There wasn't much Jigano could say to that; Ronin hadn't asked for the second child in his life, hadn't asked to relive the heartache of his first daughter's loss. The trials and adventures that should have been his and Aoife's had been given to another, will-he-nil-he, and all the bard could do was send his silent support through the newly-awakened Attuned bond between them.
"Sounds like the perfect leader for the Hollowed Grounds," he quipped of the old governor. "Though I do think Rex is doing a good job. A light touch, and we haven't had any real problems yet. LongNight will be the big test, of course, but her work arranging sanctuary in Halo and Torchline with Neron and Remi will hopefully make a difference this year." Fewer lives at risk, and more alive at the end of the week. Talk of canals had him perking up however, intrigued as he tried to imagine it. "I've heard of such cities, but my land was too dry for it. It sounds beautiful, though. What inspired it?"
Ronin smiled quietly, a small outward sign of the support he felt thrumming through their Attuned bond, and let the matter drop at last. Besides, there was the riveting distraction of politics to speak about. "I have a lot of time for Rexanna," he agreed of the current queen. "If anyone could bridge the gap between the Ascended and the rest of us, she is well placed for it." Granted, the Greatwood was still an issue, and nothing much had been done to soothe the Fae as of yet, but he knew well how difficult it could be to wear that crown.
Shifting to get more comfortable, the hunter gazed out and into the still pool of water before them, nodding his agreement; Longnight was always a test, in his opinion, and this year would be no different. "There are tales of merfolk deep beneath the waves," he explained, not quite brazen enough to confirm the rumours, even to a Loreseeker. "It might be nice to give them an invitation deeper into the city. And of course, a floating marketplace is always a nice idea."
”I don’t know if the gap is being bridged…” the bard admitted with a sigh. ”It reminds me of the earlier conflicts we had between the Naturals and the Outlanders. Nothing really settled, and the embers merely banked and waiting to erupt again. But she is keeping things calm and for that I’m grateful to her as a friend and a Queen.” It was a heavy burden Rexanna carried, not just as Queen but as ambassador, essentially, of the Ascended. Still, she bore up under it regally.
The idea of a city of canals like the ones Jigano had once read of in far southern countries of his world caught his fancy and he grinned at Ronin’s description. The grin turned eager at tales of merfolk, another race inhuman as the Fae were, and as he himself had once been. ”A floating marketplace? Like the village at the Sea of Branches?” he asked curiously. ”Or different? And can you tell me some of the merfolk rumors? Remi mentioned them, too, but I’d love to collect more stories if you’ve heard them.”
He stretched and then scooted closer to the Pool to begin washing the soot from his arms and face while Isuma yawned and rolled onto her back to invite tummy rubs, one golden eye watching Ronin slyly.
"Sometimes that period of calm is all you can really hope for. It's better than open conflict," Ronin reasoned, scritching Isuma under the chin before carefully lifting her from his lap to sit her down in the shade, so he could get up as well and stretch his arms and legs. Hiding a smile at the grin he saw flash across the Sage's face, Ronin rolled his shoulders and ruffled his fingers through his hair.
"Different in that they won't all be bound together. More of a sailing route, I think, for smaller boats. Might make getting around Haulani a little quicker," he remarked. "As for the merfolk, I'm afraid I'm only at liberty to discuss rumours. I may have run into one along the docks with my daughter not so long ago. She was curious about humans, so if you're lucky and you hang about there, mayhaps you'll run into her? You didn't hear that from me, though."
Isuma peeped mournfully as she was set aside, but curled up to watch the humans from her new nest. She wasn't eager to get too close to Jigano while he was splashing about in the sea water, and Ronin was up and moving too much for cuddles and scritches now.
"I read about small boats that could be hired, to get travelers from place to place if they didn't want to walk," he offered. "Might be a new business opportunity?" But he tilted his head with fascination to the rumors that Ronin shared, blue eyes alight with eager curiosity. "The dock, you say?" he murmured, and Ronin could likely see the gears turning and plans being laid for an afternoon or three of the bard sunning himself there in the near future.
Just in case.
"Oh, you know Haulani," he assured his friend breezily with a wicked wink. "More rumors than Hels flying around through the air. Who knows where I heard it from?" He finished scrubbing as much of the ash off as he could, then stood and stretched as well. "But I should probably be getting home soon. We're both busy government men, now, and our time isn't always our own. But some days we still get lucky." He flashed the Preceptor a smile. "Hopefully I'll see you again soon. Isuma and Sugar can have another playdate and chase mice, maybe." A rollicking pasttime for any small carnivore, and a reminder of how they'd met, that snowy day so long ago.
Ronin hadn't thought of that; little ferries, bobbing to and fro through the Haulani districts, and he nodded to the bard. "I will definitely think about that, it's quite an idea," he murmured, smiling and glancing back at Isuma - he had to resist the urge to go back and scritch her one last time, managing it (just about). As for the rumours, Ronin winked at Jigano. "Could have been anyone, anyone at all," he agreed with a chuckle.
But they both had to be getting on, and Ronin really couldn't spend the entire afternoon napping in the shade. Nodding to the Sage, he glanced about to check he had all his things, before raising a hand to wave goodbye. "Until next time then, my fellow busy-government-man. Hopefully so - Sugar has developed a habit of being very grumpy. Maybe Isuma can change it," he said with a chuckle, leaving Jigano to try and corral his gryphlet and heading away, back towards the lighthouse.
~FIN
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