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]

"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."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"Damn right it bloody well matters," the male said. "I done a fair share of fighting when called to it. Wasn't always from this Province. Used to be a lot further south. Ended up getting drawn into a fight between one bitch-Queen's Court and another, one I didn't have no place being in in the first place. So now that I got a choice, I wanna know what makes the male offering me more bloodshed ticks."

[furnaceface]

"And I wouldn't want you to go into this without knowing," Jonothon replied, giving Julian a momentary glance, something almost surprised, really, that he was doing something close to taking his side on this.

But Jono could handle himself. He needed to, here.

"Not when it's a decision like this one. Not when it could very well mean your life. I'm stepping into this because where I come from, people like me have been pushed into corners, forced into hiding, exterminated like animals or worse. I'm stepping into this because I know all too well what it means to have that choice stripped away, I know exactly what it means to have my mind taken from me by the same people who would see my people being trod underfoot simply for not being the same as them. I've been in too many fights I never wanted a part in. Now that I can choose, I want to be in a fight that counts. I don't want Glacia to get to the same point my own home did, with last-class citizens trod on by the people with power, and no hope of ever making it better without making it far, far worse, first. Karla is an unknown to you and yours, relatively, but she'll be a far cry better than Hobart and his pet Queens have been. I know her well enough to be able to say that confidently."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"Then where has she been this whole time?" the landen snapped, a mix of rage and grief in his eyes. "If she's here to save us and usher in this new time of hope and salvation for us all, why is she only here now? Why not before, when I was still whole? When I had two sons and a wife, instead of three lonely plots of ground hundreds of miles from here? Why is it that you know her and not us?!"

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Whoa, now, settle down!" Julian took a step back, trying to keep his own nature from coming to the fore in response to the landen's rage. "You don't know--"

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"I know plenty!" the man howled, either unaware of the potential danger he was in from the Warlord Prince or uncaring of it. "I know grief and loss and pain! I know who and what I've lost over the years she's been gone and that list is plenty long! I know that she's wearing a damn darker Jewel than any other Blood I've ever seen, which means she's more than a match for whoever goes up against her! But what I don't know is why she abandoned us!"

[furnaceface]

"Because she was a child herself," Jonothon replied softly. "Because, strong Jewel or no, when your family is murdered and you fall into the custody of an Uncle who would like nothing more than to break you and take all that's yours for his own, what else are you to do? She couldn't save you then. No more than any other little girl possibly could."

He crossed his arms over his chest.

"She would've died trying or worse. There's more to a Queen than the colour of the rock she wears. She needed to grow into that, first, and she couldn't do that here. She never would've had the chance. She wouldn't have lived long enough to try."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"Lots of little girls have died," he said softly. "And many more have been broken."

[furnaceface]

"She knows." Jono's words were quiet, but he kept his head up, looked the man in the eye. "She's seen a lot of the results of Hobart's reign herself with her own two eyes. She empathizes with them all. She bleeds for them, sometimes as literally as figuratively. And she doesn't want to see any more meet that fate. This isn't the Glacia she was born into. It should never have come this far, and I see it eat her away inside, thinking that she might've changed this sooner somehow, when she couldn't have possibly managed to. She doesn't want to take back Glacia for the sake of power. She wants to restore her home."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"And what happens if you're wrong about her?" he asked. "What will you do? Leave back for your home?"

[furnaceface]

"Home sweet home?" Jono snorted and gave his head a shake. "I've signed on to this, I'm in it for the long haul. I'm no stranger to handing myself over to a cause and seeing it through up to and beyond that moment that there's really no practical use left for me. I'll be here. And if I'm wrong about her, which I sincerely doubt, I won't take it laying down."

He gave his shoulders a little shrug.

"I consider her family," he said, "but that mostly just means that I'm comfortable giving her a good swat upside her head when I see her bollocksing something up. Protocol is for the Blood to worry about. I'm the bossy older brother."