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2088-01-17
Tarkon,
King Spartos' Castle
After the banquet in honor of the victory
of the Battle of Tarkon.
Maya
smirked knowingly. "He's only a simple creature on the
outside."
"How did you
notice?" Niko sipped at the deep red wine in her goblet,
aware of the slight, still offending edge of double-meaning in
her question. For this once she didn't want to oppose the
princess, but still...
Maya
didn't seem to be bothered. "The warrior who'd helped me and
Doc out of the General's arena wouldn't have fled from the table
when I told him the main menu was mousse-au-chat. One of our
world's oldest delicacies." She leaned back. "But he
did." She sipped at her own wine. "You were rather good
at calming my father and his seneschal down from the
offense."
"Practice,"
Niko smirked. "Diplomacy isn't his strong point."
The
princess put her goblet down and leaned forward. "Between
the two of us: I don't believe a word of what you told my father.
So why did he really run off green-faced?"
"There
are few things in his life that he loves. And one of them is his
cat."
"A cat?
Goose?!"
The Ranger
shrugged. "As you said, the warrior's just the shell, the
interior is much more complicated."
"I
could love the shell," Maya sighed. "But I'd never go
along with the rest. What a pity."
"I
hope you aren't offended that I don't share your regret about
that," Niko replied dryly.
Maya
laughed out. "No offense taken." She threw a thoughtful
look at the ranger in the other well-upholstered arm chair in
front of the tower's fire place. "But you didn't have
trouble with the meal, did you?"
"No."
Niko put her goblet down next to Maya's on the table. "But
then, I ate vegetarian today," she added with a faint
smirk.
Maya arched a golden
brow. "He and you, you seem so very different at first
sight, but I'm beginning to believe that it's only that way on
the outside."
Niko snorted.
"Switched from man chaser to match maker, do
you?"
"Possibly."
The princess of Tarkon snuggled back into the upholstery of her
chair. "Or maybe I just want to make sure you don't get in
my way to Doc, too."
Now, a
dark-red brow quirked briefly, before the Ranger gave her a
gracious nod. "Our hunting grounds won't overlap in that
case."
"Good."
...and
the tigress and the lioness
agreed on their grounds
and
henceforth there was peace.
'The
Great Huntresses,' ancient Tarkonian folk tale of unknown
origin,
first written down by Walterius the Monk in the time
of Spartanos I.
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