Author Topic: Half-Empty  (Read 3275 times)

Offline Ajnos

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Half-Empty
« on: June 15, 2004, 12:28:10 AM »

Half-Empty

"I like to remember things my own way, how I remember them, not how they actually happened."

    Don't we all.



"I can't believe you did that!"

"Well, I can't believe you're upset!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. I mean I expect a lot more toughness from you. Frankly, I'm disappointed."

"Oh, I'm so sorry my head wound disappoints you! It's your fault anyway..."

"What?! I didn't tell you to jump headfirst into the underbrush and whack your head on the first available tree stump."

"You said, 'Duck!'"

"So what? I didn't mean dive into a tree! I just meant, 'Look! A water fowl.'"

"Well, you weren't very clear!"

"What's there to be clear about? I saw a duck! I said, 'Duck.' You're the one who overreacted."

"Well, you didn't have to laugh at me."

"I'm not laughing!"

"Trouble, ladies?"

The two women barely spared the man a glance as he stood smiling quizzically from the doorway of his large and tidy home.

"Sadira is mad because she's an idiot," Imoen said and crossed her arms over her chest.

"And Imoen is a jerk for not knowing that telling someone 'Duck!' might be taken the wrong way!"

"The ducks on the pond?" Kelsey said and looked down to hide a grin as his wife exploded with indignation.

"She didn't say there were ducks. She said, 'Duck!'" Sadira pointed an accusing finger at the archmage who sniffed and looked down her nose at the gesture.

"Poor Sadira," Kelsey walked the three steps to his wife and wrapped her in a hug. Sadira squawked indignantly, pulling back from his embrace and shooing him away.

"Please, honey, my head hurts," Sadira said, instantly he released her, moving around to get a better look at her head. He took her face in his hands and tilted her head, she winced elaborately and he apologized. She sighed and waited and eventually he backed off faintly hurt at her exasperation.

"I'll get you some willowbark tea," he said, smiling at her.

"That'd be great. You do that," she nodded and looked down. After a moment, he left them and went inside.

The two women watched him go and Sadira put a hand to her head and touched the tips of her fingers to the swelling lump at the crown of her head. Imoen bent and peered at the bump and unlike she had with her husband; Sadira didn't retreat from the contact.

"It'll be alright," Imoen said after a moment, "it'll be a heck of a bruise though."

"Great," Sadira said, pouting as she turned her back on the door and walked down the steps into the back garden through which they'd arrived. They walked in silence down the sloping gravel path, their feet brushing up against the herbs that overgrew the path setting up a heady aroma into the heavy afternoon air.

Imoen glanced back over her shoulder and seeing that Kelsey was still gone, she turned her attention back to Sadira and sidestepping closer nudged her lightly with her elbow.

"Are you two fighting?" Imoen asked.

"What? No, we don't fight. Not really."

"Uh-huh."

"We're fine. I guess," she looked at her sibling from the corner of her eye. "Look, that's not what I wanted to talk about," she whispered and as she'd expected Imoen perked up at the hint of secrecy suggested by a whisper.

"What?"

"I was just wondering if you'd…" she looked over her shoulder now toward the house. It wouldn't take her husband long to round up a servant and get her the promised tea.

"Yeah?"

"Well. If you regretted giving up the…you know the taint."

"The taint?!" Imoen stopped dead in her tracks and blinked at her, forehead creased in confusion or horror.

"Be quiet!"

"Sorry," Imoen shook her head. "Sadi, how hard did you hit your head? Really."

"I'm serious," Sadira said, she grabbed Imoen's arm and pulled her further toward the back of the garden where yellow flowering vines smothered the low wall there.

"No, I don't regret it," Imoen said, she looked at Sadira with wide-eyes. "What kind of question is that? Do I regret… Do you?"

"No. Not exactly."

"What?! Not exactly? Did we go to the Abyss? Did you stand at the Throne? Did you say, 'Oh Solar make me human! I just wanna be mortal!' Or am I thinking of that other Sadira?" Imoen said.

"No, that was me and I meant it," Sadira said. "I mean, what choice did I really have. What was I supposed to do? Become a goddess of murder or something? What kind of person wants to do that forever?"

"And there was the whole 'ruined your life-evil taint thing' too."

"Yeah. Besides, I was really tired. It had been a long few years."

"Well, it wasn't really that long, I mean…"

"Who's talking?"

"Oh, fine. Sheesh."

"Anyway, like I said, it had been a long couple of years and I was tired. I was tired of blisters on my heels and I was tired of never really being clean. Bathing in a stream! Gods! Sure, it's sort of romantic or even fun, the first, maybe even the second time, but I never really felt clean, just less filthy. And the food was awful." Sadira gave Imoen a meaningful look.

The mage scowled. "Hey! I didn't see you doing any better!"

"Oh, please at least what I fixed was edible. You couldn't cook a decent meal with a knife at your throat."

"I'd like to see anyone cook well under those conditions."

"That's just my point, Imoen. We were in the middle of all that…mess. I was always hungry, always tired and this seemed like a good idea at the time," Sadira waved her hands at the garden and the pretty house up on it's small hill.

"And," Imoen said slowly, "this isn't a good idea now?"

"I just get sick of it all sometimes. The never-ending stream of boring people, being the most interesting thing in this neck of the woods," Sadira looked and saw her husband, her very own one true love standing in the doorway looking for her. She wondered if he'd always been so thin.

"I used to be someone, Imoen," Sadira said, "and I'm not just talking about being Bhaalspawn. I was the Terror of the Sword Coast; I saved the Tree of Life! I've killed dragons; I brought Ust Natha to its knees! I was nearly a god."

"Hey, I was there too," Imoen objected.

"Yeah," Sadira said, "but I used to be this great thing, this hero. I was practically a goddamned archetypal…thing." She lifted her hand and waved to Kelsey a big smile on her face. "And now, I'm nothing at all."

Imoen rolled her eyes as she waved at Kelsey too. The sorcerer lifted up a tray set with a teapot and several cups. He nodded his chin toward the small table and chairs near him. Imoen nodded, Sadira sighed, and they began to make their way back to the house.

"I think you should get a grip," Imoen said softly, "you're looking back fondly on being the God of Murder's Number One Daughter."

"At least that was something..."

"Grow up."

"You're a fine one to talk, oh Miss Archmage of Many Names," Sadira snapped. "You're off…doing things while I'm stuck here."

"Stuck? This is a great place, he adores you."

"I know," Sadira watched Imoen's shadow on the ground. She hadn't really expected Imoen to understand anyway. And this wasn't a bad life, was it? It was a good life. She looked at Kelsey and felt an annoyed sort of affection for him. At least he thought she was special, every time he looked at her she could still see the reflection of Sadira, greatest of the Bhaalspawn in his eyes. That was nice.

"Then come with me, we could hit the road again," Imoen said. "We could go look for Jaheira or visit Balthazar maybe?" Imoen looked from her half-sister to her brother-in-law then back again. "Unless, he won't let you?" She grinned and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Sadira snorted. "Oh please," she said, "he'd come with us. And what fun would that be?" The women walked toward the man. He brightened and stood, she submitted to his hesitant embrace and when he kissed her, she kissed him back observing with dark amusement his relieved smile.

"Is everything alright?" Kelsey said. "You two looked so serious out there." He seated her at the table, fussing over the bump on her head when he saw it. Imoen sat opposite her and began to pour the tea.

"It's nothing. Imoen was just reminding me of how lucky I am," Sadira smiled up at her husband. "I'm living my happy ending, I guess."

He smiled. "That's sweet of you to say." The fond look he gave her settled heavily on her heart, across the table Imoen set the teapot down with a soft thump. Sadira glanced at her half-sister, but Imoen would not meet her eyes.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2004, 04:02:16 PM by Ajnos »
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing

 

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