seikilos

Title: Walking Out
Fandom: The Hobbit
Genre: Romance
Rating & Warnings: PG
Words: 4338 this chapter; 20 409 overall.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit.
Summary: Sequel to Out of Step. A few weeks after discovering Thranduil's feelings for him, Bard still does not know whether he wishes to court him. After all, they have rarely spoken outside the meeting room--do they truly know each other?
Author's Notes: And here we are: the next part of the series formerly named The Healing of the Northern Kingdoms and now called Sharing the Path, because I finally found a naming scheme I like.

This follows "Out of Step" directly, so if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend doing so before continuing here.

A huge thank you to philosothor and bmouse for their respective amazing lore and plot/reading mechanics betas, and to dreamingfifi of RealElvish.net for translating into proper Sindarin what I was aiming for with a certain Elvish name. You three are the best!

I hope everyone enjoys, and Happy Barduil Week! <3

( 'I am still thinking.' )

Title: Rally
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen
Rating & Warnings: G
Words: 705
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Summary: Senator Cretak visits Deep Space Nine to participate in trade negotiations, a situation that's become old hat for Colonel Kira.
Author's Notes: This week's submission for DS9 Tumblr Zine, for the prompt "Fix It"! This prompt was something of a challenge for me, in that while I devoutly love DS9, there are so many places where they just...dropped the ball. Or didn't consider the implications of some of their decisions.

One of the things that frustrated me deeply about Season 7 was that the writers created a terrific character in Senator Cretak, who wasn't your stereotypical Romulan and who had fantastic chemistry with Kira--and then they more or less fridged her in a failed attempt to dirty up Julian in "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges." It really grinds my gears.

I ended up not taking advantage of the extra time as I had originally been planning, simply because I knew this would either be 700 words or 7000, and sadly I can't write that fast. I have plans to expand this at a later date, but we'll see how late that later date actually ends up being.

( Cretak inclined her head as though they had happened to run into each other in a Bajoran tea shop and weren't, in fact, about to participate in fearsome trade negotiations along with First Minister Shakaar. )

Title: Like I Have Nothing To Hide
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Action
Rating & Warnings: PG-13 (slight dubcon, hairpulling)
Betas: tinsnip and Yosie
Words: This part 2745, appr. 15k overall
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Summary: When Miles returns from a wartime engineering course, Keiko is glad to have him safe at home again--but soon she realises that all is not well. Now she must gather evidence while protecting her family and without letting on that she knows something is wrong.
Author's Notes: This fic comes from two places. First, I had been a fan of Keiko in TNG, and I had been glad when I started watching DS9 to find that she had made the switch between series with me. However, while she did get some very good writing in some episodes, a lot of the time I got the sense that the writers didn't quite know what to do with her. It frustrated me that not only did she occasionally get stuck in the "nagging wife" role in an attempt at humour, but she actually got written out of the show entirely for over a season so that Miles and Julian could have manly bonding time.

So, I wanted to write something that would let Keiko be the badass I know she is in a realistic way for her skill set. And I hope that here I've achieved it.

The second place, I'll talk about more in later chapters. I'd hate to spoil all of you for my own fic, after all!

Though I didn't realise it until I was writing the second-last scene, there's a song that fits this fic extremely well, and is responsible for its title: "The Spinning Wheel" by Michiru, from the album "World's End Village." You can listen to it here and, if you like it, you can buy the track here. There are no lyrics available on the internet--believe me, I've looked. Instead, the quotes have been transcribed by myself, Yosie, and my friend Angie, who introduced me to the song in the first place. Thank you very much!

And thank you to tinsnip and Yosie for kindly taking the time to beta this for me, and for providing lots of encouragement. You two are the best. <3

And now, onto the fic!

( 'Welcome home, Miles,' she said and kissed him one more time, for the simple pleasure of being able to. )

Title: Held
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Action/Pre-slash
Rating & Warnings: PG (references to torture; panic attack; innuendo)
Betas: tinsnip and Yosie
Words: This part 4500, approximately 16 000 overall
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Summary: "...[T]he dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot one, and there’ll be another one along in a minute." - Terry Pratchett. Approximately six weeks after The Circle's fall from power, a fragment of the organisation returns to lash out against the only Cardassian living on Deep Space Nine. What they didn't anticipate, however, was being interrupted mid-abduction. This chapter: The senior staff on DS9 continue attempts to rescue Julian and Garak, and Garak's condition worsens.
Author's Notes: I don't have a whole lot to say about this chapter, actually. Mostly it's a continuation of the things I've played with in earlier chapters--and, of course, me insisting on making things worse.

On a side note, though, anyone who catches the tiny little Vienna Teng reference in this gets a whole batch of cookies.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

( 'It's been one hour, Commander.' The leader's voice was familiar, at least—it was the same woman as before. 'Have you made your decision?' )