A quick trickle of rain drops fell off the dissipating magical umbrella as Cter hunched herself through the door to the carriage Kry had beckoned her into. The drops landed like many accords played at the same time on a piano by a spider monster, grabbing attention just as well from the two Monster Mages already sat inside the carriage in slightly different gradients of wet robes.
Outside the rain poured down enough to make it difficult to see the tavern that was just across the road from where the carriages were parked at. Only the faint glow of the tavern's sign was visible, swaying gently in the building breeze from the heavy rain.
"You didn't warn us about the rain?" asked Kry to Cter while squeezing out some water from his shoulder to then dry the wrung-out spot with a hovering, magical flame. "Must've had time to see it coming since you managed to make an umbrella so that you wouldn't get wet." A streak of rain ran down his cheek wrinkled by his joking smile. "Me, I had the clouds behind me so I didn't see it coming." He scooted more towards the wall so that he wouldn't drench the entirety of the carriage seat. "But at least I didn't–"
"Teeth be quiet, or else I knock them out."
Kry's smile broke into a quelled chuckle at the deep tone Kurant's voice chastised with. Heavy, matted hair laid upon a pair of deeply hunched shoulders darkened by rain to the point where her purple robes looked void-black. Conjured flames surrounded her like candles around an occult altar, but they did not prove that effective.
Even though it was impossible for Kurant to see anything out of her thick hair hanging heavily down her face, she still could tell that Cter's craned neck was in the shape of a question mark as she sat down next to Kry with ample space between them. "Stood myself underneath one of the trees nearby," explained Kurant with a nod to the side, flicking water onto one of her hovering fires.
The droplet steamed instantly, rising up as a wispy cloud before turning completely transparent. "Was closer than here to get to when the rain struck, so I hid underneath one instead. No thunder in the distance, so I figured it was safe."
Underneath Kurant, between her feet, there had begun to form a pool in the carpet from all the rain gliding off her. One of the magical flames surrounding her seemed to notice it, and hovered down away from her knee brace down towards it. "Oh," quipped Kry seeing the flame move. "Should've figured that." With a flame-glowed motion of his sleeved hand he moved the moving flame back to Kurant's knee brace. "I had them hover near where there was the most water," he then said to Cter while drying the back of his head with a towel. "For efficiency."
Sure.
"To me, the best idea would be to get you out of those drenched clothes, Kurant," said Cter on the contrary. "You'll get a cold otherwise, even with magical flames drying you."
A peering squint was exposed by Kurant lifting up a large parting of her drenched hair with the back of her naked hand. "This is the best steam sauna I have had in a while." Cter was taken back by the depth of how serious Kurant was about it. "Also, it softens my clothes." She pointed down to her knee brace over her leg illuminated a fiery orange by Kry's magical flame just next to its wooden structure. "Also also, I don't want to take apart my brace and expose more of it to rust than it has already been."
Cter wasn't completely convinced by her colleague's reasoning, but she let it slide with a quirked brow that Kurant decided to ignore. "Then how did you get so drenched if you were hidden underneath a tree and its canopy?"
"The canopy collapsed."
Collapsed?
"Collapsed as in there came too much rain and the leaves folded down so that all the rain the canopy had collected washed over me like I was stood in front of a broken beaver dam."
Right.
"Watered down the remainder of my drink as well."
...Right.
"The Accustomed's Ambition?" Cter hazarded as a guess.
Kurant nodded wetly. "Was quite tame, to be honest. Even before it was watered down by an entire canopy's worth of water descended over me, I should add." Even if it was the adding of water that she was lamenting about. "Guess it's famous only due to its name and story like I suspected. Sure could stomach it even though I have an entire leg without any ambition to become accustomed." With a wet creak to her knee brace's hinges she lifted up her leg straight in front, briefly confusing the magical flames before she placed her foot down again. "I liked the hint of ginger in the drink though."
"It was much more a test when I first had it," came as a proud, sudden remark that followed a wet step into the carriage. The rain-slicked head of Sir Gerson entered, followed by his even more rain-slicked body and shell which funneled the running rain down its patterns the same as magic was funneled through a human mage's sleeve.
"Guess Loe must've figured that his creation sells on its name and story alone rather than its taste." With a squeeze Sir Gerson pinched out the rain from the tuft he had left as hair just above his forehead. "Also, war between the two human countries is only a matter of time."
The dry-pinched tuft fluffed itself like a pillow, hung down over the concerned wrinkles of the Leader of the Royal Guard of Jarasevo Castle like laundry hung over a window sill to dry. Behind him the rain continued to pour, crashing down onto the ground so hard that the drops displaced the gravel on the road, ricocheting each exploding drop into different directions. A spectacle not even the most intricate of modern fountains could achieve.
Yet nothing was heard of the spectacle cascading down like a raging waterfall.
For the silence that haunted the carriage was deafening beyond measure.
"More a matter of time than before, to be more specific," added Sir Gerson after he managed to wipe his face as dry as possible with the decorative handkerchief he had sticking out his breast pocket. "There will be war, that much is inevitable at the moment. That much has been decided too."
He told it casually, as if it wasn't a matter of war at all. "Didn't take long for the Hjearta royals to agree to support the usurped Xoff king. They don't want ideas to spread within their borders, so they can not allow Rasliela's move to go without a counter move from them."
A hard flap knocked off the majority of the moisture from the handkerchief out into the drenched outdoors. "So what needed convincing from the Hjearta royals wasn't as much that they should throw in their support against the Princess of the Lineage, but how much they should throw in their support against the Princess of the Lineage."
Sir Gerson took another step into the carriage, closing the door behind him. The quaint, frilly curtain collected at the edge of side of the door window he pulled out fully across the rectangular glass, giving the monsters some privacy from the thousands of raindrops pelting on and around the carriage, muffled by the wooden frame and padded interior.
"Can't throw in their full support as that would leave them open to an internal attack the same as they fear," the turtle monster continued with a light shrug. "An understandable clause that even the Xoff king had to agree with after a few hectic attempts at deliberation. He understood that the only way he has the upper hand in the negotiations is if he plays along with the fear the Hjearta royals have."
He inhaled audibly through his nose. "May or may not have been after King Asgore broke his and Queen Toriel's promise to only be mediators in the meeting and keep things as much between the humans as possible." And exhaled just as audibly. "Not as much as I or Frioke would have wanted, but I guess it was inevitable that Asgore would go about trying to help his longtime friend."
The turtle monster seated himself next to Kurant with as much space between him and the Monster Mage as Cter had to Kry. "He is softer than his fur like that, the Monster King." It was hard to tell if he meant it as a compliment or as a criticism. "Although I guess I could also phrase it like he was being wise and making sure that things were more equal in the negotiations between the human parties." His damp finger scratched at his nose which he sniffled through. "That's probably the better way of describing things, yes. Let's go with that instead." He nodded to himself. "Yes."
The three Monster Mages traded looks, each one more unsure than the next one. A general sense of confusion and deep-seethed unease that hung thicker than the rain did outside.
"We're..." began Kry, failing his words immediately. "We're at...war?" He didn't directly ask Sir Gerson, but more the entire carriage. He wanted to know if the other Monster Mages had understood it more than he had, but neither Kurant or Cter felt comfortable either.
Sir Gerson didn't nod his head in agreement nor shook it in disagreement. Instead, he gave each Monster Mage a full second of eye contact each. "We are not at war. We are mediators of the war. We will not be between the humans though, only on the side. That is what we are aiming for."
His eyes rested for longer on the carriage door. "It is what King Asgore, Queen Toriel, and Priestess Frioke are doing now." One of his hands bounced off his chest. "It is why I left the discussion. If the monsters won't be in the war then it is for the best if I am not there. Best not to have the military leader around when talks should be more focused on how the monsters should not be involved."
That...wasn't really convincing.
"How do you mean?" prompted Kurant with a tilt to her head towards Sir Gerson sitting sincerely. "Shouldn't you be there to make sure that King Asgore and Queen Toriel keep things away from being involved militarily?" She looked to Kry and Cter to have support in her question as surely she could not be the only one that thought that. "You should be there just as much when things aren't about the military as when it is about the military, Sir Gerson."
Exactly! It all was just so confusing to the Monster Mages. "And can't we offer to bolster the Hjearta military while they are away helping the king of Xoff?" suggested Cter to try and regain some sense in it all. "Have one of us to help them at Fenkeep Castle, perhaps?"
The turtle monster looked down, his forehead furrowing. On his knees his fists clenched, tightening together hard enough to sound like leather being crunched together. His aura tensed up like a taut knot, and his body began to shake. "Singe. My. Soul..." he muttered under his breath, throwing his head back with a wet poof against the backrest of the carriage seat. "And here I stood outside in the cold thinking how I would convince you to volunteer for that." He sighed with a surprising amount of emotion fluttering through his raspberry-like lips. "All that rain whipping at my cheek for nothing."
Another round of blinks was exchanged between the Monster Mages, more confused and at unease than the round before. "You..." said Kry to break the dense pause. "You couldn't have just asked us directly?" His palms shrugged pleadingly for Sir Gerson to explain his reasoning. "Why lie that you left for the reason you said?" The pelting rain changed its intensity, becoming gentler for a brief couple of seconds, but no answer came from the turtle monster. "Or?" added Kry with a deep lean of his head. "Or was there a reason for it?"
Sir Gerson padded at his rain-whipped cheek, holding onto the quiet for a moment. "So that I wouldn't spit out the butterflies I have in my stomach when I asked you."
It was quite amazing how much Sir Gerson made things more confusing by explaining...
"You see," he finally said with his pretensions dropped. His hand dropped as well onto his lap with a wet slap. "I left because otherwise I would've embarrassed myself." A shrug lifted his shoulders like a marionette doll. "Had I stayed longer I might have done something so uncouth as to have myself smile."
A strangely self-aware reason from the Leader of the Royal Guard, but an understandable reason to the Monster Mages. The fact that it was understandable to them tickled at the back of their heads though. They had seen him smile before, yet there was something in his voice that hinted that the smile that he almost cracked was different. Something that he hadn't let smile before.
Joy.
"You see," the turtle monster unknowingly repeated with a small cough to reign himself back a bit. "We might be able to catch two Moldsmals with just one sack with this human war." Like the game board in his office, Sir Gerson spread out his handkerchief on his lap, conjuring up a few magical game pieces which he placed as well-balanced as he could. "First–" He caught one that began to topple from him straightening his back, placing it slightly more balanced.
"First off, we have managed to convince the Hjearta royals and the king of Xoff that we should be mediators of the war. We'll be able to ignore the costs of the war and also be allowed a seat at the peace negotiations. Should the Princess of the Lineage want to involve the monsters she will look more the aggressor and allow us to join the war as an act of self defense."
Sir Gerson nodded as slowly as he could so that he wouldn't disturb his delicately balanced game board. "It'll only be a negative for Rasliela should she involve the monsters, so our entrance into the war is not a worry in the slightest."
But he wasn't done yet. Cter could tell that by the bright luster in his aura. A luster she had never felt before from him.
"And to boot," the turtle monster continued with a finger tracing on his handkerchief, "they will be moving their troops through Monster Country."
Kry's brow sank like an anchor. "How is that good?" he asked with a depth to his concern. "How is it good that we are allowing through a foreign military through our borders?"
"They will be going through the roads used for the glacier ice and sand transports," came the answer quickly and happily. "They won't be using the mountain pass as they do not trust its safety." Before the Monster Mages could ask some natural follow up questions, Sir Gerson decided to answer them. "It'll strengthen their relying on the Glacier River going through Monster Country. It'll postpone the proposal of the trade through the mountain passes instead as laid out by Rasliela at the Council of Three Countries."
"Showing that the glacier ice trade route is still safe and trustworthy even with the tumultuous years that have passed?" voiced Kurant to clarify. As she heard her own words, her face began to lighten, the same with her aura. No shadow were cast by any of the hovering lights around her. "Meaning that they'll be showing everyone that they still trust Monster Country..." She blinked, but her expression still couldn't believe it. "The war...it'll be..."
Sir Gerson's nod wasn't slow, nor was it careful. It was a hard, precise one, enough to collapse all of his conjured game pieces. "The war will be the turning point for all that has happened these last couple of years!" He did not care for them raining down onto the carpet below like discarded toys. "The Princess of the Lineage's coup against the Xoff king will be our chance to make things right in the world again!"
Had the door opened up to show that the carriage had been transported all the way back to Jarasevo Castle within the span of just a few minutes it would have been less of a surprise than Sir Gerson's cheer from the bottom of his soul.
No wonder he had to step outside into the cascading rain and into the carriage with the Monster Mages. There was so much emotion leaking from his aura that he resembled a weathered bucket filled over the brim.
Cter smiled too. Whether she did it at Sir Gerson showing excitement similarly to a child being offered a surprise dessert or at what he said didn't matter to her. She indulged in the way her cheeks tensed and her teeth bared. She felt each wrinkle form around her smiling squint. She felt the warm, comfortable whirl within her soul.
"We only need Cter to offer that she and a division of the Royal Guard of Jarasevo be stationed within Hjearta as a gesture of good faith."
Now wait a minute.
"It's really only you that can be chosen for this," said Sir Gerson to the drained expression Cter suddenly wore. "You are from Hjearta and you have a partial friendship with the Royal Mage of Ice."
Partial friendship?
"Much more than either Kry or Kurant has, that is," Sir Gerson added to clarify his thinking. His voice had returned quite quickly to his normal, stoic tone. Seemed like all he needed was for that one quick yelp of held-in joy and relief for him to be able to return to his normal self.
"It'll only be a formality. The Hjearta royals won't want to send their Royal Mage to war as they will want to keep the severity of Rasliela's rebellion as small as possible. If it is not worthy of sending the Royal Mage of Ice to deal with then it'll say that the Hjearta royals ain't afraid of no rebellion. Another deterrence for something similar to happen in their own lands."
Still though…
"It's really not something big to be asked of you," commented Kry with his hand meekly extended towards Cter's bitter huff. "The Hjearta royals will most likely make sure that your visit is overly opulent so that it is not thought of as you bolstering the forces left in Hjearta when you arrive."
True, but...
"Maybe you can visit your Hjearta village on the way?" Kurant chimed in with a more friendly motion of her hand.
Yes, but…
"Terri will also most likely try to ask me about the color of my soul again if I'm chosen for this."
Sir Gerson only had to blink once and audibly for Cter to know that she would have to make this sacrifice of hers for the war.
For peace.
And for monsterkind.
She'll make this grand sacrifice of hers.
"Why are you standing up, Cter?"
Of having to admit that she had thought of her soul's color before!
