Holier Than Thou

[Soran Nightblade]

Sinead turned from a still-confused Vlad and sat down primly across from Tenele. She lifted the teacup Matty had poured for her and raised it to her lips, drawing a long sip.

As she drank, Vlad warily took a seat across from her, beside his wife. "My queen, I still don't seem to grasp your concern," he tiptoed.

Sinead set her cup back in its saucer, looking at them both impatiently. "Nearly a year you've been here, and all this time without a word."

"I've sent you my reports," Vlad insisted.

"You've sent me stale, dry nonsense. Not a word of these new lives you've carved out here, not one word of any personality until this!" Her hand swept over the two of them as if they were both pregnant.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele swallowed, setting down the tea cup before taking a drink. She coughed to clear her throat, glancing at Vlad and then Sinead. "I'm sorry, my Queen. Eh, could it be that you are upset with us... because we didn't write to you? I mean, actually write to you as... as a family would?" Tenele wasn't sure what to make of that. Their last encounter with Sinead had been painfully formal. She hadn't been pleased with them, and even Vlad seemed to think that them being sent away was some form of punishment for his miss-behaving.

[Soran Nightblade]

For a moment, the queen looked like she was about to stand up. She made it halfway from the seat, then visibly rethought the action and sat down again. "I would certainly have presumed something of the sort, yes."

"Ha!" Vlad made the word flat and sour. "It would be enlightening to see into your mind as well, Queenie. How is it that you expect such attentions after making it so very clear we are tools to be carted wherever we are most useful."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele would have stopped Vlad from saying such a thing if she herself didn't feel it was true. How Sinead treated them in the days before they left for Hajaria hadn't felt like a mothering woman, or a mother-in-law.

"I have to agree with Vlad," Tenele said very quietly. "When we parted it was after you treated my husband like a slave, had him whipped for turning Talon, and threatened to have us both whipped for creating Knight. Your displeasure with Knight is also the reason it took me so long to write you concerning this." Tenele pointed to her stomach, rather like the gesture Sinead had done earlier.

"As you can see, we're getting a little bit of mixed signals here," she let out in a tight breath. "Are we your servants or are we your family?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"The nature of your work requires that you be both," Sinead said, picking her way through the words like a minefield. "Particularly when your actions could directly impact your careers." She was losing the finesse in her words. Something about what Sinead had just said had rattled her.

Vlad's eyes narrowed. "If that's how you'd like to play it, then yes. It will be hard to act as superweapons while we're changing diapers. But to the best of our knowledge, we're not leaving our exile any time soon."

"You are not exiled, and you are not weapons!"

Vlad rolled his eyes.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele pressed her lips together. She was going to be quiet. She told herself that. She promised herself that she wasn't going to say anything else. And then, her mouth opened. "Are you angry because we didn't ask your permission to have a child?" she asked heatedly. "Do you even know what you asked of us when we became ambassadors, do you know what that means in the mind of warriors. Being an ambassador is being asked to retire. Sitting through meetings and attending ribbon cuttings isn't exactly active duty. Are we not allowed to start a family like every other normal couple in Ighten?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Sinead looked at her, speechless. "It was not easy for me to send you two here. I am faced with difficult decisions every day, and in negotiating with Atul, the young King was clear that he specifically wished for you two to accept the appointment to his counsel here. I certainly did not do so eagerly, and despite what you may have thought, I did not intend this to be permanent."

"Absurd!" Vlad snarled. "I asked. I asked it of you, straight up, before we set sail. You denied me an answer, and put on your ice queen attitude. Whether you meant it to be permanent or not, it wasn't hard to read between the lines.

"It was a difficult time! Just the night before, you two had made a serious binding to a rival ruler without my input, and you each openly threatened to leave my service. Was I to send you off with a wave and a tearful smile?" Sinead demanded.

Vlad growled, up on his feet but not approaching her. "You struck me to the ground like a common servant. You threatened my wife! What are we supposed to be to you, Your Highness?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele jumped in her seat when Vlad rose to his feet and started yelling. It seemed the raised voices startled the child too, because she gave another hard kick. Tenele rested a hand over her, rubbing a gentle circle. She wasn't even sure if that was comforting or if it worked, but she did it anyway.

"You know why we did what we did, concerning Knight and Atul" Tenele whispered, looking up to her the Queen. "Atul is not a rival ruler. He is our friend, and our ally. No, you didn't have to send your servants away with a tearful smile and a wave. But, it would have been nice for you to put forth the effort for your family."

[Soran Nightblade]

Sinead's lips pressed tight together while she pondered her maiden's comments. She had anticipated some heat from Vlad, considering their parting conversation, but not from Tenele. "It was wrong of me not to send you off," she said slowly. "It would have been best to clear things up first. Atul was leaving, and there was no time left. I did not send you away as some kind of punishment, or to free my gossiping court from the discomfort of accepting you, though I'm sure it felt that way. You've both given me a lifetime's worth of service, and more. I did not intend to underrate you. I felt you both were facing heavier issues and would benefit from some space, and Atul's proposal fit well with that approach. I may have been harsh, but I did not intend this assignment to be cruel!" She wrapped both hands around her teacup, struggling to speak informally and humbly, despite her court training to do the opposite in the presence of servants. "I am more than your ruler. When possible, I often do what I do in the interest of your own growth and well being. But I too make mistakes. I want you to forgive the carelessness I showed you."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele reached out and grasped Vlad's hand as he stood next to her. She gave it a gentle squeeze. Her green eyes fell on Sinead gently. "I am sorry if I seem defensive, I was not expecting our conversation to take the turn that it did. I am not usually so outspoken to you, but I felt like you needed to understand how we felt about the situation. Now, that you've heard the two of us, you seem to understand why we may have been distant. But, I've already forgiven you."

Tenele looked up to Vlad and then back to Sinead. "I can't speak for Vlad, but I can tell you that I forgave you some time ago. I only hope that you can accept the decisions that Vlad and I have chosen for our futures. If you cannot... then arrangements can be made concerning my future in your court. I know that Vlad is not as lucky as I am to have a choice in the matter."

[Soran Nightblade]

Sinead nodded, unsurprised by Tenele's judgment. "I am still finding it difficult to believe," she admitted. Her blue eyes rose to Vlad's. "But then, you two have a habit of surprising me."

The vampire's stern expression slowly loosened into the lazy, calmly formal attitude he usually displayed toward the queen. He walked around and leaned on the back of the couch Tenele was sitting on, but he didn't sit down again. The soft echo of the baby's heartbeat beneath Tenele's had become his favorite sound in the universe, and it calmed him now. "You have questions," he observed.

Sinead nodded, stroking a slender finger along her chin. "When are you due? Have you been well?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's smile brightened. She rested her hands on her stomach and leaned back into the couch. "A month or less," she mused. Her silver hair brushed across her cheeks as she looked down at her waist. "I've been well enough. I have dizzy spells, but I think I'm doing very well." Tenele sighed. "We've been using Maxwell as a doctor along with Atul's personal physician. I am not short of care, except that Atul's physician went with him on a trip to a northern province, but as Vlad reminded me I have an appointment with Maxwell soon."

[Soran Nightblade]

Sinead nodded her head thoughtfully while listening to Tenele's delightfully normal symptoms, when a word caught in her ears like a thorn. For a moment, she was sure she'd heard wrong. "Wait....Maxwell is helping you? What could possibly make you go to him for this?" She didn't so much sound disapproving as just baffled. What an odd choice...and how strange for Vlad to agree to it...though she was fully aware that Maxwell did have the full skills of a doctor, and more experience than most. "I'm confused."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele twiddled her fingers for a moment. "Knight is the father," she murmured. "Knight is half Atul. Atul is half of Verin. Verin's children kill their mother's in childbirth. There was some concern that the child would put a great deal of strain on my body and that I was at risk for having complications. Atul's physician helped deliver him, but his mother still died, and so forth. I felt... we felt that it was best to have someone who was well versed with powerful creatures. Maxwell was the only person I knew who I could even begin to consider to trust. You have no idea how hard it is for me to admit that about him."

[Soran Nightblade]

Sinead raised a pointed glance at Vlad, but there was no point in chastising him now for putting her in such a dangerous situation. Besides, she doubted it was all his idea...was it his idea at all, or was he doing this for her? Even she knew better than to actually press such a question to Vlad.

"I have to admit that your thought process is reasonable...clever, in fact. Even with my resources, I doubt I could recommend anyone better. Maxwell is a difficult man to employ," the thought occured to her. "How did you convince him to help you?"