It Could Be Worse
Episode 5: Finding Thom
By Sulia Serafine
[1-15-01. A Protector of the Small fanfic set in an alternate universe; all credit goes to Tamora Pierce. I'm broke, so you can't sue me.
Oh, one more thing: BAD LANGUAGE (I. E. cursing, swearing…). You have been warned!
I'd also like to thank those who gave me help with the character descriptions. If anyone else want to help me, please e-mail me at silverwLng@aol.com, okay? I'm finally getting around to working on my tiny website, and there's a new section for my Tortall stories. I'll tell you the address when I deem it worthy to be seen by you. Enjoy the chapter, I know you've been waiting for it! Please, tell me what you think. I'd also like to once again thank those who made ALLO a success. This one's for you.
P.S. Something I forgot! This Story takes place in 949 H.E, but it is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! AND ANY IMPORTANT CHARACTERS OF THE TAMORA PIERCE UNIVERSE I HAVEN'T PUT IN YET WILL ENTER THE STORY LATER ON, AS MAJOR CHARACTERS, NOT CAMEOS. Thank you and have a nice day.
P. S. S. I made some character statistics for those major characters introduced so far. It's after the story.]
Keladry put her bike in storage. She had barely ridden it and already, she was going to have to put it up. Joren was right, in his own selfish way. Cleon was a terrible driver and there was no way he was going to sit behind her on her bike the whole entire trip. Joren, of course, still obsessed with his own Black Knight Custom X40, would never abandon it. Nothing short of the will of the gods could part the young man from his bike. She didn't want to know why, but she was sure she was now going to be envying him the whole time. Who would've guessed he could pass on the motorcycle fever to her?
"Hey, Kel! I got my eye on this really nice hover car," Cleon pointed in the dimness of the Headquarters' garage. He was practically jumping up and down in excitement. "I talked to the man in charge of the garage and he says it's an undercover car, but if I really wanted, I could rent it."
"And?" Keladry regarded him skeptically.
"Well, they'll only cover half the rental price," he shuffled his feet. Keladry suppressed a sigh.
"Okay, okay. I'll help you pay for it."
"Great!" He grabbed her hands and began swinging her around. "You're going to love it. It's a nice silver number with leather interior and--"
"Cleon!" she broke free of his hands. "Calm down. We're getting the car, okay?"
"Okay! I already kind of accessed your salary and withdrew some money anyway…"
"How did you do that?" she narrowed her eyes.
"I talked about it so much that Joren was forced to help me and hacked into your account!"
Keladry paled. "I have to talk to him…"
"Sorry, Kel."
"It's okay. Just don't do it again."
"Okay. I can't say the same for him, though." And with that, Cleon went off, singing songs of praise to his dream car. She was afraid he'd overexert himself one day and collapse without warning. He ran off, in search of his perfect car's location while Joren came down on the elevator with their bags. He threw a couple of bags at her, then carried the rest himself. She barely caught them. He threw hard. She slung one over her shoulder and let the other hang from her hand. She decided to let his hacking venture slide for the moment and instead asked, "Hey, did you check on my bike?"
She could have sworn there was a flicker in his eyes. "Yeah. I don't trust it here at Headquarters, though. I took it to a friend's garage. His name is Sam, a mechanic."
"What?" She shifted the bags around in her arms. "You could've asked me, you know."
"It was for the best interests of the bike," he shrugged and walked past her to where Cleon was happily dancing in the garage lanes. She could hear him scold the rookie. "Hey! You're not going to turn into that pansy, Neal, are you? Get your ass over here and haul your own crap!"
"Don't swear!" Keladry yelled at him, although she knew it wouldn't do any good. He'd do what he wanted, end of discussion.
Around 1 o'clock, they left. Keladry driving the sleek silver hover-car that Cleon had picked out. She had to admit-- it was nice and comfortable. Not too, flashy nor shiny-- not to attract attention, anyhow. The chrome was newly polished and the glass windshield and windows spotless. The interior was roomy, but not bulky or empty. It was just right. "A dream car to the very last detail," she though. Keladry turned on the navigation system and database, then opened the window to speak with Joren as he started his bike.
"Hey! Where do we go, first?"
Joren held his helmet in his hands and thought for a moment. "I talked to some people at the archives. The first cities out west that he might have gone to start with Corus, and then Maren, so on. Just follow me."
"I will if you don't speed again," she replied.
"I was not speeding," he protested and put on his helmet. "Let's go."
~~
"We're on a road trip, we're on a road trip," Cleon sang as he munched on some potato chips. Keladry tried to ignore her pounding headache as the redhead continued. Her head was throbbing. She didn't think she could stand it anymore. Her hand slammed on the steering wheel in a burst of irritation.
"For the last time, Cleon! We are on the job searching for a missing person! This is not a road trip!"
Cleon pouted. He counted on his fingers. "Well, we're in a car. And we've got food and stuff in the back. We don't know where we're going. And we won't know when we'll be going home." He leaned back confidently. "Sounds like a road trip to me."
She growled and thought, "I need aspirin…"
~~
"You don't look too well," Neal commented when Keladry called him at a rest station. "I should know what 'well' and 'not well' look like since I've been stuck in the infirmary. And you definitely look… ragged."
"Thanks," she half-said, half-yawned. "Cleon's energy never runs out. He's like you, except worse."
"Ah. It's good to know that someone's filling the void while I'm gone," he grinned. "We can't have you having a nice calm day, now can we? Someone's got to screw it up for you!"
"Oh, cram it," she mock-glared at him.
"Bonehead called again. Should I tell him that I'm not the only ill person around here?"
"Go ahead. I don't care," she waved her hand.
"Well, Miss Shiny Personality, I will do that!"
"Neal…"
He laughed and shook a finger at her, doing an impression of his father. He even lowered his voice. "Young lady, I expect you to get some rest. Go tell your boss to lay off and walk out the door!"
Dr. Baird was never one with authority either when it came to someone's health. She chuckled. "Enough of that, okay? I'd better go before Joren yells--"
"Mindelan!"
"Too late…" Neal taunted.
~~
On the fifth day, they stopped at a diner at a resting area just outside Corus.
Half-asleep at the table, Keladry opened her eyes long enough to observe her partners. Cleon was blissfully snacking on some nachos while watching the holo-screen on the counter, occasionally looking around for the elusive waitress to order more food. Joren was staring out the window, as usual. She grumbled to herself, then blamed her generous spirit as she pushed herself up on her elbows and nudged her untouched plate toward him. "Hey you, eat something."
He gave her a once over-- another default reaction that she was getting use to, then remarked observantly. "The bags under your eyes are huge. We'll stay in this resting area tonight. If you fall asleep at the wheel, they'll probably blame me."
"Fine, fine," she yawned. "Just eat something. I ate an hour ago. You should eat."
"Do you like acting as the mother?"
"No. It's a give-no-take job that requires a lot of patience and a lot of nagging. No, I don't."
"Then why do it?" he raised one eyebrow as if he were actually interested.
"I'm too nice," she replied and let her head fall back onto the table. Cleon turned to look when he heard the soft thump sound her head made as it met the table.
~~
"I'm bored."
"That's nice," Keladry said, not really listening to him.
"Are we almost there?"
"Where?"
"You know, the DJPF department of Corus?"
"Um, yeah. I think so. It depends if I can catch Joren." She paged the blonde in question. "Stop speeding!"
"Nag!" he paged back.
~~
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there… now?"
"Cleon, we've been through this. Do you want me to throw you out the window?"
"Okay, okay, sorry. Are you sure we're not there yet, Tough Stuff?"
"I should never have let you talk to Neal…"
~~
The three DJPF officers gathered in Joren's hotel room to overlook their notes. He sorted through some papers on his teal covered bed while they looked on. "Okay, so far, we've talked to everyone in Corus. There is nothing mysterious around, nor is there anything that resembles anything associated with the missing person, Mr. Thom Trebond."
"There was that old lady at the antiques shop who claimed her son was Thom Trebond."
"Cleon…"
"Well, it's possible!"
"Get serious," Keladry said.
"Okay. So, we move on to Maren?" Cleon asked. He sat on down on the floor looking up at the two superior officers. "There's not much we can follow, you know? I mean, there are very few given facts about this man. One being--"
"He's an inventor. Technologically advanced areas are more likely to house him," Kel said while tapping her chin.
Joren pointed at another paper. "He hates extremely cold and extremely hot weather. We can go straight west without going north or south."
"And he's between the ages of 30 and 50 with red hair and violet eyes. Oh, this is just peachy," Cleon sighed with sarcasm. "You know what? I'm going to bed. This is giving me a headache. He could have dyed his hair-- or even worse! Gotten colored contacts. So, we can't depend on physical descriptions, can we? Oh, man, my headache!"
"I've had a headache this whole trip," Keladry said, but got up off the bed. She glanced at the clock. "It's late. We'll get some good night sleep. Tomorrow, we'll cross River Olorun to Maren."
In the morning, Keladry received a call from Numair and Daine. She wondered where they found her location, but supposed she could ask later. She ran a hand through her hair in efforts to comb it. She was a mess that morning. "Um, yes?"
Daine's face appeared on the holo-screen. "You're Officer Mindelan, aren't you?"
"Yes, ma'am. What can I do for you?"
"Have you had any luck finding Mr. Trebond?" she asked in an anxious voice. Keladry shook her head.
"The information was pretty broad and general. It's just a matter of time."
The other woman nodded. "I know. I was just hoping…" She cleared her throat. "It's important that we find someone with his knowledge willing to help us."
"Has there been a crisis, ma'am?" Keladry asked with a gentle tone.
"You can say that," Daine nodded. "I better not discuss it. Mr. Salmalin would become angry with me. Please, keep up the ardent work, Officer. I appreciate your efforts."
"Thank you, Ms. Sarassri. Goodbye."
She ended the transmission and walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth. "What kind of crisis could make them so desperate to look for a man who's been gone for a whole decade?" she asked herself. "I wonder what will happen if we don't find him…"
~~
Author: Sorry this was short. I've just written three episodes in one day. You can see why I'm tired. And by this last one, my skills have deteriorated. Now, if only my brother would let me get off the phone… this episode will have been posted the morning after it was written instead of the night before. Don't blame me. Anyway…
Closing Credits:
Special thanks to those who helped me with descriptions:
( Note: these people are VERY cool. Do not mess with them.)
Kestrel
Erin (Hyper Girl to the Rescue)
Sullychkk (Ack! All I remembered was your e-mail! I'M SO SORRY! E-MAIL ME, OKAY?)
And also to the people who volunteered to help with my web page:
FireLily
Jaelawyn Noble
And if anyone is good with fixing web pages, please e-mail me. My e-mail is listed at top.
AND…
The pages for Character Statistics.
*please note that these end with .htm and not .html due to some mistake upon my computer. I'll correct it someday.
http://www.geocities.com/silvrblade.geo/silverdragon/fanfics/futurekel.htm
http://www.geocities.com/silvrblade.geo/silverdragon/fanfics/futurejoren.htm
http://www.geocities.com/silvrblade.geo/silverdragon/fanfics/futureneal.htm
http://www.geocities.com/silvrblade.geo/silverdragon/fanfics/futureowen.htm
http://www.geocities.com/silvrblade.geo/silverdragon/fanfics/futurecleon.htm
And by the way, if Cleon's page pops up before the correct character's does, please ignore. Weird quirk I have to figure out, okay?