Title: Steel Beauties
Continuity: Changes of the Wind (IV)
Author: Carmarthen (lacorneille@earthlink.net)
Fandom/Pairing: Tamora Pierce's Tortall novels; Jon/Gary implied, Buri/Thayet UST, Thayet/Jon
Disclaimer: The characters belong to the wonderful Tamora Pierce.
I'm quite sure she never intended them to behave like this, and I'm not
making any profit off this. Oh yes...this goes without saying and my
views should be fairly obvious from this fic, but infidelity is
generally a Bad Thing.
Rating: PG for very vaguely alluded to infidelity/homosexual behavior.
Spoilers: Minor spoilers for Squire; set post-Squire, possibly also post-Lady Knight, although I obviously can't know about that yet. Definitely set after the death of Gareth the Elder.
Summary: When Cythera finds out certain things about her husband and the king, Thayet is the only one who can understand.
Warning: Slash: in this fic, in a discussion, an affair between
two married men is referred to, as well as the un-acted-upon love
between two women. Infidelity is also mentioned, and that's what the
fic is really about. If any of this bothers you, don't read the fic.
If you're thinking about flaming already, stop a moment and consider
all the worthwhile things you could be doing -- reading something you
like, for example. Also, Jon and Gary are first cousins, so this would
be considered incest by modern standards. See the after-note for why I don't think this would be an issue in Tortall, or at least not as much of one as the infidelity.
Archive: Yes to Piercings (http://u01wmd.supanet.com/piercings)
and my personal site (http://thewritegirls.populli.net/carmarthen),
others ask.
Notes: It's the fault of The Sims, and that's all I'm
going to say there. That and curiosity about Cythera, who's mentioned
all of two or three times in twelve books, despite being Gary's wife.
I feel rather bad about tormenting the characters this way.
GRATUITOUS PLUG: If you like Tamora Pierce slash, please, please,
please go join the tortallslash list at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tortallslash. More members -->
discussion --> fic = A Good Thing.
Many thanks to Caia for betaing, and to Liz, for convincing me to buy The Sims
When the thread broke for the fifth time, Lady Cythera, Duchess of Naxen, swore as fluently as any soldier and threw her embroidery across the room.
She then proceeded to burst into tears, burying her face in perfectly manicured hands.
Thayet of Conté, co-monarch of Tortall and the descendent of warlords and warriors, was by Cythera's side in a moment, her arms around the weeping woman. "Shhh. Cyth, love, what's wrong?"
Cythera looked up at her Queen, her face tear-streaked, but beautiful as always. "I cannot tell you," she whispered. "Not you."
Thayet shut her eyes for a moment, feeling her chest tighten. She had hoped Cythera would not find out. "Is it about Gary?" she asked, keeping her voice as gentle as she could.
Cythera's green eyes were huge in her pale face as she nodded slowly, her tears ceasing. "You know?"
Thayet sat down on the couch next to Cythera, nudging her to move over, and put her arms around Cythera again, pulling the shining brunette head to rest against her shoulder. "Yes," she said calmly. "I have known for some time now." It hardly pained her anymore to think of it, as long as she did not think too closely. She had made herself numb. But saying the words -- that still hurt a little, made tears prick at the back of her eyes and her throat close up. She brought one hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose.
Cythera was silent for a moment, wiping her eyes with the handkerchief Thayet proffered. "How long?" she asked, her voice sounding distinctly damp.
Thayet said nothing, studying her slippered feet.
"How long?" Cythera grasped Thayet's shoulders tightly, forcing her to look up. "Please -- I must know!"
"I have known for two years," Thayet said quietly. "It may have been going on longer."
"Two years." Cythera leaned back into the couch, pale as death. "Two years!" She laughed bitterly. "Goddess, I'm a fool. How could I not have noticed? All the late-night meetings, the way they look at each other when they think I'm not looking...and then--" Cythera buried her face in her hands again, her voice coming muffled and broken "He kissed me like that once."
"Cythera."
Cythera looked up, her face blank and tear-streaked.
"Cythera.I know it hurts. Horse Lords know I went through this myself. It may not help you, but please believe me when I say this doesn't mean that Gary no longer loves you."
The look Cythera turned on Thayet was plainly disbelieving, but at least Thayet had her attention. "I see how he looks at you. He does love you, truly he does. As Jon loves me. As they love each other. Knowing that doesn't make it any better, what they do, but I have learned to understand it."
"Understand it? Thayet, how can you say that? Jon is your husband and he and Gary are--" She stopped, apparently unable to find words.
Thayet stroked Cythera's hair. "I know," she said. "I know. I understand because as Jon feels for Gary, I still feel for Buri."
"Buri?" Cythera's eyes widened in shock. "You--"
"No." Thayet shook her head. "I am watched more closely than Jon because even now I am still the outsider. Besides, I -- I gave that up when I married Jon. I knew and she knew from the beginning that what we had could not last."
"But you said--"
"I still love her," Thayet said, "and I love him. That doesn't make it any easier."
"No," Cythera said. "It wouldn't."
"The pain will dull in time," Thayet said, briefly tightening her arm around Cythera's shoulders, "and we will endure. After all, we are 'steel beauties,' as the Yamani would say."
Cythera gave a watery laugh, looking up at Thayet and forcing a brief smile. "Thank you, my Queen."
Why I don't think cousin-incest would be an issue in Tortall:
I forgot entirely that Jon and Gary are cousins. A couple people pointed this out (thank you, Squire Kali and jilla kala), and with a little thought, I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be considered incest in this situation. There are three main factors in incest taboos: biological, familial, and societal. Here's why I don't think Jon and Gary (first cousins)would considered incest in Tortall.
1. Biological. In modern times and to some extent ancient times, people have noticed that children of close relatives would often have physical or mental defects. We now know that this is due to recessive genes. Since Jon and Gary are both male and this is definitely not mpreg, the biological factor isn't relevant.
2. Familial. Immediate-family incest can be looked at as psychologically dangerous because of the problems of balancing the already complex relationships between siblings or parent and child with a sexual relationship. I personally agree with this totally. Jon and Gary, however, are only cousins, not brothers, and so were not raised in a competative/volatile sibling relationship. First-cousin marriages were once perfectly acceptable in many cultures.
3. Societal. Throughout history, until fairly modern times, first cousins were allowed to marry -- and still are in many places today. Since Tortall is a feudal society, it can be compared to England's Middle Ages, for example, and it's not really fair to assume modern standards would hold true in their society. In addition, nobility and royalty have traditionally intermarried to keep the blood pure (resulting in quite a few royal loonies), so it seems a reasonable assumption that even if cousins are forbidden relationships among Tortallan commoners, the same would not necessarily hold true among the nobility. Remember, they're men -- they're not going to produce inbred babies.
If this doesn't convince you, you can always pretend that this is an alternate universe where Gary and Jon are not cousins. Or, if incest floats your boat, think of it that way.
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