Written Wonderland

The commander listened attentively to what Evan had to say, nodding slightly and looking down when Evan said he didn't know what the thralls meant to the goddess. Perhaps it was the terminology that caught her off guard--she hadn't fully understood how the attacked men could be here in body and there in... spirit simultaneously. She still couldn't quite grasp it. Perhaps there were more questions to ask Evan on that front, but she was aware that he might feel too backed into a corner at present to give her a straight response.

If the goddess hadn't let the Shel'ti go and they were missing or harmed, that certainly did not bode well. She didn't like where that was heading, but she supposed that they could do little else except wait for Evan to go to the goddess and find out.

Mizu was highly interested in what Serio had to say, uncertain where he was going at first but increasingly warming to the idea that Evan could offer more time to the goddess as a gift. The goddess had, after all, been interested in time with Evan in the first place. While that still struck Mizu as strange, there was no reason to assume that the goddess had changed her stance on that front. Why wouldn't she want more?

But, if something had gone wrong with the Shel'ti and Evan was unable to contact Ponderance... Mizu did not want to send the volunteers into an uncertain future if the release of the Shel'ti was not assured.

Then there was also the question of whether Evan wanted to spend more time with the goddess. The commander looked over the shorter captain thoroughly, noticing the way his body was strung like a taut bowstring and remembering the fervor in his voice when he thought the goddess might be in danger... it was not difficult to believe that he would personally like to be there with her for longer. But what of the risks? Twice now, he had come back injured. And what if Evan did not want to come back after an increased amount of time in the goddess' proximity?

She carefully chose her words, not wanting to question Evan's abilities in front of Serio but also not ready to send Captain Kade away. "If the goddess is well and the release of the Shel'ti is still assured, then I see no problem with Captain Rutliff having an extended absence." In her pause, she looked more directly at Evan, "Assuming, of course, that you would not be too disappointed to miss the festivities tomorrow."

The commander stopped to gage Evan's reaction, attempting to determine whether this was still a worthwhile line of thought. Regardless, she felt it pertinent to add, "If the goddess is seriously injured or the Shel'ti will not be released, then the arrangement is void anyway, and Evan can return in the morning as planned." There was still nothing to prevent the possibility that Evan might be harmed, especially if they would be counting on his absence to inform them what they should do, and that certainly made Mizu uneasy, but so far, this seemed like the best solution they had given the pieces in play.

Quietly, she added, "But, it would be of great comfort if you could communicate the situation to Ponderance regardless of what happens once you arrive."

Evan actually turned up a small smile--complete with a soft, airy chuckle--when Mizu referenced him missing the festivities. Not to make light of that, but, if that was the commander's largest concern, they were probably in a pretty good spot. Evan gave a sincere moment of thought to whether he would indeed be disappointed to miss the festivities. The answer came back as sure, obviously, but if he's missing it for the goddess? He couldn't imagine regretting it, even if a bit of envy did creep in.

Of course, that wasn't actually the largest concern. Evan sobered at the thought that the Shel'ti might not be with the goddess for some reason other than her prematurely releasing them. He hated the thought of his new agreement with the goddess being moot, and his fist re-tightened anxiously. Only one way to really find out, though.

"I can return whenever I need to, thanks to the talisman the old woman gave me." Evan stated, unsure if he'd mentioned that detail in the previous captains' meeting. He still had to think for a moment after that, though. It seemed like they were close to a resolution, but something was still not quite falling into place yet. He supposed he was anxious about what would happen if he couldn't contact Ponderance--nevermind how absurd that still sounded--if the goddess genuinely needed not to be alone. If their last resort was Evan having to leave the goddess in order to get her what she might need, that made him nervous.

"If I could bring one of the volunteers with me tonight--maybe it doesn't even matter if it's a volunteer. Then I could send them back with a report about the situation, in case Ponderance's toy doesn't work like we think." He'd intended to leave it at that, but then a follow-up thought hit him.

"Or, maybe now it makes sense for me to go ahead and try the toy, to see?" He couldn't help letting a bit of grumpiness into his tone at that, though he experienced it as defensiveness; as much as he certainly did want to see if the horse could somehow give him insight into the goddess' state like it seemed like it had for Ponderance, he was genuinely suggesting this now because it seemed like a reasonable next step, and he hoped Mizu wouldn't accuse him of some kind of convenience about it.

That Evan laughed at one of Mizu's statements helped her shoulders let go of some of their tension. The possibility of sending a messenger with Evan was an interesting idea, though when Evan followed it up with the suggestion that they test Ponderance's communication rune, the commander let out a small laugh of her own--more of a scoff, really, but the smile was there--to think that she had not considered that herself. Although, still, there was no guarantee that, even if it worked here in the human realm, it would work between here and the goddess' realm.

The commander nodded at Serio and gestured toward the toy, encouraging Evan to take it. They might startle Ponderance, but if he had tried to slip the runes past them, the commander determined it was more than fair.

((OOC: I think that rubbing a finger over the runes while thinking of what/who you'd want to contact will probably work. Mizu obviously knows how to do this and might offer help if Evan doesn't immediately figure it out.))

Evan's eyebrows raised slightly when Mizu laughed--it was too much of a surprise to spark anything else in him. His defensiveness was just starting to latch onto the action to take offense when Mizu nodded towards the toy in Serio's hand, and Evan forced himself to relax; whatever the laugh had been, it wasn't Mizu rejecting his idea, or accusing him of anything.

Serio smoothly opened his hand again and held the horse out to Evan. He was certainly curious to see how the younger captain would attempt to work it; he'd been subtly trying to feel out the toy, not trying to do anything with it per se, but just checking to see if he could notice any mechanisms, while holding it still in his hand. It was difficult to see past the feeling of the shimmer, though. On some level, he didn't really want to complain about that; even if it had obfuscated knowledge from him, the pleasantness of the sensation did a lot to make up for it. He was almost loathe to give it up, but of course would never let that show, not in present company.

Evan reached out to take the horse from Serio's open palm, and before he knew what was happening, he felt tears welling up in his eyes. A warm tingle danced up his arm, sort of like the feeling the goddess had conjured in him that first night when she tapped Xavier's fingers on the ground. It swam eagerly into his heart, and relaxed down into his belly. This wasn't just the excitement of a reciprocated crush, though; this was much, much bigger. Evan hastily wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, loathe to let any tears make it to his cheeks with Mizu and Serio watching. But holy hell, the feelings of success and victory and pride that flooded him now... Evan couldn't help looking to Serio with a question in his eyes, and Serio nodded gently in reply, sending a strange splash of kinship with the other captain through Evan's core. This toy really did have magic on it, though it just occurred to Evan that he didn't really understand how... he could guess it was likely the parlor trick Lance had mentioned, and Evan made note to try to remember to ask about that, but now didn't seem like the time.

With a deep breath, Evan refocused on the toy, and debated his next move. He wanted to try to use it to contact the goddess, and parts of his mind had already started trying to call up the sensation from when the goddess was with him in his body in hopes that the toy could somehow help him summon that link, but he cut it off, reminding himself that his task now was supposed to be contacting Ponderance. Now that he was here, actually ready to do it--or try to--Evan felt rather awkward about it, but he tightened his grip on the horse, determined to figure this out.

He figured the first thing to try was just... figuring out what he even wanted to have happen, exactly. This wasn't the goddess' realm, but with her magic all over this, maybe he could work this similarly to the way he'd summoned his new sword and the Underworld gates. He shivered a little as the sensation of that succulent against his leg crept into his awareness, but he hastily shooed it away--wouldn't do to be contacting an 11-year-old with thoughts of death and arousal. Evan frowned a bit, and tried to picture Ponderance. He was probably back in his tent by now, maybe playing with another toy horse, or maybe a toy soldier. Evan didn't really know what inside the tent looked like, but he hoped that wouldn't matter. What mattered was the boy, and the purple mist Evan imagined starting to waft around him, searching for an anchor point where it could resonate. Evan didn't feel ready to say anything aloud--hell, he supposed, he kind of hoped this might work entirely mentally--so he imagined himself gently whispering the boy's name, as if trying to get his attention without alerting others around them. After all, he wouldn't be especially keen on Yukiko somehow being the one to answer.

Serio watched Evan curiously, unsure what to think of the captain's stillness. His silver-blue eyes had been studying the horse in his hand, but slowly started to lose focus, and now were idle, like Evan's mind was elsewhere.

((OOC: So yeah, I guess Evan's gonna just stand there for a lil moment while he tries this approach, so uh, feel free to have Mizu grab his attention if/when she wants to lol.))

((OOC: nothing happens, but Mizu remains attentive.))

After a few moments, the mist was still swirling around Ponderance in Evan's mind, unable to find that anchor point he was hoping for. Maybe he needed to be more focused on the toy horse than the prince himself? The captain blinked and refocused his gaze on the horse, and started turning it over in his hand to get a look at the runes. He supposed Mizu suspected the boy had carved similar runes in another toy, so he focused hard on those runes now, running his thumb over them as his eyes followed to really get a feel for their shape. Finally, he decided that maybe it was too much to hope for that it all worked mentally; maybe it was more like the priestess' talisman than the goddess' realm. So, although he felt a bit awkward about this, he went ahead and spoke the prince's name aloud, his tone more or less conversational, if a tad puzzled.

"Ponderance?"

Having walked back to the tent where they were holding him without event, Ponderance sat down in a way that betrayed he was still more agitated that usual. He felt discomfited to have lost the toy, though he knew he would have to give it to someone to give to the goddess eventually. But, still.

The boy sat playing with another carved toy, this one a rough wooden sketch of a falcon, and traced his fingers over the runes he had carved there. He was accustomed, by this point, to feeling lonely, but he didn't usually need to rely on others to get things done. It was an uncomfortable sensation.

The captain taking care of him continued her mending, and after a while, Ponderance finally looked up at her and asked, "Do you think they will give it to her?" But, before the captain could respond, the sound of Captain Rutliff's voice, quiet and confused, came through the falcon.

"Ponderance?" The boy, startled, jumped up and dropped the falcon to the ground at first, then quickly picked it up and had the irrational inclination to try to hide the toy, but there was no way Yukiko hadn't heard it. And there was little hope that she would think it had come from somewhere else. He supposed he could just refuse to respond, but he wasn't sure what that would prove.

After a moment, he held out the falcon to Yukiko and said simply, "It's for you." He hoped she would understand that he meant this specific communication and not the falcon itself, but he figured he could worry about that later when it was relevant.

Yukiko was also a touch startled at the sound of Evan's voice in the tent, cutting off her intention to answer the prince's question. She initially looked over towards the entrance, but then looked to Ponderance when she realized he'd dropped a toy. She blinked at the boy with a slowly-curling smile as she watched him consider what to do, and she put together what apparently happened, though it seemed outstanding. It was all she could do to keep from laughing when the boy held his toy out to her, clearly not wanting to talk to Evan. Understandable, frankly.

Yukiko set aside her mending and accepted the falcon from Ponderance with a gracious nod.

"This is Captain Fujiwara." Yukiko said, doing her best to muster her captain voice over the amusement that wanted to escape; a glimmer of it cascaded through despite her effort. She blinked at the falcon as she held it in front of her, watching it gleefully as though it might spring to life at any moment. "Ponderance just handed me a wooden falcon."

Evan grimaced to hear Yukiko's voice answer back. He guessed he could understand the kid not really wanting to talk anymore, though. Ugh. The captain blinked up to Mizu, a bit of astonishment in his expression that this worked, but then he decided that he should go ahead and give Yukiko--and, more importantly really, Ponderance--a little more context.

"I'm going to take the horse to the goddess." he said matter-of-factly, his hand gripping the horse a little tensely. "I'll need to use it to report in tonight. We don't want to send the volunteers into an unknown situation, if she's truly injured, and I might end up staying through the day."

Yukiko nodded, though realized quickly that Evan probably couldn't see the gesture. Just as well, since she also had her amusement plastered all over her face as she continued blinking giddily at the falcon.

"Understood." she replied after a beat, and shifted her gaze to Ponderance, her eyebrows raising in a light question: anything he wanted to say?

Ponderance blinked a few times when Yukiko looked at him, his body a little more relaxed at the thought of the horse making it to the goddess, but he wasn't thrilled that they had learned about what he had tried to do and now planned to make use of it themselves. While it seemed like Yukiko wanted Ponderance to talk, Ponderance took the opportunity to gently take custody of the falcon. He quickly rubbed the runes to stop the communication and then sat down on the ground. He should be grateful that he would probably get to talk to the goddess, but things were complicated now, and he half expected Yukiko--not to mention the commander--getting upset at him about it. He almost didn't want it to work anymore. But then no one would get what they wanted.

Well, whatever happened, he didn't plan to let anyone take the falcon from him.

--

Once it was clear the communication line had ended, the commander let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, somewhat impressed that Evan managed to figure it out on his own without instruction. Mizu wasn't sure she would have been able to do the same without Phantom's guidance.

Giving all these matters a few moments of thought, the commander said, "It works." There was not surprise in her voice, and she hoped that Evan now understood why Mizu had been skeptical of Ponderance's intentions. He hadn't, after all, disclosed what the horse was for.

"Still, there's no guarantee that it will work in the goddess' realm. If we move forward with this plan and we don't hear from Evan, it may be best to wait on sending the volunteers." Looking at Evan more directly, she added, "I want to hear from you one way or another before you spend another day and night with her."

But, if he couldn't offer her an extra day, would they still need some kind of a gift? Hard to say. Then again, if the goddess was injured, perhaps she wouldn't be in any state to appreciate whatever else they might give her. The commander was curious, though, what Serio had on his mind and looked at him to see if he had anything to offer the situation.

Yukiko was surprised when Ponderance took the falcon from her. She considered scolding him, but decided against it. He was clearly feeling protective of the toy, and she supposed that made sense, if it was meant to be a way--the only way, outside of incidents like that morning--for Ponderance to talk to his mother. Yukiko was glad they were sending the horse, even if the boy had clearly been a bit duplicitous about it. She wished he hadn't felt the need to be, but that was a longer project still. Ultimately, the captain returned to her mending, humming a soft tune as she did so.

---

Evan blinked back up to Mizu, unsure if he should say anything else. Before he had a chance to even try to read her expression, though, something about the toy drew his attention back: the runes, which had started glowing when Evan ran his fingers over them, were back to just normal wood. He raised his eyebrow slightly, just in time for Mizu to speak.

He supposed she had a point that there was no guarantee magic in this realm would work in the goddess', which tugged at his frown. He nodded to acknowledge her instruction, but he didn't like it.

"Then, I'd still like to bring someone with me."

Serio spoke up, not hastily, but promptly. "How sure are you that the goddess would let you send them back?"

Evan breathed through the frustration and indignance that the question coiled in his chest. He knew it was a fair question, beneath the exasperation he felt about it.

"Reasonably... though I can't say I'm certain. But, I mean, worst-case, she would allow me to come back, since nothing's changed that agreement. And given that... I don't see why she'd rather keep someone who doesn't want to stay there yet."

Serio nodded thoughtfully, appreciating something in Evan's reply. He brought his knuckle up to his chin again, contemplating something a moment longer before returning his gaze to Evan.

"Unfortunately, we won't know what sort of situation you're walking into until after you get there... is risking another soldier's life worth making sure the goddess has company for a few hours?"

There was that condescension. Evan narrowed his eyes, feeling thoroughly accused of something--either selfishness or stupidity, if he had to guess--even if the spymaster had managed to keep his tone perfectly fucking business-like.

"I don't know!" Evan replied harshly, though he tried to keep the anger in his voice contained. "I already said, I have no fucking clue how concerned to be." He huffed after that, aware that a curse word had gotten through and regretting it. Cursing at Serio always felt like he'd already lost whatever was happening. Ugh. Evan looked to Mizu, and gave a tense, exasperated sort of shrug. He drew in a breath to say something to her, but Serio cut him off.

"Commander," the darker-skinned captain said calmly, "I'm back to thinking the next step is to ask the crone about this matter. She'll need to be updated about the plans for the ceremony anyway, and may have more insight on what Ponderance said than any of us can hope to."

At first Evan was irritated to be cut off, but he realized as Serio spoke that it was possible that the spymaster's previous question had been more genuine than he'd given it credit for. Embarrassment warmed Evan's cheeks, but he looked hopefully to Mizu, nodding subtly to indicate that he agreed that talking to the crone might be a good idea.