The North (Closed)

[KieranSoares]

"Trust me, it's not sudden. It's twenty years of you drilling it into my head," Sam chuckled lightly and leaned over to kiss her. "There's a lot to report when you're rested, but for now jus' know that Tanya's safe in our hands, Hesperus isn't comin' for two weeks, an' our kids have had this camp runnin' like clockwork while we were away. I'll tell you more later." He pressed his forehead to hers and took one more moment to center himself. "I owe you a family dinner, an' a night fer just us before this battle... It's practically tradition now."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You don't owe me anything." Fiona murmured, already drifting off after a hearty meal and a few moments with her husband.

Riley wasn't wasting any time working alongside Andre and her grandfather, allowing Sam time to spend with Fiona as needed. By the time that he returned, she had planned out an intricate glove her mother made up of flexible dragon plate and leather. The pattern hadn't been cut yet, but she presented it to her father for him to look over.

"If you're right about it being more flexible, these should be just as light as the leather gloves she wears with more protection." Riley explained. "Maybe just a bit stiff."

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam took the drawing and ran through all the elements and numbers quickly, adding only a couple minor details for Fiona's ease since he knew how her armor and body worked best. "That'll be fine, your Ma can practice using them t'help strengthen her grip," Sam murmured as he looked the design over. "Her hands will need the protection. A bad burn could make them useless again."

Handing the drawing back, Sam nodded. "I need to test the ratios for the steel before we start forging, but all the leatherwork and the shield base can be done ahead. I also figure we can make the shield with just scale, it'll be light and have a higher melting point. I can make rivets to hold it together."

Sam had had Schaller bring additional pieces of granite for him, and had borrowed masonry tools to start carving molds to pour the steel into. It was a slow, difficult process and would require a lot of careful handling during the actual pouring, but Sam couldn't use softer stone or metal molds as they'd all melt or deform.

Taking up his tools and a mold he'd already carved, Sam also collected some of the material he'd had brought to him, measuring out ground scales and taking both scrap steel and base materials for making steel. Finally he looked back to Riley. "Think you can come up with a prototype for tha' shield for me?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley stared at her father for a long moment as he asked if she could build him the prototype for the shield that her Ma would carry. "You're putting an awful lot of faith in me." She said softly as she started to gather up some supplies that she would need to sketch and plan.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Little kit, I put as much faith in you as you deserve," Sam corrected her. "I trust no one an' nothin' with your mother's safety except what I've tested an' checked a thousand times. You've already got my seal of approval." He stepped over to pull her in with one arm, kissing her forehead and giving her a tight squeeze. "You'll do everything you can to protect her an' support her. So I trust her safety with you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Don't come to regret those words." Riley said as he hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead.

Riley got to work as she was asked and the next time that Sam would see her, she had Schaller on his back as she measured out the massive scales on his belly. The great dragon only grumbled slightly as he did her bidding until she called to him that she was finished and she slipped back to the ground, writing a few things on her paper as she waited for him to right himself again.

"You don't have a scale big enough for Ma's height and the scales near your throat and tail are far thicker than your belly. Are we wise to remove a few and try and seam them together?" Riley asked, glancing up at him with a confused look on her face.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I imagine you could overlap them, like scale mail," Schaller suggested. "After all, that's how our scales are layered naturally for proper coverage."

Schaller leaned down to eye Riley's drawings. "The largest scales I have are also the hardest and heaviest. Many small scales layered together would be much lighter and still just as protective against fire. This shield won't be for absorbing blows- nothing Fiona can do will block a giant elder dragon's claws from throwing her several meters. So we should go light as possible."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley gave a frustrated sigh as she looked over her own drawings and shook her head. "If I had wanted to pour over facts and figures, I would have become a scholar." She grumbled, sitting in the grass to ponder what design might be best for her mother's safety.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Your brother is rather well suited to that," Schaller reminded gently. "You've always been the more creative one. If you make a design, maybe he can figure out the details."

Across camp, Blair had taken a stack of scales with her back to her own tent to continue working on grinding them down. Eventually she had to stop, rubbing her wrists and massaging her hands after struggling to break down the hard pieces. This was the scene Jane came back to, escorted from a meal by camp watchmen who ensured she was kept safe at all times.

Glancing up from cleaning her hands, Blair offered a half-smile. "Hey. Sorry I missed dinner. Sam put everyone to work the second he and Fiona got back."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'm having them bring by a meal soon for you." Jane said as she pulled off her cloak and placed it aside. "I knew you'd work through the meal. You always do."

Jane took a seat in one of the camp chairs, looking over all that Blair had managed to do while she was gone. "You'll work yourself to death if you aren't careful."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Hardly. I'm doing as much as anyone else." Rising, Blair came to wrap her arms around Jane's waist, seeking a little attention and tilting her head up for a kiss. "They sent me to my tent but I wanted to keep working. We don't have a lot of time..."

 

[heartofcourage]

Jane pressed a kiss to Blair's cheek as she wrapped her arms around her and held her tightly. She pressed her forehead against Blair's, letting the worry show on her face now that they were alone.

"Do you trust your sister enough to win this?" Jane asked softly. "I know that you trust her...but...she's only one person against such a large force."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Who else can?" Blair asked softly. "She won't be alone... Her family will be in it with her. And... I will too." It was the first Blair had mentioned of going up against Hesperus. "Even if I'm only a distraction. She can't do everything alone, that's for sure. But her kids, Sam, her officers and Riders... We can give her the opening she needs and keep her safe til it's time to strike the final blow."

Blair buried her face against Jane's shoulder. "I'm scared," she murmured. "For you most of all. And that Hesperus will ruin my chance to have a future with you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Why for me?" Jane asked as Blair admitted her fears. "All I need to do is hide from my father and the Royers. They keep trying to set terms for surrender that they have no business trying to negotiate. If they remain in Edinburgh, they'll all die."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'm scared something will happen that I can't stop... If Hesperus catches us off guard or just starts burning indiscriminately. I don't know... There's a million horrible things that could happen and I'm just... scared."

Blair leaned up for a proper kiss as her arms tightened around Jane. "I want a life with you. A proper one. Maybe my fear is mostly selfish... But I can't help it."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You can be selfish. It gives you purpose." Jane said with a small smile. "You have a lot to be selfish about. You have your Ma, your Da...me. That's a lot to want to fight for. I don't like the idea of you fighting against this dragon, but I suppose I don't have much of a choice. You're a Rider and your sister is the Rider Queen."

 

[KieranSoares]

Looking up at Jane, Blair gave a little smile. "Have I told you yet today how pretty you are? I'd fight a titanic dragon for you any day."

 

[heartofcourage]

Jane looked at Blair as she gave her that silly smile that she was known for. Jane had to fight from rolling her eyes, but she did chuckle. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"I don't even know how," Blair chuckled. "But if it's working... Maybe? I still kinda owe you after we got interrupted... And I have it on good authority that no one's going to bother us. Because I might've recruited Jani to make sure of that." Her grin had grown a little mischievous, but still a bit nervous. "She's good about that kind of thing, apparently."

 

[heartofcourage]

"She's grown soft on Markos." Jane said as she heard the food that she had ordered arrived. "First you eat, then we share some wine and you'll relax."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I wouldn't call it soft. I talked to her a little about it and apparently she's choosing to go a little easier on him because she thinks he's genuine and she knows when he picks his loyalties, it takes what Hesperus and Royer did to him- abandoning him with nothing to his name- to make him reconsider. She thinks now that he's cast his lot with Fiona, he won't stray unless Fiona betrays him first. And from her history... That's not going to happen."

Once Blair had her food and she'd opened a bottle of wine for them, she settled on a small camp chair to eat. "Jani says her loyalty is the same. Money and contracts don't hold her. Back when she was a mercenary. She proudly turned coat for the highest bidder at the first opportunity. But when Fiona came along and asked her to be loyal to a cause and people instead of bouncing from war to war, it was an easy choice. Even if they had no hope of winning, Jani was ready to die for the North and still is. She sees the same in Markos."

Pausing, Blair chuckled to herself. "But maybe I should tell her she's going soft anyway... It'll be fun to see her get flustered and try to prove herself." Blair then grinned, looking over at Jane. "A couple of us are already calling her soft since she and Dola decided they want to adopt after the war."

 

[heartofcourage]

"And what if Fiona does betray us?" Jane asked, looking up at Blair. "If an Emperor can turn on his own wife and child, then she can do the same. It won't be her if it happens, but it could still happen."

Jane let out a long sigh and stared into her wine. "Blair, they've made me hash out what I know over and over again. It all comes down to the fact that Brennan Royer made me swear to him that if something happened, I would be there to lead. Why would he ask that of me? He barely knew me. He knows what Ramsey is and I'm sure that he knows what this dragon is, but why would he come to me with that request just hours after I had married his son?"

"It's all haunted me since that night. If I had known how cruel Ramsey could be, I would never have married him. I would have found a way out. I didn't know that he could do the things that he did to your sister. I would never have promised Brennan the things that I did either." Jane had no idea why all of this was spilling out then and there, but she knew if she didn't tell Blair now, she'd never have the courage to.

 

[KieranSoares]

Blair paused, staring at Jane with growing concern as she spilled her worries. Leaving her meal aside, she reached out to take Jane's hand. "... Do you think Royer expects to die?" She asked softly. "That all sounds like the request of a man who knows he's about to lose everything... And like he was pretty sure Ramsey was going to be useless or dead too."

A terrible thought crossed Blair's mind then. "He knows he can't win fairly... And we already know that he's threatened to destroy Scotland with Hesperus if we don't call a ceasefire. Do you... do you think he's going to do it anyway? If he did, he'd be killing himself too and probably Ramsey... which would make you the queen of whatever's left when Hesperus leaves or dies. I have to hope Royer isn't that insane... But considering his closest ally burned himself to death too, I can't put it past him."

 

[heartofcourage]

"He thinks that Ramsey is a failure. Ramsey isn't...cruel to those that he feels loyalty to. He's spoiled, yes, but he didn't seem cruel to me. If given the choice of a dragon that can win him a war, I believe that Ramsey would use it to his advantage." Jane said. "What I don't understand is how I play into all of this. I'm just the daughter of a minor lord. Of course, my father is a favorite of the king, but why would he believe that I could run this entire country? I don't understand any of this, Blair."

She looked up at her dearest companion and gently touched her cheek, leaning in to press her forehead against Blair's. "I don't want to be Queen of anything. Kell and her Majesty already know that, and they trust me when I say I have no intentions for the throne."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I don't have an answer. I wish I knew half of what goes on in that man's head. It'd make everything a lot easier."

Blair couldn't help melting a bit as Jane touched her cheek and they stood in one another's embrace. "Regardless of what's going through his sick head, I'll make sure we see the other side of this. I didn't make an absolute idiot of myself to settle for any less."