Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*Andrew’s POV*

Eliza looked frightened, which just irritated me. She was making me fall for her in, what? Less than 24 hours? Must I always be a perfect gentleman? Eliza was driving me insane with worry about how others would receive her, how she felt about me, her well-being and helping her start a new life, inappropriate lustful thoughts, guilt at feeling the aforementioned thoughts, and now this? Ugh! “Here.” I gave her my dagger and its sheath.

“I, uh, thank you, I will give it back tomorrow, Andrew…” I just ignored her and unbuckled my scabbard. Gods, why must she be so polite all of a sudden?

“Can you actually use a sword?” Eliza nodded, still looking concerned. “Good. Then you will keep both of those until you have weapons of your own, and we have spoken to Blasko about a battleax.” I tried to hand Eliza my scabbard and sword, but she shrunk back a little. I snorted, irritated both with Eliza for allowing herself to be frightened by me being a little surly, and with myself for ever doing anything to upset her. “I’m not angry with you, Eliza.” She finally accepted my sword and scabbard, putting it on. I pointed out where to attach the dagger’s sheath. “You can attach the dagger in its sheath here.” While Eliza was distracted, I went across the room to Juliet’s things.

Perhaps it would have made more sense to give Eliza Juliet’s sword, as Eliza’s a woman, and she’s a lighter sword. I’m also more familiar with mine, so I'd have an advantage when armed with mine, presumably. But I didn’t want to do that.

I knelt and opened the box with Juliet’s sword, scabbard, and knives. I had cleaned and sharpened them all a few months after Juliet died. I checked on them every four months or so. Just in case. I picked a dagger that would fit in the sheath in my boot well enough, and housed it there. I gingerly picked up her scabbard and sword. So feather-light, just like my Dragonfly had been!

I sheathed her sword. Snakebite, she had called her. She had brought down so many foes before… Before… I saw the blood bubbling up from the inside of Juliet’s mouth again, as we were trying to say our last goodbyes, and she coughed and coughed. I held her, I told her I loved her over and over, sobbing…

Snakebite, it was not you that failed my Dragonfly, it was me. If I had listened to Juliet in the first place, I would have been there with her, and she wouldn’t have been alone. Juliet was always so much smarter than I was. I adjusted her scabbard, took a deep breath, and buckled her on.

I turned to go, expecting to find Eliza staring, perhaps with pity in her eyes. However, her back was pointedly turned and she leaned against the doorframe. I heard her sniffle. “Ready for Watch? Oh! Are you alright?” I saw her eyes were a bit red, as though she had been crying. I rubbed her back, hoping to soothe her, worried I had been too much of an asshole. What was my problem- Eliza had been through so much and I was throwing temper tantrums like a child?

Eliza looked up at me, forlorn. “I just, I just can’t believe that some people would ever question that two men could ever have the same purity of love as a man and a woman.” Uh- what? I had no idea where that had come from, but Eliza was very upset, and we needed to go. I needed to calm her down and quickly. I hoped to the Gods that Eliza wasn’t trying to tell me in a very indirect way that she was a lesbian. If so, of course I would support her, but we’d have to discuss it another time. I thought of my fellow Night Watchman, Otep, and some of the stories she had told me about how she had been treated poorly, even here, among the Wild Ones.

“Yes, well, homophobia is an ugly thing. So is all bigotry. I can’t imagine that anyone would ever judge the worth of someone based solely on their ancestry and not their deeds. ”Eliza smiled and hugged me tightly. I savored the warmth of her body, the feel of her soft curves against me. I was careful not to touch her splint. The moment was broken by an angry Femme swatting my leg. “Oh, shit, sorry, muffin-belly!” I quickly fed the cats, checked their water, and then Eliza and I made our way to the Officer’s Podium at a fast clip.

Notes

i'm off to Aftershock! if you run into me there- i am going with a friend, and yes, it is ok to sing me a song in front of her, if you wanna. she's very beautiful and slender. i am angry, cranky, bitter, bespectacled, and large.