Vigilance

Posted on Sun Dec 29th, 2024 @ 18:55 by Claire Cavendish & William McAvoy

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Avalon Institute, Exterior
Timeline: Thursday, January 4th, 1993
1221 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

William hated the long nights but hated the strange feel the nights gave him as the sunset. It was stirring up the last time he had stared out across the loch and felt a battle approaching. He glanced up as a few pupils passed him with whispered goodnight which he returned with a nod before returning his gaze to the setting sun. It was a beautiful sight that he still felt lucky to have after everything but he hated how the Red sky at night meant shepherd delight and calm weather, he wanted the storms and snow to see off the trouble that was coming their way.

"You did not need to come and check that I was okay here." He said to the shadows behind him. He glanced back and offered a smile to the woman who was closing the distance between them.

To the head teacher the man that had once been the master of this house always seemed a bit lost in a place so familiar yet so different from the world he had left behind. Claire knew she didn't have to, but she wanted to. She also knew that some of the more old fashioned beliefs made any such conversation a lot more difficult with him. "I'm not." She pushed her hands in her coat as she came to his side. "I've come to tell you that I'm not."

William turned a little to look at the woman better and stepped to the side to allow her to share the viewpoint that he had. "I would be surprised if you were." He said quietly. "We are racing towards something none of you have ever faced before - battle." He said sadly. He had hoped that it was all behind him.

"If the visions really are as inevitable as Phoebe said they would be." Claire still held onto a morsel of ignorant hope that there was a reality that they could reach into that would prevent the battle to come. "It's just that in that hour where the people here may need me most, I feel like I need to be elsewhere."

"Then you need to be elsewhere. Something I learned whilst leading people into battle my lady is fate will happen how it needs to. I never expected to be so many years into the future but I do not believe it happened for no reason." William offered her a small smile at her hope. "She has not been here long enough for us to know enough about her abilities so maybe." He did not often feed into ignorance but he thought she might need that little gem of hope.

"I've put her in charge of the Knights. Given her full access to all the facilities and the entire database. Including GWENN." Claire and William had kept quite a few things close to the chest, but this was a time where all of this couldn't depend on just one person. "Liana will take over administrative duties. And the logs have confirmed our suspicions, Shauna and Alistair have found the evacuation route. Let's hope our trust in them is well placed."

"Of course they did. Those 2 have the inability to stay out of trouble for one day." The man said smiling sadly as he thought about the 2 students. He knew Phoebe and Lian were the best choices but the man did not like the idea of things changing so drastically that his anchor to this time and place would no longer be there.

"If nothing else it shows we're raising independent thinkers," Claire showed a bit of pride in that. Shauna had been quite a bit of trouble in the first year but seemed to be getting into a more mature mindset of late. Perhaps it was outside forces, but perhaps some of the teachings in the institute had a positive effect on her. "Are there other practical considerations we should prepare ourselves for in a siege?"

William was not sure that he had the same pride in the pair that the woman did but he respected her view on things as he glanced from the loch back to the castle. "Boundaries, supplies, people." He knew that a lot of it had already been prepared but he would be doing several more checks on entrances into the castle and making sure they were impossible.

"We're gathering what supplies we can, but there's some people out there that are less inclined to help us stock up." The impending legislation made people feel emboldened to be more openly discriminatory towards mutants. Avalon was too much of a known factor to fly under the radar in that regard. She just hoped that some of their own grown food and the powers of some of their staff and students would be enough to make them last.

"I have pickled what I have grown from last summer and that is already in the cellars but it might be worth going further afield to the cities. Tom showed me something called kwik save and he filled up his car with provisions." The cities were less worried about mutants and most of the staff could go under the radar if they brought it in whole sellers claiming to be running a shop from his experience of helping Tom earlier in the month.

"There might be time for another run or two." Claire agreed. They had already taken up some space in the undercroft where it was cold without the need for refridgeration, for the additional stores. Even so a group of around a hundred mouths to feed, including several mouths that ate much more frequently, it meant they couldn't outlast this siege. She knew that Oliver had been pushing himself in the greenhouses too. Wanting to provide fresh vegetables and fruits. But even that would be limited to how much the soil could feed the plants, and she was worried not only about turning the soil barren but much more so about draining the kid. "If they attack, we'll need someone with experience to protect the kids while the other face the assault head on."

"That is not needed to be asked of me." The man said quietly. "It should be assumed, my lady." He said formally. This was his home and his people. It might not be the same as it was when he was in charge and the lord and Laird of the area but he still very much had that duty.

"I do not make a habit out of assuming, Laird McAvoy." Claire responded in kind to the honorary title William insisted on using. "It's good to hear that the children and staff can rely on you in such times." She took in a deep breath of the cold winter air. "I should get some rest. Important day tomorrow."

"Well, you can assume fully with me." The man said simply. "I am your knight." He added in the no-nonsense calm way he did so well. He was there to protect and would do it till his last breath. "You should try at the very least."

Try was the right word, Claire figured she'd not be getting a lot of restful sleep after tomorrow so she'd have to take whatever she could get tonight. "Stay vigilant." Shadows gathered around her until she disappeared.