Time Under Chaos | TimeUnderChaos / Sword Dancers Are an Intimate Bunch and Redrawing the Lines browse

Index | Time Under Chaos | Game Logs | PreGameLogs | Sword Dancers Are an Intimate Bunch

Crygst caught up with Amba one morning, off the Sword Dancing field and within the ways of Hendrake.

"Amba of House Heldt," he greeted her, smiling in his very oily way. His jaw was shorter since his run in with Amba and her dray, but other than that and a hardness about the eye that he didn't possess before, Crygst was still Crygst. "Doing well, I assume?"

Still warming up, Amba looked up from her exercises at the approach. Once she saw it was Crygst, she resumed without any attempt at greeting him.

Looking back towards the demon, her expression now wary, she replied with forced cordiality, "Well enough," not asking about his health before returning to her limbering stretches. She would have thought about asking his intent at the unusual greeting, but knew that Crygst was vain and liked to hear himself talk, so ignoring him was the best way to get him to come to his point.

"You've been gone from the Lists and the field. Did you have a falling out with your...partner? What's her name? Gyvie?"

Amba froze for a moment—only a minor hesitation as she took a deep breath. Then a thought crossed her mind and she had to suppress a smile. Making her face like stone, she turned quickly a heat she didn't feel in her eyes and her voice covering the icy deliberation of her actions. "Gyvie!?!?" she questioned, louder than Crygst would most likely have expected. Quickly, she advanced on him, swiftly closing the space between them, though her voice didn't reduce in volume or vitriol.

"You called me a Gyvie! Are you trying to challenge me, even though your rank has been reduced? Eh? I'll make sure you never make it off the field, insulting me like that!" She noted the people behind Crygst paying attention to them, and assumed that she had drawn just as much of a crowd behind her. "I accept!" she said before he could say anything, forcing him into either accepting...or backing down, losing face.

From the expression on his face, this was the last thing he expected Amba to do—and perhaps also the last thing he wanted to do, considering what happened previously.

"I'm not challenging you, you crazy bitch!" he cried out, choosing to back down and trying to preserve some face at the same time. "No wonder your partner dumped you for someone else! You're crazy!"

Up until that point, Amba had actually been enjoying herself. Though Crygst didn't really matter enough in the grand scheme of things for her to have more than a minor dislike towards him, his treatment of Helena and his smug arrogance did annoy her. But at his words...

"...No wonder..."

The crowd faded away as she processed his words...

"...your partner..."

A look of confusion crossed her face as everything seemed to slow down.

"...dumped you..."

Her first reaction was of course disbelief. After all, to Crygst, a lie and the truth were but two forms of conversation. But she had studied him... she could tell when he was trying to bluff or boast... he'd truly been caught off guard by her stratagem.

"...for someone else."

Where was Helena? Amba found she couldn't think, her expression changing to one of hurt as time sped up again. Unable to catch her breath, she found that the scene around her wavered, but could still see that all attention was on her.

Suddenly, she spun away from Crygst and ran as fast as she could, not bothering to retrieve her equipment or anything. She ran and ran, heedless of where she was going or who she ran into. Soon enough, she cleared the crowd, and before she knew it, she was in the place that Helena had first taken her to teach her Sword-Dancing. Realizing where she was she sank to her knees, Crygst's words pounding in her head as she tried to form thoughts—tried to make sense of the whole thing and the emotions she was feeling—tried to keep from falling apart as the tears began to fall in earnest as she laid on the soft ground, finally falling asleep in exhaustion.

Over the stone bridge and through the arch... Claudio let out a sigh of relief as he stepped out onto the soft grass of the high plateau. He'd found her. The sky was purple and stormy, but there was enough light to see Amba lying huddled on the ground not far from the edge of the training grid.

Claudio limped over and crouched down next to Amba. She seemed to be asleep. He touched her shoulder gently. "Amba?"

Because of her training, Amba normally awoke instantly- bright eyed and alert. But when she finally heard her name, she had to struggle to consciousness; she was more than a bit befuddled and her eyesight was bleary. "Wha...?" she asked, then finally she realized that someone was there with her and scrambled a short distance away, turning to look, before she fully comprehended who it was.

"Claudio?" she asked, bewildered. "Where... where... what?" Then she finally remembered what had happened, and how she ended up here, and broke down crying again.

"I was there, and I heard what Crygst said," Claudio explained. "Amba, don't listen to him. He doesn't know his back end from his front end, never mind the worth of what comes out of either."

Amba looked up at Claudio, wanting to believe what he said, but...

She looked down again, closing her eyes, trying to control her breathing. "I can read Crygst," she said. "It's not too difficult... so I can tell when he's lying." She stopped again, trying to calm herself... to ignore the fact that she felt like a weight was on her chest. "He wasn't," she said simply.

Claudio shook his head. "Doesn't mean he knows what he's talking about," he maintained. "Amba, Helena would never dump you as a partner. You should know that. The thing about Crygst is, he's probably never had a relationship that didn't involve being whacked on the head, so he doesn't know the difference."

Amba looked up again, wiping her eyes with her hands. "I ... I wouldn't have thought so, but..."

"...she's been gone so much lately. And I have no idea why... so when an explanation presented itself..." she shrugged.

His mouth tilted in a rueful half-smile. "I expect it's what Pavlo calls the 'charm of novelty'. They'll settle down after a while and get back to something resembling a normal schedule," he assured her.

"They'll ... settle down?" Amba asked. "Helena ... and Pavlo?" she asked hesitantly.

Claudio blinked, looked at her intently for a moment, then said in surprise, "You didn't realize that Helena and Pavlo are -- keeping company? I just assumed-- But there, I'm living in the same household as Pavlo, and you and Helena are in different ones. I forget that sometimes."

"Right," she said weakly. "Same household." She lapsed into silence at that, looking down at the ground. She didn't seem as emotional as she had when he saw her in the yard, or when he first arrived, but that was more unsettling, not less. Like she was holding a lot inside... struggling with something. She'd look sad, then seemingly realize that Claudio was there, and put on a weak smile. She did this a couple of times before she said anything. "I... I must look terrible," she said, trying to straighten her hair. "And I made such a fool of myself on the field. I guess Crygst won without intending anything," she said, then let out a sound half way between a laugh and a sob. "Thanks," she said looking up at Claudio.

He looked back at her worriedly. "Amba... You're all right with this, aren't you? I mean... it's like I said. Helena's still your partner, and your friend. She's not substituting Pavlo for you any more than he's going to stop teaming with Rudin." He smiled. "Or that he'll stop having me for a brother, for that matter."

"Partner," she repeated listlessly. "Right."

"And I know for certain that neither of them wants you to be hurt," pursued Claudio.

After a moment his eyes left her face and focused instead on a tuft of grass his fingers were idly tugging at. "You know, Amba," he went on softly, "it may be that one day some lucky male will catch your fancy. Do you think Helena would want you to ... hold back from that?"

She smiled sadly, shaking her head. "No one would ever want me," she said softly. "I'm damaged goods."

Something that might have been a wince twitched Claudio's shoulders, but he looked up quickly. "That's not true." His voice was low but vibrant, his gaze intent on her face.

"You don't know," she replied, her voice almost a whisper now. "You don't know me."

"I know enough," he insisted. "I know you're beautiful and accomplished and intelligent, and I've known that from the day we met. What more--?" He caught himself up on a hitch of breath. "I realize there's more to know. Hidden depths. History. Old pain. We all have that. But why should you think that makes you ineligible for love?"

She laughed, sadly. She was no longer looking at the ground, but neither was she looking at Claudio. She was staring beyond, into some personal hell. "I almost killed her, you know?" she said with no preamble. "All because I was weak," she added derisively. "No," she said at last, drying her eyes. "This is for the best." Sighing she looked up at Claudio. "Thank you," she said, clasping his hand in hers. "I should go," she said. "I've been gone too long."

"Amba, wait!" He tightened his clasp on her hand. "I don't--" He took a deep breath. "I don't pretend to understand what you're talking about, but I want you to know that whatever it is, I--we-- your friends are not going to hold it against you. Will you remember?"

"You shouldn't commit to broad statements like that, you know. It just makes it hurt more when you can't keep your word."

"All right, I won't commit anyone else," Claudio agreed, then with a glint of challenge in his eye, added, "Just me."

She smiled then-- a true smile, even if it was a bit wan. "You just won't give up, will you?" she said.

"No, I'm very stubborn," he agreed, smiling back.

"Ok," she said, clasping her hand over his. "And thank you," she said with all sincerity.

"Anything I can do," he responded. Then, loosening his grip on her hand, he said, "If you have to go, go. Just remember."

"Amba!" Helena cried out from the archway. She strode through and made her way directly to her friend, barely noticing Claudio was there.

Claudio gave Amba's hand a final squeeze and stepped away from her, looking, if anything, faintly triumphant. "See? Here's Helena."

"What happened with Crygst? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Amba said, though her appearance put to the lie that bit. "Nothing happened," she continued, forcing herself not to look at Claudio. "Everything's fine," she reiterated. "Thanks again, Claudio," she said, finally looking at him again.

Looking back to Helena again, she struggled to hold herself together as she said lightly, "I was just telling Claudio that I needed to leave. I'll talk to you later, ok?"

Claudio started to move toward the archway, then paused as Helena spoke.

"No," Helena said forcefully, worry evident in her voice. She took Amba's hands in hers, perhaps remembering another time that Amba tried to run away. And, same as with that time, wanting to make sure that if Amba did try to leave, she would go with her. "You look like hell. What _happened_?"

"Nothing, ok?" she said. "Crygst was his usual self, and said something about you, I challenged him and he backed down. I let him get to me after all the lecturing I did you on that, and it's embarrassing, that's all, ok?"

"I really need to go. I'm late. I'll talk to you later?"

Helena looked back at Claudio. "Do you know?"

"I was there," he acknowledged warily, not sure how much he should reveal if Amba wanted to keep it quiet.

"So what did Crygst say?" Helena asked. "Was it about Pavlo and me?"

Helena turned back to Amba to gauge her reaction.

"Not by name," Claudio hedged. "It was pretty obvious he'd heard something, though. And, being Crygst, jumped to all the wrong conclusions about it."

"Stay, please?" Helena asked Amba. "If you want to go, I will let you go. But please stay."

Claudio lingered too, for the moment, to see what Amba would do.

Amba's resolve wavered for a moment, but in the end she said, "I _do_ really need to go." Taking a breath, she hugged Helena, tightly. "But, I'll talk to you later, ok?" Her voice wavered a bit, but she managed a nod at Claudio. "Thank you," she said. "For everything."

Then she turned and left.

Helena watched her go, then sighed deeply and ran a hand over her face. "Claudio, this is about Pavlo and me, isn't it?"

"I'm pretty sure that's what Crygst had got hold of, yes," said Claudio.

"She's scared that Pavlo is going to replace her," Helena stated flatly.

"I told her she didn't need to worry about that," said Claudio. The look he gave her was half question, half challenge.

Helena rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands. "There's a part of my heart that Amba owns and always will -- title and deed in perpetuity. Pavlo, on the other hand, is renting right now and throwing loud parties which upset the neighbors. He hasn't decided whether or not he wants to purchase, and to be quite honest, I haven't decided whether or not to offer."

She lowered her hands and smiled at Claudio.

"But the loud parties are a lot of fun."

He couldn't help but chuckle, and his eyes were amused. "That's about what I thought." Then his expression grew serious, and he asked Helena bluntly, "What did Amba mean when she described herself as 'damaged goods'? Do you know?"

Helena's smile wavered a bit. "Yes, I know...but it's not my place to explain. You like her, don't you? I see how you watch her when you don't think anyone is looking."

Claudio's gaze fell. "I won't deny it," he said in a low voice, then quickly went on to add, "But I don't expect, you know, anything to come of it."

Helena reached forward and took his hand. "I also have purchased part of Amba's heart--deed and title in perpetuity--but there's room for neighbors. Dear Claudio, Amba very much needs people in her life that care about her, whether she admits that or not. Don't give up."

"I know. And I won't," he replied, squeezing her hand briefly.

"I need to go find her now. Will you tell Pavlo for me that Crygst is spreading rumors? I trust he'll know what to do to take care of the situation."

"I'll do that," said Claudio. With a half-smile he added, "Be ready for the explosion."

Helena returned his half-smile and kissed him impulsively on the cheek. She then left through the archway, leaving him standing alone on the practice field.