Originally posted 1/28/05Well, this isn't quite my usual....well, I mean, it's kinda two talking heads in a room, which I suppose
is my usual, but -- it's Rygel and Chiana! How's that for different?
Anyway, Ryge has been wanting to talk for a while, so this is his chance.
Rating: G (except for some language from Chiana, but it's FS cursing)
Setting: A few weeks post-PKW
Spoilers: Through PKW
Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my universe, don't mean to step on any toes, and DEFINITELY not making any money here!
Thanks to Loco, Shipsister and MadScientist for betaing, CretKid, Auna, CrystalMoon, Shipscat and Atana for additional feedback and suggestions -- and hey, thanks blueaeryn and beyondhope for participating in the "Need a Chiana nick for Rygel" thread on the front page! Y'all are great!
Counseling Session
Rygel XVI, temporarily deposed Dominar of Hyneria, had learned many cycles ago that manual labor, while...menial...gave one unparalleled opportunity to think. In this case, helping Chiana load crates of supplies onto one of Moya's transport pods was affording him time to contemplate his traitorous cousin Bishan's offer to allow him to return to his throne.
In the midst of galactic war which had threatened to overrun the Hynerian Empire, Bishan had been most generous with his offer, even volunteering to step down to a post as mere advisor to Rygel, the rightful occupant of the throne.
As if I would have allowed that to happen! he thought. But it would have made a good bargaining point.
Crichton had upset the balance of the deal, of course, him and his frelling doomsday weapon.
Such terrible devastation he'd wrought with that black hole! Rygel had to admire one thing, though: The human's desperation had made his brinksmanship very effective....
The galaxy was at peace.
Peace. Heh.
My shiny green hiney!"We'll see how long
that lasts," Rygel muttered to himself as he increased the power on his thronesled to help him shove another crate into the back of the transport pod -- nearly crushing Chiana in the process.
"Hey!" she yelped as she leaped out of the way. "Watch what the frell you're doing, you fekik!"
Irritated, he snapped at the girl, "You're supposed to get out of the way once these things are in position!"
Chiana gave vent to some curses under her breath, and Rygel decided to just get on with loading the smaller items until she was ready for his help again.
He went to fetch two totes loaded with containers of Chromextin for use on some of Moya's injuries. The totes were frelling heavy, and he had to hang on tight with his small hands. Maneuvering the sled was awkward, and he found himself breathing heavily. "It's too bad D'Argo isn't here," he grumbled crossly to the universe at large. "We could use his help."
Behind him, Chiana snarled, "Well he isn't here, is he, and he's not ever going to be -- not that you give a frell!"
Oh, yotz! This is what he got for doing his part while Crichton and Aeryn got all those supplies for the baby. He fixed the furious Nebari with his best regal glare and said, "I care. But he's dead, and we can't change that."
"So you're sayin' it's okay to ignore it that he got shot to pieces by the frelling Scarrans?" She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head viciously to the side. "The war is over so, so it's okay that he died. Is that it?"
Chore forgotten, Chiana was trying to goad him into a fight, and he knew it. Anger and grief went hand in hand, though he'd thought she'd passed that stage, on into numbness. He suppressed a sigh, because he knew the girl didn't want his advice -- and he also knew she needed it, even if she wasn't ready for it. "I know it's painful. But I'm saying you have to learn to live with it."
"Yeah?" The girl jerked her chin in his direction. "Well what if I don't wanna learn to live with it?"
Well, that was self-evident. Loss was a hard thing, with little comfort attached to it. He cleared his throat and suggested, "It was a death worthy of him, Chiana. D'Argo sacrificed himself for all of us."
"Well, I didn't ask him to." Her words hung there starkly, daring him to contradict her.
Rygel shook his head. He could feel her sliding from anger into self-pity, which wouldn't help matters at all. "He was a warrior, girl, no matter how much he talked about farming. And if you don't know that about him, you didn't know him at all."
The words were hardly out of his mouth when Chiana lunged for him. Rygel zoomed backwards out the door of the transport pod. She skidded to a halt at the doorway, arms flung out at all angles, and watched him hover. He returned her gaze evenly, and they hung there for a few microts, suspended, as it were, and then she hitched herself up and sniffed and said, "You don't know anything about D'Argo!"
There was no point in dignifying that with an answer. "If you resent his sacrifice, you make it meaningless. He meant for you to be safe."
"You sound like Aeryn," she said, glaring at him again.
"Aeryn speaks from experience," he reminded her bluntly. Aeryn had turned
her anger at the other Crichton's death inward, towards herself. He thought about her out on that ledge on Valldon, who knew how much raslak and fellip nectar in her. He'd risked his life to talk her in, and he was glad. In doing so, he'd saved that remarkable child's life as well....
Chagrinned to have his thoughts straying when he had a point to make, he turned his attention back to Chiana. "But this isn't about Aeryn, it's about you. And D'Argo."
Chiana looked down at the ground outside the pod, then stepped back inside.
Taking that as acceptance of his topic, Rygel maneuvered himself back inside and said gently, "You can't change what happened, but you have no reason for regrets. D'Argo knew you loved him." After a microt he cleared his throat and added, "And he loved you."
Chiana's remarkable new eyes glittered with tears, something Rygel wasn't sure he'd ever seen in the cycles he'd known her -- not even during those dark days when the two of them had been chased from wanted beacon to wanted beacon, finally ending up back with Crichton on a dying leviathan. She blinked the moisture away and breathed, "I did love him. I really did."
"Time really does lessen the pain, Chiana. Look to Aeryn--"
Chiana cut him off with a brusque shake of her head. "Yeah, well, Aeryn had a spare."
"No. She had a future. Just the same as you do."
The girl stared through him, and Rygel guessed she was trying to decide whether to throw his words back at him, or accept them. "Maybe later," she said finally.
Rygel's eyes narrowed as he looked her over, trying to interpret her answer. Chiana lived in the present, whether that present was good, or, like now, bad.
Maybe later seemed like a step forward, however small. He nodded and said gruffly, "We'd better get the rest of these pallets loaded."
After a few microts' silence, Chiana looked around the pod and, outwardly resilient as ever, declared, "We could use Aeryn's help with all this dren! Look at it!"
Satisfied that she was coping for the moment, Rygel pointed out, "Aeryn and Crichton are getting supplies for the baby."
Chiana shoved a crate towards the stack they'd been working on. "Everything's about that frelling narl!" she muttered.
"He's a handsome infant," Rygel retorted, and then, guessing he'd been baited again, though somewhat more good-naturedly this time, he reined in his temper. "Look, this is the first chance they've had to shop for him, so they have a lot to buy. Next time, they won't need so much, and they'll do their share for Moya."
"
Next time? We're not going to be here, are we Froggy? Thought we were going to Hyneria."
"Of course we're going to Hyneria," he snapped. But he felt an irrational stab of reluctance when he thought of leaving behind the baby he considered partly his.
It's just those frelling hormones, he told himself.
Still haven't flushed completely out of my system! But, it didn't matter that he'd gained a personal appreciation for how body breeders obsessed over their offspring. He couldn't stay on Moya -- he had not only the right, but the
duty to return to his empire. "No, we're going all right," he assured Chiana. "We just have to work out a plan. Bishan's not likely to just hand his throne over without the threat of losing the entire empire to the Scarrans, no matter what he agreed to." He deliberately caught Chiana's eye and added, "I don't imagine you'd like to be sent back to Nebari Prime in chains...."
That might have been the first thing he'd said in the past arn that actually penetrated.
"No," Chiana replied. "Definitely, definitely not!"
"Right," he said. "Then let's get this pod loaded so we're ready to go when Crichton and Aeryn get back. And I think Crichton and his frelling wormhole weapon just might be useful in assuring that I get my throne back. Hmmm?" He smiled conspiratorially, and was rewarded with a faint grin as Chiana worked out his intended bluff.
"What the frell, Your Frogness," she shrugged. "If you can get Crichton to go for it, it just might work. Nobody's going to believe he can't do it again." She turned her attention back to positioning another crate of supplies.
Chiana was right about the human's reluctance, of course. Crichton didn't want to hear about anything besides his family just now. But he could no doubt be persuaded to help get Bishan's attention.
Rygel floated forward to push the next container into position. As he did so, he went back to thinking....
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