Chelen City: Chapter Eleven, Part One

 Notes: New Chelen City for you! It's a party and we'll cry if we want to, dammit.

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Eleven, Part One

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Chapter Eleven, Part One

 

“I’m not comfortable with this.”

“It was literally sewn to fit you perfectly, I don’t believe it’s not comfortable.”

The cutting look Kieron leveled at him was delicious. “I’m not talking about this fucking suit, although—when did you measure me for this?”

“I’ve had your measurements since the first time you interacted with Catie,” Elanus replied. “A physical scan is part of her self-defense mechanisms. You’ve lost almost three pounds since living here, by the way, and how is it possible for you to eat less now that you’re in a place with the cuisine of the entire Federation at your disposal instead of food that’s been shoved at the back of an industrial freezer in the middle of nowhere?”

“I’m talking,” Kieron said after taking a quelling breath, “about using Lizzie to get to the party.”

“It should be meeeeee!” Catie shouted over the house intercom.

“Baby! Ouch!” Elanus slapped his hands over his ears. “Too loud!”

“Meeeeeee!”

“You’re in the middle of changing your skin! We have to leave in five minutes if we’re going to get to Caria’s building in time! Stop complaining!”

“Youuuu should have told meee befooore, I want to gooooo!”

Lizzie, true to her nature, wasn’t saying anything out loud, but Elanus had a feel/impression/sense in his implant’s connection to her that was a mix of guilt and pleasure. Catie, on the other hand, was static and rage.

“Next time we have to fly to a building in the middle of nowhere, we’ll take you, honey,” he promised. “But we can’t go in you as-is, people would get too curious about a ship whose exterior wasn’t consistent.”

“I hate you!”

“Catie!” Kieron snapped before Elanus could. “That’s cruel and beneath you.”

There was a long pause, then—“I don’t caaare,” she snapped in a softer, more hurt voice. “You hate me.”

“We love you very much,” Elanus said, forcing his voice to be patient even as his brain swung from angry to depressed every other second. “But this discussion is over. Ryu will be here with you if you need anythi—”

Her connection to their implants, and the house system, shut down completely. It was the equivalent of a slammed door in their faces.

“For shit’s sake,” Elanus muttered. “Let’s just go.”

“Yeah. Go. Leave me with the teenage sentient ship who’s on some sort of hormonal bender,” Ryu said caustically from where he was sitting, legs crossed as he used one eye to read something in his implant and the other to look judgingly at them. So judgingly.

“We could haul you to a party of rich, powerful assholes, one of whom wants you dead instead,” Kieron offered.

Elanus sighed. “No more arguments tonight, at least not in this house. We’ve got to go.” He pointed a finger at Ryu. “I know you can’t stop her from doing whatever she wants, but I’d like it if you got physical surveillance on her hangar door. If she’s about to go joyriding because she’s in a snit, I want to know about it.”

“Fine.”

Elanus led the way upstairs to Lizzie’s hangar, bypassing Catie’s door without a glance. Kieron, soft-hearted thing that he was, hesitated there. “Should I try to talk to her?”

“The door’s locked,” Elanus pointed out. “And we really are late. We’ll talk to her when we get back.”

“All right.” They headed into Lizzie’s hangar, where there quieter child was sitting with her door open, lights a warm glow inviting them inside.

“Hello, Kee. Hello, Elanus.”

“Hi, sweetheart.” Elanus slid into the pilot’s seat as Kieron paused to pat Lizzie’s bulkhead comfortingly.

“I’m sorry Catie is sad.”

“She’s mad, honey, not sad.”

“No,” Lizzie said as she began her startup protocols, “she’s very sad.”

Yeah, I know she is. “Well, sad or not, she can’t make every little thing into a production without consequences,” Elanus said, then smacked himself on the forehead. “Shit, I sound just like my father.”

“We’ll talk with her when we get back,” Kieron promised as he sat down next to Elanus. “Promise.”

“You still love her, though.”

Was his heart supposed to hurt like this? “Of course we still love her,” Elanus said, keeping his eyes firmly on the opening hangar door so he didn’t do something dumb like start to cry. “We love both of you. You’re our girls.”

“And we understand why she’s upset,” Kieron added. “It’s been a long time since either of you girls has been out of your rooms, and the first chance you get, she’s excluded. But that’s not a question of favoritism or us punishing her or anything like that. It’s a matter of bad timing, that’s all.”

“Okay,” Lizzie said as she began to hover. She eased out of the hangar and up into the sky, high enough that she’d be safely above any other rooftops or tubes, then turned northeast, away from the city.

“We’re three minutes behind schedule,” Elanus said. “You’re gonna have to crank the speed up, hon.”

He felt Lizzie’s pleasure through his implant. “Yes, Elanus,” she said, and then—whew, that was some acceleration.

Kieron shook his head a little bit, a physical cue he used frequently to reflect that he was forcibly letting go and refocusing. He ought to work harder to hide that, before someone used it against him.

Then again, since the only person who knew what it meant was Elanus, maybe not.

“So, why does Caria Jayde own a home outside of Chelen City?”

“Not a home,” Elanus clarified. “A building. A skyscraper that, yes, doubles as her home, but it’s also the seat of her personal manufacturing and business productions.”

“What does she manufacture?”

“Trouble!” Another cutting look. Elanus was going to hit a record in no time. “She’s in pharmaceuticals, mostly related to Regen but also some more specialty items for those of us with Elfshot Disease.”

Kieron turned to face him. “Really?”

“Quite.”

“So she’s got a financial motivation to suppress any potential avenue to cure it, then.”

Elanus shook his head. “So much more of her funds are tied up in Central System contracts for Regen; she wouldn’t miss the miniscule amount of money she makes for Elfshot treatment. Besides, she doesn’t run any of it herself anymore. Caria has been more interested in entertainment and charity for decades now.”

“So she says.”

“True,” Elanus allowed. “That’s one of the things we’ll need to assess while we’re out here.”

“Great.”

Actually… “Are you…”

Kieron shot him a glance. “Armed? Yes.”

“We’re not going to get in there with weapons,” Elanus said. “A firm rule of hers.”

“It’s not a gun.”

“Kieron.”

“Or a knife.”

“Not the point—”

“Or a garrote.”

“You’re deliberately missing the point.”

“How does it feel?” he asked with a bland smile. “And half the clothing Ganians wear have components that would qualify as weaponry under normal circumstances, so don’t worry about my little extras. No one is going to give a shit about me when there are people walking around with knives holding their hair up and on the ends of their fingers.”

“They’re flare, not knives.”

“Eh, nuclear, nucular.”

Truly, there were times when Elanus felt like he’d never understand his lover.

“We’re getting close,” Lizzie announced. “One kilometer and closing.” And yes, there was the big, ostentatiously lit building coming up right in front of them. It was set in the side of a mountain, disguising its silhouette somewhat, but the lights were a dead giveaway as to its edges.

“Follow the parking procedures she’s broadcasting,” Elanus said, and Lizzie began to slow down. “Let’s get this party started.”