by SunnyJustice » Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:04 pm
[Thank you for posting! I was waiting for someone so I wouldn't double-post.]
"It is always a glorious day when young Mogadorians receive their First Blood."
Apart from the sound of Icaron's voice, the cafeteria was, for once, completely silent. No Mogadorian's attention was anywhere but on the stage, where Icaron looked out from the podium, with Rori in a chair by his side. Though he hated to disturb her rest, everyone on board was here, and he needed her. Icaron seemed to stand taller in her presence, as if they both possessed their combined strength. To his left stood the five girls, about to become women.
Icaron looked out at the crowd, regarding the sea of black hair and intent faces. It was finally time.
"The Girl Scouts have killed the first Loric insurgent, a Cepan," Icaron announced. Immediately, the room erupted in violent cheering. Icaron waved his hand after a few seconds, silencing his people instantly.
"Through their courage and their perseverance," Icaron continued, his voice resonating throughout the room, "we are one major step closer to our inevitable success. Janice, Katharine, Blair, Lanette, and Acacia have proved themselves valuable to the Mogadorian cause, and shall no longer be known as girls nor as scouts."
The silence was overwhelming as the rite of passage truly began to commence. From the far left of the stage, five of Icaron's most esteemed ship crew entered with the weapons. Mogadorian weaponry could be so ethereal, it was just as magical as the Legacies of the Garde.
Ondine Malaya was first to enter, with a long red-hilted sword that shimmered as if from heat. She lay it in Janice's hands and walked on, disappearing off the stage from the right staircase. Wayne Malaya followed once she had gone; he was of lower rank than Ondine, and as the custom for Mogadorians went, the lesser partner had taken his superior wife's last name upon their marriage. The weapon he presented Katharine was a broadsword with an earthy brown hilt, and the metal of the blade was evidently strong enough to split stone. When he, too, had left, Brock Kale approached his older sister with an almost invisibly-sharp rapier. The elegant sword tapered to the finest of points, and its hilt appeared to change colours in the light, as a cloud did under the sun's rays. Brock may have been a bully to the others in his scout team, but now his eyes held nothing but awe and reverence. Blair was the only one of the five who broke her straight face and gave him a smile, sending the boy scurrying off with a wide-eyed backwards glance. Maria Lane took her place; Maria was a somewhat-irritable woman who had managed to whip Cameron into shape. The soldier handed Lanette a shortsword that gleamed stunningly, and though its blade did not move, it created the illusion of constantly flowing like a river of silver. The hilt rippled in one's eye likewise, though its colour was a deep blue. She left without a word, like the others had done.
The final arrival was Gary Matthias. He bore not a sword but a spear, one made from the darkest and strongest mahogany. The point was deadly sharp yet somehow less intimidating this way, and if one was at a distance, frost appeared to cover the pale yet faintly lustrous blade. After he gave it to Acacia, Icaron gestured to him. Gary joined his older brother at the podium and flashed his wide smile at the crowd.
"We decided to give this team some symbolic weapons," Gary explained. "Janice, the fiery leader and now General, is represented by fire, Katharine by earth -- strange we have adapted to call the element earth now -- Blair by air, pardon my poetry, and our lovely Lanette by water." He was about to speak again when a voice called out from below.
"What about Acacia?"
"Ah, I was getting to that!" replied Gary with a chuckle. "Acacia Matthias, the element of ice. Cold and sharp, deadly yet protective. Almost takes after her father, don't you think? Let's hear it for the Girl Scouts; they earned their final badge today!" The cheer went up as Gary exited the stage on the right.
As Icaron cleared his throat, the silence resumed. "No longer are these five the Girl Scouts. Starting today, they will be known as true women, and General Janice shall lead her soldiers to fight along their brethren. General, name your Lieutenant."
"My Lieutenant," the new General spoke without hesitation, "is Katharine."
Without further ado, Icaron continued. "General Janice, Lieutenant Katharine, and their soldiers Blair, Lanette, and Acacia have proven themselves worthy of the Mogadorian name. We receive them tonight as full members of our ranks, and they shall take up their weapons to join our fight. And how do we fight?"
The crowd responded with furious conviction, "as one!"
"How will we defeat the Loric rebellion?"
This time, the new soldiers joined in. "As one!"
"And at the very core of our cause," Icaron murmured in a strikingly soft voice, the scarily gentle tone he used before committing a murder, "beyond all that wish to break us, what makes us who we are? Why are we citizens of Mogadore?"
"We are Mogadorians," they all echoed, and Icaron allowed himself to join the chant, "for we fight as one!"
Content with the fighting spirit of his people, Icaron said the concluding words. "Then as one, let us go out and slay our enemies. For tonight, we are stronger not only by one, but by five!"
And the noise was deafening, but slowly fell into silence as one by one, the Mogadorians left to resume their duties. The new General and her Lieutenant also left, with Blair bounding after them, and Lanette following at a reasonable pace. Acacia was about to leave when Icaron gestured for her to stop. Lanette also looked back and paused.
"I'm sorry, Lanette, but that's alright." Said Icaron with a wave of his hand. "You may go. This will only take a few minutes."
As Lanette nodded and walked off, closing the stage door, Acacia mounted the stage and joined her father near the podium. Icaron stepped back to draw the curtains, though no one remained in the room, and shut the other door of the stage. No one needed to hear this conversation. Besides Icaron and his daughter, no one remained in the room but Rori. Icaron did not have the heart to ask her to leave, and furthermore, she deserved to know. Only she had seen what he did on Lorien, why he followed behind his soldiers instead of leading from the fight. He trusted she would understand. Especially because one day, if all went well, she would have adopted Icaron's daughter as her own child.
It was alright if she remained. He trusted her, more than anyone, to keep their secret. Icaron approached his daughter, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Acacia," he began in that understanding, low voice. "When Gary said you take after me... he was right."
Acacia stared at her father, and Icaron could see how bewildered she was. He continued, nonetheless. "When I was a child," he murmured, "I found it very hard to kill. I never admitted it to anyone, but I could not cope with the idea of harming another so brutally."
"But in our society, Acacia, we have to do what is necessary. Even if we are not proud of the deed. I grew up convinced I was a weakling, yet at my First Blood I found that if I killed in a... polite manner, I could live with what I had done."
Acacia was eyeing him with a coldly calculated expression, distantly wary yet observant. It hurt Icaron, but he had to continue, for the sake of her position.
"Is it difficult, Acacia?" he inquired so tenderly, "to end another's life?"
"Yes."
"Is it because you feel for them? Because you do not want them to be in pain?"
"Yes."
"Have you been in a situation where you should have killed before... yet stayed your hand?"
There was a long pause. Trust me, Icaron silently pleaded, gazing into his beloved daughter's eyes. And finally she spoke again.
"Yes."
"You can worry no more," whispered Icaron before taking the weapon from her. He knew she had recognized that voice; Acacia was visibly prepared to fight, as if he had been about to betray her. Now this hurt Icaron most of all. He loved his daughter and would never kill her against her will, and his true intent was revealed when he pointed the spear towards his own hand, and sliced open his palm with the blade. No pain accompanied the gesture, only a cool tingling that slowly spread from the wound throughout his hand. In a strange way, it felt almost refreshing.
Acacia looked so guilty as she realized her father's intentions. The look on her face made his heart melt, and as he handed the spear back, he softly patted her head with his uninjured hand. She seemed concerned as she gazed upon his bloodied palm.
"Do I look as if I am in pain?" Icaron asked her pointedly.
"No. So that's what it does," said Acacia, her voice colder than the feeling of the blade piercing his hand. But there was a slight edge to it, not one of aggression for once, but this time it was true emotion. "Thank you, dad."
Moved that his daughter had finally shown the slightest emotion in her tone, Icaron could only smile; for if he spoke, he feared the tears would come. He watched patiently, and did not interfere as Acacia held the blade to her own hand and pricked her finger with the tip. She stared incredulously at it, and turned to her father with a knowing smile. In that moment, Icaron felt truly successful, just as much as when he had captured Lorien.
"Will you be able to kill someone now?" asked Icaron, "just between you and me, this was not your true First Blood. You will know when it is time. Do you feel as if this is it?"
"It can't be my First Blood yet," Acacia admitted. "It doesn't feel right."
Concernedly, Icaron pressed on. "You avoided my initial question. If you find the Loric you refused to kill the first time, will you do it properly this time?"
Acacia was silent for a long, painful moment. And when she spoke, her voice was colder than it had ever been before.
"Yes."
