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rainbowfic2025-01-31 02:42 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2025-01-31 02:42 pm
Warm Heart #23; Vert #2; Beet Red #3 [Starfall]
Name: Not An Asset
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #23 (insolent); Vert #2 (Promise); Beet Red #3 (Can't beat 'em)
Supplies and Styles: Canvas + Graffiti (January Canvas & Frames Challenge) + Thread
Word Count: 1627
Rating: PG
Warnings: Swearing.
Notes: 1306, Portcallan; Leion Valerno, Tam Jadinor, Kettah Jadinor. (This is set 7 years before the main Portcallan sequence - Leion is 20 & Kettah 13 or 14, and this is the start of the backstory Leion's refusing to talk to Viyony about.)
Summary: Leion's stepfather has a request to make of him. Leion isn't impressed. Again.
"Leio. Stay where you are," Pentamon Jadinor said, striding into the room.
Leion stopped halfway through rising; still hastily swallowing the last mouthful of his breakfast before Tam started asking him what hour he called this. Pulling a face, hopefully out of his stepfather's vision, Leion sat back down at the table. He pushed his plate away with a stifled sigh, and wondered which of his sins had caught up with him this time. Mind you, everything Tam said tended to come out as if he was ordering around his subordinates at the Guardians of the Peace, so he might just want Leion to run an easy errand. You never knew, and Leion could always hope.
"I wanted to ask you something."
Leion tensed against the hard chair and laid his arms down flat on the table. "Look, I agreed to do part of the law course! You don't all have to go on and on at me."
"Hmm," said Tam. "I might have a few things to say about that while you're here—but, no. Stop leaping to conclusions, Leio. Not everything is about you. Now, pay attention. I want you to understand exactly what it is I'm asking before you give me an answer."
Leion raised his eyebrows. "Well, now I'm dying of curiosity. Don't tell me you think I should follow you into the Guardians instead?"
"Stars above us, no," said Tam with genuine horror. "It is connected to the Guardians, though. There are several wealthy young idiots in this city playing around with starstone and suchlike. That's not illegal in itself, provided no firestone is involved. But lately there have been a few unpleasant incidents we believe may be linked to their games—if games they are."
Leion, forced to remain sitting at the table, absently reached out for another piece of maurzima—morning-bread—and ate it, soft and cake-like against his tongue. "Mmph?"
"We've had a few reports of youngsters with affinity who have disappeared or run away, and one of them turned up badly injured and in a state round the Old Quay area. We believe the two are connected. Of course, us questioning a set of young Allins, Barras, Hyans and the like without real evidence isn't going to get us anywhere. We're keeping them under observation, but we could use someone of their own age who moves in those circles to see if they let anything slip about these little games of theirs."
Leion choked on the maurzima, spitting a small, pale soggy mass of it out into his hand.
Tam frowned. He waited while Leion set about disposing of the mess with a cloth. "I wondered if you would do it."
"Yes, I'd guessed that part," Leion said. "Tam! You can't ask me to spy on people. Besides, that lot aren't fond of me, and I don't have any affinity worth mentioning, anyway."
Tam's scowl deepened. "This isn't an operation to infiltrate Calla Island! You hang around in the same sorts of circles, don't you?"
"Sometimes."
"So, keep your ears and eyes open. If anyone says something about that, or anything else that strikes you as odd, you tell me. That's all."
Leion left the last segment of maurzima on his plate. He had lost his appetite. "You really do want me to spy for you."
"People have been hurt," said Tam. "We need to find the culprits. Don't act as if that's a crime. I'm not asking you to go undercover or put yourself in danger. Only letting you know, in case you hear or see something useful. Hardly spying."
"A sneak, then. I see."
Tam huffed. "I thought I could trust you to care about the safety of others. Seems I was wrong."
Leion rose. "That's a low shot. I'm not spying on my friends, and anybody who isn't my friend won't hang about incriminating themselves in front of me. They all know whose son I am. They've always counted me as a spy. I'm not going to start proving them right—and all for nothing! Fuck you!"
"Don't swear at me!" Tam thundered. "Apologise this minute."
Leion grimaced. "So sorry, Imor Jadinor. I'll never dare do it again, I promise. Was there anything else, or can I go now? I'm supposed to be meeting Kettah."
"It's a waste of breath trying to talk to you these days," said Tam.
Leion slammed the door behind him.
"Ket. Have I been a nuisance lately?"
Kettah stared ahead along Riverside. She seemed to be considering the question closely. "Hmm. Do you mean more than usual?" She slipped her arm into his as they passed another of the large, elegant houses that lined the north side of the street, heading into the shadow of the great cliff-side atop of which was perched Chamber Square and the buildings of government.
"Stupid question," Leion murmured.
It was a warm day, but there was a breeze coming in from the sea and he could breathe again. Valerno House had begun to feel like a prison these last few weeks, and the mounting temperatures as summer marched on didn't help.
Kettah sighed. "You have been a bit. Everyone knows you can't really want to be a clerk in a boring little High Council office or whatever, so it's stupid when you act like Mother and Dad are being horrible about it."
"You all have a weird idea about me."
She shrugged. "You have a funny idea about you. Mother says -" She drew in her breath and prepared to quote, with worrying accuracy inherited from both parents. "Mother says you have an overly morbid consciousness of your father's inheritance and, oh, I don't remember all the rest, but she says you don't want to be like any of your parents and Dad says you're just cursed stubborn, only he used a worse word."
Leion pulled down the corners of his mouth and fought the treacherous urge to laugh he knew Kettah was counting on. "Oh, and the idea that I might have ideas about choosing my own future -"
Kettah snorted loudly.
"Not you too."
"You started it," she said. "But you're grown up now. They couldn't have made you give up that job or tied you up and made you sign up to the law course. You agreed. It's stupid to agree and then go round moaning about it for ages after. Stupid and boring. Let's talk about something else!"
Leion glanced down at her, his expression softening despite himself. "Oh? Actually, I don't know if a stubborn, boring brother like me would bother taking his tiresome little sister anywhere."
"You promised. You can't go back on it now." Kettah bumped her head against his shoulder and then squeezed her fingers against his arm. "Look, none of it is my fault and it would be very unfair if you don't take me to the market because you know Mother won't let me out alone. And imagine if you walked off and left me here and then I got kidnapped by someone who hated Dad. You'd die of guilt."
Leion laughed. "Idiot. Anyone who kidnapped you would bring you straight back. You'd be more trouble than you were worth."
"I would try," she agreed, and grinned.
Silly as her suggestion had been, it caused Leion's mind to stray back to Tam's earlier request. Kettah didn't have any affinity that he knew of, but what if someone hurt her in the way Tam had been hinting at? He glanced upwards at the balcony of the Modelen House as they passed under it. The richest families in Portcallan still found it all too easy to buy their way out of trouble. A hundred years and a revolution hadn't changed that.
"All right," said Leion. "To the market it is."
"And maybe you could try arguing a bit less from now on, too?"
"Depends," Leion muttered. "The thing is, Ket, you know what Mother and Tam are. They go around being all reasonable at me, especially Mother. It's unbearable."
"And you're so unreasonable," said Kettah, with sympathy. "It must be very hard, Leio!"
He tugged her riverwards and she shrieked and pulled away from him. Passers-by gave them a wide berth as they chased each other back and forth across the wide road. One elderly man paused to fix them with a glare.
"Truce!" Ket called, laughing and breathless. "Anyway, you have it easy. You try being the youngest. I'm never allowed to do anything at all!"
Leion shook his head. "My heart bleeds for you."
He watched with a fond eye as she ran across to the railings at the river's edge, calling back to him—something about a boat in the Calla below. He could make the effort to move a little more in the same circles as some of the elite types he knew. He had weeks yet before the wretched law course started up, and he'd finished the archive job a few days ago, so he was at a loose end. Why not? He wouldn't tell Tam, of course—he wasn't going to spy for him or anyone. But he could see if there was any truth in Tam's fears, especially since it all sounded safely improbable. People like Ossil Hyan, Tia Modelen, Atino and Alona Barra, or Amina Ylie, weren't the sorts who bothered trying experiments with starstone. They were too busy gossiping about the upcoming Sea Festival, boasting about their recent travels or which part of the family business they'd get to play with, or crowing about the High Council's latest failure to end the Calla Island Exemption.
Leion would find out enough to prove Tam wrong and tell him so. That would show him. That would show them all.
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #23 (insolent); Vert #2 (Promise); Beet Red #3 (Can't beat 'em)
Supplies and Styles: Canvas + Graffiti (January Canvas & Frames Challenge) + Thread
Word Count: 1627
Rating: PG
Warnings: Swearing.
Notes: 1306, Portcallan; Leion Valerno, Tam Jadinor, Kettah Jadinor. (This is set 7 years before the main Portcallan sequence - Leion is 20 & Kettah 13 or 14, and this is the start of the backstory Leion's refusing to talk to Viyony about.)
Summary: Leion's stepfather has a request to make of him. Leion isn't impressed. Again.
"Leio. Stay where you are," Pentamon Jadinor said, striding into the room.
Leion stopped halfway through rising; still hastily swallowing the last mouthful of his breakfast before Tam started asking him what hour he called this. Pulling a face, hopefully out of his stepfather's vision, Leion sat back down at the table. He pushed his plate away with a stifled sigh, and wondered which of his sins had caught up with him this time. Mind you, everything Tam said tended to come out as if he was ordering around his subordinates at the Guardians of the Peace, so he might just want Leion to run an easy errand. You never knew, and Leion could always hope.
"I wanted to ask you something."
Leion tensed against the hard chair and laid his arms down flat on the table. "Look, I agreed to do part of the law course! You don't all have to go on and on at me."
"Hmm," said Tam. "I might have a few things to say about that while you're here—but, no. Stop leaping to conclusions, Leio. Not everything is about you. Now, pay attention. I want you to understand exactly what it is I'm asking before you give me an answer."
Leion raised his eyebrows. "Well, now I'm dying of curiosity. Don't tell me you think I should follow you into the Guardians instead?"
"Stars above us, no," said Tam with genuine horror. "It is connected to the Guardians, though. There are several wealthy young idiots in this city playing around with starstone and suchlike. That's not illegal in itself, provided no firestone is involved. But lately there have been a few unpleasant incidents we believe may be linked to their games—if games they are."
Leion, forced to remain sitting at the table, absently reached out for another piece of maurzima—morning-bread—and ate it, soft and cake-like against his tongue. "Mmph?"
"We've had a few reports of youngsters with affinity who have disappeared or run away, and one of them turned up badly injured and in a state round the Old Quay area. We believe the two are connected. Of course, us questioning a set of young Allins, Barras, Hyans and the like without real evidence isn't going to get us anywhere. We're keeping them under observation, but we could use someone of their own age who moves in those circles to see if they let anything slip about these little games of theirs."
Leion choked on the maurzima, spitting a small, pale soggy mass of it out into his hand.
Tam frowned. He waited while Leion set about disposing of the mess with a cloth. "I wondered if you would do it."
"Yes, I'd guessed that part," Leion said. "Tam! You can't ask me to spy on people. Besides, that lot aren't fond of me, and I don't have any affinity worth mentioning, anyway."
Tam's scowl deepened. "This isn't an operation to infiltrate Calla Island! You hang around in the same sorts of circles, don't you?"
"Sometimes."
"So, keep your ears and eyes open. If anyone says something about that, or anything else that strikes you as odd, you tell me. That's all."
Leion left the last segment of maurzima on his plate. He had lost his appetite. "You really do want me to spy for you."
"People have been hurt," said Tam. "We need to find the culprits. Don't act as if that's a crime. I'm not asking you to go undercover or put yourself in danger. Only letting you know, in case you hear or see something useful. Hardly spying."
"A sneak, then. I see."
Tam huffed. "I thought I could trust you to care about the safety of others. Seems I was wrong."
Leion rose. "That's a low shot. I'm not spying on my friends, and anybody who isn't my friend won't hang about incriminating themselves in front of me. They all know whose son I am. They've always counted me as a spy. I'm not going to start proving them right—and all for nothing! Fuck you!"
"Don't swear at me!" Tam thundered. "Apologise this minute."
Leion grimaced. "So sorry, Imor Jadinor. I'll never dare do it again, I promise. Was there anything else, or can I go now? I'm supposed to be meeting Kettah."
"It's a waste of breath trying to talk to you these days," said Tam.
Leion slammed the door behind him.
"Ket. Have I been a nuisance lately?"
Kettah stared ahead along Riverside. She seemed to be considering the question closely. "Hmm. Do you mean more than usual?" She slipped her arm into his as they passed another of the large, elegant houses that lined the north side of the street, heading into the shadow of the great cliff-side atop of which was perched Chamber Square and the buildings of government.
"Stupid question," Leion murmured.
It was a warm day, but there was a breeze coming in from the sea and he could breathe again. Valerno House had begun to feel like a prison these last few weeks, and the mounting temperatures as summer marched on didn't help.
Kettah sighed. "You have been a bit. Everyone knows you can't really want to be a clerk in a boring little High Council office or whatever, so it's stupid when you act like Mother and Dad are being horrible about it."
"You all have a weird idea about me."
She shrugged. "You have a funny idea about you. Mother says -" She drew in her breath and prepared to quote, with worrying accuracy inherited from both parents. "Mother says you have an overly morbid consciousness of your father's inheritance and, oh, I don't remember all the rest, but she says you don't want to be like any of your parents and Dad says you're just cursed stubborn, only he used a worse word."
Leion pulled down the corners of his mouth and fought the treacherous urge to laugh he knew Kettah was counting on. "Oh, and the idea that I might have ideas about choosing my own future -"
Kettah snorted loudly.
"Not you too."
"You started it," she said. "But you're grown up now. They couldn't have made you give up that job or tied you up and made you sign up to the law course. You agreed. It's stupid to agree and then go round moaning about it for ages after. Stupid and boring. Let's talk about something else!"
Leion glanced down at her, his expression softening despite himself. "Oh? Actually, I don't know if a stubborn, boring brother like me would bother taking his tiresome little sister anywhere."
"You promised. You can't go back on it now." Kettah bumped her head against his shoulder and then squeezed her fingers against his arm. "Look, none of it is my fault and it would be very unfair if you don't take me to the market because you know Mother won't let me out alone. And imagine if you walked off and left me here and then I got kidnapped by someone who hated Dad. You'd die of guilt."
Leion laughed. "Idiot. Anyone who kidnapped you would bring you straight back. You'd be more trouble than you were worth."
"I would try," she agreed, and grinned.
Silly as her suggestion had been, it caused Leion's mind to stray back to Tam's earlier request. Kettah didn't have any affinity that he knew of, but what if someone hurt her in the way Tam had been hinting at? He glanced upwards at the balcony of the Modelen House as they passed under it. The richest families in Portcallan still found it all too easy to buy their way out of trouble. A hundred years and a revolution hadn't changed that.
"All right," said Leion. "To the market it is."
"And maybe you could try arguing a bit less from now on, too?"
"Depends," Leion muttered. "The thing is, Ket, you know what Mother and Tam are. They go around being all reasonable at me, especially Mother. It's unbearable."
"And you're so unreasonable," said Kettah, with sympathy. "It must be very hard, Leio!"
He tugged her riverwards and she shrieked and pulled away from him. Passers-by gave them a wide berth as they chased each other back and forth across the wide road. One elderly man paused to fix them with a glare.
"Truce!" Ket called, laughing and breathless. "Anyway, you have it easy. You try being the youngest. I'm never allowed to do anything at all!"
Leion shook his head. "My heart bleeds for you."
He watched with a fond eye as she ran across to the railings at the river's edge, calling back to him—something about a boat in the Calla below. He could make the effort to move a little more in the same circles as some of the elite types he knew. He had weeks yet before the wretched law course started up, and he'd finished the archive job a few days ago, so he was at a loose end. Why not? He wouldn't tell Tam, of course—he wasn't going to spy for him or anyone. But he could see if there was any truth in Tam's fears, especially since it all sounded safely improbable. People like Ossil Hyan, Tia Modelen, Atino and Alona Barra, or Amina Ylie, weren't the sorts who bothered trying experiments with starstone. They were too busy gossiping about the upcoming Sea Festival, boasting about their recent travels or which part of the family business they'd get to play with, or crowing about the High Council's latest failure to end the Calla Island Exemption.
Leion would find out enough to prove Tam wrong and tell him so. That would show him. That would show them all.
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Literally no way that could go wrong.
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♥
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Oh yeah, I'm sure this will turn out exactly as he is hoping it will.
What kinds of nasty things can you do to people by playing around with starstone?
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Nothing could possibly go wrong here! XD
What kinds of nasty things can you do to people by playing around with starstone?
In the usual way, nothing very much. Specifically here, well, you should find out in the reasonably near future!
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Famous last words! XD
I love Kettah, she is way smarter and wiser than Leion! And it's great to have some backstory that explains a bit more about Leion and why he is Like That, haha!
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Aw, thank you, and yes, about time to let everyone in on what Leion refuses to tell. I'm sure Kettah had her own rebellious stage later, but at this point she can just eyeroll at Leion's. XD