The Dauntless III: Revenge of the Sith

Nketiah is quiet for a few long moments before letting out a long breath. "It's Ba," she says, shrugging slightly. "He's been distant for the last few weeks."

Dorrak frowns at that, tilting his head to her. "Did something happen? It doesn't seem like Jahsi to be closed off."

"It isn't," Nketiah says. "I don't know what happened or what's wrong, because he won't talk to me about it, he just pretends everything is okay. But... I think it might have something to do with you?"

That only makes Dorrak's brow furrow more. "Me? Hrm, maybe I should speak with him myself in that case. I'll pull him aside when he has a free moment."

"Would you?" Nketiah seems lifted a bit. "If there's a problem he has with you then maybe he'll be more open about it speaking with you directly."

"I'll do that," Dorrak agrees. "I've always preferred the direct approach, so if it is related to me I'd like to clear the air."

With that, and as the celebrations continue, Dorrak approaches Jahsi in a pause in the festivities. "Happy Swallowtail, Jahsi," he approaches with a smile. "Could we talk for a moment?"

"Of course, Dorrak," Jahsi grins, tossing back the last of his cup of palm wine. "Anything for you, my friend."

Dorrak returns the smile, and after a moment explains, "Nketiah was just telling me that you'd seemed distant of late, and that she thought it might be somehow related to me, so I thought I would clear the air and check if there's anything going on."

Jahsi's grin wipes itself off of his face. "Ah. I see." He doesn't speak for a moment. "... walk with me?"

Dorrak matches his solemn expression and nods. "Of course," he replies, ready to follow along wherever Jahsi leads.

A few days after arriving home from the dragon fight, Antoinette pulls Fleur aside after she finishes running morning drills. "Fleur, I'd like to talk with you privately. Will you join me in my lab?"

Jahsi leads Dorrak away from the party, to a quiet rope bridge between two trees looking over the jungle.

"Did you know I have a niece around Nketiah's age?" Jahsi says suddenly after a long silence. "My sister's daughter, back in my mother's home of the River tribe."

------

Fleur nods and follows Antoinette.

Antoinette leads Fleur back to her lab. "So, how are you holding up? Is the new training going well? Are you getting more used to your new body?"

Dorrak lets that initial silence rest, then looks over to Jahsi when he speaks. "I didn't. Is she doing well?"

"She is," Jahsi nods, leaning forward onto one of the ropes that suspends the bridge above the treeline below. "I try to visit whenever my duties take me out that way, if only for a day. Sweet girl. She and Nketiah look so much alike, so much like my mother, that you'd think they were sisters if you put them next to each other. Except that if you ask Esihle, she would tell you that boys are gross and kissing is for old people before running off to join her friends for a game." He smiles fondly. "I know because a visiting outsider mistook her for an adult and attempted to pursue her. You should have seen the look on his face when she did exactly that."

-----

Fleur nods vigorously. "Uh-huh. Mr. Rollis taught me a bunch of exercises and stretches to get used to it, and I've been picking up weapons training really fast too. He says I'm a natural."

Dorrak smiles a little at the mental image, chuckling under his breath, but he realizes the direction this conversation is leading in. "It must be strange for Nketiah, to have grown into an adult while the people who she grew up alongside have not matured in the same way as her yet," he comments pensively, not adding how strange it would have been for Jahsi himself to see his daughter aging while he hardly does.

"That's good," Antoinette replies. She pauses, thinking for a moment. "I missed having you by my side while we were dealing with the troubles in Saggorak. There were quite a few moments when I thought to do something with you but realized you weren't by my side. I've had to think a lot since what happened. When it just happened I felt a bit of crisis. I wasn't ready to have a daughter, I thought. But really, you aren't my daughter. You never have been and you never will be. You don't need me to be a mother either. But you are, and forgive me because I know you aren't the emotional or open type, family to me. I'm not going to try to be your mom, but, if you don't mind, I'd like to be a sister to you. I'd also like to give you my family name."

Jahsi nods. "It is one of the cruelest facts of life as a long lived individual. It's why most elves in the world live in reclusion from the rest of it, whether here, or the far off lands of Kyonin and Jinin. We grow so much more slowly, and live so much longer. Relationships with outsiders become difficult, painful. Nketiah's mother... watching her grow older was one of the most painful things I've ever had to experience. Losing her to despair because of lost years, something no elf would bat an eye at, is the only thing that comes close." Jahsi sighs. "I cannot do it again. I am still a young man in elven society. I will be still when Nketiah is old and gray. I cannot do it again."

---------

Fleur seems somewhat confused, but happy. "Okay," she says brightly.

"That's... honestly about what I could have expected," Antoinette replies with a slight sigh. "Now on to another matter. I can't make you a warg again, but I can give you the ability to fight as a beast once more. Do you want my curse?"

Dorrak lets that statement sit for a long moment, placing one strong hand on Jahsi's shoulder comfortingly. "I can only imagine how hard that would be," he murmurs, being only experienced in brief, violent tragedy himself. "She spoke to me of her mother, she sounded like an incredible woman." He decides that no more words can adequately console Jahsi at this moment, so he just stands there with him, looking out over the jungle for another long moment. After an appropriately long pause, he decides to broach another topic with Jahsi. "I'd like to marry Nketiah, after the issues with Alseta's Ring have been resolved. I haven't spoken with her about it yet."

Jahsi smiles sadly. "I... want her to find happiness, more than anything. But, selfish as it may be, I want it to be somewhere else. If she will have you, and the way she speaks of you I can't imagine she won't, then you have my blessing."

-----

"Oh, hell yes!" Fleur jumps a little and pumps a fist in the air. "This body sucks. It's all small and frail and I caught a cold last week, and colds suck."

"Well then, hold out your arm and I will bite it," Antoinette states. "In 7 days you and I will be ushering your first night as a were-dinosaur. You'll be locked in the cages in the old jail in case something goes wrong. My curse is very... justice aligned. It is likely you will not initially be able to control it well."

"Thank you," Dorrak returns the small smile. "I haven't given any thought to where we might stay after, but I promise that, if she'll have me, I'll do everything I can to make her happy."

Fleur extends an arm, bouncing on her heels and clearly only half paying attention to Antoinette's warnings.

-----

Jahsi nods pensively. "I believe you will." With a heavy sigh, he straightens up and puts on a cheery grin. "Now, I think we've had enough sadness for one evening. It's Ibhabhathane, a time for celebrating. Let us go and make merry, and if you wish, we can have more serious talks another day."

Dorrak matches the grin and chuckles, "Let's, I brood enough when it's not a festival," he jokes, and then the pair head back to the others, with Dorrak rejoining Nketiah.