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jeriendhalAh, romance...
It took two days for Rolas to sufficiently untangle himself from his family’s understandable wish to keep him near, before he was able to find the time to visit with Lady Melika at her family’s estate. It was set on a corner of the large fields that their commoner tenants minded, and was a relatively modest home as such things went, oriented more towards the needs of administration rather attempting to impress the Softpaw’s peers.
A servant met him when he approached the door and he said, “Lord Rolas Darktail to see Lady Melika Softpaw, if she is available.” The servant bowed to him and a few moments later the lady herself came to the door. To his surprise, she was dressed casually, in a Terran style flower print skirt and blouse. Suddenly Rolas felt wildly overdressed in his house uniform, with its abundance of braid and gingerbread.
“Lord Rolas, such a pleasure to see you again,” she greeted.
“And for me as well, Lady Melika.” He gave a sketchy bow and handed the bouquet of flowers he’d been carrying in his arms to her. “I just wanted to give you my personal thanks, once again, for your aid to both myself and my house.”
“Why thank you, Lord Rolas.” She took the flowers, looking immensely pleased. “Please come in and take off your coat. I fear you’ve caught me while I’m on holiday, so to speak. My parents are offworld and I usually spend most of my time on the family’s farm on Avela Prime.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I’ve intruded on your leisure time then.”
“Not at all,” she replied. “Honestly, with just myself and the caretakers in residence, this place is rather like a tomb. I’m happy for the company.” Her smile was warm, her eyes bright and she was apparently genuinely pleased to see him.
“Excellent,” he said. He unbuttoned his coat and handed it off to a servant, then unbuttoned the collar of his shirt, freeing his throat. “That thing gets dreadfully hot during the summer, I don’t care what kind of microfibers it’s supposedly made out of.”
She laughed lightly and asked. “I’ll have a lunch made for us both. Would you care to take a walk out in the gardens?”
“I’d love to,” he said. She led him out to a little sculpted grotto, where the summer’s heat was mitigated by a decorative waterfall that fed into a pond filled with native water lilies and surrounded by blooming wildflowers. Rolas felt the tension slough off his back like a pack being set down after a long hike, such was the peaceful nature of the place. “Oh, this is much better,” he said.
“It is very pleasant. A little retreat from the world,” she said. “I used to hide out here for hours when I was a cubling.”
“Very pleasant indeed.” At a gesture from her, he said down on a nearby wrought iron bench and she joined him, a discreet space remaining between them. “I must thank you again for providing the means for my rescue.”
“As I said, Lord Rolas…”
“Just Rolas, please.”
She smiled. “You may call me Melika then. As I was saying earlier, I wasn’t inclined to let you rot at the hands of a pirate when it was within my power to do something about it.”
“Something I’m sure your liege lady encouraged. I didn’t really think all that money came directly form your coffers.”
She shook her head. “Oh no, yes it did. Less of a paper trail that way.”
Rolas stared at her in disbelief. “You just took five million credits out of your own funds to ransom someone you barely knew?”
“Yes, I did. Oh, don’t look at me like that. We may be a minor noble house but our profits from our off-world investments are quite notable. Besides, I could hardly let someone rot away as the prisoner of a ruthless pirate if I was in a position to help them.”
“I wouldn’t call the Red Vixen ruthless,” he said. “Quite the opposite in fact. She seemed to take pains minimize casualties.”
“You think that’s admirable? She’s still a thief.”
Rolas shrugged in agreement. “Yes, but a polite one. She claimed that she left Vulpine Prime to escape its restrictions, but… She isn’t like some of our race I’ve met in the alien ports, the poor, pathetic creatures who break away from their families and go to the stars, only to either destroy themselves or turn into monsters, free of any conventional morality. She was committing crimes, but not I judge, doing evil. She isn’t lost.”
“Murder is still evil,” Melika said. “Didn’t one of your crew die at her hands?”
“Yes, but…” The words It wasn’t her fault died in his throat, as the realization he was actually trying to defend the vixen who had held him captive and humiliated him finally penetrated his brain. “The situation was complex at the time,” he finished lamely. Deciding to change the subject, he asked, “I’m more concerned about how you found out about our plans. Did my parents tell you, when you came with the ransom money?”
Melika gave him a slight frown. “No, my information arrived from other sources. The information wall around your family’s scheme is not as secure as you might wish it to be.”
“So I realized when the Red Vixen revealed that someone had leaked our cargo manifest and flight plan to her,” he said. “We knew going into this that the sheer scale of the operation made operational security a nightmare. One word in the Countess Highglider’s ear and it would have all come crashing down and we would risk being stripped of our holdings. But we didn’t have a choice. Staying here was unthinkable. Not after…” His voice caught in his throat as he pushed back the memory of that first time in the hospital, watching as the doctors tended Salli’s mauled face. “We have to get out of here, somehow,” he finished.
“Forgive me for speaking on such an intensely personal subject, but I can’t see how leaving will help heal your sister. She is not well, Rolas.”
“I know that, but what else can we do?” he said defensively. “Every day we stay here is another measure of salt to be rubbed into her wounds.”
“Has she seen a mental physician?”
“Yes, but… they were no bloody good. Vulpine Prime isn’t filled with degenerates like Earth or some of the creo worlds. Nobody here can even understand what she went through, much less heal her of it.” He felt his paws clench in frustration again and he relaxed them only through great effort.
Melika tapped the side of her muzzle thoughtfully. “You might consider that if the inhabitants of some of those ‘degenerate’ worlds suffer the crime that was committed against your sister more often than is so on our own, it stands to reason that they might be better equipped to handle the subsequent agonies.”
He looked at her in suspicion. “You mean get a physician from another race, to heal a vulpine? What good would that do?”
Melika’s green eyes flashed as he challenged her idea. “Well, they could hardly make her situation worse, could they?”
His face flushed as he realized the truth of this. “A point, madame,” he allowed. “Forgive me, I didn’t come here to argue with you or belittle your ideas, only to give my thanks.”
“Which I accept,” she said, her expression softening. “I do hope you will visit again soon. I’ve little enough to do at the moment and I would enjoy the company.”
“If time permits,” he replied. “There’s so much to do, now that you’ve given us hope again to complete our plans.”
“Don’t forget your own mental health in the meantime, Rolas. You’ve been through a horrible experience. It seems to be eating at you terribly.”
He waved her concern away. “Once we’re off-world, it won’t matter. I can relax and play farmer or whatever else is required of me with a much easier heart.”
She cocked her head at him and simply said, “As you wish.”
TBC
It took two days for Rolas to sufficiently untangle himself from his family’s understandable wish to keep him near, before he was able to find the time to visit with Lady Melika at her family’s estate. It was set on a corner of the large fields that their commoner tenants minded, and was a relatively modest home as such things went, oriented more towards the needs of administration rather attempting to impress the Softpaw’s peers.
A servant met him when he approached the door and he said, “Lord Rolas Darktail to see Lady Melika Softpaw, if she is available.” The servant bowed to him and a few moments later the lady herself came to the door. To his surprise, she was dressed casually, in a Terran style flower print skirt and blouse. Suddenly Rolas felt wildly overdressed in his house uniform, with its abundance of braid and gingerbread.
“Lord Rolas, such a pleasure to see you again,” she greeted.
“And for me as well, Lady Melika.” He gave a sketchy bow and handed the bouquet of flowers he’d been carrying in his arms to her. “I just wanted to give you my personal thanks, once again, for your aid to both myself and my house.”
“Why thank you, Lord Rolas.” She took the flowers, looking immensely pleased. “Please come in and take off your coat. I fear you’ve caught me while I’m on holiday, so to speak. My parents are offworld and I usually spend most of my time on the family’s farm on Avela Prime.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I’ve intruded on your leisure time then.”
“Not at all,” she replied. “Honestly, with just myself and the caretakers in residence, this place is rather like a tomb. I’m happy for the company.” Her smile was warm, her eyes bright and she was apparently genuinely pleased to see him.
“Excellent,” he said. He unbuttoned his coat and handed it off to a servant, then unbuttoned the collar of his shirt, freeing his throat. “That thing gets dreadfully hot during the summer, I don’t care what kind of microfibers it’s supposedly made out of.”
She laughed lightly and asked. “I’ll have a lunch made for us both. Would you care to take a walk out in the gardens?”
“I’d love to,” he said. She led him out to a little sculpted grotto, where the summer’s heat was mitigated by a decorative waterfall that fed into a pond filled with native water lilies and surrounded by blooming wildflowers. Rolas felt the tension slough off his back like a pack being set down after a long hike, such was the peaceful nature of the place. “Oh, this is much better,” he said.
“It is very pleasant. A little retreat from the world,” she said. “I used to hide out here for hours when I was a cubling.”
“Very pleasant indeed.” At a gesture from her, he said down on a nearby wrought iron bench and she joined him, a discreet space remaining between them. “I must thank you again for providing the means for my rescue.”
“As I said, Lord Rolas…”
“Just Rolas, please.”
She smiled. “You may call me Melika then. As I was saying earlier, I wasn’t inclined to let you rot at the hands of a pirate when it was within my power to do something about it.”
“Something I’m sure your liege lady encouraged. I didn’t really think all that money came directly form your coffers.”
She shook her head. “Oh no, yes it did. Less of a paper trail that way.”
Rolas stared at her in disbelief. “You just took five million credits out of your own funds to ransom someone you barely knew?”
“Yes, I did. Oh, don’t look at me like that. We may be a minor noble house but our profits from our off-world investments are quite notable. Besides, I could hardly let someone rot away as the prisoner of a ruthless pirate if I was in a position to help them.”
“I wouldn’t call the Red Vixen ruthless,” he said. “Quite the opposite in fact. She seemed to take pains minimize casualties.”
“You think that’s admirable? She’s still a thief.”
Rolas shrugged in agreement. “Yes, but a polite one. She claimed that she left Vulpine Prime to escape its restrictions, but… She isn’t like some of our race I’ve met in the alien ports, the poor, pathetic creatures who break away from their families and go to the stars, only to either destroy themselves or turn into monsters, free of any conventional morality. She was committing crimes, but not I judge, doing evil. She isn’t lost.”
“Murder is still evil,” Melika said. “Didn’t one of your crew die at her hands?”
“Yes, but…” The words It wasn’t her fault died in his throat, as the realization he was actually trying to defend the vixen who had held him captive and humiliated him finally penetrated his brain. “The situation was complex at the time,” he finished lamely. Deciding to change the subject, he asked, “I’m more concerned about how you found out about our plans. Did my parents tell you, when you came with the ransom money?”
Melika gave him a slight frown. “No, my information arrived from other sources. The information wall around your family’s scheme is not as secure as you might wish it to be.”
“So I realized when the Red Vixen revealed that someone had leaked our cargo manifest and flight plan to her,” he said. “We knew going into this that the sheer scale of the operation made operational security a nightmare. One word in the Countess Highglider’s ear and it would have all come crashing down and we would risk being stripped of our holdings. But we didn’t have a choice. Staying here was unthinkable. Not after…” His voice caught in his throat as he pushed back the memory of that first time in the hospital, watching as the doctors tended Salli’s mauled face. “We have to get out of here, somehow,” he finished.
“Forgive me for speaking on such an intensely personal subject, but I can’t see how leaving will help heal your sister. She is not well, Rolas.”
“I know that, but what else can we do?” he said defensively. “Every day we stay here is another measure of salt to be rubbed into her wounds.”
“Has she seen a mental physician?”
“Yes, but… they were no bloody good. Vulpine Prime isn’t filled with degenerates like Earth or some of the creo worlds. Nobody here can even understand what she went through, much less heal her of it.” He felt his paws clench in frustration again and he relaxed them only through great effort.
Melika tapped the side of her muzzle thoughtfully. “You might consider that if the inhabitants of some of those ‘degenerate’ worlds suffer the crime that was committed against your sister more often than is so on our own, it stands to reason that they might be better equipped to handle the subsequent agonies.”
He looked at her in suspicion. “You mean get a physician from another race, to heal a vulpine? What good would that do?”
Melika’s green eyes flashed as he challenged her idea. “Well, they could hardly make her situation worse, could they?”
His face flushed as he realized the truth of this. “A point, madame,” he allowed. “Forgive me, I didn’t come here to argue with you or belittle your ideas, only to give my thanks.”
“Which I accept,” she said, her expression softening. “I do hope you will visit again soon. I’ve little enough to do at the moment and I would enjoy the company.”
“If time permits,” he replied. “There’s so much to do, now that you’ve given us hope again to complete our plans.”
“Don’t forget your own mental health in the meantime, Rolas. You’ve been through a horrible experience. It seems to be eating at you terribly.”
He waved her concern away. “Once we’re off-world, it won’t matter. I can relax and play farmer or whatever else is required of me with a much easier heart.”
She cocked her head at him and simply said, “As you wish.”
TBC
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Date: 2008-08-21 09:14 am (UTC)As for the universe, this is where it gets complicated. It's a fanfic in the Terinu webcomic universe created by
And if that wasn't complicated enough, the bit you're reading now is set about seven years prior to the main Grace of God story.
Oh, and if you're crazy enough to actually plow through Grace of God, the sequel is in my DA account under the title Spin Recovery
As I said, complicated. 0_0
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Date: 2008-08-22 12:10 am (UTC)Thanks!