Mera Enters Camp

== Summary ==
== Full Text ==
Mera Violet Haddock: She shuddered, pulling up her cloak hood to better cover her face. It was a little difficult to adjust, what with the boy piggybacking on her shoulders clutching tightly onto her and pulling down the hood constantly. The young one-year-old child in her arms pulling on her cloak did not help her case, either. But while the woman’s ears felt the horrid nip of the winter air around her, at least both of the little ones were well-bundled in cloth to keep out the night’s harsh chill.
Her feet sunk through snow as she trudged step by step southward. She could see the enormous rise of an ice formation before her: the distinctive icy castle of Bewilderbeast. That has to be it, she thought to herself, stepping adamantly forward. The nearness of her destination provided some vigor to her step. That has to be Sire Grouchy Pants’ rebel camp.
Deities, I’m going to kill Gareth when I get my hands on him.
The boy clinging to the top of her head shifted, pulling at her cloak so hard that a few curls from her auburn hair slipped out. “Egil, you doing okay up there?” she asked.
She didn’t hear an answer from the boy. She frowned. Unlike him to be so quiet.
Talking to herself as much as her kids, the woman announced, “Hold on. We’re almost there.”
She continued her trek, step by step by tedious step.
If that stupid honor-bound narrow-minded numbskull hadn’t gotten himself thrown into the Grounded Dungeon in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess trying to find him.
Deities, Garthy. Do you ever make it easy on me? I don’t care how excited you are to see me, I don’t care how much I love you, we are not have sex tonight. You watch me. We won’t for a month. A year. Not after this stupid rebellion business and all the pain I had to go through tracking you down here. And I’ll hide your wine and sour every glass of water you drink and put thorns at the bottom of your kingly boots and make you change every one of Signy’s diapers since I’ve had to do it while you’ve been gone, and if you forget one diaper, I’m putting it on your THRONE and you’ll be King Shit Crotch and I’ll hide every spare change of knickers and…
Mera noticed a sudden flicker of light in the distance, coming out from the nearby waters. A single ship being lit on fire.
A funeral, then, in the rebel camp.
Well, she knew where to find her husband, she supposed. With his great love for his people, he made sure to attend every funeral of those deceased.
Maybe I’ll be a little easier on him, if it’s someone he loved who died, she decided, heart softening. Oh, she already knew she would be quite kind to him now upon their reunion. The poor soul would be despondent. He’d try to hide it, but she knew Haddock. Death hit him hard.
Mera Violet Haddock approached the mass carefully from the back and peered at the attendants of the ceremony.
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: When she looked up, she saw a young boy, starring wide eyed at her, his head tiled at an odd angle. His face practically terrified. He looked…horrifying, in a sense. The side of his head was dented, a scar curved around his one eye, and his other hung oddly in it’s socket. A healing slice was on his face, and his features looked similar to that of somebody who’s mind had been recently broken.
He staggered one step towards her, seeing the children around her. He knew who they looked like…he knew who they were and his heart broke. The pike he carried in his hand dropped and he reached under his coat, producing a sword and falling to his knees. His other hand came up, supporting the blade as he presented it to her, and Mera saw that his left hand was marred terrible by burns and deep cuts. 
Head shaking, Stonegit ducked his head. Holding the sword up, presenting the Haddock crest on the hilt of it. 
Mera Violet Haddock: What in the name of…
Mera paused, all at once recognizing the crest on the end of the sword the boy presented her.
A very, very familiar sword.
It was one she had frequently yanked away from Gareth and hidden in obscure parts of the house in an attempt to calm him down and bring his mind to less… war-like… manners. Such as sleeping. The fool would sleep to the sword strapped on his hip otherwise. For indeed that stupid sword had been attached to him more firmly than his arm, sometimes, or so it felt. It was a part of him. His identity. For Gareth to leave the sword behind…
That would not happen so long as she lived.
She glanced at the burning ship, then at the young man with the scarred body. She placed Egil gently on the ground, adjusted her grip on the baby, and gently - very, very gently - took up the offered sword. It felt very heavy in her hands; she never had grown accustomed to the weight of a weapon. Not a weapon like this, meant for war and killing.
"What happened?" she inquired softly.
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: "Can’t kill myself…"
Stonegit kept his head bowed for another moment, then slowly raised it. 
"I’ll go to Hel, while he’s in Valhalla…"
He drew in a long breath through his nose.
"But if another sword takes me…"
He looked over at the children, and then glanced up at her, speaking quietly. “I am the wretch…” he said, his eyes lowering to the ground and arms spreading. “I am the source of your grief and the cause for that burning ship. I am a murderer wanted in this land, and I kneel before you to offer you the chance…” his throat tightened. “To avenge your fallen husband King Haddock.”
Mera Violet Haddock: "Nonsense, you whimpering brickhead," she sniffed, still holding onto the sword awkwardly. She could feel it trembling in her hand, but other than that, she was impressed with how calm she kept her posture and voice. Truth be told, she did not feel anything much. Not in her heart. Nor much in her body. It was a bit much to take in, and nothing had really psychologically sunk in yet. It would later, though. It would, if what she saw now could be believed.
And frankly, this was quite hard to believe. The ship was enough. This man kneeling before her… impossible.
She said, “The only type of justice I give is nettles in someone’s underpants. No matter what the grievance. And apparently,” she stared down Stonegit with great, great scrutiny, “there’s some sort of gold in your heart, otherwise you wouldn’t be down on your knees like that. So let’s go inside, I put the kids to bed, and… we will… talk… about what in the Nine Worlds you possibly mean by all that.”
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: The words slowly sunk in as Stonegit knelt there, his face staring intensely at the ground at her feet. He wanted to expose everything wrong with himself, he wanted to make her mad! Jealous! Pushed to rage! He wanted to bring up his love for the King, the King’s feelings for him, his slaughter of his own people, the gory details of how he killed Haddock. Anything, ANYTHING to end his miserable and pointless existence. But the kids…he couldn’t have such a terrible thing happen in front of them.
To Mera’s perspective she saw the boy starring at the ground, his face still lined with grief, seemingly unaware of anything except the on-goings in his own mind.  
Mera Violet Haddock: "Alright. Just sit there like a rock then. Or you can carry this stupid sword while I grab Egil and we’ll go somewhere warmer." Without waiting for a response, Mera shoved Haddock’s sword back in Moe’s hands and sauntered toward the center of the camp, carting both of her children along with her. She did not look back to see if Stonegit was following her, but kept talking as though he were. "You can show me the way to Garthy’s quarters, or you know, I’ll just peek into every room until I find his overstuffed pillows. Your choice. But I really think you should come with me now. Otherwise, I am a queen. I can get you arrested and we do this the hard, non-civilized way.”
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: Stonegit looks up with a jerk. Where was the woman? He blinked, her words reaching his ears as if he where hearing them through water. He looked down at the sword, squinting in confusion. Didn’t he give that to her? He stood quickly, his mind catching up with the situation. “Of course,” he said, turning around and trudging after her, stretching out an arm. “Right this way.” 
He walked beside her in silence as they made their way to the castle. “I’m sorry,” he said once. 
Mera Violet Haddock: "I am aware of that," Mera remarked drily. "You look like you’ve eaten nails and seen demons and angry Frost Giants. Penitent people look like that, not the conscience-less. Now please. Hold all your remorse inside of you for just a moment. Can’t you see Egil’s tired?"
The boy’s eyes drooped; he was so tired he must not have been consciously registering any of this conversation.
All for the better, the woman worried, rustling her child’s hair. It’ll be best if he hears the news from Mommy anyway.
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: Stonegit opened the door to the fortress for her, walking her inside to the King’s quarters, turning a chair by a warm fire place, inviting her to sit. He looked at her son, his face un-moving. “There is a guest room,” he said, pointing. “It should comfortably accommodate your children.” he set Haddock’s sword on the table, walking past and leaning against the fire place mantel. 
Mera Violet Haddock: "Guest room no more, hon," Mera corrected. "We’re moving in permanently. Come on, Egil."
The boy finally squeaked out a few words. “But Moooooom. I’m not tired.”
"Oh yes you are, young man! Now into bed you go."
"But -"
"No. Shut it. I’m tucking you in now if I have to tie you into the sheets."
After a short little silence, a faint murmur acquiesced reluctantly, “Ooooookay.”
Mera marched back into the room after having settled both of the children into their new sleeping quarters. She shut the door behind her, stepped toward Haddock’s bed, plopped herself resolutely at the end of it, and adjusted her skirts. Mera then proceeded to stare Stonegit up and down. “We can begin now,” she commanded succinctly.
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: Stonegit was only silent for a moment, but was prompted to speech, for Mera did not seem like a women interested in any form of pause. “My K…your husband died honorably…he didn’t want to kill me.” he swallowed. “He tried to spare me……it was quick…he didn’t suffer.”
Mera Violet Haddock: She sighed, releasing the breath from her stout body heavily. “So you really weren’t saying something demented to get my attention? He’s really… gone. Deities. You can’t say so little. Tell me everything. And I will wring it out of you like a dry rag if you don’t, so start talking.” She might have been clutching a little tightly onto the edge of her otherwise pristinely arranged skirts. And her voice might have been softer, with less of an edge, now that they were in private.
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: "Haddock accepted me as his bodyguard once the rebellion took place." Stonegit began. "I was rusty and impulsive but he kept me. While working beside him I became suspicious of his head mage, a girl named Hemlock. I did not voice these suspicions in time. As fate would have it a vengeful spirit named Dust had possessed Hemlock…they had both lost somebody due to Sturgeon’s battle." his face darkened. "They decided to take it out on Haddock." he paced a little, gathering his thoughts. "Dust disposed of Hemlock after a while, and used our chief to try and assassinate him. I tried…and failed to save him. Dust ended up possessing me and making me kill…" he paused, drawing a quick breath. "and made me kill him with my own hand." He unconsciously raised his marred hand and then quickly lowered it into his pocket again, looking away. "Dust died in the following fight." he finished quickly.    
Mera Violet Haddock: Mera said nothing. Absolutely. nothing. She studied the folded hands in her lap.
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: Stonegit couldn’t bear to face her and he turned to the door, gripping the frame. “I am…” he paused, changing his words. “Your grief must be unimaginable…to lose somebody as great and as brave as he. If there is anything I can do to ease it…tell me. Whether it range from bringing your children an extra blanket to letting you cut me down…I will be there in a moments notice.”  
Mera Violet Haddock: "If I’m to believe that ridiculous story you told me," she said softly, standing up and walking toward Stonegit - and her voice was such one could tell she believed him - “then Gareth died like a hero from a legend. He was always such a gallivanting show-off, the mindless testosterone-driven dimwit. He always… always wanted to be something people looked up to. Someone to be admired. Someone great, grand… so… well… you know.
"And he never believed me. He never, ever believed me." Mera’s voice was very soft now, very soft, as she gently placed a hand on Stonegit’s right shoulder. She had to reach up to place it there, but she did nonetheless. "He always went yamming on about his father’s greatness, even the greatness of the peasant on the street, oy, even me, and I’m but an innkeeper’s daughter… but never recognized his own majesty. His father might have banished him back when he was a teenager… but I think it was his own heart, not his father’s actions, that made him question his own nobility.
'But a death like this? I think even he now, for all his stupid cotton-headed slowness, standing in Valhalla, must recognize what an incredible man he is.”
Mera blinked back something from her eyes. Then she smiled plaintively.
"You did not mean to kill him, by your story,” she continued. It was a very sympathetic, honey-filled voice now. “You are not responsible.” She reached out to try to touch Stonegit’s hand from the other side of his pocket. “I can tell you cared about him, and that you really did wish to protect him as your bodyguard. Haddock died nobly fighting a monster, not you. If he was… were… here in this room right now, he’d think nothing but compliments about you. Even now.”
Mera paused, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully. Her hazel green eyes bore into Stonegit’s profile. “And I would say the same. I don’t see anything wrong with you, boy. If Gareth had you as a personal bodyguard, he thought very highly of you. And I trust his judgment. You’re a good man, sir, a good man.”
Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: The words were so kind they hurt. They cut deep into his hardening heart, bringing a pain to him. A pain that was the desperate feeling of wanted to believe the words, the pain of hardly ever receiving such compliments… and the pain of believing that Mera was totally misguided in his judgment of her. He turned his head so he could see her hands, his eyes almost fearful, and Mera could see his pupils were like pinpoints. “No…” he breathed quietly, and then slipped out the door.
Mera Violet Haddock: Mera watched the young man leave and shook her head. “The poor thing,” she murmured. She stepped away, picked up the sword on the fireplace mantle, and set it on her lap as she readjusted herself at the foot of the bed. She stared at the sword. Time passed, but she did not know it. All she could comprehend was the sword on her lap. And not comprehend. It felt surreal, holding it there. Very, very surreal.
Category:Season 3
Category:Events
Category:Mera Violet Haddock
Category:Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss
Category:BOTGD