[LOG] In Time, All Good Things

[covetouscat]

CHARACTERS: Shiraz, Nausicaa, maybe others?
WHEN: 7QJ75 / SD 797. Late in the year. December?
WHERE: Quentão, Aquavitae
SUMMARY: Almost a year after Nausy's and Marc's arrival to Quentão, Shiraz decides it's time to have a heart to heart talk.
WARNINGS: Emotional ows?

Shiraz lingered in the doorway while Nausy settled Marc down for his afternoon nap, watching the young boy with an unfiltered affection. During the course of the year, she and the redhead had butted heads a number of times, but Marc always helped the Bonded feline feel more settled. The boy had won her easily with unreserved affection, and that had gone a long way in the slow but eventual thaw of Shiraz toward his mother as well.

Now, nearly a year after their arrival, Shiraz and Nausy had reached a fairly level field, and the feline hoped very much that the conversation she was about to attempt -- one she'd debated with herself about having for weeks -- wouldn't put them back on unwelcome terrain.

"Nyaa~" she said as Nausy came out of Marc's bedroom. "Can I talk to you?"

Comments

[halvedheart]

At the question, Nausy closed her eyes. Shiraz had voiced out the very issue she’d been agonizing over. “I do. And... I don’t.”

She sighed, staring down at her hands. She’d decided to clasp them together, if only to prevent herself from clenching and unclenching them, a nervous gesture that often got painful quickly. “The last few years haven’t been easy for me, Shiraz. The war on my world... it destroyed my home, ruined my name, estranged me from my family, left Marc without a father. Then I came here, and Paris showed this lonely widow and her son nothing but kindness, even if their presence had been forced upon him and his family...” She had to smile. “Hard not to love that.”

Her gaze once more drifted to the waterfall, her expression turning distant. But there was a longing so profound on her face that was impossible to miss. “But he’s the Cajuzinho. He has a duty to the world, to Vita, to the people. The stuff of kings - and I should know. My late husband was one.” She glanced at Shiraz. “Between his longtime Bonded partner and a strange alien girl who’d just recently arrived, there’s no question who’s the better match. A king deserves no less.“

Nausy then hastily added, before she lost her nerve, “That, and, well, two other things. One, I don’t age. It’s a curse I’m afflicted with. I don’t get sick, and I heal fast. So unless the magick of my world is somehow neutralized by Vita’s powers, or I’m injured in a manner I can’t recover from, I’ll end up outliving Marc and everyone else. Two...”

She closed her eyes as she admitted, “I still love Arzei.” She stumbled a little at the name. “Marc’s father.”

[covetouscat]

That same kindness that Nausy was describing was what Shiraz cherished in Paris herself, so she understood very well.

The Bonded's smile was sad as well when the redhead said who would be a better match. "I'm not going to leave his side," she affirmed. "I will always be here for him. But that's not the kind of match that he will one day want."

Shiraz's eyes widened at Nausy's admittance of her curse, automatically glancing in the direction of Marc's room, as if the young boy might somehow have heard it. "I don't know much about magic, nyaa," she replied. Who had done such a thing to her? It seemed particularly cruel, and yet Vita had warned Paris of something similar that would eventually happen to him... but that was his place to share with Nausicaa, if he chose. "But that is something you should talk to Vita about."

She didn't really know what to think about the redhead's final statement, but after a moment, she did have something of a reply. "That makes sense," she said simply. "Marc feels like... he was made with love. He is special."

[halvedheart]

Nausy wasn't the least bit surprised when Shiraz said she wouldn't leave Paris' side. Before today, she would've thought the declaration strange, and the part of her that had feelings for him would've felt a definite pang of jealousy. But not anymore.

She reached out to squeeze the feline's hand again. "He wouldn't want it any other way, I think." But the gesture was also for herself; although she was doing rather well at keeping her emotions together, she needed to feel that she wasn't alone anymore.

Then Shiraz looked towards Marc's room, clearly worried for the little boy, and the ache in Nausy's heart turned into something more bearable. "I didn't need to think about it much before. I'd fled and gone into hiding with Marc, and I welcomed the advantage the curse gave me, because I needed to protect him from the world that hated me, and him by extension. And, well, also from those who would want to use him in their bid for power."

She shifted in her seat, turning a little more toward the Bonded. Tears glistened in her eyes again. "Oh, he is." Marc was the last good thing that had happened to her in Airyglyph, and a reminder of the best times of her life, when she had everything she could ever want. "Thank you, for looking out for him. I really appreciate it."

She, too, appreciated how Shiraz made it all sound so simple. She'd long thought of love in its ideal, romanticized form. She'd grown up watching her parents adore each other, relishing in the stories of how they'd overcome many odds just to be together. And it was the sort of love she'd searched for when she'd started dating, which ultimately led her to Arzei. She loved him, of course, but the whole star-crossed lovers part had definitely been alluring. Yet over the past months, as she found herself being drawn closer and closer to Paris...

Maybe it was possible to share.

[covetouscat]

"I don't know what will happen with you and Paris," Shiraz said quietly. "And neither of you know, nyaa."

She looked straight at Nausy, her voice becoming serious. "But I have one request that will seem easier to agree to with words than with what could come later... whatever you two decide, don't do anything that you cannot stay friends from."

[halvedheart]

Nausy had no idea what would happen, either. Even if Paris were truly interested in her... there were still too many variables. And too many risks. Perhaps, if she'd been younger, she wouldn't think twice about going after the guy, especially after the Shiraz's confirmation that they weren't together like that. But things were different now.

So at the Bonded's request, she was surprisingly quick to nod in agreement. "I can comply with that, at least." Her gaze turned distant. "I live for Marc, and my promise to Vita. My feelings are of little consequence."

[covetouscat]

Hearing Nausy say that was... unexpectedly saddening, somehow. Shiraz certainly had no children, but she could see that the woman loved her son with a strength that paralleled that of Bonded, just in different trappings.

"Maybe more consequence than you want to believe right now, when everything is confusing," she observed. "But at least we can all make our own decisions, right?"

[halvedheart]

The redhead nodded at the Bonded’s observation, smiling wryly. It was easy for her to say that, after all they were just words. But she, too, was more emotional than she’d like to admit. How else did Vita get her to agree to leave behind the world she’d called her home?

“That’s true.” She turned to Shiraz again. “Thank you. I... I actually needed this. You’re a good friend.” She smiled sheepishly. “Not just to Paris. To me, too.”

[covetouscat]

"Nyaa, well... I haven't been too good until now," Shiraz said, looking ruffled, and for a moment it was easy to picture that her fur would be fluffed up in feline form. "But everyone can change-- Papa Jing said that. I think maybe he's right."

[halvedheart]

"You have been good to Marc," Nausy said quietly.

She lightly bumped her shoulder against Shiraz', smiling genuinely now. "And it's normal for sisters to not get along well all the time, so..."

It was a little presumptive of her, really, but she couldn't help herself.

[covetouscat]

Shiraz smiles a bit, because she has very much enjoyed Marc being in Quentão. The feline had always been the youngest, the smallest, the one in need of the most care. Even though she helped look after Cielo, it wasn't the same. Having the young boy around suddenly put Shiraz in the position to give care, rather than receive it, and that had made a big impact on her.

She starts a bit when Nausy casually refers to her as a sister, not knowing what to say at first.

"I guess you would know," she said eventually, ducking her head a little.

[halvedheart]

Nausy winced as she realized she'd misstepped again. She used to be good at this, the whole dealing with people; it was one of the things that actually made her a capable queen, in contrast to Arzei's more militaristic demeanor.

But she meant well. Shiraz had become some sort of a sister to her. She wondered, perhaps, if it was because the feline, in a way, reminded her of Fia - the littlest in the family who needed caring, the young girl who fought for the attention of the men Nausy had won over (their father and brother included) and who struggled to get away from the shadow the redhead had unintentionally cast over her...

"Sorry. It's just... the best word I could come up with, to describe how I feel about you." She smiled sheepishly.