Satisfaction

Finished all of thirty seconds ago on my other computer (sorry, old habits die hard, only really write at two computers, one of which doesn't have Internet access, yes, clever aren't I?!).

Slightly rushed ending again, but still, should prove to be interesting.

Enjoy,

Bubi

Satisfaction

  Primus teCelezbranque.

  He was the oldest of his family, but he acted much older, if that was at all possible. He had slept fairly well, that previous evening, content, his chambers warmed by means that he knew but did not understand. Regardless, he was grateful for such a creature comfort as he rose that morning and stretched out, cricking the numerous joints in his neck.

  Please don’t do that too much, it’s most disconcerting, Kristeva opened one eye and looked at her husband, snorting as she raised her head.

  The two of them shared an intimate moment, before they heard a knock at the entrance of their chamber. Philidor stepped in and cleared his throat. Kristeva grinned when she saw her brother. No matter how used to it they were, he always looked quite comical with his monocle and chain that dropped down to his collar. The academic amongst the family, Philidor was carrying a stack of large tomes under his right arm and a set of styli in his left, which he waved around as he spoke. He took a short breath.

  Ah, excuse me, he apologised hurriedly, but, ah, the High Lord and the Arena Council would have their audience now. Lucius is preparing the agenda with Her Ladyship of the Master-Elects now.

  I hope for something more productive than last week, Primus snorted, Yes, yes, very well, I will be along shortly and tell Dr Hyllerhaas I’m sorry for oversleeping. Though why he has to hold these meetings at seven o’clock in the mornings is beyond me.

  Philidor nodded, more to himself than anything else, sidled out and disappeared down the hall.

  Shall I see you later? Kristeva asked as she stood up and stretched her legs.

  Of course, today is a Friday after all, so I only need make my rounds, see what curious individual has ventured too far into the Lakes and we will dine together this evening.

  And your sister? she grinned.

  Ah, yes, she will attempt once again to wrest Philidor from his desk and studies, he smiled indulgently as he picked up his spectacles and placed them on his nose, eyes focussing, I will see you at breakfast, hopefully this won’t take much longer than half an hour. Rest some more, you need it.

  I’m awake and up already, I may as well make use of myself.

  Very well, then, he pecked her on the forehead and left the chamber, scratching his temple thoughtfully.

  He strode along with head bowed and one hand behind his back, turning left and right without thought through the maze of the Enclave that was his home. The others that he passed bowed to him in respect, but he continued walking, oblivious to their greetings, so lost in thought as he was.

  I said... Primus! he stopped mid-step and turned to see Derrida regarding him with some amusement.

  Oh, I’m sorry, did you want something? he asked rather blankly.

  Only to accompany you to the conference, she replied, eyes betraying a mischievous glint.

  If you wish, he extended one hand courteously to let her precede him.

  So, dear cousin, what occurs in that head of yours that your ears fail you, hm? she asked brightly.

  ‘Ears’ she says, he said.

  But given the way we communicate, I would have thought such an expression would have even more meaning.

  Really? I would have thought it would have no meaning whatsoever. Distraction is unfortunate in dulling all the senses.

  You avoid my question, Primus. Come, what absorbs you this morning?

  Honestly? I’m not too sure, a number of things, I suppose. Mainly about the others...

  And by ‘others’ you mean Kristeva? Derrida ventured, tentatively.

  Primus paused and looked at her, blinking for a few moments, Yes, I suppose I am, probably too much for my own good, and hers at that.

  Derrida motioned for him to continue down the corridor to the atrium of the Arena Halls, But consider, Primus, such an event has never occurred in our history and you do right to think about it. It is the worry that you should limit. Kristeva trusts and respects you more than enough that you will know if anything is wrong.

  She smiled kindly as they stopped at the massive doors leading into the Arena Council hall and patted him on the shoulder, before heaving the great gates open. Several members of the Council were already present. Lucius Scipio was down at the lower stalls, busy dictating notes to a slightly harassed looking clerk, Lady tser’Claes looking on rather sceptically. Publius Scipio, Lucius’ younger identical twin, was in a discussion with the Blademaster General and Lord-Master Physician, occasionally punctuated by one of them raising his or her voice in mild contempt for whatever reason. Celestine and Eroica were at the places at the upper terrace, muttering to each other and gesturing in greeting to whoever entered. Philidor was behind the podium, fidgeting, casting anxious glances at the clock and his own pocket watch. And Primus’ sister, Temeriisia, was pacing back and forth the stage as best she could, and when she noticed her brother, she inhaled slightly and gave a sharp cry for silence. No-one ignored it as she started shooing Philidor, Lucius and Publius up to the terrace, following them herself.

  And once he had manoeuvred his body through the door (even though it was more than large enough for him, he liked to show his age by struggling through it) Primus turned to Derrida who bowed respectfully and closed the doors behind him. With a faint grin, he made his way through the central isle and joined the other six in the wide terrace as they looked down towards the stage. Of the Elders, only one was missing: Kristeva, but given her special circumstances, they all allowed her votes to be taken by Primus, for obvious reasons. The Arena Council members, the eleven Lord-Masters, and some thirty or so other Lords, all stood when the High Lord and the Prince strode in. Dr Maximilian Hyllerhaas went straight to the podium while the Prince sat down at his throne and opted to look decidedly bored behind his rather more zealous colleague. Primus cast a look at Publius who sat just beyond Kristeva’s seat, and the younger one smirked and shook his head, though Primus was quite certain he felt the same way as well.

  Even so, he made himself as comfortable as possible on the stone seat and pushed his spectacles closer to his eyes. The High Lord was waxing lyrical about the latest research results, assessing projects in sequence from department to department. Of those in the upper terrace, only Philidor was clearly interested. The Scipio twins were silently jostling about, while the others were vaguely listening. They were more analysts and sophists than scientists, though they definitely had their fair share of mathematicians. Regardless, Primus was hoping the High Lord was going to finish soon. Unfortunately, instead he called Philidor down. He groaned, but as protocol, the academic stood and bowed before proceeding to take Hyllerhaas’ place on the stage. Thankfully, though, he only spoke for a couple minutes before a few of the Lord-Masters gave brief reports and the meeting was finally adjourned at a quarter to eight. Primus could only grin when Philidor stood, looked at his pocket watch once and hurried out. Temeriisia was about to call to him, but thought better of it and just sighed rather theatrically.

  Your husband is quite unique, is he not, dear sister?

  That he is, but he likes to act that way, makes the others leave him alone, she sat back down again and crossed her arms, and contrary to popular belief, he does not spend entire evenings at his workbench.

  Haha! You need not explain anything to me: I know the two of you very well, so it matters not to me, since you fit each other so agreeably.

  My thanks, brother. Now, don’t you need to go to breakfast?

  Yes, I know, and you?

  I will do the same as you.

  She smiled in a manner of one who was perfectly content and rose smoothly from her seat and nodded her head in parting. Temeriisia left the hall and her brother watched the doors close behind her. After a brief moment of contemplation about his family, Primus stood and left via the doors behind the upper terrace. They opened out into the courtyard of the Arena City University’s campus. He sniffed the air as students and faculty members alike paid him respect and called up their greetings. Spying one of the senior lecturers he made his way towards the diminutive professor.

  Good morning, Varen.

  The academic was somewhat taken by surprise, as he often was, but Primus could never understand why he was always taken by surprise by him, given his stature. Even so, Professor Varen Dietjerkonn got on well with him, and Primus just assumed he had a tremendously skittish personality.

  “Ah, good morning, what can I do for you?”

  Lord Draco has decided that some of the Disciples need another tour of the Enclave, and vice-versa. Quite why, I haven’t the faintest idea. Even so, most of the Enclave, particularly Lacan, Dante, Pierrino and their ilk will be attending occasional lectures for the next two or three days. Philidor has been a bit too busy lately to be bothered with arranging such affairs so I wondered if you, as deputy registrar had any interest in fitting them in.

  “How many?”

  Provisionally, sixteen, whether they like it or not, he added rather ruefully.

  The ‘youngsters’ within the Enclave took a slightly dim view of the Arena’s approach to academia, intelligent though they were without exception. They only truly regarded mathematics and philosophy with any real interest, the vast majority of other subjects falling at the wayside, much like the academics of Antiquity. For those of their kind, Lacan and Pierrino were quite petulant about being educated by their elders, Philidor in particular, for obvious reasons, despite the respect he commanded within the Arena University. Primus wondered about his brother-in-law, since he was quite unlike the others, with a deep talent and propensity towards physics and chemistry. Even Kristeva had only a passing interest in the biological sciences, which she considered more her hobby than anything else.

  “I suppose that should be quite possible, provided it is not for too long,” Dietjerkonn brought Primus from his contemplation, “And I’m sure we’ll survive for three days, though of course, we will require Philidor’s lecture theatre and the Arena Council Hall.”

  My thanks, Varen, that won’t be any problem, though Philidor will be loathe to lecture the youths amongst us. They regard each other with mutual contempt.

  “Dear Primus, it is quite far from contempt,” the professor grinned, “Merely a difference of opinion.”

  Ah, if only I believed that, Primus smiled a little forlornly, before nodding, Good day, sir.

  He bade farewell to the registrar and his colleagues and hurried back to the main hall of the Enclave. But when he arrived, he stopped at the entrance, and sighed. Kristeva was trying to frown, but as Primus neared, she broke out into a broad smile and beckoned him over, indicating to the seat opposite her and the breakfast that was in the middle of the table. He sat down and picked up a fork and tucked in. For the next several minutes, the two of them sat in tranquil silence, sharing from the same plate, oblivious to the goings on around them. The younger members of the Enclave were also having breakfast, but the two Elders ignored the continued ramblings that the others indulged in.

  Don’t you think it’s about time you made your rounds? Kristeva finally said, quietly.

  A few more minutes..., Primus replied as he slowly used a stiletto to pick his teeth.

  I believe you will have time enough to fawn over me this afternoon. Now go!

  Alright, alright, I will not get underfoot. What do you plan to do today?

  I’ll probably spend most of the day at the lake. The Lord Master Physician wishes to see me... again, so she’ll come by our chamber early this afternoon. Some rest will probably be in order as well.

  Very well, I’ll see you this afternoon, then.

  He stood up and briefly let his fingers run across the back of her hand as he left. Every day, Primus did a brief tour of one or two of the Arena City’s facilities and did what he called a welfare check on numerous individuals. Today was the turn of the University, and that typically meant listening in on one of Philidor’s lectures on thermodynamics or some such topic. It changed from season to season, and he typically gave at least two lectures a day in his rather spacious lecture theatre which came complete with hologram display, which made it a very popular venue for other events that left Philidor rather peevish in the evenings. Primus chuckled to himself as he considered Temeriisia’s reaction to such moods. His quiet rmbling startled a few residents as he strode past. He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard the yipping of a couple of young wolves. Two of them raced past him. Clearing his throat, he brought his feet together and crouched down, knowing that taking a step would be dangerous if they ran the wrong way. And then another one appeared in front of him and started jumping up and down, babbling excitedly.

  *Smiling Hazel stands on Nightsky(!)Nightsky grins. Hazel jumps with glee(!)*

  Primus looked at the young wolf confused and shook his hands at her to slow her down. It took him a while to think, since he had not really communicated in Beast-speech for a long time.

 *Hazel stops her motion. Hazel faces Nightsky. Question.*

  The young wolf nodded and laid down on her haunches. Primus quickly cleared his throat.

  *Hazel speaks quickly!* he looked at her pointedly with his left eye, blinking ominously behind the lens, though he was grinning, which made Hazel simply start jumping about again.

  *Nightsky holds rabbit in teeth. Emerges from forest. Hazel holds bigger rabbit in teeth. Follows Nightsky. Nightsky drops rabbit, leaps at Hazel. Two forest wolves fight. Speed. Strength. Agility. Hazel hits Nightsky’s shoulder. Hazel jumps with glee(!)*

  Primus smiled, *Primus applauds and laughs. Hazel leaves. Hazel hits Nightsky’s other shoulder.*

  An idea came to the young wolf-pup and she bounded about gleefully.

  *Hazel sits and nods.* And with that, she raced away.

  The last time Primus had seen Hazel Oakenwood, she was still a small creature incapable of even unbalancing her brother with a shoulder barge. And now, she had just scored her first hit on him in a fight... albeit a playful sibling’s fight, but Primus was not going to take that away from her. Smiling fondly at the wolf’s quickly disappearing form, he continued to Philidor’s lecture theatre. He whiled away two hours of his brother-in-law’s rather anecdotal style of lecturing and even asked a few questions towards the end of each lecture, one of which, regarding a forty year old accident in the chemical lab, drew a contrite look and ripples of laughter from the student, whereupon Philidor dismissed the class. He then left in a dramatic huff, drawing more chuckles from those students who had not left for lunch yet. The youngest of the first Elders would forget about it soon enough. He considered things too trivial to distract him from his more meaningful pursuits. Primus left the theatre after a few minutes of quiet contemplation when it was deserted but for himself. The green just in front of the entrance to the theatre was dotted with small groups of students eating lunch and chatting amongst themselves. Some of them, upon seeing Primus waved to him and he gave a polite nod in return as he made his way across towards the hills that overlooked the campus.

  Once he was clear of the laboratory complexes, outlying lecture theatres and conference halls, he broke into a gentle run, feet dully pounding the ground with each step, arms swept behind him. Barely a few minutes later, he crested the summit and before him was the Enclave Lake. He ran down towards the edge of the water and dived in, leisurely swimming to the other side and emerging under an artificial overhang where Lucius and Publius were seated at a small layered table playing a three dimensional game of chess. They were quite engrossed, as was Derrida who was scribbling on a large piece of wood. She paused, tilted her head and studied her handiwork, before she noticed Primus. He stepped behind her and looked what she was writing. She was actually drawing a tableau of the Scipio twins in their game. In it, Lucius was winning and looking pensive, while Publius seemed even more pensive and was toying with his Heaven’s Knight between the fingers of his left hand while rubbing his forehead with his right.

  Impressive as ever, Primus commented, as he seated himself next to Derrida.

  My thanks, dear brother, but I’m sure Lucius would object to being so squinty of eye, she smiled, setting aside the board, pen and ink, So, what brings you here?

  Nothing, just some quiet rest before this afternoon’s travailles.

  And those being?

  More from what I did this morning, I suppose.

  What, more of Philidor’s lectures?

  Hmm? No, paying the labs a visit. Temeriisia’s going to be supervising the second year undergraduates in chemists. I’ll probably look in on her.

  So, for the next hour, Primus and Derrida sat and watched the chess and chatted to each other about random topics. When one o’clock came around, he looked at the twins.

  How long have they been playing?

  Since about eleven this morning.

  Ah, so we’ll be another four hours, I suppose.

  However, no sooner had they said that, Publius let out a strangled cry of frustration, before getting up. He knocked his king over and shook his head.

  You don’t need to say anything, brother, the younger said, resignedly, my Hell’s Bishop sacrifice was the end of me.

  Ah yes, Lucius responded, though I thought you’d mention the Earth’s Castle block I did two moves before that. No matter, this is why...

  You’re the General and I’m the Champion, yes, yes, you’ve told me many times, the brothers smirked at each other.

  And now, I believe that’s ah two thousand odd to Publius, five thousand odd to Lucius, Derrida muttered to Primus and grinned.

  Rather good timing, I’d better get going now before the labs open.

  He watched briefly as the brothers replace the chess pieces before leaving. This time, instead of swimming he took a couple of steps and launched himself into the air, and flew the short distance back to the University. Once there, he landed gently by the junior physics laboratories. Flexing his back, he walked the rest of the way. Opening the doors, he peered in. The supervisor saw him and called a greeting. Moments later, the skylight opened up, letting Primus look down into the lab. Students scurried around gathering experimental data and ferrying about pieces of equipment. For about half an hour, he asked questions, technical and otherwise, to individual students who answered him competently (or at least he thought they did). After that, he nodded his thanks and bade farewell to them.

  But before he could proceed to see his sister, he noticed one of the Arena’s senior physicians racing towards him, more accurately one of the physicians assigned to Kristeva. His smile disappeared and he crouched down to greet the doctor, who, despite flying here, was visibly anxious.

  “Primus, you must come quickly,” he said excitedly.

  What? What is it?

  “Kristeva has...”

  He did not wait for him to finish and leapt up, the air whooshing downwards as he gained height. For once, he cared not for those around him as he flew back to the Enclave. He ran into the caverns and through the halls to his chamber. When he rounded the final corner, he almost stumbled over. There, was Kristeva, lying down looking peaceful. Primus took a breath, but the Lord Master Physician jumped up onto his shoulder and whispered.

  “I think I’ll leave you two alone for now, but have a care,” she smiled kindly, before ushering the medical team out.

  Kristeva? Primus ventured when they had left.

  She slowly opened her eyes and beckoned him over.

  Look, dear husband, she said, and uncoiled her tail.

  He had no words for what he saw: an egg. It was smooth and a light beige colour. He set himself down, not trusting his legs and picked up the egg. He set it to the side of his head and closing his eyes, he heard a faint rumbling.

  You are to be a mother, Kristeva, he said as he set the egg down for his wife to keep warm.

  Yes, and you a father.

  History is made: the first egg of its kind.

  The first of many, I hope, and for us.

  Not too many, I hope, my dear, for how on earth are we to feed them?

  He smiled and put his head next to hers.

  I know not, but for now, I care not, because we will have a child at last.

  With that thought, Primus felt his wife fall asleep. Yes, he was satisfied with his life, content that his last true wish was about to become reality. Moments later, he too fell asleep, wondering if he would have nieces and nephews to complete his happiness, and praying that he could.

(approx. 3150)