Marriage is Murder

"I would have thought the fact that one is male and one is female would have given you a clue," Edward said. "But yes. They're fine."

Robert and Michael had been gone for several hours. They ported back, finally, and Robert had a large brown paper bag with him.

"Shopping, were you?" Kate asked him.

"More or less," Robert said. He handed the bag to Angus. "Take care of that for me, would you?" Angus opened the bag and looked inside. He grinned.

"Yes, Sir," he laughed. "My pleasure." He took the bag below deck.

"What did you do?" Kate frowned.

"He bought just a couple bottles of tequila," Michael said.

"A couple?" Kate looked skeptically.

"Well, a few."

"A few?"

"Well, several."

"A supply, then."

"Well, more or less."

"So, you went south someplace?"

"Cabo San Lucas," Michael said. "We got there in time for fiesta."

"Is he sober?"

"Sort of," Michael laughed.

"Are you?"

"Not really, but we did manage to get home, so we were sober enough, I presume." He headed below deck.

"Where are you going?"

"To do what one always does after the fiesta--to take a siesta. Buenos Noches." he went below deck.

"Well, I doubt we'll see them this afternoon," Brian laughed.

Khaat knew her father rarely ever got too much to drink. He wasn't that intoxicated. He was just relaxed.  He had had a good time, and he had been able to simply forget about everything for a few hours, eat Mexican fiesta party foods, listen to mariachi bands, and just relax.  She was glad for him.

"You never took me to a fiesta," she told Brian.  He looked at her.

"Every time I take you out, we roll under a car or find some other sort of death trap," he said sarcastically.  "I'll build you any sort of getaway you want at home."

"That thing brain damaged you," she scowled, unhappy.

"My brain works just fine," he said to her, leaning back and closing his eyes.

"You'd better get this resolved before we have our next six kids," she told him, deliberately baiting him.

"We said two more," he said. "Not six.  I will not be doing fourteen kids of our own. I love you, but that's not happening. Ten is my max."

"You really didn't think he'd screw that up, did you?" Kate laughed.  

"Just testing," Khaat said.  "Marcus, get the jar, would you?"

"Um...I would, but what am I doing with it?"

"I'm taking it downstairs to my cabin."

"Are you sure that's wise?" he asked.

"I need to," she said.  She stood up. He picked up the jar.

"Khaat," Brian said seriously, "You be careful with that thing. Marcus, do not let her get in over her head.  If she gets in too deep, take that damned jar and get it out of her room, no matter what she says. Do I need to make an order out of that?"

"No," Marcus said. The two of them headed down below deck.

"I'm fine, Jess," Brian said. "I appreciate your worrying but I'm alright. I don't trust Khaat when there's this sort of magic at work, though. I hope Marcus has some bloody idea what to do with a seer when there's some sort of magic working on her thinking."

"He'll be fine," Kate said. "He knows her. He's not going to let her do something crazy."

"He lets her do whatever she wants," Brian sighed.

"No, no, no. He lets her make her own choices--within reason. And it seems to me that's the way we'd all like to be treated, isn't it?" Kate asked. "Marcus Belby would protect that girl with his very last breath, and besides that, if the plants gets on his nerves, he'll get it out of their room."

Khaat had Marcus slip into her parent's cabin and get her mothers' traveling divination pouch and bring it to her room. Robert was in an exhausted sleep on the bed, and hadn't heard a sound. Khaat opened the pouch and got out the equipment. She wanted more information.

"Robert is going to want to study it," Brian said. "I don't know if its the plant that is the reason she's attracted to this whole business or whether its something else. Khaat honestly probably wants to know that for herself."

"She will," Kate said. "Khaat has never liked having those sorts of gut feelings that keep hammering at her. I sort of learned to let them go most of the time, but its not always easy. For her, it just honestly eats at her. I think she's come too close to dying too many times that the space between our world and the next gets very thin at times for her. And I think sometimes it makes her susceptible to hearing things a bit differently than I do."

"And that's why I get so overly protective," Brian said.

"Its fine to be that way," Kate said. "Brian, we'll try to keep a balance with it. I really am hoping Marcus doesn't let her open that damned jar, though."

"Oh, he knows better," Kate said. "And I think if that jar were to be opened, I would surely know, and I bet Jess would too."

"Where did all that southern gentleman stuff go?" Kate asked Steven. "For her first effort, she did a fine job." Kate stopped working and frowned a bit. "She is really getting very deep into this. She can't dive, so she's trying to unravel this from up here. I can feel the energy. Its intense."

"How can I help, Kate?" Brian asked.

"You can't," Kate said. "I'll send either an owl or Angus to Edward to ask him to come and help me to help Khaat walk this out. Edward is used to treacherous ground. Probably moreso than I am. He's used to traps and tracking things. This might be a good thing he could help us with. I don't want her to get too trapped into herself. I don't want her in over her head."

"Shall I send the owl myself?" Brian said.

"No, I will," Kate said. "I don't want Robert stressing with it, and its not his forte anyway. Edward and Jess and I can help without draining our own energies, but whatever she's getting into, its deep and its serious. We need to not minimize it."