Various Drabbles: Tamora Pierce/Tortall and Emelan, PG to R
Author's Notes: Written for various pairings at pierce_pad. Cross-posted to tortall_femfic.
Title: Hysterics.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Drama/Angst.
Pairing: Sarai/Shinko.
Rating: PG.
Words: 378.
Warnings: Infidelity, character death.
“My liege is dying,” said the lady bitterly, “and my daughter scarcely ready to take the throne. She is only fifteen, her diplomatic training is incomplete and her younger brother bullies her. I cannot stop him.”
“Worry not, Majesty. My husband is the best healer in the known world. He will prevail, as ever.”
“Did you not hear me?” demanded the queen, swooping to her feet and fisting her hands in the other’s silk dress. “He is dying! Mithros himself could not save him! Liano is doomed, and Tortall is doomed!”
Eyes narrowed, Lady Hetnim slapped her across the face.
The queen glared at her, one jeweled hand clutched to her sore cheek. “You raise your hand to the Queen of Tortall?”
“I raise my hand to any hysterical woman who bothers my husband’s work,” said Sarai coolly. “Zaimid must have silence, if you wish him to have any chance at success.”
To her shame, Shinkokami found tears leaking from her eyes. She had not cried since that elusive eve when her childhood ended beneath the silken canopy of her married bed. “To lose him to death, Liano to weakness and Matsu to treachery would be beyond my bearing. They laugh at me, I know,” she said, glancing skyward.
Sarai put a hand on the queen’s shoulder, and the latter collapsed into her ready arms, shivering. She supported her limp, warm weight out of the king’s ante-chamber and down the corridor to her own apartments. The door was locked before Shinko fumbled the key into the lock and turned it. Within, the rooms were musty and still with disuse.
The queen sat down on the couch heavily, for all her slender features, and patted the upholstery beside her with something more than an invitation. Her eyes were red and her lips chapped, but she had the airs of a queen, and Sarai could not refuse her.
Privately Sarai thought the Queen of Tortall had gone quite insane, to be engaging with a strange noblewoman on a couch that smelled of mould, while not so far from her, her king lay on his deathbed. Not a word of such left her mouth, of course. One did not speak so to Queen Shinkokami, if it could be helped at all.
Title: Lost.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Angst.
Pairing: Kel/Kally.
Rating: PG.
Words: 100.
She was twelve years old when her parents sent her away from home. It would be five years before she could return, and then only briefly. A few months filled with fittings and formal farewells, and then a long sail to Carthak to meet her new husband. On the day she left, though, she did not think about weddings or politics, only of her, and their separation. No longer would she watch her spar and ride with the pages, or eavesdrop on her reciting poetry. The object of her envy would be gone, but she was not relieved. She mourned.
Title: Between Four Walls.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Angst.
Pairing: Alanna/Delia.
Rating: PG-13.
Words: 100.
Warnings: Language, sexual references.
The guards of Traitor’s Hill have the worst work in the world. Day after day, they listen to the shrieks of the condemned, besieged with nightmares of their coming fate. Those assigned there curse their luck.
The only exception is the tower guards, who secure the dungeons where prisoners die more slowly. For in that place is held the traitoress Delia of Eldorne. The nightly watchers entertain themselves by putting an ear to the cracks in her chamber wall, hearing her thrash and moan. Her curses are interspersed with names, most often the same one.
“You bitch! You whore! Alanna!”
Title: Delusional.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Angst.
Pairing: Alanna/Delia.
Rating: PG.
Words: 100.
“Guard!” cried a hoarse voice.
The guard complied. It was best to allow her the illusion of power; otherwise she threw fits, her strength belying the shriveled crone’s appearance.
“You called, milady?”
“Fetch Alanna of Trebond,” she demanded haughtily.
“Baroness Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop, milday?”
The hag waved an impatient hand, “Call her what she likes, but bring the witch to me!”
“I will send word to the garrison, milady,” he promised. This seemed to appease her, so he retired to his vestibule.
When his replacement arrived, the guard smiled and said, “Lady Delia is asking for her sweetheart again.”
Title: Birthday Wishes.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Drama/Angst.
Pairing: Daine/Dove, Dove/Taybur.
Rating: R.
Words: 400.
Warnings: Infidelity, language, sexual references.
Strange things were happening in the Copper Isles. It was the king’s fiftieth birthday celebration, and the queen was nowhere to be found. She had slipped away from the revelries during the descent from the Great Hall to the Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures, and not even the nosiest servant could tell her husband where she was.
He had to swallow his pride and reveal his ignorance to his spymistress, but finally he found himself knocking on the door of her private library. It was only nine o’clock, and she had no business retiring early on such a momentous occasion. Would she evade the celebration of their tenth anniversary next month with the same thoughtlessness? Once he’d thought her wiser than that.
“What do you want?” called the queen, yanking the door open.
Taybur scowled. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” answered Dove coldly, making to shut the door.
His hand closed on her narrow wrist. “Don’t you step away from me, harlot! Who have you stashed in there?”
She tried to slap him but he grabbed hold of her other wrist and, holding her arms crossed and uncomfortably high above her head, backed her up through the half-open door and into the room.
The door between the library and her study was wide open, and a woman was sitting on Dove’s cluttered desk, a woman whose face was familiar to him from the many portraits of hers he’d memorized. She was one of the more unusual guests of their kingdom, of the kind he made a point to know everything he could about.
With trouble, Taybur mastered his shock. He’d expected some young and foolish servant, not a woman over forty looking like a much younger girl with her skirts pushed up her thighs and her hair cascading down her back freely. Momentarily he struggled with her presence, trying to decide how to get her to leave.
“Mistress Veralidaine,” he finally said, “your presence is not required. It would be best if you left.”
The stranger hopped off the desk, her cheeks pinking, and attempted to straighten her disheveled appearance while she walked to the door. Taybur was gratified to notice she gave him a wide berth.
Once the door clicked shut behind her, he turned to Dove. “Care to explain that display, my darling?”
“What you fail to provide,” said Dove venomously, “I will seek elsewhere.”
Title: Cooking.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Emelan.
Genre: Humor/Romance.
Pairing: Tris/Rosethorn, Lark/Rosethorn.
Rating: PG-13.
Words: 100.
Warnings: Sexual references, references to kink.
“I didn’t know you liked to cook,” said Tris the second time she found Rosethorn invading her kitchen (the first time she’d merely scowled and returned to her room, to meditate).
“I hardly ever cook at Discipline, Lark hovers so.”
“Lark is a fair cook, but carrots want a firmer touch,” said Tris, picking up a knife to chop them with.
“They’re not the only ones,” she heard Rosethorn mutter.
“Is that so?” asked Tris, glancing at her sidelong.
Rosethorn caught her glance and smiled crookedly. “Two conditions: you put down that knife, and you do not call me Rosie.”
Title: The Love of Learning.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Romance/Humor.
Pairing: Aly/Thayet.
Rating: R.
Words: 100.
Warnings: Sexual references, infidelity, BDSM, emotional incest.
“Explain to me again, Auntie Thayet,” said Aly, “why a lady of high birth, such as myself, should guard her virtue.”
There was silence, and then an alarming swoosh and crack.
“I despair of you sometimes, Alianne,” drawled a husky voice. “How many times must I remind you that these childish nicknames you use are not appropriate for this setting? You would not call your king by his given name in the Crown Hall, would you?”
“No, Auntie Thayet,” replied the girl.
The alarming swoosh repeated, followed this time by a sharp, wet slap.
“Let’s go over this, once more.”
Title: Old Friend.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Emelan.
Genre: Romance.
Pairing: Daja/Polyam.
Rating: PG.
Words: 100.
At the sound of the knock on her open door, Polyam started.
“What’s the matter? Were you expecting someone else?” teased Daja.
Polyam smiled, and waved her in with her hand.
Daja entered the caravan and walked immediately to her, cupping her face in her hands. “You look so tired,” she said, worried.
“It’s nothing,” said Polyam, “just silly family politics. It’s good to see you. I feel that I’ve been away too long.”
“I’ll be glad to see you, no matter how often you come,” said Daja, and leaned in to gently kiss her lips. “Welcome back, old friend.”
Title: Hysterics.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Drama/Angst.
Pairing: Sarai/Shinko.
Rating: PG.
Words: 378.
Warnings: Infidelity, character death.
“My liege is dying,” said the lady bitterly, “and my daughter scarcely ready to take the throne. She is only fifteen, her diplomatic training is incomplete and her younger brother bullies her. I cannot stop him.”
“Worry not, Majesty. My husband is the best healer in the known world. He will prevail, as ever.”
“Did you not hear me?” demanded the queen, swooping to her feet and fisting her hands in the other’s silk dress. “He is dying! Mithros himself could not save him! Liano is doomed, and Tortall is doomed!”
Eyes narrowed, Lady Hetnim slapped her across the face.
The queen glared at her, one jeweled hand clutched to her sore cheek. “You raise your hand to the Queen of Tortall?”
“I raise my hand to any hysterical woman who bothers my husband’s work,” said Sarai coolly. “Zaimid must have silence, if you wish him to have any chance at success.”
To her shame, Shinkokami found tears leaking from her eyes. She had not cried since that elusive eve when her childhood ended beneath the silken canopy of her married bed. “To lose him to death, Liano to weakness and Matsu to treachery would be beyond my bearing. They laugh at me, I know,” she said, glancing skyward.
Sarai put a hand on the queen’s shoulder, and the latter collapsed into her ready arms, shivering. She supported her limp, warm weight out of the king’s ante-chamber and down the corridor to her own apartments. The door was locked before Shinko fumbled the key into the lock and turned it. Within, the rooms were musty and still with disuse.
The queen sat down on the couch heavily, for all her slender features, and patted the upholstery beside her with something more than an invitation. Her eyes were red and her lips chapped, but she had the airs of a queen, and Sarai could not refuse her.
Privately Sarai thought the Queen of Tortall had gone quite insane, to be engaging with a strange noblewoman on a couch that smelled of mould, while not so far from her, her king lay on his deathbed. Not a word of such left her mouth, of course. One did not speak so to Queen Shinkokami, if it could be helped at all.
Title: Lost.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Angst.
Pairing: Kel/Kally.
Rating: PG.
Words: 100.
She was twelve years old when her parents sent her away from home. It would be five years before she could return, and then only briefly. A few months filled with fittings and formal farewells, and then a long sail to Carthak to meet her new husband. On the day she left, though, she did not think about weddings or politics, only of her, and their separation. No longer would she watch her spar and ride with the pages, or eavesdrop on her reciting poetry. The object of her envy would be gone, but she was not relieved. She mourned.
Title: Between Four Walls.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Angst.
Pairing: Alanna/Delia.
Rating: PG-13.
Words: 100.
Warnings: Language, sexual references.
The guards of Traitor’s Hill have the worst work in the world. Day after day, they listen to the shrieks of the condemned, besieged with nightmares of their coming fate. Those assigned there curse their luck.
The only exception is the tower guards, who secure the dungeons where prisoners die more slowly. For in that place is held the traitoress Delia of Eldorne. The nightly watchers entertain themselves by putting an ear to the cracks in her chamber wall, hearing her thrash and moan. Her curses are interspersed with names, most often the same one.
“You bitch! You whore! Alanna!”
Title: Delusional.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Angst.
Pairing: Alanna/Delia.
Rating: PG.
Words: 100.
“Guard!” cried a hoarse voice.
The guard complied. It was best to allow her the illusion of power; otherwise she threw fits, her strength belying the shriveled crone’s appearance.
“You called, milady?”
“Fetch Alanna of Trebond,” she demanded haughtily.
“Baroness Alanna of Pirate’s Swoop, milday?”
The hag waved an impatient hand, “Call her what she likes, but bring the witch to me!”
“I will send word to the garrison, milady,” he promised. This seemed to appease her, so he retired to his vestibule.
When his replacement arrived, the guard smiled and said, “Lady Delia is asking for her sweetheart again.”
Title: Birthday Wishes.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Drama/Angst.
Pairing: Daine/Dove, Dove/Taybur.
Rating: R.
Words: 400.
Warnings: Infidelity, language, sexual references.
Strange things were happening in the Copper Isles. It was the king’s fiftieth birthday celebration, and the queen was nowhere to be found. She had slipped away from the revelries during the descent from the Great Hall to the Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures, and not even the nosiest servant could tell her husband where she was.
He had to swallow his pride and reveal his ignorance to his spymistress, but finally he found himself knocking on the door of her private library. It was only nine o’clock, and she had no business retiring early on such a momentous occasion. Would she evade the celebration of their tenth anniversary next month with the same thoughtlessness? Once he’d thought her wiser than that.
“What do you want?” called the queen, yanking the door open.
Taybur scowled. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” answered Dove coldly, making to shut the door.
His hand closed on her narrow wrist. “Don’t you step away from me, harlot! Who have you stashed in there?”
She tried to slap him but he grabbed hold of her other wrist and, holding her arms crossed and uncomfortably high above her head, backed her up through the half-open door and into the room.
The door between the library and her study was wide open, and a woman was sitting on Dove’s cluttered desk, a woman whose face was familiar to him from the many portraits of hers he’d memorized. She was one of the more unusual guests of their kingdom, of the kind he made a point to know everything he could about.
With trouble, Taybur mastered his shock. He’d expected some young and foolish servant, not a woman over forty looking like a much younger girl with her skirts pushed up her thighs and her hair cascading down her back freely. Momentarily he struggled with her presence, trying to decide how to get her to leave.
“Mistress Veralidaine,” he finally said, “your presence is not required. It would be best if you left.”
The stranger hopped off the desk, her cheeks pinking, and attempted to straighten her disheveled appearance while she walked to the door. Taybur was gratified to notice she gave him a wide berth.
Once the door clicked shut behind her, he turned to Dove. “Care to explain that display, my darling?”
“What you fail to provide,” said Dove venomously, “I will seek elsewhere.”
Title: Cooking.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Emelan.
Genre: Humor/Romance.
Pairing: Tris/Rosethorn, Lark/Rosethorn.
Rating: PG-13.
Words: 100.
Warnings: Sexual references, references to kink.
“I didn’t know you liked to cook,” said Tris the second time she found Rosethorn invading her kitchen (the first time she’d merely scowled and returned to her room, to meditate).
“I hardly ever cook at Discipline, Lark hovers so.”
“Lark is a fair cook, but carrots want a firmer touch,” said Tris, picking up a knife to chop them with.
“They’re not the only ones,” she heard Rosethorn mutter.
“Is that so?” asked Tris, glancing at her sidelong.
Rosethorn caught her glance and smiled crookedly. “Two conditions: you put down that knife, and you do not call me Rosie.”
Title: The Love of Learning.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Tortall.
Genre: Romance/Humor.
Pairing: Aly/Thayet.
Rating: R.
Words: 100.
Warnings: Sexual references, infidelity, BDSM, emotional incest.
“Explain to me again, Auntie Thayet,” said Aly, “why a lady of high birth, such as myself, should guard her virtue.”
There was silence, and then an alarming swoosh and crack.
“I despair of you sometimes, Alianne,” drawled a husky voice. “How many times must I remind you that these childish nicknames you use are not appropriate for this setting? You would not call your king by his given name in the Crown Hall, would you?”
“No, Auntie Thayet,” replied the girl.
The alarming swoosh repeated, followed this time by a sharp, wet slap.
“Let’s go over this, once more.”
Title: Old Friend.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce/Emelan.
Genre: Romance.
Pairing: Daja/Polyam.
Rating: PG.
Words: 100.
At the sound of the knock on her open door, Polyam started.
“What’s the matter? Were you expecting someone else?” teased Daja.
Polyam smiled, and waved her in with her hand.
Daja entered the caravan and walked immediately to her, cupping her face in her hands. “You look so tired,” she said, worried.
“It’s nothing,” said Polyam, “just silly family politics. It’s good to see you. I feel that I’ve been away too long.”
“I’ll be glad to see you, no matter how often you come,” said Daja, and leaned in to gently kiss her lips. “Welcome back, old friend.”