Post by rainstormamaya on Mar 10, 2011 9:55:23 GMT 10
Title: But
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 539
Pairing: Team Girl Power (Buri/Thayet)
Round: 1/B
Summary: Buri’s fifteenth birthday present from Jon and Thayet.
Jonathan pulls the sheet off the stand with a flourish. Thayet smiles.
Buri stares, with wide, silent eyes, and yes, perhaps gaping like a fish a little – she is only fifteen, after all – and does not know whether she hates them, or loves them.
It’s armour. It’s armour like Buri has never had, because her mother only had her suit and the suit that used to belong to her father, which Pathom grew into. Buri has made do with leather jerkins sewn with metal rings, borrowed helms and luck. None of these have ever let her down, but...
But. Buri takes a small step forward, as if she cannot believe what she is seeing. How many close calls has she had? How many times has she come too close, how many times has Alanna mended an unnecessary wound? How many times has Raoul fretted over her lack of proper protection, and tried to find spare armour in her size in the stores? It is useless: there is none. Even the smallest squires are taller than her. So this is a useful gift.
But. Buri reaches out and delicately touches the suit, picks up the helm and examines it from all angles. It is beautiful, too. She can see that Thayet had a hand in it, because it is lacquered almost like K’miri armour, and bright red, the Hau Ma colour; who else would have known that? Who else knew Buri’s tribe? And who else would have bought her Raven Armoury armour- well, perhaps Alanna, but it’s too expensive for someone you don’t really know, even considering Alanna’s wealth and the fact that she has fought at Alanna’s right hand. So this is a beautiful, well-crafted gift, given by someone who knows her well.
But. Buri fits the helmet over her head, and it is, of course, perfect. Naturally it is; Thayet likes things just so and from what Buri knows of Jonathan he’s not very different. And there’s the sticking point: this is the perfect gift for a loyal vassal you want to protect. Buri is Thayet’s subject, not Jonathan’s, and they both know it; although the point has never been formally considered, and Thayet and Jonathan act as one in matters of state, Buri doesn’t think that Jonathan dares give her an order. She will not be bought off by him. She will not be pacified, and sweetened, and made docile, because Buri has never, never been docile, and there was a time when she thought Thayet might value that, that maybe, one day a few years in the future, as quiet, private citizens living in Tortall with enough connections and money to keep life comfortable but no crowns to weigh them down-
But there was a time when Buri could say all that, and that time is long gone. And Thayet is still Thayet, and Jonathan just might be stupid enough not to know what he has given her. There is very little she can do now.
“Thank you,” Buri says, and if her voice shakes a little it is only natural; after all, it is a wonderful thing, an useful, beautiful, well-crafted gift, given by someone who knows her well. “I... Horse Lords. I don’t know what to say.”
QC by: greenie
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 539
Pairing: Team Girl Power (Buri/Thayet)
Round: 1/B
Summary: Buri’s fifteenth birthday present from Jon and Thayet.
***
Jonathan pulls the sheet off the stand with a flourish. Thayet smiles.
Buri stares, with wide, silent eyes, and yes, perhaps gaping like a fish a little – she is only fifteen, after all – and does not know whether she hates them, or loves them.
It’s armour. It’s armour like Buri has never had, because her mother only had her suit and the suit that used to belong to her father, which Pathom grew into. Buri has made do with leather jerkins sewn with metal rings, borrowed helms and luck. None of these have ever let her down, but...
But. Buri takes a small step forward, as if she cannot believe what she is seeing. How many close calls has she had? How many times has she come too close, how many times has Alanna mended an unnecessary wound? How many times has Raoul fretted over her lack of proper protection, and tried to find spare armour in her size in the stores? It is useless: there is none. Even the smallest squires are taller than her. So this is a useful gift.
But. Buri reaches out and delicately touches the suit, picks up the helm and examines it from all angles. It is beautiful, too. She can see that Thayet had a hand in it, because it is lacquered almost like K’miri armour, and bright red, the Hau Ma colour; who else would have known that? Who else knew Buri’s tribe? And who else would have bought her Raven Armoury armour- well, perhaps Alanna, but it’s too expensive for someone you don’t really know, even considering Alanna’s wealth and the fact that she has fought at Alanna’s right hand. So this is a beautiful, well-crafted gift, given by someone who knows her well.
But. Buri fits the helmet over her head, and it is, of course, perfect. Naturally it is; Thayet likes things just so and from what Buri knows of Jonathan he’s not very different. And there’s the sticking point: this is the perfect gift for a loyal vassal you want to protect. Buri is Thayet’s subject, not Jonathan’s, and they both know it; although the point has never been formally considered, and Thayet and Jonathan act as one in matters of state, Buri doesn’t think that Jonathan dares give her an order. She will not be bought off by him. She will not be pacified, and sweetened, and made docile, because Buri has never, never been docile, and there was a time when she thought Thayet might value that, that maybe, one day a few years in the future, as quiet, private citizens living in Tortall with enough connections and money to keep life comfortable but no crowns to weigh them down-
But there was a time when Buri could say all that, and that time is long gone. And Thayet is still Thayet, and Jonathan just might be stupid enough not to know what he has given her. There is very little she can do now.
“Thank you,” Buri says, and if her voice shakes a little it is only natural; after all, it is a wonderful thing, an useful, beautiful, well-crafted gift, given by someone who knows her well. “I... Horse Lords. I don’t know what to say.”
QC by: greenie