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Plans
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Everyone woke late the next day, so at eleven thirty, they all gathered to the kitchen for brunch instead of breakfast.
"Had a good night's sleep?" Bruce asked slyly as Dick and Kori entered the dining room, hand in hand. Both looked abnormally happy, even for Kori's usual standard. The two kept sneaking private glances at each other, accompanied with either Dick's grin or Kori's giggle.
"Oh, stop it, both of you," Garfield grumbled through his mouthful of tofu eggs. "It's bad enough that you're married."
Rachel just rolled her eyes and reached for the mashed potatoes. She glanced at the two Tamaranians seated beside Kori. Thankfully, Bruce must have explained the basics of Earth table manners, because Galfore and Ryan were using the cutlery laid out before them – admittedly, Galfore's fork skills were rather awkward and seemed like he was spearing the particles of food, but Ryan was unexpectedly proficient.
Which made Rachel all the more curious about him. Where had he been all these years? How did he hear about Kori's marriage?
As if he knew what Rachel was wondering Ryan looked up from his plate, straight at her. She ducked her head, knowing her face was blushing crimson in embarrassment. She hadn't meant to stare at him like that.
When the plates and table had been cleared and the coffee was brought in, they began to talk.
"Ryand'r, how did you hear of my marriage?" Kori asked.
Ryan, who had been sniffing the contents of his cup interestedly, sharply put down his cup. Strangely, he looked angry at her question.
"That is not all that I heard," he growled darkly. He looked to Dick. "I assume I may talk freely here?"
"Yes," Dick answered him. "Everyone here can be trusted, and the house is safe from eavesdroppers."
Ryan nodded and began to talk.
"As you probably know, I was handed over to the Citadel along with Komand'r and Koriand'r, my sisters,"
At his words, most of the Titans looked wide-eyed at Kori and Dick. None of them had known what Ryan had just said. Dick gave them a tiny shake of the head, to indicate that now was not the time to ask about Kori's past. Understanding their leader, they resumed their attention to Ryan.
"We escaped, though I did not know my sisters were free at the time, for we had been separated. I traveled the wide galaxy, knowing that it would not be safe to return to Tamaran for a long time. In any case, I did not know where exactly in the galaxy I was, and blind travel through the universe is unwise. So I remained in the general area of where I had landed. I befriended others who had been pursued by the wretched Gordanians, and together, we formed a sort of renegade army. Quietly, we brought down many Gordanian invaders, but always so that we would not be detected.
The powers the Psions had invoked in me were very useful to our operations."
He then lifted his hand and it glowed with blazing, white-hot energy. As it died away, he resumed his narration.
"Not too long before now, news reached me that Galfore, my k'norfka, had been made Grand Ruler. I returned at once to Tamaran. However, when I had arrived, I was dismayed to find that Komand'r had been exiled, and that Koriand'r and my parents had passed to the other realm.
"When I had heard of the murder the Gordanians had committed, the fury it arose in me was great, too great. Though we And'r had known from birth that we must sacrifice ourselves for Tamaran if necessary, Trogaar's act was truly unspeakable. Murder of the Princess in our own halls, when she was heir to the crown as the eldest And'r still of Tamaran? It is an outrageous deed never heard of before.
"Many tears were given for you, my sister."
Ryan looked towards Kori, who took hold of his hand and stroked it soothingly.
"I was more than overjoyed when we received a brief transmission from Bruce that Koriand'r had been freed, and that she was betrothed to his son Richard Grayson. However, before we had known Koriand'r was alive, we declared war against Gordania, for the bloodshed of the Princess."
Kori gasped audibly. "No…no…Please tell me that you did not!" she cried, her eyes wide and frightful. "I had hoped that my sacrifice would end the Gordanian attacks so that our people would be able to live without this fear overshadowing them for the rest of their lives, not to bring the war once again!"
Ryan only looked grim. "I do not regret it. Do you think they would have stopped, just like that? No, they will force us to give them our children, just like they forced our parents to do. I do not want this for the next generation of our planet."
"But this way, there may never be a next generation," Kori murmured despairingly.
Ryan shook his head. "Do you think I have learnt nothing in the eight years I have not seen you? I would not have declared war if I had thought Trogaar would send his whole army against Tamaran. That would be suicide. No, he has more than enough to occupy him at the moment."
"What is it?" asked Garfield, who looked rather awed at all this "alien invasion" talk going about him. "What's got him busy?"
Ryan grinned rather unpleasantly. "Thanagar."
"Thanagar?" Bruce asked, looking suddenly surprised and darkly interested.
"Yes," Ryan replied, slightly puzzled. "Why do you ask?"
"Because," Dick said, his eyebrows furrowed, his blue eyes almost black in the shadow, "Hawkgirl is from Thanagar, and Hawkgirl is part of the Justice League; a group of people whose aim is to protect the planet Earth."
Ryan looked puzzled for a moment but merely shrugged. "I do not yet know what consequence she will be. She may just be staying on Earth for personal reasons, or she may be crucial to the balance. For the time being we can only wait."
"Well," Bruce said, "If the rest of the Thanagarians are anything like Hawkgirl, I can see why you say he's very occupied at the moment."
"They are most ferocious," confirmed Ryan, "And their knowledge of Nth metal is more advanced than any other planet around them. Trogaar will have a difficult time forcing them into submission, but still, they are not strong enough. They will fall."
"And then what will you do?" Rachel asked quietly. "If Gordania is as strong as you say, Gordanians with Nth metal weapons will conquer your solar system, maybe more."
Ryan shook his head. "The technology is well hidden, and they would most likely have evacuated or destroyed any mines or refineries once the attack had started."
"It's still only a matter of time until they find and use Nth metal," Rachel persisted darkly. "Even if they can't make more, they'll still have the spoils of war."
"Yes, but even so, we have more than enough time."
Rachel still looked skeptical. "If Thanagar will fall, how can you guarantee that you will not?"
"We cannot," Ryan answered simply. "However, if the planets will unite against Gordania, together we can rid ourselves of this atrocity. I have already convinced many that we will do best to stand as one."
Karen listened silently, meditatively stirring her now lukewarm coffee with her teaspoon. She gazed at the swirling brown liquid. The spinning foam looked like a miniature galaxy in the dark space of coffee.
"What about Thanagar?" Karen asked. "Are the other planets aiming to help them?"
Ryan's countenance was stony. "No."
"No?" Victor said incredulously. "So, y'all are gonna sit back and just watch while those Thanagarians are clobbered?"
"If the planets will unite against Gordania," Ryan repeated, "There will no longer be any invasions in the future. While Gordania is busy with Thanagar, we can prepare our troops. When Thanagar has fallen, we can strike Gordania itself when they are still exhausted from their attack and most of their soldiers are still on Thanagar."
"So you're using Thanagar as a sacrifice for a plan they don't even know about," Victor said grimly. "That seems more than unfair to me."
"We will return the planet to the Thanagarians when all is finished. It is the only way, and a long awaited chance to destroy Gordania."
"What about Gordania then?"
It was Kori's voice that asked the question in a quiet voice.
"Star," Dick said, aghast, "After all they've done, you still care about those…monsters?"
"Yes, Robin," she answered in kind, a blazing look in her eyes. "You of all people should realize that invaders are not purely evil. They all have a reason for their invasive nature."
At Dick's skeptical look she amended, "Well, Trogaar is quite a 'nasty piece of the work', but not all Gordanians are evil."
All the people gathered around the table gazed doubtfully at Kori.
"They messed up our neighborhood the first time they came here," Victor said obstinately.
"Kori, they had you in chains!" Garfield exclaimed. "Well, alien handcuffs, that is."
Rachel and Dick said nothing. Ryan and Galfore's expression was close to outraged. Bruce, Karen and Alfred quietly looked on.
"Yes, but their land is barren and uncultivated, and they do not possess the technology to protect their land from the frequent dust storms that sweep across the planet. That is why they live by invading and stealing," Kori explained.
"That does not give them any right to torment others," Galfore interjected sharply. "Tamaran had many such hardships, yet we did not do any such thing."
"Gordania must pay for what it has done," Ryan firmly told Kori. "Nothing, absolutely nothing gives any planet the right to torment and torture others."
"I do understand that," Kori said. "However, I am worried that we will stoop as low as they. If we merely oppress them, it is only a matter of the time until they rise up against us, and I do not know how many planets we are able to trust completely. We must have another, long term plan for Gordania."
"Bumgorf, are you suggesting that we help Gordanians?" Galfore asked with a deep frown. "Have they muddled your mind while you were entrapped on their planet?"
"Galfore," Kori said softly, "It is only compassion and forgiveness that separates us from the evil ones. A wise teacher once told me," here she smiled at Rachel, "That forgiveness is not the equal of forgetfulness. She taught me that it is possible to hate the deed, but yet forgive the individual.
"And I believe that that is what we must do. We must keep Gordania in check, but we must not torment them. We must always be on guard, but we must not scorn them, like many do us by calling us troq, nothing."
Ryan took a deep breath. "It will be hard," he said. Then he smiled. "But we will try."
Kori smiled gratefully back.
"Now, if all the discussion has ended," Alfred said cheerily, "I believe we had best start cleaning up the mess from yesterday."
Everyone groaned.
--
"If I ever get married," Garfield muttered to Rachel when they finally had finished cleaning, "I'm going to do it simple and clean at the Tower."
"Or maybe at a quiet beach with the sunset behind us." Rachel said absentmindedly, trying to get a stain out of her shirt.
"Yeah, that'll be really cool and romantic!" Garfield said enthusiastically. "Let's do it!"
Rachel finally gave up and used her powers to lift the stain off the cloth. "Making marriage plans already, are you?" she asked slyly.
"You said yes," Garfield grumbled.
"When?" Rachel said offhandedly. When Garfield looked severely put down, she gave in and said, "Okay, fine, make all the plans you want. But I'm not taking any big steps until we're out of the fire."
"Thanks a lot, Rae," Garfield smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Don't let anyone else see you do that," she told him, blushing slightly, though she knew full well that there was only Garfield and herself in the kitchen at the moment.
"Of course," Garfield murmured, leaning in to her lips now. "It would be terrible if they found us out."
His blonde hair was in Rachel's eyes, and she felt them slowly close.
"Garfield. The lemonade," she said just before his lips touched hers.
"Aw, Rae, you're ruining the moment!" whined Garfield, opening his eyes so that Rachel was looking straight into his green eyes.
Rachel took a step away. "I mean it Gar, the lemonade's waiting for us to bring it out to six hot and thirsty people in the living room." She took one glance at Garfield's puppy eyes and sighed. "Just one kiss then."
Garfield smiled happily and began to close the space she had put between them.
"Make it short," she whispered when she felt his warm breath on her face.
"Can't promise you that," he whispered back.
--
As they took the tray of lemonade out to the others, Garfield tried to straighten out his hair with his fingers while Rachel was attempting to erase the vivid red blush from her cheeks.
"You just had to get carried away, did you?" Rachel snarled when her face was still as pink as the lemonade in the pitcher she was carrying.
"Sorry, Rae, but your scent is so intoxicating. Couldn't resist," Garfield said, grinning down at her. He gave his hair a last sweep with his fingers and turned to Rachel. "How does it look now?"
"It still looks rumpled," Rachel said critically. She pushed the pitcher into his arms. "Here, hold this for a second."
She reached up and began to tidy his hair in a businesslike way. After a moment, she stepped back and gave a satisfied smile. "There. Much better."
"Thanks," Garfield said, "But careful with the hair next time." Then he seemed to change his mind and grinned mischievously. "Ah, never mind. I like the feel of your fingers in my hair, and if I ask you to fix my hair for me afterwards, I get to feel them again."
She felt the blush intensifying against her will and snatched the pitcher back, glaring at Garfield, who merely laughed knowingly and opened the door for her.
"Lemonade coming through!" he shouted as he followed Rachel inside.
"What took you so long?" Dick asked, rising from the sofa to help Rachel pour the lemonade. "We almost started the movie without you."
"Oh, sorry," Rachel said without much emotion.
"Friend Rachel, are you all right?" Kori asked worriedly. "Your face is quite red."
"It's nothing Kori," Rachel said dismissively.
"But –"
"I'm just really hot right now, okay?" Rachel took a glass and downed the lemonade. "Let's just start the movie."
"Here, I'll pour another glass for you," Garfield said, taking Rachel's empty cup from her hands. He filled it to the brim with pink liquid and handed it back to her.
"Thanks," she said and went to sit next to Dick. Not long after, Garfield came and slipped in between Rachel and Victor.
Bruce looked up from his conversation with Galfore. "Can I start the movie now?" he asked.
"Yeah, you can," Dick called back. As Bruce went to turn the lights off, something green and thin on Rachel's wrist caught his eye.
"What's that on your arm?" he asked her quietly as images began to flicker on the screen before them. Rachel looked down and quickly brushed it off.
"Rachel, what were you doing with Gar in the kitchen?" Dick asked suspiciously.
"Mind your own business," Rachel replied warningly, using a little of her powers to force his face to look at the TV. Dick didn't ask again, but Rachel did not like his knowing smile.
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A certain somebody asked me for more BBRae action; I promised that there will be in the future and here it is!! Their relationship is far more complicated in my opinion.
So, tell me how I did? Is Raven OOC or something? Because whenever I try to write her having fun, it doesn't sound like Rae at all.