Well, That Was Fast. (private: Pakpao)

Pak was feeling edgy, which she covered by being irritable. She'd chewed out two of her staff today. They'd had it coming and they both knew it. She'd been letting it slide for too long and it was there bad luck she'd chosen today to sort it out.

Work under control she'd headed off to meet Mara. Like her meeting with Aishe Pak was half hoping the other vampire wouldn't show up. But, well, she had. Pak waved politely, but she was a regular here and had to stop and talk to the staff.

The owners, a husband and wife, were here tonight as well. They were both a little fascinated by her outdated means of expression but she and her son would occasionally clue Pak in to some more updated speech. Pak suspected she was half considering trying to get her to marry her son. Yeah, no.

They had a quick and familiar argument about her not smoking in the restaurant before she pointed out her guest and excused herself. Quickly she slid into the other side of the booth.

"Thank you for coming."Â?

Pak said with sincerity, although she didn't smile. She was too nervous to smile.

"Did you want something to eat? Everything is good."Â?

Some vampires ate, some didn't. Pak fell into the group that did, but sporadically. She'd go days or weeks with out eating and then she'd eat every day for a while. It just depended. She almost always had something here though.

Mara smiled softly at Pak and returned her wave, waiting until the other woman slid into the booth on the other side of the table.

"Of course. I told you I would," she said, dismissing Pak's thanks as unnecessary. "I have to admit I'm curious as to why you changed your mind. You seemed so certain before."

Looking down at the menu she lifted her slim shoulders and pushed it toward Pak. "You choose for me," she said. Then after a pause she added, "I do like fish."

Mara had lived in a cat's body so often and so long over the years, she imagined a good deal of catlike traits had rubbed off on her. Pak wasn't the only one over the years to bring the kitty some fish and Mara, for her part, hadn't always turned it down.

She was fine with making polite small-talk while their waitress took their orders. Sooner or later she would get what she wanted and they would discuss Pak's sudden, and quick, change of heart.

It didn't take long for the waiter to come and get their order. In fact, he came almost immediately setting down two glasses of water. Pak smiled and ordered without looking at the menu.

"Two of the coconut soup, one prawns one squid, a hot pad ma kua with the sole for me and a Thai basil with mussels."Â?

She looked to Mara to indicate how hot she wanted the dish and ordered iced jasmine tea. Pak was almost licking her lips, apparently she hadn't eaten in a while and was looking forward to all the different flavors. What she'd ordered was better than what they could afford to eat most of the time when she was still alive, but the flavors were still home.

Pak kept her silence until the drinks arrived. Trying to think how to phrase this. It was hard enough to explain to Aishe who at least had -some- idea of her thoughts and feelings. So far Pak liked Mara but they didn't know each other well, Mara might have no idea why she felt as she did.

"I'm curious why you think he isn't all bad."Â?

She side stepped the question. Eventually she would explain in more detail, for now she wanted Mara to offer something of an opinion, some kind of insight on this man that Pak had deemed a monster.

Mara listened to Pak order with interest; she had eaten Thai on many occasions, having spent much time in Asia with her creator. She'd been curious to know what Pak would order for her, and nodded her head agreeably with the choice, indicating with another simple lift of her shoulders that she was comfortable with any level of spice.

When their iced tea came she sipped it thoughtfully until Pak's sudden question seemed to burst out.

She raised her eyebrows. "Because he isn't," she said simply. Taking another short drink of her tea she elaborated.

"You're young yet," she said, not patronizing, just observing, "but surely you've seen that every man or woman has two sides. Sometimes more than two. We all do. Sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we do things we possibly should not have done. And we come into contact with people who are effected by those decisions, those actions, and who don't always stay long in our lives."

Their soup arrived as she spoke, and she dipped her spoon into it and swirled it around, enjoying the sweet and sour smell from the coconut and the lime in it.

"You've only seen one action," Mara said, "and it wasn't one that painted him in the best light. I'm not calling him a saint. I have seen him be ruthless, cold, ambitious, and bloodthirsty. I've seen him set up complex plans that would destroy a man and his family financially, economically, for the rest of their lives. He's clever, and he's not a good man to cross."

Mara took a sip of her soup, enjoying the flavors and the heat. She didn't eat that often but food like this could inspire her to do so.

"On the other hand," she continued, "I've seen him do things that have gone above and beyond kindness. I've seen him save lives. I've seen him put himself in danger to help a friend. His loyalty is unquestionable once he feels it's earned, and he has a strong sense of duty."

Mara's thoughts traveled back to Shades' back hallway and a little room under the stairs. She was aware that she could have been describing her own creator. Shades' words came back to her and she allowed herself a brief moment of recollection; Amir's arms around her, the safety and warmth of being held. Mara shook her head; he and Bao shared many similarities aside from that particular one.

She smiled at Pak. "The difference is, I have known him for centuries, but you had one interaction with him and it wasn't one of his finer moments."

"You don't get a second chance to make a first impression."Â?

Pak growled into her soup. But she had listened though, all the way through without interrupting. Helping herself to some soup each time, she felt like cutting Mara off or saying something snarky.

It was impossible to leave her bias behind her. This thing had killed her, destroyed her life, ripped her away from her family and left her to die... again. She'd only had her husband's suspicion of what she was, superstition and dumb luck to guide her. But she was trying to be open minded.

"I get that that what he did might not be 'the real him' but it made me... there was more than a little damage done. If this,"Â? Pak gestured vaguely more or less indicating herself, "Isn't like him. Why did even happen?"Â?

She stirred her soup, not wanting to dump all her history on Mara. Pak got the impression the other woman respected her maker and oddly enough Pak didn't want to try and undermine that.

"How do you know him?"Â?

Pak wanted to know more about him, something anything. She was only 80% on this meeting her maker thing and defiantly wasn't willing to go into it blind.

Mara shrugged at Pak again, making the gesture look more or less apologetic. "You'd have to ask him the why's and wherefores. I don't tell him what to do," she said. "Not always anyway." She added, remembering recent events in the Park.

The next question was more difficult to answer. Mara couldn't really do so without betraying the relationship between Amir and Bao. Pak would know she was, in essence, part of the family.

"We work together," she said. But looking at Pak, Mara thought she deserved no less than truth. If their relationship was to grow, and she knew it must if they were to work together in anything, she couldn't fall back on her standard tactics of lying and dissembling.

"We're siblings," she said simply. "He is younger than I by some several hundred years."

She let that sink in, with all of its multitudinous ramifications, while she calmly sipped her soup.

"Would he answer if I asked?"Â?

So far, in their 'relationship' he'd not been exactly talkative. They'd exchanged maybe a hundred words, she still didn't know his name.

She cocked her head a bit and stared at her soup, trying to turn it into a crystal ball, looking for more information. She was curious about what kind of work and why he would listen to Mara, but didn't ask. It didn't really matter.

They were what? Pak replayed that in her head a few times and it always came out the same Holy shit that made Kem her uncle? She decided to work on that idea later, although some part of her was comforted by that connection.

"So how am I supposed to trust you on this? For all I know you're in on this twisted game of his."Â?

That fun and exciting around town stalking, that poor girl in California, hell Mara could have been in on her turning.

However, Pak didn't get up and storm out. She was willing to listen, which was odd, a step in the right direction, but still a bit odd.

"I can get you together with him. Probably. I never said I could make him answer your questions," Mara clarified. She only knew one person who could really make Bao do anything, and he was the one person sh wanted to keep out of this.

Pak's veiled accusation caused Mara to raise one eyebrow, however. "Please," she said derisively. "What in the world would either of us have to gain by my telling you this?"

Mara gave a short laugh. "You may judge for yourself if I'm the type to play twisted games. My creator taught me better, though, and you may rest assured he is more than slightly frustrated with yours for his actions."

Mara wasn't going to explain Amir's position though, unless Pak asked. It was clear to her though; having done in his youth what Bao had also done, that Amir was frustrated but unable to truly come down hard on Bao.

"Fair enough. You can't make him do it, but you know him..."Â?

The entrées showed up about then and Pak had to hold her tongue for a second or two. Although she did exchange a few polite words with the owner, he'd brought dinner over himself, she was a regular after all. It was odd to realize Mara could understand them, but Pak had never questioned the fact that she spoke Siamese. He left dinner quickly and efficiently and once he was out of ear shot she continued.

"I'm not asking for a grantee but do you -think- he'd answer? "Hell do you think he'd even meet with me?"Â?

She held her breath as she stirred her noodles. Inhaling the sweet and spicy smell and wondering what life would have been like if she'd lived a normal life.

She nodded, satisfied with that answer, for now. She had to trust some one some time and right now... Mara was it. Although she thought Mara could, would and probably excelled at twisted games, Pak was willing to believe that right now, she wasn't.

"I'd have been a fool not to ask."Â?

It was the only apology she'd ever offer.

Now -that- was interesting information. Maybe Amir was a better sort than Pak had given him credit for since she learned about Kem. Maybe he learned from his mistakes and if he could, maybe his son could.

"So this isn't his usual MO?"Â?

She was some sort of bizarre mistake? Pak didn't know if that made her feel better or worse.

Mara waited until her food was served before biting it into it and chewing it slowly, enjoying the complimentary flavors that were so indicative of Thai cuisine.

"I thought I had said I could set up a meeting," she pointed out. "I wouldn't lie to you. I can guarantee he will be there."

It was a little bit of a leap of faith, but mara was very nearly certain she could convince Bao to meet with Pak. He would want to; if nothing else to have contact with her. Mara was well aware of Bao's responsibility regarding his wayward daughter.

"He will talk to you. Civilly. He's not that bad, in spite of your terrible first impression. Do try to keep a somewhat open mind," Mara implored.

She offered the younger vampire an amused smile at the idea that she'd even had to ask, but then, Mara's mind worked in ways convoluted enough to have figured out long before Pak that she wouldn't lie about this particular thing.

Pak gave a sidelong smile.

"Lots of people promise lots of things. It never hurts to double check."Â?

Too many politicians, too many project managers and CEOs promising things that never happened, never could happen. But she really hadn't doubted Mara, well not much. She just didn't see what Mara had to gain from the meeting or why she would bother to help her. As she, slowly thoughtfully munched Pak decided there was no need to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"OK then. I'll try and keep an open mind and he can keep his fangs to himself. I don't feel like giving this life up too."Â?

That dig might have been a bit uncalled for, but Pak was still a bit defensive. It would probably be a while before she got over that.

"If we were going to go through with this... where do you think you could talk him into meeting me. It would have to be neutral ground. I'm sure as hell not inviting him home with me and I'm not coming home with either of you two."Â?

Although she'd like to see Anantya's clan grounds, just for sheer curiosity sake. This, however, was not the right situation.

"He will keep his fangs to himself," Mara agreed, ignoring Pak's somewhat petulant tone of voice. It was difficult to tell with her younger cousin when she was truly feeling cranky and when she was just putting on a front for the sake of appearances. Not for the first time Mara wished she had the clarity of empathy to help her out, but she did the best she could by reading Pak's facial expressions and body language.

"The venue makes no difference. You name the place. I will arrange for your creator to meet you."

She briefly wondered if she should warn Pak that any sort of betrayal would lead to her certain death, but she decided against it. For one, if Pak was that determined to murder Bao she wouldn't care if her own life was forfeit, and for another, she was building trust here. Pre-emptive threats would not further her cause.

She bit back the rejoinder that Pak would hardly be welcome in her home, simply shaking her head. "Your concerns are noted. You do realize, Pak, that I am trying to help you."

Stop antagonizing me, was the unspoken, gentle warning. Mara understood Pak's trepidation but she was willing to put up with a limited number of veiled insults and threats per meeting. Amir might have been soft on her, but he hadn't allowed her to be soft in exchange. Mara's ways were just different.

"This deal we have is an equal exchange. I've promised you my help in return for yours. You have something I want," she pointed out. "You have access to my father, and the ability to endanger two people I care for. I will not go back on my word, as long as you see to it that you keep yours."

Once again the words were gentle as Mara softly tried to convince Pak that she had the upper hand. It might set her at ease. Mara's words were a haunting echo of the very words she'd said to Amir not a night or two past. Only they were so different this time. Mara knew what was at stake if Pak folded and told any of her Clanmates about Amir, about Mara herself.

Perhaps Kiamhaat and Amir were small cogs in much larger wheels, but to Mara they were the support system of her entire structure.

"I know."Â?

Pak some more food in her mouth to keep her from saying something stupid. She knew she was being difficult, but she was scared and it was not brining out her best side.

"Really I do."Â?

She appreciated it too, after her own warped fashion. There was no way to explain that though, either Mara would work it out or she wouldn't. In the mean time Pak would try to be a bit nicer or at least more professional.

She had hopped Mara would make a suggestion as to the where, honestly she'd left that option to the other woman as a courtesy. She knew this man best, knew where he would prefer to go and be most comfortable. Besides if Mara was doing all this for her Pak was trying to show she was willing to cooperate. But if Mara didn't want to take that offer, Pak couldn't make her. Instead she fell back to Aishe's suggestion.

"Would The House of Pain work?"Â?

Pak blinked as some of her own apprehension was tossed back at her, as Mara reminded her that she had some power and almost taunted her with it. At first the words had half stung, Pak didn't appreciate that someone would doubt her word. But, she quickly realized, she'd been doing just that to Mara off and on tonight. She deserved it and she smiled.

"I'll do my best. I'm not of any mind to see them hurt."Â?

Especially Kem.

"That's as good a place as any." Very diplomatic of Pak, too; surprisingly so. The House of Pain had representatives from every Clan. It was someplace they could all feel comfortable in, ironically, even if that particular venue didn't suit them all socially.

"I'll meet you there the night after tomorrow," she said, accounting for some time between now and then to acquaint Bao with the situation.

Pak's words mollified her somewhat and she nodded. She knew, or could at least guess, how Pak must feel about all of this. Mara wasn't entirely sympathetic; she thought Pak's problems were also partly of Pak's making. She was timid and fearful of her creator, something Mara could never truly appreciate. She could, though, understand how it must have felt to go through life, even for Pak's short span of years, without that strong presence behind her back. Without the words of advice, reassurance, the careful comforts and wise suggestions; the well-thought-out lessons, the encouragement.

Mara was staring, lost in thought for a moment. She blinked suddenly and continued eating.

"There's still time, you know," she said. "For you and your creator. When I was turned, Amir had me stay with him for three hundred years. To teach me things I should know. Yours would have done the same. You're still very young. Who teaches you?"

Mara was genuinely curious. Pak surely must have found someone to confide in, someone to support her, who made her strong, who she could turn to for advice.

Pak nodded mutely. The day after tomorrow was both too soon and not soon enough. Well at least she wouldn't have much time to brood or talk herself out of it.

Taking a deep breath she found herself asking another small favor.

"I'd appreciate it if you were there too. Just to keep an eye on things, I don't expect you to mediate or anything."Â?

Somehow Pak had the feeling that Mara would be there if she'd asked or not. Pak, however, felt she had to ask. She trusted Mara, she didn't trust her brother and maybe she could control her sibling to some extent. Aishe would be there, but that was only intended to help get Pak the hell out. Asking Aishe, who was less than a decade, to take on someone who had sever hundred years under their belt wouldn't be nice at all.

In deference to her own vow to be more professional Pak didn't say anything nasty about her creator just ditching her or express her doubt about that statement. Three hundred years? That was a long time, hell she'd still be tied to this man by those rules. Maybe he had done her a favor, Pak wouldn't have liked being attached to any one person like that.

"So... he's done this before?"Â?

She had siblings? That was a scary thought.

"And he's done... well... a better job?"Â?

Pak was actually jealous for a second. Maybe she was jealous of anyone who hadn't had to work things out on their own.

"Who taught me? Me, mostly. I spent a long time getting very lucky, making guesses biased on superstition and old stories and a little trial and error. I should have been ashes a hundred times over."Â?

How many times had she wished for someone to teach her, to help her. Too many.

"Just before I left Siam I met someone, he wasn't exactly right in the head and very stuck in the past, but he helped some. At least I found out about the clans and that we weren't monsters nor the only two in existence."Â?

It had been a creepy thing though. The old man had been so stuck in his own time that he couldn't see the European ships. Pak remembered vividly that she'd 'disappeared' as soon as she'd set foot on one. It had almost been enough to get her to turn around and stay home.

"Yes. I'll be there." As much as to protect Bao as to help Pak. Mara was fairly certain Pak wouldn't try anything, but if she did, Mara wouldn't hesitate to do what was necessary. Whatever it turned out to be.

Pak's question didn't really surprise her. She'd have been curious too. "Yes, he has three children besides you. And they all have a good relationship."

Insofar as vampires had families. The terms "brother," "sister," and "cousin," or whatever they labeled themselves were relative. If you went back far enough every vampire had the same ancestors. But in Mara's case they did tend to identify themselves by who had turned them. There was a sort of "family" lineage involved. In her experience, obviously influenced by Amir and, yes, Subira, you kept in contact with those who were turned with you, or the person who'd done the turning. Amir had obviously learned from his own creator that those ties were important, and as a result his own children maintained tighter bonds to each other than to those who were outside their family group.

"You're still young," Mara observed, nodding her head at Pak's story. "You have your Evenhet, surely they watch over you too. And my father? He would support you."

It was said with fervent certainty and no small amount of hope. Mara had tracked her father for centuries and never interacted with him. She knew his good sides, his bad sides, many small details that she imagined even he may have forgotten by now. Her eyes were fixed upon Pak's face and she waited expectantly, hopefully, for some confirmation.

Again Pak nodded, she was beginning to feel a bit like a bobble head doll, but tonight, speech was not her forte. She thought she was doing well just to communicate. But she did appreciate Mara's confirmation that she would be there.

Great, she was the red headed step child. Pak digested this information for a bit and, although she found it strange to say, it didn't disgust her. She would have thought that it would be wrong for him to have any other children, but may she was just an odd mistake.

Pak couldn't help but see the hope in Mara's face and smiled reassuringly.

"I didn't find either for quite some time but yes, once I did the clan has helped a great deal, helped me with a lot."Â?

She owed a lot to Evenhet and Pak knew it. She did her best to give back to the clan.

"Kem... I wish I'd met him much sooner. I really don't know what I'd do without him. He's given me more than I have any right to ask for."Â?

If she thought about it, Pak knew that they'd both helped the other a great deal. Right now though, it seemed like Kem had done more than his share of holding her together.

Mara sighed. "I'm sorry you never knew we were out there," she said seriously. "Your life would have been different."

For all Mara knew, Pakpao would still belong to Anantya. "Your siblings, they all belong to our Clan. Except my father," she stated.

She frowned at Pak's use of that name. "His name isn't Kem," she said flatly. "He should give it up. He isn't that man anymore. You changed him. Evenhet changed him. Aishe, this woman he lives with, she changed him too."

She tilted her head at Pak. "His name was Kiamhaat. But I don't suppose that really suits him now either."

Mara then poked her fingertip gently at Pak. "Your creator... his name is Bao. Bao Hoang. He works as a lawyer, and he is Amir's fourth child of seven. He likes fine things; he collects art, and his sense of humor is much dryer than yours."

The facts came out as if on a checklist. Having received some information about her own father, a confirmation of sorts that he was still fundamentally the same person she remembered, she tried now to humanize Bao in Pak's eyes. It would be harder for Pak to continue seeing him as a monster if she began to assign personality traits to him in her head.

"Amir taught us all to watch the stars," Mara said, her voice a little softer as she relived memories of quiet nights spent doing just that, before they had telescopes or computers. Lying on her back in the grass, following Amir's finger as it traced constellations. Lying on her stomach on the ledge of a cliff, tracking one star or another. Bao would remember the same. "We all learned. Bao learned too. He still watches them."

"He knew. But that is something I need to take up with him rather than you."Â?

She smiled softly making it clear she wasn't accusing or treating, it was just a fact. He had known, he should have looked for her, should have found her. Well, Pak would just add that to the list of things she would ask him

Mara's near accusation made her cringe. She didn't know what to say to that. Kem was Kem and Pak didn't think any one had changed him. Well other than himself. He'd chosen to belong to Evenhet, to befriend her, to love Aishe he'd made himself who he was. Much like she had.

"I think that is up to him."Â? Pak said softly. "He's never asked me to call him anything else."Â?

She'd call him anything he wanted her too. For a second she wondered exactly what Mara remembered of her father, and what she'd learned by centuries of watching him.

"I like who he is now though."Â?

Without him she probably would have gone off the deep end, possibly starved to death without him these past few months.

The sudden influx of information from Mara about her creator stopped her wondering anything else about Kem and Mara. It was an odd kind of indifferent assessment. It was hard to take this in and humanize the man.

She'd never liked lawyers. Pak tried to imagine him having a sense of humor, but failed. All she could remember him sinking his fangs into her neck and forcing her to drink his blood.

There had been a meteor shower not too long ago, she'd gone deep into the park and preserve, getting as far away from city lights as possible with her telescope and watched them. And now to find out that he might have done the same was rather odd. She didn't know what to make of it, maybe she was making too much of it.

"Well that might be one thing we have in common. Maybe not enough to build a relationship on, but it will be a start won't it?"Â?

"He did," Mara agreed. "I wasn't there. I don't know his reasons." She shrugged helplessly. That was what Bao and Pak would talk about, wasn't it.

She smiled at Pak then, though, for she couldn't dispute her words. "I like who my father is too. He's happier now than he was for a very long time. I didn't like seeing him go through the rest of it. I remember him as my father best of all. He let me sit in his lap at night. He played ball games with me. He made me my first doll, and he taught me to draw."

Mara said the words for herself as much as for Pak. "I lost him for a long time, but lately I'm starting to see bits of that man coming back. So thank you for that."

As the topic drifted back to Bao, Mara shook her head. "You already have a relationship," she pointed out, "it just needs to be improved."

She couldn't use Amir as a parallel here. He had never been anything but a savior to her, and after that a friend, teacher, and companion. She couldn't liken her experience with Amir to Pak's with Bao. But she held Amir up, as always, as the standard that every vampire should have as a creator. She knew he wasn't perfect but he was hers.