Andrea's Story, cont.
Jun. 27th, 2007 04:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalI'm not entirely happy with this scenelet, but I needed a break while I plot out the next bit in Andrea's past.
425
“What was he like, when you knew him?” Tez heard Maria ask, as he padded on bare feet to her bedroom. She’d had another bad morning, unable to keep down breakfast, and had retreated to her bed to lay there most of the morning. He and Andrea had occupied themselves by re-packing some of her heavier gear, in anticipation of her leaving two days next, though there was at least one trunk that she had insisted he leave alone, and refused to explain what was inside. That was enough to encourage him to retreat to the library, while Andrea had gone off to check on how Maria was resting. He’d followed her some fifteen minutes later, with a light lunch that he hoped the young Beast-Kin could keep down. He stopped, still hidden in the hallway, as he heard them chatting.
“Oh, much as you see him now,” Andrea said, a smile evident in the tone of her voice. “He’s close-mouthed, rude to those he does not respect, kind to those he does, and overall as egotistical as they come. I loved him, as a friend and as a companion, as brief as that was. Which isn’t to say there weren’t plenty of times when I was scared to death of him.”
“Oh, he’s not at all frightening,” Maria said. But then she paused for a moment and added, “I do feel sorry for him though.”
“Sorry?” Andrea said. “If half of the things he’s admitted to are true, sorry ought to be the last thing you feel for him. You haven’t seen him when he becomes a calculating bastard.”
“I have. He once declared he was willing to murder three people in order to make sure I stayed free,” Maria told her. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop feeling sorry for him. He wants to die. He’s wanted to die for thousands of years, but Death is blind to him. I pity him for that.”
Andrea snorted. “Girl, you are strange. I’d be more worried about yourself.”
“Never that,” Maria said. “I don’t regret the bargain I made, even if it means I won’t see my children come to full maturity. Tez and I are creating a new race. How many others throughout history could make that claim?”
“So you think it’s worth it, even for the pain you’re going to cause him?”
Maria’s sigh was wistful. “He’ll forget me, eventually.”
I will not. I remember all of my mates, he thought, then shuffled his feet to allow the women to compose themselves before he entered the room.
TBC
425
“What was he like, when you knew him?” Tez heard Maria ask, as he padded on bare feet to her bedroom. She’d had another bad morning, unable to keep down breakfast, and had retreated to her bed to lay there most of the morning. He and Andrea had occupied themselves by re-packing some of her heavier gear, in anticipation of her leaving two days next, though there was at least one trunk that she had insisted he leave alone, and refused to explain what was inside. That was enough to encourage him to retreat to the library, while Andrea had gone off to check on how Maria was resting. He’d followed her some fifteen minutes later, with a light lunch that he hoped the young Beast-Kin could keep down. He stopped, still hidden in the hallway, as he heard them chatting.
“Oh, much as you see him now,” Andrea said, a smile evident in the tone of her voice. “He’s close-mouthed, rude to those he does not respect, kind to those he does, and overall as egotistical as they come. I loved him, as a friend and as a companion, as brief as that was. Which isn’t to say there weren’t plenty of times when I was scared to death of him.”
“Oh, he’s not at all frightening,” Maria said. But then she paused for a moment and added, “I do feel sorry for him though.”
“Sorry?” Andrea said. “If half of the things he’s admitted to are true, sorry ought to be the last thing you feel for him. You haven’t seen him when he becomes a calculating bastard.”
“I have. He once declared he was willing to murder three people in order to make sure I stayed free,” Maria told her. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop feeling sorry for him. He wants to die. He’s wanted to die for thousands of years, but Death is blind to him. I pity him for that.”
Andrea snorted. “Girl, you are strange. I’d be more worried about yourself.”
“Never that,” Maria said. “I don’t regret the bargain I made, even if it means I won’t see my children come to full maturity. Tez and I are creating a new race. How many others throughout history could make that claim?”
“So you think it’s worth it, even for the pain you’re going to cause him?”
Maria’s sigh was wistful. “He’ll forget me, eventually.”
I will not. I remember all of my mates, he thought, then shuffled his feet to allow the women to compose themselves before he entered the room.
TBC
