A/n: Sorry this chapter took so long…it seriously took longer than expected! And I was going to include some more stuff…like about Tristan…but if I did the chapter would have been to long!! I hope you like this chapter anyway. And the next chapter will have lots of Tristan in it…and speaking of next chapter…it's going to be pretty long and HUGE because Rory and Tristan are going to meet…again. So don't get angry if it take even longer than usual. . thanks…I hope you enjoy this chapter! The plot thickens…
No One to Trust
Jess leant against a deteriorating wall of Luke's hut, his arms crossed and his jaws clenched, trying to keep a foothold on his emotions. Looking straight ahead at Luke's wide, yellowing pastures on which the three horses which he had stolen were galloping majestically, he sighed, too wrapped up in his own confusion to notice that someone had walked out of the hut and rooted their selves beside him. It was Luke. He coughed and cleared his throat to attract his younger nephew's attention. Jess slowly turned his head Luke's way.
"What?" he said through gritted teeth, glaring at his uncle for interrupting his reverie. Luke, too used to his Jess' attitude to be intimidated, gave his nephew a harsh stare in return.
"You're friends are waiting for you. A meeting of some sort…" Luke scratched the back of his head. Thieves were very complicated and confusing people with very complicated and confusing habits. It was in their nature.
"Tell them to start without me," Jess mumbled, gazing back at the horses but not really seeing them. Luke nodded slowly, as if processing Jess' response and trying to grasp the underlying meaning in it. He turned to go back into the hut, but stopped mid-step and spun back around.
"She's going to come back, you know," Luke said quietly.
"Well…I sure hope so," Jess said, turning to Luke. "Because without her we're … screwed."
"Jess, it's only one meeting," Luke interjected, spreading out his hands. "It's not like she's gone forever."
"You just don't get it!" Jess' eyes flashed dangerously. "Our meetings are important. We plan our getaways, our backup, our routes in and out, our… survival. If someone skips a meeting, it's like they don't want to be in on it anymore…"
"Well maybe she doesn't." Luke stated frankly.
"No, no way." Jess objected, shaking his head. "Being a thief is the best…"
"…to you," Luke intervened. "She's a sixteen year old girl, Jess. She has a family to come home to. Sookie and Jackson raised her well. She's honest, caring, compassionate, polite … do you really think someone like that would be a thief voluntarily?"
Jess thought about this. He thought about all the times Rory had shuddered and tried to avoid killings. He thought about how the only reason she agreed to be a thief was because she needed some money. But he thought about how she had changed since then. How she was quick, sharp, smart. The ideal thief. He saw the glimmer in her eye before a robbery – the excitement, the adrenaline.
"You don't know what you're talking about," he said aloud to Luke.
"I know a lot more than you think." Luke argued. "Her mother- "
"- is dead." Jess cut in. "Is dead because of you. And now Rory is angry at me…because of you. And I can't ever tell her…" Jess trailed off as he caught the look on Luke's face- an ashen despairing anxiety.
"Tell her, than." Luke whispered bitterly. "Tell her if it's that important to you."
"I can't. What about you…?" Jess pointed out.
"I owe her the truth." Luke said gravely. "She deserves that, at least."
"But…" Jess began, but Luke cut him off.
"Just tell her Jess," he said loudly. "You say she's going to the market? Well, there's some pretty bad rumours flying around…close enough to the truth not to deny but changed just enough to sound worse."
Luke put a hand on Jess' shoulder and stared straight into his eyes. "I'd rather she hear it from you than from some dim witted townsperson with an ear for gossip and a careless mouth…" was his final remark, before he headed inside, leaving Jess with his own thoughts.
*
"You and that kid back there seemed pretty tense. Was everything okay?" Dean asked the brown haired, blue eyed beauty sitting on the roof of the cart next to him. He instinctively tugged on the reins of the silvery grey horse that was pulling the carriage as they came to a slight slope. Rory gave a small laugh, which made her eyes sparkle.
"What's so funny?" Dean asked, smiling.
"You called Jess a kid?" Rory shook her head, amused. "Sorry, it's just that Jess is one of the most… independent people you're going to find on this side of the kingdom…"
"You seem to know him pretty well," Dean noticed.
"Well, we've been friends for a long time," Rory remarked. "Don't worry about me and Jess. I was just a little angry at him. I'll get over it."
"Why were you angry at him…?" Dean asked probingly.
Rory glanced at Dean, suddenly suspicious as her thieving instincts kicked in. "Why do you want to know?" she asked him, giving him an amused glance in return.
"I asked first," Dean said stubbornly.
"Then answer first," Rory replied with a grin.
"Okay…" Dean said slowly. "I want to know because … because I'm curious about what would make someone as nice as you angry at someone you've been friends with for as long as you said you've been."
Rory smiled at Dean, her cheeks going red at his compliment. "I was angry at Jess because… well … he wouldn't tell me something I deserved to know."
"Is Jess your boyfriend?" Dean asked suddenly. Rory looked at him in surprise.
"…I don't have a boyfriend…" she stammered finally.
"Good." Dean whispered, bringing his face close to Rory's. Rory trembled as his hand brushed against her cheek. The cart gave a small jolt. The two moved apart immediately. Dean cursed under his breath and turned to Rory.
"Well, we're here…" he announced with some regret. Rory jumped out of the carriage quickly, unnerved by the moment between her and Dean. She landed silently, and Dean stared at her in amazement as he carefully climbed his way down.
"How'd you do that?" he asked her.
"Practise," Rory said quickly, and changed the subject. "Here, let me help you with some of those crates."
Dean stared at Rory in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you need to move the fruit to your stall?" she asked him. He laughed.
"You really don't know anything about the markets, do you?" he told her. When Rory just stared at him blankly, he tried to explain it to her. "The cart is the stall," he said, as he unbound the straps that attached the horse to the carriage, and Rory helped him tie the reins to a small, wooden signpost with letters too faded to understand. Dean went to the carriage at hit the roof hard, to Rory's surprise.
"You broke it!" she exclaimed, as the roof collapsed.
"I did not!" he laughed. "It was made to do this. See?" Dean showed Rory the extra pieces of wood inserted at various points, to force the wood to bend. "I can pull the roof back up if I wanted too."
"Look! It makes an extra compartment!" Rory pointed out, spying the place between the collapsed roof and the actual carriage bottom.
"Yeah," Dean grinned. "An old marketers trick. We never keep all our goods on the top of the stall, because otherwise the thieves would rob us of all we had. We keep at least half of the stuff underneath."
"Thieves wouldn't do that …" Rory automatically defended herself and her friends. "They're not all that bad. They mainly just steal to survive, to earn a living. Or to settle an old grudge…"
Dean's eyes flashed. "Never defend those vermin, Rory. Have you seen Luke's hut, and how broken down it is?" he asked her angrily. "Do you think that the thieves cared about that when they robbed this cart last week? Do you think they cared?"
Rory stepped back, frightened. "Sorry…" she said softly. Dean opened his mouth to say something else, but turned around as a customer approached, and arranged his fruit in an attractive manner. Soon a whole crowd gathered around the cart. Rory wondered off to explore the marketplace, like she had done so many times before when she had been younger. She walked past the cart that sold parchment and ink, and the cart full of fresh bread. She walked past the cart full of trinkets, and the cart loaded with pots and pans. She walked past many interesting carts filled with assorted, colourful, useless, useful and expensive items. That was why when she came across a cart completely empty except for a piece of parchment attached to it's front, she stopped and stared in surprise. The parchment read:
Fortune Telling
…In exchange for Information…
The owner of the cart appeared to be an old man, who had his back towards her.
"Um…excuse me?" she said nervously. The old man stirred. "What type of information are you looking for?"
"Who says I'm looking for any information?" The old man said slowly, and Rory felt a pang of familiarity. The man turned around carefully, his eyes meeting Rory's, and he let out a small chuckle. "You must not confuse me with yourself."
"Ronald!" Rory exclaimed, overjoyed, and walked around the cart to fling herself into the old man's arms. She was to happy to ponder over his meaningful comment. "Jess found your walking stick… covered in blood… and we thought… " Rory trailed off.
Ronald beamed. "Blood was not mine. I gave a stubborn guard an large whack on the head. Gave him quite a fright!" Ronald chuckled as Rory pulled away. "How are my thieves?"
Rory's face turned serious, and her eyes held a hint of sadness. "Not that good…" she said, shaking her head. "Charles had his legs cut off… the whole part below his knees…and he lost much blood. Jon has been unconscious for two days now, but Mitch and Richard are okay."
"And Jess…?" Ronald inquired.
"Is fine," Rory mumbled. Ronald raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, but the arguments of youth are such a petty affair in the eyes of one so old as I." Ronald commented.
"He wont tell me something!" Rory burst out suddenly. "Something about my mother!"
Ronald stared at her sharply. Rory had a sudden suspicion.
"You know too, don't you?" she asked him, her eyes lighting up. "Wh- "
"Rory! Time to go!" Rory recognised Dean's voice shouting through the various noises of the market place. She turned around to see where Dean was. He was standing not far off. She turned back to Ronald, and gasped in surprise. He was gone.
"Rory!" Dean was now at her side. "Rory, what is it?"
"…Nothing…" Rory whispered quietly. "Let's go…"
It was high noon as the two rode back to Luke's. Dean tried to strike up a conversation.
"So…" he said uncertainly. "Tell me about yourself."
"Well," Rory began slowly, not entirely sure what to say. "I live with Sookie and Jackson…"
"You call your parents by their first names?" Dean interrupted, his brow furrowed.
"Their not my parents." Rory said quickly. "They're my friends."
"Oh." Dean gazed at the pretty girl at his side. "What happened to your parents?" he asked sympathetically, and squeezed her hand.
"I don't know anything about my father," Rory said softly, feeling strange. She hardly ever talked to strangers about her parents. "But my mother was … beheaded."
"Beheaded?" Dean said, taken aback. "Why?"
Rory looked away, and gazed up at the sky. "They say it was treason."
Dean nodded. "What was her name?" he asked quietly.
Rory turned to Dean. "Lorelai Gilmore," she whispered.
"What?" Dean practically yelled, at pulled at the reins. The cart jolted to a stop. "You're Lorelai Gilmore's daughter?"
"Yeah…" Rory said slowly. "Why, is that a problem?"
Dean didn't seem to hear her. He ran his hands through his brown hair disbelievingly and then glanced at Rory. His eyes widened as if seeing the resemblance for the first time.
"Dean, what is it?" Rory asked.
"Well…" Dean said, struggling to get the words out. "For one thing…you're a noble."
"I am not!" Rory objected.
"You're one of them, Rory." Dean said firmly.
"I already told you, I'm not! And if I were, it shouldn't matter!" Rory argued.
"Yes it should. You're rich. We're poor. You don't care about us stupid peasants. Right? Right?!" Dean shouted.
" And I wonder why! Whenever nobles try to help you, you just shout insults in their face! You throw their money back at them! Well sorry if your life has been tough, so has mine. My mother died when I was seven! I had to work when I was thirteen! Yes, I was poor! And just because you find out who my mother is you suddenly decide that you're existence has been more wretched than mine! Just because I'm a Gilmore! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, you idiot!" Rory yelled back at him. Pausing for breath, she stared at him angrily as her mind spun around because of all the injustices of the world. Then, without another word, she leaped out of the cart, soundlessly landed, and began walking in the direction she assumed Luke's hut would be.
"It's not only that you're a Gilmore!" Dean bellowed out to her. "It's because your mother was a thief!"
Rory froze in her tracks. "What?"
Dean climbed down from the cart, and caught up with her. "You're mother was a thief." He explained. "Didn't you know that?"
Rory shook her head soundlessly.
"Well, do you want to hear this?" Dean asked. Rory swallowed and nodded. This was what she'd been waiting for. What Luke, and Jess, and Ronald had kept from her. She was going to here it, right here and right now. She braced herself.
"Okay," Dean began. "I heard this from the market. There have been stories going around ever since… well ever since your mother died. I don't know which is the real one, but this seems the most likely. You're father's name was Christopher, and your mother was engaged to him. Christopher and Lorelai were from two noble and rich families. It was a good match between them. But your mother also had feelings for the her parent's butler. No one knows his name. The only thing was that he was a thief. It was him that introduced Lorelai and Christopher to the world of crime. Your parents seemed to be sick of the way nobles lived- they couldn't stand it. One day, they decided to steal the crown jewels from the king's uncle, but they were unsuccessful, and it is said that the butler gave the jewels to Lorelai, killed Christopher, hid the body and then made a quick getaway to save himself. Your mother was caught with the jewels and was arrested for treason."
There was a thick silence. Rory's mind was spinning. Christopher…her father. The butler…Luke. "But…but…" Rory said faintly. "How could anyone know the full story?"
Dean took a deep breath, tired of talking. "It is said that Lorelai used to be the best of friends with the palace cook. Lorelai confided in her before she went to steal the jewels, and the cook, worried about her friend, spied on the three thieves and saw what really happened."
Sookie.
"But…but Sookie told me that my mother was planning on marrying my father in secret. And then they found out. And that was why she was beheaded." Rory stammered.
"Convicted for treason? Because of that? I don't think so." Dean said darkly. And suddenly it all made sense to Rory. That was why she had always been so curious. Sookie's story had not satisfied the requirements for treason. She could never put her finger on what it was before, but she knew something was wrong…something was missing. Which meant…Sookie had lied to her. Luke had murdered her father, and all but sentenced her mother to death. Jess knew, Ronald knew…and the didn't have the decency to tell her. She had to find out from a complete stranger…like this.
All of a sudden Rory collapsed on the ground in a flood of tears, humiliated, scared and hurt. Could she trust no one? She was alone. And then someone wrapped his arms around her and helped her to her feet. Someone kind.
Slowly, Dean led Rory back to the cart. He sat next to her, with his arm around her, and they made their way slowly back to Luke's. Rory pulled herself together. She had to be ready for the confrontation between her and Luke. And Jess. She couldn't stay friends with him now… not after this. She didn't know what would happen or how she would make it through. But she didn't really have a choice.