"No, Cter, you do not need to be somewhere right now."
Dazed and with a crick in her shoulder from having been dragged perpendicular to where her heavy steps were directing her, the Fourth Monster Mage groaned disapprovingly under her breath. She angled up some healing magic to her shoulder just barely hanging onto its socket. The warm gentleness did not raise her mood though, sadly, and her eyes moved towards the closed door which she had been dragged through while it was open, luckily. There was no way for her to open it to egress back into the hallway just two turns away from the dining hall.
"Don't give me that look."
For Kry's large frame blocked it off.
"You're not taking another step with how your aura is right now."
Cter spat in silence to her side.
"Now sit so you can explain why your aura feels like the inside of a thundercloud."
Not to be contrarian, but Cter preferred to stand. "You can have a seat if you want," she said with a mutter while leaning carefully onto the wall behind her with her weight on her untugged shoulder. "I'll be here."
The small room which Kry had displaced Cter into after having chased her for one corner was one of the rooms that Donial had worked on earliest to refurbish. It was easy to see that fact due to the few human-made furniture that he was still able to use.
The chair Kry slammed himself into as well as the night table he rested his arm onto both featured clear human designs on their solid, wooden faces, in contrast to the stone face worn by the First Monster Mage sat with a disappointed slouch. "How long have you walked through the castle with you aura like this?" he asked with a throw of his hand. "Distance or time, I don't care. How long?"
"I was in the Royal Garden..." Cter answered without commitment whilst trying to fold her arms. The sting from her shoulder made that difficult, and she looked away as if it was what she had planned to do all along. "Exited into the west wing."
"The west wing..." sighed Kry with his sleeved hand caressing his face for strength. "So half the castle?" he said with a furrowed stare above his gold-rimmed glasses which sank down due to his hand running down his face. "You've walked through half the castle like plague itself?" It wasn't clear to him how he would go about reacting to it. "Why?" he barely managed to. "Why, Cter? Pray tell, why?"
No answer.
"You have to tell me why, Cter," said Kry to his colleague's pout and squirm into the wall behind her. "You can't just pout at this." With a colorful arc of his hand, Kry moved the other, monster-made chair in the room underneath the door handle, wedging it shut with stasis magic. "You either tell me or we both sit here until the council tomorrow." As if by more metaphorical magic, Kry produced a wrapped package from his robe. "I'm fine by that."
Deviled eggs.
Without their shells.
"We'll both survive on these until then."
It was blackmail of the highest order. Half a day with the two in a small room eating nothing but eggs?
A horrid thought!
"Fine," Cter relented with a deep sigh that stung at her shoulder, gritting half of her teeth. With a childish huff she took the floating half-egg that Kry hovered over to her as a sign of goodwill. "I talked to Rasliela."
Kry didn't even manage a nibble on his own deviled egg before his head fell into his open palm, both shaking hard enough to risk his slick-backed hair from losing its structure. "Why..." he lamented heavily. "Why couldn't you save it until tomorrow?"
Cter managed a small nibble, but not much more. It felt wrong to eat it fully with Kry not having so much as touched his egg with his lips.
The First Monster Mage's inhale flung him up from his lamenting lean forward. "Singe my soul," he exhaled roughly, almost blowing off the topping on his deviled egg. "Oh well, at least we're dealing with it now." He barely chewed once before swallowing his egg which he threw into his opened mouth. With a few slaps of his hands to brush away a few crumbs of filling from his hands, he steeled his eyes at Cter. "Was it her that sought you out or did you look for her?"
"She approached me from the shadows."
Kry's blinks were audible, resonating against his glasses.
"Hiding from the Monster Drivers shuttling the tray carts back and forth through the hallways."
The blinks didn't stop. "...Right," Kry managed to get out of him though. "So she approached you to talk, and then?"
"You're not gonna ask me why she was in the service hallways?" Cter felt the need to ask back with half her mouth full of deviled eggs.
A slow, deliberate shake was all the answer Kry had to give. "I won't get to the end of it if I do," he still added, just in case, distantly. "I won't ask you why you were in the service hallways either."
Fair enough. "She opened me up like a book. then..." Cter felt her aura grumble at her just beginning to explain, which prompted Kry to expand his to let her know that he could notice. "Then..." The Fourth Monster Mage shrugged, regretting that she did immediately after. "Well...then things just went downhill from there, I guess." She clutched at her injured shoulder not only to try and relocate it more properly back into its socket, but also to try and squeeze away the sense of disgust that washed over her yet again from thinking back at her talk with Rasliela.
God, it was just so…
"That bad?" came a sympathetic voice from where Kry sat. "Damn, Cter. What did she tell you?"
Cter breathed out slowly. "Not much that we already suspected and knew, to be honest." She kept her sleeved hand on her shoulder though to give it more healing magic. "About that she was the Princess of the Lineage and that we couldn't tell anything about that fact since she has been one of the few voices in Xoff speaking in favor of the monsters. She knew that I would threaten with telling the others from Noitaidarr, and in a way she seemed to dare me to so that she could move ahead with her plans quicker. She seems to be very confident in that she'll have the support of her high-ranking peers when she decides that it is time to reveal who she is."
"And what about us?"
"She said that she wanted to keep things domestic if she could, but..." Cter helped her shoulder shrug with a careful tug up on it. "With how the county borders have begun to melt away in Xoff in the absence of new County Generals to replace the old ones that died in the plague, perhaps it will be something she decides to keep from the new Xoff? The lax feeling towards borders?"
Kry's brow furrowed as he looked down between his hands which he let rest together flatly on his knees.
"That self-proclaimed princess sure was lucky with the plague hitting her country and stirring up distrust as to the abilities of the current king to protect his people. That the counties have begun to fade away too in the absence of the County Generals and with the Hero of Xoff having practically consolidated the chain of command during the aftermath of the latest plague have made the whispers of a legitimate heir to the throne travel farther than they should have, riding the winds of both discontent and content at the county borders fading away."
His fingers made a joint wave in the air. "I even heard that there have been rumors that I am in disagreement with King Asgore about his decision to back the current king of Xoff."
With a relatively loud rattle, Cter collided her stasis-lifted deviled egg on the wrapping around it due to the bafflement hitting her from Kry's leisurely said comment. "You've heard what?" Cter traded to Kry in exchange for the deviled egg she magically helped herself to. "How come?"
"My human father," was answered without much emotion. "The County General who's son came to be the First Monster Mage. With the county borders fading away following the plagues in quick succession, I guess I am still attached to someone I broke contact with willingly over a hundred years ago?" Kry looked at his sleeve. "I guess I am less attached to the Monster King who I invited into my soul and whom I've served without falter for years uncountable?"
That the rest of the deviled eggs that Cter left behind in the wrapping didn't wither into nothing but black sludge from the amount of vitriol and disgust that Kry let flow from his tongue like a broken dam was nothing short but a miracle. "I...see..." was all that Cter could say in the room which had darkened substantially.
She didn't even dare eat her deviled egg for fear of disturbing her friend brooding his aura into something almost as dark as hers were.
There was light within the brooding, growing dark though. A light that surprised Cter enough to lower her deviled egg from her mouth. The light broke through the damp dark that Kry let flow from him, peeking through with a strange curiosity.
"Hiding away from your duties and eating finger food, I see?"
A strange, accusatory curiosity.
Fang Shuey sighed openly with the half of her incorporeal body through the door which Kry had propped close. Her ghostly glow dimmed with her sigh, only reigniting with a dramatic inhale that matched Kry's brooding. "Yes, the two are in here, Kurant," she began with one half inside the door and ended outside it, her voice muffled, yet still annoyed. "Now may I return to my duties? And may you return them to theirs?"
Kurant?
The door handle shook, but the door remained closed due to the chair Kry had propped up against it. Kurant's muffled voice made a small shout, and after another sigh that increased gradiently, the custodian ghost phased through the door with a look of tired dismay painted across her faint expression. With a lack of energy in her, Fang Shuey possessed the chair to make it slide out from its propped-up position. As it began to slide away she detached herself from it, letting it fall on its own with a hard bounce.
"Thank you, Ms. Shuey," said Kurant as she opened the door with a nod to the custodian ghost who took her leave without a word. She could not go through the door to exit, it seemed. Closing the door behind her, the Second Monster Mage inspected her two colleagues sitting down like the weight of the world was on top of the first one, and leaning on the wall with a clutch at her shoulder like the weight of the world had broken it for the fourth one.
She found it hard to parse what the scene in front of her was supposed to be. "First there is Cter's aura felt across the castle and now yours was about to grow just as big," Kurant aimed at Kry. "You said you'd run ahead, and this is what you did?" Aimed through a pair of tightened eyebrows. "What's happening with the two of you?"
Having already explained it once, Cter relayed what she had said to Kry with less effort required. It eased the tightened eyebrows, and Kurant nodded with thought in her look. "Seems like she's having some fun with this, that Royal Mage." A nod that devolved into a shake of her head. "And your cup finally ran over with the rumors about you and your late human father, Kry?"
He averted his eyes, proving Kurant right.
"Yeah, okay," the Second Monster Mage breathed out while rubbing her eyes with her sleeved hand. "First Barbeqa asking me for a strengthening kiss and now this..."
And all of a sudden it was Cter's turn to find it difficult to parse what just happened. "She did what?" Not the kissing part of the confusion, that was a common sight ever since the bruise from everyone nudging Kurant's arm with their elbow about her and Barbeqa became a more losing proposition than the burden of having to reveal to someone that you loved them. They didn't really push things further than the occasional peck on either the rosy or flaming cheek, but they were happy to know that the other knew.
Or at least, they didn't take it farther than that in public.
Unlike other Monster Chefs Cter knew…
"I was on the path outside the backside of the kitchen to be out of sight on my way to the stables to check up on the unloading of the cargo from the human countries when she flew out one of the windows like a bucket of water thrown onto a grease fire," Kurant told with a reluctant mutter through it all.
"Grabbed me by the collar and told me to kiss her so that she could have some human strength to still work in her damned kitchen stacked to the ceiling with dishes and only Woshuas to cuddle with them rather than clean them. I gave her one on her cheek which burned more than usual and she flew back in with a frighteningly energetic laugh followed by loud, metallic commotion. I kept walking and didn't look back."
After an exhale through her nostrils, Kurant let go of her rubbed forehead. "But anyways..." She turned to Cter. "It seems that we were correct in our assumptions about Rasliela, although what good that has actually done to us is another thing completely." With stasis magic, Kurant lifted up the previously propped and possessed chair with her stasis magic to sit down on it with the bend of her right leg on her knee brace. "With how brazenly she told you it seems like she believes that she has everything in the bag already. Confidently too."
"She then sent Manny Shuuja to me," added Cter to Kurant's loud thinking. "Really just to show that she has the advantage over those that will come to play a part about the succession crisis in Xoff." She felt her aura souring again.
"Sarbor Fech too?" asked Kry after having calmed himself down with a few long and steady breaths. "You did talk to him earlier at the bench overlooking the farm fields outside Jarasevo." He pushed back his glasses further up his strong nose. "Anything you noticed with him?"
Noticed?
"He has an enchanted golden watch given to him by Rasliela that measures the aura that has returned for him."
The gold-rimmed glasses sank down again as Kry dropped his head. "I see." He kept it there until he noticed that they were about to slide off the tip, at which he straightened himself back up. "And I'm assuming that you would be against using Idyll Fech in regards to her brother?"
"I'm against you suggesting it in the first place," said Cter straight and informatively. There was no need for her to be angry about the suggestion though as her firm denial was understood without fault.
"So you still think there's a possibility that we can still rely on him?" deduced Kurant from the quick denial with a motion of her hand.
Cter nodded firmly. "He still loves Idyll with all his heart. The reason he got the gold watch enchanted is so that he can be careful and not have Idyll feel that he has an aura. From the distant look he had when he saw that he needed to stay outside the castle for longer to wait for it to calm down I'm confident that Rasliela hasn't gotten through completely with him."
"I'll ask Barbeqa to switch with Idyll then so that Idyll serves the Hjearta delegation instead," offered Kurant. "To show that we still keep him in our regards. Better that the two meet together on their own terms rather than the terms of seating and serving order. I'll be heading back to the stables after this so I'll knock on the kitchen window or something to inform Barbeqa."
"Thanks," said Cter with genuine gratefulness. "The Royal Mage of Ice found interest in Idyll's magic so that we might be able to leverage too."
Leverage how exactly though, Cter did not know yet. Neither did her two colleagues which had the random room fall into a silence that went on for a few, long minutes. Outside the door the hallway became slightly busy, hinting that the time was approaching dinner.
The mingling that managed through the door was quite friendly, but it was all human voices. A distinct mix of dialects too, both Xoff and Hjearta. None of them Cter recognized, yet all of them held as much of the world's future in their hands as she had in hers, perhaps even more. Those humans that had all been awestruck by the most simple and flashy magic again held more of the fate of the monsters in their hands than Cter could in hers.
"Your aura gain, Cter."
"...Yes," she sighed, almost dipping her nose into her deviled egg, reminding her that she still held onto it. With a quick throw she had the half-egg bounce roof of her mouth, chewing it with a few, tall bites. "I wonder if I should excuse myself from the star gazing later tonight and instead try and sleep this off for tomorrow." There wasn't really any need for her to be present at the open-faced tower besides making sure that the telescopes that she had made with her crystal magic were working properly. She knew that they were, as it was her crystal magic used for them.
"Gonna have to be up early as well tomorrow to do the crystal skating too." That Cter could not skip as she would have to make the crystal skates fit the individuals' soles one by one. Doing as splendid a display she did for the audience during the yearly Crystal Day would be a bit too much magic before the council to discuss if magic still risked running rampart according to the human countries.
Cter reaching into the participants' souls to get their shoe sizes would be something Rasliela would have had no qualms about raising a red flag over. Hell, with her being the one voice at Noitaidarr speaking well of the monsters, her objection would have held extra weight. The final line in the sand for her.
Couldn't go about giving her that.
"You do look a bit like you've poured all of your strength into one spell that fizzled out," said Kry friendly. "Worst case if you're needed we can have a slime monster shift into you at a distance."
Cter thought it best to completely ignore that she heard that. "How about you?" she asked back.
"I did it earlier so that I had an alibi for taking a nap for a cheeky hour so I'm sure it will work with you too, yes."
With tired eyes, Cter blinked heavily. "What?" Maybe she shouldn't have ignored it completely because she felt lost all of a sudden. "How do you mean?"
"Yeah you should head for bed sooner rather than later," agreed Kurant with a slight chuckle that had her cheeks a bit rosier like Manny's. "I'll have Barbeqa send you up some dinner too while I'm asking her."
Kry was quick to catch Kurant's smile. "Do you want me to add something else to what you're gonna ask of her so that you need to compensate her more for it?" He laughed through his nose as Kurant turned away with a failed frown from his raised brow. Her sleeve flustered with the same pink-like flames that Barbeqa did.
And perhaps Queen Toriel too since it was her memories in the sleeve?
Oh boy, yeah Cter was quite tired, wasn't she?
"Hopefully I remember to drink some water before I collapse." She breathed into her right hand, smelling at it with quick regret. "Or maybe I should let the egg smell fester so that Rasliela backs off from arguing tomorrow."
With a scratch at his head, Kry nodded reluctantly. "I'm tempted to encourage you to do that, to be frankly honest." He flexed his sleeved arm, stretching its magic by letting a long, magical line run through the pattern in his sleeve. Like cursive it traced the Delta Rune on the back of his sleeve's hand which he brushed a crumb away from with the nail on his naked thumb. "I promised a certain heavy-eared Monster King that I'd still have my sleeve on after the council is finished."
The pink flames in Kurant's magical lines flickered away. "For your sake?" she guessed. "Primarily your sake, that is." She looked to her sleeve with her smile having turned neutral. "A certain heavy-eared Monster Queen said the same to me. Albeit with different words, I'm guessing."
Unfortunately, the two Monster Mages blessed with magical sleeves given to the by the Monster King and Monster Queen respectively put Cter at a slightly awkward position. "I am gonna go to my study now, but before I do I'm gonna say that I'm going because I am really tired. It has nothing to do with your sleeves."
It was a fifty-fifty chance that it would sound like she was being genuine or sarcastic, but it was the best odds that Cter could muster up through the tiredness she realized was upon her like a duvet made out of lead. "Thank you for dragging me in here, Kry." She rolled her shoulder. "Even if it took you pulling at me with both arms."
"Sleep well, Cter," wished Kry. "Dream that the day after tomorrow will be the first day when these last few years turn around for the better."
Heh…
Guess that was what the First Monster Mage's duty had become. To stay firm in what had been proven to work meant going back to before things began to decline, didn't it? As long as he didn't regress to throwing Cter into a cell in the dungeon then have her sleep on what amounted to a wooden board with a blanket onto it.
Because by golly did she need her soft, king-sized bed to sleep off the exhaustion in her soul and head.
"I'll try, Kry."
"No," said the First Monster Mage with a shake to his head as Cter lumbered towards the door of the small room.
"You'll do, Cter."
