AN: I know, it's been quite a while,and this has been sitting open in my laptop for like a month and a half now and this is quite short and I'm sooorryyyy. =. I don't even know if people are still reading, but writing this is kind of my therapy, so I'm writing this for me as much as I'm writing it for the clone club. I'll try getting my shit together and post the next one earlier.
"Kira." Rachel manages to sigh and groan at the same time, smoothly closing the painting "it is way past your bedtime." this time, she manages an admonishing tone, crouching down on one knee before scooping the five year old up. She walks towards her father's bed, and she almost breaks into a smile at how Kira presses her face on the side of her neck, tightening the hold of her little arms. She sits on the edge, Kira on her lap.
Light blonde curls bounce lightly as Kira draws back. "But mummy,"
Rachel raises a finger, tsking twice. The child seems confused for a moment, then her eyes widen comically as she realizes what she did wrong.
"Mother," Kira tries again in her most adult tone, and Rachel nods approvingly, "I couldn't sleep." her lips hang down in a pout. Rachel immediately bristles.
"Were you scared? Or cold? Is Daniel not lightning enough lamps in your room?"
"Nooo," Kira shakes her head in the slow and cute way that five year olds do, "I wasn't scared, I was just excited to see you." she says with a goofy smile.
Of course. Rachel knew that that wasn't what was keeping Kira up, but she couldn't stop herself from asking nonetheless. She has long stopped wondering and doubting the child's intuition, but she also couldn't stop asking her same question regarding the topic.
"How did you know I was coming?"
Kira scrunches her brows in concentration, and Rachel lets herself smile at how adorable it looks.
"I just knew." Kira shrugs, not knowing how to explain otherwise. "I felt it. I knew you were coming." She says it in the calm and nonchalant way that makes Rachel think that her daughter is mature, more mature than half the population of King's Landing.
The same answer, just like every other time I asked. She tucks a wayward curl behind the girl's ear, "of course you did."
"What are you looking for in grandfather's room?" Kira is looking up at her with pure innocence and curiousity.
The Hand has a tight lipped smile on her face. I've almost forgotten how perceptive you are, and how you manage to cut and asks right through things at breakneck speed.
"Well, I was just visiting his room."
"And looking for something." Kira adds in a helpful tone, as if her mother forgot to provide that information so she's doing it for her. More intelligent than three quarters of King's Landing too.
"I just miss him." Rachel decides to change tactics, and it works, because Kira's expression falls.
"Me too." Her voice is sad, "I wanted to go see him, but Daniel said no, like how he said no when I told him something bad is going to happen to grandfather, and I really wanted to see him, but Daniel kept saying no." Kira's chin is wobbling, "Mummy, " teary eyes gaze up at green ones, and Rachel doesn't have the heart to correct her, especially not after the next words, "why couldn't I go see grandpa? And where is he now?" For a moment, she considers lying; Kira doesn't know that Ethan was dead, but then those eyes, so baffled and yet calm, were looking straight at her and Rachel feels, knows, that she couldn't lie her way out of this even if she tried...so she decides to tell the truth.
"Kira...grandfather's dead." her voice is calm, controlled, clinical, and she applauds herself for that, but she'll deny and ignore the sharp kick in her chest the moment she said those words. She levels her gaze with Kira's, "do you know what that means?" Kira just gazes back with profound calmness that Rachel hasn't been expecting.
"Yes," the child nods, "it means I'll never see him again." Rachel likes to think that she is used to Kira's odd talent for sensing and calling things out, but the way she stated it, as if it was a simple everyday fact, which, technically, it is, is not something Rachel was expecting from a five year old, even if said five year old is special. You just keep on surprising me sometimes I forget how old you really are.
"Yes, because he won't be coming back." and her heart breaks a little when she truly realizes, for the first time, that she'll never see her father again. She was too busy, hellbent on looking for answers, and if she were being honest with herself, forcing herself not to think or feel about it, that she hasn't really been able to properly grieve. But now, all the pushing and all the walls vanished.
All of that, undone in front of this child. She feels a small hand on her cheek, wiping the tears she didn't know were leaking from her eyes.
"Don't worry, you were there, and you saw him before you couldn't anymore." Rachel barks a small laugh, because Kira was talking to her like she was one of the flowers or animals that she sometimes saw Kira talking to, but she could also almost hear the and I wasn't that goes with that sentence.
She draws Kira back into her arms, holding her tightly, feeling the raging ball of emotions she normally kept under control slowly ebb on to the small body clinging to her. She holds her until she feels the arms around her neck slacken.
My curious little girl. She lets herself have a rare moment of letting her emotions get to her, let her heart expand as she looks down at a slumbering Kira. Her father's words echo to her.
"Curious little cub, aren't you?" she carefully taps the sleeping girl's nose, the same way her father did all those years ago. "No, a little lioness. My little lioness."
It connects to another memory, something her father said the first time she saw Kira.
"You will love her like I love you. Possibly even more, if that were at all possible"
An uncomfortable feeling sits on her chest, and she glances at the painting, suddenly realizing that she has to keep Kira away from all of this.
How dare she! Cosima was walking as fast as her still wobbly legs could carry her. That cruel, mischievous, infuriating... Scott jumps as she barges in her own study near the cellars: the work space that she squeezed out of Rachel Lannister. She is thankful that the currently being remodeled and renovated workplace is directly connected to the tunnels, because she doesn't know if her jelly legs could've taken her any further. Shady, wicked, sinfully beautiful... "uhm, hey?" Scott worriedly tracks her haphazard pacing... illegally gorgeous, evil, perfect madening goddess... Scott jumps a second time when she forcefully drops the book on the table in front of him.
"Oh, wow, you got it! You actually got the book!" His excitement does a complete turn in the opposite direction, "wait, how did you get it?" he raises his eyes to a still flustered Cosima, and it's on closer look that he notices the ragged breathing, the flushed skin, the shaking hands and shaky steps. It is his first time seeing her angry, and it unsettles him. "Are you all right? I mean, you got the book, so why are you-"
"Because she's infuriatingly frustrating!" she bursts out, leaving him speechless and wide eyed, holding the book up to his chest as if to shield himself. His shock turns into a smile as her words caught up to his brain. "Her? Does that mean you actually asked for her help?" The dagger look she flings at him wipes his smile off, and he decides to hold off on the comments.
When she has calmed down enough that she can talk without shouting, she slows to a stop.
"She gave it to me." she whispers slowly, looking at her hands that were still shaking.
"What was that?" He was looking down at the book in awe, caressing its edges, its spine.
Cosima casts her gaze upon him. "She gave it to me" she says a little louder, and she watches her friend 's awed expression turn to confusion and disbelief.
"Wait, she gave it to you? Like, handed it over?"
She nods, and his mouth is left hanging open in question.
"Delphine of Lys" he doesn't catch Cosima's small flinch at the mention of her name "just handed this book , a very important and special book that only a select few have heard of, much less seen, to you? " he asks incredulously, making her realize as well.
At her slight nod, he lets out a small huff that turns into a whistle. "I, pshhuhwhawow, just, wow, you must have been extra nice to her, or at least enough for her to give it to you. So are you friends now?"
Her scowl returns, and he backtracks as she goes back to pacing. "Oookay, never mind then. You got what you wanted, something you were willing to procure even if it meant being sailed back to Dorne, with her help. It went well, you have it in your hands, so what did you have to lose?"
"My sanity!" she shouts over her shoulder as she walks out, leaving a very bewildered maester behind.
Three days of being constantly on fire on the inside is slowly wearing Cosima out. Three nights of constantly waking up, sweaty and all too wet from her dreams painted with blonde hair and pale skins have finally taken their toll on her. She wasn't joking when she said her sanity was at stake, because at this point, she swears she might just spontaneously combust. At the first light of day, she purposefully strides out of her room, knowing exactly where to go if she is to remain sane.
Hazel eyes roam over the entrance to one of the most prestigious brothels and the sight reminds her of her last patient in Lys, before the street boy handed her the message sent by the very same man who owns the very same establishment she was standing in front of. She takes a deep breath and steps inside, going unnoticed since she opted wearing her cloak, giving her her much needed privacy. She hasn't realized how much she actually missed wearing it ever since she came to King's Landing, where the people cannot stop looking , gawking, and pointing at her. The capital was too nosy and she can honestly say that it thrives on a web of lies and a pit of snakes. She carefully makes her way towards Felix's office, letting her eyes casually observe the men and women in bed with some of the most prominent people. She mentally commends him for keeping a better environment and care for her employees than the ones she's used to seeing, noting the cleaner and safer environment and the presence of some of the City Watch standing in obscure corners making them almost unnoticeable.
She reaches his doors and considers simply barging in, but thought better of it. Instead, she carefully draws her hood back, and raises a fist to knock on the wooden door.
"Come in." Felix says from the other side. She pushes the doors open, finding Felix naked on a bed, langourously smoking what she knows to be dried leaves from a hallucinogenic plant grown mostly in Slaver's Bay. She raises a brow at the young man she spots hastily putting his pants on, foregoing his top and scrambling out of the room bare chested, keeping his head down.
"See you soon, Colin" he shouts after him.
Delphine gives him a look, which he brushes off. "Delphine of Lys."
"Lord Felix."
He scoffs. "Please, you and I both know I'm not a Lord."
"And yet everyone calls you one anyway"she says with a sarcastic smile on her face. "What am I doing here?"
Felix blows his last puff of smoke, then gets up in all his naked glory, impressed that the blonde doesn't even blink nor show any reaction. "We both know why and I will not insult your intelligence by feigning reasons" he is finally putting his clothes on, to which Delphine cannot unsee him as Felix Dawkins. She gives him a level gaze. "Then the answer is no."
"You haven't even heard my compensation for you."
"It doesn't matter. I am not giving you the drug. You already run a succesful business here."
"And the same cannot be said for the pleasure houses in Lys?"
"I give it to those who need it. Your girls obviously don't." She can admit that much, and he glowers with pride at the compliment.
"Yes, well, a little profit won't hurt. I'm sure I can give you something in return."
She bristles at this. "It wasn't made for profit, we both know the profit won't be little at all. That is the last thing I want from happening." Her jaw is clenched. "And you cannot give me what I want, Fairy." she adds as an afterthought.
Felix raises a knowing brow. "Oh, don't be too sure of th-"
A scream from the other side tears their attention from each other. Felix quickly robes himslef and strides out the door, Delphine quickly following behind him. Other patrons and prostitutes were already coming out of other rooms to see what the commotion is. One of the doors open and a terrified girl comes out, hysterical and crying, newly forming bruises very evident on her face. She stumbles on Felix and her knees give out, forcing him to support both their weight.
"She's dead! Oh my gods, she's dead."
"Shhh. Shh." he coos, "Calm down love. What is it?" She couldn't find the words, so she just lifts a trembling hand and points towards the room she came from. Everybody's gaze turns to where she's pointing. Inside, a man is naked, standing in the middle of the room and looking petrified. Felix recognizes him as one of those who opposed the new selection for Hand of the King. On the bed is another girl, immobile and staring at the ceiling. He stands up, moving to go inside the room, anger coursing through him. A flurry of yellow snaps him out of it, and he wonders what happened, until he sees Delphine already stooping by the bed, her fingers on the girl's neck, and then placing her nose at the opening the mouth to sniff it.
Felix sees her put one hand on top of the other, pressing the heel of her hand on the girl's chest, and then she begins to pump in rythmn.
"When did she stop breathing." she says out loud, her eyes focused on the girl's face. When there is no answer, she lifts her head.
"How long!" she snaps at the naked man still rooted at his spot. This is enough to shake him out of frozenly watching her.
"I...I don't know. Not long. It just happened." he stammers. "She just stopped breathing. I had nothing to do with it."
If her hands weren't trying to revive this girl's life, Delfin knew she would have slapped him. "You had everything to do with it. You gave her something." she says with disdain.
He blinks, clearly surprised as to how she knew, Felix sees it, and it's all the confirmation he needs.
The man, now conscious of the gathering crowd outside the open doors, quickly changes his expression to that of offense. He is about to say "How dare you accuse me" when the dead girl's mouth opens and a quiet gasp comes out. Delfin stops pumping, and rechecks the girl's pulse, then her breathing, noting the barely there rise and fall of the girl's chest.
It's still too slow, but she's breathing on her own, that's what's important.
While everyone else stand quietly transfixed by the resurrection, Delfin reaches across the body at a cup close to where the girl's hand lay. She sniffs it, then swipes a finger at the inside, collecting the remaining liquid, then brings it to the tip of her tongue.
"You idiot." she scowls at the man, who is clearly shocked at being spoken this way. Before he can even protest, Delphine glowers at him. "You mixed it with alcohol?"
At this, he evidently becomes jumpy. "I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't do-"
"Do not lie. Not to me. You know who I am. You cannot lie about this to a potion master." she says in the same scathing tone.
His mouth flops, like a dumbfounded fish out of water. He finally decides to come clean, but still trying to regain his dignity. "The man who sold it to me assured me it would work. Said it would make female's lust fly to the seven heavens." he huffs, "It was obviously fake, it doesn't wor-"
"It does work. To animals, which is why only breeders use it, and even to animals, it is still mostly experimental." Delphine is looking at him in disgust, her hand on the girl's chest, assessing her breathing "but to humans, it is fatal. Mix it with alcohol and it becomes poison." She looks down at the girl again, worry creasing her brow. Her breathing's way too slow. She spots a quill by the table near the bed, and grabs it, mentally listing what she'll need for an antidote. She looks around for paper, but finding none and her time dangerously running low, she tears off a strip of the white bed sheet, ignoring the horrified gasp from Felix and his muttering of "that came all the way from Tyrosh." She writes as fast as she can, then holds her hand out towards Felix, who approaches to scan her short list. He calls for his fastest boy, "get what's on this list, and get them fast."
He then glances down to the curly blonde still bent over her patient, assessing for anything else that can help with the situation. For a moment, his mind thinks of nothing else except how sincerely concerned Delphine is to saving a prostitute, and now understands how and why this woman was able to keep her identity for so long...it's because people owe her their lives and would protect her no matter what. He momentarily kneels beside her. "Save her," he whispers, and she throws him a quiet glance, her eyes softening in understanding that he cannot say it out loud, needing to keep the image of the sassy aloof Master of Whisperers to avoid anyone having any leverage on him if they knew he actually cared.
She grabs the cup, hoping for at least a drop so she can begin calculating her antidote. It is empty, the last drop having been gone the first time she swiped it.
"How much of it did you give her?" she asks the man now trying to casually cover himself up.
"I..I don't know." She tries to contain her impatience, forcing herself to talk in a calm manner.
"Think back, I need to know how much of it you gave her." she tries in that voice she knows will get her anything she wants.
He blinks dreamily for a second, then seems to catch himself. "I'm not sure. All of it. A spoonful maybe?" Her expression turns to alarm and anger. "A spoo...and the wine?" she reaches for the wine flask by the table.
"Eh...a little?" he struggles to remember.
A timid voice catches their attention. "We both had a cup of wine, and then she drank a second cup, and then she started getting dizzy, until she stopped moving." The other girl, almost forgotten in the midst of the confusion, supplies for Delphine, who suddenly notices the now vividly blooming bruises on the girl's neck. Rage bubbles inside her, and she turns to look at the man, fury very evident on her face, causing him to step back a little. "You tried to kill her." It was not a question, and only supported by how guilty he looks. "The moment she screamed, all you thought of was saving yourself, so you strangled her."
She couldn't have been more than two inches taller than him, but at that moment, he felt like she was towering over him, his fear morphing into terror. In the corner of her eye, she sees Felix grind his teeth, then signals for two guards, and takes the man by the elbow, guiding him towards his office. "Come my lord, we shall discuss additional payments for the additional damage this unfortunate circumstance has caused." He signals one of the attendants to start escorting people back into their rooms.
Focus, Delphine. She is grateful to Felix, because she's sure if he hadn't done anything she would have caused severe body harm in front of everybody. Focus on the antidote and the dosage.
The blonde does a mental calculation, but knows it is futile without knowing the alcohol percentage, even just a rough guess of it.
This time, she turns to one of the attendants. "What kind of wine do you serve here?"
His raised brow confirms her fear, "we serve almost all varieties in this establishment."
She is about to ask him to request for the particular batch and particular wine served in this particular room when someone grabs the flask from her hands.
"Cosima?"
She was behind other people, having heard the scream herself, then tried to hide the moment she saw the curly blonde tresses, watching the scene unfold, watching in fascination and awe as two pale hands join and start pumping on the motionless girl's chest, and she feels her own breath caught in her throat when the smallest of breaths flows back to the girl's lungs. She did it, she actually brought her back to life. Cosima has never seen anything like it, finding herself completely enraptured by the foreigner, more so when she advances towards the guy responsible, accusing him of murder.
And then she sees the moment of slight distress in those hazel eyes when the attendant says "we serve almost all varieties in this establishment."
The look of alarm in those eyes pulls Cosima to the gravity of the situation, and she notices what the potion master has been worrying this whole time: the girl's breathing was almost non existent. Her mind goes back to what she heard moments ago. "but to humans, it is fatal. Mix it with alcohol and it becomes poison." Her mind puts two and two together. She needs to know how much alcohol is in the wine. Without really thinking, she steps forward and grabs the flask.
Delphine was surprised at her sudden appearance, distracted by the amount of tan skin on display due to her half naked state, and just generally happy as is the norm whenever she sees the smaller girl.
The princess sniffs the flask, then tips the flask to her lips, the image momentarily making Delfin forget the dire situation she's trying to salvage.
"This is Dornish white wine." Cosima visibly swirls her tonuge around her mouth, making Delphine's throat dry. "Relatively low in alcohol content." she continues. "That is what you are looking for, is it not?"
It takes a moment for Delphine to realize that Cosima was talking to her, expectantly looking at her, waiting for an answer.
"Oui..." an almost impercebtible squint at the term. That word again.
Delphine notices and chooses her words carefully. She clears her throat. "uhm..we, we need to know how strong the alcohol is, so I know how much of which ingredient I'll use in concocting the antidote, or if she can still be saved at all." She knows she is rambling, but she can't help herself, not when Cosima was in front of her wearing almost next to nothing. "What are you doing here?" she asks absentmindedly.
And then it hits her: where they are, what people do here, Cosima's lack of clothing, along with the almost guilty expression on the princess' face before it quickly turns to one of defiance.
Cosima clenches her jaw, feeling uncomfortable as Delphine realizes what she must have been doing there, then brushes the guilt away, not understanding why she should be guilty in the first place.
"'I'm.." here because I'm too sexually frustrated and if I don't get it off my system I might just spontaneously combust and it's your fault. The moment is gone as the young man Felix sent searching comes stumbling in haste.
"Here m'lady." He hands them over, trying to catch his breath. It gives the potion master the needed excuse to stop thinking about it and focus on the girl's life instead. "Thank you" she smiles at him, causing him to blush and forget about being tired, eagerly asking her if there's anything more she needs. Cosima watches the interaction with distaste, and then gets irritated at herself for it.
Why do I even care if he's acting like a stupid overly eager lap dog. Their brief moment of actually getting along is gone just as fast.
"I'm gonna leave you to it." she starts to back away, but a soft voice stops her.
"Cosi...princess Cosima..." she almost flinches at the word, remembering how she basically demanded Delphine to address her by her title.
"Thank you for your help." Delphine says it with her head downcast, and forces herself to focus on the unconscious girl, trying to block out Cosima who was awkwardly standing there, blurting out an equally awkward "all life matters" before huffing at herself and walking away. Pale slender fingers work fast in spreading out the ingredients, a fond yet sad chuckle escaping her lips. You are still so very much the same gentle caring petit chiot.
Once Kira was tucked in her bed, Rachel wastes no time in reopening the painting, and taking everything inside the vault, transferring them to a safety box to bring with her to King's Landing where she can study them in earnest. She doesn't have the time to linger, because she has to go back immediately for
the tourney.
She groans, tired and cranky with everything going on, and now she has to be present for the Hand's Tourney, a celebration of a position she almost swore she was born for.
Why did I ever agree in the first place? Oh, yes... she finally succumbed to the idea when Felix convinced her that it would get the people to enjoy something from and for her, for them to get used to the idea of a female Hand, blah blah blah. Honestly, she didn't really care, until Felix mentioned Ethan.
"It's what your father would have done." She whirls back to face him, ready to jump at his throat, but she doesn't when she sees that there is trace of innuendo or malice in his face. He simply stated it as a simple truth, which, much to her chagrin, she knows as well. So in lieu of a cordial acquiesce, she flashes a tight lipped smile and snarls a "fine."
She leans her head against the opening of the painting, feeling the exhaustion of her hasty travel fully taking effect, and she slowly closes closes it. She stops when the the side of the swings to her periphery, and she turns her head to properly look at it, feeling something off.
She gives it a few more test swings, then aligns it in front of her again, her eyes squinting.
Are paintings supposed to be this thick?
To the common eye, they would not have noticed anything, but Rachel, having had an eye and a taste for the finer things in life, knows that the back of the painting is still abnormally thicker than normal, even if it was just by a few inches. She carefully lays her palm on the painting's underside, careful not to press too hard. She is disappointed when her hand meets the soft pliant resistance of canvas, even when she sweeps her hand all over. She almost gives up, but then noticed trough her sweeping, that one side, the side closest to the hinge, is a little wider than the others. It might have been wider because that's where the hinges are installed, but she knows she inherited more than enough of her father's brilliance to recognize it as another hiding place.
Her fingers look for the a catch or a small indent that would open it, and she almost squeals in childish glee when she finds it. She hears a faint click, the edge popping out. It was very narrow, and she wonders what kind of papers her father would think needed extra hiding when all the other papers were in the vault. She carefully opens it, her heart beating in anticipation. Nothing comes out like she expected, and she frowns in confusion, sticking her hand in the narrow space. Something cold and irregularly flat comes into contact with her fingers, and she gingerly fishes it out of its hiding place, then lays it out on her palm. Her confusion only serves to grow as she stares at it, all six inches of the flat dark material.
Rachel has had enough story telling times of the old legends with her father to recognize it for what it is.
Dragonglass.
…
AN: I don't know whom my heart's breaking for, Paul or Delphine. Ahh, fuck it, I have not a piece left, it just breaks everytime one of them cries, so yeah...no more heart.