It had been several months since Laurence had last seen Rogue, but he still remembered her fondly from the Vorerra Charity Ball. She’d been one of the first people in Vallo that he’d had a real conversation with, one that he’d quite enjoyed, all about dragons and dinosaurs (which Laurence had never heard of at the time, but had read a little about since), and he’d regretted the fact that he hadn’t had much of a chance to reconnect with her since.
And so when he spotted her on the street, walking the same way that he was, it seemed only natural that he should join her; it was a common enough practice back home. “Mrs. Lehnsherr, how good it is to see you. Will Laurence,” he said, unsure if she’d still remember his name. He dipped his head to her in greeting. “I was just making my way to the DOA. Would you mind if I joined you for a spell?”
It had been a few months since she’d last seen Laurence in person. Rogue had seen him crop up on the network from time to time, but it was nice to see that he seemed to be acclimating to the world a bit more. The world was a lot to take in on its own, add in being displaced in time by the amount he was, and she knew it had to be a bit daunting.
“Lovely to see ya again, Mr. Laurence,” she greeted in return, her southern drawl might not be as prominent as it was when she was younger but it was still there. “I’m headin’ that way as well, so I’d be more’n happy to have some company along the way. How have things been for ya?”
Laurence fell into step next to her, pleased both for the company and for the chance to catch up with Rogue. “Things have been quite well,” he said. “Quite well indeed.”
As well as things could be without Temeraire, at least; he still missed the dragon terribly. But he’d managed to ease some of that ache in the company of the friends he’d made. “It’s taken some time, but I think I’ve finally become acclimated to this place. I’ll even be attending a wedding this month.” He wasn’t especially close to either of the grooms, but Lan Xichen had asked Laurence to accompany him, and Laurence had been happy to say yes. “And yourself? Have you been well?”
“It does seem to be the season for weddings around here.” From what Rogue had seen in nearly her last two years in Vallo, November and especially December had quite a few weddings. It added to the already festive cheer with the different holidays that were happening. “But that’s good to hear about you acclimatin’ to here. I reckon it takes everyone a bit of time to get used to some of the oddities.” And there were some parts that no one ever really got used to.
“I’ve been well, busy with shoppin’ for the holidays recently and bakin’ up a storm with my daughter. We’re endin’ one holiday that my family celebrates and gettin’ ready to start another so its been a lot of cheer in our apartment.” Latkes changed over for various peppermint treats. “I’m hopeful Vallo decides to go easy on us for the rest of the year.”
“All the holiday cheer, I must assume,” Laurence said, cheerily. “It’ll be the first, other than my brother’s, that I’ve attended. They’re much more private back home.” Of course, most things were more private back home, he thought. It still surprised him, a little, how open people could be here, but he thought he preferred it to the stiff manners of home.
“I’m hoping so as well. It seems there will be enough happening without anything too strange happening. Do you have a large family here?”
“Hopefully that remains true.” Rogue was well accustomed to how crazy things could get during the holidays. She was waiting for the supposed holiday Hallmark village to appear after the one Enki member had posted about it. Though, that seemed like a fairly harmless happening and not Christmas trees coming to life to eat them all.
“Yes and no. I’ve got my husband and daughter with me and then some alternate universe relatives as well.” Not as big as she’d had in Tumbleweed, but that had thinned out some too over the years. “I reckon we start making new families in these places too though.”
Alternative universe relatives. It wasn’t, Laurence thought, the strangest phrase he’d heard since arriving in Vallo, but he thought it must have ranked highly. Perhaps the strangest thing about it was how nearly normal such a thing was these days. I“It seems a likely thing, given the visitors so many had not too long ago. Did you have any unexpected visitors from the future yourself?”
“There were a few great grandkids running around for me.” Which had been an interesting development. Though happily her daughter had remained four. Rogue would happily wait to experience an older version when the time was right. She was in no hurry for the little girl to grow up. “What about you? Anyone show up for you?” Though she had a feeling it might have been a little too early for that with him.
“Oh no, nothing of the sort, though I’m not surprised. I don’t know if children are in my future at all. It’s a complicated sort of business, being captain to a dragon. No less so without him here.” When he’d been in the Navy, being married and having children seemed the thing to do, but once he’d become captain to Temeraire, it had shifted his entire view of what the future could, or indeed, should hold. He may have been required to sire a child, for Temeraire’s sake, but marriage was almost certainly off the table. Now, without Temeraire here…
Well, he could hardly say. He didn’t think he’d ever let go of hope, completely, of Temeraire’s eventual appearance.
“But great grandchildren! I can’t imagine there are many who have the chance to meet their great grandchildren. That must have been a treat.”
Rogue nodded. She’d never thought children were ever in her future for the longest time because of her lack of control over her ability. Once she’d mastered that, new possibilities had opened up and being away from her world with constant conflict had allowed for her to follow through with some plans she was fairly certain she’d never end up doing back home. Like having Anka Irene, who was her world. There wasn’t much she wouldn’t end up doing for her daughter.
“Still no sign of your dragon showin’ up?” It was never a certainty if anyone or anything would end up following them to these places, but usually once a person had stuck around for a bit, it was more likely.
“I’m afraid not,” Laurence lamented. Some part of him, the part of him that was resigned into accepting all his major life upheavals thus far, was ready to give up hope and just carry on. It was easier to move on with life, to build something new, when you weren’t waiting for a 20-tonne dragon to appear.
But he couldn’t quite manage it entirely.
“I’m not the only one missing important people from home, I know. I suppose knowing I’m not alone makes it a little easier to bear, though I can’t like the idea of others separated from their loved ones as well.”
Rogue understood what he meant though. No one wanted to be happy that others were missing their loved ones as well, but it did help to know one wasn’t alone in that regard. “There’s a certain sorta kinship to it all, I reckon. Makes us not feel so alone when we’re figurin’ out our place here.”
Some people managed to do that quicker than others did. Some never really got the chance to do so.
“I suppose a certain level of loss brings people together.” It was true enough in the Aerial Corps; one of the reasons why captains were encouraged to have children was because the dragons would bond more strongly with someone who shared their sense of loss if their captain were to lose their life. “People are certainly more accepting here than I’m strictly used to. I imagine that the shared difficulty plays some part in that; I can’t imagine my own government back home being nearly as welcoming to Outlanders.”
“My world wouldn’t have been all that welcoming either.” They weren’t all that welcoming to those who had been born in their world in the first place. Random strangers with varying abilities would have caused a huge, frenzied stir. “The worlds I’ve been to have all varied in their range of welcoming, but I reckon Vallo might be the easiest with that.”
It had been the easiest for her to adapt to. Though whether that was because of the world or how many times she’d done so now was anyone’s guess.
“You’ve been to many different worlds then?” Laurence asked. He knew there were people here who changed worlds like he changed shirts. Doing it once had been more than enough for Laurence, and while he had eventually adjusted to Vallo and had grown quite fond of the place, he didn’t wish to repeat the experience. “You must have stories to tell.”
“More worlds than I can even count at this point.” Especially with the amount of ones they’d gone to on Tumbleweed’s weird cruises. “Some stand out more’n others and some were only for a day or two before we moved onto the next one.” It was one of the tricky parts about being pulled into these different worlds--one never knew how longed they would stick around or what insanity would be thrown at them.
It wasn’t much different than her life at home though. Just less being randomly pulled into space. “I’m sure you’ve got plenty of stories you could tell too.”
Laurence smiled. “A fair number, yes,” he agreed. “I’ve not been to many different worlds, but I’ve spent most of my life sailing around my home world, and while none of those lands were as strange to me as this one, I’ve a good store of tales. Perhaps we might exchange some over dinner with your husband sometime?”
“Dinner would be lovely. Erik and I always welcome adult conversation.” Rogue loved her daughter, but only having conversations with a four-year-old would leave anyone batty. She nodded toward the DOA building up ahead. “I’ll talk to Erik and get back to you with a couple times that should work?”
“Yes, please do. I’ll look forward to it,” Laurence said warmly, reaching a hand out so that he could give Rogue a handshake goodbye. “It was a pleasure running into you again, Mrs. Lehnsherr.”
“Likewise, Mr. Laurence.” She smiled warmly as she shook his hand before heading up to start dealing with the DOA’s endless paperwork.