fandomtownies | Chilly Boulder, Saturday Afternoon

So, originally, the plan had been for Karla, Warren, and all three children to show up at Fandom this weekend and do the whole reunion thing. They'd see old friends, show Nyles and Cora the island, and take a ridiculous number of pictures commemorating things that really didn't need to be commemorated. And then, last night, Cora had come into Karla's parlor before bedtime complaining that she didn't feel good. And then had promptly thrown up. Nyles, who had been a footstep behind her, managed to keep down his dinner, but was flushed and feverish.

Long story short, Cora and Nyles had come down with chicken pox. And as much as Karla would have liked to simply Heal them and be done with it, getting chicken pox now meant they wouldn't get worse illnesses later, and so Warren and Karla reluctantly agreed to let them stick it out. And that clearly meant that at least one parent needed to stay with them. But Kayla, being far too young, needed to be kept away. And so, after a spirited game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, (best two out of three, and no, Warren, she didn't cheat), Karla had ended up being the one who got to take Kayla away to the island for the weekend, while Warren and his healing factor took care of two thoroughly miserable children.

On the other hand, now Karla at least had a good excuse to take a million pictures? Like the ones she was taking now, of Kayla smearing vanilla ice cream all over her face as she attempted to spoon it into her mouth. Thank the Darkness for data plans.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Triela nodded, her boots tapping with familiar precision across the floor. "I was surprised, too," she said as she pulled out a chair and slid into it.

"Actually, I still am." She smiled slightly. "And I'm not used to 'surprise', you know."

She leaned forward, studying Karla and Kayla. "She looks like you," she said after a moment.

"Everyone says that," Karla said, laughing slightly. It was still a rather shell-shocked laugh. "She'll start looking more like her dad when her wings finish coming in. Her name is Kayla."

Kayla, hearing her name, looked up and offered Triela a smile, her face sticky with melted ice cream.

"Will you say hello?" Karla prompted. "This is Mommy's very dear friend Triela. She watched over Mommy for a very long time when we were girls together."

"Hello, Kayla," Triela offered, waving a slender-fingered hand at the girl.

Then her attention returned to Karla. "You look well," she said. "Did you end up resolving everything in Glacia?" Had she finally let someone kill that bastard Hobart?

It was probably for the best Triela hadn't asked that question aloud. That meant Karla didn't have to answer it!

"You're looking at the Territory Queen of Glacia," she said with quiet pride. "Mother of three, ruling with a landen Consort, and it has been almost a year since the last assassination attempt."

The things brags were made of.

"A year, huh?" That look in Triela's eyes was... dangerous.

"And just who is trying to have you assassinated, Karla, Queen of Glacia?" And should Triela shoot them a few times so that they changed their minds?

"Hobart gave the aristos pretty much a free hand to indulge in whatever they wished, so long as no one of consequence complained," Karla said, her voice filled with the kind of pleasantness that hid a knife's edge. "They don't appreciate the regime change much. Queen Mummy isn't half so indulgent."

"Indulgent enough that they're still around," Triela pointed out. "But it doesn't sound like they're properly appreciative of that."

She smiled a far-too-pleasant-for-Triela smile. "Want to show me around Glacia this weekend?"

"If I took you home to Glacia, you'd be brought to the estate and introduced to my other children and made to be doting Aunt Triela for the duration," Karla said firmly. "And you'd antagonize my Master of the Guard and my First Escort, and then I'd have to deal with the three of you being brats."

"Now you're just being stingy," Triela accused. "You'd take me all the way to Glacia, and wouldn't even let me shoot anyone?" Mean, Karla. Just mean.

"In the war we fought, I didn't even allow for guns to be brought," Karla told her.

She was the worst, yes.

"Well, if you're going to be a stick-in-the-mud about it, I suppose I wouldn't have to shoot them." Triela knew how to use knives, too, after all!

Knives were a perfectly acceptable alternative. "I've become terribly stodgy in my old age," Karla told her with a laugh. "Old, persnickety, and in bed by nine pm. It's terrible."

"Well, you do look pretty old," Triela commented with a little smirk. Someone still looked fourteen. It wasn't Karla.

Definitely not. Karla had just turned twenty-four not too long ago, thanks to Fandom double-time. And looking at Triela now, she felt it.

"Darling, I had a daughter and brought my country through a civil war and neither of those is half as draining as dealing with my courtiers on a daily basis. I don't look old, I look fabulous."

Triela grinned. "You can look both, you know."

She fell silent for a moment, and when she spoke again her expression was serious. "You look good, actually." Nothing so fancy as 'fabulous'. Just... good.

Karla's smile was tinged with sadness. "Thanks," she said softly. "I feel good. My life is very, very good. But I do miss everyone. I miss you, Triela. So much. I miss everyone. I don't know if I even realized how much I missed everyone until today."

"That's what you get for being such a good friend," Triela said softly. "Too many friends."

"No such thing," Karla said, reaching forward to lace her fingers with Triela's. "My problem is that my friends are all too willful and won't come live on my nice estate where there's plenty of room and it can be like the dorms all over again."

"You'd insist on taking away all our toys," Triela pointed out with a grin. "So bossy."

"Besides," Triela said, looking fond, "you're all grown up now. You don't need someone to sleep outside your door."

"Okay, that would be really awkward anyway," Karla said, snickering. "But you could stay in your own rooms and just be friends? That would be fine. You can all tell me when I'm being stubborn and stupid."

"Like you'd listen," Triela shot back, rolling her eyes.

"Probably not, but you could then say 'I told you so,' later on?" Karla suggested, impishly. She winked at Triela before admitting, "Try not to look too shocked, but I've actually learned to listen. At least a little bit."

Triela snorted. "I'll believe it when I see it."

But, for some reason, she sounded... happy. Content.

"Well, pay attention this weekend and maybe you'll see something of the sort," Karla said. "Which should be easy, because if you think I'm letting you wander off on your own for more than a few minutes at a time, you're crazy."

They only had Triela for the weekend and Karla was selfish enough to want to claim as much of that time as she could.

"I won't be holding my breath," Triela shot back.

But she didn't object to the rest of Karla's plan.

Chilly Boulder, Saturday Afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject