20. The way down

Have you fallen so far?" Maygus fumed, his fists on the table, oblivious to the scores of eyes locked to the meeting that would seal their fates. "Madness" he gestured in the direction Lady Violet had departed in. "Blind faith" his eyes whipped to Fael, then his face turned back to Angelica only slightly more politely. "Meets the shining optimism of youth!" His breath echoed about the cramped cabin as his eyes circled the even smaller table, looking for any weakness, any who dared disagree.

"Quite." Angelica replied stonily, meeting his eyes. She dipped her head and lightly rubbed above her eyebrows in the dim light, the others waiting for her to finish her thought. "We have spent" she began softly then interrupted herself "actually I have no idea how long we have been down here." She allowed her head to sink down atop of her hand, a very un-ladylike pillow on the table.

"M'Lady we could delay a decision until we have rested?" Olga offered in a carefully diplomatic tone. In the pause that followed, the uncomfortable shuffling, odd cough and quiet crying from the crowded cabin's enthralled listeners hung in the air. It seemed that everyone cried from time to time lately, unless they had run out of tears.

Angelica looked about at the remnants of her people, sat up properly and looked about the table, meeting Maygus' eyes. "No." said firmly. "How long have we been dancing over this?"

"Days" Fael conceded. "Speaking of which" Fael lifted the small hour glass before her and watched the last sand fall though. They had been at it so long she did not even need to give an order as she flipped it. Sailors opened the hatch to admit icy fresh air, cautiously sniffing like flowerquill stealing water from a pond, terrified of what might be lurking beneath the muddy water ready to strike.

Angelica shivered as the icy air tumbled past in swirls, the heat in the room dropping fast until Fael nodded and the storm shutters thunked close again.

"You ought to let me go" Polite offered quietly, her breath betraying the pain she carried still.

"Nay, M'Lady" Angelica replied, her back straight, words as crisp as the air "this is my task."

"It will shatter everything." Polite continued, the question on the table.

"Maybe that is why I am here" Angelica replied calmly, shifting to sitting straight and regal. "To finish what the flames began; to break Elyria that was so the world can begin anew."

Fael made a warding sign with her hands, the colours gone from her face.

"My, you are in a cheery mood." Olga offered with quiet humour. "A new beginning, certainly, but your Father would not have made such careful preparations for an end. Indeed, if it was to be the end, your Mother would have faced it herself. We both knew her; she loved you beyond words." She looked at Angelica without a trace of the girl she was, but with the certainty of a Duchess preparing for war. "No, we are here to live on, not to end." She put her hand on Angelica's, a familiar gesture the others would never dare. "Break whatever you must, but be careful with the pieces. We shall need them later."

Fael nodded enthusiastically, but kept silent.

"I still hate this plan, M'Lady." Olga continued with a warmer tone in her voice despite the formality in her words "I can see the logic, but I still think I ought to be the one who goes."

Angelica placed her hand atop Olga's, a warm, real, smile on her face. "You have spent years looking after me. Who better to lead our people should I not return?"

"But -" Olga began, her words cut as Angelica raised her fingers slightly.

Angelica nodded to Liva who returned to her summary. "As we have discussed, we need fodder and food; green things, fruit, berries, and hay. Our Ambassador" she dipped her head to Angelica "shall seek to obtain these by permission, as we can safely assume that they will know of us the moment we make landfall. Maygus will lead a shore party to identify what we can take anyway while defending the ships. Critical skills must remain on the ship: smiths, crafters, farmers, and such."

"You need Mama too" a small voice interrupted from low down on the bulkhead near the table.

Maygus looked about quizzically, Liva paused with uncharacteristic uncertainty.

"Oh hello there." Angelica called after recognizing the speaker. "Keep going" she encouraged with a smile "please tell us why."

"Mama don' let me pick seeds without her, 'caus some are bad." the small girl said quietly, her shyness keeping her in the shadows as she hid her face behind her hands.

Liva nodded gravely, a smile on her lips "quite so."

"But..." Maygus began.

"Do you know the difference between the thistle that makes a good poultice for healing and the one that gives cows bloat?" Liva cut him off "or which seeds need to be in their pods, which need to be shelled then dried if they are to grow?"

Maygus conceded with a wave of his hands "fine, Mama goes too." he glared at the thought of yet another irreplaceable civilian at such risk.

Everyone is quite aware he would do all that needs to be done, on his own, if we let him. Angelica mused to herself. And we love him for that, but we will need him all the more if this goes badly.

Angelica looked directly at Sydney, her voice quiet yet deadly serious as she "But you stay on the ship. You will not set foot on this land".

"M'Lady" the girl replied in a squeak, dipping her head as she tried to blend into the hard wood behind her.

Angelica looked about the cabin, peering into the dim corners. "That goes for all the young ones. None are to set foot on this land." She repeated slowly, stamping each word with her full authority. "Not one single one."

All those at the table nodded in agreement, and collective sighs of relief swirled with the air.

It never occurred to them that by any common sense they, too, were young ones.

@>--/----

"Push away!" Zalori bellowed, and with a Urrrraah! the crew of Tol Varus' fishing ship cheered as their hard work with the long poles saw their vessel bear away from beside the larger ship. The fickle wind was not enough yet to make their job easy, but the waves beginning to roll though meant they could not safely stay rafted together.

Angelica looked up at the sky, marveling at the white and grey, devoid of any trace of fiery red or orange. The lingering cold was refreshing after so long cowering below decks. We are though! She looked to Tori-Anna with an incautious and unladylike grin welded in place now that she could see sky. Sky! The perils ahead no longer brooded over them beneath thick clouds, fog, or ash.

Tori-Anna approached and courtseyed, awkwardness and fear screaming from her composed features "M'Lady".

"I am very pleased to see you" Angelica replied, the stupid grin still in place as if so many terrible things had not come to pass in such a short time, as she looked back to the fleeting patch of bright blue slowly pushing the white aside.

"M'Lady, your Father's Law ..." Tori-Anna pressed cautiously.

Freedom in death, the balance must be maintained. Those who have passed must go, or be despatched. Angelica knew the laws of her people well, it was not optional for her to ever forget them.

"You have done great service by your people." Angelica said carefully, her smile remaining "you are free of all oaths, and may go where you will." Then she lowered her eyes from the sky and looked Tori-Anna in the eye. "I invite you to stay amongst us. None are to speak further on the topic."

Eliciting a squawk from Antaryon who was so completely surprised he could not possibly stop her, Tori-Anna darted forward and hugged Angelica. A long, lingering hug. "Thank you" she whispered as Angelica returned the hug, tears falling down her cheeks and over her smiling lips.

Tori-Anna stepped back, then fell to a knee with her head lowered before Angelica as she spoke. "I never feared death. But now I have met it, I realize what I truly feared was loneliness."

Angelica was weeping openly now, the stress of all that had happened overwhelming her decorum. "You stood watch in the frozen fog. We are in your debt; stay or go, you held our lives in your hands and delivered us safe. We shall not forget."

"We shall not forget" rippled across the deck, as the quiet folk repeated Angelica's words, some falling to a knee as well.

Tori-Anna looked about, as young and younger folk looked to her, smiling, saying words of kindness and acceptance one of her station had no right to hear. A single tear, dark red, slid slowly down her cheek. "M'Lady, what is your command?"

Angelica drew in a long breath, standing tall. She smiled and said playfully "You are out of uniform and unarmed. See that it does not happen again Captain." As Tori-Anna stifled a laugh Angelica continued "Stay with the ships, keep them safe under Maygus' command. Relieve Liva in preparing for the landing, she has her own tasks to see to."

"M'Lady." Tori-Anna replied simply, resuming her place in society as if nothing had happened.

"Antaryon, prepare Caterham if you please."

"Ma'am!" Antaryon saluted and departed without hesitation, infectious enthusiasm rippling over the deck as Tori-Anna fell in beside her fragile charge, even as uncounted years of tradition were thrown overboard.

@>--/----

"I can't see it" Lady Violet swung her feet below her as Angelica clung on to the yard, the crew far below working in organized chaos. "I should be able to see something".

Angelica looked aft at the blurry wall of smoky fog. The icy current had carried them though it, and now it stretching in a huge arc as far as she could see. Zalori had explained it: warm air from the South meeting super cold air from the North, water freezing in the very air itself. The currents did their own will, not that of the wind, or they would never have made it through.

"There!" Violet pointed eagerly "see it?"

"No ... yes!" Angelica clapped delightedly, then remembering herself grabbed the nearest stay with a vice like grip as she wobbled in place.

The single seagull wheeled far in the distance, looking for fish.

"Those ones only rest on land." Violet exclaimed "we'll see land tomorrow ..." she looked at the horizon carefully, a lifetime at sea summed up in a glance "we're still being carried by that current, even without the wind, we might see it this evening. Definitely tomorrow."

Violet looked down at the deck, her hair wafting in the gentle breeze. Her eyes were sunken, deep black crescents below; tar and grime caked her skin, along with what might have once been parts of a fish.

At least she is eating. Angelica mused. "Violet" she began hesitantly, then changed tack. "What do you see?"

"There!" Violet pointed with her foot "that one in the faded red cloak, going from one to another. He's the messenger, just watch. There are at least a dozen of them, traitors all. I'm working out the network. When I am done, you can help me deal to them."

Far below, the young lad in a faded red cloak walked up to the next young mother, and handed her a biscuit to share with her children. Then the boy walked to the next, oblivious to the watchful gaze from aloft, where he handed out another biscuit before moving on.

"Father taught me well how to use such networks to my own advantage" Angelica replied after weighing every word. "Please tell Tori-Anna who the leaders are, and we shall bide out time with this."

"But ..." Violet looked sharply to Angelica "you trust her? That thing?"

"Yes" Angelica replied with finality.

"Fool. She'll turn on you, they always do." Violet said with genuine concern in her voice. "You heart is too kind for this business."

"There, another conspirator. In league with red coat. Plaited black hair, deep blue dress."

A girl not so different in age to Angelica was indeed following the same path as the boy ... but she held a large pitcher of water from which she was dividing out portions.

"Noted" Angelica said with all the concern of a soldier, her feelings crushed into a small ball deep inside.

"Why are you going through with this?" Violet asked candidly. "They are only animals, you risk everything for them. I just don't see it."

The clarity of the question made Angelica rock back slightly, the change from nonsense to deadly reality had taken but a breath.

"Between us" she replied, with equal candor "This is my last chance."

"At?"

"You already know. The star. I need to know where it is ... and..." she whispered quietly.

"By the Qin" Violet replied, her eyes wide as she looked directly at Angelica. "You really believe the legends, don't you."

Angelica shook her head, but her eyes betrayed her.

Violet's eyes replied her sadness as she continued at barely over a whisper, no chance others far below could overhear. "That you can only have a child if you hold the name engraved on a fallen star."

Angelica nodded, a tear escaping her eye, the truth hurt more for being said out loud.

"And... Dragor fell before he gave it to you." Violet looked to the horizon, and started slowly flapping her arms as if wings.

Another tear slid down Angelica's cheek, her childhood friend was lost again; she returned to staring at the sky, begging the Qin for help she knew would never come.

Her arm was starting to hurt, pulling her back to the now, so far above the deck. "Violet" Angelica began again "with this place ... you know the legends."

"Of course" the older noble was looking at the sky again, searching.

"Do you think it true we might be able to find you a new ship?"

Vye's eyes lit up as if a veil had been lifted, her shoulders straightened slightly "yes, why did I not think of that?!" she giggled. Suddenly shifting back to clarity again, she looked at her hands and pronounced "Well then, I guess I better get cleaned up." Without waiting for comment Violet unclasped her belt and simply dropped it, followed by everything else she did not wish to get wet. Yells of "look out below!" from Alexandras and sailors saw the crew scatter before things clunked and thudded on the deck below; some caught by quicker hands, but all placed neatly by the mast.

"See you in a bit" Vye said simply, as she stood up on the top of the yard, danced to the very end, then dove off as Angelica watched, mouth open in frozen horror. Barely a splash. After a long pause, Lady Violet's head popped up from the icy black-green. "You should jump in too, it's really refreshing!"

"I'm good thanks!" Angelica yelled back, and gingerly began to pick her way down the rigging to the welcome safety of the deck, her arms aching in earnest from being so long aloft in the frigid air.

"Oh Karcion take it" Angelica muttered, waving Liva to help her take off her outer dress. She climbed up on the rail, held her nose, and jumped in, eliciting roars of approval and begged permission from others to do the same.

@>--/----

Far above, the Caspian raven circled, watching the utter madness unfolding below, as one after the other jumped into the icy waters, some with sailor's soaps made on ropes about their necks.

But it did not descend; as distracted as those in the water were, there were half a dozen strung bows still watching carefully. The big one they called Maygus perched in the rigging held a huge longbow and met the raven's gaze as it continued its effortless flight.

No, this was quite close enough indeed.