The Three Ouellets

[The International]

The Elf of burnt sienna complexion looked down at his assistant and opened his arms in a quizzical gesture. It was rhetorical as he was mocking the foolish henchman. “Seriously?... Seriously!”

“Tye.” Ludivine said with a nod of greeting as she put her hands on her hips. “It's been too long.”

“Alright. Alright. Let me guess.” For an Aleraran, the bouncer simply referred to as Tye had a surprisingly clear trader's tongue. It was as if Common was his first language. “You've either come to kill me, or you've come to get some information that will end up killing me. Either way let me know who you're after and we'll decide based on whether or not I like the bastards your after.”

“Neither,” Ludivine said with a dry face and an even dryer tone. “You actually have the chance to save your country. You may even be hailed as a hero after today.”

“Oh really?” Tye looked at Maelle. “Does that earn me a date with you, pretty lady?”

“In your hasty retreat, you ended up emasculating yourself thus destroying any chance of getting together with me. Sorry. I can't help my hormones. But hey...” Maelle said as she shrugged her shoulders. “You may still have a chance with her. Although you may not be occupying the role of the man in that situation.”

“Hey.” Ludivine said mirroring her sister. “If I have an itch.”

”A contagious itch...” Tye mumbled.

Everyone reacted as if they themselves had been punched in the stomach. A look of sheer pain was only a facade for Maelle as she desperately wanted to burst out in laughter. Vespasian turned away and leaned towards Lillian, who was covering her mouth with one hand and her stomach with another. “This must not be her day.”

Ludivine stood there like a statue unfazed by the verbal potshot. “Oh now Tye, you know I'm a clean girl. Or else you'd still be experiencing a stinging sensation in your anal region every time you sit down.”

“Gi shu!” The black clad henchman said from the ground as he burst out in laughter with everyone else. “Il della dos, ilhar vith'rell.”

“Shut up!” Tye kicked his subordinate in the side, but it didn't keep him from continuing his laughter. “You know what? You just killed every chance of getting your information. This judging panel is biased anyways. What the Hell is this? A family reunion? You even have an anorexic version of yourself cheering you on. I've got nothing to say to you.”

“Then speak to me.” Vespasian said as he tended to his stomach. “I'll be candid with you. We just witnessed the theft of the Crown Jewels of Valsheress: the real ones. We need to know everything everyone else doesn't know about the Valinthe tribe.”

The bouncer's eyebrows shot for the skies in surprise. He looked back at Ludivine for confirmation and the assassin nodded. “They're not extinct. There's something that everyone else doesn't know.”

They stood there in silence as they waited for him to continue. His henchman attempted to stand and Vespasian put a foot on his back, pinning him down once more. “Keep going.”

“You know about the battle of Khu'Fein, where we sealed about ten thousand of them in the Anti Firmament, right?” Everyone nodded. The bouncer continued suddenly transforming from a wisecracking man of the streets to a well educated conspiracy theorist. “Well think about it. If you're going after ten thousand it's easy to miss, say a couple of hundred, women, children, elderly and injured, right? Some historians say that several hundred Valinthe escaped and scattered around the world. A couple of hundred might not seem like much, but it's all you need to maintain genetic diversity and avoid inbreeding. Everyone here knows about Thoracis Rakarth, right? Did you know that he was a Valinthe? Most say he was the last of them, but I personally don't believe that. Even if he was the last of them, there's so much more to a culture than just lineage and bloodlines. There are beliefs and ideals, and if someone was able to keep that alive, then there's going to be thoughts of revenge.”

“Why did the Dark Elves and the Dwarves deem it necessary to take such a great measure?” Lillian asked.

“This is my favorite part. What made the Valinthe different from other Human races is that every one of them was born with a supernatural ability that corresponded with their personality. Everyone knows that a personality is like a fingerprint. No two are the same, so that made them difficult as hell for anyone else to take down. Ten thousand of these guys would be a serious security threat to us today, much less back then when we were armed with the standard weapons. That's all I got, but I can get more before the day is over.” Tye turned to Ludivine. “Which flag are you rolling under?”

“Ouellet.” She said as she stuck her nose in the air.

“This here is beyond the petty mess we're into. If someone's trying to bring them back, that'll be everyone's asses. If something's going down, I'll make sure you know.” The bouncer began to smile. “Now let me go and do my job.”

Ludivine stepped aside as Vespasian stepped back. The bouncer and his assistant returned to their posts, although just about everyone they were denying access to made their way into the bar. It was now Vespasian's turn to work his connections, and luckily for them those connections weren't far away.

“On to El'inssring.” He said as he shoved his hand high into the air and took his rightful place at the front of the group. It was amazing how Ettermire's notorious underground seemed completely indistinguishable from the rest of the city. The Bottomless Pit's reputation preceded it, but at first glance it was just a normal establishment that seemed a little bit more popular than the others. The Villeneuves, or the Ouellets as Lillian knew them, knew better. El'inssring was to the Bottomless Pit as Vespasian was to Ludivine: luxurious, welcoming, and still retaining a small semblance of innocence. It was the place where the youngest spy of the family met most of his contacts, not just because this was where the majority of them spent their leisure time, but because he liked it too. Only the finest of drinks, food, and women. It was not a surprise when the three siblings saw two very familiar faces loitering in front of the establishment.

The Villeneuve parents were known to spend their free time here as well. They sat at a table for two at the patio outside the famous Inn.

“Well look who we have here. Isn't this a crazy coincidence?” Alix Villeneuve said as she leaned back and took a sip of some fine wine that matched her hair. Her hazel eyes still held a tint of contempt for her children for doing what they did to her. “How goes the investigation?”

“It's going very well.” Ludivine said, with the original confrontation still fresh in her mind. “In fact we've made major headway. We know more than we ever have thanks to Lillian here.”

“We have something a little bit more pressing on our hands.” Vespasian said as he pulled a couple of chairs from the other tables for the ladies to have a seat. Even in dire circumstances he was a gentleman. “I'm going to run inside, but I'll be right back.”

“Hello, Lillian. I'm Alix and this is Esme, as my son so politely introduced us. We are the lucky parents of the trio you have so wisely chosen as your company” She leaned in to her husband. “Did I give birth to a fourth child and not know it?”

“I'm sure you've noticed by now that Vespasian is the only sane one of our kids.” Before Lillian could sit down, Esme stood up and extended his hand in greeting. “He gets that from his father.”