[ussgeorgetown] Allies and Enemies
- From: Anna <tkilyle@xxxxxxx>
- To: ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:59:22 -0400
_Allies and Enemies
_by Revaed S'Aehallh'Nveni & Iruvande S'Akhiy'Rhienn
/"We must always seek to ally ourselves with that part of the enemy that
knows what is right"--M. Gandhi/
The feeling that he got every time he looked upon his paehne never
ceased to amaze Revaed. The child was perfect in every way but more
striking was the unending amazement that this wonderful creature was
made by him and Mei. Science and biology be damned, Tao was a gift of
the Elements and that was it. Too bad, he thought wryly as he lifted
her up, they are not personified.
Iruvande reclined, a large cat at ease, at the table of a Cardassian
restaurant. There was a vast array of small dishes in front of her,
each sampled and arranged by how much she had appreciated them. For the
moment, she was sipping their alcoholic beverage and nibbling on a fish
stew of some kind that was the least displeasing of all of the food. Her
pale green eyes seemed to look at nothing at all, while still seeing
everything around her. She appeared completely relaxed, the epitome of
sloth and ennui.
Only someone who knew Revaed quite well, which would have included Mei
and maybe his nephew and ch'Thane, would have recognized amusement in
his eyes as he walked to the ship's transporter room. The people on
this ship, Lloannen'galae all, were particularly bad at watching while
trying not to watch. Generally, they tried never to look him in the eye
but they were curious, he knew, about the baby. Curiosity, though,
never overcame outright fear of his attitude and that was what amused
him so. He had every notion that the same would hold when he got to the
station. The child needed more than stale shipside air and woe to anyone
who thought to approach or touch her. He did, at least, manage to not
not growl at the Ninitchik as he entered the transporter room. The man
simply tickled the baby under chin once then stepped back. The man was
harmless but the glare at least cut off any of his usual unending speeches.
"Is there anything else?" the serving girl asked the weird-looking
Vulcanoid.
"Dost thy menu offer a sweet?" Iruvande asked as she pushed her stew away.
"Yeah... I can bring you the dessert menu if you'd like," the girl said.
"Ie, that would be appreciated." The girl scampered off, two more
replacing her and they started gathering up the dishes of half-finished
food.
"Didn't you like your dinner?" one asked.
"It was unusual but perhaps not to my taste," Iruvande said with a smirk.
If he were another man, Revaed might have recalled what Vincent had once
said about worrying whether someone would plunge a knife into him on the
station, simply for being what, never mind who, he was. He had
dismissed the thought then and he dismissed it as soon as he stepped off
the platform on the station. He doubted there were people aboard that
knew who he was and those who know what he was tended to skirt out of
his path. Though he supposed he might not mind seeing the changeling
again. That io, he thought as he stroked Tao's cheek, had mnhei'sahe,
even if it wasn't Rihannsu.
The dessert menu was as unusual and potentially unpalatable as the rest
of the cuisine had been but Iruvande believed that there must be
something appealing about all food. She'd even found something she
liked in Ferengi food but that had been a long, hard and quite
nauseating search. From this, she chose a form of ice cream and then
sat back to wait, watching the people move around her.
There was no intent in his path. Reaved simply walked, though 'simply'
walking for him meant falling into ages old habits, watching the people
and surroundings for anything untoward. Nah, he was no longer Enarrain
of the Imperial Guards, charged with guarding the Empty Chair, but those
habits died hard. He even still wore his habitual dark clothing,
choosing shades of midnight blue and black that day. Tao, though, was
dressed in what was apparently considered appropriate garb for the area
Mei's Human ancestors came from. "I would think thee a Fire child
dressed so brightly, little io," he said, his voice deep and soft, meant
only for his paehne's ears.
The accent would have sparked her interest all on its own. It was not
often that a Capital City accent was heard on this station. But the
voice itself almost had her snort down her ice cream. Rather, Iruvande
placed down her spoon, slipped the required credits onto the table and
rose. Her long white hair flowed around her shoulders but she covered
it quickly with her dark green cloak. Those pale eyes now scanned the
crowd with a more intense determination. She found the Enarrain easily,
he hardly blended in, so distinct as he was. With that wild cat's
grace, she prowled after him.
"We will have to ask Ri'nanov where you fall in that calendar of hers,
na?" he asked,pleased with how intently she listened or seemed to. Years
spent as Enarrain and he'd never had more than a moment's interaction
with children, never mind babies. It wasn't until T'Aris brought him to
Earth that that had happened. This io, though, was more precious
than..how strange, he thought. The people approaching him had looks on
their faces that suggested they didn't know where to 'not' look first.
Obviously, one of the places was at him but the other...
"Jolan'tru, Enarrain," Iruvande said in a soft, archaic accent, a slight
smirk on a face hidden within the folds of a deep velvet cloak.
Whether or not Tao would remember him ever saying them, he swore
colorfully. Not just the accent but her. Of all the ones he might have
missed about the Empire, she was certainly not one of them. His free
hand went automatically to the kaleh at his waist while the other
tightened protectively around the baby as he turned around. Eyes
narrowed, he stared at the center of the cloak's hood. "What fatherless
child sent you to haunt me?"
There was a snort from inside the cloak. "Thy manners have not
improved, Enarrain, but thy reflexes are slowing. Mine ears heard
rumours but twas not til this moment that I believed them. The Enarrain
made soft by a woman and a child." She tutted as one hand lowered her
hood so she could meet his dark dark eyes, the other hand remained
tucked inside her cloak out of sight.
He almost spat on the deck in disgust. "Au know nothing," he said
coldly, "and perhaps it is au who are soft if rumor mongering has become
your pass time."
She arched one eyebrow but kept her expression of light amusement over
her school features. "Thee should know that mongering of any form is
not my pass time, Enarrain," she said with a lilting laugh. "What these
ears hear does not pass beyond them." She paused for a moment to look
down at the child in his arms then added, "Unless it profits the Empire."
"Do not threaten me or endanger this child. If you think that I've
become soft, do that and see how very wrong you are, hru'Airifvir. I
would be the least of your worries." He almost laughed. Mei would kill
him first and then the hru'Airifvir.
Iruvande outright laughed at him and shook her head, freeing some of her
white hair from the velvet. "I did na threaten thee, Enarrain.. Nor
did I threaten thy child. Thee misunderstands my intent. Always so
quick to jump to conclusions, patient as a glacier yet swift to anger."
"In the matter of any child, I will kill first and ask questions later,"
he said simply. "Including," he added, his voice pitched so low that
only she could hear, "and especially those haunted by those spineless
ios of the TalShiar."
Iruvande bit back a snarl, her eyes flaring for just a moment before her
composure returned. "They haunt not my steps, Enarrain, be at peace."
She hissed at him in a teasing way. "Thee may have left the Empire, but
those of us left must still be cautious."
A growl rumbled low in his chest. Just speaking the name of that evil
group made him angry. His grip on Tao tightened yet again then loosened
just slightly when it occurred to him that it might make the child
uncomfortable. "Then think harder, woman. They apparently know that I
am not, as many assumed, simply living in the hinterlands on ch'Rihan.
More than that, I have no idea what they know but it matters not. What
I have here is more precious to me than all the Empire ever was."
"Sacrilege," Iruvande smirked but she stepped closer, gently and easily,
only now producing her second hard that was free of weapons. She pushed
her cloak back to prove that she was, on surface inspection, unarmed.
Only her kaleh decorated her hip but none alive now in the Empire had
ever seen her use it, let alone unsheathe it. She peered down at the
child, the first honest smile touching her lips. "Jolan'tru, little io.
Di'nanov guards thee fiercely."
He stiffened with the potential to do great damage if warranted but, as
patient as Water, he waited. He had never known the woman, in all the
years that her existence vexed him, to be a danger to innocents but time
changed all things eventually. "I guard all that is dear to me,
hru'Airifvir, as I have always done. What makes you think that has
changed?"
"Time changes all things, Enarrain," she replied as she lifted a gentle
hand to touch the cheek of the baby he held. "Sacrifice changes us most
of all and thee have made more sacrifices than many in the Empire." She
lifted her eyes and fixed them on his.
"It still stands does it not? It is a shame, though, that what I gave
up and that sacrifice has not, it seems, made it learn a damned thing.
Veruuls they are. I have my own ears out there, hru'Airifvir, and what
they tell me disgusts me." He snorted in deep disgust.
"Children...they snipe at children for gain. There is no honor in
that-- the cowards. Small wonder that I guard my paehne so well."
"Aim thine ears in a different direction, Enarrain, and thee will hear
of other things, things that do not shame us, things that are changing
even the most rotten of our hearts."
Reaved hmmphed softly. "Speak for yourself, hru'Airifvir. My heart was
never rotten but simply stubborn," he said plainly. "I have yet to see
anything that has shown me it's changed for the better." He thought of
the big Vulcan's little wife and shook his head. "I refer to recent
events, things that were in motion before I left no doubt."
"Ie? What of recent events?" she asked almost distracted, her fingers
stroking the soft cheek of the baby.
"What mnhei'sahe is there when a woman is assaulted in place of a true
target?" he asked coldly. "It matters not who told me or who was the
victim but the fact is that it happened. It disgusts me."
"There is none," Iruvande whispered gravely. "Take comfort in knowing
that the matter was avenged." She met Revaed's eyes again and there was
a ferocity there that burned with cold green fire as if it would ignite
the very pits of hell with its fury. "I will purge ch'Rihan of them. I
will cleanse my people of their filth."
"This io will never walk the Earth of ch'Rihan but Rihannsu she still is
and thy promise is much, hru'Airifvir," he said simply, dark eyes fierce
with pride. "There is nothing like the mnhei'sahe of a true Rihanha."
He hmmphed softly. "I hope that the picture these Lloannan'galae people
have of me would eventually extend to the rest of our people."
"As do I," she said softly with a nod. "Raise thy new generation with
the grace thee hath found, old friend."
He almost smiled. Almost, though it did reach his eys as he looked at
Tao. Mnhei'sahe was not only for those who loved and spoke now. It was
those who came later as well and to be preserved from ages before also.
"She will be as beautiful as her mother, Iruvande," he said quietly,
speaking her name for perhaps the second or third time in his entire
life. "and as fierce and honorable as us both."
"Then she will be Rihannsu in truth if not in fact." She placed a hand
on Revaed's shoulder as one warrior to another. "Be well and as our
Sundered kin would have it, live long and prosper, Enarrain."
--
"...and I had done nothing...but shoot an unarmed Cardassian in his
underwear."-Li Nalas
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