Half a Swordspoint Fic
Like the title says. Completely unbetaed/unedited, and written while I'm sick and rather out of it, so please please if anything's wrong let me know.
It goes like this:
Alec is seventeen, his head full of equations and ideas of what is right and what is wrong. He watches his little sister clutch her book closer to her where she's curled up. "Is it really still that good? Don't you have it memorized by now?" He can read his math books seven or eight times, but that's different, there's always more meaning there. He always misses so much the first time through.
She looks at him, green eyes younger and much more pissed off than his. "Do you think I would still be reading it if it weren't, Davey? God, you're ridiculous!"
"Don't blaspheme!" comes the call from their mother from the other room, and there's a moment of sibling solidarity in the glance Alec and Janine share. They'd both thought she was still out, and for a second they're both terrified that she'll call them over to chastize them more thoroughly.
Alec has finally unclenched his hand from his book when Janine nods at him. "Do you want to visit the stables?" he asks, after she's already stood.
"I think that would be nice," she responds, and they go.
Out in the stables, Alec reaches a hand filled with oats out to Belle. He can feel her warm breath against the palm of his hand.
Janine ignores them both to sit down on the stool and bend the spine of her book back again.
"Fine, I'll bite," Alec says after a moment. He doesn't like being ignored, and he likes even less Janine pretending that she knows better than him. She's fifteen, and even worse, she acts it. "What about that book are you enjoying this time around?"
"You wouldn't understand," Janine says, and Alec turns his most withering glare on her. She doesn't even glance up.
"And what, exactly, wouldn't I understand?" Alec asks.
"What it feels like to be trapped!" Janine looks up at him, suddenly all fury, startling his own out of him.
"What do you--" he starts, but she doesn't let him finish.
"Tomorrow I'm going to have my wedding dress measured, and the day after that I'm going to pick out decorations with mother. We're planning out the rest of my life, and you're still worried about whether or not mother is going to take away your books when I don't even have a choice!"
Alec opens his mouth to protest that without his books he'll stagnate and fall apart, that they're the only things that really help, but he bites that back and says something else instead. "You do have a choice."
She snorts at him, pulling her hair back from her face with her left hand. "Yes, why don't you be the one who tells mother I'm not doing it instead?"
Alec suppresses a wince and rubs Belle's forehead instead. "We both know that wouldn't work. But we wouldn't have to talk to her. We could just...go."
"Go where exactly, Davey?"
"Anywhere," he answers honestly. "Leave the city. Belle and Gabriel can carry us."
"And then what will we do?" Janine asks, rolling her eyes at him.
"Anything. What are we going to do now?"
Janine rolls her eyes again, but she doesn't answer. Instead she opens her book again.
"Well?" Alec prompts.
"Do you really think we could?" she asks, her finger on her page to mark her place.
"I do," he says.
When he waits, weeks later, after weeks of planning, she opts to go to her wedding instead. He doesn't ever get the chance to ask her why.
Comments welcome either here or on Dreamwidth (
).
It goes like this:
Alec is seventeen, his head full of equations and ideas of what is right and what is wrong. He watches his little sister clutch her book closer to her where she's curled up. "Is it really still that good? Don't you have it memorized by now?" He can read his math books seven or eight times, but that's different, there's always more meaning there. He always misses so much the first time through.
She looks at him, green eyes younger and much more pissed off than his. "Do you think I would still be reading it if it weren't, Davey? God, you're ridiculous!"
"Don't blaspheme!" comes the call from their mother from the other room, and there's a moment of sibling solidarity in the glance Alec and Janine share. They'd both thought she was still out, and for a second they're both terrified that she'll call them over to chastize them more thoroughly.
Alec has finally unclenched his hand from his book when Janine nods at him. "Do you want to visit the stables?" he asks, after she's already stood.
"I think that would be nice," she responds, and they go.
Out in the stables, Alec reaches a hand filled with oats out to Belle. He can feel her warm breath against the palm of his hand.
Janine ignores them both to sit down on the stool and bend the spine of her book back again.
"Fine, I'll bite," Alec says after a moment. He doesn't like being ignored, and he likes even less Janine pretending that she knows better than him. She's fifteen, and even worse, she acts it. "What about that book are you enjoying this time around?"
"You wouldn't understand," Janine says, and Alec turns his most withering glare on her. She doesn't even glance up.
"And what, exactly, wouldn't I understand?" Alec asks.
"What it feels like to be trapped!" Janine looks up at him, suddenly all fury, startling his own out of him.
"What do you--" he starts, but she doesn't let him finish.
"Tomorrow I'm going to have my wedding dress measured, and the day after that I'm going to pick out decorations with mother. We're planning out the rest of my life, and you're still worried about whether or not mother is going to take away your books when I don't even have a choice!"
Alec opens his mouth to protest that without his books he'll stagnate and fall apart, that they're the only things that really help, but he bites that back and says something else instead. "You do have a choice."
She snorts at him, pulling her hair back from her face with her left hand. "Yes, why don't you be the one who tells mother I'm not doing it instead?"
Alec suppresses a wince and rubs Belle's forehead instead. "We both know that wouldn't work. But we wouldn't have to talk to her. We could just...go."
"Go where exactly, Davey?"
"Anywhere," he answers honestly. "Leave the city. Belle and Gabriel can carry us."
"And then what will we do?" Janine asks, rolling her eyes at him.
"Anything. What are we going to do now?"
Janine rolls her eyes again, but she doesn't answer. Instead she opens her book again.
"Well?" Alec prompts.
"Do you really think we could?" she asks, her finger on her page to mark her place.
"I do," he says.
When he waits, weeks later, after weeks of planning, she opts to go to her wedding instead. He doesn't ever get the chance to ask her why.
Comments welcome either here or on Dreamwidth (
).