SaDiablo Hall, Dhemlan, Kaeleer

[glacial_queen]

From the way Karla was digging in the gardens, either she was determined to plant ALL THE THINGS or she was working out an impressive amount of frustration.

Karla being Karla, there really shouldn't be any doubt about which one it was.

Not that she was lacking in reasons to be aggravated, mind. She'd been out here fairly frequently since she'd arrived back in Kaeleer--every day spent just planning and preparing instead of going out and doing something saw her out here for at least a few minutes.

Intellectually, she knew that they were better off taking the time now to plan, that rushing in would just risk more lives and make Emma mad. But it was hard to remember that when all her instincts were telling her to go save her people.

Added to that Morton's increasing bull-headedness and their constant arguments and Saetan's little chat with Warren the other night and it would be a miracle if this remained a garden and not just a the site of a future artificial lake.

[NFB and for the empath, please!]

Comments

[trigons_child]

Raven routinely kept her shields up to prevent background emotions from affecting her too strongly, but her closeness with Karla allowed the other girl to penetrate right through them.

She followed the feel of Karla's aggravation and frustration to the gardens and knelt down beside her. "May I help?" she asked. The offer, of course, had more than one meaning.

[glacial_queen]

"Can you set aside your pacifism to jumpstart Morton's brains?" Karla growled, flinging a shovelful of dirt off to the side. "That will, of course, require a swift kick to the ass, but I'm sure you can manage."

That was a yes, Raven. See? Karla was sharing her feelings!

...With everyone.

[trigons_child]

"I have learned how to participate in pillow fights and food fights" -- thanks, Bobby -- "but I do not think I could truly willingly harm another person," Raven said, going for the literal answer first.

She scooped up a handful of earth, radiating calm with the gesture as much with her powers and hoping it would sooth Karla a little bit at least. "What has he done? Perhaps I can speak to him."

[glacial_queen]

"We're still fighting about what I can and cannot do," Karla grumped.

Karla was all for going into Glacia and saving everyone with her bare hands if she needed to. Morton was forbidding her to even step foot onto Glacian soil. When an unstoppable force met an immovable object, sparks flew.

"I'm supposed to stay safe and coddled laying sewage lines or some nonsense while everyone else goes off and risks their neck for my people! But he's saying I'm unreasonable! The jackass!"

[trigons_child]

Raven wiped her hand on her cloak and gently laid it upon Karla's arm. "Karla, you are too important to risk yourself in such a way," she said. "I understand your frustrations -- I wish there was something more I could do as well. But if you were to fall into Hobart's hands...."

She really didn't want to finish that thought. She did know, however, that Saetan himself wouldn't be able to hold her and Warren back from going after her, and Azar help Hobart if they were too late.

[glacial_queen]

"I. AM. THE. STRONGEST. WITCH. IN. THAT. TERRITORY!" Karl snarled, shrugging off Raven's hand to yank a persistent root formation out of the ground. The act of ripping it away made her feel a little bit better. "I am tired of being important when it means that I don't get to do anything important! I sit and twiddle my thumbs while everyone else fights and dies on my behalf! That's bullshit!"

The root gave unexpectedly and Karla went tumbling over backwards, landing squarely on her ass. Tears welled as she flung the roots away.

[trigons_child]

Raven scooted over to Karla's side again, wrapping her arms around her, not to restrain but tightly enough that it would take a little more effort this time to shrug off her embrace. "I do not understand much of politics or your Protocol," she said, "but I think that is part of being Queen. There are tasks you must have others do for you, and it is your importance to them that inspires them to take these risks. You wish to protect your people, and they wish to protect you. They need you to remain safe, for without you they will be lost."

[glacial_queen]

Karla dashed away the tears born of frustration, then turned and clung to Raven a bit. "It isn't fair!" she wailed. "I just want to--I can't--everything is so stupid!"

Sounding like a five year old throwing a temper tantrum about the how everything was stupid and unfair probably wasn't winning her any converts to her way of thinking, either. But, dammit, the situation was both!

"You don't understand," she whispered. "I lived with a coven. For years. These aren't some abstract witches--I'm worried about my friends! Even if I rescue no one else, I have to try to help them!"

Hilda's coven. Hilda, who had taken over leadership of the coven after Karla's aunt had died in the same accident that had killed her parents. The strongest coven in Glacia. The coven that was located only a few miles outside of Sidra. A coven both Morton and Karla had ties to.

The coven that couldn't be more of a trap than if it had gone down the Trapmaking 101 checklist.

[trigons_child]

Raven stroked her hair and kissed the top of Karla's head, sending her gentle pulses of comfort. "I know," she said softly. She desperately wanted to help as well, and ease Karla's distress. She could teleport to the coven and take them to safety, but somehow it wouldn't go as smoothly as planned, would it?

"Does your uncle know of the importance of these witches to you?" she said carefully. "He could know they would be the first ones you come for. He would be waiting for you to make such an attempt, and I am certain your friends would not wish to be used in such a way against you. And even if we were to retrieve them from Glacia, they have no where to go yet that would not put your friends here in the Hall in jeopardy. I know it is not easy but you must be patient."

[glacial_queen]

Of course it wouldn't! When did things ever go smoothly?

"I don't care," Karla said. Maturely. "I don't care how much he knows about them. I don't care if he's keeping them in a cage at the estate with bells on to let me know they've arrived. I'm going after them."

Though, dammit, Raven had a point about the nowhere to go yet. The safety of the other Black Widows made more of an impression on her than her own.

[trigons_child]

"Remember when I offered myself to my father to save you and all those in Azarath?" Raven reminded her. "I know now that was the wrong thing to do, though my intentions were noble. For you to rush in to Glacia unprepared would mean much the same thing."

Except Hobart wore pants. At least, she hoped he did.

"As soon as we have a safe haven prepared, then we can come for them," she promised. "Your uncle may be expecting and hoping you will come, but he will not expect me, and I will teleport your friends to safety."

[glacial_queen]

"Is not!" Karla protested. "There's a whole world of difference!"

Just don't make her say what, okay? Normally, she would say something along the lines of the people of Azarath being willingly shepherded to their death, but she hadn't seen much in the way of resistance from her people, either.

"I'm going with you," she said, since that was something she could be definitive about. "That's my price for my good behavior. You all can meet it or not."

[trigons_child]

It was a little bit different, Raven would have to admit. She'd been going to certain doom with someone who surely wouldn't keep his promises, while with Karla there would just be a chance she could be harmed or captured. But a big chance!

"It is much the same in that sacrificing yourself would be foolish," Raven said.

She worried at her lip for a moment, wanting to refuse Karla and knowing she likely wouldn't be able to at the same time. The witches probably wouldn't go with a total stranger without Karla there with her to assure them it was safe -- if that indeed was how they'd go about bringing those witches to safety, since as far as she knew no plans had been made yet -- but she'd rather Karla stay safely at the keep. "Perhaps," she said hesitantly. "But have you considered that it may have been an action such as that which led to how your future self was crippled?"

[glacial_queen]

"It would be worth it," Karla said quietly, with none of her earlier heat. "I would rather lose my legs saving the lives of witches I care about than some other, stupid way."

Like...say, being betrayed by her own Court, for example. That would just be lame.

[trigons_child]

Please, like that was going to happen with Raven around.

Unless she went evil and was the one who did the betraying. Details.

"I know as Queen you have a duty to the land and the people who dwell there," she said, "but they must also protect you. There is no Queen strong enough to rule these lands but you, once you make your offering and create your Court. If something were to happen to you before then, Hobart would win. Therefore you must be protected."

[glacial_queen]

"That's my price," Karla said stubbornly. "All the others, I will stay in Arceria, I'll dig the ditches and behave myself and listen to what Morton and Julian and everyone else says, but I'm not going to stay behind by myself."

Karla couldn't argue with what Raven was saying, what Morton had said. They were right; she had greater responsibilities. But at the same time she could not let it go. She owed the coven friendship and loyalty. More than that. They had protected her, comforted her, taught her after her world had fallen apart. They were a great part of how she'd managed to put it back together.

[trigons_child]

"Very well," Raven said. If it would get Karla to stay safely in Arceria for the rest of the time that they were there, she could agree to that bargain. "If it is decided by those who advice you seek that I will teleport to the coven and bring them to safety" -- and important distinction so that Karla didn't try to convince her to go off and do it themselves right now -- "you may come with me, but only if Warren is with us as well."

She didn't want to volunteer him without asking, but if something went wrong and she couldn't teleport Karla away, he could grab Karla and fly her to safety. It would have to be him since Lucivar couldn't be involved directly.

[glacial_queen]

Harrumph. Karla didn't like all the restrictions being put there, but she wasn't stupid enough to believe she was going to be given carte blanche to go rescue her friends. At least this way she'd have Raven's grudging support.

"I guess that's fair," she allowed. "Now all we have to do is beat Morton's head in until he agrees, too."

And probably Warren, too, but she was less worried about needing to beat his head in.

[trigons_child]

"He is concerned for your safety," Raven said, quietly hoping Warren maybe would refuse, and then Karla would have to stay safe in Kaeleer.

Because she would, of course. Right.

"We all are," she said. "And I think that is something you must learn to accept as Queen."

[glacial_queen]

Riiiiight. And Karla had a lovely bridge to sell you too, Raven.

"There's a difference between being concerned for my safety and caging me to the point of ineffectiveness," she growled. "I won't be one of those Queens who're too afraid to risk their precious skin to actually protect the people they're supposed to be caring for. I won't."

[trigons_child]

"I would never ask you to be like that," Raven said. "That would chafe me as much as it would you. You could never be a pampered Queen who does not risk herself for her people. But you must also protect yourself so you are there to protect them."

And waltzing into a possible trap wouldn't be a good way to go about doing that.

[glacial_queen]

They wouldn't be waltzing! They'd be striding in aggressively, armed with the big guns!

...On a metaphorical level, anyway. Karla had no plans to introduce guns to Kaeleer in...ever.

"I would be protected!" Karla protested. "You and Warren and Morton! We would go in and get everyone out and safe and protect me at the same time!"

Right now, her basic strategy was 'win.' She might possibly need to come with a more detailed plan later.

[trigons_child]

"Then present your plan to Morton and your uncle Saetan and Lucivar and see if they agree that it is sound," Raven suggested. "And then we will implement it."

Right, that detailed plan? She'd need it first. There would be no guns blazing, metaphorical or otherwise, without a plan.

Unless Karla wibbled at her. Then her resolve might falter.

[glacial_queen]

...Well-played, Raven. Well-played.

"I just will," Karla huffed.

Beat.

"I may need some help fine-tuning the details," she admitted a moment later.

Where by 'details' she meant 'coming up with a workable plan.' "You'll help me, right?"

Here come the wibble-eyes, Raven!

[trigons_child]

"I will always help you in whatever way I can, you know that, Karla," Raven said, squeezing her again. "But I do not wish to see you hurt."

It brought out the worst in her, like when the maenad had almost killed Karla. But she couldn't bear to see her emotionally hurt, either, by feeling so helpless when her people were in danger. It was an unpleasant dilemma.