The House of the Earth: Two Guests (3/7)
Title: Chapter Three: Two Guests
Pairing/Characters: Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, Kara Zor-El
Notes: " The House of the Earth" is an AU in which a few thousand Kryptonians escaped the destruction of Krypton to flee to Earth and enslave its people.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1800
Summary: Two guests to the El household--one invited and one not.
Kal hovered outside his cousin's suite, irresolute, as the early-morning sun filled the corridor. Then he gathered his courage and knocked.
"Enter," said Kara's voice from far away, and the door slid open. Kal floated into the suite's living room, looking around the tasteful mahogany furnishings. "I'm in here, cousin," Kara's voice came from her bedroom.
Kara was sitting at her vanity, applying makeup, her robe loose around her shoulders. The queen-sized bed was rumpled and unmade; Kal could hear the shower running in the bathroom.
"Good morning, cousin," Kal greeted her. "I came to escort you to breakfast."
Kara's bright blue eyes rolled as she applied eyeliner. "This should be a great deal of fun," she said sarcastically. "There's certainly no way I'd rather spend my limited time with my newly-arrived and very dear cousin than eating breakfast with my favorite zealot."
"Why is he coming over?"
Kara heaved a sigh. "Oh, he's trying to work with me to get some damn bill or other passed, something about farm practices. And Mother and Father seem to like him, despite his...views."
Their guest this morning was a minor functionary who was becoming notorious for his radical views on slavery. Humans, according to him, were beyond salvaging; he refused to own personal slaves because to be served by beings so inferior demeaned the Kryptonian soul. Zhon-Mal was an eccentric, without a doubt.
"Good morning, Master," came a voice from the door, and Kal whirled to find Kara's pet standing in the bathroom doorway, a black silk bathrobe clinging to his damp skin. He bowed deeply, and Kal nodded in return.
"Ah, Bruce," Kara said cheerfully. "Put on some pretty clothes; I'm taking you to breakfast with me."
Kal frowned. "Are you sure that's wise, Kara? I mean, with Zhon-Mal there?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw the slave casually drop his robe on the floor, revealing expanses of surprisingly corded and muscled skin. Kal caught a glimpse of scars streaking the man's back and turned back to Kara, feeling...vaguely uncomfortable.
It was Kara's turn to frown. "I have a right to bring a companion to a meal."
"Of course you do," Kal said hastily.
Kara rose to move behind a screen and disrobe; her slave hadn't bothered and seemed to be taking his time getting dressed.
"Mistress? Shall I swear the black or the brown pants?"
"Oh, wear the black leather ones, they look delicious on you," Kara said rather lasciviously.
"As my Mistress wishes," the man responded, picking up a pair of cotton briefs. Once into those, he lay down on the bed in order to best squeeze into a very tight pair of leather pants. Kal realized he was staring at the sight of the man writhing on the bed and looked away hastily.
Kara emerged from behind the screen in a rather severe navy suit. She sat down on the edge of the bed and tousled the slave's dark hair, smiling. "You're stunning," she said.
"Thank you, Mistress," he responded demurely, and she dropped a kiss on his cheek. As he slipped on a light tunic, she picked something up from her vanity--the slave's collar, Kal realized with surprise. He hadn't noticed the human wasn't wearing it. His attention, he admitted ruefully to himself, had been elsewhere.
Kara waited until the slave was done dressing. "Are you ready?" she said softly. He nodded, and she closed the collar around his neck with a tiny click, locking it shut. For a moment she stood there with her hands on the silver collar, then she moved back and picked up the chain. "Then let's go," she said.
As he passed Kal, the slave slipped him the El signet ring from the night before. Kal stared at it for a moment, then put it back on his finger.
The slave's footsteps were muffled in the thick carpeting; the Kryptonians, of course, made no sound at all as they floated from the room.
: : :
Zhon-Mal was a tall, muscular man with chestnut hair and deep-set green eyes that burned with an discomfiting fervor beneath a beetling brow. As the El family ate their breakfast, he sat next to Kara and glared at the slave sitting on the floor next to her chair. When Kara fed the human a bit of strawberry, he pushed his own strawberries away, growling.
Zor-El and Allura made desultory small talk: Zor-El talked of the latest iao-flower harvest and if the unseasonal heat would ruin it; Allura complained about her favorite necklace of cat's-eyes going missing, just like her emerald earrings had last week. Kal tried to distract Zhon-Mal by asking about the bill he and Kara were working on, but it was difficult to pretend to be interested, especially when Bruce was licking strawberry juice from his cousin's fingers.
Finally Zhon-Mal was apparently pushed beyond his endurance. "This is intolerable," he snarled, half-rising. "To expect me to work with someone who flaunts her immoral behavior in public!" Kara's eyes were wide with shock as he went on. "Such...contact is wrong and demeans the nobility of the Kryptonian race. When I think a member of such a prominent Kryptonian house being sullied by mingling with a slave, it makes me sick."
Kara frowned imperiously. "My relationship--"
Zhon-Mal cut her off. "Relationship? Such a term cannot apply to congress between a master and a slave. One could as well have a 'relationship' with a chair, or a knife. You make a mockery of the word!"
Kal felt anger boiling inside him: a strange, unfocused fury. He found himself in the air, his hands clenched. "That's enough," he barked at the astonished Zhon-Mal. "I won't have you criticizing my cousin in our House. Who she chooses to consort with is her affair and none of yours!"
Zhon-Mal opened his mouth to say something else, but Kara laid a swift hand on his arm. "I think that's enough," she said quietly.
"Very well," Zhon-Mal said slowly. "I shall meditate on these matters in silence and trouble you no more." He sat down and took a long sip of fresh orange juice, gazing at Kal as though seeing him for the first time.
"I just wish someone would do something about the magpie problem I seem to have," Allura said plaintively, as if she hadn't noticed the exchange at all.
After the breakfast, Zhon-Mal came up to Kal, his eyes intense. "I sense great turmoil in your soul, Kal-El of the House of El," he said solemnly. "And I pray that you will one day have the courage to set aside your doubts and come to walk in the path of light and righteousness." He bowed deeply and Kal bowed back, trying to hide his distaste.
"I wish you didn't have to work with him," he said to Kara after they bid Zhon-Mal farewell.
"Zhon-Mal has his uses," Kara said lightly, drifting back toward the gardens. The slave trailed after them, the chain jingling slightly between him and his Mistress. "And he happens to work for some very powerful members of the government."
Kal was still fuming. "That doesn't mean you should have to sit there while he judges you."
Kara smiled slightly and sat down on the edge of the fountain. Her pet sat down on the ground next to her and she played absent-mindedly with his hair. "There are reasons it's important I work with him."
Kal couldn't seem to take his eyes off the sight of Kara's blunt, capable hands in the human's dark hair. It looked as fine as silk. "It has been a long time since any of our family had a pet at meals, hasn't it?"
His cousin looked thoughtful. "I believe so. Didn't Mother have a little girl she brought sometimes?"
"Yes," Kal said, "A child of one of the kitchen slaves. I don't remember her name."
Kara shrugged. "Who can keep track? Mother used to call her 'Kitten,' I remember that."
A sudden flash of memory: the dark-haired girl sticking her tongue out at Kal from his mother's lap when she thought no one was looking, giggling. "Whatever happened to her?" he asked suddenly. "I haven't seen her around."
The fingers in the dark hair stilled for a moment. "You don't remember?" said Kara. She tilted her golden head slightly to the side, musing. "You two played together sometimes, didn't you?"
"Yes, but...I don't remember what happened to her," Kal said. "She...got in some kind of trouble just before I went offworld, didn't she?" He groped in his mind for a clearer memory, but came up with nothing.
"Well," Kara said, "It was a very long time ago." She stood. "Forgive me, cousin, I must be going to work. Come along, Bruce," she said with a small tug on the chain.
Kal watched them walk away: his cousin floating, her body motionless, coasting on air; the slave's hips moving with his strides, the tight black pants molding to his body.
Walking seemed so awkward, so graceless. It made one's body move in the strangest ways, the muscles bunching and flexing with every step.
Kal realized as they turned the corner that he'd been waiting for the slave to turn around and look back at him.
He hadn't.
: : :
Kal woke up sweating again from a nightmare in which someone was counting. The voice was level, passionless, merely a recitation of numbers. And yet Kal felt as if a razor was caught in his throat, his heart pounding, terror seizing all his muscles.
He wiped sweat from his brow and decided to visit the gardens.
The gardens were still and dark, heavy with the fragrance of honeysuckle. Kal wandered aimlessly until he found himself once more at the gate of the kitchen garden. He went inside.
The crisper scents of basil and oregano scented the air here. As he stood in the dark, Kal could almost hear ghostly laughter...a girl's and a boy's together...
A rustle caught his attention. He looked up to see a shadowy figure making its way along the wall, quick and sure.
He flew up to confront it. "Who are you and what--" He broke off as a sudden sharp crack broke the silence, feeling a concussion of air just above his ear: a whip-crack. The sound rang in his ears, setting off echoes of panic and fear, as the holder of the whip moved forward to threaten him again, stepping into the moonlight.
It was a woman, masked and dressed in black leather. Kal felt a jolt of recognition go through him as he met sharp emerald eyes, a recognition no mask could keep from him. He knew without looking that the hair under her cowl would be dark and curly.
He knew without looking the exact pattern of scars that would cross her back.
Shock pulled the name from his heart and threw it into the air between them.
"Selina?"
Pairing/Characters: Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, Kara Zor-El
Notes: " The House of the Earth" is an AU in which a few thousand Kryptonians escaped the destruction of Krypton to flee to Earth and enslave its people.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1800
Summary: Two guests to the El household--one invited and one not.
Kal hovered outside his cousin's suite, irresolute, as the early-morning sun filled the corridor. Then he gathered his courage and knocked.
"Enter," said Kara's voice from far away, and the door slid open. Kal floated into the suite's living room, looking around the tasteful mahogany furnishings. "I'm in here, cousin," Kara's voice came from her bedroom.
Kara was sitting at her vanity, applying makeup, her robe loose around her shoulders. The queen-sized bed was rumpled and unmade; Kal could hear the shower running in the bathroom.
"Good morning, cousin," Kal greeted her. "I came to escort you to breakfast."
Kara's bright blue eyes rolled as she applied eyeliner. "This should be a great deal of fun," she said sarcastically. "There's certainly no way I'd rather spend my limited time with my newly-arrived and very dear cousin than eating breakfast with my favorite zealot."
"Why is he coming over?"
Kara heaved a sigh. "Oh, he's trying to work with me to get some damn bill or other passed, something about farm practices. And Mother and Father seem to like him, despite his...views."
Their guest this morning was a minor functionary who was becoming notorious for his radical views on slavery. Humans, according to him, were beyond salvaging; he refused to own personal slaves because to be served by beings so inferior demeaned the Kryptonian soul. Zhon-Mal was an eccentric, without a doubt.
"Good morning, Master," came a voice from the door, and Kal whirled to find Kara's pet standing in the bathroom doorway, a black silk bathrobe clinging to his damp skin. He bowed deeply, and Kal nodded in return.
"Ah, Bruce," Kara said cheerfully. "Put on some pretty clothes; I'm taking you to breakfast with me."
Kal frowned. "Are you sure that's wise, Kara? I mean, with Zhon-Mal there?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw the slave casually drop his robe on the floor, revealing expanses of surprisingly corded and muscled skin. Kal caught a glimpse of scars streaking the man's back and turned back to Kara, feeling...vaguely uncomfortable.
It was Kara's turn to frown. "I have a right to bring a companion to a meal."
"Of course you do," Kal said hastily.
Kara rose to move behind a screen and disrobe; her slave hadn't bothered and seemed to be taking his time getting dressed.
"Mistress? Shall I swear the black or the brown pants?"
"Oh, wear the black leather ones, they look delicious on you," Kara said rather lasciviously.
"As my Mistress wishes," the man responded, picking up a pair of cotton briefs. Once into those, he lay down on the bed in order to best squeeze into a very tight pair of leather pants. Kal realized he was staring at the sight of the man writhing on the bed and looked away hastily.
Kara emerged from behind the screen in a rather severe navy suit. She sat down on the edge of the bed and tousled the slave's dark hair, smiling. "You're stunning," she said.
"Thank you, Mistress," he responded demurely, and she dropped a kiss on his cheek. As he slipped on a light tunic, she picked something up from her vanity--the slave's collar, Kal realized with surprise. He hadn't noticed the human wasn't wearing it. His attention, he admitted ruefully to himself, had been elsewhere.
Kara waited until the slave was done dressing. "Are you ready?" she said softly. He nodded, and she closed the collar around his neck with a tiny click, locking it shut. For a moment she stood there with her hands on the silver collar, then she moved back and picked up the chain. "Then let's go," she said.
As he passed Kal, the slave slipped him the El signet ring from the night before. Kal stared at it for a moment, then put it back on his finger.
The slave's footsteps were muffled in the thick carpeting; the Kryptonians, of course, made no sound at all as they floated from the room.
: : :
Zhon-Mal was a tall, muscular man with chestnut hair and deep-set green eyes that burned with an discomfiting fervor beneath a beetling brow. As the El family ate their breakfast, he sat next to Kara and glared at the slave sitting on the floor next to her chair. When Kara fed the human a bit of strawberry, he pushed his own strawberries away, growling.
Zor-El and Allura made desultory small talk: Zor-El talked of the latest iao-flower harvest and if the unseasonal heat would ruin it; Allura complained about her favorite necklace of cat's-eyes going missing, just like her emerald earrings had last week. Kal tried to distract Zhon-Mal by asking about the bill he and Kara were working on, but it was difficult to pretend to be interested, especially when Bruce was licking strawberry juice from his cousin's fingers.
Finally Zhon-Mal was apparently pushed beyond his endurance. "This is intolerable," he snarled, half-rising. "To expect me to work with someone who flaunts her immoral behavior in public!" Kara's eyes were wide with shock as he went on. "Such...contact is wrong and demeans the nobility of the Kryptonian race. When I think a member of such a prominent Kryptonian house being sullied by mingling with a slave, it makes me sick."
Kara frowned imperiously. "My relationship--"
Zhon-Mal cut her off. "Relationship? Such a term cannot apply to congress between a master and a slave. One could as well have a 'relationship' with a chair, or a knife. You make a mockery of the word!"
Kal felt anger boiling inside him: a strange, unfocused fury. He found himself in the air, his hands clenched. "That's enough," he barked at the astonished Zhon-Mal. "I won't have you criticizing my cousin in our House. Who she chooses to consort with is her affair and none of yours!"
Zhon-Mal opened his mouth to say something else, but Kara laid a swift hand on his arm. "I think that's enough," she said quietly.
"Very well," Zhon-Mal said slowly. "I shall meditate on these matters in silence and trouble you no more." He sat down and took a long sip of fresh orange juice, gazing at Kal as though seeing him for the first time.
"I just wish someone would do something about the magpie problem I seem to have," Allura said plaintively, as if she hadn't noticed the exchange at all.
After the breakfast, Zhon-Mal came up to Kal, his eyes intense. "I sense great turmoil in your soul, Kal-El of the House of El," he said solemnly. "And I pray that you will one day have the courage to set aside your doubts and come to walk in the path of light and righteousness." He bowed deeply and Kal bowed back, trying to hide his distaste.
"I wish you didn't have to work with him," he said to Kara after they bid Zhon-Mal farewell.
"Zhon-Mal has his uses," Kara said lightly, drifting back toward the gardens. The slave trailed after them, the chain jingling slightly between him and his Mistress. "And he happens to work for some very powerful members of the government."
Kal was still fuming. "That doesn't mean you should have to sit there while he judges you."
Kara smiled slightly and sat down on the edge of the fountain. Her pet sat down on the ground next to her and she played absent-mindedly with his hair. "There are reasons it's important I work with him."
Kal couldn't seem to take his eyes off the sight of Kara's blunt, capable hands in the human's dark hair. It looked as fine as silk. "It has been a long time since any of our family had a pet at meals, hasn't it?"
His cousin looked thoughtful. "I believe so. Didn't Mother have a little girl she brought sometimes?"
"Yes," Kal said, "A child of one of the kitchen slaves. I don't remember her name."
Kara shrugged. "Who can keep track? Mother used to call her 'Kitten,' I remember that."
A sudden flash of memory: the dark-haired girl sticking her tongue out at Kal from his mother's lap when she thought no one was looking, giggling. "Whatever happened to her?" he asked suddenly. "I haven't seen her around."
The fingers in the dark hair stilled for a moment. "You don't remember?" said Kara. She tilted her golden head slightly to the side, musing. "You two played together sometimes, didn't you?"
"Yes, but...I don't remember what happened to her," Kal said. "She...got in some kind of trouble just before I went offworld, didn't she?" He groped in his mind for a clearer memory, but came up with nothing.
"Well," Kara said, "It was a very long time ago." She stood. "Forgive me, cousin, I must be going to work. Come along, Bruce," she said with a small tug on the chain.
Kal watched them walk away: his cousin floating, her body motionless, coasting on air; the slave's hips moving with his strides, the tight black pants molding to his body.
Walking seemed so awkward, so graceless. It made one's body move in the strangest ways, the muscles bunching and flexing with every step.
Kal realized as they turned the corner that he'd been waiting for the slave to turn around and look back at him.
He hadn't.
: : :
Kal woke up sweating again from a nightmare in which someone was counting. The voice was level, passionless, merely a recitation of numbers. And yet Kal felt as if a razor was caught in his throat, his heart pounding, terror seizing all his muscles.
He wiped sweat from his brow and decided to visit the gardens.
The gardens were still and dark, heavy with the fragrance of honeysuckle. Kal wandered aimlessly until he found himself once more at the gate of the kitchen garden. He went inside.
The crisper scents of basil and oregano scented the air here. As he stood in the dark, Kal could almost hear ghostly laughter...a girl's and a boy's together...
A rustle caught his attention. He looked up to see a shadowy figure making its way along the wall, quick and sure.
He flew up to confront it. "Who are you and what--" He broke off as a sudden sharp crack broke the silence, feeling a concussion of air just above his ear: a whip-crack. The sound rang in his ears, setting off echoes of panic and fear, as the holder of the whip moved forward to threaten him again, stepping into the moonlight.
It was a woman, masked and dressed in black leather. Kal felt a jolt of recognition go through him as he met sharp emerald eyes, a recognition no mask could keep from him. He knew without looking that the hair under her cowl would be dark and curly.
He knew without looking the exact pattern of scars that would cross her back.
Shock pulled the name from his heart and threw it into the air between them.
"Selina?"