a true Territory Court will ever get a chance to happen. You need to survive tomorrow before you can start living next week."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"And how d'ya suppose this army is going to fight for your Queen," a man asked from nearby. He'd drifted over with the other landens to hear Jono's speech, but hadn't been one of the many who'd clambered to listen. Perhaps his missing leg had something to do with that. "Without getting destroyed by the Blood before we get close enough to even see what's attacking us, I mean."

[furnaceface]

Jono gave the man a sideways glance, and then turned to face him, giving his question all the respect it was due.

It was a fair concern. It was more than fair, in fact. This was his home, and some upstart Queen and her entourage had wandered in offering salvation in exchange for blood.

"By being the enemy they never see coming," he replied. "I'm not proposing everybody take up arms and rush them headlong. But your people... they know this land better than our enemy will. They have an obvious advantage when it comes to their weapon of choice, which makes a head-on altercation suicide, at best."

He wasn't going to speculate on what took this man's leg, but he suspected that he wasn't saying anything that hadn't seen some first-hand experience around here, either.

"We have our wits. We have traps that can't be sensed with a jewel, because we don't need Craft to lay them. We have the land that grows many of Glacia's crops. And, we have the element of surprise... We're the enemy they least expect. They think we're harmless, too cowed, too afraid to die to speak up against them. They're expecting the attack to come from other Blood, and there will be those as well, of course. That means that if we play our cards right, we'll be able to make at least one good strike before they know just who their enemy is. We get one chance to make that strike count." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I intend to be right there in the fray along with any volunteers. I have no interest in sending home bodies. Not if it can be helped."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"And then what?" he asked, spitting a wad of tobacco on the ground at their feet. If nothing else, the attitude of the people in this village were probably enough to set the worst of Warren and Jono's fears to rest. They certainly weren't afraid to speak their minds--though they did tend to curb their tones some, when speaking to someone who wore a Jewel. "We get that one good lick and then what happens? We try to break through their shields and fail. There be Blood backing us up? Anything? Even the lightest Jewel can take a man apart with a thought."

[furnaceface]

"Shields," Jono replied, simply. "They won't be the only ones out there with shields. Karla will see to that."

And if she didn't, he'd thump her. He was fairly confident that the thumping wouldn't be necessary. Especially since he'd already informed her that he was going to be out there in person, himself.

"We get our one good lick, and then we resort to other strategies, other tactics. More ruthless ones. Underhanded, even. But all's fair..." Why bother finishing that statement? Kaeleerans wouldn't be likely to understand it anyhow. He sighed. "Sabotage. Espionage. Anything and everything that we can do on our own merits- things that can be learned, easily enough, with the proper training."

Working for Weapon X hadn't taught Jono to play nice, after all.

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"What about fighting with honor?" he asked, eyebrow raised and cutting a glance Julian's way.

[furnaceface]

"Our enemy won't be," Jono said simply, not bothering to look Julian's way. "I'm talking about fighting for survival."

And he would backstab like a son of a bitch if that meant he'd get these people their freedom.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Anyone who wants you to fight with honor in a fight like this is trying to convince you to commit suicide," Julian snorted. "Honor is fine for petty aristo duels, and this isn't one of those."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"You saying landens can't fight with honor?" the man pressed. "Just because we don't your fancy Protocol--"

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"No," Julian interrupted, approaching the end of his patience. "I'm saying honor is a bunch of fancy rules that pretty up a fight when no one wants blood to be shed."

Which was why Warlord Princes didn't give much a fuck about such things.

"This isn't going to be that kind of fight. So you can either step up and volunteer to be useful or you can sit back and make snide comments, but, either way, stop putting words into my mouth!"

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"Huh," the landen said, unfazed by Julian's outburst. "Not often you hear someone willing to level with you."

[furnaceface]

So help Jono, he was actually smiling, a sort of grim smile strained by far too much old blood, leaving a sombre cast to his expression.

"We realize that we're asking for no small feat," he intoned. "War is hell, no matter how it's fought. People will die, I'm not going to bloody well lie over that. There will be casualties. But I'm not going to ask anything of anyone here that I'm not willing to do myself, right beside them."

Honesty. Wasn't it great?

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"Why do you care?" the landen asked, looking at Jono with a raised eyebrow. "You're not from Glacia. You say you're not even Blood. So what's it to you, who rules the Territory?"

[furnaceface]

"Short story is I owe Karla my life so many times over I can't even begin to list off all th'reasons why, any more," Jono replied, with a wry twist to that grim smile that lasted for only a moment. "Long story is, even if she wasn't practically a sister to me, there's too much going on here that strikes a chord with me, and I'm notoriously terrible at keeping my nose out of trouble when it's sitting right in front of me."

It was still almost like an answer.

"I get nothing out of this but peace of mind," he added, "but I've spent enough time pulling myself away from the edge of madness, peace of mind is a commodity I can't afford to pass up."

Honesty. His answer was hardly the most noble, but just like everything else, he wasn't about to start painting his reasons in glory.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

Julian eyed Jono then. It was more of an answer than Julian himself had ever heard the big man give.

"Does it really matter? The important thing is, he's here and he wants to help."