All the stars have fallen asleep

Jude

I was born and bred in flowers
Sun-kissed in my darkest hours

Hadama’s subtle reaction slips right past Jude, so the impression of unflappability that Jude (and likely many others) has of the man remains perfectly untarnished for another day. 

It’s not surprising for Hadama to mention the void creatures - even if he hadn’t been patrolling, it’s all anyone seems capable of talking about. Jude, meanwhile, can only look out over the water in a vain attempt to conceal his discomfort. Living alone (cat aside) with no weapons, abilities, political or personal leverage, and no physical benefits to speak of means Jude has a painfully high risk of being victimized by any turns in the tense territory games keeping all the regions occupied. He is already an anxious individual; thinking about it for too long is practically crippling. Can’t some other big event happen soon so people will have something else to talk about? Where are all the drama stirrers when Jude personally needs them?

“Shouldn’t be too much longer, right?” He tries for an optimistic angle to his smile, but the truth is Jude has no clue where they are in the process. All he’d helped with was placing a bunch of rocks and then he’d happily stuck his head back in the side. “I’m glad you and Flora were able to get a response from Vi. It’s gotta be a good omen.” A show of support for their plans, right? The big three - oops, four - are infamously rare to see or summon so Jude assumes that means they’re right to be taking up arms against the Family instead of joining up. 

Shrugging stiffly, Jude laughs awkwardly under his breath. “Anything is better than you last saw, right?” Wait, crap, don’t give an opening to talk about all that. “Um I’m mostly just trying to do things Safrin assigned me. Oh, and my brother is in the Grounds now - I just got back from visiting him.” Unintentionally his tone lilts upward like a question as if uncertain whether either of those actually count toward answering the question. If Hadama meant to ask after Jude’s mental and emotional state instead of his to-do list then it certainly went over Jude’s head because the king should have no reason to care about a random citizen now that it’s clear Jude is no longer drunk and disorderly.

Lavender forever, hummingbird weather
Dewey like grass in the night