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 Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:01 am
“Something’s going to happen on the twenty-third,” Rhiannon said quietly into the cup of coffee that she’d lifted to her lips. She was sitting on a park bench next to Paris as they watched the kids run around. It was a pleasant day. A little windy, but the kids seemed to enjoy that.
“Not sure where yet. Going to help the team try to purify a half-youma.”
She made sure her voice was low enough so it wouldn’t carry. Made sure no one else was around when she spoke, and that she was close enough to her cousin that only she would see the stress in her otherwise impartial expression.
“She told me she didn’t want a lot of people there. Didn’t want to scare him off like a rain cloud might.”
There were a lot of things she and Paris spoke about. A lot of things were left with blanks to fill in, but knowing Paris, she was alert and knowledgeable enough to piece the puzzle together. Rhiannon didn’t have to tell her that it was Faustite. She didn’t have to tell her who she was, when Rhiannon had already told her about the people she went to Alastor with.
“I asked her to talk to Mont Saint Michel… to at least let him know what was going on. Maybe he can talk sense where I couldn’t. Or at least raise an army.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:04 am
“Playing with fire?” Paris asked.
She only knew of one half youma. There were others, she was sure, but if Rhiannon meant one of the unknowns, she would have specified.
Paris sat beside Rhiannon, looked like she was unconcerned, like they were having a pleasant conversation about the weather or the kids’ school or what they planned to have for Easter brunch, but there was a subtle undercurrent of tension in her posture.
She kept a low profile these days, as Ganymede. Went out every chance she could, but didn’t draw too much attention to herself. The physical wounds from her time in captivity had long since healed, but the emotional wounds still felt fresh. She felt the absence of her father-in-law like a physical thing.
Despite taking it easy, there wasn’t much that happened in the war that she didn’t hear about. Information trickled in through various channels. Lucasta. Michael. Eld. Rhiannon. They kept her in the know when she needed her distance.
“Dangerous,” she said, pausing to take a sip of her mocha. “The team, they know who he’s associated with? What he’s done? What makes your team lead think he’s sincere?”
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:06 am
She didn’t respond to playing with fire, but thought her lack of correction was answer enough.
There were too many people she cared about that were involved. Even if she kept herself out of the magical picture for so long so she could focus on school, she still worried about how everyone was doing. Maybe if she had been there to help with things, they would have turned out better. Or maybe worse. There was no way to tell.
“They know,” she said with a slow breath in so she could let out a sigh and hopefully release some of the stress in her shoulders. It didn’t help.
“She’s… more optimistic than I am. She says she knows he’s horrible, but claims him as her brother. Apparently he’s dying, or claims to be. So if he is sincere, it could be for purely selfish reasons. She mentioned another who wanted to be involved. Encke… I don’t think I’ve ever met him.”
It wasn’t surprising. She hadn’t met a lot of people.
“I have wings now, if your cat didn’t already tell you,” she added, completely casual about it, turning the cup in her hands. Depending on what Lucasta reported, she didn’t have to explain what happened to Paris, which was fine because it was still dangerous to talk about this in public.
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:08 am
Paris examined the nails on one hand — the almond shape of them, the pale blue color, freshly done over the weekend. She tapped the others against her takeout cup, tried to suppress a frown.
“The cat told me. I’d congratulate you, but I don’t know that it’s something to congratulate you for. You’d be luckier not to be involved at all,” she said.
A part of her was happy. With more power, Rhiannon would be better able to defend herself. But there was a downside to it, too. Power put a target on her back. Power made her stand out, put her on a radar she’d be better off avoiding. The only thing keeping Rhiannon as safe as she had been until now was her sporadic presence, and the fact that hardly anyone knew of her family ties.
Take the anonymity away, and she’d be hunted down soon enough.
Paris couldn’t allow that. The Negaverse knew too much already.
“Our boy scout’s met him, I think,” she said of Encke. “Or had a brush with him, at least. A game of chess. They protected the King.”
Oberon had the scars to prove it. Paris couldn’t say she would’ve made the same choice over Caedus’ starseed, but then she hadn’t been conscious at the time, either.
“He might be a bit of an idealist, knowing that. Between him and your team lead, I don’t know that I’d trust their judgment on this. If he’s dying…” Paris took another sip of her mocha. She shrugged. “Not wanting to die and not wanting to give into the dark anymore are different things.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 12:05 pm
“I’ve considered my luck as well,” Rhiannon admitted, but she was definitely better off having more power than less. Especially if she wanted to help keep the people she cared about safe.
“If he is dying,” she hummed. “It could just be a trap. I want to respect her wishes. She didn’t want a large crowd. I don’t know how much has been discussed with the others involved or if they’re bringing anyone with them. I’m not confident that this won’t end poorly.”
Most things did. There were so few times that they managed to get out in one piece.
“Things are more complicated with youma. Apparently a court is needed to make it happen,” she explained, because as far as she knew, Ganymede didn’t have her own court. Not in this lifetime. Not since her friends from ten years ago went on with their lives or succumbed to the war itself.
“One of my team used to be a youma. Michel was an agent. I think the team is holding out for hope that things will turn out the way it did for them.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 12:15 pm
“She doesn’t need to know you told me. Your team lead,” Paris offered.
She liked Lysithea, cared for her, wanted her to stay safe, to succeed, but trust was difficult. Paris didn’t extend it often anymore. When she did, it came in pieces. She trusted that Lysithea had the best of intentions, but she didn’t trust that her judgment was completely sound.
Maybe Faustite was telling the truth. Maybe he did need help. Maybe he wanted to leave. Maybe he’d had a change of heart. It’d been a little over a year now since her time in the Dark Kingdom. Things could change in a year.
But that drastically? The last she knew of Faustite, he’d seemed loyal to the cause.
Something about this nagged at her.
“If you let me know where, I can take the cat for a walk. Chris might be out of town, but maybe I’ll invite Michael and Devyn on a moonlit stroll. We can be reminiscing about the past and happen to be in the area. If all goes well, no one needs to know we’re there.”
By the doubt in her voice, it might be obvious that Paris didn’t expect all would go well.
She sighed and glanced at Rhiannon, studied her, tried to pick out the individual emotions in her eyes. It seemed Lysithea had a penchant for former agents. She’d been one herself, for a time. Maybe Lysithea’s judgment on this was better than Paris feared.
Maybe she’d just gotten lucky before.
Eventually, luck ran out.
“Former agents…” Paris said. There were enough of those that she knew it could be possible, that Faustite could become one of them. And yet… “It worries me sometimes, the name of the one who wanted help before Beau.”
Paris looked away again, watched Abby and Henry on the swings, Elsie on the low balance beam.
“Did you know, Maia Plisetskaya danced for the Bolshoi.”
Faustite wanted to draw her into a burning building. Faustite was in league with Jet.
“Do they know I danced?” she wondered.
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 12:16 pm
Rhiannon frowned, but she understood and appreciated Paris’ offer. Personally, Rhiannon was torn between making sure there were enough able bodies there to protect the court should anything happen. But she also wanted to respect Lysithea’s wishes. Where was the line drawn? Would Lysithea begin to resent her instead?
“If they know, they haven’t acted on it,” Rhiannon said quietly, but it was a little alarming to piece together the maybe coincidental connection. She didn’t like knowing how easily it would be to isolate people who used to dance in connection to the White Moon.
It was all a dangerous game. And it was why Rhiannon trusted so few. It had taken years for her to tell Paris, after all.
“There are a lot of dancers in the city. They could still be looking at current dancers if they did know,” she suggested, which would put them in danger -- something else she didn’t want.
“I will tell you where, as soon as I know. Probably somewhere that can be reached easily, but still isolated. We’ll have as much time as they give any of us to get there. Paris,” she paused, glancing over at her cousin. “Once we use the magic for our team, we’ll be completely vulnerable. If there is any deception, it will likely be then.”
She’d used it on Alastor, so she knew what it would do. At least where the court attack was concerned. She could only assume using their combined magic to purify Faustite would result in something similar.
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 12:17 pm
Paris frowned, ruminating. She tapped her nails against her cup again, watched Elsie wobble, then regain her balance, heard Abby encourage Henry, “Higher, higher!”
She’d lost hope that the war would end in her lifetime, that she’d live to see the Earth free from Chaos.
Again, Paris turned to catch Rhiannon’s eye.
“I understand,” she said.
She thought of the Jovians, how closely they’d worked together, how they’d relied on one another. Paris wouldn’t be who she was today without them, she wouldn’t have survived, wouldn’t have flourished, wouldn’t have found her place among the stars.
Paris refused to lose Rhiannon. She wouldn’t let Rhiannon lose her friends either.
A hand reached for Rhiannon’s and held it like they used to when they were children.
“You’ll always have my help, whether you ask for it or not.”
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