by P. S. Power
That was a bit difficult for him to understand, given that he’d been considered nice enough looking the day before. Now things were just different.
The powers that he’d been gifted with made less sense to him. Even if he were going to be trained to spy, it seemed a little like that might give him away, rather than being helpful. Though, if he worked it right, Timon had hinted at the idea that his body could be changed at need. Or even if he simply wanted to go back to how he was before.
The not needing to sleep thing was kind of boring at the moment, if he was going to be honest about it all. There was light, but where he was, the world was simply quiet and empty of people. So, he sat, cross legged on the hard glasslike ground, and waited. The morning would come and angering Taman Baker on the first day he was supposed to work with her was insane. It was going to end up being a lot better to be bored than dead after all.
Not that Willum had ever heard that kind of angry or dangerous thing about his aunt. Then, he’d never been told about how the mighty Wizard Tor would try to rush him the first time they met. Or that Count Lairdgren would have marked him for death right off. He hadn’t even tried to come to Will and apologize, even though he’d been at the meal with the family and their friends the evening before. The old man had made a point of approaching Diana. Their parents as well.
Not him, however. Not even to mention why it had taken place. True, Tiera had explained things, but there was no way for the man to have realized that, he didn’t think. Even if the Count had assumed that it had happened, it was a big risk, after what he’d done.
Then, the fellow might simply not have taken him seriously as a threat, as long as he was merely himself. Really, the fact was that he hadn’t been much, the night before. Now he was going to be very hard to hurt, didn’t need sleep and might even end up with some basic magical training. Willum wouldn’t even have to try and harm the older fellow to be a pain in the backside. For instance, just going around and breaking things in Lairdgren could hurt him. An entire county had been taken that way once, not long before. Thinking about it, the names came back to him.
After all, that had been County Baker. The one that Queen Tiera of the Moon had won by assassination when she was fourteen. The information was very clear to him now, even if he’d first heard the tale when he was a boy. The class space came back to him. Mrs. Sams was the teacher at the time. It had been about two months before they’d gotten the new slate blackboard. Now that he thought about that, it hit him as strange. Pine Creek wasn’t large enough to have a school budget really.
The kingdom required that everyone be given a basic education. That didn’t provide coin for it. That kind of slate came from a long way off, as far as he knew. It had come in by wagon, but wasn’t something that one of the local farmers had cut for them or anything. They’d gotten new books every year or two as well. On top of that, Mrs. Sams had taught him and Diana several languages. The meant she was the kind of person who knew that sort of thing.
Yet was happy living in the woods with her husband, teaching ten children over the years. For what had to be no more than a few coppers a month. The village couldn’t have afforded more, even if she was worth it. Now of course, it was plain that she had more resources than just that. From Countess Thomson, naturally. What amazed him was how obvious it had been at the time. Even before being altered he’d gotten a lot of it.
There had simply been portions of it that made the whole thing come together for him. Once he knew a bit more about what had probably been going on. Worse, it was clear that the entire village of Pine Creek had been designed by someone. Probably as a place for his father to live in secret. Hidden away, pretending to be a simple baker. Or, not pretending, but the economics of the whole thing didn’t really make sense. Most women could bake bread at home, after all. Taking flour and making things from it, while a skill, wasn’t a thing that you needed a dedicated man for. True, their bit of forest had tastier snacks and holiday breads. Cakes and pies that were of higher quality than they might have otherwise…
It just wasn’t enough bodies to keep them alive all the time.
Everyone in the place stopped to get their bread each day. That was still only about eight loaves worth. Once a week or so, everyone had something nicer than that. Which most of them, like Old Larry, bartered for. They’d always had enough coin however, from someplace. The village had magical road making equipment as well. Tools and things that, now that he thought about it, were worth hundreds or even thousands of golds.
From family. That had never been spoken of, but now that he had both time and the knowledge, it was kind of clear that he hadn’t grown up in the normal, rather poor, place that he’d been thinking of. There was even more than that, now Will considered it.
For instance, they only had one or two visitors per year through the well kept roads on the ground. At the edges of them the things were no more than mere dirt paths. Around the village they’d put in large focus stone roads. He’d done a lot of that work himself, over the years, so knew all about it. The farmers there didn’t even take things to market, when they got crops in. They canned it all for themselves.
Yet they always had flour for the shop. Foods that came from the large Timon devices. That was the due of any person, of course. He’d never seen it come in, however. There were just large crates of things every month or two, in the center of the village square. That alone should have informed him of a lot. Willum’s brain had always just filled in that kingdom people had come in the night, delivering things. Maybe ones from the county. That was still probably true, but now he had to consider that it probably wouldn’t have always been while he slept.
Something large flew overhead. From the sound of the wings and the dark blob of the thing, it was a bat, instead of a flying person, or a bird. There weren’t a lot of stars in the sky for some reason, but he could see the brighter ones being blocked out in its passing. His middle burned at him a bit, after a while. Tim had mentioned that he’d need more food, but it was really strange that what he’d eaten had worn off already, like it had.
Sitting there, he ignored that part of things. He could use the red hut to move to a place where food was available, but doing that would mean going away from the location he was supposed to be. Not that it really made any more sense to him to be there at that moment. Really, he was a bit afraid that if he didn’t do what Tim had told him to, that he’d be punished somehow. The man had made him superior already. Transforming Will into a dog couldn’t be that much harder for him to manage.
For all he knew, Taman would be able to do the same thing.
Stewing on things was his only real entertainment, but on the nice side, as the sun finally rose, hours later, real people started to move out into the world. Not Taman at first, but common looking folk, who had strange features. Their faces were a nice tan, if a trifle square seeming. Everyone had brown eyes, as well as thick black hair. He tried to make his own hair match that, as soon as he saw them. It was still short, so he stood out, naturally.
Interestingly, without saying much at all, several women walked over to him, smiling and carrying clay pots filled with water and food. That was mainly fruit. They weren’t wearing much clothing, which was embarrassing for him. It should have been anyway. Instead of leaving him looking away, as if they were scandalous and he was about to be beaten, he simply stood and nodded toward them, looking them in the eye, more or less. It was tempting to seek lower, since they all stood there dressed only in very short red and green skirts.
Their chests were bare, except for lines of blue on their skin in places. They had different patterns, though none of that seemed to be words. Not even the writing of Soam. They had that kind of thing, which was blocky and represented whole concepts with each sigil, instead of letters. Noram kind of did both, so Mrs. Sams had taught them how to recognize the things, if not what they all meant. This was probably decoration then.
It was kind of pretty, he decided.
When he
spoke, he tried to make his voice soft, since the people, all women, looked to be feeling wary of him.
“Hello! I’m Will. From the north? Taman Baker is my aunt. I’m supposed to meet with her for training.” He didn’t add more than that, not knowing what anyone was allowed to know about. Not even if it was supposed to be secret. Being a spy might mean that. He guessed. It at least sounded about right to him. The whole idea was to get bits of knowledge without being obvious about it. Oddly enough, his newly light skin marked him as an outsider more than anything else. In the distance he saw a man wearing a simple skirt, just like the ladies in front of him were. That was green, so he focused on that.
Matching the look.
Even doing it in front of the women, they all suddenly relaxed.
“Ah! You are family of our pale lady? This is of great good then. We have brought food and water. You may bathe, if you wish? To that direction there is a pond, made for such. You need to eat?”
That was just the truth. A bath sounded nice as well, suddenly. The world was so humid already that dampness had collected on his skin overnight. Cooling as it got near him, thanks to his shield. Except that, when one of the women patted his hand, she easily made contact. Then she held her hand on his for a while, smiling as she looked directly into his eyes. It was kind of friendly seeming, in a way that he’d never noticed before. When he looked up however, the man in the distance merely waved at them, rather than rushing over to chase him with a club.
“That sounds wonderful, to be truthful. I stayed here all night, having been told to come. Then it was dark. I used the…” He waved at the transport hut. Oddly enough Mrs. Sams hadn’t given him the words for that in Soamish.
The women understood what it was at least, he thought. They didn’t name it either, in particular.
Still holding his hand, rather gently, the woman in front of him smiled, looking directly into his eyes.
“That is the way. Here, drink. Eat. We will leave you now. If you need me, ask for Itzel.” She looked down then, at his middle, her hand moving in that direction. He got the idea however. The name might be real, but it also meant jade skirt.
That was what the woman was wearing at the moment. She seemed to be about his own age, or a little younger, even. The other women didn’t even chuckle at her antics, though they were clearly more mature. They sagged in places that Willum had never even thought of a woman having an issue with before.
Then that kind of thing had always been hidden from him.
“I’m Willum Baker. Call me Will?” He didn't know if his name would be hard to recall for them, being so strange. Waving at him, like he was their new friend already, not a stranger who’d simply shown up, they left then. Walking away, giggling a bit, while taking turns looking back at him over their shoulders.
The fruit was strange, with much of it being rather sour or even bland to his palette. Still, nothing made him ill. He knew that, since his hunger drove him to eat a lot of it over the course of the next hour. Then he was left full, but sticky. Not wanting to seem like a small child, trying to blend in, he moved to the pool that had been promised for bathing. No one else was there, so he risked nudity, to scrub up. Using the clean sand that had been left on the bottom of the thing. That had, very clearly, come from someplace else. Nothing grew in it, except a bit of green slime that always seemed to happen when you had rocks and water. The whole thing was clean, being made of focus stone. A magical river about six inches across flowed into the pond, with another clear line of shimmering wetness leaving on the other side. That one led over to the small pod where, if he was correct, Taman was staying.
That seemed correct, since after a few minutes, she showed up in her own person. The woman was as pale as the night before, but seemed more normal in size now, instead of tiny like she had with all the giants around.
“Good morning! I noticed that someone had been holding a picnic on my porch, nearly. I figured it would be you. That, or some random person come to sell me something. Given that one has never happened here, the first bit was more likely.”
Trying not to be rude, he covered himself with both hands. He was on the edge of the water, about ankle deep. Instead of blushing and running off, the woman shook her head.
“No. The custom here is to bathe naked. No one would cover up like that. Not even if they became aroused. So, wash, and act like this isn’t scandalous and shocking.” She was speaking in Soamish, so he did the same, trying to copy the accent of Itzel from earlier.
Without pause he did what he was told, squaring his shoulders a bit, facing her directly. That got another head shake.
“That’s not it either. Bathing is communal here, but you just bathe. That’s a bit aggressive. Turn toward the water, looking at me when you speak. Without acting shy about any of it.”
She did all of that herself, so he got the idea, copying her.
Taman produced magical soap, passing it to him when she was finished with it. It smelled of flowers, but wasn’t really there, so it wouldn’t foul the water when the device was turned off, at a guess. The woman was naked, but acted like nothing bad was happening. So he tried to pretend to the same thing himself. Even if it was totally different than what his entire life had taught him to that point. He was in a different place. Supposedly to learn spy related things. He didn't know if this was one of them or not.
“Better, by the way. You’re a bit stiff still. This would be enough so no one here thinks of you as a stranger. The skin is a giveaway, though.”
He nodded then, understanding that. He was also more muscular and defined than the men in the area had been. Glancing down, he realized that Timon hadn’t been kidding about the manhood portion either, though how that differed he wasn’t about to be able to guess. Taman nodded as he assessed himself, seeming to understand what he was really doing.
“You look good. A bit too much so. That’s a flaw of Tim’s work on people, in the main. This look will work in a lot of places however, so we’ll keep it for now. I don’t know how much you were told about the plan here? Trice came up with it, in the main. The technical portions are a group effort however, so will be different than what anyone else has ever undergone.”
“Really, I wasn’t told much. Not even why I should come here, other than that you were family and wanted me to? We’re too close to get married, aren’t we?” He thought that was the case. It was hard to know however.
“Yes. Really, even though it won’t be a…” She paused, then smiled at him, part of her words moving into Standard. “You know, I don’t know the Soam words for genetics? Anyway, it wouldn’t be a problem that way, given the changes made to you and how I was born. We can have children that won’t be born monsters. Not that I can afford to get pregnant right now. I’d wanted some little ones, but had that part of me torn away by Timon, so that I could actually think. It was my major flaw, before. I was too baby focused for someone that’s involved in a war.”
That got him to nod at her, trying to think about himself that way.
“I guess my flaw is that I’m not certain about what I’m doing here.” It wasn’t a real thing, but allowed him to turn the conversation around to get at what he wanted to know. He scrubbed himself as they talked. No one else came for the time being.
“That… We need someone that can go into other worlds and blend in well enough to pick up information. So you’ll have to learn other languages. Quickly. Home Tongue… That was actually a language learning tool developed a few thousand years ago. Those who grow up learning it find it simpler to gain new ways of speaking faster than others. Much so. Dumas mentioned that he wanted you to learn English? Your sister Diana as well? You have to be in Lairdgren later today for that. With Doris. When you get there, I want you to try to seduce her… After you get the day’s study done. Do you understand what that means?”
He kind of did, in the roughest fashion possible. Men married women, then did adult things in the night that no one else was supposed to know about. Seduce
meant to get to that part of things. Possibly without the marriage taking place first. It was the kind of thing that got men killed where he came from. Except that no one did that kind of thing, so that never truly happened.
“Ah. Well, no? I mean, I get what you mean, I think, but not how to do it. Any part of it.” He felt slow and silly suddenly, his manhood growing as the idea came into being.
Worse, his aunt looked right at that bit of him, smiling. It was creepy of her to do that. He nearly scolded her, but she spoke first.
“We’ll cover that. I have some people here that will help you that way. Whatever you think about that… Well, I’m from Two Bends, so I know. Put that away. Now. Don’t even consider where you come from. Not ever again. Do you understand? When you stand in a place, that is your place. Their customs are yours. Totally. If that means being modest and polite, then you do that as if born to it. If it means servicing a boat full of sailors with your mouth, then that’s what you do. Understood? We don’t have time for you to spend four years melting down over that kind of thing.” She sounded harsh about it, which probably had more to do with the idea that she figured he really was going to have those issues.
That wasn’t incorrect. He was at about half firm at that moment, and wanted to run away and hide his shame. Which she was trying to tell him they didn’t have time for him to fix in any kind of a normal fashion. So he nodded at the water, glancing at her, not even moving to hide himself.
“I think I understand. I… Really, I thought that I was going to learn other things here. Magic maybe? Honestly, past that I don’t know what else.”