An Inconspicuous Exit

"Regardless of how necessary you believe it was, you have to realize the absolute mess that you've placed me in."

"Congrats, Gerry, you finally sound like me, for the last month and a half," Adantia responded without remorse. Her eyes were still and unresponsive to the conversation, but her body scarcely stopped moving as she paced around the emblem. "How many times have I asked you to do something about this?"

"Not enough to justify-"

"More than enough." Moira was visibly clenching her jaw as she glared down the object. "Our intent on arrival was to provide your Fateweavers with a rest and solidify the defensive line, not to become a permanent fixture of your defenses and allow the constant assaults to wear us away."

"We have been rotating Fateweavers, but even taking over five Barriers is-"

"Is more than you had any expectation of before we got here. So let's all just stop assuming our help is a given and start treating it like the blessing it is," Adantia grunted.

"The woman is arrogant, but she is right on this," Kim added. "We are all unified in this. We are all standing behind John's decision. The alliance has been treating John as a crutch since the extent of his Barrier was discovered, despite its lack of security features. It is time that they learn to walk unaided once more."

"The council wants to speak with you. Directly." The emphasis that Gerry placed on the word was not the emphasis of a privilege, but a sentencing. "They're already gathered, they're waiting for me to switch the spell over to their transmitters."

"Ooh, great, I haven't yelled at those morons in almost two weeks." Adantia grinned unashamedly as she coaxed another groan from Gerry.

"Gaia's tits, Adantia, they're foaming at the mouth on this one. A third of them wants to send every Fateweaver we have to your sector, and another third wants to send the full army to have you in chains."

"What about the other third?" John couldn't resist asking.

"They're busy wanking themselves off, as usual." Gerry's single dig at the council lingered in the air for a moment, widening Adantia's smirk, before his discipline returned. "Whatever you think of them using the late bloomer as a crutch, the lot of you did succeed in stabilizing things. You've just torn the supports back out from underneath them, and now they're flailing about. Don't be surprised to find that many will be freshly hostile."

"Not the first time. Won't be the last. Haven't been impressed yet."

"Why did I let myself think this time might go any differently…"

"Because you learn about as quickly as the rest of them."

The sigh Gerry gave was cut off abruptly and replaced by the disjointed sounds of voices. Many voices, all of them talking over each other at varying volumes. It took three full seconds and a throat clearing from Adantia to restore silence. It lasted for a single heartbeat, then...

“Lady Adantia, you have endangered the entire defensive line of our alliance! We have tolerated your presence here-"

"Calm your uneven tits, Malona, she's the only reason the defensive line still exists!"

"You are out of line, Bastian! Efficacy is not the only measure of-"

"There are-"

"We cannot-"

"This is going well," Adantia mused. The remark seemed to go unnoticed by the bickering council.

"How in the fuck did you deal with them for so long before?" John asked wearily. "There's no way to bring order to this. It was bad enough in person, over the communicator there's not even a way to shut them up other than yelling louder than they do!"

"They're all worked up. They'll get it together eventually." Adantia shrugged, unusually at ease with this, just as she had been during their first meeting. "That's when we start working on getting them to agree to a plan of action. They got pretty comfy being able to hold their territory again, even if it was costing them lives for no long-term gain."

"It shouldn't be this hard to convince warriors to retake their own homes." Kim's eyes narrowed at the badge, flickering occasionally, as if she were memorizing each petulant voice for later reprimand. "We have proven that we can handle the worst of their forces. They should be eager to restore what was lost."

"That was not the worst of their forces." The sharpness in Adantia's tone was harsh. Her brows had furrowed before she even spoke. Then she seemed to think better of it, and some of her usual bravado returned to smooth it over. "And the way they structure their war council makes arguing to retake lost lands more difficult than it would if they were more united."

"...Because the ones who have lost their homes aren't considered a serious part of the politics anymore." John's eyes fell slightly, the memory of their encounter with the desperate mages flashing in his mind.

"Exactly." Adantia nodded once, cocked an ear toward the badge, confirmed they were still shouting at one another, and returned to the conversation. "Everyone is looking out for themselves, and the ones who have mages left to command and enough power to sit on the council are the ones who haven't lost everything yet. They'd rather keep what they have than worry about retaking the lost land."

"Because even if they did, they'd be squabbling over it with any survivors from that region, or with their own 'allies' over how to cut up the territory."

"Got it in one." Adantia rolled her neck in annoyance.

"Then we need to let them see how taking territory is the only way to keep what they still have," John proposed.

"You look like you've got an idea."

"Will you back me up if I do something stupid?"

Adantia's grin widened. Her eyes blankly fixed on some point in the distance, but she shifted her body toward him. "Isn't that what I've been doing since you showed up on my front door?"

"I'll take that as a yes," John griped. Adantia just continued her smirk.

"John, what are you planning?" Moira asked. She stepped forward with a sense of urgency born of a history of witnessing John's brilliant ideas.

"We tell them that loyalty and cooperation will be returned when the war is over." John angled himself away from the emblem, lest one of the shouting fools go quiet in time to overhear him. "And if any of the factions that are willing to coordinate with us – whether they agree with our plans and assist or not – end up making a move against one of those who stubbornly refused... we'll aid the ones that kept us in the loop."

"Ballsy. Kinda like it. You might even have enough swinging power for that to be a real threat," Adantia mused. "Guessing you want me to back you up in the promise. Can't say I much relish the idea of getting jammed into one of their petty little territorial disputes. Might feel like a vacation compared to all this, though."

"What if they continue this foolishness?" Kim cut to the point. Her gaze turned toward the emblem. The voices that had first risen had faded, not into silence, but into the background as new conversations rose and fell in a rotating wheel of shouting. "If no one seeks to curry favor with you, then they may well decide to ignore the threat."

"Adantia said the only people they hate more than each other are outsiders. If I tell them that the strongest forces that held the line for them are offering to help their allies in future conflicts, they won't be able to ignore it. They'll drive themselves paranoid wondering who might be coordinating with us behind their backs."

"A bold move. Risky, too," Moira noted. "And you'd be committing yourself to aid them if they do not all either cooperate or continue their disunity."

"Diplomacy hasn't worked." John shrugged. The bickering continued in the background. "Neither has logic or common sense. I say we try hostility."

"Fuck it. I'm in," Adantia grunted out. "Let's do this. Show me what you've got, kid."

"And what about all of you?" John turned, at last, to those closest to him. Vallya was out running surveillance on the surrounding lands, but Shishun, Lerianna, and Sophia were all within the distance for a casual conversation. "I'll be implying that you'll all be helping, too. I'm not nearly as much of a factor without all of you. None of you have ever shied away from a fight, but I'm not going to take you for granted."

"First time for everything," Lerianna grunted. She tried to meet John's gaze with a look of indignation. When he didn't react, when the genuine gaze he let settle on her grew too much, she turned away with a huff and a slight tinge of pink to her caramel cheeks. "Whatever. You know we can't leave you alone. I'll be there."

"My life and daggers are yours, as always, Master," Shishun vowed.

Sophia said nothing, but she clasped her closed fist against her breastplate with enough force to rattle it. John let his gaze settle on each of them for a lingering moment, then turned back to Adantia. One of the muscular woman's cables burrowed out from the ground beneath the enchanted insignia settled in their midst, lifting it up and presenting it to John. The arguments grew louder, though certainly not more coherent, as the device approached.

"Enough is enough!"

For a moment, there was no shift at all in the conversation—merely another voice added to the roiling mixture. But then a few of them seemed to realize that the new arrival to the conversation was from the communicator, not from one of their comrades. They grew silent, if only from confusion, and others followed suit when they realized that the clamor was stilling for an unknown reason. John waited until the uproar had died to a murmur before speaking again.

"We came here to offer our assistance free of charge, with no obligation and no request for favors to be repaid. Our only goal was the safety of our own homes." John crossed his arms. The council could not see him, but it felt like the right stance for a vow such as this. "I never expected us to receive a warm welcome, and I never asked for one. All we have asked for is communication and cooperation so that we can all be rid of this threat together. Instead, we've been treated like tools, or worse, cattle. And then you have the absolute gall to contact us for the first time in days only to scream at us about the dissolution of a Barrier you never had any right to expect us to create."

"That's not the point! The point is-"

"The point is," John cut in, voice lifting enough to drown out the speaker on the other end, "that you have taken us for granted. That frustrates me, but I can't say it surprises me, given everything else I've seen of the Abyss. So, from now on, we're not going to offer things without asking for something in return."

"You seek to charge us for the privilege of defending your own lands?" The deep-toned voice was familiar to John, but he couldn't place a face to it from their single afternoon in the council's chambers.

"I don't want money. I want collaboration," John corrected. "And we're going to defend our homes, whether we have to do that alone or with your aid. But I won't forget those who made it easier, who helped to save our lives as well as their own by being willing to work together with us. Once we defeat the Northern Ashes – and make no mistake, we will defeat them – once things are back to normal, if any of you who were willing to integrate us into your communications and planning call on me, I will answer that call. Especially if it means aiding you against someone who fought us every step of the way."

There was a long beat of silence, the longest that John had heard from the council since he'd met them. He knew, in that moment, that he'd hit the mark. Whether it ended up working or not was another matter, but he could feel the gazes shifting around the room on the other end of the call, the commanders evaluating, analyzing, trying to figure out how many of those in the room with them were already adjusting their plans for the future.

"This is outrageous,” a higher-pitched voice chimed in with all the indignity it could muster. "Outsiders have no right interfering in the business of the Great Plains Alliance, our guilds are-"

"I have no interest in interfering in your business or choosing favorites," John interrupted again, before the outrage could spread. "But unlike most, we understand the value of ties and alliances that go beyond mere words and allies of convenience. Those who support us will be supported when the favor needs to be returned in the future. It is as simple as that."

"You would threaten to turn against us the moment the war has finished?" This voice was less angry, more calculating. There was no fear in it, but there was a distinct awareness that tilted the corner of John's mouth up.

Adantia didn't step forward, but she raised her voice to fill the space as much as John's from where she stood. "We're not turning against anyone. But we're done pretending that what we have now is a team. Until today, we've just been a bunch of knuckleheads all fighting for the same cause. That's not working out anymore. Either we work together as allies or we accept that things might change when our common enemy isn't around anymore. And we won't forget who our friends were just because a war ends. That's not betrayal. That's realism. So, figure it out for yourselves. Do you wanna be on the team? Or do you want to fight for yourself? It's as simple as that."

It wasn't nearly as simple as that. But the choice certainly was, and that was all that needed to be said. Adantia's cable whirled toward her, pressing the emblem into her palm. The voices were just beginning to rise again when she tapped a section of the enchanted insignia and cut off the line, bringing a welcome blanket of quiet to drape over the campsite before chaos and quarreling could steal it away once more.

"Well," John muttered. "Think that will get through to anyone?"

"Dunno. Fun as all hell, though. Almost wanted to keep listening to them bicker," Adantia mused. The cable vanished under the earth, carrying the communicator safely away once more. "Better off this way, though. We'll let them stew for a while, then make contact again, figure out which ones have started to see the light."

"I cannot say I am overly fond of pressuring those ostensibly on our side, but I think it will be effective enough." Lord Brighton sat with his chin rested on one arm, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "We should be certain to use more amicable methods when they present themselves, especially given that we have yet to see how Lady Julianna has taken her defeat... but it will be worth it to give us their full cooperation in a timely manner. We will only have a few days before the Northern Ashes are able to replenish their numbers."

"Right, then until then, what do we do next?" John asked, already halfway to his feet. "We should-"

"You are going to rest." Moira stomped over to John, her tone entering the territory reserved for giving direction as a Warden. "You have been holding up a Barrier for over a week, and I don't care what excuses you make about not needing sleep, you need to close your eyes and fake it, Lady blast you! No arguments!"

"Moira, I-"

"What did I just say?!"

John was unceremoniously harassed out of the circle. Moira didn't even give him the chance to set up his own tent, or to bunk in one he'd set up for the others; she harangued him all the way to the Order vans personally. The last thing that the others saw of the Gamer was a noticeably bewildered expression as Moira planted her palm on his sternum and shoved before slamming the van door behind them.

"Not subtle, our Lady Warden," Etriyya muttered to herself, so quietly it escaped the notice of most others. Lerianna blushed. Sophia smiled pridefully, the way she always did around John.