Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.
Authoress: Stop moving. Please, just stop moving.
Pandimala: *confused* I thought you liked the swings?
Authoress: I do, but it's the same situation as lactose-intolerant people drinking milkshakes. Mine happens to be motion sickness.
Pandimala: With all of the stuff you are doing, you get motion sick?
Authoress: *nods* *gets sick from nodding* Ugh, yes, it is quite funny, isn't it?
Chapter 16: And Then There Was Wern
Seabreaker's 1st P.O.V.
"That was mean."
I resisted the urge to roll my optics as sire pouted as we walked. The mech, while regretful for his actions against Pandimala, still wasn't happy that I had called grandsire and grandcarrier in to have some leverage on him. Honestly, it was his own fragging fault. Instead of trying to reason with Pandimala, or at the very least let her recuperate from the incident with her wings, he had dove into interrogating her. He was fortunate that Pandimala was a forgiving femme and that she seemed to have her own goals, or we could have sparked the very incident that we were trying to avoid with the blunder that Firebrand and I caused.
Seriously, the femme had to be a goddess with how much patience she was having with us.
"It was necessary," I responded to sire as we moved through the streets. The previous solar the Fair had ended, and all the vendors had readily worked on tearing down their displays. Another Fair gone by, and all things considered, it turned out better than it might have.
Of course, there were some close calls.
"I don't know; a coup might have been preferable," Right, like grandsire and grandcarrier wouldn't have ripped sire and the upstart a new one if there had been a coup. "Both of my creators are staying at the castle until Pandimala is ready to go home. So, make sure that you are on your best behavior."
That last part was news to me. "Why are they staying?" Grandsire and grandcarrier hated spending time at the palace. They had done their time, according to grandsire, and they would be in the way if they were around. The fact that they were staying now had me curious.
Sire let out a vent at that. "Flarebell has taken a liking to Pandimala and feels like the femme needs some more support given the events the other solar."
It had been three solars since Pandimala's…well, the only way I could think to describe it was that it was her information dump. And while I still felt like it was hard to believe, Iussa's reactions and my own trust in the Decepticon told me that everything she told us was the truth. Everything.
Thinking about Primus, the pinnacle god of Order, as anything other than good was a hard truth to accept. But I saw the evidence. With everything we had known about the peace talks before, plus Pandimala's retelling from her view, we had more than enough evidence to show that at least a portion of the god, in the form of the man Pandimala said was called Paul Riley Muskogee, was in the wrong. Honestly, I was still sorting through the information from that solar. Pandimala went through so much in such a short time. Most bots might experience that much in their entire existence, let alone in less than a stellar.
And that wasn't even including her experiences on Vestium Major. Frag, she probably met with more planetary leaders than most bots in their entire existence. The femme was at the Antiga Prime embassy, attending a celebration King Poiman invited her to. That being was not easy to impress, and the fact that Pandimala was receiving invitations to smaller events like this meant he took a shine to her.
Speaking about the leaders, though, "Sire, do you know why the planetary leaders are still here? Most of them don't keep away from their planets for long, yet they are still here."
A vent escaping from sire told me that this was stressing him out. "Given the presence of so many leaders here, I invited them or, if they are not present, their ambassadors to a banquet that I will be holding in seven solars. The invitations were sent out this morning, and I have already been hearing back from those already on world."
That made sense. This whole situation with Pandimala had already become an unofficial planetary gathering, and sire putting on this banquet would help talks happen that needed to happen. That was mainly in the case of Wern, who I hadn't heard anything about since the presentation fiasco. "And Wern?"
To my surprise, sire shook his helm. "They've been invited. However, their embassy said the message was delayed in transit, and they aren't sure if it will reach Wern in time for Lord Keadal to receive the message."
That wasn't good. While Lord Halstarn of Majipoor, the leader of the planet that Ethos was in trouble with, was here, it would not look good if we didn't have a high-ranking official from Wern there. If the message didn't get to Wern, it would look like we only invited Majipoor because they were present. "And did Lord Halstarn accept the invitation?"
Sire nodded. "He was among the first to respond outside Eternia, Ethos, and Antiga Prime. I want to take that as a hopeful sign, but without hearing from Wern, I can't be sure." He then shook his helm. "This could be the best chance to settle this business peacefully. I can only hope that we have an answer soon." He then looked at me. "Enough about that, though. How has the information compilation been going?" Since we started pulling information on the Autobot-Decepticon conflict on Earth, sire figured it would be a good idea to have a file solely on the subject.
Given our current interactions with Pandimala, that was a good idea.
"Grinchain is loving it," I laughed. "He's been cables deep trying to make sure we have everything we have copied into one file. From what he told me, the four of them should have the information compiled in about five solars, depending on how often Pandimala can come down and add in what she can." The team consisted of Grinchain, Caigal, a data clerk called Derns, and Perfican. The four of them were picked through volunteering. Caigal's inclusion surprised me until she told me that helping with the research before got her interested in the war.
"Good," Sire said before he paused.
He must be getting a private message. After a few clicks, though, he looked worried. What was going on? Hopefully, it wasn't something else with Pandimala. Seriously, she had gone through enough. "Sire?" I tried to get his attention to see what was going on.
"Come with me." Sire abruptly stated before he turned and walked toward the shipyards. "I've already sent a message to Firebrand to meet us there. I just received word from the communications network. They just received a request to land from The Autonor."
My optics widened as the ship's name was said—the Autonor. Wern's flagship used to transport the royal family of Wern. They were here without warning. Their embassy, if they were to be believed, didn't even know they were coming, yet they had arrived. Whatever was about to happen, we needed to ensure that this meeting with Lord Keadal and whoever else he brought went flawlessly. The future of our planet depended on it.
Iussa's 1st P.O.V.
My existence could not get any worse. I thought dealing with Pandimala was bad enough. Now, however, my troubles were only going to get worse. Couldn't an order-centric goddess have just one relaxing solar without constantly dealing with chaos? I mean, some of the pranks that Pandimala had set up while she was staying with me were still inactive somewhere, waiting for the poor bot who would end up walking into it. And that didn't even include the trouble that seemed to find the femme all on its own.
Of course, when you made an enemy of a portion of Primus, as she had, she was bound to have bad luck.
And that bad luck seemed to be rubbing off of me.
"My goddess," I glanced at Bealac as she, Quips, and I walked toward the shipyards. "Are you sure meeting them in the open is a good idea?"
Interesting. Before I met with Pandimala, none of my guards would have questioned my actions. Strangely enough, I liked them keeping me in check when needed. However, they didn't have to worry. "It will be fine. Electel and I have been on friendly terms for millions of stellars. The odds of her trying anything or allowing anything to happen to me are slim. However, should the chaos-centric goddess try anything, I'm sure I could deal with her…and if not, I'm sure Pandimala would enjoy the opportunity to do so more than I would."
Quips nodded. "That's true. Pandimala seems to have made ignoring social norms an art form. Given what I've read of the goddess, Pandimala would surprise her more than she might expect, even as a chaos-centric goddess."
"What do you mean, Quips?" I asked the femme as we continued to walk.
Quips motioned to me. "Pandimala, given her experiences, would expect trouble from an order-centric goddess such as yourself. And you expected trouble from her when she was late to your meeting. You were ready for it and still got caught by surprise. With Electel being a chaos-centric goddess, she wouldn't have nearly the apprehension around Pandimala or expect the chaos we all know she possesses."
That was a good point. Cybertronians were known to run in an order-centric style. Even their outliers weren't far from order. However, Pandimala's status as a newspark who originated from a highly chaos-centric species would blow all perceptions of her out of the water. However, there was one unfortunate piece in all of this. "Unfortunately, Pandimala will not be at this meeting. She is spending time with Lord Poiman at a celebration he invited her to. From what I have been told, she plans to stay there for a few more cycles before she returns for a meeting. Firebrand requested a private meeting between himself and the femme with his sire and carrier present."
It had been immensely satisfying to see the surprised look on Pandimala's faceplate when she was told of the heir's want of a meeting with her. Given her lack of contact with the young mech, I understood that. However, Firebrand was a stubborn mech, much like his sire, and needed time to accept that he was wrong.
"Pity," Bealac surprisingly put in. Despite all of my guards becoming more relaxed around Pandimala, Bealac was still a little upset about how Pandimala interacted with me during our first meeting. "I hoped to see Electel's reaction to Pandimala telling her to get a life."
I had to take a quick intake to keep myself from laughing at the thought. And Pandimala would, too. Electel was too curious for her own good at times, which usually involved getting into bots' business that she did not need to know.
Silence fell between us as we arrived at the landing site. The Autonor had already landed, and the royal family and their guards, along with myself and my guards, were now waiting for the platform to lower. I glanced toward Dawnbreaker and his family, and when I caught his optic, I nodded toward him. He, in turn, seemed to ease a little before he nodded back to me. I would support him despite what trouble may or may not come from the ship.
The air around us grew tense as the airlock released, followed by the gangplank lowering toward the ground. Immediately, the royal guard bots of Wern walked out and stood at attention, awaiting the Lord and Prince to step down from the ship. And the goddess that was accompanying them. Fragging femme, why was she here now?
Pedesteps drew my attention to the gangplank. My optics widened in surprise when, instead of Lord Keadal walking down first, as he should have, his creation, Bloodfall, stepped down, followed in attendance by Electel. The goddess, who was just shorter than I was, studied the area in front of her before she glanced toward me. Her orange optics seemed to dance as she held my gaze. I felt annoyed at the helmaches that were bound to be in my future. What did I do to deserve this?
On second thought, I didn't want to know.
Movement from Dawnbreaker's family had me glancing toward them to see Firebrand and Seabreaker glancing at each other. It was obvious from how they were standing that Seabreaker had nudged his brother. After a few nanos of glancing, Firebrand nodded and seemed to be sending a private message. When Dawnbreaker suddenly moved forward, I realized that he must have been the one to whom Firebrand was sending the message.
"Lord Bloodfall, welcome to Vestium Major," Lord? From the surprised look on Electel's faceplate, Dawnbreaker was correct, but she wasn't expecting the information to be known. "I hope your journey went well?"
The young Lord looked at Dawnbreaker in surprise for a nano before he straightened and took Dawnbreaker's offered servo. "It was quite peaceful compared to recent events on Wern. How did you deduce that I was now Lord of Wern?"
Dawnbreaker, to my surprise, motioned back to Seabreaker. "My second oldest, Seabreaker, was the one who noticed and informed my heir, Firebrand, who informed me." At their sire's mention of them, both Seabreaker and Firebrand moved to stand next to their sire.
I was reveling in the surprised looks that Electel and Bloodfall were sharing. Ha! Take that, Electel. "Interesting. Then how did you deduce my new rank, Seabreaker?"
"Firstly, your guard looked too tense when you started walking out. Secondly, your sire would have been the first to walk out if he were still Lord of Wern, and the fact that he isn't here told me that you must have taken the throne from him." He then motioned to Electel. "Most importantly, Electel is following right behind you. If a god or goddess is following behind a bot like that, almost always, it will mean that the bot in question is the planet's leader." He then held up another digit. "Plus, it would explain why your embassy was having trouble hailing you with sire's invitation to a banquet that Vestium Major is holding in seven solars."
Bloodfall smiled at that. "You have grown a lot since I was last here, Seabreaker." He then glanced toward the rest of the family. "All of you seem to have."
And now it seemed like I should join this group. "A recent phenomenon," I spoke up as I joined them. "Certain influences have been most beneficial for Dawnbreaker and his allies." As in, Pandimala was almost like an infection that spread positive reactions.
"Iussa! Why, I almost didn't recognize you!" I frowned and glanced at Electel as she said that.
"Electel," I started. "It hasn't nearly been long enough."
That caused a laugh to come from the goddess. "Oh, don't be like that. The advertisement sticker was a thing of the past. Surely, you have matured enough to let that go."
My optic ridge twitched at the reminder of the incident. I wasn't able to live that down for stellars. Given the events of the past solars, I had finally forgotten about it, and I was ready to move on from it.
Now? Now, it was going to be cemented in my memory for stellars. In that nano, I hoped she fragged around and found out with Pandimala. Nothing would make my existence better than seeing Electel, one of the closest gods to the Pinnacle gods in terms of power, face Pandimala.
"I was going to until you brought it up again," I growled at the femme. "Now, why did your aft decide to crawl away from home?"
Her faceplate went from confused to curious before she smiled. "Why, Iussa, is this a spinal strut you've finally grown into?"
I rolled my optics at her antics. "More like I've grown used to dealing with chaos-influenced beings."
Electel raised an optic ridge at me. "Really? How exactly have you learned this?"
"A recent phenomenon," I lightly glared at Seabreaker as he responded to Electel while smirking. "Certain influences have been most beneficial for Iussa. At least, that's what Grinchain would say about it." Little brat. Using my own words against me.
Of course, Electel was loving every nano of this. "Oh! I have to know what this influence is." A pointed sound from Bloodfall seemed to remind Electel that we were in the middle of an official welcome. "Of course, I'll dig into your helm and find out about it later, Iussa."
Great. Well, Electel would need to be warned. Despite the comments my guards made earlier, I did not want Electel to face the same greeting with Pandimala that I did. Electel and Pandimala were imbued with high levels of chaos energy, and who knew what would happen if those forces clashed?
"If Lord Bloodfall agrees, I think we have gotten the important parts moved through," Dawnbreaker spoke up.
The young Lord nodded. "Yes, you have welcomed us warmly to your planet."
With that affirmation, Dawnbreaker motioned to the palace. "Please, once you are settled at your embassy, come meet with me. There is much we need to discuss."
Bloodfall turned to Dawnbreaker before he nodded. "Of course. Shall we say in two cycles time?"
"That will work just fine. I shall see you then, Lord Bloodfall."
At that, both parties left, leaving myself, Electel, and my guards. "Shall we go to my temple?" I asked the goddess. While she usually stayed with me, it was proper to ask.
"Of course! I couldn't pass up a sleepover with my favorite order goddess!" She then looped her arm in mine before dragging me along. Thankfully, the walk back to my temple went quietly and without incident. Past times the goddess had visited, she tended to wander off and cause whatever mayhem she could create. However, this time, she seemed focused. Seeing her this focused had me concerned.
Once inside, I dismissed my guards and led Electel to my chambers, which she would share with me. I helped her situate the items she brought before motioning her to sit on the spare berth. Once she did, I knew it was wiser to start this conversation now, or she might spring it on me when I least expected her to…and more likely than not around others that I did not need to hear this. "You look like you have questions. Go ahead and ask."
Electel seemed to relax at my go-ahead. "Okay, I have to ask: Just what is this mysterious influence that was mentioned? Don't think I didn't notice how you tensed up when the young prince used your words against you." Her smile almost looked predatory. "Just who did you earn the wrath of?"
I let out a huff at how direct she was being. It must be a chaos-influenced thing. Pandimala acted the same way. "I see you are just as direct as you want to be," I said before I shook my helm. "A recent arrival to Vestium Major that Lord Dawnbreaker is hosting as his guest is direct in her way of talking. If they feel something is wrong, they will say it. And before you ask," I cut off the interruption Electel seemed to want to make, "Yes, she did so to me,"
My admission caused Electel to double over in laughter. "This must be the being I want to meet." Wait, she was here to meet with Pandimala? "I sensed a great motion of chaos and change here and knew I had to be present. It is the reason for my visit despite the trouble that Wern just went through. You must introduce me, Iussa. It's vital for the future that I meet with this being."
"You'll have to wait," I informed the goddess. "Her schedule is fairly full this solar, from what I understand. I'll see if I can't arrange a meeting between us and whoever she wishes to bring tomorrow."
"We are going to wait? Why not just summon her here?" Electel asked. "We are goddesses, after all, and few would be brash enough to reject a summon."
While I was tempted to let Electel try, just to see her reaction to being lectured by Pandimala, I knew that might also get me in trouble with said femme. So, I shook my helm. "She would. And she will have no qualms in telling you that to your faceplate when you meet with her."
"You tried to force a meeting, didn't you?"
I frowned at the singsong way that Electel said that. "Not quite. I demanded her presence at an appointed time, and while she did arrive, it was not at the time I wanted. However, I was prepared to let that go. Then, the way she spoke and acted surprised me, and if I am being honest, it angered me as well. Certain things were said which, with the information I know now, she had every right to say. I didn't know that when I first met with her." I was ashamed of what I did back then. It was careless and sparkling-esque behavior. Certainly not the behavior one would see from a goddess.
"I must meet this femme," Electel said with a wide smile. "She has to be the one I want to speak to." She then stood and smiled. "Until then, I think I'll go and get some high-grade to sip on. Care for anything?"
No, I had my energon before I went to see Electel, and I was in no mood for high grade. "No thanks. We can discuss this coup that went down on Wern when you return." I wondered why she would let the previous prince take over from his sire at this time. While I could learn what I wanted from Dawnbreaker, Electel was more likely to give me intimate details about what was happening. As a goddess, being informed about political movements across the galaxies was nice. They were vital to how we would operate our existences.
A scream coming from Electel caused me to bolt off of my berth and run to the source. However, it didn't take me long to come across a scene that caused me to laugh. I still hadn't found all of the pranks that Pandimala had left behind from her stay with me. It seemed like Electel had found one. My guards would be relieved. Many had become paranoid while they walked about due to the promised pranks.
My guards, who had arrived before I did, were chuckling among themselves as I moved toward the trapped goddess. The sticky black thread had dropped from the ceiling and had trapped the goddess in an inescapable net. Add in the purple and pink glitter, and Electel was truly trapped. I was saving this memory in my files for all eternity. I had never heard of Electel getting pranked before, and being able to witness this was a treasure I would hold onto.
"Iussa, did you do this?" Electel finally asked as I started to help her get out of the threads.
Shaking my helm, I allowed myself to let out a laugh. "No, that would be the femme you are here to see. She left a few pranks behind after her stay with me, and I still haven't found all of them. I'm glad that you were able to help me with this."
The goddess stared at me in amazement for a nano before she let out a laugh. "Oh, if I don't meet this femme, it will be a travesty to known reality."
Honestly, Electel and Pandimala would enjoy each other's company. Quite a bit if this was how Electel reacted to the femme's prank. However, I would enjoy my peace while the two remained separated.
Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.
"So, the meeting with Firebrand went well?" Physis asked me as we went through my nightly medical checkup.
I had just come from the meeting with the young mech, and honestly, I was surprised. A lot more surprised than I thought I would be. Firebrand truly was like his sire. At the start of the meeting, the heir had given me a full apology for his actions over the past solars since my arrival here. He admitted that he knew that he had made a mistake and a big one at that. However, he had let his pride get ahead of his responsibilities.
Seeing how sorry the mech truly was, I had forgiven him and offered him the chance to start joining in on my guide rotations. He was more than willing. Firebrand admitted that, when he thought about it, learning what I had to teach would be a lesson he would be foolish to ignore as the heir of Vestium Major. So, he would meet me tomorrow and show me the different places he enjoyed. Of course, he would also join me for my meeting with Lord Bloodfall later in the solar.
"Much better than I was hoping for," I answered Physis out loud as the medic continued my scans. "I guess everybot else was right about him. His presence around Sharpstreak was hiding the kind of mech he truly is. Is the mech stubborn? Yes. However, we can work with that. And that will be one less ally for Sharpstreak. I'm unsure what that triple-changer's problem is, but he needs to figure it out."
"Have you thought about meeting with his sire?" Physis moved to upload my scans as he spoke. "Lord Dometti is a no-nonsense sort of mech, and hearing about the trouble his heir is causing may help."
"Or it could hurt," I argued back. "From what I can tell, Sharpstreak is keeping himself in check because he is not yet Lord of Pova. I heard that after his sire found out about what he did to me, he threatened to take the heirship of Pova away from him. Sharpstreak is going to be watching himself more after that. If I push Lord Dometti to take that stressor away from his heir, Sharpstreak would become more of a problem than he is right now."
Physis let off a noise of agreement at that. "I didn't think about it like that. I can only imagine what that mech would get up to." A sound came from the monitor, so Physis moved to copy the data it showed. After a few clicks, the mech walked back over to me. "Alright, scans are looking good. I would think you were in perfect condition if I didn't know better. Keep up recovering like this, and you could be fully operational within thirty solars."
While I knew that he was saying that to try and encourage me, I felt anything but. Thirty more solars of having my wings and t-cog on lockdown seemed like an eternity. "No sooner?" I asked, even though I knew what he was going to answer. I just needed to hope.
And, like I thought, that hope wouldn't last long. "Be lucky I am giving you that soon. For any other bot, I would be telling them half a stellar at best. But I've worked on you long enough to know your recovery rate. Thirty solars should be about right. That is, of course," I felt nervous at the pointed look he sent me. "As long as somebot can keep out of trouble for at least twenty of those thirty solars."
Yeesh, tell me how you really think, doc. Of course, I couldn't pass up the chance to cause a little mischief. "Do those solars have to be consecutive?" Immediately, I flinched at the helm-slap that followed that perfectly innocent question. "It was just a joke, doc!" I yelped as I dodged another helmslap from the medic. Yeah, something told me he didn't appreciate the joke.
"With you, that is anything but a joke." He huffed. "Even more so with the approaching banquet that Dawnbreaker is hosting. That banquet will have a lot of political atmosphere, and you aren't exactly cautious with your words."
"No, but I know how to use them, Physis," I immediately interrupted. "Just because I speak my processor doesn't mean I don't know when to keep my vocals shut. Please remember that I had to stay online in very trying circumstances. Should I have said the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong being, I might not be here this solar."
Memories flooded my processor of all the times I had to watch my words. At first, it was when I just arrived on the Nemesis and needed to earn my place. Even after that, I had to watch what I said due to the timeline and the mess that followed. After that came out, I still didn't get a reprieve since I was forced into Autobot custody. I had to ensure they didn't find out about anything I didn't want them to.
And then, there was the mess here. I had tried to keep everything to myself. I thought that they didn't need to know. There had been nothing that could have forced me to tell them. And then, it did. I had been thrown back in my memories to that solar I popped my wings, and I had put Lord Dawnbreaker in a very awkward position because of it. That situation was part of why I decided to come clean with them. Well, mostly, come clean with them. Besides that point, I had decided to divulge most of my past with them. Given how close we were and how much I was affecting their way of life, I realized they needed to know the truth…and the dangers. One solar, Paul would renew his efforts in coming after Lord Megatron and me. I knew that. It would take stellars, given the state of Cybertron. However, it would arrive. And when that solar came, we would need as many allies as possible.
I came out of my thoughts when Physis stood in front of me. "I know, Pandimala. From your past and how you've interacted with others here on Vestium Major, I can tell you have a natural way of speaking with royalty and other ruling titles. That is despite how blunt you tend to be when you talk. Just…make sure you are careful. Forces are moving to cause problems, and you seem to be in the middle of it."
He was talking about the hidden enemy trying to cause problems for the Alliance. I had heard from Caigal about the psiar that caused me to fall at the training falls and how he was hired to cause issues for Eternia and Vestium Major's allies. Then, there was my obvious placement here on Vestium Major. The Autobots on Antilla made sure I didn't take the direct way to Pyrovar with their lie. While they may have been trying to keep me from returning to my Lord for as long as possible, this felt like too much of a coincidence.
And then there was the issue between Ethos and Majipoor. From what I had seen, Ethos wouldn't have attacked Majipoor like they were being framed as doing. From what Lord Bloodfall told Lord Dawnbreaker, as Seabreaker told me, that attack was set up by his sire, the previous Lord Keadal, and the Quintessons to destabilize the agreements between Vestium Major and Wern, thus making it easier for the Quintessons to come in and claim leadership over both major powers. Unfortunately, Lord Bloodfall's documentation was not official, so neither leader could go after the squids for this blatant attack.
However, we were all wary of them for now.
Who knew how far their reach stretched? If they could convince a ruling Lord to start handing over his territory, they could have convinced any number of beings to work for them. From what I read, if the Quintessons weren't so necessary for Alliance trade, then I was sure there would be a reckoning. If the rumors I heard about Pyrovar were true, my Lord could be the ally the other Alliance members needed to finally make the Quintessons' inclusion in the Alliance unnecessary.
However, something still didn't feel right about that. This felt bigger than the squids. As crazy as that sounded, it was my main thought. Yes, they were organizing this. That much was evident to all of us. Regardless of that, to me, they didn't seem to be in charge. This plot was crossing too many borders that the Quintessons couldn't access. From my studying, their mannerisms wouldn't have given them an in with the psiar, nor would they have been able to convince the Autobots to help them. As much as the Autobots hated Decepticons, they hated the Squids even more. I was sure that even Paul would readily accept an alliance with Lord Megatron if the Quintessons attacked Cybertron. Or if they made any move against Cybertron at that.
No, this was bigger. I'd have to think more about this while I was here, and as long as events didn't come too much to a head, I would wait until I met with Lord Megatron again to talk to him about this development. The Decepticons needed to be prepared for this. I had a feeling that my involvement here would eventually bring the Decepticons into this struggle, and I couldn't allow the Decepticons to be caught unaware.
"I'll be careful, Physis," I promised the mech as he started to put away his equipment. "Am I good to go?"
The medic let out a vent before he nodded. "Yeah, you're good. Just make sure to take it easy. I'd like to stop seeing you regularly for trouble."
I let out a laugh as I stood up. "I'll try Physis. I'll see you later." I then stood before leaving the med bay.
Once the door shut behind me, I let out a vent. This wasn't my specialty. Politics. Most of what I had been through here had to be chalked up to dumb luck. I couldn't make deals and didn't know the first things about the more delicate inter and intrapersonal relationships between different planets. I was sure I had Eternia and Ethos down pat, along with Vestium Major. But outside of them, I was winging it.
Even my interactions with King Poiman were extremely lucky. The humanoid shark being had been intimidating to me at first. Given sharks on Earth, it was a reasonable reaction. And then the whole kneeling crap came up, and I immediately treated him like any regular being I would argue with on the street. Hell, I thought I crossed a line there. But, somehow, we ended up being friends. I just went to the birthday party for one of his nephews, and I was surprised to get an invite. But I knew better than to say no. So, I went.
And I had a good time.
Despite all this good luck, however, I knew it would come to a head. As I walked to my room, I thought back on the conversation I just had with Physis. He was right. If anything were going to happen, it would happen at the banquet. And I was one of the easiest targets to get to. While I was a guest of Vestium Major, I wasn't as guarded as the royalty would be, or any typical diplomatic guest might be, as I think I would technically be referred as. And if something happened to me while I was here, given the circumstances, the consequences would be severe.
And then, there was the last worry that I currently had. The feeling of chaos that I felt earlier. Grinchain had messaged me a couple of cycles ago and told me that Wern was not only here, but their goddess had also come with them. Electel, a goddess heavily influenced by chaos energies, was here, and from what Grin had said, she wanted to meet me. She had to sense the dark energon. There would be no other reason for her arrival here at this time. The thought of meeting with another goddess was anxiety-inducing. My first meeting with Iussa didn't go too well, though we were friends now, and I didn't want a repeat performance with this goddess.
As I arrived at my room, I shook my helm. It would do me no good to worry myself over it. I just needed to keep moving forward. If I did that, I would return to my Lord. I would return, and then I could finally be home. Until then, I would have to survive. Survive the goddess, banquet, and any other plot that may come up against me.
Seabreaker: *confused* Where is the Authoress?
Pandimala: *motions to room* She finally succumbed to her motion sickness and is sleeping it off.
Seabreaker: *Shakes helm* I don't understand the logic with her. She loves multiple beings who shift and travel at astonishing speeds, yet she gets sick after basic motions?
Pandimala: *nods* Yes, and apparently, it is worse the less control she has. This solar, she was in the back.
Grinchain: *walks in* Oof. Yeah, she's going to be out of it. Until she gets back, *pulls out data pad* if you could answer a few questions, that would be great, Pandimala.
AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! Wern's leader has arrived on Vestium Major, and things aren't like the others were expecting. And yes, I know I didn't show the scene of Firebrand apologizing, but I felt that Pandimala talking it over with Physis would make a bigger impact. And, of course, Electel has come into focus as a being who is interested in meeting Pandimala. And she teases Iussa about having issues with said femme. However, we'll see how teasing the goddess stays when she finally meets Pandimala. It will undoubtedly be interesting, to say the least!
I also wanted to add that we are nearing the end of the first arc of this journey. Chapter 21 will be the official last chapter in the Vestium Major arc. When we near the end, you will eventually see chapter names not show up in this section. That is because I like to keep the beginning of the season/arc shrouded in mystery, and from glancing at my notes, the first chapter of the next arc is going to be very interesting, to say the least. I don't think many of you will be able to guess what will happen with it.
Until then, though, here are the names of the next chapters!
Chapter 17: Meetings of Chaos
Chapter 18: Between Politics and Potential
Chapter 19:...(Find out next time!)
That's it for now! I hope you have all enjoyed this and that you keep enjoying this journey we are on as we follow Pandimala and those around her. Until next we meet, TTYL! *listening to Back to Me by The Rose*
