“From....”
“Your other half,” Sascha said, dryly.
Reese eyed Hirianthial, who was far too good at those innocent looks. Had he learned them from Liolesa, or had the Queen learned them from him? Maybe they’d inherited them from a mutual relative.
“It was a good cause,” he said, unperturbed by her scrutiny.
“Right,” Sascha said. “So we bought this, fair and square, and now it’s yours.”
This was not an explanation guaranteed to settle the flutters in Reese’s stomach, but what could fluster her anymore? She’d had a castle dropped on her by a queen! Reese pulled out the parchment and looked at the certificate with its embossed seal and all its real ink signatures… and almost dropped it. “You didn’t!”
“We did,” Irine said smugly. “And it’s in the middle of your hometown, too.”
They had bought her a Founders’ Stone. The certificate of authenticity came with a photograph of her new tile on the Liberty Wall, one she recognized even though her visits to what was charitably known as ‘downtown’ had been rare. The custom of selling such tiles to fund the maintenance and rebuilding of Mars’s habitats and ports was as old as its colonization, but even though the Eddings family had been eligible to claim one of the coveted Founders’ Stones, they never had; having proof of continuous residency since the emancipation wasn’t enough if you didn’t have the considerable sum required to pay into the pot. As far as Reese knew, no one in her family had ever seriously considered it. The only times it had come up, the idea had been dismissed: better things to do with money than get your name stamped on some piece of rock where everyone could see it. Reese had never thought of it because using the Earthrise to create a continuous source of wealth had turned out to be so much more difficult than she’d dreamed. It hadn’t taken her long to understand the most strategic investment she’d be making was what bulk foods could be used to stretch the value of her last bent coin.
She knew the twins were thinking it justice that her name should endure in the place where she’d been disinherited. Reese was mostly thinking that some of her windfall had come back to the place she’d been born, which needed it so badly, and so long after she’d given up hope that she’d be able to help. Her eyes watered. “This is... this is wonderful.” She wiped her eye with the side of her palm and added, “And completely worth the money you stole from me to buy it.”
“It wasn’t stealing!” Irine objected.
“It was creatively misappropriating!” Sascha agreed. “And with help, too.”
She reached over and took a furry hand in each of hers and squeezed them. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“There’s another thing I got you, but it’s up in your room,” Irine added. “You can look at it later.”
“Oh, blood—”
“It’s not anything as racy as you’re thinking!” Irine exclaimed. “It’s just clothes! But... you know. Personal. Just replacing things that are getting a little old. You know.”
“Right,” Reese said, sure she was blushing now. “I’ll definitely open that one by myself then.”
“Big box next!” Irine said.
“The smaller one’s less intimidating,” Reese said.
“That’s why you should do the big one next!”
Hirianthial laughed. “That one is from me, you will find.”
“Do that one next definitely,” Sascha said. “Angels know what the Queen’s gotten you.”
“I feel my reputation is taking an undeserved thrashing!” Liolesa complained. “Not all my presents are heart-rending or earth-shattering!”
“Some are merely astronomically expensive,” Kis’eh’t said dryly.
“Hirianthial’s box,” Irine said again.
“Right.” Reese had to perch at the edge of her chair to get it to fit lengthwise on her lap, and it was heavy. Was she nervous? She was nervous. She glanced at her fiancé, who lifted his brows just a touch, and there was encouragement there, and tenderness. So she undid the thick satin ribbon and lifted off the cover and gaped at the coat lying on the puffed satin interior. And the jewelry. No, she stared at the coat first because the jewelry was intimidating.
As she lifted it from the bed of tissue, Hirianthial said, “I thought you would need something to wear on Lady’s Day, and you were not likely to go in a gown.”
“Not if I have to ride a horse,” Reese agreed as even Araelis exclaimed over it. Not a coat, now that she was looking at it more closely… something like a cloak, but with a fitted layer beneath it that could be buttoned over her chest, and slits for her arms, and a hood. And all of it was velvet in pale peach that deepened to a warm coral color at the bottom hem. And lined in cream-colored satin and fur…! She ran her fingers over the fur, astonished by the texture of it, the glossy hairs on top and the soft plush layer just beneath.
“I recall you liking the cloak you borrowed at the townhouse….”
“No, no. You don’t have to apologize. This is sumptuous and beautiful and probably crazy expensive, and I love it.”
“You can even wear it over pants!” Irine said.
“And I can even wear it over pants.” She chuckled, low. “You know me so well.”
“I hope, a little.”
That left… “But this, though.” She was almost scared to pick it up, but it deserved to be seen. She would have called it a crown before she’d come here, but she’d seen Liolesa in a crown, standing on the hill looking down on Athanesin’s army. “Crown” meant a serious band of metal and precious stones, something heavy enough to sink your heels a few inches into the ground. This was more ethereal: a fillet of what was no doubt real gold, or maybe something more terrifying, like gold-leafed platinum. There were three stones in the center: two cabochon rubies the size of Reese’s thumbnails, and between them, a tawny fire opal with play-of-color in splashes of red and green, and if it wasn’t at least the length of her thumb, she’d eat her data tablet.
“Oh,” Araelis breathed. “Oh, House cousin… don’t tell me some of them were saved!”
“He had some in keeping in the palace vaults,” Liolesa said. “More than you think, Araelis. I think you will be gratified.”
“It’s… I can’t… this is….”
“You must, Theresa,” Liolesa said firmly. “It is an appropriate gift from a former Head of House to his betrothed.”
“Oh, verily!” Araelis said. “That is the Dolorith opal, Lady Eddings, and I thought it was gone with the fire. To see it again is… oh, it’s wonderful. By the Goddess, the traitor didn’t destroy everything that was once ours!”
“It has a name?” Kis’eh’t said, ear fans sagging.
“The gemstones of significant character that have been with us since Settlement do, yes,” Liolesa said. “Each House has its own trove, and the principals of the family may bestow those gems where they will, though they rarely do. No, that is a fine gift, Theresa, and deeply symbolic.”
“It’ll also look amazing on you…!” Irine exclaimed, eyes wide.
“So let me get this part straight… this gemstone is thousands of years old?” Sascha said.
“Most gemstones are,” Kis’eh’t pointed out, amused.
“Yes, but…”
“You’re sure about this?” Reese said, to Hirianthial and Araelis both. “If all Houses carry their wealth as gemstones and Jisiensire just lost most of its… this… you should take it back to rebuild.”
“It is his to give,” Araelis said softly.
“And Jisiensire is not poor even now,” Liolesa added. Something about her voice....
But Araelis didn’t seem to notice. “She is correct. And Laisrathera does not yet have any named jewels, and should have at least one. It will lend the House legitimacy in the eyes of those who revere tradition.”
“It matches the coat!” Irine added.
What could she say? Except, “I’m honored.” She ran her finger along the gold leading back from the rubies. “It’s unbelievably beautif
ul.”
“Do the rubies have names too, or are they riffraff gemstones, trying to pass for better?” Sascha said, grinning.
“They have no names, no, though they are as old,” Hirianthial said, amused. “They’ve always been used in concert with other stones. It is when they can stand alone that they earn a name.”
“Only here would a gemstone that size not be enough to be set in jewelry by itself.” Kis’eh’t shook her head. “I can’t imagine what your rings must be like.”
“Because we rarely wear them,” Araelis said. “We use our rings to state our family allegiances. One ring per hand per person is proper.”
“We make up for the lack with brooches and pendants and fillets and hair-strands,” Liolesa agreed, pleased. “You will look the proper lady now, Theresa, when you go down to your town for the holiday.”
“I will,” Reese agreed, resting the fillet back in the box. She looked at the last package and said, “Blood, I hope whatever you gave me is less overwhelming, my lady.”
“It is at very least less expensive!”
That was somewhat encouraging. But not much, because when Reese opened it she found a choker of apricot-colored moonstones and rubies, faceted this time. “You said--!”
“It is not a historied piece, I pledge it!” Liolesa said with a laugh. “No, no, don’t throw my own stuffed toy back at me. I ordered it for you, and I promise it is a modern piece and far less fraught than something out of the vaults of Ontine. You will have to grow accustomed to such gifts, in fact, as the colors you’ve chosen for Laisrathera are rare in our gem hoards.”
Reese lifted it, found it breathtaking, was still terrified. She could have filled the Earthrise’s holds completely for the price Liolesa had probably paid for something she considered a bauble. Sometimes she wondered how she’d gotten mixed up with these people… but then, she was becoming one of ‘these’ people. A woman with a castle, a ship, a baby crown, and a Founders’ stone? Teenage Reese wouldn’t recognize herself now! She shook her head and chuckled. “You really do like buying presents, don’t you.”
“It is one of the few pleasures of being a queen, and one with a modest fortune.”
“Modest!” Sascha exclaimed.
“Alas, I keep having to divert funds into things like importation of foodstuffs, and building of moonbases.” Liolesa sighed. “My life, aletsen, is a trial.”
“Then absolutely, I should keep this and say thank you,” Reese said, tucking it back in the box. “You having so few pleasures in your life.” The flash of the rubies in the firelight just before they vanished under the lid made her think of giving this box to a daughter one day. Laisrathera now had a modest trove of its own to pass on to its children. The idea made her smile. “I’ll wear it to my wedding.”
“Is that everyone?” Irine asked. “Because if it is…”
“Then the Stranger is left with her untoward gift,” Araelis said, eyeing Liolesa.
“It was the right time,” the Queen replied, unrepentant.
Araelis shook her head, the minimalist twitch typical of the Eldritch, and opened her envelope. There were three sheets in it, separately folded. The first, Araelis frowned at. Glancing over its top edge, she hazarded, “A map?”
“Indeed,” Liolesa said.
Kis’eh’t, who was sitting closest to Araelis, said, “Looks like a star map.”
Araelis had already set it down and was puzzling at the second page. “Names,” she murmured. “None I recognize. But they look like offworlders? What are you about, Liolesa?”
“Continue and see.”
Araelis sighed, visibly exasperated, and put down the list of names. Reese caught a glimpse of a paragraph on the last page as the Eldritch unfolded it: one paragraph, and a short one, so it couldn’t possibly be taking Araelis as long to read it as she was taking. Were her hands trembling? The woman slowly lowered this last page and said, “You are serious.”
“More to the point, they are serious,” Liolesa said. No, that wasn’t Liolesa anymore. That was the Queen again, and there was that battle flag in her eyes somehow. Challenge, Reese thought. And maybe what Araelis needed to pull her from the devastation of her life was challenge, because she didn’t back down from the stare.
“Who’s serious?” Reese hadn’t planned to ask, but she wanted to know.
“But where would we….” Araelis trailed off, then picked up the map again. “Don’t tell me.”
Liolesa smiled, eyes hooded. Seeing it, Araelis’s chin jerked up. She handed the map to Kis’eh’t. “Alet. Tell me where this is, please?”
Kis’eh’t glanced at it. “I’m not the navigator here. Sascha?”
The Harat-Shar took it from her hand. “Hells, who prints out something three-d like this on paper?” He turned it upside down, then clockwise. “Ah, okay. Yeah, this looks like one of the undeveloped sectors? Not far from here. Nothing’s out there, though.”
“Something is now,” Hirianthial murmured.
“Or will be,” Liolesa agreed. “If Araelis is willing.”
Reese knew about the world the Alliance Colony Bureau had granted the Queen because Hirianthial had mentioned it to her not long after they’d started work on Laisrathera. It had seemed like sensitive information, so she hadn’t shared it, but she thought Sascha had known… was sure of it now, because he leaned back and put his elbows on the seat of the chair he and Irine’d been using as a backrest. There wasn’t enough tension in him to indicate surprise. So it was Kis’eh’t who said, “You have a roster of strangers and a map. Does that mean you have a colony planned?”
“Not strangers,” Araelis said, her voice brittle. “Kin.”
“Kin who are Pelted…” Irine trailed off, then brightened. “You said you had adopted a pard! So they’re all…”
“Harat-Shar!” Kis’eh’t exclaimed, and laughed. “Goddess! What a world that would be.”
“Wouldn’t it?” Liolesa asked. “It only wants someone willing to emigrate.”
Araelis was folding each paper deliberately and returning them to the envelope. “You are,” she said, the words slow and clipped, “the most managing female, Liolesa.”
“Positively interfering, if I recall correctly.”
“I think asking someone to start an entire new colony for you is certainly interfering. Writing to my Pelted relations and asking them if they are willing to join me in the endeavor before you’ve even discussed it with me is even more outrageous.”
“But?” Liolesa pressed.
“But… yes.” Araelis sighed, then shook her head. “Goddess and Lady, Liolesa. You will drown me in fur.”
“Better than sorrows, cousin,” Hirianthial murmured.
“So this is real?” Irine asked, awed. “You’re starting an entire new settlement somewhere else? With Eldritch and Harat-Shar?”
“I hope you’re not thinking of bailing on me,” Reese said, grinning.
Irine waved a hand dismissively. “No, you need me too much. But still. That’s going to be something to see!”
“It will be something you do see, I imagine,” Araelis said. “We will need significant trade with the mother planet for some time before we are self-sufficient. I am hoping you are not saddling me with the rulership of this enterprise, Liolesa.”
“Only of your family and the move there,” Liolesa said. “When I choose a new heir she will become the viceroy of our colony. But you will have first choice of everything, and it is to you and your passel of pards that I will look to conduct the in-depth surveys, choose the site for the capital, and make recommendations on the development of appropriate resources. Lesandurel will, of course, be at your disposal for creating all the necessary orbital accoutrements.”
“Accoutrements,” Sascha said, shaking his head. “Like it’s some kind of fancy ball gown.”
“What a task!” Kis’eh’t said, eyes wide. “You’re going to be very busy, Lady Araelis.”
“That, I suspect, is the plan.” Araelis eyed Liolesa
, then sighed and smiled. “And it is a wise one. I know what you intend, Liolesa, and… thank you. You give me something to look forward to.”
“And your son or daughter something to rule,” Liolesa said. “You have responsibilities yet to the succession. Do not forget.”
“I don’t! And she will inherit something not born from ashes.” Araelis trailed off. “I have not the first notion how to begin, in fact. This is an enormous undertaking.”
“How convenient then that the pards are arriving in two weeks!”
“Two weeks!” Araelis squeaked.
“I said ‘yes’ for you,” Liolesa said modestly.
“Liolesa Galare!”
“Here,” Irine said, handing her the plush. “Throw it at her. And then I’ll take it so I can throw it at my brother—”
“Hey! What did I do?”
“Because you knew! You knew they had another planet and you didn’t tell me!”
Sascha held up his hands. “It’s not my fault! A man hears things when he’s tagging along after high-level ministers of state! That he’s not supposed to tell!”
“You’re in trouble now,” Kis’eh’t said, chuckling.
“This... seems a good time for more coffee,” Reese said, getting up. “What do we do next? I can’t imagine spending another four or five hours playing card games.”
Kis’eh’t snorted. “Card games! Ridiculous! The Queen has given us something far more interesting to do until dawn than play.” At the blank looks she received, the Glaseah said, “Lady Araelis has never built a colony.”
“Neither have we,” Sascha pointed out.
“No, but we’ve started building a modern settlement here,” Reese said from the sideboard. “It might not be exactly the same, but I bet we could find a lot of parallels.”
“Certainly enough to begin,” Hirianthial agreed.
“Is it all right to do work during the Vigil?” Irine asked. “There’s no prohibition against that, right?”
“Are you kidding?” Reese said. “This might be work, but it’s the fun part.”
“I would appreciate the advice,” Araelis admitted, smoothing her envelope’s edges on her lap. “And it would be pleasing, to look forward.”
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