Evil author\muse = one who doesn't finish stories they start.
And this is a terrific story, so please stop being one of the evilest of authors\muses.

This is such a great story! If you ever manage to inspire yourself again we'd all really appreciate some more of this world. :-)

I too, very much hope you will come back to this story and update this year. It's quite good and very well written.

You've updated a few of your other stories started in 2007/2008 as recently as mid-2010 (that just happen to be among my favorites "Things To Do In Colorado When You're Bored", "Life's Ending, Life's Beginning", and "Buffy's Hammer"), so here's definitely hoping and encouraging.

Hope hope hope, encourage encourage encourage

I rate it a 9.5 overall. What you have here IS a fairly complete story arc, only waiting for an epilog reuniting Honor with her people. I see the second arc describing Buffy's education and occasional super ass-kickage of Peep assassins and Honor assistance.
If your muse is looking elsewhere, I forgive you. This is intended as a vote of encouragement, not a demand.


Haiku temporal logistics:

To sleep—perchance dream
How much time—two thousand years
Makes love—important

And now, I really miss this one. Well, thanks for writing this, hope for an update sometime, and bye for now.

I just re-read this story and I still love it. Though I must ask, Are you every updating this story? ...Please, please update.

Update ?

Please!

You know Honor should adopt Buffy she could use a new mother or elder sister.

Fire

The last thing she'd expected after falling back into the Not-Place had been to ever emerge from it again. But somehow, she'd stayed behind, even after her protection was no longer needed by the Other. Perhaps it was a reward. Or a punishment. The Girl did not know the will of the Spirits.

So I'm still curious - is this Slayer in any way influenced by Senaya? If the first Slayer had been, say, a 15th century girl from, oh, Bavaria, would The Girl behave and think differently?

“Me not theena. Me Girl.”

yay! she speaks!

“Not name. Am Girl. You Woman. You...” Girl seemed to searching her mind for a term to use. “You boss. Others obey. Is good.”

good language

“If the Other is the slayer, what are you, Girl?”
“Me First Slayer. "

ah! So there are three of them in there!

Girl see black men hurt Other.

black uniforms, not skin? the PRH SS uniform is black, right? Or is this what happened to Senaya in, presumably, Africa?

That whoever had made her into the Slayer had done so after the last pure demon was forced from our reality, almost half a million years ago

that long? well, homo sapiens is 2 mil years old but recorded history is less than 10 000 years... even cavemen...

Honor leaned forward and gathered the younger woman into her arms with a tenderness that, while not foreign to her nature, she'd had little chance to exercise.
Honor slowly rocked Buffy as tears became crying, which turned into gasping sobs.

That makes me cry almost , really....

The girl who had sacrificed her humanity to save the human race. Who had died for them once already, and who had fully expected to again when she had leaped into the unknown.
She felt honored by Buffy's confidences. Honored and humbled.

HH gets it... wonder how this will affect her world view, the way she views herself and her own lifetime of derring-do and duty?

“Well, Stinker, are we going to keep her?”

is Buffy going to become Honor's surrogate daughter? You know, before she clears things with Hamish & Emily and all?

“Are you there?” Buffy asked silently.
After a moment, a strange voice answered, feeling as if an alien thought had intruded in Buffy's head. “Girl here.”

great scene this, wish it was longer

...“We're becoming one? Holy crap! Err... who's going to...”
The voice grew sad. “Not me. Me fade. You belong. Me soon become... echo is word. Me become echo.”

awww

Buffy's thoughts filled with that predator fierceness again. She no longer feared it. Instead it was a welcome part of her.

glad Buffy's much more cool with this

“It's Girl. She's... gone.”
Honor was surprised at the sense of loss she felt.

good homage

Words to describe a ritual of blood magic where sheer willpower wrought the thing which was desired. Buffy now knew how Honor had been healed. And she could do it again. At least she thought so. While she trusted Honor implicitly, as only an empath could, at the same time, this was something so special, so private, that Buffy didn't want to tell her. Perhaps one day...

hunh - intriguing, that

...the Clinkscales must be related to one of the Scoobies.

which one?

She'd consented recently to Honor becoming her guardian. Buffy had tried to tell her that she had to be getting close to eighteen, but Honor hadn't been swayed. As she put it, “Until you've lived in our time for at least three years, you can't expect to be able to navigate the complexities of it alone.”

yay!

Because of her merging with Girl, she had changed dramatically over the months since she had arrived in this time. Things that used to cause her so much angst, seemed to be so unimportant.

good! pity one of them enjoying terrorizing and eating the local critters

Apparently, being the ward of a Steadholder meant you inherited your own set of bodyguards, of which Jamie was the first.

great more people for Buffy to protect

Horace and Scotty... had ended up volunteering to be her... teachers would probably still be the best term.

cool - those two are amongst my fav ppls - tho it was odd that Weber told us so little about Harkness' Marine wife after she married him... Weber shies away from too much, but then again, he is a (straight) guy

“Maybe not, but every time you and I spar, I get better. Even if I don't ever beat you, I'll still be the best practitioner of coup de vitesse around. That, coupled with that hodge-podge that you call a fighting art, should make me unbeatable.”
Buffy gave her a mock glare. “Hodge-podge?”
Honor gave a little, airy wave. “I know, I know. The truth hurts.”
Buffy's eyes narrowed. “I'll show you hodge-podge...”

LOL! that was cool

"Now, it's like I can't lock it back up. It's always there. Does any of that make sense?”

wonder what effect this will have on Buffy's sex life? I mean, if she squeezes the guy's dick, he won't have one left

Great story.

See? Now I'm using words like gallivanting. I don't talk that way. It's sooo not of the good.

lol

“Wait, you guys have all kinda hinted around about things I did since I've been with you. Jamie here is the first person who said anything solid. I don't like knowing I killed a bunch of people, but from the sounds of it, they deserved killing. What else have I done?”
Gleefully, Scotty started with, “Well, there were these huge animals you've been devouring on a daily basis...”

Glad she aint freaked out about killing people... tho it sounds like the devouring might make her throw up soon enough

Hope we see the Firekeepery Slayer soon.

Her face had a severe beauty about it, like a really well-made sword.

sounds about right

If Honor's hair hadn't been as much of a disaster as her own, Buffy thought she might have retreated back to the jungle.

I woulda retreated so fast, disaster hair or no, that all Hades olympic track records woulda been kapoofed

Buffy didn't have the best grasp of Honor's accomplishments, but they sounded impressive. A lot more impressive than Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer.

hm. self esteem still low, eh?

Honor stifled a grimace. Her Steadholderness? It wasn't much worse than some of the forms of address she was entitled to as a matter of course through her standing as a member of the peerage of Manticore and as a steadholder on Grayson. The curtsy had been straight out of a holodrama, for all that it had a sense of genuineness about it as if the girl had been doing it all her life.

Good Buffy meets Honor, take 2, sorry take 1 - Honor only met Slayer before

“I... Argh! Of course I remember! But you won't believe it. I don't believe it and it happened to me!”

good line

...in the early twentieth century on Old Earth, vampires and demons had run rampant across the world.

not earlier?

... the Slayer, a great warrior of the Tester, who through her Holy Might was able to vanquish them.

Clinky's an odd sort to do the remembering, oh wait I have him confused with the old man. He's a youngster.

That had been just before the time of Faith the Pure, who drove the vampires away the first time.

Faith the Pure would be quite horrified if she knew she was remembered like that. Or maybe not...

Had Honor ever been that annoying as a teen? Ignoring Nimitz's amused “Bleek!” of agreement, Honor listened to Buffy's reply.

lol

He was uncertain of how to address Buffy. Lady Slayer? Lady Summers? Finally, he fell back on protocol for younger, honored ladies with, “I believe you, Lady Buffy.”

LADY Buffy? That sounds all sortsa wrong. Xander would die of laughter

Great, she thought, a religious nut. Not that Buffy had anything against religion. Or God either, for that matter. If you asked her if she believed in God, Buffy would have had to honestly say she did. Too many vamps had felt the power of crosses and holy water in her hands. Still, if you asked Buffy if she believed in God's divine plan for us all, she would have had to ask right back, “Are you insane?”

good Buffy POV - also enjoyed Carson's explanation.

No benevolent God watched over her. Just an indifferent one.

indifferent? Not out-to-get-buffy? good of her

Buffy had never imagined a woman so talented and strong that men were willing to follow her through hell and back. Painfully, she shied away from the idea of applying that concept to herself,

hmm

Buffy said, “Nimitz, me and you should just run away, find a tropical paradise somewhere, and live on fish and coconuts for the rest of our lives.” Oddly, a visual of a stalk of celery popped into Buffy's head. Great, now I am delusional, Buffy thought ruefully.

lol

It was almost comical to watch the huge animal finally spot her, apparently do a double take, then turn around and sprint back into the undergrowth, crashing off into the distance. What was that about, Buffy wondered. Oh well, at least it didn't seem to be dangerous.

that explains a lot

The only scenario that she could come up with to account for the changes in her body was eating a protein-heavy diet for an extended period of time. Which meant lots and lots of red meat. It was kind of ewww.

no wonder Slayer didnt want to give up control of their body

"But I have a reason beyond even the prejudices that I have from growing up on Grayson. God Tests those who are most worthy most severely. Lady Harrington is an example of that. She's one of the most capable people around, but she wouldn't be around still if not for her guard detail. I think that Athena has been Tested most severely so far. Who knows how much more she still has to deal with?”
This time, the glance that Scotty exchanged with Alistair was thoughtful.

Jamie shows good understanding of how to argue with unbelievers - not just using logic in his arguments, but also referring to his 'beliefs' in their (and my) words, 'prejudices'.

"I'm out looking for a girl. Have you seen her?”

Scotty - who's my 4th fav character in the honorverse (after Nimitz, HH, and Michelle Henke) - asks that question well - presumably he notices that this new talking girl looks is Athena

English has been the predominant language in the galaxy since the expansion.

I'm cool with pretending that languages don't evolve...

“God, I hate being the Slayer. I can't even faint when I want to.”

had never thought of that

I hope the Slayer personality hasn't totally gone away - I kinda liked her

He followed the finger to find the object of their search busily butchering a large animal several times her size. The girl was once again naked and covered in blood. She'd probably stripped to keep her clothes clean while she dressed her kill. She'd also started a fire and was busy hanging strips of meat over an improvised drying rack she'd liberated from the shuttle.

I expected Slayer to kinda retreat when the immediate Havenite danger was over, but it looks like who's left behind is Senaya and not Buffy

Jamie knew he would never get used to women who took their clothes off at the drop of a hat, no matter how parochial the rest of the universe thought him and his attitude to be.

that's kinda sweet, in a way

He could no more tell his Steadholder no, than run barefoot through the surf of the beaches of Grayson.

non-HH readers might need to be told that Grayson water is worse than Ankh-Morpork water ;-) (ok, maybe not in those words)

Honor felt a sudden realization that even if it had been a Sphinxian hexapuma there, Nimitz would have been just as unconcerned.

This is fascinating stuff - screaming at the Bearcat, etc. Senaya musta been real strong. So how much does the Slayer remember of each of the girls she occupied?

The Girl intercepted a glance from one of the men nearby. She was not blind to the looks that the men were giving her, but none were truly worthy to be her mate.

Glad she has better taste in mates than, say, Sam Carter. Okay, bad comparison.

Jamie watched the young woman watch Honor. There was none of the slavish devotion of a pet for its master, but she still had one hundred percent of her focus on his Steadholder. If she hadn't saved Honor's life and his own, he might have been worried at so much attention focused on Honor. Instead, it was just something he found interesting, another puzzle to figure out.

yeah, that is something I'm wondering about too.

It continued to remind her of a hexapuma in captivity, unable to hunt, but aware that prey surrounded it on all sides.

good one - except for the 'unable to hunt' bit. What's she just done?

Again, Honor wondered where State Security had found the girl.

Six weeks and Buffy still hasn't spoken yet? What did the PRH SS do to her?

She could feel the Other stir. The one who had been hidden for protection. Ruthlessly, the Girl pushed her back. She was not ready to yield to the Other. ....she could have imitated the sounds that the Woman made, even perhaps learned their meaning, but chose not to. She feared to arouse the Other.

Oh.

Wonder if Buffy and Slayer can work out some body sharing agreement, like the Tok'ra e.g. Jacob/Selmak

I can sense her just fine through Nimitz, but she doesn't seem to have normal emotions. Instead her emotions are more... narrow. I get small flashes of anger and fear, maybe from memories. Otherwise, there's just this sense of watchfulness. I've felt something similar from a hexapuma back home.

Good description, and analog

“I had a small amount of her blood left over from your transfusion. I tried it on Andrew since it matched his type as well. There was no effect.

I'd been wondering about that - so is Honor - either naturally or by her genetic manip - a Potential?

You should have seen her face when I gave her the first one. She took one sniff and looked at me like I had just done something unspeakably evil. Then she ate it. And demanded more.

remove the circumstances and I'd lol that

My one regret was the presence of the girl. It's hard for someone not from Grayson to understand how much we revere and protect our women.

Wonder what Grayson would make of Slayer... most consies would probably consider her as not female, or not human, or as a female non-human and therefore not a threat to their traditions. But that's if they meet Slayer and not Buffy

It was like watching death incarnate. She was so beautiful and graceful. It was also the single most horrifying thing I've ever seen.

well described - series of short sentences - of course, that's dialog so it should be

" She throws... well let's just say she would make a great pitcher for our steading's future team.”

Given a bit more time, Jamie might add, "Though you couldn't pay me enough to be her catcher."

Jamie shuddered in sympathy at the thought of being so hungry as to find them palatable.

Thousands of years and they still haven't improved mil food? ;-)

Nimitz's emotions immediately became terrified. Flight reflexes tried to get him to run before he was devoured. He managed to get down from his carrier, but somehow stopped himself from running, rigid with fear. Honor was stunned. He'd never reacted like this even when faced with a hexapuma.... This was of some great nebulous predator, larger than anything she'd ever heard of, superimposed over an image of the girl.... It was a kind of crooning noise that along with the emotions coming from her, took away all of his fears.

Okay, normally you writes good, but this is truly magnificent. Took me completely by surprised. There I was, seeing Slayer & Nimitz all friendly like, and yet we see that their start was ... different. Especially the 'great nebulous predator' bit.

If Honor's gonna think The Girl is effectively possessed... well, she aint that wrong, is she?

It's as if you or I came face to face with a Tyrannosaurus Rex and it promised that it not only wouldn't eat us, but would protect us instead.”

hunh. hm. ok, makes sense.

He wasn't sure if the girl was in trouble or not. Actually, he thought that if she were to run into a predator, the predator should be more worried...

Jamie gets it

To her mind's eye, the girl felt more like an animal, a predator, than a human. She could feel the uneasiness of the others at the girl's presence. Although Nimitz didn't share that unease. He indicated his approval of her with every moment of his rumbling purr.

cool

Everyone's reactions to Slayer is solid and plausible - what I'd expect, just better described than I ever could.

The Girl followed the Woman. When the door had first opened, she had leaped to kill the enemy. But the enemy wasn't there. Instead a prisoner, like her, stood there. The Woman smelled of old pain, and despair. But she was also strong. The Girl would follow her. At least as long as the Woman led her towards her enemies. Then she would kill. Kill them all.

Great intro scene, esp since it gets Buffy - sorry, the Slayer, Buffy's not quite around just yet - at least temporarily accepting Honor as alpha. In a strange new world, that's probably wise.

And the fight scene afterwards - awesome! Seriously. And an Armsman is saved.

Not sure how Slayer was able to stay calm enough to not hurt Jamie when he put his hand on her shoulder, but I'll take it! :-)