Jurdan in the Mortal World

Here Comes The Person Who Officially Ruins Things

(A/N: hi. no play on words, because my brain is just...dead is a good word for it i think. but it's fitting. no picture because it would kind of spoil the chapter. ik, ik. a chapter with an actual plot. GASP. i'm really not going to stretch this out longer than it has to be, because ik what it's like to wait and wait for a WP story (not that you're doing that with mine bc it's trashhhh) but it's going to be...short. and nice. hopefully. or i mighhtttt decide to kill cardan and have oak get kidnapped. also ima change the format of this, bc wp doesn't have tab and i'm dying pressing SPACE 15 times.)

We're off the merry-go-round, and thank goodness, honestly. Cardan would not shut up about "ewwww! It's dead! We're riding on a dead horse!" and generally acting like a baby about everything. Oh well. I supposed he deserves it. We're going home tomorrow, after all. And on ragwort stalks too. He got sick last time, puked everywhere.

I think I see another shadow, and a flash of Fae. I shake my head violently. Nope, nope, not today, not ever again. The war is over before it started. Stop. Stop.

Oak looks at me with concern. "Jude, what's wrong?" I can't explain PTSD to Oak. Maybe now, after too long of murder and bloodshed, I've finally cracked. I was a knife, dipped in hot oil, and instead of hardening, I finally cracked. 

Cardan looks at me with empathy in his eyes. He gets me. We both have shriveled souls that are rotting off. Yay. 

There's no better time to break, is there? After all the war is over and you got yourself a husband. Then you can go insane. But...I'm fine. Life is sucky, sure, but it's life. What do we compare it with? Aph. Vivi's philosophy is getting to me.

At least I don't have a kid yet. Hopefully never. I can't imagine how much of bad parents Cardan and I would be. And Oak is enough. But again...if we keep going on this track, we're going to have a very...prosperous Elfhame. I push all the thoughts away. They can come when I'm lying in bed, at Elfhame, and all that. Today will be fun.

I think I've gone so long without fun that I forgot how to have fun.

It's fine. Cardan can teach me.

"Jude." Cardan's voice isn't teasing or relaxed like it has been this whole time. It's limned with fear instead. I'm instantly on guard, hand going to the dagger I have under my clothing. "Don't look now. But...it..."

"What?" I snap, impatient. I scan the whole crowd, but don't see anything suspicious. Then I see a slightly pointed ear. It's green. I freeze. One look behind my shoulder, and I see Cardan nod slightly.

Madoc. He's here. 

No one else has noticed. Vivi and Heather are arguing over funnel cakes or pretzels and Oak is-he is-nowhere to be found.

"Oak's gone." Shit. (A/N: sorry, sorry. (but idc...)) Madoc was sworn not to wield a weapon for his entire lifetime. But who knows. If Madoc, the brilliant planner that he is, finds a way to harm Oak...

With a start, I realize Oak isn't important anymore. Of course he's important, but not to Elfhame. I am the queen. I can sire children. I fight back the shudder. Not the right time.

Madoc's burly form slowly makes its' way to us. He's spotted us. He knows where we are. And Oak is completely, absolutely, completely, gone. 

A hiss escapes my mouth. "Vivi. Heather." They straighten, recognizing the urgency in my voice. "Oak is gone. Go find him. Right now. Madoc is here. If he somehow gets his hands on Oak..."

We know that Oak isn't important to Faerie anymore. But he doesn't. And the things he will do if he finds Oak, thinking he is important...I can't. Vivi starts tearing through the crowd, Heather sputtering mumbled apologies every time someone looks particularly mad.

Cardan taps my shoulder. "Jude. He's gone." I take a quick scan of the crowd and curse. Madoc is now nowhere to be seen. 

Today really couldn't get any better. I mumble apologies and excuses to the now-pissed crowd, trying to find somewhere where I can sit and think. I find an abandoned nook between two vendors, scattering tiny chattering creatures. Cardan comes in soon after me, looking harried. 

"What-are-you going-to-do," he pants. I'm barely winded, but I didn't spend all my mornings trying to cure my hangovers. I went for a run.

"I don't know. Let me think." My brain races, looking for a crack in this. It's been too long. And I kind of love the rush of it.

Madoc is gone. Oak is gone. Madoc thinks Oak is important to Elfhame. Madoc hates me after I kicked him out. He thinks Oak is important. He is willing to get revenge. He could be working with someone else. Someone in the mortal world. Who knows me. Knows me. I rack my brain. 

Bryern. The Fae who worked here, shutting off all the rebellious Fae in the mortal world. The one with an absolutely ridiculous sense of fashion. The one who introduced me to Grima Mog. The one who is willing to do anything. It's a long shot, but for some reason, I don't think Madoc would come here alone to ride some roller coasters.

He wants some kind of revenge. As Bryern might want also. He lost a skilled murderer the day I decided to go in Taryn's place to Elfhame. They could be working together. Again, as I said. Long shot. But...with Oak gone, I need to think over any plan they might have. 

Madoc can't go back to Elfhame. But Bryern can.

 (A/N: can he? idk if there were any specific details about that, but...if there was, pls correct me. also...anyone else thought 'jude' was a prude name until you got to the folk of the air??)