A Life of Worth

[Melina Tervho]

It was quiet. For once.

Mel had been away from the little house so often that she had not taken any time to decorate it, but she was starting to feel at home in Kurs'taylir. The furnishings she did have were functional, and she kept her small home organized and neat. She was sitting at the kitchen table, a steaming mug of tea off to the side as she worked in silence on cleaning her blasters. She had one of them in pieces, cleaning and caring for it. The other was patiently waiting its turn. Then the rifle. Then Nola.

She hadn't needed the sniper rifle nearly as much, but there were a few occasions where the custom weapon came in handy. The rifle was a reminder of her darker days, but she was keen on remembering who and what she was so that she could never be used that way again.

A knock at the door roused her attention and she rose from the chair to peek out the side window.

She recognized the armor.

Jun.

Jun was another of the Tal'Verdas she had met fighting the Death Watch. He was quick and agile, a valuable asset to her and Cal in the field. Jun was overeager. His enthusiasm was nice in the field, but Mel wanted to join her day off and not talk to Jun about training to be sniper or an assassin or knife fighting. She just wanted to be.

She dropped the rag on the table and reached for the tea.

Her black hair was in pigtails today, streaks of green in them. For once, she had decided to wear a little makeup this morning, her bright eyes rimmed in black. She liked the contrast.

No combat suit today. Just leggings, knee boots and a long, cozy sweater.

Maybe she would make some soup and take a nap. Seemed a good a plan as any.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

The soup was simmering on the stove, the snowflakes swirling around outside while Mel read a book in the lone chair in her living area. The room would have been big enough for a decent set of furniture, but it didn't really suit Mel's tastes. The one side was her chair, a small side table, a lamp. The other side of the room was a series of shelving units which held cases of ammunition, cleaning tools and supplies, spare parts, combat gear, and her weapons locker. It was an impressive assemblage, though probably not in light of what Melina had dedicated 20 years of her life to.

As she sat in the smell of shig, soup, and gun oil, another knock at the door pulled her attention out of the worn pages of her novel. She couldn't see the caller from where she was, but if it was Jun again, she would really need to address boundaries with him.

She peeked through the curtains in the kitchen to see the familiar red and black clan logo emblazoned with the bull that represented her family. Except that this parka also bore the markings of her former clan leader.

Mel opened the door quickly, stepping aside to let the older woman into her small kitchen area. The door was closed again to keep the winter chill out as the errant snowflakes that followed [member="Shae Tervho"] in melted around her boots on the clean tile.

"Su cuy'gar ha'yr alorir."

It sounded odd to address her aunt so formally, as this was the woman who had taught Melina to ride a bike but she doubted that she had come all the way for a social call. Not to mention, she questioned immediately if she had chosen the correct phrase though if she hadn't, she would know it soon enough.

 

[Shae Tervho]

With gloved hands, Shae reached up and pulled down her parka. Snowflakes were caught in the wispy strays hairs that had been stuck inside her hood, dangling them in the air like a crystalline crown of ice until the warm air of the kitchen turned them to dew.

She looked down at her niece, a woman now where she had remembered a child before. Melina had not come to her when she returned to Concord Dawn, if one could have called it a return. She arrived, stayed a night with her parents and then she was gone again, with only the words cin vhetin for an excuse as to why Shereshoya was no longer her home.

Shae shook off the cold, drawing her hands out of her gloves and tucking them into a pocket on her thick coat.

"Melina."

There was some comfort to seeing her alive and grown, but for the moment, it was not her aunt standing in this cottage. This was an official visit.

"I'm sure you know that cin vhetin is not literal. There was no need to flee to the tundra for this."

Okay, so official visit but Shae couldn't help but chide her about the harsh winter landscape outside the little house.

 

[Melina Tervho]

She nodded pulling her eyes up from the floor. Her aunt looked far older now than she would have expected. The death of Mel's uncle and her cousins hit Shae hard apparently.

"Of course not. I came here because I was given something here."

She didn't expect for her voice to sound so forceful but she took in a deep breath and looked her Alor in the eyes.

There was concern, years of worry creasing the eyes of her clan leader. If she was still her clan leader.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to sound disrespectful. My mate left me a parcel of land here where he wanted us to make a life together. I came to see it and got sucked into some local problems. The Death Watch tried to get a foothold. I have been lending my aide to the Tal'verda in driving them off."