[RRH] His Catastrophic Plan

Gavin felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Instincts led him to consider his life might be on the line in this room. The Knight of Dying Light had just implied a very reasonable conspiracy might be in play and the way he had worded it left Gavin worried he was with another member of the conspiracy. Succession planning was important. Continuity of the knowledge necessary to maintain the wards might be critical to the future of the Freehold.

"Hmm. Wasn't meaning to imply that, but that is a concerning thought," Gavin deflected attempting to stonewall he had considered Icarus might himself be involved after the Knight dropped that line, casually punctuated by smoking up the office. 

He mentally ran through the minimum steps required to paste and send his message to Scorpio. It was out of date with the current conversation, but it would be enough to let her know something was wrong. He was trying not to show a fleeting moment of panic and remain in control. 

He had stood stock still for only a moment, but to him it felt like minutes as his thoughts raced. Summoning his wits he commanded his body to breathe. The pungent weed hit his nostrils and permitted him a distraction from the tension he was feeling. 

"I was asking if there was a possible connection between The Valley Incident and what Grendel was suggesting with Dame Chunhua. I was still his checking story here without dropping too many details myself."

It then dawned on him that there may be more than one Knight operating separately toward the same goal. If the King were to succumb to age as even Gavin had considered upon first meeting him, the knowledge could be lost. That was not the only thing that would happen in that event. Someone would have to become the new monarch. Maybe there would be multiple nobles vying for the role. There could be competition brewing.

Recalling back to the conversation with Chunhua, he remembered her focus on his motives to help protect the community. What he had displayed there, she had consequently shared a meaningful secret with a short clock on it. Was that a test or perhaps a manipulation?

It was clear to Icarus that Gavin was nervous about a grand conspiracy. When political details were mentioned he had caught the Beast pouring over his every facial expression looking for some betrayal of intent. Gavin's manic instincts were reasonably contained given the scenario, but the attentive Incubus noticed him pacing out the space around him and eying they doors. 

"Right, that's why I suggested you might have an inside edge on the issue. Your vassal was apparently unwittingly close to that operation. He might know more than he thinks he does." 

Gavin considered Bonnie's wife as another possible angle on the research materials, but that seemed cold to him. Better to go through Rowan, he thought. 

The punishment thrown at Icarus for Rowan's involvement relative to apparently nothing for Dame She Wolf indicates either a much higher level of expectation not being met on his part or some kind of grudge. Was he the rebellious Heir Apparent that doesn't want the job? Was he trying to ensure he got it despite the will of Samedi?

"Yeah, ghost summoning seemed to be the center of it, but since that public spectacle was made an overt matter of record, I went over it a few times. A detail or two stuck out to me. Our sovereign expressly said they were messing with ghosts and the wards. The Revenant Crisis also appeared to be a result of ghosts and probing the wards--which you are now saying was a bastardized rite. That confirms something I was hoping was possible."

He questioned the wisdom of them talking as openly as they had been in front of Grendel. Gavin had been vague, but the Knight had been explicit. Vague was pointing the conversation away from where he wanted to go.

"A rogue Winter courtier had the initial secrets, then Leviathan got involved and whatever innovation happened led to the Revenant Crisis. The Winter monarch ordered the punishment of Bonnie after the Valley incident. Ours mentioned the knowledge sought by our fellow courtiers was not forbidden to us. Your squire even indicated focused research on Winter courtiers in the trial as well. It stands to reason these are probably Winter secrets being kept, not our own. Getting caught and making a mess were the actual crimes being punished."

The shape of things was coming into focus even for the crude Beast. It was time for him to take a position on the board.

"I suppose I should be clear of intent here. I've learned enough to know Spring messed up a major rite recently and the burden is going to land on us or Winter to keep the wards from spiraling. If Spring is not going to do its part, a reworking may need to happen in order to fix things so it is palatable enough for them to take up their part again." Gavin knew that there was more to the problem than that, but his declaration was still in the direction of his preferred outcome. He needed pieces to work with. Politics be damned.

"Did knowledge dug up by either incident survive? The survivor of both incidents seems to be laying a lot lower these days."

The Courser nodded along with the Knight's assessment. Of course he was being circumspect about the whole thing. It was a tangled nightmare of unpleasant possibilities. He was also far more experienced in managing political issues such as this. Gavin was wet behind the ears by comparison and it almost certainly showed in this encounter.

"I understand what the fallout was and the moral consequences there." The Beast almost blushed with embarrassment, but a well timed breath had contained the redness to the tips of his ears. "I know what I am and how that has shaped my perspective. Human life is not something I casually disregard though. Even the scum human-traffickers that hounded me for weeks got to live another night. My point was neither of the monarchs made any mention of those losses at the trial. I was paying attention to what was said and what was not. Who was punished and who was not, and the reasons given. That whole trial was an object lesson for many more than just those directly involved--I know you're aware." A glimmer of sympathy for the violence inflicted on Icarus lingered.

"I appreciate that you see the breadth of the damage done. I just didn't see the same concern from the Monarchs. It didn't show in their apparent reasoning. Without that, in my view, their reasoning took roost in a less compassionate locale."

Gavin noted the mention of Pantheon--perhaps a reference to the collective Monarchy?--and the Archivist. Those would be things for him to look into later.

"The Archivist. Hmm, not familiar with the title. I was hoping a reworking might possibly fit within the Queen's declaration, not be another act of defiance of her will. Clearly I'm not well versed in the nuanced limitations of these rarified matters, but a man can dream of good things nonetheless. I'll nudge my liege to check her interest in such a thing. If not, it'll have to remain a personal project." 

The description Icarus placed on the perspectives of the elder monarchs struck Gavin as alien. It captured the distance an author might have with characters that weren't important to the story being told. The problem was Gavin didn't see things remotely similarly. He still connected with the feelings of even his enemies. He looked nonplused at the new insight, but nodded his understanding.

"Yeah, I can talk to some people. I'll meander my way through. Wouldn't mind getting a text somewhere down the line with further suggestions of where to look." He signaled that he picked up the clues already hinted at and was eager to progress.

As the discussion turned from a developing rapport about related interests back toward the obvious business at hand, Gavin felt the grip of politics moving to take seat in his life. "Execution," he repeated flatly and slowly loosed the remainder of that breath, absorbing its meaning.

Gavin turned to meet the look from Grendel and began reorienting the dynamic they were going to have. Recalling the immense form the Ogre had when he'd first encountered the buzzard, he tried to overlay the thought of that threat back into the room. Grendel's mask had neatly wrapped all the immediate cues he would otherwise have displayed out of view. 

"Well, I'm not all too eager to be held to such a large responsibility. The very idea returns intrusive visions and memories." He hung a pause on a raised finger to indicate he had a further thought on the matter, but wanted the first point to land correctly.

"I quite expressly declined the role of Ghul, and to a degree distanced myself from your office for a good reason. I'm sure you can imagine." The Beast did not want to have to regularly be called upon to slaughter on command or patrol some inhospitable locale killing all comers. 

He set up the conversation for his ask in the matter, "If I'm to take on such a task, even as limited in scope as this, I want to minimize the likelihood of having to fulfill it." 

"He doesn't seem concerned enough while he knows he can be two to three times my size. I need those scales to be balanced a little better. Force some extra consideration before he thinks of making a problem of himself."

"I require an Ogre's knack with Metamorphosis for my part in it. That should even things out a bit." Gavin made a point of nervously holding Grendel's gaze. Icarus had pulled the compassion rug out from under him earlier in the conversation and Gavin needed to have the Ogre take him seriously. Grendel would learn what the other Freeholders knew of Gavin's capabilities soon enough due to the show he'd put on at Lughnasadh. Until then he was still a relative unknown who might be too soft to do the job. 

He nodded loosely toward Icarus. The Knight had framed the negotiating position Gavin had with the Ogre favourably. It roughly translated to 'work with Gavin or there aren't any options.'  

Gavin smirked at Grendel's comparison. Few had felt comfortable enough with the threat he presented to toy with it. 

"Survival options are always useful, especially those that inspire fear." He dismissed the concern about perceived worries and positioning with a joke of his own. "There's no way the only thing of worth you have to the Freehold is the size of your ... wings."

He was willing to entertain other consideration in any case. He didn't need to step on a defining feature of the man, but it was still on the table.

"We've already covered what I really want earlier in this conversation. I want to fix Spring's rites. For that I'd need to improve my knowledge and learn the workings of Seasonal rites and their development. Didn't hear any sign that knowledge persisted with either of you tonight, so far, just that it was within reach previously." Gavin was not interested in expressing why he wanted to restore the bounty of the Emerald Court, secretly fearing he could be manipulated or framed for someone else's antics with that knowledge. 

"If I can't inspire Autumn's awe by helping bring healing back to the Freehold, the thought was to do it in other more direct ways until a new opportunity presented itself."

He stared off at a curio in the office thoughtfully considering what else the Ogre might have learned watching the Faerie creatures of the Market. Grendel wasn't altogether forthcoming about what he might know so it was imperative to go back to basics to maybe get something of value and interest from the arrangement. 

"What about banes and taboos then? Surely you've observed plenty of creatures further down the path to Faerie getting leveraged by the strangest of things." The logic flowed from what he knew of the man and his access. He watched things. He survived.