Happy Holidays, solarpillar! Part 2 of 2

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Mean of her, Pepper thought indignantly, riding home with a wobbling speed that came of fury and aggressive peddling. What about mean of them, deciding her love life was going to start right now just because it was convenient for them? How come Wensleydale got a pass on not having to be interested in anyone, and she didn’t? Just because she was a girl, well and a girl completely uninterested in schoolwork, meant she had time for stupid things like relationships. She had other things to do, better things, like having fun and doing things that didn’t involve obsessing over pearly pink lipstick, or boys. Or, rather she did, until all her friends turned into idiots.

She decided to confide in her younger sister. It wasn’t something she tended to make a habit of, but even at the ripe of age of eleven Arwen seemed to have a better grasp at relationships than her big sister.

At least, until now.

“But why wouldn’t you want to date Adam?” she asked, looking utterly bewildered. “He’s cute. Like, really good looking and great at everything. Everyone in my year likes him.”

“Everyone in your year is eleven,” Pepper felt obliged to point out.  Just because everyone else liked him wasn’t a reason to just fall into line with their opinion.

Arwen shrugged. “Doesn’t mean we don’t notice. Rose says his hair is yummy. All blonde and thick and mm.”

Coming out of the mouth of her baby sister, such words sounded vaguely obscene. “Look, I don’t care if you like him. I just don’t.”

“But I thought you were friends!”  Arwen protested.

“That doesn’t mean I like him – not that way.”

Arwen sighed, and looked at her sister as though she were completely devoid of brains. “Look, it works like this.” She picked up a not-quite-discarded Barbie doll. “You are a sort-of-almost-grown-up girl.” She picked up Ken. “He is a yummy grown up guy.” She smushed the two together. “So, you’re meant to be all like this.”

Pepper looked at her sister in despair and turned to the door. “You are hopeless.”

“Fine!” Arwen called at her back. “But if you don’t marry him, I will!”

***

The next day was Saturday and that made it worse. Saturday was a day for hanging out with your friends, and right now Pepper didn’t think she was exactly talking to them, even if Brian was allowed to talk to her.

She went on a long hard bike ride alone instead, trying to ride out the bad temper that seemed to have settled on her. Instead it made her hot and dusty and cross, and she ended up flopped on the grass at the top of a hill, trying to regain her breath for the ride home.

It was far enough away from roads that she wasn’t expecting anyone to disturb her. Footsteps made her open her eyes and then sit up hastily. She certainly hadn’t been expecting her.

The red shoes were immaculate, and high-heeled – the sort of shoes which no-one had ever worn for scrambling through the country without breaking an ankle. The dress fitted to the woman’s body in a way that kept no secrets, silky material falling to just above her knees. Even her nails were beautifully shaped and painted without so much as the slightest chip. Pepper stared at her, suddenly feeling small and grubby and very young for sixteen years old. The faint curve of a smile was a perfect deep red bow as auburn hair spilled flame red over her shoulders.

What on earth was War doing here?

***

War was used to the Look. She’d had centuries to enjoy it, and knew by know just how long to let it linger before the observer would be lost too far in their own thoughts (and fantasies) to be easily pulled back. It wasn’t getting their attention that was the problem, it was keeping it, and focusing it just the way she wanted.

Now she let Pepper stare for a full four seconds, noting with amusement the way the girl tried to hide her bitten-off fingernails, before she placed a blanket on the grass and sat down, stretching elegant long legs in front of her.

“No need to look so surprised, little girl,” she said calmly, “you’re not the only one allowed out into the country.”

Ah, she could see Pepper bridle at the ‘little’, watch the defiant little rise of her chin, nervous but annoyed. She was a fighter this one, had been at eleven, still was now. War’s own creature, whether she knew it or not.

There was an irony there, in that it was the fierceness of spirit that allowed her to fight War which made Pepper hers deep in the bone. War watched indulgently as the girl clenched her fists and sat straighter, the spark of defiance a delightful thing to watch.

“You’re not meant to be here! We defeated you! An’ there isn’t any war here for you anyway – not in Lower Tadfield.”

“There’s war everywhere, kiddo.” War gestured idly towards the grass where two small armies of ants were locked in a fight to the death. “And everybody’s allowed a little holiday now and then.”

Which was true enough, even if Lower Tadfield wasn’t the sort of place War would usually come for a break. Certainly there could be enjoyment in introducing conflict into the most peaceful of places but Lower Tadfield was... oppressive. The presence of the AntiChrist cast a spell over the whole place. Adam wasn’t going to let anything go wrong here.

At least, not usually. Today something was different, something was calling. Still, War wasn’t going to let this slip of a girl know that she hadn’t worked out what it was yet. She relaxed purposefully, watching Pepper tense as she did so. It was cute, like seeing a plump little cub wanting to yap and chase an adult off its territory but not quite daring. She leaned back, turning her face to the sun, calm and unbothered by the girl’s glare.

It was a moment before Pepper said sulkily, “Didn’t your friends come with you this time?”

“No.” War flicked a glance towards her, not missing the way Pepper was trying to stealthily reach towards a branch. Now that was cute, thinking she could be driven away by a piece of wood. But there was something in the girl’s eyes, something in her manner that provided the hint. “How about yours? Not arriving complete with your gang of pesky kids?”

That hit home visibly, even if Pepper did manage to keep herself from flinching. “Felt like some peace and quiet,” she said, and War allowed herself to admire the girl’s ability to keep her voice steady. She had backbone, this one, a spine of steel.

“Ah? Me too.” She didn’t push for more, she didn’t need to push for more. War simply relaxed and waited. More would come.

She didn’t have long to wait. There was something in Pepper that was simply bursting to get out, and she couldn’t keep it contained for long. “I bet your gang don’t treat you differently just ‘cos you’re a girl.”

War contemplated this, pulling out a silver-plated cigarette box and lighting one thoughtfully before she replied. “In what way?”

Pepper eyed the cigarette with disapproval. “Those cause cancer, y’know.”

“Yes dear, but Pestilence is getting on now. One must grant him these little pleasures here and there.” War tapped ash delicately into the grass. “Now, how do you mean ‘differently’?”

“Just ‘differently’.” Pepper stared at the grass. “Used to be that I was one of the boys and they didn’t argue with that either way ‘cos they knew I would hit them. Used to be that I was just someone to have fun with like the others. Now, suddenly, they’re looking at me and seeing a girl and I know ‘cos they keep talking about who I want to go out with. If I was a boy they wouldn’t care less ‘cos it wouldn’t be them, so what would they care?”

“Would you rather be a boy?” War enquired interestedly.

“Ye-,” But Pepper stopped herself there, thinking a moment. “No, actually. I just want to be me. I just don’t see why I should have to be a boy to do that.”

“Quite right.” War was surprised to find that she genuinely agreed with the girl. It was amazing how many people there were out there who objected to War not being a bluff old General with a moustache and pipe. “Not everything needs to be determined by gender.”

“And now Brian and Wensleydale think I ought to be going out with Adam because he’s the leader and I’m the girl, and apparently that’s all the girl in a gang is good for,” Pepper said furious, her eyes sparking bright with her anger. “An’ I don’t know what Adam thinks ‘cos if he thinks he oughta be going out with me he hasn’t even asked me. Everyone’s just presumed I’ll go along with it cos I’m the girl and that’s what the girl in a gang is for.” She paused for a minute, presumably considering the hollow-eyed and very thin leader of War’s gang. “Well, maybe not in your case.”

War smiled a little at that. That explained what she was here for, at least. The young AntiChrist had clearly reached a Decision Point, a point beyond which he could turn one way or another. The right choice, and the world could still end in the war averted five years ago and that future war was large enough that even the potential of it could sing a clarion call to arms that thundered in her blood. And here the girl was asking her advice. The question was how best to play it. War considered. Girl-talk was not her strong point.

“So, you’ll turn him down?” she said, playing for time, studying Pepper more closely.

It did not go unmissed. Pepper shot her a suspicious look, pulling her knees up to her chest in an unconscious defensive gesture. “I don’t know what I’m telling you for. You’ll only give me bad advice, being evil and everything. Probably can’t help it. But I don’t know anyway. Everyone says I’m being mean if I don’t give him a chance. I don’t see how it’s being mean not to just go along with everyone someone else wants. Seems to me it’s meaner not to ask me in the first place. Not to give me even a choice to say yes or no.”

And there was the choice, laid out as clearly as a map with the future stretching out clearly in front of them all. The cross roads where Adam could begin presuming that people would obey him, would go along with him, simply because he was Adam. And people would, if he wanted the world to be that way and he was a teenager, all fragile male ego easier to bruise than a ripe peach. It wouldn’t result in Apocalypse today, nor tomorrow, but in ten years the boy would have an army willing to do his bidding and not the faintest idea how he had got there.

Or a teenage girl could tell him “no”, and it might just be enough to remind him he couldn’t always get his own way. Not an ability every teenage girl would have, of course, most would just be over-ridden by Adam’s will whether he meant it that way or no. But this teenage girl, with years of facing off against the young AntiChrist, might just have a chance of stopping him and more to the point, he might just want her to do  it as well.

All War had to do was persuade her not to fight romance. Which might be slightly difficult with someone who was convinced she was bad to the core. She narrowed her eyes at Pepper. “Why do you consider me evil?”

Pepper made a face at her as though it should be obvious, and began ticking off her fingers. “Point 1, you turned up at the Apocalypse and tried to cause it which is pretty evil as far as things go I reckon, point 2, you keep calling me ‘little girl’ which might not be evil but at least isn’t very nice, and point 3, you’re War. You kill people. So yeah, I reckon any advice you give me probably isn’t going to improve my welfare.”

It was not easy to think of a reply. War, of all entities, knew that ‘I was only doing my job’ had not historically gone down well. She focused instead on the easiest issue to solve. “How do you feel about... child?” she suggested after a moment.

Pepper gave her a scornful look. “Like it won’t make you any less evil. Also, I’m sixteen.”

“I’m thousands of years old. To me you’re a mewling infant.” Negotiation, for obvious reasons, was not War’s strongest point. “But it’s still a little unfair to call me evil, don’t you think?”

“You kill people,” Pepper repeated, as though that settled things. “That’s about as evil as it gets.”

“You hit people,” War retorted. “In fact, I believe you had the young AntiChrist hospitalised on one occasion.”

Pepper blinked at her, confused. “Only for stitches! And that was ages ago, and I don’t so much anymore. And it’s hardly the same as killing millions of people. Anyway, how do you know that?”

“Because when you hit him – with a tractor was it? – you were fighting your own little battle. And I was there.” War smiled at her, leaning closer as she lowered her voice seductively. “And I was there when you fought the school bully – Chris, was it? – who was making Wensleydale’s life a misery. I was there when you battled Greasy Johnson for control of Lower Tadfield. I was even there when you fought the battle against Mr Jones, the science teacher who thought he could look down girls’ blouses without anyone telling on him. Little girl, did you think the only wars I turned up for were those which involved nations? It’s a little late to deny me now when you’ve spent most of your life walking beside me.”

“Don’t call me that,” Pepper said automatically, but she rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably. “That’s not wars! Wars are.. bigger.”

“Wars are fighting in the cause of change,” War contradicted. “Good change, bad change, big change, small change. Humans resist change and crave it, and war is the blossoming of that seed of conflict inside of all of you. And it starts with that feeling of this is not the way things should be. Sometimes people die, yes. I don’t say how you humans fight your little battles, or who wins. I’m just there to see that it happens, because change happens.”

“But..” Pepper seemed to have problems processing that. She was quiet for a moment, and then looked at War, her eyes widening. “But I don’t want to fight Adam!”

“Then don’t,” War said, glad of her opportunity. “I cannot force you to my will. Give in to him. What harm can it do to go out with him, just a couple of times? If that is the way you wish to go, there is nothing I can do about it.”

Pepper ran her hand through her hair, leaving the short red spikes sticking up oddly. Suddenly she glanced at War sharply. “That’s what it would be, wouldn’t it? Giving in?”

War back-pedalled hastily, feeling the unaccustomed surprise of her manipulation going awry. “Well, I suppose from one point of view...”

“From the point of view that I don’t actually want to but will do it ‘cos everyone else will make me miserable if I don’t.” Pepper bit her lip. “I just don’t actually think that going out with someone ought to involve one person surrendering and one person winning. That doesn’t seem right to me.”

“So fight Adam.” It seemed the only way to get this girl to do as you wanted was to tell her not to do what you wanted. “Tell him his behaviour is unacceptable. Tell the other Them that they’re wrong.”

Pepper looked suddenly uncertain. “They might not speak to me anymore if I did.”

War shrugged coldly. “The price of war.”

“But I don’t want to lose them either. How do you achieve change and make sure no-one gets hurt?”

“You ask someone else,” War leaned back, bored. “Child, the decision is yours. If you want to risk your friends then start the fight with them to change their behaviour. I’ll be fighting beside you, but you know the risk of collateral damage from the start. Or you surrender and give in to your young AntiChrist and I’m sure it will be everything everyone thinks it should be. Don’t ask me to advise you against a battle.”

“Of course, I never lost them before when I fought them,” Pepper said, half to herself. “And I suppose if they wouldn’t speak to me anymore because I wouldn’t do something they’d be pretty crappy friends anyway. I don’t really want to just do as they want whatever.” She glanced at War uncertainly. “You’d really be with me?”

“Well.. yes.” This was not going the way War had expected. She had expected Pepper to weigh the risks and fold to the inevitable, but instead that defiant spark was growing, maturing. “Of course, all the classic battles involved an element of romance,” she suggested, hoping for an element of doubt, “I remember Helen of Troy.”

“Silly wet girl who hung about for years wishing to be rescued and then wished they hadn’t bothered after all,” Pepper said promptly. “Wensleydale made us read about her. Stupid girl. I’d rescue myself if it took everyone else that long.”

War could not quite help the approving smile which touched her lips. Perhaps it did not quite suit her purposes, but as a child of War this girl would be magnificent.

“Of course, if I go along with Adam, I guess that’s sort of what I’m doing anyway,” Pepper said slowly.

“Just going along, hoping something else will happen to save me from what I don’t want to do – like him not wanting to, or the others saying it’s okay or something.” She made a face. “I never wanted to be like that stupid girl!”

“A great war was fought in her honour,” War pointed out.

“Yeah, while she just sat there and didn’t do anything about it, like saying actually she changed her mind and wanted to go off with Hector rather than either of those other two guys and could everyone stop fighting now,” Pepper retorted. “I mean, I know it probably wasn’t all that easy but still. It would save a lot of trouble if she had and it would have saved a lot of trouble if any of those guys had bothered to ask what she even wanted. She took the easy way of letting it happen and when it’s too easy it becomes harder than anything I guess.”

War looked at the girl, watching her bristle with as much indignation as a scalded cat, and decided that maybe it was time for a change of plan. Some tools were too good to blunt in a one-time use, even for such a purpose as this.

Besides, there would be other Decision Points.

“You seem to have made your mind up,” she observed coolly.

“Yes.” Pepper subsided, looking a little surprised at herself. “I suppose I have.”

“And I will leave you to your battle,” War rose gracefully to her feet, and then paused thoughtfully for a moment. “What do you want to be when you grow up, child?”

“An electrician.” The answer seemed to slip out without Pepper thinking about it and, from her surprised expression, War would wager that very few knew of that particular ambition. “And I can,” she added defiantly, “I’ve got awfully good at fixing the stuff Mr Pulsifer breaks, even that one time he thought he could change his own plug and all the village’s lights went off. Just ‘cause I’m a girl people think I ought to be a vet or a teacher or something.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t,” War commented. She reached to help the girl to her feet, and smiled when Pepper jerked away and scrambled up on her own. Slowly she looked Pepper up and down, not missing the way the girl flushed and squirmed under her gaze. “You’ll do.”

“I’ll do?” Pepper echoed a little incredulously. “Do for what?”

“For all the battles you’re going to fight.” War reached forward, lifting the girl’s chin with one perfect fingernail and studying her face closely. Pepper, confused, did not resist. “For the battle to be who you want to be, for the fight to be who you are. For the war to allow others to follow after you, in places where females get laughed at and patronised – ah, child, the fight will be long and bloody.” Almost lovingly, she brushed hair back from Pepper’s face. “And when you get tired – and you will get tired, for no man or woman can fight such a war alone, your army will come..”

“They will?” Pepper looked stunned, too bewildered to pull away.

War nodded, her eyes bright. “One hundred foot-soldiers, your little sisters-in-arms. You will tell them who they might be, and they will listen, and they will follow you. You will find allies – not all of them allies you might want – and enemies.. you won’t have to look for those.” She laughed suddenly, sharply. “And you thought war was evil? Little girl, you will fight a war which will change the world.” She leaned forward to murmur in Pepper’s ear, the girl still standing frozen by her voice. “And you will be magnificent.”

She felt the girl twitch, and moved before she could flinch away, kissing her lightly on the forehead. And then she was gone, melting away, as insubstantial as the summer breeze. Pepper stood alone on the hillside, with no-one else to be seen.

But on her forehead remained a bright red smear of lipstick – the mark of War.

***