Tomb Raider: The Legacy

Chapter 16: Blast

She took another prawn among the many adorning the huge cocktail, grabbing it with two fingers by the tail. After making sure no one was watching her, she reached for the huge glass bowl that contained the eggnog and dropped it inside. The shrimp sank with a loud noise and went to meet the rest her boredom's victims.

Selma's thesis presentation party went on, and she'd never been so bored in her life. She'd tried to sit still, walk, stay quiet, talk to random people, not touch food, eat, and not touch drink.

No way. She was dying of boredom, so she got behind the table of the huge, massive buffet provided by the University of Istanbul, and after making sure everyone had lost interest in herself - after all, it was her mother who kept calling attention - she took all the flat glasses of champagne, ordered them in a row and prepared to put into practice a trick that Zip had taught her some time ago. She carefully dipped her fingers in the champagne and then...

"What in the bloody hell are you doing?"

Anna turned, startled. Her father was next to her, staring at her - how handsome he looked in his black tuxedo! - and, if one noticed enough, one could even see the delicate transparent cable that arose from his ear and was lost through the back of his neck and the back of his jacket. His blue eyes flashed, then moved to the eggnog sea, planted with floating and sunken prawns.

"I'm bored." The girl sighed and opened her hands in a guilty gesture. "This punishment never ends."

Kurtis let out a long breath. On the stage a few meters away, beyond the crowd, the "punishment" continued. A radiant Selma Al-Jazeera grabbed a microphone with both hands and splashed anecdotes with her speech of homage and thanks. The court had given the highest score to her thesis and she felt floating in a bliss. The crowd, congratulating her, accompanied with laughter and polite murmurs.

"Pray that it remains a punishment." The ex-legionnaire said, looking around with irritation. "Maybe it's the best that can happen tonight."

"But there are no signs of that idiot." Anna rubbed one eye, forgetting that she had makeup and running the mascara in a very funny way. "Our plan goes to hell."

Her father seemed not to hear her, in fact, he kept looking around with a funeral expression. Then he muttered: "Where's your mother?"

"Near the stage, listening to Aunt Selma. She's fed up with guys surrounding her all night, like flies with honey." She regretted almost instantly saying that, but it was done. She tried to ignore her father's expression. "Huh... well..."

"I don't want you here alone. Go with her. You're good? Any alteration? Something like what we talked about?"

"No, no. But..."

"Then go with your mother. I need you to scare the flies away." Kurtis smiled sadly. "I'm sure the prawns will be grateful."

"Yes Dad." She said calmly, and slid through the crowd, towards the stage. He watched her walk away. She was becoming more slender, taller, more graceful. She was growing up in plain sight. A little more and more of her mother, at least physically. She'd always hated putting on dresses, so she was still wearing her usual jacket and pants suits.

Kurtis absently stared at the shrimp genocide, and then sighed. The event was getting very long, and the night had only just begun.

Show up, motherfucker. Show up.

There was nothing he wanted more. There was nothing he feared more.

(...)

There was someone who wasn't suffering, rather having the night of her life. Selma Al-Jazeera, triumphant, perhaps with some extra alcohol - although she knew how to carry on with charm - moved around the stage holding on to the microphone and talking about the hard work carried out for so many years in the Göreme valley, suspended and resumed and finally completed. Of course, there was who, among the public, considered that show - people in suits, buffet, drinks, microphone and even stage - somewhat unworthy of an academic post-presentation, but most people were having fun like never before and not even the cold outside managed to placate that joy.