Rijen, Glacia, Kaeleer, Tuesday Afternoon Fandom Time

[glacial_queen]

She was calling it guerilla-Queening. Okay, actually she was still calling it gorilla-Queening, but the intention was the same. Karla knew full well that she still couldn't go toe-to-toe with Hobart yet. She couldn't just waltz into Sidra and demand that he retract his lies, reign in his bullies, and confess to her parents' murder. But that didn't mean that she had to stay silent and exiled to Fandom, either. No, she'd found a way to thumb her nose at her uncle and fulfill one of her duties as a Queen.

Queen's Gift. Sometimes it meant the monetary gift from one Queen to another to help her through her first year of rule. But the real meaning of the Queen's Gift was the gift each Queen was able to give to the land. A bit of her blood, mixed into water, and sprinkled at either end of a row of crops would make the land and the plants within it healthier and hardier. The Queen's Gift could turn a meager harvest into a surplus and could even stave off famine by returning life to the land.

As she'd done for Edge last year. As she'd done for Glacia for almost as long as she could remember. As she was going to do for her home again this year.

She couldn't walk up and claim what was hers. Not yet anyway. But she could remind people of the Old Ways. Give them hope for the future. Let them know that Hobart spoke lies.

And so, her plan of guerilla-Queening. She would show up in a small village, Blood or landen, she didn't discriminate. And she would walk amongst them, Sapphire blazing, offering them the Queen's Gift for their crops. She carried with her a blank book as well, so she could listen to their troubles and make a record of them for later, with the promise that she would return again and rectify them when she could. And then she would go, catching the Winds and heading somewhere else, equally tiny and forgotten, hundreds of miles away from the last town she'd visited. With every step taken, crop strengthened, and villager listened to, she would be reforging the bond between a Queen and her people, while hopefully mitigating the damage done by a decade under Hobart's rule.

And now, outside Rijen, the first village she'd decided to visit, Karla took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "I can do this," she breathed.

[NFB, for off-island shenanigans.]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben, dressed to blend in with the population (except for the lightsaber strapped prominently to his belt), was busy reaching through the Force for any potential ambushes to answer immediately.

"Of course you can," he replied with a little smile. "What made you choose this village?"

[glacial_queen]

"It's tiny and high up in the mountains," Karla said with a rueful grin. It was, the early summer air was still cool on their skin. "Rijen's never had a Queen of its own, so I didn't think I'd be stepping on anyone's toes, though it's possible the District Queen might have already offered the Gift."

She doubted it. In Glacia, most Queens did their rounds a bit later in the season.

"It's not exactly isolated, but it may take some time for word to spread of what I did today. So we don't have to worry about Hobart's males to show up halfway through the offering," she added.

See, Ben? It was a good plan!

[momslilassassin]

"How long does the offering take?" Ben asked. "What happens if you stop halfway through? Can you stop halfway through?"

He was all tactics and no teenager right now.

[glacial_queen]

"Of course!" Karla said, because clearly Ben should understand the intricacies of random Craft. Mother Night, Ben. "It's really easy. I just bleed into a bucket, mix it with water, and pour it onto the crops."

Put that way, it sounded so much less glamorous than she'd like.

"There's some...Crafty stuff to it, too," she added. Mostly to make it sound slightly less mundane. "I don't have to hit every field, either, though a mountain village like this isn't like one of the big wheat-farming communities to the south. Maybe a little more than an hour? With another few hours to talk to people?"

[momslilassassin]

"....blood in a bucket," Ben repeated slowly. "How much?"

[glacial_queen]

"Some," Karla retorted defensively. "Not a lot. Not even a full cup!"

[momslilassassin]

"A cup?"

At least he kept his voice down?

[glacial_queen]

"Not a full one!" Karla protested. "Like...a half! At most!"

And she'd brought snacks! To keep her strength up!

[momslilassassin]

"And how many times do you think we're doing this?" Ben asked.

[glacial_queen]

"Only a few!" Like...six. Maybe eight. They had a few days, after all.

"I mentioned I brought snacks, right?"

IT WAS STILL A GOOD PLAN!

[momslilassassin]

"I'm betting you don't mean a few like three," Ben sighed. "Maybe the villagers will toss a few dinner parties our way?"

[glacial_queen]

"As long as you think we can spare the time," Karla said brightly. "I figured I'd leave all security calls and things like that to you, since that's your area of expertise."

See? They were working together.

"Speaking of, catch anything in the village I didn't?" The psychic scents she'd picked up her all fairly calm, if busy. No sense anyone was expecting her, for either good or ill.

[momslilassassin]

"They don't seem to be plotting violent overthrows of Queens who might be wandering toward them," Ben said with a little smile. "I think we're okay for the moment."

[glacial_queen]

"Well, as long as they keep their violent tendencies towards towards specific Queens of the not-me variety, I think we can work with that," Karla decided with a wry smile. "Let's go."

Squaring her shoulders and lifting her head high, Karla picked up her skirts--stupid skirts--and swept through the gates of Rijen. They were noticed immediately, of course. While no one in the village might recognize who she was, there was no way they could miss the Sapphire that sparkled at her throat and the castes that she belonged to.

Karla didn't enter all that far, pausing just a few yards beyond the gate. And waited.

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

They didn't have long to wait before one of Rijen's elders came hurrying over. Still, even before he reached them, Karla and Ben got an idea of the tenor of the village. Children stopped playing in the streets and started unobtrusively heading inside. Males began nudging past the females near them, placing themselves between their companions and where Karla and Ben stood. The quiet and contented emotions of the village turned towards concern, worry. Even a hint of fear.

"Lady." They were greeted by a Prince, an Opal Jewel winking on the ring on his finger. A light Opal, not a dark. "You honor our village with your presence. What can Rijen do for you?" He was trying very hard to sound courtly, almost urbane, but he couldn't hide the light sheen of sweat on his brow.

[glacial_queen]

*Auspicious beginning, no?* she sent to Ben.

"I am Karla, daughter of Ilyse and Audric," Karla said pleasantly, keeping her expression carefully neutral. "This is Prince Skywalker, my escort. We have come to offer the Queen's Gift--that is, if Rijen does not have a Queen who has already planned to do so?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben offered the man a reassuring smile. "Hello."

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

"I, ahhh, greetings," the Prince said, belatedly bringing up his hands to press against Karla's palm. His expression suggested someone had just smacked him in the back of the head with a board; he kept blinking at Karla as if he wasn't sure she was real. "I am Prince Faldrick, Lady, and it is an honor, truly an honor!"

He seemed to have forgotten that he'd said that part already.

"But you wish to offer the Queen's Gift here?! In Rijen? Surely some other village--not that we would object, but we are so small--"

[momslilassassin]

Ben couldn't help himself. "Size matters not," he intoned. "Rijen is just as worthy to receive the offering as any other place, right?"

[glacial_queen]

Doooooooooooooooooooooooork. Hopefully the amused glance Karla was sending Ben's way communicated that.

"Prince Skywalker speaks the truth," Karla said firmly. "You are no less my people than the citizens of Sidra or Kannath or Iften or any other big city."

That's right, hers. Suck it, Hobart.

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

Faldrick gave Karla a look that suggested he'd understood the reasons behind that claim. "We would be honored to receive the Queen's Gift from your own hands, Lady," he said, giving her another bow. "We are very relieved to hear that rumors of your death--like so much information that has come from the capital--had gotten garbled on its way to us."

He glanced back over his shoulders to the fields surrounding the village. "It's been well over five years since we've received the Gift," he admitted. "There was a young Queen a few villages over that used to come around every other year or so, but she died awhile back. And the new District Queen doesn't seem inclined to ride out past her city."

[momslilassassin]

Ben could figure out pretty quickly why that was, and he frowned. "Are the roads always so dangerous, or only when Queens go riding?"

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

Faldrick hesitated before replying. "It often depends on the Queen," he said carefully. "There are some Queen that seem to have no troubles at all when they go riding out."

His eyes slid over to Karla. "I'm hoping you're part of a larger escort?" he added softly. "Or are traveling fast."

[momslilassassin]

"The second," Ben said, nodding a little curtly. "Could you direct us to your fields?"

[kaeleerans.livejournal.com]

Faldrick looked like he wanted to continue the conversation, but nodded. There would be plenty of time to talk while Karla was watering the fields with her blood in a way that was totally not creepy or weird at all, just like the rest of her damn canon.

"I will be happy to escort you both," he said. "This way, please, down the main street. That's where the well is, too."