by Dasrim Hasik
"Alara, Bridget, I will need the both of you to fulfill my agenda for the city. The least you can do is be civil to each other. Whatever is going on, I don't want to be part of it. Alara, Bridget was just showing me some of her thoughts for the city as well. Nothing has to be set in stone right now."
"Damn right it doesn't! Remember that we run on a very organized system here. Bridget is a nice woman, I will give her that, but she wasn't born into the leadership class, and she would not be suitable marriage material for a man..."
"Excuse me?" Bridget's face was turning a clear shade of red that only meant one thing: her temper was flaring, and that only meant trouble.
Jack tried to be soothing. "Look, I know there's a lot of foundations being tossed around and reshaped. That's going to give rise to a lot of frustrations. I can't even imagine how it felt to feel abandoned. And if you two ladies are feeling like this, chances are good that others are feeling the same way. There's nothing that I can do about that other than to just apologize, and try to make it right. That's about all I can honestly do. If you want something more than that, you have to tell me. Can I trust that even if you won't level with each other, you'll at least level with me?"
The women both nodded and Alara smiled a little. "We can hash out the rest over breakfast. I can't really calm myself on an empty stomach."
Bridget looked at Alara warily, but shrugged. "I'll get you a plate."
As the three of them sat down, Jack realized that it was definitely a rough start to the road ahead of them but some things were more important than a few hurt feelings over some misunderstandings.
He sat down to his breakfast while the inner voice that had spoken so candidly before simply chose to laugh...and laugh...and laugh. It was an eerie sound, considering that it was all in his head. You can't go back, Jack. You can never go back. Even when they say you can go back. You will never be the same. Remember that, if nothing else.
He felt a deep emotional release all of a sudden, as if a door was being closed before his very eyes. Even though he couldn't see the door being closed, he realized that it was probably a very important door that needed to be protected for some reason. Being shut out of moving in and out of that door worried him but he couldn't think about that right now.
He continued to try to put the women before him at ease and at least have a pleasant breakfast. This can be a great day still. I'm just going to have to learn how to take more control and deal with whatever comes of these changes I make. As a king should, of course.
Chapter 4: Green Shoots and New Beginnings
Bridget and Jack were standing in front of JANE as Alara was convincing them that she really couldn't spare the time to go with them. For Bridget, the act grated on her nerves. Breakfast was barely tolerable due to Alara constantly grabbing Jack's hand and cooing over the two of them and all of the changes they would be making.
Alara had been a merchant's daughter long enough to know that Alara would never see things any other way. She had been born into the leadership class, the elite tier of society. She wasn't going to listen to anything that meant she might not get the power she was craving. Everyone within her class had known about the Reversios and their thirst for power. They constantly cultivated Dreamers and felt that the power to create the future should be locked down to them and only them.
Thankfully, that idea didn't catch on -- the king had allowed anyone and everyone to reach for their dreams ...even if the Council felt it was dangerous. She wondered if the unrest could be linked to the Council's thirst for power, but she shrugged that off. Would they really turn against their own people just to accumulate more power?
Wouldn't it be easier to think about all of the different ways they could honestly rebuild the society around them? That's what she would do, but she knew better than to compare and contrast. People like the Reversios only cared about increasing their station. Even if it meant they had to steamroll other people in order to get the things that they felt were important.
It was nice to get away from Alara, but she knew it wouldn't last long. The other woman would find some way to get Jack all to herself, where she could get her way. She hadn't been awake through the night when they first arrived, but she didn't need advanced school credit to know how Alara wanted to persuade the king into doing whatever she wanted. Then again, if I looked like that, I guess I would be used to getting my way too.
She just tried to see things in as positive of a light as possible, and that meant following the king -- her king, to be truth. She had chosen to follow Jack even before she had seen the visions that he would be the next Dreamer to join the most elite sect of all sects within the realm.
Their time on Earth just solidified her choices. She knew that Jack would rise to power and be a good king. He just got lost along the way, and she suspected that power hungry players like Alara and her father were at the root of Jack's downfall. It will not happen a second time. It won't. I will not allow it.
She looked over to find Jack just looking at her with a confused look on his face. She could read his emotions, and figured he was just trying to be nice to her. There was no way that she could hold a candle to Alara, so there wasn't any point in trying to play the siren or the vixen.
Those were roles that Bridget didn't really understand. She would be more at home in some deep, dark laboratory working on some sort of new product for the king's personal cache of business holdings. Her dream was to be at the top of Rising Tide Capital Holdings, the king's holding company for all of the projects that were near and dear to his heart. At least, they used to be.
Rising Tide Capital needed someone to truly want to build something wonderful there. It would not do to just let the company sink into another slow period, where people didn't know if they would even have jobs in the morning. Despite Alara's lectures about the leadership class, they didn't really know how to lead.
Try juggling the payroll needs of 5,000 people, and then you can tell me you run something. She thought of her parents, who dreamed of a bigger business and actually doing some good to the community. She really needed to see her parents and just let go of all of these spinning games that just made her dizzy. But she felt a strong need to stay with Jack, especially as he seemed to be missing so many of his memories.
Jack reached out for her hand and she gave it to him without thinking. It wasn't quite what one would call a friendly grasp, but it wasn't a touch that Bridget was eager to reject. She wanted Jack to notice her and actually want to spend more time with her.
"JANE knows where the army's headquarters are. They will most likely want you to give them the okay to start producing more weapons and also to open up the training facility again. That would bring others into the city again."
"Are there other cities?"
"Absolutely! Reversia is just the main City that everyone thinks of. To the east is Schaler, as you know, but before you get to Schaler there's the City of Adroxia, and also the City of Lioleas. If you venture out even further to the west, you'll find the City of Hannaport, which has a thriving sea trade that you have to experience firsthand. Oh, and the music capital would have to be the City of Rollander, where the melodies the Rollander women sing are soothing enough to even make the most hardened soldier find their inner peace again."
"What about money?"
"It's a mixed system, really. What you call cash we would probably refer to more formally as Reversian Marcars. One Marcar is equal to 100 Mincars. I guess those would be like your pennies from Earth, yes? Well, it takes 10 Mincars to make one Dincar, 5 to make one Nincar, and 25 Mincars to make one Qincar. We have bills of one Marcar, five Marcars, 10 Marcars, 20 Marcars, 25 Marcars, 50 Marcars, 100 Marcars, 500 Marcars, 1000 Marcars, and even 5000 and 100000 Marcar bills. The currency is backed by the precious minerals of the planet -- primarily the Stratztar and the Berrant."
Jack eased back in his seat and tried to process all of that. "Stratztar?"
Bridget giggled.
"It's a very har
d metal, but it's not as widespread as you might think. Mining companies take great risks to get Stratztar for the businesses that depend on it. Stratztar conducts heat and holds temperature very well. You can use it in just about everything you can think of. Don't you guys have that type of thing on Earth?"
Jack rolled his eyes. "You know we do. Gold, silver, platinum, palladium. My sister's boyfriend's parents are always ranting about the rising and falling prices of those metals, but they’re way too expensive for a small fry like me to invest in that type of thing."
Bridget nodded. "Actually, your holding company buys up quite a bit of these metals for their own use. You have plenty of it. I told you -- money isn't an issue for you. We have plenty of resources to do great things with."
Jack noticed her blushing and he just smiled at her. "We're in this together, like I said. This is your home, too."
Bridget didn't say anything for a few moments and Jack turned his eyes back on the scenery around him. He could see why she felt so passionate about it. As they left the main ring of the City and began to move towards the more rural side of things, he appreciated the way the blue sky wrapped around the double sun and seemed to light up everything around it. He felt good, like nothing could bring him down. Her voice returned in a very soft fashion, but he could hear it clearly.
"You really do honor me, and everyone that was devoted to this movement from the very beginning. We want a brighter, happier place to call home, and we trust in our king to the very end, no matter what." "Why do you trust me so much, if I've changed so much?"
He didn't mean to take it there, but the question had to be asked. He had to know why she was so trusting of him, if she worried and fretted so much about him at the same time. He wanted to make sure that she was really on his team. Was it really an inappropriate question to ask, given the circumstances?
He wanted to make sure that everything was taken care of in a certain fashion, but he didn't want to leave Bridget behind. Someone that had that type of faith in him when nobody else really seemed to truly be on his team was refreshing.
Always reward loyalty, boy. Trust me on that one.
Who are you, really?
Short question, long answer. You aren't ready for the latter...boy.
Jack frowned, but brushed it away. He needed to concentrate, and running in circles because of a voice he imagined wasn't going to do him any favors. He thought simply about what he would say to the army.
He knew that he would probably spend the next few months apologizing and trying to make things right but that was perfectly okay with him. He knew that he had a lot of amends to offer and he needed to have the right attitude.
If he just assumed that everyone owed him something because he was king, he would be in for a lot of resentment. Frankly, he didn't think that he deserved to avoid that type of resentment at all. The people had a lot of good reasons to be angry with him, and that meant that he was just going to have to deal with anything and everything that came along with the job.
He wasn't going to sit and complain about everything that seemed to annoy him. Instead of complaining, he was going to embrace the job and see what he could do. That was all anyone could honestly say in his shoes, so why stress over it?
JANE chirped pleasantly when they arrived in front of a massive compound, more like its own little city than anything else. The gates were staffed by soldiers that looked over them carefully. The guards noticed the car and saluted the king with pride. "Please come through, sir. Anyone at the main headquarters would be more than happy to speak with you...Your Highness."
He felt good that someone had recognized him and actually seemed happy to see him. Oh yeah, today's going to be a great day.
Alara smoothed out her hair and tapped her family pin for the thousandth time. Even though she had transmitted herself where she needed to be, she still felt nervous. This was her family's estate, where order and efficiency reigned. Anything that was out of place was going to be cast aside, and nobody cared if that "anything" was the daughter of the main Councilman.
She had grown up in this mansion, surrounded by wealth, power, influence, control, and structure. Nothing but structure and rules, all designed in theory to make her a model citizen.
On the surface she was definitely a model citizen but that didn't mean anything. She knew that anyone with half a brain could see that she was up to no good. The trouble was that they couldn't challenge her and hope to see another day intact.
The years had brought many rivals, but Alara knew how to make things look like more than what they were. A last minute rash on a girl's face before her opening debut ball could knock her out of the running for a popular and highly eligible suitor, leaving her to have to fend for herself in the open world, or have to take anyone that would have her after making such a spectacle of herself.
She even knew how to charm her way around the school, where rivals that would have outshined her had to suddenly explain why they copied their essays off the Reversia Communications Link information web, when it is so effortlessly to catch thieves in this fashion. Their academic careers came to an end, leaving Alara free to shine like the star she knew she was supposed to be.
It wasn't like her parents would accept anything less. Her mother constantly harped on the importance of marrying within her station, and doing better than where she was raised.
That meant that the amount of opportunities to marry well were severely limited. Oh, it wasn't that the marriage proposals weren't coming in the mail. It was that she was already the Councilman’s daughter. How much more "up" could she honestly go?
Some women of the leadership class could get away with marrying soldiers, as long as they were officers. There was no such thing as running away with some rank and file type that could barely afford to send money home to their families.
Doressa Reversio made it clear that she would not welcome a son that could not provide her daughter with the lifestyle she had grown accustomed to...and then some.
Deep inside, she envied girls like Bridget that could date and marry as they pleased, work where they wished, and travel as they desired without anything or anyone holding them back. It was hard to believe that she had so much power on the surface, yet very little control when and where it really mattered.
"Darling! How good to see you...but how awful of you to just show up unannounced. I haven't even had the best dishes polished for you." She tried not to make a face as her mother went down the stairs gracefully, dressed from head to toe in a sea of luxury fabrics. Only the best weavers made Mother's silks, and she hosted parties to make sure that everyone knew it.
She was raised up like Alara had been -- in a sea of nannies, housekeepers, cooks, and other servants. There was no question that she would marry well, and her father had ambition in his eyes even from the very beginning. He took over his own father's position on the Council, working hard to become the leader in his own right.
They were a match made in heaven, if you imagined two predators finding common ground in each other. They were often so busy with their own intrigues that they hardly had time to really think about what Alara needed or wanted.
That was for one of the nannies or governesses to worry about. She was left to think about a life that wouldn't mean strategy games -- but that was just a dream. To move higher, she had to set her sights higher.
At first, Jackson Stonewell seemed perfect. He was the newest Dreamer, and a shoe in to be king. The world accepted him, and there was nothing that anyone could say about that. He had power, he built a business that seemed to be wildly profitable, and he had decently good looks. She still hoped the children of the future between them would have her looks over his, but that was vanity talking.
As Alara made herself comfortable in the sitting room, she realized that she forgot her silk gloves. Her mother was a stickler for tradition, and she forgot the gloves. Please don't notice it, Mother. Please? She knew that despite her thoughts, her mother would notice. She would tur
n it into a sign that Alara was neglecting her station, and make sure that Alara didn't hear the end of it. It was something designed to hurt her, and she knew that by the time this visit was over, she would be in tears.
No, that wasn't quite the case. She wouldn't cry in front of Mother or any of the servants. She would wait until she was on her way back to Quiet River and then let it all out -- in the dark, with the windows shut, where no one could see her disgusting flaws, sickening weaknesses, or outright failures.
Somewhere she could just be another Reversian woman with a few troubles, a few worries, and a few dreams of her very own. Like Bridget. She bristled. No, I am nothing like that...that woman. She's beneath me.
"Always missing things, like a poorly cared for toy that no one wants anymore. For shame, Alara. Do you forget your role in the world?"
Alara closed her eyes briefly and tried to regain her composure. "Of course not, Mother. I have come here so urgently for your rock solid counsel that I admit to forgetting my silk gloves. I ask for your forgiveness and beg for your attention to my weak pleas for assistance."
As her mother's lips curled into a full grin, Alara fought the urge to grin herself. The woman was a complete sucker for flattery, and making it sound like Alara needed her mother's help no matter what always got her mother to focus on what was really important.
"Of course you need me, darling. You are still unmarried, still without child, and you are not the Queen. You have a long way to go to becoming even half the woman I am. Thankfully, you realize that. So I will help you...for now. What is your trouble, child?"
The military headquarters was clean, up to date, and rather filled with people considering that the town was only slowly starting to show signs of new life going on. It was something that intrigued Jack.
Everyone was still running scared except for the people that decided they would do whatever it took to protect the town. Of course, when you got to play with state of the art weaponry and vehicles, he figured there were quite a few that wouldn't pass up that opportunity at all.