"Ohmigod," James exclaimed, half reaching for him as he toppled, but pulling back before she got caught up and yanked down as well. She put her hands to her face. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean t' scare you!"
"Ohmigod," James exclaimed, half reaching for him as he toppled, but pulling back before she got caught up and yanked down as well. She put her hands to her face. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean t' scare you!"
and if you go, furious angels will bring you back to me
He was reminded of a time when Sanis made some offhand mention about cats always landing on their feet. Something along the lines of if that's true, I think you're at least half shaak, buddy. Wincing on the floor, he wasn't sure whether his head hurt worse or his bottom, but pain and embarrassment took back seat to seeing a long lost friend. Cirr scrambled to his feet and swept her off hers.
"Ja irra! James!"
He wrapped her up in both tawny arms, kissing each cheek like a giddy child.
"Sa'aite tee'aallo na tu eina arre you rreal?! Arre you rreally herre?!"
"Aauggh! Yes, yes, I'm here." James flailed a bit and then hugged him, mostly in self defense. "And you are here! I thought you were like an admiral or somethin' by now. Novgorod, right?" She looked up at the ceiling. "We didn't see any Alliance ships in orbit. What are the odds, huh?"
He placed her back on her stool and she ran her hands through her short hair, smoothing it back.
"Well, jit's Captajin..."
Her attempt to flatter him with a hyperbolic promotion caused his tail tuft to poof in embarassment. The rest of him couldn't sit still, even as he gingerly regained his seat, remembering his smarting bum. Cirr couldn't quite figure out what to do with his excited hands, so he forced them together unnaturally in his lap, looking like he was going to burst. A million questions raced in his eyes as he looked at her. Where did you go? What have you been doing?. The giddiness in his expression subsided somewhat. I'm sorry.
"jI'm on leave actually."
Captain Quez glanced around at the locale, a reminder of how dumpy a vacation spot this was.
"Prrobably should have pjicked a betterr vacatjion spot."
But something she'd said hadn't fully processed in his brain yet. A second later it did, and his ears flicked askew.
"How do you know about Novgorrod?"
"Uhhhh, I'd tell ya but I'd have t' kill ya?" James snagged the first beer the bartender set down. "I live on Dac now. Have for a while actually." She sipped her drink and wrinkled her nose at the taste. "Between you an' me I could do with a little less wide open spaces. Guess the desert isn't so good for that, either."
Cirr's expression went dumbfounded. On Dac this whole time? They'd spent no-telling how many days on the same planet with no one the wiser. His mouth gawked, big eyes blinking in disbelief. The beer he'd palmed rested mere inches from his mouth, untouched.
"You jojined the Rrebellji- er, the Alljiance?"
She didn't seem the type. That didn't mean much though. Neither did he.
James laughed a bit. "Not exactly. My partner works for them. He's," she looked around the bar, "around here somewhere."
She stared as obviously as she could at the ring on his hand. "And you got married? I can't believe it." Cirr was a far cry from the haphazard mechanic of the Layla that she'd known. He'd matured in obvious ways, and yet somehow hadn't changed at all.
Cirr smiled when he heard partner. James was one of the sweetest, nicest people he'd ever met. He hadn't made good on his kitten crush he'd had for her in those early days, so he hoped she was as happy as she deserved to be. Either way, a lot better than potentially having an accidental hook-up with your brother!
She'd mentioned his ring, and his hand moved to rest on the counter. Now he couldn't help but smile, bashful feelings keeping his tail frizz high.
"jI took herr name, actually. jI'm a Quez now. They sajid jI couldn't be a mechanjic any morre so jI marrrjied one jinstead!"
Still, something was unsaid. This was all too neat and tidy for how the galaxy ought to work.
"What brrought jyou all the way out herre to Tatoojine?"
"Got a letter from m'dear ol' dad," she said, the sarcasm heavy. James smiled tightly and raised her eyebrows expressively. "I actually met him, randomly, a while back. It was..." Her voice trailed off. "Bizarre, I guess."
She leaned back, looking at Cirr appraisingly. "He mentioned he was with th' Novgorod, now that I recall. You wouldn't have - are you - did you...?"
Cirr fell off his barstool once more, this time causing the stool to break.
CRASH
"Wossat?"
No more surprises! Cirr gingerly rubbed his head as he lay on the floor.
"Aaaai...ei'ssa ne ja'naathee keikakaalo sa'he he's yourr fatherr?!?"
She hopped off her barstool and grabbed his hand, even if any help she could offer was purely symbolic. "Sanis told you, didn't he? Prent isn't that common of a last name...."
He waved her off, knowing full well that if he took that hand she'd be coming down with him.
"Arre you kjiddjing? He'd soonerr shoot you than talk about Narr Shaddaa. No! jI mean jI knew Ledo's last name, but...but..."
Cirr gesticulated wildly with his hands in exasperation.
"Look at hjim! He looks ljike a dewback trrjied to kjiss a buzz saw. jI djidn't connect the dots."
Bewildered blue eyes looked at James and tried to imagine how Ledo made that. He grimaced. Grunting as he got to his feet, he continued to rub the goose-egg on the back of his head. The barkeep gave him a weird look as he simply opted to stand this time. He pulled a slightly-crumpled envelope from a pocket.
"Yourr letterr, jit wouldn't happen to look somethjing ljike thjis, would it?"
She looked at the envelope, a frown creasing her brow. "Yeah... Told me he wanted to see me on Tatooine. Followed the return address to here. What did yours say?"
His face plainly befuddled, Cirr passed the note over to James.
Deer Cap'nRowrshaRahsootSurseeta,
It having been an honur and privlej to serve abourd the good ship Novgrod, I'm writin this letter to ya in hopes it finds you well. Hoping respectabul command ain't got you preoccupide, I gots a mission of me own that I humbly seek your hand in helpin. Come and meet me on Tatooween if it ain't incanvenient of ya.
Sinceerly,
Ledo G. Prent
Rancor of Malastare
Byl ducked in from outside, looking cagy. Or more to the point, business as usual. He checked the position of all five people in the bar, eventually heading to James who was chatting up a fairly awkward-looking Cizerack.
"Everything's pretty quiet." He sidled up to his girl, locking his hand in hers as she looked over a letter. A different letter. Blue eyes ran Cirrsseeto up and down suspiciously.
"Friend of yours?"
She leaned back into Byl, and nodded, handing Cirr's letter over to him. "This is Cirrsseeto Raur-ah, Quez. Captain Quez, actually. He was Sanis' first mate, back...in the day." James pursed her lips, looking at Cirr.
"Your letter mentions a mission, but mine didn't. But this can't be a coincidence, right?" She took her beer with her free hand, to try and stop the itching for a stim that always got worse when she got anxious.
"Ja irra." Cirr extended a hand in greeting, getting a firm shake from James' hard-faced companion. He looked like a pretty tough operator, and Cirr had traveled rough enough times to judge the sort. "Frrjiend of James jis a frrjjiend of mjine."
Parting hands, I looked back to James, and we both compared each letter. Same goddess-awful handwriting. Same mistakes. Both cut to the heart of each recipient, and asked for a rendezvous at Tatooine. Cirr scratched his chin in thought.
"Sounds ljike yourr old man has somethjing bjig jin mjind."
Or he just wanted everyone he knew to join him to get mind-meltingly drunk. Cirr thought flippantly. Ledo was a solid sort when the chips were down, but he definitely saw where Sanis got the gene. Every day an adventure or a misadventure.
From the outside, it took a while before the blinding daylight ebbed away. Everyone was shadow and fog. Still, I had ears enough to hear familiar voices.
"That'll be a first."
I was already drunk. Probably not the best course of operation, but if I was sober I wouldn't have had the silly notion to actually follow through with any of this. I walked to the family reunion in progress, clapping Cirr on the shoulder as I passed. I didn't know why he was here. Maybe my luck still existed and he was my guardian angel. I stood in front of James, ignoring the man she was with, and swayed slightly on my feet.
"So he got you too, then."
After seeing Cirr she really shouldn't have been surprised, but James was still a bit taken aback when Sanis walked up to them. "Been a while," she said, not sure whether to laugh or cry at the sight of her half brother. He smelled like he'd crawled out of a whiskey bottle.
She opened her mouth again, but couldn't find the words to express what she was feeling, so she just drained her beer instead. "I think I'm going t' need another."
I hated that she was here. It was a reflection of the awful human being I already knew I'd become. I'd cut her loose with half-assurances she'd be in good hands, and then scattered to the four winds. Confirmation that I was more like my old man than I wanted to confront right now.
"You look good, James." I nodded, hoping I could take the edge off my shame by talking. And she did, though you could naturally see the mileage here and there. It just ended up feeling awkward. Another nip from my flask provided a dose of social anesthetic.
"Guess you finally get to meet dad. Hope your expectations aren't too high. Wonder how many more of us bastards he invited."
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks