From: Sss44@aol.com Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 1:18 AM To: akblake@lock-net.com Subject: Simplicity Summary: Janette & Nick & the end of Lacroix. Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 01:31:33 -0400 From: Sharon Scott Subject: DTD: Simplicity DTD: Simplicity by Sharon S. Scott Janette stood in the door of the elevator, a suit of clothes resting across her outstretched arms, as if there was a body still inside. And as she moved into the room, a glint of silver at the neck. Facing him, she asked quietly, "Why, Nicolah?" "Better, why not?" He turned away from her, picked up the remote control, and walked to the fireplace. "Here. Put them here." "I will not." "You want to keep them? As what, a remembrance? Of the one who made us what we are, and made our lives a hell on earth?" "He was our father. The one who created us both. Who saved us--*both* of us--from the true death many times over. He loved us. Loved you." "Never." "C'est vrai." "Non. If he had loved either of us, he would have set us free centuries ago." "He did not understand that, Nicolah. He clung to us as a parent clings to its child. Because of love." "Obsession. Not love." "Is not obession a large part of love? Think, Nicolah, remember. He cared for you, taught you ... " "He taught me only what he wanted me to know. Enough to allow me to survive, but less than I needed to know to understand." He punched a button on the remote, and the fire sprang into life. "*Here* is where he belongs. Let the fires of Hell torment him as they have me." "You gave up your soul willingly, did you not? And repaid your creator with this vile end. Who told you, Nicolah?" "That's not important." "It is important. I have to know. Who?" He looked into the flames and hesitated before answering. "Don't hurt him, Janette." "Miklos. Miklos told you. I should have known. He hated LaCroix almost as much as you." "Why did he know, and not me? Why didn't LaCroix tell me? Another of those things I didn't need to know, for my own good? Why didn't *you* tell me, Janette?" "Because I value my life. Because it's not common knowledge, even among the older and more powerful of us. Only the very ancient know, and they very rarely share the secret. Would you, if you knew it was the only way you could surely be killed?" "Miklos is one of the Ancients?" "You didn't know?" "How could I? It's another of those skills I was never taught. One among the many. A way for LaCroix to keep me in his thrall." He gazed into the fire. "It was so simple, once I knew. Clay from his native country, molded and hardened. So simple ... " "Simplicity is sometimes misleading, Nicolah." He straightened, looked at her, and motioned toward the fire. "Do it, Janette. Wipe all traces of him from the earth. Free yourself of him. Free me. Do it." She stared into his eyes for a long moment, then bent and carefully placed the clothing into the flames. They watched the silk turn to ash. "He's gone now. And we shall go on with our lives." He moved to kiss her, but she pulled away. "And will it be so much better without him?" "Yes. Yes, Janette." "But now you have added patricide to your burden of guilt. I wonder if that is better. What do you think, Nicolah?" And she turned her back to him and flew out of the loft, leaving him staring after her. ********************** A brick through the heart. So simple, yet so functional. Scottie sss44@aol.com