Devil in the details

Safrin had gone, but a King and Queen of Torchline remained. When Hadama straightened from his deep bow to Safrin's departed shadow he drew in a deep breath, renewed, and holding on to the brief silence that she left in her wake before the world began to move around them again. The sound of the tide upon the shore returned, filling the hush, and the cries of distant seabirds carried from the coast, startled from their nightly nests by some disturbance. Only then did he turn his head, and the full weight of his emerald regard settled on Flora.

Thoughtful.

He did not say anything out loud. He did not need to. A steely brow rose in silent question and his head took on its customary tilt. Waiting. Listening. Giving the Doubletake as much time as she needed to gather wits and words to respond to Safrin's suggestion. Though perhaps 'suggestion' was too mild a word.

She was not a goddess used to having her words ignored.

flora

As Safrin departed, Flora finally allows the breath she'd been keeping captive low in her lungs to woosh out, sighing dramatically and loudly before shooting the Tidebreaker an imploring and almost childish look of do we have to do this now? Already knowing the answer—yes of course they did—the queen swallows, shifting into a more comfortable position before nibbling at the inside of her cheek.

"Okay so...there was a caveat to my bargain with Dahlia that I didn't have time to mention before." You know, in between Hadama's paternal fury and his going off to Starfall. "She obviously knew that I wanted her blood for something, so she said if I personally used it, or like..benefited from it, she'd come after those I care about most." Remi and Ronin could likely handle themselves, but Mateo? Sohalia? Jack, who already said he didn't feel safe around her anymore?

Letting her expression crumple, Flora stares down at the ground, nudging a nonexistent bit of debris with the toe of her shoe. "But really, it's no big deal. If we decide to protect the city, I'll just move onto the beach somewhere. And if we decide to protect the coastline, I'll just give up the bar." Infact it was a big deal and the way the words tightly left Flora's lips said as much, but in the big scheme of things one displaced queen was hardly worth the safety of an entire region.

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Her imploring gaze was met with one that was as implacably patient as ever. He was prepared to wait for as long as Flora needed to gather her thoughts and memories, but in truth it was not long before the Doubletake began to speak. His expression did not change at the opening caveat, though he did tilt his head thoughtfully as the story unfolded.

"I was under the impression... that she had already come after your loved ones. Or sent her siblings to do so." Whether or not 'siblings' was a term that applied to the Family was a semantic discussion for another time. For now the word sufficed in his deep, gentle voice as Flora looked down and offered her sacrifice as Queen to the table. "If she does so again, will that break your pact with her and allow you to return?" To whichever region she would lose in the weeks ahead. He could not soften that blow, and he would not lie to her.

But they were Torchers. There were deals, and then there were bargains. And a promise went both ways.

flora

Flora wraps her arms around herself like a wind has cut straight through her, the motion small but unmistakably protective. She doesn’t meet Hadama’s eyes at first, choosing instead to fix her gaze on the ground. "I thought about it," she says quietly, voice a bit hoarse with restraint. "About just ignoring what she said and letting her try whatever she was gonna try."

Her fingers tighten subtly against her arms. "My dads would be fine, but Mateo? Sohalia?" Her voice wavers briefly, nose scrunching as she stubbornly blinks away the sting behind her lashes. "And Jack—" The word catches, but she forces it out. "Jack already told me he doesn’t feel safe around me anymore. He left. Said I was just making Torchline into a prison."

Her mouth presses into a thin line, the frustration of it all roiling beneath the surface like storm-tossed water, but when she finally looks up at Hadama again, it’s with a kind of weary resolve. "So unless she makes the first move—or unless I come upon a nest of revivify feathers—I’ll try not to violate her terms. I’ll play it safe, even if it means giving up the bar, or not staying in the city. I made the deal, so I’ll deal with the fallout."

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Her fears were not ungrounded, and Hadama nodded slowly at the names she mentioned, though his expression was unreadable at Sohalia's name. The not-quite-tears, though, moved him and he took a step towards her before the name caught on her lips. It was barbed, that hook, and it tore on the way out. It brought with it an insight - or two - that gave him pause.The words of Black Jack Barclay were worth consideration, but this was, perhaps, not the time to linger over them.

Instead he reached out, settling a large hand on Flora's shoulder and squeezing it gently. "Captain Barclay is not wrong. But it is more complicated than that." For some, the promise of safety was worth any price. For others, freedom was worth any risk. And Jack had been willing to take some risks of his own, independent of Flora. "I have not forgiven you, either, for the pain you caused. To Jack and Sohalia as well as myself." Though they were perfectly capable of making their own decisions as to when - or if - they would be ready to forgive her. As it seemed Jack already had. And as for Sohalia...

He turned his thoughts away from the former queen with his own weary resolution.

His hand shifted, then, to brush her cheek beneath determined eyes, his own gaze warm in spite of his words. "But I am proud of you, Flora Kaito-Taliesin. And I will support you in your bargain, whichever region of Torchline is chosen."

flora

Flora stiffens the moment Hadama says he hasn’t forgiven her. It's subtle, but unmistakable—the quiet withdrawal of a girl suddenly bracing for impact, arms wrapping tighter around herself like she's warding off a blow she didn’t expect but refuses to flinch from. "You haven’t forgiven me?" she echoes, incredulous, the words low and brittle. Her eyes flash as they lift to meet his, searching his calm for something more volatile—something that would match the storm rising behind her own. "You just said you're proud of me, Hadama. So which is it?" Her voice trembles not with sorrow but with that sharp-edged bewilderment born of having done the impossible only to be told it wasn't enough.

"Sohalia just had to deliver two letters, and Jack.." Her hands fly up, exasperated. "I've given him mageglass and revivify feather. What else could I have possibly done save for never falling in love with him in the first place, to keep him safe? And you— I'm not Attuned, Hadama. I don’t get the luxury of mind-speak the way you all do. You think I didn’t want to tell you? Do you not remember me trying to tell you that I thought this was more important than planting flowers on Starfall? That we needed not to be so narrow-sighted about it?" Her voice cracks there, her breath catching in her throat as the effort of holding herself together starts to falter.

"You pricked me with the rose. That’s all you had to do, and I made sure I had one before starting off on this." Her hands ball into fists at her sides now, knuckles white. "And you know what? It worked. Torchline will be safe. I’m still here. But you're angry? You haven’t forgiven me?"

The fury in her tone fractures suddenly into something smaller, more hurt than hot. "Why? Because I didn’t wait for someone to allow me to risk myself?" Her brows furrow deeply, tears threatening at the corners of her eyes now. "You. Sunjata. My parents. You all get to throw yourselves into danger whenever you want." She takes a step back, shaking her head slowly, chest rising and falling in jagged waves. "So why is it different for me?"

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

In the wake of Safrin's touch his serenity was renewed, even in the face of the storm that was breaking within the woman he faced. It would not remain that way for long, but as the sharp-edged glass in her voice cut at him the bleeding was all internal. Invisible. And he inclined his head in confirmation of her echoes, the words she threw back at him.

He did not try to interrupt her, however, or answer her questions, whether or not they were accusations or justifications, until she had finished. He only removed his hand from her shoulder when her hands rose, letting it fall back to his side to hang in stillness until she had run out of breath and backed away, breathing hard.

And then he took a deep, slow breath of his own. "I can be both, Flora. I can love someone and still be upset with them." He paused, searching for words. A place to begin. A way to help her see what her actions had done. To him and perhaps to others. "Jack and Sohalia must make their own choices. Listen to their hearts and decide when the love outweighs the pain." Conversations that he would not be part of, and decisions he would not influence. But he had seen the results of her actions in their eyes in those fear-stricken days between the opening of her letters and the desperate gamble in Frey's Breath.

But finally some of his calm began to crack. A tightening of the corners of his eyes. A ripple of subtle tension across his shoulders. "But you used me, Flora. Do not demean the task you set me without my consent. You can teleport as quickly as I can. You know my way of thinking better than all but Safrin. And I can be honored by your trust and still angry that you used me as a means to an end."

It was more than he usually spoke in an entire conversation, the tension rising in him with each word. But one look in her eyes and the hurt there, the shimmer of unshed saltwater, drew him back into a deep breath and a conscious release of the muscles that had bunched in shoulders and jaw. His voice softened once more, calming with effort but calming nonetheless. "There are two things different about those you name. And you know this, even if it is not fair. The Family may kill us temporarily, yes. But we are immortal, and in ways they cannot easily overcome. The risk is not the same. Not when we only place ourselves in physical danger." He raised his eyes to the stars above, tracing his favorite constellation as if seeking strength from how it watched over him even now. "And... Flora, we do not fight alone. Your parents. Sunjata and myself and Deimos. The Wild Thunder and the Messenger. Always there is another or more to share the burden and lessen the risk."

His gaze returned to his co-ruler, weary and wounded by the verbal barbs that he had drawn to himself. "I do not have the right to ask you to stay back from the fight. To hide away or do less than the other leaders. But I will ask that you do not fight alone, either, Flora. That you do not let the Family make us too afraid to trust each other."

flora

Flora’s expression tightens further, each quiet word from Hadama twisting the hurt deeper into anger. Her jaw sets, stubborn and defensive, eyes flashing with an intensity she rarely directs toward someone she cares for. "Used you?" she echoes sharply, as if the words themselves were bitter on her tongue. "Hadama, you're supposed to be my friend. You're my co-ruler—if I can’t count on you to be there when I need you, then who am I supposed to trust?"

She shakes her head, incredulous, curls catching firelight as she continues. "You’re a demigod. You’ve literally been chosen by a god to help with exactly this kind of thing. If someone else had channeled you without warning, would you confront them afterward and accuse them of using you too?" Her voice trembles with the force of her disbelief and hurt, and beneath it, an undercurrent of betrayal threads its way through.

"I didn’t use you," Flora says again, quieter now but no less fierce, her eyes unwavering. "I trusted you. I counted on you." Her voice cracks just slightly, but she pushes forward regardless. "But if your friendship, if your help comes with this much fine print, with this much red tape—then maybe I was wrong about what we are to each other. Next time I'll get a notarized agreement form for you to sign before I ask anything of you ahead of time."

Drawing in a shaky breath, Flora lifts her chin, pride wounded but refusing to bend beneath the weight of his words. "And in case you’ve forgotten—I’m about as functionally immortal as a mortal can get, Hadama. My parents can literally bring me back from the dead. I can tell Remi and tell him exactly how I died and where, and Ronin can come find me. So if I want to risk my life to protect my region, that’s my choice. I'm sick of everyone thinking they're entitled to my safety." The only person who could make that argument was the one person who'd just walked away from her.

Flora swipes angrily at the tears threatening at the corners of her eyes, frustration building into a trembling tension in her shoulders. "You say you don’t want me to fight alone? I tried asking for help. You, and Deimos, and Sunjata. I tried explaining how urgent I thought this this was, and you all brushed me off. You had your own plans. You had Starfall and lilies and whatever else mattered more to you in that moment." Her breath catches, chest heaving as the weight of those frustrations finally spills over.

"Even then, I wasn’t alone—not to me. Not with the letters I sent you. Not with the letter I sent Jack." Her voice softens, wounded, as she looks away from him finally, gaze fixed on the horizon.

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

He listened. And he breathed slow and deep of the night air. He considered where he had been too honest, and the cascade of misunderstandings that were only growing worse with every word spoken. And when she finished he inclined his head.

"I do not wish to fight with you, Flora. You are someone I care deeply for. Someone I respect. That has not changed. Even before you are my co-ruler, you are my friend." The other demands and accusations fell away as he held steadfast to the thread that underlay the source of his own pain. Of the fear that had struck such a frightening chord within him when he had thought that he had lost her to the Family's corruption.

He lifted his head, weary and wounded and feeling the weight of his years beneath the fiery flash of Flora's youthful pride. "I am sorry that I did not understand what you were saying at the meeting of leaders. What you intended. You fooled the Family with your words. And you fooled me." Deception seemed to come easier to the Doubletake than the Tidebreaker, but he watched her look away and was certain of her sincerity with him. "I believed that you were seeking peace with them again." It was not the first time she had reached out to Dahlia, and she had been through so much when she had been killed by the Family for her previous interference. "And I am sorry that I made you feel as if you did not matter to me."

He had heard the pain in her voice as she looked away, but he could not argue with Jack's decision. Not when he had heard the helpless frustration in the captain's growl firsthand. He could only lift his hand to press it over his heart where Safrin's healing light had flowed through him earlier, head bowed so that steel-grey hair slipped over his shoulders. There was truth in her words. She had trusted him. Relied on him. And he could not have turned her down, even if he had known how desperate a situation she would place them in. All he could do was agree, his voice soft against the lapping of waves upon the shore. "Indeed."

flora

The tide has a way of smoothing even the sharpest stones, and as Hadama’s apology ripples through the quiet Flora feels the heat behind her ribs ebb, replaced by a reluctant ache. She stands very still, fingers curled against her sides and lets his words settle the sting of her own. Moonlight beads on the waves like scattered pearls; she watches one crest, break, and vanish before she can trust her voice.

"I didn’t mean to fool you." The admission slips out on a breath, softer than anything she’s offered tonight. She turns back toward him, curls shifting in the wind, her expression stripped of earlier bravado. "I was just trying to keep you safe." Flora draws a slow breath, pressing her palm over the constellation of rings glittering at her sternum. "I’m sorry, too. For springing it on you without warning, for assuming you’d just… understand." She huffs an unsteady laugh, the sound carrying more self-reproach than humour. "You can blame my dads for that." They'd been the ones to enable her recklessness since day one, leading her to believe that not just demigods but all those around her would rally around her the way they always had

Her gaze lifts to his, and for once there’s no challenge in the sea-glass blue—only weary sincerity. "You matter to me, Hadama." A wave laps higher, wetting their boots. Flora nudges a pebble with the toe of her shoe, watching it tumble back into the dark water. She offers her hand, small against the breadth of his, but steady. "Friends and co-rulers?"

My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Whatever time she needed, he would give her. She watched the wave, and he turned his gaze to the sky, seeking the solace of the stars and the reminder of the reason for his hurt.

He had been afraid that he would lose her. And though she had come back to them from the Family's embrace, there was more than one way to lose a friend. He carried his pride close to his heart alongside his honor. Precious and dearly held. But not, he knew, more dear to him than the friendship and trust he had with his co-ruler.

In the relative silence of Aumakua, with only the hush of waves upon the beach and a few distant nightbirds from the coast to break it, Flora's soft voice was, even so, only barely audible. He turned back to her even as she turned to face him, and her words - her apology - cut through the last strands of the hurt and anger that had left bruises on his heart since they day Sohalia had delivered her letter to his office. Hadama drew a deep breath, feeling some of the weight he had been carrying lift as she extended her hand and he reached for it to clasp it in the warm, gentle grip of equals.

"Friends," he rumbled, peace returning to his expression. Not the mask but the true thing, his green eyes weary but warm once more as they found their way through the storm. "And co-rulers."

~Fin