I Know Things Now [Closed]

[Natasi Fortan]

Before the Ssi-Ruuk crisis, it would have been unthinkable for the Grand Moff to wander the streets of Avalonia without a full contingent of guards -- the four horsemen and then some -- but her activities (or, depending on who you asked, antics) during the Ssi-Ruuk invasion had proved that she knew how to handle herself in a crisis, and the strategic leaking of stories of her activities during the occupation (neither confirmed nor denied by the Palace or Number 10) had endeared her more than ever to the people of Avalonia, Dosuun, and the empire. All of this was a roundabout way of explaining how she was able to slip away from the office and go shopping with only one minder.

Well, one minder and [member="Sioux Chambers"].

The two women emerged from the armored speeder in the Garden District, and were immediately greeted by the sound of trickling water. Even though Avalonia was gripped in a mild winter -- the streets and trees and buildings were dusted by frost and the occasional pure white snow -- the water piped through the fountains that dotted the city's landscape was kept warm enough to resist freezing, and had the added benefit of causing a light mist to permeate the air near the fountains. It was, to Natasi's mind, rather attractive and picturesque. Natasi looked one way, then another, and then began down the sidewalk with Sioux next to her, grumbling that she wished the Grand Moff had allowed her to tip off the press. "People eat this sort of thing up -- Grand Moff slips away from her security to support the local economy."

"I'm sure people will discover it just fine without us manipulating the press," Natasi said as she stopped to peer into a window featuring fur capes and stoles, her face inscrutable. "I mean, more than usual," she amended quickly before returning to the sidewalk and strolling along. Her destination was close, and heralded by the charming, old-timey wooden sign that hung over the door with the initials "M & Co." emblazoned over the words "Fine Jewelry". Mr. Meronden was Natasi's chosen jeweler on Avalonia, as he had come from Galidraan at her request. The Grand Moff pushed the door open and entered the shop; Meronden looked up from where he was chatting with an employee, then whispered something to the employee, who hurried into the back room.

"Your Excellency," said Meronden as he came over to take her hand in a two-handed shake. "An honor."

"I thought you'd be tired of me by now," said Natasi with a smirk. She had hassled Meronden a lot over the last several days about a special project. "My I present my Private Secretary, Sioux Chambers?"

"A pleasure," said Sioux.

"My assistant is bringing -- ahh!" Meronden broke off as his assistant returned with a polished, semi-circular wooden box. "Thank you, my dear. You may leave us." The assistant handed the box over and then left the room. Meronden placed the box on the counter and unlatched the clasp, opening the box to reveal a small, bandeau tiara of pearls and citrines. The stones, Natasi had inherited from the estate of her late cousin Imogen, but they did not suit her coloring, and so they had sit unused for months until Natasi had an opportunity to use them.

"That's... interesting," said Sioux diplomatically.

"It is, isn't it?" said Natasi with a small smile. It was a delicate piece, lightweight, and not overtly royal, like some tiaras were.

"Not a bit like what I'd expect for you." Sioux lofted her eyebrows.

"Well it's not for me, is it?" said Natasi with a sharp glance at her friend, pulling her hat off carefully and setting it aside. "I'm not married; I can't wear tiaras. May I?" she asked Meronden, who nodded. "At least not around people." She picked up the tiara carefully and gingerly placed it on her chestnut locks. She looked at herself in the mirror on the counter. The citrines still did not suit her coloring, but it was obviously made well and was undeniably expensive. "It's for [member="Marzena Choi"]. It's a wedding gift."

"Ah -- well I suppose that makes sense. It's looks lighter -- more comfortable, I suppose -- than the family pieces you've shown me."

"You mean smaller. Hmm. Well -- consider the audience," Natasi said quietly, glancing at her friend in the mirror. "A real piece would flatten her, poor dear. But on Galidraan, it is a traditional wedding gift, so here we are." She turned to Mr. Meronden and beamed. "It's beautiful. Really, you've outdone yourself."

"Thank you, Your Excellency." Meronden bowed at the waist. "And for the remainder of the stones?"

"Can you make matching pieces for this? Earrings, necklace, bracelet perhaps?"

"Of course," said Meronden.

"The pieces might make for nice gifts for anniversaries or birthdays or something," Natasi said as she picked the tiara off her head again, and carefully set it back down in its case, then pulled a jeweler's loop out of her handbag and examined the citrines carefully. "It's beautiful, Mr. Meronden," said Natasi, not taking her loop out of her eye, moving from stone to stone to examine them.

"Why do you have a jeweler's loop in your purse?" Sioux asked.

Natasi didn't answer for a moment, shifting to the next gem, then the next, before murmuring: "Why do you not have one?"

Finally, she finished up and tucked her jeweler's loop back into her handbag, withdrawing her checkbook. "Would you be so kind as to send this secured to 10 Park Boulevard?" she asked Morendon, who nodded and closed the lid on the tiara. "What do I owe you?" Five minutes and several thousand credits later, Natasi and Sioux stepped back into the chilly winter, accompanied by Natasi's minder. Natasi gathered her fur-trimmed coat closer around herself and sighed. "Now I just have [member="Ludolf Vaas"]' wedding gift to worry about. I'm stumped," she admitted. "What do you think I should get him?"

Sioux paused, then shook her head. "You don't want to know what I'd get him. Does this mean that you're planning to attend the wedding?"

"I don't know," said Natasi truthfully. She was on the fence about attending the wedding, but not for the reason that Sioux thought. She had no residual feelings about the groom aside from a lingering, mild distaste, and though she held affection for the bride, she wasn't sure that was enough to justify her attendance when it might be awkward. Besides, there was no reason to think that the invitation hadn't been extended as a courtesy. "I'm still thinking about it." Natasi frowned and slid a pair of sunglasses on. "Anyway, you're probably right," she conceded. "There's an antique shop a few blocks down. Maybe we'll find him a knife or something."

 

[Natasi Fortan]

After striking out in three antiques shops, Natasi and Sioux stopped at a local coffee shop to warm their bones. They sat in a pair of club chairs facing a massive fireplace, enjoying the warmth that the fire provided. Natasi couldn't help but feel the eyes of the others in the shop on her back; since the Ssi-Ruuk incursion, she had found her popularity at new heights, even without the Ministry of Culture's usual ministrations, but Natasi was uncomfortable with the attention at the best of times. She tried to see it for what it was -- appreciation and admiration rather than gawking and prying -- but it did make her feel rather on the spot. Should she look? Acknowledge? Smile and wave? Sign autographs? It made her feel like a celebrity -- a word that Natasi associated with frivolity and non-import -- when she considered herself the antithesis thereof.

Sioux leaned over, breaking her out of her thoughtful reverie. They spoke in whispers, so as not to be overheard. "There's always a blender," Sioux said over her coffee cup, blowing gently on the steam that billowed out of the mug. Natasi looked up, perplexed. "For his gift. A blender. Or a toaster."

"I couldn't possibly get him a blender. It's not personal enough. He's one of my oldest friends."

"Is he?" Sioux asked dubiously. Natasi studied her critically for a few moments, which Sioux took as a permission to keep going: "You don't seem very friendly these days. He threw you over for -- " A warning look from Natasi, and Sioux changed lanes. " -- the singer."

"It wasn't like that," Natasi muttered irritably.

"From what you said he said, it was," Sioux declared. "And since then, they seem to make a point of parading themselves before you. Say what you will about her, a friend doesn't do that, knowing what you know. They just don't. And that's not counting his attempts to convince the Supreme Leader to shackle you." Natasi sighed and looked into her tea, inhaling the mild scent of the breakfast tea she had ordered. "Won't he be surprised?"

"Perhaps we are not destined to be close," Natasi mused. "It feels strange, after everything we've been through together. When you imagine someone as a staple in your life and they remove themselves -- well, it makes one think, doesn't it?"

"Things change," said Sioux. "It's the nature of things. You're not friends with people from college anymore, are you? I'm not. But I have you -- and Roddy, and Pierce, and others. And you have me, and Roddy, and Pierce, and Greenslade, and Major Amsel -- friends, or friendly, or somewhere in between. You even have Marzena, though frankly I cannot see the appeal. She's a singer for heaven's sake." Anyway, there's no shame in letting go. And a great deal of shame in chasing after someone who wasn't interested. Or not interested enough. I thought you'd learnt that lesson with the Irani."

Natasi glared across her teacup at Sioux. "That was a low shot."

"Perhaps," Sioux responded simply. "But you had to concede that he wasn't right for you. Why are you holding Ludolf Vaas to a different standard?" The darker woman clasped her free hand over her lips and then murmured, "You're not waiting for him to change his mind, surely!"

She recoiled, and Natasi Fortan, friend of Sioux Chambers, disappeared. She was replaced by the straight-backed, cold-eyed, icy-voiced Lady Natasi Fortan, Grand Moff, staring imperiously at her private secretary. "Of course not," Natasi declared regally; a few heads turned, and she lowered her voice again; the Grand Moff persona disappeared again. "Don't be absurd. What makes you think I would have him if he did? With the rate of trouble seems to find me, I'd be lucky not to be kidnapped and then come home to find him in bed with some... " Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. "Anyway. His conduct means that, whatever his wishes are, he's stuck with her." She paused, sipped her tea, then set it down. "No. That's not right. She's the one stuck with him. She really is the most remarkable person." Natasi lifted her tea again and smiled fondly. "It's too bad you two hate each other. We could have such fun together."

Natasi drained her teacup and set it aside before standing up. "Come on. There's a few more shops to see before I freeze solid."

 

[Natasi Fortan]

"A book?" Sioux asked inquisitively. They were back in Natasi's office, a week after their shopping trip. Natasi, sitting on a sofa near the fireplace, had an ancient, leatherbound tome in one hand, freshly delivered from Chiltenham, and a cup of tea in the other. The aroma of the tea tickled at her senses, but she was waiting for it to cool before drinking it. Sioux, for her part, was looking uncertain at the prospect of the Grand Moff giving [member="Ludolf Vaas"] a book for his wedding gift. "Does he even know how to read?"

"A book," Natasi repeated, clearly brushing past Sioux's snarky remarks, bless her cotton socks. "But not just a book. I forgot I had a copy -- I left it at Chiltenham last time I was there -- it's one of the last original pieces from my collection at Herevan. It's the collected writings of Galidraan's most famous general, Amocen St. George. It's ancient -- went out of print long ago, mostly because everyone on Galidraan has at least two copies, and anyone not on Galidraan doesn't care."

"Why would he want to read it?"

Natasi frowned. "I don't know. I found it instructive, perhaps he will, as well? Anyway, it's the gesture that counts." It was a personal touch -- to one who knew Natasi, it would be gesture of intimate friendship and trust, to be given an item that had once resided at her destroyed home. She gazed once more at the aged cover, traced her initials -- the last on the inside front cover, faded with age, but not as much as the ones that had been scrawled before her, in the generations that the book had been owned. It looked shabby, to be sure, but the book was a thing of immeasurable value to Natasi. She only hoped that Vaas would see it that way, and not as a slight. Not that it mattered much these days anyway. "It's the gesture," Natasi repeated softly.

Sioux lifted her middle finger in a rude hand motion. "There's his gesture."

"Sioux!" Natasi looked scandalized as she put the book aside, shaking her head and attempting to hide her smirk. Sioux was not a fan of either Vaas or Choi, but her detestation came from a place of loyalty and love for Natasi, so while she would never encourage it, Natasi couldn't help but to be uplifted by it. Even when it was quite indecorous for the office. "Stop it," she said flatly, then picked up the notecard for the gift for [member="Marzena Choi"]. "Where's my good pen? Would you hand it to me, please? It's on my desk." A moment later, she bent her head over the notecard on a clipboard on her lap, on which she wrote:

Dear Marzena,
I'm not sure that you recall, but during our first official meeting you were kind enough to share with me part of your culture when we discussed the differing tea services of our two peoples. I found your commentary highly instructive, and your conversation to be interesting, insightful, and engaging. Much has changed between us since then; I hope that we are on the way to rebuilding our friendship -- and I promise this has a point beyond rehashing ancient feuds -- so in that spirit I enclose something of my own culture. Consider me your cultural attaché to Galidraan.

In my culture, and in my class of people, there is a certain reverence for married women. True, unmarried women are not frowned upon, exactly, but there are certain privileges that come with marriage on Galidraan. One such privilege is to wear a special piece of headgear called a tiara. Once reserved for royalty, the tiara is now a piece of the uniform for formal events for married women on Galidraan. Typically a tiara is given to a new bride for her wedding, but I would never presume to impose such a tradition on you. Instead, I have enclosed it herein, for you to wear as you like or not at all; the choice is entirely up to you. But I thought, as befits your new station, you ought to have some badge of status, and that it should be shiny and beautiful -- like you.

Please take this gift and use it in good health, and in friendship, and take with it my good wishes for your health and happiness in marriage.

I remain faithfully & in friendship --
Yours,
Natasi Josephine Fortan

Next, she went to the card for the groom, and she rested the pen's non-ink end on her bottom lip, staring at the cream-colored expanse of open page. There was a lot she wanted to say -- to him, not to some stupid paper to enclose with a wedding gift. But there was no time, now, and no opportunity. Besides, it was better this way; it might not have been true, but she had convinced herself to pretend that it was. She couldn't put herself through it again and again. No; her message to Vaas could only be greeting-card perfunctory. But at least what she could write was genuine and true. With a sigh, she put pen to paper, and wrote:

Supreme Commander Vaas,

Many congratulations on the occasion of your wedding.
I hope you will find this gift enlightening, as I did when I first received it.
Wishing you every happiness in your future --

Regards from,
Natasi Fortan

With the notes done, she slid them into their envelopes and placed them with their gifts. "Make sure to have these wrapped and delivered when appropriate," Natasi told Sioux, then drained her tea. "I'm going home."

"Ma'am?" Sioux looked at her watch.

"I know," Natasi said, standing up and setting her teacup down. She strolled over to the door and shrugged into her coat. "I know. But -- I'm going home. Everything else can wait til tomorrow."