Life with XCOM seemed to be presenting all sorts of new impossibilities.
Not even a few days ago, Fal-Mai had found herself comforting Jax, alongside Mordenna of all people, and resolving that they could be a family without the rotting influence of the Elders. That was already no small miracle in and of itself. In a few ways, Fal-Mai was still coming to terms with the events that had transpired.
Perhaps it was comparatively lesser, but now here she was, walking alongside one of her brothers and holding a steady conversation.
"—and you truly never held onto the dresses that were designed for you?"
Jax's words brought her back to the present. The topic had drifted to the many PR events that the Elders had held. She knew Jax to revel in them. As for her? She attended and held a calm face when she was required. She did not begrudge them, but she did not find joy in them, either. A little too gaudy for her tastes, with so many pretenses she had to uphold. As for those dresses... she scoffed. "They presented an ungainly amount of my skin. I chose not to hold onto them because they were not practical."
Jax chuckled, shaking his head. "Practically-minded as always, I see. Though, if I remember correctly..." He brought a hand to his chin in thought, the other tucked behind his back. "Did not most of your dresses merely expose a shoulder or your collarbones?"
"Yes. Far too much skin, as I have said."
At that, it was clear Jax was holding back further laughter. Instead of laughing, he continued with his questions. "—might I ask why? If the answer is merely a conservative mindset, I can understand such."
Fal-Mai looked forwards, rubbing her upper arm. "I am not sure if you know this, but my skin is extraordinarily sensitive. My face has grown somewhat used to it through exposure, of course." Before that? Those first few months or so were a sensory nightmare. "The rest of my body? Not as much. Even having those regions exposed was causing me no small amount of distress."
Nodding, Jax looked forward as well. "Very understandable, in such a case. Would you think a lace mesh would alleviate the problem somewhat?"
Fal-Mai winced. "Not lace. Unless it is made out of the softest thread it can be made of, I simply cannot stand the texture of lace on my body."
"Is it the texture of the more commonly-used threads that bothers you, or is it the intricacy of the designs that you can feel so personally?"
"Somewhat more of the former, though I will admit to the latter being a problem."
"Mhm." Jax let his hand return to his back. "If you ever wish to have such dresses remade to your tastes—or any other clothing, for that matter—I have had Maria contact Eliza in regards to setting up my tailors. They will be able to acquaint you with what you desire."
As much as Fal-Mai was interested at the prospect, it did remind her of two things. One, as far as she knew, Jax hadn't properly approached the Commander to apologize yet—or even handle the matter at all. Two, and related to the first... they had been called by Eliza to the Bridge in regards to an upcoming mission. Jax couldn't delegate dealing with Eliza to Maria forever, especially with a meeting such as this. She looked to her brother, face shifting to concern. "If I may derail the subject slightly, when are you going to reconcile with Eliza, brother?"
Jax's mood shift was palpable. He went to a calm joviality to hushed dread, looking away from her. "... I have wronged the Commander. It is best I show my face in front of her as little as possible. If she calls for me, I will come, but..."
Her mouth set into a thin line. His behavior would be appropriate for avoiding the ire of the Elders. Eliza, however? She didn't strike Fal-Mai as the type to react so badly as they tended to do. "What makes you so afraid to approach her?"
"Have I not already stated that...?" He sighed. "I have wronged her. She has every right to punish me, and even as I know that... I still fear the consequences." He placed a hand on his forehead. "If I had not been so presumptuous of my power and her own, we would not be in this situation. But, as it stands?" He left the statement there, rubbing his forehead.
Fal-Mai drew closer, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Jax. Eliza is not the Elders. I am confident in saying that she has no desire to punish you."
"You have not wronged her, sister," he muttered. "I have. I am certain of what will happen. She might have the mercy to not punish me in front of you when we enter the Bridge, but if she catches me by my lonesome..."
Fal-Mai caught something in that statement, and she latched onto it. "If you are certain she would not punish you in front of me or our brother, then I will come with you when you will reconcile with her."
Jax shook his head. "She will order you out of the room, and then events shall transpire from there. I have wronged her, Fal-Mai. Before anything else, punishment awaits me."
"Then I will stay even as she orders me to leave!" Fal-Mai looked up to him with determination in her eyes. "Nevermind the fact that this is Eliza we are speaking of. Brother, Mordenna has wronged Eliza and faced no punishment like what you are rightfully afraid of."
The conversation was stalled slightly as they came to the door to the Bridge. Jax stopped in front of it, clearly not wanting to go in. His hands dropped to his sides. "It will happen," he dejectedly muttered. "I have wronged her. Punishment is what I deserve for harming someone so selfless."
It looked like Jax wouldn't be budged on his mindset. Remembering her previous failures on brute-forcing topics like this, she sighed and her hand fell from him. "It won't be that way," she offered, knowing he wouldn't listen. "Please, trust me."
He closed his eyes and shook his head, offering nothing else. Even as the conversation had been ended, he did not advance or go in the door. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked to Fal-Mai, pleading evident in his features. "Could... could you go in? I'll... wait outside."
"Eliza will wonder why you're not there," she softly countered.
"I am already due for punishment." He slumped against the wall next to the doorframe. "What is one more transgression...?"
As much as Fal-Mai wanted to stand here and argue with him that he would be perfectly fine going inside, she could see it going nowhere fast. Jax was already locked up into repeating statements. She didn't think anything she'd say would be able to convince him to go inside. Shoulders slumping, she shallowly nodded. "—ok. I will let you know what she wanted to impart."
"Thank you," he muttered.
With a heavy heart, Fal-Mai opened the door and stepped on inside. The Bridge had a few operatives at the various workstations in the room. At the Hologlobe, Eliza and Mordenna stood. They both looked to her as she entered, though it was Eliza who beat Mordenna to the punch for a greeting. "Good to see you, Fal-Mai. Sorry for calling you down on such short notice."
She shook her head, walking up to join them. "It is no problem, Commander. What do you require of me?"
"Well..." She crossed her arms. "I was hoping for your other brother to get here before I got into that. Have you seen him on your walk over?"
Feeling her stomach plummet, Fal-Mai averted her gaze. If she told Eliza he was just outside, she might go to confront him, and Fal-Mai knew that would distress Jax greatly. If she lied and said she had not seen him... she dare not think it. In the end... "I... I was with him on my walk, but—but he did not wish to come to the Bridge."
At that, Eliza's shoulders slumped and she looked down. Initially she didn't reply, and it was Mordenna who picked up the slack, shaking his head in mild disbelief. "He's really still hung up about that, ain't he?"
Fal-Mai looked to him neutrally. "With the reaction you had, I would not be surprised, myself."
His face twitched and it was only then that Fal-Mai caught how she worded it. Instead of "going off on one" as she had heard one of the soldiers say, Mordenna closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and blew it out. "Nah. Nah that's valid. Wasn't saying I was surprised, of course, more just... sad. Lizzie he's really taking that whole situation hard on himself."
"As I can see," she murmured, looking into the light of the Hologlobe. "I wanted to give him space because he seems, for lack of a less demoralizing term, afraid of me."
"If you don't approach," Mordenna replied, "he'll never give that space back. If it ain't a problem related to one of his little ladies—or any of his other followers—he's not going to deal with it on his own terms."
Eliza sighed at that, squeezing her arms. "Guess I'll have to confront him sooner rather than later—I'm just worried he'll think I'm hunting him down to punish him and that's the last thing I want him thinking."
"Ain't that the rub." Mordenna rested a hand on his hip. "I'm sure I could finagle getting you two into the same room without him thinking he's due to be hanged, if you'd like."
"Sounds like a plan. After this I'll talk to you about times and the such." Taking in a steadying breath, Eliza moved her hands, clasping them in front of her. "Well, seeing as this is our meeting attendance—as Bradford is off handling some of my duties and Jax has opted to skip out—I'll get down to brass tacks." Eliza unclipped the datapad from her belt and started working it, the Hologlobe shifting into a roster. "Part of the package we got with Arachne was a pair of missions—the first one was an ADVENT Blacksite of indiscernible purpose." She regarded the two Chosen a little grimly. "Far be it from me to pick out trends, but signs point to it possibly being Jax's Ascension Facility."
"Could be any old suspicious facility out in the woods, Commander," Mordenna offered to lighten the mood, but it was clear by the look on his face that he was resigned to the possibility. "I mean, what're the odds that it's any old Avatar Project facility?" He paused. "—if you're curious it's 81.37%. With a margin of error of 4.3%. Admittedly I'm fudging the numbers a bit."
Mordenna's supposedly accurate calculations aside, Fal-Mai took her chance to speak. "I would assume we are gathered here regarding our opinion on attending the mission?"
"Essentially so, yes." Eliza looked between the two of them. "Do either of you ever get tired?"
Mordenna shrugged. "Not in the long term sense, no. At least, the brand of 'tired' I know you're on about. I'll be happy to march off on any number of missions."
Fal-Mai nodded. "As with I. I can be momentarily exhausted, but we as Chosen were built for constant conflict. So long as I get even an hour's rest, I can be fit for the next battle."
"Right, noted for the future." Both Mordenna and Fal-Mai appeared on the roster. "... you think Jax wants to come?"
Fal-Mai couldn't stop herself from looking towards the door she had entered from. Assuming Mordenna caught the action, she spoke. "I... can ask him, if he is where I think he is."
"Please do. And..." Eliza trailed off, as if there was something more she wanted to add, or request. Nothing ever came though, and she shook her head. "Nevermind. Go ahead and ask him."
Not pausing to look back, Fal-Mai drifted back towards the door. Sure enough, Jax was still leaned on the other side, looking contemplative and somber. He turned towards Fal-Mai. "... what of the meeting?"
"It is regarding an upcoming mission. The Commander asks if you are willing to attend."
Closing his eyes, Jax breathed deeply, as if he were giving a fair amount of thought to it. If he agreed, it would be the first time that all three Chosen appeared on the same side, fighting together without clenched teeth. A momentous day in history, indeed... but Fal-Mai could imagine why he'd be hesitant in going. This "family" prospect was still new to all three of them, and there was a bit of awkwardness when they weren't all in the heat of the moment. Plus, it would be his very first combat mission. After hearing what Joseph had said...
In the end, Jax nodded, opening his eyes. "Tell her I would be willing to march into battle for her." He looked to the side, confidence leaving him. "Perhaps a fair show in battle will be cause for a lesser punishment..."
"Brother..." But from the way Jax tensed up at that and pointedly looked further to the side, he wasn't intending to discuss the matter any further. Knowing she was at a dead end for this, Fal-Mai let it drop. "I'll let her know."
After that, Fal-Mai reappeared in the Bridge, taking her spot again at the Hologlobe. "He says he is willing to attend," she said, somewhat avoiding Eliza's gaze.
Silently, Eliza tapped her pad, and Jax's name joined the roster. Her moment of melancholy ended as she further considered the list. "Close range, scouting, long range, psionics... jeez, you guys are a squad, yourselves. All you guys are missing is a medic."
Mordenna gestured to one of the empty slots. "Fuck, Jax has Maria. Give her a rifle, have one of the Rangers show her how to use a blade, and she's got her healing psionics. Would be worth."
Taking the suggestion, Maria joined the roster. "Four. Banel will be your fifth until you design Jax a minigun and Baal loses his job."
Clearly it was a joking suggestion, but a particular spark seemed to be set off in Mordenna's eyes, and he tapped his foot aggressively. "Of course. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Liz, you're amazing." Whipping a notepad out of one of his pockets, he got a pen from another and started writing something down. "Obviously I'm probably going to have to teach him to fire it—along with his rifle, come to think of it—but I think some heavy-duty ordinance is just what Jax needs. Plus the dude's so jacked he could have it and his rifle for range options. Oh but if I want it to use different ammo types, maybe I could have a backpack to feed the—"
"Mordenna," Eliza interrupted with a smile on her face, "I love to hear you ramble—no joke there—but let's get this roster finalized before you go talking until the cows come home."
"Right, right, right." Mordenna finished writing, stowing his tools away. "What else even is there to bring? You've basically got the whole damn shooting match, here. Anyone else is just extra."
"Gotta have six people for insurance, Mordenna." She tapped her chin, looking to the last slot. "... I think I'll pencil in that last slot as Wiki. She might like whatever's available in there."
"Good lord, Eliza, you've assigned more aliens than humans." Mordenna shook his head in mock disbelief. "What will the tabloids say about this one?"
"Something, something, debauchery of the highest order?" Eliza tapped a few more things on her pad and the roster turned back into the globe. "Well, that was all I had for you lot. We'll be heading out to the mission location here shortly."
"Right! Now, what was I saying—" Mordenna stopped dead in his tracks as he looked over to Fal-Mai. The pause made her worry that he had something serious to say, but he shook a finger at her, like he was remembering something. "Wait. Mission coming up. Fals, I've got a thing or two for you down in the Workshop. Mind coming with me?"
Relieved that there was no serious matter afoot, Fal-Mai nodded. "Of course."
"Fantastic! Lizbeth, I'm gonna be heading down there. After that I'll come back up and talk your ear off, since you like it so much."
Eliza chuckled, putting the datapad back on her hip. "Well, you've got me there. Always nice to know what my engineers are up to—and you tend to pare things down into terms I can get, so I do like listening to you, thank you very much."
Grinning, Mordenna walked over to Fal-Mai. As he got closer, her keen hearing could pick out his heartbeat... and how it was slightly quickened. Curious. "Ah, the sky's falling in, Fals. Someone's happy to hear me ramble. What is with XCOM and bringing about the end of the world, huh? Anyway..." He looked to the other door at the far end of the room, and then to the one Fal-Mai came in. His jovial mood seemed to slip and he knitted his brows. "—Let's head out."
Wordlessly, Fal-Mai followed after Mordenna, but not before giving a proper wave to Eliza as she departed. Mordenna walked towards the door with purpose, tapping the panel without looking and navigating beyond. He looked around and heaved a sigh. When Fal-Mai stepped through and got a look herself, she could see the reason for his frustration; Jax was gone.
"Goddamnit Jax," Mordenna grumbled without any real heat to it, "we're all family here and I'd very much like to discuss this behavior, thank you very much." He turned his head back to Fal-Mai. "He was here, right?"
"The last time I spoke to him, yes." He must've disappeared sometime after that. It was... interesting, to hear Mordenna go on about discussing behavior without some kind of implied insult behind it. It was something she would have to get used to. Mind turning back to matters at hand, she loosely clasped her hands together. "—to the Workshop?"
Mordenna looked back ahead, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. I'll go find our cowardly lion later. No... no insult meant, he just..." Mordenna sighed. "To the Workshop."
They shoved off, and the beginning of the trip was quiet, leaving Fal-Mai to her thoughts. She had already fought beside her brother twice before—and only one of those times involved them shooting at each other, which was far better than she would have guessed before. To have all three of them fighting as a united force? Fal-Mai would've wondered what the Elders would think had her mind not drifted back to the radio broadcast. It seemed they had already assumed such a possibility.
A bit into the walk, it seemed Mordenna could handle the silence no longer. Fal-Mai could hear him fiddling with something in his pocket as he spoke. "Breaks my heart, it does." After a momentary pause, he continued. "What Jax is doing to himself, I mean. Is he really that afraid he's gonna get the belt?"
Fal-Mai rubbed her thumbs against each other. "Yes. He is certain to the point of arguing that Eliza will punish him should she get him alone. Despite my efforts, I could not argue him out of that thinking."
Mordenna gave another sigh, letting his head lean to one side. "Can take the rabbit out of danger but can't tell it to stop looking for predators. What gets me is that Eliza is like, the last person he should be afraid of. Well... no, Sammy is, but Eliza's second to last. The most Liz would want to do is give him a stern talking-to regarding blaming himself for things that aren't really his fault. But..."
"... when you have the Elders as former parents," she finished for him, "it is hard to not jump at every shadow."
"Exactly. Elders are bastards and fucked us up, but I can't help but believe he got the shortest end of the stick." He reached into his hood and rubbed his neck. "So of course he thinks Lizzie's going to go mental on him for hurting her. Well... it's a tiny ship, relatively speaking, and he can't hide from her forever. Or me, for that matter. I'll get the two of them talking, seeing as they need it."
Thinking on something she told Jax, Fal-Mai spoke up. "Do you think either of us should be there as they talk?"
After a few moments of consideration, Mordenna shook his head. "I don't think that, no. I can understand why, but this is really something they need to talk about privately. Chosen to Commander. I think he'd be even more spooked if he had an audience."
At that, Fal-Mai nodded. She could see the logic behind that reasoning, even if she felt as if she wouldn't be standing by Jax when he needed it most. Some moments needed privacy, and it wasn't as if the Commander was incapable of comforting him after the fact.
Pretty shortly after, Mordenna reached the Workshop, stepping on in after making sure Fal-Mai had followed him. He walked over to his own table, where two different cases lay. He gestured for Fal-Mai to come over as he began speaking. "Now. I'm pretty sure you know what I've got here for you, considering I've literally talked at you regarding them. Open 'em as you'd like, though I recommend the one on the right first."
Taking her brother's suggestion, she undid the clasp on the case, opening it. Inside was a helmet that looked visually similar to the one she was already wearing, perhaps a little bit differently shaped here and there. She picked it up and inspected it further. Around where her ears would be, there was an interwoven, soft mesh, and the outside of the helmet was thicker around that area. She turned to Mordenna, who gestured to put it on.
Putting the new headpiece down on the table, she braced herself as she took ahold of her old one, unclasping it from her uniform and sliding it off of her head. As she took it off, she could feel the parts of her skull that usually never saw too much sensation protest, and that spurred her to be quick about replacing the old with the new. She put the new headpiece on and found the clasps perfectly locked in with her suit. Nothing sounded different, at least, but it did feel slightly heavier. The inside of it felt the same as the last, easing her slightly. No new sensations to tackle outside of weight, and she would easily grow used to that.
"Everything fit alright?" Mordenna sounded like he always did. She nodded—and it was then that she really felt the absence of the tubes on the back of her head. Mordenna must've caught her expression, as he chuckled and started to unclip the tubes from her old helmet. "I made sure that your old 'accessories' would fit into your new digs. Stand still."
Complying, Fal-Mai even turned so that Mordenna would have a clear view of the back of her head. With quick, accurate motions, she could feel Mordenna hooking up the tubes to her new equipment, completing the exchange. "You say 'accessories' as if they are a fashion statement."
"Well, shit, aren't they? They're practically stand-ins for dreads. Don't tell anyone I said this, but objectively it's a good look. Maybe—" Mordenna paused for a second, leading Fal-Mai into looking back towards him. She was starting to get a feel for these "eureka" moments he was having. "—hey, shit, maybe they can be accessories. Does the idea of having slightly different ones appeal to you at all?"
Mulling over the question a bit, she shrugged. "If they were to my liking, perhaps. It is nice to have a bit of variety."
"Consider it a project of mine you can bug me about. Now!" He gestured to the second case. "Go on."
Fal-Mai undid that case as well. On the inside was what looked to be a facemask, with the edges of it clearly connecting to the helmet she just put on. It covered the bottom half of her face and her nose, and even had a visor for her eyes. It was somewhat stylized, with the engraving of a fanged mouth that had curved, protruding canines on it. She raised an eyebrow at it, but otherwise it looked like quite the marvel.
Not needing to be spurred on this time, she flipped it and eased it against her face. Pleasantly, it both felt like the inside of her helmet and didn't contact her skin more than what was necessary. What was a little less pleasant was that the sound of her breathing had changed—it was like there was a filter in some part of the mask, which she could understand the use of. The visor didn't affect her vision too much save for the edges, and the mild tint that was on the outside didn't seem to come through on the inside.
Well, if she got used to the white noise in her ear, she could get used to slightly different breathing. She turned to Mordenna again, smiling gently. "It is a good ensemble," she said, noting how her voice sounded slightly different, as well. "Thank you, brother."
Mordenna's own smile was a little softer than what she was used to. "Glad you like it. I tried to design it to be as familiar as possible, considering I know your skin is a little janky with the hypersensitivity and all. You're interesting to design for, and I have to say I like the challenge."
Her brother seemed to know her well. Still, the fact that he would go out of his way just to make sure it would be easy for her to adopt was heartwarming. "... you certainly put a lot of yourself into your engineering, don't you?"
He shrugged. "Hell, why not? Plus..." His posture softened and he gestured to her head. "Engineering is the one place that I can do something good, guaranteed. I don't trust myself with my words too often, but with what I make? I know what I'm doing there. I can make good things for the people I like."
The implied statement wasn't lost on Fal-Mai. Coming forward, she pulled Mordenna into a hug. "—thank you again, Mordenna. It means much to me."
A little awkwardly at first, then leaning into it, Mordenna returned the hug. "No problem. Like I said, I want to do better. Best to start with what I'm good at and work from there, in my opinion."
She nodded, stepping back from the hug after a moment. "Can you inform me as to what my new equipment can do?"
"Oh, as always!" He clapped his hands together. "Starting with your facemask, it's got a built-in filter that will widen the range of areas you can operate in and still have oxygen. The tech's a little new, so let me know if you get any problems. The visor's made of a glass that's both hilariously difficult to shatter and even then it'll favor busting outwards above all else. I'd say under normal circumstances—and that includes getting shot at on the battlefield—you shouldn't have to worry about it breaking." He pointed to her helmet. "Your helmet's further reinforced and I decided you getting crippled by your sensitive hearing is unfair for you. The helmet will dampen any noise above a certain decibel level, which is why I called you in that one time about noises. Explosions, gunfire, whatever the hell, it should make things easier to stand without nerfing your ability to hear."
The lengths at which Mordenna had gone truly astounded her. She clasped her hands together. "Thank you again, Mordenna. Perhaps... after this mission, I really should allow you to tweak my shotgun. You made it, after all."
He grinned. "I'd be happy to give it a pass or two. Made that thing a long time ago, so it's bound to need an upgrade. And..." His smile fell to give way to a more uncertain expression. "If you ever, like... need anything made for you, hit me up, alright? I can't do everything but I can come pretty close. I... kinda owe you after all the bullshit out of me you've had to put up with."
Though she knew he couldn't see it, Fal-Mai's smile grew. It was nice to have a brother who would make just about anything, if you asked for it. Getting right down to it, it was nice to have a brother. She'd almost ask herself why they didn't do this sooner if not for the fact that she knew exactly why. "I will remember that, brother. Nothing comes to mind at the present, but if I glean something I might want made for me, you will be the first to know."
"Make sure you do! I've got like, a thousand projects down here but I ping pong between them, and most of 'em are personal projects, anyway. Speaking of which!" Closing the boxes and setting them on the ground next to his workbench, Mordenna rifled through the drawers. He came up with a roll of blue paper and a marker. "I have a gun to design! Maybe some armor to support it, too, but I don't think I've seen an upper limit to what our bro can do. Physically, anyway. Boy needs some close combat lessons, though, he's like an uncoordinated sledgehammer." He seemed ready to continue on that thought process, but he looked back to Fal-Mai. "I'm... kinda feeling a few connected rants going on. If that ain't your thing—"
"Do you intend to send me away, brother?" She tipped her head up at him. "I intend to stay here and listen until we are called to our duties."
That stopped Mordenna up a bit as his eyes flickered, but eventually he broke out into a grin. "—alright. Alright. Ok, you ever seen our brother fight, like, physically?"
Coming over, Fal-Mai leaned gracefully on an unused portion of the table. "Only once. He was... to put it lightly, heavy handed."
Mordenna snickered. "Oh, ain't that an understatement. Bro hits like a truck but he's got all the coordination of a drunken brawler who's shotgunned his last five drinks. If he can fit any time in his schedule between getting his ego stroked by his followers and thinking Eliza's gonna jump him, I wanna teach him how to fight for a laugh. Set him on Elena when she gets back, see how she reacts to a Chosen fighting like a neo-Reaper." Scoffing, he flipped up the marker and caught it smoothly. "If I were Jax I'd be hankering to get a chance to get jumped by Eliza."
If Mordenna was meaning any kind of metaphor by that statement, Fal-Mai would be ashamed to admit that she didn't know if it was any kind of euphemism. Figuring she could share that in this company, she shook her head. "I... could not imagine why you would like to be ambushed by Eliza in such a context. Is there some sort of double-meaning...?"
Seemingly catching what he'd said, Mordenna opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. He rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes flickered away. "Well. Yeah. Kinda. I mean, like." Her new headpiece certainly wasn't dampening non-damaging noises, as she could hear Mordenna's heart speed up again. Hmm... "Look the metaphor isn't important because I sure say a lot of shit, y'know?"
Fal-Mai couldn't claim to be an expert on subtext and the nuances of conversation, but the way Mordenna reacted to having to explain himself suggested that it was a little bit more of a risqué expression. She tilted her head. If it was a expression for something more suggestive and Mordenna was embarrassed at having to explain it... "—Brother? Do you like Eliza?"
"What? Yeah. Everybody does." He gestured wildly, his lopsided smile more nervous than anything else. "Don't see your point there, Fals, I think anyone could agree that Eliza's pretty terrific. Shit, I'd think you'd know that especially, yeah?"
"No, I mean..." She rolled her hand. "More than that. You seem far more fond of her than a mere admiration and friendship would express." Far be it from her to blame him. Eliza was just... right, in so many ways. She made Fal-Mai feel right at home.
"Well the woman saved me from one of my famous swan dives. Of course I'm gonna feel like she's a little bit more to me." He pointed the marker at her. "What're you getting at? Trying to say I'm in love with her?"
"What is wrong with such a statement? If she makes you feel uplifted, cared for... confident... nervous..."
Oh. The pieces were starting to slide into place. As Fal-Mai trailed off, she stared blankly at some point around Mordenna's chest. Her own heart would speed up when Eliza did something more tender, admirable, or even cute. If what Mordenna seemed to be going under she could say was love, was what she was experiencing...?
"... oh, great," Mordenna softly grumbled. "Don't tell me we're both in love with her."
Love. Fal-Mai was in love with Eliza. Maybe that was why Sammy had been so confused. For a Chosen to fall in love with a human... for a Chosen to fall in love at all must've been outside of the realm of possibility. She could hardly believe it, herself. Was that what that kind of love felt like? Giddiness and admiration?
Mordenna pressed his hands together in front of his mouth. "I'll be honest, I really, really don't want to think over this or any of the implications. If you want someone to consult regarding what you're feeling, I'm not your guy. Ok?"
Her head was spinning a bit from realizations and questions, but she'd respect her brother's wishes. It would be something she would have to ask someone else, at a later time. For now... "—Ok. Now. I think you were on about our brother?"
"Right. Yeah. Let's focus on that. At least until Eliza summons us to do glorious battle, and all that."
Mordenna launched into his rant and Fal-Mai listened attentively. She still had so many questions about what she was feeling—and what her and Mordenna being in love with the Commander meant for things going forward. If it would turn out to be some sort of competition for the Commander's rightful hand... well, she didn't want to strain the budding familial relationship she was building with her brother. Nor would she want to acquise her feelings without knowing more about them. Another time, of course.
All she could do now was wait for the mission ahead.
