Dawning Skye

413 The Celestial Key

Skye walked at a steady pace with her arm looped through her brother-in-law’s. They talked about how he had proposed to Shasta, but left the full story for her to tell. Lawrence lit up any time he said her name, and couldn’t stop smiling as they went.

Even Maevis and Nicolas found his mannerisms cute; it was easy to tell how in love he was with Shasta. A sadness twinged Maevis’ heart, but she wouldn’t let it show. She was genuinely happy for Lawrence and Shasta, and relieved that they wouldn’t have to face the crucifixion of Alcon’s court..

When Tiberius had been a young prince, he saw a lord ridiculed and tortured out of the kingdom. He had fallen in love with a beast woman similar to Shasta, and was first ran out of court when he had presented her as his fiancé. The lord found his business burned down, and his home vandalized within a week.

The child of the lord was a friend of Tiberius’ before she had moved away with her father to Ruscovic. They weren’t as tolerant as they were now, but human-Fae relations were accepted as long as the man had children. He was still wealthy, so they overlooked the fact that his only child was a daughter.

Tiberius never wanted to put Maevis through anything close to that, so they had kept their affair secret at first. When he became betrothed, they broke off their affair so his future wife wouldn’t be worried. Or worse: tell the court about them.

Maevis always wondered what her life would’ve been like, had she and Tiberius run off to Ruscovic together. She had never told anyone, but Tiberius had offered to abandon his crown to be with her. Maevis had ultimately refused to go, convincing him to stay for the sake of his people.

It had always been her biggest regret, and lamented it every time she got too heavy into her drink. Not even Nicolas knew the full truth of it, but had suspected that something along those lines had happened. Since she refused to talk, all he could do was console her whenever she cried..

Nicolas could feel an uneasiness coming from Maevis as they flew, but had to focus on the conversation that they were going to have with Skye. She had already learned of the Northern Star being in the Sync Kingdom, but they hadn’t gotten to Who had it yet..

They had been waiting for Skye in her room when she and Peggy had come in before the meeting. She and Tidas were both still dressed in their armor, and she was ready to get into a comfortable dress. Since she was in a rush, Maevis followed her into the bathroom, and had mostly filled her in on what they’d learned from the Fae Kingdom.

.....

The Celestial Key, or Northern Star as Nicolas called it; had made it’s way to Sync’s King. The man was known to have three traits, and was the closest rival to Skye in terms of power. While she may have an extra trait on him, his power source may make Skye’s endless healing ability obsolete..

If the Sync King was using the Celestial Key, and tapping into the Source of All Magic, then he potentially had access to unlimited power. The Ethereal Spear was connected to the traits that used negative energy, while the Celestial Key connected to the positive. Unlike Richard: the Sync King may have stayed normal.

According to the reports from the Fae Kingdom via the Brownie Spy Network, he was human in most ways. His Tank trait was overwhelmingly overpowered, but it still didn’t take much away from his speed. Shasta may retain her title, but Maevis and Nicolas weren’t sure if Zas would retain his if he ever went one-on-one against the Sync King.

Aside from his strength, one other thing bothered the Fae Kingdom about Sync’s King: how he had obtained the thrown. The true heir was the Queen, but the King ran everything. The only time anyone heard anything about the Sync Queen was when she gave birth.

The population was always on the verge of starvation due to the king’s restrictions. Due to constant flooding, they barely had any sustainable farms that weren’t centered around rice or fish. The majority of harvested crops were sent to the capital to be distributed, and everyone was given just enough to survive.

By keeping his people poor, uneducated, and boarderline-starving; the Sync King was able to work them into early graves. Procreation laws were put in place, and demanded that every woman birth three children by the age of twenty-five. Women died from childbirth often due to poor sanitation and nutrition.

The Fae had tried to gather more information, but it was nearly impossible just to get reports out of Sync’s Royal Palace. Nearly the entire kingdom was flooded, and it seemed like as soon as they entered the kingdom: they were found.

Celestia had postulated that a Water mage could be tapped into the flood, and using it like a security system. Detecting anyone who entered the kingdom. But for them to be able to monitor the every boarder would require a vast number of Water mages, or a few extremely powerful ones.

The Fae were currently testing to see if they could monitor the Sync Kingdom with Tamers, but it would be a few months before they found out if itcc be would work or not. They had initially tried deer and rabbits, to be inconspicuous, but the animals were caught, killed, and devoured before they could complete their missions.

They were currently attempting to spy with birds since they could land on trees and such. The brownie spies were restricted to the palace as to avoid detection, but they needed information on the kingdom itself. The tests, then the actual spying would take a bit of time while they found native birds to tame and established routines, so as not to draw attention.

The Fae had been spying on the humans since before the Great Shift, so they knew how to go about it without getting caught. It just took time, preparations, and a wee bit of luck. If they could just figure out how to get in undetected, then the Fae would have a chance at stealing the Celestial Key from the King.

The brownie spies would have to take it while the king bathed, since he always kept it on his person. The only time he took it off was to get clean, and even then: not always. His bathroom was completely sealed and inspected regularly, so they couldn’t take it without having an escape plan.

The Sync King only bathed in the daytime as well, so an extraction by air was out of the question. The only way to steal the Northern Star back was to get is while he was in a bath, and to leave the palace on foot. If they could make it to the swamp forest on the other side of the palace wall, then they could get the stone to the bird, and it could fly back to the Fae.

It would take careful coordination and a vetted plan, but it was possible. Since Skye was the Catalyst, and the only one powerful enough to stand against Sync’s King, they had originally planned on asking for her help.. ‘Until Genie ruined it..’

Nicolas sighed heavily as the thought crossed his mind. Genie was known even to the Fae, and one of the few humans in the world that had seen the Fae Kingdom, and lived. He had been tasked with finding a plant that only grew on the southern continent.

It had been known as the ‘Beast Continent’ for a long time by the residents of the Star Continent. But Sai, the Highlanders, and the Fire Nation had always recognized it as the Fae Nation. The Sync Kingdom silently acknowledged their name and existence so they could ‘hide their future gold mine’.

The Sync King had openly discussed plans with his advisors about invading the Fae Nation ‘once this Alcon business was dealt with’. Being allied with Alcon, Nicolas had flown back at Titania’s behest to warn Magnus. They planned to work together against Sync, regardless of how unfazed Marco was by it all.

‘Why would he act like it doesn’t affect him? It impacts his future rein, so how can the Crowned Prince be so blasé about this?!’

As Nicolas mulled over the thought, Maevis had been focused on Skye and Lawrence’s discussion. It was all about Shasta and the wedding, and how Karena was making her want to run away. She and Shasta had never gotten along, so Magnus insisting on her being a bridesmaid had infuriated her to no end.

Skye was trying to console him when Lawrence asked pitifully; “Can you be the go-between for those two? My Father won’t listen to Shasta about the wedding, but he will listen to you over Karena. Please, Skye? I’m desperate! Do you know what Bakenekos do when they’re over-stressed?!”

Seeing her shake her head in the negative, Lawrence added; “They shed, Skye. A lot.. Everything I own has a layer of fur on it! And don’t get me started on the hair balls I’ve found.. Please?! Please, please, please help us?!”

The look on Lawrence’s face made Skye want to hug him, and laugh at him at the same time. He hadn’t told Shasta about how upset he was because he didn’t want to add to her stress, so here he was: begging her for help..

Skye grinned broadly at him as they reached her hallway; “Ye had me at please, brother. I’ll put Mrs. Priss in her place, don’t cha worry at all..”

Lawrence sighed in relief as his sister-in-law smiled with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Skye seemed the same, but different to him. He knew from experience that seeing war changed a person, no matter their opinion beforehand.

As she opened the door to her quarters and was greeted by Peggy, Lawrence wondered what Skye planned to say or do to Karena to get her to back off. The change in her gnawed at the back of his mind as he bid her and the others farewell, then went off in search of his family. As the King of Ruscovic walked down the hall back the way he had came, he almost ran straight into the Highlander King.

He and Wallace had made a wrong turn, and had been wandering through the palace since they’d left the meeting earlier. The two kings smiled and greeted each other politely, then Lawrence offered to escort them back to their designated quarters.

As they walked, Murdoc explained that Petrie and Amara had ditched them when he had wanted to circle back and eavesdrop, but they had gotten turned around somehow along the way. Lawrence laughed hard, and told them that he had done the same thing when Marco had ditched him.

Upon mentioning the Crowned Prince’s name, Murdoc and Wallace stopped, and shared a hesitant look between themselves. After a short nod was exchanged, Murdoc turned towards Lawrence with a confident smile, and asked; “So which brother will ye back when yer da passes, and all hell breaks loose?”

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