It was a beautiful early-Summer day in Oruanui. Miyoko was reclining in a padded deck chair in the shade, watching Faith and Rowan practice and spar with bokken in the front yard. The Slayer was wielding her usual katana-sized practice sword, but the Lehaïr had opted to use two wakizashi-sized ones instead.
The steady clack-clack-clack of wood meeting wood was somehow very soothing. The two were quite evenly matched with the Lehaïr using a combo that was somewhat unfamiliar to him. Not totally, though, Miyoko had immediately seen.
While watching the two exchange blows, events from the past several days started popping into her mind. Time had flown like a breeze, she realized. Three days after her injury, the Council's doctor had paid them a visit and basically given her a clean bill of health – excluding the persistent and total numbness in her legs, of course. The Nurse, Silvia, had left with the doctor, but would be on-call for the next month or so – as would the doctor.
Her new physiotherapist, a bald, black guy in his early-30s named Carl, had visited her for the first time the day before, having come to assess her initial condition to be able to draft a personal therapy program for her. He would be visiting her three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for two hours each in the mornings. Later, when he was satisfied with her progress, a taxi service would transport her for her sessions to his practice in Taupo and back.
One of the reasons for her speedy recovery had been Faith. She had never seen the Slayer so happy before. It was as if some final piece had clicked into place with the arrival of Rowan.
Even the initially grumpy Slayer had had to admit that their current living arrangements worked surprisingly well. Rowan had been given Trang's old room, which was next to Miyoko's and opposite Patricia's. Pauline's room was next to Patricia's, and an empty, spare room opposite hers completed the set of six rooms opening from the long corridor.
Besides overall mobility, what Miyoko missed the most were the dinners together. She was still confined to a prone or semi-reclined position; it would take a few more weeks until she was allowed to sit upright and start practicing the use of a wheelchair – just to be on the safe side. Naturally, she ate all her meals in bed, propped up, but there was always someone keeping her company and eating with her.
It was during one of these dinner sessions with Faith that the Slayer had come up with the course of action she was now following as it came to her relationship with Rowan. And, sure enough, that very topic popped up between the two as they continued practicing.
"About that date...?" Rowan started.
"I'm still thinking about it," Faith answered with a straight face.
"What do you mean 'you're still thinking about it'?" Rowan frowned.
"Just that I'm not sure if I should accept such a proposition without considering all the options I have."
"You want me to beg, is that it?"
"Hey, you brought that up, not me," Faith smirked. "Let's see it first, then I might be willing to reconsider."
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Why, whatever gave you that idea?"
As far as Miyoko was concerned, she was enjoying herself immensely, looking at the couple's interaction. Faith had confided in her that she had never played "hard to get" but was more than eager to give it a go with Rowan – without revealing her hand to him, of course. In Faith's past such an approach would have been unthinkable, but now with someone she could trust completely, she was willing to indulge in this little bit of fantasy play.
Miyoko was watching Rowan intently, but the Lehaïr's poker face was perfect. There was no way to read what he might be thinking.
After a few more minutes, Faith indicated that she wanted to have a break. Miyoko watched as Rowan turned around, walked past her and laid the two wooden swords on the patio. The Lehaïr stood absolutely still for several moments with his hands balled into fists. When he finally turned around again, Miyoko gasped. There was a totally different look on his face than the one he usually wore.
"Yo, Faith!" Rowan called out.
"Huh?" the Slayer gaped with her water bottle half-way raised to her lips.
"'Sup, girl?" Rowan grinned and sauntered over.
"Did you hit your head with the bokken or what?" Faith asked, totally dumbstruck.
"Nah, been watchin' ya from across the yard for a while now, yunno. You're pretty fly for a white chick."
Miyoko almost fell off her chair as she started laughing hysterically. It was quite hard to keep one's balance when you couldn't compensate with your legs.
"If you think this is...," Faith started with a thunderous frown on her face.
"You, me, date – capisci?"
"You're out of your fucking mind," the Slayer growled, completely off-balance, and quickly escaped the scene inside and straight to her room.
"That went surprisingly well," Rowan commented idly with his back to Miyoko.
"Bravo!" was the only thing Miyoko could think of saying.
That evening Faith found a rose fastened to her door.
Her first instinct was to rip it to pieces, but, instead, after having given it a second thought, she fetched a long-necked glass vase from the kitchen and placed it on her nightstand.
The next day it seemed that wherever Faith went, Rowan was already there or appeared in less than a few minutes. He never said anything, just leaned against a wall or a door jamb with that infuriatingly cocky smile on his face. Whenever Faith caught his eyes by accident, he always gave her a wink. Whenever he saw that she was about to open her mouth, he just left silently, leaving Faith to gnash her teeth and steam.
"He's the most infuriating excuse for a fucking boyfriend I've ever come across," Faith was fuming and pacing back and forth in Miyoko's room.
"So, you must have quite a lot of experiences on that front?" Miyoko asked mildly.
"What?"
"Boyfriends. You've never mentioned any in your past, you know?"
"What's there to tell," Faith snorted. "Ronnie – deadbeat, Steve – klepto, Kenny – drummer. Story, end of."
"So, you would just lump him in the same company with them? Rowan – demon?"
"No! No fucking way. It's just..."
"He's the first one you've really cared for."
"Yeah."
"And now that he's here, you really don't know what to do? On one hand, I've never seen you happier; on the other, you seem more than a little self-conscious. When he was in Britain, it was much easier, right? The perfect, imaginary boyfriend."
"So, what would you do, Dr Phil?"
"Me? If you're not interested, sign me up! But, think about this one for a bit. You adopted this 'hard to get' routine and what did he do? Improvised, just like that – for you. Doesn't that tell you enough?"
Faith was just about to answer when the distinct sound of a piano entered the room through the open window.
"What the...?" Faith gaped and rushed to the window to look down.
There, on the lawn, Pauline was holding a boombox in her hands with Rowan standing beside her. Before Faith could even think of asking what the fuck was going on, Rowan started to sing, looking up at her.
Caro mio ben
Credimi almen
Senza di te
Languisce il cor
Caro mio ben
Senza di te
Languisce il cor
"Is that...?" Miyoko asked in shock.
"Who else?" Faith groaned. "I'm gonna..."
"Faith!" Miyoko snapped. "If you're even thinking of stopping him now, I'm going to fucking break both your legs."
Il tuo fedel
So spira ognor
Cessa, crudel
Tanto rigor!
Cessa, crudel
Tanto rigor
Tanto rigor!
"You never told me he could sing!"
"Yeah, well. As you can hear...," Faith sighed and rolled her eyes.
Caro mio ben
Credimi almen
Senza di te
Languisce il cor
Caro mio ben
Credimi almen
Senza di te
Languisce il cor
Faith had had enough. "Fine!" she shouted, leaning out of the window. "Fucking fine! You win. I'll go out on a freaking date with you."
"I love you, Sunray," Rowan smiled at her from below.
"Yeah, yeah, love you too, Bright Eyes," Faith muttered and slammed the window shut. "Shut up," she snapped at the madly grinning Miyoko.
"Thank you, Dr Mahuta," Rowan nodded to the Māori woman after she had stopped the music.
"Pauline, Rowan. Pauline. You have an amazing voice."
"I had a very good teacher."
"That was a very nice thing you did for her, whether she immediately realizes it or not. She really wants to feel loved and cherished."
Following Pauline's lead, they started slowly walking around the mansion back to the front yard.
"I have mostly you and Ms Nagisa to thank for it. This place has been exactly what she needed."
"And you?"
"Well, as you know, I have quite mixed feelings. I still expect to see the Central Peak every time I look to the south. Everything's the same, yet totally different, if you know what I mean. The place I knew, if such a thing can be said to exist in any meaningful form, lays six hundred feet under, beneath a bed of lava and compressed ash."
"Disregarding all that, how do you like it here?"
"Well, well," Rowan laughed in amusement. "Now we finally got to the subtle recruiting part. I've been waiting for this."
Pauline laughed in return. "Looking at your pretty face makes me forget what a shrewd player you are. Forgive me for underestimating you."
"I've been known to take advantage of it from time to time," Rowan deadpanned. "From what Wesley has told me, I have enough information about you and your organisation to form my own opinions. Who's your liaison with the Powers?"
Pauline didn't twitch an eyelash. "I wouldn't be at liberty to discuss the identity of such a person even if one existed in the first place."
"Fair enough, Doctor," Rowan nodded with a secretive smile. "The Powers work in mysterious ways."
"So I've heard."
"Now, regarding associations," Rowan returned to the previous subject. "As you know my first loyalty is to Faith."
"Yes, that's perfectly obvious."
"Next, there are the Scoobies, and parallel to them, although in a somewhat limited capacity, I'm beholden to Morgaine, the Duchess of Cornwall. If you can accept that, I have no objections to being associated with you and yours."
"I can accept that. Now, with that out of the way, I believe it is my duty – in loco parentis – to give you the Speech."
"Really?"
"Yes, as a somewhat informally adopted aunt, I'm telling you here and now that if you hurt my niece in any way – intentionally or unintentionally – I'm going to make you regret it. Do I make myself clear, young man?"
"Yes, ma'am," Rowan answered with a straight face.
"Good. Now, regarding your first date. Driving is out of the question, I'm afraid, but I'll cover the taxi fee to and from Taupo for you two."
"Pauline, that's not really necessary," Rowan objected, thinking about the Council-issued Platinum AMEX card inside the drawer of his nightstand.
"Yes, it is. It's the duty of the wealthy, elder relative to help the young couple to realize their dreams."
"Thank you," Rowan offered sincerely. "Faith is lucky to have a loving aunt like you."
"I'm still warming up to you, Rowan, but I like what I've seen so far."
A/N: Listen to the following performance (without video) in YT to get an idea of what Rowan's rendition of "Caro Mio Ben" could have sounded like: Ye_9l1PMB3s
(Sorry, FF strips out URLs, but searching with that code should still work. The name of the performance is "Toomas Kuter - Caro mio ben".
