The Estate, Sidra, Glacia, Early Morning Kaeleeran Time

After another night of difficulty falling asleep and rest troubled by vague and disquieting dreams (all thanks to one errant Consort who was now several days past due and not answering his damn phone!), Karla had opted for a late breakfast in bed this morning. There was nothing wrong with enjoying some of the perks of being Queen of an entire Territory, dammit, especially when she was just a few hours away from having to get dressed to visit Sidra for Raven's orphanage fundraiser and luncheon. Why get dressed just to have breakfast when she was just going to have to change into something obnoxiously formal and fancy in a little while anyway?

She'd just finished letting her contraceptive brew steep when a psychic thread stabbed into her shields hard enough to make her jerk. Hot tea scalded her hand leaving a bright red mark behind, but that was nothing compared to the news she was receiving.

*Lady!* Mallory 'shouted' into her skull. *There's been an avalanche in the north! At least one village has been lost, their Queen is dead, and possibly more than one. I'm getting multiple reports on psychic threads, requests for assistance, everything. I'm heading back to the estate now,* Mallory continued. He'd been in Sidra, overseeing the last of the preparations for the afternoon. *But here's everything I know so far.* The information he relayed was grim, as was his reminder that this was all early news yet. It would likely only become more bleak as the day went on.

At the word 'avalanche,' Karla had flung herself out of bed, breakfast forgotten. By the time he'd gotten to the estimated casualties--in the hundreds, perhaps thousands--Karla had thrown on her bathrobe, opened the doors to her suite, and started shouting orders to whatever members of estate staff were nearby. She needed members of her First Circle, maps of the region, lists of emergency supplies, names of Healers with experience in these kinds of situations, whatever was necessary to assist her people.

( So much for the perks of being a Queen. )

[NFI, NFB, OOC is love. Many thanks to furnaceface for preplaying! Part 1/3]

Sidra, Glacia, Afternoon Kaeleeran Time

One of the most difficult skills one needed to cultivate as Queen was the ability to look interested and focused on anything, even while your brain was elsewhere--in Karla's case, hundreds of leagues away, fretting over several small villages that had been covered in an avalanche. While all she wanted to do was remain at the estate, continuing to go over emergency relief plans, she was here instead, smiling and nodding and being overall a gracious and sociable Queen. Raven's luncheon for the caretakers and staff of various Sidran orphanages and children's homes had been a rousing success, raising funds from aristos who wanted to be seen as 'charitable' and raising morale for the people who actually did the hard work in the institutions themselves. Several grinning orphans were there, too, lucky enough to have earned a lunch with their Queen and the Court Healer, the woman who was putting in all the real effort into making things better for children across Glacia.

This was a good event and an important one, one that Karla and Raven had both been looking forward to for weeks, but right now it was all Karla could do not to gnash her teeth in impatience. How much longer did they have to stand here and smile and glad-hand when there were actual lives in danger?

And if this was how Karla was feeling, how much worse was it for Raven, who could teleport up north with a thought and start healing people immediately, if only they didn't have to be here right now?

( Meanwhile, up in the mountains... )

[Part 2 of 3. Thanks to both furnaceface and trigons_child for their wonderful help with this preplay. NFI, NFB, OOC is enjoyed. Warning for violence and NPC death].

The Queen's Chambers, Sidra, Glacia, Evening, Kaeleeran Time

An assassination attempt. There was no way around it, that's exactly what she'd faced today. Someone or someones had wanted her dead and had fabricated an elaborate scheme to get her isolated and vulnerable. With most of her First Circle and the most powerful Healers in Sidra en route to the mountains in the north, she would have been easy pickings for anyone who'd stumbled over her in the wake of the crash. Blood shields protected against invasive harm--none of the shards of glass or splintered wooden stakes would have penetrated--but that wouldn't have protected her from impact damage. The Coach had crashed and rolled with enough force to shatter bones, pulverize ribs, induce unconsciousness...With just Craft at their disposal, even if they had survived the crash, they likely wouldn't have been in any shape to pull themselves out of the River Sid. The depth and current alone claimed lives of several perfectly healthy people every year.

Wrapped once more in her warm, blue bathrobe, Karla sat in front of the fire and tried to make sense of everything. Her maid was hovering around her, trying to convince her to eat, but Karla wasn't interested in her food. Her stomach twisted at the very notion. Trying to figure out who wanted her dead? It might be easier trying to figure out who didn't.

( Home sweet home )

[Post 3/3 and thanks to everyone who read and, of course, to trigons_child and not_a_parakeet for being invaluable. NFI, NFB, OOc is love!]