All Hail the Shifter King
Title: Holiday Travels (Part I)
Word Count: 1662
Author's Note: This whole short story (a spinoff of All Hail the Shifter King) is entirely dedicated to my darling Asha, who ships Kat x Ryder far too much for her own emotional good. Hopefully it'll give her something to keep her going.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Katrina Shan exclaimed as she stared up at the arrivals and departures screen above her, one hand gripping her carry-on and the other pressed against her forehead in disbelief. One by one, every flight on the board was flipping from DELAYED to CANCELLED, her own flight right in the middle of the pack. Sighing, she lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, silently gathering her strength and weighing her options. As if on cue, her phone started to vibrate in the pocket of her heavy wool coat - she removed it and tapped the screen, not needing to look at the call display.
"Hi," she said miserably.
"Your flight's been cancelled," came Jordan's concerned voice.
"You don't say."
"He didn't do anything, did he?"
"Not unless he's developed the ability to cause a blizzard without me knowing," she commented. When the tall, white-haired man beside her raised an eyebrow curiously, she pulled the phone away from her face long enough to say, "He thinks you did this."
"Well, fuck you too, Jordan," Ryder muttered, turning his attention back to the screens and sipping from the large white cup he held from a nearby coffee shop.
"What did he say?" Jordan asked.
"Nothing, he's sunshine and rainbows," Katrina told him. "Look, we're not getting out of here tonight, so I'm going to grab us a hotel and -"
"A hotel?" Jordan asked shrilly. "Can't you just drive it? It's only four hours to Antovinn, Rebecca can meet you there and -"
"Baby, it's two in the morning and we just spent eighteen hours on a jet," Katrina interrupted calmly. "I'm in no state to drive."
"I'm sure that Ryder could -"
"You want me to put Ryder behind the wheel of a rental car?" She cast a sidelong glance in Ryder's direction - he was watching her with cool amusement, his odd-colored eyes flashing. "No offense," she said.
"None taken," he replied, smirking as he stepped to one side to avoid a frazzled father chasing after two small, screaming children.
"You have a point, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the hotel," Jordan defended, his voice crackling as the line buzzed with static. "If anything happens -"
"Nothing's going to happen," she admonished. "This isn't Rion Fell. We don't need to look over our shoulders every five minutes." She pulled the phone away from her ear long enough to check the time, and sighed heavily. "Listen, I'm exhausted. I don't want to argue this with you anymore. I'm going to grab the furballs and find somewhere to sleep, and if they don't have this storm bullshit figured out in the morning we'll make the drive, alright?" When Jordan didn't immediately answer, she pursed her lips in annoyance. "Jordan," she prodded.
"Yes, yes, you're right," he agreed. "I just... no, you're right. Sleep would be best right now. Tell Ryder to behave himself, yeah?"
"He wants me to remind you not to eat anybody," Katrina told Ryder.
"I didn't say that!" Jordan barked.
"He seems shrill," Ryder commented after Katrina managed to end the phonecall. She smiled wryly as she dropped the phone back into her pocket.
"He's just stressed," she said. "And he's worried that we might run into trouble."
"I'm touched by the vote of confidence." Draining the last of his coffee, Ryder tossed the cup into a nearby trash bin and stood with his hands tucked in his pockets, surveying the crowd. If he was at all bothered by the change in environment - the commotion of the strained airport, the hordes of stressed people, the wet chill in the air - he didn't show it. He stayed close to her, watching the people scurrying around them, looking every bit the traveler in the clothes Katrina had ordered for him before they left Rion Fell. He'd complained, of course - the long wool coat was too restrictive, the scarf was aggravating, the leather gloves too tight, the boots so heavy he couldn't walk on his toes. Once they'd had to swap planes on the tarmac in negative wind chill, however, he'd quieted down about the weight and heat of the garments very quickly. Or maybe it was less the warmth and more the compliments from the attractive blonde who'd sat across the aisle on the long flight to their current location, though the poor girl had been quite put off when Ryder lost interest in her after about twenty minutes.
Don't be too upset, Katrina had been tempted to tell the girl. He's like this with all humans. She'd bit her tongue, of course - bad enough that she and Jordan were smuggling Ryder and Eli out of Rion Fell with falsified documents. She didn't need to add to the problem by letting it slip that, oh yeah, they weren't exactly human, either.
"Ugh, this place is a zoo," she muttered as she raised herself up on her tiptoes to try and see over the bulk of the crowd, a futile effort as she was at least a head shorter than most people around her. "We need to find the special baggage claim and -"
"Over there," he told her, pointing behind her.
"Okay, and we need to find a hotel that'll take pets..." She trailed off when he snorted a laugh, and gave him a pointed look. "For the hundredth time, Ryder, around normal people they're pets."
"I'm sure they love the comparison," he said, and held out his hand to her. She stared at it suspiciously. "Credit card," he said, wagging his fingers expectantly.
"You're kidding."
"The things are registered in your name -"
"Don't call them 'things', Ryder, that's just mean."
"- and there are several thousand stranded commuters that will need hotel rooms in short order." He wagged his fingers again. "So, credit card, if you please."
Sighing, she reached into her purse and removed the corporate credit card Jordan had given her, rubbing her thumb briefly across his name on the front before she pressed it into Ryder's palm.
"Be reasonable," she stressed, grabbing the cuff of his jacket before he could dart away. "It doesn't need to be fancy, just somewhere we can sleep for one night, understand?"
"When am I ever not reasonable?" he asked, doing a fine job of feigning innocence, and vanished into the crowd. Pinching the bridge of her nose again - the longer she traveled with him the more she felt a migraine coming on - she hurried over to the special baggage claim and got in line with the other travelers waiting to pick up a slew of guitars, snowboarding equipment, and small kennels being unloaded from the grounded planes. It took almost forty minutes for her to get to the front of the line, and was worried that negotiating the release of the two specially-designed metal kennels would prove to be difficult, but it turned out the harried flight crews were more than happy to rid themselves of the creatures. The ticket agent stared at the stamped lettering on the sides of the kennels - THADDEUS and CRISPIN in bold text - with a look of apprehension as Katrina signed off on the customs and import paperwork.
"Pets?" she asked in a meek voice, flinching back when Crispin's kennel rattled noisily, the seventy-five pound creature inside letting out a long and frustrated growl.
"Show dogs," Katrina replied, nodding.
"I've never heard dogs like that before."
"They're a rare breed." Katrina leaned over and thumbed the release for the motorized wheels, watching as they unlocked and unfolded from the sides of the kennels. At first the fancy containers had seemed overkill, but she was definitely grateful for them now. Her smile was feeling somewhat strained by the time she got the copies of the paperwork, and as she turned around to wheel the boys to a less crowded area she let out a yelp as she collided with Ryder's chest.
"The shuttle's on its way," he told her, and as he leaned over to grab the handle on the front of Thaddeus' kennel she caught the hint of a knowing grin on his face.
It was still busy out in the parking lot, but compared to the madness inside the airport it was almost peaceful, especially with the curtain of thick snowfall muffling the sound around them. A parking lot attendant directed them toward the corner of the building to wait for their shuttle, and Katrina was happy to drop onto a bench when she got there, leaning up against Crispin's kennel with a sigh. The sight of her breath in the cold air jogged her memory, and she grabbed her purse to retrieve the cigarettes she'd confiscated from Ryder on the plane.
"I suppose you can have these back now," she said, grabbing the metal case and matching lighter. "But if I catch you smoking in the room I'm taking them right back, deal? I didn't quit just so you..." She noticed him standing stone-still in the middle of the sidewalk, and stared curiously at his back. "Hey," she called. "You okay?" It took her a moment that he wasn't just watching the planes fly overhead - he was staring up at the snow as it fell, bright eyes fixed on the darkness of the heavens. She leaned back on the bench and crossed her arms over her purse, feeling a smile tug at her lips as she watched him. Standing there, with snowflakes lighting on his eyelashes and his unruly bangs, he was very different from the creature Katrina had met in the rainforest - less the animal he always claimed he was, and more the human he seemed to spend most of his time fighting against.
"Have you ever had one of those moments," he asked quietly, still staring up at the snow, "where you're left awestruck by the simplest of beautiful things?"
"Not often," she replied softly. "But sometimes."
Word Count: 1662
Author's Note: This whole short story (a spinoff of All Hail the Shifter King) is entirely dedicated to my darling Asha, who ships Kat x Ryder far too much for her own emotional good. Hopefully it'll give her something to keep her going.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Katrina Shan exclaimed as she stared up at the arrivals and departures screen above her, one hand gripping her carry-on and the other pressed against her forehead in disbelief. One by one, every flight on the board was flipping from DELAYED to CANCELLED, her own flight right in the middle of the pack. Sighing, she lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, silently gathering her strength and weighing her options. As if on cue, her phone started to vibrate in the pocket of her heavy wool coat - she removed it and tapped the screen, not needing to look at the call display.
"Hi," she said miserably.
"Your flight's been cancelled," came Jordan's concerned voice.
"You don't say."
"He didn't do anything, did he?"
"Not unless he's developed the ability to cause a blizzard without me knowing," she commented. When the tall, white-haired man beside her raised an eyebrow curiously, she pulled the phone away from her face long enough to say, "He thinks you did this."
"Well, fuck you too, Jordan," Ryder muttered, turning his attention back to the screens and sipping from the large white cup he held from a nearby coffee shop.
"What did he say?" Jordan asked.
"Nothing, he's sunshine and rainbows," Katrina told him. "Look, we're not getting out of here tonight, so I'm going to grab us a hotel and -"
"A hotel?" Jordan asked shrilly. "Can't you just drive it? It's only four hours to Antovinn, Rebecca can meet you there and -"
"Baby, it's two in the morning and we just spent eighteen hours on a jet," Katrina interrupted calmly. "I'm in no state to drive."
"I'm sure that Ryder could -"
"You want me to put Ryder behind the wheel of a rental car?" She cast a sidelong glance in Ryder's direction - he was watching her with cool amusement, his odd-colored eyes flashing. "No offense," she said.
"None taken," he replied, smirking as he stepped to one side to avoid a frazzled father chasing after two small, screaming children.
"You have a point, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the hotel," Jordan defended, his voice crackling as the line buzzed with static. "If anything happens -"
"Nothing's going to happen," she admonished. "This isn't Rion Fell. We don't need to look over our shoulders every five minutes." She pulled the phone away from her ear long enough to check the time, and sighed heavily. "Listen, I'm exhausted. I don't want to argue this with you anymore. I'm going to grab the furballs and find somewhere to sleep, and if they don't have this storm bullshit figured out in the morning we'll make the drive, alright?" When Jordan didn't immediately answer, she pursed her lips in annoyance. "Jordan," she prodded.
"Yes, yes, you're right," he agreed. "I just... no, you're right. Sleep would be best right now. Tell Ryder to behave himself, yeah?"
"He wants me to remind you not to eat anybody," Katrina told Ryder.
"I didn't say that!" Jordan barked.
"He seems shrill," Ryder commented after Katrina managed to end the phonecall. She smiled wryly as she dropped the phone back into her pocket.
"He's just stressed," she said. "And he's worried that we might run into trouble."
"I'm touched by the vote of confidence." Draining the last of his coffee, Ryder tossed the cup into a nearby trash bin and stood with his hands tucked in his pockets, surveying the crowd. If he was at all bothered by the change in environment - the commotion of the strained airport, the hordes of stressed people, the wet chill in the air - he didn't show it. He stayed close to her, watching the people scurrying around them, looking every bit the traveler in the clothes Katrina had ordered for him before they left Rion Fell. He'd complained, of course - the long wool coat was too restrictive, the scarf was aggravating, the leather gloves too tight, the boots so heavy he couldn't walk on his toes. Once they'd had to swap planes on the tarmac in negative wind chill, however, he'd quieted down about the weight and heat of the garments very quickly. Or maybe it was less the warmth and more the compliments from the attractive blonde who'd sat across the aisle on the long flight to their current location, though the poor girl had been quite put off when Ryder lost interest in her after about twenty minutes.
Don't be too upset, Katrina had been tempted to tell the girl. He's like this with all humans. She'd bit her tongue, of course - bad enough that she and Jordan were smuggling Ryder and Eli out of Rion Fell with falsified documents. She didn't need to add to the problem by letting it slip that, oh yeah, they weren't exactly human, either.
"Ugh, this place is a zoo," she muttered as she raised herself up on her tiptoes to try and see over the bulk of the crowd, a futile effort as she was at least a head shorter than most people around her. "We need to find the special baggage claim and -"
"Over there," he told her, pointing behind her.
"Okay, and we need to find a hotel that'll take pets..." She trailed off when he snorted a laugh, and gave him a pointed look. "For the hundredth time, Ryder, around normal people they're pets."
"I'm sure they love the comparison," he said, and held out his hand to her. She stared at it suspiciously. "Credit card," he said, wagging his fingers expectantly.
"You're kidding."
"The things are registered in your name -"
"Don't call them 'things', Ryder, that's just mean."
"- and there are several thousand stranded commuters that will need hotel rooms in short order." He wagged his fingers again. "So, credit card, if you please."
Sighing, she reached into her purse and removed the corporate credit card Jordan had given her, rubbing her thumb briefly across his name on the front before she pressed it into Ryder's palm.
"Be reasonable," she stressed, grabbing the cuff of his jacket before he could dart away. "It doesn't need to be fancy, just somewhere we can sleep for one night, understand?"
"When am I ever not reasonable?" he asked, doing a fine job of feigning innocence, and vanished into the crowd. Pinching the bridge of her nose again - the longer she traveled with him the more she felt a migraine coming on - she hurried over to the special baggage claim and got in line with the other travelers waiting to pick up a slew of guitars, snowboarding equipment, and small kennels being unloaded from the grounded planes. It took almost forty minutes for her to get to the front of the line, and was worried that negotiating the release of the two specially-designed metal kennels would prove to be difficult, but it turned out the harried flight crews were more than happy to rid themselves of the creatures. The ticket agent stared at the stamped lettering on the sides of the kennels - THADDEUS and CRISPIN in bold text - with a look of apprehension as Katrina signed off on the customs and import paperwork.
"Pets?" she asked in a meek voice, flinching back when Crispin's kennel rattled noisily, the seventy-five pound creature inside letting out a long and frustrated growl.
"Show dogs," Katrina replied, nodding.
"I've never heard dogs like that before."
"They're a rare breed." Katrina leaned over and thumbed the release for the motorized wheels, watching as they unlocked and unfolded from the sides of the kennels. At first the fancy containers had seemed overkill, but she was definitely grateful for them now. Her smile was feeling somewhat strained by the time she got the copies of the paperwork, and as she turned around to wheel the boys to a less crowded area she let out a yelp as she collided with Ryder's chest.
"The shuttle's on its way," he told her, and as he leaned over to grab the handle on the front of Thaddeus' kennel she caught the hint of a knowing grin on his face.
It was still busy out in the parking lot, but compared to the madness inside the airport it was almost peaceful, especially with the curtain of thick snowfall muffling the sound around them. A parking lot attendant directed them toward the corner of the building to wait for their shuttle, and Katrina was happy to drop onto a bench when she got there, leaning up against Crispin's kennel with a sigh. The sight of her breath in the cold air jogged her memory, and she grabbed her purse to retrieve the cigarettes she'd confiscated from Ryder on the plane.
"I suppose you can have these back now," she said, grabbing the metal case and matching lighter. "But if I catch you smoking in the room I'm taking them right back, deal? I didn't quit just so you..." She noticed him standing stone-still in the middle of the sidewalk, and stared curiously at his back. "Hey," she called. "You okay?" It took her a moment that he wasn't just watching the planes fly overhead - he was staring up at the snow as it fell, bright eyes fixed on the darkness of the heavens. She leaned back on the bench and crossed her arms over her purse, feeling a smile tug at her lips as she watched him. Standing there, with snowflakes lighting on his eyelashes and his unruly bangs, he was very different from the creature Katrina had met in the rainforest - less the animal he always claimed he was, and more the human he seemed to spend most of his time fighting against.
"Have you ever had one of those moments," he asked quietly, still staring up at the snow, "where you're left awestruck by the simplest of beautiful things?"
"Not often," she replied softly. "But sometimes."