Tag Archive | prompter: kissofjudas

Lady Taisiya’s FIRST Husband – a ficlet

Mar12

This is based off a bit from the beginning of Lady Taisiya’s Fourth Husband:

“It’s all right to be nervous. I was nervous, the first time I wed. And the second,” she added wryly.

Sefton peeked at her. “Nervous?” He had never heard of women being nervous at their weddings!

“Oh, terrified. My first husband, he was much older than I was, and he had lost his entire family. I was barely older than you are now, and I was meant to be Honored Wife over a man who could have been my grandfather.” She wrinkled her nose, and then let the expression slide into a wistful smile. “We became friends, eventually. It was he who found my second husband.”

Her husband had no family to stand up with him, and she, the Honored Wife, was meant to stand on her own.

Her mother and her fathers, her sisters and their husbands, they all sat in the audience, because this was her First Marriage, and it was meant to be an important step out of her natal family.

But Diafel walked himself down the aisle and bowed before her. “Lady Taisiya, I come to you.”

The rest of the words were supposed to be spoken to his mother and father, but Diafel was long past his eggling days, and his parents had no sway over him – if, indeed, they still lived.

“Diafel, I accept you. Come into my home and stand as First Husband over my lands.”

The ceremony was short. Diafel was meant to steady her, not to join her with other families or to create an alliance. He was meant to educate her in manners her mother felt she hadn’t let been taught, not to grow her household.

She brought him home in her carriage, driving herself. He said nothing, watching the scenery go by. She said nothing, uncertain what a girl like her said to an old man like him.

His hair had gone grey! He had been married his first time when her mother was still an eggling! He was still strong and still handsome, yes, but he was old.

“So.” He cleared his throat as they neared the home that would now be theirs. Hers. “It isn’t within protocol for me to speak first, and for that I apologize. But now that we’ve done what everyone else wants – the question is, what do we want? Which comes down to – what do you want, my Lady Wife?”

Taisiya turned and stared at him, utterly without any idea what to say.

next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1274648.html

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Third Husband – a ficlet of Jaco (Lady Taisiya’s Third Husband)

Mar11

Set early in Jaco’s marriage to Taisiya

“Seriously.”

Some part of Jaco wanted to cringe. His wife – his wife, the only wife he’d ever have – was glaring at him with exhausted exasperation.

He took all of that desire to cringe and lifted his chin up defiantly. “The egglings are all safe. I waited until every one of the bandits was dead or bound and locked in the closet. I waited until I hear you and Onter give the all-clear.”

“You took care of the egglings, good.” She didn’t sound like she thought it was good. She sounded like of course you did the bare basics required of you by decency.

Jaco had to admit that was true.

“I wasn’t going to leave them in danger,” he tried anyway. “I’m not a monster.”

“And for that, I’m sure we’re both grateful.” She looked him up and down with a gaze that had no sympathy or affection at all.

Jaco couldn’t help a small gulp. He shifted his feet a little further apart and tried to look her in the eye.

Tried. He wasn’t quite able to manage that.

If he was a monster, rather, if Taisiya thought he was a monster… he knew what happened to monsters.

That was a line too far.

“So. You waited until it was safe. You made sure the bandits were bound and locked away. And then…”

He forced himself not to quail away. “And then I snuck out the back door, stealing a shirt of Onter’s and some pants of Callum’s on the way.”

“And then you ran away.”

“I did.” He had gotten an embarrassingly short way. He had shirt and pants, yes, but he had no shoes, and his feet were already going soft.

“Again.”

“Again.” This time he managed to meet her eyes.

She sighed and grabbed onto a handful of his hair. He didn’t stop her.

“Let’s put you in your room. I’ll deal with you in the morning.”

She wouldn’t, of course. There was only so much dealing she could do.

He was going to be a Bad Husband until she got rid of him. The trick was not being so bad that she thought he was a monster.

He let her steer him by his hair with no argument. He’d pushed the limits enough for tonight.

Want more?

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Natural Prey

Oct7

Eamon had made his share of enemies in four years at Addergoole.

Everyone did, he supposed. Everyone got in somebody’s way, everyone pissed someone off. He liked to think that he’d done right, at least. He’d made the bad guys angry, made almost all of the really bad ones somewhere between furious and spitting mad, and generally protected the small, the weak, and those who didn’t know better yet. But that didn’t make him any fewer enemies – that just made the ones he had stronger and more ruthless.

He watched his back his first year out of school. It was 2012, so there was a lot of watching to do, anyway. Watch out for the army, watch out for the monster-hunters. Watch out for the monsters, in at least three varieties. Help who you can.

He was actually pretty good at helping people, too. He was naturally gregarious and made more so by his Change; people liked him. He was a nice puppy. Big, friendly, affable, and nobody really thought too much about how big he was when he was helping them out of a jam. He made a bit of a name for himself – helping people out of difficult situations, playing fireman or EMT or whatever and then moving on while people were still grateful. It was, he hated to admit, fun. People liked him.

By the time he woke up with a splitting headache, he’d actually forgotten all about watching his back from school enemies, and he’d almost forgotten about watching out for the other threats. The world was done ending. It had been a few years.

And he was staring up at someone straddling him, trying desperately to remember how he’d gotten here – and why she was smiling.

My Dungeon & Cave Call is open!

If you’d like to see more of this story, there is SO MUCH more to tell. Just drop a tip in the the tip handcuffs:

Written to [personal profile] kissofjudas‘s prompt

Eamon is a Year 14 Addergoole Student. This is his first appearance.

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A Letter Home from the Bitrani South (Reiassan Demifiction)

Aug16

Dear Mother and Father,

I am enjoying the visit with Teshoni, Bryiery, and Tomasso.

Yesterday, they introduced me to a traditional Bitrani dish, made with a wide flat bread and many local fruits I have never tasted before. It was quite good, although I think Grandfather would look down his beard at it.

While we were in town buying ingredients, I saw two of the enclave Bitrani. They look so strange, but I remembered what you told me and did not stare, nor did I ask to touch their hair. (I haven’t asked to touch anyone’s hair, the whole time! Although Tomasso touched my braids without asking!) I have tried to remember to be very good and polite all the time.

Last night, when Bryiery was tucking us in, she told Tomasso to beware the Moonlight Beast. I didn’t know about the Moonlight Beast, so I asked.

She told me it was a creature that comes out of the lines of the moons, the light that kisses the floor and night, and it gobbles up the toes of little boys and girls who aren’t good. Tomasso had been naughty all day – Tomasso likes to be naughty, and he told me yesterday they let him get away with more, because I am visiting – and, Bryiery said, he’d have to be careful not to get his toes nibbled on, like his grandfather Gatito did when he was a little boy.

When she was gone, I told Tomasso about Empty Horns, and how it floats around at night, looking for children who were not brave or clever enough, and how the horns would fasten themselves to the head of any child who did not try. He cried for the rest of the night.

I do not think Tomasso will enjoy visiting us very much, when the time comes.

I remain until then,

Your loving daughter Laizhte

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