After a decade of superheroics, KATE MORGAN finds herself in control
of strange and eldritch forces beyond all mortal ken -- and that
includes her own! Thus begins the

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# NUMBER 5 - "THIS DOOM MY PROUD HEART BREAK" #
# ------- [8F-218] ------------ [PW-62] ------- #

-------------- HOUSE MORGANA --------------------

Kate Morgan (SHIMMER), age 30. She/her.
The Queen of Cups. The ghost who never died. The darkness, reflected in light.

Pilar "Pill" Garcia, age 34. She/her.
Kate's protector. The collector. The knower. The laughter in the dark.

Bassina Bootblack, age 28. She/her.
The Knight of Cups. The red shield: the gold chalice. The doomed heart.

Melody Mapp (DARKHORSE), age 21. She/her.
Simon's lover. Kate's friend. The runner. The tower, reversed; the
pale rider, reversed.

Claire Belden (RAINSHADE), age 31. She/her.
Kate's enemy. Kate's friend. The light, reflected in darkness. The one
who borrows. The weaver of webs.

Cembalo, a kitten. She/her.
Kate's cat. The vicious teeth. The curled tail. The black in the night.

Kumari Starshell (CASCADE), age 30. She/her.
Queen of Lemuria. The storm at sea. The brave sword, the subtle knife.
Once Melody's enemy, and Claire's spy.

Terak Torvo, age 24. He/him.
King of Lemuria. The tepid pool. The prisoner. The guileless, beset by
intrigues. Once Melody's lover.

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Kumari slumps darkly in the seaside throne and inhales deeply through
steepled fingers. "I do not like what I am hearing, friend Melody."

Her husband reaches for her hand in a gesture of comfort performed
with a studied wariness. She slaps him away. He glances sheepishly at
Melody.

"Only my king's regard for you keeps your head on its shoulders.
But know that my affection for my husband has limits."

"I'm sure it does," says Melody. "I'm not your enemy, Kumari."

"No?" says the queen. "You come to my kingdom in troubled times,
deceitful of purpose. You bring a pretender."

"She doesn't want your crown."

"No, she's brought one of her own. She makes my shield into her
knight, blessed with the magic of old Lemuria."

"That wasn't on purpose! That's magic destiny stuff."

"You said yourself she wants to sit upon the seaside throne."

"Temporarily," stressed Melody, exhausted. "Not to take it from
you! She sits in the chair and she'll remember whatever the original
queen knew so we can figure out what big bad we have to put the
mystical whammy on."

"And if she remembers that the throne is hers? It won't be on
purpose; it will be magical destiny stuff. Tell me, what comfort shall
that be to me and my house?"

Melody doesn't have an answer for that. "Look, I came here to warn
you. Kate sent me to warn you."

"And what shall I do with this warning?"

"I don't know," says Melody. "You're the queen! You have to figure
that out. But those are your people. You can't just butcher them."

"You think I don't know that?" says Kumari. "I answer their every
insult with fresh kindness, and they take it as weakness. And when
instead I stand firm, they call it tyranny. And you think I do not
know that I teeter at a precipice? Child, I think of little else.

"Yes, they are my people. But Kate Morgan is not."

"She is not your enemy. Neither am I." She threatens with a pause.
"Not yet, anyway. Kate is a victim here. She's one of those folks that
gets chosen by the mob against her will; she puts up a fuss, they're
gonna turn on her. You're really going to kill someone like that? An
innocent?"

Kumari is wide-eyed in disbelief. "Of course I would. How is that
even a question? Are you that naive?" She gives a sideways glance to
Terry. "And this was my great rival for your heart? How
disappointing."

()

Melody should be back by now, Kate thinks. She's not sure precisely
how much time has elapsed. As the noisy, angry throng behind her has
made its way toward the palace, pushing Kate and her hover-wagon ever
forward, time has simultaneously slowed and quickened, slowed in her
sickening belly and quickened in her desperate pulse. But it's
definitely been long enough for Melody to have warned Kumari and
returned to her side.

She tries to push it out of her mind, but then Pill says, "Melody
should be back by now, shouldn't she?"

"Yeah."

Pill seems a little worried, which Kate finds fascinating. Pill has
been so steady through this whole thing so far, has remained steely
and calm and plucky despite the dreams that aren't dreams, worms that
aren't worms, and shadows that aren't shadows. But Kate gets that, she
supposes. That kind of stuff, that's Pill's world, just like Kate's
world was capes and tights.

Supervillains and death traps, problems you can solve by punching
them: after ten years in the profession, that kind of thing is just
another day at the office for Kate. She doesn't crack under that
pressure, doesn't bat an eye at the gaudy costumes and ray-guns, just
like Pill isn't particularly bothered by eldritch horrors.

But marching (or, more accurately, being marched) at the head of a
bloodthirsty mob? That's something else entirely. Neither of them know
the rules, neither has any experience with this sort of thing.

The Claire in the back of Kate's brain is disappointed: it's like
you've never overthrown a government before!

It feels like Claire's attempt at a joke, which is perhaps more
disconcerting than the idea that Claire does have experience at this
sort of thing.

Bassina, who has by now joined them in the hover-wagon, sees Kate's
unease. "I will keep you safe, my lady."

"I'm not worried about me," lies Kate. "But what about them?" She
gestures to the throng beside and behind the wagon. This was a
mistake; they take it as a sign of encouragement and endorsement.

Once the joyous and terrifying cacophony subsides, Bassina
responds. "With respect, my lady. I don't think much harm will come to
them. If the queen," here, she falters a bit, "by which I mean the
other queen, who sits in your throne."

"I don't want it," says Kate in a low whisper.

Bassina nods. "So I've gathered. But if the queen were to command
her forces to move against them, I think it's likely they would pledge
themselves to your cause instead. Or," she shrugs awkwardly, "the
cause that's been declared for you."

"They really hate her that much," says Kate.

"No," says Bassina. "But look to the Red Shields. No one loves her more."

"That's not what I was told."

"By the king's slut?" says Bassina derisively. Then, remembering
her audience, she is appropriately mortified. She's about to apologize
when Kate laughs, shaking her head.

"She does kind of slut around," says Kate.

Pill rolls her eyes. "Prudes."

"The king and his house have no love for us." Bassina corrects
herself. "For them. But I would never have questioned their devotion
to the House of Starshell. Yet they march for you. Not for love of
you. But for fear of the mob. And fear of what comes after.
Revolutions are not kind to those that stood against them."

"And you?" says Kate. "You are a Red Shield, but you are with me.
Is it out of fear of them? Fear of, of me?"

"I." Bassina frowns.

"Be true with me."

"Of course," says Bassina, bowing with a nod. "I have been asking
myself that question all along. I cannot say that I have an answer.
Only that," she hesitates, as if trying to talk herself out of saying
it, but then presses on, "this feels right. You feel right."

"So do you," says Kate. At first she's not sure if she means it,
but the moment that the words leave her mouth, she knows that she
does. Bassina, her Knight of Cups: that feels right. So does Cembalo,
her familiar. Pill, her guide. And in her way, so does Claire.

It's not a "destiny" thing. Kate doesn't believe in that, and as
Pill told her, it's less about Kate being "meant" for this and more
about her being "right" for this, just as her protectors are "right"
for her.