The Weapon - Resurrection - part 23
By Diana the Valkyrie
Visiting Fiona
Update: 21/06/2003 to valkyrie05



We landed in Delhi, in the grounds of the hospital. We walked in through the
front door. "I'm looking for senior ward nursing sister Fiona," said Wendy.
"Who are you?" "I'm her daughter, Wendy McCrae." We got directions from
reception; Fiona was in one of the large public wards. I knew what she looked
like, I'd seen pictures, although the pictures were from a while ago. So I
looked at each patient as we passed them, trying to see her face. Suddenly
Wendy called "Fee!" A nurse at the end of the ward looked up, and Wendy flew
down the room towards her, picked her up and started to give her the Big Hug.
By the time I'd gotten to them, the Big Hug was in full progress, and Fiona
was saying over and over, "Wendy, Wendy, oh thank you God, Wendy." I had
completely gotten the wrong idea - Fiona wasn't one of the patients. She was a
nurse. By golly, she's over a hundred years old, and still active! She was
still wearing her uniform of a senior ward nursing sister, although it was
clear that she was acting as a rather junior nurse. But she was still nursing.
I hope I'm still working when I'm that age. Maybe I could get a job as a
junior research assistant.

By the time Wendy put her down, we'd been joined by the other nurses. "Is this
her?" "That's the Guardian!" "The Weapon? here?" A senior nurse arrived,
seeing the rumpus, and soon realised what was going on. "Fiona, go off duty
now, we'll be all right without you." Fiona nodded. "Wendy, come back with me
to my little bungalow, we've got so much to talk about." I coughed, just to
say "Excuse me." Wendy looked round at me. "Fee, this is David, can he come
too?" "Of course he can."

The walk back to the bungalow was slow; Fiona insisted that she could manage
without Wendy's help, and Wendy kept fussing around trying to help her. In the
end, I got hold of Wendy's hand and told her to stop harassing her. On the way
back, Wendy gave Fiona a potted history over the last 23 years, leaving out
the worst bits.

When we got there, we sat out on the veranda, and Fiona made tea for us. Wendy
finished her history, and sat back, smiling. Fiona said, "Now, what really
happened?" I looked at Wendy, Wendy looked back at me, shaking her head. Fiona
saw all this, and said, "Wendy, I want you to go for a little walk for an
hour, and don't listen to us while we talk." She looked disappointed, but she
flew away. Straight up into the air. "Right. So, what really happened?"

I told Fiona the truth, there was no possibility of doing anything else. About
how Wendy had been crippled by guilt and mourning, how I'd been lucky enough
to identify her. "That wasn't luck, David. She wanted to be found." "Huh?" "If
she really hadn't wanted to be found, there's no way you could have found her,
she can make her appearance anything she wants. She left herself an escape
route. She made it difficult for you to find her because a large part of her
didn't want to be found, and she made it possible because a small part of her
did want to be found." I hadn't thought of that. Fiona looked horrified when I
told her how my well-intentioned meddling had led Wendy to think that her
beloved Duncan was roasting in hell, but laughed when I told her about the
Church of the Holy Guardian, and how that made Wendy realise that just because
some people passionately believe something to be true, it doesn't mean that it
is. I told her that Wendy now had a Duncan-emulator, and that was a great
comfort to her. "So what's your relationship to her," Fiona asked me very
bluntly. "I'm not her Wielder, if that's what you're asking. I don't think
she's ever going to replace Duncan for that." "But she needs someone to give
her the human angle on things, she has trouble understanding some of the
things we take for granted, like money. And religion." I shrugged. "I'm sure
she knows that. I think maybe the best description I can give you, is that I'm
her friend, and sometimes she asks my advice."

Fiona huffed, impatiently. "David, I'm old enough to know about the birds and
the bees. Are you two screwing?" I looked down at the ground, this was hard to
say. "No." "Why not?" "I want to. And I'm sure she must know that. And she
sleeps with me, she said she was so lonely, and asked me if she could, and of
course I said yes. But all she does at night is hold me." "And that's all?"
"She's kissed me a few times, I mean proper kisses, not just little pecks."

"You want some advice?" asked Fiona. I looked up. "Yes please." "Next time she
holds you in bed, get on top of her and rape her." "You must be kidding. She's
got as much power as a thousand stars, she says that solid steel feels like
thin fog to her, you think I can rape her?" "No, of course you can't, and
that's exactly why you should try." "Oh," I said, "I see. Hmmm. What do you
think will happen?" "One of two things. Either she'll let you, or she won't."
"I'd be too scared." "Don't worry about it, she won't hurt you." "No,
actually, I'm not scared she'd hurt me, I already know she wouldn't. I'm
scared she'd be upset at me for trying. And I'm even more scared that she'll
reject me." "Trust me," said Fiona, "she won't be upset. Didn't you work out
what those kisses meant?" I confessed that women are a bit of a mystery to me.

Fiona looked up. "Wendy, you can come back now." "But you told her not to
listen ..." "Hi!" smiled Wendy, a few minutes later. "Where did you get to?
How did you hear Fiona call when you weren't supposed to be listening? Did you
hear that last part?" "David, all those questions. I took Duncan to the sun,
we swam around for a bit, talked about some stuff, and when I heard Fee
calling, I came back." "How could you hear her ..." "David," said Fiona, "stop
asking trivial questions, you can do that on the flight back. Wendy, there's
something that I want you to do." Wendy looked startled, I don't know why.
"What?" she asked. "While you were waiting tables, did you keep up with what's
been going on in the world?" "No, I wasn't interested, I just wanted to, like,
curl up." "What about you, David? In your nice safe academic life, have you
noticed what's happened?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "The world has gone to
hell in a handbasket," replied Fiona. I looked at her. "People always think
that the old days were the best," I reminded her. "Listen carefully," she
replied.