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"From the Shadows"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: The boys are not mine (curses!) however all the other characters are, and the story, and the idea, and my evil muse. You can have my evil muse. Pairings: 4x5 Spoilers: Nope Warnings: AU, soooo AU, maybe a hint of OOC, violence,
lemon, language, political scheming and fantasy elements. Oh, and
unicorns. ^_^ Rating: R Archived: Gundam Wing Diaries Betas: Velvet and Caitilin *emphasized* =thought= ::mental communication: :
" From the Shadows " Chapter 4 One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99
who have only interests. “He did *what*?” Quatre felt rather gratified by Chaelane’s reaction. He had delivered his mission summary completely deadpanned, hoping to see that face of absolute incredulity. Ahh…his day was now complete. “He had plans made to tear down the Antiq temple, part of the square, and carve into the mountain behind him to add a guest wing onto his palace. Oh, a water garden. We *mustn’t* forget the water garden.” The Queen’s head slowly sank into her hands, helplessly shaking back and forth. “How can anyone be that stupid?” “I don’t know. Something good has come out of his stupidity, however.” Quatre gestured for her to wait a moment, going briefly back out of the room. Rashid was waiting in the hallway in the exact same pose that he’d settled in twenty minutes ago when Quatre had gone into the study. Quatre crooked a finger at him before stepping back inside. “Lowan, may I introduce you to Rashid Kurama. He helped me solve this problem.” Chaelane had a little trouble keeping her jaw in place as this huge giant of a man stepped into her personal study. With credible politeness, she nodded. “You have my thanks, Master Rashid.” Rashid gave her a bow, showing manners that Quatre hadn’t thought the man capable of. “My pleasure, Lowan.” Chaelane sent a look in Quatre’s direction that clearly asked ‘is he also someone you want as Hearken?’ Quatre gave her his most pleading, pitiful expression. “Can I have him?” “I knew there was a reason you introduced him,” she muttered under her breath. “Yes, Quatre, you can have him. Master Rashid, are you willing to become a permanent Hearken?” “Absolutely, Lowan.” Rashid perked up with interest, his dark eyes focused on the young queen. “Good, consider yourself permanent. Quatre will have you sworn in and a seal will be given to you by Wyrack.” There was a swift *knock* on the door before Auda came in. “Hey Lowan, have we got a story to tell you.” “Is the border conflict solved?” Cathy came in behind Auda, a sarcastic smile on her face. “Oh it’s solved alright.” “…something about the way you say that worries me.” Chaelane braced herself. “Alright, I’m ready. What did you do?” Auda and Cathy exchanged a grin that would put a possum to shame. “We threatened the two lords that if they didn’t resolve their issues, we’d make their children marry.” Chaelane’s mouth flapped for a moment soundlessly. “But…the Doms of those two provinces hate each other!” “Yup, the threat worked brilliantly,” Cathy conceded cheerfully. “I thought one of them would keel over with heart failure at the very suggestion. Sadly, he managed to regain his temper.” The young queen was struggling to hide a smile. “I see. Give me a full written report, please. Have Abdul write it.” “You’re only saying that because Abdul is the storyteller of the group,” Auda grumbled. “Of course. His reports are fun to read.” Chaelane dismissed this with a wave of her hand. “Now, more importantly, meet the latest Hearken. Cathy, Auda, this is Rashid. Rashid, this is Auda who was the first Hearken drafted, and Cathy. She is Evleit and has two partners wandering around somewhere.” “Probably in the kitchens,” Quatre observed out loud to no in particular. Chaelane kept going as if Quatre hadn’t said anything. “We’ll introduce you to them later. For now, go ahead and settle in. Just one question…what was your previous career?” Quatre was rather interested to hear that answer as well. Judging from Rashid’s size, he was willing to say blacksmith, or stone mason. Probably stone mason. “I was a mapmaker.” Quatre twisted to look up at him incredulously. “Mapmaker?” “Why do people always have a hard time believing that?” Rashid murmured. His mouth was twitching at the corners, a smile gathering at the corners of his eyes. Quatre decided to ignore that rhetorical question. “Unbelievable. I was totally off. Hm. Well, let’s go see Wyrack shall we? Cathy, see if you can run down your erstwhile partners. Auda, go get a bath and some food then meet me in our Hall. I want you two to start getting comfortable with each other.” “Gonna partner us, eh?” Auda gave Rashid a quick scrutiny. “For the foreseeable future, anyway. Get moving.” As Auda turned away with a lazy salute, Rashid turned a perplexed look on Quatre. “Partners? I thought we worked rather independently.” Quatre sighed. He really was going to have to justify this to everyone, it seemed. “I’ll explain as we walk.” + “You’re not laying one finger on any of my weapons.” Quatre had to wonder if the whole day was going to go wrong on him or if after this confrontation things would start working out. He’d been dragged out of bed very early that morning to meet a potential candidate in an outlying village. Zechs. The man was the oldest Hearken yet at the age of thirty (by one year, Rashid was just a bit younger) and an authority on the law and all things bookish. He wasn’t much on weapons, but that was due to a lack of practice as far as Quatre could see. Without any compunction whatsoever Quatre had sworn the man in and thrown him in Rashid’s direction for weapons training. That was when Cathy had opened her big mouth and pointed out that if he expected all Hearken to be good at weapons, then he needed to be as well. Quatre hadn’t been able to retaliate. His style of fighting mostly used bare hands and feet…but he knew how to use weapons too and in this profession it was stupid to not carry at least one weapon with him. So he’d asked Wyrack for directions to the armory, and obediently trooped over to pick out a weapon of some sort. That’s when the trouble had started. Quatre took in a deep breath. He could not lose his temper, it wouldn’t accomplish anything. “Look, it’s the Palace armory, right? You’re supposed to give weapons to people that need them.” The obstinate rabbit headed idiot (otherwise known as Captain Heero Yuy of the palace guard) glared right back at Quatre. “I’m not letting some kid walk off with a sword that I can’t guarantee he can use.” Quatre drew himself up stiffly. He didn’t even reach this man’s chin, and the height difference briefly grated before he shoved it to the back of his mind. “Captain, I am not *some kid*. I am Quatre Raberba Winner of the Hearken, and I don’t want a sword. I have no idea how to fight with one. My style of combat deals with something like your quarterstaff, or long daggers. We don’t typically use swords. Now do you have something I can use, or do I have to go out in the city and find something suitable?” “Quarterstaff, eh?” Heero’s dark blue eyes took on a particularly evil gleam. He unsnapped the leather tube hanging at his belt and pulled out a slim cylinder the length of a man’s hand. With an infuriating smirk he tilted the rod sideways on his palm and murmured, “Basa.” The metal shot out in both directions. Quatre jumped in surprise, eyes big as saucers. What under the stars—?! When the staff stopped changing, it lay quiescent in Heero’s palm at a fully extended five feet long with a wicked blade of six inches on either side curving slightly away from the wielder. Quatre caught himself just before he started openly drooling in envy. “I want one of those.” “Yes, I know. Everybody does. You can’t have it.” Quatre glared at the man. “I didn’t mean I wanted yours. Where can I get one?” “If you ask very nicely Wyrack might make you one.” Thunder and tarnation! Wyrack was able to make weapons? Why hadn’t he said so earlier?! Then Quatre wouldn’t have had to deal with this sword-humping—waitaminute. Quatre forced himself to drop the irritation he was feeling and look at this (smirking) person neutrally. Even after Quatre had stated who he was, Heero hadn’t been fazed by the slightest and had remained unmoved in his decision. Hm… Plain spoken? Check. Able to defend himself? Check. Observant? Maybe. He’d have to be good at reading people to have survived as a guard at the palace this long. Politics didn’t just limit itself to nobility, after all. “Heero, come with me.” Heero eyed him suspiciously. “Why? I’m not pleading your case for you when you ask Wyrack for a bon’a’lon.” “So that’s what it’s called…” Weird name. Hm. “No, that’s not it. I’m going to make you a Hearken.” He blinked in surprise. “What? Why me?” “Because you have the guts to argue with me. Now shut up and come on.” Quatre happily badgered the man out of the room, congratulating himself as he went. Seven people down, four to go. At this rate, he might have everybody gathered before the month was out. “Quatre, I’m not going to be Hearken! I’m a guard for crying out loud. What can you possibly use a soldier for?” “Reconnaissance and your opinion doesn’t matter in this. You swore an oath to obey the queen, and if she agrees with me, then you’re going to be changing careers. Stop arguing, captain. You’ll thank me for this later.” “Thank you?” Heero demanded as he was dragged into the palace. “What for? This position wouldn’t be any better.” “Don’t be ridiculous, of course it’s better.” Heero obviously didn't believe him, if the expression on his face was anything to go by. “Oh really. How?” “For one thing, you get to boss around Doms.” Heero stayed silent for a moment. Quatre darted a look over his shoulder to see a rather sadistic flash of pleasure cross Heero’s mobile face. “Hmm…that does hold a certain appeal.” Quatre turned around quickly to hide the grin on his face. Yes, this man would fit in *just* fine. + In the course of the next week, the Hearken gained two more members. Heero, once he was fully resigned to his change in careers, suggested an old friend of his to Quatre. Sally was a wiry blonde with a sarcastic tongue and a past as a mercenary doctor. When Quatre had met her, she had just finished decking a court toady for putting his hands in unwanted places. Not content with breaking his nose, she then proceeded to lambaste him in front of a gathering crowd for being a ‘lump ridden peacock’ and he ‘could keep his slimy hands to himself’. Needless to say, Quatre had liked her instantly. The second person was Noin. A very tall brunette with a fiery personality, she was a trained soldier specializing in artillery. Noin was introduced by Sally. Quatre had talked with her for almost an hour before deciding, not entirely sure if she would be blunt enough to serve his purposes. She had a tendency to be rather diplomatic, but since she still got her point across Quatre had sworn her in as well. Besides, under all that politeness lurked a truly twisted sense of humor. Including Quatre, the Hearken now had ten members. Quatre worked with each person individually at least once. They traveled in every direction for two weeks while gathering information for Chaelane, or putting out minor fires. Quatre studied each person, evaluated their temperaments and abilities, and started mentally forming teams. This morning, he was taking advantage of a rare moment. By some miracle (or oversight on Chaelane’s part) all the Hearken were in the Hall. It was the perfect opportunity to assign teams. They met in the main room, where breakfast was being served. He waited until everyone was seated and eating before rapping knuckles against the table to call everyone’s attention. “While I have the chance, I’m going to assign teams. We have enough people to form three. Cathy, you and Abdul and Trowa will stay together as a team. You three balance each other well; as I’m sure you’re aware. Your team will be named Thurt. I will call upon you as needed.” Quatre waited for them to nod in understanding before moving on. “Rashid, Heero and Auda—you three will be the Lait team. Your task will be searching for information, but also searching out problem areas that we might miss.” Quatre paused to see if there would be any objections. There wasn’t which was nice. He expected something from Heero at that point, since the man loved riling Quatre whenever he found a chance to do so. “And finally, Zechs, Sally and Noin you will be the Yoir team. I expect you to be ready for anything. The three of you have very different personalities and talents, and the weirdest situations will probably be given to you to solve. Any questions or comments, and I’d better hear them now.” There were glances around the table, but nothing spoken. “Good. Then I’ll start assigning tasks. Yoir, your first task is going to be investigating the Courts. I’m fairly sure that there is a lot of corruption in the legal system at the moment. Weed out the bad ones, figure out which laws need to be dropped or changed, and talk to the people to see what laws need to be in place. This will take some time, I know. I’ll try to keep other problems among the other two teams until you get this one largely sorted out.” Noin perked up, eyes sparkling. “Does this mean I can be obnoxious and poke my nose into people’s business?” And that was why Quatre liked Noin. “Yes, it does. Poke away.” She grinned at him in evil amusement. Those poor judges and officials. Quatre cleared his throat slightly. “Lait team, we have another border conflict between Forrester and Nisbett province. Go beat up on the Doms until they start behaving. Throw them in jail for a while if you have to. I’m tired of fixing border conflicts.” Rashid and Heero exchanged grins that could only be defined as ‘evil’. “Of course, Quatre.” “Auda, your task is to stop them from doing anything too drastic,” Quatre continued with a sigh. “And what would you define as ‘too drastic’?” Auda inquired politely. “Just for future reference.” “Hm…beheading the Doms would be too drastic.” Sally rolled her eyes. “That’s quite the yard stick that you just handed them, Quatre.” Quatre blinked innocent eyes at her. “What? I’m just saying not to kill them.” “And what about dismembering?” she shot back. “As long as it doesn’t kill them, that’s fine. Now, Thurt team I know you just barely got back last night and there’s reports to be written and all that good stuff. We have enough done that you can take today off and rest some. If anyone needs me, I’ll be with Wyrack getting my new toy set up.” “You mean weapon,” Cathy corrected with an amused smirk. “That’s what I said, toy.” He blithely ignored her comment on that and returned to his breakfast. If he finished in the next few minutes, he might be able to catch the sorcerer before Chaelane could. + Wyrack listened to Quatre’s request with a patient sigh. Apparently, Heero had been showing off his bon’a’lon again. Why wasn’t he surprised? “Do you actually know how to use it?” “Actually, that’s what I was trained in. Or something similar, I should say. We didn’t have any nifty scythes on either end of the rod, but its close enough to where I can adapt my style to incorporate it.” Quatre changed from logical request to pleading big eyes. “Pleeeeease?” “Gah. Don’t do that! It’s bad enough when Chaelane does it.” And it worked too, curse it. “Alright, in order to do this I’ll need an oole of hard metal, preferably steel or something along those lines.” Quatre traced his bottom lip thoughtfully. “Does it have to be metal? Ours were made out of Trodanite. They were practically indestructible because of it.” Wyrack paused to consider that. Hm. Trodanite was unreasonably strong… “It would probably work, but where could you find enough trodanite to do something like that?” “Find? Easy. Do you have any sand stored in here?” He probably did. Most sorcerers kept a rather large cache of sand handy for potions and the like. “Of course. It’s in that red jar over in the corner. But what good will that do you?” “Trodanite can be derived easily from sand.” Quatre weaved his way around spellbooks, tables, chairs and stacks of very dusty things toward that huge red jar. He popped open the lid and set it aside, already mentally slipping into that weird other sight. It was still odd to do this. He hadn’t practiced with this ability much in the past three weeks or so. There hadn’t been time. He had discovered this new talent by sheer accident the day he had escaped from the pirates and managed to drag himself on shore. Focusing, he let his eyes shift past the obvious forms and into the very nature of the elements themselves. The sand shifted in his sight until it was nothing more than a cohesive collection of atomic particles. With a bit of coaxing, Quatre convinced the sand that it really wanted to change forms and be trodanite instead. Wyrack watched him in puzzlement as he just stared down at the sand. What was he—thunder and sky! Wyrack had never felt a surge of energy so pure before. That was coming from Quatre?! He was briefly distracted from this mental disbelief when the sand turned white and started to reshape itself. “There, is that enough?” Quatre turned to look at the sorcerer…who only sputtered gibberish in return. Cocking an eyebrow he ventured, “Wyrack?” “You—*how did you do that*?!” “Er…” Good question. How did he do things like this? “It’s rather hard to explain. I can see how things are composed, and can manipulate things to a degree. I’m not really used to it yet. I didn’t have the ability until I came down here. Why? You can do things like this too right?” “No,” Wyrack denied adamantly. “I can’t do anything like that. No one can. That isn’t sorcerer, or any kind of magic. That’s…unheard of. Put the trodanite away, Quatre. We need to figure this out first. Sit down and tell me how this started.” Quatre slowly moved into the indicated chair. Apparently this was more serious than he thought. That rather disturbed him, actually. It was one thing to have ability like other people…it was another entirely to have an ability that wasn’t supposed to be possible. What disturbed him the most however was the way Wyrack was reacting to this. Nothing ruffled the elderly sorcerer or so Quatre had thought. To see him this shaken was making Quatre a little nervous. “Um, the first time I noticed it was when I was lying on the shore after escaping the pirate’s ship. I was a little out of it, still dazed from the explosion and a part of me was wondering why sand could be so hard. It was like this door in my mind just crumpled, and I could suddenly see what sand was made of. Right down to it’s smallest particle. For the longest time I just stared at it, then I realized that there was all this untapped potential in that sand. So I tried nudging it—and it worked. The sand moved.” Quatre felt unnerved by the focused attention he was getting, and he flicked his tongue over his lips nervously. “I didn’t do anything with it though, until the next morning. I figured that if I could see how sand worked, I might be able to do something with my body. It took a long time to figure everything out, but I finally managed to heal myself. Sand is a lot easier to manipulate than living tissue.” “That’s it?” Wyrack murmured a little shakily. “It doesn’t require any effort on your part?” “Not that I’ve noticed, no. But then, I’ve never pushed myself to the limits with this either. I’m still experimenting on what I can and can’t do.” Quatre let out a slow breath. “I can see from your expression that it should require a lot of effort on my part, shouldn’t it?” “Yes. It should. I’ve never heard of a human being able to do this, Quatre. Only creatures of legend had this ability.” Oh great. Now he was special. “What creatures of legends?” “Specifically? Fairies and unicorns. Some say dragons could do it as well, but there’s no proof to back that up with. My point is you are not normal. I think we’d better fully test these abilities of yours and find what your limits are. Schedule yourself to remain here for at least a month.” “I can’t do that Wyrack,” Quatre denied swiftly. “There’s too much work to be done. There’s no harm in this ability, it’s not like it’s out of control or anything. And I’ve never done this where someone else could see. You’re the first person to witness it.” Wyrack slumped in his chair with relief. That had been one of his concerns. “Good. Stay that way. I know you’re busy, Quatre, but we’re going to have to make as much time as possible to figure this out. Just try to keep yourself here, alright?” “Fine. In the meantime, can we make my toy now?” Making Quatre’s weapon was just as good a way to test his powers as any. “Certainly. Go get your trodanite and we’ll start. I’ll guide you through the process.” Quatre happily scrambled back to the jar and tugged his lump of trodanite out. Wyrack watched him with a slight frown on his face. The boy didn’t realize just how incredible this talent of his was. He would have to keep a close watch, and start doing a lot of research. “Is this enough? I can make more, of course.” Wyrack pulled himself back into the present and gauged the huge crystal in Quatre’s hands. “It might be. Set it on the worktable.” + Quatre did try and heed Wyrack’s advice. Out of the next two weeks, he managed to stay at the palace for ten days. In that time, Wyrack put him through every test imaginable. They discovered that the only thing Quatre couldn’t easily manipulate was metal. He could do it, with enough focus, but it took effort. They also discovered that he could manipulate human cells very easily. Quatre spent the majority of those ten days in a hospital somewhere in the city, curing incurable diseases, fixing broken bones, healing injuries that should have left someone near death or crippled. Wyrack was always right next to him, giving others the assumption that Quatre was only an assistant and that all of this healing was done by some sort of sorcery. Quatre tilted his neck back and forth, trying to get some of the kinks out. Doing all of this didn’t take any energy out of him physically, but man was his mind tired from doing all of this intense focus. He was on his way to a meeting with Chaelane now, but as soon as that was over, he was so taking a nap. With a polite knock on the study door, he came through trying to stifle a yawn. “Good morning, Lowan.” “Good morning, Quatre. Wyrack tells me that you have your limits figured out now?” Wyrack had insisted on telling the young queen about Quatre’s ability. She had been very surprised upon hearing it, and then scheming to use it to her advantage ever since. Even now, with her innocent expression, Quatre could feel the wheels spinning madly in her head. “With humans, anyway. I can’t do much against poison, or genetic diseases. We’re still figuring everything else out. Now, I assume this meeting is to discuss how ragged my Hearken are looking?” “Yes, quite.” She waved him to a chair, pointedly ignoring his possessive tendencies over *her* Hearken. “I know that you’ve been busy these past two weeks, Quatre, and I certainly can’t blame you for what you’ve been doing. It’s quite wise, really. But I need you to go back to your original task—finding more Hearken and completing the team. Nine people can do the job…barely. But they’re becoming very tired doing so.” Quatre nodded in agreement. “I’ll get back on it.” There was a soft knock on the door, right before Auda, Rashid and Heero came through the door. Quatre stood to greet them, giving them a quick study as they came in. =They look happy to be home, and satisfied. Good. That probably means that the situation on the borders is back under control.= “Gentlemen, I assume that there will no longer be border conflicts in that region?” Heero actually grinned at him. “You assume correctly.” “Excellent.” Quatre was distracted from saying anything more by a quick glimpse he caught. Tilting his head slightly he peered behind Rashid to see a head of thick chestnut hair standing just inside the doorway. He couldn’t see much detail about the kid, as Rashid was blocking his view…what was he doing here, anyway? Chaelane nibbled on the bottom of her lip, eyeing the team suspiciously. “What did you do?” “Nothing drastic,” Rashid assured her with something that was a barely disguised sadistic chuckle. “I drew up a map that shows where the true border is supposed to be, and then gave it to them.” Chaelane waited. She just knew that there was more. “And?” “And then we gave them a bunch of stakes, and wood, and paint, and told them that in order to avoid any confusion in the future, that they could mark out the border themselves.” Rashid beamed at her brightly. “It’ll stick in their minds that way, you see.” “The first week or so, we had to keep an eye on them because they kept trying to order other people to do it for them,” Heero picked up the narration with sadistic cheerfulness. “But after that they behaved themselves.” Chaelane wisely decided that was enough information. “I see. Write up a report for me, please.” “And introduce the kid lurking behind Rashid,” Quatre requested mildly. “Ah yes.” Auda twisted slightly and tugged the boy out into plain view. He had messy chestnut hair wrapped in a braid, cobalt blue eyes leaning toward violet—currently glaring daggers at anything and everything in the room—and clothes that hung on a thin frame. He couldn’t have been more than fourteen, possibly younger considering how short he was. “This is Duo, an orphan that we met on the road. He has a complaint that he wants to address to you, Lowan.” Chaelane blinked at the word ‘complaint’ but nodded. “What is your complaint, Master Duo?” “I want you to change the policy you have on orphans.” Quatre could see the queen had little to no idea what her policy on orphans was and decided to be nice and bail her out this once. “Perhaps you could explain which policy? I’m new to this country and I’m still learning all the rules.” Duo hesitated briefly, unsure if he should be diverted by someone else. Then his chin thrust out and he squared his shoulders. “There’s this stupid rule that we get kicked out when we’re seventeen. But we don’t have any way of earning a living because we’ve never been taught anything.” “That is a problem,” Quatre agreed slowly. Actually, that policy would lead directly to crime. They’d fall to stealing just to survive. Whoever thought that up needed a good dose of common sense socked into his chest. “If you had the power, Duo, what would you do to fix this?” Without missing a beat he replied, “I want it changed so that we can be apprentices like normal kids and learn a trade.” Quatre gave Chaelane a look that said ‘the kid’s got a good point’. “Mm,” she agreed, still nibbling on her bottom lip. “Master Duo, I agree that something must be done to rectify that problem. However, there are side effects to your solution. For one thing, how am I to guarantee that a master would take on an orphan apprentice? It would mean a financial burden to them.” A crazy idea bloomed in Quatre’s head. “What if you gave them a tax break if they took in an orphan?” Everyone looked up at him sharply. Spreading out his hands in a slight shrug, he continued, “I think Lowan’s obsession with taxes is rubbing off. It’s the first solution that popped into my head. But wouldn’t that work? Say that they’ll get a fifty percent discount on taxes for every year that they have an apprentice from an orphanage.” “You know,” Heero muttered thoughtfully, “that just might work.” “I think it might,” Chaelane agreed just as thoughtfully. “Very well, I’ll have that looked into more thoroughly. Quatre?” Quatre sighed. “The punishment for thinking around this place is you get more work. Yes, Lowan, I’ll dig into it for you.” But more importantly…he looked back at the boy standing in the center of the room. Duo seemed a little stunned that his plea had actually been heard. “Auda, just how did you meet this boy?” “Like I said, we ran into him on the way here.” “Literally,” Duo muttered. “They nearly knocked me over.” Chaelane jerked upright in her seat. “Do you mean to suggest that you were on your way here *alone*?” Duo glared back at her defensively. “Yeah, I was. Nobody else had the guts to come and talk to you about it, so I figured that it was up to me.” Now it was official. Quatre definitely liked this kid. Auda coughed slightly, a sound that almost sounded like a laugh, and Quatre’s eyes cut to him. “What’s so funny, Auda?” Auda grinned and offered brightly, “So, Quatre, I was wondering…is there an age limit?” =I don’t know, is there?= “Older than ten, and younger than sixty.” “He just made that up on the spot,” Heero observed out loud to no one in particular. Quatre chose to ignore that and went back to looking at Duo. “Kid, do you know what these men are?” “They’re Hearken, right?” “Right. How would you like to be one of them?” Duo eyed him sideways, clearly battling between believing the offer or not. “Are you joking?” “Master Duo,” Chaelane inputted firmly, “perhaps I should introduce you. This is Quatre, creator of the Hearken and my right hand.” Duo’s eyes went wide, nearly consuming his face. “Then…you’re serious?” “Absolutely,” Quatre responded with quiet authority. “I only have three requirements for the Hearken. One, they must have the courage to speak out when they see something wrong. Two, they must be able to protect themselves in some way, and three—I have to like you. You passed at least two. I’m not sure how well you can defend yourself, but that can be easily fixed. What do you say, Duo? Will you become Hearken?” For a second, it seemed as if Duo was afraid to even breathe. Then he took in a deep breath and nodded firmly. “Yes.” “Good! Let’s get you sworn in. You’ll be my partner from now on.” “*Your* partner?!” Duo blurted out. “But I thought you’re the boss!” “Oh I am,” Quatre assured him with dark humor. “But I have to pull my weight as well. I work with the rest of the Hearken. The only difference between me and them is that I have more work to do.” Duo’s eyes darted to Auda for confirmation. The Hainan shrugged in an easy manner. “Can’t argue with that. We’ve all partnered with Quatre in the beginning, and believe me kid; he will run your feet off.” Quatre tossed that observation aside with a flick of the fingers. “Anyway, let’s get you sworn in, and then hunt Wyrack down so we can get your seal. And then…the tailor’s. Definitely.” “Do I get to eat at some point?” Duo grouched. Yup, he and Quatre were going to get along *just* fine. “Certainly. Remind me later, right now we have to catch Wyrack before he goes into his daily meditation mode.” Duo took one long look at Quatre before muttering to Auda, “You weren’t kidding about the slave driving part were you?” “Nope. Welcome to the Hearken, squirt.” “Hmph.” ~*~*~*~
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