Disclaimer: You know that I don't own Mercedes Lackey. I possess her
works, but that's it.
Earthangel: Have cake today!
Cerulean Sky: Poor Riverwind.
Darkfyre: Yes, it's spelled right. As for dead in the black...you were right a review or two ago...that's the acid bomb-things. I think. I can't find it right now.
EvilGenius92389: You'll just have to see about being unrequited...no, they're not lifebonded. I'm trying to avoid lifebonds for once...and I think that Kree's bond is enough. No, *if* Liluye and Helia get together, they'll be just plain, uh...*thinks* shieldmates! Yay! I remembered! And I doubt bondbirds can lifebond...Companions are humans in a weird shape, bondbirds are just...birds. Yeah.
Hawk-Sister: Glad you like.
LeopardDance: I vant to get Liluye to a battlefield. And as for meeting a Hawkbrother or Shi'na'in...well, I have something vague in mind, but it might not work out.
Cookxenya: Found the gryphon! *pointedly ignores "not your best"*
Kierseth: *sarcasm* Noooooo, Helia's her worst enemy. ;)
Cat McDougall: Yes, I have seen a kyree smile...Rrissa smiles when she's about to deflate my ego by means of reciting Shi'na'in proverbs...even if it's technically not a she...
Ssjbookgirl: I'll keep those suggestions in mind.
Muse responsible: Rrissa.
Onto the story! And Liluye's been training extra-hard, trying to put everything out of her mind, but it's about to catch up with her...ehehe. Several days later, at the Lone Hawk Inn, Liluye and some of her friends are having a conversation...
----------------------------------------------------
Our table lapsed into a comfortable silence, the fire crackling and the rattling of dice continuing.
At last, Necia brought up a topic which I thought had been disposed of-"Who do you think you could fall in love with?"
The question caught me totally off-guard. I mused about it, sipping my beer, and Sent a query to Kree.
Kree was currently deeply involved in a strenuous "fungame," and had no answer for me, seeing as he was concentrating hard.
At last, Leon broke the silence. "Well, I think that the only woman I'd love would have to be a fellow mercenary, because how otherwise could your partner understand what it was like, to sell your sword and maybe that you couldn't come back alive?"
"True," said Helia, looking into the fire and absently fingering a charm of a silver feather on a leather string around her neck.
"There's the added benefit of a partner-maybe them coming to rescue you one in a while, and being able to guard your back," said Tuvya, the newest addition to our Lone Hawk table.
"I suppose that handsome or pretty isn't a requirement, though it's a nice addition," was my contribution-all I could think of to say.
Helia glanced at me, the fire catching her eyes in its light for a moment. Something about her look said that perhaps there was something I wasn't actually saying...
[Which there is, but even I am not sure what it is, exactly...] I mused.
:I come, bondmate,: came Kree's weary thought.
I groped under the table, glad for a distraction, and came up with the perch I had set underneath for occasions such as this. The Lone Hawk inn had grown used to Kree, and regarded him as a lucky bird, of sorts.
A few minutes later, Kree squeezed through a window, and I was caught short at just how large he was again. The hawk-eagle would have no trouble killing a man-that beak could sever a spine as if it were butter.
Yet that beak nibbled my nose gently as Kree settled onto his perch, resting back and folding his wings.
"Heyla, bird. Anything new today?" I asked him conversationally. The rest of the group, used to this, continued their chat.
:More arrows now, I carry balls up high and drop, dive at moving targets and bite,: said Kree, :Tree-stuff taste bad.:
Before I could even raise my arm, one of the servers presented Kree with a whole rabbit-skinned and gutted, but raw. Kree cast a look of undying gratitude at the server as I rolled my eyes. "You're spoiling him!" I protested futilely as the maid smiled at Kree and scratched his head gently- once learning that the bird was intelligent as a human, the servers had taken to him.
"...for me, it wouldn't even matter if the perfect person were a man," said Frayley, startling me with the tag-on. Now I wished I had heard the full sentence...
[Wait. Why do I want to have heard the full sentence?] I wondered plaintively.
"You mean you're-what's the word all the Sunhawks use?" said Jaonsen, "Ah, yes. She'chorne?"
:Shay'a'chern!: came Kree's irritated mind-voice.
:Thanks for that, featherhead...: I said a bit sarcastically.
"No, not really...but if the best partner possible for me were a man..." I forgot to listen to the rest of the sentence.
[Is that what I am? She'chorne, shay'a'chern, whatever-it-is?] I wondered. [No one at home ever mentioned anything remotely like this...it just never came up.]
Kree gulped down the rest of his rabbit, giving me an excuse to offer him my arm.
:No more?: asked Kree, plaintively.
:I'll give you more when we get back,: I replied to him, mind-to-mind, anxious to just leave.
Kree willingly stepped onto my wrist, his talons closing gently as he shifted. :Ach, bird, you're heavy.:
:Home now? More food?: asked Kree.
:Right.: I said this to Kree only half paying attention, the rest of me absorbed in my own thoughts.
I left the Lone Hawk Inn in the gathering darkness amid a few odd looks from my fellow recruits, yet I ignored them and headed for the barracks.
Nearing the wall where my window was, I tossed Kree into the air. With a few wingbeats, he glided over the roof and around the corner, where I knew he would settle on his perch.
I stopped at the kitchen and picked up his allotted dinner, still stumbling through my turmoil of emotions.
Kree hopped inside and ate gratefully as I changed into a nightshirt and sat at the window, my mind buzzing with activity.
I spoke under my breath, needing to hear something to properly sort out my thoughts. "If Frayley doesn't care whether his lovers are male or female, then what does that make me?" I stated the first question carefully, getting up and starting to pace.
Then, glancing at Kree, I shielded my thoughts lightly, a mere screen which he could break through if he needed to, but somehow wanting to keep this private.
[I know I never really cared for the various suitors Mother hinted at back at home,] I continued in my mind, [But I thought that was just because they were great galumphing idiots...]
"So I must be shay'a'chern," I murmured, trying the word for the first time.
The implications of that admission made me grow cold for a moment that lasted forever, until-
"Why'd you run off like that?" came a familiar voice, the door opening, then closing. My heart twisting, I turned to face Helia.
"Kree was hungry-" I began, but Helia cut in. "You know that those servers would have stuffed him-there wasn't any reason to bring him here. You didn't even finish your drink."
Kree hopped to his perch, and I set the tray outside the door to avoid Helia's eyes.
"Are you all right?" asked Helia, taking a close look at my face. "You're flushed."
She laid the back of her hand against my forehead. The touch, however innocuous, made me blush harder.
"You're warm," observed Helia, testing her own forehead. "Perhaps you should see the Healer."
"No, no-" I said, distractedly, "I'll be all right."
Helia frowned at me for a moment. "Well, if you're sure..."
I got into my bed and burrowed into the blankets, facing the window. I forced my breathing into a slow rhythm, then managed to relax enough to let sleep conquer me.
I awoke before dawn the next morning, dressed, and left the room, careful not to disturb my slumbering roommate. Heading down the stairs, I entered the mess hall, automatically heading for my usual seat.
There were a few other early risers, some of them yawning, others looking disgustingly cheerful, yet no one sat at my table except Frayley.
"So, joining the ranks of the morning larks?" asked Frayley, cheerfully buttering a piece of bread and handing it to me.
"I'm-not sure," I said, taking the bread and holding it.
"You don't seem to be sure about a lot of things, do you?" said Frayley, looking at me sharply.
I stared at him. He chuckled. "You forget that I notice things, a lot more things than most would give me credit for," he said.
I set down the bread, slowly. "What do you mean?" I asked, fighting to get the words out.
Frayley propped his chin on his elbow and looked directly into my eyes. "Fleeing the Lone Hawk Inn last night, carefully avoiding the subject of love-I can put two and two together."
I continued staring at him. Frayley reached across the table and closed my mouth, which had opened without my noticing. "I doubt you'd enjoy flies," he explained.
I couldn't seem to talk-my body had gone numb.
"You don't seem hungry-perhaps some weaponry-practice?" Frayley said genially.
Somehow, I managed to stand and follow him to the training grounds. Once there, Frayley handed me a stave, took one himself, and saluted me.
Beginning one of the most basic blow-and-block combinations I knew, Frayley seemed disinclined to talk before I did.
At last, I managed something coherent. "Why?" I asked, not quite able to finish the question.
"You mean, why am I telling you all this?" said Frayley, speeding the pattern slightly. I nodded.
Frayley sighed, not stopping the rhythmic sound of our clashing staves. "I suppose it's because you're floundering about, and it started irritating me. Obviously, you don't know that much about being she'chorne-"
"I didn't even know about it all, really, before last night," I managed, accidentally forgetting to block and earning a stinging smack on my arm.
"Anyway, I decided you needed someone to talk to besides a bird." Frayley halted the pattern and took my stave, placing it back in the rack. Clapping me on the shoulder, he said, "If you need someone to talk to, go ahead and talk. Let's get some breakfast, hmm?"
I followed him back to the mess hall, still wondering exactly what this was about.
--------------------------------------------
Poor confoozled Liluye...
~Fireblade K'Chona
Earthangel: Have cake today!
Cerulean Sky: Poor Riverwind.
Darkfyre: Yes, it's spelled right. As for dead in the black...you were right a review or two ago...that's the acid bomb-things. I think. I can't find it right now.
EvilGenius92389: You'll just have to see about being unrequited...no, they're not lifebonded. I'm trying to avoid lifebonds for once...and I think that Kree's bond is enough. No, *if* Liluye and Helia get together, they'll be just plain, uh...*thinks* shieldmates! Yay! I remembered! And I doubt bondbirds can lifebond...Companions are humans in a weird shape, bondbirds are just...birds. Yeah.
Hawk-Sister: Glad you like.
LeopardDance: I vant to get Liluye to a battlefield. And as for meeting a Hawkbrother or Shi'na'in...well, I have something vague in mind, but it might not work out.
Cookxenya: Found the gryphon! *pointedly ignores "not your best"*
Kierseth: *sarcasm* Noooooo, Helia's her worst enemy. ;)
Cat McDougall: Yes, I have seen a kyree smile...Rrissa smiles when she's about to deflate my ego by means of reciting Shi'na'in proverbs...even if it's technically not a she...
Ssjbookgirl: I'll keep those suggestions in mind.
Muse responsible: Rrissa.
Onto the story! And Liluye's been training extra-hard, trying to put everything out of her mind, but it's about to catch up with her...ehehe. Several days later, at the Lone Hawk Inn, Liluye and some of her friends are having a conversation...
----------------------------------------------------
Our table lapsed into a comfortable silence, the fire crackling and the rattling of dice continuing.
At last, Necia brought up a topic which I thought had been disposed of-"Who do you think you could fall in love with?"
The question caught me totally off-guard. I mused about it, sipping my beer, and Sent a query to Kree.
Kree was currently deeply involved in a strenuous "fungame," and had no answer for me, seeing as he was concentrating hard.
At last, Leon broke the silence. "Well, I think that the only woman I'd love would have to be a fellow mercenary, because how otherwise could your partner understand what it was like, to sell your sword and maybe that you couldn't come back alive?"
"True," said Helia, looking into the fire and absently fingering a charm of a silver feather on a leather string around her neck.
"There's the added benefit of a partner-maybe them coming to rescue you one in a while, and being able to guard your back," said Tuvya, the newest addition to our Lone Hawk table.
"I suppose that handsome or pretty isn't a requirement, though it's a nice addition," was my contribution-all I could think of to say.
Helia glanced at me, the fire catching her eyes in its light for a moment. Something about her look said that perhaps there was something I wasn't actually saying...
[Which there is, but even I am not sure what it is, exactly...] I mused.
:I come, bondmate,: came Kree's weary thought.
I groped under the table, glad for a distraction, and came up with the perch I had set underneath for occasions such as this. The Lone Hawk inn had grown used to Kree, and regarded him as a lucky bird, of sorts.
A few minutes later, Kree squeezed through a window, and I was caught short at just how large he was again. The hawk-eagle would have no trouble killing a man-that beak could sever a spine as if it were butter.
Yet that beak nibbled my nose gently as Kree settled onto his perch, resting back and folding his wings.
"Heyla, bird. Anything new today?" I asked him conversationally. The rest of the group, used to this, continued their chat.
:More arrows now, I carry balls up high and drop, dive at moving targets and bite,: said Kree, :Tree-stuff taste bad.:
Before I could even raise my arm, one of the servers presented Kree with a whole rabbit-skinned and gutted, but raw. Kree cast a look of undying gratitude at the server as I rolled my eyes. "You're spoiling him!" I protested futilely as the maid smiled at Kree and scratched his head gently- once learning that the bird was intelligent as a human, the servers had taken to him.
"...for me, it wouldn't even matter if the perfect person were a man," said Frayley, startling me with the tag-on. Now I wished I had heard the full sentence...
[Wait. Why do I want to have heard the full sentence?] I wondered plaintively.
"You mean you're-what's the word all the Sunhawks use?" said Jaonsen, "Ah, yes. She'chorne?"
:Shay'a'chern!: came Kree's irritated mind-voice.
:Thanks for that, featherhead...: I said a bit sarcastically.
"No, not really...but if the best partner possible for me were a man..." I forgot to listen to the rest of the sentence.
[Is that what I am? She'chorne, shay'a'chern, whatever-it-is?] I wondered. [No one at home ever mentioned anything remotely like this...it just never came up.]
Kree gulped down the rest of his rabbit, giving me an excuse to offer him my arm.
:No more?: asked Kree, plaintively.
:I'll give you more when we get back,: I replied to him, mind-to-mind, anxious to just leave.
Kree willingly stepped onto my wrist, his talons closing gently as he shifted. :Ach, bird, you're heavy.:
:Home now? More food?: asked Kree.
:Right.: I said this to Kree only half paying attention, the rest of me absorbed in my own thoughts.
I left the Lone Hawk Inn in the gathering darkness amid a few odd looks from my fellow recruits, yet I ignored them and headed for the barracks.
Nearing the wall where my window was, I tossed Kree into the air. With a few wingbeats, he glided over the roof and around the corner, where I knew he would settle on his perch.
I stopped at the kitchen and picked up his allotted dinner, still stumbling through my turmoil of emotions.
Kree hopped inside and ate gratefully as I changed into a nightshirt and sat at the window, my mind buzzing with activity.
I spoke under my breath, needing to hear something to properly sort out my thoughts. "If Frayley doesn't care whether his lovers are male or female, then what does that make me?" I stated the first question carefully, getting up and starting to pace.
Then, glancing at Kree, I shielded my thoughts lightly, a mere screen which he could break through if he needed to, but somehow wanting to keep this private.
[I know I never really cared for the various suitors Mother hinted at back at home,] I continued in my mind, [But I thought that was just because they were great galumphing idiots...]
"So I must be shay'a'chern," I murmured, trying the word for the first time.
The implications of that admission made me grow cold for a moment that lasted forever, until-
"Why'd you run off like that?" came a familiar voice, the door opening, then closing. My heart twisting, I turned to face Helia.
"Kree was hungry-" I began, but Helia cut in. "You know that those servers would have stuffed him-there wasn't any reason to bring him here. You didn't even finish your drink."
Kree hopped to his perch, and I set the tray outside the door to avoid Helia's eyes.
"Are you all right?" asked Helia, taking a close look at my face. "You're flushed."
She laid the back of her hand against my forehead. The touch, however innocuous, made me blush harder.
"You're warm," observed Helia, testing her own forehead. "Perhaps you should see the Healer."
"No, no-" I said, distractedly, "I'll be all right."
Helia frowned at me for a moment. "Well, if you're sure..."
I got into my bed and burrowed into the blankets, facing the window. I forced my breathing into a slow rhythm, then managed to relax enough to let sleep conquer me.
I awoke before dawn the next morning, dressed, and left the room, careful not to disturb my slumbering roommate. Heading down the stairs, I entered the mess hall, automatically heading for my usual seat.
There were a few other early risers, some of them yawning, others looking disgustingly cheerful, yet no one sat at my table except Frayley.
"So, joining the ranks of the morning larks?" asked Frayley, cheerfully buttering a piece of bread and handing it to me.
"I'm-not sure," I said, taking the bread and holding it.
"You don't seem to be sure about a lot of things, do you?" said Frayley, looking at me sharply.
I stared at him. He chuckled. "You forget that I notice things, a lot more things than most would give me credit for," he said.
I set down the bread, slowly. "What do you mean?" I asked, fighting to get the words out.
Frayley propped his chin on his elbow and looked directly into my eyes. "Fleeing the Lone Hawk Inn last night, carefully avoiding the subject of love-I can put two and two together."
I continued staring at him. Frayley reached across the table and closed my mouth, which had opened without my noticing. "I doubt you'd enjoy flies," he explained.
I couldn't seem to talk-my body had gone numb.
"You don't seem hungry-perhaps some weaponry-practice?" Frayley said genially.
Somehow, I managed to stand and follow him to the training grounds. Once there, Frayley handed me a stave, took one himself, and saluted me.
Beginning one of the most basic blow-and-block combinations I knew, Frayley seemed disinclined to talk before I did.
At last, I managed something coherent. "Why?" I asked, not quite able to finish the question.
"You mean, why am I telling you all this?" said Frayley, speeding the pattern slightly. I nodded.
Frayley sighed, not stopping the rhythmic sound of our clashing staves. "I suppose it's because you're floundering about, and it started irritating me. Obviously, you don't know that much about being she'chorne-"
"I didn't even know about it all, really, before last night," I managed, accidentally forgetting to block and earning a stinging smack on my arm.
"Anyway, I decided you needed someone to talk to besides a bird." Frayley halted the pattern and took my stave, placing it back in the rack. Clapping me on the shoulder, he said, "If you need someone to talk to, go ahead and talk. Let's get some breakfast, hmm?"
I followed him back to the mess hall, still wondering exactly what this was about.
--------------------------------------------
Poor confoozled Liluye...
~Fireblade K'Chona