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At the Mountains of Sweetness is the eleventh episode of season 5, A Crown of Candy.
Recap[]
"Moving the royal banner up the Cola River, the Bel Baby sails straight through the night. Our heroes enter into the unthinkable, hollow, numb, bizarre channels by which each person processes through their own grief. The night envelopes the ship. Sound of sail and oar moving up through the Cola River. Memories of that impossible night are what you are holding on to when we begin our stories once again. The purple and bright blue striped leaves flutter and fall from a tree a top a bright pink hill. The wind moves and the grass sways. In the shade of a beautiful tree in the late afternoon sun, the first few leaves swirl in the wind and fly away. It is the 24th day of Brightdusk, and only one week remains in summer. The first leaves, early precursors to their brethren that will fall in greater numbers in the weeks to come form now, tear away and are lost.
Far down the hillside from here, anchored just off the bank, is Manta Ray Jack's ship, the Bel Baby. His crew making repairs to the ship and pulling crossbow bolts from the side. They work as close to silence as they can to give respectful distance to the group gathered at the top of hill in the shade of the tree. the bright smell of late summer and the full fields of Candia's farmers that stretch away from the edge are mixed with the smell of freshly dug soil.
Looking out across the river many miles away from the enemies you've escaped, looking out into the east towards Muffinfield and beyond that Ceresia, you see rows of peppermint and lollipop trees, lines of farms stretching out as far as the eye can see."
Synopsis[]
The beauty of the day rests in stark contrast to the solemnity of what the House Rock observes at the top of the hill. Cumulous stand with everyone but just a little further back. They see a farmer down the hill slip and fall dropping his jelly beans and interrupting the funeral for Jet. Ruby is detached from the world as she watches everything happen. Liam clings to her side bawling. Amethar plants his sword at the foot of Jet's grave and speaks to her. A sobriety overcomes the dethroned king of Candia that as a younger man he never had, developing a perspective of war that is more informed by what he has lost.
Queen Caramelinda has been still so far and speaks aloud her fear that Jet died thinking she was not loved by her mother, her wish that Jet might have listened more. She is cut short on wondering if things would have been different if she had been less like her own mother by Ruby walking away from them back towards the boat with Theo following after her. Liam is unable to process all the grief and instead focuses on his loss of Preston. Cumulous notices that Ruby's shadow started walking a half beat after her and leaves to follow. Theo attempts to comfort Ruby at the ship by telling her that with everything he knows, he thinks Jet is somewhere continuing to protect them. Ruby then climbs to the crow's nest and throws her conscience into Yak flying in the sky to escape her feelings.
Theo walks across the ship and just loses it. He sends Sprinkle to join Jet where ever she is and casts find familar and a licorice snake coils up his arm. He names her Princess. Caramelinda loses it and walks down the hill. Amethar joins her. When they get to the ship she notices the licorice familiar with Theo and rips into him for not doing more to protect her daughter, and doubts Theo's allegiance to the them and accuses him of being enamored by Lazuli because she does not understand it. She walks on the ship looks to Amethar for him to follow when he hold back. He tells her he is coming and she walks off with Amethar following after. Cumulous boards the ship and climbs up to the crow's nest with Ruby. Liam is left alone at the top of the hill. He picks a peppermint flower and goes to talk to Manta Ray Jack about his relationship to Crueller. Manta Ray Jack was as surprised to find them in Comida as they were. Crueller had only a few Tartguards with him and had no fear of how he would escape.
Amethar joins Caramelinda in their quarters and tells her she cannot turn on the people she is close to and those on the ship because they are all hurting. If they start doing that, they will all be dead. Caramelinda breaks down and buries her face into Amethar's chest. Time passes and the boat sails away. Caramelinda goes to Theo and tries her best to apologize but can't find the right words. Theo reassures her that he understands and that his reverence for Lazuli is because he believes in her dream, and he loves their family including her. Caramelinda cries more. He shows her the snake and they both are weirdly comforted by its biting tendencies. Ruby comes back to her body and becomes defensive when she sees Cumulous watching over her. He talks to her about the contradictions of death and tells her she may feel dead now but she should choose to live and then gives her his necklace.
Below, Manta Ray Jack confesses to Amethar that he feels guilty for not seeing Crueller for his true nature and for giving away the secrets that led to the House Rock downfall. Amethar tells him the fault is his alone and he can carry and in truth Manta Ray has saved them to which Manta Ray pledges the Bell Baby will stand with then till the bitter end. They sail north. In the night Liam dreams of a snarling beast. Ruby sees Cumulous' necklace glow, and sees her shadow is sitting on the bed looking at the amulet and not laying down. She walks out on the deck and can see perfectly in the dark. The corners of amulets eyes are creased and casts a shadow on the wall that follows her movements but with a long braid. She walks up to the shadow and touches forehead with it. together they sob.
Ruby stays up on deck till the sun comes up in the morning as they reach Muffinfield. They decide to journey partially through small road to get to woods that lead to the Great Stone Candy Mountains. They pass a puppet show outside of a Bulbian Church that is preforming a morality play. All the puppets are cruel caricatures of the group minus Cumulous that mock them. Ruby set the puppets on fire but before she can confront the people her father pulls her back and the group continues on.
A old farm wife takes in for the night and as she waves them off she wishes them good health and to the good King Jadain. They walk into the wood and and journey through the whole day and eventually stop and rest for the night. Around the fire Theo thanks Liam for preserving Jet as best he could in the shop. Liam vows to shred the carrot and then Ciabatta. Theo agrees. They continue traveling and eventually exit the forest to dark pinks and peppermint trees and pass through a deep crevice of the Great Stone Candy Mountains. in the middle of the pass they see a boulder with someone under and a gingerbread man freaking out. Theo bald rushes over to help as Liam draw his bow to fire at them. A Theo gets close a neck traps him but Liam is able to avoid it. on the mountain cliffs people emerge. The gingerbread man is swept up in the net with Theo and immediately starts threatening him with a knife.
A chocolate woman talks shouts to the Swifty asking if they are enemies of the church. Another warrior, Jon Bon, say to them "the enemies of the church have business with the queen." All the warrior erupt in repeating long live the queen. When the group asks who is their queen the warriors get mad. Liam announces himself a as a member of the House of Rocks and that he lives in these mountains and Swirly mocks him calling him Count Freezyburg. Immediately Liam shots at him but Theo takes the damage. They are taken to the queen manackles. Liam and Ruby hid their thieves tools. They are brought to a cliff face and enter a cavern. They sense a powerful magical presence and see that these peoples belief in their queen borders on religious. As the Queen Saccharina is announced the groups captors force them to kneel.
She annouces to them she is the legal queen of Candia to which they all question her right. She reveals that is the daughter of Catherine Ghee. King Amethar tries to confirm her claim she tells him she does not care for any relationship with him but they could be of use to each other. They realize that with her claim the Dairy Islands is in no danger of supporting them and Candia is no removal from the Concord. Amethar sees Catherine Ghee's eyes and recognizes his own confidence. Saccharina tells them she did not mean to catch them in a net but because they seemed Bulbian they had to be cautious and she also reveals that she recognizes Cumulous by Lazuli's magical fingerprint because she has a magical connection to her aunt. All of this puts Ruby on the defensive and she declares her to not be her sister nor her queen.
Saccharina brings out a feast for them. Ruby and her continue to argue until Amethar throws his crown down and surrenders it only so they can move on to the matter of defending Candia. Caramelinda excuses herself and Ruby to dine alone as they both fume at the suituation. As Caramelinda eats, Ruby slips away and invisibly investigates the marauders hideout. As she returns to the group and Saccharina is alerted to her presence and leans over to tell her, "I'm not here to take your family, little sister." In responds Ruby flips her off. Theo goes to talk to Saccharina as he feels divided between his loyalty to the family and his duty to the sovereign ruler of Candia. She tells him of her connection to magic and how she can sense Lazuli's magic on others and sees visions of her. Ruby tells her she is not special and they go back to arguing before Theobald tells them they are acting like children. Saccharina gives the excuse that she wouldn't know since she never had a sister and Ruby blurts out she did have one and she cannot be replaced before running out.
Cumulous is examining the arcane relics around him and is overcome with emotion, moved by this example of why she loves and wants to spread magic. Saccharina has a sleeping bag brought to him so he sleep there, surrounded by arcane magic. Gooey is introduced as Saccharina's assistant who brings out maps for them to look at after they have finished with the feast. Jawbreakers marker is moved without being addressed and Saccharina. Liam read a book on beast lore and besides spirits he gets a whiff of cinnamon and discovers runes for a arcane dragon. At this point Saccharina unveils that before they arrived they were planning on going to the Ice Cream Temple to excavate it because they believe the Sugar Plum Fairy is hiding magic from the world and is not as innocent as she tries to portray herself. People have been sent there but have never returned. While they talk Ruby gets a message on the wind that wrongs may be right soon, their is more than one true magician in Candia, and her arrival is awaited.
Everyone sleeps in the marauder hide out that night. Cumulous is in the sleeping bag holding two artifacts. Caramelinda decides to stay with the marauders as everyone else goes to the Ice Cream Temple. Gooey talks privately to Saccharina about having moved the Jawbreaker position but divulges that he has left his Castle an is now pinned down in in the mountains by imperial forces. Saccharina decides to hold a war council to decide the best course of action and has the House of Rock attend. With them there she divulges that the Jawbreaker marker moving was not a metaphor and instead was a real position and if they go to his aid and have him recognize her claim to the throne then maybe the invasion on Candia will stop. At this point Liam pulls Amethar aside and tells him that his family is hellbent on having his father be king. Caramelinda enters having read Lazuli's books instead of sleeping has found a way to get them into the valley past the Ceresian forces using the Spinning Star runes.
They follow a path that Cumulous knows to the Spinning Star monastery and it comes to life in his presence. Another monk meets them outside. Cumulous introduces him to the lawful queen Saccharina. As runes to glow around the room. Cumulous snaps a chickens neck to give himself extra life force and Amethar withdraw his sword ready for whatever they will soon face. Caramelinda begins to move the runes around and asks Lazuli to help her. In a blast of sweet smelling light, they appear in a circle of stone in a dark, locked, musty building and hear the shouting of Ceresian soldier's outside.
Locations[]
Featured Characters[]
The Taste Buds[]
- King Amethar of House Rocks
- Princess Ruby Rocks
- Sir Theobald Gumbar
- Liam Wilhelmina
- Cumulous Rocks
- Princess Jet Rocks (†) (mentioned)
- Queen Saccharina of House Frostwhip
New[]
Returning[]
Mentioned[]
- Archmage Lazuli of House Rocks (†)
- King Jadain of House Rocks (†)
- Sir Keradin Deeproot
- Peppermint Preston (†)
- Lord Calroy Cruller
- Duke Joren Jawbreaker
- Catherine Ghee
- Jawbone
- Dracoria Azucar
Trivia[]
- The title could be a reference to the novella "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft.