A/N: Well, if you can't tell what happens in this chapter from the title, then I consider you to be an idiot. Just sayin' ;) Anyway, the outcome of this chapter was decided by the reviewers, granted there were only 2 reviews pertaining to the outcome of this chapter, but they were enough.
I apologise for the wait, but I recently moved home (to Dundee) for my University! Yay! Whoop whoop! I passed my exans! *phew* I was so scared I wouldn't, but no need to worry any more, the fiction updates can return to a more reasonable timetable now :) (Rejoice, rejoice).
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this latest chapter of Game of Thrones.
Chapter 8 – Marry Me.
Blue sky was punctuated by a few fluffy white clouds, drifting lazily between the tree canopies, disappearing from her sight every now and again. The long grass was soft under her and the ground was littered with flowers of every colour imaginable. But it was only to be expected of the palace grounds. Quistis often wondered if anyone from the outside world got to see so many beautiful colours or if they would recognise the colours if they saw them… If there was one thing she was going to miss about life inside the palace walls, it was going to be the colours. She looked down at the book in her lap and brushed a finger over its pages, wondering if she could take the book with her when she left. It was unlikely that anyone would find a use for it while she was gone, given that no one seemed to have read it in decades.
She had been doing a little thinking about what she wanted to take with her when she went, providing Seifer Almasy actually chose to marry her, and she couldn't decide whether or not to take her books on philosophy or Vaes 'n Taal. She began to read what was on the page in front of her, it was about the different roles of women in the Vaes community, something she thought was going to become increasingly important to know. The book seemed to suggest there were over 7 different roles for women including fighting, cooking, producing young, cleaning the yurt (the Vaes equivalent of accommodation), managing the men's horses, simple pleasure roles when the birthing wife was too pregnant to fulfil her role, and a nanny for the young while their mothers were off producing more children, but the wife of the Khal was only entitled to two of those roles, provided the Khal agreed to it. Luckily the only two roles the wife of the Khal was permitted to fill were producing children or fighting. Quistis knew exactly which role she wanted to play and it involved nothing in the region of popping out infants every nine months.
She hoped Seifer Almasy approved of her choice because the book said that the roles of each woman rarely ever crossed, which would mean she would be exempt from ever having to sleep with him or have his children, which was excellent as far as she was concerned. Her family had a bad history with birthing: her own mother had been so weak afterwards that she only survived a further 4 years and never really fully recovered any strength.
The book also said that as the effective Queen of whatever tribe, she wouldn't have to do any cooking or cleaning for herself, which was good because she had no idea how to cook Vaes food or how exactly to clean a yurt (according to the book there was a very specific way to clean a yurt). If she was asked to do so there would be no telling what kinds of trouble she would get herself into and another part of the book said that grave insults (such as feeding the Khal something disgusting) could be punishable by death. It had of course crossed her mind that getting herself killed might not be such a bad idea, as it would mean that her marriage to Seifer Almasy would be over relatively quickly, but then she had never planned on getting herself killed over something so mediocre as a slightly undercooked potato or something like it.
She was busily reading about the more detailed roles of a fighter or a birthing wife when a silky, accented voice above her head interrupted her. "What are you reading, Princess?"
She snapped the book shut quickly and looked up into the face of the very man she had been thinking about. "Nothing much, your Grace," She replied, putting the book aside and resting her hand over the title, "A bit of light reading for a summer's day. How may I help you?"
"I want to know about a woman in the King's company." He said, looking at her from under his lashes in an odd fashion. He hadn't even ducked his head to look at her, keeping his chin in an upright position and using only his eyes to watch her.
"A lady in the King's company?"
"I want to know what you know of her."
"Who is it?" She asked, struggling to keep the disappointment out of her voice. If he was beginning to look at another woman, there went her plans of avoiding a marriage to Ser Deling.
"She is close to the King, I think." He said, eyes flicking up to observe a line of men hefting armour and what looked like candles towards the stables. "Black hair, emerald eyes, an older lady, around 34 years of age-"
"Lady Edea?!" Quistis gasped, grabbing her book and rising to her feet, a disapproving frown on her face. He might have been from a different culture and he may be the Khal, but there were some things that even he would have to be taught, rules he would have to abide by! "She is the King's bedfellow! You can't court her!"
"Bedfellow?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Yes!" Quistis said, folding her arms over her chest, "And therefore very off-limits to you! She is not within your league! I'm sorry Khal Seifer, but you will have to pick someone else to marry."
"You are withdrawing your payment to me?" He asked, seeming surprised.
"She was never part of the contract!"
"What?"
"Lady Edea. You're not going to marry her, she's the King's."
"Huh?!" He pulled a face, "Why would I marry her? She's old enough to be my mother! I just wanted some information on her and thought you might give it!"
"Oh." Her frown began to smooth back out and she looked down sheepishly at her feet. "Sorry, I assumed you wanted to know more about her because you fancied her for a wife."
He gave a derisive snort and shook his head, resting his hands on his hip and sword hilt. "Somebody said you were intelligent."
"I am!" She growled, "I simply panicked, you cannot blame me."
They glared at each other for a moment or two before Seifer heaved a sigh and said softly, "Can you tell me when she arrived in this place?"
"Around 11 years ago, or maybe 12, I don't really remember."
"How is she treated in the Palace?"
"As well as is to be expected."
He narrowed his eyes at her. She still stood with her arms over her chest and one eyebrow raised in a defiant expression. "Why are you not answering me truthfully?"
"Had you behaved in a more gentleman like manner, I would be greater inclined to acquiesce to your requests." She replied. He wondered if she was trying to confuse him with long words. Unfortunately for her, the common tongue was his first language and he was perfectly well versed in long and complicated words to understand and return them, thank you very much.
"Then forgive me, fair princess, I had previously considered you above the vices of others to be so beset by jealousy that you failed to recognise the sheer absurdity of your accusations." He said, folding his arms in turn as the gentle approach was clearly not working. "The absence of any gentlemanly behaviour on my part could be said to be matched by a lack of decorum and sensibility of situation on your part. Don't you agree?"
She raised the other eyebrow, but continued to fight her course in a further elevated vocabulary than the last. "My decorum was in every right when one considers the brashness of your nature and your complete disregard for our customs. I was replying like for like and therefore do not consider it to be any fault of mine should my sensibility of situation have fallen below your mark. That you consider yourself able to demand I do anything for you is an absurdity in itself, your grace, thus, to call fault with any of my accusations smacks a little of the hypocrisy does it not?"
He rolled his eyes. "Are you going to tell me what I want to know? Or am I going to have to tarnish my image in your mind much further, Princess? Because I really don't have the time to be fussing over the sensibility of your situation, nor to be hypocritically redressing your opinion of me as a gentleman – which incidentally, I most certainly am not."
"No."
"No, what?"
"No I am not going to answer your questions until you ask them in a more polite way."
He took a deep breath, shut his eyes for a moment, then turned his gaze heaven wards and whispered "Mother, avert your eyes from what I am about to do."
Quistis frowned, but her confusion turned swiftly to surprise as she was barrelled suddenly down into the long grass, her book being sent flying from her arms and her hair being pulled from its bun as Seifer landed on top of her, grabbing for the arms that she flung out in self-defence and pinning them to the ground either side of her head. She screwed her eyes shut tight as he lent down over her, she could feel his breath on her skin and she turned her face to the side, just in case this was what she was sure it looked like to anyone else. His breath fanned against her neck and she shuddered.
Seifer frowned down at her neck as she shuddered and her lip started to quiver. He felt pretty lecherous doing this to such a beautiful creature, it felt a little like pulling the wings off a butterfly, but he really needed those answers. He dug deep inside himself, trying to unearth some of those long buried feelings to help him along: "Do you know who you're talking to like that, woman?"
No answer.
"Look at me."
She didn't. He let go of one hand and took hold of her chin, turning her face towards him, gripping her jaw tightly as she tried to wrestle it from his grasp. "You will look at me." He said quietly, maybe a little too softly to be convincing, but it was hard to be an arsehole again after so many years of not being an arsehole. But it seemed quite easy for her to be bitchy towards him, so in theory this ought to be an easy feat for him as well. He wished.
"Open your eyes and goddamn look at me!" He hissed, squeezing her wrist and her jaw so that her wrist cracked and he felt the cartilage between her radius and ulna beginning to bend, but she didn't open her eyes, although tears of pan began to leak from the corners of her eyes.
She would not give in to the pain. She would not give in to him if it was the last thing she did. It was important to let him know he could not control her with pain or fear, lest he tried it again in the future… But it was a hard ask simply to ignore the pain. She could feel her bones straining under his grip, her jaw would surely bear bruises by the end of the day, maybe even lunchtime and she would have to answer various questions, but it wasn't unbearable yet. She could hold out for a while longer.
He kissed her. Her eyes flew wide open and his grip on her wrist relaxed immediately. The sudden relief made her want to gasp for breath after having held and regulated it so carefully only moments before, but she couldn't because his mouth was on hers, teeth clashing against hers.
She was so surprised at first that she completely forgot how to act in the face of such a rough and personal assault, but as soon as her senses returned to her, the hand that had previously lain obediently on the grass beside her head buried itself in his hair, gripping a handful and pulling, trying to tear his head and lips away from hers.
He winced as she pulled at his hair, ripping a few strands out, but at least her eyes were open now and she was looking at him. He pulled his lips from hers and immediately her surprised expression descended into a frown.
"I am the Black Rabbit of Centra." He said, thinking – although the kiss was a rather unorthodox way of gaining attention and had severely disrupted the flow of the conversation – he may as well continue with what he was going to say, "Few people have ever denied me something I want and even fewer are forgiven. Do not make me remember you as someone I despise because they would not give me some simple answers to some simple questions. I am a very busy person and if I do not get the answers I want now I will decline your father's offer and by the time you are attacked by the Balambians I will be across the Narrow Sea and out of reach."
She said nothing, just breathed hard now she had the room to do so. He himself was finding it hard not to stare at her lips as he talked. They were softer than those of the whores he bedded and lighter in colour than those of his people. He doubted they had ever been kissed before.
"Now answer me truthfully, how much do you know about Edea Kramer?"
"I'll tell you what I know on one condition." She said at last, voice quiet, icy-like blue eyes boring into his.
He raised an eyebrow and released her chin. She in turn slid her hand out of his hair – much to his relief and the relief of his scalp. "What is your condition?"
"Marry me and take me to the North, beyond the Narrow Sea."
She saw the emotions play across his face at lightning speed; surprise; incredulity; confusion and then suspicion.
"Why?"
"I need this marriage to avoid another marriage to an inbred swine, you have just tainted my honour and I really want to go to the North."
"Who's the swine?"
"Ser Deling."
"Deal, I'll marry you. Now tell me everything you know about Lady Edea."
Raijin bit his lip and furrowed his brow as he observed the woman beating the stuffing out of a dummy. He had been crouched behind the same heap of hessian sacks for the better part of two hours, observing the woman as she tore through various pretend-enemies with a wide variety of weapons ranging from nun-chucks to a spear that stood taller than he did and must have had a shaft that was thicker than his wrist. There was no reasonable explanation as to how the woman – who was on the petite side and would barely have reached the Khal's shoulder – could possibly lift a weapon that would put even Raijin at a disadvantage, let alone wield the thing effectively, but she did so.
She was clad in a rough black, sleeveless tunic, leather trousers that hung off her small frame and looked like there was more than enough room for Raijin in there with her (down boy, down) and a pair of riding boots. She blew choppy silver hair from her eyes and wiped a thick leather glove across her forehead, wiping the sweat away. But even though she was sweating, dressed almost entirely in animal skin and looked like she could quite easily gut him if it so struck her fancy, Raijin thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He wondered if she had a husband…
Normally Raijin wouldn't have batted an eyelid at a woman of the common decent, in fact he wouldn't have batted an eyelid at a woman of the Vaes decent either, but this was different. She looked like a goddess sent down from the heavens themselves. Maybe she was an angel that fell down? Did it hurt? Was the heavenly power the reason why she could wield those weapons so easily? He didn't have the guts to find out. What would he say? How did one even talk to women?
She stripped off her gloves and stuffed them unto her belt before turning around and striding towards the barracks and the showers, the door to which was directly behind the hessian sacks Raijin was currently hiding behind. Which would mean she would see him hiding from her. Which would be embarrassing. Which meant he needed to act naturally and look like he was meant to be there.
He leapt out at her from behind his hessian sacks and lunged for her hand to shake it, but before he knew what had happened, her elbow had smashed into the top of his head and propelled his face towards the cobbles on the ground.
"Hello," He wheezed, breathless as the angel looked down at her attacker. "Raijin, ya know. Name?"
"FUUJIN." She barked, before stepping over him and continuing on her way, leaving Raijin to grin at the floor, blood pouring out of his nose and mouth, saying her name over and over again. It was as beautiful as she was. (sigh).
A/N: Ahhhhhhh! The first kiss! I hope you enjoyed that, I quite enjoyed writing it, I didn't even notice I had already written 2500 words-ish on the Seiftis scene, but I just had to add that little bit on the end, I couldn't resist and I think Raijin is so sweet xD Nawwwwww! Haha! Anyway, I'll bet you guys can't guess where this is going ;)
Leave a review telling me about your favourite bits, the worst bits, anything you think I need to readdress. All notes are appreciated :)
Cya :D
-Iets
