Sometime on Boukun...
Noon stood still as the teleport beam coalesced around her, she looked around the room and nodded. Scans had been correct, there was no-one here, she let her hearing increase and listened she could hear the soft sounds of someone sleeping and in the distance what sounded like someone sorting dishes. Did that man never sleep? Checking with Thing
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They'd had this conversation, or ones similar before. "And I've told you that there are plenty of people awake whose duty it is to let me know, but you insist on slipping past them." Although, judging by the crumbs and folded clothes, Alfred had been more than aware, but his valet, although absolutely loyal and discreet, also enjoyed a bit of mischief of his own. "You know that I'm more than happy for you to have one of the docking bays turned over to you for repairs." Hsu almost smiled as she mentioned Thing. They had formed quite a bond a long time ago that often proved a solid alliance against Noon's less agreeable habits. "Good. How deep did it get this time before he had to take action?"
He sat in the armchair to her left. "When isn't it breakfast time for you? I just rang for Alfred to bring the Noon special." It did throw the kitchens off, why he should be asking for breakfast at lunchtime, but he was the emperor, so they were left wondering. Only Alfred knew that Noon referred to a person not an hour.
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"You know as well as I do that any hint of a "special relationship" between you and I would have half the galaxy shitting bricks. I'm heir to half the colonised galaxy... ok, a quarter and you.. well need I say more." she laughed at the thought of the reactions to Boukun and the Noonian Sprawl becoming partners. "Course what they don't know they can't fear." she added, as she and Hsu had been working together since he'd rescued her all those years back.
"I was thinking of asking Daniel if I could use a space dock on Tabar, give me an excuse to pop in and visit."
"No more than the last time,,, wait a second what do you mean, "before he had to take action"?" Noon glared at Hsu "Are you implying that Thing deliberately caused the drive to fail in deadspace so that I would clean up?"
"When it's lunchtime? Dinnertime? Oh and of course Teatime!" she quipped, grabbing the pile of clothes she headed to a side room, "I'll just get dressed, don't think my skinsuit will be clean yet, but I can at least lose the dressing gown. "Back in a tick."
Ed: to fix typoes
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He wasn't in the least put out that she chose Tabar. "Go ahead, he'll enjoy seeing you again, and I'm sure he can't wait to show you all he's doing on the moon. He's building quite a place over there and will do well. Just don't tell him I said so." He smirked at Noon.
"I'm implying nothing, Noon. Indeed, I was just saying that he must have moaned at you enough to make you finally give in." He paused, for effect than anything else. "But now that you mention it....if it was so bad, I wouldn't put it past Thing to do something...drastic."
Hsu rolled his eyes as she hurried to get dressed. At least she never stayed too long, she would probably eat the palace stores empty if she did. By the time she had returned, Hsu was looking over some overnight news on his commlink as Alfred set down a very large breakfast of eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, toast, more eggs, hash browns, pastries, and that was only part of it. He took time to pour Hsu his morning coffee. "Ah, madam, would you care for coffee or tea, or something else to drink this morning?"
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“Why do you do that? Why can’t you just tell him? Honestly sometimes I just want to knock your two heads together.” She pointed a finger at him and waved it “It is not a weakness to praise your children, nor will it weaken them, in this I can safely say I have more experience than you. Of course in your case Daniel would think you had lost your marbles if you did, but still...” she shrugged her shoulders “Just once couldn’t you try it?”
Noon looked over the vast expanse of food and made happy noises as she settled down and started to fill her plate “And you wonder why I turn up here all the time.”
“Tea please Alfred and some orange juice thanks.” She added as she began to eat efficiently, neatly and with enthusiasm.
“Talking of business, those two “suitors” you sent my way will probably not be back this way for a few years, I made sure their return trips were via a large expanse of deadspace. Seriously can we not come up with a better way for you to send the irritating populace of Boukun to me to be waylaid? Mother gets so excited when they show up, I daren’t explain to her that we be tricking them. At least I hope you meant them both to vanish for a while because if you didn’t I owe you a thump, drippy and Mr Misogyny.” Noon shook her head, “Seriously how could the last one think he stood a chance in a matriarchal society? He’s lucky I only dumped him in deadspace.”
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Hsu reached for one of the Danish pastries, a long standing breakfast favourite of his. But he shot her an annoyed glare. "Perhaps that's why I do not. I would hate for Daniel to think I'd lost my faculties. As it is I do praise him, when it is deserved. As it is, I'm still not fully convinced that he has not taken on more than he can handle with this project, but we will see." He took a bite of his pastry and chewed it slowly before continuing. "Maybe not as many as you, but Daniel is not the only child I've raised, just the only one of my blood." Hsu didn't add that that fact made all the difference.
He watched Noon eat, always a fascinating pastime as the food steadily disappeared. "No, I do think it's quite efficient. It entertains your mother for a while, keeps you occupied, and helps me dispose of those who still don't agree with the Council's decision to proclaim me Emperor. An all around win, I would say." Hsu smirked as he wiped crumbs his lips and beard with a napkin. "I thought you'd like him. You should have heard what he called Cody before we sent him on his way. I thought getting a look at what women could achieve would be educational for him. I prefer if they'd vanished permanently, but I know your little issue with that, but time in deadspace should teach them a few lessons."
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Noon let out a satisfied sigh, and then burped loudly. Her hand flew to her mouth as she laughed “Ooops, better our than in. I do believe I am full.”
There was a loud gasp from behind the scenes, which had to be Alfred, Noon had always guessed she and Alfred were in competition to see who could win this battle.
“I don’t think I could eat another bite, at least for a few hours.” She picked up her napkin, daintily wiped her mouth and folded it neatly before she placed it beside her plate. Then sat back in her seat and sipped on her tea.
“Mother very nearly made him vanish for good. She does not have my limitations, and he pushed her beyond her limits. I should get Thing to send you the recording of his audience with her, we’ve been passing it around the family ever since. Is there something wrong with him? He never seemed to understand how close he came to death, I don’t think he even realised he’d pissed her off. Suffice to say I didn’t need to turn him down, she dealt with that, fortunately we’d already carried out the necessary work on his engines before he saw her. He left in a hurry.” Noon smiled to herself as she thought of him stuck on a ship out in space, moving sublight speeds “I almost hope he hasn’t the brains to put himself into stasis. He seemed daft enough that he’d tried to brave it out.”
Noon winced a little as she said it, and rubbed at her temples “Yeah yeah, I know I’m not supposed to wish anyone dead.” She shook her head “Just shows how much he irritated me if just thinking about it sets the chip off.”
“Oh Marie wants to know when you are coming to visit? She says that she has sent you a few invites and told me to inform you that unless you have a bloody good excuse next time, she will come here herself and insist you return with her.” Noon grinned at him, the head wife of Noon’s home family was a force to be reckoned with, a gentle soul who ruled their household in such a way that even the headstrong Noon never argued with her.
“I tried explaining that you’re an Emperor now, and all that entails, she insisted that you still need to take a break and that she won’t send you anymore of her pastries if you keep avoiding her invitations.” Noon shrugged her shoulders, “I hasten to add, I’m just the messenger.”
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Hsu looked as surprised as Alfred, but he refrained from gasping, that she had so soon finished her meal. "Well, then, Alfred will make sure that the chefs are already preparing lunch. Tell them to make sure there is a light snack ready, just in case she gets peckish before then." As he dismissed his valet, he did give a sideways smirk at her.
"I wish she had. I'd like to see it, I'm sure it's very entertaining. I've encountered more men, and some women, who just fail to realize how close they come to death. It's not stupidity, but just simple disbelief. Disbelief that someone like myself or your Mother actually have the will, and desire, to take their life in cold blood. It's only in that last moment, say for example, when the dagger slips under their breast bone to their heart, do you see that they finally understand they will not survive. That execution for treason, actually means execution. I don't know, alone in deadspace, then I think he'll 'get it' quite quickly. Either way, a fitting punishment for him."
He watched as she rubbed away the pain. Not for the first, and probably not the last time either, he wondered what she would be like with out that chip. Dangerous, certainly, but he couldn't help but think of just how much more powerful that could make their alliance.
"You know, in ancient times, some rulers used to kill the messenger as well." He smirked again, teasing her in a deadpan tone that sounded perfectly serious. "I haven't been avoiding her invitations, I just haven't got around to responding yet. As you say ruling an empire is time-consuming, and while my position here is strengthening, there is still work to do to make sure I am not undermined." Thinking for a moment, he added. "That said, I do also have to court good will with neighbours and other allies." Not to mention he would miss those pastries. " I will come for a visit as soon as I can." Hopefully that would hold the formidable Marie at bay for a while.
He stood and gestured for Noon to do the same. "Let me show you what I've had done with the palace since the last time you were here. I have a couple of very nice sculptures that I've been wanting to show you."
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"Stop it, you're giving me a headache, rotten tease." she grinned at him, despite the pain she was obviously fending off.
"I'll let her know as soon as I get home. Fortunately for you, she thought to sweeten the deal and sent a shipment of your favourites with me. I nearly ate them during the trip, but I value my life more." Noon said, not letting on who she feared more Hsu or Marie.
"The Almighty Emperor Hsu has been decorating? Oh how the mighty have fallen..." she quipped as she got up, but kept her distance as she grinned at him "Attilla's Interior Design Service? No?" she added.
But she didn't keep her distance for long and fell into step with him, although she occasionally needed to add a tiny skip to keep up as his long legs out paced her at times.
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Hsu gave her That Look(tm), the one that almost verbalized his annoyance with her teasing, but at the same time knowing that whatever he said, or did, would have little to no effect on Noon, at all. Still, she was smart enough to keep her distance as she said it. After taking a deep breath, he said, "Hardly, but I do have a certain amount of input on what my palace looks like. And by a certain amount, I mean complete final approval. These statues were commissioned by myself."
He led her out of his suite of rooms through a set of French windows and into a large, private garden. It was framed by large hedgerows, with stone benches here and there in small alcoves that invited a person to sit and quietly reflect. There were also several empty marble pedestals. "These will eventually hold busts of persons I've known throughout my life, particularly the ones that aren't still around. And I haven't decided if I like the hedges or not yet."
They entered a more open area and in the centre stood a slightly larger than life statue of himself in white marble and dressed in Hunnish fashion, his arm raised high above his head holding the jewelled Sword of God. At his feet were pieces of Roman armour, segmentata lorica, helmets, and even an eagle from a Legion.
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"Those are new," she said pointing at the pedestals, just as he began to explain his plans for them. "Ahh, so when should I expect my sitting for my portrait?" she asked and grinned at him. As the girl who managed to dodge cameras and kept her true appearance hidden from the newshounds back home it was unlikely she'd ever sit for a portrait willingly.
Noon stopped still and stared upwards and smiled "Well he's a fine looking fellow, who is it? Genghis Khan?" she asked "Shouldn't he have his foot on someone's neck?"
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"You, sit for a portrait?" He looked at her dubiously. "I'll make you a deal, when you claim your inheritance and make a public appearance, I will commission a sculpture of you for here. Agreed?" He knew there would be little chance of that.
"You should be careful that you don't find my foot on your neck. I thought your eyesight was exceptional, perhaps you should look a little more carefully." His voice had dropped to a nice quiet tone, which was a very good indicator that she was pushing on the boundaries of his temper. "And although Genghis Khan was a great warrior and ruler, as were his brothers, he was far from 'fine-looking'."
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Noon shuddered in horror "Most definitely not, I'm not sure I could actually sit still for that long anyways. How about a piece of conceptual art instead, representing the relationship between our two empires?"
Noon tilted her head to one side and peered at the statue and then at him "I went too far didn't I?"
"It's actually a very good likeness, if I ever travel back in time I know who to keep my eye out for." she stepped back a step and took a more serious look at the statue, "Oh it has those eyes that follow you, how do they do that, it's unnerving." she said as she swayed from side to side on her feet. "Although I have to ask, why hide it away here? Surely you would want everyone to see it?"
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He nodded. "You do have a point, although they don't actually do long sittings anymore. They just take several holographic images and work from those with maybe a couple of short sittings for some detail work. I don't have the time nor inclination to be sitting around for hours either. It depends how conceptual." He'd never been a fan of modern art back on Earth. "But yes, I'm sure we could come up with some representation of our alliance." That was actually a good idea. The Hsu and Noonian alliance might still be closely under wraps, but there should be something on display to symbolize their relationship, even if most viewers would not have any idea what it really meant.
"Yes." Hsu was nothing if not direct. When she said about travelling in time, he had an odd but fleeting feeling of deja vu, but it was gone before he could nail it down. It was similar to how there had always been something familiar about her. "It could be because my own eyes are unnerving." There was that raised eyebrow as she swung around to watch the eyes. "Because it's me, the warrior, the barbarian. It's not necessarily the image I want to project to the public while I work to bring order and peace to Boukun. And because, I can come here and reconnect with my true self, the warlord. Come, I'll show you the other."
After going around a few more bends, there was an even more magnificent statue. This time, the artist had rendered Hsu on a horse in mid-battle. The horse was half-rearing up as Hsu had his bow drawn and aimed at a luckless enemy trying to claw his way up Hsu's leg. At the horse's feet were more battle-dead with arrows sticking out of them. Below the sculpture was a fountain, and the artist had excelled himself by having small rivers of red-tinted water run down and mix with the water below without staining the pure white marble at all.
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"Well, we represent a Matriarchal and Patriarchal society, so an artist should be able to come up with something using that kind of imagery. The fierce mother, the stoic father?" Noon's mind began to ponder the possibilities, but she still paid attention to Hsu.
"Ok, that makes sense, and yes you do sometimes have unnnerving eyes, especially when you're glaring at me." Noon added and followed him to the next sculpture.
Noon stood stock still and stared up at the statue, not a sound did she make as she slowly walked around it. On her second time round she reached out and touched various parts of the sculpture, admiring the way the artist had caught the horse's movement but msot of all she loved the way the blood ran into the fountain. Her eyes had gained that subtle shimmer of gold that showed she was excited and her other hand rubbed at her temples indicating that she was obviously setting off her chip.
Finally she spoke, "I love it. It's like the sculptor managed to freeze a moment in time, and the blood, how did they do that?"
She wandered off around the sculpture again and this time, so engrossed was she in seeing the workmanship up close, she stepped up onto the small wall around the pool to get closer to the carving.
"I wish I knew how to do this, to make rock appear to be living, or when they make marble look like gossamer fabrics. Have you seen The Winged Victory? It used to be back on Earth, not sure where it is now, but I remember going to see it as a small child and mother has holos of it. The attention to detail, this is on a par with that." Noon said still moving around the sculpture.
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He made a noise, which could have been a snort of derision or just clearing his throat. "Hmmm...what about the nurturing mother and warrior father?" Though he knew that idea would go down just as well as hers had. "I'm sure we can come to agree on something. Most people get that feeling when I glare at them. I'm glad it works," he added with a smirk.
At the second sculpture, Hsu watched as Noon circled the fountain in fascination and obvious admiration. When she touched the horse's nose, he looked amused. "At least it is one horse that isn't scared of you." He made no comment as she stepped onto the wall, in fact didn't mind at all. "It took a lot of experimentation to get the blood effect right, the right viscosity and colour without staining or eroding the marble. Eventually we found the right balance of ingredients." As he spoke, Hsu noticed the look in her eyes, that bloodlust, and he could guess what she liked about it by the way her chip was clearly bothering her. While he was somewhat wary of what she might be capable of should the chip not ever work, he also liked the idea of seeing her without that limitation, his own killer instincts recognizing like.
"The one from Samothrace?" He assumed so as that was the one those familiar with the later Earth period knew. "Yes, I even managed to see it in it's original setting in the temple complex, though she was already missing a wing at that point. That was when I was with the Roman navy, a few centuries after she was carved. The French, to give them some credit, did exhibit and restore a good bit of her very well."
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Noon sighed loudly, "Do you think there will ever be a horse that won't run away from me? They really are very beautiful creatures." she ran her hand over the horses leg nearest her.
"Yes, Nike of Samothrace, she is so beautiful." Noon sat down on the little wall, and let her feet dangle into the water, "Did she still have a head then? I've always wondered what she looked like. I wonder where she ended up, I would love to take her home."
She leant down and dipped her hand into the water and let it trickle through her fingers, "If you're going to remove the hedges, can I make a suggestion? You need something to break up the paths and statues, would you be interested in some of the new fragrant roses I've been developing? There's one particular one, it's blood red, and only releases it's fragrance at night. You do have to be careful with the thorns though, one scratch and it knocks you out. I use them as a defensive line in my gardens. Keeps out animals and intruders."
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