the firestarters always get the burns
and the good guys never get the girl
I probably should not be surprised that he immediately assumes I’m here to..., interrogate? Defy? Replace? Still, when he calls out like that I stop in my tracks and frown at him. I blink the face away when I figure that perhaps Dawn had not been as diplomatic with the father of her children as she should have been, and Clayton had been too diplomatic to come off as genuine. I know they’d gone to talk to Lie, but exactly what had been said and in what tone - what Litotes might have heard in their tone - I could not know until I came to see the cremello myself.
I see now, that perhaps I am too late even for this.
Holding in a small sigh at the realization, I wait for the cremello to send the children away, for them to be out of earshot, since apparently he does not want me near them. It pains me to see that, as a mother, and a friend, I am apparently not to be trusted. I know I must represent something he dislikes, but I hadn’t thought he’d make it so obvious. That it’d be so deep-rooted that he has to pour his hate for Kagerus - or even Dawn or Clayton? - over me personally. I knew this talk might not be easy, but a girl could hope.
I look at him closely, then smile a little apologetically. ”I’m only just training them, Litotes. They’re not perfect, but I hope we can learn from the experience.” Myself too, because apparently I should have kept the heirs on a shorter leash if this is the result of letting them pursue their own curiosities and interests. Flicking an ear backwards as I am currently in annoyance with the Cove’s leadership - something I’ve barely sorted in the short time I had between the descension and the challenge - I wait for him to finish a possible retort if he wants to, then look from him to Pangea. ”I’m sorry to say I was a little too late to approach you in Loess. I’d wanted to ask you, if you wanted to come back to lead Pangea for us. But you beat me to it.” I smile a bit, knowing that it is full well possible he won’t believe me. But it would have allowed him to stay close to his family, without having to give in on his position. You could take a person’s crown, but you can’t take leadership out of a person. Used to giving orders, a forced step-down like the one that had happened, would never work. So why not? I couldn’t think of anyone better to lead the place - not then, and frankly, not now either. ”Unfortunately I can’t change the past or undo what’s been done to you.” I add, fully hoping he gets the two meanings of that sentence.
I know that he’s endured too much ’diplomacy’ and possibly even lies to give me much wiggle room by now. Since I don’t know how long it will take for him to get annoyed with my presence and my talk about the past, straight-forward is the only way to go.
I take one breath and look him in the eye if he’ll let me.
”So I’m here because I was hoping that you might accept my apologies, instead.”
@[litotes]