And The Chase Is On

Obi tries to reason with Dina

Immediately after the family meeting, outside DinasSuite in CastleAmber

LadyCorradina
LordObi

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Obi follows Dina from the library, calling her name softly. His long strides catch her quickly enough and he lays a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Dina, can we talk?"

"We can, but will we?" she asks, not slowing down so much as hesitating half a step to allow him to catch up. The look she gives him is full of all the warning he's going to get if he carries on with talking to her right now.

Obi's prepared and expecting the look. It's not the first time he's encountered it, nor does he expect it to be the last. He walks beside her, his presence offering strength, but not asking her to accept it.

It's once they're well out of earshot of the library that he speaks her name again. It rolls over his tongue, the smallest hint of his native Uzoman in the rolled 'rr'.

"Corradina?"

"Obi, dammit, what is the point? What's the point? I'll go. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do, but I'll go, okay?" Her voice is tight and she's clearly uncomfortable. "Because if I stay here, I know exactly what I'll do. It's just as well, but I don't have to be happy about the methods."

Obi lays a hand on the arm of the woman that's more like a sister to him than perhaps his actual sisters were. "I'm not sure what the point is, other than to put everything to rest. Prince Eric might be sure, but I know my mother isn't," he begins. "I trust him, but I believe her. I'm not demanding anything from you, Dina, and neither will either of them."

"Just what would you do?" he asks gently.

Dina stops before the stairs and looks at him hard. "Make sure Caine's little ploy just now didn't work, just because he used me. I won't be used Obi. Caine's going to come to regret this decision." And with that she turns and heads up the stairs.

"You're jumping at shadows, Dina," Obi soothes as he follows her. "I think everyone's jumpy about this, and no one has more reason than you."

"I'm jumping at shadows?" She almost smiles. Almost. "You have no idea how contained this reaction is. Everyone's jumpy? Imagine, for me, what it means if he's alive. What happens then?"

"Then, I suppose it'll be up to me to do the introductions," he answers simply.

A lesser man might run away from the look Obi gets from Dina for that answer. "You know what your problem is Obi Abidemi? That kind of answer - that's what your problem is."

"Do you know enough Uzoman to know the meaning of the name Abidemi, cousin?" Obi asks rhetorically. "Born while the father is away," he explains.

"You're not alone in the area of strained paternal relations. My father was one of the men that cast me from the village after..." There's a noticible hitch in Obi's speech, his warm voice catching on the words. "After my wife's passing."

Dina actually stops and looks up at him with guilt on her face.

"He still questioned, after twenty years if I was truly his son," he added. "But I have moved on, because I have something you don't. I know that my father is dead. I've been to a grave that holds a body."

She reaches for Obi's hand and squeezes it.

"For no reason other than that, help me do this. Help us."

All the sympathy washes right off her face. Dina almost throws his hand away from her. "To put a body in the stone? Because all these people need some closure?"

Looking disgusted, she starts for the top of the stairs.

"Damn it, Dina," he growls. "Yes, for closure. For theirs as much as yours. For mine."

"You know what your problem is Corradina? Your problem is answers like that. Answers that prove it's all about you," Obi explains.

"You never knew the man. All he is to you was an affair your mother had. I knew him, hunted with him, drank with him. My mother grew up adoring him, she loved... loves him. So don't tell me it's all about you."

Corradina hisses and looks at Obi like he's a moron as they turn the corner.

"It's not all about me any more than it's about finding Corwin. It's about manipulation. They just used my father to manipulate you into this, and me into this, because how can I say no? How can I say, 'fuck your useless notes Gerard, fuck your little plan Caine, I'm not going to go look for my father that you've now got my family all hopeful for some closure,'? I can't. I can't, or little Miho thinks I'm inhuman for not searching for my father." She throws her arms out and looks at the ceiling for strength.

She does not cry. "Look at this Obi! Why wasn't anyone talking about finding him yesterday? Because they all tried already. Why in the world would Deirdre not be able to find him, and we will? We won't. But it'll be a nice little vacation, and damn if I don't need one right now."

"With your love life, I thought you'd have realized by now... You can only be used if you let someone," he opines.

She puts on a hurt face and pouts at him.

"You're right. I've never argued that you're not," Obi admits. "But there's more than one reason for this quest. Something's going on, we all know it. Even if it's just a distraction with poor execution, it tells us something about the games our elders are playing."

"I'm not naive enough to believe that this 'family' will ever be anything other than dysfunctional, but it doesn't mean that I don't hope for something else."

"When hope is gone, what's left?" his tone suggests he may not be speaking of his own hopes.

"You're asking me? Reality, Obi. Reality. I don't have time right now to pick apart motivations. I have a lot a planning and letter writing to do if I'm going to go," Dina says as they come to the hall her rooms are off of. "Quit following me around like I'm some loose cannon than needs coddling. I'm fine, I won't kill anyone, I'll go on the damn trip. I'm fine. I don't know what more you can really expect from me."

"I don't expect anything from you, Dina," Obi explains. "You're more like a sister to me than a cousin, and I worry about you. It's really that simple."

"I'm that annoying, huh?" she asks, only half joking.

His eyes search hers for a moment before wrapping his arms about her and pulling the woman into his embrace.

She hugs him back and lays her forehead against his shoulder with a frustrated sigh.

No words, nothing but his long arms holding her for a moment and then a soft smile and he makes his own way back to his rooms.

He can hear her door slam shut before he clears the hall.

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