AU for _deadlydance_, set immediately after "The Price"

[birthrightgreen]

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.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"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.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She nodded slightly, though. "That's not really what I meant, sugar. Nevermind."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

He knew he openly bristled.

He didn't like being brushed off.

"Nevermind?"

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She sighed, finishing off her wine. "It doesn't matter anymore. Jaenelle fixed it."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Rainier watched her intently.

"It matters to you. Now."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"It shouldn't. It's over."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

He managed to look casual.

"Sometimes that is not how things go."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes it is." She was sorry she'd ever started the conversation.

"Tell me about your family?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

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."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

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."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

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."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

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."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"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."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"About what? Where I learned to fight?" She tilted her head at him.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"Yes. About how you learned to fight. About how you knew Daemon."

He had watched them, from the bench.

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

"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.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

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."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

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.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"No wonder then, he is so protective of you."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

When he didn't want to kill her.

"We've spent a lot of time looking out for each other through the years."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

There was a wry smile.

"He seems to have perfected the skill."

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

She chuckled. "He's had a lot of practice."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

Rainier nodded.

"It seems like he is your compass?"

[birthrightgreen.livejournal.com]

Her smile was just a tiny bit forced. "Something like that."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_deadlydance_/]

"All I know is we walked ten times round this city, in every direction it could be walked, for three whole days. Then he showed up and you knew exactly what to do."

Daemon also had seemingly eased whatever had been upsetting Surreal for all of those days, setting Rainier on edge because he simply had no idea how to sooth it.