The Exiled Gem

Feelings and Fears

'May I ask why?' She questioned, for a little disobedience was valued by wisest of men.

'You ask the question and the permission for asking the question, together.' He answered, straightening up and clapping Alexandra on the shoulder in a "you still have a lot to learn" manner, 'But to answer, we have here, the Queen of Ethoris' thirst for revenge. No matter what, she will put in every bit of her worth to get even. Her worth is, unfortunately, quite a lot. The reason, that unlike war, this time we need a little more understanding.'

'Thirst for revenge.' Alexandra repeated, holding on to the one phrase which clarified that Liam had his own struggles with Aunt Deplorable - Aunt Sabel, that was. 'I don't know anything about thirst for revenge. I was just - in her way - and she got rid of me. But her true enmity seems to be with you. Why don't you tell me what connects it? What the reason behind it is?'

As if unconsciously again, Liam drifted to the next chair, leaning on it too. And she followed suit, 'Come on, tell me.'

'It won't help,' he shook his head. 'It is the past, it has passed - and it is ugly.' He added, with a little more stress on ugly than Alexandra would have preferred. And the slight vehemence he said it with, the way his eyes glazed over, almost becoming devoid of emotions, she decided those were the the most dangerous waters she could enter with Liam.

'Says the man who asked me to embrace my past,' Alexandra reminded, nevertheless. The words didn't have the desired effect of provoking him, in fact, he smiled.

'But this is not my past, Princess. A great deal of it happened before either of us were born. There is nothing to embrace - it is only a burden. There was something I could learn from it, and I did. If it was possible to selectively forget things, I would have shed this one more than a decade ago.' He smiled again, knowing he had got the better of Alexandra for the umpteenth time. 'And now, I would be much obliged if you answered my question.'

'Right.' She granted, but was by no means, satisfied. Ugly or heavy or dirty or history, she was going to extract the forgettable details from him. Maybe, it wasn't time yet. It certainly would be, one day, and for all she was worth, Alexandra was going to wait for that day to come. 'You just watch, you will be begging me to listen, very soon,' she added - it was received by Liam with a compliant tilt of head. 'As for Austin, he had quite a lot to say,' she continued, talking of the whole four hours in about five minutes. And when she was done - it felt strange that in so much time, she had talked so little, asked so little.

'I feel he was not lying. He has done enough blunders, for all he's worth. He knows this is the only way to make things right.' Alexandra concluded, nevertheless.

'That I can agree with,' Liam nodded, a hand to his chin - still leaning on the chair, for it seemed to be the most comfortable place on the planet. 'But it waters down to a single thing - we have to see Ethoris.'

'It would have been better if I had gone to Ethoris two years ago,' Alexandra confessed bitterly. So less had happened in Doveland. Going to Ethoris, having gained a bit of experience there - would have helped her much more.

'Maybe. Maybe not.' He countered, 'We don't need to know.'

'Do you mind not saying something and countering it, at the same time? Gets confusing to understand what you mean. Not like it's easy normally either.' Alexandra fired at him, and then shook her head with half a smile, they couldn't help it. He couldn't help those little puzzles he dropped around generously, and she couldn't help grimacing at them. For now, Alexandra's mind was cloudy and conceited enough without listening to philosophy: a simple "yes" or "no" would have been good enough.

'Take a "no" in that case.' Liam offered. And then, without waiting for more exasperated reactions (grimaces), continued, 'So - maybe a skilled spy for Eth-'