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PART FOUR
There's a resounding silence in which nobody quite knows whether to be relieved or terrified by this prospect. The tension is broken when Aura steps forward, hesitates for a moment and throws her arms around her in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. Even more uncharacteristically, Poppy responds by hugging her back, resting her chin on her head and stroking her hair in a soothing sort of way, as if their roles have reversed and she, Poppy, is the mother rather than the daughter in this relationship. The simple action causes a babble of talk and, for a moment, the leaders of the empire are able to forget about the impending war and rejoice in their reunion with another of their kingdom. Probably the most touching is Penguin's reaction. He emerges from under the table with his tail between his legs, quivering, but hesitates and sniffs the air suspiciously. Poppy detatches herself from the throng and drops to one knee; he slinks cautiously up to her, pushing his nose onto her outstretched hand. There's a moment where one can almost see the wheels turning in his brain as he matches up her scent to his memories, before he gives a strangled sort of yelp and hurls himself at her with such a force that he knocks her straight onto her back. For once she doesn't appear to mind, but rather holds him tightly as he slobbers ecstatically over her and generates bruises on her legs where his tail is thrashing them.
"I love you too, you stupid fleabag," she murmurs eventually, "but you're kinda too heavy for this to go on for an extended period of time."
At which he jumps off her but sticks close by her side, as if afraid that if he isn't touching her at all times then she'll disappear again. That'll get annoying pretty fast, but for now it's cute.
Between them all, they manage to get out a (mostly) coherent account of what's happened since she got knocked into a coma. Poppy, being an expressive person by nature, is a very good audience; she gasps, stares, cheers and boos in all the right places. Nobody particularly wants to tell her about Draco's betrayal, so nobody does - luckily, they overload her brain with so much information that she'll have to spend several days processing it before she figures out that she hasn't got the full story. Sometimes stupidity can be a blessing.
When they get to the attack on Set-Merut, the conversation turns once again to defences. Aura brightens the mood by pointing out that they now have a second divine to aid them, while Mallos still only has himself.
Poppy, however, is frowning in the way she does when something doesn't make sense in her brain. "But..." she begins.
“Just a minute. If Set-Merut unites, we can try and control your magic the same way Shaman did when – ”
“But – ”
“- when you brought me back – ”
“But – ”
Tired of her interruptions, Arthur cuts across Aura. “What is it, Poppy?”
“But,” Poppy repeats and, after a pause, she remembers what she had wanted to say. “But how can Mallos have reactivated Shady Labyrinth? That’s impossible.”
“It’s all too possible,” Aura replies. “It’s his fort. He can reactivate it any time.”
“It isn’t his fort.”
“Yes it is, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to reactivate it.”
“But that’s what I’m saying,” Poppy scowls at her. “I was forced to learn the history of fairykind when I was stuck in that hellhole, remember? I know all the known forts and their creators by heart still. Shady Labyrinth was never Mallos’, so how could he reactivate it?”
Aura feels her heart sink like a stone. “Whose fort is it, Poppy?”
“Gwythr’s.”
“He has a kind of magic,” Adonis growls. “A magic deeper and more powerful than divinity. He must.”
“That’s enough.” Aura’s intense blue stare bores into Poppy’s defiant one. “You are absolutely sure about this? Think carefully about what you say next, because the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance.”
“I’m sure.” The answer is confident and without hesitation. Aura doesn't look as convinced.
"What are you saying, Poppy?" Nimueh asks gently, "That Mallos has been Gwythr all along, only pretending to be Mallos?"
"Impossible," Aura snaps before Poppy can reply. "I'd know. I knew Mallos and Gwythr; I'd know which one it is." She exchanges a hostile look with her daughter, before adding, "but I know a way we can find out for sure, and we can find out right now. Arthur, fetch Lilith."
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