you're gonna help us stop the bad guy, right? [liam, remy]

Alicia had never before in her life thought she would have a job that would take her on an all-expenses paid trip to Cuir, and she'd definitely never before thought that she'd have a job that would take her to the home of the Cuir overloridian. Like many of the other overloridians he lived in a huge, beautiful mansion. Her and Remy were climbing the marble steps to the front door; Remy strolling up with confidence as if she were visiting a good friend, Alicia trailing behind her, trying not to look as ridiculously out of place as she felt.

She couldn't believe she was here, about to meet with an overloridian to discuss a possible war. She half-expected to wake up from this dream/nightmare any moment now. How could there be a war in Amelia? Things had been peaceful for over a hundred years. Why was this happening?

She shot a quick glance at Remy as a doorman let them inside and began leading them to the overloridian. She was the picture of confidence, as always, but Alicia couldn't help but wonder if she was scared too. About the war. Especially since she's having a baby. Alicia didn't want to ask her, though.

They finally reached the overloridian's office. The doorman announced their arrival and left them to talk.

"Afternoon!" Liam said, standing while Remy and Alicia entered the room. He'd been busy sorting through some paperwork before he'd heard them coming down the hall.

Remy offered Liam a smile. "Nice seeing you," she said, shaking the hand that Liam held out to her. "Thanks for having us."

"Anytime, Remy," Liam said, returning the smile. Then he turned to the new girl. "You must be Alicia," he said, extending his hand to her, this time. "It's nice to meet you." Hadley had written that both his advisers would be coming to meet with him about the letter he'd sent previously.

He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk and both the ladies sat, so he followed suit and sat at the one behind his desk. "I hope the trip went smoothly for you," he said, leaning forward and moving some papers out of the way to clear a space in front of him. "I heard about the baby, Remy. Congratulations!"

Remy nodded. It'd been an inopportune time to visit Cuir; the floating island circled the mainland of Amelia, and today it happened to be up near Ughdarras, but despite being long, the trip had been fine. "Thank you," she said to his congratulations, smiling. She still wasn't entirely keen about the baby thing, but she'd also made it out of the pains of the first trimester, so she was feeling a bit better about it. She allowed Liam to make casual small talk with herself and Alicia before she decided it was time to bring up the reason for their meeting.

"I assume Hadley explained to you why we're here?" she asked, sitting up straighter as she went into her professional mode.

Liam cleared his throat and nodded. "I believe he kept the letter vague on purpose, because of the sensitive information, but he did notify me. Tamar has also been in contact about the same things; both seem to be afraid that a war against Deilig is imminent?" Liam hoped the advisers could shed some light on the specifics, as neither overloridian had been very wordy in their correspondences. "The extent of my knowledge is that there have been some kind of threats from Kole against both Dian and Earalas. Severe enough that Hadley and Tamar are worried."

Alicia shook Liam's hand, his warm smile putting her a bit more at ease. The only other overloridians she'd met before were Hadley, obviously, and that scary woman Tamar. Alicia was relieved that Liam didn't seem anything like her at all so far. He even made some pleasant small talk with them until Remy cut in with the real reason why they'd come.

Alicia had sort of planned to sit back and let Remy do the talking, but when Liam finished speaking he looked at her, which made her feel like she should say something. "Um. There's been trouble with Deilig for a while now," she said, her voice starting out small but getting stronger as she spoke. She briefly explained the Dian-power-situation. "And now things are getting worse. The Deilig overloridian made direct threats to Hadley, and said he wants the Earalas star piece."

Though Alicia had been briefed on the whole situation before they left Earalas, she got the sneaking suspicion that she hadn't actually been given the whole story. She often got the impression that the Deilig overloridian had done far worse things in the past than just make threats, but no one would elaborate on what those things were. She'd started to develop her own ideas, however.

Liam had never had any trouble with Deilig--none that rivaled what Alicia was saying, anyway. His correspondences with Kole were mostly over goods from Cuir, which was paid for monetarily from Deilig. Medicines and transportation and the like. Deilig's major export was fuel, and Cuir didn't have any use for that.

"He threatened Hadley for the Earalas star piece?" Liam said, obviously shocked. While the situation with the power plant was troubling, it didn't even compare to a threat on a star piece. All overloridians were aware of what the star pieces meant to their eilemaiden. If broken, every single clio belonging to that eilemaiden would lose their powers. And the star pieces gave power rivaled only by the overloridians themselves. If Hadley had given Kole the star piece, Deilig would rule Earalas easily.

Remy nodded severely. "And with Solas denying Dian power, we have reason to believe their new overloridian has been compromised already." It was very possible that Deilig had already taken Solas' star piece. It was almost better than believing that Lessing was acting of his own accord. But if Solas had fallen, Kole was already wielding two eilemaiden. Light and darkness. What lengths would he go to to make sure he collected the other star pieces as well? It made Remy feel sick to her stomach.

"Is there any reason he has pitted himself against Earalas? Dian?" Liam asked. He was struggling to catch up to Remy and Alicia. Even though Kole gave off an unsettling aura, Liam still found it hard to believe that he would randomly demand another eilemaiden's star piece. Someone would need to be truly psychopathic to think it would work. Even the darkest of threats would fall on dead ears to a good overloridian. What had caused him to pick a fight with Hadley?

"Apparently the Dian power crisis was sparked by Tamar refusing to export metal to Deilig," Alicia explained. "As for Earalas...well..."

Alicia bit her lip and looked to Remy. Again, she knew she didn't have the whole story of the animosity between Earalas and Deilig. She only had her ideas, and even if they were correct, she didn't know if she should reveal them to Liam. She didn't know how much he needed to know, and she didn't know how much Hadley wanted him to know.

"Hadley grew up in Deilig," she settled on explaining. "Kole might have thought he had some leverage over him because of that."

What the hell. Liam got a worried crease on his forehead as he tried to process the information and put the pieces together. It sounded like Kole was trying to start an actual war. Even Erek, the only other eilemaidenist overloridian that had existed in Liam's lifetime, was satisfied with just keeping border laws. He had never tried to extend his power to the other eilemaiden of Amelia.

"His parents still live there," Remy elaborated from Alicia's statement. She knew this was something Hadley wouldn't appreciate being shared, because he had so few weaknesses, but she needed Liam to understand what exactly was happening here. "Or, they did."

Liam frowned. If Kole had indeed threatened Hadley's parents like they were implying, Liam needed to worry about his own family as well. His parents. Marisol.

"And Tamar, has she received any threats?" Liam assumed Dian and Earalas had allied together, from the way the letters were written and the way the conversation was going.

Alicia felt a pit in her stomach open up when Remy said "they did." She had suspected as much, but hearing Remy confirm it made her feel sick. She couldn't let it get to her though, not now, not during this important meeting. She had to get through this like a professional, then she could freak out in private once it was over.

"Well, Tamar doesn't have any family to threaten," she said, frowning. Or friends, from what I've heard. Apparently she'd been close to the previous Solas overloridian, but she was gone now. She'd once heard Tamar say in a meeting with Hadley that she believed Kole was responsible for Overloridian Amerie's disappearance/death, but had no proof. "Kole cut off her eilemaiden's power, but she got around that by allying with us."

Us. It felt odd including herself in that statement, but it was true. She'd gone with Remy to finalize the Dian deal at the coal mine. I'm a part of this, just as much as Remy.

Right, the power plant. Liam's frown didn't lessen. He thanked the skies that power wasn't an issue for Cuir. And, sans Marisol, all of the clio important to Liam lived in Cuir as well. He wondered if he should be worried, but then remembered that Mar's family lived in Dian. Tamar was sure to have put defenses up. Right?

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention," Liam said, infinitely grateful that Hadley had felt the need to make him aware of the situation.

"Of course," Remy said, giving Liam a small smile. She was pleased with how the meeting was going. Even Alicia wasn't annoying her today--in fact, she was impressing her. She seemed much more competent than usual, for whatever reason.

"Hadley wants to unite Amelia so that if Kole tries this again, perhaps even to Cuir, since it does seem he is working his way through the eilemaiden, that we will all be prepared," she told him, leading into the true reason she and Alicia had come all this way. She paused for a moment. "We'd like to extend a formal invitation: Earalas would like Cuir to ally with it and Dian."

For whatever reason, Liam hadn't seen this coming; he'd thought the Earalas advisers had come simply in warning. He looked from Remy to Alicia and realized this had obviously been the goal all along. They wanted reassurance that Cuir would be on their side if a war did indeed break out.

He didn't respond right away, mulling over everything he'd learned in the past hour. "That is generous of you," he said, trying to pick his words out carefully. He needed to express this the right way or risk relations with Earalas.

"I can agree that Deilig should be monitored thoroughly, and that any correspondence with them should be done with care, but at this time I don't think I can officially sign over our alliance." He paused. "I obviously do not agree with the way Kole has been acting, but I can't put Cuir in danger."

Remy bristled. "Can't put Cuir in danger?" she asked.

Alicia stared at Liam in disbelief. "Monitored? Don't agree with the way he's been acting?" she repeated. Nimbus tried to quiet her down, reminding her that this was a diplomatic mission and she needed to keep being polite, but she just couldn't. Liam--who'd seemed so kind and reasonable--had just learned that one of his fellow overloridians was trying to take over others through threats and force, and his reaction was to do nothing! "Didn't you hear what Remy just said? He had Hadley's parents killed! He's trying to take over the other eilemaiden, he's a murderer."

How could any overloridian know all that and just sit back and allow it to continue? It was beyond unbelievable. Kole was clearly an evil man. Good clio like Liam were supposed to band together to stop evil men, not sit back on their floating islands and monitor them.

Remy was about to continue when Alicia suddenly had an outburst. Remy widened her eyes in disbelief; she'd never seen Alicia act this way--she was usually too busy trying to be perfectly friendly. It seemed Liam was taken aback too, from the looks of it.

"Alicia," Remy said firmly, trying to reign her back in. She wanted nothing more than to rip Liam's face off, but she wasn't going to attack him like that. Not yet, at least.

"Alicia, Remy," Liam said, keeping his composure. "I understand why you've come, and Alicia, I hear you. The points you've brought up are indeed a cause for concern. But surely you can understand why I'm hesitating bringing Cuir into this--including recently, all communication with Deilig has been in working order for us. And while Kole may be a bit overbearing in his trade agreements, I've never seen actual cause for concern until now.

"I'm not saying that he isn't a danger. And if he has threatened Hadley, I am certainly understanding why Earalas would want to strengthen its army and supplies. But I cannot enter a war that doesn't concern Cuir at present. It isn't because I don't empathize with you, and truth be told, if Cuir was forced into the war, I hope you know you are the allies I would be looking for, but I can't put my clio in danger when I have not yet seen a reason."

Liam just didn't have enough proof that Kole would indeed try to threaten more than just Earalas. Even Deilig's issue with Dian stemmed from Tamar denying him access to material. It seemed Kole had an issue with Dian and Earalas specifically. Liam had no reason to think his malice would extend to Cuir...unless, of course, he got wind that Cuir had allied with the two eilemaiden he was currently trying to attack.

Remy felt her eyes prickle. Vex stared at her, disbelieving. Don't do it. You're going to hate yourself if you do it.

"Is it going to take him threatening your parents?" she asked, her voice rising. "Do you want to wake up an orphan and only then decide that this "concerns Cuir"?" Her voice was steely and high pitched. She realized she'd just told Alicia off for doing the same thing, but she couldn't help her growing anger. She'd never felt so completely overwhelmed.

"This isn't about fucking Cuir, this is about the fact that Kole is trying to take over all of Amelia, don't you understand?"

If Liam was surprised at Alicia's outburst, that was nothing compared to Remy's. He'd known Remy after all, for years, and had never seen her lose her composure like this. Tears were welling in her eyes, and it looked like her hands were shaking.

"I don't feel you've given me enough evidence to prove that, Remy, I'm sorry," Liam said, feeling somewhat awkward, but keeping his tone professional. "I don't want to upset you, but I need to do what is best for Cuir, and at this time I do not see Deilig as a threat to us."

Remy choked out a laugh. She thought about all Kole had taken from Hadley and shook her head. Liam didn't see Deilig as a fucking threat? Well fine. Maybe he deserved a little brutality from the psychopath. Maybe then he'd understand.

Alicia clamped her mouth shut and felt her face go a little warm when Remy called her out on her outburst. She was still angry, though, and Liam's justifications about not having good enough reasons to ally with Earalas and Dian did nothing to quell that anger. Apparently Remy felt the exact same way, because a moment later she was having her own angry outburst at Liam.

In any other situation Alicia would have been shocked at Remy's outburst, but right now it only fueled her own indignation. "You need evidence?" she asked. "With Deilig and Solas working together, Earalas is the last eilemaiden that can supply the mainland with energy. If Kole got his hands on it, he'd have a monopoly over the entire mainland's fuel supply." Circumstantial evidence, sure, but she felt it was a pretty strong argument. "Maybe that doesn't concern Cuir with its wind turbines, but doesn't it concern you as a clio?"

Liam looked back and forth between the women: Remy, who looked like, at any moment, she would burst into tears, and Alicia, who at first had seemed docile and pleasant, was now almost yelling at him.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not going to have an argument right now. I understand where you both are coming from, but as an overloridian I need to put my clio first. I cannot put them in danger just because you have a hunch that Kole is going to go after the rest of the planet."

He felt awful saying it, but there was no way he was going to sign over his alliance when he hadn't even had enough time to think through all of the repercussions.

"You're a fucking joke, Liam Pendant," Remy said angrily, using a finger to wipe away tears so that her makeup wouldn't smear. She didn't care that she had lost all tact. "If you need to wait for Kole to murder your family in cold blood to give you a reason, then fine. I'm sure Hope could use some c-comp-pany a-a-ny-way." Suddenly she couldn't hold it in anymore and her words starting choking up as her hysteria was unleashed.

Liam's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't think of a thing to say, he was so blown away by the scare tactic Remy had tried to use. And he was even more at a loss when Remy started hysterically crying, seeming to lose whatever composure she had left. What the hell had this turned into.

This time Alicia was definitely shocked by Remy's outburst. "Oh," she said, reaching out and putting her hands on Remy's shoulders. She knew it was a combination of anger at the situation and pregnancy hormones that was making Remy breakdown, and she couldn't help but feel for her. "Come on, Remy," she said softly, gently steering her towards the door. "I think we're done here anyways."

What a miserable failure this had been. She just couldn't believe that an overloridian wouldn't help prevent a madman from hurting innocent civilians when he had the power to, but it seemed that Liam wasn't going to budge. As she led Remy towards the door, she stopped for a moment to look back at him. "You have a lot of power to help, you know," she told him. "When more clio start getting hurt and dying, I hope you remember that. Thanks for your time."

Liam watched in horror as Remy sank into a blubbering mess, and was relieved when Alicia tried to comfort her. He didn't speak as they exited, not even when Alicia paused to leave him with her last words of advice.

Immediately he called for Tahnee. They had a lot to discuss--and step one was readying their army.

---

Remy, meanwhile, was still hysterical as she allowed Alicia to lead her out of Liam's office and through the estate to the exit. She couldn't stop the tears from bubbling over, even though she knew she looked ridiculous. "I-I-I just c-can't stop!" she exclaimed as they walked from the estate to the balloon station. "Wh-what are we go-ing to d-do?" She hadn't sobbed like this since she was a young child, but she felt so desperate and overwhelmed and panicked.

"It's okay. Just breathe. Deep breaths," Alicia said, since Remy seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. She had one arm around Remy's shoulders and the other hand on Remy's arm. As they boarded the balloon that would take them back to their hotel, the operator gave them a concerned look, but otherwise politely ignored Remy's sobs.

"There are still other overloridians," she said, rubbing Remy's arm. "Hadley is gonna talk to Paisley, and Tamar will talk to Aspen. They'll hear them out. And maybe even Liam 'Not My Concern' Pendant will eventually see reason." Gods she hoped so. He had to.

Remy nodded and tried to calm her sobs, but she just couldn't. It was ridiculous--she knew crying didn't fix anything--but she couldn't stop. "A-and Hadley w-wants me to s-stay in C-c-cuir," she added, thinking about all the things in her life that were going wrong at this very moment. "A-and this b-b-baby is g-gonna be b-born in a war!" Why, after everything had just started going right again, was everything starting to fall apart?

"E-ever-ything is a m-ess!" she cried.

Alicia continued to hold Remy closely, despite knowing that any second now Remy was likely to push her away. She hadn't known that Hadley wanted Remy to stay in Cuir, but it made sense. Of course he would want his girlfriend (especially his pregnant girlfriend) away from the mainland when there was a crazy clio down there threatening and murdering clio.

"That's months from now, Remy, by then this could all be over," she said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "By then you'll be back with Hadley, you'll have a beautiful baby, and this whole mess will be done with for good." She knew she had no way of knowing that, but she had to believe this would all turn out okay. She had to stay positive, for her own sake and for Remy's.

"What if it i-isn't?" she hiccuped, trying to swallow her tears. "W-what if K-kole n-never stops?" What if he took over Cuir because of stupid ass Liam and then took over Earalas and took over the world and what if everyone she loved died and then she had a baby to raise and oh, gods, this was terrible.

Vex had decided talking Remy through this was futile, so instead he sat his cute quolly butt on a ledge so he could watch the clouds.

Surprisingly, Remy didn't even mind that Alicia was consoling her. She wished Hadley were here, but having someone that seemed to understand the stakes was nice too.

"Kole is only one clio," Alicia replied. One overloridian, but still. He had one ally. There were still six others to stop him.

Unless they're all like Liam, Nimbus pointed out. In that case we only have one ally, too.

Oh, shush, Alicia snapped, but she couldn't stop his doubt from creeping into her head. Liam said no, Arizona hadn't even responded to their letters. Hadley and Tamar seemed confident about Paisley and Aspen respectively, but they were still big question marks.

"Clio won't all just stand by while he terrorizes Amelia," she continued. Even if Liam will. "There's no way he'll win. Plus we've got Dian on our side, and their army is huge." Tamar might be scary in clio, but Alicia had to admit she was exactly the kind of ally one wanted in a war. Tough and unyielding.

Remy nodded. Alicia was right. What was the point in worrying about the negatives when there were so many things still up in the air? She'd just been putting so much hope in Liam (one of the overloridians she had never had a problem with in the past) that when he surprised her with his decision, she'd lost control for a moment. Kole was only one psychotic man, who had one weak eilemaiden as his ally.

"What if no one wants to help us?" What if Kole gets to them first. Remy felt like she knew the overloridians well enough to know that they would never willingly side with Deilig, but she also knew Kole well enough to know that he wouldn't play fair. How far was he willing to go, and what were the overloridians willing to lose?

Alicia bit her lip. "Hadley said Paisley would help us for sure," she said. She didn't know exactly what it was that made him so sure, but it didn't seem like there was a shred of doubt in his mind when he said it. And well Tamar hadn't seemed quite as confident, she too had insisted that there was no way Aspen would let Kole's crimes continue unchecked. But we were so sure about Liam too...

"What if they've already been threatened, though? What if Kole's already contacted them, like he did to Hadley?" What if he hadn't hit up Earalas first. "What if we're too late?"

It was impossible to know until they'd talked to each overloridian. It made Remy's stomach feel sick.

"They won't give in either," Alicia said, though she couldn't even convince herself on that one. Hadley might have the type of personality that allowed him to choose his country over his parents, but she didn't think many other clio did. She didn't think she would have been able to make the same choice.

There balloon landed at a station about half a mile from their hotel. Alicia offered Remy, who had managed to calm down a bit, it seemed, a smile. "Come on. Why don't we try to wind down a little at the hotel?"