[SE] Look up...and share the wonders I've seen

Where better to stargaze than at the lighthouse dedicated to the goddess of the night sky? It seemed an ideal place to meet his friend and fellow leader for an evening of a little business and some welcome time spent talking and catching up. Hadama's life was one of steady, quiet currents, but given the swells and winds that Harper weathered he hoped he could provide the other man a safe harbor for a few hours.

The mermanta arrived shortly after sunset, lighting his way through the waves with the brilliant splash of stars overhead and the matching glow of his trident. He swam into a small cove along the island's shore where deeper water lapped directly against a broad shelf of rock. It was a good place for a Mer and a human to meet, and Hadama pulled himself partially onto it, leaving his tail mostly submerged in the surf.

He removed a box from the net bag attached to his harness and began to unpack the snacks within: fresh sushi rolls with crab and tuna; several flat breads that had been baked into pockets at the Tide Pool Bar's kitchen, then spread with a cinnamon peanut butter and filled with apple and banana slices; and a small collection of lemon-coconut cookies. His magic ensured that the food would stay dry until Harper arrived.

Stargazing with a friend, co-leader, and fellow Safrin supporter sounds like a night verging on luxury to Harper. Given how his life has only grown more complicated lately he tries to clear his head before they're due to meet, knowing they'll likely talk about more than business but still hoping he won't utterly unload on his friend this time.

Hadama has arrived in the cove first, and bearing gifts that make Harper's empty hands itch with regret. "I didn't know I should pack a picnic," he laughs, though there's clear apology in his crooked smile as he walks barefoot down the rock shelf towards the Tidebreaker. Sitting and letting his legs hang into the water, Harper looks over the wonderful array Hadama has brought and feels his stomach twist. Anxiety and emotion have kept him from eating much these days, and he's not sure if it will abide such delights even now. "This is amazing, as always. You never cease to impress me." Hadama has always been a very talented man, Harper is merely appreciative that he can bask in it sometimes.

Harper

"That is because I did not ask you to," Hadama replied, amusement in his eyes and the Bond that lay warm and easy between them. "A small snack, only. This," he gestured to the sushi rolls, "is food. But these," and his finger pointed to the stuffed pocket breads and cookies, "are experiments." And therefore didn't technically qualify as part of a meal in case Harper found them unpalatable.

It was a source of personal pleasure for the Tidebreaker, King or not, to be able to feed his friends. Especially when those friends were under pressures usually found only in the trenches of the Maw.

"Look--" Caught out of the corner of his eye, a shooting star arced across the vault of the heavens and Hadama turned to catch the afterglow of its passage. "Mmn. A good omen." He continued to watch the sky, leaning back on his hands with his head tilted up. "The heat has broken. The currents below are slowing. I would like to strengthen the docks this season." He paused, listening to Harper with his ears and through the bond as well, open to the other man's ideas now that he had voiced his own.

Conceding the friendly, amused rebuke, Harper merely chuckles and looks at the array of food as it's pointed out to him with a small hum of understanding. He will certainly do his best, and give a fair and honest review, but he doubts he'll be able to eat much of it. He has always been the type to quit eating when emotional or overwhelmed.

Turning his head as Hadama gestures skyward, his eyes widen slightly to see the shooting star, and he smiles to himself. He really hopes it's a good omen, he needs one right now. Still gazing up at the sky for a moment, Harper doesn't rush meeting his friend's eyes again. "I think that's a good idea. We have time to harvest more resources - we'll need more if we want to propose any sort of trading." Or so had been reported back to him in a file he'd left on his desk, having already memorized its contents. "Though the other regions aside from Halo are either quiet and solitary or newly fledged." He has high hopes for Sohalia, but the region likely wouldn't be ready to trade for some time.

Harper

Hadama was pleased by the stellar sign, even if it was just a coincidence. The Leafchange meteor showers were a recent discovery for the mermanta and he was finding reasons to come to the surface at night to watch the celestial show. After devoting himself to Safrin he'd found a new appreciation of the sky and the constellations it held, though he didn't have the time to study it in the depth he might have preferred.

It was comfortable to watch the sky together, waiting to see if the far traveler to their skies had brought companions as they spoke. "Deepfrost will be good for harvesting shells again," Hadama agreed, joining Harper in looking ahead to future trading even as they looked up to the stars. "Warden Evie of Halo is a good friend. She will trade fairly with us." And her co-Warden and partner had an excellent reputation as well. "But I was thinking that we could approach the young Heart of Stormbreak, first. Do you know her?"

Content to have Hadama lead in terms of wisdom of the best seasons for collecting things beneath the waves, Harper merely nods. He knows is perhaps being a bit too quiet, but he equally knows that Hadama - as a man, even without the bond - will not hold it against him, as kind and patient as he is.

He doesn't know Evie well unfortunately, though he'd seen her here and there in the Hollowed Grounds when they'd both lived there. "I don't know her well, but I do know Warden Deimos. It's promising that they're both dependable." And fortuitous that Hadama and Harper both know one of them. As for Sohalia - "I do know her. She's actually my son's girlfriend, and quite like an adopted daughter to me. If they have materials by the time we do, it would be a good idea to strike up trade with her as well." Which helps translate his suspicion that the timing may be off, though he'd be happy to wait.

Harper

Deepfrost saw the strong currents beneath the waves turn sluggish and slow. making it harder to travel long distances but making it safer and less turbulent near shore. Hunting for shells would be easiest in the calm season for Mer and humans alike, Hadama hoped. On the other hand, Flowerbirth would make it hard to harvest anything as the monsoons moved in and stirred up the water. But they had time to plan for that later. At the moment the mermanta nodded in appreciation for their mutual connections to Halo.

That Harper also had a connection to Sohalia was an even greater stroke of luck, and that she was so close with his fellow King surprised a flash of pleased surprise through the Bond. "I did not know Jude was dating," he admitted, a bemused note to his voice. It seemed like only last year the lad had barely been able to crawl and now...

He shook his head, setting aside the vaguely uncomfortable thought of his own age as he tilted his head at his friend. "Who would you choose to trade with first?"

Hadama's bemusement is clear, and Harper shares a chagrined smile with his friend at the notion of his son dating. "I suppose even Naturals have forgotten that, before the heralds were locked away, it was apparently commonplace." Frey's shrines had been silent during the barrier's existence as far as Harper is aware, though he's certainly no certified historian. "It's even harder for me to wrap my head around." And it brings him a certain amount of grief, having never expected losing out on years of his son's life was even a possibility. "But they are good for each other, and Sohalia is a wonderful young woman." Though he will await her success as a leader - eagerly, of course, but still tentatively.

"Of the two, Halo is more prosperous and dependable, and we have fewer Abandoned here. We can support Stormbreak in other ways with less difficulty." Torchline had been the first to receive a Skyport after all, which Harper had helped build. To him, it's already clear that Stormbreak and Torchline have history - which means they should broaden their political horizons.

Harper

"Yes," Hadama confirmed from his own perspective as a Natural. The shrines had not always been silent; spirits other than gods occasionally answered prayers. Some benign and others... well. The memory was old and well-scarred over, but the ache would never completely leave the mermanta's heart and it was with relief that he focused on Harper's fatherly experiences.

"I have met her twice. She is kind. And a hard worker," he agreed, glad to hear that his initial impressions of her had been correct. All of these things boded well for her tenure in charge of Stormbreak...

But she was also young, and they had yet to see how she would react under pressure.

But aside from the young leader's potential, there were other political considerations to weigh. Hadama nodded slowly at Harper's words, accepting the wisdom of them. "Hmm. I agree, they are more prosperous," he said slowly. "But I do not know how useful their trade goods are. Between Stormbreak's Dragonleather and Halo's Eirachi's Tears... the Dragonleather seems more broadly useful." Armor was armor, no matter what monster or foe was faced. The Tears' ice damage seemed far more limited in what it would affect.

And Hadama tended to prefer a defensive approach.

"Torchline sheltered Deimos and the current Halovian government when they were in exile before the War," he said slowly. He hadn't been on the surface during that tumultuous time, but rumors had filtered down below the waves of Halo's political instability in seasons past; the coup by the Warden who had been sympathetic to the Ascended... and her subsequent death, which had opened the door for the current leadership to return from their banishment without needing to resort to violence. It was a debt that Hadama had no inclination to call in, not least because he had not been involved in granting that asylum, but it was worth keeping in mind the existing ties to both of the other governments on Halo. "Though I think we should trade with both lands eventually. It is deciding which one we should approach first..." He paused, turning his gaze from the stars to his fellow leader. "If either. Or if we should focus on using our goods for our own land first."

Harper shrugs slightly on the topic of usefulness. "Magic can accomplish a great many things, as I'm sure we'd need it to create something of value. Armor has the downside of only being worn by one person, while a weapon can be mounted, or more than one man can utilize it if they are felled." By which he means to say that he doesn't think they should choose based one usefulness, because Harper doesn't see either of them as weighing more than the other. Hadama may prefer a more defensive approach, but Harper had not seen that work very well against the Kingmaker, so they are of opposing viewpoints. All the better for them as co-leaders.

Though he does wrinkle his brow slightly at the mention of Deimos and Halo. "For having just praised them, now you sound cautious," he points out, not entirely disapproving but wondering where the change had come from - and whether he should be concerned, if Hadama was bringing it up. "As far as I know, it was an agreement struck directly with Maeve, and they helped construct the shelter in the Fingers that aided us in the war. If anything, doesn't that prove their loyalty?" Especially when no alliance had been struck at that time. Perhaps they should continue that history of paying each other back over the years before prioritizing a brand new nation that had yet to prove themselves - to their own citizens or to Torchline.

"You're correct we don't have to trade immediately." With peacetimes in general, they are not in nearly the same rush they were before, and Harper will be forever grateful for it. "I think for now we should begin discussions with the leaders of each region, but not make any decisions just yet. After all, they might intend to trade with each other, and we will simply look ridiculous," he reminds with a boyish grin. It will also give them time to talk to those people at all. Given Caido's size, and the general busy natures of the leaders, it will take time regardless.

Harper

Hadama considered his friend's words and then gave a slight shake of his head. "It does not have to be limited to armor that is worn," he pointed out after some thought. "It could be used to create an armored door to a shelter for our people. Or a shield that could be used by more than one person." No different than a mounted weapon or one that could be carried. "But I do not know of many creatures that are weak to ice, specifically."

A trickle of bemusement mixed with quiet humor washed through the Bond and the Tidebreaker returned his eyes to the stars above. "I am always cautious" he agreed. "It can be vexing to the younger Mer." And his younger human friends as well. "But I was considering that we already have ties to both lands. And remembering how Torchline has aided Halo in the past." In some ways repeating Harper's thoughts in a different way, since the mermanta was not privy to all of his co-leader's internal reasoning.

The starlight filtered gently down on them like a blessing and the mermanta tilted his head at Harper's question, taking his time to consider the gentle parry before he gave his own thoughts. "If the agreement for asylum was with Maeve and not Torchline, then would their willingness to help her prepare for the War be from loyalty to her, rather than Torchline... or us?" The logic cut both ways, at least to Hadama's mind. Either way at least one of Halo's Wardens was his friend, and the conversation was one of academic disagreement moreso than one with any heat behind it.

Especially since time was not particularly of the essence. The Tidebreaker inclined his head in agreement with Harper's suggestion, emerald eyes sparkling at his friend's grin. "I hope they do not. Or, for the sake of fairness, we can wait until we have enough tumseashells to trade with them both at the same time." That would be in Flowerbirth. Not so very long away now. "But I agree. Let us speak to them both and then see where the currents flow from there."

Harper concedes the idea, though the idea of a hide-based armor for a door does make his lips twitch in ill-concealed amusement. "I wouldn't say it's important to consider whether creatures are particularly weak to ice. Ice in general is a powerful element, and can create equally powerful attacks." Shrugging slightly, Harper doesn't take any offense to their debate. "When fighting the KingMaker, I was struck by how little defenses seemed to matter. All that mattered was trying to get a hit in. So I'm more inclined towards offensive ideas." And Hadama is welcome to his own, opposing views.

Just as Hadama is more cautious, Harper is more optimistic. It's no surprise they'll have issue finding a good middle ground - they're perfectly balanced, but with no other council members to help sway a vote. "I'd say it doesn't matter - it shows they value loyalty in general, both their leaders and their people." And they already have historical proof of having indebted them, even if Harper doesn't like to view it that way. He likes to see it as an in, if nothing else.

Smiling, glad their academic debate has ebbed into a manner of understanding, Harper slowly moves his legs through the water. "Spring seems both an eternity and a blink away." And if he sounds weary, or perhaps even melancholic, he knows it won't leave this place.

Harper

Hadama tilted his head in acknowledgment of his friend's point. He was familiar with ice attacks, though in his own magic he found they added little except physical damage, no different than a blade or spear could do. He was uncertain if adding ice magic to a weapon would have any benefit beyond that of the magical luck a tumseashell could provide; magic was magic, unless a creature had a weakness to a particular element, but it was a question worth bringing to Safrin when next they called on her.

As for the Kingmaker, Hadama's nod was deeper as he bowed to Harper's greater experience with the dangerous companion that had almost ravaged Torchline. "Sometimes there is no other choice," he agreed solemnly. Though he had been able to use intimidation to frighten away the Sea Panther kitten he and Ray had faced, he understood that not all combats could be resolved without killing.

In which case a swifter combat was a more merciful one.

They were balanced, yes. To Torchline's benefit, Hadama hoped, as they brought different perspectives and priorities to the table. But they both tried to see other other's side, and the lack of a third voice meant they had to find compromises, instead of one voice always being outvoted by the other two. It might not always make for easy decisions, but the ones they came to were stronger for it.

"Indeed," he rumbled, warmth flowing into the bond like a slowly rising tide. When or if Harper was ready to talk, Hadama would be there for his friend. And if he was not, then the mermanta would still be there, like the stars that twinkled patiently above them.

~Fin~