Characters: Maladict, Polly
Pairings: Polly/Mal
Rating: B

Disclaimer: The author makes no claim to owning the rights of anything to do with Terry Pratchett or Discworld.

Honesty
by Amazon Syren

      Polly... Polly... Her name was Polly...
     An hour ago, she had still been ‘Ozzer', the watchful private who, and Maladict had to admit she was impressed with this, had knocked out a pair of heavy dragoons on her own.     There had been mist. Mist is good cover for a vampire. It had been easy to dissipate as vapor, hidden in the low-lying clouds that rolled over the ground. Easy to fountain back into shape and to kill the man by the horses.
     But changing from human-shape to mist and back again changes how one sees the world.
     For a moment, one sees everything as water, and then it all comes rushing back in, every sense at once. Overwhelming for an instant.
     The quiet private had been hidden in the shadows. For a moment, Maladict had seen the clouds of her warm breath floating in the cooler air, and then all her senses came back. The private's heart was pounding hard, throwing itself against her ribs like a caged animal. Loud, like thunder overhead. But... That was no surprise... She had just been attacked, after all.
     She had a petticoat on over her trousers, her jacket hastily pulled on, still unbuttoned.
     ... She looked good in a dress...     
There had been a meeting of sorts, after they had dragged the fallen soldiers into the shed, after the rupert had been woken and the newspaper men had come.
     Shufti, the pregnant woman, had brought everything into the open. Carborundum was Jade. And Ozzer had a name... Polly. Just like the song.
     Pretty Polly,
     Powerful Polly,
     Precious, precious Polly...     Maladict, of course, was still Maladict. In a way, she was glad. She didn't want everyone else to know. But...
     If she were honest with herself...
     She did want Polly to know.