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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | Aze arrives in Pandaria and goes to meet with Siamus regarding a matter of family security, as well as to share other news and interests. ~4200 words. |
| Rating: | M for Mature 17+ |
The sun shines down on the thin strip of beach at the southern coast of the Krasarang Wilds. Waves lap gently at the shore, while birds whirl overhead. One dark figure is visible from birds'-eye view or those on the ground — a blindfolded, dark-haired elven woman clad in black leather covered at the chest by a blue tabard bearing the mark of the Alliance lion. The woman walks along the edge of the sand, very close to the reach of the waves. Just far enough not to get her feet wet.
Aszera makes no effort at stealth, since the element of surprise would be distinctly not useful here, and possibly deadly as well. Following the sounds of construction, she approaches openly, trusting that at least some of her allies in the fleet will recognize her.
A whistle shrills from the lookout at the cannon-battery and heads turn. The signal is evidently not an urgent one; no weapons appear, no one shouts, but there is clearly a moment's pause as the entire site considers the approaching blood elf in Alliance colors.
But then comes the familiar bellow of Kettering, the bosun: "Mess Sunstrike!"
The command tent now sits in the shadow of a half-built wall where the fortress is beginning to rise above the beach. Siamus steps out at Kettering's call to shade his eyes with a hand and look up the beach. He breaks into a broad smile and strides across the sand to meet her.
He is still as tired and haggard-looking as he was when Lena visited him last week, but he looks more like himself today in rolled shirtsleeves, hat and coat nowhere in evidence. "Aszera," he calls in greeting, the smile vibrant in his voice.
Aszera hears the smile more than she sees the haggard appearance, and it seems to have a buoyant effect on her own manner. She leaves off her careful pace along the beach to stride to him, her face lighting with an answering smile. She raises a gloved hand, halfway reaching for an embrace, but changes it to a handshake gesture somewhere along the smooth motion. There is the whole construction crew to consider, and Aze has learned some discretion.
"Siamus," Aze says happily in greeting, because maybe she hasn't learned that much discretion. "How's the harbor going? I see there are… some wall-shapes. How are you? This place seems so dreary."
Siamus takes her hand and lifts it briefly to his lips. That's allowed, it's Chivalry. "The harbor is coming together. We've got one of three docks built, and moored the Blanche. The fortress itself is… well. Wall-shapes." He hesitates and then squeezes her hand gently before releasing it. "I'm well enough. The place is lovely, itself, but there's a haunt. Despair, I'm told." He glances toward the dark green line of the jungle.
Aze's smile lingers as he kisses her hand, and then she clasps her hands and lets them fall at her waist. She tilts her head towards the jungle. "Despair, huh? I guess that tracks well enough. Things seemed fine when we came through in the Vale, but then as I headed down toward this place… maybe it was just off enough from my own mood that I noticed it. Everything felt so sluggish. Even the tigers — oh, and there was a Horde scout I ran into, partway here. Dead now, so he won't be reporting anything back."
Siamus blows out a breath and drags a hand through his hair. "How close? We had the 6th E.U. keeping eyes on our perimeter for a time but they've moved west along the coast to scout now."
"Up north in the jungle," Aze says, then considers. "North and a little west, by flowing water. I can mark the spot for your people later, but I didn't see anybody else nearby. With all the tigers around, I bet they won't think much of a lone scout missing."
He nods grimly. "Good. Good." He looks past her in troubled, distant thought. "I don't know that I can get word to the 6th. But I suppose they'll find out soon enough if there's more than the one."
He shakes it off and focuses on Aze again with a smile. "The Blanche is moored nearby now, as I said, if ye'd like to come aboard."
"I'd love to," Aze says, brushing aside the scout business with one hand and smiling. "It's been a while since I've…" she pauses, "…visited the Blanche. Not since Vashj'ir, really."
"Too long," says Siamus, and steps beside Aze to offer his arm. He calls toward the tent, "Pascoe, Miss Sunstrike and I are going aboard. Ye have the helm."
(The metaphorical helm, presumably. The construction site does not have a helm.)
Burl Pascoe, the ship's Master, nods from where he's standing in the shade of the tent and partially-built wall. "Aye, Captain. Good to see ye, Miss Sunstrike."
"Good to — well… good to meet you again, Pascoe," Aze says with a laugh as she takes Siamus's arm, moving close enough to brush against him. She turns subtly so that the sword at her waist doesn't get in the way. In a lower purr, pitched only for Siamus to hear, she adds, "Should I be keeping an eye out here?"
Siamus considers this for a moment as they begin to walk. "I don't think so," he says. "I don't think I'm in any danger. And we've got guards on constant watch." He hesitates. "But if ye see anyone who looks… odd to ye, let me know."
"I'll pay attention," Aze says just as quietly, with a slight nod. She's still smiling, and her tone is playful as she continues, "I'll ask you more about what odd means, in this case. But not out here."
"Not out here," Siamus agrees.
The brand-new dock stretches out into the harbor; two others stand skeletally along the shore beyond it. The Lady Blanche lies moored alongside it, sails furled, with a gangway down to the dock. A handful of crew loiters on the deck in the sunlight, though they straighten and salute at Siamus as he and Aze mount the gangway.
Siamus nods vaguely back at them and escorts Aze across the deck to the companionway that leads to the wardroom and cabins.
Aze smiles at the sailors as they pass, and then walks with surefooted ease across the deck and down towards the captain's cabin with Siamus. She seems to know this path particularly well.
"It feels different, moored," Aze says, as they walk. "That is, different from when she's out on the open sea."
"Aye," says Siamus. "Like she's asleep." He opens the cabin door and ushers her inside. It is exactly the same spartan, orderly space it has always been, so we need not describe it again here.
Siamus draws the door closed. "Will ye have a drink?" he asks, low-voiced, and then complicates her answer by tipping her chin up and bending to kiss her.
Aze does not seem to mind this manner of delayed answer. She crosses her gloved hands behind his head and her lips part, inviting the kiss with a low sound of pleasure.
And then, when she can speak again, she says, "I would love one, yes."
He brushes a lighter, smiling kiss across her lips and then straightens away to collect bottle and glasses from the cupboard. "Ye had no trouble wi'the portal authorities, I hope?"
"No trouble," Aze says, stepping over to linger by the table, running one finger along the grain. "I hadn't tried to come over before, in part because I wasn't sure how the pandaren felt about — well, I didn't want to cause any trouble for anyone. That and I heard going back and forth wasn't so simple, so I needed to make sure I had some things sorted on my side." Aze leans her weight on her hand, a languid posture in her combat gear. "But anyway, they let us right through."
"'Us?' Oh, aye, Miss Kensington-Whit. She's well, I hope? And what kind of things sorted? Everything's well with ye at home?" He is focused on pouring while he speaks, and then he picks up one of the glasses and offers it to Aze with a smile.
"Oh, yeah, she's good," Aze says accepting the glass, and lifting it slightly in a kind of toast. "Lathrik's here, up in the Vale, so I'd imagine she's doing wonderful around now. And things…" Aze gestures with the glass. "…some personal projects. Had a few leads on people a little like me."
Siamus looks up, brows lifted, as he sets the bottle on the table. "People a little like you? And how's that?"
"Same sort of inner demons," Aze says with a smile, tipping back a swallow of whiskey. "And trustworthy, like me. There's not many around of any sort, not after Outland. I was tracking one, from a much older tradition, who'd helped Cobalt before." She rests the glass on the table. "Turns out ogres got to him before I did. I wish I could find you more Illidari, for the war."
"Ah," says Siamus with a grimace at the mention of ogres. "Well, it would be a thing of beauty if ye did find us more, but I'm aware you're a rare lady."
"I'm glad you think so," Aze says, leaning over a little so her hair falls over one shoulder. "It would've been nice to meet someone who's been studying the skillset for thousands of fucking years, but… well, I think I'm doing fine, really, by myself. And I won't let you down. I can't promise that of anybody else I've found out there so far."
Aze raises the glass towards Siamus and takes another sip. "Should I ask about this security problem now, or… in a while?"
Siamus takes a deep breath like a crushing weight has been lifted from him, and then downs most of his drink. "I would very much like, if ye wouldn't mind, to discuss it in a while."
"I was hoping you'd say that," Aze says with a quick flash of a smile, drinking the rest of her whiskey in one gulp and setting down the glass carelessly. She pushes off from table, pulling off her gloves and discarding them as she steps towards him. "I've missed this in Stormwind — missed you."
Siamus sets his glass down swiftly on the table without finishing his drink (!!) and reaches for her. "And I've missed you, lovely dancer."
"Have you missed the dancing?" Aze says with a softer smile, taking his hands in hers.
With a smooth step and a pivot, she twirls into his arms, her hands by her shoulders and her body nestled against his side. She tilts her head back, lips parted, as she rolls her chest back against him in a slow wave that flows down to her hips.
He makes a soft sound and slides his hands down her sides to those sinuous hips. "Aye," he says, a warm smile in his quiet voice. "But I missed the dancer more, graceful girl."
Aze gives a quiet, happy sigh at the words, and then she twines her hands above her head to turn back toward him without any awkward collisions of elbows or arms. "Being here, it brings back pleasant memories. I know the Lady Blanche has seen weather and war, but… also good days. Good nights."
"Very good days and nights," Siamus murmurs. "Would ye like to reminisce?" His hand slides down to the small of her back to pull her closer against him.
She moves easily with the pull, resting her head on his shoulder and stretching up to press a light kiss to the side of his neck.
"Reminisce, and make new…" she breathes, close to his ear. "Might be some ideas to try, since last time." The smile is obvious in her voice as she adds, "What dance shall we start with?"
"I believe first of all that you're overdressed for any kind of dancing," Siamus tells her. "But I can help with that if ye'd like."
Aze pulls back against him a little, seeming to realize that she is in fact far more clothed than she might prefer under the circumstances. She hasn't even taken off her tabard or her weapon belt, though neither of them is in danger of being poked by the sheathed weapons.
"You're so helpful," she says, tilting her head back as if meeting his eyes. She runs her hands through her hair, a quick, graceful movement of crossed arms that only snags a little on the fabric of her blindfold. "Though I do think the blue suits me. How would you want me? In only that? Or nothing?"
"The blue suits ye beautifully," he agrees, the warmth of laughter in his voice. "But I don't think anything suits ye more beautifully than your own bare skin, so if ye don't mind, I'd like to have that." His hands are at her waist, undoing the clasp of her weapons belt.
"I'd like my bare skin," Aze says, keeping her hands up to help him take her armor off. "And feeling it against yours. My favorite dress code. The honesty of bodies, right?"
"That's right." He nuzzles her temple and slides warm hands up her bare torso. "And now I'm the one overdressed, so shall we take this conversation to the bed and ye can help me with that?"
"I would love to help," Aze says with a wicked smile, sliding her hands up his chest and rumpling the fabric of his shirt. Without the slightest shyness at her own state of undress, she pushes gently, trying to walk him backwards towards the bed. "And you know, wanting you, it's not because you're human, even if you were my first… that is… you were charming — are charming… I just want you."
Siamus — who is quite willingly walking backward at Aze's urging — inhales sharply. "Tides, ye beautiful girl. Speaking of charming. I've missed ye for months now. I trust ye won't mind if I keep ye occupied for a while?"
Aze flushes with pleasure at the words, and there's the slightest shimmer of dark, shifting color in the tattoos that mark her upper body. She moves to push Siamus down onto the bed.
"Is that what we're calling it today?" Aze asks with a laugh, as she straddles him and starts to pull off his shirt. "I don't mind at all. Occupy me."
Siamus laughs back at her and reaches up with both hands to trail light fingertips along her tattoos. "We can call it whatever ye like," he assures her, and then in a swift motion seizes her around the waist and flips her onto her back, propping himself above her with a knee between her thighs as he frees himself the rest of the way from his shirt and starts unbuttoning his trousers. Apparently we are not waiting any longer for assistance.
Aze arches her back, pressing her hands into the headboard and raising her legs to curl gently around his lower back. Gently, because clearly a girl wouldn't want to delay the removal of trousers.
The removal of trousers is not impeded. Siamus is very good at removing his trousers in all sorts of circumstances.
He shifts his knee and lowers his body to meet hers. One hand runs along the back of her thigh, pulling her leg around him more tightly, and bends his head to give her a heated, lingering kiss.
Aze presses herself up to meet him, keeping the tension in her arms and locking her ankles behind his back. She makes a sound of pleasure in her throat as she lets the kiss linger. She murmurs something as the kiss ends, a little too low to be fully intelligible, but it might involve the word occupy.
Siamus shifts, his mouth feverish on her skin as his lips trace her jawline, the side of her throat, and across the fine edge of her clavicle. He fits his hands beneath her to adjust the angle of her body against his, and then Aze finds herself thoroughly, happily occupied.
IN A WHILE
Siamus returns to the bed with a glass in each hand and slides in carefully beside Aze. "Here ye go," he says softly, and offers her one of the glasses. "Comfortable?"
"Very," Aze says in a low, contented voice, taking the glass and reaching to clink it gently with his. The pent-up energy from before has dissolved into a kind of languid calmness, and she rests against him, loose-limbed. She lifts her other hand, brushing against her blindfold as if to confirm it's still in place. "I hope I can spend a lot of time down here at the harbor, while I'm here. And you, comfortable?"
"More comfortable than I've been in weeks," he says with a smile in his voice, and slides an arm around her shoulders to play with the ends of her hair. "I hope ye'll spend plenty of time here. Ye have a standing invitation."
"Careful, I'll take you up on that," Aze warns with a grin, tilting the glass a little precariously for a small sip. "But also… the security matter. I take it that's on land?"
Siamus's expression darkens and he tips his head to kiss the side of hers absently before taking a drink. "Aye. Did ye hear of the business with Finley?"
Aze lifts her head, her brow lowering with a momentary confusion. "The business with… Mr. Boutille? I didn't realize… that's… the security problem?"
Siamus lowers his drink to stare at her. "What else would it be? We've reason to suspect the woman may come after the family next. The children."
"The… the woman?" Aze asks blankly. "What woman?"
Siamus knits his brow. "The sister. Of the one who murdered Finley."
Aze almost drops her glass. "Who what now? Fin…" Aze breaks off, recalibrates. "Mr. Boutille is dead?"
"No. No, he was brought back — what business with Finley were you talking about?" Siamus continues to stare. How is there more than one Business With Finley happening right now?
"I guess I have no idea," Aze says helplessly. "The painting, the parties… why would someone want to kill him?"
Siamus is silent for a moment. "Well," he says at last. "It's to do with the woman who… Her Grace was betrothed before she married me, aye? And this other woman turned the man's head and stole him away. Left Avrenne holding a ruinous debt."
Aze is silent herself for a long moment, absorbing that one. "I bet she was furious, at the time." She takes a nice, long gulp of her drink. "I don't really get why this woman would act now… anyway, that's for you to know, I'm sure. For my part… she's still alive somehow? And you'd prefer her to be otherwise?"
"She's still alive, and here in Pandaria somewhere. With a Cobalt bodyguard, apparently. All anyone knows of her, though — including Her Grace — is that it's near impossible to remember what the woman looks like. It's an enchantment of some sort, as Finley figured out just before her sister murdered him." Siamus is silent a moment. "She — the sister — claimed she wanted to steal the babies to give to this woman. There's no way to know whether this woman knew that, was part of the plan or not. I'd very much like to know what she does know and plan."
"Okay, so if I do find her, I should be prepared that she might not be reasonable," Aze says, frowning. "That is, not if she has information, but she might be if she doesn't. Hm." Aze taps a finger on the glass. "I should warn you, I won't harm anyone in Cobalt Company — prior promises. That makes things trickier. And the enchantment… what do you think it might do to me? If it's something that affects the eyes, I might not be bothered at all. You're going after the sister, too?"
"I wouldn't want ye to harm anyone in Cobalt Company. And the man's a member of Graves' pack, as well, and so I'd doubly not like him harmed. The enchantment affects the eyes so far as we know, so I don't know if ye can see it on her or see there's something odd or… I don't know. But ye might not be affected like the rest of us.
"We don't need to go after the sister," he adds, and sips his drink. "She's already dead."
"Oh, good," Aze says, and takes another sip herself. "A life for a life, then, and I hope no one will be able to pull her back." She pauses, considering. "Do you have names? Locations I should start looking? Pandaria is a big place, and I'm new here. I can't promise I'll find her before someone else does. I can promise I'll try. And you want her… brought in for questioning, then?"
"Her name's Brigitte MacBride. Or it was. Married name would be Brigitte Green. I have no idea whether she's traveling under either in particular. The bodyguard's called Gellarn Rivere. And aye. I'd like words with her, I suppose." Siamus drinks again. "She is… ah, buxom. That's the one feature that most people seem to recall about her."
"Huh," Aze says, tilting her head back. "So the enchantment stops at her tits. Or maybe it's that they're magic tits."
"Would be interesting to ask her that as well," Siamus says thoughtfully. "Perhaps she believes they're sufficiently distracting that it won't occur to most people they can't really recall… the rest of her."
"If she's really that impressive…" Aze taps her glass again. "I don't really see things like I used to. Feeling is better. Not that I'd feel her — my point is, if that's the enchantment, I might have some proof against that, too. Then again, if it's a mind-altering thing, I might not do any better than anyone else. I guess we'll see, if I find her. If I can get past Rivere somehow." She draws in a breath. "Isla's alright, though, and the kids? I mean, the sister was killed before she hurt anybody else."
"She was," Siamus confirms. "And security's been increased at home. Ralaea went back there, too. Isla is… I don't know how she is. She's such a sunny child, it can't have been easy for her."
"If I'd realized, I could've…" Aze sighs, shakes her head slightly. "Maybe I can find her a nice Pandarian romance or something, a gesture to take her mind off things. Anyway, at least she's surrounded by people who love her. That's good. And Ralaea's safe. There's no one else here — here in Pandaria, I mean — that she might target? Just trying to narrow down where she might be."
"Finley himself will be here soon enough. He's expected. An art tour." Siamus sounds weary and drinks again. "But perhaps she won't be fool enough to strike at the same target twice."
"Art tour in Pandaria," Aze repeats, raising her eyebrows. "Right after… seems a little like a taunt, doesn't it? But yeah, anyway, maybe losing a sister is enough to warn her off that target, if she ordered it. Either way, I'm sure his defense is already handled. So I'll just do like… a general search, maybe. How well-connected do you think she is? Would she connect me to House Fallon?"
"We have evidence that she — or at least members of her family — have done considerable research. It's probably safe to assume she knows of ye and your connections to the House." Siamus rests his head back. "At the moment it feels safe to assume she knows all manner of things, and I know bloody fuck-all." He drinks moodily.
"Hey," Aze says, resting a hand on his chest. "She'll lose. If I don't get her, you've got loads of other people loyal to you. The information… it just means she's been sneaking around, biding her time. Which means they can't take on the Fallons straight. They fucked up the kill on Mr. Boutille, so they're already making mistakes." She tilts her head. "Think the Green guy's involved, or was he just a mark?"
"A mark," Siamus says without hesitation, and puts his hand over hers on his chest. "Haven't a word about him since then. Tides know what the man's up to — too ashamed to show his face in decent society, I should hope, but I don't think he has either the sense or the shame for that."
Aze hums quietly in acknowledgement. "Then it sounds like I have my targets. If my methods don't work, Natalyah's here as well." She leans her head against Siamus's shoulder. "I'll see if I can't make myself useful in other ways, too, while I'm here. Against the Horde and whoever else."
"I'm glad you're here, Aszera," Siamus says quietly. "For a number of reasons. Thank ye."
"You're welcome," Aze smiles quietly. "I am, too."