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

===The Daughter of the Drake===


Venus felt her feet leave the floor as her father swept her into a hug.  “Forgedaughter, welcome home,” he murmured.

“Hello, Dad,” Venus said softly.  “It’s good to be back.”

“Tell me of your venture,” Vulkan said, allowing his daughter to sink back to the ground.

“It was amazing,” Venus said excitedly.  “I have all these holos and videos to show you.”

“I bet you do,” Vulkan replied, sitting in one of the reinforced chairs in the spacious living room.  “Before anything, though, I want you to tell me some of the things you’ve mentioned in passing in your messages.”

Venus sat down, bursting with excitement.  “Well, Captain Roemer did a commendable job adapting to our weirdness,” she began, drawing a chuckle from both parents.  “He was a good host.  And Isaac!  I ran into Isaac while we were there, and I kicked the shit out of him,” she said proudly.

“So you mentioned,” Vulkan chuckled.

“As for the planet itself, well…it was beautiful.  I had to work really hard to look like I knew what I was doing, too,” Venus said drily.  “I think I came off as being as much a tourist as they did.”

“That’s to be expected, really,” Misja said.  “It was your first time there, too.”

Venus pulled off the ring she had bought from the market in Hesiod and showed it to her father.  “Here, check this out,” she said.

Vulkan took the ring and examined it.  “Hmm.  A heliotrope…one of yours?  No, it isn’t, that’s not your setting…it’s passable, though.”

“I bought it in Hesiod.”  Venus took the ring back.  “Heliotrope is my birthstone, right?  Well, I got that, and a cymophane for Jake, I used it as a clasp on a watch I made for him.”

“That was sweet of you,” Misja said.  “Did he like it?”

“He loved it!  And he said his paternal grandfather made watches in the seminary in his free time, so that was cool too,” Venus said happily.  “And the best thing, oh man…I got to make it in the Hall of Deathfire!”

Vulkan nodded solemnly.  “How was that?”

“Awe-inspiring,” Venus said.  “I felt so at home, though.  And the other Salamanders were very respectful, although one did get a bit nosy,” she mumbled as an aside.

One black brow peaked.  “Oh?” Vulkan asked.

“Yeah, he said I would be better off with a Nocturnean partner,” Venus sniffed.

“Hmph.  He should have minded his own business.  Still, I’m glad you went,” Vulkan said.  “Do you understand why we hold that place in such reverence?”

“Absolutely,” Venus said emphatically.  “The entire place felt…what’s the word I’m looking for?  Historical?”

“Atavistic?” Misja suggested.

“Purposeful, I think,” Venus said.  “Like the entire experience was as much a goal as it was a means.  Like going there was something I should have done whether I was actually making something or not.”

“Good answer, my daughter,” Vulkan said, smiling faintly.

Venus looked down, pleased by her father’s praise.  “Well, all the cities had their cool bits,” she said.  “The Hall of Initiation in Themis – I didn’t invite the others to that one, though.  The Aerie in Heliosa, the Walls!  Oh, the walls in Epithemus!” she exclaimed.  “Magnificent!  Walls a half-mile high on three sides and an open port on the fourth.  We just climbed up there and watched the waves one day, it was breathtaking!”

Vulkan grinned again, sitting back in his seat.  “Did you make it to Ignea?” he asked, referring to the subterranean cave networks where the Ignean nomads made their homes.

“Of course!” Venus said.  “I saw all my people.  Including the worst one of all,” she said darkly.

“Yes…the man who maimed Jake,” Vulkan said.  He closed his brilliantly glowing eyes for a moment.  “I feel I should see to that when I go home next.”

“You’re going to Nocturne?” Venus asked.

“After you leave for school,” Vulkan said.  “Clearly, they need me to hold their hands while this crime wave recedes.”

“What else do you guys want to know?” Venus asked sheepishly.

Vulkan crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his seat.  “I want to hear more of what happened between Alex and his father,” he said.

“Do I have to?” Venus asked hesitantly.  “That’s kind of private.”

“I understand he confronted his son at a formal banquet in your honor at the Castle in Skarokk,” Vulkan pressed.

“Dad, he’s a spoiled and self-entitled asshole who treats his son like an employee he can’t fire,” Venus said coldly.  She didn’t hesitate to say it for a moment, knowing full well that even in his darkest anger, Vulkan loved her with all his heart.  Her opinion was never unwelcome.

The Primarch shook his head slowly.  “And Freya will try to make it better?”

“She will.  She has.”  Venus nodded.  “She’s a sweetheart, isn’t she?  She changed her college plans to help Alex get back on his feet.”

“You think they have a future together beyond college?” Misja asked.

Venus paused.  “You mean marriage?  I don’t know.  I don’t think so.  But they treat each other very well, and I think she really loves him back, so for now, I think they’re on the right course.”

Misja smiled faintly.  “You know…after that message where you described your arrival in Skarokk, and then the thing with Alex, I wondered aloud if Jake was going to propose to you,” she gently teased.

Venus’ eyes widened.  “You did what?”

Her mother grinned.  “He didn’t, did he?” Misja asked.

Venus let her gaze drop to the heliotrope ring on her finger.

Her parents stared.  “…Please tell me you’re kidding,” Misja said.

Venus grinned.  “I’m just kidding.  He didn’t propose.  But I don’t mind saying…when I thought I lost him, and he came back unchanged…I considered it.”

“Well, don’t tell him that,” Misja said gravely.  “Nothing’s more insulting than telling someone you were going to propose and then changed your mind.”

Venus thought of the words Jake had spoken to that effect on the Observation Deck of the Fang.  For a moment, she considered telling her parents of Jake’s own abortive plan, and decided against it.  They really were too young by Terran law, anyway.

“I don’t think he’d interpret it that way at all,” Venus said instead.  “But yeah.  It’s not a topic we’re going to discuss for a while.”

“Well, you’re going to be living with him for a good long while,” Misja pointed out.

Venus cracked a smile.  “Suggesting I should use the time as a test bed for something more long-term?” she asked innocently.

“No, but I bet he will be,” Misja said.  “I would.”

Her daughter rolled her eyes.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”  She stood up.  “Well.  Mind if I go throw myself in the pool?”

“Only if you stop by the changing room first,” Misja said.

Venus cocked her head.  “Oh?”

“You’ll see,” Misja said.

Minutes later, Venus stepped into the changing room of the little sunken pool in their back yard – well behind the house and holo-shielded, so as to not be visible to passing paparazzi – and beamed at the sight of what was sitting on the bench.  “Awesome!”  She reached down and grabbed the little bundle of cloth off of the bench and unfolded it into a new swimsuit.  “Excellent, Mom,” she said.

“Go ahead,” Misja said from the other side of the acid-scoured concrete wall.

Venus hurriedly shucked her clothes and slid on the new suit, then launched herself clean from the little structure into the pool with a massive splash.  Misja skipped back from the edge as some of the water lapped out of the depression.

Venus surfaced blowing chlorinated water out of her nose.  She grinned broadly up at her mother from the pool.  “Hah!  I haven’t gone swimming in three months!”

“Well, you can now,” Misja said, walking up to the edge of the water and crouching.  “Don’t stay in too long, though, we need to unpack.  Remember?”

“Right, I know,” Venus said distractedly, kicking off of the wall.  “I’m just going to indulge first.”