Excerpt from Chapter 7: Gravity - Post Kru-El & Kara hospital scene
"Ter-El died in a lab accident last night, cousin Jor-El has come to collect you." He pulled back and schooled his expression as the private infirmary door opened.
Kara immediately recognized her Aunt's armor and her Uncle's ceremonial robes.
"Green Lantern, General Ze, Major El, Lord El; Kara is awake and coherent." Kru-El's whole posture and tone changed to adopt a formal differential stance. Astra barely spared him a glance before striding to Kara.
"Are you well, Little One? That was quite a fall." Astra smoothed Kara's hair back as she looked over her niece's injuries.
"I'll be fine, Aunt Astra. The suit took most of the damage for me, was Grandmother terribly angry?" Kara asked, but not sure if she really wanted to know the answer.
Astra smiled. "You technically won by point total, so no she wasn't that angry. You dominated the field, I was very impressed." Kara grinned up at her Aunt, happiness warming her from the inside out.
"Did you let that girl win the knockout, Ella?" Another voice asked. Kara turned her head to smile at her Aunt Lara. Kara shrugged instead of answering out loud.
"No matter, we have bigger concerns at the moment. We're flying back to the El Fortress as soon as you're released from the infirmary," Jor-El murmured, looking at her medical chart. Lara ignored him and moved to the other side of Kara's tank opposite Astra and Kru-El.
"Ruthless girl wasn't she? She killed every single one of her opponents… except you. Lan-Gor will be insufferable later, bragging about all of this. I never enjoyed cadet cullings, but that was quite the show." Lara continued. A soft voice trilled near the door in a polite manner. Kara turned her attention to the speaker. Kara immediately recognized the woman.
"Green Lantern! What are you doing here?" Kara asked, her own voice trilling anxiously. Kru-El made a chuffing sound beside her and interrupted.
"What my cousin means is: you honor us with your presence, how may we assist you?" Kara glared at him for putting words in her mouth, he ignored her in favor of glancing at the older woman.
The Green Lantern stepped closer; she was tall, muscled, and tanned the same way as Lara. Her hair curled in the same distinctive manner of the Van family, with bright green eyes that glowed with supernatural light from her power ring. Her face was set in a serious expression as she hovered next to Lara.
"Are you going to introduce us, cousin?" the Green Lantern asked Lara, her voice deceptively soft. Lara smiled affectionately and threw her arm around the Lantern's uniformed shoulder. The dark green and black armored suit glowed faintly even under the harsh infirmary lights.
"Ella, this is my cousin Rena Tor-Van, the Green Lantern. She just needs to ask you a few questions and then we can go. Ellion, let's go pack up Kara's things and leave them be, yes?" Lara's crisp Kandorian accent never wavered as she smoothly introduced the most powerful woman on Krypton.
Kru-El's face twitched slightly at the blatant dismissal. He tapped Kara on the forehead affectionately, before following Lara's long strides out the door. Kara watched them go anxiously, immediately wishing Kru-El would come back. She swallowed nervously. Her Aunt Astra leaned down to press a kiss on her forehead before herding Jor-El out the door from where he had been absentmindedly scrolling through her medical records. The door hissing shut felt like a death sentence.
The Green Lantern stared down at the small girl floating naked in the infirmary regeneration tank. She doubted the girl even knew what was going on. Rena made herself comfortable, hovering cross-legged at the side of the tank.
"So Ella, I have a few questions about your schedule here at the Academy." Rena began fishing a datapad from her uniform pocket to take notes. The girl's face scrunched adorably in confusion. She looked like a scolded funling.
"Alright, ask me anything."
"How often do you get leave from training?" If the girl had time off prior to the explosion and access to military grade chemical weapons…
"I get leave for Nova celebrations, formal House duties, and end of term break. That's it."
"And when was the last time you were off campus?" Rena continued.
"Not in three months, for the Nova feast. May I ask why?" The girl's eyes were wide and questioning as Rena typed up her responses.
Rena ignored the question. "You are second in line to inherit the House of Ze council seat, yes? After General Astra?" Kara gestured in agreement.
"Yes, this is common knowledge, no?" Kara answered with a little sass, allowing her own accent to begin to slip into Argonian tilts. Rena bit her lip in an attempt to hide her amusement.
"Yes, Ella. Now I'm a little confused on your inheritance status within the House of El." Kara paused before answering. Am I supposed to know Ter-El is dead ?
"Well Great Aunt Kahla Var-El holds our council seat as the Head of the House. And she never had a daughter, just Ter-El who is heir presumptive until he either has a daughter or succeeds the seat to the next female in the line of succession." Kara begins to explain, slowly watching the Green Lanterns facial expressions.
"And who is that, Ella?" Rena prodded, already knowing the answer.
"I am. My Grandfather's line follows Aunt Kahla's, with my father being the eldest of his brothers, I am currently the only female child of my Grandfather's line. But I believe Aunt Kahla finalized cousin Ter-El's marriage contract, they no doubt will produce an heir soon after." Kara added quickly. What is she trying to imply ?
Rena trilled thoughtfully.
"So if Ter-El never produced an appropriate heir, or died before he was able to, you would become both heir apparent of the House of Ze and House of El."
Kara hesitated.
"Is there a reason you're asking me this? My inheritance status can be looked up through the administrative council. You have access to those records as our Green Lantern, do you not?" Kara groused, picking at one of the wounds that had scabbed over and was starting to itch.
The pout was adorable, but Rena was strong and ignored the girl's question again.
"Just checking if you were aware of your own status. When was the last time you saw your cousin, Ter-El?" the Lantern asked, gently slapping Kara's hands away from the now sluggishly bleeding scab.
"Ter-El? During the Feast of Nightwing during the Nova celebrations last year. He lit our family torch for the first time in the Temple of Rao. We danced together during the revel. I retired with the rest of the children after the lighting ceremony. That was the last time I saw him. He has since sent me a few messages, but that's it."
"In these messages did he seem upset at all, acting strange, anything like that?" Rena pressed.
"Is Ter-El in some kind of trouble, Green Lantern?" Kara teared up a little bit, her poor sweet cousin.
"I am going to seize his messages to you over the last year. Just to see if I can find anything odd. Is there anything you would like to tell me, Ella?" Rena asked
"No, please. Rena Tor-Van, I ask of you, what's going on?" Kara begged formally. Please don't let it be true. Let Kru-El be mistaken for once.
Rena stood, letting her feet touch the ground as she loomed over Kara. She pocketed her data pad.
"Ter-El, son of Kahla Var-El and Jin-Da, was declared dead at approximately 1 in the morning yesterday. His lab exploded, taking him and several of his assistants with him. I am sorry for your loss, Ella. Thank you for cooperating, I'll be in touch."
Kara felt a tear escape, then another. The warrior glanced back, her face unreadable before disappearing out the door and down the corridor.