Blue Forest Banshee Diversions Part 10
From Q, With Love
Q brought his hand up to cover his eyes with a heavy sigh.
"Sister, sister, sister," he all but moaned. "No more; please. I did not come home to be subjected to the Spanish inquisition."
"But Quatre, angel; we are concerned," cried said sister. "You always refuse to discuss it! Myandra says you have mentioned... certain things... to Jafal and to Alexander, but then she says no more!"
She waited, then sighed when no response was forthcoming. She didn't like doing this, but someone had to ferret out the intentions of the only direct male heir to her father's empire, and since her sisters seemed to be universally wussing out, it was up to her.
"What would you have us do - allow everything that our family has worked and striven for these long centuries to sift away like dust on the wind? Have we been so careless and unresponsive that you feel we are deserving of such punishment?" Oh, that was surely a low blow and she would surely pay for that in the hereafter.
But it produced the desired effect.
Q sat up straight in his chair, staring at her in shock.
"Aristarcy!" he exclaimed. "Surely you do not find me so heartless a brother as that! I would die before I would see any of my sisters suffer! Or their families!" He sighed then, and wilted once more. "If only Father had chosen to take another wife after my mother died; perhaps we would not be having this conversation..."
Well, he had obviously run out of excuses, just as he had finally failed in his attempts to avoid the subject altogether. The sisters were right; a clear chain of command needed to be agreed upon, for the sake of the business if for nothing else.
Not that he had ever contributed much to the empire of his forefathers, beyond allowing himself to be ensconced in the figurehead position of head of the family and the family holdings. It was still important for a male to be seen as the supreme power, even if females were doing the real work.
He knew; they all knew that his place was never in the CEO's chair. It should have gone to Iria, Dorcas, or Chelya. But no, Father was entirely too traditional to leave power in the hands of a female.
::Damn it. Damn it, Father! You knew I didn't want it! You knew where my heart lay! And you did it anyway... Did you ever think of them? Did you ever consider how hurtful, how slighting that would be? All the work they put in, knowing that it would all come to me...
My god... If the religion allowed for saints, surely every one of them would qualify!::
~*~
He should have waited until the sisters and their families had assembled. He could have made a grand entrance; something worthy of the head of the family.
Q smirked to himself as his sisters and their husbands and children gradually filled the large room. He had no illusions; some of the people in this room would hate him before the day ended. Some would be eternally in his debt; others would wonder what all the fuss was about. And some -- chiefly the lawyers -- would be popping Valium and wishing for a stiff drink.
::Ah, Father, was this another of your little challenges?:: he wondered idly. ::If so, even you must be astonished at my methods. You thought you had it -- and us -- all neatly trussed up in your will. Well, where there is a will, there is a way, you old fox.::
One of the junior lawyers bent to whisper in his ear that everyone had arrived.
"Well, then, let's get started, shall we?" He produced a gavel from his otherspace and rapped sharply on the table before him. The throng fell silent immediately.
Q stood, confidently regarding the members of his family, all 137 of them.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've asked you here today," he began. "I've come to a decision about the stewardship of WEI."
A murmur ran through the adults in the room.
Q smiled broadly. "Oh, I think you're going to enjoy this," he laughed.
And then he detailed what he had done.
~*~
"You did it," Raia accused when he entered the office on the dot of eight.
Q smirked at her. "Yep."
"And they took it well?"
"Most of them; mostly."
"I don't see any visible wounds..."
"Nope."
"Well, when do I get to hear about it?!" she demanded.
"Mmm... How about at lunch? I'll take you to Filletti's."
"Ooooh! I can hardly wait!"
~*~
Raia sighed and debated whether it would be just too low-class to lick the dessert plate. It seemed almost a sin to waste even that tiny bit of Death-By-Chocolate.
"I am amazed, Q. Only you could do something like that, and make them like it well enough to go along with so easily. I bow to your persuasive talents." She did so, briefly.
The blond Wizard leaned back in his chair, coffee in hand. "Oh, it wasn't that special. It was the delivery more than anything else. I just treated it as something marvelous and fun and exciting, and they couldn't help but see it the same way."
"No problems with naming Sahid and Caracella as co-vice-presidents?"
"None at all. We think alike, and they are the most commonsensical of the bunch. Plus, they're both well-educated and have worked their way up in their respective divisions."
"But you still retain veto power."
"Of course. There is always the possibility of love rearing its distracting head, and I will not allow a greedy spouse to damage the company or the family. That's why I named Aristarcy and Iria as co-chairmen. I will only be required to insert myself if there is a disagreement."
"Which means you won't have to run off every few weeks to put out corporate fires." Raia smirked at him. "Why, Q; you might actually be able to have a life!"
He chuckled gently. "Oh, I'm sure the slack here will be quickly taken up. The Mad Five haven't done anything of note lately; they're about due."
"Horrors! Don't say that! Heero would bite you!"
Q smirked back at his assistant. "And there's always something happening on the Banshee Front."
Raia shook her head. "That creature is amazing, isn't he? He's changed the whole Castle."
"Why do you think I brought him here?"
OWARI
Back to PlaidDragon's Fanfictions Page