Delayed Negotiations (Part II)

Another Invidia tale by AMI MEITSU

A/N: This is a continuation of the story ‘Diplomatic Disruption’ so Invidia and her father (Along with the DN crew) are on diplomatic mission on another planet, and it’s a few days after the first part.

Invidia sighed as she looked up at the stars. She sat on what was essentially a deck chair with her knees up to her chest as she just watched the sky, it was not particularly interesting, but it was peaceful. She sighed as a small breeze came by, blowing her hair and the bottom of her black nightgown slightly to the left.

“Invidia, what are you still doing out here?” Zordar asked as he came out onto the balcony.

“Nothing really, just relaxing,” Invidia replied, then, she looked at her father. “Why?”

“Well, you’ve been out here for a while and besides, I think it’s time you went to bed.”

“Right…and where’d everyone else go? It’s too quiet.”

“They’re all asleep in the living room, like you should be, in bed.”

“Right,” Invidia said again, then she nodded, got up and followed Zordar inside to the suite’s bedroom area. She climbed up on her bed and laid down, allowing Zordar to pull the blankets on her and place her own black blanket on top while she got comfortable.

“Good night, my Princess,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her head.

Invidia smiled and then snuggled down into the blankets as she went to sleep. It didn’t last too long though, the next morning she was awoken at six AM by a crash.

“Mello! I told you to get out of the way!” Misa snapped.

“Look, it’s your fault! You dropped it!” Mello snapped back.

“Well, now it’s your problem! That was your breakfast!”

“What?! Misa!”

Invidia groaned and slowly got up. ‘They’re arguing over nothing…’ She thought. ‘Is this what siblings are supposed to do? If so, I’m glad I’m an only child…’ She then slipped her feet into her black slippers and walked out into the living room area, where Matt sat on one couch and Zordar on the other. Misa and Mello were in the kitchen area, cleaning something up off of the floor.

“Oh, good morning Princess,” Zordar said.

“What’s so good about it?” Invidia asked. “And what are you two doing?” She shot a look at Misa and Mello.

“Well I was trying to make breakfast but he got in my way,” Misa said.

“No, you got in my way!”

“Who cares? Just clean up your mess and finish I’m hungry,” Invidia snapped as she sat down on the couch with her father.

“You look tired…” Zordar told her.

“I am, I was woken up suddenly by a crash and an argument,” she shot Misa and Mello another look.

“Sorry,” Misa apologized. ‘Besides it’s Mello’s fault!’ She thought only to herself.

“Whatever…” Invidia huffed, and then she yawned.

“Aw…come here,” Zordar beckoned her over, and Invidia laid down with her head in his lap, he smiled at her and moved some of her hair aside.

“Hey, Misa,” Matt said. “What is for breakfast anyway?”

“Omelets, why?”

“No reason, I just thought I smelled eggs.”

“Well, you did. And, Princess do you mind? I could always make something else…I know your eating habits are…”

“No, omelets are okay,” Invidia replied, and then she looked at her father. “What ingredients did we bring from the ship?”

Zordar shrugged and turned to Misa.

“Well, for omelets I got out bacon, onions, green peppers, cheese, ham and mushrooms. What do you want in yours?”

“Oh, green peppers, a little bit of ham and just a little bit of cheese.” Invidia replied.

“Okay!” Misa turned back to the small stove.

‘Hmm…I’m surprised that she’s so willing to help with breakfast…could this be some trick…? Or maybe an apology for something…?’ Invidia thought, then she sat up and asked, “Okay Misa, why are you doing this?”

“Hm? Well I woke up early and decided to make breakfast for myself, and then Mello got up and asked if I could make him and Matt something, and that’s what I was doing until your Father came out. I offered but he said he was fine, so, I figured I’d just offer it to you too.” Misa explained.

“Well, thank you, it helps get rid of one thing in my schedule.”

Misa just nodded and continued with her cooking, while Invidia went to go get ready in the bathroom, she stopped before going in though.

“Father!” She called, “what do you think I should wear for today? I need a second opinion!”

“Oh, well, I like the red and black skirt set you brought, it looks nice on you.”

“Thanks! I’ll consider it!” She said before disappearing into the bathroom. She came out about twenty minutes later in the outfit Zordar suggested, which consisted of a red elbow-length sleeve top and a black skirt that went an inch or so past her knees. With it she also wore, her ‘Princess’ necklace and carried a pair of dark wine-red colored flats in hand.

“I thought you only had black flats…” Matt commented.

“No, I have a couple different ones; the black ones are just easier to wear because they match with almost all of my outfits.”

“Anyway, everyone’s breakfast is ready.” Misa said.

“Good, I’m hungry.” Mello said as he got up.

Misa gave him his plate and he went back to sit at the coffee table with Matt, while thinking, ‘why can’t we eat at the table? Misa says it’s because there’s no room for everyone, but I think it’s just because Invidia doesn’t want us there…what’s her problem anyway?’ He then looked back as Misa set Invidia’s plate on the table, along with a bigger one for Zordar, who had given in and let Misa make him breakfast.

“Oh, thank you,” Invidia said as she sat down.

“Does it look okay?” Misa asked.

“Yes, it looks fine, go eat your own breakfast, and stop hovering over me! If I don’t like it I will tell you, but I probably won’t be nice about it.”

“Right…” Misa nodded and took her own plate to the coffee table with the others.

“Anyway,” Zordar started, “Since we’re off again today while Parliament discusses our latest plans, I was wondering if you wanted to go out somewhere instead of just around.”

“Not really, I haven’t had chance to look at any maps or sightseeing areas, but if we’re going out I want to go back to where our ship is, I want to see the waterfall.”

“We can do that, what about you guys?” He looked toward the coffee table.

“Father!” Invidia hissed in a whisper. “Why?”

“I don’t want to leave them here all day again; I mean, how would you feel if you were cooped up on a hotel for four days?”

“I wouldn’t like it, and I’d probably try and escape anyway…”

“Right.” Zordar turned back to the others.

“Oh, well maybe we could find some cute little boutique, or a beach,” Misa said.

“No, a mall with a game shop,” Matt said.

“A candy store!” Mello suggested.

Invidia gave Zordar a look; she knew that if he even hinted that they could go out they’d be difficult.

“Don’t give me that look Princess, just eat! And I’ll talk to you guys later.”

They all nodded, and after breakfast and clean up they headed out. “All right,” Zordar said. “You guys go do what you want to do and meet us back here at one.” He handed them a map.

“Right! Thanks!”

“Do you think they’ll get lost?” Invidia asked. “I don’t want to have them run crazy here, it’s just not right.”

“No, I think they’ll be fine, besides there are plenty of police around and they know the hotel name.”

“You’re right, let’s just go the water fall.”

Zordar nodded. And they took a cab out to where the ship was left and went to watch the waterfall near it.

“It’s ten times more beautiful than my bath,” Invidia said as she looked up, she sat on a flat rock with her feet in the water while Zordar sat on the grass.

‘It’s peaceful, but after awhile it gets very boring…’ He thought, then, he said, “Invidia, why don’t we go somewhere else now? It’s been an hour.”

“No, I’m happy here.”

“Princess, I thought we agreed to do things we both wanted to do.”

“But Daddy…” Invidia whined.

“No, do not ‘but Daddy’ me, get down, and come on, we’re going down to the boardwalk and then back into the city, all right?” Zordar said it as a question, which was really a demand, but she would not move.

“No.” She said with a turn of her head.

“Invidia Sabera-Monica…” He snapped.

‘Whoa…middle name…I am in trouble…’ Invidia thought.

“Get down right now and come with me! You are old enough now that I should not have to do this! Now move!”

Invidia nodded and quickly pulled her shoes back on, and then she joined him where he stood.

“Good, now let’s go, and you’ll like everything else, I promise.”

Fine…” Invidia muttered as she followed Zordar back to the road. There, they caught a cab and went down to the beach to walk along the boardwalk, a major tourist attraction in the part of the planet they were in usually, but since ‘spring break’ was over, it was quiet and actually pleasant to walk on.

‘I guess it’s as nice as the waterfall, there are a lot of cute shops…’ Invidia thought as she walked.

“I know that look,” Zordar said. “You’re interested, what is it you’re looking at?”

“That…” Invidia led Zordar over to a small jewelry store, where, on display, there was a little silver anklet, with selectable color charms. “It’s beautiful and…”

“You want one?”

Invidia blushed a little; it was like Zordar could read her. “Yes,” she finally said. “So can I? Please?” Invidia gave him her sad eyes look.

“I guess, that can be your souvenir or something, and it would look nice on you, so go ahead.”

Invidia hugged him. “Thank you, Father!”

“You’re welcome, now just go…”

“Oh, right,” She followed him in, and while Zordar pretended to be interested in the merchandise, Invidia talked to the jeweler behind the counter. And, a couple minutes later, she tapped on Zordar’s shoulder.

“Hm?” He turned around.

“He said it would be ready in about two or three hours, but I can pick it up tomorrow too, and now we have time to explore a little more.”

“Good,” Zordar said. “I wanted to see some of the shops further down and then go look in the city for awhile.”

“All right Father.” Invidia said, then she thought, ‘let’s get this ‘exploring’ over with, I want to go back to the waterfall!’

Unfortunately for Invidia they did not make it back to the waterfall, but they did get her anklet before meeting everyone else at the hotel and going out to lunch, Misa, Mello and Matt, having a separate table of course. And, after lunch they went back to the hotel to just rest.

“What a day,” Misa sighed as she sat on the couch. “But thanks for letting us go out! It was fun!”

“For you!” Mello said behind the boxes her carried.

“Oh, you had fun too! You know it; I mean we did go where you wanted to first!”

“Yeah, look at all the stuff I found,” Matt said as he put three bags from a game shop down.

‘You mean crap…’ Invidia thought, then, she yawned. ‘Tired…’

“Tired, Princess?”

She nodded. “I’m gonna go take a nap, all right?”

“That sounds like a good idea, you were woken up early this morning.”

Invidia gave a quick nod and went into the bedroom. After taking off her shoes, she took off the rest of her clothes, slipped into a light purple nightgown for comfort and climbed into bed.

“Comfortable, Princess?” Zordar asked a minute later when he came in.

She nodded and he went over, and sat on the bed.

‘She’s so cute sometimes,’ he thought. “Have a nice sleep, Princess,” He said, then, he kissed her head as she fell fast asleep. Unknown by her though, about two hours later the Prime Minister, Ethan, showed up with his son, Nathan, to see Zordar.

“So, what did you want to talk about anyway?” Zordar asked as he sat on one couch while Ethan and Nathan sat on the other.

“I wanted to tell you about the progress we’re making and, out of curiosity I wanted to ask about your family life. And speaking of family, where’s your daughter?” Ethan asked.

“She’s resting, and other than that, what do you want to know?” He asked, while, in the bedroom area, Misa, Mello and Matt sat around Invidia’s laptop, which Misa had dug out of her suitcase.

“You sure we won’t be in trouble?” Matt asked.

“Not if she doesn’t find out,” Misa said as she clicked on another video.

“But I’d rather watch TV, but no, the prime minister just had to come today…” Mello said.

“Oh, stop whining, and shush, if we wake her up we won’t hear the end of it. And if you’re so bored then we’ll do something else,” Misa whispered.

“Fine…” Mello huffed, while in the other room, Zordar and Ethan were still busy talking about their progress.

“So, you see, there are some things we just cannot go through with, especially you acquiring two thirds of our trade profit, the planet itself needs the money to produce more and satisfy its people, you should know that better than anyone.” Ethan said as he went through the notes he had.

“That was Invidia’s idea, but you have a point there,” Zordar said. “And I anticipated this, so I came up with alternate plans, but they’re in the bedroom.”

“I can get them,” Nathan offered.

“Would you?”

He nodded.

“Well then, I couldn’t fit it in mine, but there should be a blue folder at the bottom of one of Invidia’s luggage cases, the one with the ‘Trouble’ keychain hanging off of it.”

“All right.” Nathan nodded and quietly walked into the bedroom, the first thing he noticed was Misa, Mello and Matt playing cards. They all looked at him.

“Uh…hello?” He said. “I’m…a…the Prime minister’s son, I came to get something.” He explained. “Where are Invidia’s bags?”

“In the closet,” Misa told him, and then, she turned back to the game.

Nathan then left them and went over to the closet, after a quick look her pulled out the case Zordar was talking about and opened it. ‘What is all this stuff? Purple? Light blue and even white? I thought she only wore dark colors…’ He shrugged it off and started digging for the folder, until he felt something silken. Out of curiosity he pulled it out, it was a long red silk slip with black lace at the bottom and around the top.

‘What the hell?!’ He thought as he looked at it. ‘This looks well…too lingerie-ish for her. Wait ! This isn’t important!’ He shook it off, and put the item down, then he dug down farther and pulled out the folder.

“Here it is…” He whispered as he pulled it out, but hooked onto it was a blue sleeve of some kind. ‘And what’s this?’ He picked it up, and realized then that it was a pajama top. ‘Well, to answer my earlier question to myself, all of this is her pajamas,’ he thought as he got up, closed the case and left, he handed the folder to Zordar and they talked for another thirty minutes, before Invidia woke up.

She sat up in her bed and looked around. “Where’s my Father?” She asked as she looked at the others.

“Living room.” Mello said.

Invidia then got up and left, only to find both Ethan and Nathan staring at her when she came out.

“Oh…you….a…” She stuttered, and then looked down at herself and bowed quickly. “Sorry about my attire, I…I just woke up and…”

“It’s quite alright, I don’t mind.” Ethan said. “Besides, I myself have been worse, I once had to hold a video screen meeting in my pajamas when I didn’t feel well.”

“Oh…well…hmm…” Invidia had no idea how to respond so she just stood there.

“Princess, your hair…” Zordar said.

“Oh, sorry,” Invidia looked down.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll brush it for you,” Zordar offered.

Invidia silently walked over as Zordar picked up her brush that was left on the coffee table. She sat on the couch in front of him and Zordar started gently brushing her hair.

“You two seem to get along well,” Nathan said.

“Well, she is my only daughter, having a bad relationship would be kind of difficult.”

“And I wouldn’t like it either, I love my Father, and he is the only family I really have…ow! Father!”

“I’m sorry, your hair is just…tangled…”

“Well…don’t pull!”

Ethan smiled. ‘It’s sweet…he loves her so much. More than this diplomatic stuff even…’

“What are you smiling about?” Invidia asked.

“Invidia…” Zordar scolded.

“You. You two are…well…you’re cute. Your Father loves you so much, it’s sweet.”

“Sweet?” Invidia just looked at him.

“Never mind, anyway I was going to ask if you wanted to continue this conversation later, at dinner tonight,” Ethan said. “I’ve managed to get reservation at a restaurant downtown.”

“Dinner? Sounds nice,” Zordar said. “What do you think, Invidia?”

“I like the idea, so I’ll come.”

“Good, we’ll meet you down there at about seven thirty, and discuss plans for tomorrow’s meeting.”

Both Zordar and Invidia nodded as they left, while the others came out.

“Dinner? Sounds fun,” Mello said.

“Can we go?” Matt asked.

“No, but if you want to go out then we’ll give you some money and you can get dinner yourselves.” Zordar said.

“Good idea, it’ll get you out of our way for a bit,” Invidia said. “As long as you know your way back.”

“We do!” Matt said.

“And Princess?” Misa stuck her head out the door. “What is this?” She held up the slip Nathan found.

“It’s just a slip I wear for sleeping, nothing more.”

“Oh, cause the minister’s son found it and by the look on his face he did not get it either.”

“Whatever, I have to get ready,” Invidia then got up and went into the bathroom to bathe and change for dinner, then she tried doing her hair, but couldn’t seem to get it.

‘I can’t believe this but I have to ask…her…’ She sighed and called Misa into the room.

“What is it?” She asked.

Invidia handed her a fake red rose barrette. “I need you to put this in my hair, I’m having trouble and I don’t want Father to see my dress until I’m ready.”

“All right,” Misa said, then she sat on the bed with Invidia and brushed and pulled back part of her hair before carefully putting the rose in.

“Thank you,” Invidia said, then she got up and carefully stepped out of the bedroom. “Father? What do you think?”

“You look beautiful,” He said as he looked her over, she wore a long, black dress with a rose design on the side, with it she wore a pair of black sandals and the anklet she bought earlier.

“That anklet…I never got to see it.”

ARTWORK: “Rose Princess” © 2009 by AMI MEITSU

“Oh…well…” Invidia went over, sat on the couch with him, took the anklet off and gave it to him. Hanging off of it were Invidia and Sabera’s birth stone charms in the shape of hearts, and in the middle was a silver heart, that read ‘A bond carried even to heaven…’

“Princess, it’s beautiful…what made you think of this?”

“I don’t know, when I saw the stones I just thought of Mama…”

“Well, you have good thoughts. Now, I’m going to get dressed and we’ll head out,”

Invidia nodded and after about twenty minutes they headed out, with Misa, Mello and Matt going in a separate direction while Invidia and Zordar headed downtown to the restaurant where Ethan was waiting with Nathan, his niece, Carmella, and his wife.

“Who’s she?” Invidia looked at Carmella.

“His niece, he took her in after her mother passed away in a car accident, her Father died of a sickness when she was three, so he brought her into his family.”

Invidia just nodded and they all went in. Half of their discussion was about their family lives and the other half about the next day’s meeting, in which more negotiations would be made before securing the final treaty and signing it, after which there would be a formal peace commencement ceremony and Invidia and Zordar would leave and go back to the comet, instead of back to their hotel, like after dinner.

“Father, when is this going to be over?” Invidia looked at him from where she sat on the balcony, later; she wore the red slip Nathan had accidently dug out earlier.

“Just a few more days, alright? Be patient.”

“Fine…” Invidia then sighed, went over to Zordar’s chair, and landed her head on his shoulder while they sat looking at the sky.“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” Zordar said as he hugged her.

Invidia smiled and leaned closer to him, only to fall asleep a few minutes later under the soft glow of the moonlight…