Tuesday, July 21, 2009

16 July 2009 There are promises, and then there are promises....

Spring 27, TN1920.

Trader's Way District, Khayr-ad Din.

Suarenzi Anna cursed her luck as she hurried through the maze of tents, pavilions and stalls that comprised Trader's Way. There were caravan trucks, and barnabies yoked to carts, the streets were dusty and unpaved, and Anna was getting more than a little sick of the all-pervasive smell of rotting garbage that did not abate. She had been delayed on the Gamma maglev, and now she was lost in the Trash City.

"Dammit Seba, where the hell is this Caravan Guild of yours?" she cursed again, as she rounded a corner and hit a dead end. The squalor of a laundry stall made her reel. She checked her Protectorate Army cadet uniform for garbage stains.

"Hey there soldier girl," a grimy scab of a man looked Anna over, "where ya runnin' to?" He grinned toothily. Another two men were behind him, blocking the way back to the main throughfare.

Anna suppressed a tight grin as she flexed her fingers into fists a few times.

"You gentlemen could either tell me where I can find the Badlands Caravan Guild now, or after I break your heads."

Anna sighed as the three men rushed her. She had hoped to give Sebastien at least a few hours warning before the Hernandez clan blademaster arrived. So much for that.

-----------

The wedding was over, the meal was finished. The band had started playing again, after Suarenzi Anna and Kolban Dominic had crashed the party, and Tessa and Karin sat in the hall, vibrant in their youth and their formal dresses, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Ok, so now, Gade..." Karin started.

"Sebastien," Tessa interrupted.

"Right," Karin nodded, watching the wedding party erupt in chaos as the Hernandez blademaster walked out of the hall, "so Sebastien was engaged-"

"Betrothed," Tessa interrupted again.

"Betrothed," Karin's patience was infinite, "right, to some girl when they were both really little, up in the Protectorate."

"Right." Tessa sipped on her virgin Shirley Temple.

"And then Gade-"

"Sebastien."

"Right. Sebastien. So he joins the Woof-Pee Army during the War, and he deserts with the Green Gang...the proto-Green Gang," Karin nipped Tessa in the bud, "and then becomes Gade."

Tessa nodded, watching Natty talk with her hands angrily at Gade. She did not understand grownups.

"Ok, so then Gade and Natty meet here, fall in love, and then Gade leaves for Baja," Karin continued, "all the while, he's still betrothed to some chicka up in the Protectorate."

"Who he's never met. Right." Tessa smirked at Karin's attempt at Equitorial Hispanic.

"So now that Gade's married to Natty, he's broken the betrothal to this other girl, and that means that his family will get kicked out of its clan up in the Protectorate, if they don't settle this..." Karin blinked.

"By fighting with swords." Tessa finished her sentence.

"Man, Westerners are stupid."

"That's what I've been saying the whole time!" Sam shot out from across the table.

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