Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Four (section)

===Conversations with a Wolf===


Hasskald good-naturedly shook his maned head.  “So be it, I suppose.  You have the look of a hiver about you, unless I miss my guess.”

“I am a hiver,” Jake said.

“I see.  We have no hives here, the volcanism is too severe for it,” Hasskald said.  He leaned back against the pillar, keeping a fair eye on the climbers.  “What do you think of hive life?”

“It’s stifling, Lord.  Very much so.”  Jake shook his own head.  “People there don’t realize how much they’re missing.”

The Marine nodded.  “I know what you mean.  I never saw the appeal of hives.  I understand most hivers never breathe fresh air at all.”

“So true.”  Jake looked down for a moment.  “Good thing Kouthry is on the surface, then.”

His host sat on a pile of rock by the pillar and looked up at the climbers.  “Tell me, Lord Seager, what has our little Sister’s life been like since we saw her last?” he asked after a few silent minutes of observation.

Jake glanced up to where Freya was scaling the pillar.  “Busy.  She’s a skilled athlete.  Wrestling and track.”

Hasskald glanced back to Jake.  “And yourself?”

“I’m not an athlete, per se, but I keep in shape.  I’m more of a designer, really,” Jake said.  “Venus is the athlete of the two of us.  She’s a swimmer.  Good, too, her team swept the cup last year.”

“I imagine all of the Royal daughters are athletes,” Hasskald said.

“You’d be surprised,” Jake said, thinking of Petra and Morticia.  “Some just don’t care for it.”

“Mmm.”  Hasskald drew a flask and took a pull.  He offered it to Jake, who politely refused.

“No thank you, Lord, I’ve heard tales about Fenrisian booze,” Jake said.

“If you heard them from Sister Freya, they’re probably true, too,” Hasskald said drily.

He set the flask back into its sling and glanced up at where Venus was defying the cold and gravity alike.  “Am I to interpret that you and Lady Venus are married?”

Jake coughed on his tongue.  “Ah, no, your Lordship, we’re not,” he said quickly.  He paused.  “I…wouldn’t be adverse to it, but by Terran standards, we’re both just too young.”

Hasskald offered him a knowing little smile.  “Of course.  But I needn’t know you well, lad, to see the looks in your eyes when they meet.”

Jake blushed a bit.  The Salamanders hadn’t been so indiscreet.  “Sir, please.”

The Grey Hunter shook his head again, sighing in mock resignation.  “Terrans.”

Far above, Freya paused her climb to drive a stake home.  She glanced down at her watch as she did.  “Hell yeah, it’s not even an hour gone!” she said.  She grinned up at the peak of the near-vertical pillar.  “Child’s play,” she said with a grin at the implied challenge.  She rammed the spike home and climbed another meter up.

Down below, Alex dropped the last few centimeters to the ground, dusting himself off.  “Phew!  That’s enough for me,” he said, panting.

Jake peered over.  “You done?”

“Yeah, the wind chill up there is sucking the heat out of my hands,” Alex said, quickly flexing his gloved fingers.

“Yes, that will be how it goes,” Hasskald said.  “Wise of you to know your limits.”  Alex buried his hands in his thermo coat’s pockets and snapped the dividers on the little heat bags inside.  He sighed in relief as warmth bled back into his shaking fingers.

“Much better.”  He sat down next to Jake and Hasskald and stared up at the girls, who were still ascending.  “Climbing is fun, but I should practice on a wall in a climate-controlled room,” Alex said ruefully.  “This is just too cold for me.”

“Doesn’t seem to be slowing our self-fuelled and iceworlder compatriots,” Jake said.

“Eh.”  Alex wrapped his fingers around the heat bags and leaned back against the rocks.  “Wanna place a bet on which one reaches the peak first?”

“No, because Freya’s going to win,” Jake said.

“Aw.”  Alex wiped his sunglasses free of dust and snow.  “So, Jake, you going to write home today?  I’m thinking of bundling up a message for Mom.”

“Yeah, that…”  Jake looked awkward for a moment.  “What are you going to do?”

Alex sighed, heavy and resentful.  “I don’t know.  Freya and I both got scholarships to the same school, so…that’s taken care of.  But without Dad’s assets…”

“You’ll deal,” Jake said decisively.

Alex nodded.  “I hope so.”

Hasskald raised a brow.  “What is this?”

Alex glanced over at him.  “I…” he trailed off.  “My family is undergoing some…brutal in-fighting.”

“Ah.  That’s a shame,” Hasskald said.

“Yes,” Alex sighed.  “Yes it is, a shame on the entire Fleet.”

“What Fleet?” Hasskald asked.

“My father’s a Rogue Trader, who makes his fortune robbing pre-Imperium grave sites of their offerings and relics and selling them to people who don’t know where he gets it all,” Alex said bitterly.  “He’s made a lot of money that way.  He disinherited me in public a few weeks ago.”

“Horrible.”  Hasskald shook his head.  “That’s no way to treat family.”

“Nope.”  Alex craned his head back to stare at Freya’s white outfit and red hair on the snowy pillar.

The Marine followed his gaze.  “Does Sister Freya know this?”

“She was there.  She knows.  We’ve made arrangements to stay together for now, hopefully until I can finish school and get a job on my own merits.”  Alex closed his eyes under the tinted frames.  “After that…who knows?”

Hasskald nodded, eyeing the younger man a little more carefully.  He silently extended his flask to him.  Alex shook his head.  “No thanks.”  Hasskald drained it and stood.

“Your Lordships, I shall return shortly.”

“Where are you going, sir?” Jake asked.

Hasskald cricked his neck and flexed his elbows.  “This weather is too good not to use.  I’ll be back in half an hour, max.”  Without another word, he took off at a dead sprint, kicking up a plume of snow behind him.  He raced off towards the distant treeline, unslinging his Stalker bolter as he ran.
Jake wiped the snow off of his clothes, staring agape at the display of speed.

“Someone’s hungry,” Alex said.  He tapped the tiny radio on his collar.  “Hey, Hasskald just took off.  He said he’ll be back in thirty.”

Venus paused her ascent to reply.  “Really?  What’s up?”

“I think he’s getting lunch,” Alex said.

“Not for us, we brought,” Freya said into her own collar.  “This is awesome, Remilia, this was totally the right call,” she added.

Remilia clenched her teeth and hauled herself up another arm’s length.  “Gets the blood going, all right,” she said.  “How are you doing on yours, Venus?”

“Most of the way up,” Venus said.  “You?”

“Nearly at the peak,” Remilia said.  “It’s getting narrower up here.”

“Yeah, just keep an eye on your footing,” Freya said.

The group climbed in silence for a few more minutes, as Jake watched Hasskald disappear in the distance.  Their host reached the treeline and vanished like smoke at nightfall.  “Glad he’s on our side,” Jake muttered.

“No shit.  Even Freya’s not that fast,” Alex said.

“Did you notice how they call her ‘Sister’ here?  On Nocturne, the Salamanders called Venus ‘Princess,’” Jake observed.

“Different world, man.  The Wolves have a pack mentality.  She’s probably more like a little sister than a ruler to them,” Alex pointed out.

Jake thought that over and smiled.  “Which, on reflection, is adorable.”

Alex shoved him in the shoulder.  “Dude, shut up, she’s going to murder us both.”

“She can’t hear us from here,” Jake said dismissively.

“Can Hasskald?”  Alex asked pointedly.

Jake hesitated.  “I…don’t know.”

“''Neither do I'',” Alex growled.  “So keep that ‘adorable’ stuff to yourself, huh?”

“Sure, sure,” Jake said with a laugh.