Midsummer 13, 6105 RTR (30 Sep 2001) Elise discusses marriage with Katherine.
(Airship) (Elise)
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Sweet Destiny
The pall of death hangs over this pleasure yacht, a tow line shackling it to the crippled Siren's Tail. Destiny herself appears unharmed, and flies the colors and banner of the Rephidim Temple proudly now, banner snapping in the wind of her air mage. Nonetheless, the few crew who remain, diligently at work on the deck, testify to the grim results of the battle in which she was involved. Her noble passengers mostly stay in their lavish quarters, nursing their injuries – both physical, and otherwise.

Midsummer 13, 6105

Though not designed for the task, with the help of her air mage, Destiny is managing to serve adequately as a tug, hauling Siren toward the closest paquebot. The crew's estimate of the flight time was originally some ten days, but thankfully, it appears to have been pessimistic, and after seven days the navigator has declared that they should be able to land at the Stygian Paquebot on the morrow.

Lord Grant de Ayde, though severely wounded during the fighting on Siren, has been recovering well in the time since. Although his right leg was broken, three ribs cracked, and a long gash opened on his chest, Siren's physician pronounced the breaks clean and the gash ugly, but not serious. He is awake about half the time, and spends much of it restless, as he is confined to his bed. Katherine keeps him company most days, though she has been uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn since her rescue.

Though Dominic haut Glas' injuries initially appeared less serious than Grant's, the cut on his head is infected, and he has been delirious or unconscious since shortly after the conflict ended. The healer fears that the Eeee weapon used against him was poisoned, or at least contaminated in some way, and his efforts to clean the wound have not been effectual. Though he says little of the noble's prognosis, it appears to be grim.

Elise herself did not escape unscathed. The crossbow quarrel that penetrated her armor was largely spent by the time it reached her flesh, and didn't bury itself deep into her side. Her face feels bruised where her helmet absorbed blows, but no worse. The worst damage appears to have been sustained by her right leg, which hurts more than ever since the attack. The physician believes that her over-reliance on the partially-unhealed limb during the battle may have compounded existing fractures, despite the cast. In any case, he has ordered her to stay in bed and keep it elevated until they return to Rephidim and the life mages may look at it.

On the evening of the seventh day, Katherine knocks at Elise's door, then enters quietly when invited. The former hostage looks better now than she did immediately after the rescue: most of the dye has been washed from her fur, and the marks left by rope burns are covered by the Templar robe she wears, borrowed from Elise. With her hair shorn off, her ears nearly bare, and her fur uniformly short, she doesn't look like a poodle, and her eyes still have the same haunted look. At least, however, she now looks healthy – especially by contrast with the walking wounded all around her. "How are you feeling, Elise?" she asks.

"I am well," answers Elise. She turns her head to regard her sister, then smiles warmly as she sees her sibling is looking better by the day. "Come, sit with me. Let us talk … if you would not mind that of course."

Katherine smiles in answer. "No, of course not." She draws the cabin's comfortable reading chair closer to the head of Elise's bed, positioning it to face her sister, then seating herself. "I feel terrible for both you and Grant. It would be better if I were confined to my bed. At least I am accustomed to lying around doing nothing all day, while you two do not seem to know what to do with yourselves if you cannot run about … " She hesitates, as if planning to add something else, but does not, letting the sentence trail off.

Elise studies her sister as she pulls the chair across the room, and when she speaks she just shakes her head a little. "To be quite honest, for once, I am glad to be bed-ridden. And I am even happier that you … " The elder sister pauses for a moment, and during that time she gives her sister a uncharacteristically worried glance before continuing, " … are well. And we should make the best of this time, should we not? Perhaps a story? Like when we were young… "

The other poodle folds her hands together in her lap, watching her sister with a quiet affection. "Should I tell you a story, 'lise? Or did you want to tell me one?"

"Oh, I like to think I had picked up a story or two on my travels. Moving here … and there … " The elder de Bellefeuille makes a small sweeping gesture with her right hand. "I do love to travel, as you well know. Perhaps a bit too much. But, here … a story. One of a foolish woman and her travels around our dear planet. It all started some time ago, as these stories tend to do, in a city known as Rephidim high above the clouds … "

As if set in a quaint fairy tale setting, Elise begins to relate her life, never referring to herself exactly though giving enough subtle hints to the effect that someone as close as her sister could easily tell this story is about her. She goes on to explain about the revenant in Rephidim, Sabel, and the "Dream Realm" plot and her part in it – her real part in it – as well as the events that led to just before the kidnapping. Despite the story-like explanation the title could easily be dubbed The Truth.

Elise continues her story until its finish, resisting any attempt to halt it mid-way through, with a shake of her head and narrow concentrating look to her face. As if she had prepared the whole story beforehand, and had been waiting until just now to tell it and any interruption might cause her to lose her place. When she draws to a close her smile widens a bit, and she says, " … and that Katherine, is my tale for you."

Katherine … just listens. Where once Elise might have expected shock, or horror, or surprise, now she finds merely a quiet acceptance, unmarked by interruptions. As she relates the story, Katherine curls into the chair, tucking her feet underneath her and resting her head against her bent arm, where it lies on the chair's arm. It's the kind of "improper" pose that Katherine would only use in the presence of her sister. When Elise finally reaches the conclusion, her sister smiles a little. "But how does it end?"

"That, well … that I would like to know myself. But I can at least tell you where it may continue," answers the poodle in bed. She shifts a bit, propping her head on an arm so she can look at her sister better. "Marriage perhaps, and perhaps a furthering of her career I should think. There is also a daring rescue of her sister which … " The elder poodle falters a bit, her smile wavering and guilt reflecting in the way she can't quite look at her sister now. " … could have been handled better. Much better. Thank Grant, Katherine. I know you love him well … and, I think, it is high time I acknowledged him with more than stiff acceptance. When he is able to hear me he will find he has more than my blessing. He is a dear man and I am proud that you would marry him."

For some reason, Katherine's smile wavers as Elise speaks, and at that last, tears glitter in her eyes. She sits up, turning her head away and brushing a hand over her face. "I … I know that he is." Her gaze turns to the front of the ship, where Dominic lies, fever-ridden and possibly dying. "Elise … when you say marriage … you – did not mean what you said, on the other ship – did you? About … him."

For a moment Elise looks confused and she searches her sister's face as if searching for a hint. After a moment her eyes widen, and she reaches out to squeeze her sister's hand reassuringly. "No. That, my sweet sister, was a ruse. I needed Dominic to rescue Grant because I could not find the strength to lift him with a bolt in my side and a broken leg. I had to give him reason not to kill Grant while I was not looking, and I did not care much for his personal well-being. I suspect Dominic is behind this entire travesty and the least he could do for us is be used. And should he prove guilty, and more so die, I intend he pays for this crime dearly," Elise explains.

Though initially looking only reassured, the younger sister's eyes widen as Elise continues. "Be – behind this? H – how?"

"I believe he planned the original kidnapping, hired Eeee to stage a mock-rescue that he himself would prove the hero of. I assume it was to win our favor, and perhaps more, though I will not know until the inquiry finishes. His inept planning allowed for the Eeee to decide that you were a valuable prize and worth more than he paid, and … they intended to … " Elise's word trail off as her mind passes in to the realm of what was, and what could have been if they succeeded. It kills the words in her mouth, and she quickly decides she'd rather not repeat their plan to her sister at this time. "Regardless, he is the one who allowed for this to happen. And he shall suffer for it if indeed I am correct."

Elise's head shakes in disgust. "How petty could the man be? My sister! He nearly cost me my dear sweet sister for his ambition!" The Gallee snarls the words and turns to glare off at the ceiling, anger smoldering in her eyes.

After a moment, the same acceptance – or perhaps numbness would be a better term – that characterized her earlier listening returns to Katherine's countenance. She wraps her arms around her shoulders, and nods. "Do you – " she starts to say, then stops, shaking her head and adding nothing else.

Blinking in her quiet and poorly concealed rage, Elise turns her head back to force a smile to her face – something that seems done wholly for her sister's benefit. "No, you do not need to see me angry, do you? You have been through quite a lot … too much. But, what … do I … ?"

"Nothing, Elise. I was just thinking of something, but it's not important." Katherine brushes a hand her fuzzy scalp. "My hair feels so strange, this short. It's very soft."

"You were always the prettiest one of us, Katherine. Had the Ark landed today, and all of the Gallee were on it, surely they would choose you as the paragon of that which is a proper poodle and leave me to be Gallah." As she speaks, Elise seems to calm, until finally she chuckles softly as she finishes. It's a warm and amused sound, a rather strange thing to come from the officer. "I was a Gallah once, you know. Missy. My fur was brown, it was quite unacceptable. I thought during that time should you see me you would leap to disown me. But you will not find that response in me for you, Katherine."

"Brown and white. White spots, brown fur. And no hair to speak of," corrects the elder de Bellefeuille.

The shorn poodle smiles again. "Were you really, Elise? I can't quite believe it. I'm sure … I would have been very shocked, once." Her eyes seem distant. "A very long time ago, it seems now."

Again Elise squeezes her sister's hand. "However it is now, my sweet sister, I am here for you as I always was," is all Elise offers in response to her sister's words. She pauses, then adds, "I should mention one other part of her story … her guilt. Katherine, I … I was not as resourceful as Grant in your rescue. I was panicked, and I was very desperate. I … did some things that I should answer for upon my return. I intend to turn myself over to Inquisitrix Faith when we return, unless you would wish I remain with you."

"Turn – turn yourself over? Elise – for what? For killing the Eeee who kidnapped me?" Something angry flickers briefly in Katherine's eyes.

Elise's looks up and meets her sister's gaze. Her mouth shifts to speak the words, but she can only seem to speak them after a moment of gathering her strength. "You are a grown woman, Katherine, and … I would have preferred to hide this from you. But you are old enough to know what I do … regardless of how you may find it. Katherine, I tortured one of the Eeee who helped to kidnap you for information about your whereabouts. And besides that, I acted in poor judgment in my dealings with the Temple. I lost a great many of our household guards and worse I endangered a civilian vessel."

"You – " Katherine's expression hardens. "You did what you had to, Elise. If you expect me to shed a tear for any of those – " She pauses, as if searching for an failing to find an appropriate epithet. " – monsters involved in this – well, then you will have to forgive me, for I will not. As for The Siren's Tail … " Her voice softens a little. "I know the ship and its crew suffered in the rescue. But not at your hands, Elise. Those villains, those Eeeethey were the culpable ones. It is they who sowed confusion in the crew, and they who tried to convince them you were pirates. I heard a little of what they planned, Elise. Their priestess sensed the scryer looking for me, and they were already plotting how to turn The Siren's Tail against you before you even arrived. It was not your fault that there was trouble. It was the Eeee who slew the captain, the pilot, the navigator – they who convinced guards to take arms against Grant – they who – who – " Her voice trembles, then she steadies herself, wiping at her face again. "It was nothing you did, Elise. Please – don't punish yourself for their crimes."

Elise seems taken aback by her sister's review of the situation, and by her emotion. She shifts to rest her head back on her pillow and stare off at the ceiling as she considers all that was said. "You are right, my sister … for the most part. I … I did not know they were so very aware and active, that is true. And it sheds a new light on the battle. But … Katherine, I … " Elise's tone fades, tinged with a quietness that speaks of her shame. " … tortured him out of hate, Katherine. He feared me, he hated me, and he goaded me on until all I wanted was my sister back and to see him suffer. I cannot abide that in me, Katherine … and I nearly failed you because I could not react properly."

"Godslayer, First Ones, Katherine … they may have killed you to hurt me!" Elise's muzzle quirks in a snarl that dies as it is born. "I could not live with the thought of it. He goaded me on knowing that, and he beat me."

"Whatever you did to him – whatever you did to him – " Her emphasis on the word suggests that Katherine isn't sugar-coating the idea of torture in her mind. " – was no less than he deserved. Believe me, Elise. He cannot have suffered more than they – more than he deserved to," she repeats. Her hands grip the arms of the chair. "I do not care if you did it for hatred or fear or cold rationality, Elise. I won't see you suffer for the injuries these monsters – " Again her voice seethes with rage, as if the word cannot possibly convey the depths of her anger. " – brought on themselves."

"Katherine," says Elise, soft yet with some of her more normal tone of authority. She turns her head again, and reaches her other hand out for her sister's. "I cannot allow that failure. I do not doubt they may have deserved what I did to them, but as an officer and as someone who aspires to protect people, I cannot allow myself the freedom to dispense such terrible justice on my own. And, no, I cannot allow myself to feel free to use it and use it out of anger like I did. I do regret how I handled the matter; I do not regret that it helped me find you. I cannot hate the Eeee as you can, I never could. I cannot do so now either … and I should answer for what I did in the eyes of the holy Temple."

The younger poodle struggles with words, searching for something to say that will change her sister's mind. At last, she says, "The First Ones know you are innocent of wrongdoing, just as I do, Elise," she says at last. "But if you … invite the Temple's judgment – Elise, what am I to do, if they err, if they choose to punish you? What of our House and our name? Please – you cannot encourage an inquiry, you cannot present yourself as guilty when anyone who knows, who was there, would understand you had no choice."

"What would Father think of me," asks Elise of her sister, "if he knew I tortured a man in our own home? What does that make me, Katherine? I saw it in the eyes of the Inquisitrix when I spoke to her, accusing eyes. She was weighing my guilt and she did not act against it then … but what of now? Should I hide behind my house?"

"You would not be 'hiding' behind anything, Elise. You are a de Bellefeuille, and an officer of the Temple. You are not some common riffraff, and you did not torture a man for fun or because you did not like the color of his eyes. If the Inquisitrix chose not to pursue her enquiry, it was because she could see the justice in your actions. As I can. As you would, if only you would let yourself. Elise – you cannot measure yourself as if you were a First One. If you made mistakes, it is because you are mortal, fallible. You did the best you could. You did what you had to do. And First Ones help me if you had not – if you had shied from hurting that man, if you had backed away from besieging my captor, if you had quailed, thinking, Is this right? Where would I be, then, Elise? Would that be justice?" Katherine's blue eyes meet her sister's, an unhappy certainty lurking inside them.

Elise drops her gaze and nods in quiet agreement to her sister's words. "I will … consider the matter more fully," she promises. She shifts back to lay her head down again and draws a hand back to brush her stray curls from her face. "I have been considering the matter of marriage. There are two men who I am considering, and I know it would delight you to hear of them and … arrange a manner in which I would know them better. Lord Jean Dunbarre and Lord Pink. Lord Dunbarre was in command of my mission to Caroban; Lord Pink, I met at that unfortunate picnic."

"Lord Dunbarre?" For a moment, Katherine's eyes sparkle with a hint of their old vitality. "Elise. You never told me you liked him! In fact … " Her brows furrow in thought. "… didn't you write that he was an ogre burying you beneath a pile of mindless busywork, and thus preventing you from writing me at greater length?"

"He is a … " Elise's ears redden slightly, and she lifts her muzzle in a manner that speaks of an attempt at pride despite her embarrassment. " … a competent and resourceful … ogre – from a good family."

Katherine's mouth tightens, and the corners of her lips twitch – then she gives in and bursts into giggles. "Oh, Elise! You must tell me all about him! I cannot imagine you in love, much less with a man who burdened you with paperwork. There must be a great deal more to him than you have said!"

"Love?" asks Elise, as if the thought of love being included as part of a potential marriage had not occurred to her. "I do not know about love so much as he seems to be right and proper match, as far as I am aware at the moment. He is … intelligent, well bred … unlikely to be a great burden as a husband – You know I could not abide to be directed about as some husbands do to their wives. He is a member of the Priesthood, and his family has many members within the Temple. I believe he is related to the Arch-Inquisitor Supreme himself in fact."

"Bah! You must be a little bit in love with him, or you would not have thought of it. I know you, Elise. Marriage is the last thing you've ever thought of. And I doubt your sweet, if ogre-like, Lord Dunbarre would be quite so pliant as you might hope." Katherine has calmed merely to smiling at the thought. "Marriage will change your life, dear sister. A husband won't want you gallivanting across the continents at whim, and I should hope you give his wishes more consideration than you have your sister's."

Elise sighs and brushes her hair back again. She casts her gaze heavenward in a look of "First Ones help me". "Marriage is quite a necessity for us. You, my dear sister, are engaged and I your older sister am most certainly not. I cannot think too greatly on love; I have but a few years before I begin to pass beyond the age where my prospects are good. I must think as our parents would. And beyond that, I am a soldier; it is an unhappy thought, but I would like to have children to carry on should I die. And at this rate I will be the Champion of Ashes within three turns of the holidays," says Elise. She gestures vaguely towards her broken leg to punctuate her point.

Katherine blinks a few times, and then giggles again. "How you have changed, Elise! It's almost as if you've actually been paying attention to me all these years – I do believe that's the very same lecture I gave you many holidays ago." She smiles. "Far be it from me to dissuade you from your newfound interest in matrimony! I am glad you did not find Lord Pink distasteful – but come, you must tell me all about Lord Dunbarre! Now I am so curious as to how he caught your eye? Has he shown an interest in you? To think you've never said a word … "

"Well … he … he was … " There. " … receptive to my thoughts on his difficulties, which I found agreeable. He is a different man in private, and his intelligence shows when you see behind his mask. He is not exactly a warrior … " If we were married who would wear the sword? considers the elder sister. She tries, and mostly succeeds, to not giggle at the idea. "And yes, I do listen to you, Katherine. I just did not say much."

Leaning against the arm of her chair, Katherine's smile fades to one of quiet contemplation. "I hope to meet him. I hope he makes you happier in the future than he did in that one letter you wrote me of him."

"I can only hope. To tell the truth in the eyes of you and those above, I have been considering the matter of family as I rested here. There is the battle, and I assure you it only ends for a time, and then there is family. And I have been weighing which is more important. We lost our parents, Katherine … but we can also try and create new families and the joy that comes with it. That is what brought me to mention marriage to you, and to bring you here to talk in the first place. I think I had forgotten the value of that which I fought to protect." Elise's muzzle parts in to a quiet smile, warm at the thought of families past and future. She pats her sister's hand and nods. "And would it not be grand to hear the sound of a happy house once again? To be loved … "

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GMed by Rowan

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