Small Landen Village in Glacia, Late Summer (Thursday Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

A little more than a week ago, Karla had sent the vast majority of her Court away from Haven. One could hardly have a proper processional through one's home Territory without people smoothing the way. There were perspective soldiers to assemble, food to purchase, lodgings to prepare, Province Queens to quietly contact...And so Karla had sent her Court to prepare her way, possibly cackling, "Fly, my pretties, fly!" to herself because a girl has to make her own fun sometimes.

A few days later, a 'gift' from Khary and Morghann had come in the shape of a dozen beautiful Scelt-bred horses, led by four kindred Warlord horses. Those four stopped before Karla, Warren, Raven, and Dinah and bowed, giving each a respectful greeting from Lord Khardeen--though from Warren's rueful burst of laughter, it was likely that Khary had included a special message just for him.

The next morning at long-enough-after-dawn-for-coffee-because-we're-not-barbarians-Mother-Night-though-it's-still-a-ridiculous-time-to-leave o'clock, they headed out of Haven and made for Glacia. Though mountain traveling was never comfortable or easy, they made good time; they were too late for shockingly-fast summer storms and too early for the ferocious autumn ones. Though it snowed several times during their crossing, the snow itself was light and did not impede them much. With kindred horses leading the way, they didn't even need to worry about the horses finding proper footing or running the risk of broken ankles.

For a trip through mountains heading to war, it was surprisingly good natured. There was singing and story-telling, conversation and contemplation, bickering and bonding. They made good time and Karla was almost sorry to leave the mountains behind. Because the easy part of the summer was over. Now it was time to get down to work.

The first village they rode into had a surprise for them. There was Julian greeting them on the outskirts of the village wearing an insouciant grin. "My lady," he said with an exaggerated bow. "May I have the honor of giving you a present to celebrate the formation of your Court?"

Karla raised an eyebrow. "I do like presents," she agreed, confused but willing to play along. "Is it my uncle's head on a platter?"

Smirking, Julian shook his head. "No, but possibly better." He led her horse through the village to the open green at the center of it. Though very little of the green could be seen through the mass of men and women standing at strict attention, lined up in orderly, if somewhat ragged lines. "Lady," Julian said, with a bow, "may I present the beginnings of your army."

[For the Glacian contingent! NFB]

Comments

[heromaniac]

"If anyone who thinks you're Karla says anything to you? Don't say anything back," Momoko snorted, shoving lightly at Dinah's shoulder. "I'm sure Jono's thought of it, but it worries me. Not being in charge is totally going to be hard."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"For the Blood?" Dinah snorted. "They've had their chance. For ten of their years, they could've tried to kick out a weak-Jeweled guy who killed his brother and his wife, and the teenage puppet Queens he set up. He's been abusing his position and the power, and letting his guys run roughshod over everyone, Blood or Landen, in the entire Territory. They're about to get a Queen with a darker Jewel and more power and three castes, if they'll just fight for her. I have zero sympathy for their traditions and their prejudices. Because that's what it boils down to." Dinah let loose a long sigh. "Look. I know they need to be reassured that the landens won't murder them in their beds just because they have some more responsibility, and status. But ... Honest to God, how would you explain it to them?"

[heromaniac]

"And the Landens probably feel the same way," Momoko shrugged. "I know it can be done, but no idea how. In my country it took years of civil war between tiny dictatorships and then an invasion by another culture and at least one World War before we got as far as we did." And they still had a class structure to a small degree.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Well, don't ask me. I expect we'll be hammering this out over months, probably. Hopefully we'll figure out how to make them play nice." Dinah grimaced. "The only way I can deal with some of the Blood is to remind myself they're aliens. Xenophobic aliens with a moribund culture that was established fifty thousand years ago. It's beyond class, it's biology. You're born male or female, into a caste, with a certain Jewel strength. And everyone's expectations of you are based on that. Except if you're a landen, they don't expect jack from you." She frowned. "Or a half-Blood, and wow, are they wrong about how that works. Not that we can explain that to them... maybe we need to find some half-Bloods to help prove to them that it's not as black and white as they think."

[heromaniac]

"Thinking of it as biology is a totally good way to do it," she agreed. "It's hard when they don't look different, though, isn't it? It's easy to think of Lion-o and Robin with different rules and politics because they don't look human."

"But I think you and I are better than half-Blood for showing off. We're obviously not Blood, but Karla put us in positions of power, her Court treats us like equals, and we treat everyone the same."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"It is biology. One small group of biologically gifted and way the hell more volatile people has been ruling for thousands and thousands of years. Sometimes they leave the non-magic people alone, sometimes they torment them. But yeah, it's hard to think of them as different when it just comes across as jerk-faced."

Dinah bit her lip. "I dunno. Maybe that'll help. But we're outsiders, Momo. We may wear these rings, but ... we're outside everything. We won't be joining a Court. Or staying to plant crops with the farmers. We have powers, but they can't put us in their little boxes. They may just mark us down as freak exceptions and not take anything more away from the situation than that." She sighed. "This one Half-Blood from Agio, Kevan-- he did so much more with his magic than anyone expected. They need people like that to show them how to aim higher than what they think they're locked into." She looked over at Julian. "And most of her Court may treat us as Karla's equals. But... we can't be sure how long that'll always hold true."

[heromaniac]

Momoko had heard parts of the Kevan story over the years, but never the full story. Still, she could see how it would make Dinah... more irritated than she usually was with the culture here.

"We're outsiders and we always will be, sure. But even if we're not in a position of power on our own, that kind of thing doesn't usually matter in a culture like this; we're official representatives of the court and we'll get the respect that demands. Even if it's not heartfelt, it will still be respect due the position we have."

She followed Dinah's look over to Julian... then eyerolled, amused. "And after they've seen us in action, we'll start to earn respect on our own. Especially since we will be helping with crops when we can or have to. And we will be fighting alongside them, getting injured, tending to them when they do."

...

"And treating everyone equally will make us enemies in both camps, remember. Even if it seems obvious to us, the Landens are going to expect us to treat them differently. Not doing that won't make sense."

Which meant sometimes they were going to have to act like Blood, Dinah.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

If that meant they had to be hoity-toity dicks? ... yeah, not happening.

Not that Dinah expected that was what Momoko meant. But she wasn't going to treat them differently. Either side.

[heromaniac]

Momoko could almost read Dinah's mind. "Not as badly as Blood, but we do have to listen to the culture or it won't listen to us."