Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

"Papa?" Vega said, sitting on the bed in her room. It had been her room all her life, and one of the things that she loved about her life now was that there was no room that was hers. She didn't sleep beneath a wooden ceiling any more, there were no walls. There was their tent, the open skies and them and Vega was more content with that than she could give words to. "It's your birth-trial on the last trial of this season. Are you going to see the new arc in like usual?" She wasn't sure, usually he and his twin would celebrate their birth trial together but this arc, of course, her father was alone. Her uncle's death had hit him hard, Vega knew and Jo'qan shrugged and looked up from what he was doing.

"I am not sure, Eva. I thought I would like to spend it with family. What are you doing?"

Vega shrugged, slightly, answering before she really thought about it. "Papa, Arlo an' I don't really plan much more than a trial ahead, if that. I've no idea." In Vega's hand was a piece of wood which she was working. It was a piece of driftwood, long and wave shaped, and Vega was carefully engraving into it. She had not started using the tools on it, yet. Her father was sanding another piece like it as she worked on drawing the design she planned for it on there. Looking up from it, though, she caught sight of her father's face and she engaged her brain. "I'm spendin' yer birth-trial wherever you want me to be, Papa. If you want yer family, I'll be there where you are." Jo'qan smiled at her, pleased at that response. Vega grinned as she reached for the oiled cloth which would treat the wood and allow her to engrave on it more easily.

"Does Arlo have different plans?" Jo'qan asked and Vega looked at him, surprised. "No, Papa, not as far as I know, any'ow. But you said you wanted to spend yer birthtrial with fam'ly so I figured..." Jo'qan stopped sanding the wood he was working on and he turned his full attention to his daughter.

"Am I misunderstanding the nature of your relationship, Eva?" His eyes were stern as he asked that, "are you simply engaging in a meaningless fling?" Vega shook her head, frowning deeply. "No, Papa! I wouldn't do that! I've never done that." Vega was quite prepared to get upset about such a suggestion, and then her father nodded his head and smiled. "Good," Jo'qan said, with a smile. "I have been thinking that he and you are truly together. That makes him family, Eva." Vega's expression told a lot more than she could manage with her words what had never been her strong point.

"What of you, Eva? You will be twenty one arcs old soon," Jo'qan looked at her and Vega frowned at him. "If you start on about marriage an' kids again, I'm gonna storm off, Papa." Her father's laugh was deep and honest as Vega lowered her head again to look at the wood. Next, it was time to just score the piece of wood with a thin sharp pointed knife, just a gentle scoring over the top, putting the pattern in place. "All I mean," her father's baritone voice, growing gravelly with age was a constant in her life and Vega listened to it as she worked. "Is to ask you what you plan on doing for your birthtrial? At this age you can celebrate it, can you not?"

Vega was gently and carefully scoring the wood, holding the knife with a look of concentration on her face, as she carefully worked along the grain, making sure that the scoring didn't damage the wood surrounding it. "I thought I'd do what we've always done an' pretend it wasn't 'appenin', to be 'onest. It's jus' a trial like any other, innit? Nothin' Papa." Jo'qan frowned slightly at that and wondered if the human lad his daughter was so besotted with knew anything about this birthtrial. He suspected not. If he said anything, though, then he knew what Vega's response would be and so he kept quiet, though he determined that he would speak to Arlo alone.

Like she read his mind, Vega lifted her head and locked green eyes on to her father. "Don't you go sayin' anythin' to Arlo, either. I don't want fussin', Papa. Me bein' 21 don't make it less unlucky does it? Besides, he winds me up about my age, an' at the moment, I get to be two arcs older than 'im. When that comes, I'll be three arcs again, an' I don't wanna give him ammunition." Vega's smile showed that she was entirely at ease with her age, and with Arlo's teasing. Jo'qan frowned slightly, wondering at the conundrum that was his daughter's mind. "I'm sure he would like to have an opportunity to celebrate your birth-trial, Eva. You have never had it, either. Wouldn't you?" Vega shook her head but said nothing, apparently concentrating on her work.

She didn't fool him for a trill, but Jo'qan was not used to not knowing what was going on in Eva's mind, she was usually an open book to him. As she reached for the slight, fine chisel, Vega looked at her father and smiled at his expression. "I'd feel bad, Papa. He's doin' real well, you know, since his mother. But, it's not righ' to be celebratin' my birth. Not when he's dealin' wth death. So, I'd be a sigh' more comortable to jus' leave it."

Jo'qan watched her and his expression softened. "If there was a point to doing so, I would argue with you, explain to you why you are wrong, but I know that look, and I am proud of your kindness, Eva." Vega grinned. "Good. I like it when I make you proud. I also like it when you show me 'ow to do this? Papa, my first curve looks like... well, like it was carved by a five arc old, wot am I doin' wrong?"

Jo'qan looked at it and smiled. "Nothing. It is simply not finished and so looks such," he handed her a small tool which was a sharp pointed chisel-like piece. She'd seen it in the carpentry kit but didn't know how to use it. "Use that," her father said and put down his own work for a moment, kneeling on to his heels and demonstrating. "It smooths out the edges, like very fine sandpaper. Use it lightly, go with the grain." Vega watched him, how he held it and the angle for sanding down such an awkward place. She nodded. "Thank you, Papa," she said with a smile as she turned her attention back to it.

"What have you done with your mother's diaries?" Jo'qan asked, after a few minutes of silence between them and Vega glanced up at him. She knew him well enough to know that it was a significant question, not one that was as casual as he made it sound. "I keep 'em safe, what'cha mean, Papa?" Jo'qan looked at his daughter and raised an eyebrow. She was a stubborn one, there was no doubting it. He wondered if she had managed to read any of the diaries. He knew his wife had written in Xanthean and he knew how much Vega struggled with Common. Yet she wouldn't ask. "You learned your mother's language?" Vega nodded her head and smiled a brief and bright smile which Jo'qan knew better than to believe.

Still, he knew his daughter and knew when there was just no point at all to try and argue with her. Argumentative, defensive and downright stubborn as she was. He considered how he might give her access to the diaries, without her losing her temper or him shaming her and he came up with nothing, nothing at all. Jo'qan moved back over to sit next to her on the bed where she was and he looked at what she was doing. "That is good, Eva. You have a talent with your hands, you always have." Vega grinned and nudged him with her elbow.

"I guess over, usin' this would make for an engravin' what's just too blurry? It's like there's a fine line between not enough an' too much?" Vega was frowning in concentration as she spoke and then looked up at her father, her gaze on him seeking his approval. Jo'qan wondered if he would ever be able to see her as an adult and her wrapped her in a sudden, fierce hug, causing a squeal of surprise to exit her. "Gerroff, you fool," she said, but she didn't mean in the slightest and he simply hugged her tighter. Then, he bent and picked up what she had done, the piece of wood having slid to the floor as she had hugged him back. "This is beautiful, Eva. You are coming on very well. You are better than me. You will be able to sell this, it is an interesting piece."

Vega laughed and shook her head. "It's for you, Papa, don't be daft. You taught me, so it's only righ' that the first thing I make usin' this technique, is for you. It's thank you." Vega was a strange mix of polite and rude, kind and harsh and she here showed another example of thoughtful and, at the same time, entirely unromantic. "I thought you could sell it," she said and Jo'qan laughed a deep and genuine laugh at his daughter's words.

"Wot?" Vega asked, ready to get annoyed and her father shook his head. "One trial, Eva," he replied, kissing her forehead and standing up, taking the piece of driftwood with him, "one trial, if U'frek and Xiur see fit to bless you, you will hold your child in your arms. On that trial, you imagine selling something they have made with their own hands, and then you will turn to me and tell me that you understand, finally, why I laughed when you said that."

"It's not likely, Papa," Vega said with a rueful, teasing grin to him. "I'm more likely to say, 'bloody 'ell, that 'urt' or somethin' you know." Her expression told that she understood more than her words did and that they both, now, knew that he wasn't going to sell it. "Come on, lets 'ave a cup of tea. We can talk about what you wanna do fer your birthtrial, eh?" Jo'qan nodded and father and daughter cleared away and then made their way to the small, neat galley kitchen.