SESSION 2 TWIB Part 2: REVOLUTION Report

General Summary

EMPIRE GROUP & CHARLOTTE:

After the 3 days of house arrest were up, Storm and Wren came to release Doc & co. so that they could meet with Charlotte within the castle's greenhouse. On their way, a high-ranking soldier purposefully bumped into Storm's shoulder and told him not to "get ahead of himself just because he's the Queen's lapdog." Storm appeared unaffected by it, and simply nodded before walking on.   At the greenhouse, Charlotte was busy talking with her father, Dune, about ways to improve crop growth in the Winter Court--mainly by trying plant crossbreeding like Luran had suggested. When she saw Doc and the others, she eventually stopped to speak with them, but after saying she had considered what Doc brought up last time, she told him she would speak to him about it "later" over dinner. While walking off on her own, Storm came up beside her to whisper that he thought Doc was being sincere, but that Lucius seemed suspicious--as if he knew something he should not. However, he still refused to tell her about how he was being treated by other soldiers.   Doc asked if there was a place in the palace where they collected art. Wren suggested the library, which had some paintings hanging up, or the temple, which had statues, flowers, and other "pretty things." Doc chose the temple, where they saw an anxious priest nervously praying outloud to himself in front of a massive marble statue of Olir.   The other statues in the room were also made of either marble or ice. The ones that caught his attention were 4 interconnected statues of different Fae representing Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Winter held out a crystal snowflake to Spring, Spring held out a flower to Summer, Summer held an apple to Autumn, and Autumn held out an oak leaf to Winter. Doc pointed out to Cassia that the statues must represent the previous connection and happiness between the 4 Fae Courts, and that they should help reunite them for the sake of the future. She agreed.   While they were still examining the art, the Winter Court Jester Farnan Dewdream appeared from behind the statue of Olir--scaring the priest out of his praying. He screamed and collapsed on the ground, then realized who else was in the room with him. The priest was Atos, Charlotte's other adoptive father, who seemed very nervous & avoided Doc's eyes until Doc said he was no longer with the Empire.   Farnan commented that the statue of Olir was very magnificent, but Charlotte was also waiting for them to have dinner.   Everyone had an awkward dinner together later, where Doc realized the Winter Court's meals were much less grand than the Empire's palace. Much of the wealth and finery of the palace had also been sold off or melted down into weapons for the impending war after Charlotte had taken the throne 6 months ago.   While they were eating, a messenger came to say that Commander Elias Aspenpool had come to speak with Charlotte once again. She left the table to see him, and Storm explained that Commander Aspenpool often came by to discuss training, supplies, and how the revolution in Nyxvanus was going against the Empire. He said both Nyxvanus and the Western Empire were currently weakened by the months-long stand-off, since until the Empire can take back Nyxvanus from the guerilla fighters, they would be unable to swiftly invade the Feywild forest just outside of Nyxvanus & find suitable portals to the Winter Court. Doc said that this would be the perfect time for them to strike back against the Empire, and help Nyxvanus in their efforts--which would also reduce some of the bad blood between it and the Winter Court, since the previous Queen had cursed them to Eternal Winter   During her conversation with Commander Aspenpool, he once again tried to convince her that they should restart manditory conscription of all able-bodied Fae for the war, just as they did over 20 years ago. He also said they should funnel more money into the military and crafting weapons. Charlotte explained that she was trying her best, and that no one would want to be forced to join the military after an entire generation of Winter Fae had been wiped out previously.   A massive crash came from outside, and Aspenpool open the window to ask what happened. It turned out another piece of the ice palace had collapsed due to the mages summoned from all over the court being exhausted and disorganized--constantly holding up the colossal building in Charlotte's place. Aspenpool remarked that even if the previous queen was a deranged tyrant, that at least she could manage the palace (since Charlotte doesn't yet have the power to hold up the palace and its protective wards with her own strength). He also said the mages would be better handled if the kingdom's Head Mage was still alive--to which Charlotte said if she had truly been so powerful, she wouldn't have been killed so easily by 2 people (John lol). Aspenpool left with a grouchy look on his face until Frost ran into the room between his legs--sensing Charlotte's anger.   After finishing her work, Charlotte went to the library to meet Cassia, a& where Doc and the others were already waiting. The 2 had tea, and Charlotte asked Cassia what she truly planned/wanted for the future. Cassia explained that after seeing how her father actually was, she had originally just ran away and tried to selfishly ignore everything else while persuing her dream of being an artist. However, after talking to Doc and spending the past 6 months in Sylvia, she realized she needed to help defeat her father, and try to undo all of the harm her family had done. However, she doesn't really have any interest in becoming Empress. She'll do it if that's what it takes to fix her family's horrific deeds, but eventuall she wants to step down and live in peace somewhere as an artist.   Charlotte asked if she had it in her to murder someone--to which Cassia responded that she had already killed someone in self-defense before. Charotte then pressed on to ask if she could kill her own father. Cassia stopped, and had a difficult time answering. She claimed that she wasn't fully certain, since she didn't know if she would be swayed by sympathy for her own blood in the heat of the moment. Charlotte accepted her answer for now, but suddenly asked if she knew about her own human father: Argus.   Cassia started to sweat nervously, but soon admitted that Argus was the man she had seen her father brutally kill with his own sword. She had secretly watched from behind a door during one of her father's meetings, which had been about going to war against the Fae Courts. Argus was well-known among the highest-ranking officers--and Cassia--as the experienced Speculator who had seduced the Queen of Winter's daughter. However, he had fallen out of favor for decades after being unable to kill her himself. Instead, a fellow Speculator had to do it for him. He was spared by the Emperor for his betrayal only because Argus had managed to kill his half-Fae daughter with the princess, which further weakened the previous Queen of Winter's state-of-mind.   Argus had still come to truly regret what he had done, and tried to speak out against another war with the Fae Courts. Emperor Titus immediately cut him down and left his corpse to rot outside for the crows to pick clean.   Charlotte remained mostly calm on the outside after finding out this information--except for the fact her hands were trembling and had frozen her teacup completely solid. While she claimed not to care about her human father, and sometimes despised him, another part of her did secretly care to some extent.