AN: Sorry about not posting last week- got grounded. Here's two chapters to make up for it!
Chapter Nine: Celebration, Part I
Daria was getting rather annoyed with a seemingly endless stream of interruptions by the time Fenix Asopiram requested entrance to her rooms. However, her bad mood evaporated immediately when she saw her friend.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get off last night," the younger Tau'ka said apologetically, her large amethyst eyes bright. "We were finishing up a trade agreement with the Carasian merchants- you know how they are."
Daria grinned and hugged her friend, pulling her inside. "Not a problem, Fenix." She gestured at the other woman's outfit- an eye-catching extravagance of vivid purple silk trimmed with gold and black that left her shapely midriff bare. "You're all dressed up, I see."
Fenix twirled in place, making her skirt flare out around her legs. "It is the Freedom Day Celebration, Daria," she pointed out. "And you're more dressed up than usual yourself." A playful gleam entered the other Tau'ka's eyes. "For anyone in particular?" Her face lit up at the agent's blush. "Oh, about time!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Honestly, I thought you'd fly alone for your whole life at the rate you were going! Who is it? One of the Tau'ri?" Daria didn't even have time to answer before Fenix continued, "Of course he is! Which one? Not that youngling with the long hair, I hope? He's certainly isn't your type, my dear."
"If you would be quiet for a minute I'd tell you-" Daria began, but to no avail. Fenix Asopiram was on a roll. "It's the tall one, isn't it? The Healer?"
"Henry isn't exactly a Healer, Fenix."
"Healer, Medic, close enough. So it's him, is it? Wonderful! While we're on the subject, do you think you could introduce me to the charmer with the delightful accent? He's quite good-looking."
"Skinner?" Daria said blankly. "You can see him?"
"Of course I can," Fenix replied, looking surprised that Daria would imply otherwise. "Can't you?"
"He's supposed to be invisible."
The Merchant flapped a hand. "Oh, that," she said dismissively. "I've got True-Sight, remember?"
That made sense. Daria knew that the True-Seers could see straight through illusions, and they could see other Tau'ka who had the ability to make themselves temporarily unseen. She hadn't thought that Fenix's power would let her see the permanently-invisible thief.
"What is his name anyway?" Fenix asked, eyes dancing.
"What?" Daria said blankly, jarred loose from her train of thought. "Oh, Rodney Skinner."
"Rodney Skinner," her friend repeated. She let the name roll off her tongue as if she were tasting it. "I think I like him already. What would you peg him as?"
"Hmm," Daria said, thinking aloud. "Water, I think. Able to go wherever he wants, and positively lawyer-like in the way he gets out of things. He's something of Fire, too, but mostly Water. You're Earth and Fire- you two ought to get along all right."
"Excellent. Are you almost ready? I think the party is about to get started."
Daria stood for inspections. Fenix nodded at her choice of outfit, a fairly simple dress with flowing lines. The body of the garment was made of a gray-green fabric woven with threads of shiny blue and green that seemed to glow when the light hit it just right, while the neckline, sleeves, and hem were trimmed in copper. A slit in the skirt came to just above her knee to show the elegantly crafted mahogany-colored, copper-decorated boots she wore, which matched the decorative arm bracers and belt. "Very nice, Daria. The colors accent your own." Fenix smoothed her own violet skirts and held the door open for her friend. "After you."
The agent hesitated for a moment, then crossed over to her desk and began rummaging through one of its drawers, coming up with a delicate ornament of beaded red feathers. Fenix looked at it, one eyebrow raised slightly. "You're giving him a courting-token?"
Daria studied the ornament in her hand, nodding. And why not? she thought. We're both adults, and quite compatible. The little red crystals that decorated the shafts of the feathers glittered up at her, as if in encouragement. "Yes," she said aloud. "Meet me at the top of the stairs?"
Fenix smiled. "Of course."
The two split up, Fenix making her way to the stairs leading down to the meeting hall, Daria towards the guest quarters. Without attracting any attention, she slipped into the room that Jekyll and Nemo were sharing for the course of their visit and set the little feathered token on top of one of the pillows on Jekyll's bed before leaving just as quietly. The token was the only sign that anyone had been in the room since the two humans had left it.
She met up with Fenix at the top of the grand staircase the led down to the meeting hall where part of the Freedom Day Celebration was being held.
"A word of warning," she said to Fenix as she started down the steps. "Skinner likes to flirt."
Her friend smiled bewitchingly. "That's okay. I do too."
"At least let him see the goings-on before you drag him off to 'someplace a little quieter', all right? The Tau'ri are more rigid in their thinking than we are."
Fenix's expression turned to one of innocence. "Me?" she said plaintively, batting her eyelashes, her amethyst eyes wide. "Would I ever do such a thing?"
"Fen, in a heartbeat."
Innocence turned to a wicked grin. "You're right. I would."
As the stairs turned around a corner, Daria spotted the League members and Vader among the crowd of Tau'ka milling around waiting for their partners. She hurried up to them, taking a position behind Jekyll as Fenix trailed after her at a discreet distance.
"Am I late?" Daria said, echoing Mina's long-ago introduction to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, back in the hidden meeting room under the British Museum.
The physician broke off from the conversation he'd been having with Nemo and Mina and turned. Daria was pleased to see that he was something at a loss for words, but his face was lit up.
Skinner, as was almost to be expected, found his tongue rather quickly. "Daria!" he exclaimed, cocking his head to one side to get a better look at her lower half. "Are those legs? Real legs?"
"Not another word, Mr. Skinner," the Tau'ka replied warningly as she flushed with embarrassment. "It's really not like you haven't seen them before- I do wear trousers as often as I can."
"Yeah, but- cor, Daria, you're wearing a skirt!" Skinner said. "Pretty one at that."
Sawyer elbowed the thief sharply. "Skinner, is that any way to treat a lady?" he asked, prompting Mina to laugh as the American extended an arm for her to take.
"Keep that up and I might have to tell Fenix you aren't interested," Daria said off-handedly, in a manner that suggested she didn't really care one way or the other.
As she had expected, Skinner's ears perked up eagerly. "Fenix who?" he asked.
Right on cue, Fenix joined them, as if summoned by an unheard call.
"Rodney Skinner, may I present Trader Fenix Asopiram, of the Economics Division?" Daria said.
Fenix, smiling prettily, gave a slight bow and held out her hand at Daria's prompting. Skinner immediately took it and bowed over it himself, kissing the back of it courteously. "My pleasure, Miss Fenix," he said.
Jekyll observed Skinner's sudden change in behavior and smiled. It certainly didn't require the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes to see that the thief was thoroughly smitten with the beautiful Tau'ka. He raised an eyebrow at Daria, who smiled innocently. "You weren't… conspiring, were you?" he asked in an undertone.
"Me?" she replied. "Whatever would give you that idea?"
"You set Skinner on your friend."
"It was her idea."
"So you set your friend on Skinner."
"She set herself on him. I just helped."
Sawyer, overhearing, laughed. "Boy, Daria, you are sneaky. Are all your folks like that?"
"Not all of us," she replied. "Just most of us."
"As well you should be," Mina put in. "Shall we?"
Jekyll and Sawyer escorted their ladies into the great meeting hall, trailed by Nemo and Vader. Skinner and Fenix, it seemed, were nowhere in sight.
The meeting hall was an immense room, lavishly decorated in a half-dozen different styles or more. Jekyll noted influences of Egyptian, Indian, and what he thought might even be Chinese in the décor before he stopped trying to determine which was which. He simply stared around in awe at the surroundings. And this apparently was not the only site for the celebration. According to Daria, there were far too many people living in the Verris base for all of them to gather in the same place, so there were several meeting areas set up for the Celebration. Each would have their own food and entertainment, and individuals were free to wander from one site to another. Looking around, Jekyll estimated that this particular site would hold about five hundred people at a time, Tau'ka, human, and alien alike. He suddenly had a sense of being very small in the vast room.
A young male Tau'ka intercepted their group, dragging them off to be introduced to a number of people dressed in silver uniforms. To Jekyll's surprise, the group was not made up of Tau'ka, but instead of another humanoid sub-race called the Kelownans. Nemo split off from them there, showing interest in the small metal devices they wore strapped to their forearms.
Sawyer and Mina diverged together to go watch a display of warriors demonstrating intricate battle dances, leaving Jekyll, Daria, and Vader alone for the moment. The ex-Sith was not hiding the fact that he was already bored with the proceedings.
"They pulled me away from that overhaul of Kerris Squadron's fighters for this?" he muttered sullenly as they passed a group of chattering dignitaries.
"You could go with Captain Nemo and pick the Kelownans' brains," Daria suggested. "Or the Tollans. If you go with them, try to get that trick of phasing through solid matter for us, would you?"
Vader shook his head in exasperation. "Once a spy, always a spy," he muttered. "Always trying to get something you shouldn't." The Tau'ka gave him a scathing look.
"This coming from the pilot who can't land a ship unless it's in more that one piece?" she fired back.
"Bow out gracefully," Jekyll advised his scarred companion.
She might let you get away with some dignity intact, Hyde added, prompting the exasperated look to come their way.
"Some people never change," Vader said loftily.
"Excuse me?" Daria replied, whirling back to face Vader. "That's an interesting angle coming from you, of all people."
Her friend smiled, allowing a glimpse of the charmer he'd been when he was younger show through. He happily recognized the signs of Daria getting into full debate mode. At least she could be counted on not to make a huge scene in the middle of the gathering. "Doctor, would you mind horribly if Dhar'ya and I continued this conversation? We can meet up with you later, perhaps by the tables set aside for the visiting dignitaries?"
Jekyll felt a twinge of annoyance at being so dismissed, but noted that Daria seemed to be heartily enjoying herself. He didn't really want to deprive her of the pleasure of a lively debate with an old friend, especially since it was unlikely that she would have another opportunity to do so anytime soon. The Council was supposed to be monopolizing the time of all six League members after the Freedom Day Celebration.
Daria looked up at him imploringly, and he gave in. "Alright then. I'll just have a look around then, shall I?"
She squeezed his hand gratefully. "Thanks, Henry. I'll come find you as soon as we're done."
The physician nodded and wandered off, already hearing the first cheerful insults being thrown good-naturedly between his companions. Quietly, he made his way around the hall, just watching. All around him buzzed the rise and fall of conversation in languages the translator he wore refused to work on, leaving him wondering what was being said. He didn't stop long enough to find out, however. The one time he so much as paused, he found himself face-to-muzzle with a large doglike creature that objected to having its conversation eavesdropped on. The alien (the alien! He could still hardly believe that he was seeing actual beings from other worlds) had switched to Tau'ka and 'greeted' him with a series of rather rude comments. Not wanting to aggravate a creature with teeth the size of his index finger, Jekyll had quickly made his escape, ignoring Hyde's comments about scared little mice as best he could.