Disclaimer: This is an original fanfic based on Tamora Pierce's Trickster's series. I own nothing of that, but, I lay claim on my own characters, i.e. Kat and Fox...and any others I decide to throw in!
a/n: this is my first foray into such a parallel story. Familiar Eyes starts with George Cooper helping his little girl by sending her best friend, Kat, to Rajmuat before the Balitang's get back to the city. Of course, I had to tweak some things here and there to fit, but, overall, I think it's turning out rather clever.
Read and REVIEW! Let me know what you think!!
Familiar Eyes
Chapter 1
A gray eye is a sly eye, And roguish is a brown one; Turn full upon me thy eye,-- Ah, how its wavelets drown one! A blue eye is a true eye; Mysterious is a dark one, Which flashes like a spark-sun! A black eye is the best one.
-William R. Alger
Oriental Poetry--Mirtsa Schaffy on Eyes
The Whisper Man of Tortall sighed as he let himself into his office. He automatically made his way to his cluttered desk, thinking about how he was going to tell Alanna about their daughter's chosen fate.
Well, they were always telling Aly to forge her own life. Only neither of her parents had wanted her to have a life of danger. But, as the spymaster for the rebel raka, danger was going to be Aly's constant companion.
Tortall's spymaster took a seat at his desk and pulled out a piece of parchment. He dipped his fine quill into the ink and began to write.
'Dearest Alanna-'
George paused and adjusted himself in his wooden desk chair. Better to tell her everything, he thought, it will ease her mind and Gods know she needs that in the war.
He was just finishing the letter when someone knocked softly at the door. Cautious, he blew on the letter to dry it and quickly folded it up, lest someone outside the family saw it.
"Come in," he called from his desk. He had one eye on the wax he dropped as a seal onto the paper and the other watching the door.
The sturdy wooden door easily opened and a messenger stepped into the room. His clothes were dirty and his hair was ragged, but George knew him.
"Ah, Naimin, perfect timing," George greeted his trustworthy messenger.
"Sir," the man answered in a clipped voice. Naimin confidently strode over to George's desk and offered a quick bow. He reached a grimy hand into the weathered bag that hung across his shoulders and pulled out a small stack of letters and a few reports.
George took the messages, ignoring the filth that got on his hands via the messenger. Both men inclined their heads in a 'Thanks' and 'Accepted' silent speech.
George held his letter to Alanna out to Naimin. "This needs to go to Alanna, as quick as you can."
Naimin inclined his head again as he took the letter and slid it into his pack. The two men shook hands, George palmed a few silver coins into the messenger's hand.
Naimin turned to go while George sat down to review his new reports. He got his quill ready to write down important bits and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment.
His eyes wandered to the window on his left. The sun was at its peak and his little girl was not home. Of course, he had trained her for spy work, but after a close encounter nearly 6 years ago, George realized what could happen to his daughter. She could die- and he didn't want to put her in any situation where that might happen.
Of course, that didn't stop Aly from placing herself in such a situation.
George Cooper looked back down at his work, but his peripheral vision caught sight of something dark. He looked back up to find a girl sitting across from him. George bit back the urge to jump in surprise. He hadn't heard the girl moving across his office, one of her Gifted talents.
But, it wasn't like it was the first time this had happened.
Her light amber eyes crinkled in amusement at his reaction; otherwise, her face was perfectly still. Just like he had once taught her.
The girl was deeply tanned from her last mission in Carthak over the summer. George thought of her as a fairly good spy- talented enough to get the job done, but not notorious or famous enough to be known and wanted dead.
But to the Whisper Man, she wasn't just an agent- she was his daughter's best friend. However, looking at the beautiful 21-year-old woman in front of him, George found it hard to recall the days when she was the tall, gangly stable girl.
"Kat," he acknowledged.
The girl smiled. "George," she imitated his tone.
Kat nonchalantly flipped her long, curled dark brown hair over her shoulder. Light gleamed off some of the highlights the sun had burned into it over the summer.
She tugged at one lose bologna curl as she surveyed the room. George watched as she looked over the cluttered shelves and dusty window sills. He let her take her time. It seemed to be her way of reacclimating herself with her real life.
His mood dropped when Kat's bright eyes studied Aly's old desk. His daughter's tidy work space had accumulated many odds and ends since Aly had left- dust being the least dangerous. It looked as messy as George's own, now.
"I heard she's missing," Kat said, her eyes were locked on her best friend's desk.
Fourteen years ago, for reasons unknown to Kat, a 3-year-old Alianna, daughter of the Lioness, firmly attached herself to Kat's 7-year-old hip. Aly claimed the reason was because Kat would let her watch as the tall girl exercised the horses for her father. Kat had also given Aly her first riding lesson- leading the stubborn 3-year-old around on an old pony.
Though Kat loved the stables, her older brother, Kend, was set to be stable master after their father retired from the position. So, when Aly begged for Kat to join her in the spy games her da would create, Kat readily accepted.
After a few lessons, she realized that this was her true calling. Sure, she loved the horses, but spying promised adventure! It challenged her, both physically and mentally, and made her look at problems in completely new ways.
When she turned 16, and full of the necessary training, George sent her on her first mission alone. And neither heard the end of it from Aly. The 12-year-old girl had dreamed of fighting and spying alongside her best friend.
One day, less than a year after Kat was assigned, Aly got her wish.
Kat had found out important information and planned to meet her teacher to pass the news on. Aly begged to come. Only, once Kat had finished greeting her friends, a group of Scanran spies attacked. All three had to kill to survive.
George never took Aly with him again.
Now, Aly was missing. Kat knew what must've happened, having experienced it many times before. Aly asked her father to give her a field assignment, he refused, then, perhaps, a fight with her mother, and ending with Aly thinking she would be better off without her parents.
George ran a hand over his short brown hair. A surprisingly ingenious idea had begun to form in his mind.
"Found, actually," he relayed, "in the Copper Isles."
Kat racked her brain for all the information she knew about those isles. She came up with the basics: heavy-handed luarin rule oppressing the native raka.
She snorted. "What's she trying to do? Stage a rebellion?"
George stared into her honey-colored eyes, expression deadpan.
Kat gaped. "Holy Gods! I'm right?!" she gasped, careful to keep her voice down.
He nodded, hazel-green eyes staring at the reports on his desk. "Begun by a wager with the raka God, Kyprioth."
Kat heard a soft chuckle. She hoped it was coming from the hallway and not from where she suspected- the Divine Realm. But the girl knew wagering with a god doesn't always turn out for the best. "And how did it end?" she asked.
Here George smiled, proud of his only daughter- despite his worries. "It ended with Aly as the rebel's spymaster."
The laughter bubbled up from deep within Kat's belly. She slapped a hand over her mouth to stop its force, but the laughter spewed out and around her hand in loud rumbles. She was unable to control it.
George eyed her wearily, but still smiled. Kat's laughter was infamous in Pirate's Swoop- mostly for its high volume.
Finally her laughter trailed off when she started hiccupping. Kat held up a finger, "One-hic- second," she whispered as she took a deep breath and held it.
Just when George saw her face tinting blue, Kat let out her breath and gulped down more air. "I'm sorry, George," Kat apologized, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "But all of your refusals about letting her spy," Kat shrugged, "and now she's a spymaster." She shook her head at her best friend's luck. "Well, at least she has the talent."
George leaned back in his chair and smiled mischievously at the woman in front of him. "And she'll have a little help, too."
Kat grinned like a feline as she caught onto his idea. "Perfect."
a/n: Players Exit stage Left. End of chapter one!! I was going to make a second cat pun in that last line (Purr-fect) but I thought it would be too much. Haha
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