I gotta know which way to go - Part 1

[missrecalled_mods]

The announcement

 

 The King and Queen had discussed everyone's feedback, and working together they made a decision. While the path Mallia found had cleared a far larger area than any other method to date, the fact that it was in the wring direction could not be ignored. While searching for other such paths and areas were on the table, without understanding the way they worked or where they might eventually lead, getting to the people trapped on the Isle had to be the priority.

The announcement went out to all people currently in Auradon to gather for a speech on the steps of the castle. With so small a group it seemed silly to use the balcony, and while the throne room would have also been a traditional choice, they were hardly in a typical situation. They also weren't typical Auradon monarchs. 

And so a more informal gathering on the steps. The only nods to their status that were obvious were that they stood at the top of the stairs - with Sylvando to one side like an honor guard a single step down - and that they both wore formal wear. Including their crowns. 

For those new, this might be the first time they saw King Ben and Queen Mal as King and Queen. And that bright blue lit from within gem in Mal's crown certainly caught attention. 

 

"Missrecalled of Auradon," King Ben said, addressing them all. "Thank you for being here with us today. We appreciate it, as we appreciate your efforts and patience thus far. After much discussion we have come to a decision. Thanks to Mallia's clever discovery of the path to the museum, we have access to more than we did before. And we agree that we are likelier to have an easier finding another such path than we are pushing through stubbornly to Belle's Harbor. However, we do not know where these new paths will take us, but we do know that there are people on the Isle who need our help, who need us. We cannot leave the situation as it is any longer than absolutely necessary."

"And," Queen Mal said, taking over as smoothly as if they had rehearsed this. Which they might have. "None of us here seem to be afraid of some hard work. So, we're going to make one more concerted push towards Belle's Harbor. From there we can open the bridge to the Isle. One thing we had to adjust to, those of us who came to Auradon from the Isle, is how much stock people here put into believing in their dreams. If we are to believe in the ones we most recently have, there are more people trapped on the Isle than we had at first estimated. The sooner we can reach them, the sooner we can help with the situation they are in. I have lived on the Isle, in better circumstances than the current ones. And even then it was dire. So we will be gathering first thing tomorrow morning to do whatever it takes to make our way to the Auradon side of the bridge."

"Those of you," King Ben picked up the speech, "who need to rest to use whatever abilities might help, please make sure you rest well tonight. Please be aware that once we open the bridge we will not be dropping the barrier completely, but opening an entrance. If you intend to explore the Isle at all, be prepared with whatever supplies you wish to have in hand. As for the journey to the bridge itself from where we left off in our efforts last time... in normal circumstances it would be a short enough car or carriage ride. But we expect it to take a few days of constant work to break through. But as the Queen said, we are willing to put in that work. We hope that you are willing to join us. If you have any questions, please ask. We will remain out here for an hour or so, but then we will also go inside to rest and otherwise prepare."

"In case it needs saying, if you can use magic to help, without harming anyone, that magic will be welcome for this," Queen Mal added. Those who had come to know King Ben well these past few months might possibly be impressed by the control he had over his expression. Just enough there for the really observant to guess that part hadn't been rehearsed, or discussed - but no more.

And with that, the King and Queen moved to sit on the top step, ready to answer questions.

Breaking through

When the King and Queen said that this would be hard work, they hadn't been kidding! How long it would take would depend on how many people were helping, and what they were doing. Of course, some people were asked to help by staying behind and packing up supplies to drop at the Isle, and some people just weren't up to it. Or didn't feel a responsibility to help. The king made it clear, if anyone asked after those who were missing that they were not to be harassed or questioned. He was sure they had their reasons.

All the same, the group was facing a seemingly never ending tangle of fallen trees, crashed cars, tangled fences, and very nearly every other possible once beautiful now broken obstacle. Somehow it didn't actually look like the endless maze of trash it probably actually was...

 

 

Comments

[queen_butterfly]

"It won't harm you," she said, putting one of the bottles in Mal's hand, smiling a little. She looked to Ben, offering him the other one. "And if either of you would prefer it be something other than water, that would be trivial for me."

As though Ben didn't already know that, what with her having made things for him on the spot in the mornings which looked and tasted exactly as it ought....

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Ah, thank you, but I don't have much magic to speak of," Ben said. "If they are difficult to make, best save it for those who could use them more." And unlike if Mal had said something like that, he genuinely meant it.

Mal eyed her. "You said coffee, you can make it into coffee, go for it."

[queen_butterfly]

A little nod to Ben; she could respect that.

"I've only tried that once or twice, I'm afraid, so I apologize if I get it wrong, but...." She reached back toward the one she'd handed Mal, and half closed her eyes as she concentrated. The liquid in the bottle turned brown, darkening quickly and growing warm. It wouldn't be too hot to drink -- or prove dangerous to the bottle -- but it wasn't the worst facsimile of coffee to exist.

"...There is a reason I've been spending time in the kitchen," she admitted, glancing to Ben. He'd have seen her picking at things Sylvando had made on multiple occasions, so it would follow that she'd been sampling other items as well.... "If either of you have something you'd like me to be able to emulate, it might be easiest, for me to be able to try it so that I can."

Quieter, more to Ben, since Mal was doubtless occupied with the little bottle, "Though I'm afraid I don't know that I could bring myself to actually try meat still...."

[missrecalled_npcs]

Mal gulped down the coffee all in one go. Because there was always the chance it could be rotten. And Mal having a cup of rotten coffee almost invariably led to Jay swiping it before she could get a sip.

Of course, she thought that after she gulped it and regretted it. Even losing magical coffee would be wroth it if it brought Jay back home...

Ben nodded. "None of us are going to ask you do do something you are not comfortable with," he said kindly.

[queen_butterfly]

She gave Ben a little nod back to that -- well, now he knew that detail for certain. A glance to Mal, smile growing a little in anticipation. "I hope it was at least not too very far off...."

The immediate similarity to actual coffee in flavor and scent was there, of course, despite it having been mere water only moments before, if water that had an odd glow to it. But Mal would quickly enough feel its effects.

That light feeling of a breath of fresh air, the clarity born from a good night's rest, that hum of the energy of wanting to do, which normally hid just out of immediate awareness.... The comparison to coffee's effects was certainly spot on, though caffeine always took far longer than this, to start to work. And this wasn't making Mal's heart beat much faster, despite how it was messing with her head. It was pleasant, if nothing else, probably exactly what someone might want, to help one wake up in the morning and come to focus. For all that it was clearly energy of some sort, for all that it prompted a feeling that it would be so easy to act, it didn't feel like a physical thing, so the question would have been what sort of outlet for it one might have... but Mallia had already said it was for magic use.

How much easier would it be now, to cast a spell? Rather than draining herself to pour her will into doing so, to pull off perhaps something rather grand, even, she could simply use this excess. A battery overcharged, a cup overflowing....

It was surely no wonder the fairy lady wanted some item with which she could hold a better store of this power. If this was what she was used to using, to do whatever it was she did....

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Oh wow..." Mal said. "With this I wouldn't have needed a speed reading spell or a cooking spell..." she eyed the now empty bottle. "I could get so much more done if I didn't have to sleep any more..."

Concern on Ben's face then. "Is this addictive?"

"Kind of hoping so," Mal murmured, licking her lips. The taste had been off but she felt like she could fly without transforming.

[queen_butterfly]

"Technically," the fairy started, holding up a hand to Ben, a little signal to keep his calm about it, though her smile probably helped get the message across, "it's nothing the two of you -- and everyone else -- don't already have... but far more than you'd be used to carrying at once. Mortals shed it; the fae of my world retain it. It is...." She paused, trying to decide what word to use for it. "Life. Spirit. ...Or what that's made of. It's energy. This bit of it, I collected from the sun's light and warmth; something I am able to do is to pull power from other sources, and turn it into this, that it may be made use of.

"But, like I said, I cannot hold much at once for very long. I could drink an entire lightning storm, but without a vessel to carry it, all I would be doing is calming the sky."

[missrecalled_npcs]

"So... we get you enough crystals and so long as it storms often enough... we never need to sleep again?"

"I am sure we wouldn't want to put Mallia to that much extra effort," Ben said, a bit tense.

[queen_butterfly]

"Well... you could try, but you're not an elder fae. You've still living flesh. It still needs rest." Amusement was all over her smile as she said that. "So I wouldn't recommend it."

[missrecalled_npcs]

"I don't feel like I need rest right now," Mal muttered.

"But that will fade, and then you will sleep," Ben said.

Mal rolled her eyes and patted his hand.

[queen_butterfly]

"He's right. It will, in time. I don't know precisely how long... but...." She shrugged, smile turning more apologetic. "...It isn't as though I couldn't collect that again."

She held out her hand for the empty vial. "That, in honesty, only took a short while to collect, while being careful not to rob the rooftop where I lay to the point of ice forming around me."

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Yeah, let's be careful not to destroy the environment, even for a good cause," Ben said gently.

[queen_butterfly]

"...Or make one's perch slick enough to fall off of it." Oh, so that was why she was trying not to frost over the rooftop where she was collecting it from. Had she had to learn that lesson the hard way? That hint of sheepishness on her face pointed to yes.

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Yes... let's focus on safety," Ben said.

Mal rolled her eyes.

[queen_butterfly]

"Relatedly, there would be one other hopefully simpler issue." She glanced between the two. "As I've mentioned, I've been collecting these bits from what was around me as of late, such as sunlight... because I can sense no ley lines available here. Not the way I can back home. But pulling it from around me tends to do such things as form ice, since heat is... rather entangled, quite often.

"So... though I've been sticking to certain places on the roof of the main building," by which she meant the school? She'd certainly not been seen climbing much onto the castle, at any rate... "I don't suppose you would know of a... more likely place I could gather it from, once I've more to store it in? I don't wish to destroy the gardens... but if I pull too hard, I'm afraid I could freeze them solid, were I too close. Is there a spire out of the way enough from anything that might be harmed, that you could suggest? Somewhere where a radius of extraordinary and perhaps quite harsh winter, depending on how quickly and how much I gather at once, wouldn't cause harm?"

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Makes me wish we had opened a path to Arendelle," Ben said with a small chuckle.

"What about out by the museum?" Mal asked. "At least at night after the shops close, only the two living at the dance studio are likely to be there, you could send them back to the dorms for a night or two...?"

[queen_butterfly]

"Perhaps. If nothing out that way would be harmed by it, I don't see why it wouldn't work well enough."

A mysterious drain on the power grid was probably on the horizon, considering....

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Just make sure no one is around, and hopefully it will be alright," Ben said. "If not, let us know and we will deal with it."

[queen_butterfly]

"Fair enough." She hesitated again, and then eyed the two, unable to keep herself from smiling some. "I'll hold aside a bit for breakfast for you. And should you find any better vessels, I'm certain you'll be able to find me."

She turned to leave again.

[missrecalled_npcs]

"We'll find something," he assured her.

Mal nodded, distracted as she opened her book and started to sketch in it.