Goodbye and Hello

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | @Various Kerrigan/Alcoris



Miss Siobhan Kerrigan,


You are receiving this message because you have been named full legal guardian of Norah Kitts-Castillon. As outlined in the last will and testament of one Delila Castillon, guardianship of the child will take place the day following the memorial service of Miss Castillon. Please respond to our offices promptly, as funeral services will take place one week from the date of this transmission on Laekia.

If you feel you have gotten this notice in error or do not wish to take possession of the minor child, please contact our office immediately. Despite these difficult times, we hope this message finds you in good spirits.


Law Offices of Ghyrrk, Hecsk, & Smith

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"]


Siobhan blinked after she read the message. Then blinked again before pinching the bridge of her nose. Apparently she was not having a weird dream. No, this was real. Dells' last revenge! Truth be told, Siobhan had not thought about the 'shrew' for a long time. Apparently she was dead now...and had a daughter. Oh, and Siobhan had been named her guardian. What the feth? "Harmony, come over here please," Siobhan called out, shaking her head. Presently she was on business on Mon Cal and thus residing in a fancy suite in a luxurious hotel.


A few moments later her faithful maiden appeared on the spot, looking totally innocent. "Here I am, Mistress. Would you like backrub or should I prepare the whirlpool?" she asked sweetly. Aww, wasn't she ever helpful and eager to serve? However, Siobhan was not in the mood right now and instead pointed to the screen.


"Is this one of your jokes? Or did Chesna send that message?" she queried suspiciously. As much as she loved her slaves...err, attendants, harem girls, sometimes they had a habit of trolling her. Chesna was the worst and her bad example corrupted the others.


"You know we'd never do that, Mistress," Harmony declared, though she was not fooling anyone. Realising that her Mistress was serious she looked at the screen, then shook her head. She looked just as dumbfounded at her boss. "Castillon his that old war buddy of yours, right? I vaguely remember her. Really needed to get laid. She had a daughter?"


"She's not my buddy," Siobhan said firmly and seriously, looking annoyed. "And, yes, apparently she has. Now she's dead and I'm..apparently the guardian. What kind of freaking bizarro universe is this? She must have done this to troll me."


Harmony patted her on the shoulder. Presumably in this situation distracting Siobhan would not work. "Well, you do love kids, Mistress. Galina would lovely a little sister," she said encouragingly, though she would rather be somewhere else.


"Yes, but still!" Siobhan protested a bit lamely. "Ah, well. Poor dear, lost her mum. Even though she was a queen to the end," she said rather unkindly. A part of her did remember that once upon a time she and Dells had been good friends. Back in the old days of Omega Pyre. Then things had gone badly, though unsurprisingly Siobhan tended to blame most of it on the redhead. No, she was not narcisstic at all.


"There, now you can offer her a nice home. Should I call your wife and inform her?"


Siobhan thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, please do." She and [member="Tegaea Alcori"] were trying to get their marriage back on track. This included talking about things and actually communicating since that was kind of important. Time would tell how well that worked out. "Note to self: Keep little Dells away from explosives."

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



Norah wasn't quite sure what was going to happen to her next. Her Uncle wasn't exactly the shining star of the family and hadn't been seen for some time. Her grandmother had passed on a few years ago. Her grandfather, Alden, was quite elderly and lived in a senior citizen high-rise back on Ord Mantell. Sometime she stayed with him, but they really didn't like kids living there. Even if she was quiet.


Chin went to rest on the backpack she had been forced to throw together. Norah was waiting in the lobby of the Law Offices of Ghyrrk, Hecsk, and Smith. A receptionist kept giving her a sympathetic look every time she passed between the various offices scattered across the third floor of the Laekia office building. Someone had given her a bottle of water and a granola bar but she wasn't hungry. Norah just wanted to go home. She wanted her mom.


Neither was going to happen.


Norah idly swung her legs, fighting tears that threatened to fall on her freckled cheeks. Was she going to be homeless now? She had learned about that in school, homeless kids, during a Life Day donation drive. Would the law office just kick her out on the streets? Maybe she had enough credits in her pack to stay somewhere. Anywhere.

 

[Alleycat]

OCC: Invited by Little Red to join you all.
---

The news of Delila Castillon's death was like a sucker punch to Dirks. Dells and the dark-haired Rendili had just reconnected after all these years and well, they had buried the hatchet and become very good friends. There were old wounds that each needed to heal and together the two former Rebels had helped the other do just that. The headstrong ginger-haired woman had even shared her most precious secret and prized possession with him… [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"] looked just like her mother, even right down to the red-freckled cheeks that got very flushed when embarrassed or mad. Something Hutch liked to tease Red about… Yeah, he'd miss her.

The Security Chief's thoughts were a jumble of emotion; his reaction a mix of shock, loss, and more so anger. The hole in the wall of his office at Salacia Consolidated would have to be fixed later as packing and getting off Ceto was his priority now. A quick message was sent to his boss, [member="Judah Dashiell"], that there had been a death of a close friend and Hutch was heading out directly to the funeral.

As he lifted off in his Baudo-class Star Yacht from the water planet in the far reaches of Wild Space to the south, Dirks wondered what had happened to Little Red and how the young girl may be coping with the loss of her mother. It pulled at his heart strings to think she might be alone. Yeah, the big guy cared. From his understanding, no one else knew of Norah's existence except for Dells' elderly father. It made his fast and furious journey back to Laekia on the other side of the galaxy just that more important to make sure his friend's daughter was taken care of properly.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"]


To the representative of the Law Offices of Ghyrrk, Hecsk, & Smith,


Thank you for your message. It was a great shock for me to hear about Delila Castillon's death. She used to be a close friend and colleague of mine. Until today I was unaware that she had a daughter. I can only imagine what the poor dear must be going through right now. It's admittedly a big surprise for me that Delila named me as Norah's legal guardian since we did not part on the best terms, but it's a responsibility I accept and shall strive to fulfil to the best of my abilities. My thoughts are with Norah and Delila's family. Rest assured, I shall be there at the funeral.

Countess Siobhan Kerrigan.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



More clicking of heels on the polished wood floor.The receptionist was making her way back to the closed off lobby to share the good news with the little girl that had her guardianship in question. Opening up the door, she began to speak without looking.


"I have some goo-.....Oh....Where did she go? Maybe the 'fresher."


---------------


Norah certainly wasn't in the refresher. Bookbag on her back, the little ginger was on the streets of Laekia. She had dug through the wallet in her school bag and found the 'emergency' fund credit chip her mother had entrusted her with. This was an emergency, right? Canvas shoes beat the sidewalk as she thought what her Mom would want her to do in the situation. She would tell Norah to be smart and use her own judgement.


Walking up to a banking terminal, Norah inserted the card and typed in the pin she had diligently memorized. An amount came on the screen, along with a series of recent transactions from the account. She skimmed a pale finger across the screen, searching. It didn't take long to find : an automatic withdrawal for rent on the condo. This meant she wasn't homeless....right?


Right.


Exiting the terminal, Norah started back towards home. She was used to walking alone on the safe streets after school and wasn't concerned about being alone. A plan was already forming in her head. Go to the market and get food. Go home and scramble the lock codes. Wait for her grandfather to arrive. Or Hutch. Either one of the two was bound to show up, she just knew it.


Mom wouldn't want her to sit around helpless. She was supposed to be independent, use her head.


Home was very safe. Norah was confident once she bought a few meals at the market that she could wait out for an adult without stepping foot out the door again. Maybe the law office was looking for her, but the redhead doubted it. Just to be safe, Norah picked up the pace and soon entered the massive neighborhood market, grabbing a basket and setting off.


Maybe if I treat this like a normal day, I'll wake up and this will be a bad dream. Maybe it is a nightmare. Maybe I'll wake up soon.....

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"], [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]


Back on Mon Cal, Siobhan had made arrangements and presumably informed her wife. Having made sure that business would be taken care of by minions in her absence, she set sail for Laekia. Well, metaphorical saild since she was using a starship - a fancy yacht, to be precise - but whatever.


She could only wonder how Norah was dealing with the loss of her mother. Poor thing. As the ship took off into space Siobhan's thoughts drifted briefly to Dells. She did not suddenly feel regret for her decision to sack the woman so many years since as far as Siobhan was concerned, her former friend had turned into an unlikeable shrew. Siobhan was not really the type to question the things she did. But she did wonder what had happened in Dells' life since then. Last she had heard, she had gotten a job at a mining company after having spent some time amongst the Levantine Patrollers, who had now been absorbed into the Silver Coalition.


She felt some measure of regret for how things had turned out between them, but that was surpassed by the feeling that, whatever her thoughts might be on Dells, she could not affect her guardinship of Norah. It was her responsibility to take care of and look out for the girl and she could not let anything jeopardise that.


Briefly she wondered when Dells had even gotten a daughter. Judging by the name, that hipster rock star who seemed to have been a friend of hers was the father. He had been good fun doing their bar trip so many years ago, but then apparently vanished! Having brooded enough Siobhan took one of her maidens to her cabin and, well, non-PG-13 stuff happened It was a good way to pass the time whilst the starship drifted through the depths of hyperspace. It ought to reach Laekia soon - at the speed of the plot.


((Tad uncertain about how to proceed - are Dirks and Norah gonna have a moment and Sio shows up later? Or are we time skipping to the funeral via handwavium?))

 

[Alleycat]

The Jokers Wild made the fastest time yet on it's trip from Ceto to Laekia; one Hutch had made many times before, but not with the urgency or heavy heart. The Security Chief had pushed the engines and hyperdrive to the sleek star yacht's limits and then some. As a former starfighter pilot, he knew how to cut time off the journey and get better performance out of his ship when it counted. Like now.

Traveling by himself and in the quiet theater of space, his long journey allowed the Rendili's mind to drift places he didn't necessarily want it to go. There were a lot of what ifs, should haves, could haves… and then there was the last conversation Dirks had with Dells. She finally seemed at peace with herself or at least in a better place, and the love for her daughter really came through. It had touched his heart, maybe even pulled on those strings a bit he always refused to allow to be tied.

After arriving in Lovern, Dirks tooled through the capital city of Laekia on his speeder bike that he'd brought with him to Delilia's condo. The Rendili didn't know why, but he just needed to be where she used to be. And then of course there was the curiosity of what had happened to [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"]. Taking a chance that the condo hadn't been turned over yet, he pulled into the small driveway and parked his bike; his stomach twisting and heart wrenching as Dirks walked up to the front door.

Red had given him the security code to get in so he punched it in, but was denied entrance. Hutch put it in again and was denied once again, so he was just about to leave when the door opened...

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

---

((We can do whatever, ladies… ))

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Spoiler

I suppose Norah and Dirks can have their moment

Norah had passed out on her Mom's bed, sprawled out in the middle. Her eyes were red rimmed and swollen from crying hours later. She slept fitfully and was awoken by the sound of a constant denial of entry tone. Quickly kicking off the sheets, Norah left the room and bounded for the door. She could sort of make out who is was through the peep hole and the door quickly opened to reveal a man she knew well.


Dirks had been a friend of Mom's. He seemed to visit when he was in town and the two seemed to end up 'talking shop' as her mother would put it. Normally Dirks would bring her something with each visit. Never anything extravagant but a little memento from the many worlds he visited for his job. Norah had them lined up on a shelf above the desk in her room.


"Hutch!"


In a blur, Norah had wrapped her arms around the burly man, tears in her eyes once again. Hopefully things would be better now that Hutch was here. He'd know what to do, unlike that stupid Law Office.


"I don't know what to do" Norah's voice was muffled against his shirt, the girl refusing to move.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Spoiler

Sounds good. You two can skip me then. Tag me in when Sio should arrive.

While Dirks and Norah had their moment together, which would hopefully help the distraught, little redhead a bit, Siobhan's yacht was still cruising through hyperspace. While Mon Cal was quite close to Laekia, she had been held up by business matters. Building battleships, handling a planetary evacuation and that sort of thing.


Likewise before taking a girl to her cabin she had given Dells' lawyers a call, requesting that they transmit what information they could give her on little Norah. After all, it would probably not be a good idea to show up at the Castillon household totally clueless about the girl over whom she had now been granted guardianship. Likewise she had asked for the coordinates of the Castillon home. With all these matters dealt with, Siobhan would spend the next hour or so in her cabin, with a pretty Eldorai girl to keep her company and...see to her needs. After all, being on top was very stressful!


Presumably she would arrive on Laekia in an hour so, giving Dirks and Norah enough time for some comfort and bonding.


[member="Dirks Hutchinson"], [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"]

 

[Alleycat]

When [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"] ran to him and nearly cut the circulation off from the waist down with her distraught and teary hug, Dirks was struck with a wave of emotion the man didn't know he was capable of; the womanizer wanted to make the little redhead's pain go away, protect her, and love the young girl back like a father would.

"Norah…. It's going to be okay. I'm here for you and we'll get it all sorted out. I promise," Hutch replied, stroking her ginger-head trying to be reassuring, blinking away tears that threatened to express themselves. He had to be strong for his friend's daughter. This wasn't about his loss, but hers.

"Let's go inside, then you can tell me what's been going on… Are you here all by yourself?" he asked as they walked back into the stone quiet condo; concern and even a bit of anger etched in his racing thoughts. Who would leave a kid alone, especially one that had just lost their parent? Well no matter… the Rendili was there now and he would see to Norah's needs presently until… There had to be a plan. Dells must have made arrangements just in case something happened to her, right?

"Have you eaten? I'm hungry… How about we find something to make. Your choice, kiddo!"

Yeah, Dirks was trying to keep things light and upbeat as that was the only way he knew how to deal with the tremendous sadness that was threatening to consume him. And if he felt that, hers had to be ten times as much.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



Norah squeezed tightly one last time before letting Hutch go and stepping back. The condo was quiet and fairly clean considering a ten year old girl had been staying alone. Shutting the door, the girl rubbed her bright blue eyes and yawned a little. There had been little in the way of real sleep lately. Perhaps things would turn around with Hutch staying over.


"Its only me here....I-I ran away...after....."


Norah couldn't bring herself to saying after Mom died , struggling as she tried to complete her sentence.


"....after at the law office. I think they were gonna put me in an orphanage. So I used the emergency cred card to buy food and stay here.....I knew you or Grandpa would come."


Sitting on a kitchen stool, Norah watched Hutch move around. Her legs hung off the stool, her hand resting against her head. The girl was tired. Emotionally drained. It already looked like a weight was laid upon her shoulders, one no young girl should have to carry at such an age.


"Don't make me go."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"], [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"]
Aboard yacht, somewhere in space.


There was loud shouting when Harmony entered the bed room, so she did so cautiously. Being the harem girl/maiden/secretary of Siobhan Kerrigan had its advantages: She was good in bed, very generous when it came to gifts and and obviously rich. At the same time there was always the risk of her turning into a raging chaos goddess. Not that Harmony feared her boss would ever use force on her, but she found her quite scary when she got angry.


"What do you mean, you don't know where she is? Weren't you supposed to keep an eye on her? What sort of caretaker are you? Be quiet, details of your incompetence do not interest me! She's a poor girl who just lost her mother and you lot don't even have the decency to look after her? Did you even tell her she's gonna get a guardian? Poor thing probably thinks you're gonna dump her in an orphanage?" Siobhan thundered into the holocomm.


Harmony caught enough of the conversation to get an idea of what had happened. Cautiously she approached Siobhan and placed a tentative, gentle hand on her shoulder. "Maybe she's at her mother's home?" she suggested gently. She sort of felt sorry for whoever was on the other line. Well, a bit, but not much!


"Where's Dells' place? Give me the coordinates? Thanks. Bye. No, you stay out. Oh, and by the way, you're fired. Yes, I can fire you. I'm Siobhan Kerrigan, I can do what the feth I want." With that she abruptly cut the connection and took a deep, calmning breath. The walls stopped shaking.


"Please don't drop a roof, Mistress. Or fry idiots with lightning. It makes a bad impression on the child," Harmony said dryly.


Siobhan gave a look, then shook her head and ran a hand through her firemane. "I know. I'll try. Idiots."

 

[Alleycat]

Dirks found a box of cheesy noodles in the pantry, then pulled out a pot and filled it with some water; placing it on the heating unit afterwards. Milk and butter was measured while the water came to a boil, then the elbow-type noodles were dumped in and the timer set for nine minutes as he liked his noodles soft and not with a bone in them. The Rendili usually crumbed some cooked ground beef into his when he made it at home, but went the easy and faster route as [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"] was about ready to fall off the stool.

While the food cooked on the stove, Dirks went over and gave the ginger-haired girl a tender hug. "I will never let them send you to an orphanage, Norah. You have my word on that. I'll call that law office in the morning and get things straightened out. But right now, I want you to eat something, then try to get some sleep. I'll stay with you so no worries, kay."

After dinner, Dirks did indeed tuck Norah into bed, staying with her until she was fast asleep, then he made himself comfortable on the couch in the living room and soon followed the same path.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]



Norah and Dirks spent a few days together, with the Law Office giving Dirks the run around. Since there was no mention of him in her couple of years old will and testament, their hands were tied. Or so they claimed. More would be found out after the memorial service, when apparently all parties would be present.



The day of the memorial service, Norah didn't know what to think. Strangers kept coming up to her saying how sorry they were. She didn't know how to take it, how to handle it. Most of the time she stuck close to the side of Hutch, who seemed to know what he was doing. There was still the unanswered question of what exactly was happening to the little girl. Norah was assuming she would go live with Hutch at his house. Although the bachelor probably wasn't set up to handle a pre-teen girl.


The memorial service was dragging to an end. The twenty-one slugthrower salute had caused her to jump a little. How could anyone stand that? A flag was then folded and handed to her. Some more people talked, most she hadn't seen in her life. Little brows knit in confusion as she leaned against Hutch as folks started to leave the service.


"You're taking me with you, right?"


Meanwhile, a lawyer from the Law Office was bringing one Siobhan Kerrigan to the front row of chairs to introduce the woman to her new ward.

Spoiler

Apologies for the delay. I decided to cut the funeral short because hey, we all know we don't need to drag out the death of Dells. Hope no one minds.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"], [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]s


It was done. The memorial service had been held, Dells had been put to rest. It was with a sombre mood and a heavy heart that Siobhan made her way through the crowd of mourners towards her new ward. Some faces she knew, mainly those who had been old Omega Pyre or 73rd Battalion veterans, many were unknown to her.


The Countess was suitably dressed in a black skirtsuit, her makeup was very subdued, her red hair done up. The characteristic tip-tap of her cane was heard as she walked with a slight limp. Even before the lawyer pointed her out to her, she could see little Norah, leaning against a man she remembered as Hutch. Presumably she would at least be familiar with the guy since he was Salacia's security chief and Firemane's PMC division often provided security for Judah Dashiell's company.


She had heard about him taking care of the little girl and this made her feel a bit better. At least she had not been alone the past few days. "Hey, Norah," she said softly. "I imagine you're probably tired of hearing this by now, but I'm very sorry about what happened to your mother." It felt trite, but still. "I'm Siobhan Kerrigan. I was a friend of your mother's. We used to work together," she then glanced over to Hutch.


"Mr Hutchinsons, it's good to see you, even under these circumstances. I'd like to thank you for taking care of Norah. It's good to see someone was there for her." The lawyer was about to say something, but a quick look of Siobhan made her shut up. "Norah, I know this is hard far you...probably more than can be put into words, but you're not alone in this. I was...assigned guardianship over you by Dells."

 

[Alleycat]

Dirks was dressed in a dark suit for his friend's funeral. He stood as a pillar of strength next to [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"] as she went through the ceremony to memorialize her mother; his arm around Little Red's shoulder the whole time. Dells wouldn't have liked all the fuss, but nonetheless she deserved it. Red was a good person despite her affinity to piss people off. Part of that was just bluster. A tool to keep others away. The woman had tried many a time to play that game with Hutch. Winning at first, but losing in the end to succumb to his irresistible charm… or at least he liked to think so.

Even though the Rendili was expecting the gun salute giving military honors, it still made him jump a little with the first volley. Caring hazel eyes gazed down upon the frightened young girl and on instinct Hutch pulled her closer in a protective side hug as she held onto the folded flag like it was her life line. His heart broke, but he stayed stoic for Norah.

"I'm working on it, kiddo," is all Hutch could say to Norah's question if she was to go with him. Everything was still a mystery as to what really was going to happen. It frustrated the Rendili to no end too. The law office had only told him they appreciated his caring for their late client's daughter during this most pressing time. What the hell did that mean?!

After the service was over and the attendees paid their respects, a red-haired woman Dirks knew only by sight and on paper as [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] walked up to them; a little worse for wear from the limp and cane it seemed. The lawyer he'd been getting the run around from was with her too. He had a bad feeling about this.

And, his gut was right… "Likewise, Countess," Hutch greeted back, trying to keep his surprise and anger in check at the revelations stated. It was hard though.

"I will always be here for Norah no matter what," he said, placing both of his large hands atop the preteen's petite shoulders as a tender, reassuring gesture to her even though the future was seemingly decided already.

"Perhaps we should go back to the condo where we can discuss this matter further in a more relaxed setting. I know I for one would like to ditch my tie and get something to drink."

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



Norah looked between Hutch and the new woman, introducing herself as Siobhan Ker-something. Brow furrowed to think back, to think if she remembered this woman in front of her. Now her mother had told stories. Watered down, non-crude tales of some of her times with fellow soldiers. There was seemed a bitterness about Mom when mentioning this woman.


So why put her in charge in the first place.


"I don't want to....I can...I can live in my house. Maybe you can pay the neighbor lady to watch me...."


Unhelpfully, the lawyer spoke up.


"Miss Castillon did leave several large life insurance policies behind in your name....Enough to see you well into adulthood, even with such an arrangement. So it is feasible to stay in your current location should Countess Kerrigan hire a nanny."


"See? I can stay.....The lady says so. I don't want to go wherever you live. I don't even know you."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"], [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]


For her part Siobhan was feeling annoyed and rather uncomfortable. Her own memories of Dells were strongly defined by bitterness. Yeah, and I didn't ask to take care of you in the first place. Not my fault your mother was a bitter shrew who kept shooting herself in the foot, she thought to herself. Why didn't she leave you with Dirks? He actually knows you and is her friend.


She had come to the conclusion that Dells had solely named her in order to annoy her. It seemed remarkably irresponsible to her. She gave the lawyer a brief look. "Thank you for informing me." The tone was polite, but there was a strong undertone of 'it would have been nice to tell me that before'. Theoretically she could hire someone to look after Norah for her. The option sounded very tempting to her.


"I don't want to step on anyone's toes or force things. This has been a big shock for me as well. Until a few days ago I didn't know you existed," she said softly but frankly. "If you really don't want to come with me, we can work out an arrangement. All I want is to make sure you're taken care of," she gave a nod towards Hutch. "Let's go back to the condo. We can have something to eat and discuss things there." She had taken a week off from work so that matters could be hashed out.

 

[Alleycat]

Dellls had never really had anything nice to say about [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] to him, but then again Dirks knew that she had a lot of baggage with many people. The burn factor had been pretty high, and he was included though they had moved past that and onto more friendly skies.

Damn you, Red, for leaving like this!

Anger/adrenaline cursed through his veins and the Rendili wanted to hit something, but instead he just grit his teeth. The whole situation just sucked, and Dirks wasn't sure he had the power to fix it. This wasn't fair to [member="Norah Kitts-Castillon"]; to be stuck with someone who obviously didn't want her from the woman's tone and looks, and the girl not wanting to be with the stranger either. Gods if only…. but he wasn't and had no right, or did he?

"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement that is best for Norah and something she's comfortable with as that is most important here," Hutch said, giving a nod back to the Countess, then he took Little Red's hand and gave it a little squeeze.

"Come on, kiddo… " He smiled at the ginger-haired girl, then led her back to his speeder bike they came on; making sure she put the helmet on correctly and was hanging on tight before he pulled slowly out of the cemetery with Delila's presented flag in the saddlebag.