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jeriendhalNote: Melika's song at the end is Rest in Me, lyrics and music copyright Cat Faber and used here without permission.
“I don’t want to do this,” Salli said, as Rolas drove them into the Brushtail domain. She’d covered her head with a shawl and had her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Even as isolated as she kept herself now, the tension from the accumulating setbacks had penetrated her chambers, killing what little joy had come to her heart from Rolas’ rescue. Now she sat, arms wrapped around herself, staring into her lap as if she feared seeing her own reflection in the skimmer’s windows.
“It’ll be all right, Salli. I’ll be right here with you,” Rolas tried to reassure her. “You trust Melika, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Not to strangers. Not to anyone. Not anymore.”
“I can be right there in the room with you, if you like.”
“Absolutely not,” Salli said, her voice starting to shake. “Please, Rolas, this was a mistake. Please just take me home.”
Rolas steeled himself and said, “Lady Melika went to a great deal of trouble and no small expense to arrange this. I’m asking you to just try. If you don’t want to do it again that’s fine, but please try it just once.” Then, feeling like an utter bastard, he added, “For me, Salli?”
“Yes, Rolas,” she said softly, her voice going dead again. Afraid to look in her face, he kept his eyes on the road and guided them up to Brushtail manor. Melika was waiting out from to meet them, along with a human female.
The female dressed in a conservative suit, her sallow face offset by a welcoming smile as Rolas helped Salli out of the skimmer. She held out her hand and introduced herself, “Lady Darktail? I’m Dr. Alice Quan.”
“Hullo, Dr. Quan.” Salli allowed the touch and then turned to Melika to say graciously, “Thank you for going to all of this trouble, Melika.”
“It was the least I could do, Salli,” she replied.
“Lady Melika has arranged one of the studies to be available for our sessions, Lady Salli,” Dr. Quan said. “If it’s all right I’d like to begin with you today. I promise that everything we speak of will be held in the strictest confidence.”
“Rolas?” Salli said uncertainly.
“I’ll be right here if you need me, Salli,” he reassured her.
“We’ll be having luncheon in the grotto,” Melika added. “If you need either of us, just ask one of the servants, all right?”
“All right,” Salli said in a very small voice. Dr. Quan led her inside, Rolas’ sister looking something an animal being guided to its appointed sacrifice.
He let out a long sigh when they disappeared inside. “Thank you again for arranging this, Melika. I don’t know whether it’s truly going to do any good, but thank you.”
“It was the least I could do, Rolas. I can’t merely stand by when I see someone suffering.” An uncharacteristically pensive look came over her face. “Is it just me, or are you both looking a bit worse than when I saw you last?”
“It’s not just you. Let’s go inside, this isn’t something I want to discuss on your front lawn.” Melika nodded and led him through the house, into the secluded grotto where they’d had luncheon before.
“What’s wrong, Rolas?” she asked, letting him sit beside her on the bench.
“We’re not getting the insurance money, it seems. Indeed, it appears that we might actually get sued by our insurer.”
“What? Whatever for?” she asked, looking shocked.
He informed her of the insurance company’s reluctance to pay, and then added, “When we finally managed to get a hold of someone high enough to release information, it turned out to be very bad. When I was the Red Vixen’s captive, she saw fit to take me off her ship for a time. I was wearing a shock collar that would stun me if I tried to run, but she saw fit to give me a weapon that she told me was uncharged and made me play bodyguard for her. So they were able to locate witnesses and security tapes that show me walking willingly beside her, and even armed. There’s a good chance they’re going to claim I was in a conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Worse, I may be forced to admit to it, to prevent them from claiming my parents were in charge of the supposed scheme.”
“Oh… oh, dear.” Melika’s eyes had grown wide during his narrative, and she covered her mouth as it dropped open in apparent shock. “Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is wrong, this is very, very wrong. I’m so sorry, Rolas.”
“Melika…” he said, looking at her obvious distress with unease. “Melika, you’re hardly responsible for the actions of a pirate.”
“No. No, of course not. Lady Melika Softpaw has nothing to do with the Red Vixen at all,” she said, regaining her composure. "Still, you have my... my deepest sympathies, Rolas. I do hope your insurers come to their senses soon."
"I'm not counting on that," he said. He spared a glance towards the house. "I wonder if I should check in on Salli, to see how she's doing?"
"Absolutely not. Miss Quan was very clear on the confidentiality of her session with your sister." She put a smile up on her lips. "Besides, I want you here with me."
"I can't imagine why. I'm poor company at the moment."
"Anyone would be, given the circumstances you're under right now." She stood up and walked behind him, resting her paws on his shoulders. "Goddess, you're tense. How have you been sleeping?"
"Badly," he admitted. He stiffened as he felt her fingers begin to knead the tendons of his shoulders. "Melika, what are you doing?"
Instead of answering, she asked, "Rolas, would you say that you owe me a debt?"
"Of course I do," he replied, letting out a pained noise as she hit a particularly hard knot of muscles.
"Then allow me to give you the opportunity to start paying it, and do what I tell you. You are far too tense, Rolas. You're so tightly bound up in you family's troubles, it's a wonder you're able to breathe. So this afternoon you're going to let me help you relax."
He gulped as a muscle released its tension under her probing fingers. "Melika, I can't indulge myself right now. I have to be here for Salli."
"At the moment your sister is in the company of the one of the best sexual assault counselors the Human Confederation has to offer. I don't think either of them need our aid at the moment. So be a good guest and do what your host tells you to."
"Yes, ma'am," he answered. Under her ministrations his shoulders relaxed and his arms began to feel like rubber.
"Good. Now then, would you be so kind as to lay on your belly on that blanket over there."
"I don't really think it's appropriate to..."
"Do it," she ordered, a measure of steel entering her voice.
"Yes, ma'am," he answered again. He down on his stomach, Melika kneeling beside him. As she tucked a pillow under his chin, he asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"You and your sister both are hurting. I'm helping her in a way I think will be best for her mind. I'm going to help you in a way that I think best for your body."
"That doesn't make any... ohh..." From the basket Melika drew out a large brush, and began running it through the fur of his tail. The act managing to somehow be both practical and oddly sensuous at the same time. As she tugged through the knots, his spine was pulled downward, popping loose cartilage that had been under pressure he hadn't realized was there.
"Your pelt is an utter fright. Haven't you been grooming?"
“I brush it out every…” He let out a mmph as another vertebra popped. “…every morning.”
“Not very well, it’s horribly matted. Worse, I can tell you haven’t been eating properly either, judging from the tufts I’m able to pull out.” In a few moments she had pulled out the worst of the knots, though she continued to brush out his tail in long, sensuous strokes.
“I don’t understand you at all,” he murmured, eyes half-closed as she continued her ministrations. Finished with his tail, she moved up to start brushing his head pelt. “Why go to all of this trouble, for someone you barely know?”
“I don’t like to see others in pain, and you are in pain, Rolas. You suppress it, I think, because you believe it to be pure selfishness to complain, given what your sister feels every day, but that does not make it any less a burden on your soul.”
Rufus shut his eyes tightly, feeling as if his body and heart were transparent to her. “What do you intend to do?”
“Help Salli as best I can. I think I’ve done as much as is within my ability by providing her with Doctor Quan. As for you, I believe I shall seduce you, Rolas Darktail.”
“By mothering me?”
“By gaining your trust and allowing you to have a place where you might lower your defenses. I invite you to rest here, Rolas, whenever you feel the need in your soul.” She paused, “Now, roll back over to your left.”
He did as she bid, to find the back of his head resting on another pillow. Opening his eyes, he found himself looking up into Melika’s own green eyes, flecked with gold. Suddenly, he realized his head was actually resting in her lap. “Melika,” he began to say, “this isn’t… I should get up.”
“No,” she said. “Close your eyes. Let me take care of you.” She rested her paw on his brow and shut his eyes. He felt her palms begin to rub his forehead, and softly she began to sing.
You said you had a sweetheart a hundred lifetimes deep
Who cradled you in comfort and soothed you into sleep;
You woke to find a willow, with leaves as green as bronze,
Which stroked your fevered forehead with gentle trailing fronds.
There's no one here to fight with, there's nothing here to flee
You said I was your willow, rest in me
Come lay aside your burden, and hearken to my tune,
The world is full of struggle and morning comes too soon.
I dreamt I saw a willow that held you like a child,
You slept by leaves enshrouded -- and in your sleep you smiled.
There's no one here to fight with, there's nothing here to flee
You said I was your willow, rest in me
You will not flee from danger nor raise a hand to fight;
But martyrs come to ashes, blazing in the night.
I dreamt I asked the willow whose restless branches stirred
How long we'd have together, she wept and spoke no word.
There's no one here to fight with, there's nothing here to flee
You said I was your willow, rest in me.
He was asleep before the end of the final verse.
TBC
“I don’t want to do this,” Salli said, as Rolas drove them into the Brushtail domain. She’d covered her head with a shawl and had her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Even as isolated as she kept herself now, the tension from the accumulating setbacks had penetrated her chambers, killing what little joy had come to her heart from Rolas’ rescue. Now she sat, arms wrapped around herself, staring into her lap as if she feared seeing her own reflection in the skimmer’s windows.
“It’ll be all right, Salli. I’ll be right here with you,” Rolas tried to reassure her. “You trust Melika, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Not to strangers. Not to anyone. Not anymore.”
“I can be right there in the room with you, if you like.”
“Absolutely not,” Salli said, her voice starting to shake. “Please, Rolas, this was a mistake. Please just take me home.”
Rolas steeled himself and said, “Lady Melika went to a great deal of trouble and no small expense to arrange this. I’m asking you to just try. If you don’t want to do it again that’s fine, but please try it just once.” Then, feeling like an utter bastard, he added, “For me, Salli?”
“Yes, Rolas,” she said softly, her voice going dead again. Afraid to look in her face, he kept his eyes on the road and guided them up to Brushtail manor. Melika was waiting out from to meet them, along with a human female.
The female dressed in a conservative suit, her sallow face offset by a welcoming smile as Rolas helped Salli out of the skimmer. She held out her hand and introduced herself, “Lady Darktail? I’m Dr. Alice Quan.”
“Hullo, Dr. Quan.” Salli allowed the touch and then turned to Melika to say graciously, “Thank you for going to all of this trouble, Melika.”
“It was the least I could do, Salli,” she replied.
“Lady Melika has arranged one of the studies to be available for our sessions, Lady Salli,” Dr. Quan said. “If it’s all right I’d like to begin with you today. I promise that everything we speak of will be held in the strictest confidence.”
“Rolas?” Salli said uncertainly.
“I’ll be right here if you need me, Salli,” he reassured her.
“We’ll be having luncheon in the grotto,” Melika added. “If you need either of us, just ask one of the servants, all right?”
“All right,” Salli said in a very small voice. Dr. Quan led her inside, Rolas’ sister looking something an animal being guided to its appointed sacrifice.
He let out a long sigh when they disappeared inside. “Thank you again for arranging this, Melika. I don’t know whether it’s truly going to do any good, but thank you.”
“It was the least I could do, Rolas. I can’t merely stand by when I see someone suffering.” An uncharacteristically pensive look came over her face. “Is it just me, or are you both looking a bit worse than when I saw you last?”
“It’s not just you. Let’s go inside, this isn’t something I want to discuss on your front lawn.” Melika nodded and led him through the house, into the secluded grotto where they’d had luncheon before.
“What’s wrong, Rolas?” she asked, letting him sit beside her on the bench.
“We’re not getting the insurance money, it seems. Indeed, it appears that we might actually get sued by our insurer.”
“What? Whatever for?” she asked, looking shocked.
He informed her of the insurance company’s reluctance to pay, and then added, “When we finally managed to get a hold of someone high enough to release information, it turned out to be very bad. When I was the Red Vixen’s captive, she saw fit to take me off her ship for a time. I was wearing a shock collar that would stun me if I tried to run, but she saw fit to give me a weapon that she told me was uncharged and made me play bodyguard for her. So they were able to locate witnesses and security tapes that show me walking willingly beside her, and even armed. There’s a good chance they’re going to claim I was in a conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Worse, I may be forced to admit to it, to prevent them from claiming my parents were in charge of the supposed scheme.”
“Oh… oh, dear.” Melika’s eyes had grown wide during his narrative, and she covered her mouth as it dropped open in apparent shock. “Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is wrong, this is very, very wrong. I’m so sorry, Rolas.”
“Melika…” he said, looking at her obvious distress with unease. “Melika, you’re hardly responsible for the actions of a pirate.”
“No. No, of course not. Lady Melika Softpaw has nothing to do with the Red Vixen at all,” she said, regaining her composure. "Still, you have my... my deepest sympathies, Rolas. I do hope your insurers come to their senses soon."
"I'm not counting on that," he said. He spared a glance towards the house. "I wonder if I should check in on Salli, to see how she's doing?"
"Absolutely not. Miss Quan was very clear on the confidentiality of her session with your sister." She put a smile up on her lips. "Besides, I want you here with me."
"I can't imagine why. I'm poor company at the moment."
"Anyone would be, given the circumstances you're under right now." She stood up and walked behind him, resting her paws on his shoulders. "Goddess, you're tense. How have you been sleeping?"
"Badly," he admitted. He stiffened as he felt her fingers begin to knead the tendons of his shoulders. "Melika, what are you doing?"
Instead of answering, she asked, "Rolas, would you say that you owe me a debt?"
"Of course I do," he replied, letting out a pained noise as she hit a particularly hard knot of muscles.
"Then allow me to give you the opportunity to start paying it, and do what I tell you. You are far too tense, Rolas. You're so tightly bound up in you family's troubles, it's a wonder you're able to breathe. So this afternoon you're going to let me help you relax."
He gulped as a muscle released its tension under her probing fingers. "Melika, I can't indulge myself right now. I have to be here for Salli."
"At the moment your sister is in the company of the one of the best sexual assault counselors the Human Confederation has to offer. I don't think either of them need our aid at the moment. So be a good guest and do what your host tells you to."
"Yes, ma'am," he answered. Under her ministrations his shoulders relaxed and his arms began to feel like rubber.
"Good. Now then, would you be so kind as to lay on your belly on that blanket over there."
"I don't really think it's appropriate to..."
"Do it," she ordered, a measure of steel entering her voice.
"Yes, ma'am," he answered again. He down on his stomach, Melika kneeling beside him. As she tucked a pillow under his chin, he asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"You and your sister both are hurting. I'm helping her in a way I think will be best for her mind. I'm going to help you in a way that I think best for your body."
"That doesn't make any... ohh..." From the basket Melika drew out a large brush, and began running it through the fur of his tail. The act managing to somehow be both practical and oddly sensuous at the same time. As she tugged through the knots, his spine was pulled downward, popping loose cartilage that had been under pressure he hadn't realized was there.
"Your pelt is an utter fright. Haven't you been grooming?"
“I brush it out every…” He let out a mmph as another vertebra popped. “…every morning.”
“Not very well, it’s horribly matted. Worse, I can tell you haven’t been eating properly either, judging from the tufts I’m able to pull out.” In a few moments she had pulled out the worst of the knots, though she continued to brush out his tail in long, sensuous strokes.
“I don’t understand you at all,” he murmured, eyes half-closed as she continued her ministrations. Finished with his tail, she moved up to start brushing his head pelt. “Why go to all of this trouble, for someone you barely know?”
“I don’t like to see others in pain, and you are in pain, Rolas. You suppress it, I think, because you believe it to be pure selfishness to complain, given what your sister feels every day, but that does not make it any less a burden on your soul.”
Rufus shut his eyes tightly, feeling as if his body and heart were transparent to her. “What do you intend to do?”
“Help Salli as best I can. I think I’ve done as much as is within my ability by providing her with Doctor Quan. As for you, I believe I shall seduce you, Rolas Darktail.”
“By mothering me?”
“By gaining your trust and allowing you to have a place where you might lower your defenses. I invite you to rest here, Rolas, whenever you feel the need in your soul.” She paused, “Now, roll back over to your left.”
He did as she bid, to find the back of his head resting on another pillow. Opening his eyes, he found himself looking up into Melika’s own green eyes, flecked with gold. Suddenly, he realized his head was actually resting in her lap. “Melika,” he began to say, “this isn’t… I should get up.”
“No,” she said. “Close your eyes. Let me take care of you.” She rested her paw on his brow and shut his eyes. He felt her palms begin to rub his forehead, and softly she began to sing.
You said you had a sweetheart a hundred lifetimes deep
Who cradled you in comfort and soothed you into sleep;
You woke to find a willow, with leaves as green as bronze,
Which stroked your fevered forehead with gentle trailing fronds.
There's no one here to fight with, there's nothing here to flee
You said I was your willow, rest in me
Come lay aside your burden, and hearken to my tune,
The world is full of struggle and morning comes too soon.
I dreamt I saw a willow that held you like a child,
You slept by leaves enshrouded -- and in your sleep you smiled.
There's no one here to fight with, there's nothing here to flee
You said I was your willow, rest in me
You will not flee from danger nor raise a hand to fight;
But martyrs come to ashes, blazing in the night.
I dreamt I asked the willow whose restless branches stirred
How long we'd have together, she wept and spoke no word.
There's no one here to fight with, there's nothing here to flee
You said I was your willow, rest in me.
He was asleep before the end of the final verse.
TBC
