Damn...I can't believe I'm already mapping out an opening scene for a sequel, when I'm only at about the halfway point of this fic.
Yes, you heard me right. I'm only about halfway done. Don't look at me so funny. =P I swear I have a plan for wrapping this all up. Eventually.
*sigh* I've always been a piece-by-piece writer, rather than this continuous straight-from-beginning-to-end type (which is why I still occasionally go back to fine-tune some stuff in earlier chapters - a casualty of writing-on-the-fly with no flight-plan logged). Anyway, I couldn't help myself and started that little teaser of an opening. Would anyone like to see it? =)
The Words Between - part 14
The guard this time was a woman. Tall, rangy, possessed of a sort of handsome beauty with sharp, hawkish features exposed by ash-blonde hair pulled back in a severe tail. She had a ready and generous smile though, belying her military stride and the sword and poniard at her belt. Her face was honest; it revealed her unease when Kyn had motioned Brin into the small conference room and then had stopped pointedly in the doorway, indicating wordlessly that they were to speak alone. Quickly masking her expression behind another smile though, she had mentioned something about finding something to wet her throat with, and then left them to themselves as gracefully as she could manage while looking back worriedly every two steps.
For once, Brin kept his mouth shut as they seated themselves at the lone table occupying the room's center. Unfortunately, Kyn wasn't sure he liked the look he was receiving instead that much better. It was an odd mixture of surprise, concern, and something - Kyn was certain - that skittered dangerously close to desperately suppressed amusement. He ran a hand through the spiky tufts his hair had dried into and scowled. "What?"
"N-nothing," the boy stammered, scooting back in his seat a little and self-consciously folding his hands in his lap and hunching his shoulders.
Already nettled by the day's events, Kyn's frown darkened as he watched the boy's actions, and on pure impulse said, "Sit straight."
By the havens, sit straight, boy! You are a human being, Kyn, not a pillbug to roll yourself into a ball at the first hint of a shadow!
"What?" Brin blinked.
Kyn shook himself and testily rearranged a corner of the borrowed cloak draped over his shoulders, banishing the ghost of Master's voice. It seemed that even as the man grew more and more unreachable, his memory taunted him more and more insistently. "Sit up straight," he repeated himself as patiently as possible.
Brin continued staring at him uncomprehendingly until Kyn's glower turned into a glare, and then the boy hurriedly obeyed, drawing his shoulders back and lifting his chin sharply.
"Don't stiffen up like a plank of drywood in the sun either. Take your hands out of your lap and rest them on the table or the armrests. You are sitting at a table conversing with equals, not attending your own execution." A pause, and Kyn added with a definite snap, "And don't gape like a dim-witted country rustic."
"But - but...I've never heard you say...so much..." was all Bryn managed to squeeze out before he pressed even farther back at Kyn's darkest look yet. "I'm sorry, Kyn! I just don't understand what - "
"I am correcting your posture," Kyn bit off, eyeing the visible portions of the boy critically as he warmed to the subject. "While it is adequate for most casual situations, it can still stand quite a bit of improvement."
Brin's mouth opened and closed twice in quick succession, and not once uttered a sound in between.
"Which reminds me. From now on, when in my presence, you will think before you speak, instead of thinking while you speak. The latter is sloppy and inefficient, and there are better uses of my time as well as your effort."
There was one more heartbeat of shocked stillness before the boy seemed to collapse in on himself, eyes falling quickly to his lap where his hands had fled once again. "I-I'm sorry, Kyn," he said, voice weak and trembling. "If...if you really hate me that much - "
Where in the known world did Brin get these notions of his? "What did I just say about thinking before you speak? Did I say anything about hating you?" Gods forbid, but the boy's eyes were glittering suspiciously. For one long moment, Kyn was confronted by the thought that the boy might burst into tears, and felt the first warning nip of what might be uncertainty but probably came closer to outright fear. What am I supposed to do with a crying Brin?
"But...but...you must! You're picking out all my faults...like Stef did..."
"I am correcting them, not merely pointing them out!" Kyn snapped, a bit more sharply than even he had initially intended with the mention of the thrice-cursed bully, but at least it staved off the incipient bawling as the boy gave a start and focused on him. Taking a deep breath, he continued a little more sedately but with no less aggravation, uncomfortably aware of the boy's unstable mood, "If I thought you were hopeless, do you think I would waste my time trying to change things?"
One blue eye peeked up timidly through a fringe of flaxen hair.
Releasing a heavy breath, Kyn leaned forward, voice low and intense. "Brin, if you are going to be of any use at all - to anyone, including yourself - you will have to make decisions, and then stand firm behind them. You cannot remain ambivalent or continuously wait for confirmation." I don't have the reassurances you are looking for, Brin. I don't even have any for myself. Best to look elsewhere for them.
The eye widened slightly in apprehension, the words of uncertainty all but displayed in it before they ever passed the boy's lips. "I don't...but, but what if I make the wrong..."
"You can do no wrong," Kyn hissed, trying to impress the sentiment on Brin through sheer force of will, "so long as you accept all the consequences for your actions!"
The boy seemed completely frozen. Kyn doubted he even drew breath; certainly he did not bother rewetting his eyes though fully five counts had passed.
Sighing, Kyn rubbed his forehead with a grimace and tried urging, "Don't just react, think on it!"
When the silence stretched, he was uncertain whether to take it as a good sign or a bad one. Was Brin actually doing what he had asked, or was the boy still half-catatonic? Preparing himself for the worst, he opened his eyes again and looked across the table - and felt his expression grow slack in confusion as he caught a most unusual expression on the trainee's face, just before it was replaced by an almost perfect mirror of Kyn's motions. Thoughtfulness - actual thoughtfulness - had graced the soft cherubic features, giving them an unexpectedly mature cast before it had morphed into a grimace and then a rub of the hand over the brow and then on down the face. Whether he had consciously emulated Kyn or not, for a brief moment, he seemed very much Kyn's peer.
And as if the gesture wiped away the doubts and insecurities with it, Brin straightened with a still somewhat self-conscious, but nevertheless much calmer air to meet Kyn's gaze steadily. "That...makes sense. In a weird and ruthless sort of way," he said with only the slightest wince in the middle.
Kyn tilted his head, reexamining the flaxen-haired youth from a different perspective. With a little more confidence, a little less puppy enthusiasm, and just a bit more growing up, Brin could...could...
He hastily broke off the train of thought with a wince, closing his eyes, the by-now familiar frustration when dealing with his recalcitrant Gift welling up like bile in the back of his throat. How can others stand this blindness?
"Kyn...are you all right? Would you like me to call the healer back?"
Releasing a slow breath, Kyn shook his head. "No. Just an unpleasant thought. What have you heard about Stef lately?"
Brin started a bit at the mention of the bully, eyeing Kyn dubiously before he shrugged and said carefully, almost visibly picking select words from his usual store, "That he's in a lot of trouble with his father. Why?"
Kyn nodded approvingly at the effort. "Specifically, where it might involve Mennifei."
The trainee pursed his lips in thought, frowning down at the table momentarily. "Well...there's nothing that involves her directly. Though most of the talk seems to have originated from her, or those she is associated with the most often. Really, I don't know how she would have caught wind of it first of all people considering that Minuelle and she haven't been on speaking terms for nearly half a year now, and even Ellanen says that - "
Kyn was just about to rap a knuckle against the tabletop to remind him when Brin managed to halt the habitual flood of words himself, cheeks tinted pink as he alternately squirmed in embarrassment and tried to maintain the dignified air that Kyn had insisted on. It was enough to almost make Kyn himself shift in his seat in discomfort before the boy settled again. "What, exactly, does the 'talk' revolve about?" he tried to steer them back on course.
"There's...well, there's this girl, Minuelle, who used to trail after Fei all the time. Fei didn't seem to really notice her; Minuelle's family are craftsmen, usually beneath her notice. But at one point...I don't know, Fei seemed to lose interest in Stef for a while. It wasn't very noticeable...just enough to cause some raised eyebrows. That's when she got a lot more friendly with Minuelle, and helped Minuelle to be more friendly with Stef if you know what I mean. Then, after a few months, everything went back to the way it was, except Minuelle wasn't following Fei anymore."
"Why?"
A short shrug. "I don't know. This was all before I became a trainee. I've only managed to hear that much in relation to what's going on now."
"And what is going on now?"
"Minuelle is pregnant. And the most oft told story - well, actually, I think the only story in all its variations has Stef as being the father."
A 'passing acquaintance'? You all but hid behind her skirts last term! Every other time I came to see you, you were conveniently occupied and 'Oh, Stefahn, why don't you be a dear and show Minuelle a good time instead?'
Every girl needs a hobby.
And is one of them spreading lies about me?
It was your own fault! You might have appeared reluctant at first, but I know you slept with her. How do you know the child is not yours?
Pa's ready to marry me to that sow and force me to acknowledge the brat just to save face now, forgetting whether I have anything to say on the matter or not - !
Kyn brooded, interrupting his thoughts only once to absently remind Brin not to fidget. "Do you think Stef is the father?"
Cornflower blue eyes strayed away before returning with a hesitant look. "I...would rather not speculate."
He arched one brow as he watched the boy's expression intently through half-lidded eyes. "Why is that?"
"I don't know enough to make a judgment like that."
"Yet you've heard everyone else's opinion on the matter."
"That's all they are, opinions. Nobody really knows anything."
"And Minuelle? Has she not said anything on her own behalf yet?"
"Not that I know of. There's been a lot of speculation, but whenever someone presses the issue, it always begins with, 'I heard from' or 'so-and-so said', and none of the names is 'Minuelle'. The girl herself has already left, taken home by her parents."
Kyn nodded, well satisfied by the responses, particularly where the boy's imagination - or rather, the careful exclusion of it from answers that might have 'benefited' from embellishment - was concerned. "Thank you, Brin. What about Stef's reaction? How angry is he likely to be about this accusation?"
"Stef?" Brin's expression twisted in distaste. "I dunno. His - "
"Do not mumble."
"I don't know," the trainee repeated smoothly, as if there had been no interruption at all. Kyn's mouth twitched as he silently applauded; the boy was adapting far more quickly than he had thought he would. "His father would throw a fit for sure, though. Stef's family isn't titled by inheritance. His father is still insecure enough to want everything to be perfect. To have a scandal like this just a handful of years after he bought them respectability? No matter if the child is really Stef's or not, the damage to the family's reputation done by gossipmongers alone could be enough in his eye to disown Stef or force Stef to marry the girl and acknowledge the babe." Shaking his head, Brin added dryly, "Which is rather ironic, when you consider the stereotype of every noble family possessing some sort of skeleton-populated closet. The Atronos might actually fit into that section of society better if they had a scandal or two."
Pa's ready to marry me to that sow and force me to acknowledge the brat just to save face now, forgetting whether I have anything to say on the matter or not - !
"What about Mennifei herself? Why is she involved?"
"Is she?" Brin asked with a puzzled look.
"Why does all the talk originate from her?"
"I don't know. They just seem to." A long, considering look, and he asked, "What do you suspect, Kyn?"
He fell silent, letting the question pass unanswered, and the boy was perceptive enough not to press when it became clear that it would be ignored. "What do you know of Mennifei's life? Her mother, and the influence her parents have or have had on her?"
Brin shifted in his seat at the abrupt change in subject, and could only shrug again after he had collected his thoughts. "I don't know anything about her mother. I know very little of her life and relationships outside of the collegium."
Mennifei was very good at hiding things. Not just behind the spoiled noble brat that she projected to all and sundry, but behind her sullen silences and her lack of focus and her selective indifference. What she didn't want to hear - or what she didn't want others to notice - she distracted with a facility and unconscious grace that only came with years upon years of practice. What she couldn't distract, she outright ignored, pretending a wandering attention that couldn't be caught. It had made Kyn wonder, how much of her more infuriating moods was pure acting.
She had stared at him, long and hard, when the healer summoned by one of the instructors that had helped them in finally managed to rouse her. The young noblewoman barely moved from where she had been placed near the hearth, and then only to keep Kyn within sight when the healer accidentally interposed himself between them. She had responded to the healer's questions in a monotone, barely glanced at him when he had tried to engage her in conversation, and always, always she had kept the near-unblinking focus of her regard on her rescuer.
Kyn had not been able to interpret her look then, and even now with his head clear and his body finally without any outstanding complaints, he could only infer that she had been highly unsettled by the turn of events. He might have been tempted to just put it down as shock - except that her gaze had been too clear, too pointed. She knew what she was seeing, very clearly, and knew what his role had been despite her earlier panic and confusion.
Unfortunately, any questions he might have plied her with were forestalled by the duke's abrupt entrance. It was almost - almost - worth the lost opportunity to see the man's face set into lines of bitter annoyance. Apparently this - or perhaps something else entirely - had been contrary to whatever Se'Fannouel had planned, and Kyn couldn't resist the small, smirking smile when the man's glance had happened his way. Terse words had been exchanged with the healer, a few sharp questions applied to the young woman herself, and Mennifei pretended distraction due to the experience and applied her whiniest tone to the demand for home. Home, back in Lynxfinn Holdings.
Kyn knew she pretended, for her eyes were far too keen when they sought out his, and the duke knew she pretended when he followed the line of her sight. Whatever the man thought of the matter however, remained solely in his knowledge as he acquiesced rapidly to her request with surprising grace, citing two near-death experiences as more than enough motivation for an early return for the year's end holidays. Then he had turned a faux-friendly smile upon Kyn, and offered a ride to his lands in his carriage, three days earlier than had been intended.
Kyn remembered offering vague excuses, which the duke had accepted with few protests, and then the two had slipped back out of the door, Mennifei's slender form hidden completely away by two layers of cloaks and her father's figure, his hands placed possessively on her shoulders. For a panicked moment, Kyn had wondered if he had made the wrong decision, if the sacrifice he had Seen might occur in the three days that he was not there, and with no guidance from his Sight, had very nearly run out after them. But then Brin had stumbled in breathlessly, glancing quickly between the departing couple and Kyn with questions looming large in his eyes, and he had realized the foolishness of darting off unprepared, especially when sacrifices were the most effective only at appointed times. He had learned that and more in oblique observation of Master, and even without his Gift he knew, deep inside, that the time had not yet come.
And the duke would not risk the sacrifice of his only offspring to anything but the most ideal circumstances.
"Kyn?"
"Where are the maps?" he asked at the reminder.
"Uhm, I had a friend take them back to my room for me when I found out what happened. I didn't want to lug them all the way across the field with me. Kyn, what's going on? Aren't you going to tell me what all this has to do with each other?"
"No," he said flatly, pushing back his chair and rising. He grimaced at the stiff, scratchy feel of his dried-out clothes, and debated briefly on a bath and a change before taking care of other matters. A breath's longer thought, and then he decided that he didn't want to risk any other 'interruptions' before he was able to at least scan the floorplans. "Let's go."
"Wait!" Brin started up as well, chair legs scraping across the wood-paneled floor, his expression unexpectedly belligerent. "Hey! Kyn, I have a right to know! What are you trying to protect me from?"
Kyn turned sharply, already halfway to the door, absently catching at the edges of the cloak when it was about to slip off. "Don't make me laugh. I am not trying to protect you."
There was a flash of hurt, but unusually emboldened, Brin pushed on. "Then who?"
"I'm not protecting any - " Kyn halted mid-word, his frown deepening.
Just who was he trying to protect? Sianni? Brin? Master? Himself? If no one, then why not? What had he to lose, except wasted time trying to find things on his own when Brin was far better connected to certain resources than he was?
Brin smiled triumphantly, folding his arms across his chest. Kyn might have been tempted to wipe the smug expression off the boy's face by words or deed, if it hadn't looked so ridiculous on such a child-like countenance.
"Follow closely," he finally conceded, reminding himself that it was a good idea in a silent litany of all of the boy's newfound talents. "And if I hear one word of what I tell you from anyone's lips but for your own, and even then if we are not the only ones within earshot, one night you will fall asleep and never wake to the morning."
The boy seemed far too bloody cheerful for someone who had just received a death threat.
UrsaWolf - Hey sky! =) You caught a glimpse here, but I promise there'll be more later when they meet again. ^_~ Hmmm... whips out her doodle book Now you've got me thinking about club card designs... eyes you suspiciously You're all conspiring to steal all of my time, aren't you?
Megan - Just makes you want to take a ruler to the boy's backside, doesn't it? ^_~ Oooooooh, thank you! Makes me all glowy inside. =D Continue to spread the gospel!
M'cha - There! I spurted! Happy?! (Ok, that sounds...really bad. Let's end this thread right there. *snip snip* =P) *snickers* Don't worry. I usually can't keep things like that straight either, which is why I usually do one of two things: I write down notes (if I'm the one writing the fic) or I ignore who's related to whom and hope that it won't become too important (if I'm reading something else). =P Horrible way of doing things, but history *was*, after all, my one consistent bad grade throughout high school...
SCWLC - Thank you for the wonderful encouragement. I did manage to pelt out another section, despite the fact that I'm slated to open tomorrow (today) in about...4 hours or so. =P Sometimes, when the conspiracies demand to be written, you can't do anything but say yea...
ola - laughs Oh, no worries, I will definitely continue to give you things to read. Though...I *will* admit that they might come faster than they ordinarily would with the encouragement of reviews. ^_~
Soulshadow - Thank you! laughs At least it's safer than most other things out on the market. I think... o.O*
Firefox - snickers I'll try to see if he can schedule in a visit. He's a busy guy right now, after all. =P