(no subject)
Soy # 4. 同じ穴のむじな with Hot Fudge
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : PG
Timeframe : 1240's
Word Count :883
My Treat (Falootin) : 同じ穴のむじな onaji ana no mujuna / badgers from the same hole (co-conspirators) - Roul finds a like-minded partner.
So, as if I need any more hot fudge... I think, having poked around a bit at later canon in my head, that Kinari warrants it.
Roul took a step into the Headmistress’s office and paused. There was a tray on the desk, piled high with fresh fruits and cheeses, and a bottle of deep red wine and a pair of glasses stood beside it. She eyed him expectantly as she pulled the door gently shut behind her, and he raised a brow.
“To what, My Lady Headmistress, do I owe this fabulous spread?” said Roul, with as innocent a grin as he could muster.
“Let’s call it a celebration,” said Kinari, as she circled around behind the desk, “of the beginning of a fine friendship.” There was a sly twist to her lips as she picked up the bottle.
“A friendship? I’ll drink to that, as long as you’re pouring.” He snatched up one of the glasses and held it out to be served. “But what might you, an esteemed lady of the court want with a simple page?”
Kinari’s look darkened as she poured her own drink. “Don’t be coy.”
“Ah, I am many things, My Lady,” said Roul, raising his glass in a mock salute. “Coy is not one of them.”
“Nor are you a page,” said Kinari. The bottle hit the desk with rather an emphatic thump.
“The uniform would beg to differ.”
“Fine,” she said, with a backhanded wave as she swallowed her wine. “A simple page, you say. A page from where? To begin with, it would seem you have no parents.”
Roul let out a gasp as if offended, a hand over his heart to add to the drama. The Headmistress glowered at him. She was turning out to be far too much fun. “The palace has no place for orphans in its staff?” he asked.
“I did not say they were dead. I said they do not exist. It is a different matter entirely.”
“You’ve put quite a bit of effort into this.” He picked a bit of cheese from the tray and used it to gesture at her before popping it in his mouth. “Flattering, being someone’s research project.”
“I felt it necessary.” She eyed the tray but took nothing herself. If he didn’t know better, he might have thought the food poisoned. The notion made him laugh, earning him yet another odd look from the woman. “It seemed unlikely,” she continued firmly, “that a boy of your talents would find himself such an inconspicuous position within the palace walls and not be a spy.”
“Talents, My Lady?”
“There you go again.” Another wave as she settled into her chair, as if she were the one that knew where this was going. It was all too precious. “You would do well not to dismiss me. My eyes and ears in the palace are as plentiful as those of the King himself. I know what you are, boy.” She set her glass aside and fixed him with what to anyone else would have been a sobering stare. “In times of peril, the gods will touch this plane. Fate will choose for each a hand by which she will shape the world. I have seen the magic you practice when you think no one else is looking.”
“Have you, now?” said Roul, palming a few more bits of cheese. It certainly took her long enough.
“I have,” she said, quite smugly. “And what is more, I am quite certain no noble owns you. You are here of your own - her own will. What I would know is why.”
“Well,” he plopped into a chair and plucked a few grapes from the tray before leaning back and tossing his feet up on the edge of the desk, “since it would seem you know everything else about me, what do you think I’m here for?”
Kinari eyed the shoes on her desk with disdain but said nothing of it. “The gods have played a game over the centuries of building and breaking nations,” she said. “A fat fool sits on the throne while our soldiers grow lazy and weak and our borders thin. They can no longer abide granting his line its place on the throne.”
So that was her game. He’d always wondered what the bits about boys and crowns were in the dreams. Certainly forward about the whole thing, she was. “So, once ruled out from being a spy, I become suspect of conspiring with divinity to commit treason?”
Kinari was clearly not amused. She was on her feet, hands braced against the desk, her voice rising. “It is the King that commits treason against his own- I should not speak so freely of such things to a stranger,” she said, sinking back into her chair. “But you are no stranger; you are a god. Surely a new order is what you seek as well?”
Roul laughed. He took a deep gulp from his glass and withdrew his feet from the desk to sit up and face her in a more dignified fashion. “My Lady,” he said, tipping his glass, “I could not have put it better myself. A new order is most certainly what I - we - seek. I think you were right. This is a celebration. To new allies!”
She was shaking her head, but she tapped her glass to his and drank. “To new allies.” Poor woman hadn’t a clue.
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : PG
Timeframe : 1240's
Word Count :883
My Treat (Falootin) : 同じ穴のむじな onaji ana no mujuna / badgers from the same hole (co-conspirators) - Roul finds a like-minded partner.
So, as if I need any more hot fudge... I think, having poked around a bit at later canon in my head, that Kinari warrants it.
Roul took a step into the Headmistress’s office and paused. There was a tray on the desk, piled high with fresh fruits and cheeses, and a bottle of deep red wine and a pair of glasses stood beside it. She eyed him expectantly as she pulled the door gently shut behind her, and he raised a brow.
“To what, My Lady Headmistress, do I owe this fabulous spread?” said Roul, with as innocent a grin as he could muster.
“Let’s call it a celebration,” said Kinari, as she circled around behind the desk, “of the beginning of a fine friendship.” There was a sly twist to her lips as she picked up the bottle.
“A friendship? I’ll drink to that, as long as you’re pouring.” He snatched up one of the glasses and held it out to be served. “But what might you, an esteemed lady of the court want with a simple page?”
Kinari’s look darkened as she poured her own drink. “Don’t be coy.”
“Ah, I am many things, My Lady,” said Roul, raising his glass in a mock salute. “Coy is not one of them.”
“Nor are you a page,” said Kinari. The bottle hit the desk with rather an emphatic thump.
“The uniform would beg to differ.”
“Fine,” she said, with a backhanded wave as she swallowed her wine. “A simple page, you say. A page from where? To begin with, it would seem you have no parents.”
Roul let out a gasp as if offended, a hand over his heart to add to the drama. The Headmistress glowered at him. She was turning out to be far too much fun. “The palace has no place for orphans in its staff?” he asked.
“I did not say they were dead. I said they do not exist. It is a different matter entirely.”
“You’ve put quite a bit of effort into this.” He picked a bit of cheese from the tray and used it to gesture at her before popping it in his mouth. “Flattering, being someone’s research project.”
“I felt it necessary.” She eyed the tray but took nothing herself. If he didn’t know better, he might have thought the food poisoned. The notion made him laugh, earning him yet another odd look from the woman. “It seemed unlikely,” she continued firmly, “that a boy of your talents would find himself such an inconspicuous position within the palace walls and not be a spy.”
“Talents, My Lady?”
“There you go again.” Another wave as she settled into her chair, as if she were the one that knew where this was going. It was all too precious. “You would do well not to dismiss me. My eyes and ears in the palace are as plentiful as those of the King himself. I know what you are, boy.” She set her glass aside and fixed him with what to anyone else would have been a sobering stare. “In times of peril, the gods will touch this plane. Fate will choose for each a hand by which she will shape the world. I have seen the magic you practice when you think no one else is looking.”
“Have you, now?” said Roul, palming a few more bits of cheese. It certainly took her long enough.
“I have,” she said, quite smugly. “And what is more, I am quite certain no noble owns you. You are here of your own - her own will. What I would know is why.”
“Well,” he plopped into a chair and plucked a few grapes from the tray before leaning back and tossing his feet up on the edge of the desk, “since it would seem you know everything else about me, what do you think I’m here for?”
Kinari eyed the shoes on her desk with disdain but said nothing of it. “The gods have played a game over the centuries of building and breaking nations,” she said. “A fat fool sits on the throne while our soldiers grow lazy and weak and our borders thin. They can no longer abide granting his line its place on the throne.”
So that was her game. He’d always wondered what the bits about boys and crowns were in the dreams. Certainly forward about the whole thing, she was. “So, once ruled out from being a spy, I become suspect of conspiring with divinity to commit treason?”
Kinari was clearly not amused. She was on her feet, hands braced against the desk, her voice rising. “It is the King that commits treason against his own- I should not speak so freely of such things to a stranger,” she said, sinking back into her chair. “But you are no stranger; you are a god. Surely a new order is what you seek as well?”
Roul laughed. He took a deep gulp from his glass and withdrew his feet from the desk to sit up and face her in a more dignified fashion. “My Lady,” he said, tipping his glass, “I could not have put it better myself. A new order is most certainly what I - we - seek. I think you were right. This is a celebration. To new allies!”
She was shaking her head, but she tapped her glass to his and drank. “To new allies.” Poor woman hadn’t a clue.