to war! -liam-

The last few days had been some of the worst of Marisol's life. Only the time of Jeanine's death could even come close. Mar's sister, her twin, her best friend since before they were even born together had been kidnapped, along with countless other Redfern students. Where could she possibly be now? Was she okay? Was she hurt? Was she scared?

Mar was not just going to sit back and let her sister suffer as some psycho's prisoner somewhere. And luckily for her, she happened to be friendly with a certain overloridian who had access to information and police and armies and a wealth of other resources that could be used to save Skye, and the other kids as well.

She hadn't wasted any time, not even to meet with her parents. She felt terrible about that, but Skye couldn't wait. She had made sure to send them a message that she, at least, was safe and would be staying in Cuir temporarily for her safety. That was a lie but she couldn't have them worrying about her too.

She hadn't even told Liam she was coming. There was no time for that. Instead, she burst into his mansion, pushed past the shocked doorman and marched right into Liam's office, where he was usually working during the day. "Liam, I need your help," she said the instant she saw him.

Liam was in the middle of being briefed about the attack on Redfern when Marisol stormed into his office. He heard the door open and spun around to see a beautiful sight. He lost all sense of composure and jumped to his feet.

"Gods, Mar, you're okay!" He crushed her to him, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing tightly. All morning he had been dying for news from the adviser he had sent to gather information about Marisol and her sister. He'd yet to return, but now Mar was here and that didn't matter.

"You're okay, you're okay!" he kissed the top of her head.

He had completely forgotten about the clio behind them still sitting around the meeting table.

Mar pushed Liam away, not in an angry way, but more out of urgency. There was no time for hugs and kisses and "you're okays." She had to get him to help her as soon as possible. "I'm not okay," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "They took Skye! You need to help me get her back!"

She, too, paid absolutely no attention to the undoubtedly important clio sitting at the meeting table behind Liam.

Fuck. Liam's stomach dropped.

Liam wasn't sure how much he should say in front of Marisol, but he and his advisers had currently been discussing officially joining the war against Deilig. All his sources said that the children had been taken there. Liam wasn't sure how much Mar could handle right now--she, completely understandably, looked like she was near to falling apart, and hearing about how power hungry Kole had been acting in the months leading up to this attack was not something he wanted her to hear right now.

"We're talking about it right now. We are going to do everything we can...we're taking action immediately."

He motioned to Tahnee who had been sitting alongside him. She got up and walked over to him and Mar. "Let Tahnee take you to get something to eat, please." He knew she would protest, but sitting in here and listening to all the legalities and planning wouldn't do her any good. "I'll come get you as soon as we're done, I promise."

"Immediately?" Marisol asked, ignoring everything else Liam had just said. Like hell she was going to let Tahnee take her to get something to eat while she could be helping to plan her sister's rescue. "Does that mean you know who did it?" Tahnee put her hand on Mar's arm but Mar shrugged her off. "Liam, do you know where Skye is?"

He had known Mar would protest, but he still had to try. She couldn't stay here. He could order her out, it would save her from hearing about Kole and adding to her worries about Skye. But would Marisol forgive him if he wouldn't let her sit in? He was still so happy to see she was safe that he could barely think clearly, but he knew he needed to convince her to get out of there.

"Marisol, I need you to go get something to eat," he repeated, "I will come get you as soon as we are done here. Please, you're shaking. You won't be able to help her at all if you don't get something into your body. I will tell you everything, but right now you need to get food and I really need to finish this meeting."

He loved Mar--she was smart and independent and strong. But she was still in school, she was still learning to harness her eilemaiden, she was still so breakable, no matter how strong she was for her age. He couldn't let her stay. He needed to be able to talk to her personally about Skye, not let her learn about her sister's fate while in a high tension meeting.

Liam's words just made Marisol want to dig her heels in and protest even more. Part of her just wanted to scream at him. She's my sister, you asshole! Just tell me if you know where she is! But somehow, someway, a more rational side of her stayed in control. If she went into hysterics in front of Liam and all his advisors, it would just make him even more reluctant to tell her the truth.

"I'll go eat, Liam," she said, her voice shaking and cracking. "But only on one condition. First, you need to tell me whether or not you know where my sister is. And if you do, you need to promise me--promise me that after this meeting, you will tell me absolutely everything. No lies or secrets. Everything."

I'm so angry because I typed an entire post and then BINDI DELETED IT.

"We have reason to believe we do," Liam said truthfully.

"As soon as this meeting is over I will tell you everything I know, I promise you." He wanted nothing more than to go with her, to tell her everything was going to be okay or to rush into action or something, but he knew the best place for him right now was in this meeting making sure everything was going to be taken care of in the right way.

He kissed the top of her head (if she let him) and then nodded at Tahnee who led Mar to somewhere more comfortable where they could get something to eat while they waited for the meeting to end.

Liam returned to the table where his advisers politely didn't comment on the interruption. They launched immediately into more planning. Alicia Kinamore, an Earalas adviser, was sitting in on the meeting as well, giving Cuir as much information on Kole and Deilig as she could. A messenger had been sent both to Earalas and Dian to give word to Hadley and Tamar that Cuir would be joining their forces.

---

The meeting was longer than Liam wanted it to be. His mind kept wandering to Marisol who was waiting for him, and to Skylar who was being put through gods know what. To the rest of the children who had been stolen from their beds, who watched as friends and teachers died in front of them.

And yet, when the meeting was over, he found himself afraid to go to Mar. He walked in a daze toward the dining hall.

Mar begrudgingly followed Tahnee to the dining hall where she was served something or other. It didn't matter. It all just tasted like sand to her. The only reason she even ate at all was because, as Bar pointed out, she wouldn't be very useful to Skye if she passed out from hunger.

The meeting seemed to go on for an eternity. Every second that ticked by was another second that Skye was off somewhere alone and afraid, maybe even being hurt. And every second she got angrier and angrier at Liam for convincing her to wait. If he had just told me then where she was then, I could have already gone to look for her, she thought.

Finally, finally Liam appeared at the doorway. He didn't look like his usual collected, composed self. He looked like he had aged a million years. Hell, she felt like she had just waited a million years. "Where is she?" she asked at once.

Liam braced himself before walking into the dining hall. He knew it didn't matter what he said, Mar was still going to act on instinct and want to jump immediately into action. And Liam couldn't let her. But there was no putting it off any longer, so he took a deep breath and walked through the doorway.

As expected, the moment he walked in Mar was on her feet and racing toward him.

marisolbarisol wrote: "Where is she?"

Knowing there was no way to break this easily, Liam didn't bother to try to soften the blow. "We believe she's been taken to Deilig."

He started in on the explanation, telling Marisol about Kole's past threats to other overloridians, his actions towards certain eilemaiden, and everything else he knew. He studied her face carefully as he spoke, and several times he wanted to stop talking or to hide information from her to save her from worry, but he had promised her the whole truth, and he was going to give it to her.

"I have several battalions already preparing to go into action, as well as advisers headed to other eilemaiden to speak to the overloridians that are also preparing for war." He needed to give her some sort of hope. "We don't know her exact whereabouts, Marisol, but we are going to be doing everything in our power to get everyone home safe. Especially Skylar."

Deilig?

While Mar had known her home eilemaiden had declared war on Deilig a little while back, she hadn't really felt like it would affect her. It was more of this abstract thing that was kinda scary when she really thought about it, but that seemed unlikely to ever actually touch the lives of her or her loved ones. But now Deilig had taken her sister, and her boyfriend was preparing for war, too.

She had to do something.

"So, to save everyone from Redfern, are you sending in a...a team? Or something?" she asked. An elite team of Cuir soldiers to fly in and rescue the kidnapped students. It sounded like something out of an action novel, but it also kind of sounded like something that could work in real life, too. It wasn't like that big dumb wall could stop a Cuir clio. "Because I want to help."

"Several," Liam reassured her. "I have several teams all tasked with finding a way into Deilig to work on rescuing the students. But Mar, these are all highly trained soldiers. I can't have you going with them, you have to understand." His stomach felt queasy even thinking about it.

"I need to know you're safe...here. Do you think I can do my job effectively if I'm worried about you? Skye is in the best possible hands right now. One of the battalions is looking for her specifically--she is top priority. And Cuir won't be the only ones looking; Paisley's brother was taken last night as well. I am positive she will be sending in specials of her own. These children will be found, and you have my promise that we are going to do as much as we can to bring them home safe."

Mar felt a cold fury rise up in her stomach. She had never felt anger like this before in her life. She glared up at Liam, unable to believe what she was hearing from him. "The best possible hands?" she repeated, her voice rising. "She's in the hands of a deranged psychopath! You expect me to just fucking sit here and do nothing? You think I care if you're worried about me!?"

Of course in any normal situation, Marisol would understand where Liam was coming from. But this wasn't a normal situation. Deilig has my sister. She was going to Deilig, and Liam wasn't going to stop her.

"And if you won't let me help then I'll find someone who will," she said resolutely, turning on her heel and storming off without bothering to wait for his reply. Every second spent arguing with Liam was another second that Skye was in danger. Paisley will understand. They took her family, too. She'll have me help her.

Liam was ready for Marisol to argue, but he was not ready for her to storm off without giving him a chance to stop her.

"Marisol!" he shouted after her, before starting to run toward her down the hall. "Please, stop! You're only seventeen--we have trained soldiers out there. You're going to get yourself killed! You'll hinder their mission--they need to focus!"

He protested in every way that he knew how, but Marisol kept running (and eventually flying). Liam had half a mind to send guards after her--arrest her. She'd never forgive him, but she'd be safe. The only thing that stopped him was that he knew she was not stupid enough to go alone, and he prayed to the gods that she would not find anyone as reckless as his girlfriend who wanted to go into a terrible war zone suited only for trained soldiers.

He watched as she flew off, taking a piece of his heart and a piece of his sanity with her. He needed her to be safe, but he didn't have time to chase her across the eilemaiden.

He needed to ready Cuir for war.