Courtyard Games

The place they were given to sleep was… lackluster, to put it nicely. A room on the outskirts of the facility, broken down and dripping from old pipes. It had been barely big enough for Mary and Mintee to squeeze into, and Oboe had to roost among the rafters. And on top of all that, a guard had been stationed outside of their room. But at least the doors had been slid shut to give them some privacy (or keep them locked in, Mary thought grimly. 

But finally, dawn had come and the trio had been fetched by the same oviraptor from yesterday- Maol. However, any attempts at conversation were ignored, the oviraptor sending a nervous glance at the Atlantis natives around them. 

They soon came to a wide set of doors leading into the center building. Two guards eyed them as Maol approached, but seemed to be under order to let them in. “Are you not coming?” Oboe looked at Maol from where she was perched upon Mintees back.

“The court has called for you, not for me.” Maol looked away. “Excuse me.” And with that the oviraptor scattered, and the guards ushered them in. This was not going well.

The building they entered was the largest they had seen yet, and the neatest too- it was as well maintained as it could be by dinosaur claws. Various tables and human objects were scattered around the room in various stages of disarray. The two parasaurs and the tapejara were pointed down a hallway into a room behind huge, heavy doors- and there the court waited.

The room was large and circular, with a dip in the middle surrounded by high walls where the court oversaw the judged. Iguanadons- several, huge and bulking, scattered across the room. Oboe stared in awe, Mintee and Mary mimicking the action a bit more subtly. There must have been at least nine of them, all adults. Some gazes were much more hostile than the others, but none were kind. Mary swallowed. This may have been a mistake.

“The court views you.” One member spoke, seemingly the one in charge here- the fluffiest one, covered in white feathers with jarring black and purple markings. “I am Blackmist- I rule today. You stand before us- tell us why you have come, outsider.”

Mary stepped forward, as the largest of the trio, and the most intimidating. While Oboe was small and squeaky and Mintee was fluffy and serene, Mary was a much more eerie appearance with her blood colored feathers and daunting figure. Still. She was little compared to the herbivores before her. “I am Mary. We come from the land above Atlantis. The land you have sent scouts into. We seek no harm, no war. We merely wish to greet the newcomers onto our soil and ask for clarification." 

Whispers broke out between the watching court, Blackmist turning his head to look at the rest of the court. “If that's true, then why have outsiders been attacking our shipments?” Blackmist asked harshly, standing up. “Do you claim ignorance? Were you sent by your king, with one group to attack and the other to distract?”

Oboe bristled. “We don't know anything about any stupid group! We have no king up on the surface- nothing like this queen you keep talking about! Why isn't she here if she's so important?”

The council bristled, and Mintee winched. That was not the best way to go about it. “The queen has no time for whelps like you.” A member snapped. Order was quickly restored when Blackmist waved his tail- but his expression was somehow even colder.

“If you truly wish to prove you have no ill intent, and deserve to speak to our queen… you must perform labor to make up for what your kind has done. Do you accept it?”

A look between the three was shared, but there was no debate- they had not been given much of a choice. “We accept.” Mintee spoke for them this time, head bowed.

“Excellent. You shall go through five days of labor in order to make up what we lost in preparation for the feast. Guards! Take them to the courtyard.” Two warriors quickly moved from the doors, nudging against their sides and pushing them from the judge room.

The courtyard, as one was to expect, was not too far from the courtroom. Mary stared in astonishment as they were pushed into the large garden. But it was not the impressive display of exotic plants or architecture that caught her eye- it was the destruction. A wide trail of damage burst through the garden. Plants and building materials were scattered across the yard, the ground was torn up, and parts of the grass were… blackened? Oboe swooped down and curiously nudged her beak against some of the black grass, reeling back as the smell of burnt plants entered her nose. Fire? Who had brought fire down here? 

“Get to work!” One of the guards bellowed, smacking his tail on the ground before turning to laze about the front entrance. Mintee scowled. Sure, she didn't expect any help from them- but it didn't mean she wasn't annoyed.

The trio quickly sprung into action. Mary began to smooth out the terrain on the ground, nudging the dirt back into the gorges and smoothing it out. Mintee dealt with the plants, throwing out the ones who were destroyed far too much to replant and securing the ones that were out of place. The plants in the garden seemed oddly domestic compared to the ones in the wild- maybe they were kept well fed?

That left Oboe to fly around the small garden, picking up bits of building material that had been flung around the area. While some were far too big for her, she was able to deal with a number of smaller ones- which was most of them. Most of the fragments were made out of wood, but some were made from aged, weakened metal or an odd material Oboe couldn't quite identify. While most of the material may have been very strong once, years of neglect and abandonment had taken its toll- despite the residents' best efforts. Something very heavy and strong had clearly smashed through the area- something from the surface. “What do you think they meant? About outsiders coming and destroying everything.”

Mary moved her head to check on the guards- only to find they had already dozed off. Well. At least they could talk a bit freely now. “Someone else must have made their way down here. I'm not surprised- they sent out so many oviraptors to the surface, and not everyone up there is as tolerant as we are. I have no doubt others figured out what was going on. And from the looks of it, it seems they were mad.”

“The weirdest part is the burns.” Mintee chimed in as she spat out another mouthful of destroyed plant out on the edges of the courtyard- hopefully someone would be by to take them away afterwards. “We’re under the ocean, and still someone found a way to make a fire? There's not many dinosaurs known for using fire as a weapon- and none of them are good to have down here.” Mintee shivered.

Mary shrugged, finally finished with filling in the holes in the dirt. Her red feathers were tangled with mud and grime, and her feet were almost completely coated in brown. “Whatever comes down here, Atlantis can more than match them. But that's just bad news for us. We don’t know what the court wants- but it's not good. They’re extremely hostile- and I don't think that's just because of the attackers.” Mary walked over to help Oboe carry away fragments too heavy for the flyer, her greater size allowing her to clean it up with ease.

Oboe flung another bit of fragment away. “So why do you think they’ve given us all these tasks? Not just one, but several days! It can’t just be because of… well, this- can it?” She fluttered down to land on Mintee and the green parasaur finished her job as well, before walking over to help Mary with an especially large bit of what had once been a wooden wall.

“Who knows.” Mintee spoke grimly, grunting as she kicked at the wall in order to break it into smaller pieces that would be easier to carry. She picked it up in her break, quickly depositing it in the pile at the end of the courtyard. “But we have to be vigilant. Remember. We can't trust anyone here.” 

The other two nodded, before looking back at the guards- still asleep. “Well… why don't we get a head start on planning?” Mary smiled. A plan was needed- a flexible one- but she was confident they could come up with one. Court was all about playing nice, after all- all while hiding your true intentions. If thats what they had to do to survive this place then so be it.