The Keep, Ebon Askavi, Kaeleer, Monday Evening (Fandom Time)

[glacial_witch]

The last time Karla had been here, she'd been incredibly nervous about how that evening would turn out and affect her future. Standing in the Keep tonight with a crowd of people around her--some of them almost complete strangers--made her almost laugh at how naive her fear had been the last time.

Her Offering was nothing. This was the completely

Comments

Post-Ceremony

[glacial_witch]

More food and receptions and...

Well, probably yelling.

Re: Post-Ceremony

[glacial_witch]

"So much can change over the next year," Karla said. "I could change. We're facing a war and then, if we win, a life as a Territory Queen as an untried girl surrounded by landens and outsiders."

Still worried about failure, yup.

"I just want you to have the chance to say no if you want it. Even if you think you won't need it. Even if you know you won't. I just want you to have the choice."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[trigons_child]

Raven squeezed Karla's hands, sending her a pulse of comfort and love. "You are not an untried girl," she said. "You have been tested many times before this, by Kaeleer and Fandom and the worlds of our friends, and you have survived and grown. And we would not all be here if we did not believe so much in you. I will accept this one year limit if that is what you need, but I will tell you, now or a year from now, my answer will still be the same. My place is at your side, and I will serve."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[glacial_witch]

Best friends were best.

"I--you're right," Karla said, nodding. "It is for me. I want to know that you're staying with me as a choice next year, after everything, not because you've already agreed."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[trigons_child]

"Then a year from now, I expect a different ceremony," Raven said.

She wouldn't even complain about the blood.

Well, maybe a little.

Re: Post-Ceremony

[glacial_witch]

Maybe Fandom would oblige and turn Raven into a vampire again right before hand?

Either way, it was only a sip. Come on.

"Next year, you'll have any contract you want," Karla promised solemnly. "You can help Lord Mallory write it up if you want."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[trigons_child]

Don't even think that, Karla! Azar!

Raven leaned in and gave Karla a kiss on the cheek. "I will hold you to that," she said. "As I said, you are stuck with me."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[glacial_witch]

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to be grateful that I have wonderful friends, shouldn't I?" Karla teased. "I promise, I'm not trying to get rid of you."

She squeezed Raven's hand. "That's the last thing I could want to do."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[apocalipped]

Jono had stepped out for a few minutes in order to make heads-or-tails of his new jewelry. It had been fairly straightforward, really, and so long as he didn't think about it, it wasn't too weird.

Now, newly Ringed, he was back in amongst the crowd. More or less. He'd staked out a corner, accepted the first alcoholic drink he was offered, and was going over maps with a snoozing kitten in his lap.

He'd spent the weekend grieving. Now was time for business. And answering the occasional drunk text from April.

Re: Post-Ceremony

[trigons_child]

Raven had been a little avoidy of Jono earlier on, since she'd sensed there was something bothering him and she didn't want to intrude. But after the ceremony she made her way over to him.

"Hello, Jono," she said, smiling. "How are you? I hope I am not interrupting."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[apocalipped]

"I'm fairly interruptable," Jono replied, offering Raven a little smile. "Going over maps of the roadways in Sidra, right now. Picking over back alleys... places to made quick escapes to, if need be. I have the feeling that it might come in useful in short order."

He could be paranoid, but all things considered...

"That was... quite the ceremony, hm?"

Re: Post-Ceremony

[trigons_child]

"It was not entirely what I expected," Raven admitted, glancing Karla's way. "Though I am certainly not the only one to feel that way. Did she discuss it with you beforehand?"

She caught sight of the kitten in his lap and smiled again. "I am glad Joni could come to see it."

Re: Post-Ceremony

[apocalipped]

Comfort Kitten Joni cracked open one eye sleepily, and then plunked her face back down in Jono's lap to go back to sleep while Jono reached down to scratch behind one ear.

"She's been good company lately," he replied. "And... no, Karla really didn't discuss any of it with me before the fact. You are talking about the one-year contracts, I'll assume?"

Re: Post-Ceremony

[trigons_child]

"Yes," Raven confirmed. "I have spoken to her and I understand her reasoning, even if I do not entirely agree, but I wish she would have told us about it in advance."

It had also been a little startling to hear Karla use her mother's surname with her own, since she'd abandoned that years ago after giving up the pretense of being a normal girl at Fandom. At least she hadn't used her father's. Raven the Terrible probably wouldn't have gone over too well.

Re: Post-Ceremony

[apocalipped]

"A little warning probably would've been appreciated by at least a few people," Jono agreed, giving a bit of a slow, thoughtful nod. "I don't know if I ought to be bothered by the year or not, though. I mean... signing another contract in a year's time, provided I live that long, should be simple enough."

War. They were walking into war, and she was offering them all an out, if perhaps it dragged on longer than was necessary.

Re: Post-Ceremony

[trigons_child]

"You certainly will if I have anything to say about it," Raven said gently. "You are a member of Karla's Court, and I am the Court Healer. Your health is now my official business."

Not that she needed the excuse. But she wouldn't let the power go to her head.

Which brought her to.... "There is something else troubling you," she said. "Or is it something you do not wish to discuss?"