(2024-01-11) Complicated People

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Author:	inkie
Summary:	Sintha Fallon runs into Lena Coit in Northrend, and they contemplate complicated people and complicated relationships.
Rating:	T for Teen

Lena stands by one of the glowfish, peering up at it curiously.

Sintha comes striding briskly up from the docks, where she's just stepped out of a Fallon longboat that is still tying up. There is a new ship lying out in the harbor now, near the Lion's Grace, and the boat that has delivered Sintha presumably belongs to it.

Sintha adjusts her gloves and peers around the tuskarr village.

Lena glances over at the sounde of footsteps, and then striaghtens when she spies the woman walking her way. "Lady Sintha, what brings you here?"

Sintha stops walking and sweeps Lena with a look.

[Sintha]: Oh my gosh, Miss Coit. Oughtn't you be in Dalaran or someplace rather than loitering in — this place? Is Berdon being beastly about your time off?

Sintha looks considerably more Official than she did the last time Lena saw her; she's clad in dark blue and gold, clearly a Uniform of some kind, if perhaps an unfamiliar one.

Lena is still wearing her Cobalt tabard and an enchanted robe, uniform enough for a warlock, perhaps.

[Lena]: Oh, goodness, no. I'm just down to see if I needed to transfer any of my things, and… well, I suppose check in about what's happening next. I would ordinarily be in Dalaran, especially given current circumstances.

Lena does look a little tired, but not as drop-dead exhausted as many in this nightmarish time.

[Sintha]: Isn't it awful? Stars above. Elwynn is a nightma– that is, a disaster right now.

[Sintha]: And they're saying the Prince, and — well, it's absolutely awful.

[Lena]: Oh, yes, I heard the rumors. Goldshire in mist and Prince Anduin and all that. I do hope we're not looking at another fall, but… well, I'll be up here in Dalaran.

[Sintha]: They're saying Dalaran is safer than most? Is that true?

[Lena]: It does seem to be — it's a recent thing, the nightmare shield. I'd half thought to offer to help with it, but maybe it's better not to remind those stuffy Kirin Tor types that they're harboring warlocks.

Sintha looks Lena up and down again with glinting amusement. "Maybe not. They are awful, aren't they? Gosh."

[Lena]: Yes, well. In any case, I'm rather used to nightmares, though I admit these ones are a bit vivid. How've you been holding up?

[Sintha]: Oh, you know me, not a thing in my head, so I'm doing just fine. Shay's on his way back up as soon as — well, as soon as all of this is… dealt with? I've no idea how he's doing but nightmares are nothing new to him, and he always does better shipboard anyway. So here's hoping.

Lena nods. "He's always seemed pretty sturdy in that way." Lena pauses, frowns, and adds, "Are you aware your family bought me a horse?"

[Sintha]: Did we? Gosh, that was nice of us. Are you sure we bought you one? Not a Fallon horse?

Sintha cants her head.

[Lena]: Oh, yes, quite sure. I came to get my usual rental mare, and the fellow told me the horse is mine. I… could give it back.

[Sintha]: Why on earth would you do that? Is she lovely, what's she like?

[Lena]: She's… well, it's the one I always ride here. I reckon I always half-expected to ask sometime and hear she'd died in some battle, but it never happened. Sweet horse, not Tirasian though.

[Sintha]: Well, they are hard to come by, these days. But how nice for you! What was the occasion?

[Lena]: I've no idea. *Lena looks a little nervous.* I suppose it was close to Winter Veil, but I've not sent you anything.

[Sintha]: Oh, gosh, please don't send us anything, darling. *She laughs brightly.* Shay thinks Winter Veil is… probably heretical or something anyway, stars only know. He observes it so grudgingly. Should I ask him what it was for?

[Lena]: If you could, without it being obvious? I just… *Lena trails off, without explaining what she just. She looks at Sintha's uniform.* Military, too, now?

Sintha looks down at herself. She straightens a little and smooths the front of her close-fitting bodice proudly. "7th Legion, in fact. This is — not my regular unit, but I've been seconded to an engineering corps for a few weeks. That’s what I’ve stopped up here for."

[Sintha]: We're awfully close to… a thing.

[Lena]: A thing. *Lena grins.* A top secret thing, I gather.

Sintha nods solemnly, her eyes gleaming. "I am bound not to speak of it. But I assure you, it is quite a thing. You'll likely know soon enough."

[Lena]: I'll look forward to the surprise. *Lena nods.* Want to come in out of the cold for a little? Or are you bound to the ship immediately?

[Sintha]: Oh, gosh no, I expect the ship's happy to be rid of me. I would love to get out of the cold. And the smell. Is there anywhere to get out of the smell, or does that… permeate?

[Lena]: That's pretty much a constant here. We could head up to Wintergarde, but it's full of soldiers. Different smell, not any better. *Lena smiles, gesturing to the inn.* I wear perfume, for a buffer.

Lena smells mostly of lavender with just the faintest hint of mint.

[Sintha]: And you smell lovely, darling. I'll just stand uncomfortably close to you.

[Sintha]: I don't much care for Wintergarde, after… last summer, I'm afraid.

Lena doesn't seem to mind Sintha's closeness. "I can get that. I wasn't even in the battle, but the aftermath… it was a rough time."

Sintha nods soberly.

Lena glances around at the inn. "I ended up meeting Lady Alaisa's friend here, actually, speaking of memories. The one she was looking for at the time."

[Sintha]: Oh? Do you mean — Roper, then?

Lena nods. "Yes, that's the one. I reckon she found him eventually — seems he was alright."

[Sintha]: Yes, she did. He's — well, you know already, I imagine, that he's working with Shay a little bit? On political things, I mean, not fleet things.

[Lena]: Yes, I… *Lena blinks.* Oh, I should probably have mentioned I visited your… your estate. To see Rae.

[Lena]: I mean, I know you weren't there, but I should've mentioned maybe.

[Sintha]: Oh, that's all right. I heard.

[Sintha]: Rae is… certainly something, isn't she? What a funny little thistle.

[Lena]: She's… a friend, *Lena shrugs.* Not as prickly as some people think, I'd say. But yes, if you know that whole thing… I've been caught up with the political situation.

[Sintha]: Oh, I doubt she's as prickly as she tries to be, Shay's awfully taken with her, I expect if she holds still long enough he'll try to adopt her.

[Sintha]: She doesn't, if I'm honest, seem like the sort of friend I'd expect you to have, but you Cobalts are all a very tight lot, aren't you?

Lena looks away a little at the adoption comment, but then turns back to Sintha curiously. "What sort of friends would you expect me to have?"

[Sintha]: Hm.

Sintha purses her lips, looking amused.

[Sintha]: Smart, sharp, worldly girls. Young men too clever for their own good.

[Lena]: Rae's smart, though she… she sometimes lets her feelings get in her way.

Lena looks at Sintha. "Are you smart, sharp and worldly?"

[Sintha]: The most. Of all three.

[Sintha]: And I agree that Rae is smart. She isn't awfully worldly though, is she? There's something curiously… sheltered about her, in spite of everything she's seen and done.

[Lena]: I don't know if I'd say sheltered… *Lena considers* Maybe more tender than she lets on, though? More easily hurt.

Sintha considers this, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I suppose it could be that. I don't know. There seems to be a certain quality of… naivete in her stubbornness. You know? I mean, please understand that I think she's charming, just —"

Sintha flicks her fingers in an ambiguous gesture and shrugs breezily.

"I suppose… I could see that," Lena says, sitting back against the inn wall. "When things went to hell, when we were young, seems like she looked for somebody to follow, somebody to trust. I came out of that understanding there's nobody but yourself, you know?"

"Ah," says Sintha. "Yes, that sounds exactly the crux of it. Poor thing."

"It's easy to want to trust folk, so I get where it comes from," Lena shrugs. "Just doesn't work out, most of the time."

"Gosh, no, quite." Sintha shudders delicately. Ugh, trusting people. "At any rate, I think you and I ought definitely to be friends by now, though you're welcome not to trust me, naturally." She beams. What an offer!

Lena laughs lightly. "I'd be happy to count you as a friend, Lady Sintha. And you're welcome to not trust me as well… most folks recommend that for warlocks, to be honest."

Sintha's own laugh is an arpeggio of delight. "Oh, I trust you absolutely, darling. Though of course we all might mean different things by that word. Tell me, did you have a lovely visit at Fallon House? I expect you and the Duchess must get on famously."

"You do?" Lena sounds a little surprised at the expectation. "It was wonderful, as it always is, though I always feel I'm a little intruding. Possibly because I dropped in on the Vice Admiral unexpected and rode back to Fallon House that afternoon, so the Duchess hadn't any warning. But she's… awfully guarded, isn't she?"

"Well that's a remarkable understatement, really. In public — which I'm afraid you are, even Rae is and she's lived with them for months — she's a terrible political creature. Just masks over masks, and cunning as anything beneath. Which is why, as I say, I expect you'd get on so well. Two sharp and clever women who fought and clawed with all they had — little though it was — to get where they are now, and who don't just play their cards close but might be playing an entirely different game from everyone else at the table." Sintha smiles sweetly. "Peas in a pod."

Lena looks over at Sintha, her eyes just a little more wide and innocent than before. "Oh, I don't know about that. I'm really a rather simple sort of person, when it comes down to it. Nothing so clever or complicated as a duchess or somebody in the 7th Legion. Just glad I can be helpful to the fleet."

"Oh, gosh, you do that so prettily! I doubt there's anything simple about you, darling. And if you are under the impression that a majority of duchesses are clever or complicated, I assure you that is the farthest thing from truth. Most nobility, I daresay, are rather tedious — preening and predictable. Not us, naturally." Sintha lowers her lashes modestly.

"It always comes with some sort of power, though, nobility," Lena says, with a sweet, innocent smile. "So I aim to be a good friend to the minority. As for the rest, preening and predictable can have its benefits, too, of course."

"Oh, naturally, predictable is awfully helpful. And do correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that being a warlock also comes with… some sort of power. Isn't that the whole appeal?" It's Sintha's turn to make big, guileless eyes.

"Yes, though that's a whole different sort of power," Lena says, acknowledging Sintha's expression with an amused smile. "Though it’s all connected, in a way, isn't it? You and I would've never been friends if I weren't a warlock, since I'd have been of no interest to either Cobalt or your brother. Not to mention I'd probably be dead by now."

"And that's how we know how awfully clever you are, you see? Incredibly clever of you not to be dead, and what cunning taste in friends you have! Honestly, more young ladies could stand to learn from your example."

"That's me, role model for young ladies," Lena says dryly, and tilts her head toward Sintha. "You more than I, I'd expect. But speaking of my cunning taste in friends, how does one meet with the Duchess in private? Is there a method that doesn't involve family by marriage? Or perhaps it's just a thing to figure out on my own."

"I think one either marries her, seduces her, or spends twenty years or so cultivating her friendship. Why? Is there something you'd like of her in private? I would be happy to let her know, you know. Or you could simply tell Shay. I'm sure he'd be very pleased to have the two of you friends." The sentences on their own sound (mostly) innocent, but Sintha's sly tone manages to make all of it sound like one long insinuation, wink wink.

"I didn't mean…" Lena stiffens and looks away. "Just because I know a path doesn't mean it's the one I've got to take. I just… work a lot with the Vice Admiral, and she's polite but cold, and sometimes I worry. Your family has been very kind and I know how that can go wrong real easy."

Sintha's airy demeanor softens and she studies Lena. "I'm sorry, darling, if I caused offense, honestly. I didn't mean anything by it, it's just the usual sort of — I do that, you know. Talk to everyone like that. I was not… making specific insinuations, only teasing a little. But I won't, if you don't like it."

She tilts her head. "What is it you worry about, exactly? How do you imagine things… going wrong?"

Lena shakes her head, and takes a breath. She turns a smile back to Sintha. "It'd be silly of me to say I'm offended. It's only… well, say, in our talk about power. There's things a girl can do that make for good tools, to get particular results, but they're not power. If a girl thinks they are, she'll find herself in trouble sooner or later." She shrugs. "As for going wrong, I suppose all the usual ways? Maybe I do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, and opinions change. Maybe I never even know what it was that caused it, because I don't know enough to understand. Anything that can be given can be taken away, after all."

"Well, certainly. True of absolutely everything." Sintha cants her head in the other direction; the effect is a litle comically birdlike. "But my brother thinks you're utterly brilliant — and I don't mean for your manners or your conversation or your opinions, darling, I mean for things you have actually done, which is what matters to Shay above all, no matter how rakish he's seeming. And the Duchess will follow Shay's lead in all of these matters. So long as he thinks you're brilliant, then she will too."

"So I needn't worry, as long as I don't do anything to wreck his good opinion," Lena laughs a little. "I'm not, really, all that terribly concerned. Just got to keep an eye on things."

"He did just buy you a horse," Sintha points out. "I think you're doing quite all right." She pauses delicately. "And if you're worried, by the way, about the Duchess suspecting things, you needn't do that, either."

"Oh, I know that's terribly presumptuous to think, as she's such a lovely woman," Lena says with an easy smile. "And the two of them obviously so taken with each other. Sometimes people get uncertain though, even about stuff that seems pretty certain." Not at all like Lena being uncertain about the kindness of the Fallons; that is 100% reasonable.

"Well it's not presumptuous in the least, darling, people do take all kinds of notions. But if there were anything of the sort going on with you and Shay, he would simply tell her that, as she knows perfectly well, and she hasn't a jealous bone in her body. Neither of them does. But also you're an employee, and Shay would never cross a line of that sort. As the Duchess also knows."

Lena frowns slightly, like she's putting pieces together in a puzzle that isn't making the picture she thought it would. "I wasn't meaning to say he'd been trying, I– I just assumed… I suppose that sort of thing is more common than not in noble marriages?"

"Oh, I know you weren't suggesting that. I only meant to say why you needn't worry about the Duchess getting notions. Shay has always been terribly frank about that sort of thing, he put it in their betrothal contract so the lady would know exactly what she was getting. Of course, she's free to do the same, he's not an absolute pig that way, but as you cleverly perceived, it certainly doesn't diminish their fondness for each other, either." Sintha shrugs.

"As to how common it is in noble marriages, I daresay that sort of thing goes on all the time, but I don't think most gentlemen are as frank about it as Shay. I sometimes can't decide whether that makes him more honorable or more beastly, honestly."

"I'd say more honorable," Lena says, after a brief pause in thought. "If you want to do a thing, I think there's a lot of value in being able to talk about it. There's a time and a place for the dance of it, for playing coy and making people guess what's what. But that's a game. It'd be dreadfully tedious if you had to play it with your partner for your whole life."

"The Duchess must keep up a certain public image so she wears a rather frosty armor at all times, and Shay has his… well, rather rakish reputation, so I imagine all sorts of people have all sorts of notions as to the chilliness of their marriage. Which the pair of them find endlessly amusing, I can tell you. It's practically a conspiracy between them. Both things individually are true: she can be terribly frosty, he can be an appalling rake. But they are also insufferably well-matched, if I do say so myself, and they dote on each other quite nauseatingly in their own peculiar way." Sintha raises her eyebrows and surveys Lena with a smile. "And as the stupendous matchmaker and judge of character that I am, I say again that I think you and the Duchess could be fast friends."

She looks around the interior of the little hut. "But how are you, how has life with the fleet been treating you?"

"Well enough, I think," Lena says, settling back against the side of the hut. "The sea doesn't bother me so much, except in a storm when it does everyone. The sailors are… more respectful than I remember from past times with sailors. I reckon it's just they look at me and see a warlock first thing. And I still get to spend a fair amount of time in Dalaran with my girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend!" exclaims Sintha, delighted. "Naturally! This would be… the Westfall girl, yes? The… boxer?"

"Yes, the Westfall boxer," Lena says with an amused smile. "She's… a complicated person. I maybe wouldn't have predicted we'd be a thing, from the first time we met, but… well, I suppose I like complicated."

"Do you?" Sintha surveys Lena with interest. "So many people will say a thing like that but the moment they encounter an actual complication —" She makes a little starburst gesture of her fingers and says pfft. "But, then, you’re a rather complicated lady yourself, so perhaps you'd find simple tiresome."

Lena gives that observation the consideration it deserves before she answers. "I suppose there are sorts of complications I don't like, but I think a simple person would find me exhausting and difficult. By which I mean to say, I'm not a martyr — any complication that threatens me, I'll deal with it as I need to. But… there are a lot of ways people can be tangled up inside. Sometimes it makes people easier to understand, sometimes it makes them harder, but it often makes them interesting."

Sintha nods satisfaction. "I know exactly what you mean. And I agree, as it happens. In that I much prefer interesting people, that is, not that people might find you exhausting and difficult. If I did agree with that, I would certainly never say so."

Lena giggles. "Of course not, Lady Sintha, one could never say such a thing. At least not so blatantly." Her laughter fading, she adds, "Terri is a little hedgehog-like, though I don't reckon you'd have seen it at like… the gala, or the wedding. I reach for her and sometimes she curls up in a little spiny ball. But it's defense, not like… like a porcupine, shootin' spines. She's just used to expecting to hurt, I think. I mean, there's a lot more to her than that, but I'm not telling everybody's secrets. What kind of people do you find interesting?"

"Puzzles," says Sintha. "People with mysteries underneath. It's the engineer in me, I want to take things apart and find out what's going on inside. Gosh, that sounds sinister." She laughs brightly. "I don't mean it in a sinister fashion. Psychologically, you understand? Captain Tyrrell, for instance, is a prime example. The man has made an absolute science of being contrary, and to what end? As best I can tell, it has only made him miserable."

"Is he miserable?" Lena asks, with a touch of surprise. "A puzzle, sure, but one he made it quite clear I'm not welcome to solve. Though I do think we get on well, professionally. Still, I had rather thought… well, I suppose there was Wrathgate. That would make anyone miserable."

"You had rather thought what?" Sintha leans forward avidly, her eyes wide and innocent, her hands clasped together. Girl, spill the tea.

"Just… back in Wintergarde, after the battle, he seemed to have a fair amount of, um… noble company?" Lena shrugs. "That and all the orphans on his estate. Seemed awfully generous, which doesn't usually point to miserable."

Sintha sits back and blinks. "Darling, one can be generous and miserable, I'm quite sure. Martyrdom is a phenomenon so common we have a word for it. I admit it's usually the provenance of paladins rather than warlocks, but if it weren't for all the temper and conniving, I would say Captain Tyrrell has rather a paladin's soul. Wouldn't you?"

"A paladin's soul?" Lena repeats, with a startled smile. "I reckon he is rather kinder than he likes to put on — which, honestly, I rather prefer to the other way around. I'm not sure I'd say paladin, but maybe it's just the conniving putting me off. A good soul, anyway, better than many."

"Kindness and martyrdom," says Sintha. "But I agree a good soul, if one goes in for that sort of thing." She tips her head and squints at Lena. "Has he… connived at you in some way?"

"At me? No, I don't think so," Lena considers. "Though maybe I wouldn't know, if I were the target. He certainly has plans I'm involved in, like with the WEB. But beyond warlock business, I don't reckon I have anything that he wants, not really."

"Hm." Sintha sits back again. "Sometimes I wonder what he does want. Apart from the obvious." She broods for a moment — which is to say, because this is Sintha, she narrows her eyes briefly and then shrugs it off. "At any rate, I do hope I'll be seeing more of you, hm? As we're both in the north for the time being, and you with Shay's fleet and all." She smiles winningly.

"For certain," Lena says, smiling warmly by reflex. The feeling behind it is probably still genuine. "If I'm not on a ship, I'm usually in Dalaran or one of the ports. I imagine we'll run into one another."

"I shall make a point of it," says Sintha conspiratorially. She sits back again, and then rises gracefully to her feet. "I expect I ought to get up to Crystalsong, however, before I miss all the fun."

Lena rises as well. "And me back to my work. Do be careful of the ghosts in Crystalsong. They can be a menace."

"Oh," says Sintha blithely, "I expect we'll be facing a great many things worse than ghosts in Icecrown. It's nice to ease in."