Project Boussh: Happiness is Good
by Durandir

"Don't pine, Thayer," chided Kirret. "It is not becoming."

The young Dictator turned away from the window to frown at his two 
dearest friends. "I am not pining," he insisted.

Kirret caught Reth's quick glance, tried not to catch his infectious 
smile as well, and looked back to Thayer. "It's unmistakable. Perhaps 
you don't realize it, but..."

His frown faded, replaced by a sheepish look, the look of a boy 
caught with baseball bat in hand standing under a broken window. "Is 
it...so very obvious, then?"

"Maybe not generally," she reassured him patiently, "but those who 
love you can see it." 

He looked away again, reaching out to trace a finger along the 
baroque decorations of the window. They heard him mutter under his 
breath, "Then I wonder if *she* sees it."

Reth cleared his throat, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief. "You 
know, we could settle this once and for all, if you want, Thayer. 
I'll just go grab her and bring her here, and you can make your 
profession of love, and--"

Thayer's horrified expression only brought an even wider grin to 
Reth's face. "All right, then, maybe not. Perhaps that would be a bit 
abrupt, anyway. Though I thought you were all about let's-not-waste-
time now, boss..."

"This is not so simple," Thayer muttered. Shaking his head finally, 
he launched away from the window and wandered into the adjoining room.

Kirret and Reth watched him go, then looked at each other for a 
moment. "It's not so complex, either," Kirret noted. "I must be going 
crazy, because I almost think your idea would be the best solution."

"What, making them confront each other? It has potential. He won't, 
though, you know."

"I don't think she would, either."

"Still, we ought to do something."

"For the good of the country?" Kirret smiled suspiciously. "Or so 
that Reth can play matchmaker?"

"What's wrong with that?" He pulled her to him, forehead to forehead, 
grinning down at her. "Besides, I think my matchmaking turned out 
quite well in *your* case."

"That hardly counts," she chuckled.

"Sure it does. But anyway, maybe I just want to see him happy. We're 
happy. Why shouldn't Thayer be? Happiness is good."

She did not reply; but there was a very clear affirmative in her lips 
and her arms as she pulled him suddenly into a long moment's kiss. 
Yes--Happiness is good.

Reth's eyes were twinkling with mischief again when they parted. He 
glanced in the direction Thayer had gone. "Do we follow?"

"Why not?" Kirret shrugged. "He's been pining long enough. We 
follow." And so they did.



They found him pacing before yet another elaborate window. Kirret 
cleared her throat; Thayer paused and glanced up. 

"You aren't going to let me alone, are you?" he sighed; yet there was 
almost a note of relief in the complaint.

"Can we help?" asked Kirret gently.

"I don't know. I wish--It's just that--If I could--Oh, Kir, I don't 
know what to make of her, that's all."

"It seems to me," Kirret arched an eyebrow at him, "that you know 
perfectly well what to make of her. You are in love with her."

"I know perfectly well what to make of *me*, you mean. My own 
feelings are not in question. I am--well, all right, perhaps I am in 
love. But I can't make sense of *her*."

"Whether it's mutual?" Reth asked. "Have you considered, you know, 
asking her?"

"She won't stay put long enough for me to ask anything of the sort!" 
He turned away in frustration. "She's nearly as aloof as that cat of 
hers."

"A pleasant game of cat-and-mouse, then," Reth smiled. "Hang in 
there, Thayer. You'll catch her eventually."

"I wish I could be so sure."

"Thayer," Kirret stepped forward, "if it's any help--if you want my 
opinion, I think she does love you. Or wants to. But she's too shy to 
even let herself know it, let alone you."

"You think so?" He searched Kirret's face hopefully; she nodded. "May 
your pleasant prophecies prove more trustworthy than your 
foretellings of doom, then, my dear Kirret," Thayer concluded, 
mustering a faint smile for her. "And thank you, both of you. But, at 
the moment...I would like to be alone right now."

"You're the Dictator," Reth shrugged affably as they turned to 
go. "Your wish is our command."

"And, Reth," Thayer called after them, "none of your schemes. I'm 
eternally grateful that the two of you wish to be helpful, but 
please, let me do this my own way?"

"Well, if you insist," said Reth, a bit put out. "But feel free to 
call in the experts anytime your own way isn't working. Kir and I'd 
always be glad to help with your wooing--"

"Let him be, General," Kirret scolded lightly, seizing Reth's arm to 
drag him from the room. "Thayer, pay him no mind. He is not sane."

Smiling to watch his friends stroll off arm in arm, Thayer murmured 
to himself, "Lovers rarely are. But sanity is perhaps overrated." And 
then he turned back to the window, staring intently not through it 
nor at it, but as if in it he should see the shape of his own 
thinking. And he sought an anchor for his thoughts there among them.

And then it struck him. "As aloof as that cat of hers..." A smile 
spread across his face. "That gives me an idea..."