Partner

long. When I was going for short. Now I've gone and forgotten what I was goign to write for Sequel. Ah, well.

We were having issues with the forum, but it looks like I've beaten the bug out of the code, so if you tried to sign up and couldn't because "that doesn't exist" go and try again. It should work now. We (me and a friend) have been trying to break the forum since last night to find more bugs, but we haven't really found one.

Except for some reason the censor takes Twilight and assumes its of the bad words from the list. Weird...

I did have a bit of fun writing this, I must admit.

Read, Review and enjoy.





“Well,” the reporter looked rightly ruffled as Souse sat down, “we requested your presence several days ago and -”

“I was…” Souse paused and smiled, just slightly, “busy. It had nothing to do with the program putting this off, they actually interrupted my important business,” a glare at Mik, “for you. So do try to be understanding.”

Mik’s new cell phone, set to vibrate, went off. The only person who had the number was Mari, so he automatically knew what it was. The woman was running both the program and a majority of Mik’s office flawlessly. While teaching Mik how to run the office himself.

Mm raped Paw.

Mik frowned as a second text came in.

Rel, I meant Rel. Paw’s distracting me.

Mik clicked the general gist onto the screen and showed Souse. The Sidhe glanced at it and sighed, taking the phone from Mik.

“Is… that also-”

“Yes, unfortunately it is very important, if it were otherwise, we would not take time out of your schedule to deal with it,” Souse murmured in response, flashing the woman a smile that made her turn red. Souse finished and handed it back to Mik.

Sidhe don’t rape. Confused communication lines can lead to something that seems like rape to you, but Mm would not have meant it that way.

Okay. So it was more like emailing. One couldn’t run an office on chatspeak alone, or so Mari said. Mik sent the text off and tucked the phone into his pocket.

“Now,” Souse turned his full attention to the woman, leaning just slightly towards her, turning his entire body and inclining his head a bit, “where were we?”

Mik had never had Souse’s full attention. He knew that the fact that he was seeing Souse’s back was not meant to be insulting, but he couldn’t help but feel riled by the male’s antics. The woman seemed to brighten at the attention, she sat up straighter and adjusted her clothing unconsciously.

Was. Was Souse using his powers?

Souse glanced over his shoulder at Mik and arched an eyebrow. Mik shrugged and the Sidhe turned his attention back to the woman.

“We were just about to start the interview.”

“Ah, thus introductions are in order, I believe. You are…”

“Puft, Ellen Puft, I am a reporter for the National News Network.”

“I am Souse of the … ah, that doesn’t translate… ehm, of the Neeshune, and I am currently the leader of the tribe and an Elder.”

“What is an Elder, if you don’t mind my asking? Our Elders are just those who have passed the age of sixty-five.”

“Carted off to homes, never to speak to their loved ones again, never to pass on the knowledge, such a waste of experience. Elder is meant as an honour. Those who reach a certain age are considered Elders, it is true but for one such as me to take the title, means that my tribe finds my experience and knowledge necessary and important. As leader, I enforce the rules that the Elders make.”

“Doesn’t that contradict? The system is meant to keep corruption out, I assume, but if you’re both-”

“My replacement is not ready to take his place, not yet,” Souse gave his head a small shake, “the moment he is ready, he will take over the tribe and I will step aside. Until then, I have minimal say in the rules, though we seek to create few and only to revive the eldest of the rules, considering our current position.”

“Ah, can I ask-”

“About the man?” Souse murmured, “I dislike speaking of those who have been punished, bad for moral. But I will, just for you,” and a smile that made the woman blush, “he inappropriately touched an underage girl of the tribe, multiple times. He was warned off of doing it again, as it was thought that this was a cultural difference. He did with malice and perverted intent do it once more.”

“And so you tore off his hands?”

“Oh, gods no, the girl did, as is well within her right. There it was a cultural difference. Lillow had no idea that being sent to prison as a molester of children would result in… what we are told it results in,” Souse shook his head, “a strange kind of justice that is, but suiting, I should think.”

The woman laughed, a nervous little thing, before the information sunk in. She frowned, “wait. The underage girl tore his hands off?”

“Yes. She is a defender. Ehm. How to translate this… it is her job to protect the young, even though she is still the young, she shows these signs of being a defender from a young age. One of them is the quick reaction to threats to herself or to her siblings. She has one sibling at the moment and, had the man touched the babe, Lillow’s vengeance would have been merciless.”

“And this is appropriate amongst Sidhe? It’s chaos.”

“Hardly. Would you rob someone if you knew that not only them, but their relatives, had every right to hunt you down, beat you into a thorn bush and then leave you tangled there?”

“The medicine must be-”

“Criminals get no medicine,” Souse responded sternly, “they must suffer with their wounds or help themselves, they receive no help from the tribe.”

The woman’s mouth dropped open.

“Look at it this way, why should the tribe waste resources on one who offers no resource in return? Why feed someone who will steal your food, your clothing, your trinkets? Why feed someone who will hurt your daughter because he can’t get a woman of his own? Why risk your people for one who would bring bodily harm unjustly on the innocent?”

“So the Sidhe have no criminals?”

“Not many,” Souse responded quietly, “it is true that once in a good long time one is born who is clever enough to not get caught. I have the unfortunate family that produced two such people. One was a distant cousin, the other was my brother.”

“And where are they now?”

“Dead. My brother dared to touch an orphan. I killed him.”

The woman went pale.

“You must understand,” Souse said, taking a breath as if it were a difficult for him to remember, “according to our oldest laws, a rapist must be cut so that he can no longer rape. And one who dares to do such things to children deserves worse than death. He, as these ones are usually male, must be made an example of so that all know that this behaviour is not welcomed and not allowed.”

“So you take his hands off,” the reporter nodded quickly, “we used to do that with thieves, take a hand, harder to steal.”

“Same thought. But. No. He angered a female and disobeyed her, on top of touching an underage girl. Really a bad idea to disobey a female Sidhe. They tend not to forgive…” Souse seemed to be caught in a thought, no doubt his own experience, “no. To those who dare rape a child, we use a method similar to that which your own religions prescribe for the use of godsbane.”

A wave of cold tingled through Mik.

Godsbane was the only thing, supposedly, that could kill a god. It had been discovered when it had been used on Illuva by her own priests, stunting her growth and nearly killing her.

Would have, if they had prepared it properly.

The punishment for the creation, use or storage of godsbane, should it be discovered, was torture until the tainted one died. Mari had mentioned how several accounts of this punishment mentioned how a healer would keep a man alive almost indefinitely. Those who carried out the punishment, and carried it out on the right person, were blessed by the gods for the rest of their lives.

Supposedly.

It was more the tortured to death that made Mik shudder. Once he regained himself, his leg shuddered.

Oh, the phone.

Mm is showing concern for another being, better?

Mik handed the phone to Souse. In the silence that followed his uttered words, it almost seemed to break the tension. Souse frowned at the text and tapped out a reply before handing it back to Mik to send.

Not better. Let Rel heal and then see how Mm acts. Momentarily better, perhaps.

Mik sent it off as the reporter seemed to struggle for a moment.

“Well,” She said, “no one can say that the Sidhe justice system is unfair to victims.”

Souse shrugged, “we have done it for generations and for generations it has deterred a great deal of criminals. Thus we continue to use it.”

“Amazing. Our own system is flawed and yet those that others would call uncivilized,” she looked at the camera, Mik suspected that she was talking about someone directly above her, “have a system in place that not only works, but costs nothing at all. Well… to the people.”

“Someone has to carry out the punishment,” Souse muttered.

“Oh, tell me, though, before we wrap this up, what keeps a leader from being corrupt? What happens if you did … such a crime?”

Souse snorted, “you have not met my mate. She would kill me, revive me and then kill me again.”

Knowing Essuan, she could and would.

“But,” Souse said, in a more serious tone, “there are bad leaders amongst the Sidhe, just as there are amongst the people. Ours, when found are punished severely. Left alive, and marked, shunned by all tribes. A leader cannot demand sex from anyone, ever, most leaders are mated. A leader may not conceive a child while leader. The title is passed from one to another. I will pass it to the one whom the Elders have chosen, but it can be won by a show of force. The tribe is only as good as its people.

“The people of a tribe can stop a leader from doing anything at all. More so, perhaps, for Sidhe than for people. We can easily get up and leave a tribe. Though not many would want to. When a leader backs himself with corrupted defenders and offensive, then it gets tricky, as to what the people can do or what other tribes can do for the people.”

“What would happen in that case?”

“Whisper, if we can find him.”

“And… as you know where Whisper is at the moment? Or… so it’s been hypothesised.”

Souse looked at the woman, mildly confused, “well. He … does something and then gets snippy about it and says something like, ’behold the power of Whisper’ and we all act appropriately impressed about the whole thing.”

The woman laughed. Mik was the only one in the room who realised that Souse was being very serious about the last bit. Souse wouldn’t challenge Paw, but he didn’t like how Paw thrust his power out there and forced the people to acknowledge it.

Even though it was only for the sake of the people, of Mik’s people, that Paw did it? Did Souse realise that?

“-back to you.”

Mik had completely missed the sign off.

“About,” Mik whispered.

“I heard you,” Souse muttered in response, “and no, I had not realised that.”

“The hell is up with the … oh.” Souse could use any power of his tribe members.

Souse grinned at Mik and turned his attention back to the woman.

“Thank you for your time,” Souse murmured.

He couldn’t use all the aspects of the power, not all at once. Not understanding how a power worked would inhibit Souse’s ability to use it. So. Souse could read minds.

Did that mean Paw could read minds? And for how long had Paw been able to read minds?

“I must admit, I expected a more difficult conversation,” Puft murmured as she stood, “I saw Paw and it seemed that he didn’t really know our language, I thought he was the … most assimilated, let’s say.”

“Oh, Paw can speak the language much better than I can,” Souse laughed, “he chooses not to waste the effort, however. A Sidhe is a Sidhe is a Sidhe, I believe your people say? Give him someone worth speaking to,” Souse actually motioned to Mik, “and he will speak more eloquently than most of your generation.”


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