The pieces of my heart (Choco!)

[Anonymous]

((This thread takes place on the dwarf planet Hiqeeri-tarlen, unless otherwise stated, all spoken language is in Hiqeeri.))

It was unusual for a Hiqeeri Queen to be alone.  For this meeting Dosiseke banished all of her attendants, after promising she would summon them as soon as it was over and in the same breath ordering them to make sure no one found themselves in the hallway leading to her audience room.  Her informal audience chamber had thicker walls, so it was this one she selected.  The room was lit by a few, dim light orbs and contained a few couches arranged around a little table.  Pictures of other Queens, recent and older, were hung on the walls with shadowboxes that contained jewelry.

Dosiseke sat upright on her couch, she was too nervous to relax and lounge on it, and looked up through her amethyst flaked false eyelashes at the portraits.  Anything to keep her from watching the door.  It kept her eyes busy, but she couldn't focus on the paintings or admire the jewelry.

Even though it was taking place in an informal setting, Dosiseke dressed as though she would be making a public appearance.  Outside the Royal Quarters, the Hiqeeri had an idea of how a Queen was supposed to look - at least that was what her attendants kept trying to explain.  She indulged them, so they would indulge in her own request.  So the top layer of her red hair, whose abundant orange glow was easily another light source, was twisted in an elaborate bun.  The rest she pulled over a shoulder and let pool in her lap.  Two hair ornaments hung from her temples and three more were stuck in her bun.  There were five tiny platinum rings in her eyebrows, three on the left and two on the right, and an ornate pair of chandelier earrings hung from her ears, they filled each of the seven holes in the bottom of her ears and the longest strands nearly brushed her shoulders.  Her shoes were a plain pair of silver court shoes.  Her overrobe, which was a soft grey-black and edged with platinum embroidery of flowers, was pulled tightly closed.  It was loose, but not loose enough to hide that she should have been pregnant with her latest clutch.

After a few minutes looking at the walls, Dosiseke finally looked at the door.  Though it was a little silly she tried wishing the Pathfinder would hurry.  Desperate wishes never seemed to come true, but that didn't stop her from wishing them when she was nervous.  Once she finished thinking the wish Dosiseke looked down at the hair in her lap and ran the sparkling white claws of one hand through the mass.  She let the strands wind across her fingers and looked down at them - red hair, with plenty of orange glow over her light brown fingers with their painted and jeweled claws and under them the grey-black of her robe.

The robe Sirial gave her...

[Anonymous]

A Queen had called her. Dosiseke, her Queen had called her. And she was late.

It wasn’t her fault, not really. If that bitch Kerof hadn’t kept her in that damn useless briefing after her run she would have checked her mail sooner and thus wouldn’t have been running to make her summons.

Running was what Rae did, and running she was. The girl was a blur as she tore down the corridors. Anyone or anything that got in her way was avoided, by going under, over or around. She didn’t slow, she didn’t hit anything, she was one with the flow of it all.

Rolling brought her to a stop in front of the door to Dosiseke’s audience chamber. Rae had never been in here before, never even seen her Queen, her mother, in the flesh before now. Straightening up, she checked herself over. Her entire outfit was dark blue, designed to blend with shadows. Loose, insulated pants covered her legs and were bound at the ankles above her bare feet. A tight, long sleeved thermal shirt covered her arms, with fingerless gloves to protect her palms. A vest covered her torso, covering her neck with warm, black dyed fur.

Her face was a littler different to the average worker, with her right eye replaced with a cybernetic after it was lost two years ago. Dark blue hair fell straight, cut off at the shoulder, and no jewellery adorned her. Her piercings were in more hidden places. She also had a tattoo. Only pathfinders got tattoos. Three black dots, arranged in an inverted triangle beneath her artificial eye almost looked natural with her single beauty mark that sat on her right upper lip. Some said that it was a shame for her to ruin her pretty, round face and her light brown skin with ink, but she was a pathfinder, and she didn’t care.

Once she was sure she looked alright, Rae knocked twice. After a moment of fidgeting she entered, unable to not stare at the figure daintily arranged on a couch. Her heart fluttered, recognising her mother, while her brain saw her queen. Such a rare thing, to meet a queen, so see one this close, and she kept walking closer.

Rae had no idea what the etiquette was here, so she did the most formal greeting she knew. Dropping to the floor three paces from Dosiseke she kneeled, then leant forward to press her palms and forehead to the ground, tail up in the air. “You summoned, my queen,” she said as clearly as she could facing the floor.

[Anonymous]

Queen Dosiseke looked up when she heard the knocks, her eyes (a green many shades too dark to even be considered average) widening and fingers curling around her hair.   She managed to compose herself as the door opened and the Pathfinder entered.  

This one was one of hers.  She studied the worker as she approached, nearly gasping when she saw the little mark on her upper lip.  Did the Chief of the Pathfinders know what she needed found?  Whether or not the Chief knew, Dosiseke took the mark as a sign.  It set her at ease, a little.  

The corners of Dosiseke's mouth turned up when the worker fell to her knees and she made a mental note to thank the attendant that made her dress formally.  She was getting too old to be enchanted by layers of expensive fabric and the sparkle of jewelry; now it was a reminder that she needed to conduct herself like a queen.  Instead of spilling out her tale and begging for the worker's assistance, she could start by getting the worker off the ground.

"My child," she said softly, the traditional form of address between a queen and worker, even if it was literal this time.  "Please sit down.  Would you like anything before I begin?"

[Anonymous]

Rae rose with the grace only a Pathfinder possessed, her tail swishing nervously behind her as she straightened.

"No mother," she said softly, the traditional form of address between a worker and a queen, even if it was literal this time. “I am fine, thank you.”

Her eyes darted to the empty space next to the queen, wondering if the invitation had been to sit on her couch or simple a couch. On the one hand, she really did want to sit next to her, and if the offer was as such it might be an offence to sit anywhere else. On the other she was a queen, and Rae worried that sitting next to her, as if she were an equal, might show a horrible lack of respect.

She battled for a moment with the strange and sudden urge for closeness and the uncertainly that went along with it. In the end, closeness won.

Taking a shaky breath Rae moved closer to her queen, turning slowly and sitting at the other end of the two person couch, careful not to so much as touch any of Dosiseke’s clothes. She was nervous, ready to jump up and apologise if the queen said she was wrong for sitting there.

Her voice carried her nerves. “What do you require of me my Queen?”

[Anonymous]

This wasn't the time to correct the worker if she chose to remain on the floor, as some workers chose to when meeting with a queen.  The worker could sit where she wanted to, as long as she was comfortable and could listen to what Dosiseke had to tell her.

Where she wanted to sit turned out to be Dosiseke's own couch.  Other than shifting slightly so she was facing the worker, Dosiseke didn't have much of a reaction.  Once she turned, Dosiseke closed her eyes and sighed gently.  Usually she would have kept the expression longer, but the worker seemed nervous and she didn't want to give an impression of being annoyed rather than saddened.  So she opened her eyes and gave the worker a reassuring smile.

"My child," she began.  "I have suffered two losses within the last two cycles and it is my fear that one has caused the other.  I'm not aware of how much you know already, so I will tell the tale from the beginning.

"First, was the death of Hamuka Dosiseke-kulavk Minruhsuhi Sirial," Dosiseke's voice strained saying the name and she took a breath before continuing.  "He was first among my consorts.  The one a queen never expects to die.  It was very hard for me to accept and I became wroth with the world.  The attendants who tried to save him, my other consorts that were not him, myself because I favored him so much," Dosiseke stopped and took another deep breath.  "My anger worsened when the clutch was analyzed and found to be all workers.  No offense my dear child, after he died I began hoping that I might bear my successor in that clutch.  

"Now," Dosiseke sighed.  "My youngest consort, Hamuka Dosiseke-ferqen Lazelanea Kalaal has gone missing."

Dosiseke's eyes were on her claws now.  The attendant that took care of her nails did excellent work with them, any that weren't aware that all Hiqeeri claws were black might think that she'd been born with white claws.  In another age, they wouldn't have been another thing to ornament.  The only lacquer that would have been on them would be the drying blood of another queen.  In those savage times, a queen that wouldn't breed risked her consorts being stolen by rival queens.  These days queens were still rivals for new consorts, but none actually fought fang and claw for them.  They discussed things, civilly.

"My first thought was that he had been taken.  The council of queens could have deemed me unworthy of owning so young a male, and Queen Razauraka wanted him.  I would have known though... there would have been a trial, paperwork, my other consorts would have seen something.  Something else has happened to Kalaal, my child."

[Anonymous]

Rae listened to the story in silence, feeling eased by the queens sadness and then guilty that she was.

The name of her father intrigued Rae more than saddened her. She barely felt anything for his death, though she knew the man no less than her mother. Apparently the maternal bond was stronger than the paternal. Her mind queried the nature of the death, then quickly set that aside as Dosiseke moved on. She certainly took to offence to the perceived slight, fully knowing her place, so her face remained blank. She wanted to look sorry, she really did, but her expression was stuck in a mix of shock and fear that a queen was talking to her, alone.

Swallowing hard, Rae pushed down the urge to hug her mother as she would a friend in need of one, instead saying softly, “Sirial was my father…”

She drifted off, puzzling over the feel of that word in her mouth. It had an odd tinge to it, when said to this woman. With a shake she brought herself back to reality. “Apologies mother. I…” she faded off again, not knowing what to say. “I do not know much of consorts, so excuse me if I seem ignorant next to your wisdom, but is it not possible Kalaal has gone willingly to another queen? Or…perhaps even fled offworld with some…worker?” The last word hurt to say. To think, a worker doing that with a consort. The thought was repulsive. That was for queens only, because they were different.

Her hands fidgeted as Rae became aware of how nicely kept Dosiseke’s claws were and how battle sharpened and gnarled hers were. She shifted slightly, no longer pressed uncomfortably against the side of the couch now that she was a little more sure of being permitted to be there. Rae considered simply asking her queen what the rules where, it would probably be safer than testing them, and she did tend to test the limits of the rules.

[Anonymous]

One of Dosiseke's claws snagged on the fabric of the couch as her upper lip began to curl.  The snag snapped her out of her sudden anger because the Pathfinder didn't share her grief.  It wasn't her place to be angry with this worker.  To her, Sirial was nothing but a few lines of text on her birth record.  She would have been raised to believe that males were nothing to be concerned with, including her own father.

It still hurt, being reminded yet again that life stubbornly pressed on despite Sirial not being part of it...

She took a deep breath, trying to let her anger flow out when she let the breath go.  She was going to have to wait for the worker to leave before she removed her claw from the couch.  The thick fibers held tight around one of the little crystals.  So unlike Iravan's robe when she lashed out at him for the crime of not caring as much as she did about Sirial's death.  The memory sobered her more than her breathing.

Dosiseke shook her head once and then again, quicker, when the Pathfinder offered her own suggestions.  "No queen would accept a consort that left his own queen.  Not even one that desired him for herself.  A consort that leaves one queen may leave another and that is not for them to decide.

"It is my thought that Kalaal has left Hiqeeri-tarlen, whether someone has taken him, or it is as you said.  At this time, I know nothing.  My child, what I've called you here to do is to find Kalaal."

[Anonymous]

A Pathfinder had several uses, but prevalent among them was observation. Her keen eyes darted this way and that constantly in situations like this where she was forced to remain alert, seeking out subtle signs and deciphering subtext. She should have noticed the signs, read Dosiseke’s body language and delivered a more appropriate response, even if she didn’t quite understand the reaction.

Dosiseke was angry, that much was clear by the way her claw had caught in the fabric. While Rae would have just yanked hers out, she respected the queen’s delicacy.

Her tail tentatively moved towards the queen, coming around behind Rae to rest its bulb on her hand gently. The act conveyed compassion and trust, to do the same with her own hand would have indicated that she believed Dosiseke to have the same level of trust in her, which would be a significant slight if she did not.

Choosing her words very carefully, Rae started to explain what was needed from this point in a caring and quiet tone, “Mother, any information, anywhere you can point me will make this faster. I will also need unrestricted access to equipment, if you want me to do it alone.” There was no ‘if’ about it. Finding Kalaal wasn’t a question of ‘if’, only when.

Rae was the best, she could find anyone anywhere, it was just a matter of time.

[Anonymous]

Removing her hand from the Pathfinder's tail would probably tear a line of fabric from the couch.  Right now, it was too much effort and Dosiseke was tired of lashing out at those around her.  The only thing that did was spread her ill temper around.

"The only thing I can give you is equipment and a list of ships that left around the time Kalaal went missing."  Dosiseke pulled her over robe open at the neck, pulling a chain with a rectangular pendant that fit snugly in the palm of her hand.  She opened the pendant, took out a data stick and held it toward the Pathfinder.

"Don't let anyone know what your mission is.  I want to keep this incident as quiet as possible until you return Kalaal, it wouldn't be proper for me to advertise that he is gone.

[Anonymous]

The talking was over.

She took the data stick, tucking it safely into a pocket. In a smooth motion Rae stood, took a step forward and turned to face her queen. With a deep bow and a stony face she said, "I will find Kalaal for you my queen, I swear it."

Already she was on the hunt, her instincts combining with years of training. She stood and spun on her bare foot, up on the balls, and strode out of the room.