He took a deep breath and knocked. She yanked open the door and stared at him through one eye. Her shirt was skewed and her hair was everywhere.
"Harvard. I'm sorry, Captain Harvard."
"We both know that rank out here is worthless."
"Yeah, basically. Though it tells Grogek where your experience is. I figured you'd be by. Come on." She yawned and stretched before digging down two cups. "Coffee?"
"Yeah, sure."
She poured them and then flopped down in a chair. She took a big gulp, swallowed and pointed. "Yoona if you go in that damned door again, I will personally yank out every last claw."
The big black tiger wandered over and lay on top of the yowling white tiger cub.
"Good boy." She tossed him a chunk of meat which he swallowed.
"The wild cat is better behaved than the purebred. Isn't that just the way?" She sighed. "Listen, you're here, which means Bradly told you. Bout damned near broke my mind." She laughed and chugged her coffee. "I used to be the most reviled creature in creation. SI:7 loved me. In fact, I was their best operative. I would fuck the target, and slit his throat while he was still sticky." She snorted. I come here and suddenly I have a husband, then a wife, and everyone loves me and I have this kid... gods, where did it all go so wrong?" She sighed.
"I... have no idea what to make of that."
"Nobody ever does." She shrugged and leaned back. "I'm going to be honest with you; I'm not a nice person. I pride myself on that. Ask anyone and they'll tell you that I'm mean as a snake, difficult to handle and impossible to control. Renwa himself calls me a migraine waiting to happen. I LIKE that about myself. But, here's the thing," She pointed at him. "I have a strange view of justice and I'm not afraid to exercise it. That was my only intent yesterday, was to assist a kid who could not help himself.
Why I wasn't expecting that to bite me in the ass, I will never know." She sighed. "But your kid did something for me, without even realizing it." She twisted her cup in her hands. "Ever since I was pregnant, I have desperately worried that Darguni would be ostracized. I was so irritated at your kid for causing him any pain. Then... yesterday, he called Darguni brother, and I freaking broke down in the floor and cried. Because above all, he has a friend and I don't have to worry anymore."
She finished off her cup and leaned back in the chair and snagged the pitcher. "More?"
"No."
She chugged directly from the pitcher. "Gods, I hate the taste of it. I try to avoid drinking it, but I have a full day."
"Am... I intruding?"
"Not this early. Gods no. If Grogek hadn't shoved me out of bed, I'd still be asleep." She shrugged. "Besides, you're a man with a shitton on his mind. When you feel like talking, you go at it." She walked into the library grabbed her things, and then sat down and started sketching. "I have to keep my hands busy, and you wouldn't be happy with my usual methods."
He blinked dumbly at her. With a sigh he ran his fingers through his hair. "I had just lost my wife, and then my son walks in and tells me that she never loved him anyway. I... I've lost her so many times in so many ways since I've been on this god forsaken planet, I don't know why I stayed."
"Because the truth is a nasty bitch." Elunara shrugged. "If you HAD gone back with her? She wouldn't have changed, she'd just have a higher sense of superiority, and you'd have the shame of fleeing."
"That... sounds pretty accurate."
"I once had King Varian Wyrnn in my bed... or maybe I was in his, I forget at the moment. Anyway, and he told me, that my best feature was my ability to cut through the bullshit and just say things how they are."
He gave her another stupid look.
"You don't have to believe me, because I really don't care." She shrugged. "Forgive me, I cranky this morning. I got a system overload last night, I don't handle those well."
"I don't know what that means."
"I'll explain later, pardon me for interrupting."
He sighed. "I don't know what to make of you. My son probably harbors a crush of some sort from when you saved his life. That much I understand. I hurt my feelings when it was you he ran to. I just had my eyes opened to the meanness that existed in a woman I thought was just hard due her circumstance in life. When you slapped her, it made me realize how little I had tried to stand up for my own son. It was just another one of her snits, she was his mother, she had every right to keep him, I wasn't worthy... You get the idea."
Elunara shrugged. "I understand your position, but I don't know how it is, because those kinds of thoughts have long been beaten out of me. My own mother banished me from my home. She tried to mold me into something I was not, and when I finally acted out..." She shrugged. "I understand Bradly way more than I understand you."
"That's awful."
"It's ok; I proved myself and got to return home for a short while."
"I'm not going to block him." He shook his head. "I've lost enough of him. I have to cling to what I got. I'm thinking of going to a soldier's room."
"I'll talk to Renwa; get you an officer's quarters, if just for the kid. I think Jordan's old room is free."
"Please explain your relationship... relationships." He corrected.
"I am married to Grogek, and I am married to Tulani, and Jordan is my lover. To explain the set up, I sleep in a bed with Grogek, but Tulani's is near enough that I can slip into hers. Jordan has his own bedroom. This is how we are all comfortable with each other."
"Do you ever..."
"Sometimes we pair, sometimes someone watches, sometimes we trio and still others we have all of us. Just whatever suits at the time."
"Bizarre."
She grinned. "I'm insatiable."
There was a knock on the door and she sighed. Renwa and a new guy were standing there.
"Hey, sexy."
"Elunara, this is Admiral Duchie. He's been ordered by King Wrynn to start a new town, and to get my inside expertise."
"Sorry, you can't duplicate me." She grinned. "How's Varian these days?"
"King Wyrnn?" Duchie blinked.
"I know the size, shape and taste of his dick, I can call him whatever I damned well feel like."
Renwa smacked his forehead. "Are you drunk?"
"I got overloaded last night."
"Ah." He rolled his eyes. Noticing Harvard he frowned. "Are we interrupting?"
"Nah, we were discussing yesterday."
Darguni and Bradly ran up to the door and she held out a hand. "Why are you here, sugar muffin?"
"I've come to ask you to do a demonstration."
"Ah, damn, I've got a full day and I've been drinking coffee all morning and it's NOT cutting it."
"You and I both know that you'll recharge faster at the demonstration."
"Yes, Momma Elunara! Please?" Bradly clapped his hands together.