TRIO CHALLENGE: chopsticks, ink, bullfighting

QUOTE 1: "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King Jr.

QUOTE 2: "All's fair in love and war."- Francis Edward Smedley

QUOTE 3: "I want to live bravely and love without fear." - Jewel

WORDS: pertinacious, oscitant, hallux

SENTENCES: "The horse and rider jumped from the cliff."

"A loud cheer came from the onlooking troopers as the sword dropped from its holder's hand."

"Don't leave me here!"

AUTHORS: Jennifer, Jim, Maril

by Jennifer Campbell
campbellj83@hotmail.com

Week: 31
Quote: "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our Friends."
Rating: G
Characters: Tessa, Helm, rancheros
Spoilers: None
Archive: Manzana Core. Anywhere else, ask and I'll probably say yes.
Feedback: Good, bad, whatever. I'd love to hear it.
Disclaimer: The character's aren't mine.
Notes: It's quick work, seeing as the challenge was posted only today, but I was inspired. I paraphrased the quote a bit but kept its essence. This is my first attempt at QoS fiction, so please be kind.

~~~~~

Tessa watched, mesmerized, as the first shovel-full of dirt hit the coffin. Tiny reddish-brown grains skittered across the unadorned wood, a symbol of the fertile earth taking back one of its beloved daughters. A cool ocean wind kicked up dust and whipped Tessa's hair into her face, but she paid it no mind, her attention riveted to rhythm of dirt hitting wood -- the rhythm of death.

Her tears dripped unheeded into the grave and soaked into the soil. She threw in a bundle of roses, fresh-cut from her own garden, and a single Tarot card. The High Priestess, mother and spirit. An appropriate last honor for the woman who had guided her since childhood.

I'm finished, Marta. No one else dies because of my actions, not ever again.

The two grave diggers, Tessa's strongest rancheros, piled ever more dirt into the hole. If only, Tessa thought, they could bury her memories, as well. So much blood and violence, and now, Marta was dead. Tessa had always believed she herself would be the first to join her father on the barren hilltop, overlooking the hacienda.

Oh, Marta, I'm so sorry I failed you.

A broad, comforting hand squeezed her shoulder from behind, then caressed down her arm, to her hand, where fingers intertwined with her own. Helm's other arm gently circled her waist, and Tessa leaned back against him. She needed his strength right now, to make it through.

"She was an amazing woman," he said quietly. "In all my years of war I never saw so selfless an act. She must have loved you very much."

Tessa tried to respond but choked on the words. She closed her eyes against the tears, but it didn't help. Behind her lids, she could still see that gut-wrenching moment, as Marta had hurled herself between the Queen and Grisham's gun. One shot. One desperate act, and Marta had fallen, blood pooling around her head and seeping into the dusty street.

Tessa had tried to run to her, but Helm had pulled her away. "Go! You cannot let her sacrifice be in vain. I'll stay with her, I promise."

So she had escaped, and Montoya had had Grisham hauled off to jail for murder. I hope he rots there, she thought fiercely. I hope Montoya hangs him like the dog he is.

Oh, Marta, my friend, my sister, you deserved so much better. You deserved the love of a good man, and children to call you Mother, and all you got was me.

None of this felt real. Standing beside the grave, Tessa felt disconnected, not quite part of her body, as though she would float away if not for Helm's anchoring embrace. First Father, then Marta. Would her beloved Robert be next? Would he sacrifice himself for her bloody destiny?

The grave was half-full when she finally disengaged herself from Helm's arms, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from the digger's work. It would be disrespectful, to leave before they were finished.

She said quietly, knowing only Helm would hear the words, "I can't do this anymore. I won't stand over the grave of another loved one. I don't have the strength for it. I'm going back to Spain."

His voice was low in her ear. "And give up on your destiny? Will you abandon all your people to Montoya's tyranny?"

She laughed despite herself. "They're not my people."

"You are their Queen, and they need you." A pause, and then, "I need you."

"Do you?"

"How could you ever doubt it?"

At that, she gathered the courage to face him. Dark circles ringed his eyes, bloodshot from crying, and his hair flew askew in the wind. She wondered whether he had been sleeping in his clothes again, as rumpled as they were. Then again, she wondered if he had slept at all, since that horrific scene two days ago. She certainly hadn't.

She ran her fingertips along his cheek. "I don't want you to get hurt. You've been almost killed because of me so many times. Eventually, luck will run out."

"When it's time to die, no person can escape their fate."

"That sounds strange, coming from a doctor."

"Tessa, if you give up now, then Marta's sacrifice really will have been wasted. She died so you could live and continue your work here, not in Spain."

The truth of those words resonated inside her. She looked away, out toward the ocean and, on the other side of it, a land where she could forget. There, no one knew of her other life and no one expected anything more of her than for her to simply be Tessa Alvarado. Death couldn't possibly follow her there, across such a vast body of water.

A small voice countered, It followed Doctor Helm. She tried to banish the thought but couldn't.

"It's funny," she said, "that after everything Montoya and Grisham have done to capture or kill me, that something else entirely should test my resolve. After all that's happened, in the end, I will remember not the words of my enemies but the silence of a friend."

"But Marta isn't silenced," Helm said. "If there is one thing I've learned here, it's that the spirit lives on, and her's will forever be with you, as a guide and friend. Surely you know that."

She sighed heavily, resigned. "I can't leave Santa Helena, can I?"

"You already know the answer to that."

Behind them, one of the diggers said politely, "Senorita? We are finished."

She turned to see a fresh mound of dirt rising up beside her father's grave. My two guardians. She thanked her rancheros, and after they had headed back down the hill, she took a deep breath and finished laying her friend to rest. She lifted a white, wooden cross in both hands and, at the head of the grave, rammed it into the ground.

With Helm looking on, she knelt by the cross to pray. "I -- I really don't know what to say to you that I haven't already said a thousand times over these past two days. I miss you, Marta. Whatever will I do without you to look out for me? You've set me back on my path so many times. You've cared for me, given me your wisdom and support. But for all of that, I couldn't protect you. I just wish --" She choked up again. "I wish I could have taken that bullet instead of you. But I'm still here, and I'll do what you would have wanted. The Queen will ride again, and fight until there is justice in this land."

"Amen," Helm said, granting her a small smile.

He offered his hand as she rose to her feet. Dust from the grave coated her black dress, but she deliberately didn't wipe it off. She squeezed Helm's hand, then kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Be careful, my love," she murmured. "I couldn't stand to lose you, as well. You're all I have left here."

"You take care, too, my Queen."

"I always do."

As they walked back to the hacienda, hand in hand, a feeling of peace finally settled in Tessa's heart. She could almost sense Marta's spirit by her side, begging her to shed no more tears, to waste no more energy grieving over the unchangeable.

In her mind, Marta's voice rang out. Look to the future now, to all those people who need your help and protection. You never failed me, and always remember, my Tessa, I am so proud of you.

~~~~~

©August 20, 2001

By Jim
zankoku1946@yahoo.com

Challenge Response: Trio chopsticks, Ink, Bullfighting
Disclaimers: The characters from the Queen of Swords are copyright to Fireworks Productions and Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended or revenue expected from their use. The story plot and other characters are copyright to the author, James Guy.
Characters: M T G
Rating: G (for Grin)

~~~~~

It was early morning as Marta sat at Don Alvarado's desk writing out invitations to the upcoming party. She put down the quill and using a blotter, carefully blotted the wet ink. She jerked her head up when she detected the sound of an approaching horse. She met Tessa in the foyer and opened the door to find one of the vaqueros approaching.

"Buenos tardes, Roberto, que pasa?"

Buenos tardes, Marta. The foreign ship has arrived and Senorita Alvarado has received a package. I was asked to deliver it," he said handing the small package to Marta. Tipping his hat in respect, he turned to leave.

"Gracias, Roberto. Perhaps you would like some lemonade to quench your thirst from your ride?

"No gracias, Marta, I must return to my chores."

Tessa quietly slipped up to Marta. "A package for me? Who would send me a package on a foreign ship? Are you going to keep holding it all day?"

"Just like a little child, Tessita, always impatient," she handed the package to Tessa who promptly ripped open the paper without further thought, to find a maroon lacquered box and ignored a piece of white paper that fluttered to the ground.

Marta picked up the paper and read it. "Tessa, it is from Kami."

"Kami? Please read it," Tessa replied as she opened the box to find a pair of ornately decorated black lacquered chopsticks with the picture of a Kirin on the handles.

Senorita Alvarado
Please accept this small token of appreciation for your hospitality during my stay at your hacienda.
I rudely called you a mouse, but I know realize that it takes more courage and strength to wait and abide ones time than to plunge into battle.
Kami

Tessa pondered on these words as she remembered their encounter when Kami chided her for not finding the murderer of Don Alvarado.

~~~~~

It was just past noon as Marta and Tessa arrived in Santa Helena to visit the bazaar that was hastily set up after the unannounced arrival of the Russian fur trader's ship. Any ship was welcomed as it meant the possibility of longed sought after supplies and goods.

The women dismounted and walked towards the bazaar when the caught sight of a shadow moving inside an alley. They peered around the corner to see Captain Grisham dancing in the alley with his sword. A sudden burst of applause stopped him mind mid dance and he turned with crimson face to see the two women.

"Doing a little bullfighting, Captain?" Tessa giggled.

"Senorita Alvarado, I was a a a practicing some moves I saw in Monterey done by a toreador. I think I have what it takes to be a bullfighter."

"Well you are well versed in slinging the bull," Marta muttered under her breath just loud enough for Tessa to hear.

"Yes, Captain, I think you would look dashing in the costume of a toreador, Don't you Marta? You do realize Captain, that there is nothing between your skin and the skin tight pants," replied Tessa with a smile on her lips and a flash in her eyes. "Marta, could you make a costume for our dashing captain of the guards?"

"Thanks, but no thanks Senorita, she'd probably leave some pins in the pants," Grisham tipped his hat and squeezed by the women to escape his tormentors.

Marta grinned at Tessa. "He was right about the pins."

"Marta!"

"All's fair in love and war, Tessita, and he and the Queen are definitely at war."

"True, but can you see him fighting the Queen in toreador pants?" She giggled again.

"Yes I can and she would lose."

"You have some confidence in me, Marta."

"I do, but you would be laughing so hard you would lose."

Tessa contemplated that for a moment. "Put some pins in the jacket too, Marta."

The two women turned towards the bazaar and shared a laugh between them of the imagined duel between the Queen and Grisham.

Grisham stayed in another alleyway; leaning up against a rough-hewn timber and watched the women leave. That gypsy probably would put pins in the jacket too, he thought.

"Ouch!" he yelped as a splinter pierced his britches and his gluteus maximus. He glanced towards the women again as he saw Marta glance over her shoulder with a wicked grin on her face.

THE END

By Maril
maril.swan@sympatico.ca

Disclaimer: Fireworks still owns the copyrights, and this is not a Zorro product.
Rating: G
Feedback: yes, please
Author's Note: For Eliza, whose 'pearls of wisdom' have helped me over some rough spots in my writing. ;)
TRIO CHALLENGE: chopsticks, ink, bullfighting
QUOTE 3: "I want to live bravely and love without fear." - Jewel

~~~~~

Marta watched with growing impatience as Tessa picked up the rice a few grains at a time and abstractedly put them into her mouth. Finally, Marta took the chopsticks out of her hand and gave her a fork. "Use this," Marta said tartly. "I do not want to spend my whole evening at the dinner table while you try to learn to use these strange things." The red lacquered chopsticks had been a parting gift from Kami, and Tessa had never tried to use them until tonight.

She expected some resistence but Tessa merely took the fork and continued to eat in silence. The younger woman's eyes held a far-away look. It was a look that Marta knew too well. Her ward was in an introspective mood, probably coming to some decision. Usually, Tessa would ask her advice, but sometimes she made her decisions alone.

Tessa set her fork down suddenly and said, "I'm not going back to Spain, Marta."

Marta started, then frowned slightly. "You have been thinking of returning to Spain? Since when?"

"For months, I have thought of little else. All this turmoil in my life, all these problems, all this guilt on my conscience." Tessa paused, taking a deep breath. "I have finally resolved to stay here where my parents are buried." She regarded Marta seriously and continued, "My life in Spain was so easy and carefree ...but it had no purpose. Just galas, parties, the excitement of the corrida and the bullfights, all those lavish diversions that I spent my days and nights pursuing. Being part of the Court was glorious but even it palled after a while."

"I was longing for it though, Marta." A wistful smile played over her lips as she seemed to be remembering those halcyon days. "Now I see I could never fit in there again. I could not go back to being that silly girl who lived for pleasure and the flattery of men. Here my life has meaning and I have a destiny to fulfill. I want to live bravely and love without fear."

The dark eyes seemed to search Marta's face looking for something, some reaction. Seconds ticked by as Tessa waited for her to speak.

Marta's throat constricted as she gazed on this child she had raised to become a woman. She had grown so much since returning to California. "I am so proud of you, Tessa," Marta whispered finally as she reached for her hand.

~~~~~

Hours later, Marta entered Tessa's room to say goodnight. She found her seated at her writing table. Tessa set down the quill pen and blotted the ink on the letter she was writing. Around her neck was a strand of matched pearls. In the flickering candlelight, they gleamed warmly against her skin.

Tessa turned and smiled self-consciously. "I feel my mother's presence in these pearls. She wore them for her portrait." She touched the pearls reverently. "I am writing to Uncle Alejandro to ask him to send Mama's portrait here. Papa left it with me in Spain so I would remember what she looked like, but now that I have decided to stay, I want to put the painting with Papa's over the mantle. They belong together." She smiled softly. "As I now think these pearls belong to me. I know my mother would have given them to me if she had been able. They will never be shut away in the dark again."

END