ROLEPLAY

It was a typical zorai winter; a biting cold and a heavy overcast sky, with no perspective of sunlight. Zora was as silent as ever.. even more silent since a whole guild decided to move to the sunny shores of Fairhaven.

People were teleporting in one by one, and their crunching of snow was the only sound that disturbed the tranquil air.

Fireflies met in the guild council room, a quiet place to discuss important matters. The decision resting upon them was heavy, and the task a burden. This topic was not easily discussed, yet it had to. They would join a nation. It was past overdue.

So they talked, and talked.. and talked.

There was no obvious way, no easy choice to make. Their members were a motley collection of different affinities, some leaning neutral and some with ties in the marauder groups, with every variation in between. The guild itself was welcome in all nations ... as a lip service, at least; no one with power would, of course, share truly important secrets.

Back to the roots, back to the basics. What was important in the long run, for all the members? To fight the goo, to fight the kitins, to stay healthy so you can carry on learning. Above all, it was important to have the backbone on which all those desires could rest.

Government mishaps happened everywhere. That was no reason to raise eyebrows. Kitins however .. kitins were a deep problem with no solution in sight. Goo was a problem, with its growing usage around the planet. People falling prey to the elements, people falling sick with troubling symptoms .. all this was worrisome.

With matters placed in this light, the path forward became much clearer.

They would settle in the great city of Zora, home of the studious and of the compassionate. The place was excellent to defend against kitin. It would be in Zora where the Fireflies would learn first-hand about medicine and magnetism; they would spread all over the world and bring back the knowledge of other nations, to share and enhance in this melting pot that their capital was.

Sure, they were giving up privileges. Their insignia would now be seen less favourably in the Kingdom, and would be barely tolerated in the Federation. It was a price worth paying.

With the shooki liquor gone stale and the tender yubo steak gone cold, the Fireflies sitting in their guild hall could sense what all them thought: "A storm is coming". One last gulp and they set to work. A week, a month, whatever it would take. Alrekur set things in motion and he oversaw the collective effort; those who contributed are too many to list.

(...)

It didn't take as long as they worried. A mere 3 months later, in a sunny day of spring, Grave of the Fireflies was acknowledged by the government as a local guild.

As the old saying goes: Trees grow even on graves, and their roots run deep. The work of three months was just the beginning.

marceline was concerned for she-jua mu's wellbeing. she [marceline] thought that some more zoraï thinking moss should be smoked by the disdainful intendant.
marceline prompty scurried over to hoï-cho with a large satchel of her finest produce... within 30 minutes that head of his should be floating right out of his hands. flying up high like a kite, up to the highest height. soaring up through the atmosphere, up where the air is clear....