Surprise, surprise

[edge_of_honor]

Characters: Miles Edgeworth and Hisoka Kurosaki
Content: Two old comrades touch base and inform the other about what's been going on in their corner of Reial
Setting: Upper deck of the Convoy; later on, Edgeworth's quarters
Time: After Hisoka and Souji land, before the drinking begins
Warnings: Possible mentions of traumatic events

Comments

[edge_of_honor]

The talk on Amicus (or rather, Amicus night) didn't exactly go as expected. However, Edgeworth had little time to think about it. While others helped with the rescue effort, he and those left on the ship worked to get everything in order for any refugees and survivors that could be found. Besides, there was little he could do about it. Hisoka was out there with the rescue team; his time was invaluable now. Even if it wasn't, though, Edgeworth respected him enough to give him his space.

However, now the rescue was over, and time was plentiful now. Hisoka would return to his own ship soon enough, and after that, he may not have another chance to see him again. After all, Hisoka said it himself: their time was short.

And so, Edgeworth wandered through the ship in search of his former subordinate.

[son_of_the_lake]

Hisoka was just escorting the two children he had rescued the day before back to their cabin. He had found them on an unstable hillside, a nine-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, clutching each other for comfort and waiting for somebody to find them. Even with a rope, it had taken Hisoka an hour to work his way down to them, clinging to the broken limbs of trees and bushes. Luckily the kids, though terrified, were strong and agile, and he was able to bring them back up the tortuous, meandering path to safety without trouble

[edge_of_honor]

That was Hisoka all right, but he didn't recognize the children, and as far as he knew the Convoy didn't have any cabin boys or girls quite that young. He blinked in confusion, when it hit him: these were survivors from the explosion.

"I'll wait," he said, his voice serious in contrast to Hisoka's good cheer.

[son_of_the_lake]

Hisoka and the kids vanished down the passageway. And as promised, Hisoka was back alone in five minutes. "They've barely slept in two days," he explained. "They're probably down for the count, now."

He paused. "How are you, Commander Edgeworth? Do you want tea, or lunch? There's practically nobody left in there, but I'm sure they're still serving."

[edge_of_honor]

"I'm fine," he said stiffly. Or at least, he added to himself, better than them.

He cleared his throat, and quickly added, "Tea will be fine."

[son_of_the_lake]

Hisoka, who had reverted to efficient-subordinate mode, led the way to a pleasent table, went to the kitchen door to ask for tea, and came back to sit down.

"I was pretty impressed with how carefully everything was organized back here at the ship when the survivors came in," he said. "That would be the ship's organization generally, but I believe you took charge of some of those tasks yourself?"

[edge_of_honor]

"I was only passing along a message from the captain," he said briskly. "Besides, I don't exactly have the authority to take command here. I simply helped where I was able."

[son_of_the_lake]

"Yes, certainly," said Hisoka.

The tea arrived and he poured out cups for them both. Not because he was being unnecessarily helpful, but because it was what Hisoka would have done in any case, as a matter of courtesy.

[edge_of_honor]

Silence settled between them as Hisoka poured the tea. His senses honed in on the act: the way the light glistened and reflected through the liquid, the subtle sound as it passed from the pot to the cups, and the delicate scent of leaves brewed just long enough and not a minute more. This everyday ritual did not soothe his nerves completely, insomuch as they still remained, but it did allow him to focus his mind on more important matters. His calm was like a layer of new snow that settled upon a field; the grass remained underneath, but it was still covered in a thin blanket nonetheless. It was a habit and method of control that he was long accustomed to.

"And how did the rescue go?" he asked. "I saw that you had some success."

[son_of_the_lake]

"Yes," said Hisoka, who understood about creating calm with habit or ritual. "The searchers ended up with sixteen survivors. I think it's likely there were more, but they'd probably already set off for Claiborne or Shasta. Those sixteen were people were either trapped at the edge of the landslide area and afraid to move, or simply had no place to go. Or both. Like those two." He nodded in the direction of the passageway. "I've asked my father to take them. He'll find them a family in the shipwright's community."

[edge_of_honor]

Edgeworth wasn't quite as optimistic about the body count, but he said nothing. His expression darkened for a moment and his eyes had a distant, farwaway quality to them, until Hisoka mentioned the fate of the children.

"And they have no other family, is that right?"

[son_of_the_lake]

Hisoka shook his head. "They each had only one parent. And no extended family, so far as the children could remember or I or anybody else could determine. But there's been some talk within Vohemar's search-and-rescue community about creating a permanent network site for survivors of natural or man-made catastrophes - as a sort of missing persons service, and as a way for people who have had to relocate suddenly to keep in touch with each other. If the kids agree, we'll have them post in, I guess."

He had seen Edgeworth's eyes shift into distant mode, and back again. He wanted to ask, Where were you, for that moment? But he wasn't sure how. Instead, his own gaze remained calm and open as he met the commander's.

[edge_of_honor]

If Edgeworth noticed Hisoka's curiosity then he didn't say anything. Instead he simply nodded, focused completely on the conversation at hand.

"I can't say I'm surprised," he said, "Not with how things have been lately. Even in the best of times I imagine something like this would have been useful."

A small part of him, a fragment he thought he had exorcised last year, was more stricken by the fact that it was a Vohemaro effort. For a brief moment he wondered what else he missed after he left the nation, but it was only a passing fancy.

[son_of_the_lake]

"It would have," agreed Hisoka. He picked up his cup. "And it's my source of hope for the future, that people are thinking up these projects and carrying them out - with real determination. I mean, not just Vohemar. Things tend to move more slowly in Ivona because it's more bureaucratized, but I see the same ingenuity everywhere."

He sipped his tea. "What do you think you will be doing in the future, if I may ask?" he said.

[edge_of_honor]

Edgeworth blinked in confusion, taken aback by Hisoka's questions. Of all the things to talk about he certainly didn't expect that.

"Truth be told..." He cleared his throat and glanced away as he picked up his cup of tea. "I haven't thought about that in quite some time."

[son_of_the_lake]

"And I never thought about the future at all, until..." Until I began to want one. Of any kind at all. "...until recently." Hisoka smiled, his eyes lighting up with humor. "It's a terrible old world, of course. But there's so much to be done. Never mind. I just wondered."

He hadn't meant to startle Edgeworth, though. It seemed he was always doing that.

"Tea's good, isn't it?" Hisoka, too, glanced away.