(2024-12-08) Good Manners and Diplomacy of Rocks (Post Squad Log)

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Author:	Athena
Summary:	Colson returns to Mordecai after the siege against the Earthen Ring outpost in Deepholm relents, to explain what has been going on to soothe the rage of the Stonemother, and who among the Cobalt team was punted across the landscape. 1600~ words
Rating:	T for Teen

Arc: Deepholm

Chain: Morson

Outside the western wall of the Temple of Earth, the siege has let up. There are pieces of crumbled rock that might have once been rock giants, there are scattered bracers and elemental cores, and tired shamans roam the battlefield or sit on ledges and drink water.

Mordecai is seated on a ledge next to a weary draenei shaman with pink hair. The shaman has curled around one of her elemental totems, resting her chin on a shelf in the totem's design.

Colson makes his way over with that calm and purposeful stride of his, as though to say that he is allowed where he is, and there is nothing odd or unusual about a human paladin making his way through the remaining mop up of chaos here. His face has been wiped free of the dust and sweat, though his hair is darker and an ashier blond for it, and his gauntlets are already off and stowed away. As soon as he is within appropriate speaking distance to Mordecai he says, "Hi." And he inclines his head politely to the draenei shaman. "Good afternoon."

The shaman wiggles her fingers in a lazy wave. "Good night…" Is that the actual time of day, or is she just sleepy?

Mordecai bounces to his feet as soon as he sees his husband, smiling. "Colson! Fortitude. The attackers retreated! Was that because of you?"

Colson inclines his head as he explains, "The Earthen Ring has been able to broker a truce and ceasefire for the moment, with Cobalt's Company's diplomatic overtures to the powerful beings in service of the Stonemother. Our actions of acquiring the fragments of the stone pillars were… identical, from an external point of view, to the Twilight's Hammer's similar actions, with different intent. We have begun the process of better representing that difference of intent."

"They couldn't tell the difference between a group of shamans and a…" Mordecai trails off, biting his lip. "I… suppose that's reasonable, actually, not to know." He glances at the shaman. "Rest well, Mansia," he says quietly, and takes Colson's hand.

Colson nods to the shaman, as he murmurs a [Blessing of Might] to bless her. "Light be with you," he says before he directs the bulk of his attention to Mordecai. "Yes. We are unknown here, and strangers. We have also been part of the hostilities ourselves, according to the others. In seeking to help the Earthen here, they engaged in some tactics against the Stonemother's forces that were striking at all. Thus, they had little reason to trust us when we claimed that we were not here to benefit ourselves at the cost of their own existences and territories.

"When we spoke to the first one, I am afraid that we could not convince him at all of our intentions. Dane made the overture, on behalf of the shamans of the Earthen Ring, and… it was taken poorly," Colson says, in another submission for Understatement of the Year. "Dane was thrown some several hundred yards. He is well," he hastens to add. "I was able to shield him with the Divine Light in time. But it was the message sent nonetheless that we would make no headway with that one until we had something more to prove ourselves. And we could not prove ourselves without some first step forward of diplomacy."

Mordecai begins walking as Colson speaks, following the wall of the temple around counterclockwise towards the entrance, brushing aside pebbles that float in the air to protect his face. "Several hundred…" Abruptly, he laughs. "Taken poorly indeed." With the reassurance that Dane is well, Mordecai seems to be able to find the humor in the situation after all.

Colson's smile is faint, but there, as he drinks in the sight and sound of Mordecai's laughter with a softer look in his eyes. "Yes. He was undaunted, of course. We were fortunate that in the expression of ire by this one unwilling to entertain diplomatic overtures that another of the Stonemother's representatives was mentioned, and he was more willing to parlay once we had located him. It was not especially difficult to do so, I must confess. They are taller than the very Cathedral in Stormwind. We made an offering of good faith by procuring through some difficulty a remarkably rare gemstone called 'painite.' It is not as dire sounding as the name might lead one to believe. It was named after the one who discovered it, C.D. Pain. I have only seen one example in person, under a case. It was extraordinary to hold it in my hands, if only for a brief period of time." There is that telltale Colson version of excitement in his voice, an eagerness that warms the otherwise calm tones of his way of speaking.

"Taller than the cathedral…" Mordecai bites his lip. "I might have seen one of them, at a distance, while I was out here. A stone… giant?" He flashes a bright smile at Colson. "I've never heard of painite," he says honestly. "But that sounds exciting. What color is it? What did they want it for…? Do you think it serves a purpose for them, or were they just testing to see if you'd take the time to do something out of your way for them?"

"It would seem something of both. I am not entirely sure what they would use painite for, as it is so rare that few incorporate it into any design in our world. I should not even attempt to speculate how common it might be here in the Plane of Earth. It has a remarkably high hardness, 8 on the Mohs scale, as diamond is 10. However, the purpose of our retrieval of it was that it was within a tunnel that had been taken over by gyreworms, creatures capable of burrowing into all forms of rock, including the rock of the sentient beings here."

Mordecai smiles as Colson talks about rocks. Very cute. A rare rock. Exciting! The mental transition from that to creatures that burrow up from underground takes him a few seconds. "Oh," he says, looking down at the stone beneath them a little nervously. "All forms of rock? Light."

"They are, at the least, even less subtle than I am," Colson says, a slight teasing sound to the words of reassurance. "We would not be taken by surprise."

Mordecai makes a noise of amusement and relaxes. "That's good. All right."

"Our greatest show of our intentions has been in making it obvious that we are here to oppose Twilight's Hammer, and that we will aid the rightful denizens of this Plane to right the wrongs of their home. We met with the ruling entity of this plane, the Stonemother, who is willing at least now to see what we will do. She has graciously allowed for our continuation here. I can say from the time in her presence, that we will do well to maintain a respectful relationship with her while we are here. Her power may be only absolute over stone and rock and earth, but that is this entire world."

Mordecai shivers. "Well, I don't think you'll have any problem being respectful," he teases. "You're the most respectful person I know."

"Ah, well," Colson says humbly. "It is part of my vows to act accordingly. However, I am not the commander of the squad, and we follow Dane. He is… less committed to the stance of respect to be applied generally, and he believes that he does not owe such to a sovereign of an unallied nation. He was not disrespectful, but I confess I have some concern that such a nuance might become challenging with our efforts to accomplish our goals without aggravating the delicate balance of war already being waged."

Mordecai sighs. "I think Dane takes being a representative of the Alliance seriously," he says. "I think it'll be all right. I hope."

"I believe he will do what he believes is right," Colson says. "He does not want us to be embroiled in a war with the Planes any more than I do. All we need do is stay the course."

"Mmhm." Mordecai squeezes Colson's hand gently. "Good work today."

"Thank you. I believe we did what we were meant to, and with the grace of the Light, it might be all that we needed to have happened to ensure that we at last repair the World Pillar, and right the wrong both in our world, and in this one," Colson says, with the constancy of faith in his path that the paladin holds so close that it could be tattooed on his skin — which it is, in a way.

As they arrive at the entrance to the temple, Mordecai looks up for Bunny.

Bunny looks down at Mordecai. Well, at the paladin next to Mordecai, and the potential for his aura to shift. There's something close to anxiety in the closeness of her flight path, or maybe she's just less comfortable soaring so high in the enclosed world of the Plane of Earth. In fairness, when she signed up to have access to the paladin [Go Faste Aura] she probably hadn't expected that it would take her into other planes of existence.

"Want to call her down and go home?" Mordecai asks.

Colson looks up, a faint frown creasing on his brow. "Yes, I believe we should. She does seem uneasy here, does she not?" The question seems to be asked as genuine confirmation, like Colson is not entirely sure of his reading of her bird body language.

"I… don't know, maybe? I don't know griffons that well," Mordecai admits. "But usually she'd be circling higher. And… there's a lot of debris in the air." Little floating rocks are the worst.

"Hm." Colson nods in agreement, as his aura shifts. "Then let us return to Azeroth properly, where at least the debris has the good manners to be on the ground."

Mordecai laughs quietly. "Yes, let's."