eachdraidh | memory + video // open to both courts

[Video of the memory here.]

[The memory opens in an empty throne room, dusty with disuse, with the light filtering through a stained glass window illuminating a young woman on the throne. To anyone who's seen her before Elincia is easily recognizable, though her face is softer and younger.

Ike's voice, too, is a little younger:] "What's wrong? Everyone's waiting. Is it okay if they don't even see your shadow?"

[Elincia answers without looking up.] "I'm nervous. My existence has been hidden ever since I was born. I never received the education of one who would be responsible for a country. Is it all right for someone like me to be crowned? The people, will they recognize me?"

"What's this foolishness?"

"But Lord Ike, I..."

"If that's so, then... did you receive an education on how to hire us mercenaries?"

"Huh? That's--"

"Or an education about how to gather your scattered retainers, or take back your lost country?"

"But that and this are--"

"They're not different."

[The view shifts as Ike kneels with one gauntleted hand braced on his leg, looking up at Elincia's anxious face from below.]

"Up until now, haven't you done wonderfully? And from here on out as well, you'll be able to make it work."

"... Yes."

"Well then, let's go. Everyone's waiting. If you're uncomfortable alone, let's go together."

[Ike rises again, extending his hand. After a moment's hesitation Elincia accepts and he pulls her up towards him, her weight slight. The memory lingers on her warm smile as she clasps his hand in both of hers.]

"Thank you, Lord Ike. It was truly wonderful to have been able to meet you."

[The only answer he gives is taking her hand firmly again as they turn to walk together towards the light of an entranceway. The decorative mirrors in the hall catch his reflection briefly, showing a young man barely taller than Elincia and considerably smaller in stature than the Ike anyone in the Drabwurld has spoken to.]

[Sometime later, Ike's usual vaguely frowning face will appear in the locket:]

Hm. Another one of these. Um... Sorry.

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[Ike's expression thoughtful for a few seconds; pinning down the voice without an image to go with it is kind of tricky, but understanding dawns after a moment.]

Nico. Are you okay?

[He feels like he's been asking that a little often lately, but between the memories and mounting tensions it's been rough on everyone.]

Yeah, she is.

[He's quiet for a moment. He's not sure how much trust to put into Ike right now. Sure, the man's someone Elincia trusts completely, but he himself isn't so sure. Though, something about Ike reminds him of Jason, and it's pretty annoying.]

Could be better, but I'm fine.

[It's a lie, and one that even a toddler can see through, but he doesn't care at the moment.]

That explains some things about her mannerisms. I'm guessing she didn't want anybody knowing she's queen, though?

Alright. I'm here if you feel like talking.

[It's easy enough to tell that Nico's lying, but he guesses that it means he doesn't want to talk about it. Ike nods understanding and lets it rest for the moment.]

She didn't tell me that she was keeping it a secret, but I'm guessing she didn't see a need to announce it either. Maybe she wanted people to treat her normally.

[But yes, it definitely does explain her mannerisms. So, so many of them.]

She never did manage to shake all those fancy manners, though.

[He appreciates that Ike doesn't pry.]

Probably because she wasn't sure who to trust here with that knowledge.

[The son of Hades shakes his head ruefully.]

In all honesty, she's a lot more polite than most politicians I've seen, alive or otherwise.

[King Minos, for example. And Lycaeon for another. Those guys were dicks.]

I never found being dead improved their manners any, either.

[He remembers that from Nico's memory--hide among the dead. He wonder how literal that was.]

Maybe it's because she wasn't raised to take the throne. She's a lot more honest than most politicians, too.

Tell me about it. I can point to more than a few royals who only got worse in death than when they were alive.

[If only Ike knew....

Nico blinks at this.]

She wasn't?

I guess once they're dead they didn't see any reason to start behaving.

[Ike hesitates as if mentally double-checking that he's said something he shouldn't, but he supposes it was more or less in the memory after all so he nods.]

Her uncle was supposed to be crowned. Hm... I can't picture Elincia being rude or cutthroat even if she had been raised to be the queen, though.

[Nico snorts, though it's of amusement.]

Many were sent to the Fields of Punishment, if not Tartarus or cursed by one god or another.

[If Ike seems alright with talking about dead people, and Greek/Roman mythology, then perhaps this will be a faster friendship than Nico thinks.]

I can't, either, unless she'd been spoiled rotten. Even then...it's hard to imagine her ever being mean.

Fields of Punishment? I suppose it'd be too obvious to ask what that is. How about Tartarus?

[He cocks his head, his expression curious. He hasn't tired yet of hearing people talk about their worlds, and the subject seems relatively a safe one.]

Even harder for me to imagine. I don't think I've seen it happen once in all the time I've known her, no matter how justified it would have been.

[The closest he's seen her get to 'mean' is 'fair.']

[Ah, Tartarus. A tough topic for him after being there for himself. He takes a breath.]

It's like high security prison. It's the place where all monsters go after they die, and then get reborn to find a way into the mortal world. Not only that, but its the physical body of the primordial god by the same name. Just like how Gaea, the Earth Mother, has the whole earth as her body. Or Ouranos, the primordial deity of the sky, had his body as the sky.

[Yeah, the past tense for Ouranos is intentional.]

She must be an amazing ruler, then. It's hard not to see her as being beloved by her people.

The whole earth or the sky? How could you even fight something that big? --And what happens if you defeat it?

[It doesn't even occur to him that it's by no means normal to assume that gods are things to think of in terms of assessing them for battle. Although the past tense for Ouranos there is a little leading.]

She is. By everyone with any sense, anyway. [Politicians are firmly excluded from this.]

[Ironically, it's a good thing to think of when it comes to Gaea and Ouranos.]

Normally, we don't have to. They're so powerful and huge that they sleep. In our world, according to prophecy, seven demigods are destined to stop Gaea's wakening. When she wakes up completely, she'll destroy all life and the gods. The gods of Olympus aren't stellar, but they have the capacity to change, for better or worse, and they like mortals. Enough to sometimes fall in love and have children with them. They also need heroes, the demigods, to help them get the changes they need, even if they don't like the changes.

[Ike can probably hear the frown in Nico's voice as he answers that last question.]

Gaea's body and essence is our planet, so we can't defeat her completely. I think destroying her would just destroy ourselves. So, the ideal thing to do is to put her back to sleep. Otherwise, it's not safe to be on the earth's surface. It's why one of the seven, a son of the god of blacksmiths and fire, built a ship that can travel by both sea and air, and why a son of Poseidon, god of the oceans, and a son of Jupiter, Roman god of the sky and storms, are on the quest.

Hm. Fighting gods is always more of a pain than it needs to be, sounds like.

[He's really glad he just had the one. He folds his arms over his chest and nods, trying to take all that in. Some of it fits neatly enough into the framework he already has for the world]

So... There are gods of Olympus, demigod heroes, and primordial gods like the earth. And monsters, which get reborn. And you have seven demigods trying to put the earth back to sleep. Did I get all that right?

[What he's really getting out of this is that they have an awfully lot of gods. It's really not surprising that it sounds like so much trouble.]

Comes with the territory, I think. They've lived for over 3000 years in our world.

[Nico nods, a little pleased.]

Exactly. There are also tons of minor gods and goddesses as well as spirits. I think the only other thing I haven't mentioned are Gaea's first batch of children, the Titans.

Huh. It all sounds a lot more complicated than it needs to be. I think I'm glad our goddesses didn't run around making more of themselves.

[That many groups sounded like a headache if everyone split off into different factions.]

So the Titans would be on Gaea's side?

[Another nod.]

They would, though we haven't had to deal with them on the mortal world since the Titan War a little less than a year ago. I'm personally counting my blessings on that score. I wouldn't want to have to deal with Titans and Giants.

memory + video // open to both courts

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