DH AN: Ok, it's been a while and I've had most of this completed… it's always that last part that gives me trouble. Enjoy Chapter Three.

AN 2: I have a Coauthored Fic that hasn't been published yet that occurs within this timeline. (Will be published under the Penname of MManipulative33) While I'm trying really hard not to allude too much to that one... this chapter does vaguely reference that through the simple inclusion of Gabriel Roi


Chapter Three

She slept at the communications desk. Numb arms from use as a pillow and all manner of documents sticking to her cheek are not pleasant when she wakes. Sound filters through the halls. Footsteps sound from the floor tiles.

"Ms. Sharti you need to come with me." Arlomhe freezes, praying it's not one of the newer recruits. She exhales in relief when she sees that it's Gabriel Roi. His departure would be soon, in the same manner of Sahin and Harkin. On good terms and under a negotiation.

"I can never get a good nap; it seems like I always wind up feeling worse." She stands and stretches.

"You're twenty minutes late. That's unusual for you… but I suppose with your current…state…" Gabriel rubs the back of his neck. He shrugs after a moment and doesn't pursue anything further.

"Wouldn't be very dignified of The R.H. to barrel in and shake the Huntress sans-rank awake and then drag her to his office." Arlomhe steps toward the doorway and leans against it, a bothered expression etched into her face. "Even so, it seems awfully quiet. I'm late and that usually merits a…tantrum that's audible from here because the halls echo so much."

Roi fiddles with his left sleeve, the fabric is a little looser than he likes. "He was preoccupied; a spat with The Poisoner. Sounded like it was winding down."

Arlomhe's jaw goes slack. She squares her shoulders and bolts out the door.

"Someone has to escort you!"

"Rankless doesn't mean defenseless." She halts and her shoes slide on the sand covering the tile, inches before the door. Still afraid. Barging in without the escort would not be in her best interest.

Her former negotiation partner reaches her in a few strides. "I really must escort you in. It's-"

"His orders. I know." Sharti trembles. "I hate this."

"I don't blame you Ms. Sharti." They both flinch at the sound of a slammed door and back away out of sight before the other door opens and Tshilaba stalks out, entire posture taut. The slam of the second door echoes through the hallway.

"I do not want to go in there."

"Never stopped you from barging in before."

"I had rank." There's a small silence as if the realization dawns on her for the first time, despite the fact that she's been without them for weeks. "I don't have that anymore." Arlomhe grits her teeth. "Also you'd have to have a death wish to go in right after a lovers' spat."

"With you I think it's more of the second reason." They eye a couple of the newer recruits and Gabriel's fists are jammed at his sides and his shoulders are squared, daring them to even look their way. The group walks past without incident.

"Why did you just do that?" Her voice is soft.

"You said it yourself; you have no rank." Gabriel exhales gently through his nose. "I hated seeing you get humiliated like that. Plus the one who just stalked out of that office was far too gleeful during the whole thing. I swear she pondered disobeying the order to switch the direction of the knife."

"Don't remind me."

"Well," He leans lightly on his heels. "Shall I take you in?"

"Give it one more minute." Sharti inhales shakily. "If The Poisoner looked ready to kill, The R.H. probably is."

"He's just sour over the ship."

"I don't think that's the only thing. The commandeering and sinking of that ship merely added to his headache. That's a guess mind you- I've got no real proof."

"You're hiding something."

"Aren't we all?"

Gabriel gives thought to brushing his fingers along the shorn threads, but decides against it. "I'd give you my rank if there were a place for it… "

"Thanks for the thought. But I don't need your pity."

He laughs. "I knew that when you snapped at me that first time."

"Seems like forever ago."

"Bet you that you wish you had a van ride to cool your heels right now." He's been trying to get even a small smile out of her and it finally shows.

"You have no idea."

"A lot of issues… I get it." He sighs again. "I probably don't understand in its entirety, but…"

"You don't need to." Arlomhe exhales. "You're leaving soon, there's no need for this to weigh on your mind." She twists a strand of hair around a finger. "Your mom will be quite glad to have you back."

"That's a bit of an understatement." He laughs but Arlomhe notes that his gaze hasn't left the door that leads into the office hallway. "I… really should take you inside."

"You're right. As much as I'd like to delay this…. I don't think it would be in my best interest."

"If you'll follow me Ms. Sharti, I will see you in."

She exhales shakily and Gabriel squeezes her hand gently, as he had the morning after that first negotiation. It settles her nerves as the first time had. "Thanks."

He nods and leads her to the door. Turning the knob, he pushes the door open slowly. He feels Arlomhe tense up and he knows he is doing the same. The office door is already open. It's out of the norm and that is never a good sign.

"Come on…" He tries to gently coax her forward. The girl is stiff as a board. Not that he can blame her. But to see her break again, it's sad. She had vouched for him that morning… said that he performed a bigger role than he actually had…stuck her neck out for him. Probably faced The R.H. more times than he would care to consider.

These past few weeks hadn't only stripped her of rank but of confidence as well. The idea is reinforced as a nervous audible swallow sounds behind him.

"Ms. Sharti…you are going to be fine."

"You. Know. Nothing…" He exhales softly, knowing what the tense separation of words means. Leave it be.

He sighs. "I saw everything get stripped from you that night… I wouldn't call that nothing." This could backfire horribly, blow up in his face, but Gabriel Roi has seen this trick enough to know how it works- that it works.

"Roi… you're pushing it!" He watches her fists clench. Fighting the pallor and shaking; good signs. Not good enough though.

"Where is that fearless negotiator who I got paired up with to go into that cavern?" Gabriel challenges under his breath. "Where is she?"

"Leave it be, Roi!" The words slide through her teeth as the two pace slowly to the open door. "She is gone." At the last word, Arlomhe steps past her escort and over the threshold of the office doorway. She realizes her mistake a second too late as she watches the chair behind the desk turn to reveal its occupant. There are no chairs aside from the one behind the desk, allowing Gabriel Roi to slide in front of Arlomhe a little easier.

"Is she?" Gabriel watches the girl avert her eyes to the floor as The R.H. looks her over. "That's a pity, because she is the only one I have use for." Her hands find purchase on his shoulders and she trembles violently. "I have absolutely no use for a pathetic child so easily ruled by fear." Gabriel's attention is focused on the girl hiding behind him as he feels her recoil as if struck and hears her crying softly through her teeth. "Get her out of my sight!"

Gabriel watches the girl step back out of the doorway with her eyes still fixed on the floor. He follows suit and puts a hand on her shoulder and is alarmed as she shrinks under it. She still trembles. He hears the sound of a mechanism clicking but pays it no heed. He and his charge are almost to the outer door when Raji steps into the hallway carrying a platter on which rests a bottle and a stemmed glass. One glance at them almost causes her to lose her hold on it.

"Kitchen. Don't leave until I get there." Gabriel nods and leads Arlomhe out the door. Raji enters the office, sets the platter on the desk, pours the wine, recorks it, and sets the glass and bottle- the latter item perhaps in poor judgment- on the desk and reclaims the platter. She speaks toward the staircase that is unconcealed now by a shelf that is more to the left than it should be. "Rose wines were always her favorite."

"What shall you craft this time to assuage your quickly mounting ire?" Raji turns to watch The R.H. exit the exposed stairway. "Or is that merely a way you maintain a false sense of immunity to anger?" She watches him observe the filled glass. "You have always used rather odd methods to show your displeasure, Raji." She freezes as The R.H. paces to his seat. It's completely out of the norm to hear her first name from him. "I must say, this one is rather… interesting."

Raji's knuckles go white as she grips the stone platter. Her hands tremble as The R.H. steps away from the chair behind the desk and toward her. "It wouldn't be wise of you to break that; it took quite a while to find one that you would like." Raji watches his shoulders shake with scathing laughter.

She should feel relief when her employer's attention returns to the glass, but all she can do is entertain absolute dread. Most of her so-called reading of other people is really seeing their subtleties, the smaller habits that go unnoticed, changes in voice tone; things that signal a shift. When people are careful around her, she's rather unprepared and it frightens her.

He's being careful and in a rare instance, reading the subtleties far better than usual, more correctly, letting her see it. Everything has meaning. Raji thinks as she tries unsuccessfully to fight a jolt of panic when he picks up the glass in his right hand around the stem with a delicate grasp, still focused on the pale pink contents. "Soft… Delicate… Translucent, but hued enough with the color of a careful passion… with a taste that doesn't conceal the inebriating qualities." He returns the glass to the desk and his attention returns to her. "Tell me, Raji…what should I gather from this presentation?" The calm makes Raji take three steps backward, to where the three chairs are normally aligned.

"Take from it what you will." Raji barely holds her voice level; there's no point in masking the answer's sharpness. "No one gives all the answers."

"Clearly you thought this poignant, something to give me pause… perhaps to keep me mindful?" He runs the fingers of his left hand silently across the glass desktop as he sidesteps subtly to the right. She can't see his right hand, but clearly the way he is leaning back indicates he's reaching for something further back on the desktop or in one of the desk's three top drawers. "After all, it was you who first made that sort of connection of favoring a loosened tongue over savoring the drink. I don't exactly believe you do things without meaning."

"It was the first bottle I grabbed."

"Don't lie to me a second time." Raji pales… that sentence rang through her head… in his voice.

"Wh-what was that?" Her voice shakes and her whole body starts to follow suit as his fingers slide audibly against the glass top of the desk, the resistant squeak an odd sound.

"I see I have your attention, Ms. Rejorahl." He stands straight, and closes the space between them with two rather modest strides. She stares at the floor until he inclines her chin with the flat of his thumb. "Your intended presentation eludes me. I demand an explanation." Five seconds pass. "You choose a very poor time to test my patience."

Raji swallows. It's a lose-lose situation…

"I'm waiting."

"You know full well the intended presentation. Your ego is too swollen to allow you to admit it!"

"It's unlike you to be ignorant of your role, and of mine. You seem to forget that your employment is at my very whim. You have nowhere else to go." He pulls his hand from under her chin and watches her gaze return to the floor. "Is that what you want?"

There is no answer. For the first time, Raji scrambles out the door, abandoning her usual poise and unsuccessfully fights her fright. Every step she takes through the hallway is jarring and makes her tremble. Raji enters the main hallway and leans against the door in an attempt to stave off her shaking.


DH: So, ok…. I kinda take back what I said in my most recent oneshot (In Prompted Oneshots) about always wanting to ship The R.H. and Raji whenever I put them in a scene together…. This was not one of those times. The relationship if you will has always been rather lax- or perhaps more accurately- built and executed on a professional almost mutual respect. I say almost because there is the whole issue of having a hand in her brain constantly that doesn't exactly render the statement accurate.

That prior shot is also where the seemingly throwaway line of "Rose wines were always her favorite." comes from.