Fell Champions

Somewhere, someone was playing a fiddle, and while the music was a little angrier than what Otter liked, she figured she could dance to it. The beach was filled with cliques of politicians and soldiers, all keeping to their own groups, and not enjoying what was supposed to be a festivity, and while Otter was a stranger to Silayan custom, it kind of pissed her off. 

Otter hadn’t known Juala. Hadn’t much cared for her when she was alive. But whatever she’d been, she deserved better than this.

So Otter threw herself into her dancing, and the angry tempo of the music was matched by her movements, thrashing her arms and her head and her hips, stamping her feet into the sand and making every gesture violent. 

She hadn’t been able to do this in so long. Not since her diagnosis, and she hadn’t had an opportunity since coming to the world of Fell. She’d never been a big dancer before. She’d gone to the odd club, but at her core, she was a gamer. She liked being indoors and playing the latest release, or grinding on an old RPG.

But despite that, she missed this, this very simple thing. Not because it’d been a part of her, but because it’d been denied to her through the machinations of fate. 

There was a fight on the horizon. She could feel it in the thrum throughout her body due to her Fate Sense. Something was coming, and soon, and she just couldn’t care in that moment. 

She was having fun. An angry, defiant kind of fun, one that was a giant middle finger to the body she’d left behind in the old world, but fun nonetheless. 

She didn’t know when Vex joined her, but was grateful for the partner. They were both uncoordinated messes that probably looked like a pair of thrashing limbs, and neither of them gave a shit. They danced and they laughed and when the song ended, they screamed at the skies, both in anger and in joy. 

Otter caught the eye of the fiddler some distance away, who gave her a knowing smile and then made a gesture indicating he was taking a break at the bar. She tipped an imaginary hat to him, and inwardly hoped he’d be back soon.

“Have you seen Mama?” Vex asked.

“Yep. We were doing adult stuff.”

Vex rolled her eyes. “I know. I could feel it. You two really need to figure out how to block things from being transmitted through the link.”

“How would we even test for that? We fuck in one room, while you’re in another, and we shout if you can feel it every time I thrust into her?”

Vex turned a furious shade of red. “You know, most parents wouldn’t be having this kind of conversation with their daughter.”

“No point in trying to hide it, you already know what we get up to, and probably feel that I don’t think we get up to nearly enough. Aren’t you supposed to be watching Leilynn?”

Vex pointed off to the side, and Otter followed her gesture. Leilynn had apparently pulled up a chair to sit nearby and was reading a book. She gave a soft wave.

“Really? You’re reading a book?” Otter asked.

“It’s a good book.” She brought it in closer to her face.

Oh, Otter knew that look. That was the look of someone caught reading something in public they shouldn’t be. It was porn. Had to be. 

Otter nudged Vex towards Leilynn and whispered, “You should ask her what she’s reading.”

Vex gave her a confused look that quickly turned to terror as she realized Otter was trying to wingman for her. 

“I don’t even know her,” she hissed.

“That’s the point of asking. Go figure it out. Can’t fight fate.”

“You literally use fate as a weapon!”

“Exactly, and everyone always loses to me, it’s a quantifiable fact.”

“You lose all the time!”

Otter scoffed, even if there was some truth to that. She gave Vex a quick head ruffle, and then headed into the crowd of people and got to the boring work of politics. 

She approached people, seemingly at random, and struck up conversations. They were always short and brief, but people seemed eager to want to know who she was, where she came from, what her connection was to Rua and how they’d met. For her part, Otter stuck to Rua’s boring cover story of being a refugee who’d fled the Islands as a child to the Jiridion Belt, and then when trying to come back had been shipwrecked on Ashborne’s Island. 

People wanted to know why Rua was following Kir about. Otter wanted to obscure the truth, to hide the fact that Kir held her against her will with her Pact. But Otter had no way of knowing if word hadn’t already gotten out, if this was a test, or if someone out there had a Pact that would let them ferret out the truth much like Rua’s. Lying would only blow up in her face.

So she went with the truth. She very candidly admitted what Kir had done, and that it was an escalation of hostilities, but that it was still the position of Seat Hyleah that peace could be maintained. That Rua would be returned to her home, and that no amount of military grandstanding would help the matter. 

Otter had over a dozen such conversations. She felt out of her depth, lost in a sea she had no idea how to swim. All she had was her genuine belief that conflict didn’t have to come. She hoped she didn’t come off as a naive child, and had no idea if she made a difference in anyone’s opinions.

Every time she felt like giving up, she spotted Sureya across the way, chatting with a group of her followers and peons. The same people every time. She had no desire to interact with anyone else. She’d made up her mind, and was openly egging on conflict from what little Otter managed to tease out of others. Seeing that smug bitch playing games because she was afraid of anything ‘other,’ anything resembling a change to her status quo, just spurred Otter on all the more. 

She talked for what felt like two hours with an endless stream of strangers, and when she was done, all she wanted to do was go back to angry dancing, and really focus on the anger. The fiddler was back to playing, but now his song was more sad and beautiful, and that wasn’t what she was feeling. 

It deflated her a little, and she took it as a sign to take a break. As if on cue, Sami was at her side, two drinks ready. 

Otter took hers gratefully and sipped at it. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t think any of us do,” Sami admitted. “We’re not familiar with the setting, the people. And events have already begun. Our enemies, if they even are our enemies, have a headstart. Probably years in the making.”

“So, what? We just sit back, see what happens?”

“Absolutely not. What do your instincts tell you?”

“That this feels like a Red Wedding waiting to happen.” She paused, and then felt the thrumming of her Fate Sense. It urged at her, teasing danger. “My Pact agrees, I think.”

“So do I. We’re too late to influence things with words. But when whoever chooses to act with force first, whether it be Kirhaela or Sureya, we’ll be ready to act. And that’s where we excel.”

“Think that’s why no one’s having fun? They’re all anticipating a fight?”

“Hmm. Likely. But I do feel my original guess was correct as well. This is also an insult to Juala’s memory. Regardless, we’ve done all we can until things escalate. Except… one thing.”

“One thing?”

“A few things.” Sami shifted uncomfortably. “I want to give control of the clan to you.”

Otter snorted. “That sounds like a dumb idea.”

“I’m your protector. I can’t be both that, and your leader. And I no longer trust myself in the role. Everett is levelheaded, but is also too softhearted to lead. Vex is too inexperienced and from what I can tell, too insecure, and Rua is currently compromised. It has to be you. There is no other choice.”

“You know how dumb this is, right? Remember that time I tried to roll my gaming chair to the kitchen because I was too lazy to get up to make myself a sandwich?”

“Yes, Everett finding you at the bottom of the stairwell was clipped and posted all over Reddit, as I recall.”

“See? I’m clearly not smart enough to be leader.”

“We both know you did that to farm engagement on your stream. It was tactical idiocy.”

“But still idiocy!”

“Point. But it’s either you or me, and I trust you more right now.”

“But I don’t wanna.”

“There’s also the tactical aspect. Whoever the clan leader is shares a stat bonus with the clan equal to ten percent of their primary. You said you had seventy Will.”

“Seventy-one and a half. For some dumbass reason.”

“It doesn’t matter. The amount is the same regardless. Everyone else in the clan would get seven extra points in Will, and considering I think you’re the only one who’s seriously invested in it, that’d be a large boon.”

“Not true, I’m pretty sure Vex has a lot more Will than me.”

“I’m not putting her in charge,” Sami said. “From everything you’d told me about her, and from what I’ve read of her personality, she’s probably the worst person for the position. Not to denigrate her ability, but she’s essentially a child.”

“That’s probably fair. Ugh, fine, let’s do this, what tab do I have to–”

Sami made a gesture, and a window popped up in front of Otter’s face. It was a Clan tab for the menu system, and stated she was now the proud owner of the clan ‘Pledge.’ Ugh, their old name, kind of cringe. She immediately fiddled with the settings and changed that.

“‘Fable?’” Sami said, aghast. “Really? You know how these people feel about stories.”

“Eh, fuck ‘em. It’s why I picked it. Otherwise I’d have named it ‘Cock’ or something, but Silayans are all sluts, they’d probably approve.”

“I thought you hated that word.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean it in a demeaning way. I wholeheartedly approve of their sluttery. Okay, let’s see, how do I invite…” She trailed off, playing with the menu prompts. 

The clan already recognized herself, Everett, and Sami as members. All she had to do was invite Vex and Rua, and they’d be all set. But Vex was busy with Leilynn, and Rua was still moping. Better to leave their invites for later.

“Oh, I might also have made a mistake with Kir,” Sami said.

Otter’s gaze snapped right at Sami. “What did you do?”

“I decided to challenge her to a duel. We didn’t actually fight. But… well, before I went in, I was immune to her Pact. Now I’m not.”

“We had a plan!”

“And we still do. But I didn’t want to put it all on Everett. He’s… he’s not like us, Otter. He can kill in self-defense, but to deliberately go out and seek to harm someone? I don’t think he has it in him.”

“Yeah, he’s kind of a marshmallow. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it? What does that mean?”

“Hey, wait, where did you get a katana? How long have you had that thing?”

Sami shifted uncomfortably, and ran a hand along the hilt. “My… Pact evolved. And I crafted it.”

“You have a crafting skill? Oh, that is so cool.” Something brought Otter up short, and she peered intently at Sami’s expressionless face. “Wait, why did you hesitate?”

“I needed metal to do it. And I had some laying around, and used it.” Sami fidgeted. A small movement, but for anyone else, it was basically a screaming confession. “I found it somewhere.”

“Where did you find it, goof?”

“On an island, on our way here.”

Something in Otter’s hackles raised up. 

Sami continued, “It… there’d been a fire. And something on the island was setting my Pact off. So we investigated. And I found a shard of metal, and when I touched it, it talked to me.”

“Son of a… we’ve played D&D! What’s the first rule of items that talk to you!”

Sami sighed. “Don’t engage.”

“Don’t fucking engage! Intelligent items are bad news! It’s the stupid Vexurian, isn’t it?”

A pause. “Yes.”

“Son of a… she still mad I pitched her away? Like a smart person?”

“Most definitely.”

“Okay, well, throw it into the ocean, right now.”

“No.”

That brought up Otter short. That one word was spoken with firm resolve. “Why not?”

“Because it’s regrowing. And she’s angry. And I know I can’t control her, but I do know she’s eventually going to turn into a force to be reckoned with. And I’d rather she be somewhere I can keep an eye on her than watching my back for the rest of our lives.”

Otter sighed. This was exactly why she didn’t want to be leader. She wasn’t made for these kinds of decisions. And what Sami was saying was making sense. She didn’t like second guessing people she trusted. Plus, the sword was probably super sweet or something. 

“Fine! But the second she gets uppity, or it looks like you’re not in control, I’m tossing it into the hottest forge fire I can find. Or better yet, a volcano.”

“No, you won’t. Because I’ll do it myself first.”

Otter was about to make some wise crack about ‘firsts’, but something else caught her attention. A disturbance in the crowd. People were shying away from something, and there was a general rumble going through everyone. 

Sami noticed it, too. Her hand went to her sword, her stupid intelligent sword, and she positioned herself between Otter and whatever the commotion was. 

“Think we’re finally getting to the fun part of the funeral?” Otter asked.

A sound came from Sami, something very much like a snarl. Her sword slowly rasped from its sheath. 

“Uh, Sami?”

Sami took one step forward, and Otter had to put a hand on her shoulder to bring her up short. 

“What’s the matter? We fighting someone already? Who is…” she trailed off as the crowd parted, and Otter saw the source of Sami’s ire. She should have figured. Only one person could piss her off that much.

Il-Su, Bringer of the Long Quiet.

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