The wagon opens, possibly bumping Rhost. Mel steps down her left hand holding fast to Alaric's right. Her right hand comes up to touch Rhost's arm, and both men see the same look that Lio gets when she is steeling herself for touch. Mel seems to realize it as well, because she stops. She closes her eyes, and when she does touch Rhost it is with something close to the girl's normal openness. She leans up and kisses Rhost very innocently on his cheek. "Thank you."
Assuming assent from both men, she walks with Alaric to the women's wagon, reaches inside for a small, towel wrapped bundle. And into the darkness.
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"Leaving aside the fact that I've always been a supporter of Andoran-style citizen councils anyway, I'm a stranger from across the world who's never set foot in the country, which is surely everyone's choice for their next ruler."”We’re going there because we’re the only ones who know the truth about a tyrant. No one’s taking the stuff about me becoming Empress seriously, right?” She says again, a little more uncertainly, “... Right?”
Hrithik looks calmly and warmly at Ameiko. "When we arrive, there may be no other choice. When Cheliax That Was spasmed and collapsed, very little of it emerged well. Andoran-style democracy covers not even 10% of the prior extent. Bloody Terrors run through Galt, and bloody Terrors rule the remaining Empire. If you refuse to accept a mandate all traditionalists would accept, you risk chaos that makes Asmodeus look like a preferable option."
Hrithik shrugs. "Restoring the Empress need not mean restoring absolute monarchy. If there is anyone who could make the traditionalists you will need to woo accept an idea as foreign and novel as Andoran councils, it may well have to be the Seal-bearing Amatatsu Empress persuading from a Jade Chysanthemum Throne."
Hrithik looks sadly at her. "I am sorry, Lady Ameiko, but it may be the only way."
Hrithik looks calmly and warmly at Ameiko. "When we arrive, there may be no other choice. When Cheliax That Was spasmed and collapsed, very little of it emerged well. Andoran-style democracy covers not even 10% of the prior extent. Bloody Terrors run through Galt, and bloody Terrors rule the remaining Empire. If you refuse to accept a mandate all traditionalists would accept, you risk chaos that makes Asmodeus look like a preferable option."
Hrithik shrugs. "Restoring the Empress need not mean restoring absolute monarchy. If there is anyone who could make the traditionalists you will need to woo accept an idea as foreign and novel as Andoran councils, it may well have to be the Seal-bearing Amatatsu Empress persuading from a Jade Chrysanthemum Throne."
Hrithik looks sadly at her. "I am sorry, Lady Ameiko, but it may be the only way."
"As my father would say, let's not borrow trouble. We have not yet arrived, and we don't know what the facts in Minkai are. I think we need to see how things are before giving Ameiko panic attacks and Alaric conniption fits."
She pauses, "I don't want them to change what we have. I care about you. I...." She swallows, "I don't want to think about anyone but you when i think about..." She smiles at him, sad, but at least very much her. "But I think I'm being selfish."
She kisses the scar at the wrist of the hand she holds.
"As my father would say, let's not borrow trouble. We have not yet arrived, and we don't know what the facts in Minkai are. I think we need to see how things are before giving Ameiko panic attacks and Alaric conniption fits."
Alaric gives a grateful chuckle at this.
Hrithik looks sadly at her. "I am sorry, Lady Ameiko, but it may be the only way."
Hrunndalf nods, serious now. "It may indeed come to that. But let's not trouble ourselves with the burdens of possible futures. By the time we set foot on Minkai's soil, we will have seen, lived, and learned many things, and our paths will seem clearer. For now, let us just set out for Kopparberget, and then Karlsgard, and from there onwards one step at a time. We have good people, and a strong spirit. We will do just fine."
Mel returns to the camp briefly, to drop some things off in the wagon and grab her staff for scouting. She speaks to Rhost.
[ooc]Added Alaric to the spoiler so Rhost doesn't actually have to play messenger boy.
Alaric emerges from the woods, still grimy, exhausted and depressed. Finds a tree away from the camp, sits against it and looks at the night.
Alaric turns for long enough to give Hrunndalf a helpless shrug.
Though this does little to dispel Hrunndalf's concern, he relaxes when Rhost checks in on the "patient".
As he turns to leave again, he remembers one more thing: "Oh, and Koya, if you'd have a moment for me later tonight, I have another question to ask."
With a smile to the approaching Myriana, he manages to take his leave.
Once Rhost comes over, Alaric nods at the message, rises with a sigh and shuffles off in the direction of the river.
About an hour before sunrise, Mel quietly enters the men's wagon. Carefully she wakes the only person that she needs to speak to.
Rhost waits for all of the ritual cleansing to finish up before he goes to clean the pots from the evening's dinner.
Rhost waits for all of the ritual cleansing to finish up before he goes to clean the pots from the evening's dinner.
Alaric, still depressed (but with a fresh shave and smelling a whole lot better), will catch Rhost on the way to the river. "Next town. Too much beer. Cards. That kind of thing. What do you say?"
About an hour before sunrise, Mel quietly enters the men's wagon. Carefully she wakes the only person that she needs to speak to.
Alaric fixes Mel with bleary, purple-ringed eyes. He nods and gets out of the wagon as quietly as he can.
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Hrithik looks sadly at her. "I am sorry, Lady Ameiko, but it may be the only way.""As my father would say, let's not borrow trouble. We have not yet arrived, and we don't know what the facts in Minkai are. I think we need to see how things are before giving Ameiko panic attacks and Alaric conniption fits."
Hrithik shakes his head firmly at Kalimac. "We are not yet arrived, but the vision was explicitly clear about the Major Fact in Minkai, which I would argue is settled: Nearly everyone thinks the Emperor lives, but he is in fact long dead, a tyrant ruling in his place."
Hrithik nods to Ameiko. "I don't say this to give panic attacks, but rather to make certain that we don't fail to have spent serious thought with clear understanding on the matter. When we show up and overthrow the tyrant, the obvious question is what next? It doesn't require a Final Answer from us now, but it does require that we think about the possibilities lest we be blindsided."
Hrithik repeats his sad expression from earlier, "You asked, sincerely, if anyone was seriously imagining you as Empress of the Tian-Min people. I have to answer, yes, I am seriously imagining that as one possible outcome, which may well be the best possible one when the tyrant falls. Almost everyone who believed the Emperor to be alive may expect an orderly Succession. The only way to prevent Civil War and a generation of bloodshed may be to give them one. May. It should one consideration within the realm of serious imagination prior to our arrival there, because not contemplating the idea until it is an immediate reality is the true path to panic attack."
"None of that need make you Her Infernal Majestrix Ameiko II. Even if we find the decision is somehow compulsory to save millions of lives, it needn't make you anything more than a beloved figurehead, should you not wish to be. But refusing to consider that it may be the best path when we get there is borrowing heartache."
Hrithik smiles warmly at Ameiko. "From everything in the visions we just shared, you currently are the rightful Empress, by Minkai law. Even if you abdicate six seconds after seizing the Throne, getting the support you need to pry the Tyrant out of it may require you to assert your firmly established legal claim to it. Otherwise we can just throw the warding box into Bunyip Bay now."
"That is all I offer: it may be best, and should be in your mind."
She holds out some dried fish, "It's not anywhere near as good as what Rhost would make, but... I wanted to..."
"Will you walk with me to Brinewall? And tell me what I should have listened to last night?"
Alaric, still depressed (but with a fresh shave and smelling a whole lot better), will catch Rhost on the way to the river. "Next town. Too much beer. Cards. That kind of thing. What do you say?"
"Is a date," Rhost agrees.
"Is a date," Rhost agrees.
"No, no. Just a couple guys. Not a date. I have dates with Melinda... well... had dates. Oh. Okay. Gonna throw up now. I'll talk to you later."
More silence. "You're special. I know, in the beginning, you thought it was a physical thing. It's not. It's that young woman that insists on believing the best of other people. Demons, sure, but demons that she battles... and they're her demons. Now... now, you're Lio. And I don't... feel the way I feel about her. I no longer dislike her, but she and I are not friends, and I doubt we ever will be."
A bitter chuckle. "It was silly... but I was starting to let myself imagine a future... and now, now you're a stranger."
"I am not Lio." She pauses, "Never could be."
"Last night, I saw three minutes of her life. In the moment... They felt real, but..." she shakes her head. "I don't know if it's me, or Makoa helping me, but they started to fade." She smiles, "I remember seeing them, but..."
"I remember remembering them, but not them." She smiles, "And I will thank whoever or whatever spared me that, because..."
"But... I guess I can't prove to you that can I? That I am still me?"
Hrithik, already awake and ready for the cleansing operation, nods to her and departs for the gathering space for those going back to Brinewall today.
In that case, he sees Mel and Alaric, both tired and drawn leave the caravan well in advance of when everyone else is leaving, headed in the direction of Brinewall.
Ameiko Again Because It is Important to Hit Preview Rather than Submit
"I could give you a lot of empty platitudes about how people can always change, how there's hope where there's life, all of that. It's all true, but not particularly ... useful. So I'll try to tell you something I've learned, and hope it's useful for you, too."
"Here's what I found out from my own father. I was never free of him when I was trying to be what he wanted me to be, AND I was never free of him when I was trying to be the opposite of what he wanted me to be. I only finally became someone who wasn't defined by him when I ... quit playing. Smashed the board, threw away the pieces, left the building."
"I don't know if that will help you. But maybe next time you see a choice between up and down, try going, I don't know, left."
"For as long as I travel as one of your number, this I would vow," says Kelda.Hrunndalf glances towards Koya and Spivey for signs of distrust, knowing them to be wiser judges of truthfulness than he is. "That's good enough for me, then," he concludes otherwise.
Hrunndalf turns towards the two, and pipes in, "Oh, that reminds me... have you decided how it would befit us to address you? I believe the usual style would be 'Your Imperial Majesty', but perhaps you would prefer a more... culturally appropriate style? 'O Mistress of the One Hundred Falling Cherry Blossom Petals' maybe?" He almost manages to keep a straight face.
"Oh, absolutely," replies Ameiko. "And you shall be my trusted general, with an appropriate sobriquet of your own. General Bloodaxe? Bloodthews? Bloodhelm? Did I miss any, or is that the complete set of options?"
She looks at his wrists, her fingers touch the scar, intertwined with his own fingers. She looks at him, green eyes on green. "That's because you would rather be hurt than let someone you care about be hurt. Especially, if you can't help."
"My will may not be as strong as yours, but my soul... Is my own. Won't let anyone tarnish it but me."
She looks up at the skyline, just starting to lighten. "I have a present for you, but we need to hurry, okay?"
Hrithik shakes his head firmly at Kalimac. "We are not yet arrived, but the vision was explicitly clear about the Major Fact in Minkai, which I would argue is settled: Nearly everyone thinks the Emperor lives, but he is in fact long dead, a tyrant ruling in his place." ... "None of that need make you Her Infernal Majestrix Ameiko II. Even if we find the decision is somehow compulsory to save millions of lives, it needn't make you anything more than a beloved figurehead, should you not wish to be. But refusing to consider that it...
Ameiko has listened to the discussion patiently before chiming in at the end of this.
"Well ... Duh."
"Look, I'm sure all of these scenarios went through everyone's head. What if they need a figurehead heir to rally behind? What if it falls to me to prevent anarchy with a provisional government? What if, what if, what if?"
"Look, I've already said we'll have to assess the situation when we hit the ground, and figure out the best approach. All I'm saying is that I'm sure as hellfire not going over there because I want to set myself up as Empress of Minkai, which makes that being the final end result of all this pretty darn unlikely."
Rhost is up early for the Brinewall cleanup. He nods to Hrithik at the Brinewall Mustering Point.
She moves along the trail the group created yesterday. Keeping her stride with him. A short time later, free from the overgrown brush and grass she heads to the fallen lighthouse. From there the western horizon lightening with the morning sun is obvious.
She takes one look at the forest from which they just emerged... making sure that their time alone is still theirs. Deciding that it is, she puts her bag on the ground. Looks at Alaric with a small mint blush and takes off the oversized shirt that she wears and puts it on her bag.
She turns to the west, bowing to the rising sun. The following activity is one part martial skill, one part ritual prayer and two parts self expression. She is obviously tired from the day before, and from a night of thinking, but it also isn't her art. She finishes just before the sun breaks the horizon. She has just long enough for a breath, a calm. And then she sneezes, three times, as the first rays of the day hit her eyes.
She turns to him, relaxed, until she sees him. A small amount of tension, and of awareness comes back. "That was a present for me."
She sits down next to her bag and pulls out her flute. "And for you, and only you." The song is starts slow, sad. But it slowly transitions into something more beautiful, older. Haunted, haunting, but happy.
When she is done she looks at the flute, and then him. "Okay, I'm rusty." Smiles at him, "Obviously I need to practice for you more."
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"Look, I've already said we'll have to assess the situation when we hit the ground, and figure out the best approach. All I'm saying is that I'm sure as hellfire not going over there because I want to set myself up as Empress of Minkai, which makes that being the final end result of all this pretty darn unlikely."
Hrithik quirks a smile, "But you haven't seen the other compartments in the warding box yet. Glass slippers. Stunning formal evening gown. Placards reading Amatatsu Ameiko for Homecoming Empress. It is your destiny."
Diplomacy:
Hrithik smiles and nods to Rhost. He looks significantly less haggard than the day before. "A good day to do something straightforward. Simple and Right."
Rhost nods in agreement. "Too few things are simple and right."
Rhost hunts for the word. It may take a while.
"Ma tistax tiddeskrivih," Rhost says. "Not in Ordinary. Nor Arferol. It is doing. Not describing."
"Can not describe."
"Normal."
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Sleight of Hand: Pickle into Empress Ameiko's clothing at appropriate point:
Hrithik looks into Ameiko's eyes. "I did take your other, primary meaning, Ameiko, I just ... responded to the part of it I can handle right now. Your grandfather reaching into my head was ... not something I can talk about yet. If I think about it too much right now, I'll take your place in the comatose bed."
"The horror of being like Her is the best part of it, because I can do something about that. The rest of it ..."
Hrithik shakes his head, then smiles softly. "When I can wrap my head around it, I would like to talk to you about it. I respect your advice. As the Resplendent Empress of Alabaster Jade, Blessed be Your Toenails, I value your guidance above that of nearly all other Resplendent Empresses."
"Ma tistax tiddeskrivih," Rhost says. "Not in Ordinary. Nor Arferol. It is doing. Not describing."
Mel thinks about that for a long time. In a probably blissful silence to the cook. As Rhost puts the finishing touches on the meal, she replies. "I don't know your word, but it made me think of the things that I can't put a single word to. The best is the moment when thought and action become joined. There is a purity to that moment that I rarely find."
Mel's smile for Alaric changes into a very different one for Lio, one that makes the girl look younger somehow. And then it falls away.Mel stands still for three minutes, nothing moving but her eyes, which move in paniked jerks. A number of time, her throat moves as if she is going to speak, or scream, but she stifles the sound before it emerges. Three times she cannot, and a small sound of pain escapes. Her hands drop from the bowl, attached to limp arms. She looks down at her arms, seeing things that no one else can, makes a noticeable effort to move an arm, and all she gets is a hand that spasms.
She turns, legs unsteady and moves away from the group in the direction of the wagon where Rhost stores his cooking supplies.
Lio takes the bowl out of Mel's hands, and realizes that something is very wrong. She tries to get her attention without touching her, without making it worse. To no avail. Mel? She says several times, without result. She doesn't have the kind of magic that could even begin to figure out what's wrong. Lio looks helplessly to those she knows to be more mystically inclined than herself, Hrithik, Koya, Alaric, and Ameiko. Why isn't anyone doing anything? Lio's panic is noiseless. When Mel finally flees, Lio, like Alaric, follows. She does not enter the wagon, rather she stands outside, helplessly for a long moment. She left the bowl Mel handed to her sitting on the ground between Ameiko and Shalelu.
Lio stands helplessly outside the wagon, moving off when Rhost sticks his head in, and comes back out. She doesn't make eye contact with anyone, but walks a ways out of sight, and immediate ear shot, of the camp.
Bluff
Stealth to not be seen or followed.
She smiles, "What would we do with a castle?"
As soon as she turns her back, Alaric blinks. We? And smiles.
And then she sneezes, three times, as the first rays of the day hit her eyes.
Alaric's heart pretty much melts instantly, though he does his best to hide it. Considering what a terrible liar he is, it shows through only slightly less obviously than the sun itself.
She sits down next to her bag and pulls out her flute. "And for you, and only you." Perform: wind 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17 The song is starts slow, sad. But it slowly transitions into something more beautiful, older. Haunted, haunting, but happy.
When she is done she looks at the flute, and then him. "Okay, I'm rusty." Smiles at him, "Obviously I need to practice for you more."
Alaric swallows, eyes clear, fixed on Melinda. He manages a nod but otherwise seems quite paralyzed. Finally, in rapt wonder: "Thank you."
She looks at him for a long time, wanting to touch him... but unsure of herself. Her rapt attention is broken finally, as she looks toward the woods the distant noise of people through thick foliage.
"I should have known... Not long enough." She stops, an odd expression on her face as the thought flickers across it. never long enough
Myriana breaks out into a broad smile and says happily, "Um, when the meetings done, could we visit the river? I'd really like to get cleaned up better. That is, if I'm not pulling you away from something else, of course." then adds, "I guess we should probably be getting back, before they start without us."
"It is getting a bit late for a river swim," says Shalelu, "But may I suggest that tomorrow, we have that promised archery practice?"
Myri's face lights up in a brilliant smile. "I would like that very much. Umm..I assume after we make camp again?" She pauses, "Umm..will Lio be there also? and um, what about Zaiobe? They're both archers too, right? or do you want to keep this private?"
With a large group cleaning the chapel, work progresses swiftly. Soon, it has been cleaned and rededicated to the goddess Desna.
** spoiler omitted **
Rhost stands outside the Supply Wagon in his best shoulders-squared, arms-crossed, nothing-to-see-here guard pose.
Perception:
Myri having apparently missed exactly what happened but aware the something is not right with at least one of her friends, has left the gathering and approaches Rhost, having just missed Lio also. "Umm. What?" she says helplessly.
