Tomb Raider:
The Adventures of Lara Croft
Book 1-Curse of the Scorpion
Chapter 20-Celebrations Bring Opportunities...
"…May each and every opportunity be seized as if it were the only one to count.". That's what he had said. Opportunities? Was he talking about Lara? Could he, would he actually be so confidently arrogant as to slip her as a topic in his toast? Alex frowned slightly at the thought, though it wasn't noticed by anyone. That is, anyone but Kazar who somehow seemed to smile wider because of it.
"Let the celebration begin!".
Raising their glasses, they gave thanks to what had been given and the members of the village gave thanks to the gods for the welcome of having new faces amongst them… if only for a short while. Guests were so hard to come by and travelers with caravans had grown fewer and fewer over the years. In fact, during the last few years they could not remember a time when travelers would visit for longer than a day or night to re-supply and rest before parting ways. It was a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless.
However, the villagers never once brought this up during the celebration… or in general for that matter. Mena had mentioned that the villagers long ago chose to live in the present, in the here and now. Saying that the past, while it was where our roots lay, was nothing to be dwelt on. It was the present that held all to be cherished, as the future was promised to no one. In truth, Lara had agreed with her fully on that point. The future really was promised to no one and the past, no matter how hard you held onto it, was still just the past. She smiled at the reminder of their earlier conversation, perhaps this little trip wouldn't turn out so bad afterall. Still, Lara wasn't one to simply accept that idea. Though, she had decided to forget about it for tonight. It was a celebration and she absolutely did not want anyone of the villagers to see her going about work.
This was a big deal to them… to the village, Kazar, Mena… And Lara was certainly not one to refuse the wishes of her gracious hosts. Mena had wanted her to have a good time, she'd mentioned as much earlier. As such, a good time was just what Lara was going to have.
"Oh you simply must try the stuffed desert peppers Lara, they're the best! A village secret receipe." Kenia's voice cut into Lara's thoughts, though she was thankful for it. She had been thinking too much and she had promised to try and not do that tonight. Afterall, it was just one night. What could one night hurt? "I would expect them to be spicy." Lara smiled, helping herself to the platter of stuffed peppers as it was passed around the table.
"Hey pass those this way, I LOVE spicy.". Alex grinned playfully, causing Kenia to blush. "Oh trust me, they are.". "So you like spicy then Alex?". Kenia added. A subtle, but not really, tone of flirtation in her voice. Kazar just rolled his eyes at that, causing Alex to smile seductively over at Kenia and the triplets. "Love it.". Frowning Kazar forced himself to remember his earlier talk with the male tomb raider. HE had started it. Alex. HE had started this little game. Only… it was not a game which Kazar planned to let him win. Not in a long shot.
"Well Kazar, I'd hope you have plenty of water…". Lara smiled, arching her brow curiously over at Alex's actions. "Oh? Why is that?". Kazar replied, an inquiring look on his face. "Because someone just may be about to get burned." Lara finished with a teasing smirk in Alex's direction, a look he pretended not to have seen. Though she knew he had.
"Haha!". Kazar laughed, passing around another platter. "Yes, indeed I do have plenty. Yet, I wonder… would it even begin to be enough?". Mena just shook her head in mock annoyance, but a smile instantly lit up her face. "We could always just roll him around in the sand.". Try as she might, Mena just couldn't keep a straight face. It had been far too long since she'd had this much fun. Far too long.
…
As the feast went on, all sorts of dishes and plates were passed around the table. Two, three, four times before they were all set in the center. Plates as full as they could be, the sound of clinking dishes and friendly conversation filled the air. The soft glow of the sunset fueled the warm atmosphere around them as the celebration went on.
Soon, only a small few were still eating as others had already started to clear the table and get started on the dishes. Lara had offered to help them, but the women had insisted that she sit. Saying that the guest shouldn't be the one to do all the chores. Lara, try as she might, knew that there was no arguing with women like them. They were deadset in their ways, something Lara fully understood and accepted. She had just nodded, smiling warmly as the women returned the smile and continued on their way.
Alex had choked on the stuffed desert peppers, causing Kazar to smile with satisfaction even though no one really noticed the cold tone exchanged between the two men. In fact, everyone was much too preoccupied with their own conversations to actually take notice of such a slight thing. The triplets, on the other hand, had jumped on the occasion to comfort Alex over his "near death" experience. Alex had just smirked, that is, until Lara rolled her eyes at him. She hadn't really thought he would notice, but he had and somehow… somehow he didn't feel so confident anymore.
Though he didn't let Kazar or the triplets see any sign of it. Especially not Kazar.
It wasn't long after the table was cleared when Lara noticed a few people lighting the firepits that had been earlier prepared. "Mena? What are they up to?". She asked curiously. "Oh, that is for tonight. Music and dancing. You dance yes? It is very fun. The sky, filled with stars and the moon glow… well, you will see. It is perfect for dancing under. Almost magical.". Mena smiled widely, enthusiastically continuing on to talk about when she had first come to the village and how the desert night sky had taken her breath away. "To this day, it still has much of the same effect.".
…
Exotic music played wildly and passionately into the night, the usual silence broken. Drums echoed like thunder and songs flowed like the rain. The fires flickered around them, flames burning brightly into the night. A soft breeze blew through the village, another trait that made the world around them seem so irresistably magical. Mena had been right, there truly was something about this place that almost made you forget about everything else. Almost.
"I told you it would be fun.". Mena grinned, taking Lara's hand and pulling her out of the crowd to take a break from dancing. The two had been dancing almost non-stop since the music had started. "I have to admit Mena, you were right.". Lara returned the smile, as genuine as always. She really had to admit, she was having a great time.
And Kazar had to admit it to himself… he was having quite an intriguing time himself. He had been splitting his time between watching Lara and Mena dance to watching his daughters flirt shamelessly with Alex. Frowns followed by smiles, followed by looks of devout neutrality shifted on his face. Though, being the head of the village, no one really bothered to take note. It would seem that Kazar, for the most part, often would generally just watch during the dancing part of the celebrations. Very rarely had anyone actually managed to pull him onboard, and even fewer had managed to get Kazar to ask them to dance all on his own.
"But he is like that… take no bother, because no one else bothers either. He can be pretty reserved for dancing.". Mena continued, waving at another woman over by the fire.
Early on in the night the triplets had managed to drag Alex over to a fire to dance with them alone, and early on in the night it was noticed that it didn't take much convincing either. On one side, Alex had initially wanted to annoy Kazar. Prove his point from earlier, that he, in fact, could easily get to Kazar's daughters. On another, he had wanted to somehow manage to make Lara jealous without completely overdoing it. And still on another side, Alex had wanted to show Lara that he had changed.
"Come on Alex, break time is over.". "Come dance with us some more." "Pleeeease, you'll have lots of fun.".
Obviously he wasn't doing too good on the last part.
Still, it wasn't until slower songs started to play that Alex truly noticed this fact. Ah man… this isn't working. I'm not good at this am I? Am I? He frowned to himself.
"No, you're not.".
"Huh?". Alex snapped back to reality, completely confused as he was certain he hadn't been thinking out loud. He was sure of it…
"He'd better not.". Kirica, continued. It was Kenia's voice that had intially brought Alex back to reality. Not Lara's. How he wished it had been Lara's. Even if it had just been another daydream… errr… was it still considered a daydream if it was night?
"Alex c'mon, you're not gonna make us dance alone are you?". Kani's sweet voice brought him even further back into reality. Which was right about the time Kazar had decided to make his move. A move he had planned since the first moment he'd set his eyes on her.
"Lara my dear, would you honor me with a dance?".
…
So it would seem that celebrations can often bring opportunities, but not always in the way that you would have wished or expected. For some, the opportunity to dance with a goddess and built closer ties. To others the chance to make a love-interest, or father, jealous. While to others, a dance was just a dance and flirting was just flirting.
Lara was neither jealous nor impressed by either suitor, whether she considered either as even close to being a possibility or not. Alex somehow didn't feel any better about his situation with Lara spending so much time close to Kazar, even all of the shameless flirting with the triplets and the highly angered expression on Kazar's face was nowhere near worth the brief glimpse he'd gotten in Lara's eyes. Disappointment. Or maybe something stronger, but he just couldn't think of that word right now. As for Kazar, perhaps he was the only one of the two to be both angered and satisfied. As strange as it may sound, he was both and so remained in conflict. Appearing just about unphased, he wanted to kill Alex and yet… he didn't wish to leave Lara's side now that he finally had her to himself.
How strange it is that opportunities can also bring so many conflicts in both reason and result…
Aven