birthrightgreen: (putting up hair)
birthrightgreen ([personal profile] birthrightgreen) wrote2006-01-13 09:10 pm
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry
Entry tags:

AU for [livejournal.com profile] _deadlydance_, set immediately after "The Price"

She wasn't nervous. She had nothing to be nervous about. It wasn't like it was a romantic evening. They'd just worked so hard on the case, working to catch the rabid witch who'd been slaughtering innocent males. And they had, with Jaenelle's help. Now Jaenelle and Daemon were back on their honeymoon and she...

She was here in Amdarh, back how she had been, nursing the bruises Falonar had left. So, why, exactly was she changing her dress? The one she had on was perfectly acceptable. She was going out dancing with a friend. She could use a friend right now. What she couldn't use was a male thinking he was just going to sweep in and carry her off.

Not that he was probably thinking that, but she was suspicious.

He was a male, and years of seeing them abused by her own sex still hadn't made her trust them as a gender. Then again, she didn't trust most people.

With a growl at herself, she finally settled on a black dress with enough slink to impress and a enough swirl to make a statement on the dance floor, no matter how elegant and formal. Hair pinned half up, the rest left down. If people stared at her ears, so be it.

She was ready. It was going to be fun. She kept repeating that. Fun. With a friend.

Just a friend. He wasn't expecting anything. He wouldn't be that foolish.

She just wished she knew what he wanted.
Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-20 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Whereas there, it was encouraged," she said quietly.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-20 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
His voice was not dangerously low.

"We take care of our own."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-20 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"They're lucky then." Her hand wasn't trembling when she reached for her glass. At least not much.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-20 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
He watched her, expression almost empty.

"It isn't luck."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-20 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"Isn't it? Luck that you haven't had a powerful Queen come along who's corrupted your society so that even those not actively participating have ceased to care."

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
"I won't deny that we have been blessed to know at least fairly competant leadership at word, and -- inspiring at best. But the work they do? The work I do? To ensure a more peaceful, balanced life when possible. The determination to eliminate any threats to that life as quickly and cleanly as possible? That is not luck."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
She tilted her head, studying him, eyes still shuttered and unreadable. "Isn't it luck that you were born into a position where you could do that work? Where you had the freedom to act, to keep people safe?"

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
"There is who I am, and what I am, and those are two different things. My birth is what I am, my life is who I am. And the Jewels are my bridge."

Different things to different people. Different people to himself.

Rainier knew that game.

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
She nodded slightly, though. "That's not really what I meant, sugar. Nevermind."

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
He knew he openly bristled.

He didn't like being brushed off.

"Nevermind?"

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
She sighed, finishing off her wine. "It doesn't matter anymore. Jaenelle fixed it."

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
Rainier watched her intently.

"It matters to you. Now."

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
He managed to look casual.

"Sometimes that is not how things go."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
"Sometimes it is." She was sorry she'd ever started the conversation.

"Tell me about your family?"

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
He considered pushing her.

Then he remembered what the day had been to her.

"My parents were married, though perhaps they shouldn't have been." Rainier paused, momentarily surprised by his own honesty. "I'm their only child, though I do have a half sister."

He took a sip of his wine.

"Now. Something about you."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
Only years of training kept her from throwing the bare facts at him.

"My mother died when I was a child." She glanced at him. "It's possible you met her at the Hall? Her name was Titian."

A slight smile. "I'm an only child, as far as I know."

An even smaller smile, though somthing strange glittered in her eyes. "My father died last year."

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
His mind flew back to a strong, determined female, and a very intense line of questioning. "I knew her," Rainier said softly. Surreals' words, and what he knew personally, were enough to paint a sad, harsh picture that few could want to willingly look at. But Rainier couldn't turn away, either.

"She was one of the few people I knew who could actually yell at the High Lord."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
There was pride in Surreal's smile. "She was always a fighter. She taught me the basics of the knife long before Daemon saw to more thorough tutoring."

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
"She certainly fought well."

Rainier played with the stem of his glass, now focusing in on the rest of Rainier's words.

"I had wondered about that."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
"About what? Where I learned to fight?" She tilted her head at him.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes. About how you learned to fight. About how you knew Daemon."

He had watched them, from the bench.

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
"His mother...Tersa?" She didn't know if he'd met Tersa, for all she lived on the grounds now. "She brought him to see Titian and me. She'd found us. Saw I was Blood. She wanted him to see to it that I was trained in Craft, to wear the Jewels if I was strong enough. He gave us one of his homes to live in and arranged for tutors for me, and for my Birthright Ceremony a couple of years later."

Her eyes darkened slightly, then she forced a smile. "When he found me again after Titian died, he took me to a Red Moon house to apprentice with and arranged for my education to resume, adding fight masters to the cycle of tutors. They built on what Titian had already taught me." And honed the killing instincts she'd developed on the street.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/ 2006-01-21 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
Rainier knew enough to see that it hadn't been easy for Surreal after Titian had died. What worried him was that it was most likely worse than he imagined.

Fingers tightened on the wine glass.

"I knew you were close. I just didn't know how."

[identity profile] birthrightgreen.livejournal.com 2006-01-21 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
Close. A flicker of pain in her eyes.

"He was the only family I had for over 350 years. The only friend, really." Voice utterly calm, she moved to scoop up a little more of the dessert she didn't really want, but it was something to do with her hands.



Flat | Top-Level Comments Only