- sunday_reveries - Learn to be Lonely -
Picture prompt.
Talia Ducard
Batman (Nolan)
1206 words (minus lyrics)
Child of the wilderness / Born into emptiness
“Again.”
“Daddy, I'm tired.”
“Again,” Henri Ducard repeated. He met his daughter's dark blue eyes with his. In almost every other aspect, she resembled her mother. Her tan skin and dark hair was commonplace among the League of Shadows, but he still felt it looked exotic. Ducard watched with pride as the seven-year-old picked up her staff. He smiled at the steely expression she wore. On a child so young, it looked almost comical.
“Just once more,” he promised.
Learn to be lonely / Learn to find your way in darkness
Father and daughter took their places. Ten slabs of wood, each five centimeters wide and spaced ten centimeters apart, connected two platforms three meters high. The platforms stood six meters apart. Ducard stood on one platform while his small daughter waited on the opposite one She gripped her staff and watched him.
“It is my hope, Talia, that you never need these skills,” the man said as he stepped onto a beam. He watched his daughter follow suit. She held the staff before her with both hands. At first glance, her stance looked defensive, but her father knew better. She was obviously using her staff to balance. “But you must learn.”
He struck her staff with his and watched her waver. Talia regained her footing and struck at her father's legs. Ducard evaded, but he admired the intensity of the strike. It did, however, afford him an opening. He struck her side, and Talia fell. Ducard lashed his hand out tp try and grab her but failed. Talia struck the ground hard, landing on her arm and leg.
Who will be there for you / Comfort and care for you
The little girl wailed.
“Talia,” Ducard snapped as he descended from the platform.
“My leg hurts, Daddy,” she said between sobs.
“Is it broken?”
Talia sniffled. “No,” she admitted.
Ducard regarded her. “Then you can get up.”
The child pulled herself to her feet with a whimper and limped toward the stairwell leading away from the training chamber. Before she could reach them, a woman came out from a hidden passage.
She was young, barely thirty if that, and her pale beige clothes stood out in the darkness. Her dark eyes met Ducard's for several moments. Finally, he nodded. The woman bent down and scooper her daughter up into her arms.
“Come along, sweetheart,” she murmured to the child in Mongolian.
Learn to be lonely / Learn to be your one companion
“Suraj will not do.”
“As you say, Father.”
Henri Ducard regarded his eighteen-year-old daughter with some amusement. “I am beginning to think you have no desire to marry, my Talia.”
“I greatly desire marriage,” she assured him. “However, I will not grieve over unsuitable men.”
Ducard stroked his daughter's hair. “I will be seeking only one man. Before Suraj, I thought two might be required, but he convinced me. No man unworthy of my position deserves you, and no man unworthy of you deserves the League of Shadows.”
Talia smiled, allowed to tease her father in so private a setting. “Perhaps your standards are too high.”
“The League of Shadows needs the finest leader I can find, and you deserve the finest man I can find,” he answered. He stroked her hair again.
Never dream out in the world / There are arms to hold you
“Your father will find you a perfect husband,” Talia's mother murmured when her husband had gone. She touched her daughter's arm, and the girl rose.
The pair walked to a small room where three other women waited with oils and perfumes near a steaming pool. Talia stood still while her mother and another woman stripped her. She climbed into the water and relaxed while her hair was dampened and oils were applied to it. Talia washed herself before one woman assisted her in rising.
She waited as the servants dressed her in fresh clothes. Outside the sanctuaries of the League of Shadows, she did such tasks herself. When, however, such assistance was offered, Talia was delighted to accept. An agent of the League of Shadows, particularly a child of Ra's Al Ghul, deserved pampering during brief respites between assignments.
Talia left the servants, her mother included, once she was dressed.
You've always known your heart was on its own / So laugh in your loneliness
Words her father once said, in answering her questions about his high standards for choosing her husband, came to her as she walked.
“I want you to be loved.”
He warned against passion, and Talia knew not to question him. Passion had burned her once, and she prided herself in keeping her virtue, finishing her task, and regained her senses. To have any value, her father taught, love had to be cultivated. Respect and affection created love. Passion merely led to recklessness.
“You will marry a man you can love and who can love you,” her father had promised. He had added the warning that she, for he swore her husband would, would have to try. Love did not come fully-formed. It required care and time to grow.
Talia never doubted him. He sought someone worthy, and he would find someone. Her only task in the meantime was to wait. Assignments from the League, which kept her from home for sometimes months at a time, helped. So long as she was useful she could not complain.
Child of the wilderness / Learn to be lonely
After seven months away, the frigid Mongolian air felt welcoming to the twenty-seven-year-old woman as she forced her way through the high snow. She didn't feel the cold, too eager to see her father again. Inwardly, she would confess a small excitement and a growing curiosity to actually speak to her father about his protege.
In his letters, her father had put Bruce Wayne on an almost impossible pedestal. Talia did not doubt his worth, but she was curious. She also... Well, she looked forward to her marriage. A man her father admired, saw as strong and intelligent, and claimed would lead the League of Shadows into a new age would make an excellent husband.
Talia smiled as a thought occurred to her. How would this Bruce Wayne react? He would return from battle, be fawned over by the agents of the League. Then, in the wake of his finest moment, he would be declared Ra's Al Ghul's heir and offered a wife. Her father seemed certain Mister Wayne would accept her, so Talia did not worry. However, she remained curious.
Learn how to love life that is lived alone / Learn to be lonely
Talia froze as she reached the sanctuary. Rubble greeted her, piles of char where halls once stood waited against the white landscape. The wind stung her cheeks, but the woman did not feel it.
“Father?” she whispered.
She walked forward and seized a piece of wood. She pulled, but it did no good. Talia fell to her knees in the snow, barely able to hold back tears. She warned herself that weeping would do no good. Tears would not rebuild her home or raise the dead. The blow would not be fatal to the League, and she could not allow it to destroy her.
Carefully, she pulled herself up, only to see an elderly Mongolian man watching her.
“Come with me,” he said. “I was given a letter to deliver to you.”
Life can be lived / Life can be loved
Talia sat in the man's home, deaf to his words and blind to the food his wife offered her. All she was aware of was the letter in her hands. She'd tried to read it, but her mind would not process the words. He was alive. That was the most important thing.
Her father was alive, and Bruce Wayne was far from her mind.
The woman closed her eyes as the woman of the house laid a coat over her shoulders. The old woman pattered her hand. “Rest, dear.”
Talia only stared at the fire.
Alone.
Talia Ducard
Batman (Nolan)
1206 words (minus lyrics)
Child of the wilderness / Born into emptiness
“Again.”
“Daddy, I'm tired.”
“Again,” Henri Ducard repeated. He met his daughter's dark blue eyes with his. In almost every other aspect, she resembled her mother. Her tan skin and dark hair was commonplace among the League of Shadows, but he still felt it looked exotic. Ducard watched with pride as the seven-year-old picked up her staff. He smiled at the steely expression she wore. On a child so young, it looked almost comical.
“Just once more,” he promised.
Learn to be lonely / Learn to find your way in darkness
Father and daughter took their places. Ten slabs of wood, each five centimeters wide and spaced ten centimeters apart, connected two platforms three meters high. The platforms stood six meters apart. Ducard stood on one platform while his small daughter waited on the opposite one She gripped her staff and watched him.
“It is my hope, Talia, that you never need these skills,” the man said as he stepped onto a beam. He watched his daughter follow suit. She held the staff before her with both hands. At first glance, her stance looked defensive, but her father knew better. She was obviously using her staff to balance. “But you must learn.”
He struck her staff with his and watched her waver. Talia regained her footing and struck at her father's legs. Ducard evaded, but he admired the intensity of the strike. It did, however, afford him an opening. He struck her side, and Talia fell. Ducard lashed his hand out tp try and grab her but failed. Talia struck the ground hard, landing on her arm and leg.
Who will be there for you / Comfort and care for you
The little girl wailed.
“Talia,” Ducard snapped as he descended from the platform.
“My leg hurts, Daddy,” she said between sobs.
“Is it broken?”
Talia sniffled. “No,” she admitted.
Ducard regarded her. “Then you can get up.”
The child pulled herself to her feet with a whimper and limped toward the stairwell leading away from the training chamber. Before she could reach them, a woman came out from a hidden passage.
She was young, barely thirty if that, and her pale beige clothes stood out in the darkness. Her dark eyes met Ducard's for several moments. Finally, he nodded. The woman bent down and scooper her daughter up into her arms.
“Come along, sweetheart,” she murmured to the child in Mongolian.
Learn to be lonely / Learn to be your one companion
“Suraj will not do.”
“As you say, Father.”
Henri Ducard regarded his eighteen-year-old daughter with some amusement. “I am beginning to think you have no desire to marry, my Talia.”
“I greatly desire marriage,” she assured him. “However, I will not grieve over unsuitable men.”
Ducard stroked his daughter's hair. “I will be seeking only one man. Before Suraj, I thought two might be required, but he convinced me. No man unworthy of my position deserves you, and no man unworthy of you deserves the League of Shadows.”
Talia smiled, allowed to tease her father in so private a setting. “Perhaps your standards are too high.”
“The League of Shadows needs the finest leader I can find, and you deserve the finest man I can find,” he answered. He stroked her hair again.
Never dream out in the world / There are arms to hold you
“Your father will find you a perfect husband,” Talia's mother murmured when her husband had gone. She touched her daughter's arm, and the girl rose.
The pair walked to a small room where three other women waited with oils and perfumes near a steaming pool. Talia stood still while her mother and another woman stripped her. She climbed into the water and relaxed while her hair was dampened and oils were applied to it. Talia washed herself before one woman assisted her in rising.
She waited as the servants dressed her in fresh clothes. Outside the sanctuaries of the League of Shadows, she did such tasks herself. When, however, such assistance was offered, Talia was delighted to accept. An agent of the League of Shadows, particularly a child of Ra's Al Ghul, deserved pampering during brief respites between assignments.
Talia left the servants, her mother included, once she was dressed.
You've always known your heart was on its own / So laugh in your loneliness
Words her father once said, in answering her questions about his high standards for choosing her husband, came to her as she walked.
“I want you to be loved.”
He warned against passion, and Talia knew not to question him. Passion had burned her once, and she prided herself in keeping her virtue, finishing her task, and regained her senses. To have any value, her father taught, love had to be cultivated. Respect and affection created love. Passion merely led to recklessness.
“You will marry a man you can love and who can love you,” her father had promised. He had added the warning that she, for he swore her husband would, would have to try. Love did not come fully-formed. It required care and time to grow.
Talia never doubted him. He sought someone worthy, and he would find someone. Her only task in the meantime was to wait. Assignments from the League, which kept her from home for sometimes months at a time, helped. So long as she was useful she could not complain.
Child of the wilderness / Learn to be lonely
After seven months away, the frigid Mongolian air felt welcoming to the twenty-seven-year-old woman as she forced her way through the high snow. She didn't feel the cold, too eager to see her father again. Inwardly, she would confess a small excitement and a growing curiosity to actually speak to her father about his protege.
In his letters, her father had put Bruce Wayne on an almost impossible pedestal. Talia did not doubt his worth, but she was curious. She also... Well, she looked forward to her marriage. A man her father admired, saw as strong and intelligent, and claimed would lead the League of Shadows into a new age would make an excellent husband.
Talia smiled as a thought occurred to her. How would this Bruce Wayne react? He would return from battle, be fawned over by the agents of the League. Then, in the wake of his finest moment, he would be declared Ra's Al Ghul's heir and offered a wife. Her father seemed certain Mister Wayne would accept her, so Talia did not worry. However, she remained curious.
Learn how to love life that is lived alone / Learn to be lonely
Talia froze as she reached the sanctuary. Rubble greeted her, piles of char where halls once stood waited against the white landscape. The wind stung her cheeks, but the woman did not feel it.
“Father?” she whispered.
She walked forward and seized a piece of wood. She pulled, but it did no good. Talia fell to her knees in the snow, barely able to hold back tears. She warned herself that weeping would do no good. Tears would not rebuild her home or raise the dead. The blow would not be fatal to the League, and she could not allow it to destroy her.
Carefully, she pulled herself up, only to see an elderly Mongolian man watching her.
“Come with me,” he said. “I was given a letter to deliver to you.”
Life can be lived / Life can be loved
Talia sat in the man's home, deaf to his words and blind to the food his wife offered her. All she was aware of was the letter in her hands. She'd tried to read it, but her mind would not process the words. He was alive. That was the most important thing.
Her father was alive, and Bruce Wayne was far from her mind.
The woman closed her eyes as the woman of the house laid a coat over her shoulders. The old woman pattered her hand. “Rest, dear.”
Talia only stared at the fire.
Alone.