By the lake shore, all day, all week

[ostro_goth]

On a rock, by the lake, there is an android.

It doesn't move much, just watches the water without ever turning away, ever blinking.

A fat orange electric cable, made up of three outdoor cable drums successively plugged into each other, connects it to the forge so it won't run out of power in the least opportune moment.

In the forge, at least during the daylight hours, there is the Ostrogoth that set the android on its lonely watch.

Eventually, the mermaid will return.

And then, they will be ready.

Comments

[mogget_cat]

A not'cat creeps up on the android, through the grass, curious.

Is it watching for fish?

[ostro_goth]

A cat is not a mermaid.

The android is looking out for mermaids.

So it ignores the cat.

As long as the cat doesn't interfere with the mermaid watch.

[mogget_cat]

The android is full of nooks and crannies and joins where claws can find purchase.

The cat has a better view from the android's shoulders, but still has little idea of what he's looking for.

[ostro_goth]

The android can't speak. Atton Rand erased that ability from its memory (physically!) when he reprogrammed it to be a sparring droid for Teja, instead of an assassin droid of a make that was renowned for being so verbose and eloquent, it could literally talk people to death.

Better it not talk at all.

It just stares at the lake.

The cat is not interfering with its watch, so it doesn't need to interfere with the cat.

[mogget_cat]

Tthe afternoon is quiet, and the metal is warm in the sun.

Not knowing what the droid is for, but knowing if he sticks around long enough he'll eventually find out, Yrael lounges across the droid's shoulders and drifts off into sleep.

[ostro_goth]

The deep dry voice, declaring calmly, "I knew not that Valentinian wished for a fur collar on his watch, but it surely suits him well, especially as the owner of said fur is safe and unharmed inside it," might wake the cat after half an hour or a bit more.

Teja had looked out of the forge door, as he is wont to do, and discovered that the droid seemed to have sprouted a white excrescence.

[mogget_cat]

The not'cat lifts its head to gaze over at its friend.

"You have set him to some task I cannot decipher," he says, by way of explanation. Yrael certainly knew that Teja would be by, eventually.

[ostro_goth]

"Mermaid watch," Teja says.

[mogget_cat]

"Watching for mermaids, to what purpose?"

[ostro_goth]

"For the mermaid, so that Security may wrest a promise from her," Teja says.

[mogget_cat]

There is only one?" How odd. "What has she done to warrant such watching?"

[ostro_goth]

"It seems there are more in the deepest reaches of the lake, that never bother with us," Teja says. "But now, there is a new one that comes to the shore from the Caribbean inlet, and she has promised to eat the men she may get her hands on, and she uses mind-magic for that."

[mogget_cat]

"Ah," says the not'cat lightly, its tail-tip twitching. "That will never do."

[ostro_goth]

"So, a-fishing we go, for a very big fish, to teach her a lesson," Teja says. "And Valentinian is much better suited to quietly watching without faltering, for days, weeks, months, until she turns up again."

[mogget_cat]

Yrael smiles toothily at his friend.

"Do let me know if she is not amenable to being taught, and will not learn."

[ostro_goth]

Teja laughs at that. "A very big fish," he says again. "Indeed, I shall."

Who better to set on a very big, magical, half-human fish than a very strong magical sometimes-cat?

Sushi specials week coming up...

[mogget_cat]

Yrael purrs. "You are a good friend, Teja."

[ostro_goth]

Teja reaches out to touch his friend's white fur. "You are a staunch, if unusual, support as well," he says. "It may not be legal or just, not sanctioned by any rules, but it is good to know there will ever be one both bigger and stronger than any that I may go up against."

[mogget_cat]

"Laws and justice do not weigh heavily in my decisions, ever," Yrael says, leaning against Teja's hand. "For the first are artificial and the second is fictional."

"What matters to me is the well-being and happiness of those for whom I care, those I call friends. Little else."

[ostro_goth]

"I know," Teja says. "Indeed, I do know, and I treasure it greatly."

[mogget_cat]

Yrael purrs, smiling comfortably.


"Though," his tone is wry. "I would not say that I would be bigger and stronger than any that you might go up against. Were you foolish enough to go up against any of the Endless, I would not be of any help to you."

Thankfully, Yrael is doubtful that Teja would ever be so foolish.

[ostro_goth]

"I think none of them has been seen here in my time," Teja says.

Of course, he has heard stories.

[mogget_cat]

"Of them, I count Death and Dream as my friends," he says, resting his chin on his paws. "I do not know how they hold me, but I hold them in friendship, all the same."

[ostro_goth]

"You miss them, do you?" Teja says.

It is a stupid question, he knows -- Yrael misses all his friends that have gone.

[mogget_cat]

"Of course," he replies without the slightest hesitation. "Despite knowing they are not truly gone."

They are Endless.

[ostro_goth]

"There will ever be new friends," Teja says, sighing, "but of course, they shall never replace the old friends."

Pause.

"When the big fish is caught and brought to heel" -- or made into sushi -- "then I would wish for you to come to Gotland with me and see those that survived me."

[mogget_cat]

"One should not expect new friends to replace those that came before," Yrael replies, purring against Teja's hand.

"I would enjoy that very much, my friend. You very nearly glow when you speak of your people."

[ostro_goth]

"They are lovely beyond words," Teja says. "I never thought I would feel such affection for such small children, but they are all close to my heart now, not just their parents."

[mogget_cat]

"They are their parents, too, after all. And their grandparents, and their grandparents' parents, and so on. They will always be your people."

For all that there is no love lost between Yrael and the Abhorsen bloodline, he does still find it quietly amazing to find an Abhorsen possessing the same nose or smile or habits as their many generations ago kin.

"Those that pass are never truly gone, then, when some part of them lives on."

[ostro_goth]

"I took comfort in that when I was here, for all that time; but now that I may go there, I am happy to have my true, living friends again so I may visit them," Teja says.

[mogget_cat]

Yrael purrs. "It would make me happy to meet those that so warm your heart, my friend."

[ostro_goth]

"And it would make me glad, and proud, for you to know them," Teja says.