Fuerza del mi Alma
Author: Quin
Disclaimer: I don't own the Princess Bride characters, just Alma. The other's are Goldman's, I think.
Three sharp raps at my front door. I closed my eyes for a moment and groaned. I had closed up shop over an hour ago, as usual, everyone knew my hours, who could be here? I stormed out of the kitchen and through the shop to my front door, and opened the top half, prepared to give whoever was on the other side a piece of my mind before running them off. Blast the profit I'd lose, it had been a long day and I was hungry!
Inigo stood on the other side. He had three friends with him, a giant, a man dressed in black whose appearance reminded me of something somehow, and a pretty blond in a ruined bride's dress, but I hardly glanced at them. It had been over ten years, and Inigo was back?
"Inigo Montoya. I didn't expect to see you again."
"Alma, may we come in? I would not ask but it is important."
I looked at him for a moment. Into his eyes. Into those beautiful eyes. Oh, how I had missed him.. I jerked myself back to the present, and spoke a bit too sharply. "No brandy?"
"No brandy. Not for months."
I looked at him for another moment, and then nodded. I opened the bottom half of the door and let him and his friends in. "Alma Fuerza, this is Fezzik, Westley, and Buttercup. Alma, we are running from Prince-"
"Humperdink of Florin. Yes, I know." He looked a little stunned, so I took pity on him and explained. "We do get a little news here, Inigo, this is not the end of the world, or a Fire-Swamp, or something."
I turned to the man in black. "Your surname wouldn't happen to be Roberts, would it?" His face went from the polite blank look to confusion to suspicion in a moment, and his hand rested lightly on the grip of his sword. I smiled, this was him indeed. "Ryan was a steady customer of mine for several years. A few years ago he came by one last time to tell me he was retiring, and he told me all about his protégé." The hand came off the sword grip.
Next I turned to the girl in the ruined dress. "And you are Humperdink's ex-bride-to-be, I take it?" She nodded at me, a little absentmindedly, she looked a little bewildered by all the daggers and knives on display.
Last I turned to the giant. "Fezzik, is it? Pleased to meet you." We grinned at each other and then I turned back to Inigo.
"I was just making dinner, you know where everything is, show them where they can clean up, will you?" Inigo nodded and I went back to the kitchen. I had just finished adding more soup to the kettle when I turned around and found Westley behind me. I raised an eyebrow at him, and when he didn't respond, I continued to fix dinner.
"So you're the woman in Inigo's past."
I didn't look at him, I was still looking for that serving bowl that somebody had given me a few years ago. It was the only thing I had that would hold five servings of soup at once. "I'm a lot more than that."
"The woman in many men's pasts?"
"No. I am also a shopkeeper, a bookkeeper, a housekeeper, and I make daggers and throwing knives for a living. Anything else, or would you rather wait until dinner for the inquisition?"
"It can wait."
"Okay then. Would you mind getting out of my kitchen? It's barely big enough for me, you're crowding me."
He nodded, and left.
* * *
We all sat down crowded around my tiny table, and I served up the soup. They liked it well enough, and when we were done I took the bowls into the kitchen and left them to soak. Then I came back out to the table.
"I have welcomed you into my home, I have allowed you to refresh yourselves, and I have fed you. I have fulfilled all rules of hospitality. Now, Inigo, would you like to tell me why you're here."
"We are running out of places to hide, Alma. I would not come here if it was not necessary,"
I knew that already. "Why me particularly?"
"Everyone that my friends here trust are dead. We have visited a few of my old sword masters, but there are very few left. We were in the neighborhood."
I stared at him a full minute before answering. "What do you need?"
Westley started to answer, but I cut him off with a glance. He wasn't the person I had asked the question to. I looked at Inigo again and he answered.
"A place to stay, maybe for a week. Another week's worth of food after that. We can pay for that food. For the stay, well, we can help around the house, I suppose.." He was getting nervous.
"You don't need to pay for staying here, I can afford that. You'll have to pay for the food for the week after, I can't afford that."
Inigo nodded, and the deal was done. He was back.
* * *
Westley and Buttercup, the newlyweds, shared one half of my loft, and Inigo and Fezzik shared the other half. I didn't owe Inigo's friends my bed.
Of course, I wasn't using it myself at the moment. I was sitting in my tiny courtyard, sipping a cup of tea, watching the moon, losing myself in my thoughts.
"Good evening, Alma."
I started a bit, but as always it wasn't noticeable. Well, not to most people, Inigo was of course different.
"Sorry to startle you."
I turned and gestured for him to sit down. "Don't worry about it. Couldn't sleep?"
"Yes, too many memories."
"Yes."
We sat there in silence for several minutes, getting used to the other's presence. And finally he spoke.
"Why did you abandon me?"
"You abandoned me first."
He just stared at me, uncomprehending. I continued.
"To the brandy. I lost you to brandy long before I made you leave."
"If I had known that it bothered you that much, I could have-"
"You knew perfectly well it bothered me! You knew perfectly well it was killing my soul to watch you do that to yourself!" I ran out of breath, and whispered the next statement. "I could see it in your eyes, Inigo."
It was several moments before he answered. "Yes, yes I knew."
"Then why, Inigo? Why did you do it? Why did you wreck yourself with brandy?"
"It killed the pain."
I gave that a moment to hang in the air, and then responded the best I could. "You saw your beloved father murdered in front of you, Inigo, and to avenge his death you became the ultimate killing machine of your time. Your art was, is, your driving passion. It was how you lived up to your father's legend. It was your life. Inigo, how was I supposed to compete with that?"
He winced at my question. "You weren't."
I let my face relax, I couldn't deal with this right now. "Goodnight, Inigo."
I had stood up and was about to turn and leave when his arm reached up to grasp my elbow. "You weren't then, Alma, but you don't have to now. Fencing is no longer my life. Revenge was my business, I've lost that now. Westley has offered me the position of Dread Pirate Roberts, but I don't want to take it, Alma. That isn't the life I want."
I looked down, into his eyes. Those eyes of his that, so long ago, had promised me the world. "Then what do you want, Inigo?"
"Fuerza del mi alma, strength of my soul, I want another chance with you. To make things right." He jumped to his feet, and stood closer to me than I had let any other man stand. "Alma, I promise to you now that I will never touch another drop of brandy. I was trying to kill the pain then, but now it has healed. What I didn't know then was what I needed. I wanted revenge, but I needed.." His voice faded.
"You needed what?"
"I needed the other half of my soul, dear Alma, I needed you."
Over ten years, he had been gone. Several hours, he had been in my house, welcome only because I trusted him with my house, if no longer with my heart. Now, he was back. In my heart.
No, he had never left.
Author: Quin
Disclaimer: I don't own the Princess Bride characters, just Alma. The other's are Goldman's, I think.
Three sharp raps at my front door. I closed my eyes for a moment and groaned. I had closed up shop over an hour ago, as usual, everyone knew my hours, who could be here? I stormed out of the kitchen and through the shop to my front door, and opened the top half, prepared to give whoever was on the other side a piece of my mind before running them off. Blast the profit I'd lose, it had been a long day and I was hungry!
Inigo stood on the other side. He had three friends with him, a giant, a man dressed in black whose appearance reminded me of something somehow, and a pretty blond in a ruined bride's dress, but I hardly glanced at them. It had been over ten years, and Inigo was back?
"Inigo Montoya. I didn't expect to see you again."
"Alma, may we come in? I would not ask but it is important."
I looked at him for a moment. Into his eyes. Into those beautiful eyes. Oh, how I had missed him.. I jerked myself back to the present, and spoke a bit too sharply. "No brandy?"
"No brandy. Not for months."
I looked at him for another moment, and then nodded. I opened the bottom half of the door and let him and his friends in. "Alma Fuerza, this is Fezzik, Westley, and Buttercup. Alma, we are running from Prince-"
"Humperdink of Florin. Yes, I know." He looked a little stunned, so I took pity on him and explained. "We do get a little news here, Inigo, this is not the end of the world, or a Fire-Swamp, or something."
I turned to the man in black. "Your surname wouldn't happen to be Roberts, would it?" His face went from the polite blank look to confusion to suspicion in a moment, and his hand rested lightly on the grip of his sword. I smiled, this was him indeed. "Ryan was a steady customer of mine for several years. A few years ago he came by one last time to tell me he was retiring, and he told me all about his protégé." The hand came off the sword grip.
Next I turned to the girl in the ruined dress. "And you are Humperdink's ex-bride-to-be, I take it?" She nodded at me, a little absentmindedly, she looked a little bewildered by all the daggers and knives on display.
Last I turned to the giant. "Fezzik, is it? Pleased to meet you." We grinned at each other and then I turned back to Inigo.
"I was just making dinner, you know where everything is, show them where they can clean up, will you?" Inigo nodded and I went back to the kitchen. I had just finished adding more soup to the kettle when I turned around and found Westley behind me. I raised an eyebrow at him, and when he didn't respond, I continued to fix dinner.
"So you're the woman in Inigo's past."
I didn't look at him, I was still looking for that serving bowl that somebody had given me a few years ago. It was the only thing I had that would hold five servings of soup at once. "I'm a lot more than that."
"The woman in many men's pasts?"
"No. I am also a shopkeeper, a bookkeeper, a housekeeper, and I make daggers and throwing knives for a living. Anything else, or would you rather wait until dinner for the inquisition?"
"It can wait."
"Okay then. Would you mind getting out of my kitchen? It's barely big enough for me, you're crowding me."
He nodded, and left.
* * *
We all sat down crowded around my tiny table, and I served up the soup. They liked it well enough, and when we were done I took the bowls into the kitchen and left them to soak. Then I came back out to the table.
"I have welcomed you into my home, I have allowed you to refresh yourselves, and I have fed you. I have fulfilled all rules of hospitality. Now, Inigo, would you like to tell me why you're here."
"We are running out of places to hide, Alma. I would not come here if it was not necessary,"
I knew that already. "Why me particularly?"
"Everyone that my friends here trust are dead. We have visited a few of my old sword masters, but there are very few left. We were in the neighborhood."
I stared at him a full minute before answering. "What do you need?"
Westley started to answer, but I cut him off with a glance. He wasn't the person I had asked the question to. I looked at Inigo again and he answered.
"A place to stay, maybe for a week. Another week's worth of food after that. We can pay for that food. For the stay, well, we can help around the house, I suppose.." He was getting nervous.
"You don't need to pay for staying here, I can afford that. You'll have to pay for the food for the week after, I can't afford that."
Inigo nodded, and the deal was done. He was back.
* * *
Westley and Buttercup, the newlyweds, shared one half of my loft, and Inigo and Fezzik shared the other half. I didn't owe Inigo's friends my bed.
Of course, I wasn't using it myself at the moment. I was sitting in my tiny courtyard, sipping a cup of tea, watching the moon, losing myself in my thoughts.
"Good evening, Alma."
I started a bit, but as always it wasn't noticeable. Well, not to most people, Inigo was of course different.
"Sorry to startle you."
I turned and gestured for him to sit down. "Don't worry about it. Couldn't sleep?"
"Yes, too many memories."
"Yes."
We sat there in silence for several minutes, getting used to the other's presence. And finally he spoke.
"Why did you abandon me?"
"You abandoned me first."
He just stared at me, uncomprehending. I continued.
"To the brandy. I lost you to brandy long before I made you leave."
"If I had known that it bothered you that much, I could have-"
"You knew perfectly well it bothered me! You knew perfectly well it was killing my soul to watch you do that to yourself!" I ran out of breath, and whispered the next statement. "I could see it in your eyes, Inigo."
It was several moments before he answered. "Yes, yes I knew."
"Then why, Inigo? Why did you do it? Why did you wreck yourself with brandy?"
"It killed the pain."
I gave that a moment to hang in the air, and then responded the best I could. "You saw your beloved father murdered in front of you, Inigo, and to avenge his death you became the ultimate killing machine of your time. Your art was, is, your driving passion. It was how you lived up to your father's legend. It was your life. Inigo, how was I supposed to compete with that?"
He winced at my question. "You weren't."
I let my face relax, I couldn't deal with this right now. "Goodnight, Inigo."
I had stood up and was about to turn and leave when his arm reached up to grasp my elbow. "You weren't then, Alma, but you don't have to now. Fencing is no longer my life. Revenge was my business, I've lost that now. Westley has offered me the position of Dread Pirate Roberts, but I don't want to take it, Alma. That isn't the life I want."
I looked down, into his eyes. Those eyes of his that, so long ago, had promised me the world. "Then what do you want, Inigo?"
"Fuerza del mi alma, strength of my soul, I want another chance with you. To make things right." He jumped to his feet, and stood closer to me than I had let any other man stand. "Alma, I promise to you now that I will never touch another drop of brandy. I was trying to kill the pain then, but now it has healed. What I didn't know then was what I needed. I wanted revenge, but I needed.." His voice faded.
"You needed what?"
"I needed the other half of my soul, dear Alma, I needed you."
Over ten years, he had been gone. Several hours, he had been in my house, welcome only because I trusted him with my house, if no longer with my heart. Now, he was back. In my heart.
No, he had never left.