One for All [Leadership discussion; All Residents]

[Jesper]

The black feels strong and confident, which is saying something. He has not felt like this since Lamb did not return home. But, he knows what he must do.

Unshod hooves compact the dry snow beneath his lean torso as equine marches towards the center of the Isle. His mission: to address the future of Icicle Isle with those currently invested in her. All of the tension thus far made his head spin. With the East already united, Jesper felt the pressure to find a mutually agreeable resolution. Nearing the center, stallion halts and takes a moment to survey the scene. This would be the first meeting he summons. An inhale of arctic air enters lungs before steed emits a loud bugle to bring forth any and all who c as ll the tundra home. Each and every voice deserves to be heard and, most certainly would be needed to come to a decision. Next, he waits. Patiently, he observes as the familiar and, not so familiar, faces come into focus. Once he feels the majority are present, he begins.

"Welcome, all. For those of you who do not know me, I am Jesper. I came here, at the onset of the plague, from Ischia. I am one of the Brotherhood and, have many close ties to Nerine." Jesper pauses here to allow any senseless chatter to fade before he dives into the main points. "I have called this meeting in order to address the future of Icicle Isle. In my experience, we live our best lives when we all work together. We all have something to bring to the table. I am certain we can come to an agreement on who should lead the Isle and, what direction she should go. Now, I am aware that more than one individual has put their name in for consideration as our leader. Before we identify the candidates and what platform each one stands on, I think our first decision is how to organize our hierarchy. Do we want a single leader to represent us with the assistance of most trusted comrades? Do we want a pair of leaders to ensure a well-balanced approach to our affairs? Do we want decisions to be made by a small council? If you have additional ideas, please share them now."

He listens whole-heartedly, with keen interest, to each opinion. He does not allow the biting cold or fierce wind to break his focus. And, while he desires to shift into his canine form - and smaller surface area to lose body heat and a dense coat to insulate him - Jesper knows he must remain in equine form to keep this meeting running smoothly. He hopes that, for now, they could simply decide on a structure for their governing body and, move on to other decisions afterwards. Baby steps my dears.

jesper

carnage x bethanie

devin's∇designs

[Leilan]

Leilan

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
and the superstars sucked into the supermassive

The fact that it's even come to this, is to say the least... disappointing. Four claims. A challenge not followed up. Months of waiting for abso-f-ing-lutely nothing to happen.

All in all, the scaled roan doesn't know if he's disappointed in himself for not calling for a vote last summer even though that would have meant ignoring Camomila and basically stepping up again, or in everybody else, roaming around and doing nothing in particular at all.

Well, at least he'd tried to help the fae find a cure in the meantime. If that counted for anything at all with these people, he wasn't sure, but it felt like some kind of accomplishment to himself nonetheless.

The centre of the Isle happens to be a place where Heartfire once... detonated. A place where he'd later met Set, in an attempt to patch at least this part of the Isle a bit so that no little foals would tumble into the hole - where he'd told the man exactly how he felt about his claim and his intended way of ruling, but then, it had seemed like the magician either didn't care enough to continue hanging around, or that he didn't care enough to talk to Leilan any more. Whatever it was, he hadn't seen the man since.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen a lot of faces lately. Whoever else was still around mostly kept to themselves, and it had been up to Leilan to greet the visitors from the East, to greet any new faces at all. But that was the thing with this island. It's too cold for some, apparently, to keep an interest in.

Not to him, he's well-adjusted. Too well, perhaps. Had he taken on the icy demeanour of the land perhaps more figuratively also, he wouldn't know. But he knows what he doesn't want, for starters. Which is to leave. Or to let Phasus and Set rule together, because surely that would lead to trouble for Nerine later on.

Jesper also seemed to think it was time they actually decided something, calling this meeting. Peace of mind would perhaps help them all get better. Set a course. Taiga was a free land, if anyone wanted to be free and careless and unbound. At least that's what Lilitha had told him. Of course, it wasn't plague-free, but the majority of lands weren't. But it was like Ard had said. Those wanting to find a safe place here, should be welcome, however long or short they wanted to stay. Safe haven.

But perhaps it needed to be more than that. Any safe haven was usually a more apathetic place, waiting for refugees to come and go. For anything to be tied to Nerine, perhaps it needed to be more outgoing. But how does one do that, with everybody squabbling over every step he'd take? It had seemed to Leilan, that people here perhaps just didn't want him. Well, except Heartfire maybe, who'd mentioned him so that there would be someone here who would definitely be loyal to the kingdom just off-coast.

"Brother," he greets, stretching out his nose to the black male as soon as he arrives (turns out he's the first). Waiting, he looks around. Then, the more diplomatic male has a speech ready when finally, more people fly in. The ice-clad drake grins a bit to himself, but is careful not to show. He mulls over the ideas Jesper now outs all in one go, then shakes his head.

"This land doesn't need to do much decision-making, as it can't be a full kingdom - it'll be tied to Nerine in one way or another due to it's location. So politically, I'd think it would make the most sense to follow Nerine's alliances. That, or be completely neutral in regards to it, but then also to other lands. So bear in mind that most decision needing to be made, will concern ourselves: small disagreements between members, distribution of food and water in the winter, directions as to where to find a healer." His ice-blue eyes scan the others present. "To be honest, in that regard, I think having two rulers isn't going to be very helpful unless we want Nerine to make final decisions for us. I'm thinking either it's one final-decisionmaker, or three, or even five - as long as there can be no tie in votes between them. If we go with one - then I think their council should also be uneven." Logic, as always, had never evaded him. Perhaps that's why he had thought he might do better than most. Not let a desire for power overtake him  - as he feared that, some time ago, Wolfbane and Arthas both had made that mistake which had let them to near-war; only the Plague and the death of Arthas by some other event had prevented it.

"Or we resort to being a free land of herds. But now that I'm being honest with you all anyway - there's plenty other lands doing just that, and I'd hoped to have something more meaningful than just a place in the ice where everybody shelters from the plague."

Well, right. His brisk kind of honesty might not always be appreciated, but at least he wasn't hiding anything or lying.

you set my soul alight

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