Title: For the Honor of the Queen's First Cousin
Summary: Moments in the lives of Honor Harrington and Mike Henke.
Chapter Title: the rubble of our sins
Pairing(s): Honor Harrington/Mike Henke, Nimitz | Laughs Brightly/Samantha | Golden Voice
Chapter Summary: Mike's first courting gift is eye catching. (Eye-gauging, Honor would like to argue.)
Part one of the For the Honor of the Queen's First Cousin series. Written for Femslash February 2020. As you can see, quite influenced by the books.
The first gift that Mike gave to Honor because she was Honor (a unique and welcome distinction) was an enterprising, if inaccurate, handcrafted attempt at a treecat. The Manticorian who'd made it had done exactly enough research to discover that Sphinxian natives were hexapeds, and no further.
The fact that she'd won it by catching polycerimatic near-ducks pales in comparison to Honor's expression at being handed her prize. Its eyes were a pale, eggshell blue, for one, and and his only other source of information had obviously come from the name, because with the addition of extra legs to a regular cat torso, it appeared more spider than weasel. In short, it looked like nothing more than a cat's head grafted onto a spiders body, with a tail attached.
The crowning achievement of the entire affair, in Mike's own humble opinion, is that the entire thing is a luridly orange tabby. It certainly caught the eye - it had caught her attention. It might even catch the eye of passing shrimp, but as the seafood stall had been at the other end of the fair she hadn't had the opportunity to check before presenting her prize to her girlfriend.
Honor holds it at arm's length, head tilted back to properly take in its magnificence. "Michelle Evelyn Henke." A good start. "What is this abomination." Nimitz is leaning over her shoulder, true-hand extended to poke at her gift, and the corner of Honor's lips are twitching despite her best efforts.
Mike can't contain her grin. "Why Honor, I thought you of all people would recognize a treecat when you saw one."
Nimitz's head snaps up towards her with an indigent bleek. She dances away, laughing, and leads them towards the smell of sizzling meats.
*#*
She christens it Tabitz before the week is through.
It survives decades of space travel unharmed, safely in Nimitz's carrier, and Nimitz safe with it. He spends the time determinedly shedding enough fur onto it to make it the proper colour.
*#*
*#*
Many years later, Honor proffers her a genuine treecat of her own, anatomically correct to the nearest millimetre. She is a sensible cream, with a length fully proportional to her many limbs. She is also stuffed to the gills with ill-gotten celery. Samantha, she has discovered, is as resistant to her dietary speeches as Nimitz.
"I believe this is yours."
"Honor, Treecats are not supposed to be round!"