[ussbansheec] Cousins
- From: Andy Maluhia <CaptainAndy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 19:24:18 -0400
Dr. McEntire hadn't mentioned it when they first met. Aneirin only
found out by accident. One of his own rian, one of his own cousins, was
a part of the ship's manifest. He remembered that his mouthed had
twitched slightly. Flight Boss? He'd shaken his head then. He and
Joseph were very close in age but he barely knew the man. Each of them
might have had a parent who was close to the other but the closeness
hadn't made it to their generation, not as far spread apart by distance
as they were. Since their first accidental run in, he and Joseph
usually ran into each other exactly the same way--by accident.
Padding down the corridor, Remus smelled something familiar and it
fascinated him. He turned another corner and there was the source of
the scent. It smelled of Charging Hawk but not of Charging Hawk. Kin,
he thought, pack. Trotting up to the tall biped, he raised bright blue
eyes to the new pack member.
Aneirin was not given to swearing simply because his mother thought it
illogical but that didn't mean he was not used to hearing it or, upon
occasion, using it. "Fvadt!" he hissed, jumping back a foot. By reflex
a wary hand moved toward the knife he had tucked into his belt.
Remus let out a low growling noise that sounded suspiciously like a
chuckle, his eyes dancing with amusement. Odd pack, but definitely
smells right.
"Don't stab him," Tabetha said evenly as she followed Remus up the
corridor. "He'd take it as an insult." Kneeling down by her wolf, she
rubbed her hand through his coat. When he didn't take his eyes off of
the dark haired man, she frowned. "Though he seems to have taken a
liking to you."
"I would not have hurt him. That is a natural reflex when a large
carnivore comes upon a man suddenly, " Aneirin stated as he slowly
lowered his hand. Di'nanov would be pleased at my reflexes. He shook
his head. "I have no idea why he would decide to like me. I have never
had a companion animal other than a sehlat."
Rolling his eyes, Remus gave Tabetha a significant look. Pack, he
thought at her but when she just wasn't getting it, he huffed out a
frustrated breath. Bipeds, he thought, too dense for their own good.
"You look familiar," Tabetha said as she stood up, still frowning at the
way Remus had looked at her. There were times that she could swear he
was trying to tell her something. Strange creature, she mused. "Did we
meet at the Academy?" Offering him her hand, she said, "Tabetha
Swiftwind S'Ghaladriel."
One brow went up very slowly. There was no mistake. It was pronounced
exactly as it should be, with just the right accent. Ignoring the
animal, he fixed dark eyes on her. "Strange. I am S'Ghaladriel, as
well. Aneirin tr'Ghaladriel."
PACK! Remus huffed.
"Aidoaneth's eldest?" Tabetha smiled softly. "That explains Remus'
reaction. You smell like my brother."
Which makes him...
"Pack," she shrugged, "in his eyes."
Aneirin gave the creature a sideways glance. If he thought
so..."Ira'rian," Aneirin said simply, taking her hand and bowing low
over it. It was a gesture that implied great respect toward a family or
a loved one. "My apologies for not recognizing you. Your brother and
I...didn't either."
Nudging her with his nose, Remus tried to get her to move back to their
home. He trotted off down the corridor, glanced back, huffed, padded
back, stared into her eyes and then trotted off again as if to say: this
way, come on, this way.
"Would you care to join us for a meal? Joseph was intending on coming
over this evening," Tabetha offered, smirking at her silly animal.
"I'm honored," Aneirin said with a slight nod, leaving out he and Joseph
had barely said two words to each other the entire time they'd been
aboard together. "So long as I am not your companion's appetizer."
"Not at all, he's not all that fond of Rihannsu-Vulcan hybrids, he's
more for Klingons I think." Tabetha led them to her cabin, smiling
fondly at the eagle painted on the door. Opening up, she swept her gaze
around the nearly barren single room. One wall was dominated by a rack
of steel weapons ranging from everything as small as a dagger all the
way up to a large sword. There was a bedroll on the floor upon which
Remus slept and a small table in the centre of the room that was low to
the ground. "Welcome," Tabetha said.
Aneirin raised a brow at the rack of weapons. "Impressive," he said
simply. There was that would never be there, though. "My di'nanov has
a friend who has one of the last two S'harien's in existence. Even my
mother will agree with the statement that it is made of all the
Elements' best."
"I would love to see one, hold it in my hands but not own it. These,"
Tabetha moved over to her collection, running her fingers over some of
them lightly. "These are all from Earth, or from Human manufacture at
the least. That is what I collect," she said with a shrug.
"I've held the S'harien: once. It truly is beautiful but I am not equal
to its use so I have no aspiration to have another like it," Aneirin
told her. He tapped the kaleh he wore at his waist. "This is the only
weapon I have, given to me on my seventh birthday. I had to go through
Survival like any other Vulcan child so Di'nanov supposed it was as good
a time as any for a son of his House to have his own Honor Blade."
Taking down one long, black bladed knife, Tabetha's face took on an
almost sentimental glow. "I was fourteen when Nightwalker gave this to
me." Handing it over to him, she said, "I'm told Cruak knew it well
before he died."
"Then I hope he knew, too, that Di'nanov and Uncle saw to it that his
name was thrice written and thrice burned, too." Aneirin barely
blinked. His father wasn't exactly a violent man but Air, his chief
Element, wasn't always a gentle breath of life. It was also a raging
gale that blew away everything in its path. "The elder chose a good
custodian then."
"Thank you," Tabetha said as she took it back and placed it back among
her collection. As her door swished open, she smiled into her brother's
eyes. "We have a guest."
Joseph blinked and froze. Huh, trust Tab to run into the only other
S'Ghaladriel on board. "Hey," he said as he flopped down on the floor.
"You eating with us?"
"I was invited," Aneirin said simply. The atmosphere seemed strained to
him. He supposed it was because of the fact that they'd barely said
anything to each other in all the time they'd been aboard. He had
nothing against the man. It just...never happened.
"Well sit down then, if you're staying," Joseph mumphed.
Tabetha fixed him with a dark stare before heading over to the
replicator and ordering tea. "You'll excuse the child currently taking
up space on my floor. There are times that I think my other siblings
were the only ones to get the good manners from our Ri'nanov."
Aneirin lowered himself to the floor with his usual grace and shrugged
off both Joseph's actions and his sister's comments. It was irksome but
not enough to cause offense to either part of him. He bit back a sigh.
This was proving rather awkward. If he was dealing with his job or
something he had his hands in, he could be quite charming. Social
situations were always so difficult.
Remus sniffed appreciatively, casting the same dark look that Tabetha
had given to Joseph. Pushing his head under one of Aneirin's hands, he
flopped to the floor next to him and sprawled out.
Setting the tea on the low table, Tabetha ordered a simple meal of
noodles with chicken. She passed a bowl to everyone and joined them on
the floor. "How are our Uncles faring?"
"Happily at practice," Aneirin replied. "though my di'nanov's isn't so
settled as Uncle's. He is what the Humans still call a simple country
doctor, even if the doctor isn't so simple. My own goes where Mother goes."
"Like Grandpa's family," Joseph observed. "When he was still a 'Fleet
Captain that is."
"Not exactly, the children stayed on Dorvan when they were young and
only left if they wanted to." Curling her legs up under her chin, she
took a sip from her tea. "Papa chose to stay on Earth once Jada was
born though." At the flinch in her brother's eyes, she frowned.
Tabetha and Matthew were the only ones that didn't flinch at the mention
of their father and the pair of them found it quite perplexing that the
others reacting quite the way they did.
Carefully avoiding the chicken, Aneirin nodded. "Mother has no family
on Vulcan and Di'nanov would never stay there without here, even if he
does like it. 'Tolerably warm' is what he says. Your mother...she is
well?"
"Yes, quite well. She is visiting Vincent on Earth for a few months,"
Tabetha told him. Her gaze caught the dark expression in Joseph's eyes
and she frowned. "Is there something wrong?"
"Nothing," he said, stuffing his mouth with food.
"Laughing Eyes? Uncle is quite fond of him. He speaks the language
tolerably well, without that accent he has in Standard," Aneirin said, a
ghost of a smile touching his mouth. It had been years and the twins
still teased the man about it.
"Ri'nanov is very fond of him." Tabetha smiled significantly at her
cousin. "She visits him often, spends her time split between ch'Rihan,
Dorvan V and Earth."
"Is she now?" Aneirin asked, one brow going up slowly. "That would
explain why his son Ray was teasing him so badly the last time we met.
I believe 'it's about time' were the words he used."
"It is. From the way she looks at him, she has loved him for some time,
perhaps as much as thirty four years," Tabetha observed.
"They have much in common over the years. Aunt Talibah was friends with
Sophia, too. It is a good match. Even my mother might agree to the
logic," Aneirin stated. "Twenty years is along time for a man to be
alone when he's used to the warmth of a loved one."
"If she loved him for so long, perhaps she's loved him all along,"
Joseph said finally. "Perhaps she held nothing in her heart for our
father. Or perhaps she did and now she loves again only to be left
alone again when he dies and she does not. She is Rihanha, she will
continue when her human husbands die of old age."
Tabetha blinked at him. It wasn't the teenage petulance she'd expected
from her brother when they'd discussed this before that she heard in his
voice. It was grief and fear.
"Would you have her be alone for the rest of her life?" Aneirin wondered
aloud. "I cannot believe that anyone who loved another would wish that
on them. A friend's grandfather remarried when he was in his one-fifties."
"But she will be alone," Joseph said quietly. "When Vincent dies she
will be alone."
"Il vaut mieux d'avoir a aimé et a perdu que pour avoir n'a jamais aimé
du tout," Aneirin said carefully. With a slight shrug, he added, "It is
a Human saying: better to have loved and lost than to have never loved
at all. If it's been that long, it's hardly logical to think that she's
leapt into anything."
"I know," Joseph whispered. "It scares me, that's all."
"You know her better than anyone, does she love him?" Tabetha asked.
"Yes."
"Vincent is a good man. I know his children. Also good people. He is
a story teller for their people," Aneirin stated.
"I like him," Joseph said defensively.
"Like him or don't: that is not what I was referring to," Aneirin told
him, finally looking him in the eye. ""Human he may be but he
understands other species better than most. He understands logic as
well as passion."
Joseph finally smiled and nodded. "Yes, he does."
"I know his daughters approve of the match, too," Aneirin added. "It is
very Vulcan of them: to play matchmaker."
"Vulcans and Rihannsu and Humans, oh my," Tabetha teased. At the
confused look on her brother's face, she laughed.
"All we need is the flying simians," Aneirin said deadpan.
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