[FIN] beneath the brine (noeh & jeremiah)

[shibrogane]

Noeh shrugged. She made an abortive gesture like she was going to chew on the end of his pen, then remembered at the last moment it wasn't hers to chew on. She wrote: So?

She showed this to him, and then added, All of us are like this now. I think Pax is dying.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

There was something familiar about the gesture with the pen, even the clicking from earlier. Jeremiah nodded before he read the next bit she added.

His stomach dropped. Pax was Heliodora's handmaiden and Our Heliodora was gone. "What about Pride?" Then, of course, the worry about Mina herself. She looked alright but-

"They've never existed in this new reality, Heliodora, Adoelle and Michael," he said quietly. Was there even a way to help? The idea of Pax dying did not set well at all and then, as if realizing it. "The trees in the forest in the State Park, there's rot on them that no one can explain."

It had to be tied together.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Then there's something wrong with one of your principals, Noeh wrote.

She paused for a long second.

Pridey won't answer my calls. Pax gets smaller every time I see him. And I'm losing my powers. The Court is no longer mine to control. She twitched the pen between her fingers. Check on your principals and make sure they're in good health. If they're severed from their place in any way...

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

That was not what he wanted to hear. "Then so long as the new principals are alright, you will be as well? I need to meet with each of the principals." The last sentence was mostly to himself. It had to be done. Jeremiah pushed a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose a moment before it fell away. Not that he was aware of who each was yet but-

"If Pax is dying, then what about you? Pride? Your magic is fading and-" He let out a breath. "Is there a timeframe on this?" Jeremiah paused. "... and if not your control, then where does that leave the Court?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Noeh shook her head. It depends. I'll be alright, I think. Pax will not.

She shook her head again. Then she wrote down:

It wasn't in my control anyway. Melany's missing.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's lips pressed to a thin line, not quite sure how to take the news that Melany was missing. Of course the Court had only been Noeh's in name only, Melany having taken it over.

"Is Fa- Ezra overseeing it again in her absence?" ... yet he still wanted to see the Court back in her hands, not just in name, but now was not the time for that. "I'll look for her as well as after the Principals."

It was never so simple and nothing was quiet. Even though they had fixed things, something else had gone wrong. Was it always going to go this way? He was quiet a moment before he asked. "Can-" he sighed, started again. "If Melany is gone and your powers regained, would the Court be yours again?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

He's missing too, wrote Noeh.

She shrugged. I don't know. I don't want it back. I don't want any of this, I want to go home.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah couldn't help it, not anymore. He reached out, hand curling over her shoulder. There had been failure in bringing the teenagers home but her ... It would be done. His resolve was far stronger than it had been then. "If that's what you want, then it's what I'll make happen. Whatever it takes."

He was quiet again, looking at her face and her hair and thinking that it may not even be possible. Her home could be long gone. "I have to ask," he said quietly, "because you do things that are so familiar to me." Her hair, her face, even the pen clicking. "You gave Alg his grimoire and told him your name and I want to know: are you related to me? It can't be coincidence that you're a Mercer."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

I am related to you, wrote Noeh, her green eyes cast down at the notepad. Insofar as Algernon is. She tapped the end of the pen on the notebook. What was possible then is not possible now.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah blinked a moment, a hand smoothing across his mouth as he read that. "Are you his? I mean you have his eyes." Had they raised- The child he let go of; the one he barely had contact with in this new reality and saw grow up only through Christmas pictures. Was there a time when they had raised a child together?

Something bitter twisted in his chest. "Your home is likely gone, I assume, but you know that we'd make one for you."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Noeh underlined her previous message.

What was possible then isn't possible now.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah blinked, reread as she underlined.

What was possible then isn't possible now.

She was Mercer, had given Algernon the Mercer grimoire. Unless- It was ridiculous, the thought was ridiculous. That had to be the wrong idea.

"I had a great-grandmother named Minerva. She also went by Mina." His fingers raked through his hair. "My parents honestly expected a girl, boys are practically unheard of in the family, and would have likely named me that if I had been." His head tilted. "Tell me I'm way off base, laugh at me, but ... you're not ... another me? Are you?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Noeh made a little ha! and she smiled. Her teeth were very small and white between her pink lips. A strong theory, she wrote. No. Close, but no.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

The little ha! made Jeremiah laugh himself, warm and happy, despite the topics at hand. He shook his head, mostly at himself. This was not the weirdest thing his conclusion his mind had jumped to before. "I suppose I could ask if you were born a Mercer, that would make it easier but ..."

It would be let go for now. "You're family and the details of that can wait for another time. When you can sign and it'll be understood properly."

Jeremiah fell quiet for a moment, looking at her and then looking to the water. "What does this mean for the court?" he asked softly. If the Court was not in her control, if Melany and Ezra were missing, then there was a power vacuum, almost, and that could not mean well.

"There's already things going on back in Ashdown again, I can only assume there's going to be more changes, if there's something wrong with a Principal." Especially given what had happened last time.

There really never did seem to be a break. Never mind worry for Pax, Noeh, and Pride.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Noeh did chew on the end of the pen this time. She paused for a long moment, and then bent her head over the notebook and started to write. And write and write and write. She turned the page, and wrote some more.

Then she passed the notebook over.

The Court grew from my involvement with Ezra and Melany, Noeh wrote. It became my Court once Adoelle gave it structure and power. With me no longer capable of the binding magic, Adoelle dead, and Ezra and Melany missing, I assume it is the property of the nobles we created. Your powers are already shaped and formed, and you're in the first blush of your ability, so it's still drawing from you and not me or Adoelle or anyone else. Your tithes and fetches are stable as long as you don't do anything stupid, like die.

This is your chance to re-create the Court. To change it, if you like. But you must have cooperation from other nobles.

A few lines are scribbled out, too dense for Jeremiah to make sense of.

I would like to see the Court remade into something less abusive. The way things run was necessary at the time. It might not be necessary any longer.

azuredreams