Chapter Text
Waking up the next morning, Morrigan quickly put on her black dress and shoes and went down to breakfast, where Jupiter and Jack were already sitting. It was very early, so she didn't think that anyone else besides her had already woken up, but she was mistaken. Only Fen seemed to be sleeping, snuggled up on the hearthrug.
There were bruises under Jupiter's eyes, and he looked rather rumpled and tired, so Morrigan wondered: "Did he go to bed at all?".
"Good morning!" - Morrigan said, sitting down at the table with them.
"Morning!" - Jack replied, reaching for another bun. - "Can't sleep either?"
"How can I sleep?" - she muttered. - "I tossed and turned all night. What if something goes wrong? As if we don't have enough problems already".
"Pfft, if something goes wrong? Are you serious? The word “if” is clearly superfluous here" - Jack chuckled, shoving the bun into his mouth. - "The Elders have agreed to negotiate with The Wundersmith, the main enemy of Nevermoor. Well, I mean the former main enemy, given the new threat. Although... maybe it's not so new" - he said uncertainly and squinted at Jupiter.
Jupiter put the glass down on the table and rubbed his eyes.
"In any case, Squall from this has not ceased to be an enemy. I wouldn't trust him so quickly" - Jupiter looked pointedly at Morrigan, to which she snorted.
"Who says I trust him completely?" - Morrigan was indignant. - "And I don't deny that he killed many people and did terrible things. But right now, I'm afraid we don't have much choice. He's the only one who can help us stop the President..."
"I consiger that if he really could, he would have done it long ago. Don't you think so?" - Jupiter interrupted her. - "So does he know and want to get rid of her or not? If he wants to get rid of her so much, then what is stopping him? So many years have passed, there must have been many opportunities, but he apparently did not take advantage of them".
Morrigan frowned, thinking. The question had never occurred to her.
"I would rather ask this question: what could be so dangerous about the President that Squall himself, the Wundersmith, is unable to resist her?"
It was really an essential question.
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Once on the grounds of Proudfoot House, Morrigan noticed that there were more people than usual. The Elders did everything for the protection.
"It seems we forgot to tell them that there will be no Squall as such, that he will be here on the Gossamer" - Morrigan whispered to Jupiter.
"It’s never superfluous to be safe" - Jupiter shrugged. - "Besides, if not Squall, then The Hunt can cause significant harm".
"Yeah, I doubt very much that THEY" - Morrigan nodded towards a bunch of Society members, - "will be able to do anything against it. It's like they fight shadows every day" - Morrigan said skeptically.
"These are the best of the best. It is much better to have at least some protection, even if not so strong, than not to have any at all" - Jupiter replied. - "They're afraid. And do not blame them for this, because there is a very serious danger. Don't you know, Mog?"
Morrigan had nothing to say to that, because he was right, so she just grunted.
"Morrigan!" - Hawthorne's voice came from somewhere behind.
When Morrigan turned in the direction from which she thought his voice had come, she saw that he was not alone. Her whole Unit was there.
"What are you doing here?" - she asked in surprise. She hadn't expected to see them here.
"We didn't want to leave you here alone, so we decided to attend too" - replied Anah.
"Yes, you don't have to go through all this alone" - Hawthorne put his arm around Morrigan's shoulders and smiled broadly at her.
"You've been through enough already" - Cadence shrugged. There was excitement and worry in her eyes, which could not be said by looking at the expression on her face, which seemed bored as always.
Everyone else nodded in unison. Morrigan has never felt so much love and warmth as she does now. Morrigan was so grateful to them for coming to support her. Even though there were some disagreements between them, but in a difficult moment they were all ready to help each other, no matter what.
"Thank you" - Morrigan smiled sincerely, for the first time this morning. Her eyes stung with tears, which she quickly brushed away before anyone noticed. Now was not the time to snot. After all, the most difficult thing was just ahead.
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There was no one in the Elder’s Hall, however, except for the Morrigan and the nine silent statues. She needed to be alone to calm down a little and collect her thoughts. Morrigan began to walk around the statues, carefully examining each of them. She had not had the opportunity to study them before.
She had the feeling that they reminded her something. But she couldn't figure out what, the thought kept slipping away from her.
"Haven't you guessed yet, Miss Crow?"
A quiet voice sounded unexpectedly loud in the empty great hall.
"Oh, Lord!" - Morrigan jumped in surprise. She'll never get used to it. - "Will you ever stop doing that?"
Squall just grinned, clearly amused by her reaction.
Morrigan just rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"So what didn't I guess?" - she tried to look indifferent, but in fact she was eager to find out what Squall meant.
He was in no hurry to answer the question, silently looking at the statues. He clasped his hands behind his back, thinking about something, but then he shook his head slightly, as if pushing away unwanted thoughts or unwilling memories.
"The Wundrous Arts" - Squall simply said, but when he met Morrigan's puzzled gaze, he sighed, either disappointed or annoyed. - "These nine statues" - he waved his hand in their direction, - "symbolize the nine Wundrous Arts. And to be honest, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. Doesn't it seem obvious to you?" - he raised an eyebrow slightly.
Morrigan took another look at all these statues. A blindfolded man made from turquoise could well symbolize Veil, a rose-quartz woman with eight pointed arms probably symbolized Weaving, a pair of marble conjoined twins - Masquerade, an amber man with candles for hands - Inferno, an amethyst puppet master most likely symbolized the art that Squall demonstrated on the roof of Deucalion during Hallowmas. Morrigan still didn't know what it was called, which once again proved her ignorance of how to be a real wundersmith.
Squall noticed an epiphany in her eyes.
"Now you've seen it" - he said with satisfaction.
Morrigan could only nod in agreement.
At that moment, the doors of the hall opened, and Jupiter entered the hall, whose face immediately turned stone at the sight of Squall, but he decided to remain silent.
"Mog, the Elders will be here soon" - he walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders, looking askance at Squall. - "I hope there will be no surprises?"
"Don't worry, Captain North" - Squall laughed grimly. - "I have no intention of hurting anyone. At least for now".
The last sentence sounded intimidating.
"That sounds encouraging" - Jupiter said dryly and squeezed Morrigan's shoulders, as if to make it clear that he would not let her offend. Morrigan knew that he was unlikely to be able to do anything against Squall, but she was grateful to him anyway.
Morrigan smiled slightly at Jupiter, saying that everything is fine. He smiled back at her.
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"Ezra Squall" - Gregoria Quinn said slowly. The other Elders stood on either side of her, trying not to take their eyes off the Barrage, no matter how hard it was.
Only Morrigan, Jupiter, other members of Unit 919 and their patrons were allowed into Elder's Hall (after much persuasion from Jupiter, the Elders still allowed them to attend. After all, they were in the same Unit with Morrigan). There was a tense atmosphere in the hall.
"You haven't been heard from for more than a hundred years. And here you are again. Even if not physically, but the threat does not disappear from this" - Gregoria Quinn paused, waiting for Squall to say something, but he was silent. He looked bored, it seemed that he wasn't listening to them at all, but Morrigan knew well that he hadn't missed a single word. - "Well" - the Elder continued, - "as we all know, Wintersea Republic is threatening war on the Free State, and we must not allow this in any case. Miss Crow has told us a lot... about everything, although this does not negate everything that you have done, but we believe that you also do not want the death of Nevermoor, Mr. Squall. Isn't that right?"
Squall stared intently at Elder Quinn.
"Let's say" - he replied shortly.
"No matter how strange it sounds. After everything you've done: The Courage Square Massacre, The Ghastly Market, Hollowpox and God knows what else! We would like to know the reasons..."
"I am well aware of what I have done, Elder Quinn" - he uttered the last words carelessly, he ignored the last phrase of Gregoria Quinn. "So I'll have to find out for myself" - Morrigan muttered to herself. Apparently, Squall was not going to share this. - "But the irony of the whole situation is that even after doing all this, I still ended up here..."
"Only thanks to Miss Crow. She is surprisingly convincing" - it was impossible to understand whether it sounded like a compliment or a reproach.
"I should know" - Squall grinned.
Morrigan was willing to bet that he said it to annoy the Elders. And he succeeded. After all, no one knew about their communication for three years, and would not have known if Morrigan had not told them herself. Naturally, their complete ignorance hurt their pride.
"Mr. Squall, if you are standing here now, it first of all indicates that you yourself are not averse to interfering with Wintersea Republic. No matter what you say. And let us now be ready to accept that you have gone unpunished..."
"Unpunished?!" - Squall's eyebrows shot up. - "Is it not considered a punishment that I was banished from Nevermoor? Or for you, the punishment is imprisonment in prison or... oh, just how I could forget!" - he slapped his forehead affectedly. - "A safeguard pact".
It wasn't the first time Morrigan had heard about it, but no one had explained to her what it meant. In addition, at the mere mention of it, the same expressions of horror and fear appeared on everyone's faces. However, just like now.
"Think what you're saying. We use it only in the most extreme cases" - Alioth Saga said sharply.
Squall didn't even pay any attention to the Elder, ignoring his remark.
"Is he always like this?" - Cadence whispered in Morrigan's ear. It seemed to Morrigan that there was a note of some admiration in her friend's voice. In fact, she was not surprised.
"It happens worse. He's still in a good mood, if he has it, of course" - Morrigan whispered in response.
Gregoria Quinn cleared her throat.
"In general, what we wanted to say" - she said after a minute's pause. - "We are ready to work with you, but, as you can guess, on our terms" - at these words, Squall turned his head slightly towards Morrigan and looked straight into her eyes, his gaze was gloomy. He seemed ready to incinerate her, so she tried hard not to look at him. She did not take her eyes off Elder Quinn, pretending to listen attentively to her. - "Therefore, we propose to conclude an agreement confirming our cooperation".
"What will I gain from this?" - Squall squinted at the Elders. He wouldn't help for nothing.
The Elders exchanged glances. Their gazes darkened, they clearly didn't like what they were about to say.
"Yesterday we had a meeting with Prime Minister Steed about the current situation. And we came to an agreement, it was hard for us, of course, but we decided that we will allow you to return to Nevermoor. Subject to the fulfillment of all obligations of the contract, of course".
The words sounded out of the blue. Silence reigned in the hall. No one said a word. This was a surprise to everyone, including Squall, as Morrigan noted to herself. No one could even imagine that the Government of the Free State and the Elders would take such a risk. But now it was clear why Jupiter looked so tired and tense. He already knew about all this, and it didn't bring him any joy either.
"Well" - Squall was the first to break the silence. The corner of his mouth twitched up, turning into a grin, - "in that case, before signing the contract, I would like to get acquainted with the entire list of conditions to which I will have to agree".
"Of course, Mr. Squall" - Elder Quinn sighed.