agoodyarn | an arranged marriage for ceaselesslabor

an arranged marriage for ceaselesslabor

Carcosa was thought to be lost.

There were all manner of myths, all manner of stories; some said that someone with the gift of earthquakes sunk the land into the oceans. Others said that it was lost far earlier, that the city itself slowly died as the continents shifted and the fabled Lake Hali dried up, the country lost to the dunes of the great deserts and unsuited to such an environment. Still others said it was entirely a story, made up, the kind of thing used by ancient travelers to spice up their tales and historical accounts to cover up for the deeds or misdeeds that politics would not allow them to speak of honestly. That last one was the most accepted of the stories, or it was until the headline came out in the Times.

Carcosa is Real! Envoy Arrives at UN!

It was, it turned out, an island nation located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, far from any of the standard ocean routes and difficult to navigate to given the strangeness of the weather patterns in the area which meddled with magnetic reckoning. As the use of a magnetic compass had risen throughout the world (instead of relying on those with Directional gifts), the island had been 'missed' more and more until it was forgotten, only encountered by the occasional lost ship that by the same misfortune would never be able to find them again. They had become, by no surprise, incredibly isolationist and it was speculated by scientists that the natural energies that caused the anomaly might in fact be the reason why Carcosa was said to have singularly powerful magical gifts in its people and especially in its royal line. Others thought it might be a matter of natural selection or even careful breeding: cut off from the rest of the world and the advancements brought by crossing cultures, Carcosans had only been able to rely on themselves and their gifts, making those with stronger and more useful gifts much more likely to prosper and procreate given the relatively small population. Nevertheless, it turned out that that part of the 'myths' was true: there were a few more articles, later in the paper, discussing the gifts of the Envoy and his crew, all of which were the sort of thing deemed miraculous and even mythical these days. Technology had just made such things more trouble than they were worth, unstable and unreliable and reliant on a single individual; a machine could work for anyone, and science had no favorites.

It was the sort of thing that made magic feel more magical again, really.

And brought on a rush to exploit the island, it's people, and what resources they had which, as it turned out, were extensive. This led to the King closing the port and strictly limiting the interaction between the foreigners and his people. And, of course, to a second arrival in New York City.

King Hastur II himself, younger than anyone expected, unmarried and childless, walking into the UN himself and politely requesting a chair.

...how Daniel Saltzman, a lumber magnate, true, but no one with a title, not a Rockefeller or a Carnegie, managed to get his attention during that visit is anyone's guess. Some of the gossip rags decided it must have been a connection made over a shared tendency towards religion, while others were much more cynical and claimed it was about the money and nothing but the money, that Saltzman was an old traditionalist willing to invest in Carcosa more than the others who'd put their money into steam and electric and gas. No one can agree what it is, but what is evident is that Saltzman offered a husband for the mysterious young king and that said king had accepted.

How his adopted son, Arthur, took the news, well...

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Parker's hands will reach over and give Arthur's arm a squeeze in return.

"Good. Glad to hear it." A grin. "I'm looking forward to you coming into the harbor with all the fanfare whenever you're craving decent food." Beat. "No offense."

Jahn, still amused- "None taken."

And then Parker's pulling him into a hug proper, squeezing him tight as he murmurs "Let yourself be happy for once, eh, dipshit?" But he'll kiss his cheek as he pulls back and shove him towards Jahn.

"Now, get outta here before I see if they can get this whole business annulled and get you married to my sister like you ought to be."

Arthur groans. "She got lucky," he tells him. "Let that stay."

He passes by the kitchen and snags one of the magnets from the wall, stuffing it in his pocket. Call it a memento. Call it grounding to where he is. It doesn't matter. He's going to make sure that it gets on the boat with the rest of the luggage.

He takes Jahn's arm and leads him out again, breathing out.

"Alright," he mutters. "Now we can head for he harbor."

Jahn just waits for Arthur to start walking before he speaks.

"He loves you a great deal. I'm reasonably certain that if I'd argued about my mask that he might have shot me."

"Oh yes. He absolutely would have. He's always armed anyway. Or he would have told me to make you walk away," he explains as they reach the street. "But I'm glad you let him see you. It made him feel better and - I wanted him to like you."

He needed it, more like.

"Anyone who loves you is an ally to me," he says simply. That's all there is to it. "And anyone who'd kill to protect you is an even more precious ally still. He deserved to know you would be safe. And that I would protect you in his stead."

He tightens his grip in Jahn's arm, leaning slightly against him as they walk. "He trusts you. I'll make sure he continues to do so, or he might start training to be an assassin," he adds with a laugh. A laugh that isn't all joking.

"But he is right about the food. My first request from Daniel is for him to ship me bagels."

"We can stop on the way for some of those if you like, bring them on the boat. I brought one of our specialists in preserving for any food items you might want to bring with you."

He thinks it over, then nods. "Alright." They turn the corner and it takes no time for them to gather up a bag and bring them along. He tears off a piece of one as they walk, handing it over to him. "Try it," he encourages gently. "I's best when they're warm and fresh."

He leans over and, careful with his mask, he leans over to nibble the food from Arthur's fingers. He sounds almost surprised as he notes-

"Chewy. Hmm. I like the texture. Interesting."

"Of course it is. That's the only way to have it. But the bread here is amazing anyway. There are so many different ways to try it."

He closes the bag again, tying the little magnet along with it. A little piece of home.

"It's not entirely unlike how we enjoy our bread and buns," he says thoughtfully, "though you'll have to talk to the chef in our kitchen when you arrive if there's something specific you want. I'm sure she'll be interested to see the bagels."

He keeps walking along, watching the variety of people as they go, the throngs of New York City and their variety.

"You weren't born here, were you, Arthur?" he says after a moment.

He's content with the quiet for a while, continuing to keep other people at bay, to keep them bored and twisting around their own minds to look away from the duo.

It doesn't take much concentration at all, which is why he looks up at the question. "Hm? Oh. No. My - my parents, my - well, my real parents - and I lived in England. We emigrated when I was younger."

He doesn't ask further on his parents, but he will offer something of his own.

"Children are raised more communally in Carcosa, as just having the proper makeup for healthy children doesn't mean that one is interested in rearing those children. Thus, I was aware of my parents but I never really spent much time with them. My family name was to help with identification, nothing more. Uric was the one who took interest in me."

Wry.

"And he gave me hell. Not... cruel, not mean, but he never let me just rest on my talents. He made me think about everything I did, consider whether I was being 'good' or being kind. But by the same token, he saw my temper as a good thing." He keeps walking before he explains. "I cared about other people, loudly. Sometimes when it was... inappropriate to, at my age. He worried for me, given how little I would fight for myself." He looks sideways at Arthur. "I apologize, if he's said anything... frustrating or hurtful. He can be defensive of me."

A frown crosses Arthur's features. "Jahn. That's not - you don't need to worry about Uric. He didn't say anything like that. Nothing that I took as genuinely cruel."

Maybe some snark he deserved, but no more than that.

"No, he told me a little more about you and I made my choices because I wanted to. Admittedly, I - I should have asked sooner, but - well, I'm asking now."

He notices the frown and shakes his head.

"This is new for all of us. And 'new' things for Uric and I are... few and far between. I just want to ensure that you're happy. That you feel safe, and supported." He lets his shoulders droop.

"The more I think of starting our life together, the more I wonder at how much I'm changing for you."

"Changing for me?" he wonders, watching out at the crowds, slipping up a little as a little girl stares openly at them both. She rushes off after Arthur makes a silly face in her direction.

He glances back.

"I'm taking you from your home, from your profession, from your friends and from your father. I'm taking you from all that you know to a place that is not only foreign to you but that you thought until recently was myth. I am changing your life, and I did so, it seems, without you... even knowing why, initially."

He looks to Arthur.

"You didn't want to see me naked last night because we didn't know one another well enough and now you're willing to do all of this a day later. Are you..." a breath in, "are you sure, Arthur?"

He had thought he meant something different by what he said, but this is - even more confusing. "Jahn," he says as they walk, not looking up at the mask just yet. "You were the one who pointed out that we had pledged our lives to each other. So that's what we're going to do. And my life here is - it's a dead end. I've been beating my head against the wall trying to escape it, but this - this is the escape. I haven't taken a chance on anyone in years."

He reaches up and touches the flower tucked near his ear. "So I'm taking a chance here. I'm still - I need some time, but I'm not saying no to any of it."

He looks to the flower, and then to Arthur's eyes. It's clear that he's... well, there's a certain amount of chance being taken here by Jahn too, to be fair. And he's still unsure of where they stand.

Arthur had taken those vows, he knows now, figuring on a life where he would largely be left to his own devices and that the benefit would be given to the man who'd raised him. It was a transaction, or so he'd thought. Now he knows what Jahn wants, what Jahn is, and much more of what he plans on. He's not sure if Arthur would have taken that pledge if he'd known and that gives him concerns.

But he'll nod.

"I trust you, Arthur. If you say you want this, I won't ask again."

And thankfully, they're at the pier now. And Jahn can point over to where Daniel is sitting easily enough.

"...I'll leave you to it. Though, if you could pass him this," and Jahn holds out a small envelope to Arthur labeled for his father. "It is simply a thank you and the information on the flag for him to use."

Either way, Arthur was committed to this. He agreed for Daniel, and just because he's finally realized that there will be an actual wedding involved doesn't mean that he's particularly inclined to call the whole thing off.

A commitment is a fucking commitment. An adventure is an adventure.

And Daniel knew all of this going in. He knew and still encouraged it. Parker encouraged him. He's not going to make it easy, but he isn't going kicking and screaming, either.

He takes the envelope and then takes his husband's hand, kissing his fingers. "I want this," he tells him before he trots off to go meet Daniel. They speak, they embrace, and Arthur assures him that he will visit in a few months. For the holidays, if he can. He doesn't ever let Daniel be alone during that time. He hands over the envelope and trots back towards the dock, looking around for his husband.

His husband is on the deck of their ship, waiting near the gangplank. He will offer Daniel a bow and a wave but he holds out a hand for Arthur. The cargo, it seems, is already largely loaded. They were just waiting for the happy couple. Uric is stationed not far and he gives Arthur a nod of acknowledgement as well.

He flashes Uric a playfully shitty grin, then stands close to Jahn. He hands the bagels to someone who walks by and seems to just - take it from him. They clearly know more about how this works than Arthur does.

He watches the city from the deck, one hand in his pocket, and feels a fleeting moment of panic. Not because he's leaving but because he's afraid he might have missed something. That he might have forgotten something or someone. That in the whirlwind of everything, he had let something slip.

That feeling is replaced fairly easily by shame when he realizes that no, he doesn't have anything.

He had Daniel. And Parker.

And his breakfast.

Now, at least, he has something else. Someone else.

"Let's go," he tells Jahn gently.

Jahn nods and takes Arthur's hand in his own, and as they step down the stairs into the ship... Arthur will feel something strange from one step to the next, as if he moves from an escalator to the ground.

And he will step into what is clearly a room in the palace, filled with plants and decorations and art... and, it looks like, at least one beautiful woman. Tall, with bountiful curves, dark curly hair, and brown eyes filled with warmth, she's dressed in a similar style to Jahn's under-robe wear, and her smile is bright.

She chatters brightly in a language that Arthur doesn't know at Jahn, an then turns towards him and offers a gentle-

"Hello, Arthur. Welcome to Carcosa."

It isn't as disorienting as he thought, but his brain tries to make sense of the change on the way down the steps. It results in a bit of dizziness, but he holds fast to Jahn to keep from toppling over.

She's there.

He looks up to the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, with the kindest face, and the wave of dizziness returns in full force for a very different reason. "Hello. You - you must be Memmo?"

She beams at him and offers a hand in greeting to him. The rest of what she says is in their own language:

"E's cu rybbo dryd so gehk ryc lrucah du vummuf rec raynd. E'ja raynt cu silr ypuid oui vnus res. Ajah yd y tecdyhla, oui pnuikrd cilr zuo du res. So gehk paync dra faekrd uv uin luihdno uh rec cruimtanc; E's kmyt ra'mm ryja cusauha fru pnehkc y csema du rec vyla cu aycemo ymm dra lmucan."

Jahn removes his mask, putting it to one side before he smiles fondly at the both of them and, giving a squeeze to Arthur's hand, he tilts his head towards her.

"She says she's glad that you decided to come. She's heard so much about you from me that she's very excited to meet you."

She looks to Jahn now and then Arthur before asking something. Jahn nods before translating.

"She'd like to know if you can help her learn English, and she says she'll teach you Cosa, our language, in return."

an arranged marriage for ceaselesslabor

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