Family Study

By LiteraryLitany

Chapter 2: Some Interesting Rumors

Despite his attempts at distraction and negotiations, Yelena didn't budge, and he also rather disappointingly failed to postpone the trip for another day. They left late though, with the afternoon sun glaring down at them though most of their initial travel southeast toward the Avibian Plains.

Valek spent most of the ride either probing Yelena for details of her capture at the hands of the gang of children or quietly considering the road ahead. He kept his mind from the purpose of their journey, deciding to avoid the unpleasant thoughts as long as possible.

But he simply wasn't used to not thinking of a problem, and it didn't work for long. He remembered too well the last time he'd seen Yelena's parents. It had been at the Citadel mourning for their daughter a second time. That long time spent in painful uncertainty over whether she was lost forever to him as well.

The wound from those months was still fresh despite the time past and the present closeness of Yelena, whole and unharmed and most importantly his. He had tried to not let it show, but Ari, Janco, and the Commander all had noticed the difference, hence this long stretch of a more leisurely schedule. He had been all but ordered to delegate the running of his spy network to Janco, his dirty work to Ari, and the more regular duties of Ixia to Maren. He had enjoyed the freedom at first, but the sense of not having quite enough to do was beginning to settle like an itch between his shoulder-blades.

He almost found himself hoping Yelena would find a way to get them into trouble. Not that he couldn't handle some of that himself, but it was much more interesting if the problems were as new and complicated as her previous catastrophes.

His eyes settled on the place at the horizon where the Illais jungle would eventually emerge. Where Yelena's family waited. The thought of family always tightened the muscles in his gut. He knew exactly how well family could be used against you. How much it could hurt. However, he also lacked experience in the finer points of being family.

It had been so long since he'd been the scrawny boy who'd so looked up to his older brothers. He'd done so much since then. Changed much, yes, but perhaps the scrawny boy was still in him somewhere. In tatters for sure, but still there. If anyone could bring him out, it would be Yelena.

…Who it seemed was in the midst of trying to poison him more literally than usual if the faint scent coming off the warm stew she handed him was any indication. The smell wasn't one he recognized specifically, but that was what made it such a dead giveaway. He'd have to get the recipe out of her once he'd found his way around eating her concoction. No need to nettle her pride openly this early in the trip.

He made sport of distracting her enough to dump the soup, and even "accidentally" spilled hers in the process. Being the gentleman he was he of course offered to refill both bowls himself. No doubt she suspected his clumsiness for what it was, but she couldn't be prickly about it if he didn't rub it in her face, so the rest of the evening was companionable and only slightly more competitive that usual.

When they were both warm in her cloak he looked thoughtfully at her face in the firelight and ran his fingers through the short but ever-growing hair, finally asking a question that had been puzzling him. "You being so determined about me meeting your family seems a bit of a break for you, love."

She smiled with a quirk of humor as she thought of a response. "It is, or would be, except you haven't put my mother into the equation."

He did, and it seemed much more clear. And nerve-wracking. "She really wants to meet me?"

Yelena sighed, her cool fingertips coming from nowhere to trace the scare on his chest. "Sadly, I think it's more likely to be an interrogation."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I think I've handled those before, love."

She cast him a too-perceptive look. "Then why have you been avoiding it?"

He sighed, brushing his fingers down her neck thoughtfully to linger at her collarbone and make her shiver. "Not very good reasons."

"The great Valek? Lacking in reason?" Her tone was only slightly joking.

"I've been under the influence as of late." He said with amusement, looking pointedly down at her, delighted to faintly discern what might have been a blush on her cheeks.

"But you're okay with going now?"

He considered, then shrugged his shoulders slightly. "My reasons for avoiding the occasion do not outweigh my desire to keep you happy." And avoid your wrath, he added silently.

She seemed pleased and distracted by this romantic assertion and didn't bring the subject up again that night. Giving him time to ponder other things. Like how to get her back for that poor attempt at poisoning him she'd made earlier…

The next day of travelling boasted a stop at a small market for refreshing their provisions, and taking any available opportunity to delay the inevitable move forward, he offered to take Yelena shopping. She'd given him a suspicious look when he first suggested it, but soon gave into a kind of girlish glee as she peered at the different booths.

That girlish glee only made her selections more disturbing (and amusing) than they would have been otherwise, as she had apparently decided she lacked the number of concealable weapons a fashionable woman ought to have. He decided she must be using him as a goal, and admitted a bit of chagrin at having encouraged the shopping spree. Not because he didn't think she could use the weapons (he was always in favor of Yelena being more prepared), but because they would require that much more time to locate and remove the next time he planned to undress her.

She sent him back to the inn they stayed at with her packages, and the glint in her eye told him she had other purchases to make that he'd have to question her about later. However, it was in the course of his package-sitting duties that he overheard (accidentally of course) some disturbing rumors about a thief who was using magic to get away with his heists in a most peculiar way.

The victims had no memory of the thief, or the crime for that matter. In fact, they were all so utterly confused that it often took someone else pointing out their missing coin-purse for them to remember they'd even had one to begin with. If that didn't sound like just the kind of mystery to tweak Yelena's curiosity, he'd swallow one of the knives he'd just shelled out for.

As it happened, when she returned that evening, he was right on the mark. The second they were alone, each turned to the other and started the same sentence in perfect unison. "I heard some interesting rum—" They stopped, blinking at each other a moment before falling into a fit of companionable laughter.

"So. Are we doing reconnaissance tonight or…not…?" Yelena trailed off, amusement still dancing in her eyes as his arms settled around her waist in silent triumph. He'd found a way to delay her, alright. Or was this just her natural attraction to trouble at work? Either way, despite his own curiosity, he would drag out whatever diversion their little thief could provide. It was against his usual protocol to do that, but what chance did a stray magician stand against the two of them, even when he was keeping their movements slow?

Yelena's accommodating lips kept him from answering his own question, but didn't quite keep him from noticing the bag she tucked under the mattress when she thought he wasn't looking.

Author's Note: My effusive apologies go without saying. I know it's been forever, but Writer's Block has been my only constant companion for about a year now. That ended about… Last week. Which is where me catching up on all my multi-chaps comes in. This lovely story gets first call, and my Labyrinth fic will follow shortly, if any of you follow that as well. I already have a good idea of what the next chapter's going to look like, and I'm afraid it'll be more action, less fluff. : / And that takes me a bit longer. Still, I'm determined to finish Family Study, and I'm setting my goal as having it done before the end of the year. *fingers crossed*