2018-09-08: Alluvium
- Cutscene: Alluvium
- Cast: Loren Voss
- Where: Bledavik Palace
- Date: September 8th 2018
- Summary: Not all unexpected events are unfortunate ones.
Under the circumstances, they'd said, he had done well.
He sits by himself, in the fading heat of the palace courtyard garden. It's green here, in defiance of the endless sands of Aveh and beyond, of the inexorable decay of Filgaia -- a mere dim reflection of what he'd seen on Lunar. It's always impressive what will and power can make happen, he can't help but reflect, watching a vine sway on an empty desert breeze.
It wasn't possible to have won, in their circumstance. In his. It was enough that he'd managed to withdraw with deVriese. That entity had already caused uncountable losses among the local Lamb population. Had killed--
She'd died. There had been no response. No sign. Not anything.
He'd expected to have been happier if van Houten had died. Instead, he just feels at a loss -- as if attempting to grapple with the situation that he's been presented with and failing. Or perhaps simply 'numb' might cover it.
(Had she really been trying to kill him?)
So now what? After all that, and his increasing fear that he would never return to Filgaia, now what? Is it just going to be back to routine, everything as normal?
(In the depths of the tunnels under Wayside -- he can almost see that scene in his mind's eye.)
Though that, he thinks, staring at the shallow reflecting pool in the garden -- rippling from some disturbance or another -- is still yet to be determined. They're still asking questions. Still doing tests and evaluations after so long a separation. Still processing reports and data collections. They'd put almost everyone who had returned to Filgaia on standby, pending, probably, whatever the ultimate conclusion is to be.
(What had happened down there?)
So here he is, sitting and waiting in the palace gardens. He'd been summoned here. Naturally, no one had told him why or who was supposed to be talking to him.
Petran? Except, no, if she was going to bother him, she'd just summon him to the medical bay and be done with it. Local command's largely involved with debriefing, and there's nothing they'd want from him. So then...?
(There's a gap, like a missing tooth.)
"Loren?"
There's a voice he hasn't heard in nearly two years. There's a voice he hadn't expected to hear again. He lurches to his feet, quickly enough that the tablet that had been resting on his lap tumbles to fall onto the stone pathway. He ignores, leaves it there.
"...Mother? What are you doing here? I thought you were..."
On assignment elsewhere, far from Etrenank, a punishment for her elder son's failings.
She grimaces, the look in her blue eyes no less than pained. Had she always looked so tired? ...So small?
She approaches him, boots echoing off the stone pathway. Has she even slept lately? She doesn't look like it.
Oh. The realization only hits him at a very belated remove.
He doesn't struggle or protest when she pulls him into a tight embrace, as if she's checking to see if he's really here. That he really came back.
"I came as soon as I could," she tells him, before she finally does let him go. He can only really stare, his mind caught on of all things the amount of paperwork that would have taken, her request to take temporary leave of her post, to make arrangements, request transport...
"Oh," is all he can say, though he feels an idiot for saying as much. Still, when his mother smiles at him in spite of even that or her own exaustion, things are all right, just for this moment.
Sorry. I made you worry.