The Royal Court

[thecanopycrew]

The destination is set, and the wagon gems have shone green to tell that they are ready. It was time for another journey into the wilds to find a key to an unknown lock.

...and to deal with a royal court deep within the ground.

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The Journey

[thecanopycrew]

Going deep into the forest, the wagons roll over uneven ground for one full day and night.

At Departure

[princeandscholar]

Once he knows where they are going, Orcelito feels the need to prepare everyone for… whatever they may face out there. When there’s a quiet moment between the two wagons, Orcelito addresses everyone in a firm, clear voice.

“Were any here present during the previous encounter with the Ant Court?” That would be the first wave of arrivals at the Tree - a couple of weeks before he came here. “If you would share your experiences with us, we would be grateful.”

That will, at least, give them some idea of what to expect. Then comes the harder question…

“Also, are any of you experienced with the formalities of addressing a royal court?”

The question weighed heavily in his mind, and now it feels even heavier spoken. He will not reveal his identity, and he’s aware others may be keeping their aristocratic backgrounds secret as well. He wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. But it may be the difference between getting the ‘key’ the riddle mentioned, or being turned away from the court.

[scionoflegend]

"FEAR NOT, MORTAL!"

Owain's voice rings out from within one of the wagons, where he's been stowing away some of their food and supplies, and he pokes his head out the back to better address everyone. His face is partially obscured by his hand as he assumes one of his dynamic hero poses.

"Concerning both your, er, concerns, you need search no further for answers! For you see, you stand in the presence of royalty at this very moment! Brace yourselves..." Dramatic pause. "...For indeed, I who have walked inconspicuously among you all these months am none other than the Prince of Ylisse, the nephew of the Exalt! On top of being a scion of the Hero-King." He looks particularly proud of himself, as though he's expecting gasps of astonishment or perhaps applause.

"...But please, your awe and admiration can wait. Rest assured, I can address royal courts with both hands tied behind my back! It's in my very blood!"

His hand clenches into a determined fist, and he suddenly seems to be talking more to himself, although no less loudly. "At last, I shall have the audience with the queen that is my due, the audience I was so unjustly denied when last our paths crossed! My time has finally come!"

[knight_king]

Saber remains silent because of Owain's proclamation, mostly out of interest he has indeed encountered this Court before. She has only heard of it from Korra once and she has become missing before she could ask more about their meetings. The ants have some kind of sentience, at least, which makes them a forbidden target for hunting. She remains by the wagon as the prince finishes his theatrical display.

She only steps forward once he finishes, abandoning her spot at the front of the wagon where she has corroborated if the reins are in good state for the journey. "I too have experience in addressing Royal Audiences as well as negotiation with sovereign rulers and feudal lords," she admits with a voice no less clear than Owain's, although her manner and poise is the opposite. Saber is completely disciplined with a rigid straightened posture and a calm, collected voice. She does not offer clarifications of her status or gives her true name, she has said she was a knight in the past, but nothing else. She might have to when she is standing before the Queen, it would be rude if she doesn't introduce herself.

"Though this is the first time I encounter the Ant Court, thus I ignore what is the appropriate protocol and etiquette to observe among them," she adds, thinking it is fair to admit they may not have a just idea of their code of conduct.

[dragonblood]

Riona rarely spoke up at the Tree's gatherings and has even less reason to do so now. Her dislike for the mirror's riddles are known to a handful of people, but she's participating this time in reaction to the unexpected absence of those who left on the previous quest. It bothered her enough that she wanted to make sure her friends aren't swept up in another surprise the Tree has to offer.

With Kit back home, she wordlessly stands near Orcelito as he speaks with the others, occasionally squinting in skepticism at what some of them have to contribute to the conversation. Her interest lies not entirely with the solving the riddle, but more to do with exploring their surroundings and figuring out if they can leave this place and, in her case, somehow reclaim her magic. Not being able to summon Ninna has been a frightening experience and she doesn't like it one bit.

When she has the chance, she steps up to Orcelito to ask a plain question.

"Do these ants actually talk? Like people?"

[princeandscholar]

Orcelito glances at Riona as she steps forward, and anyone watching closely enough may notice his shoulders and hands relax. A distraction is welcome, as the responses to the current discussion are disquieting. He needs a plain question to ground him.

“No, or if they do, it's not a language we can understand. But they understood our speech. So perhaps it will be like talking to Chime or Tone.” If all they get are ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers, that would be sufficient to hold a basic discussion for the release of the key.

Assuming the ants understand what the key is. Otherwise, there could be… problems.

At Departure

[hairsay]

Jolene had been eager--maybe over-eager--to put herself to the task of doing something helpful around the tree. She'd gotten into people's faces just to help harvest shrubs, she had groused and hemmed and hawed over better ways to store the fish that she helped to catch. Minnows, when coerced to come up the stream, were good eating.

All of it felt somehow hollow when what the tree wanted from them was... something. Resolution, maybe, if it wasn't a malign force like Jolene worried it was.

So she came across Orcelito's campaigning and she had put her bid in to join anyone who needed some muscle. She was surprised when she discovered just where they were heading; once again, she seemed like she was fucking things up again.

In any case, while Orcelito was gathering other adventurers around, she hung back and crossed her arms over her chest, listening to talk about courts and royalty and the fact that the ants seemed to be sentient. She had no idea she was dealing with a different kind of ant, here, not when she'd been bludgeoning the beasts for invading the edible fruits hanging inside the mist for more than a couple of weeks. Surely these things were going to smell the blood on her hands, as Celena had warned her. She was going to be in a lot of trouble...

But she wasn't sure how to announce that now. She'd committed herself. She could still help, right?

The human bit her lip and looked to some of those who'd signed up alongside her. "You done this before?" she asked, quiet so as not to keep their leader from holding his place in the discussion.

[kingpika]

"Done what? Go on a journey? Of course I have!" Gil seemed almost amused at the question. They were adventurers, after all. Of course they'd gone on adventures, much less Gil himself, who had/would (depending on how you looked at his age) journey enough to collect all the treasures in the world.

"Haven't you?" It seemed obvious.

[hairsay]

"I've driven over the border and gone hiking and climbing," and she had gone through a particular kind of hell for a few months that she wasn't going to talk about, but that was no more adventuring than trying to avoid loss of limb in a minefield. "I'm the city slicker, right?" She had to admit that as fucked up as it sounded, she felt pretty sheltered right about now.

[bestworstdad]

"Yeah, I've done stupid stuff that I've regretted before."

Like meeting crazy creatures and pretending he knew what he was doing. Especially when it came to royals. Okay, he didn't really regret anything he did with royalty, he got out of that situation with someone he loved and a kid. Still, the pain caused by his gaffes could be considered regrettable, maybe.

"Pain can cause a lot of regrets, sometimes."

[hairsay]

"You don't have any regrets," Jo stifled a laugh for the sake of the seriousness of the talk going on in the background, but she could not resist calling bullshit on Nagi's gauche heartfelt admission. "I believe the part about doing stupid stuff, though."

[dragonblood]

While waiting for Orcelito to finish speaking the others, Riona joins the very small group of adventurers that aren't a fan of conversation. So when someone strikes one up with her, she has that 'wait, are you talking to me?' confusion about her. But at the very least, it's a familiar face.

"... Spoke with a queen?" —is that she assumes the question to be, judging by the current topic. Regardless of being right or not, she sticks with it. "No, and I don't want to. But I never knew ants had kings and queens to begin with, so I want to see her."

[finallyfallen]

"Gone beyond the mist? Yes."

He was on the original adventure outside the barrier. It hadn't gone too badly. In fact he'd call it mostly a success. They succeeded and no one was hurt. He doesn't see a reason to be overly nervous. As long as every one is careful.

"If that's what your asking."

Re: At Departure

[donotmail]

Arj hasn't said much yet. Royalty is a concept he understands only in the vaguest of terms. It's enough to make him wonder what he's getting in to.

There'll be something else he can do. There has to be...

"Define this, exactly," he says, looking up at the familiar human beside him.

On the journey

[donotmail]

Arj is sitting in a rounded, catloaf style, paw stretched out before him, feeling the wagon move underneath himself. He understands a few things about the concept of royalty, moreso than most of his kind, but he's leaving that to the humans. They seem to deal with it better.

But he's feeling oddly upbeat about the whole situation. Perhaps it's that his hunch that the Builders were the ants turned out to be right. Things are going right.

His back is turned to the others in the wagon as he waves a paw in the smallest of gestures, idly playing with the one magic he has any skill with. Or trying to. There's no orbs of light, no colours or patterns shifting over his pelt.

He was warned that he would lose his wings, like the last time, but nobody said anything about this...

He looks over his shoulder, and hopes nobody noticed... which means they almost certainly have, knowing his luck...

On the journey

[tosaveyuu]

There was really only one reason Mika had volunteered to go, and that was because it offered the prospect of maybe making progress to find a way home again. Unfortunately, so far it had turned out that the task was likely to be one he was less than well-suited for. He'd had effectively no experience in the realm of diplomacy and the proper ways to approach royalty, for one thing. Which at least was something he wasn't alone in, but...

But then sometime after the wagons had rolled past the mist, he'd realized something was off. He was still a vampire, certainly, but his reflexes didn't feel as sharp as they ought to be, and it took more effort than it should have even just to move. The effortlessness that came with the vampire-enhanced strength he'd gotten used to over the past four years was gone. Which left Mika now at approximately the same level as a human.

And as far as he was concerned, that was really only one very small step removed from being powerless, not to mention taking away one of the few things he knew he could have contributed if something went horribly awry.

So perhaps needless to say, Mika kept to himself as much as was possible in a wagon that held only a half-dozen people, generally brooding in a corner unless someone tried to speak with him.

On Journey

[finallyfallen]

Something's wrong.

He notices that right away, even before he notices Solomon's star is missing from the spear's tip, and it's inspired him to keep attempt to keep his less then social appearances more then ever.

He'd worried over anti-magic since a fight back home, and been concerned it would be an issue here....it seems he's going to be pretty useless on this journey without his powers...and largely because he's not going to be moving much...at all. It's not like he didn't know this was a possibility, and thinking on it, it shouldn't surprise him. After all they were weakened on arrival...there was nothing to say they couldn't lose power all together.

He's hoping that no one tries to get him to move before they arrive.

The Ant Mound

[thecanopycrew]

Reaching the destination, a large hole in the ground surrounded by clay circles open up into the maze of the ant hive.

[monster_san]

Fuu had seen plenty of ants' nests at home: mounds of granular dirt with a hole or three, constantly building up and slumping over as the residents continually refurbished the hidden interior. The form of this one wasn't anything she'd encountered before. It looked like water had been used in the building of it. And, of course, it was large enough to admit them.

She would have to investigate the entomology section of her local library once she was back in Tokyo.

Inside, she looked around in undisguised wonder. "So this is what an ants' city looks like! I always was curious." She hoped none of them got lost down here. By the looks of it, it could be years before they found the front door again.

[lady_bug]

Upon seeing the entrance to the ants' nest, Agitha's eyes lit up. "Oh! They're harvester ants, look!"

She approached the opening slowly, careful not to disturb the beautiful patterns, and started explaining to anyone who would listen. "You see, this is what a harvester ant colony's nest looks like on the outside! And under the ground, it can reach almost ten feet down! There can be hundreds of lil' rooms, too! Isn't that the most amazing thing?"

[princeandscholar]

Orcelito enters the dark recess with apprehension, though he doesn’t say anything at first. Astor, his firefly, rides on one shoulder, increasing in brightness as the natural light is dimmed. “It looks dark.” He comments finally. “I hope the path isn’t steep. Everyone, watch your step.” Even with their pets to light the way, he wonders if the interior was made for the climbing abilities of insects rather than people.

And then there's the 'hundreds of rooms' to worry about. Maybe they should go down single-file? Or leave a trail of some sort?

The Queen

[thecanopycrew]

The large, semi-humanoid ant queen is not so fond of visitors bothering her while she tends to her eggs. It's good to be on your best behavior.

[thecanopycrew]

The drapery is pulled back, showing the queen herself on a beautifully carved throne, surrounded by fresh flowers and shining crystals that light up the room.

Her long body is comfortable laid out behind her, eggs gently tended to by another group of smaller ants that polish and look over each soft egg before putting them on a moving band to take them further into the hive. Now and then, an egg is tossed down a chute instead.

The Queen watches the visitors with a regal look in her black eyes, listening as the armored ant speaks to her with the clicking, hissing voice. Eyeing them one by one, she then reaches out a hand to beckon them forward.

[princeandscholar]

When the guard steps in, Orcelito falls silent and turns to face him, affecting an unruffled expression. He steps forward to indicate that he’s ready to be escorted to wherever the audience chamber is, or to greet anyone who comes in. Then the curtains are pulled back, and one or two choice curses spring into Orcelito’s mind at being caught off guard. Why didn’t he realize they were adjacent to the audience hall?

Orcelito freezes – but only for an instant. He takes in the details of the setting and recovers his poise while his mind reorders his plans; facing a monarch around their children warrants an entirely new level of caution.

He moves forward only when summoned, with a smooth stride and absolute focus on the Queen as though the rest of the room does not exist. He stops a modest, respectful distance away. And then, seemingly without hesitation, he glides down to one knee in a bow.

“Your Majesty, it is an honor to be here. We extend our gratitude for your time and patience in granting us an audience."

[kingpika]

Gil smirks, taking his turn to step forward. He doesn't kneel, and why would he? Orcelito can do all the grovelling for the whole group, if he wants. Gil's going to do Gil.

"We're adventurers from the Tree," he does however, give a bow, "and this kingdom of yours is truly very impressive."

He's been keeping an eye out on how this place works, and really, it's nothing like a human nation at all. Perhaps he could even learn a thing or two from her.

Perhaps.