Degrees of Freedom - Chapter 1: Relations
Aug. 20th, 2006 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bending_sickleAuthor: Sickle
Fandom: Planet of the Apes (2001)
Summary:Focuses on the lives of Thade, Ari, their relatives and a number of original characters both before and after the Battle of Calima. Absolutely no Leo or Daena.
Rating: Teen, aka PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine, but rather Burton's, Fox's and Pierre Boulle's
Comments:Tell me what works and what doesn't.
A/N: This chapter, like the rest of the story, has no beta; it's been read and reread many times (just not recently). Though the story isn't finished, I had to post this just to stop myself from adding to or changing it. Oh, and the story as a whole has been in the writing, often out of order, since 2001, so the writing style may vary in maturity.
Chapter One - Relations
The father sat by the fire in his living room, having a smoke after an early dinner. His eldest child, and only daughter of three, sat before him on an armchair. Her youngest brother had long since moved out of the family home, so they were alone. Though she was dressed to go out, he was comfortably draped in his blue house-robe, the cloth’s vibrant blue contrasting starkly with his own pure white hair and thinning beard. He recalled wistfully the days when his fur had been coal-black and his strength far greater than it was now. He’d been a lively youth then, swinging through the trees with his friends down the streets. He smiled at the memory of his mother warning him not to taunt the servants, or to pick fights with the gorillas, insisting that they were (correctly) stronger than him, a chimpanzee, and (incorrectly) faster as well.
He focused his mind back to his daughter, who was gesticulating wildly in her excitement. They were in the midst of a spirited discussion, though the father had the condescending air of one who has heard an argument expressed one too many times.
Sandar placed his pipe on the small table beside his armchair, nodding slightly in his daughter’s direction. Her speeches often left him feeling as if he were under a sort of attack, and thinking whether he would be better off just surrendering, if that would end the diatribe that could extend for days. She was quite persistent, this child of his.
He sipped from his drink, not really paying attention to her words, merely relying on the cadence and tone to inform him of the progress of her speech. She was still hounding him about infections, malnutrition and the likes. At the moment, it appeared, Ari was still covering old ground in her effort to alter his ideals. They were discussing humans; Ari had come up with yet another infallible plan for saving them and she insisted she enlighten him.
With a start, his attention was drawn back to his daughter. He asked her to repeat herself. Once she did, the aged chimpanzee shook his head and thumped the table lightly with his knuckle again.
“Twenty percent! That’s what these pests are taking. I don’t call that little.”
“Yes, but Father, they’re only doing that because they have no choice.“
“Beasts don’t have choice; they have instinct. The dreadful things just snatch anything you put before them. And right now, all they’re doing is robbing us blind.”
“Father, if a small area was set aside, a sanctuary-”
“They’d what? Stop breeding? Really Ari, try reasoning for once.”
“But I am, Father. They’d stop raiding the orchards if only they had some other source of food. The mere fact that they still do, despite the precautions of the farmers and – ”
“The army, yes,” completed her father, waving a hand dismissively.
“Despite all that, they still come back. Just look at the ones captured: they’re all starving.”
“So you’re proposing we set aside much needed fertile land, which could be used for feeding the many hungry mouths within our city’s walls, to instead feed a pack of mongrel beasts? What makes you think this’ll end differently from the last welfare state?”
“There must be another way.”
“Of course there is. The present solution is the right one. Do stop meddling in these matters, dear, politics isn’t your strength. You’re much too sentimental. Thank goodness we sold your pet. That’s what started it all.”
“Yes. I’m ashamed to recall that I had one as a pet once.”
“Right. Now go along, you really must call on Thade and Sharia. Do send my regards to Lorenz.”
“Father! I couldn’t possibly bear being in the same room – ”
“Bear you shall, and you’ll be pleasant about it too. Don’t bring up any of your ideals. You know where their family stands on the matter.”
“And where they stand, so does the Senate? Really father, that the army hold such sway…”
“It is the army we must thank! Thank Semos and the soldiers for the culling. We’d be overrun if it weren’t for them! Now go dress, it’s getting late.”
“Yes, Father.”
“And don’t dally by the human paddocks, I’m sick of Limbo’s sniveling. And no amount of perfume will hide the stench.”
* * *
This father also sat in his living room with his son for company, the younger daughter having gone upstairs. Both sat quietly, interchanging small bits of news with soft seriousness, awaiting their visitor in formal eveningwear.
In one of their silences, Lorenz coughed twice into a handkerchief. Pocketing the handkerchief, he reached for a glass that stood on the low table between them, but failed to drink from it as he was hit with a new coughing fit, harsher than the last. His son stared at the glass on the table, concern on his face as he stole glances of his ailing father. Once the coughing had ceased and Lorenz sipped water, wheezing slightly, his son took up the conversation again, allowing him time to recover.
“It’s not enough, Father. The humans still fill the forests.”
“The forests?” Lorenz took another sip. “I thought you’d driven them from the Sug Jungle.”
“If I just had more ape-power I’d arrange for a clean sweep through the Sug. As it is, the humans slip through the cracks.”
“The Senate would never allow that. It’s the outposts on the borders that drain on the army. If you drew them back into the army’s grasp, we would be vulnerable to invasion. The Senate knows this. As do you, son.”
“Yes, Father, but if the soldiers in the area were gathered for just one day-”
“Cities fall in less time, Thade. A moment unguarded is a moment too long.”
“Yes Father.”
“Tell me, why haven’t you sent your soldiers towards the canyon?”
His son gave him a quizzical look. “Father, already we have destroyed their nests on the periphery of the Upper Mass Canyon, on the east side of the river.”
“That’s all? It’s open ground! Use it.” Thade bowed his head submissively but did not respond. “You have horses. You don’t need a lot of ape power. It should be easy to clear the Sug.”
Thade nodded, having followed his father’s train of thought.
They were interrupted by the doorbell, whereupon Sharia rushed downstairs to greet their guest. Sharia welcomed Ari into her home and the two friends hugged enthusiastically in the corridor.
“Ari, my dear, so glad to see you again.”
“Nice to see you too, Sharia. Father sends his greetings.”
“Here, let me take your coat.” Sharia glanced at the yellow coat for a moment, her fingers lightly brushing the stitching, her gaze inquisitive.
“Is it new?” she asked, as she handed it to a human who was waiting nearby. The creature bowed quickly and hurried down a corridor.
“Just relatively.”
“It has a most interesting pattern,” she prodded. Ari smiled but kept silent, her father’s words still ringing in her ears.
The pair made their way through the house until they reached a large living room, richly upholstered in red. Bright lamps in corners cast their glow on religious icons and wall tapestries. Ari’s gaze fell, as always, on the two swords that hung, side by side, on the wall under the Trident of Faith. Despite their being richly decorated, reflecting the status of the house and its members, Ari saw only the sharp blades.
Two figures had risen to their feet at the approach of the two females. Their faces were cast in shadows caused by the flickering light of the lamps, yet nothing could hide the similarity held by father and son.
“Ari of Sandar, welcome. I trust you and yours are well?”
Ari clasped the old hand offered by the senior ape and inclined her head slightly in deference.
“Semos bless.” She extended the ritual greeting solemnly, as he should have done to her. She knew she should not take offence, for as her father had said, he who can claim bloodline to Semos need not express such wishes, as they are a given. She’d retorted that it was not necessary for one of such blood to be blessed, as it was also a given. Father had not been pleased with her wits that day.
“I thank you for you welcome, Lorenz. Mine own are well. Father sends his greetings to you and yours.” She emphasized the last word with an incline of her head towards the silent ape who stood by his side.
Lorenz shifted slightly towards his son, who immediately stepped forwards and extended his hand.
“Greetings, Ari.”
“Thade.”
She let him clasp her hand only long enough so as not to insult, then quickly withdrew it.
* * *
Once Lorenz had gone, and the drinks were served, an awkward silence hung in the room. Ari sipped her Ginanton and let her eyes focus on the swords again. Thade watched her silently. Perhaps he was running battle tactics through his head, she mused. Sharia was the most uncomfortable of the three and clinked her rings against her glass. Ari winced at each clink.
“Ari, dear,” began Sharia, “you never did tell me where you got such an interesting coat. I don’t recognize the patterns.” She paused, then added, “Perhaps trade with Soror is better than I thought?” She glanced at her left and right expectantly, having opened the conversation with consideration for both her brother’s and her friend’s interests.
Ari sighed and decided to be courteous. Sharia was indeed a good friend of hers, though Ari did not agree with the opinions of the males in Sharia’s family. Sharia, for her part, made it clear that what her father and brother thought had no business meddling with her friendship with Ari. Consequently, Ari’s speeches fell on deaf ears. “It’s not my business, but theirs. I can’t make it mine. Vent all you want dear, but you know I hold no sway,” she’d once said, then had changed the subject to the new paintings that had been discovered in the Caves of Dartanus.
“Actually I bought it here, in the Great City. I had no idea that trade with Soror had gone down.”
“Oh? Brother, what do you know of the trade?”
“I am no merchant, Sister – ” he held up his hand to stop her protests, “but I do know that matters have been rather strained between the City and Soror,” he finished, in a tone of one who’d simplified a complex matter a great deal in deference to one’s audience. Thade turned towards Ari and fixed his gaze on her. “They resent our troops in the Sug.”
Ari refused to take the bait. Sharia sighed softly in rebuke of her brother then, with unrecognized courage, trudged on bravely as hostess.
“But Ari, the stitching. What market did you go to? It is most peculiar.”
“I had the stitching done at home.” Ari didn’t take her eyes off of Thade.
“What do you mean? A dresser?”
“A servant did it.” She smiled smugly for a moment. Thade shifted in his seat, his brow furrowing. “A human.”
Ari’s smile faded at Thade’s growl through clenched teeth. However, instead of the heated retort that Ari had been expecting, he lay his glass on the table between them and stood up quickly. Sharia followed cue. Ari remained sitting.
“What are you doing?” hissed Sharia.
“I leave in the morning. I don’t care for idle chat over coats and stitches.”
“Thade, stay a while longer,” she insisted.
“No.” He turned his gaze from Ari to Sharia. “Goodnight, Sister.” He nodded in Ari’s direction. “Good-bye Ari.”
Ari nodded in acknowledgment, unable to say anything for the moment. Then remembering her manners, she stood and replied his farewell. He turned to leave but she stopped him. Standing by her chair, Ginanton in hand, she tried to recall her father’s words and swallow some of her pride.
“Father’s organizing one of his dinners next month with some other senators. He asks you and your first-in-command to join us.”
Thade nodded and left the room. The two females sat back down and reclaimed their glasses.
“Will you two never make peace? Or are you just playing hard to get, Ari?”
“I’m not playing.”
“Neither is my brother,” responded Sharia, suddenly serious. “This is no game, Ari.”
Ari smiled wryly and nodded. “No, it’s a battle of wills.”
* * *
“Uncle?”
Thade turned, one foot posed on the stairs, and looked upwards. There, at the start of the staircase, stood a small form. The light behind Thade lit his niece in a soft glow so he could see her waiting for him with her doll in one hand, the crumpled bows of her nightgown in the other.
“Jinn? What are you doing up?”
He reached the landing and extended a hand to her, then walked her slowly back to her room.
“Papa said you were going outside tomorrow. He said that you were going after humans.”
“Your papa’s right. He’s coming too, you know that.”
In fact, that was the reason why the father’s wife and daughter were staying the night at his father-in-law’s home. Thade wondered where Gald was at the moment. He’d gone out that afternoon with the pretext of checking the gates and hadn’t returned yet. Thade would have liked to go over the next day’s plans with him, though, to show that he appreciated his efforts. Thade felt perhaps the younger ape was trying to prove his worth to his in-laws. There was no real need for that though: he knew his sister had not married below her station; Father had seen to that. Thade considered Gald a capable soldier with potential, though a bit inexperienced, untested: the City had not had any attacks in the past years, only a few boundary skirmishes.
Looking up, Thade realized that they’d reached her bedroom door, and, guided by her bright night-lamp, they made their way to her bedside. Jinn hopped onto the bed and gently placed Mr Wrinkles beside her. Her uncle straightened out her bows.
“It’s going to be my birthday soon.”
“I know, Jinn. You’re going to be quite a big girl. Now tell me again, how old? Two? Three?”
“Six, Uncle. You know I’m going to be six,” she giggled.
“You know, six years is quite a lot from Mr Wrinkles point of view,” lied Thade, gesturing to the doll.
His niece immediately cuddled it to her chest, looking hurt. Thade had never liked the thing; it was a crude bundle of cloth meant to represent a human child. His sister had made it when she was a child of Jinn’s age out of some old cloth from their mother’s dresses. Now that had caused a row. Starting out old and wrinkled, the aptly-named doll had suffered even more at the hands of the young Sharia, who bravely defended it from her boisterous and less-caring older brother. When Jinn had been an infant, Sharia had put Mr Wrinkles in her crib. Now the child refused to give the rag up. Every time Jinn proclaimed she was old, Thade would try to convince her to give up the doll. He was always unsuccessful.
Abruptly, the child tossed the doll to the foot of the bed, causing a small tide of hope to swell in her uncle’s chest. Perhaps this time… When Jinn turned to him, there was a gleam in her eyes.
“Uncle, are you going to give me a birthday present?”
“Of course, Jinn.”
“Can I tell you what I want?”
“That hardly makes is a surprise, does it?” he asked as he tucked her into the bed.
“Yes, but… I want a Mr Wrinkles.”
“Another doll?” Thade retrieved the doll and lay in on the pillow by his niece’s head.
“No,” she giggled softly, reaching out to hold Mr Wrinkles closer. “Papa won’t get me one. He says they’re ugly and loud and smelly. But that’s not true. Becca has one and it’s all small and soft and makes funny sounds. And Mama says it’s ok. And I promise I’ll take care of it, like Mr Wrinkles.”
“You want a pet, Jinn? A pet human?” he asked, not quite believing his ears. By Semos, that was worse than Mr Wrinkles. A lot worse.
“Yes. Please? Please, please, please?”
“Maybe. I’ll have to talk with you mother.”
Click the banner for Chapter 2
Fandom: Planet of the Apes (2001)
Summary:Focuses on the lives of Thade, Ari, their relatives and a number of original characters both before and after the Battle of Calima. Absolutely no Leo or Daena.
Rating: Teen, aka PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine, but rather Burton's, Fox's and Pierre Boulle's
Comments:Tell me what works and what doesn't.
A/N: This chapter, like the rest of the story, has no beta; it's been read and reread many times (just not recently). Though the story isn't finished, I had to post this just to stop myself from adding to or changing it. Oh, and the story as a whole has been in the writing, often out of order, since 2001, so the writing style may vary in maturity.
The father sat by the fire in his living room, having a smoke after an early dinner. His eldest child, and only daughter of three, sat before him on an armchair. Her youngest brother had long since moved out of the family home, so they were alone. Though she was dressed to go out, he was comfortably draped in his blue house-robe, the cloth’s vibrant blue contrasting starkly with his own pure white hair and thinning beard. He recalled wistfully the days when his fur had been coal-black and his strength far greater than it was now. He’d been a lively youth then, swinging through the trees with his friends down the streets. He smiled at the memory of his mother warning him not to taunt the servants, or to pick fights with the gorillas, insisting that they were (correctly) stronger than him, a chimpanzee, and (incorrectly) faster as well.
He focused his mind back to his daughter, who was gesticulating wildly in her excitement. They were in the midst of a spirited discussion, though the father had the condescending air of one who has heard an argument expressed one too many times.
Sandar placed his pipe on the small table beside his armchair, nodding slightly in his daughter’s direction. Her speeches often left him feeling as if he were under a sort of attack, and thinking whether he would be better off just surrendering, if that would end the diatribe that could extend for days. She was quite persistent, this child of his.
He sipped from his drink, not really paying attention to her words, merely relying on the cadence and tone to inform him of the progress of her speech. She was still hounding him about infections, malnutrition and the likes. At the moment, it appeared, Ari was still covering old ground in her effort to alter his ideals. They were discussing humans; Ari had come up with yet another infallible plan for saving them and she insisted she enlighten him.
With a start, his attention was drawn back to his daughter. He asked her to repeat herself. Once she did, the aged chimpanzee shook his head and thumped the table lightly with his knuckle again.
“Twenty percent! That’s what these pests are taking. I don’t call that little.”
“Yes, but Father, they’re only doing that because they have no choice.“
“Beasts don’t have choice; they have instinct. The dreadful things just snatch anything you put before them. And right now, all they’re doing is robbing us blind.”
“Father, if a small area was set aside, a sanctuary-”
“They’d what? Stop breeding? Really Ari, try reasoning for once.”
“But I am, Father. They’d stop raiding the orchards if only they had some other source of food. The mere fact that they still do, despite the precautions of the farmers and – ”
“The army, yes,” completed her father, waving a hand dismissively.
“Despite all that, they still come back. Just look at the ones captured: they’re all starving.”
“So you’re proposing we set aside much needed fertile land, which could be used for feeding the many hungry mouths within our city’s walls, to instead feed a pack of mongrel beasts? What makes you think this’ll end differently from the last welfare state?”
“There must be another way.”
“Of course there is. The present solution is the right one. Do stop meddling in these matters, dear, politics isn’t your strength. You’re much too sentimental. Thank goodness we sold your pet. That’s what started it all.”
“Yes. I’m ashamed to recall that I had one as a pet once.”
“Right. Now go along, you really must call on Thade and Sharia. Do send my regards to Lorenz.”
“Father! I couldn’t possibly bear being in the same room – ”
“Bear you shall, and you’ll be pleasant about it too. Don’t bring up any of your ideals. You know where their family stands on the matter.”
“And where they stand, so does the Senate? Really father, that the army hold such sway…”
“It is the army we must thank! Thank Semos and the soldiers for the culling. We’d be overrun if it weren’t for them! Now go dress, it’s getting late.”
“Yes, Father.”
“And don’t dally by the human paddocks, I’m sick of Limbo’s sniveling. And no amount of perfume will hide the stench.”
This father also sat in his living room with his son for company, the younger daughter having gone upstairs. Both sat quietly, interchanging small bits of news with soft seriousness, awaiting their visitor in formal eveningwear.
In one of their silences, Lorenz coughed twice into a handkerchief. Pocketing the handkerchief, he reached for a glass that stood on the low table between them, but failed to drink from it as he was hit with a new coughing fit, harsher than the last. His son stared at the glass on the table, concern on his face as he stole glances of his ailing father. Once the coughing had ceased and Lorenz sipped water, wheezing slightly, his son took up the conversation again, allowing him time to recover.
“It’s not enough, Father. The humans still fill the forests.”
“The forests?” Lorenz took another sip. “I thought you’d driven them from the Sug Jungle.”
“If I just had more ape-power I’d arrange for a clean sweep through the Sug. As it is, the humans slip through the cracks.”
“The Senate would never allow that. It’s the outposts on the borders that drain on the army. If you drew them back into the army’s grasp, we would be vulnerable to invasion. The Senate knows this. As do you, son.”
“Yes, Father, but if the soldiers in the area were gathered for just one day-”
“Cities fall in less time, Thade. A moment unguarded is a moment too long.”
“Yes Father.”
“Tell me, why haven’t you sent your soldiers towards the canyon?”
His son gave him a quizzical look. “Father, already we have destroyed their nests on the periphery of the Upper Mass Canyon, on the east side of the river.”
“That’s all? It’s open ground! Use it.” Thade bowed his head submissively but did not respond. “You have horses. You don’t need a lot of ape power. It should be easy to clear the Sug.”
Thade nodded, having followed his father’s train of thought.
They were interrupted by the doorbell, whereupon Sharia rushed downstairs to greet their guest. Sharia welcomed Ari into her home and the two friends hugged enthusiastically in the corridor.
“Ari, my dear, so glad to see you again.”
“Nice to see you too, Sharia. Father sends his greetings.”
“Here, let me take your coat.” Sharia glanced at the yellow coat for a moment, her fingers lightly brushing the stitching, her gaze inquisitive.
“Is it new?” she asked, as she handed it to a human who was waiting nearby. The creature bowed quickly and hurried down a corridor.
“Just relatively.”
“It has a most interesting pattern,” she prodded. Ari smiled but kept silent, her father’s words still ringing in her ears.
The pair made their way through the house until they reached a large living room, richly upholstered in red. Bright lamps in corners cast their glow on religious icons and wall tapestries. Ari’s gaze fell, as always, on the two swords that hung, side by side, on the wall under the Trident of Faith. Despite their being richly decorated, reflecting the status of the house and its members, Ari saw only the sharp blades.
Two figures had risen to their feet at the approach of the two females. Their faces were cast in shadows caused by the flickering light of the lamps, yet nothing could hide the similarity held by father and son.
“Ari of Sandar, welcome. I trust you and yours are well?”
Ari clasped the old hand offered by the senior ape and inclined her head slightly in deference.
“Semos bless.” She extended the ritual greeting solemnly, as he should have done to her. She knew she should not take offence, for as her father had said, he who can claim bloodline to Semos need not express such wishes, as they are a given. She’d retorted that it was not necessary for one of such blood to be blessed, as it was also a given. Father had not been pleased with her wits that day.
“I thank you for you welcome, Lorenz. Mine own are well. Father sends his greetings to you and yours.” She emphasized the last word with an incline of her head towards the silent ape who stood by his side.
Lorenz shifted slightly towards his son, who immediately stepped forwards and extended his hand.
“Greetings, Ari.”
“Thade.”
She let him clasp her hand only long enough so as not to insult, then quickly withdrew it.
Once Lorenz had gone, and the drinks were served, an awkward silence hung in the room. Ari sipped her Ginanton and let her eyes focus on the swords again. Thade watched her silently. Perhaps he was running battle tactics through his head, she mused. Sharia was the most uncomfortable of the three and clinked her rings against her glass. Ari winced at each clink.
“Ari, dear,” began Sharia, “you never did tell me where you got such an interesting coat. I don’t recognize the patterns.” She paused, then added, “Perhaps trade with Soror is better than I thought?” She glanced at her left and right expectantly, having opened the conversation with consideration for both her brother’s and her friend’s interests.
Ari sighed and decided to be courteous. Sharia was indeed a good friend of hers, though Ari did not agree with the opinions of the males in Sharia’s family. Sharia, for her part, made it clear that what her father and brother thought had no business meddling with her friendship with Ari. Consequently, Ari’s speeches fell on deaf ears. “It’s not my business, but theirs. I can’t make it mine. Vent all you want dear, but you know I hold no sway,” she’d once said, then had changed the subject to the new paintings that had been discovered in the Caves of Dartanus.
“Actually I bought it here, in the Great City. I had no idea that trade with Soror had gone down.”
“Oh? Brother, what do you know of the trade?”
“I am no merchant, Sister – ” he held up his hand to stop her protests, “but I do know that matters have been rather strained between the City and Soror,” he finished, in a tone of one who’d simplified a complex matter a great deal in deference to one’s audience. Thade turned towards Ari and fixed his gaze on her. “They resent our troops in the Sug.”
Ari refused to take the bait. Sharia sighed softly in rebuke of her brother then, with unrecognized courage, trudged on bravely as hostess.
“But Ari, the stitching. What market did you go to? It is most peculiar.”
“I had the stitching done at home.” Ari didn’t take her eyes off of Thade.
“What do you mean? A dresser?”
“A servant did it.” She smiled smugly for a moment. Thade shifted in his seat, his brow furrowing. “A human.”
Ari’s smile faded at Thade’s growl through clenched teeth. However, instead of the heated retort that Ari had been expecting, he lay his glass on the table between them and stood up quickly. Sharia followed cue. Ari remained sitting.
“What are you doing?” hissed Sharia.
“I leave in the morning. I don’t care for idle chat over coats and stitches.”
“Thade, stay a while longer,” she insisted.
“No.” He turned his gaze from Ari to Sharia. “Goodnight, Sister.” He nodded in Ari’s direction. “Good-bye Ari.”
Ari nodded in acknowledgment, unable to say anything for the moment. Then remembering her manners, she stood and replied his farewell. He turned to leave but she stopped him. Standing by her chair, Ginanton in hand, she tried to recall her father’s words and swallow some of her pride.
“Father’s organizing one of his dinners next month with some other senators. He asks you and your first-in-command to join us.”
Thade nodded and left the room. The two females sat back down and reclaimed their glasses.
“Will you two never make peace? Or are you just playing hard to get, Ari?”
“I’m not playing.”
“Neither is my brother,” responded Sharia, suddenly serious. “This is no game, Ari.”
Ari smiled wryly and nodded. “No, it’s a battle of wills.”
“Uncle?”
Thade turned, one foot posed on the stairs, and looked upwards. There, at the start of the staircase, stood a small form. The light behind Thade lit his niece in a soft glow so he could see her waiting for him with her doll in one hand, the crumpled bows of her nightgown in the other.
“Jinn? What are you doing up?”
He reached the landing and extended a hand to her, then walked her slowly back to her room.
“Papa said you were going outside tomorrow. He said that you were going after humans.”
“Your papa’s right. He’s coming too, you know that.”
In fact, that was the reason why the father’s wife and daughter were staying the night at his father-in-law’s home. Thade wondered where Gald was at the moment. He’d gone out that afternoon with the pretext of checking the gates and hadn’t returned yet. Thade would have liked to go over the next day’s plans with him, though, to show that he appreciated his efforts. Thade felt perhaps the younger ape was trying to prove his worth to his in-laws. There was no real need for that though: he knew his sister had not married below her station; Father had seen to that. Thade considered Gald a capable soldier with potential, though a bit inexperienced, untested: the City had not had any attacks in the past years, only a few boundary skirmishes.
Looking up, Thade realized that they’d reached her bedroom door, and, guided by her bright night-lamp, they made their way to her bedside. Jinn hopped onto the bed and gently placed Mr Wrinkles beside her. Her uncle straightened out her bows.
“It’s going to be my birthday soon.”
“I know, Jinn. You’re going to be quite a big girl. Now tell me again, how old? Two? Three?”
“Six, Uncle. You know I’m going to be six,” she giggled.
“You know, six years is quite a lot from Mr Wrinkles point of view,” lied Thade, gesturing to the doll.
His niece immediately cuddled it to her chest, looking hurt. Thade had never liked the thing; it was a crude bundle of cloth meant to represent a human child. His sister had made it when she was a child of Jinn’s age out of some old cloth from their mother’s dresses. Now that had caused a row. Starting out old and wrinkled, the aptly-named doll had suffered even more at the hands of the young Sharia, who bravely defended it from her boisterous and less-caring older brother. When Jinn had been an infant, Sharia had put Mr Wrinkles in her crib. Now the child refused to give the rag up. Every time Jinn proclaimed she was old, Thade would try to convince her to give up the doll. He was always unsuccessful.
Abruptly, the child tossed the doll to the foot of the bed, causing a small tide of hope to swell in her uncle’s chest. Perhaps this time… When Jinn turned to him, there was a gleam in her eyes.
“Uncle, are you going to give me a birthday present?”
“Of course, Jinn.”
“Can I tell you what I want?”
“That hardly makes is a surprise, does it?” he asked as he tucked her into the bed.
“Yes, but… I want a Mr Wrinkles.”
“Another doll?” Thade retrieved the doll and lay in on the pillow by his niece’s head.
“No,” she giggled softly, reaching out to hold Mr Wrinkles closer. “Papa won’t get me one. He says they’re ugly and loud and smelly. But that’s not true. Becca has one and it’s all small and soft and makes funny sounds. And Mama says it’s ok. And I promise I’ll take care of it, like Mr Wrinkles.”
“You want a pet, Jinn? A pet human?” he asked, not quite believing his ears. By Semos, that was worse than Mr Wrinkles. A lot worse.
“Yes. Please? Please, please, please?”
“Maybe. I’ll have to talk with you mother.”
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