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thoughtfullyrainynightmare · 2 years

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Chapter 32 of BWHI: The Council, the Queen, and one other person have an unofficial discussion revolving the situation with Clover. And Solara and Fuegoleon talk about wedding plans.

A/N: Hello~

I took my sweet time with this chapter, because some thinking was in order. And in case you're wondering about the discussion about mana and cantamnar, I'd like to refer to chapter 52 of Embers of Sun and Flame, where Mereo ponders about teyus.

Tag list: @succulentsunrise @loosesodamarble

Keeping in mind that this series contains themes and topics some may find uncomfortable. Thus, reader discretion is advice, but individual chapters will be tagged for possibly triggering topics.

Length: ~4.35k

Chapter 32: Parlour tricks

There was chatter in the room, near arguments, but not quite. None had yet been tipped over the edge, even if the air was strained and tense; as if lying under a thick veil of fog that kept lowering, and lowering, and lowering with each passing second.

But the Queen, sat in her chair, contemplating. Her tea cup, from which steam rose at a steady pace, as if a grey, thin stream, danced; disturbed only by the air moving in the room. And her eyes, they were to the distance, in the very sense of her being immersed into her thoughts. She was in the room, as much as everyone else was. But the swaying sea of contemplation, was everchanging.

It wasn’t exactly a meeting she was having with the Council, because what they were discussing had to do with her meddling. The meddling that never took place. Not that she’d admit it. To anyone outside at least.

They’re not pleased with my choice to aid Clover, which was for selfish reasons. Just because I needed to have a hand in play, and even with that, it wasn’t solved. Lucifero’s presence is yet to leave this world. She let her eyelids fall for a moment in a soundless sigh. But. They lived. And that’s a victory on its own.

“[Need I remind you, that the situation with putting an alliance on a standstill raises questions],” spoke the stern voice of Lord Aisenmite, after having entered a conversation with Lady Bestia who was rolling her eyes at him.

“[The only good thing is that we didn’t need to record everything, because we weren’t officially striving forward with relations, which-]“

“[Which is why we don’t need to go into details,]” she spoke over him. “[They don’t need to know about Projection.]” She was waving her hand in front of her face, as if trying to dismiss the entire conversation. “[And besides, would you rather have not had Queen Anima interfere and risk the devils pouring in?]”

“[There was a risk regardless,]” Lord Aisenmite argued. “[And why are you suddenly so partial for Projection? You seemed indifferent before this?]” He raised an eyebrow, huffing out in frustration.

“[Just because I didn’t scream out my opinion?]” She asked with a slight roll of her eyes; how many times she had done so already, she wasn’t sure. Too often regardless. “[You ought to know Jord, just because I’m quiet, doesn’t mean that I don’t see and think about things.]”

Jord placed his hand in front of his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. And Fera, she smiled in victory.

“[Wasn’t the standstill due to the Wizard King?]” Lady Machina noted, standing with her hands behind her back, in good posture and holding her head high. “[In which case it is more pressing to observe his actions and movements prior to moving forward.]”

The Queen, her eyes having scanned around the room ever since Jord’s and Fera’s almost-fight, woke her from her thoughts.

“[That is correct, which is why I requested Lidre Curiosi to… observe the Wizard King’s movements, as well as gain an understanding on how Clover functions during a crisis such as this. It is useful information, for our own sake, as well as explaining to our other allies that Clover is not a threat,]” she nodded, looking at Lady Machina, who nodded in return.

“[Only that he seems to have gone missing,]” Lady Caedis concluded with crossed arms, standing in the corner of the room. “[It hardly puts him in presentable light.]”

The Queen stayed quiet for a while, and none other was quite sure if they ought to speak up. Or if they had anything to say.

“[My sister thinks it has to do with the bound fates,]” she finally stated; her eyes closing in a slow blink for a few seconds. “[It is a strange connection.]”

“[This Clover Kingdom seems to be filled with strange connections and phenomenon,]” Lady Machina continued, thinking out loud more than anything.

“[They’d probably say the same about us,]” Fera noted, taking out her nail file and sitting onto the couch.

“[If I may ask, what exactly are you referring with ‘filled with strange connections and phenomenon’?]” Lord Vortex inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

“[Well,]” Lady Machina begun, glancing at Lidre Curiosi, who sat on the couch with legs crossed, hands on their laps, holding a tea cup; but a mask still over their mouth. “[I was asked to conduct an assessment on the boy who seems to be in the centre of a lot of unusual events in Clover. The one who seems to rile up amazement about having no mana-]”

“[You seem to imply that it’d be strange to have no mana,]” Jord scoffed, flailing his hand by his side with a grand motion.

“[Have you met this boy in question?]”

“[No.]”

“[Then you would have, at least according to Lidre Curiosi, which I can’t confirm because, as you know, I have no mana, would know, that people have a sense of… there’s a presence that they have. Or so you tell me. That they feel more of their presence than something that is inanimate-]“

“[That which the … Dark Magic user captain calls as ki?]” Fera asked, quirking an eyebrow as her hands stopped filing her nail.

“[How do you know about something like that?]” Lord Vortex inquired.

“[Heard as you were chatting with Fulgor here,]” she replied while placing her hand onto Lidre Curiosi’s shoulder, which made their eyes turn to her with a scowl. “[Ah, right right, sorry about that,]” she continued while lifting her hand.

“[No, not quite,]” Lady Machina continued. “[I had to look into this concept a bit too, due to Fulgor’s initial assessment. But this concept known as ki isn’t reliant on mana, while sensing this ‘presence’ still is.]”

“[So what are you implying, hm?]” Jord asked. “[That teyus would suddenly have magic? Don’t be ridiculous…]”

“[I am neither of those things,]” she glared at him. “[Teyus are magicless, and will stay as such. But.]” She halted, as if to think how to explain her thoughts. “[You all know how your respective bloodlines can eventually grow to bear only teyus. Because of mana deflation,]” she paused again, wondering if she should say what she was about to say. “[But that deflation doesn’t completely destroy your cantamnar. The reason why CaBi works, is because it mimics the process, which would be natural, and forces it to occur within one person in a minimal timespan. It makes your cantamnar shrivel into a state where mana can’t run through them to an extent that would be expected from a mayu. But the remnants of those structures stay there. They can’t be used, or ‘fixed’ to be used, to carry out spells. But there is a… an echo of mana, similar to dormant mana of dungeons. And it’s that ‘echo’ that you sense as the presence of a person, which is separate from ki.]”

Everyone else stayed quiet in the room, their muscles tensing up at the mention of CaBi, but simultaneously understanding why Xylenna brough it up.

“[It’s like gouging your bones into nothing but thin shells of what they used to be, up to the point where you can’t walk or move around-]”

“[We get it,]” Celeste noted, placing her hand slightly in front of herself with a frown and closed eyes.

Xylenna paused, taking a moment to reformulate her train of thought, while giving a nod, meant as an apology, towards Celeste. “[But the structure stays in there. And when you say that teyus have no mana at all, you are mostly correct. Because the echo isn’t distinguishable as mana due to its faintness. It’s more of a presence, but there’s also no reason to classify is further according to the understanding of modern medicine. Which is why classifying people into no-mana-holding teyus, and mana holding mayus, works in everyday language.]”

There was brief silence, during which people waited her to state the conclusion, just to be sure.

“[So…?]” Jord uttered, looking at Lady Machina.

“[So,]” she looked at him. “[The boy ‘with no mana’ has no cantamnar. Just as this… Wizard King, who seems to hold two souls within himself, if the Queen’s sister’s speculation due to fate winding and tying is correct; is an anomaly. They’re strange occurrences.]”

“[Fate winding?]” Lady Caedis inquired.

“[And the bells,]” Queen Anima nodded.

“[The-, bells…?]” Jord asked.

“[Yes, the bells,]” spoke a voice at the doorway, which made each of them turn around. “[I hope you don’t mind, Cel-, I mean… the young Lidre Curiosi asked me to explain in their stead because the point in time has passed,]” she spoke looking at Fulgor, who nodded to her.

The woman, who had dark blue hair which faded into lavender at the tips, tied as braids and collected into a bun behind her head, walked into the room. Her eyes were light sea green, but flickered with a pink hue as the light hit them in a certain light.

“[My name is Akari, and I’m the daughter of Mr. Calypso. I have had the…]” she paused as her eyes turned to the floor, framed by a delicate smile that rose to her lips as her train of thought found its way to someone. “[Pleasure of being romanced by young Lidre Curiosi… And there are some things that perhaps, you, too, ought to know about their practices, in the light of the recent events.]”

“[Then why isn’t Fulgor telling us about it?]” Jord asked, pointing to Lidre Curiosi, who cast a glare to him.

“[Because of … the sound waves of their voices. And I take it that you’d rather hear from it, than try to keep up with other methods of communication,]” she explained.

“[They could write it down,]” Jord scoffed.

“[Are there no beliefs or practices in your family that you would rather keep from being written?]”

That question, Jord decided not to answer, which in itself, was an answer to her. And the rest of them.

Fulgor turned their eyes back to Akari, giving her another nod.

And she nodded back. “[So… you do know that the Curiosi are private when it comes to speaking out, unless it’s the time of the year where the ripples are significantly lesser in number, this of course is also the time when no portals to other planes can be opened, because the balance is at its strongest. Of course, they could just not speak, but it makes things a lot more... fluent, with a lot of people. And most choose to upkeep their talent of producing spoken language during this time period. Because it is a talent to speak eloquently,]” she smiled. “[But not speaking, and thus creating vibrations, sound waves of their own, it allows them to better concentrate to those around them. And because there are so many around, it can get confusing, especially if you’re producing more into it,]” she explained.

Fulgor nodded, parting their mask to take a sip of their tea.

“[But the reason why it revolves around the calendar, and planarly balance is something that I… haven’t understood,]” she admitted with a glance to the floor. “[Though from what I gathered, it’s not exactly self-explanatory to the Curiosi either.]”

Fulgor nodded.

“[How I understood it, is that if there is a shift, or a change in the way the Strings are winding, due to… anything, really, as what’s apparently happening now, it sounds in some places, and to certain people and beings, as a bell. And the sound is a wave, a ripple, or a ‘micae’ in the cluster of sounds and waves. To some it’s more like a white noise, a disruption in the flow of the world. And their mana, due to the Divine Evaluation, has a connection to other planarly mana, which I’ve understood, isn’t specifically tied to one plane necessarily, but whatever flows between those planes. So, the not speaking and creating disruptions also has to do with the idea of learning self-restraint, which will be useful while using mana later on and… And now I’m rambling,]” she let out an awkward laugh, and scratched her cheek with the index finger of her left hand.

“[And that sound of a bell is concerning, because it’s a sign of the fate being altered,]” the Queen specified. “[The Old Fate is… as always, but the fates are changing.]”

“[Then wouldn’t it be better to forfeit the alliance?]” Lord Vortex asked, strain lacing his tone.

“[It’s not about the alliance,]” the Queen shook her head. “[These events would play out regardless, and the reasoning of the devils crossing over to here, unless stopped before they manage to manifest fully, still stands. So, this doesn’t affect it, and the bell has been ringing for a long time. Although it’s been subtle for decades. So, very subtle it has been almost impossible to hear…]” Her gaze was directed back to the floor, even if those around her couldn’t tell, because her eyes, stayed as they always were.

“[Meaning that it’s better to keep an eye on the events?]” Jord asked with a scowl. He did not like the situation. And he would have preferred to stay out of it all, but if he had learned anything during his days in the service, it was that there was a difference between staying out of something, and turning one’s back, as if a target, ready to be shot. “[I still think that we should never have started this…]”

“[I understand your feelings Jord, I do not like this any more than you do…]” Lord Vortex sighed with crossed arms. “[But if… even with the Queen’s influence Lucifero’s presence still lingers, I fear to think what would have happened without it…]”

Lord Aisenmite’s frown only grew, but he chose to stay quiet. Okay… So, he’s growing to be more… lenient with this too… Though there *is* a point with the outcome being worse had the Queen not interfered… And there *is* a chance that the darkness and the devils would spread here eventually… Or would have, had the battle ended worse than it did. They’re slim chances, but they’re not necessarily chances that we can afford to take… I… don’t like this. Holy fuck I don’t like this… It would have been better for us to just close our borders and-, … No… Yeah, that would have been the nicer option, but… as the Queen said, the outcome would have been worse if we hadn’t interfered. There was too much to chew, and right now, everything seemed so overwhelming that it was better to take a step back. And besides, if even Lord Vortex was coming around with the alliance, then he had a poor footing.

“[I have a… Well, I like to think of them as a friend, but perhaps an acquaintance would be more fitting, who has been around for longer than I have, who might have an idea,]” Asgareia uttered, thinking back to days of the past, when she had a chance to hear from a mage beyond the sea. Another Queen, who was familiar with the Old Fate.

---

“Are you thinking heliotropes or roses for the wedding? Which would be better?”

“Your choice love.”

“Hair up, or down?”

“Your choice love.”

“Garter on right or left leg?”

“…Both? But it’s your choice love.”

“Ball gown or mermaid?”

“Surprise me. And it’s your choice love.”

Solara turned around, crossing her arms and looking at Fuego, sitting in his chair with a book in hand and a drink on the side table. There was a smirk on his lips, and had she had to guess, he wasn’t paying proper attention to the book from his amusement.

“You know… You’re not being very helpful,” teased with half of a sigh, while making her way toward him.

“I just think you’re stressing too much dear,” he smiled, still gazing down to the book.

“I’m stressing too much?” She grinned, stopping before him. “I’m stressing about as much as you usually stress.”

“Hmm…” he hummed, closing the book and placing it onto the table before leaning back in his seat. “A little bit more, I’d say. But fair enough.”

“Oh? And why aren’t you stressing about this? It’s a big event. And it’s … I’m the foreigner here. Meaning that I’m supposed to present myself in ‘properly’. What they might want from me is lost from me, and it doesn’t necessarily depend on what I do, if they just-, whoa!”

He scooped her onto his lap, quick as a cat. Or a lion. And nuzzled into the crook of her neck.

“Fue?!”

“Yes, my love?” He chuckled against her skin, giving her head a nudge with his own.

“Why are you not stressing about this?” She asked again, trying to turn her head to him as much as she could.

“Well…” he uttered, lifting her legs so that they dangled over the arm rest, and looked at her. “It’s because the most important detail about the day is already decided.”

“Hm?” She quirked an eyebrow at him, and tried to contain the smirk that was trying to rise to her lips as she gazed that of his. “Which is?”

“Who I’ll marry,” he grinned, placing a kiss onto the tip of her nose. “I can’t wait for you to meet my wife…” he whispered and pressed his forehead against hers.

There was a brief moment of silence as Solara didn’t know what to think; what to say. Instead, she just smiled. At the words, the act, the little kiss onto the tip of the nose, which was usually hers to give, not his. Though, perhaps it was about time for them to, even if for this one time, switch roles.

“I don’t know how you do that….” She uttered with a whisper, as if she was afraid of the moment breaking, when she spoke. It was as if she was afraid the words meaning something less than they did, if she didn’t speak them out like a secret that was supposed to stay hidden from everything that existed outside of the room.

“Do what?” He asked, pulling back just enough to brush away a lock of her hair and look at her. His gaze cascaded over her, shifting between her lips and her eyes, and thinking… thinking about how his future was right there.

“Make it… seem like everything will be alright. Calm me like that, or … talk sense into me,” she uttered, averting her eyes as if feeling a tingle of guilt.

His smile widened, and warmth circled in his chest, as if a flutter. Of butterfly wings or fire, he wasn’t sure which, but it was a soft, gentle sensation that stroked his pride in a way nothing else could. And yet, he had to attempt to joke: “Well… there was one time when I didn’t succeed in… talking you out of a … strike.”

A laugh erupted from her, one that was bubbly and felt as if her stress, anxiety and troubles fading into the air around them. “That swing was perfectly called for!” She protested with a smirk. “And I don’t recall you trying very hard, in the moment,” she grinned.

He shook his head with the prevailing smile, closing his eyes in a slow blink. “I suppose I didn’t,” he only stated.

“Mhm,” she hummed while cupping his face in her hands. “And I don’t blame you.”

“I’m not surprised,” he teased, taking a hold of her left hand and bringing it to his lips. “We both know that you can be ferocious.” He said, the words drizzling onto her skin before he pressed a kiss onto it.

“I am not-“

He quirked an eyebrow, while keeping his chin lowered, his lips still hovering over her hand.

“Alright…” she sighed, giving in. “I know when to yield, and who to yield for.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call this ‘yielding’. More as a… self-acknowledgement…” he uttered, regaining his posture, but still wearing a smile and a glint in the corner of his eye.

“Mhm,” she hummed with amusement, leaning closer. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

“Isn’t the time for that a bit later on?” She purred, biting her lip.

“Perhaps I am eager… And perhaps it is my wish to do it properly, once the time comes,” he suggested, the syllables tumbling from his tongue with a decadent undertone that made his lips look as if coated with a blessed elixir of the high heavens.

“Mhm,” she mused with the very same purr as a moment before.

“As said, I can’t wait for you to meet my wife. She is smart, resilient, beautiful, kind and strong… And [I love her],” he smiled, leaning closer to her. Little by little, anticipation building inside of him as if a burning fire that licked his bones, whispering into his ear about how he could… Because he did. He could just steal a kiss, or two, even though it wouldn’t count as stealing, not really anyways.

But he did want to steal a few kisses from his wife.

“And I can’t wait to meet my husband… Who is intelligent, diligent, handsome, gentle, loving, passionate, brave and strong,” she pressed a kiss onto the tip of his nose, beating him to the stolen kiss. “And I love him.”

A pleased hum flowed out of him with a pause, as if an amused, content huff. After which he stole a kiss of his own with a quick peck onto her lips. And the laugh, the faint giggle that left her as a result, made his heart skip a beat, yet again, for the millionth time since they met. Which he hoped, somewhere in the back of his head without a word, that it wouldn’t be the last. It was a thought so faint that it wasn’t conscious, but still lingered; and for which none could blame him, none the heard the silent whisper, if there was any to listen. Because so many times, the twists and turns, had made him afraid of losing her; that the last time he’d see her smile, or hear her laugh, would have passed already.

But now, all those thoughts merely existed somewhere, in the back of his head, without a sound or a conscious thought. Because the future seemed bright. Not without trouble, because such fallacy only existed in books, but bright nonetheless. He dared to hope and dream; dream the dream that was right at his fingertips.

“You’re right,” Solara finally concluded. “But I think I still need make a ‘statement’, so to say… Especially, to make it easier for you with the whole ‘having to court me’ thing,” she mused to herself.

He chuckled, shaking his head again. “There is no need to worry love. That matter is under control.”

“Good to know, then it’s only about how Augustus comes along with King Anima,” she thought out loud.

There was a pause, during which the smile on Fuegoleon’s face slowly faded, and a frown took its place. “King… Anima?”

“Mhm,” she nodded. “The Queen can’t travel, so, at times, the King attends functions on her behalf. Which isn’t favoured due to him being a teyu, and generally speaking him… not being as involved in politics as one might image. Or so I think. As in, he does know his way around it, but details aren’t as clear. But then again, if there is a need, he can always just drop the ‘I need to ask my wife’ card.”

Fue blinked. “I… wasn’t aware that the King will be attending.”

“Oh? Wasn’t it a plan to invite all relevant parties from Thea? I thought that the Queen and King would have been on that list?”

“Well-, yes… But-, um…”

A laugh flowed out of her, circling around them in the air, until she settled down. “Oh, don’t worry love. The king is easy going. The only ‘difficulty’ I could imagine there being is how Cloverians receive a teyu as a king.”

“That certainly is a …” He trailed off, wondering how he could explain it to people.

“If you want, I can request a bit of… parlour tricks on his part?”

“Parlour tricks?”

“Well, you see, most countries don’t take well to a ‘weak’, magicless king. But since he is a king, that combination makes him rather susceptible to attacks and other harm. Which is why he most often wears artifacts or jewellery with magical components that allow the mana of the surroundings to be mirrored from him. Similar as to mayus shutting off their mana intake.”

“Meaning that he can appear as a mage?”

“Exactly, but of course the downside is that it’d be… well, a kind of a lie, I suppose. Because even if we never claimed him to be a mayu, he’d be presenting himself as such.”

“Would he follow such a request?”

“Chances are that he’d be presenting himself in such a light in any case, because… the outside world rarely is kind to those with low mana. Which is again why he rarely represents the Queen.”

“I see,” he uttered. “I’ll think about it for a while and let you know.”

“Mhm, and I’ll think about what to do to make people notice me.” She hummed, looking at the ceiling.

“You’re the bride,” he chuckled. “You’ll be noticed.”

“In a good way,” she mused.

“In the best of ways, no matter what,” he smiled.

“Look who’s talking,” she grinned.

“Hmm… My wife is also modest…”

“Not quite wife.”

“Almost wife.”

“You never give up, do you?”

“No. You should know by now love,” he whispered before leaning close, and sealing the testimony. For now. And waited to seal it with another one, before signing an official document for it, which he’d proudly do. It’d be one of his proudest days in the near future, he was sure of it.

And he could be sure of it, because he was the king among lions; he, if anyone, knew what being proud meant.

#before we have it #fuegoleon x solara #fuelara #black clover fanfiction #oc: solara equinox

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