In the Closet

Disclaimer: The characters in question belong to Diane Duane. I own only the plot.

Chapter 9: In the House

Author's Note: I just wanted to make a note on ages. Diane Duane's timeline in the story is unclear and a little screwy. I did just reread all the books and I can't remember which book, but one of them says something about Nita having been a wizard for over two years. So if Nita was 13 when the books started, and Dairine was 11…that would age them up to 15 and 13. Since between Nita's mom's diagnosis and the end of Wizards at War is about a year, I've kind of made the assumption that now they're more like 16 and 14. Kit's probably 15 with his whole skipped a grade thing. Anyway, since I brought up the GED test in the last chapter, I thought I'd make it clear that I was going with the assumption that Dairine is probably a high school freshman.

She was brushing his hair slowly, carefully, as he sat on the end of her bed. She'd been at it some minutes before finally broaching the subject that was on her mind. She informed him, almost casually, "I formally requested assistance in our intervention."

"You went to see the Senior About the Waters without me?" he asked tersely, twisting his body to look at her. "I explicitly informed you that I expected to be present for that meeting."

Dairine let out an annoyed breath. "No…I told you I wouldn't see S'reee without you. I requested help from elsewhere. Local help." She sighed. "My sister has had practice dealing with world kernels. I think she can find Wellakh's and help us set things to rights."

He frowned. "Your sister has even less experience concerning Wellakh than you have. I don't see how her assistance can be relevant." He let his body resume his normal posture.

She resumed brushing his hair and watched his eyes close in the mirror. The look on his face mostly relaxed, willing to listen to her and see if she might have something reasonable to say. "Your star is not the problem. You know that. Something within the planet isn't behaving the way that it should. Messing with the star is only going to cause more problems, one way or another. The kernel will let us get to the framework of your planet and take care of it. I don't know if you have any experience with kernels…I certainly don't. Nita does. She's done this. By the time you or I became proficient at it…it might be too late for Wellakh and I am not going to let that happen." She rested her chin on his shoulder, her voice barely above a whisper, but steady as a rock. "I lost you once. That's not happening again."

He reached up to touch the side of her head, his fingers in her hair. "Dhairine," his voice was subdued. "I am the Guarantor. If I have to go into a star again, I will—mine or yours."

She moved away from him. "I understand that. I'm well aware of your job description, Roshaun. I've heard it enough times—I can repeat it front to back and back to front if you'd like. What I'm telling you is that I don't think that's the answer this time. I know maybe next time it will be…but not this time. That's the answer you think is easiest because it's the one you know. I'm giving you another answer, one that isn't quite in either of our grasps but that might be the right one." She lay back on the bed, her hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling. "It's worth a shot anyway. She can research this week and if she thinks she's got it…we can attempt the intervention by this weekend."

He sighed, and carefully twisting his hair to one side to put it out of the way, lay down next to her. "The Aethyrs did throw you in my path. I suppose the least I could do is have a little faith that They knew what they were doing."

She chuckled, resting her head against his chest and lowering her arms to her sides. "It's not just me they threw in your path, Roshaun. Nita's my sister. She's always going to be my sister—and she happens to be a talented wizard. We go together. And for whatever reason…Kit goes with Nita. They're a package deal." She snickered to herself, remembering a very long time ago it seemed how much of a pity it was that her sister had dibs on Kit. She looked up at Roshaun, lying next to her. No way in hell she'd trade.

"What are you thinking? I'm not sure I trust that smile…"

Dairine shook her head. "Just a little comparison. Don't worry, you won."

There was a knock on the slightly open door and Dairine could see Nita standing there. "We need to talk, Dari."

She frowned. "I'm busy. Go get a boyfriend or a dog or something. Come see me in an hour."

Nita folded her arms, standing against the frame. "We need to talk about Millman's office."

Dairine rolled over so she was facing Roshaun's chest completely, her back to her sister. She did not want to deal with this right now. If she explained everything to Nita, she'd have to explain everything to her dad and there'd be a lot of arguing and it'd be exceptionally hard to get anything done this week. "Go away. I'm not talking about it right now."

"Dari, you're going to have to face me eventually."

Her voice was muffled. "Eventually isn't here yet. Let's schedule eventually for sometime next week."

Roshaun wrapped a protective arm around Dairine, who so seldom seemed to need any protection. He gave Nita a look. Nita raised her hands in a gesture of surrender as she left. She'd try again, but not tonight. His arms around her, he let one hand stray into her hair. They lay there in silence for a long time, breathing, the occasion comment passing from mind to mind.

When Nita got back to her room, she had a response in her manual from Aunt Annie. She was surprised—she had figured her aunt would be asleep at this hour. She tapped a few symbols of the Speech in her manual. "Aunt Annie?"

Her aunt's voice came floating back to her. "I'm here. Having a bit of a late night. One of the mares just gave birth—it was a difficult delivery—the last of the staff have finally gone home for the night."

It was a selfish waste of energy with entropy loose in the world…but she wanted this. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd feel comfortable going up the street and talking to Tom and Carl about. "Could we do this face to face? I'll help with the dishes." She knew if the staff had been there all evening helping with the delivery there'd undoubtedly be a mountain of dishes waiting in the sink.

"Come into the yard, the back door is unlocked."

Nita scribbled a note for her dad and left it on the bed in case he came in to wish her goodnight while she was gone. She found the coordinates she needed and went. She breathed hard for a few minutes before straightening up and going inside. "Aunt Annie!"

There was her aunt, looking the way she'd always looked, sitting at the table with a cup of tea. Several cats were milling around the kitchen expectantly. "I just put the water on for more. You might have to make do with a glass though—all the mugs and teacups are in the sink." Nita hugged her and sat down next to her. "So what brought you over an ocean to chat with me in the middle of the night?"

Nita hedged around the question, getting up to head to the sink, thinking this might be easier if she wasn't looking at her aunt. She wasn't sure where to start. "I'll take some of the dishes off your mind." She started working on the teacups.

"Must be big if you're bribing me with clean dishes. Thinking about Mars?"

Nita shook her head. It seemed she'd practically forgotten Mars tonight. "Not at all actually. I might be going off-planet to Wellakh to help Dairine soon with Wellakh's kernel. I don't know how much you've seen in the manual but I've been getting a lot of practice with those. I'm over here for a more generic wizardry related question."

"One you didn't want to bring to Tom and Carl," her aunt observed.

She tried to keep her face from going red. It was too late to turn back now. She was going to ask what she came in to ask about. "I know you told me you worked most of your wizardry alone, but, I mean, is it common for wizards who have partners to become romantically involved with thm?" She put down her second cup and picked up another.

Her aunt was silent for a while. "You're not going to like this, Nita, but if you're old enough to ask, you're old enough to be told. Most adult wizards I know don't work with partners. It seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Our work—especially here in Ireland—frequently ends up being team work, but it's rare to have one partner you always work with, particularly as you get older. Most aren't in permanent partnerships and I'd say less than half of the wizards in permanent partnerships become romantically involved. It seems to me that a lot of wizards don't have serious romantic relationships. In my experience, it's hard to know what to say to someone who isn't one, always having to hide that part of your life. And if you feel comfortable enough to tell them…their response isn't always what you were hoping for. I think two wizards have a better chance of making things work than a wizard and a non-wizard, but..." She shook her head as if remembering something that hurt, a wound that healed but left a scar. "Life grows and changes as it is wont to do, and it is rare that two people really continue to grow and change in compatible ways for the entirety of their lives."

Nita continued washing teacups and spoons as she listened. "When it does happen though…does it change anything? The romance I mean."

"Life is change. That's just the way it is. We are as the One made us and we're made to grow and change. If we're lucky, the people we love grow and change with us." Annie Callahan sighed, getting up and taking care of the whistling tea kettle, pouring Nita's tea into one of the damp but clean teacups. "If not, you grow apart. I've done a lot of that. The wizard I worked with in college and I grew apart. My husband and I grew apart. It happens. You start seeing the world in different ways. There are as many ways to see the world as there are eyes to see it." She sighed again. "Are you worried about Dairine and Roshaun?"

Nita burst out laughing. "I have a feeling that the things I do worry about concerning Dari aren't the usual worries big sisters have, and the usual ones haven't crossed my mind yet." Besides, Dari and Roshaun hadn't been working together that long…Nita never thought Dairine would be the type to work with a partner. She was still laughing a little, shaking her head. The only word she managed to get out clearly was "Kit."

Annie made as if to put a comforting arm over her niece's shoulders. Nita was still sweet on Kit and was still hoping he'd reciprocate…she tried to think of the most tactful way to break it to her neice. "Sweetie, that might never hap—"

"It did, Aunt Annie."

Her aunt chose her next words carefully. "What did exactly?"

Nita shrugged a little helplessly. "Kissing…doesn't seem to be affecting anything. We'd both been warned recently that if we kept being in denial about how we felt about each other, it would screw with our wizardry. How you feel about people is part of who you are…don't describe yourself accurately in a spell...How's the saying go? Believe something and the world is on its way to being changed because you believe it." A voice long in the past, early in her practice whispered in her memory That's what makes the Starsnuffer so dangerous. However he justifies it to himself, he absolutely believes he is right. And belief is a dangerous weapon. "We finally came out and told each other the truth…that we couldn't imagine not being in each other's lives and that there was one more way we weren't involved and we'd been thinking about getting involved that way." She gave a wry smile. "Now we are I guess." She frowned, remembering that she needed to talk to Dairine about the GED and her long term plans. "I just wanted to tell you about it…and to ask if there was anything you thought I should know." She groaned. "Dating. I haven't done this. And it's kind of like we skipped the dating phase I think. We're in a relationship—whether or not that relationship included a romantic part, we have an existing relationship. I'm happy so far. I just don't know what to do or what to say. Do you just go around and tell your family, 'oh by the way, this guy who I've been closer than close with for the last three years, we're getting romantically involved'? Or do you just let them find out? We're not doing anything that we need to be 'safe' about, so don't worry about that. Dad doesn't know yet. Or Dari. I woke up this morning and the only person I could think to talk to about it was my shrink. That sounds so unnatural, doesn't it?"

Aunt Annie laughed. "Nothing about this situation is normal. Rarely is anything in this life what we would like to think of as normal. You haven't even talked to Dairine?"

Nita shook her head, getting back to the dishes as they talked—teacups and mugs and spoons slowly made their way out of the sink and onto the dish drainer. "No, though it crossed my mind that she's in a similar situation and might have something useful to say. I just wasn't up to tackling her yet. Dairine has enough on her plate right now. I think she's still trying to mentally digest the fact that she asked me for help today. She formally requested my assistance in her intervention on Wellakh. She's freaked."

"Can't blame her on the count, Nita. Life has been pretty traumatic lately."

Nita sipped her tea and worked her way through a few more teacups before settling at the table. "Do you know any wizards who've relocated permanently from one planet to another?"

"I can't think of any examples off hand of wizards I know from a planet like ours where wizardry is secret that it's happened, though I'm sure it has. It's not unheard of for relocations to occur in planets where wizardry is practiced openly."

Nita wrinkled her nose. Her tea had gone cold. "I think Dairine's planning to jump ship. I tried to confront her on it tonight. It looks like she's making preparations to try and go without raising too many flags…but people who know her or our family will wonder, and she's a minor which makes all sorts of other difficulties."

Annie just shook her head. "All you can do right now is keep an eye on her and offer the best advice you can, and listen if she decides to speak. If she's seriously considering it…odds are the Powers have been nudging her. Like when you got blown into Ireland."

She chuckled, remembering Ronan's anger at having blow-ins from the States taking care of what he felt was an Irish problem. "Every time she comes back from Wellakh, it seems like she's more and more reluctant to be home. She's being drawn there and is finding work there. I think the boyfriend is just a bonus." She shook her head. "I'll be checking the situation out by this weekend I think, maybe earlier. I'd like to be able to try and work on the kernel by this weekend—maybe go in earlier to try and get a sense of what the situation is. A lot of information opened up in my manual tonight since I agreed to the intervention and I haven't had time to really look it over yet."

Try as she might, Annie failed to stifle her yawn. It was after two in the morning locally.

"Crud. I'm sorry, I forgot about the time difference, you must be totally run down." Nita took her cup to the sink, washing it along with several others rather quickly. "I'll finish cleaning up in here if you want to go to bed, Aunt Annie. I didn't mean to stay so long."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of them when I wake up. Goodnight and let me know if I can do anything for you or if you just need to talk…"

Nita smiled gratefully and went outside as if to teleport home. She gave it ten minutes for Aunt Annie to be settled in for bedtime and went back and finished all the dishes before heading home. It'd be a nice surprise for her aunt when she woke up. Nita spent the rest of her time before bed starting her reading about Wellakh.

Harry Callahan was readying himself for bed. He'd gotten Nita's note about going out, and went knocked on Dairine's door. There was no answer and after a second knock he pushed it open. He fumed at the sight of his youngest daughter asleep and curled up next to the tall, long haired humanoid king. He sighed. From the looks of things, it didn't look as though they'd been up to anything. They were just asleep, on top of the covers, neither hair nor clothing mussed up. Roshaun's arm was protectively around Dairine, as though trying to shield her from anything that might come in.

He missed waking up with Betty in his arms, falling asleep listening to her breathe. Now he slept alone. He was certain that he'd never quite get used to it. It seemed unnatural not to have that presence in his bed, hogging the blankets, curling up next to him… It took a great deal of self-control, but he walked away, closing the door behind him. He'd have a word with Roshaun in the morning. Several words. For right now…he'd let them sleep.

Nita was downstairs making Poptarts when Kit knocked on the front door to come walk with her to school. He stared for a minute in the doorway. His eyes were drawn to flesh that seemed to so rarely see sunlight underneath her jeans. "Is that the skirt from Monday?"

She'd paired the skirt with a modest top. For some reason when she'd woken up and was poking around her room for something to wear, it seemed like a good idea. It was supposed to be a stiflingly hot day, so close to summer. Now that she was actually standing in front of him, she wasn't so sure it was such a bright idea. She tried hard not to blush. "Yeah. I just thought…" She didn't know what she was thinking. "Does it look alright? Help yourself, Poptarts should be up in a minute. I'm going to go upstairs and change into jeans."

He took her hand, stopping her from turning to go up the stairs. "Don't. Looks good on you."

She looked at him doubtfully. "You sure?"

"Positive, Neets." He walked past her into the kitchen, adding over his shoulder, "I might have to knock a few guys' eyeballs out…but really, they probably don't need them and won't want them after they've fallen on the floor after seeing you in that." He juggled the Poptarts out of the toaster as they came up onto a plate and put another set in for himself, handing Nita the first plate.

"Morning, Kit, Neets," Nita's dad greeted them, as he came out of his room tying his tie. "Have you seen Roshaun or Dairine yet? I need to talk to them about something."

Nita shook her head. "Not since last night, but I didn't think about going in and waking her up this morning. She's been managing to get out and to school alright on her own lately." She should be able to at her age. "Is he going into work with you this morning?"

He finished tying his tie and held still. "I haven't asked him, but I might have him ride in with me. It will give us a chance to talk."

Kit shot Nita an amused glance from over by the toaster. Why do I have the feeling that when all this comes out…he's going to want to talk to me too?

You want to get it over with now?

I'll let Roshaun take the heat today. I'm sure I'll get my turn, he replied. It was not exactly a conversation he'd be looking forward to—the usual death threats that went along with dating a man's daughter. Not that Kit had ever heard them before, but he could guess—if you break her heart, I will break every bone in your body. His pop had certainly had a good number of the usual threats ready for his sisters' boyfriends.

Nita's dad drank his coffee, standing around, agitated, as though waiting for something. He wasn't sure he could bring himself to go knock on the door of his daughter's room. Not this morning. He couldn't do it. He sighed. "Nita, will you go bang on your sister's door?"

Nita was just about done with her first Poptart and put the last bite in her mouth. She thought better of protesting and went upstairs, calling out, "Dari, you're going to be late for school!" She heard the thump of movement and swearing, though she was only just barely at the top of the stairs. Satisfied that the runt would be downstairs at her usual breakneck speed, Nita went back down to the kitchen. "She should be down in a minute."

There was a little pop of displaced air and Spot appeared on the kitchen table, all his eye stalks looking around as though he was on a reconnaissance mission. "Tell him I want a word with him," Nita's dad told the sentient computer, quietly enough that neither Kit nor Nita caught the words. The computer blinked out of sight without responding.

Dairine ran down the stairs, her backpack over one shoulder, still wearing yesterday's clothes. "Forgot to set my alarm." She looked through the fridge for some fruit she could eat in a hurry.

Kit and Nita made their escape, figuring it was best not to be present for the mandatory you-break-my-daughter's-heart-and-I-will-break-you speech, no matter how amusing the sight of Roshaun getting lectured by Nita's dad might be. Come to think of it, where was Roshaun? He wasn't on the couch… "I wonder if Mr. Sun-King worldgated home last night to sleep in his own bed."

"With such a comfortable couch, why would he ever go back to his palace?" Kit laughed. "What do you think about the intervention?"

"I don't know. I fell asleep reading the manual last night. Wellakh's got a rough history. It doesn't surprise me that Roshaun's got that tough as nails thing down pat—I think you'd have to in order to be in his place and survive there."

"If you've got to be tough as nails to get along there…Dairine will fit in great." He tilted his head to the side. "Not so sure about you."

She jabbed him with her elbow.

"You're too nice…'cept of course when you're kicking Lone Power's immortal butt. Or hitting me. Isn't that domestic abuse?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Want me to kiss it better?"

Mr. Callahan was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his second cup of coffee when Roshaun came down the stairs only a few moments after Nita and Kit left. Roshaun stood with his hands behind his back as if at attention, in front of Dhairine's father. "Roshaun, I like to think of myself as a good father. I have two daughters and this has been a hard year for all of us." He looked around as if the kitchen would supply the words he needed. None were forthcoming. "You care about her a lot, don't you?"

"I care for Dhairine a great deal." Roshaun was subdued, unsure of where the conversation was going. "Sir…"

He held up his hand. "Roshaun, Dairine is only barely fourteen. You're older than she is. I don't want you pressuring her into anything. I know you spent last night in her room. I've made you welcome in my home. I understand that Dairine has what she feels are obligations to perform on Wellakh and that she will be spending a great deal of time away from here. I don't expect to be taken advantage of."

"I assure you, sir, I doubt even the Isolate could make Dhairine do anything against her will. I had no intention of spending the night there. We were talking and fell asleep. I am extremely sorry."

He rubbed his temples, unsure of how to say any of the many things nebulously clustered in his mind at the moment. He had always expected to be talking to a boyfriend of Nita's long before one of Dairine's. Then again Dairine had always been a precocious child. Not all the Star Wars reading in the world could have prepared him for the possibility that his daughter might end up dating an alien prince. "Come into the shop with me."

The Wellakhit King got in the car, conscious that he was still wearing yesterday's clothes, and sat rigidly in the passenger seat. "No need to be so stiff, Roshaun. I'm not taking you to be executed." He glanced at the boy as he shifted lanes. "It sounds like Dairine will be spending a lot of time on your planet. Are your parents oaky with that?"

"My parents are quite taken with her," he replied, bemused. "I often wonder if they enjoy her company more than mine. Some days, I am certain that they do."

Mr. Callahan couldn't help laughing. "That's good to hear. Dairine can be something of an acquired taste. I want you to promise me that you'll do everything within your power to protect her, Roshaun."

"Sir, I will do as I have done since I met her. Dhairine will not be harmed in any way I can prevent." He stared at the ceiling of the car, off to one side, right where the sun was overhead. He could feel it strongly. "Dhairine brings out the best in me. My parents and I have both noticed changes in my manner of being since I became acquainted with her—changes that appear to be for the better."

He pulled into his parking space near the shop and turned the car off, but didn't get out. "I know there are things that the two of you need to take care of on your home planet but…this is Dairine's planet. She does have a life to live here. I don't want to see her miss it."

There was no reply to that, no way to explain that maybe Dairine was belonged on another planet, that maybe this one wasn't right for her. The silence hung in the air for some minutes.

Roshaun went back to the house around lunchtime. Mr. Callahan had offered to drive him home, but he knew the way, he could walk. He mulled over a number of things in his mind. He wanted Dhairine on Wellakh with him. The Aethyrs seemed to want Dhairine on Wellakh with him. He was certain that whatever problems her absence from Earth might cause locally they could be dealt with…

He felt around in his pocket for the key that he'd been given shortly after his arrival, but to his annoyance, found that he had not put it in his pocket. He had been rather distracted this morning with the realization that he was going to be having a long and uncomfortable conversation with Dhairine's father. All the same, it could have gone worse. He said a few words to the lock in the Speech and stepped inside.

He'd take the time while Dhairine was at school to return home briefly, and make arrangements for Nita and Kit's stay and see how things were getting on at the Sun Palace. He descended into the basement and activated the worldgate, stepping through and appearing in his own rooms. He couldn't help noticing that, for the first time, they seemed too large. They were no bigger than normal…they just felt different. He charged that perception as having been the fault of having spent the last few days in such a small domicile.

He shed the shirt, tie, and slacks belonging to Dhairine's father and picked out an outfit from his wardrobe, making sure he was presentable before emerging from his rooms and seeking out his mother to inform her of the incoming guests. It took only a few inquiries before he found her in the gardens.

"Tekeh, I had not expected you to return so soon."

He raised his mother's hands to his forehead in greeting. "I am only back for a short time. I wanted to assess the situation here. Has anything changed?"

She shook her head, sighing. "The wizards who went looking for water below the surface have had little luck in finding any springs of which we were previously unaware. All that can be done at this point is to caution people to use what we have now wisely."

He reached out and touched one of the red leaves of the bush beside him. It was brittle. "We have called in some auxiliary assistance. Dhairine's elder sister is an experienced wizard with sufficient knowledge of world kernels that she may be able to greatly assist our efforts here in finding and ending the cause of the drought. She and her partner should be here in a few days' time for the intervention."

Lady Miril nodded, examining her son with a mother's careful eye, as though checking to see that he hadn't taken any injury in his absence, had been eating right and getting enough sleep, and anything else that might go wrong. "I'll see to it that rooms are ready for them. Dhairine's is ready and only awaits her arrival. Have you been to see your father yet?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. I was going to wait and return with Dhairine when she's finished school." He said the word almost as though it was a curse.

His mother laughed a little. "She has appearances to maintain in that world, tekeh, just as you do in this one. Are you going to tell your people about the intervention?"

"No need to give the Isolate warning to derail it. I will make an appearance before leaving." He knew it was necessary. They didn't like him leaving the planet—he was the Guarantor. If he left the planet, who would save them from the fate their world had suffered once before? "Dhairine, Nita, Kit, and myself will have a conference with father and discuss any assistance he might be able to provide us, directly or indirectly."

She nodded approvingly, and waited for him to say something else.

He suppressed the sigh that was itching to drop from his lips. "I will make a statement, assuring the people that I am hard at work on their behalf, and that they are as always, in my mind." Whether or not that is in a good way or not. "Is there anything else that needs attending, Mother?"
"I'm sure your father has a list."

Roshaun tried not to think of his kingly duties as chores, but they were. He had best find his father and begin to take care of them before heading back.

Author's Note: Not a lot went on in this chapter plot-wise but there were some conversations that I felt needed to happen. The Roshaun and Mr. Callahan conversation felt more like one that would have happened between Kit and Mr. Callahan, but I did try to make it as Roshaun as possible. I still haven't decided how/when to drop the bomb about Nita and Kit on Mr. Callahan. Poor man will never see it coming.

I am proud of myself for relatively quick updates and I'm trying for longer chapters. I'd really love to see some feedback, so please review. Am I going off the deepend here, or do you think I'm on the right track?