Lawyers, Swords and Secrets, part 14 of 14

[tamoline]

Title: Lawyers, Swords and Secrets part 14 of 14
Author:Tamoline
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: The Good Wife (Crossover with Chronicles of Amber)
Pairing: Alicia/Kalinda

Notes: This is a completely different continuity to Flames of a Different Hue. Really. Do not carry assumptions about characters over.

Summary:
Alicia Cavanaugh is given a job offer she can't

Comments

[wkgreen]

Smart Queen! Very nice maneuver.

And that was pretty much the only way that case was going to end well for Kalinda, it being summary dismissed.

Looking forward to more cases!! :)

[tamoline]

My original plotting of this consisted of:

Who are the main players?
Kalinda
Corwin
Flora

Okay, how do each of them *want* to succeed, ideally, and how are each of them hedging their bets so they still 'win', even if things go wrong?

Much of the plot stemmed from these initial questions. (Kalinda's plan kind of spiraled off-course fairly quickly, as she discovered that she *liked* Alicia, though Alicia did manage to get her win, regardless. Corwin *did* manage to pull off his minimum win, even if he didn't manage to get anything else. Flora, Flora managed to get most of what she wanted. :) )

Given that I'm really not a lawyer (not do I play one on TV) I hope the legal plotline resolved satisfactorily.

And thanks!

[hotladykisses]

Ah, politics! Interesting ending! Case made - and won! Go Alicia! - and you managed to open quite a few doors for the next episode. Now I imagine an interlude in which Kalinda comes visit Alicia on Earth, and they have a nice intimate chat together… Since I’m sure they will both have completely not on purpose forgotten to put an official end to the "companion" business before Alicia leaves Amber, I hope the question will come up!

So, this is where you are going to skip to a few years later for case number two ?

[tamoline]

I imagine that there will definitely be visits. Though, sadly, I do think that they will put an official end to being companions, especially now that Alicia is still remaining involved in Amber business. (Plus, I can only imagine that Alicia will want it done *properly* at some time in the future.)

Pretty much - though I have a few ideas for interlude scenes planned out.

Though I did have the ending for this planned out some time in advance, how tempting would it be to write an alt ending, where Alicia fails to win the case. Kalinda is banished from Amber for some decades, and she decides to make her new home on Earth, maybe taking up investigation as a hobby to keep herself occupied. :)

[hotladykisses]

Oh, how sad about the companion thing. I can imagine K on her first visit gently reminding Alicia: “hey, we kinda forgot a tiny detail when you left…” and Alicia finding herself strangely bothered that this is officially over ^^

(Can I please ask Louisa for a bit of smut in one of these interludes, or is it still too soon? ^^)

Well, Kalinda might have some other reasons to spend time on Earth if she really wants to :-) A defeat for Alicia’s first Amber case and a banished Kalinda is quite a different thing altogether indeed! And if Kalinda was to live on Earth for several decades, Alicia would grow old. Would Kalinda too, or would she remain young like Amber people do?

[tamoline]

Still, once Alicia has stopped bristling from being forced into the companion situation, she might stop automatically rejecting the whole idea in the first place. So, really, it's a step forward!

You can ask, but she's going up to her parents' house tomorrow, so there will be no smut until *at least* Wednesday. (For reference, I am still subject non grata in that household, so, yeah, so smutwriting up there.)

Well, Amber metaphysics are a funny thing. Kalinda certainly won't grow old - Corwin, frex, arrived on Earth in the 17th century, and didn't particularly age. But it's also possible that just a royal's attention will retard the aging process. (And can you imagine Kalinda not paying Alicia attention?)

Still, the main thing the alt-verse has to offer is the image of *this* Kalinda going out and doing the investigating. Especially as regards to her... shaky grasp of legal ethics. (It's only unethical if they catch you.) Not to mention her enhanced physique and magical powers.

[wedowhat]

Just caught up with the last four chapters of this. So good. I have absolutely no knowledge of the background story, Amber etc, but you really created a world that I could understand without it. Loved the characterisations of Kalinda and Alicia and I'm very much looking forward to the next part when you have time to write it. Thanks very much.

[tamoline]

Thanks! I'm glad that you enjoyed it and could get the background. Yo be honest, this is very much aimed at people who are unfamiliar with Amber - I know one of my readers is, but I'm not aware of any others. And I take certain liberties with the setting anyway. For instance, the women are never treated as the main players in the setting - manipulators at best. But, luckily, in games and fanfiction, we can fix this. :)

Found your stories.

[44015]

Thank you for the directions to this universe from my FF review. I am blown away by the thought and care you put into these characters. The really amazing thing is the liner notes you provide in the comments section to your loyal readers. It adds a richness like layers in torte. We get to hear your process and banter in a way that diffuses some of the stress when the story gets intense.

I look forward to reading more when you share. Alicia and Kalinda are my current obsession along with R&I's Maura and Jane. I do have a past steeped in Alex/Olivia SVU, Bad Girls - Nikki and Helen, as well as really ancient Xena at XWPVS.

Thanks again.
K

Re: Found your stories.

[tamoline]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed this one too.

I know how hard commenting can be, so I try my best to give commenters something extra by going through some of my thought processes or give some extra information about the things they liked/were interested in. And, hey, sometimes it allows to mention some of the things that have been going through my head, but that I'm not sure will ever make it into text.

Sadly, season 4 seems to have killed some of the momentum Kalicia has previously - what with Alicia and Kalinda inexplicably not interacting at all for half a season. Still, on that side of things, there's a ficathon starting on sweetjamielee.livejournal.com tomorrow. Keep an eye on it. Post some prompts! Post some fics, even! (It was one of her ficathons last February that started me writing Good Wife fic in the first place.)

Re: Found your stories.

[tamoline]

By the way, if you haven't looked at it yet, ArchiveOfOurOwn.org has a wealth of good Kalicia stories. (Here is a link to every single one of them.)

Re: Found your stories.

[44015]

I read some of the comments about the season 4 stall, including Random's Open Letter. I'm not sure I agree fully with all her assertions, however I do have a problem with actors/actresses buying into TPTB's notion of gay baiting. When actors do certain interviews they say whatever they think the demographic they are addressing wants to hear or believe they are perceiving. That said I think the way the Good Wife is set up now with the possibility Kalinda killed Nick to protect Alicia could surface as the key coming season plot. Who would Kalinda choose as her lawyer. Will Lockhart Gardner survive Alicia's making the whole sh*t storm about her not being able to choose? Frankly the most embarrassing think about the past GW season was not the loss of the Kalinda-Alicia arc but the 360degree character swing of Alicia. Nothing kills a show faster than character inconsistency. Nothing would make my heart float higher, than to see Archie get to act her way out of this paper bag mess. I love watching her, I think a lot of people do and it has

[theabysswithin]

I was on holiday for two weeks, so I just got caught up. Didn't expect the story to end quite so quickly, but it was a good conclusion nonetheless. :) I particularly liked Alicia's conversation with the Queen at the end, which gave insight into the politics of the trial. I do have a question about a comment you made above when you said that Corwin won something minimal. What is it? Cos it seems to me that the Queen and Kalinda got everything that they wanted, and he lost entirely.

I have a request for the interlude(s) that you may be writing before the next trial... any possibility of a bar scene on Earth, like in the Show? Kind of an echo of the Amber bar scene. :)

[tamoline]

I hope you had an enjoyable holiday. I’m not great at procedural elements, so I didn’t make the actual trial last that long. I just hope that it worked.

Corwin showed Amber society - the constituency he’s looking to gain power over - that he had power over Kalinda, his main competitor amongst that segment - he could bring her to trial. He even managed to restrict her movements to Amber. Yes, he lost. But he still managed to exert some form of dominance, and didn’t really lose anything from the attempt. So, yes, he got a minimal win out of the situation.

I’ll see what I can do about a bar scene. :)