Aftermath, and Of Things to Come

[Glenn]

Though none of them would openly admit it, many of the denizens of Myrken Wood woke up this morning rather surprised to find that their home was still there. It had been days of disaster, and without the usual grandstanding villain or monster taking credit and making threats.. and providing understanding. A few scant nights ago, the earth had quaked. Poison had seeped into the air. Fire had engulfed the streets. Despite this, the death toll was surprisingly low. The loss of homes and buildings was minimal. Brave souls had risen up. Frightened ones had banded together. Those with power had used it. Those without power found it in each other.

Whispers abounded. Half of the town thought that the dragon likely caused the conflagration. There was that incident in the Broken Dagger (that accursed hovel) not long ago and the remembrance of two years ago. A quarter, however, claimed to have seen it actually FIGHT the fire and conflicting stories arose (that last quarter, for what it worth, though the dragon caused it and then decided to fight it. They were a cynical, contrary lot, Myreknites). The new Marshall of the Militia and its old Captain, Renea and Agnieszka, were spotted shuffling people to safety and their take charge heroics did much for the former, herself a newcomer, in the eyes of the populace, not to mention establishing further credentials for the new Defense Committee (despite the fact that the two faces of it were both female. This was the land of Ariane Emory and Quincy Randall, of Khakila and Jirai, after all). Some even claimed to see the late former Councilor of Defense, who had, truthfully, been rumored to be appear on a constant basis since his downfall and death, and the new Governor storming off towards him with purpose. Just another disaster in Myrken Wood.

The gaol was no more. A few guards had been crushed or burnt, some dead, more injured, but the cost in human life was mainly in the form of prisoners: cutpurses, brigands, some tax dodgers, and more vile sort of criminal breed. Only a scant number of the prisoners had not turned up in the wreckage. Very few were LOOSE and as for the rest, the general thought was 'good riddance.'

And then, as the smoke cleared and the ash was swept away, as life started to make sense once more, the lake disappeared. It had been a blight, a toxic thing, poison in liquid form, but now it was simply gone. The Myrken people were used to fire and pain. New things, however, new things scared them, and this was certainly new and scary.

Morning came and with it the announcement, through posters and criers, that an official speech would take place around noontime in the marketplace. It had been years since such a proclamation had been made, truly since shortly after Cinnabar Calomel took office. Burnie's rise had been much less tumultuous and perhaps such a thing had not been necessary until now. Perhaps he was just too busy.

Regardless, noontime arrived, as it was want to do, and people gathered en masse in the marketplace, looking for answers, for reassurance, for an entertaining way to spend their lunchtime. Some just followed the crowd. Promptly and flanked by Constables and Rhaena Olwak (dressed in her elaborate and considerable gowns that she had been wearing since her return), Glenn Burnie, in his impressive earth-tone colored coat, walked up upon the makeshift stage. He took one lone, deep breath, and began the speech.

"I know you." The tone was confident, matter-of-fact, even as his eyes passed over the crowd, settling briefly on those of one onlooker or another. "Whether I've patronized your shops, met you at barn dances, lunched with you, or shared a room recuperating the Remedium with you, I know you. People go about their lives here. They keep their heads down. They survive. They don't ask questions. I did. I do. I will. I know you because I want to know you and I know you because I need to know you.

"Four years ago, Cinnabar Calomel stood before you as I am now. We were a people under siege. Burel," no titles for the Duke, just cold eyes and dark statements of truth, "had just taken our peaceable sister Derry and was having his way with her. The Dread Fiend rose in the north, doing quite nearly the same with your ancestors, forming his army of the dead. Calomel was a soldier, a fighter, a Constable. In the face of such threats, he was what Myrken needed.

"Now, for the sake of family, he has stepped aside. He was a good man who gave much for Myrken. For the last year and a half I was happy to serve in his stead unofficially, as I did, but our current need required the reorganization of the Council, and the Council, now restored, insisted I step forth into the role of Governor. It was not what I intended, but this is my home, and I would take go to any length to protect it." It was a statement that might have been hard to believe out of context, but he had made no grab at power for so long, and more so, his voice was full of emotion and his face young, clean-shaven, not innocent but certainly earnest.

"Things are different now. Burel's presence still threatens us, but the threats now are more insidious. A horde of the undead would be simple and direct to deal with relative to what we now face. It was a man who poisoned food supplies, who tainted the lake. It was a creature who caused the Earthquake, who affected the lake. There are monsters are all sort lurking in wait, drow and demons, dragons and wolves that walk like men. They are hiding and hunting. Planning and plotting.

"There are mysteries afoot, dark riddles that threaten our hearts and souls. In the face of enemies one could fight directly, Myrken needed Cinnabar Calomel. He was a shield between Myrken and its enemies. Today, the threats are different. Today, Myrken needs me. I will be its scalpel, cutting out its ailments. I will ask the questions that need asking. I will solve the riddles that need solving. I will bring light to the darkness of the unknown. And I will do this for you, because I care for you. I care for you because I know you, and since I know you, I know you are worth it. All of it, everything I can bring." And this was Burnie. Honest and confident, though hardly modest. As he knew them, they knew him. Not everyone personally, no, but more than one might think. He had started from NOTHING four and a half years ago and he had moved through so many different strata of society. The nobles knew him as a book procurer and mapmaker. The common whores knew him as a free drink and a smile. Many of the guilds and laborers knew him a benefactor, and many of the rest knew Rhaena as that if not Burnie himself.

"Everyday, you go forth in your lives. You live them to the fullest because you do not know what tomorrow may bring. You know how your parents died. You know how your older siblings died. And you know how fully they lived, and so you live for them, and you live for yourselves. When the fire coursed through the streets, you worked together, as we had PLANNED, and you fought it. When the monsters come, you and your brothers and your sons will fight join forth as a Militia and you will fight them. Myrken is no longer complacent. Myrken is no longer unprepared. Myrken is no longer to be taken unawares.

"We will not be ignorant of those that would prey upon us. We will not fear them. We will have ANSWERS for what plagues us. We will have solutions, not through magic and devilish compromises, but through human ingenuity, through our own labor and hard work, through faith in ourselves and in one another. Pity those who would see us as victims, as an opportunity. We are the SURVIVORS. We are Myrken, and we will answer for what has been done to us and we will be ready for all that will come next."

[Dulcie]

The innkeeper wouldn't have missed the Governor's speech for anything in the world, but the truth was she wouldn't be in the front row. She had instead chosen to stand somewhere near the back, a place where she could see how the rest of the crowd was reacting to what Glenn was saying.

The more he talked the more irritated the innkeeper seemed to get. They were friends weren't they? Hadn't he remembered all of their conversations? Heard anything that she had ever said to him? It certainly didn't seem that way. He talked about monsters and Myrken and she'd be muttering under her breath something about "monsters indeed..." It was the endless discussion about knowing the people of Myrken however that made Dulcie turn and work her way back out through the crowd. She had promised someone once that she would be careful about the questions that Glenn asked and now it seemed that she had perhaps failed in some of that promise. Everyone had a right to their secrets. Everyone.

She had been preached to enough and with slightly disconcerted expression on her face she'd finally emerge from the group of people to walk away from the crowd before Glenn had even finished speaking. She didn't need to hear the rest of it, there were words to be had with the new Governor, but this wasn't the time or the place.

[BetaFlame]

It had been a few days since the Glenn speech, that Aleksei had of course missed. But it really was not high on his list of important things. It was political to him, and politics were just not that amusing to his brain. Then again, people were not either. But people made Myrken go round, and if he was going to get anywhere, they would.. have to like him, even if they found him to be a bit strange.

So, it was a surprise when in the morning, the scholar was sitting outside his new home in the town, with piles of cut lumber. Nice lumber. The sort you used to build things meant to last. And he gave it away to the citizens that needed it, compliments of the Myrken government, specifically Glenn since he was Glenn's employee. Using the lumber he bought with Zilliah's gold to help rebuild the city in Glenn's name. That oughta chap the Fae's ass.

He also helped with problems getting things built. Applying a bit of physics to helping people move things that were too big to be easily moved. A book he had read once told him that he had to win hearts and minds to win people, so he tried. Myrken-folk seemed a proud lot, so he never offered advise, but when a few of the guards he was semi-friendly with asked him questions, before he knew what was going on, he was off in different places, helping to remove boulders with the Powers of Science. Most of it was all levers and force, but a few times he actually applied a bit of chemistry and made explosives to crack larger fallen rocks for people.

And that is how he spent the day. Helping people. He found it.. oddly satisfying.