MAEGYA | v. "LET THE COURT BEGIN." GUNS BEFORE BUTTER
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THE STENCH OF the camp was so appalling it was all that Theadora could do not to gag. The air was hot and humid, filled with the scent of death and sickness percolating in the tents that stretched on for two miles. There was often a cold breeze to relieve her sweat-slick skin.
Even Daaryo wrinkled up his nose. "Your Grace should not be here, breathing this."
"I'll be okay," Thea assured him, snapping on a pair of blue exam gloves. Loose silver strands of hair that fell from her bun stuck to the nape of her neck and the sides of her flushed face. Her white relief vest hung loose on her frame and her boots were already caked with a thin layer of mud from Madripoor's wet campgrounds from an hour ago.
The uproar of the Scorpion's Sons had left many Crolazi homeless and though the Ivorstone camp was open to refugees, there simply wasn't enough room to accommodate them on the island so Thea had ordered the set-up of a refuge center in the Plaza of Dragons.
"Even so," the soldier said, "I would feel better if Your Grace would return to Queens." The glassy skyscrapers of New York were over 4,000 miles away. "Let us distribute the supplies."
"Tomorrow, okay but I'm here now. I want to see them." She zipped up her raincoat.
Serafina Celtigar and Bex Ortega walked with her. Peter Parker and MJ had already begun distributing food by one of the ICRC trucks. They'd need the help of a medical professional so Lydia Ortega was kind enough to come to help out. She had acquired several of her coworkers for medical aid and through May's help, the Salvation Army and F.E.A.S.T. put together food and supplies for the displaced.
Lydia's brunette curls were falling loose from her bun, growing frizzy in the insufferable weather. Daaryo marched before Thea with two other Valoqar just behind him. To Thea's left was Symon Polemys of the newly formed Iron Company. He wore his old SEAL attire now though Thea promised a professional uniform for the entire battalion. Bex was "in charge" of the fashion department on her insistence of spreading Thea's workload. Three more Iron Company members followed close behind their captain to protect the food and toiletries trucks.
The refugees stumbled after the contingent in a ghastly procession that grew longer with every yard they crossed. Some spoke languages Thea didn't understand ranging from Bahasa Indonesia to Portuguese which Serafina and Daaryo luckily understood. Others were beyond speaking. Many lifted their hands to Thea or knelt as she walked by.
"Your Grace," they called to her, in the dialects of Crolazi, Russian, and Sovrani, in guttural Gaelic and the liquid syllables of French and Tagalog, even in English. "Your Grace, please... Maegya, help my sister, she's sick... Give me food for my children... please, my father is old... Help him... Help them... Help me..."
I don't have help to give, Thea thought, despairing as she tried her best to communicate with some of them. Many of the Crolazi had no place to go, not to mention those who were still displaced from the Blip. Hundreds remained by the Madripoorian camp, on the perimeter. Men and women and children, old men, little girls, newborn babies. Many were sick, most were starved. It took all of Thea's strength to not open the camp to let them in at the risk of spreading more disease and over-exhausting her resources.
