The Estate, After Lunch, (Morning Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

When Mallory had been asked by Queen Ilyse and Prince Audric to come tutor their young daughter, he had been honored and delighted. Several months later, the shiny had been rubbed off both the honor and delight, but he had become fond of enough Karla to continue to teach her for years, up until the tragic accident that had claimed her parents' lives and gotten her shipped off to live with the local Hourglass coven her aunt Kay had been a part of. When Hobart had announced Karla's 'death,' Mallory had spent a week mourning the spoiled, yes, but also sweet, imaginative, and precocious child he had taught.

In the years she'd been gone, time and nostalgia had blunted the worst of her childhood antics, helping him forget that classes were just as often characterized by biting, kicking, crying, and arguing as they were learning, studying, and behaving (Darkness bless behaving.) All that had come rushing back to him over the past four days, dealing with her much-younger self--and her much-younger friends. Even being the Steward to the headstrong and still impetuous Queen and her entire Court was easier than this.

Mallory couldn't help but reflect on these facts as he pulled Karla down the hall by her ear. He'd caught her in his office a few moments earlier "playing" some kind of game that had involved a jam sandwich and a great deal of ink all over his desk, his chair, and the floor. Coincidentally enough, those were the same places he could see much of his paperwork, also under the ink. Any last ideals he'd had about respecting the Queenly dignity she was due as an adult when flying out the window (possibly with more of his papers) as he'd grabbed her ear and began dragging Karla towards her room, a bath, and the tender mercies of anyone who was not him.

What neither of them had been expecting, however, was for the filthy, shrieking child was to suddenly return to being an equally-filthy-but-less-inclined-to-shriek adult halfway towards their destination. It was Mallory who ended up yelping when the ear he was pinching shot up two feet in the air.

"Karla!" he said, half-surprised and half-thrilled. "You're back!" Before she could respond, however, he was grasping her shoulders with a hissed, "Don't you move or I will throttle you," and running off to find Julian, Morton, and anyone else he could find. Their Queen was an adult again. They were going to get this bloody coronation over with before something else could happen, come Hell or high water.

[NFB, open for folks what are here, SP is gonna be a thing, pls to be waiting for OCD]

Comments

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal wasn't sure he'd ever gotten this man's name, but he was clearly someone of importance. Not to mention related to the man with wings.

During the ceremony didn't seem the time, but after it, Hannibal approached him. "Pardon me; I was wondering if you could explain the significance of the ceremony? I had meant to inquire earlier, but I'm afraid I was rather...young."

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"Ahh, the young male with the impeccable suits! You were quite taken with my son, Lucivar." Saetan said, extending a hand. His nails were painted black and were fairly long--at least, for a man's.

"Prince Saetan SaDiablo, at your service," he said. It was one of the Earth greetings he'd learned to better engage with Karla's friends. He also left off most of his titles; apparently the name 'Saetan' was bad enough for some people. Claiming to be the High Lord of Hell might be all too much. "I would be happy to explain anything you like. Did you have specific questions, or did you mean in general?"

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Sometimes, being an atheist was (pardon the expression) a blessing. Hannibal raised a curious eyebrow at the names, but nothing else.

He shook his hand and nodded. "Doctor Hannibal Lecter at yours. I do hope I wasn't too much trouble; there are no people with wings where I'm from, and your son's are quite impressive."

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"Don't let him hear you say that," Saetan replied, looking pained but with a glimmer of amusement in his warm golden eyes. "Eyriens are an arrogant race already. These past few days have only helped in that regard."

You would forgive the fatherly pride, wouldn't you, Hannibal? Saetan was inordinately proud of his youngest son, but didn't often have anyone to share that pride with.

"And please, don't trouble yourself. You were no worry--especially compared to some." NOT THAT HE WAS NAMING NAMES OR ANYTHING, KARLA. DINAH. EMMA. "It has been over seventeen hundred years since I had small children underfoot. My daughter's friends--" he nodded to Jaenelle, pale and ethereal, compared to Lucivar's great bulk and the warm brown skin he shared with his father "--all began visiting SaDiablo Hall when they were teenagers. I found you children were much less inclined to cause property damage."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal chuckled. "If only on account of being smaller, I'm sure."

He paused, torn between asking about that impressive lifespan and courtesy that said asking someone's age was rude. After a moment, he settled on going back to his original question for the moment.

"I was wondering primarily about the contracts, and the blood drinking. Are these things ceremonial, or magical, or a combination?"

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"Solely ceremonial," Saetan explained. "Well, the contracts are a legality, and a Queen or a member of her Court who does not uphold their end of the bargain can face legal charges and monetary remuneration. But the drinking of the blood is purely ceremonial. Should either of them wish, they could leave Karla's service and there would be nothing ingested in the blood that could stop them."

He gave Hannibal a small smile. "However, we do have a saying here as well. A wish made with blood is a prayer to the Darkness. This pledge invokes that; it is said the Darkness itself takes note of such bindings. Whether that is true or not remains a mystery."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

"I assume by 'the Darkness' you mean more than the absence of light," Hannibal noted.

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

There was a long moment as Saetan contemplated his answer. He had never had to explain it to anyone; at worst, he'd simply built on Karla's previous explanations. Fortunately, he and Warren had discussed it more in depth giving him some grounding in earth culture as well.

"It is...from where all Blood come from and eventually return to," he said slowly. "It is not sentient as such, but has a will. It is the source of all things, the spiritual firmament that resides below my realm."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal mulled it over for a moment, then nodded. "There are some similar concepts where I'm from." Not that he particularly subscribed to any of them. "This is a very old tradition, then, I take it."

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

At that, Saetan cracked a smile. He was fairly certain that what he and this Hannibal considered 'old' were very different. "For as long as the Blood have had Queens, we have had these traditions. Civilizations that rose and crumbled and turned to dust before I was born practiced the same."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

"I will take that as a yes," Hannibal said with a chuckle. He cocked his head at Saetan. "Would you mind terribly if I were to ask further questions? I'm a curious man by nature, but I've no wish to overstep my welcome."

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

That smile again, this time accompanied by a small chuckle. "May I remind you that we just spent the past few days dealing with children covered in paint, food, and less savory substances?" Saetan teased, the slightest glance upwards to where Hannibal still had those red flecks in his hair. "Asking questions will hardly get your welcome rescinded now."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal caught that glance, and his smile twitched ruefully. "Children are often forgiven things adults never would be," he noted. "But I'm mostly curious about your people and culture. The Blood - that's the nobility?"

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

Saetan frowned a moment. "It's hard to explain," he said. "There are certainly Blood who are not nobility, but there are no landens who would count as nobility. The Blood are the stewards and caretakers of the land. We are the rulers, yes, but not all of us. There are Blood farmers and servants and ditch-diggers. There are Blood beggars and whores and criminals. Most of the servants you see here at the estate are Blood, in fact. Blood belong to every social strata, from the highest of the high to the lowest of the low."

He gave Hannibal a courtly bow. "My mother, in fact, was a whore too unattractive to belong to a Red Moon House proper. I took the name SaDiablo because I did not have a father to give me a patronym."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal returned the bow politely. "Then what is the difference between Blood and landen?"

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"Craft."

A succinct answer, no?

"Landens lack the psychic power necessary for even the most basic Craft. Some Blood are too weak to wear a Jewel, but even they have some small use of Craft. They also do not have the same bond with the land that even the least Blood have."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal nodded, processing that and trying to phrase his next question in non-genetics terms. "Is a person who has Craft, Blood, or do the Blood have Craft?" He smiled, hoping that was clear. "Is it a matter of inheritance, or can there be Blood and landen in one family?"

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"The Blood have Craft. Craft generally follow genetic lines, in that darker Jeweled parents are likely to have darker Jeweled children and lighter Jeweled parents are likely to have lighter Jeweled children. That is not universally true, but then, very few things are when it comes to genetics. But landens will not suddenly bear Blood children and while very weak Blood will have children who are not capable of using much Craft, they will still have enough to be considered Blood."

He frowned, trying to find a good way to put it. "When landens and Blood interbreed, their children can be half-Blood, which means that they have some psychic powers but still not enough to be considered full Blood. It is like...hmm. Take this cup," he said, holding up his goblet of yarbarah. There was an divot in the glass that would make illustrating his point easier. "So, landens would be an empty glass." He then filled the glass a little further, but still not up to the divot. "Half-Bloods and other landens who have Blood somewhere in their familial history may have some psychic strength, but not enough." He filled the glass up to the divot. "This is the point where Craft is possible. There can be power much higher than that point, of course, but everyone from this line and above is Craft. Even the weakest Blood, so long as they have enough strength to meet this line, will have Blood children. Does that make sense?"

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

"It does, thank you." Hannibal smiled. "I appreciate your willingness to help a stranger; if you should ever find yourself in my world, I would be pleased to return the favor."

He didn't think it likely, but you never knew.

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

Saetan chuckled, a warm, rich sound. "Considering my other options are the children you see in front of you, your invitation is much appreciated."

Seriously, Hannibal, did you see them? All of them? In a minute, Karla was probably going to pull someone's hair while Dinah was going to leap off something high and Momoko was going to cry at the lack of sweets on her plate.

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal looked. Then shook his head and laughed. "And I was wondering how you'd known which child I was. It would seem some of us never grew up."

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"And for that, I am glad," Saetan said softly. "I have seen far too many children grow up too quickly. You don't know half of what they've seen. Or done. But they can still smile and laugh--" and pick fights, Ben. Julian "--and that pleases me greatly."

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

"Spoken like a father," Hannibal noted. "How many children do you have?"

Re: The Coronation

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"Six," Saetan said, even if he'd only ever been a proper father to two. "Lucivar is my youngest, save Jaenelle. She is the daughter of my soul, if not my seed, and I formally adopted her almost a decade ago. My sons Peyton and Mephis died millennia ago, though Mephis resides with me in Hell, save for when I plead the right of age and send him off shopping with his little sister. He's almost forgiven me for the last time, which means I can almost foist her off on him again."

Jaenelle was a little--let's go with exuberant. It was a nice word.

"My other son, Daemon, is...estranged from us, currently," he said, his courtly manners and tone almost successfully masking his grief at that. "And then there were the coven and boyos who came to visit Jaenelle and never entirely left again. That is how I met Karla, and, through her, these children here. Who I'm sure would rail at me for still calling them children."

And, yes, Hannibal, you were counting correctly. That was only five children mentioned.

Re: The Coronation

[sharp_as_knives]

"I imagine that to you, even I am a child," Hannibal answered good-naturedly. He did count correctly, but if estrangement and death weren't enough to keep from being mentioned, he wasn't going to be nosy enough to find out what would.

Well, at least not yet. Besides, there were several other interesting things in that statement.

"Mephis died, but he lives with you?"