Random 110

He made a very good replica Kord's harrumph at her first words. And it was true, Sebastian wasn't entirely certain, but he was somewhat so. "Well, yes. It is creepy. Back when I was still filled with a sort of arrogance about it, I didn't find it creepy. But for a longish while now..." he shrugged, then raised an eyebrow at the foliage and turned to look at Sylvie, quizzical and curious.

She gave him a tired smile. "I guess I owe you some information about my family. Some things you should know. And I'd like to tell you, too." She leaned against his shoulder a little. "Would you hold me a bit? I... haven't told most of this to anyone since I left Yrn. I would feel better with an anchor."

That smile put one back on his face, and he complied -- not just complied, but gently and slowly lifted her into his lap. Sebastian remained silent, however, waiting and watching her sideways, eyebrows raised.

After a soundless chuckle, Sylvie wondered where to begin. Oh, well, if he's a bastard, too, no reason to be coy...

"My mother's a whore, so I didn't know my father.

"When I was little, I guess the closest to a father figure was a storyteller from a faraway country who showed up in the neighbourhood often." She pulled on a strand of hair. "He was the only other redhead I saw regularly, and he encouraged my curiosity about the world and how things worked. He named me Sylvie, too, because I never told him my birth name. And, well, I liked it, so when I was found talented enough to join the academy and learn magic, which he encouraged, too, that was the name I kept.

"So I got to learn a lot of things, including magic. I didn't pay more attention to the politics than I had to, but one thing you need to know was that Nahin, a faraway country, was trying to fish for expertise. They apparently used magic in completely different ways, but instead of exchanging knowledge and methods only wanted to add what my school knew to theirs."

She paused for a deep breath. "And when I was about finished with my schooling and starting to look into where to go during my wanderjahr, a Nahin mage-noble visited with his parade ship, looking for scattered children. He wanted to fetch me home to the family." She sighed. "Looking into his face was eerie. His hair and skin was lighter than mine, and he was older and a bit more angular, but the resemblance was obvious. There was some back and forth and negotiations, and oaths that I would not pass on anything about our magic, but, oh, yes, I wanted to go with him." She added in a whisper, "Stuff of legends."

"Well, long story short, these secrets were exactly what he was after. He seemed to take for granted that loyalty to blood family would override anything. And when I didn't, he got rather angry, and he told me..." She was getting tired of crying, but couldn't help tearing up. "He'd paid my mother to bear and raise me, and that storyteller to have an eye on me. There may even have been some strings pulled to get me into school.

"Luckily that was still early in the journey, still in Islands territory. He had me guarded whenever we got near an island, but I quietly made a hole in the wall of my cabin and slipped out one night. Found out just how far I can swim when I really have to." A little proud grin flashed on her face.

"Another ship picked me up and I made my way back to report. Nobody liked the thought of Nahin agents in the city, some people found me very suspicious... All I wanted was toget far, far away for a while. Eventually there was enough support for the idea that if I went to Konda, and away from the coasts, my father couldn't find me for a while, because Nahin dealt with them even less than with us." After a dry chuckle, she said, "I got way, way further away than planned."

There was one more thought she could not hold back. It made her shiver, huddling against Sebastian, and cry. "Between returning to Yrn and leaving again, I only saw my mother once. I cursed her. I was so... I never talked to her again."

During her story, Sebastian had been looking first placid, then surprised; angry; impressed/proud; sad, finally.

He went through the information a few times in his head, blinking after a few seconds of silence.

"No wonder you're that tough," he said, approvingly.

Sylvie laughed in surprise and delight.

When she had calmed down a bit, she said, "Or why I don't like puppeteers. Oh, well. Now you know. If we get to Yrn, with bad luck, people will think I went to work for my father in that time I couldn't report back, and consider me a traitor. I have no idea how likely it is, but..." she shrugged.

There was an urge to laugh with her; he settled for grinning. "I understand your hatred for them a little better, then. But your being thought a traitor... that's a hurdle for then but not for today. But, you do know... you could always use some dope acting as muscle, paid for with affection." He said this, touching her cheek with a gloveless hand. He wasn't sure if the scar tickled; he'd never asked anyone.

"I'd prefer someone clever and capable who'd help me get away if neccessary. More useful than dumb muscle." She put one hand on his, lightly. "I trust you'd manage."

"In a pinch, maybe. Maybe," he said, eyes gleaming with humour as he took her hand again.

Sylvie grinned, relaxed, clearly not worrying about that wrinkle very much now.

However, soon she said more seriously, "I do wish it were easier to trust your goddesses. The occasional job like the one here in Canyet might actually be interesting, if it didn't involve silly games from them. And didn't take up most or all of our lives."

He'd been thinking about that angrily for a while, and had found some things to point out. "I'll threaten to go ahead and destroy myself if they give us too much work." Sebastian took a deep breath. "That's what leaving you would do for me. And they don't want me to follow the path to madness. My only worry is... what it would do to you."

He gave a minimal shrug. "I'm not sure if extorting my goddesses like that will work, but I'm damned sure I'll deprive them of their favourite plaything in one way or another, make myself useless somehow."

Sylvie bit her lip, considering. When she answered, her voice was quite even, with only a bare tint of worry. "You're putting a lot on me there, you know."

"Yes, but I wanted to be honest. I'm concerned about what kind of things they have in mind, but I'm certainly not going to dance to their tune anymore. If they want to keep all my expertise -- ah, hells. They think they need you to keep me operational, and I agree," he sighed, gaze to the left. "Anyway, there is this one thing. Call it a mixture of instinct and logic, but..." He shrugged. "They're going to talk to us again."

"If Lady Land didn't mean we'd agreed to the whole deal already, that makes sense, yes." What she really wanted right now was time and peace and quiet so they could sort themselves out properly.

"Well, you did tell her it's too much to digest for now," he reminded her, gently, biting the inside of his mouth briefly. "Well, in any case, I just wish they'll talk to us. I want you and to see your home, and... the rest of it." Sebastian stared at the foliage again, wistful and -- for once in a long while -- utterly terrified of uncertain fate. His stare continued, and for a while he didn't answer, even though he was fully aware of Sylvie's presence in their little copse.

Sylvie slung one arm around Sebastian's shoulders and leaned back a bit so she could get a better view of his face. "I want to go home, and I want to be with you. And I want both of us to be sane."

Eventually: "Me too. Something to strive for, that. I'll put every ounce of my energy into that," he said, turning to look right back at her. A faint smile was trying to wrest its way onto the surface, and the look he gave her spoke for itself. He may have been worried, true, but he shared the worry -- yet it didn't quite stop himself from pieceing together the words she'd to him bed, not so long ago. Sebastian simply didn't say them aloud.

Sylvie didn't have it in her to make the obvious joke about leaving some energy for other things. Instead, she leaned in for a kiss.

It had occured to him (and Sebastian had been expecting one joke along those lines for reasons he still didn't fully understand), but he leaned into the kiss with a low chuckle. "You with me, or -- me with you, if you catch my drift?"

"I think I do. I also think what we should be after right now is breakfast." Not teasing him, instead maybe a little apologetic. The fact of the matter was that half-formed thoughts about power and the lack thereof churned in her head, leaving her off-balance and uncomfortable.