Edmund didn't know Lance well, but he approved of his son's choice of friend. The young man was kind-hearted and optimistic, but not as naïve as he behaved. Lance knew about the darkness of the world, but he didn't let it weigh him down. Edmund admired that, and he wished he could be more like that.
Of course, part of the reason why he liked Lance was because he had all sorts of stories about Horace. Edmund didn't know his son very well, and he was going to take any bit of knowledge that he could get .
The two of them walked around the city beneath the castle. Lance introduced him to everybody that they passed by, and every person was just as nice as the last. Edmund could see why Rapunzel had been so reluctant to accept the truth. If this was her home, and these were her people and friends, why wouldn't she see the best in them?
It was nice, but at the same time it made Edmund feel a little out of his mind. For twenty five years he'd experienced the cruelty of the Coronans, and now he was buying a good pair of shoes from one while Lance was nibbling on candy that they'd bought from another. Then there was the royalty. Edmund knew that the king was responsible for all the pain that he and his family had gone through, but the queen was compassionate, and Rapunzel was the same. Could their husband and father truly be so different from them?
How were they supposed to find allies here? Edmund barely believed that this family and kingdom could have anything to do with the pain and suffering that they had been through. If he hadn't lived through it, he wouldn't believe it himself. He didn't see how they could convince anybody else, all without really letting them know what was going on.
"I don't know where to start." Edmund said as the cobbler fit the shoes. Lance nodded in understanding.
"I hear you." Lance said. He finished off one of his chocolates. "You know, we can always talk to Xavier. I think Eugene said that he knows about Saporians."
"You want to know about Saporians?" The cobbler had been keeping to himself so far, but he looked up at Edmund at this point. "What do you want to know? Maybe I can help."
Edmund and Lance looked at each other before they turned back to him.
"How do you know about Saporians, Feldspar?" Lance asked.
"My ancestors were from Saporia." Feldspar said. "My mother told me so, no matter how many times my father told her to not talk about it, because we're all Coronans now."
Feldspar was descended from Saporians. Sure, at this point most Coronans probably had Saporian blood in them, after how long had passed, but it was one thing to have Saporian blood and another to be aware of it.
"What do you know about Saporians?" Edmund asked quietly. He didn't want to get Feldspar in trouble for talking to them about the forbidden topic.
"Not much." Feldspar admitted. People don't really talk about it. What little I know came from old books, and I was only able to read them because my mother taught me how to read Saporian."
"How do you feel about the merging of Corona and Saporia?" Lance asked.
"I mean, it stopped a war between the people, so it had to have been good." Feldspar said. "I've always been a little confused though. Usually when kingdoms merge their cultures do too, but from what I've seen from my books we're lost a lot of Saporian traditions and teachings."
So Feldspar knew that something was odd, but he didn't necessarily think that it was wrong. He may be resistant to learning the truth, but Edmund thought that he would believe them. Perhaps they wouldn't tell him today, but it was nice to know of potential allies.
"Do you know of a Saporian named Andrew?" Edmund asked. Feldspar faltered slightly in shock. There was recognition there.
"Andrew is a fairly common name among Saporians." Feldspar said slowly. Edmund didn't know how true that was.
"What about Saporian princes named Andrew?" Lance asked. Edmund supposed that they were done with subtlety.
Feldspar looked slightly panicked. Look, of course I know about the supposed Saporian Prince, but I would never condone his actions. I'm not looking for trouble."
The words would be discouraging if it weren't for the fact that Edmund had a lot of experience with Saporians who let their fear get the best of them. It didn't mean that they agreed with the maltreatment, they were just afraid of being punished for insubordination. Edmund didn't know for a fact that it was the case for Feldspar, but he suspected as much.
"I'm not judging you." Edmund said. "I have nothing against the Saporians, and especially not Andrew himself."
Feldspar frowned, looking more confused than concerned. "But he's a terrorist."
"I think that depends on who you ask." Lance said. Feldspar was incredibly tense, but he started to relax just a little bit. Before they could think to say anything else to him there was a chill in the air that Edmund was incredibly familiar with, immediately followed by panicked screams. The three men turned to look outside just as a black rock shot out of the ground.
Edmund and Lance reacted immediately and ran outside. There were scattered black rocks going down the street. The citizens of Corona were staring at them in fear and confusion. They were trying to figure out what had happened.
There was only one thing that could have happened. The moonstone was actively being used. Edmund knew that Horace had the moonstone, but he also knew that Hector was at his side, ready to wield the moonstone in his name if the situation called for it.
Nobody else knew about this plan. This was just between Hector and Horace. Edmund only knew of it because Hector had asked him for advice on how to bring it up to his son. Edmund knew that the plan was to hold a civil discussion, but there was no harm in having a backup plan, and it seemed that plan had become necessary.
Edmund wasn't worried about the black rocks themselves. He knew that they were one of the more harmless signs from the moon. If they were really wanting to harm the citizens of Corona, there were much more effective ways of doing so. This was just to send a message, both a warning to Corona, and a sign to the Brotherhood, Saporians, and their allies that things were going to get serious.
What Edmund was worried about was Hector. The moonstone could be completely overwhelming. Hector had dedicated his life to serving the moon, so he was probably the one person best suited to handling the moonstone properly, but he hadn't used it in twenty five years. In the past it hadn't been uncommon for Hector to get overwhelmed by the moon's power, but what they were trying to do was a lot more complicated than what they'd ever had to do in the past, and Hector was out of practice.
Edmund didn't know for certain that Hector would lose himself to the power of the moonstone, but he didn't have a good feeling about this. He needed to see for himself that his brother was okay.
Besides, they had gone to the castle to try to do peaceful negotiations. If things had gone so wrong that Horace felt the need for Hector to use the moonstone, then they would need as much help as they could get.
"We need to get to the castle." Edmund said. "Now."
Andrew and Adira left Old Corona long before the others. Both of them knew how to work on just a few hours of sleep. They were too anxious to find the Saporians and anybody from the Dark Kingdom that might be nearby. There could be time for rest later.
Andrew took the lead. He wanted to find his enslaved people and free them right this instant, but they needed to be smart about this. The more people they had on their side, the better they would be able to defy the Coronans.
Fortunately, Andrew knew just where to find plenty of Saporians.
Just past the border of Corona was a Saporian settlement. It wasn't an official town, and hadn't been for generations. It was just a safe place for their people to go for company and culture, but it was the permanent home of very few. The leader of those few people was a woman named Gabriela.
She wasn't actually Saporian nobility, but only on a technicality. That technicality was enough that she went unnoticed by the Coronans, but it was small enough that many Saporians naturally saw her as a voice of authority while their nobility were enslaved.
Andrew had been brought to a number of Saporians when Quirin had brought him out of slavery. He'd been with Gabriela since he was about ten years old. She had been the one to teach him about his family history and responsibility. She had wanted him to be the leader of his freed people. Andrew hadn't been content with that. He had needed to free the rest of their people, even if he had to endanger himself to do so.
Gabriela hadn't approved of his plan, but Andrew didn't doubt that she would support whatever he did from this point on. She wasn't just his guardian, she was happy to serve the royal family, and right now that was Andrew alone.
He didn't know for sure that the free Saporians knew about the death of Albrun, but he wouldn't be surprised if they at least suspected. Their people were connected to nature in a way that people didn't understand. They respected the land, and the land respected them in return. At the compound, the skies had cried at Albrun's death. Andrew wouldn't be surprised if that had happened all throughout Corona, similar to the blizzard that had happened when he had been arrested.
It took a few hours to get to the settlement, but they encountered Saporians long before they reached it. They travelled in a large group. Somebody must have run ahead to tell the others that they were coming, because when they were still an hour out Andrew started to see familiar faces.
It was odd. It had been less than a year since Andrew had seen most of these people that came to see him, but it felt like it was a lifetime ago. He wasn't a furious and naïve young prince anymore. All but officially, he was now king of his people. He was hurt, and willing to compromise. Where he had once refused to even speak to people that weren't Saporian, now he was walking side by side with an ally from another kingdom. Andrew had changed without even realizing it.
When they reached the settlement they saw Gabriela standing at the entrance, watching for them. Andrew was happy to see her, as well as the excited young woman at her side.
"Andrew!" Juniper ran towards him. He laughed and opened his arms up to her. They embraced for a long minute before she pulled away and hit him harshly in the shoulder. "Idiot. We told you that we'd do this as a group. You weren't supposed to run off on your own and get arrested.
"I couldn't involve you guys." Andrew said. He and his friends had been conspiring against Corona for a long time, but as he got older Andrew realized how high the chances were that they would be caught. They would all be enslaved, but as the prince among them Andrew would have been sent to a different place as his friends. It would have been bad enough to lead his friends into slavery. He wouldn't have been able to handle it if he didn't know where they were and if they were hurt or even alive.
Andrew didn't regret his decision, but he didn't blame Juniper for her anger. He knew that he would feel the same if their positions were reversed.
"Well, you're involving us now." Juniper said, leaving no room for argument. She crossed her arms. "What's the plan?"
"That can be discussed later." Gabriela put a hand on Juniper's shoulder. "We all saw the storm. Something happened. Do you know anything about it?"
Andrew felt like his heart hurt. He missed his father so much that it was nearly unbearable. Even though he was a man in his late twenties, Andrew still felt like a child. He may have lived most of his life without his father, but he still didn't know what he would do without him.
"Albrun has become one with the land." Andrew said quietly. Everybody who could hear him became subdued. They were already grieving with him, but that didn't ease the pain. None of these people had ever met Albrun before. They didn't know how he had suffered and what he had been through for their sake. They didn't know how he tormented himself because of his decisions. Andrew barely understood any of that, and it was horrifying and painful.
"How did it happen?" Juniper asked.
"He sacrificed himself." Andrew said.
"My brother is the moon's prophet." Adira said. "He had a vision of our salvation. Your king provided the necessary distraction so he could have this vision at all."
Gabriela closed her eyes and bowed her head. "May Albrun's soul join the life force of the earth." She allowed herself a moment of silence before she looked at Andrew again. "You carry a heavy weight on your shoulders. It's more than one person should bear. Have you had the chance to go to the land and release your grief."
Andrew grimaced. "I've been a little busy."
"Understandable." Gabriela said. She gestured to the nearby fields. "Your friend can introduce herself to use and explain more about this salvation that her brother foresaw. If you wish to grieve, you can."
Andrew nodded and went to the fields. Juniper followed him to watch from a distance, but she left him alone. They all did. Andrew knelt in the weight, uncaring about the rough texture, and placed his hands on the ground.
This wasn't exactly a hard and fast tradition. Many Saporians, to grieve, would go to a quiet place among nature and voice all of their grievances, pain, and lingering hurt. They would tell the earth, with the belief that their loved ones, who were now one with the earth, would receive the message. It could be very therapeutic for many. It had helped Andrew once or twice when he was young and was first exposed to death.
Now though, it felt odd. Andrew couldn't help but feel like an imposter. He'd already grieved with the slaves using their water ritual. He was currently wearing the hair tie that Hector had put together for him. He felt fine, as far as grieving was concerned, but he still hurt, and he didn't think that burdening the earth with his feelings would be fair.
Despite the fact that he wasn't truly grieving, Andrew remained kneeling in the middle of the field. Being surrounded by natural life has always been a nice escape for Andrew. Hiding himself among the wheat fields, invisible to those that didn't know he was there, it made him feel like the world consisted of just him and the plants. Nothing else mattered.
Andrew hoped that his father's spirit was in a place like this, just one with nature and a part of life in his death. Albrun deserved so much more than the constant pain that came with life.
Andrew just wished that he didn't have to feel this pain anymore himself. But he couldn't ust give up. His people were counting on him. No matter how difficult it was, Andrew had responsibilities to his people. He needed to be here for them
Andrew didn't know how long he was kneeling there when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It couldn't be one of the Saporians, as none of them would ever interrupt somebody trying to grieve. He turned to see Adira looking at him with concern in her eyes.
"I'm fine." Andrew said impatiently.
"I doubt that, but that's not why I'm here." Adira took Andrew's hand and pulled him to his feet. She gestured out to the distance, and Andrew saw unnatural looking black rocks that glowed blue.
"What-" Andrew frowned.
"Black rocks." Adira said. "It's a sigh from the moonstone. Hector's using the powers of the moon. I don't think that negotiations have gone as well as we had hoped.
This was the power of the moonstone. Andrew hadn't exactly trusted the moonstone when he'd seen the decay that Hector had spread in their small area. This was something else entirely. It was awe-inspiring, and horrifying to think about what could come next after this spread of black rocks, because surely there had to be more.
Hector was eager to fight, just like all of them, but he had seemed willing to cooperate with at least attempting to have a civil discussion first. Andrew believed that if he was using the moonstone it wasn't without a purpose.
There would be no more hiding after this. The Brotherhood would be revealing themselves. They were allies. It was only fair that Andrew and the Saporians stayed by their side. But what could they do? They weren't trained warriors the way that the Brotherhood were. Most Saporians were blissfully unaware of the specifics of the torture they'd been subjected to. How were they supposed to go to war with a powerful kingdom like Corona when they couldn't fight?
Adira ran a hand across the fields, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Your father and Hector once talked a lot about the powers of the focus our people believe in. Hector told him about the powers and limitations of the moon, and your father told him stories about how your people have influenced the very land. You have a connection to the earth that is almost magical. You can make plants grow just by wanting it. Can you do the opposite?"
Andrew understood what she was asking. He didn't like to think about it. They did their best to treat the earth with the respect and honor that it deserved, and it took care of them in return.
But in grief the Saporians could bring a storm to the land. Storms could harm crops just as easily as they could help them. Especially when inclement weather happened off season.
Andrew looked at the fields around them. He looked at every bush, tree, and flower that he saw. The lands were the Saporians, but he knew that Coronans probably took advantage of that connection and made the Saporian slaves make their crops thrive.
The Coronans didn't deserve the land's blessing. The Saporians didn't deserve to be enslaved in the first place. The land itself didn't deserve to be used like this.
This was something that Andrew didn't like about being a leader. He had to look at a series of absolutely terrible situations, and choose which one would cause the least amount of pain. Saporians loved the earth and every bit of life in it, but they also knew about the life cycle of nature. Plants grow. They die. They fertilize the land, and make it easier for things to grow. That was how things worked.
They didn't like to interfere in the natural process, but what if there was no other way to protect his people?
Andrew didn't want to do anything until it was completely necessary. He needed to find out what their people could do, and how many of them were capable of doing it. When they'd done everything they could, then, like always, they would rely on the earth.
Andrew and Adira had come here to gather their people, and if Hector was using the moonstone against Corona they really didn't have time on their side.
"Adira, find out who here is willing to fight." Andrew said. "And help them to become able."
"Where are you going?" Adira asked.
"To find the other slaves." "Andrew said. "They deserve their freedom just as much as us, and we need all the hands that we can get."