WHAT: Temeraire comes to space to rescue Laurence and LXC WHERE: V.A.L.L.O. Mess Hall WHEN: Second day of the space plot WARNINGS: Nah STATUS: Complete
Laurence was pleased, very pleased indeed, to not have the logistical nightmare of placing and feeding nearly two-dozen new arrivals, but that hadn’t meant that he’d entirely escaped from the consequences of their arrival. He’d spent much of the evening working with Gelaria and mapping new, unexpected supply runs; the newcomers allegedly would not stay for long, but feeding twenty-something new mouths, even for a few days, would test their reserves. He was glad, at least, that they did have a healthy reserve set aside, so it was more a concern than a true worry.
Even so, he’d decided he’d forgo his usual meal of eggs and bacon. He was feeling unsettled as it was, and he thought any food might sit too heavy in his stomach; he’d seen the passenger manifest, and had seen the name Temeraire upon it. But there’d been no mention of a dragon among the arrivals, and Laurence knew that V.A.L.L.O., no matter how large it seemed to its human occupants, could never house a heavyweight dragon. It was not him, and Laurence had learned years ago to let go of that expectation. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Temeraire could not survive on this ship; it was better that he stayed in England.
He walked into the Mess Hall, eyes catching on the yawning expanse of blackness beyond the window, took a deep breath, and deliberately wrenched his gaze away from it, seeking his husband amongst the diners. His heart, which had begun to pound with anxiety, slowed into a more reasonable tempo. He caught his eye, managed a wan smile, and poured himself a cup of coffee at the counter, before he made his way to the table.
He brushed Lan Xichen’s shoulder with his hand, lightly and surreptitiously, as he took his seat. “Good morning, Darling. You’ve heard the news by now, I trust?”
Lan Xichen nodded. “New arrivals, and not from the tree,” he said. “It was the prime topic of conversation in the breakfast line. Rumors are rampant, of course. Have you met any of them yet?”
“I have not. I’m afraid I hadn’t had the time to get away until now. Have you met any of them?” He hesitated, unsure if he should mention it. But he was not in the habit of keeping his thoughts from his husband, even if he knew those thoughts were particularly silly. “One of the names on the manifests we were given was Temeraire,” he said after a moment. “I know that it’s quite impossible that it’s the same Temeraire, only…”
Only, he wanted it to be possible, even if he knew of the sheer impossibility of fitting a twenty-ton dragon onto a spaceship, let alone being able to feed him if they did somehow manage to find a space large enough to house him.
Lan Xichen paused a moment to consider the possibility. He was not one to do his thinking aloud. When it was finished, though, he did share his thought process with his husband.
“It is not a common name in any world we have encountered people from,” he said. “And we have found mere coincidence to be a rare thing when V.A.L.L.O. is involved. If there were a dragon among the visitors, though, surely someone would have noted that. It would be more exciting news than the arrivals in and of themselves.”
Temeraire, meanwhile, was extremely grouchy indeed. It was the outside of enough for Laurence and Lan Xichen to leave him behind not just once, but twice in the space of two months while they went gallivanting about elsewhere. Of course, logically he knew it was not their fault, but he could not help but be affronted, to the point where he had insisted on accompanying the rescue mission. He had to go in his human shape, naturally, since he could not fit on any of the little spaceships, but he had been privately hoping there would be room wherever they were going for him to change back, since he disliked using the amulet’s power for so long. His shoulders were already getting very itchy and his stomach very growly by the time he was able to track Laurence down by means of interrogating every person he came across.
“No one has noted anything, because I am being discreet,” he said, coming up behind Laurence just in time to hear his conversation - the costume Laurence was wearing was strange, but he would know the hair anywhere - and to interrupt, since he did not have enough patience to announce himself politely just at the moment. “Of course I have come, and as if it would be anyone else.”
Laurence recognized the voice; it had been years since he'd last heard it, but he'd never, no matter how many years he went without, forget it. It sounded strange, somehow – missing some of its resonance – but he knew it.
He turned, looking over his shoulder, a smile bright on his face and… found himself looking only at the ceiling, the half-spoken name of his dragon dying on his lips. He adjusted his gaze downward, and his smile shifted into puzzlement.
He had been very nearly certain, but instead of the Celestial he'd been expecting, he found himself gazing into the unfamiliar face of a young man.
No, not entirely unfamiliar. The colour of his eyes was too familiar for him to say he didn't know him at all. But what his senses told him didn't match anything he knew to be true in the world, and his brain did what he could only describe as a hard reboot.
“I beg pardon?” he managed, baffled, after too long a silence.
“Oh.” Temeraire rolled his eyes. Another place where everyone was the same but different and no one remembered anything useful. “It’s me,’ he said. “Temeraire. It’s magic. You have magic in this outer space reality, yes?” He sat down heavily between them with his legs sticking out the wrong side. Despite being an ostensibly fully grown human being, he was still a full head shorter than either of them, which didn’t help his current irritation. “I can turn back whenever I should like, but I don’t think it would be a very good idea, so you will have to take my word. Hello Xichen. May I have some of your breakfast? I think I could eat a whole cow even in this shape.”
Lan Xichen was quite taken aback, to the point that it looked like a dazed, automatic gesture as he pushed his breakfast tray over to Temeraire. He never ate the meat portions of meals on the station anyway, and he could always get back in the line to replace his waffle if Temeraire devoured it. Now that he was finally meeting his beloved’s dragon, albeit in a different shape, it would seem rude not to feed him upon request, regardless of how little sense he was making.
“You will find that there is no magic native to this world,” Lan Xichen said, because in all Temeraire’s sea of words, that seemed the most important to address. “And indeed, those of us who have previously been capable of it cannot work it here.”
“I… yes,” Laurence said, and, inexplicably, he did find himself taking the boy’s word. It was the strangest feeling he’d ever had. He’d never witnessed magic in his life, and if he didn’t believe his husband’s tales from his own home world, he would have gone on believing that magic was a complete impossibility. And yet… Well, Laurence had never considered himself an especially suspicious man, but he’d also never considered himself to be naively credulous. Yet, there wasn’t a shred of doubt that this was Temeraire, only a sense of strangeness at seeing Temeraire both human and shorter, if he was any judge, than himself.
“Temeraire, I’m pleased to introduce you to my husband, Lan Xichen. Lan Huan, this is Temeraire, who I’ve told you so much about,” Laurence said, his automatic instinct for politeness inserting itself even as the rest of his mind hurried to catch up. “Oh… only I suppose that you’ve already been introduced?”
Temeraire had seemed so familiar with him, somehow, and Laurence shot his husband a puzzled glance.
Temeraire had been momentarily distracted by the possibility that he might not actually be able to change back, if magic didn’t work in space, but he decided it made little difference in the face of necessity.
“Yes, I know,” he said, between enthusiastic mouthfuls. “You are married where I come from, as well. Only you have both disappeared twice between now and the new year, so I had to come after you.” He looked up at each of them, wondering aloud, “how long have you been here without me, from your perspective?”
“We have both been here close to four years,” Lan Xichen replied, a little more slowly than he would normally speak, still trying to put all this madness together in a sensible way. “You come from another world…where we also are? Both of us?”
“Yes, so are all of us who came today,” Temeraire explained, a little more patient now that he was no longer so occupied by anxiety or hunger. “You have been here but also there, you see; it has all to do with magic and quantum, but that would take days to explain. I thought I better come after you, since you are almost certain to injure yourself somehow if I am not around,” he added, giving Laurence a meaningful look.
Laurence felt a rush of warmth at the idea that there was at least one other universe out there in which he and Lan Xichen had found one another, but an odd sense of loss that there was another world where he could have both Lan Xichen and Temeraire.
“I rarely see combat these days, so I can assure you there’s very little chance of my being hurt,” Laurence promised, feeling only a little indignant at the implication; surely he hadn’t managed to get himself hurt that often back home. No more than could be expected in a life in the service, at least.
“I’ve no head for quantum and even less for the idea of magic.” Even with the evidence before his eyes, he still had trouble reconciling the idea, and if it weren’t for the absolute certainty that he felt that this was indeed Temeraire, he wouldn’t have believed it. “But I’m glad you’ve come. I suppose you’ll not be staying long.”
“Well, since the portal closed behind us, I suppose it will be as long as it takes to open a new one,” Temeraire admitted. He did not add that he had every intention of taking both of them with him, since that was only going to invite more questions he didn’t have the answers for. Now that he had eaten a little and satisfied himself that Laurence and Lan Xichen both were in one piece, he allowed himself to be excited. “We’re in space,” he said, a boyish smile working its way onto his face. “Where are we exactly? Are there other planets nearby? Can we see them?”
Lan Xichen couldn’t help but find Temeraire’s enthusiasm charming. To some of their compatriots, traveling through the heavens was ordinary as going to the market, but to Lan Xichen it had been shocking and amazing. He had done painting after painting of the view outside the ship, especially when there was a planet in sight.
“We do see other planets sometimes, though not from where we presently are,” Lan Xichen replied. “As for exactly where we are, you should have Will show you the navigation computers.”
“Unfortunately we’re also unlikely to see any planets during your stay either, unless you’ll be with us for some time.” Laurence was torn on whether or not he wanted that. Now that Temeraire was here, he’d be reluctant to part ways with him again, but he rather suspected that the ship's current stores would be stretched if such a huge number of new arrivals were to stay for any significant amount of time. “We’re about a month out from the nearest planet. But I would be pleased, very pleased indeed, to show you our computers and maps if you were interested in seeing them. Lan Huan has some rather beautiful paintings as well.”
“Of course I am interested,” Temeraire said. It was space. “I want to see everything, and you will tell me everything you have been doing, both of you.” And then I will try to work out how to get everyone back, he thought, but did not say so aloud.