Rebuilding Sandcastles

[Kender Bard]

Cascata stood on the docks (what remained of them) of Ronduin, watching as people labored to sort out the wreckage that was Rivenway. Villarain wasn't in much better shape, but she knew that it was important to get Rivenway on its feet first. More people had lost homes here.

It'd been dicey and uncertain, living displaced. They'd lost a depressing amount of people, despite some forewarning and her best efforts to see everyone to safety. Her fingertips went to the holy symbol of Worg that someone had managed to procure for her, at her request. It hung around her neck now; Worg had saved her people, providing force-sent shelter and food until they could wait out the demon habitation. She wasn't sure why or where the demons had gone to. All that mattered for now was that their homeland was free of them, to all appearances.

They'd need materials soon. She was already trying to sort out who would go where to plead for aid. But for now, they had materials enough in the form of destroyed homes. Tiakara and whatever smaller demons had accompanied her had made a mess of the place. So the first task was to begin setting up crude shelters for everyone. Any building that could hold people safely was now packed as full as possible. Everything else was being torn down and sorted out. Even as people labored to drag wood and stone to deposits on the edge of the island, people were putting together very rough, crude shelters out of those materials. Small, ugly blocky homes where each domocile shared a wall with the one next to it--but it'd hold people. And space was still as precious as it was before.

Still more people were trying to get food for everyone. The waters were far emptier than they were before. No doubt the demons had feasted on the bountiful sealife here. What food was gathered would have to be carefully rationed.

One hand went to Cascata's brow as she sighed. "What a mess," she murmured for not the first time.

[Devon]

"You and dad thought my room was messy too," Lucid said jokingly to his mother as he walked up to her. He and his father had been hard at work with cleaning and generally supporting Cascata through all of this.

Kalian wasn't far behind his son, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder. "It'll take some time, but we'll get there and at least we don't have to worry about demons coming back.

[Kender Bard]

Cascata reached up to touch Kalian's hand, drawing comfort from his presence. "We don't know that, Kalian. They're gone, but they could come back. I'm not even all that certain why they've gone... Or if they have. For all I know, they're here hiding. But those concerns aside for the moment, we need help from the other nations. But who can I send? Just because the demons have withdrawn from here, doesn't mean they don't roam in strength elsewhere. I would need to send a small party of well-armed people just to be safe, but I need such people here. And I cannot go myself."

[Devon]

"I could go mother," Lucid said speaking up. Kalian paused and looked over at his son, "If the demons are still roaming out there it'd be dangerous."

"That is if they are still roaming and we don't have much choice in healthy people who can go off and do this. Besides it would help having the son of Ronduin's leader asking for assistance. Mother, father I can do this," Lucid pleaded.

He was older now and he had grown up strong. Most young men his age were already working anyway, it was time for Lucid to do more on his own.

[Kender Bard]

Cascata shook her head. "No, Lucid, you can't possibly expect me to risk your life so carelessly." She reached out to try and pull him into a hug. "You're far too precious to me. It might be selfish to ask such a task of another when I can't expect you to do the same, but it's a selfishness I'll cling to."

[Devon]

Lucid would never deny his mother an embrace, even if he disagreed with her. He gave her a tight hug, not enough to hurt her, but so she could feel the difference between him as a boy and Lucid as he was now.

"Mother I wouldn't be alone and I'm strong enough to handle this," he began. "I'm not a child anymore and if I ever want to follow in your footsteps, then I have to start walking on my own," he said letting her go. "I'll always be your son, but I have to be a man too."


Kalian was silent, he'd wait to hear his son and his wife out before he spoke up on the matter.

[Kender Bard]

Cascata sighed heavily, one hand going to stroke his cheek, her eyes full of worry. "It seems unfair of me that you choose now, of all times, to begin making that stand in defiance of my wishes, Lucid," she told him. "How can I rule here in peace knowing you're in danger? Alone or not, I can barely stand the thought." She turned her pleading expression on to Kalian. "You agree, don't you?"

[Devon]

Kalian looked away for a second before answering, "Yes and no," he said. "Lucid definitely has bad timing with this, but I understand where he is coming from. He isn't a child and we can't treat him like one forever, I'm just not sure this is the time to test that."

"Give me a chance," Lucid pleaded to his parents. "I want to be of help and I'm capable enough to handle this," he said.

[Kender Bard]

"I don't like it," Cascata said, making a low, unhappy sound in her throat. "If you absolutely must, then I make the decisions on who goes with you." And it would most certainly be the most capable men she could muster up.

[Devon]

"Of course mother," Lucid said giving her a hug. He was more than a little excited to get the chance to travel abroad, but he didn't want to show it just yet.

[Kender Bard]

Cascata hugged him back, tightly, and was reluctant to let go, however furious she was as well. But she did let go and ordered him off. Once he'd gone, she looked at Kalian with something akin to despair in her eyes. "I don't think I could survive it if anything happened to him," she told her lover.

[Devon]

Kalian smiled softly, doing his best to remain strong so she could draw from his strength. Kissing her forehead lightly he said, "He will be fine, look whose son he is. We'll gather the strongest we have and won't send them too far away. Talen'sul would probably be the best place to go."

[Kender Bard]

Cascata's expression was bleak. "I suppose. Sensatia is closer, but they lack the materials we're seeking. Although if he were to go to Sensatia, he could seek safer passage to Talen'sul with the help of a Mind."

[Devon]

Kalian nodded, thinking on it. "You're smarter than I lover, a Mind helping him would enable him to get there and back here faster. Not sure what he had in mind for his journey, but this is whats best for him."

[Kender Bard]

Yes... Sensatia wasn't so very far. And though it was dangerous, if she sent enough well-armed men with him, surely he could make that distance safely? And then once in the protective arms of Sensatia, he would be safer still.

"That's what we'll do then," Cascata agreed, her resolve firming. "But once this task of his is done, we need to keep him in check until things grow safe again." And she needed to have a long talk with her son about the meaning of being a leader, if he wished to follow in her footsteps. She knew his wanderlust well. Hadn't she done the same thing in her youth?