Tag Archive | reiassan

Hooked, a drabble of Rin & Girey for the March Giraffe Call

Mar28

For [personal profile] kelkyag‘s commissioned prompt.

Reiassan has a landing page here.

After Sun-on-the-Water (LJ)

“Sun-on-the-water?” Girey asked, when he was pretty sure they were alone.

“A marriage,” she answered in Bitrani, “between people of decidedly different statuses. Or an informal ‘marriage,’ the sort where you say you’re married when the children come, or after you’ve been living together for a while.”

“Your people have the strangest turns of speech.” He was clearly chewing over the implications, however. That was probably a good thing, right?

“Colorful,” she joked, “like everything here. The Bithrain have a few interesting idioms, too.”

“We’re a much more practical people,” he answered. The lightness in his voice fell flat against his expression. “Decidedly different statuses. Is that us?”

“It could be. It does not need to be.” She leaned against the wall, studying him. “A lot of it depends on people like my Uncle Esnees, and on what’s going on with Elin.”

“You’re considering marrying me.”

“You brought the matter forward.”

“I…” He looked startled. “I did. I was trying to distract your uncle.”

“Well, it worked.” She couldn’t help a smile. “You distracted all of us. But if you decide you find the idea repellent, I can certainly convince the family that Uncle Esnees misunderstood. You haven’t committed to a wedding, of any sort.”

“If I find the idea repellent?” He was looking even more thoughtful. Rin was starting to worry. “And what about you?”

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Sun-on-the-Water, a story of Rin & Girey for the March Giraffe Calle

Mar25

For Rix_scaedu‘s commissioned prompt.

Reiassan has a landing page here.

After Navigating Lannamer (LJ.

Arinya kept her uncle pinned with her gaze. Did he know she’d heard him? Did it matter? Nothing he’d said had been specifically treasonous; indeed, he could say, and likely be honest in saying so, that he had been working for the well-being of the Empire.

He kept his gaze on her, but his eyes did flicker to Girey; she could see the moment when he made the connection. She couldn’t keep him hidden forever. She’d always known someone would recognize him. But now that she’d claimed his as her own, it would be harder for them to take him away from her.

“I don’t believe I’ve met your companion, either,” she continued smoothly. The man’s qitari was expensively worked, but gaudy even by Callanthe standards, the patterns a mish-mash of currently-fashionable designs. He was, she was fairly certain, not a relative, or at least not a close one.

“Ah, yes. This is Debnet, Lieutenant Debnet of the Emperor’s Army. But I believe that I have met your companion before, Arinyanca. Prince Girey.”

“I am no Prince.” Girey’s voice was far milder than Arinya had expected from him. “Although I have often been mistaken for one.” He fingered the bracelet on his wrist, and then stroked Rin’s fingers in a clearly affectionate manner. In Bitrani, in a sentence loaded with nuance, he continued, “Although I share a name in common with the former Prince of Bithrain, I am simply Girey of Princess Arinyanca.”

Arinya held back a surprised laugh – or gasp – and wondered if her uncle would catch the meanings twisted into that sentence.

Uncle Esnees was not stupid. “I must have missed the ceremony,” he answered smoothly in the same language. “Certainly my niece would not dishonor such a noble captive with a sun-on-the-water union?”

Mentally, Rin cursed both of them for putting her on the spot. A sun-on-the-water union was exactly what she’d had planned for Girey, a promise whispered over used sheets, a union with him as untitled far-junior partner. If Girey hadn’t claimed himself as exactly that, if her uncle hadn’t pushed the issue…

She smiled brightly at her uncle and his minion. “We’ve been back in Lannamer for less than a day, Uncle. While we’re certainly excited, I don’t want any announcement of ours to overshadow Elin’s wedding. Give it some time, please. The ceremony will come when it comes.” And the look on Girey’s face was well worth it.

Her uncle recovered faster than her captive did. “Well. I look forward to hearing when the happy day will be. Do tell me if you hear where the real Prince of Bithrain is, will you?” He’s still wanted for execution.”

“Certainly,” she smiled back at him. She would need to see if there had been an Imperial order to that effect. And she’d need to find that out soon. “Have a lovely day, Uncle Esnees, Lieutenant Debnet.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/307015.html. You can comment here or there.

Navigating Lannamer, a drabble of RIn & Girey for the Giraffe Call

Mar17

For Rix_scaedu‘s Prompt.

Reiassan has a landing page here.

After “Under Scrutiny”.


Girey followed Rin out into the hallways of the labyrinthine mess her people called an Imperial Palace. “Do you ever loose people in here?”

“All the time. Usually strangers; children learn young to navigate by the mosaics on the floor.” She pointed at the thin green border and thicker red line on the patterns under their feet. “See? This is how I know I’m in the right wing.”

“You follow the floors.” He shook his head, but noted the floors nonetheless.

“We follow the floors.” Despite – or maybe because of – their earlier argument, she was cheerful, smiling at him, dragging her fingers along the stone walls. “And the walls, and if all else fails, the ceilings.”

“The ceilings. You…” He fell silent as, coming on an X-shaped intersection, they could hear another conversation.

“One of my agents swears he saw the Bitrani prince in the market in Ossulund, with a Callenian woman. Are you certain?”

“We executed the Bitrani King in the main square in Arinoss. We jailed every courtier her had and executed those who showed skill with the sira. We’ve taken their support base.”

“But left them their prince.”

Girey hadn’t realized he was grinding his teeth until Rin set her hand on his wrist, just over the bracelet she’d put there. It was one thing to know it, another to hear the elimination of his people discussed like dealing with an infestation.

“If their prince is a captive of a Callenian woman, he’s hardly a threat anymore, is he?” the first voice laughed, as they rounded the corner. “Not in… Lady.” The speaker bowed low, his layered qitari brushing the ground. “Princess Arinyanca.”

“Uncle Esnees.” Rin’s voice was icy. “And I’m sure you haven’t yet met my companion, Girey.”

Next: Sun-on-the-Water (LJ)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/301055.html. You can comment here or there.

Privates, a story of Rin & Girey

Feb17

This is early on, possibly just after Hurt/Comfort [Beta/Donor story]

Reiassan has a Landing Page (LJ Link).

She poured another cup of tea.

“Were you ever a private soldier?”

“I was… a Duke’s son,” Girey answered, staring at the metal cup. A Duke’s son, because she’d taken away even who he was. “No. I started as an officer. I trained as an officer. What about you?”

He looked over at her, challenging her. Go ahead, lie to me. Pretend you’re common.

She just smirked. “I am not… a Duke’s son,” she countered, which was at least probably not a lie. “And I started out at the bottom.”

“You started like a peasant.” He shook his head. “I’ve seen your signet.”

“You have,” she agreed, maddeningly calmly. “Yes. But I started at the bottom.” Her smile finally graced her lips, although it didn’t look like her. It looked like a soldier’s smile, tired and laughing at the world. “Ill-fitting uniform tunic and marching until my feet bled, just like everyone else. Sword drills until my blisters had blisters.”

“You’re a Healer,” he protested. The idea of a priestess of Reiassannon – even if she was some sort of lay priestess, she was still a Healer – learning sword-drills was just wrong.

But she kept smiling. “Does me no good, does it, if the enemy attacks while I’m healing someone?”

He flushed. That had been him, hadn’t it? “Well,” he grumped, “it served you fine against me.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/272714.html. You can comment here or there.

Story of the City, a story of Reiassan for the Giraffe Call (@ellenmillion)

Feb16

For EllenMillion‘s prompt

Reiassan has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

When Sahsyō returned home from the city for the festival of Veignevar, she told her family: “The first thing I thought when I saw Ūnetkabyē? I wondered where they kept the animals.”

This was, as her new friends at University would say, a poetic retelling, and as her grandmother would have said, if she’d known, a steaming load of what came out of the far end of the goat.

Yes, Sahsyō had, after a week or two in the largest place she’d ever seen, wondered where the animals were. She had grown up on her family’s farm, raising barrel-chested milk goats and the biggest chickens in the mountains. There had always been animals around: goats and chickens, mousers and dogs. She had never been away from animals.

But she’d never been around that many people, either. And what she’d first thought when she’d stepped into Ūnetkabyē had been “Loud!” The city was loud in a way that she’d never imagined possible, louder than the ocean had been, louder than anything she’d ever heard. There were people everywhere, crowded up against each other, talking all at once, riding through the streets, carriages and goats and people shoulder to shoulder until there was nowhere safe to move.

Sahsyō had, she known, gapes and gawked. Stared, pressed up against the wall, terrified to move. She had tried to go back inside, but she couldn’t find the door-handle, and when she did, she couldn’t make it work. She had, for one long moment, been absolutely certain that she’d made the wrong decision. University wasn’t for her. Ūnetkabyē certainly wasn’t for her.

But she couldn’t make the door work, so she walked forward, through the carts, through the people, through the noise, to the University.

And when she home for Veignevar’s festival, she could laugh and joke. “I wondered where they put all the animals,” and pretend she’d never been terrified.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/271072.html. You can comment here or there.

Ask the characters 2: Rin

Feb3

The shortish black-haired woman steps briskly into the room, the silk of her formal tunic and pants rustling so very softly. The lines of the tunic show off an athletic but womanly figure underneath; the bright colours go beautifully with her dark-tanned skin.

She perches more than sits on the high backed stool. “So,” she smiles. “You want to ask me questions. So ask?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/255887.html. You can comment here or there.