The Restoration Protocol

18 || the price for a key

Most of the soldiers disperse at Madam Servalia's terse command, leaving only herself and two others to provide an escort for Mariko and her friends. The déVaLore insignia certainly served its purpose. All the more reason she's glad they decided to visit Lotus first on their journey. He said it himself, as she recalls, that the people of Paracosia think highly of him for 'whatever reason' — though Mariko would argue there's perfectly good reason for it. Those magnolia trees in the lobby of the mail building aren't the only traces of the prince she spots in Arumathia. As Servalia guides them across the stone bridge leading to an adjacent island, Mariko catches a glimpse of what looks to be a marble statue adorned with lotus flowers and water lilies. None of which bear the slightest hint of decay. Of course, they could very well be fake, but with the memory of the prince forming one of the same, beautiful flowers in the palm of his hand, Mariko wouldn't be surprised if the same magic keeps the plants alive perpetually.

"Prince Lotus hasn't been able to visit in some time," Servalia says at one point, her gaze also washing over the flowers as they pass by, "so it's good to hear he's been well. Never a bad thing to say about that man. He's been nothing but warm and pleasant to our people." She pauses to shake her head. "Young master Kasey could afford to learn a thing or two from him. The amount of times I have had to reprimand that boy for his carelessness and irresponsible behavior is becoming too much to count these days."

"Hey now, he's just a kid, ain't he?" remarks Sebastian, following at the rear of the group and closest to the accompanying soldiers. This was per Servalia's orders, naturally. As was the providing of a non-transparent shirt for the 'indecent man, who should not be dressed so revealingly in front of young children.' However, the new garment is both sleeveless and falls short at covering his entire torso, thus revealing quite a bit, one could argue. Apparently it was the best thing they could acquire on short notice. Servalia almost demanded he be left behind at the mail building until they returned, but at Mariko's request Sebastian was permitted to come along, granted that he behaved himself. And judging by the stern look Servalia fires over her shoulder at the man, this was not a proper display of that.

"Child or not," she says in a grave tone, stopping dead in her tracks, "Kasey is a Keyholder. And if you know nothing of Paracosia's history, traveler, such is a responsibility higher than you could fathom. Our Warden chose him. For some reason or another." She exhales deeply and resumes walking, though it seems to take greater effort this time. "It is not our place to question the actions of the Warden. Who-, or whatever they are, rescued our people from the brink of ruin. That much we can say for certain. The angels you see walking amongst these islands are the survivors of the collapsing nation we were rescued from — though I'm sure Lady Alias has told you this much already." She glances behind her again. "Her people are no different."

Soleil nods in solemn confirmation. "A nation's worth of people, dwindled down to a mere city's population."

"Indeed. So try to picture that, traveler, before you assume how things should be run around here."

Servalia raises her head to stare out across the land in front of them. So distracted by the conversation, Mariko briefly lost track of how far they had walked, only now registering they've approached a field of pale yellow grass. A training field, to be specific, with red and white targets arranged in a neat line on the far end, some riddled with arrows, while others remain clean and spotless with arrows lodged in the tall wooden fence behind them.

"An archery range..." Boey whispers to himself, his eyes wide with wonder. He looks to Mariko for her reaction, but she's already begun to scan the angels nearby for which one might be Kasey. There are quite a few present at the range at this hour. The field itself is adequately lit by the floating lanterns lining the perimeters, granting a clear view of the targets' bullseyes even this late at night.