JAMOS GOES TO THE HARKONS
We're back in the north to find out what Jamos is up to while he goes to support the Harkons during this difficult time, which is about to get even more difficult. -LS
...
The little norcogs wriggle around and spill over each other, but Adria Harkon keeps each and every pup contained on her lap. Every once in a while she scoops up a puppy and buries her face in its fur.
"Adria," her husband Glover rubs her back. "You're squeezing the poor thing."
"I can't help it," Adria whimpers. "He's so fluffy, he's the only thing that makes me feel anything."
Across the room, Jamos knows it's more than the puppy's fluff that's keeping Adria going. The norcogs on her lap are the last litter her daughter Miranda bred and cared for before she left Harkon Hall for Blackhold, before some Huttspawn who called themselves king's men took her and killed her in cold blood.
Jamos' fist tightens. Salt gods, he wants nothing more than to sail the Polaris into Iziz, hunt down Sanjay Rash, and turn the pathetic excuse for a man into paste. The only reason he isn't doing it right now is because his wife is at the Hold, taking care of his sick niece. Jamos has no idea what Dalla contracted, but if it requires total bed rest and no visitors it must be bad. The last thing they need is something like that making its way through the Hold. He sees no reason to investigate and check on his Chirn Bait - Marlon and Shara would always keep him informed.
When it comes to the other wish, however, every time he sees the Harkons he's severely tempted.
Ephraim Harkon clears his throat. "Momma, why don't I get you something for lunch? You haven't eaten all day."
"You should eat, dear." Glover urges. "Give the pups a break."
"I'm not hungry." Adria returns her face to the squirming furball.
"Please," he begs, taking her into his arms. "Please Adria. Just some toast and tea? For Ephraim and Elinor?"
Ephraim approaches his parents and gently, with Glover's and Jamos' help, scoops the norcogs off Adria's lap. Then he offers his arm to his mother and leads her out of the main hall, one puppy still clutched in her arms.
Glover collapses against the back of the couch when his wife and son leave and sighs.
"You should get something to eat too," Jamos says.
"I had breakfast," Glover explains. "I'm worried about her, Jamos. Ever since we found out she's been like a stone statue. And yesterday, when we got those flowers…"
Jamos seethes just thinking about those flowers. Yesterday a delivery droid rolled into Harkon Hall with a rush order of bright red roses. Roses which had been sent anonymously. From Iziz.
Everyone knew who'd sent them the instant they heard the delivery was anonymous, and in the split second it took Glover to beam them into the fireplace Adria lost it. "He thinks this can make up for it?" she wailed. "He killed my baby!"
The roses have long since turned to ash, but Adria hasn't emerged from the fog they'd cast over her.
"Sanjay Rash will pay for what he did," Jamos swears. "To your family and to mine. I don't care what Marlon says; you and I will make him pay."
"Ephraim and Elinor said something like that." Glover shakes his head. "I have hot-blooded children, Jamos. They're fearless, and I'm afraid they'll do something foolish in the name of revenge."
Like sailing south and murdering Rash? Jamos doesn't think that very foolish at all. "I have to admit, I might have joined them if it weren't for the circumstances at the Hold."
"Your niece," Glover recalls. "It's almost a blessing she got sick when she did. It must be miles easier to protect her in the Hold."
Jamos reads between the lines. "If she was able to travel, if Marlon wasn't so worried, if they didn't need Shara to play nurse I'm sure every one of them would be here for you and your family, danger be kriffed."
"I know they would," he says. "Your brother should have listened when I offered to betrothe my Ephraim to his Dalla. Could have saved all this mess."
"Ephraim seemed so much older than her at the time and you know how Marlon feels about betrothals," Jamos replies. That and Marlon and Lana were gunning for an alliance with the Bonteris, but Glover doesn't need to know that now.
"Five years doesn't seem like much when she's looking at a man who could be her father."
"Aye," Jamos says soberly. He doesn't want to think about Rash being anyone's father, let alone his niece's. Quickly he changes the subject. "Whatever possessed you to marry your boy off to a Bralykburn?"
"Talia?" Glover asks. "She's a good girl. They're not madly in love with each other but they'll do well enough. Kept Hugo quiet for a while. He's got a few more daughters I hear. Might do for some of that gang of boys you've got back at the Hold."
Jamos fumes. "I will never see one of mine married to a Bralykburn!"
"Just you wait," Glover smiles at him. "I bet you anything they'll all fall head over heels for his girls."
"I don't think so. We aren't the pirate types." He supposes that isn't entirely fair to Talia, who's one of the kindest people Jamos has met besides Shara. "You got lucky with Talia."
"Don't we know it," Glover winks. "She's been a blessing."
Just then the door to the great hall opens and the woman herself walks in along with Elinor Harkon, Ephraim's twin sister.
"Papa, there's something you need to see," Elinor says.
"What is it?" Glover raises an eyebrow, surveying his daughter and daughter-in-law. Elinor looks grave while Talia seems to be trying not to laugh out loud.
"My little sisters sent me a holorecording," Talia says, a smile pulling at her lips. "Apparently my father received a hologram from Iziz and … well, I think you need to see it to believe it." She pulls a comm unit from her pocket and activates the image.
Hugo Bralykburn pops up on one side of the recording, a young woman with curly hair on the other.
"Tell me," Bralykburn says. "How does a southern whore have this frequency?"
"Talia, who is that?" Jamos asks, pointing to the young woman.
But the young woman answers before Talia can. "Lord Bralykburn, my name is Steela Gerrera. I'm calling to discuss the reason your men are in the Iziz harbor during a trade embargo."
"Gerrera," he mutters. "Shara knew a family with that name." Suddenly the rest of the sentence hit him all at once. "Wait, did she say they're in the Iziz harbor? They broke the embargo?"
Talia nods. "I contacted my father and confronted him after seeing this, and he admitted it. He was trying to corner the fish market and make a quick credit. I apologize on his behalf."
"You couldn't have known," Glover reassures her. "Who's this Gerrera girl?"
"As far as we can gather, she's the leader of the southern rebels," Elinor says. "At first we didn't know how she got the frequency or knew about the embargo in the first place, but later it was crystal clear."
"What do you mean?"
"Keep watching. We're almost to the good part."
Jamos doesn't want to know what "the good part" is, but before he can think about it any more Hugo Bralykburn shouts "Kriff my liege lord! Kriff him and kriff his banners and kriff House Blackwell!"
Jamos and Glover jump at the recorded outburst.
"I'm so very sorry you have to hear this," Talia apologizes over her father's rant that Marlon's a weakling, that he should have put his honor aside and given Rash what he wanted, that he hopes Rash will let him take Marlon's and Dalla's heads when this is over.
"Salt gods, that's treason." Glover gapes.
Jamos is seriously thinking about how to best get Hugo's head on a pike for what he said about his family. "Talia, would you like to get your inheritance early?"
"Please have mercy on him; he's stirred up and shooting off his mouth," Talia pleads.
"Besides, he's already been dealt with," Elinor says.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, just watch."
The poor rebel looks at a loss, and Jamos fees bad for her. A southern beast rider never stood a chance talking to the Bralykburn patriarch.
But then there's a disturbance at the edge of the holo field on the rebel's side. The girl whispers "What are you doing?", Hugo starts to shoot off his mouth again and then a new person steps into the field.
Dalla. The same Dalla who's supposed to be sick in her bed at Blackhold, with Marlon and Shara hovering over her!
"Lord Bralykburn," Dalla says icily.
Glover raises an eyebrow at Jamos. "I thought Dalla was sick back at the Hold."
"So did I," Jamos growls. He can't believe Marlon - and Shara! - would lie to him like this. He's always trusted them with everything. Why didn't they trust him to keep this secret?
Talia bursts out laughing despite her attempts to sober up. "Sorry, Glover. Sorry, Captain Jamos. But his face…" She succumbs to peals of laughter again, this time taking Elinor with her. "No wonder Kora and Kayla kept the recording!"
If he wasn't so angry about his family's deception, Jamos would also be laughing at Hugo's terrified expression. But as it is, nothing can snap him out of his anger.
"They roasted him," Elinor tells her father when she realizes he isn't watching the recording anymore. "It was incredible. They got him to kneel for the beast rider. Did you know she's a Lady too?"
Jamos senses Dalla's hand in the last part but dismisses it. "Glover, may I borrow your comm room?"
Glover nods. "The soundproofing's on the panel right next to the door control."
He's going to need it. Jamos nods his thanks and makes his way to the comm room, soundproofs it, and angrily jabs his brother's frequency into his comlink.
Marlon answers after a good thirty seconds, looking rather harried. "Jamos. How are the Harkons?"
"About as well as you'd expect," he says. "How's Dalla?"
Marlon furrows his brow, no doubt wondering where Jamos' signature grin went. "Not much better. I'm sorry I can't get her for you."
"That's fine. I heard she made a miraculous recovery."
"Er, Jamos, she hasn't. She's still burning up and she's asleep in her room."
"Really. Tell me Marlon, when did you move to Iziz?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know full well what I'm talking about! I just saw a hologram of Dalla, perfectly healthy, in Iziz with the rebels in the south! She's been there the whole time, hasn't she?"
Marlon doesn't answer at first. When he does he sounds strangled. "I didn't know where she went when I sent her. That way if Rash had some force user poke around in my head I couldn't betray her location. But when Thias ran off too -."
"Thias is in Iziz too? Salt gods Marlon, why would you lie to me about something like this?"
"I was trying to protect my children!" He shouts. "The fewer people who knew about this, the safer she was. I don't know what possessed her to reveal herself in the hologram you saw."
"And Shara!" Jamos interrupts his brother. "You made my wife lie to me, Marlon. It's disgraceful! And you know what?" He reaches for the button to terminate the call. "This conversation's over. If you don't trust me to keep my niece safe, then I don't trust you with hearing what I need to say to Shara."
"Jamos!" Marlon scrambles as if to save the call, but Jamos hangs up on him. The second the call terminates he punches in Shara's frequency.
His wife's image materializes before him. "Hello, love," she says with a smile.
Jamos isn't feeling the love. "Are the kids around?"
"No, they're all making cards for Portia."
His already-tortured heart wrings a little more. Right before he left for Harkon Hall their beloved norcog, Portia, finally gave into her old age. His children (not to mention he and Shara) had been devastated when he told them Portia had gone to norcog heaven.
Just then, Marlon's voice filters faintly through the connection: "Shara! If that's Jamos, don't answer him!"
He ignores his brother. "Are you taking care of Ghost Dalla?"
"What?"
He can't take it anymore. "I know Dalla's not at the Hold, Shar."
Shara sighs. "Jamos, I'm so sorry but you have to understand-."
"Understand what? That I'm not trustworthy enough to know that my niece is within a stone's throw of the man who wants to force her into marriage? Who hurt you so terribly and then refused to let you go? I'm sorry being concerned for my family's safety is a crime. Salt gods Shara, why did you lie to me?"
"I didn't come up with it," Shara says. "I only found out because I demanded to be let in to see her."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Shara snaps. "Because I was trying to keep Dalla safe!"
Jamos throws up his hands. "I didn't know I was such a threat to Dalla's safety."
"I know you would never risk any of us being hurt. No one was supposed to know about this but Marlon! We're all trying -," her voice breaks. "We're all trying to get out of this nightmare unscathed and the last thing we need is our own family questioning each other!"
And then it's over. Shara's yelled herself to tears.
Jamos knows the formula for their fights: she yells, he gets sarcastic, she cries. That still doesn't make her tears hurt him any less. "Shar, I'm sorry."
Shara sniffs. "The Harkons didn't hear any of this, did they?"
"The room's soundproof," Jamos explains. "Shara, I'm coming home. We've already had Miranda's funeral, and having me here won't do anything for the family after seeing that holorecording."
"Safe travels," Shara says quickly and shuts off the transmission, probably to go catch one of their kids or cry some more.
Jamos takes a deep, cleansing breath and exits the comm room. Glover's waiting by the door.
"I need to go back to the Hold," he says.
"I'm going with you."
"Glover, your family needs you. You should be here with them, not escorting me."
"I know why you're going home, Jamos. And I'm going to come with you for it." Glover draws himself up to full height and swallows hard. "I'm going to get justice for my baby girl."
Of course, but Sanjay Rash is mine. Something collides against his boot and he looks down. A seal grey norcog pup plays around his feet, exposing his belly to be petted. Jamos, lover of animals, obliges.
"You know, that's not one of Miranda's," Glover says. "You said your Portia passed on? Why not bring home a new member of the family?"
"Glover, the pups are Adria's lifeline."
"Only the litter Miranda took care of," he fights tears mentioning his daughter. "Please take him, Jamos. I want someone to be happy in these dark days."
Jamos somberly bends at the knees and scoops the pup into his arms. The tiny creature curls into a ball.
"Thank you, Glover," he says. "The kids are going to love him."
…
Shara is not pleased when Jamos walks down the gangplank looking like he's pregnant.
It's not his fault the pup likes to snuggle. It's also not his fault the little guy's favorite cuddle spot is under Jamos' jacket. Still he attempts his signature smile, which turns real as soon as he catches a glimpse of his youngest three children.
"Daddy!" Lana cries and tries to bolt for him, only for Shara to snag the back of her shirt. Arkon's practically jumping up and down with excitement, and Cornel's focused on a ship a few docks down.
"Hi, guys!" he crouches in front of his children both to meet their eye level and to support the pup in his jacket.
Shara sighs. "What's in the coat, love?"
Jamos decides the best explanation is just to show her. He opens his coat flaps and the little norcog spills out in a flurry of motion.
Arkon's eyes go huge. "Puppy!"
"You didn't," Shara whispers.
"Glover made me."
Arkon and Lana practically collapse over the new puppy, and Cornel turns his attention from the ship to watch them for a minute.
Jamos grins up at her. "Can we keep him, Momma?"
Shara gives him a look.
"Make sure to say thank you to Lord Glover and Lady Adria when we see them next," she relents. "What should we name the puppy?"
Lana hugs the tiny creature. "Kasey."
Jamos and Shara freeze. Kason's been missing for almost two weeks now, and so far they've merely swept the matter aside. Worrying the children about their brother or cousins won't do them a bit of good.
But Shara's face turns from shock to the not-to-be-disobeyed look all northern women master.
"Go get our baby back," she orders.
Jamos blinks and straightens up. "Shara?"
"Go get our baby back," she repeats. "The tooka's out of the bag now and I'm not going to sit idly by any longer. Sail south. Break through the walls of Iziz. And you get our baby back."
…
Thank you to Starwarshobbitfics for your review, and everyone stay tuned for the next chapter in Gen 1 and in Gen 2. You'll be on the edge of your seats, that's for sure.