Chapter 11: Votrins
Sweat, rotting food, musky incense. Helaine had entirely forgotten the stench of the castle and its inhabitants, including her father. Her home on Dondar was under air cleansing spells and always smelled, as Score put it, "Downy Fresh", which she didn't understand.
One did not remain a Lord on Dondar for long by being famous for emotional outbursts, so in hardly any time at all Lord Votrin was composed and eyeing his daughter regally. "You continue to wear the clothes of a boy." He remarked tightly, as though it was an everyday point of contention.
Helaine refrained from saying anything. Seeing her father, old, had unleashed too many feelings for her to keep track of. She couldn't risk opening her mouth and letting the wrong one escape.
"Where have you been?" Her father broke into words again, hardly able to contain his burning questions in his mind. "We searched for you everywhere, we sent letters to all the neighboring lands, we questioned captured Borderland soldiers. There was no trace of you. It was like you vanished into the realm of the Fair Folk." He nearly choked on the last words. "Where were you?" Lord Votrin repeated, toying with the gold chain that fastened his cloak.
"Dondar, among other places." Helaine said, restraining the small smile that threatened to steal her face. Lord Votrin withdrew slightly.
"Where on God's world is that?"
"It's not father. It's not on this world at all." Helaine shook away her father's confusion. "Does it matter? I'm home now. I had to come see you again."
Lord Votrin hunched his shoulders together. "Of course, Helaine. I'm thrilled to see you." He smiled briefly, but tiredly. "Come with me. There is someone I'd like you to meet."
Helaine bared her teeth slightly. "Father, I'm no longer yours to sell. I'm not interested in any more Peverels."
A blank stare. Lord Votrin shook his head. "It is nothing like that Helaine." He extended a hand and Helaine accepted it, exactly as she was bred to do. Together, they paced gracefully out of the room and down the long hallway to a room Helaine vaguely remembered.
"The nursery?" She asked, baffled. Her father gently swung the door open. The room was softly lit by a simpering fire, and a figure occupied the rocking chair that faced away from the door.
"Lady Brielle." The figure in the chair rose and turned in a half curtsy. She looked up and Helaine found herself staring into the intense blue eyes of a woman probably not even six years older than herself. Lord Votrin dropped Helaine's hand and reached for the other. "Lady Brielle, this is my daughter Helaine, whom I have oft spoke of." Brielle's eyes brightened and she smiled warmly. "Helaine, Lady Brielle Terrano Votrin, my wife of four years."
Helaine stared rather ungraciously. Wife?
Lady Brielle smoothed over the silence courteously. "I've heard ever so much about you Helaine, though I was quite under the impression that you were... well, carried off or some such." The woman had a smattering of freckles across her pale cheeks and fine red gold hair. She was quite pretty, but all Helaine saw was a step-mother.
"And this is our son, Garon." Only after her father mentioned it did Helaine see the small form clinging behind his mother's skirts. With a little coaxing the little boy peeked out and looked apprehensively at his half-sister. Helaine returned the gaze.
"I understand this might be...upsetting to you Helaine...but for Erlkonig's sake! My only daughter gone and the Border Lords mobilizing? I had to ensure lineage for our lands." Lord Votrin took a deep breath.
"I understand Father. I did not even expect to return. You did what was necessary." Helaine looked down. "I just didn't think... I don't know. I've been gone five years but it seems... so much shorter." Helaine pondered briefly how to explain her rather unique situation to her father. Score had done such a good job with Bad Tony. What exactly had he said?
"Perhaps," interjected Lady Brielle, "it would be more comfortable if I put Garon to bed and we discussed this elsewhere?" Helaine smiled, grateful for the time to think.
It was rare that the Triad reborn ate the evening meal together. Nobody ever seemed to eat on the same schedule, each with their own projects or interests to take care of. But tonight, Score, Pixel, and Crow sat at the grand kitchen table to consume a feast of hamburgers, french fries, and cola, all provided, of course, by Score. Crow ate messily with her fingers, refusing to touch the lettuce on her burger until Pixel glared at her.
After dinner, Crow severely ordered the boys to stay seated, and raced away. She returned, arms full of the papers she'd covered in paint. With deliberate mannerisms she laid out her masterpieces on the table. "Dis'n a picture of my street." Crude drawings of row houses in dark browns and grays snarled back at Score. "And dis'n t'park." Verdant greens and blues in living shapes twisted around the paper.
The next drawing was a picture of a face. It had a dark bushy beard and angry red eyes. "Who's that?" Score inquired quietly.
"My runner" Crow whispered, quickly shuffling through to the next page. "Dis'n me n' Sammi. We're in t'park." Two sketchily-drawn girls holding hands were surrounded by a heart shape of coiling vines.
"Who's Sammi?" Score asked for the second time since he'd known Crow. This time she responded.
"Sammi n' me were always put together cuz she'd get scared n' sometimes she tried to run away but she was my best friend." Crow paused. "I miss Sammi."
Score's mouth twisted in a half smile. Understated yearning was a feeling they had in common.
The great room was smoky and deliciously filled with home. Every stone in the wall, every tapestry, and every piece of worn furniture evoked a forgotten memory. Helaine sat in her chair, arms wrapped around her knees, and started from the beginning.
She began with her father's announcement of the wedding, which induced a trivial laugh from Brielle. "My father was after me to consider Dathan as a suitor, but he was too young and wasn't interested in an old maid like myself." She smiled knowingly at Helaine. "He was a fop, wasn't he?" Helaine wondered for a minute just how many years there were between herself and her father's wife, before continuing with her story. The mention of Rahn, the leopard-woman Beastial, elicited a slight response from her father, but it wasn't until Helaine told of her first Portal that he stopped her.
"I'm sorry, Helaine, but you aren't making any sense." Helaine looked hard at his face. It was worn and beaten, like and old rug that has suffered the foyer far too long. She sighed and decided to take the quick and easy path. Storytelling was going nowhere. Knowing the weakness of her magic on the Rim World, she clutched the sapphire in her pocket and bit her lip.
A woven blanket from across the room glided over to her and tucked itself in around her. The other two goggled in amazement. "Is that what you've learned in five years?" Lord Votrin asked, seeming a trifle annoyed. "Cheap charlatan tricks?"
Helaine tossed her head. "It isn't a trick father. Watch." This time finding her onyx in her pocket, which she would normally have used for transforming herself, she instead used it to project the image of her father on her own face.
Horror, puzzlement, and complete awe played across Lord Votrin's face. "Magic, father." Helaine explained, resuming her normal appearance. "I'm a magic-user." She said flatly. "I live on another world with unicorns and dragons and other magicians. That's where I've been." A frown. "And you thought I was surprised."
*****
Well, that's the end of my writing stint for awhile. Not to say that I'm done with the story, its just that after all this creative juice has been unleashed, I need some recuperation time. Plus, my boyfriend is coming home Friday after being gone for what feels like forever, so I won't have so much time anymore :)
Sorry it's taken so long. I went to the beach for two weeks and then to Steuben County, New York, to help repair some homes. Yeah, I've been busy :)
In other news, I posted another poem... durr... and I'm working on one of my silly original stories.
Anyway, love to everyone, enjoy your summer, I'll write another chapter soon.
Aroo!
