>>FROM:@STORMBORN | >>TO:@ALL

[dorzalta]

I ask that you use caution if encountering Yhych in the courts. Or at least carry with you an anti-toxin.

[ dot dot dot . . . ]

Is anyone a weapon-maker here?



>>FROM:@STORMBORN
>>TO:@BURGERKING, @PONYTAIL, @MODERATUS, @POINTANDKICK, @DIEDHARD, @BOARING, @AEGONNER, @PERSONALSTAFF

Ignore my next message until you are alone or are able to control your reaction.

[ There will be a pause, one which seems to tick away as an eternity for her. And then: ]

I'm told Kebechet is here.

Comments

[northerndragon]

Would we have to? They can play with time. We can finish what we're doing in one place and they seem to be able to choose where and when we go next. We're only here because of things we did at Gallipoli. But what does that mean if we fail? Might we be stuck where they leave us?

I made a mistake at the parlay. You'll understand someday. The false queen tried to break our alliance. I told everyone I'd pledged myself to you.

[dorzalta]

As can the Regency. I still don't understand it all, but it seems as if some things

[ The thought ends there ]

Why not alter the last attempt whilst in this world?

[ Were he near her, he'd see her reaction: a sharp inhale, the widening of her eyes. ]

You did that before all our allies and enemies?

[northerndragon]

When you say

”alter the last attempt

what do you have in mind?

And aye, I did that. In front of everyone.

[With no surety that she would accept his suit... with no real suit yet, either.]

[dorzalta]

We travel time. We revisit the past in a bid to preserve it. Why has neither side attempted to alter the events in this world if the results the first time were so disastrous? With COST, I could understand the hesitancy, but what about the Regency?

In front of everyone.

[ She needs a moment. Loyalty's always been that factor which strengthened her own loyalties to a person in return. It bolsters her beliefs, feeds into that tiny part of her--that girl who spent so much of her life trying to blend with the crowds, to avoid detection, alone--filling the void that part of her life leaves. Less fear.

Coming from someone she cares for? Someone she's chosen and loves? ]

How did I respond?

[northerndragon]

You were eventually kinder than I might have deserved.

[dorzalta]

I didn't respond properly, then.

[ She means she never rewarded that show of loyalty. Maybe not before so many others, but privately. ]

[northerndragon]

Under the circumstances, I couldn't object to your response.

You told me you respected what I'd done.

[dorzalta]

The circumstances are different, but I do now, as well.

[northerndragon]

The circumstances are different. But that's good to hear.

Still, you're no less my weak point now than you were then. I think you're more so.

[dorzalta]

[ Weak, weak, weak. ]

When Kebechet took me, you continued the mission.
When I was poisoned, you didn't run off to murder the Aranean who caused me to grow ill.

[ Now, she's being intentionally obtuse, overlooking his meaning (which does bring her a mix of joy and worry), because she dislikes being associated with the term weak. ]

You're the one who bolsters my strength. You calm me.
And if they take you from me, Araneans, Regency, the mad queen, or some future opponent, their lives will turn to ash around them.

cw: GROSS FEELS AND HEART EYES

[northerndragon]

I would have run off to kill her if you'd died. Or I would have died trying. Even for your pain, I want to see her suffer, but what stops me from trying is our greater goal.

I didn't say that you don't also make me strong.

ditto

[dorzalta]

I know. I just don't think all of that makes me your weakness. It makes me your reason to fight all the harder.

[ Well, that's what she thinks of him. Because the result of losing him would be--no, no, there's no considering it. ]

That doesn't help our world or the children we fight to protect.

[northerndragon]

All right, then you're my reason to fight harder. But it doesn't mean I can stand the thought of seeing you hurt.

[But that doesn't matter, does it? He'll still encourage her to get on Drogon's back and fight against the White Walkers.]

[dorzalta]

Better. And I know. It's like how watching every wound you receive in the arena feels like I take the blow myself. What you warn me of

[ She means beyond the Wall. But before she can continue, she needs to stop and regather herself. ]

The separation and leaving you with them, alone. It makes me sick.

[northerndragon]

Unless something happens to change it, my uncle will come to my aid. I will reach you in time. I will survive it.

Don't feel like my wounds are your wounds if you can help it. They hurt, but wounds are just wounds. They'll heal.

[Not advice he'd be able to take if she were the one being wounded. And if she's feeling a pain because of his wounds, he doesn't want her to know things like how much he screamed all those years ago when they took the arrows out of him, and he doesn't want her to think about things like the deep scarring across his chest and why it's slow and reluctant to heal.]

[dorzalta]

[ What if the Regency manages to change that? The what ifs offer no use, so she forces the thoughts aside. ]

So long as you heal, is where my concern lies.

[northerndragon]

You know I can't promise that. But you know that I would if I could.

Trust me to do what I can.

[dorzalta]

I don't mean physically.

[ Though that was important as well. ]

[northerndragon]

[...]

You give me good healing.

[dorzalta]

Enough?

[ She's worried about u boi. ]

[northerndragon]

Enough that I don't want any other.

And you?

[dorzalta]

You've always been enough.

[northerndragon]

Then we're all right. Better than most.

[dorzalta]

Luckier than most.

Luckier than a younger version of myself.

[northerndragon]

[She can't see him chuckling.]

Luckier than two of me when I was seventeen. But I wasn't as unlucky as I thought I was then. Wish I had known that things would change the way they have now. It didn't seem possible.

What are we going to do about our problem, love? Talk to the Commander about it?