[sub]in collaboration with [@Meiyuki] and [@Wildeyes][/sub]

[h1][center][i][u]"More Thankless Work"[/u][/i][/center][/h1]

[sub]a few days after the arrival, and a mass kidnapping of hunters[/sub]

Alphonse woke uncharactaristically early this morning. His soul was heavy, but he had some very difficult home cleaning to do. He found Taran at breakfast and sat at his table. [color=ed145b]"Hey Taran, How are things going?"[/color]

There was a deep ache right behind his eyes, despite having spent much of the night in or around his bed, Alyssa didn't ...stop wanting things until the sun was nearly up. And when she lift, he couldn't stand being in his own bed anymore. For..some...reason, it made him itch.  Thus, lead him to eating breakfast when all he wanted to do was sleep. 

When Al appeared and spoke, Taran jumped, knocking over his bowl of oatmeal and his water cup in one fatal swoop. Picking up his cup he mutter [color=708090]"Fine, how...goes it...with you?" [/color]

"Miserably, Lorelai's keeping me busy, and it's with stuff that's too important for me to put off until the last minute, mostly because the last minute is now." Alphonse relaxed in his chair, lazily sipping from a flask. "I hear that you're more than Fine, though. I heard you attracted Alyssa's attention.How'd that happen?" Al studied Taran's face, he could see that the boy was troubled.

Taran let out a little yawn, if only to stop himself from having to answer right away. [color=708090] "Uh...I guess she liked me?" [/color] He said shrugging, keeping his answer as simple as possible, keeping his eyes focused on a spot on the floor slightly to the left of Al.  [color=708090]"But, you are the expert...isn't that usually how it starts?" [/color]

"So, she came onto you? And you laid with her that night? Did she promise you something? What did the two of you talk about?" Alphonse's smirk remained, as if they were two men having a normal conversation about women. His words and tone did not sound as he looked.

[color=708090]"She promised me nothing and there wasn't ...time for talking,"[/color] said Taran, a vision of Alyssa filling his eyes, his heart aching as he thought of how she might feel about this conversation. How...disappointed in him she would be.  He needed to think of away from Al, back...maybe not to her, but...away from everyone. [color=708090]"I have to..." [/color] said Taran, his mind struggling to think of a single location in the castle. 

"You don't need to go anywhere." Alphonse said definitively, as he shifted closer to the table.

"So, what are  you two now? How do you feel about her? " Alphonse leaned close over the table, his pained eyes boring into Taran's. "Taran, you said you could never lay with a woman if you had never met her father. You said you wanted to marry. You can't be telling me that you threw that all away in a single night. For a woman you had known for one night."

Taran's hands found the lip of the bench and started tightening his hold until  his knuckles turned white.   He kept his head down. This..wasn't going well.  Alyssa wouldn't be pleased, he knew, and ...if she was unpleased, he'd lose another  night of sleep. His stomach twisted has his thought shifted more towards disappointment in himself for making someone as wonderful as Alyssa mad at him. [color=708090] "I don't know what we are. Besides, you are the one who said that witches didn't have fathers, so why try to meet someone who doesn't exist?" [/color]He said, grasping at anything to get Al to back down. 

Al leaned back, he could see that Taran was tense. More than tense. He was afraid. 

"Taran, coming from anyone else, involved with any other witch, I would consider that wisdom well learned. I don't believe that you want that woman. I don't think that you'd change your mind so quickly. You're more stubborn than that." Alphonse paused for a moment. "Taran, why are you scared?"

[color=708090]"What makes you think I'm scared?"[/color]  he said, for the first time, glancing up at Al, his eyes narrowed. Scared really wasn't what he was feeling right now...not really. More anger that Al was getting him in trouble. [color=708090]"Shouldn't you be happy for me? You are the one who wanted this to happen," [/color]

[color=ed145b]"Taran, when I came of age, I was a teenager who was surrounded by women my every waking moment who had been trained to become a weapon. I [i]liked[/i] the attention I got. It made me feel good. Later, it made me feel human. I never thought it should be any different. You did. Taran, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. If you don't want to be with a woman, that's fine."[/color]

[color=708090]"I can't help but...want her,"[/color] growled Taran after a pregnant pause filled the room. "[color=708090]She is carring my...child right now," [/color]His voice was coming out strained right now as the demons in his stomach swirled with anger, causing fire to start spreading to his gut. An intense anger that was starting to fill him. [color=708090]"I want it and I have a responsibility to her, tell me where you see choice in that,"[/color]  

[color=ed145b]"She's still bothering you then?"[/color] Alphonses body relaxed. His eyes lit up. [color=ed145b]"I suppose you have a good point. Technically, around here, you have no obligation to stay with her, or to raise her child. We tend to raise the young communally around her, when we have them. But I understand your sensibillities. I can't expect you to do anything other than what you believe is right."[/color] Alphonse got up from his chair. "Have a good day, Taran. Remember what I said, You've got a whole new life ahead of you."

Taran watched Alphonese leave, letting out a breath he didn't rememeber holding. If anything he now had [i]more/[i] reason to avoid the man at all costs. 



[hr][sub]The back gardens:  Alyssa and Alphonse[/sub]

Alyssa was taking her lunch in one of the many gardens hidden away in Castle Bloodrose,  being sure to avoid the one Elina was currently using.  She had no idea why Lorelai doted on the silver-haired wretch,  but the girl had to be one of the largest wastes of witch blood Alyssa had ever had the displeasure of knowing.  Then again Lorelai seemed busy doting on practically everyone currently.

She surveyed the flowers and shrubbery,  their beauty doing little to diminish her foul mood.  Even Taran rejected her,  or tried to rather.  A knot twisted into her stomach as she thought of what she'd done to the boy,  but it was a little too late for guilt now wasn't it?  She crushed the burgeoning humanity and continued her meal.

Allyssa suddenly noticed Alphonse relaxing in the shade of a nearby tree. 

"Good morrow." Alphonse said. "I've heard the most delightful rumors about the castle. Love, or something seems to be in the air."

Alyssa arched an eyebrow at Alphonse.  [color=0072bc]"Is that so?  The air smells like war to me.  Love's a pretty lie anyway."[/color]  she continued her meal,  keeping her eye on the man.  [color=0072bc]"What brings you to a far away garden?"[/color]

"If not love, then what force could have the young Taran so smitten? Surely, only the charms of such a beautiful witch as yourself could only inspire that man's devotion and desire." Alhponse wore a smirk that screamed sarcasm in her face.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at Alphonse.  [color=0072bc]"It's called infatuation,  it's the stupid part of a man's brain that leads to sensations of... love."[/color]  she sighed,  setting her food aside as she suddenly felt a small wave of nausea come over her.  [color=0072bc]"...What's your game shadow?"[/color]

"I haven't know Taran long, but I know that he certainly wouldn't make a child with a woman that he didn't love very deeply. He's weird like that." Alphonse lazilly meandered toward the other witch. "Unless, of course, his infatuation was so strong that he could not resist his own urges. Perhaps he felt an urge that beyond himself." Alphonse regarded the Alyssa with cold, dead, lazy eyes. "In such a case, he would surely be open to being manipulated by a clever witch. Especially one that carried his child." He stopped some distance from her. Suddenly, the nausea in Alyssa's gut twisted inside like a knife, she sank into her chair.

[color=0072bc]"Oh, Alphonse."[/color]  Alyssa groaned,  her face somewhere between a grimace and a smile.  [color=0072bc]"A bold play you've made,  a poison to cow the evil witch that abused your... whatever Taran is to you."[/color]

[color=0072bc]"However,  you've tipped your hand a touch don't you think?"[/color]  Alyssa drew herself back into an upright position with a great deal of effort.  [color=0072bc]"The things I've done to Taran pale in comparison to the things I could do you see.  I could tear him apart,  from the inside,  twist his heart until he didn't know his own name,  make him kill anyone or anything."[/color]

[color=0072bc]"And if this is a lethal dose,  just that will happen.  If it's not I think you've made yourself clear enough,  I'll leave Taran alone,  and I'll never hear of this again."[/color]  Alyssa fixed Alphonse with an intense stare,  her will still potent in the wake of the toxin that ravaged her body.  [color=0072bc]"That's as good as you'll get,  and if I hear another threat from you lips I'll do it just to spite you."[/color]

Alphonse pulled a vial from his cloak. "The antidote. I could only pray that you would be this reasonable." Alphonse flourished the vial and tossed it in her lap.

Alyssa picked the vial from her lap,  uncorking it and drinking it swiftly.  When she'd finished she noticed a small spot of blood on her hand.  She turned to Alphonse,  laughing manically.  [color=0072bc]"So shadow... do you want to tell Taran you've killed his child?  Or should someone else?"[/color]  She collapsed back into her chair,  tears running down her cheeks as her strange laughter poured into the garden air.

[color=ed145b]"You had an accident. While you were riding horses.You will have no more hold over him. Keep your promise."[/color] Alphonse's form melded into the shade. Leaving the garden to the woman's strange laughter.