smokescreens and chances

and the only solution was to stand and fight

Stormbreak, truly, was one of the last places he wanted to be currently. But with one aspect of their regional portions complete, given the void creature currently growling in its cage and held tightly by his hands, he ventured closer to the skyport, and therefore, the Falling.

Which was a breathtaking sight on all its own – and having once been barred from it, took his seditious time standing near the cliff’s edge, listening to the rush of waves, the swell of air geysers. The thermals rushed upward and brushed against his hair, sending the locks flying in a petulant barrage, but not enough to warn him back from the rocky surfaces. Perhaps here he could play and toy with the portions of the quest Safrin had given him, pondering over the circumstances of recollection and the winds – before creating a slight portion of rock, testing the surface as he sent it lingering across the gusts.

DEIMOS

Oh, you say you have to fall apart to really be someone

The ship was undergoing repairs. A wait that should have spanned only hours had been extended to a day, maybe more, and Maea found herself stranded in Stormbreak yet again. More than a little uneasy about the city she avoided the shops and the market places, steered clear of seedier parts of town and opted instead to withdraw towards the edges, where the ground literally ended and fell away into a vista of sea and sky. Picking her way along the rim of the isle, the act of climbing rocks and focusing on where she placed her feet offered a welcome break from the unpleasant thoughts that had plagued her over the past few days.

It could have been peaceful. But then a figure came into view, familiar in height and stature and silhouetted against the horizon; one that had her stomach lurch uneasily. Maea actually stopped and considered turning around rather than face Deimos. Not too long ago she really might have, too. But she'd made a promise to herself not to run away from unpleasant things anymore. No doubt she'd been spotted already, which really... only left one option she could stomach.

Approaching slowly, with the kind of grim determination reserved for dentists and teachers appointments, she stopped for a moment to pick up a stone so she could busy her hands with something. Errant winds caught her hair and whipped it about her face; impatiently Maea pushed it back behind an ear.

"Deimos," she acknowledged, once she'd come within hailing distance. Who knew; maybe that was all it took of courtesy. Maybe she was wrong in thinking this wouldn't be a pleasant encounter. Pessimism ran deep in her, as many people had pointed out over the years.

Base by Odd

and the only solution was to stand and fight

For the next few moments, his attention was on the pebble floating along the gusts. It waxed and waned as the thermals burst from alternating directions, sliding either to the left, to the right, or downwards, before being caught and lifted again. Quietly amused, he changed the ebb and flow of the wind, hastening Mastered Air right into sweeping turns, watching as the rock glided about as if hooked or caught, and then flickered back into his hand.

He might have continued had his focus not been significantly mangled – the approach of another stilled him entirely, and the void Mata Mata contained within the cage screeched something awful. His eyes narrowed significantly, dangerously, the moment he noticed it was Maea – for recent memories had yet to fade, and rarely did, in the Sword’s wake. She seemed all the more hesitant and he was nearly glad for it, perhaps hoping she’d apologize for her rampant stupidity and foolish errors, then leave; but she’d endangered more than his family’s lives recently, and he wasn’t tempted to let her off so easily. “Maea,” was a deep and warning rumble just the same, his features falling into a token nonchalance that said naught of his irritation or animosity; though the lack of amiability would be readily apparent. So too was his following and echoing silence, waiting for her to make the necessary statements.

DEIMOS

Oh, you say you have to fall apart to really be someone

Her insides felt heavy. Squeezed as if by a giant hand, that made breathing difficult and intensified the desire to just continue past the Sword. That wouldn't solve anything, though. And it was laughable, really, that she could step in front of Dahlia without hesitating, but dreaded the reaction of this man to that very same act as if he was somehow more dangerous. It should be the opposite, right? Easier to confront an acquaintance than the biggest threat Caido had seen in years.

The problem was that she didn't feel like she had much to apologize for.

His silence demanded something, however, and so she drew a deep breath before stopping, just out of arm's reach. "I didn't have a chance to say anything right away... so I'll say it now. I'm sorry I put your son in danger during the meeting. That was never my intention. And I'm sorry for leaving when the rest of you could not. I should not have done that." It was the one thing she regretted about the whole affair. Endangering the child... and leaving the room.

Base by Odd

and the only solution was to stand and fight

A shame, really, when she should’ve had much to regret from her actions.

He watched as she seemed to summon something, all the hesitation ready and apparent, and he had to stifle the snort threatening to rally through his chest. She’d had multitudes of chances – she hadn’t taken them at the meeting, nor at the ball, and given the duress they’d all been under, the Sword hadn’t been inclined to give her any other opportunities.

And certainly, he could take the initial apologies, accept them as they were, foolishness and overwhelming stupidity, but the regrets should’ve been more than for just Erebos – for Evie, for Flora, for Sunjata, for Danta, for Hadama, and all the ridiculous charades that had unraveled from those tense and strangled moments. The rumble of his words were calm, cold, and stark. “You endangered everyone in that room.” In her invitations, in the missed proportions, in going against someone and not having any of the means to back it up, in the cowardly evasion of the mess she’d created. He wouldn’t forget Hadama’s part in that either. His head tilted, a silent study, before his eyes narrowed once more. “What were you trying to pull?”

DEIMOS

Oh, you say you have to fall apart to really be someone

What, indeed. It would have been easy to say that she simply panicked and forgot herself. But that would be a lie. It had been a very deliberate decision to step in front of Dahlia, and even in hindsight Maea suspected she would make it again if put in the same situation. Minus the child, and minus leaving in the aftermath.

"I wasn't pulling anything. I would have done the same thing no matter who appeared unannounced, possibly save the gods themselves." Maes met his gaze frankly, offering only the truth no matter how unpleasant. "She was in fact not invited, and unwelcome, and pretending otherwise would have been strange as we've made no secret of being suspicious of her." Wanted posters on noticeboards, warnings about the Family in general, the disappearance of Stormbreak's true leader - nothing lent itself to expectations of a warm welcome.
"As I was the host and the one who had called the meeting, it was my place to speak up. Frankly I was also the least valuable person in the room too, so any repercussions towards me wouldn't have been a problem." What was a mere diplomat, after all? As they had seen, she was easily overlooked and easily dismissed. Being the only one who looked foolish while the leaders appeared sensible and easy to work with was even a good thing in her eyes; not that it had been intended to work out that way.

Base by Odd

and the only solution was to stand and fight

If she were to do it again, hopefully it would be under very different circumstances, and she’d be alone, getting herself killed instead of multitudes. “But had no means to stop her. None of us did.” His jaw clenched tightly, eyes going back over to the surroundings, the whistle of the winds blasting over cliff faces and rocks, feeling the cold, frigid anger building in his chest. They’d been the ones who’d had to build the pretenses, the walls, the fortifications of absolutely nothing into something while she vanished with Hadama, striving to evade the situation she’d caused.

His gaze rounded back upon her, indulgent in his nonchalance, and indifferent to the meaningless and impulsive notions flickering around him. “So you gathered us there, irritated and denied her entry, and then proceeded to leave us with her – and you find no issue with that?” Some diplomat – he could remember days where Maea had ached to lead the Grounds, and based upon her bureaucratic notions at the moment, he was glad it had never come to fruition. Zariah had been an unrelenting menace, but gods, this was abysmal just the same. “Who is to say the repercussions would have been solely on you?”

DEIMOS

Oh, you say you have to fall apart to really be someone

Squinting against the cold wind that irritated her eyes, her irritation was palpable though she did her best to keep it at bay. "Of course I find issue with that. The meeting was supposed to be secret, so she shouldn't have been able to walk in on it in the first place. Frankly I had expected more to speak up against her presence, but since the majority didn't do anything it seemed to me that the best solution was to remove myself. To not aggravate things further. Not that it was my idea - if Hadama hadn't suggested it I wouldn't have even thought to leave." And she had quickly come to her senses, not that it made a speck of difference. The damage had already been made. But to hear Deimos speak it was as if she'd planned the whole thing just so that it would fail, which had her bristling on the inside.

"I was the annoying person in the room, was I not? What point is there in terrorizing leaders who already won't fight?" While she understood the hesitation given the infant's presence, it was still hard to swallow the resounding silence as one leader after another had done nothing. All of them were more powerful and accomplished than herself - yet she had been the only one to raise her voice.

Base by Odd

and the only solution was to stand and fight

If possible, the Sword grew taller; spine straightening, the ambience of his cold glance rolling off in glacial expanse. “I was not sacrificing myself, or my family, for a meeting.” And the fact that Maea seemed to be asking, yearning, craving for them to have done so, was absurd. What would’ve been the benefit? The end result? Leadership gone and destroyed? Dahlia could’ve done any number of things afterwards – taking over region by region as she wished with whomever her compatriots happened to be. “There is a time and place for things. There was no need for a fight, nor for any of this nonsense, had you not said anything at all. Take some accountability.” Some ownership for her mistakes and mishaps, instead of heaving it upon Hadama, or scraping and cobbling together her excuse for evasion. Because she hadn’t stayed, and that was the core difference.

“She could have killed us all, and then what?” A rhetorical question, but he couldn’t quite fathom the level of willingness to martyr herself, and then not going through with the act. “If you find yourself so inclined, go find her now.” He jutted his jaw in the direction of the city behind them, where Dahlia could've been freely reigning.

DEIMOS

Oh, you say you have to fall apart to really be someone

If looks could kill, she'd have been dust long before Deimos ever set foot on Caido. His disapproval mattered very little to her, she realized, and almost laughed in his face. Luckily she managed to hold it back.

"No? What time, then? What place? I disagree. There was every need to fight, if only to prove a point. So far we've already yielded two regions, a swamp and a meeting to the Family. What's the next thing you're going to offer up? A person? Maybe a city. And then there will be another, and another, and soon the whole of Caido will be overrun and Dahlia will be standing in your office, asking if you're sure you didn't get her invitation right. I suppose then it's alright to fight. There would be nowhere left to retreat to at that point."

The idea that anyone would be out of harm's way if Maea Valair just kept her mouth shut was laughable. And the prompt to have her go challenge Dahlia... Gods, don't get her started. "She could still kill us all. She probably will, given enough time. I'm not looking to die, if that's what you think. I just refuse to give in without at least trying to fight when she comes into my home like she owns it. She does not." Not yet, at least. As Danta had pointed out, there was chicken shit they could do about it if she really did come. Was she supposed to just lie down and give up, then? No. Fuck no.

Base by Odd

and the only solution was to stand and fight

His disapproval, and many others, should’ve mattered. But then again, she didn’t to him either. She was just one more individual who had gone and made a mistake, found herself incapable of being accountable for the notions, and spewed the same rhetoric repeatedly, hoping to achieve different results. His nonchalance and impassiveness rendered in identical regard, the pebble still ghosting and coasting along the thermals. “When we have more information, especially on how to combat someone like Dahlia.” He hadn’t seen that in her handouts, which had been mostly sagacity and wisdom he and his guild members had achieved and snagged. “Blindly agitating and antagonizing will achieve very little, except goad us all into an early grave. Then the regions will succumb just the same.” So, all in all, a futile execution and plan, and still, nothing to show for it. “When you are the weakest, you should not be making the first strike.” But she’d already gone and done that; impulsive and impetuous.

Laughable it might have been, but Maea had been the catalyst and impetus for the entire shamble. “I doubt it. There will be something.” No one was impenetrable and impervious; Remi had proven that when he’d ventured into the Starfall Island. There had to be some weakness; it just hadn’t been discovered in the chaotic mess. “Your minute show merely proved to her that you are reckless. Rash, careless, and thoughtless people get others killed, along with themselves."

DEIMOS

Oh, you say you have to fall apart to really be someone

She could only shrug. Arguing against him was a waste of breath, because her belief had not changed, nor had her perspective. Maea had apologized for what she felt responsible for but would not back down from her stance that she'd done what was right. Maybe it hadn't been for anyone else, but for her it was necessary.

Her mouth tensed into a straight line when he talked about her actions getting others killed. Not in so many words perhaps, but she knew what he meant.
"Well, I'll ease your mind there. My minute show lost me my job already, so I'll keep my recklessness to myself next time. You can keep groveling with the rest as you please."

Affecting a mockery of the same bow she'd extended towards Dahlia, Maea turned to leave. Rubbing her temples that pounded with the beginning of a headache, she began to retrace her steps back to the port. The repairs would not be any further along, but at least she could find somewhere to sit in quiet. Talking wasn't doing anything for her lately.

Base by Odd

and the only solution was to stand and fight

Then it would be much the same – wouldn’t it? Learning nothing, achieving nothing, brick by brick until she received the end of her days by some impulsive attribute; unless something altered and changed in her mindset. But it wouldn’t be for Deimos, nor anyone else to manage for her – he’d done his part, and if she chose not to listen, then that was her dilemma. He shrugged in return; entirely unsurprised at her lack of awareness or argument in return. Nothing and nothing once more.

The loss of her job equated to an arch of his brow, but he could understand the meaning behind it. Danta clearly hadn’t been appeased in the aftermath either. Accountability and ownership of actions had multitudes to do with everything shambling and pressing in around the Ancient, but if she were only to settle into the repetitive arguments, then it would be her loss time and time again. “As you should. Good luck with your tactics.” There’d been no groveling on his end either; he hadn’t even addressed Dahlia. She would’ve known, had she stayed. He turned away from her, not even bothering to look her way, or at the mockery of a bow; not worth the dismissal or exchange any longer.

From there, he repelled the pebble upwards, and then reclaimed it within a matter of moments, watching it scrape across the landscape and the air, before returning to his hand. Grasping back at the cage, with the rather quiet void creature contained within, he’d begin to make the journey home, with more to tell the Evergreen.

{FIN}

DEIMOS