Little Blue children and the hybrids who mentor them.
In proper Klingon style, a yarn of epic proportions, unlikely to actually much resemble the reality it sprung forth from, was told of Kahless and Sto-vo-kor. More than once, Blue did have to nudge her to remind her she was telling the tale to a group of children, not drunken bar companions, but the end results were received well. Even some of the ( Read more... )
"You know, I was puzzled as to why Diz was being so nice to Shlev, especially after hearing the story of Therav's shooting her in the back. She just was uncharacteristically tactful, she left his name out of the tale, and only one who knew she had a grudge resulting from a bar fight would have been able to put two and two together, she didn't even identify his species. She must see your influence in Shlev if she likes him, she respects you," Spiegel babbled on a bit, and Pukey respectfully fell back and stayed silent as he followed.
Elsewhere in the keep, Shlev had lead the group to the clothing room on the way up to the ritual dueling grounds. Half of the kids automatically started bundling up for outside weather, while Thimon and his little clique grumbled about how Shlev was a zhavey's boy, even if he was zhavey-less, until Blue gave a stern warning. The group made a token attempt to better bundle up after this, but one could tell they weren't doing it because they actually thought they'd be cold. Diziara pulled on a pair of pants and boots to go with the sweater she'd worn to breakfast, and strapped her d'k tahg over her pants.
Once the group had finished prepping for the outside weather, Shlev led the way again. Diziara made a point to hover near Thimon and his clique, and when she heard things said she didn't like, she started turning the insults on the responsible parties. This actually did a better job of squashing their commentary than Blue's threats of telling their zhaveys. She grinned when Thimon let an especially stinging barb slip, and Shlev actually jumped in and returned it in kind before she could say anything.
"Careful, or he'll try to adopt you as his surrogate zhavey. I don't think Therav would much like that," Blue whispered to her as she fell back to the rear of the group. "I suspect Thil would be thrilled though."
"I can see sparks of his shreya in him, and while I can't speak too well of his thavan, I do see a better side of him when he's around his thei," Diziara whispered back. The group emerged to find the ritual dueling grounds snow covered. "First one to clear me enough space to spar in gets to learn how to throw an adult," Diziara called to the group. The children scattered to find tools to clear the snow.
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The duelling ground was atop one of the keep's towers which sat right against the mountainside. The view was stunning: the ringed gas giant to which Andor was satellite, loomed huge in the crystal-clear blue sky. Anyone looking out at the valley below, would see snow-blanketed foothills and in the distance, the towers of another keep.
The air had a bite to it that chilled to the bone, for those not bundled up.
Blue banners carrying what all visitors would now recognize as the clan's standard, flapped in the breeze impressively from the four corners of this ground.
"That she's so nice to Shlev when she dislikes the thavan, is only because she is not Andorian," Thil said. "We have a saying. As is the zhavey, so is the child. But it may apply to the other parents."
Thimon and his little monkeyboys (which numbered four), pushing the smaller Shlev and Shlev's two friends aside, were the first to complete the task of clearing a space. The space was still rather slippery, but snow-free it was.
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"She has little regard for blood ties, since she was treated like the scum of the universe for her non-klingon father, the years she spend on Qo'noS. She believes family is who and what you make of it, and respect is something each person earns on their own," Spiegel explained as they reached the ritual dueling grounds in time to see Thimon and his friends presenting the slippery, though cleared, space to Diziara.
She stepped out into the space, half suspecting it would be slippery, and ended up gliding around in a circle before coming to a stop in the middle. "I don't suppose we have something to fix this small problem? While I don't mind the added challenge, it is harder to teach things to people who are also dealing with unstable footing," she said, hands on her hips. A teenage zhen, who'd been mostly hanging back to watch thus far, disappeared for a moment, and returns with some salt-like stuff to spread across the space and melt the residual ice.
"Hey Red," Pukey greeted Diziara, and her body tensed as she shot him a look. "Do you have any idea why Boss would ask me to keep a special eye on you?"
"I suspect it was because he knew I'd need someone to serve as an example to the children. Come here," she directed and an evil gleam flickered in her eye. Spiegel chuckled softly to himself as Pukey did as directed. Before anyone could blink, the large man found himself laid across one of the displaced banks of snow. "Who wants to try that first?" The knot of children became alive with volunteers as Pukey stood up again and looked skeptically between Diziara and the children.
"I don't remember volunteering for this," he muttered, dusting snow off himself. Spiegel walked over and draped an arm around his shoulder, very much like how Pukey had done to him in the dining hall.
"Think of the children, man. How would you say no to those adorable, possibly blood thirsty, little blue faces? Besides, what better way to keep an eye on Diz than to be actively involved in whatever hijinks she's currently pulling?" Pukey looked over at the kids, then at Diziara again, and sighed. "Besides, I should have warned you, she really really hates to be called Red." Spiegel dropped his arm from around Pukey's shoulder and moved off to the side to watch the fun again.
Diziara moved next to Pukey, and whispered softly in his ear. He dumbly nodded to whatever it was she said, and she immediately turned and pointed to Thimon. "You're up first, slugger." She told him, and he proudly walked forward. He made a mocking gesture at Shlev as he walked forward, then caught the look Blue directed at him and quickly stopped it. Blue shot a questioning look at Diziara, which she responded to with a wink that Thimon didn't see.
She ran through very thorough directions on how to repeat the trick she'd just pulled to throw Pukey into the snow bank. She made sure that the whole group was watching, and also mentioned that after Thimon tried, she'd let anyone else try who wanted to. Once Thimon insisted he was ready to try, Diziara had him stand where she'd been standing before, and had Pukey move towards him. Thimon did exactly as he was directed, but Pukey made a twist of his body right before Thimon grabbed him, that resulted in the throw failing. Thimon continued to try to throw Pukey, standing arms wrapped around him and attempting to yank the solid mass of the large human, as all the children and some of the adults laughed.
"I'd like to try," Shlev said quietly without raising his eyes. Thimon shot him a look, but kept quiet. Diziara nodded and Shlev moved forward. She ran through the directions again for him, and he paid close attention. When it came time for him to try, Diziara looked at Pukey, who nodded slightly, and approached Shlev normally. The throw executed correctly and Pukey was soon picking himself up out of the snow drift. Shlev smiled, Thimon growled things that caused Blue to clear his throat in warning, and the rest of the group looked on in awed silence.
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After the 6'4, solid mass of human muscle picked himself up and dusted himself off, he did something surprising - he laughed.
Shlev smiled more broadly, his small face looking positively impish.
"I want to try again!"
"That's not fair, everyone gets a turn," Pukey said.
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The next little while was spent throwing Pukey into the snow drift. Once every child that wanted to try got a chance, Spiegel wanted a go at it. Pukey made much protest, but after a short conversation involving threats of real bodily harm for having called her "Red", he did submit himself to the indignity of being thrown by the dorky engineer.
"So, what sort of toys does the clan have for us to play with, now that we've satisfied the children for a short bit?" Diziara asked Blue, watching as Spiegel managed to throw Pukey despite his efforts to block it like he'd done to Thimon, because she'd instructed Spiegel on how to counter the block.
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"You wouldn't, Thil," Blue replied.
"Oh, yes, I would. We can always claim ignorance. I didn't know that the weapon in question belonged to Thalev th'Vorothishria, for example."
Blue grinned at the evil idea hatching in Thil's brain.
"Thalev th'-" Pukey said, astonished, "As in Admiral Voro-thi-sh-thish-ri-...?"
He made a jerk of himself trying to pronounce the name which neither Spiegel nor Diz had ever heard before.
Pukey said, "As in... 'Thalev's Maneuver'?" referring to a maneuver Diziara had never heard of before... or maybe it was a brief mention in the Academy, during ship-to-ship combat simulation, a brief blurb lost at the bottom of a textbook page to be forever forgotten after the fact.
"Thalev as in your CO's thavan," Thil replied.
Pukey's jaw dropped. "He never said that was his dad. All this time. I have been serving one generation removed from greatness."
Blue and Thil looked at each other, and both sets of antennae shook as the two tried desperately not to laugh at Pukey's astounding brilliance. They looked at Diz and Spiegel with an incredulous look on their faces.
"Training rules, not dueling rules." Thil said.
"Of course. No point to one of the adults walking away dead," Blue said. "Besides, it's a dying art. A demonstration would help preserve it."
Thil nodded, in agreement.
Then she grinned, and ran off...
...and returned with two carrying cases.
Thimon, having previously been glaring at Shlev, now directed his attention at what Thil and Blue were removing from the carrying-cases.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!" Thimon breathed.
Shlev nodded, smiling quietly.
Thil said, "You won't tell your thavan?"
"I know nothing about it," Shlev said. "I didn't see anything."
"Good thaan."
What they removed from the cases were a matched set of ushaan-tor and tether gauntlets.
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Diziara regarded the new sharp toys presented with curiosity. Anyone watching her face could tell she hadn't seen a ushaan-tor before, but she really liked what she saw. She locked eyes with Blue and without saying a word, she asked to see the blade in his hand. He handed it over with a grin, watching her face as she inspected the blade and moved it about a bit to get a feel for the balance.
"So, how complicated are these rules? Should I just sit back and offer to take on the victor, or might they be such I could actually play in the first round?" Diziara finally asked, satisfied she'd inspected the ushaan-tor as much as can be done without engaging in combat with it. Pukey stepped back and stood behind Spiegel, seeing the look in Diziara's eye. Spiegel was watching her like a scientist watches a live lab sample.
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"It's taught less and less," Thil said to Diz. "Our people have been trying to adapt more... peaceable ways. Once upon a time - in my grandparents' generation - it was taught from the time of childhood. Now these pieces are mostly only displayed in museums! MUSEUMS!"
She sounded as if she were spitting when she said "peaceable".
Handling the weapon, Diz would find it actually rather awkward and unwieldy. The ushaan-tor was clearly not the type of thing that one carried around on a daily basis, or even carried into most combat situations, given the number of hrisal that Diz had seen Andorians armed with up to this point.
"You'll watch the first round, then we'll give you a go in the second," Thil said.
Despite the frigid air (it had to be about twenty degrees out) Thil stripped a layer of clothing off of her upper body, and so did Blue, until Thil was standing there wearing what basically looked like a sports bra (although this was probably more for pinkskin sensibilities; she was mostly lean muscle and hardly needed any such thing) and Blue was bare to the waist. Blue reached into a pocket for a hair tie and then quickly bound up his long hair.
Anyone paying attention at this point would've noticed that Thil had black tribal tattoos completely covering her forearms.
Thil and Blue donned the tether gauntlets, which bound them together by about a six foot length of cable.
They studied each other, and circled.
Thil charged. Blue parried, pulling the cable taut. Thil swung as Blue pulled her closer. Then Blue charged. Steel clinked against steel. Thil met ushaan-tor against ushaan-tor, gauntlet against gauntlet, and threw Blue back.
Blue charged. Thil dodged, and pulled her end of the tether, then hooked her foot around Blue's ankle, sending him to his knees. She got the tether around Blue's neck, and held the ushaan-tor above his head.
"You're dead already," Thil said. "Come ON, Thinshal. I know you can give me better than THAT, damn you!"
She let him go. Blue gritted his teeth, steeling for round two.
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"While Thil is awesome and all, I was looking forward to kicking your ass a bit, so you have to win," Diziara told Blue with a laugh. Clearly not being as amused by the turn of events as she was, his antennae twitched and he muttered something under his breath. "I hope that I misheard you, as if you said what I thought, you'd be teaching these adorable impressionable children things they really shouldn't know," Diziara teased. Blue growled as he lunged at Thil.
"You're just going to make him lose, you know that, don't you?" Spiegel asked Diziara softly.
"I assure you, he's heard worse from me. I'm just behaving on account of the children," Diziara explained. Spiegel shook his head and watched Thil and Blue.
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"Very... good," Thil managed. She laughed, and coughed, laughed, and coughed again. "That... was a kill."
Blue bowed from the shoulders, then set the ushaan-tor down at his foot, and offered his hand to Thil to help her up.
"I believe this is your round," he said to Diz.
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As Thil removed herself from the tether gauntlet, and helped Diziara put it on, Therav and Noelle approached unnoticed from the stairway. When the pair realized there were people in the ritual dueling grounds already, they held back behind a pillar to watch. Thil handed Diziara and Blue each a Ushaan-tor and backed out of the way.
"Those are my thavan's weapons!" Therav said, his eyes widening and his antennae twitching in annoyance. Noelle put her hand on his forearm, stopping him from storming out there into the middle of things.
"I think Thil wanted to get your goat," she explained softly. He bristled a bit, but fell back from his ready to pounce stance.
"Get my goat?" His antennae twitched to indicate confusion, and he automatically reached for his pocket to pull out Spiegel's book, to find he'd left it in the clothes he'd surrendered when entering the keep the day before.
"Get to you. It'll just kill her if you say nothing." The two watched in silence as Diziara and Blue circled each other, ushaan-tors raised and in the ready.
"Are you sure you're ready for me?" Diziara asked, a predatory grin across her face. "Living in such a nice and peaceful place probably has left you soft." Thil looked like she was going to say something, but Blue was grinning like Diziara and she saw this before she opened her mouth.
"No softer than Starfleet has likely left you," he returned, and she visibly winced.
"I suppose I was asking for that, but it would have been nice if you hadn't alienated my fan club until the fight started," she grumbled. "I'll have you know I've done battle with Klingons, Jem'hadar, and Borg while in service of that candy assed fleet!"
From their unnoticed vantage point, Therav tensed and mouthed out the words "candy assed" in a silent angry question. Noelle squeezed his forearm with her hand, having not actually removed it after placating him earlier. He looked at her, and she shook her head softly.
During this exchange, Blue took the initiative, tiring of the verbal sparring, and gave the tether a yank. Diziara came with the pull and tucked herself in to roll down at Blue's shins. He jumped over her as she attempted to trip him with this tactic, and they both quickly reached the end of the tether and spun about bringing the blades back up.
"Glad to see you haven't slowed down with age," she teased, and lunged at him with the ushaan-tor. He deflected her blow and caught her behind the knee with the handle side of the blade. She tucked in on herself to avoid giving him a chance to catch her as she fell, then reached up the tether to yank him down on top of her. This resulted in him having her pinned, both blades of no use and the slack tether between the two.
Diziara shifted her arms close together above her head, narrowing Blue's base of balance as he had her pinned by her wrists, and with a quick twist of her body reversed their positions. She sat up sharply, and shifted so that one arm was laid across Blue's chest, and the other held the ushaan-tor up for a killing blow. Leaving his hands free, he brought his weapon up to block hers, and pushed her away with his other hand against her clavicle.
While trying to adjust to this loss of balance, Blue managed to get her to drop the ushaan-tor and sent it clattering away just beyond her arm's length. She twisted and dove for it to recover it as he got himself to his feet over her. He caught her wrist under his boot just as she reached the blade and he leaned down to demonstrate the killing blow.
"Nice fight as always," she admitted and laid down on the ground a moment and released her grip upon the blade. He set his aside and offered her a hand up.
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"Why, looks like we have more audience," Thil snarked. "Do you think you could do better, pinkskin?"
Noelle considered. Therav's antennae pricked to attention and his eyes went a little wide. "Are you sure you want to take her on?"
"I believe the lady can speak for herself, dear brother," Thil said.
Noelle unwound the ceara from her torso, leaving her clad in semisheer bodystocking, pants and boots.
Pukey muttered, "Looks like it's cold out," as he watched, then winced as Spiegel jabbed his elbow into his side.
"You might find the weapon a little heavy and unwieldy," Thil said. "We can try a lighter and smaller weapon, if you like."
Noelle said, "Oh, don't bother yourself getting me any weapon at all. And the ritual seems so hidebound and archaic. Why not let this one be freestyle."
And she sounded nice about it.
"Alright, then," Thil said. She left the ushaan-tor and tether gauntlets aside, and instead drew the slim blade that everyone present would recognize as a hrisal.
"Spiegel, I bet a bottle of booze on Noelle winning," Diziara called to her friend. Spiegel raised an eyebrow and shrugged to agree to the bet.
Thil took her place opposite Noelle, and bowed from the shoulder. "Ushevaya," she said.
Noelle brought her fist up into her open hand, and bowed.
Pukey, on spotting that gesture, started laughing quietly, and now watched even more intently.
Thil's antennae pricked. She met Noelle's gaze, her face steeled with intent. Noelle's expression remained soft, almost serene.
"Well? I'm waiting," Noelle said.
Thil lunged forward.
Noelle's movement was barely perceptible. She barely moved a muscle, just turned slightly, and one hand went up, barely touching Thil as she seemingly effortlessly pushed the taller Andorian out of the way.
Thil, teeth gritted, made another pass... and with what barely seemed the brush of another hand, Thil slid across the ground under her own momentum, and landed ass-first on the ground. She tightened her grip on the hrisal.
"You can find me some good blood wine this time, Spiegel," Diziara called over, and he shook his head and muttered.
Noelle remained standing. She walked over to Thil, offered her hand, but Thil's antennae went rigid. Thil siezed Noelle's wrist, yanked her forward... and somehow, her hrisal ended up in Noelle's free hand, with its point at Thil's throat.
"I'll accept my birth year if you can't find any 2309," Diziara added to Spiegel.
Thil, who seemed genuinely enraged, shook. She spat a barely audible epithet between gritted teeth.
As Noelle lowered the hrisal from Thil's throat, Thil ran forward, charging, only to get one arm caught by both of Noelle's hands. Thil went skidding face-first into a pillar.
The children, delighted, laughed.
"Yeah, I take it back, only a 2309 will be worth it on this one. Noelle, you want to help me enjoy the bottle when Spiegel delivers?" Diziara asked.
"Sure thing," Noelle answered.
Thil turned, genuinely humiliated, and then stomped off, angrily.
"Thil is a reknowned duellist," Blue asked. "How-"
"I didn't do anything," Noelle said. "She was on her way onto the floor, then into the wall. I just helped her along."
Therav approached Diziara's group, and stood with them. He nodded softly, clearly dumbfounded.
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"Never seen her in action before, have you?" Diziara asked without even turning to otherwise acknowledge Therav's presence. When his answer failed to come, she actually looked sideways at him, to find him staring at Noelle as if she'd just stepped out of her skin or something. Pukey approached Noelle offering a high five, which Noelle accepted with chuckle, and a merry sparkle in her eye.
"I suppose I should see if I can help her lick her wounds," Spiegel said, and turned to see if he could find Thil. As Spiegel headed off in the same direction Thil had left, Therav raised his hand to the side of his face, his antennae stretched out at their full length, and quivering just a little. He then dropped his gaze to his boots.
"So, who's up next?" Diziara asked, feeling uncomfortable in the silence.
"Why don't you and Noelle square off?" Blue suggested, pushing her forward by the small of her back.
"I've seen her in action when she chooses to expend energy. She's the sort I have to fight dirty against to stand any chance with, and I try to avoid dirty fighting when involved with friends... otherwise you would have lost an antenna back there, you left yourself open to it at least once." Diziara ribbed, she punched his upper arm and he pretended to flinch away from her. Noelle picked up her ceara from where she'd dropped it earlier, and wrapped it around herself again, tossing the edges over her shoulders.
"Could you show us some of what you did?" the zhen, who'd earlier provided the salt-like stuff to deice the area, asked Noelle. Noelle smiled at the teen, and moves to the middle of the area again. As she softly explains one needs to stay rooted in their "dan tien" and shows the children the fist in hand greeting she opened with when facing Thil, Pukey moved up next to Therav.
"She's pretty hot when she kicks ass, huh Boss?" he said to Therav, who had his eyes locked upon Noelle. Therav snapped out of the unabashed admirative stare, and turned on heel sharply to face Pukey. He looked up at the large human in such a manner that Pukey almost felt like the Andorian was looking down at him.
"You are treading on dangerously thin ice, Mr. Quinn," Therav said, and all attention snapped to the pair, leaving Noelle mid word in her explanation to the children.
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