A/N: this is the first long chapter in the story, and quite a few will follow, be prepared for some extra-long chapters later on!
T-2238: Things will continue going worse for quite a while before they start to get better. I LOVE torturing the main characters, no matter which fandom I'm writing in. ;)
reading-rider: I'm glad you think I handled L's meeting with J and E well. I wanted to reply to your review, as it was signed, but apparently you disabled the PM option.
Chapter 4
This Means War
Thanks to their less than uplifting conversation before dinner, Laurence had completely lost his appetite and found himself picking at his meal. He even had to force a smile on his face when Catherine Harcourt – who refused to be called Catherine Riley – flopped down next to him and announced that she was damn happy to see him and that Lily was even happier to have finally met Temeraire.
Laurence tried to make polite small talk, but his thoughts kept wandering off to Jason and his guilty conscience, and more than once he caught himself glancing in Emily's direction, but she was either oblivious to his glances or was deliberately avoiding them.
"She has become a nasty piece of work, hasn't she?" Catherine said with a grimace, Laurence's furtive glances at Emily not having escaped her attention.
The man chose not to comment, observing the blood red port in his glass.
"Berkley told me about that scene in the court," she carried on. "I'm so sorry, Laurence… she had no right to that…"
"She had every right," he sighed, putting down his fork. "But Berkley is right, I cannot give up… I have to fight for my son."
Catherine gave him a warm smile and squeezed his arm gently. "It's good to know that the child is yours, after all."
"Why?" Laurence raised an eyebrow at her. "Would it not be better for the child to be… someone else's? The son of an honourable man?"
Catherine rolled her eyes. "You might be a convicted traitor, Laurence, but I'm telling you, there's more honour in your little finger than in most men I know put together, and it is better for Jason to have a convicted traitor for a father who is honourable and willing to fight for him, than to be the son of someone not convicted but lacking honour. You are a gentleman through and through, and Jason can be… must be proud to be your son."
Laurence felt like protesting, but there was so much sincerity in Catherine's eyes that he could not bring himself to object. It was obvious she believed every word she had said. If only Emily Roland would think half as much of him as Harcourt did… everything would be so much easier! He would not be forbidden to see Jason, she would not want to make his life in the service a living hell – which she would now, he was completely sure of that – and there was something else in his wish to be less hated by her… something he could not have explained. Perhaps it was the fact that she had once been such a faithful and kind officer of his? That he had once almost looked at her like at a daughter? That she had been so pretty when angry? Laurence did not know, he only knew he was chasing dreams if he hoped she would ever soften towards him.
"Thank you very much, your kind words mean a lot to me," he told Catherine before rising from the table.
She gave him a grin. "You have nothing to thank me for."
oOo
Although Catherine's words managed to warm his heart a bit, he felt he could not hope for proper consolation from anyone else than Temeraire. Upon arriving at the dragon grounds, however, Laurence did not find his dragon alone – there was a black and red striped creature next to him, almost as big as Temeraire himself, the two of them deep in conversation.
"Oh, Laurence, good that you have come, pray let me introduce to you my son, Antares," Temeraire said proudly. "He has the divine wind and the ability to breath fire, just like his older sister, Gwendolyn. He is the younger of the twin hatchlings… the one who survived Waterloo," he added with a little droop in his ruff. "His twin brother was named Atair. They were both named after stars, did you know?"
"Yes, I know," Laurence nodded – as a sailor, he had had to be familiar with the constellations and the brightest stars in them. He slightly bowed in Antares' direction. "Will Laurence, at your service."
Antares bent his head in return. "Pleased to meet you. Father has told me so much about you already… you must be a very great captain, at least according to Father you are. According to my captain you are not… he said you once had him flogged."
Laurence's eyebrow shot up on his forehead. "Dunne… or Hackley?"
"Hackley," Antares replied, "the finest captain there is. Why on earth did you have him flogged? I tried to ask him a few times but he never cared to answer…"
Before Laurence could have replied, Temeraire spoke up, "Laurence had him flogged for endangering a mission by letting his most base and carnal impulses prevail, right, Laurence?"
Laurence felt his cheeks burn and his throat close, so he only nodded mutely.
"I do not really understand what you are talking about," Antares shook his head. "But there is my Hackley coming, I had better go… good night, Father, good night, Captain Laurence."
Laurence murmured a good-night in return and watched the dragon join his captain – Hackley, a man in his early thirties, spotted him and gave him a jerky nod of recognition, then turned away.
"I never really liked Hackley, anyway," Temeraire said in as hushed a tone as possible, "he used to be too exuberant while on my crew, and now he seems way too aloof."
"Just like everyone else with the exception of Berkley and Harcourt," Laurence sighed, lowering himself into the crook of the dragon's foreleg. "But the point is, they are not really aloof, only we see them like that… they are just keeping their distances."
"Laurence, you look very sad," Temeraire observed. "What happened? Did someone tell you something nasty?"
"Nothing that I did not deserve," Laurence gently stroked the dragon's muzzle.
"But what happened?" Temeraire pressed. "You left shortly after noon and have not turned up all afternoon. I started to get worried about you… and now I am even more worried to see you like this."
Laurence gave his dragon a wan little smile, although he was not sure Temeraire could see it in the dim light of dusk. "It so happens… that not only you have a son… apparently I do too."
o
"I would never have thought Emily would turn so nasty," Temeraire opined once Laurence had finished recounting to him the afternoon's events and his amazing discovery of being a father. "And poor Jane… I am so sorry for her… I liked her."
"I did too," the man sighed. "Probably more than I thought I did."
"I think she did like you too, a lot, and I am sure she would not be happy to know Emily is keeping Jason away from you."
"We cannot be sure of that," Laurence shook his head dejectedly. "Jane certainly liked being… intimate with me… but she never wrote to me that she had got with child… probably she did not want me to know."
"But now you know, and you are going to do something about it, right, Laurence?"
"Right, my dear," the captain nodded. "I just do not know yet, what. Not to mention that we are not going to be staying long… a few months at most. There will not be many chances for me to be with Jason… It would have been hard enough approaching him without Emily constantly breathing down my neck, but as we are going to serve together, she will be around much too often, we are going to have the same shifts of work and free time, I cannot even sneak a few minutes with Jason while she is at work, as we are going to be working at the same time…"
"But would you have sneaked time with your son?" Temeraire asked, surprised. "You never struck me as a sneak, Laurence…"
The man stared at the ground, and said, determined, "For my son, I would do anything… even be a sneak, however dishonourable that sounds. Before dinner… Emily said I could not possibly love Jason yet as I did not even know him… but she was wrong. Oh, Temeraire, I never thought I would ever feel like this… that little boy is my flesh and blood… and he is so good-natured and innocent… how could I not love him?"
"You know what, Laurence?" the dragon replied, curling tighter around his captain, "Be a sneak for the child's sake, and sneak him down to me. I am dying to meet him." And for your sake, I am going to be a bit of a sneak myself, he added in thought. He already had a plan.
oOo
Laurence barely slept a wink that night and spent most of the morning trying not to drop off – first he had to catch himself not to fall into his breakfast porridge, then even on Temeraire's back he was fighting to stay awake, his eyelids drooping every ten seconds. If their patrol had been slightly more interesting, he might not have had such problems staying awake, but flying endless circles above Dover then alongside the coastline would lull anyone into a slumber.
"Hey, Laurence, wake up, we are putting down for lunch," Temeraire tried to whisper to him confidentially, which he did not really manage, as even his slightest whisper carried dozens of metres in the air.
"Slumbering on duty, Captain Laurence?" Emily Roland asked scathingly as she spurred Excidium to land.
Laurence blushed to the roots of his hair and rubbed his eyes. "Beg your pardon, Captain Roland."
"No begging, Laurence," she replied with a malicious, lopsided grin. "Come to think of it, it is Thursday, is it not?" she said, looking around for confirmation from the other captains. "Thursday has always been the day of Dorothea's crew…"
Laurence arched an eyebrow at her, not having the slightest idea what she could be hinting at.
"We have been dividing tasks among ourselves," Emily explained with some barely hidden malice in her voice, "and as the formation consists of seven dragons, each of their crews received the honour of digging the day's dragon necessary pit once a week. Thursday has always been the pit-digging day of Dorothea's crew, and since Temeraire is filling Dorothea's place, today you are the fortunate ones. Of course, Dorothea was a Yellow-Reaper with a crew of fifteen, and every other dragon on our formation has a crew of at least as many, so it has never been particularly difficult to find men for the task… I am sorry to see you have only a lieutenant, a rifleman and two ensigns on your flight crew, I am afraid you too will have to help them, Captain Laurence…"
Laurence pretended not to have noticed the mockery in her voice and bowed slightly. "Naturally I take part in every task."
"Good," Emily nodded, the corners of her mouth drooping a bit – she had obviously expected him to refuse or at least look downright hurt. He would not give her the pleasure of seeing him displeased, he decided.
"But may I not help?" Temeraire offered. "My claws would surely be able to move bigger amounts of earth than your spades could, and I could even use the divine wind a bit…"
"The dragons are not labouring at lunch time," Emily said firmly. "It has been agreed among us that our dragons are doing just enough by flying all day, this is their time to rest."
"But what if I want to help?" Temeraire objected.
"Temeraire, please," Laurence held up a hand. "I am sure we will manage, right, gentlemen?" he sent his freshly introduced crew a peremptory glance. The rifleman, a burly chap called Willoughby, gave him a defiant look in return, but the two ensigns, both around fourteen years of age, nodded with slightly anxious expressions. Laurence wondered what they could have heard about him to be so frightened.
Cepheus, a Parnassian, turned out to be carrying half a dozen spades and each of Temeraire's crew received one – Laurence himself held out one towards Willoughby that the man eventually took without a word.
Digging a necessary pit big enough for seven dragons, one of them a heavy-weight, was no small feat, and soon all five members of Temeraire's flight crew were sweating profusely.
Despite it being the middle of April, the sun shone mercilessly upon them as though it were July, and Laurence found himself forced to get rid of his coat and after a while even his shirt.
While they were labouring, the crews of the other six dragons were sitting in the shadows of their beasts and munching on their sandwiches. More often than not Laurence caught Emily's eyes directed at him, but as soon as their eyes met, she looked away, making him wonder whether he had seen a faint blush on her cheeks or had merely imagined it.
Finally they finished their work and put back on their cast off pieces of clothing, settling down by Temeraire's side with their own sandwiches.
Filling in the pit after the dragons had used it proved slightly easier a work physically, but somewhat stomach-turning an experience having just eaten their lunch.
Before they scrambled back on their dragons, Laurence was careful to mention to Emily, "It has been a most invigorating task, Captain Roland, it has helped me wake up properly, I thank you for that."
She gave him a withering glance and climbed into Excidium's waiting claws to be placed onto the dragon's back.
First battle won, Laurence noted to himself with a small smile. He was sure there were many more to come, and he was not going to win all of them, but a few battles lost could still permit him to win the war. For it was obvious to him now: Emily Roland was waging a war against him, and Laurence did not intend to lose the war – he would fight for his son if that was the last thing he ever did.
oOo
They arrived back to the covert late in the afternoon, and after having made sure that Emily had not gone to the court where the children usually played at this time of the day, Laurence set out for the court himself.
Jason was there like the previous day, involved in another game of ball, and Laurence caught himself smiling as he leaned against a pillar, watching his son play. It was almost idyllic, almost like coming from a dream.
This was definitely not the way he had hoped to start a family, but he had got accustomed to the thought by now that nothing in his life happened the way he had expected it to happen, and so far still everything had turned out more or less acceptably, even if differently from his hopes and dreams. The respectable family he had pictured himself with Edith Galman as his wife now seemed in his head like a faded painting in a gilded frame hanging high on a wall, out of reach; and reality was another picture in a much shabbier frame, but vivid and almost heart-warming. But just almost.
It was hard to watch the little boy, yet push the thought out of his mind that this boy's existence had cost Jane her life, and it was even harder to not blame himself – but he had to try at least, for the sake of his sanity.
Berkley had been right to tell him that no matter what he did now, nothing would bring back Jane, so taking the blame for something that was the Lord's will was foolish and would only ruin his life even further. Laurence knew well enough that it would take him a long time, months, possibly even years to arrive at a point where he no longer blamed himself, but until then he had to fight the feeling and concentrate on the present and the future instead of on the past. Dwelling on 'what might have been' never led to anything good, anyway. Besides, if it was the Lord's will to take Jane's life, then it also must have been His will to send Laurence back to England and give him a chance to make amends. And he intended to do just that.
One of the children in the court shouted something at another, and Laurence, rousing from his reverie, watched with horror as his son got caught in the middle of a fist-fight he had apparently nothing to do with.
There were a few adults around, one of them a female lieutenant from Emily's crew, but none of them did anything about the fight, they did not even seem to be paying attention. Normally Laurence would have shrugged it off himself, saying 'boys will be boys', but there were girls among the fighters too, and there was his son, smaller and weaker than the rest.
Before he even knew what he was doing, Laurence waded into the throng of the fighters, pulling them apart as quick as he could. "Stop! Stop that!" he rumbled at them. "No fighting in the Corps, gentlemen!"
"But sir… those rules are for the officers only… we're just cadets," one of the boys said, wiping at his bloodied nose.
"That does not mean you have to hurt the innocent," Laurence reprimanded him, "you should be ashamed of yourself, all of you." He bent down to help a little girl up from the ground who gave him a grateful smile. Laurence had to admit he still had a hard time accepting that girls were treated the same way as boys within the Corps.
His own son was sporting a black-eye but grinning, but his grin faded slightly as Laurence turned to him and asked, "Are you all right, Jason?"
"I think so… sir," the boy replied a little hesitantly, making Laurence wonder whether Emily had told the boy nasty things about him already, besides that one sentence in the court that Laurence himself had heard, 'he might be Captain Berkley's friend, but he is no friend of ours'.
"Does your eye hurt?"
"Just a little bit," Jason shrugged.
"Still, we had better put some ice on it, we can fetch some from the kitchen," Laurence suggested and Jason seemed willing to go with him – apparently Emily's statement that they were not friends had not affected the child much – but as soon as they stepped out of the court, the female lieutenant from Emily's crew who had been loitering aimlessly around, stepped up to them.
"Sir, I must insist that you leave that boy alone," she said firmly.
Laurence regarded her with eyes narrowed to slits. "So Captain Roland has set up a guard against me? Never mind. If you are entrusted to take care of Jason, you should have stopped him from getting involved in a fight he had nothing to do with… or at least be so kind and make sure he gets some ice on that black-eye." He smiled down at Jason, even if his facial muscles rebelled against displaying positive emotions under given circumstances. "I have to go now. Next time take better care, young man."
"I will," the boy grinned, and Laurence felt his anger vanish, only some bitterness remained.
With this bitterness in his heart he returned to his room and sat down to write a letter.
Dear Mother,
I hope my letter finds you in good health. I am happy to let you know that I have returned to England, if only for a couple of months. These six years far from home have been a lot, and I expect next time Temeraire and I are sent back to Australia, we will have to stay there for ever. It was a miracle in itself that we were allowed to return for a short while six years ago
The quill wavered in his hand. A miracle, indeed… if only he could tell his mother about the little miracle he and Jane had created during his last visit… but he could not. At least, not in a letter. If he were to tell her, he would tell her in person.
and it was an equal miracle that we have been ordered to return once again.
I believe I need not express with words how happy I was when last time you agreed to meet me at a coffee house in London, even if for only half an hour. If such a meeting could be arranged again, you would make me even happier.
Please, let me know when and where we could meet and I will try to arrange my duties accordingly. This meeting is going to be a little more difficult to arrange than last time, as six years ago I did not have to fulfil patrol duty with Temeraire every day, something I am now required to do. Perhaps I could beg my formation leader for one day off and fly to London.
Laurence's face tucked into a sour grimace. The last thing he wanted to do was beg Emily for anything, but for a meeting with his mother, he would do it.
Currently we are at the Dover covert, and the length of our stay in England depends on how quickly Temeraire manages to produce another heir with our fire-breather, Iskierka. They have already had three dragonets, one of which was sadly killed at Waterloo.
Hoping for a way to meet you and sending all my love,
Your son,
William
o
With the intention of visiting the nearest post office, Laurence left his room, and so immersed was he in his thoughts that he nearly walked into a lanky man on a corner.
"Watch your step, will you," the man began, "hey… is that you, Laurence? What is this walking around with your head hung, eh?"
"Good to see you too, Granby," Laurence managed a little smile. "I thought you would not return for a couple more days."
"Eh, Iskierka got over-excited once she heard from the couriers that Temeraire had arrived, there was no stopping her from taking wing and darting back here," Granby waved his hand with a smirk. "But honestly, is something wrong?"
Laurence shook his head. "It is just… Jason. I do not know if you are aware, but…"
"…the kid is yours," Granby finished the sentence. "Ha! I knew! At least… I was almost completely sure… Oh… now I understand your face. Roland is giving you trouble, isn't she?"
"Trouble?" Laurence said caustically. "Trouble is a grave understatement. She does not even let me talk to the boy… she says I am going to ruin Jason if I do…"
"I very much hope you have not taken her seriously," Granby rolled his eyes. When Laurence did not reply, he let out a groan. "Oh, don't even tell me, you have. You and your stupid notions of honour and propriety… Do you seriously think you would harm your son in any way if you only talked to him? Roland is completely mad…"
"Mad, that is right, but… let us admit it, she has a point. I was careless to say the least, and Jane has died… something I still have not got over and do not know if I ever will…" Laurence sighed. "It was just too much for one day, finding out I had a son but lost a woman I cherished… that the world lost a woman they cherished, because of me and my… lowly desires."
"What do you think would happen to the world if every man who lost his wife in childbirth began thinking like you do? No, don't tell me, because I am telling you: the world would be full of raving maniacs."
"So I am a raving maniac if I mourn her?" Laurence frowned at Granby. "Honestly I do not think so. Besides… she was not even my wife. If she had been…"
"Would you feel less guilty?"
Laurence bit into his lower lip. "Perhaps. A little."
Granby made a grimace. "This I can understand. I too would feel guilty if my Johanna was born out of wedlock… but of course Betty would have killed me if I had not married her after she announced she was expecting…"
Laurence's face brightened. "You are married? And you have a daughter?"
"Yeah," Granby grinned. "She's one and a half, and a wilful little thing, although not as much as Iskierka, thank heaven… Iskierka is, of course, horribly jealous. I think every dragon sort of regards him or herself as the child of its captain, so no wonder they are jealous… is Temeraire not jealous of Jason?"
"Temeraire has not even met Jason yet… although he has urged me to try and sneak Jason down to him for a visit… I just do no know how to do it. Emily put a guard on the boy and if I so much as approach him…"
"Well," Granby said confidently, "perhaps someone else should approach him. Me, for example."
"You?"
"Why not? Jason has met me enough times to trust me, and he likes Iskierka, bless him… I could tell that bloodthirsty guard that I'm taking the boy up for a flight on Iskierka, then we could meet somewhere with you and Temeraire."
Laurence was touched. "John… this is very generous of you… but I cannot require you to lie for me…"
"I wouldn't be lying for you, but for my little friend Jason. Anything for the kids, Laurence, anything."
Laurence gave his one-time lieutenant an amused smile. He had never imagined he would see Granby married and talking about children like that. "Thank you for your offer, John, I am much obliged to you."
"Ah, come off it," Granby waved dismissively. "That is the least I can do for you… after all, we are grandfathers to the same kids, aren't we?" he added with a grin, meaning Gwendolyn and Antares. "And with some luck soon we will be grandfathers again."
"Yes," Laurence nodded, his mood lifting by the second. "But until then, please, do tell me about your family."
Granby flashed him with a roguish smile. "First of all, you need to know: my Betty is not an aviator. Thank heaven she is not… I don't think I could ever get aroused by a woman wearing trousers…"
oOo
Emily was doing something she had not done properly for years: she was inspecting her mirror image. There were a few premature wrinkles around her eyes and in the corners of her mouth, mostly visible when she smiled – something she did not often do.
Her hair was longer now than it had been in her teens, but still not long enough to put into a proper bun or a plait, so she just flattened it against her nape with pins, imitating a bun. Now that she removed the pins one by one and let her tresses fall around her neck, she spotted a few silver hairs, but thought gratefully that they melded pretty well with the rest of her sandy locks.
Having stripped to a chemise, she absent-mindedly ran a finger along her collarbone, questioning herself why she was observing her reflection at all. She had neglected her looks for years, but today something had attracted her to her mirror like a magnet, and suddenly she felt stupid and girlish: like that little runner who had been so pleased to receive her first silk dress and an elegant pearl necklace from her mother… she had then wanted to look pretty merely for prettiness' sake, but now… she could not have explained why; all she knew was that she was wondering whether she was pretty at all.
Her mirror image faded before her eyes to be replaced by a recent memory: Temeraire's crew labouring under the sweltering sun, three of the five men devoid of shirts, Laurence devoid of a shirt too, sweat glinting on his shoulders, the wan pink lines of the flogging criss-crossing his well-muscled back, and Emily caught herself wondering if some of the thinner marks had been caused by her mother's fingernails…
She shuddered and the memory vanished, and she once again found herself staring at her hazy reflection – hazy, because the mirror had fogged over due to her heavy breathing. She wiped it with a handkerchief, feeling disgusted and mad. Mad at him, mad at the whole world, but mad at herself too. She was not supposed to be affected by him like this! She hated him with all her heart, how could she then still… desire him?
With a few angry tugs she pulled her uniform back on, forced her locks back into the would-be bun, and marched out of her room. She badly needed something to put her mind off the shirtless Laurence, and decided that spending some time with her little brother would be the best kind of distraction.
Upon reaching the court where she expected to find Jason playing with other children, she found her second lieutenant Annabelle Larkin sitting in the shadow of a tree, reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but her brother was nowhere to be seen.
"Larkin, where is Jason?" Emily asked with an ever-growing sensation of premonition.
The woman looked up from her book. "Captain Granby took him for a flight, sir."
"Granby?!" Emily gasped.
Annabelle knitted her eyebrows. "Is there a problem with that?"
"A problem?" Emily hissed. "A problem, you are asking?! For Christ's sake, do you know who Captain Granby is?"
"Er… the handler of Iskierka?" Annabelle said a little hesitantly.
Emily let out a groan. "Not only that! Granby used to be Laurence's first officer and they are still friends! Where do you think Granby took Jason, eh? To Laurence! Obviously!"
Annabelle pursed her lips. "I beg your pardon, Captain… I did not know that… I only knew Captain Granby to be an honest man… you used to let him take Jason before…"
"I used to, but only before Laurence returned! From now on, you mustn't let Granby take Jason anywhere either, understood?"
"Yes, sir, but… forgive my cheek and… let me remind you that I am your second lieutenant," Annabelle said, her voice wavering slightly, "not Jason's nursemaid."
"Third lieutenant," Emily grunted, and, turning on her heels, ran away.
oOo
"Remember, Temeraire, he does not know I am his father," Laurence said as they overlooked the Channel from a vantage point, the waves of the sea softly licking the white cliffs below.
"I know, I know, and I will keep my mouth shut about it," the dragon replied, "though in all honesty I do not understand why I must. Why can you not simply tell him the truth?"
"He would not understand," Laurence replied heavily. "He would be full of questions I am not yet ready to answer, especially not to a five-year-old…"
"You mean, you do not yet want to explain to him how eggs are made?" Temeraire wondered.
"That too," his captain blushed, "but there are other… hard-to-explain things as well… like… why I have been away all this time… I do not want to tell him about our exile… not yet, anyway. And if he happened to ask me about my relationship to his mother… well… I seriously do not know what I would tell him, as I myself am not exactly sure what kind of a relationship that was."
Temeraire gently nuzzled his captain, feeling that he needed some comfort, the poor thing looked so utterly confused, ashamed and scared! Yes, even scared, something Temeraire had barely seen him looking.
"So I must not even tell him I hope he will some day be my captain?" the dragon asked as Iskierka appeared in the distance, flying towards them.
"No, Temeraire, you must not," Laurence gave him a sad little smile, "but I really hope that some day… when I retire… he will be your captain."
Temeraire felt as though Laurence had tried to say something more, but had decided against it, and he hoped it was not 'when I retire… or die', for Temeraire still did not want to imagine what it would be like if Laurence died for real. He had once thought his precious captain dead, but after he had got him back, he simply refused to even think of Laurence's death, he had banished the barest possibility of it to the back of his mind and buried it under a pile of cast-away memories.
Captain and dragon waited with bated breaths until Iskierka put down with only Granby and Jason on her back.
"You look well, Temeraire," she said, "when shall we began mating?"
The two captains looked baffled and ruby-red, while Jason looked confused but curious.
Temeraire puffed up his ruff and said, "Not now, definitely not now, and if you would clear off now, I would be most grateful."
"Clear off?" Iskierka snorted. "I have just brought you a guest and have apparently done you a favour, so you should be grateful…"
"Pardon me if I cannot express my immense gratitude just now," Temeraire grunted, "and please, leave us alone, I would like to get to know this young man here."
"Captain Granby, what did Iskierka mean by mating?" Jason asked, his blue eyes wide with interest.
"Er… well… ask Captain Laurence about that, will you?" Granby said, sending his one-time captain an apologetic grin.
"Okay," the little boy nodded and turned to Laurence. "What is mating, sir?"
Temeraire had seen his captain blush a few times, but never as badly as now. "That is… you know…"
"Making little dragons," Iskierka replied, her voice clearly showing her disdain at their awkwardness.
"Oh. And how are little dragons made? I once asked Emily but she wouldn't tell, she said I was too young for that."
"Then Emily was right," Laurence replied, beads of sweat running down the sides of his face.
"Really?" Jason looked doubtful. "I thought girls were never right. At least that's what the other boys said…"
"Oh, but in this case, your sister was definitely right," Laurence said. "So, what about introducing yourself to Temeraire?"
"Not a bad idea, kid," Granby helped Jason off Iskierka's back, into Laurence's waiting arms. "Come on, my dear, let us fly a little way off and let them talk in peace. Temeraire, just give us a wave with your wing once you are done so that we can take Jason back."
"Thanks, Captain Granby," the child said, sliding down from Laurence's arms, clearly not used to being carried around, "and I promise I shan't tell Emily you brought me to Will Laurence… I liked sitting on Iskierka again."
The Kazilik seemed rather pleased with herself, and with a withering glance at Temeraire, took wing.
Temeraire thought he saw a wistful look on Laurence's face when the little boy had scrambled down from his arms – he had only held his son for a few seconds.
"So, you're a Celestial?" Jason turned to Temeraire, no longer paying attention to Laurence.
"Yes," Temeraire bent his head closer to examine the tiny boy: he had barely ever seen a child smaller, probably only those babies that the women in Canton had waved in his face in the hope of a bit of a luck. "And you are Jason La… Roland, right?"
"Yes, yes, I am," the boy nodded. "And you? Why are you called Temeraire? That's not even a proper dragon name! And why are you black? I've never seen a black dragon… and what does it mean you're Chinese? What do Celestials do?"
Questions were practically pouring out of Jason's mouth and Temeraire found himself enjoying the responses he had an opportunity to give the boy, and apparently so did Jason himself, proving to be a very keen audience.
"Can you show me the divine wind?"
"Yes, naturally… see that tree over there?" When the boy nodded, Temeraire took a deep breath and let the divine wind free, uprooting the tree and scattering a bunch of boulders around it.
"Oh, wow!" Jason clapped enthusiastically.
"And that was not even the most it can do, just a little bit of presentation. Why, once I turned over a whole ship with it!"
"Temeraire, enough of the puffery," Laurence said gently.
"Right, enough of me, let us talk about you instead," Temeraire told Jason. "Tell us a bit about yourself."
"Okay… but what?"
"Do you like cows, for instance?"
"Cows?" Jason blinked, then understanding dawned on him and he answered with a bright smile, "Of course, they give delicious milk!"
"Oh," Temeraire realised that he had been completely misunderstood. "Never mind. Do you like books?"
"I don't know if I do, I can't read yet," Jason shook his head.
"Then you surely like looking at pictures in the books, do you not?" Laurence asked.
"Emily does not have books with pictures," Jason replied, "only those boring ones with all the letters in them... and she doesn't even read me from those, I think she dislikes books…"
"Oh, Laurence has loads of books with pictures!" Temeraire said. "I am sure he would gladly show them to you."
"Would you, sir?"
"Naturally, Jason. I could read them out to you, if you wish."
"Which ones would you read out to me?"
"Oh, there is the Principia Mathematicae, and the Analects…" Temeraire began, only to be silenced by a wave of Laurence's hand.
"Jason needs tales, Temeraire. Like the Arabian Nights or the Greek myths… the tamer ones, of course…"
"Tamer? Are there untamed tales?" Jason frowned. "And what are the geek miss?"
"Greek myths," Laurence sat down on a rock, patting it next to himself, and Jason quite willingly sank down onto it next to his father. "The Greek are a nation like us, the British, they just live in a far side of the Mediterranean Sea, and many, many years ago they made up lots of beautiful tales… one of them was about Jason and the Golden Fleece."
"Jason? Like me?" the little boy's eyes sparkled with interest.
"Yes, there was a Greek hero named Jason, like you," Laurence said, his voice gentler than ever.
Temeraire fell into silence, listening to Laurence's words without a comment although he knew this story well enough and sometimes felt an urge to voice his own views, but held back, letting his captain prevail.
Jason got easily drawn into the tale, clinging to his father's every word. Temeraire's heart warmed at seeing his captain practically glowing with pride; a smile lingered on Laurence's lips such as Temeraire had long not seen him wearing, and his voice sounded as carefree and delightful as that one afternoon on Madeira twelve years earlier, when the three-week-old Temeraire had first decided to swim and his captain had bathed with him, frolicking like an exuberant teen, splashing him and laughing… How Temeraire had longed to see his captain like that again; and with his little son near, he almost looked as happy and carefree as he had all those years ago.
"…and then, Jason sowed the teeth of a dragon into a field and the teeth sprouted into a whole army of warriors wanting to attack him, but Jason was clever to throw a rock into their midst. The warriors did not know where the rock had come from, so they attacked and defeated one another."
"They must've been reeeeally stupid," the little boy commented.
"Yes, quite," Laurence grinned, "then Jason went for the Golden Fleece which was guarded by the Sleepless Dragon…"
His son listened with awe, and when the tale ended, he asked, "If we sowed Excidium's teeth, would they too turn into warriors?"
Laurence let out a hearty laugh. "I seriously do not think Excidium would let us pull out his teeth to be sown, but no… in reality dragon teeth do not turn into warriors."
"Not to mention how horrible Excidium would look without his teeth," Temeraire commented. "Why, talk of the devil… is that not Excidium over there?" he pointed on the horizon.
"Uh-oh," Laurence breathed, and in the next instant Iskierka put down next to them with an agitated Granby on her back.
"We've been spotted, I'm afraid," Granby said.
"I have noticed," Laurence sighed and put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "I think your sister is going to be really mad at us."
"I know," the boy wrinkled his nose, "she is often mad. But I like her still… she isn't as bad as she seems, you know…"
Judging by Laurence's sour expression, Temeraire thought that his captain did not share the child's optimism.
In half a minute Excidium descended next to them, stirring up dirt and hundreds of tiny rocks, and barely had he come to a stop when Emily practically leapt from his back, her face red with fury.
"I should have known! The two accomplices!" she shouted at Laurence and Granby. "Of course I shouldn't have expected anything else from a convicted traitor, but I expected more from you, Captain Granby! I am deeply disappointed in you, kidnapping my brother like that!"
"Kidnapping?" Granby gasped. "Beg your pardon, Captain Roland, I just took him for a flight…"
"For a flight, which accidentally ended at the back of beyond where Laurence and Temeraire had accidentally turned up, eh?" she snapped. "Don't take me for a fool, Granby! And don't you dare ever lay hands on my brother again! The same stands for you, Laurence, and for your conniving beast!"
"But Emily, you have never called me a beast before, let alone conniving," Temeraire said, deeply hurt.
"Shut up, just shut up, will you?!" the young woman lashed out at him, then rounded on Jason. "And you, young man, you have disobeyed me, knowing well I have forbidden you to talk to Laurence…"
"But Emily… you haven't forbidden me… you only said they weren't our friends," the little boy said innocently, and Temeraire wondered how he managed to look unperturbed in the face of Emily's tirade that would have easily intimidated any other child. Perhaps Jason indeed knew something about Emily – something that the girl was not showing to anyone else…
"Then I'm telling you now," she said, taking the boy by the hand, and once she had secured him on Excidium's back, she looked back at the men and their dragons over her shoulder. "I did mean what I told you yesterday evening, Laurence. You have gone too far, so I am going further too. You will regret this as long as you live."
"That was not very nice," Iskierka grunted after Excidium had gone aloft. "I really do not understand what got into her, she used to be so nice when still on your crew," she turned to Temeraire.
"Yes," Temeraire agreed, watching with a sinking heart the sadness on Laurence's face. "She used to be so nice… but she no longer is. She is like as though she were fighting against us… as though she were at a war with us…"
"...because she is," Laurence said dispiritedly. "We are at a war, Temeraire. A different kind of war, but a war still… and we are going to fight and win, even if we need to resort to dishonourable means."
"All is fair in love and war, eh?" Granby said.
"Yes, John," Laurence nodded with a dark expression. "All is fair."
oOo
A/N: I have made a little illustration of Laurence's first meeting with his son, you can view it by clicking on the link at the end of my ffnet profile.
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