13th may 1009 ALB
The new Aris-express raced down the mountain towards the south, following the train tracks towards Wingarden, it be would there in 2 hours at 11pm (23:00). Posada was sitting in one of the passenger wagons, reflecting on all that had happened today. After the council was over Posada, Starry and Skystar had a talk, explaining to Skystar what happend and how they were not just trying to make her feel better but how they were also trying to help Hard Line. Skystar was a bit upset that both of them somewhat forced Hard Line into this position, but then admitted that they did the right thing and manage to do it in a way which was impossible for anyone else to achieve. The three then said goodbye to each other and continued their work in the palace.
Posada wanted to talk to Hard Line, give him a debrief or simply talk to him about everything and the world. She couldn't find him, even her guards returned empty clawed. Starry apparently ran into him, as he was preparing to take a flight towards Zumidia, but he did not want to share any information about his plans. This worried Posada, she hoped he wouldn´t do anything stupid and was simply taking a vacation.
Arriving in Wingarden, Posada and her guards left the port city just as quickly. Taking a ship to the surface platforms of Seaquestria, her home. Posada was giddy at the thought of finally returning to her own home, even just thinking about swimming in the ocean made her excited, the ponds of Aris werent much to her liking and the inflatable pool or her big water tank were good enough to relax in, but too small to enjoy swimming in. However for now she had 2 hours of sleeping ahead of her. She fell into the bed just after she entered her private cabin on the ship, her body demanded that she would rest for now.
Arriving on the surface of Seaquestria at 1:30, the guards woke Posada up. The surface platforms were basically the cargo- and passenger port of Seaquestria, used for trade and tourism. They were located on top of one of the biggest and most stable coral reef and were basically fancy looking oil platforms. Sitting on the outskirts of Seaquestria to avoid sinking debris hitting the underwater city. The biggest platform had a lighthouse, that together with many Buoys, prevented a ship from accidentally driving over seaquestria, to futher prevent sinking debris or to protect any unlucky surfacing seapony from being run over.
Transforming using their shards of the pearl of transformation and then swimming down towards her home, Posada and her guards were soon welcomed by the local police force, which were carrying tridents. They were tasked with securing the home of the general secretary and herself if she came to visit like today. Entering her home, Posada´s guards collapsed onto her couch from exhaustion, they haven´t slept in 21 hours and their job was done for today, they could leave the security of their leader in the fins of the police. Posada smiled at her guards, before using her own bed to sleep the remaining night away.
14th May 1009 ALB
Awaking underwater always felt strange for the first time or after a long time on the surface, instead of sand or dirt, you had plankton in your eyes, there were no birds singing in the distance given that fish aren´t known to produce loud noises and sometimes some sleeper would float up to the ceiling or around the room during the sleep, causing quiet the shook when they woke up.
Posada didn´t mind any of that, she was born in it and lived through most of her life with it. After waking up and dressing herself, she looked at the nearby clock, 10:23am. A bit late but nothing too serious, she then gazed at the her calendar. It still showed February, was she away that long? No matter, she was finally home, even if just for two days before she had to continue towards the Mainland. Adjusting her calendar to the current day, the 14th of may, she realized something.
Today was her 29th Birthday.
All the commotion and stress made her somewhat ignore the date of each day. Starry and Skystar were probably gonna call her on the telephone to congratulate her. It now dawned on her why her work plan was scheduled to have a day of vacation and another day off official business in Seaquestria.
Swimming out of her bedroom and into her living room, she saw that both of her guards were already awake and playing cards on her table. They had changed into their casual wear, away were the uniforms and bits of armor.
"Good morning Cyanterra, Good morning Azurmar." Posada greeted them and as she swam into the living room the lights turned off for a couple of seconds before coming back on again.
"Happy birthday Posada" Said an entire group of her most trusted friends, all of them wearing party hats. Her guards, Skystar, Starry Eyes and even Hard Line and Crack Lightning were here, both males being a good distance away from each other. Nonetheless Posada was more than surprised and just looked at the group with a big smile on her face, before being tackled and embraced by Skystar. And so the celebration started.
Starry presented the cake she baked, Hard Line the rum that he brought with him and explained that he and Starry were trying to sober Posada up for today´s big party, hence why he took her wine. Meanwhile Skystar made music and Crack was talking to the guards, trying to remain calm in his disliked Seapony form. Posada never understood his reasons, especially given that swimming was similar to flying minus the risk of hitting the ground too hard and he loved flying.
During the calmer moments Posada decided to chat with her comrades, asking how they felt about last week.
Skystar was conflicted. On one fin the secrecy of Posada, especially to help out someone that just tried to have her mother killed, seemed like a betrayal. On the other fin she was trying to help out a friend and get him back on the right path. Since everything worked out in the end, Skystar forgave Posada and started felling much more comfortable in the RWP, especially now that she didn´t have to fear for her mother´s or her own life.
Crack was a little bit out of the loop and simply advised Posada to be more strict with Hard Line next time, she was his boss after all. Posada however disagreed and strictly told him to stop his blatant hatred towards other creatures, saying that she was his boss after all, before both of them started laughing, just like they did so many times before the revolution, when both of them had just gotten into politics.
Starry was more than happy that everything worked out, promising to continue to try to calm Hard Line´s zeal down. When asked about giving him a peck on the cheek, she clarified that she was trying to break his nervousness and that it worked but that there was nothing deeper behind that.
Hard Line quietly thanked Posada and once again proclaimed his loyalty towards her, yet questioned Crack Lightning´s presence once again. After that they talked a lot about the future and soon enough found out that they both still disagreed heavily on the methods to achieve the world revolution.
Later during the day, the guests presented their gifts to Posada
The guards both gave her a rare sea plant that could survive on the surface, to decorate her office and to always have a bit of home close to her.
Crack gave her a signed copy of Altidiya Revoltsova biography "The Forging of the red Nation", the author being the former leader of Stalliongrad, who at the time was already on her deathbed. He flew to Stalliongrad just to get it.
Skystar gifted her a fin-made shell and pearl bracelet.
Starry presented her with a painting which showed the triumphant revolution, with Posada beneath the blue banner, it was made by a famous seapony artist, another object to breath life into her empty office.
Hard Line however left them all in the dust with his gift, a sword. Hard line presented the sword and held the sword hilt towards Posada, who stuck her fin into its hoof grip, that was beside the traditional grip, and pulled out the sword. It was made of steel from the social blast furnace of Aris, had an ornament of pearls, collected from the labor pearl farms of Seaquestria and, was forged and reinforced via alchemy by some of the finest zebra smiths in Zumidia, a combination of the three labor cultures of the nation. At the base of the hilt were two names engraved into each side, Hard Line and Posada, while the cross guard had a blue star ornament.
Hard Line then swore to Posada: " As long as you hold this sword in the name of the revolution, I will always follow you."
Posada saw that her name and the blue star were made very recently, something Hard Line would later admit to being the reason for his flight to Zumidia the day before and that the sword was supposed to be his. Posada´s actions over the last week however led him to change his mind and make some quick adjustments for Posada´s new sword. Should she however retire or stop being a revolutionary, he would want the sword back.
The Party lasted till the early evening ending with everygriff making a group picture, one that would be framed and stand on Posada´s desk, a memory of the good times made to look at and remember in darker times, when darkness and hate seemed to rule the world.
It was night. Posada was floating at the surface of the ocean, stargazing as she had been doing since she was small, only being surrounded by her two guards. Her mind went towards the future, A united world, with creatures reaching towards the stars.
Suddenly a fog horn sounded in the distance and the search beam of the lighthouse hit Posada, causing her to start flailing around in the water. Her guards quickly rushed to her and tried calming her down.
Posada remembered how she got captured by the Storm Kings forces, stargazing then being spotted and hunted, followed by a searchlight and a fog horn, which were mounted on one of their airships, before she got caught. She opened her eyes in shock, hyperventilating and being held in place by her two guards, before calming down.
After assuring her guards that she was fine, Posada looked towards the zebrican coast and once again thought of the future. The closed off nation of Chiropterra was already marching on Tobuck. Their slave raids and the disappearances close to their border painted a bad picture and from what the rare escaped slave or even rarer defector said, it was a pure nightmare. Torture, experimentation on the living, forced labor and even more unspeakable horrors. They were just as bad as the Storm King, maybe even worse, her scars from her torture were starting to itch again.
Posada made a silent promise to the slaves and the oppressed of Chiropterra, both the living and the deceased.
They would have their justice, no matter what happend, she would make sure of it.
Posada pressed Hard Line´s sword, still in its scabbard, against her body and looked towards the coast where this nightmare lived, with righteous furry.