Click here for a list of weather descriptions, seasonal festivals, and a real time:site time conversion.
Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
A note had been sent to the Ark when she was in port: a polite request for Captain Jack Barclay to meet with Hadama, King of Torchline, at the Court of Stars.
In the Tidebreaker's usual laconic way there was little other information to be gleaned from the flowing, precise handwriting, including whether the meeting was intended to be business or personal, both or neither.
But whenever curiosity got the better of Torchline's foremost smuggler he would find Hadama in the Court, the King in mermanta form in the pool beside the Fountain. His pen moved with slow grace across a page of paper on a small, extremely short desk placed beside the pool, while a handful of clay tablets waited next in line for his attention. He worked with a calm, unhurried efficiency but with an intensity to his focus and his thoughts that did not indicate a particularly pleasant business being addressed in the missives he was replying to.
Which was a shame, really. It was a beautiful day in Torchline, with clear, sunny skies and only a few puffy white clouds out at sea casting their occasional shade over Haulani's floating islands. Hels called to each other in warning or in play, their raucous voices delightfully free of Void corruption, and even Torchline's King had a frozen, fruity drink near to hand - though the ice had half-melted from neglect as he worked away beneath the sunshine.
Jack doesn't often get polite requests to go anywhere, especially not ones from Torchline's Tidebreaker. When letters come from Hadama they feel much less like requests anyway, however vague the words might have been, but that's no bad thing. Were it anyone else, Jack might not have bothered to come at all.
Still, the captain only takes himself off to the Court of Stars once he's satisfied with the state of his ship and his business and not a moment before, head tilting to find the islands' ruler lounging in the pool beside the healing fountain. "You'll forgive me for not joinin' you - left my bikini back at the docks," he drawls, stepping up towards the mermanta and, with little more than a pulse of willpower, the ice reforms in his glass.
"I am sure we can find one for you to borrow, if you would like," Hadama offered politely. He finished the last line of the letter - a request for more information regarding an inheritance dispute over a successful merchant's business, complicated by a mysteriously missing will and a whiff of foul play - and set it aside, turning his full attention on Torchline's former council member.
The sight of Jack's drink icing over reminded him of his own, and Hadama reached for it to take a soothing sip. It was heavy on the fruit juice and light on the rum given the time of day and his busy schedule, but it helped to pull his thoughts away from the problems of his paperwork so he could focus on what he had requested the Captain's presence for.
"Curiosity," he answered, glancing over at the neat stacks of both Mer and human business before finding the map he had prepared for the meeting and offering it to the Captain. "About what you have seen in your sailing this past year. What you have noticed about the spread of Void into Caido's seas outside of Torchline. How fast it is moving, and where it is most noticeable." And if any of those places of unusual activity were somewhere other than the wild regions the Family had 'officially' claimed.
He paused, and then inclined his head in acknowledgment of an ulterior motive. "And to ask how you have been. Your council has been missed." Though he doubted that he and the hard-eyed captain would ever be fast friends, Jack's assistance in their quests to protect Torchline had been appreciated. And Flora's choice of the sailor as her partner had given the Tidebreaker a reason to reach out to him to renew a cordial working relationship.
Scoffing under his breath but not pushing the joke any futher, Jack instead lets his eyes dance across letters and clay tablets even as he draws a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and sets one between his lips. It's as he lights it from his matchbook that Hadama slides the map towards him, Jack stepping close enough to gaze over it with a raised brow. With smoke curling from his lips around the cigarette, he reaches for the pen the Tidebreaker has been using and makes a few quick marks in a hand more than used to writing swiftly and on uneven surfaces.
"Nothin' here, but you'd know that already," he says, indicating the barrier he's drawn across and around Torchline, indicating the shields. He's drawn a slash through the Greatwood, the Feverlands and the Oerwoud (though that is recovering now, or so he's heard) and a few other markings trickling through King's End's Boondocks and Jack Tar at the Grounds. Most activity does seem to be around Stormbreak at the foot of what was once The Falling, but again, Hadama would know that and know why.
"Activity's increased over the past year since that island popped up, but I'd not say there's anywhere in particular that looks like it's gonna be targeted next, if that's what you mean." He's about to give the Caido equivalent of this meeting could have been an email when the mermanta continues, and the captain resists the urge to roll his eyes at what he clearly sees as smalltalk.
"My council was to put Flora on the throne with you long before Harper made a shitshow of it," he says, drawing deeply off the cigarette. "So you can't have missed it that much. But I'm fine, if that's enough to keep your fins from flappin'."
Keen eyes noted Stormbreak and the wild regions that had been affected - known, and therefore something they could combat - but it was the marks in King's End and the Grounds that drew his attention, and an uneasy undercurrent to his thoughts at seeing the inroads in more civilized regions. "Mmh. I had expected to see more new activity in the Climb, or Hak Etme," he admitted, thoughts moving with slow, steady concern towards what it meant if the Family was ready to begin expanding into areas with more resistance. Or, if not ready, perhaps... testing the waters for future inroads.
Better to begin nipping the expansion of power in the bud, before they grew too thick to manage. Flora had dealt with the Oerwoud. So he would deal with the Feverlands, once preparations were completed.
But that was not Jack's problem, and while the Captain's information was needed it was only part of why Hadama had requested the meeting. Though the response to his overture was expectedly blunt, he was swiftly reminded that Jack was as prickly as a durian fruit. Especially at the mention of Harper, which struck a flare of grief in the demigod, bright and sharp as a blade though his face betrayed no reaction. Still, the man's dislike of Harper was a known quantity as well, and Hadama drew the emotion back into himself, tamping it down as swiftly as it had flared. "I am glad you have been well," he said simply, letting the jabs slide off as if he still held a turtle's shift in his soul.
But emerald eyes had not missed certain other changes to the good Captain in recent seasons. They contemplated the new star on Jack's face, a quiet thread of approval accompanying his consideration. "And that you have gained Safrin's blessing. Have your quests gone well?"
"Might well be activity up there. My ship ain't able to fly too close to The Climb, but when I've been there on foot I've not seen much. Haven't had the pleasure to go to Hak Etme yet." Jack's a businessman, not an explorer after all, and while he's sure the desert has its gems and advantages, it hasn't made itself appealing enough yet to draw the captain's attention.
It's true that the Oerwoud and the Feverlands are not Jack's problem - arguably he'd say they aren't Flora and Hadama's problem either, but with the combined weight of leadership and demigodhood on the Tidebreaker's shoulders in particular, he supposes they all have their crosses to bear. Inclining his head at Hadama's response, his own expression remains impassive, despite the flare of the mermanta's grief crashing against his own quiet self-satisfaction. It hadn't quite been cold blood with Harper, given that the man had asked for death, but Jack had enjoyed it nonetheless.
Slipping his hands into his pockets and shrugging his shoulders, at the mention of Safrin and her blessings, Jack glances away through the buildings towards the harbour where his ship - and his three children, undoubtedly - are situated. "As well as I could have hoped," he says, feeling no need to hide that much from Hadama. "The Ark is able to fly at will these days. Between the sea and sky, it seems as though I can get about a lot easier."
"Noted," Hadama murmured, suiting action to words by making a brief notation of both regions to indicate a lack of intel rather than a lack of Void-related activity. "Thank you." It was a pity that the Adventurer's Guild had ceased its activities. They would have been well-suited to investigate... but that was a riptide to deal with later, and the Tidebreaker returned his full attention to the captain as he picked through the sargassum of Jack's sarcasm and defensiveness.
Safrin, at least, was a common tide pool that they could share without friction and the King inclined his head in acknowledgment and respect for the Ark's increased capabilities. Useful for a merchant captain... and for an ally of Torchline's Queen.
But not, it would seem, for her King.
Hadama contemplated Jack in silence, emerald eyes assessing the skyship captain as he considered the other man's words. His expressions. His tone and actions. The mermanta's face did not shift, but a quiet sigh passed through his thoughts, slow and weary. "I will not keep you, Captain Barclay" he said quietly. "If you do not wish to stay." He had meant well in attempting to rebuild a bridge that had fallen into disuse, but he would only damage it further if he pushed into waters where he was not particularly wanted.
"Don't mention it," Jack says, watching with keen blue eyes as Hadama makes his notations before seemingly dismissing him. Raising a brow - the captain hadn't realised that asking a king how he was doing was so important - he nonetheless is a busy man, with a lot of strings to pull and a lot of plates to spin, and so its with a quiet nod to the Tidebreaker that he steps away. "You know what they say 'bout idle hands," he calls over his shoulder; whether he's talking about his own hands or that of his crew is left up for interpretation.
Either way, Hadama will be able to watch Jack disappear into the throngs of people come to enjoy the fountain or to merely sit in the shade for a spell, until the captain is no more among the crowd. Still, if the mermanta does care to glance towards Kaiholo at some point that afternoon, he might just spot The Ark rising gracefully into the sky.
