by P. S. Power
'I'll say it is. If this becomes known, about Deborah and I, then it will harm my parents a lot. The bit about Winslow and Werner would as well. They aren't doing too well socially at the moment, and having a hired man that likes other men is basically an admission that father enjoys a bit of the boys at times. It isn't true, but that's what will be said. If you come forward and toss me under the lorrie, then.' She came to a dead stop in Gwen's mind, then carried on, her tone a bit more thoughtful than was normal. 'You know, we may as well. People know about Erin and I. Deborah is a rather noted and hated tribast, so no one will be harmed on that side of things. It will still damage my parents, but not nearly as much. No one will make claims of father being a pervert, just a poor parent. More of the same is better than a new and false charge.'
Gwen had to make some guesses then. Tribast probably meant lesbian, for instance. That was just a language difference that was the kind of thing she tried to pay attention to.
The other shot in the dark she took was a bigger one, and didn't have a psychic connection as far as she could tell. There was no sense of pressure in her head to give that away, but the whole thing was just timed a bit too closely for it to be random, wasn't it?
Gwen looked at Beth and then Ethyl.
"So, no matter what's done here, Ethyl and Robert will look bad? Almost like this is actually an attack on them? That sounds familiar, doesn't it?"
A bit of a backing up, away from murder for hire to trying to make someone look bad, but there was a thread to it that might be followed. Bethany tilted her head anyway, thinking about it all, then seeming to agree.
"I can see it as possible. It might pay to find who informed this Mr. Clements of the facts in this case. We don't have enough facts however. There is also an immediate problem here. If we allow Will and Charles to be made public, then the wash will fall in the laps of the Vernors immediately. If you step forward, it will slosh over toward them, their daughter being made into an object of scorn once again. Worse, it infects you either way, by association." Her saying it got everyone to seem sad, for some reason. Gwen snorted.
She was copying Kate, but did a great job of it.
"This isn't that big of an issue. We'll just go and chat with this Mr. Clements. I'm sure he can be bought off, if we throw enough mets his way. If that doesn't work, well, then I'll call in some favors. I think Ferdinand will help out, if I ask him. Chris might, too." One was the King, the other a Duke, and on top of that, they both liked her for some reason. "I'm sure that the three of us can take this guy, if we put our minds to it."
Ethyl made a face and sighed. It seemed pretty put upon. Like the weight of the world was suddenly being dropped on her shoulders.
"Rather a high level to bring into our little affairs, don't you believe? I'm certain we can deal with this without that level of power being sought out. At the very worst, Robert and I will take our lumps and simply walk on. That's preferable than you being involved in this, Gwen."
After a second, with a bit of restlessness from inside herself, Katherine being antsy, Gwen had to agree. It really was a bit too much to bring to bear on that idiot Clements. He was trying to be a petty asshole, and had already probably taken a bribe to make the threat.
If that was true, then going and asking him about it was probably enough. The trick would be in keeping things private. The only real power a newsie had was publicity. They couldn't afford to scare him into taking action that way, trying to keep himself safe.
"Agreed. We won't need that anyway, I bet. Beth, Peter and I will just go over and have a talk with the man, and deal with it all. It won't be a problem." Because if it was, she'd kill the man. Death wasn't the best way to fix all your problems, but it was so easy to get away with now that she had magic.
She could do it without even ever meeting the man now, she bet. No one had mentioned it, but Mona had forced her to learn how to teletransport things from a distance. It could be handy, she knew, since she could get her purse, or some mets from her dresser, no matter where she was at any given moment. At the same time she could also collect part of the annoying man's brainstem, and no one would be the wiser. The guy would just die, and they wouldn't have to hide squat.
Which, she decided, would probably be evil.
More than just that. It would be the first step to her deciding that it was all right to rift and get rid of armies if they pissed her off. A slippery slope, with her name written all over it in butter. All she had to do was take that first step, and inside a few years she might well be a monster the likes of which no world had ever seen.
That wasn't a good thing. In fact it was one of the few things that she'd always tried to not let herself become in life. People had called her that, but she'd never stooped that low.
"So, bribes first, then threats? If that doesn't work... Then I'll just take the hit and make it seem like it was me that had the relationship with Deborah, not Kate. No one can blame the Vernors for what I do, being an adult, and not their child. It will end things with Chris, unless we can get him to claim it was a group thing?" She nearly grinned, but didn't, since Charles made a face that seemed like he was about to cry.
She'd never seen him be that emotional before. Not in that way.
"I'll tender my resignation." It was spoken softly, the words having a very strong effect on Will. He actually teared up at it.
"No! Miss Farris said-"
A hand came out, this time with no fist being made. It was just an emphatic gesture.
Charles seemed angry now, but in a quiet way. It was a thing that Gwen had never really seen on him before either. Rage. Not out of control however. He turned red, then stared at his boyfriend directly.
"Miss Farris isn't part of this. Don't you see William? The only person without blame here is her. We can't let her be harmed because of our... Weakness. Placing your career, or my own, above her is worse than wrong. We should strive to protect these others, if we may, however. The Vernors never made an issue of my predilections, even knowing that having me work here could be a problem for them. I swore to myself that it never would be. Now it's time for me to make good on that."
Gwen rolled her eyes, as Katherine filled in what was really going on. For once it was helpful.
'He means to kill himself, and probably Will, to protect everyone else. Maybe this Clements man, too. It would be a waste. He's a very good butler.'
Because of course it had to be that big of a deal. They couldn't just work this out like normal people. Then again, if it were taking place in her world no one would care all that much if the Vernors knew a gay guy or two. Really, even if Robert wanted to do things with them, as long as Ethyl was cool with it, things just wouldn't have been that big of a deal.
Here the rules were too different for that. On the one side things needed to be covered up, and on the other, no one wanted to get the people involved that could actually do something about it. A nobleman or two could pretty much just ride in and tell Mr. Clements to keep his trap shut, and he would.
She could go over and probably deal with it all too, however. One way or the other. It might be a risk, just murdering a man over this, but Gwen could do it. Worse, or better, she could get away with it, even if it was sort of obvious that she'd done it. She'd done that kind of thing before. Not even a month prior, actually. It wouldn't stain her soul too much to add this fellow Clements to her list too, would it? Yes, it was a slippery slope, but...
She shrugged.
"How about the assassination attempt last week? Six days ago now. That hasn't been in the press, and is a pretty big story, or could be. We can leak that to Will, to buy time, and then figure out how to deal with Mr. Clements. How did he find out about you two anyway? More, why would he try to blackmail you, um, dark letter you? Like he has? I know you said you begged him for the right, instead of just being fired, but... I... You wouldn't be willing to claim he tried to extort sex from you, would you? Nothing makes a claim fall on deaf ears like a similar one being made fi
rst." It was sort of evil, but could be done, if they had to.
Then she shrugged.
"Oh, or we could claim he rapes children. Bribe a mother or two in his neighborhood to coach their little boys into claiming that? It works where I come from, as far as keeping people quiet. Claiming he made a play for you Will, which you manfully resisted even under threat, would work better though. No harm to the kids for one thing." Plus it was easier to put together. She waited for the reasons why they shouldn't do it, but no one said anything.
There was no happy smiling either. Ethyl looked angry, but firm, as she stood there, her arms across her stomach, like she was feeling a bit ill. It was a thing that Gwen understood, or so she thought.
"We shouldn't let you be involved, Gwen. That's part of this that Charles has right. You're being used in this by a person, or persons, who simply has no right to make things harder for you. We need to find them, and end this. Now." She sounded both upset, as in near tears, and fierce, at the same time.
Luckily Pete was there. He was a kid, but had a good head on his shoulders and was looking to get more "reward time". If that meant being the voice of reason, then he was going to do it, in spades.
"I think we don't need to worry all that much here. The fact is that throwing a bit more garbage on the Vernors won't do more than their daughter being a known body thief. She liked women too? I doubt that will influence anyone to hate. They hire men that like other men? Other than make the parties around here a bit more interesting, that can't outdo having Westmorlands around, can it? Even having Gwen here is bigger than either of those things, if in a good way. I think we should come out with all of it, and see if you can't invite the King over for a party again. Put it out so hard into everyone's face that no one in the world will assume there's more to it than what you say."
Gwen clapped.
"You still have to do the radiatives teaching for the reward. Even if that is pretty good. I think you have a real point though. Why not? I mean, Charles, you do like men. You do too, Will. Why not come forward and say so? What, it's going to keep you from having a date with a hot blonde woman?"
No one liked that one, except Peter, and the plan was pretty much overruled, due to propriety.
Because that made sense.
In the end, after two hours of arguing the point, Will had to leave for work, needing nearly a whole hour to get there, even if the Telesar station was about thirty minutes away by private lorrie. Then, Will wouldn't have one of those. Only the richest people had things like that. She did, and called for her buddy James to come and drive the man.
The driver was polite, on the Telestator, as she spoke to him. His job was driving though, and it didn't seem that over the top for him to come and get her friend, to take him to work, did it?
"Right away, Miss. I can be there inside twenty minutes." That would put him in at about five in the afternoon. It was just about perfect, she decided.
"Wonderful! Oh! Can you and Ella come to dinner with me soon? I have a business proposal for you both." She kind of did, so it was a real enough reason to hang with them both. She also liked them, so there was that. "We'll want Doctor Professor Grainger, and Honey, as well."
"I think so, Miss. Ella was thinking of inviting you to meal soon. She spoke of it just the other day."
Gwen had to like the sound of that. It made her feel nearly like a grown up and everything. Invited to dinner parties. Well, she hadn't been yet, and it could just be James being nice, but if that was the case, at least he was bothering. Not everyone in her life always had.
The hard part, after that, was trying to insist that she be allowed to go and see this Mr. Davis Clements right then. Not a single person there thought it was a good idea. Even Heather, who was normally far more than willing to take a fool out of play, wanted her to stay out of it. In fact, the Westmorlands all tried to distract her from it. At first she didn't get it.
After all, what was the point of doing that? Gwen promised that she wouldn't kill the man, or just walk up and confess to secretly liking the taste of girl. Other than that, she couldn't see it as an issue. She didn't plan to grab the man and simply torture him for information. It was a plan, but they had a perfectly good Bethany there, who could, very proficiently, read freaking minds. For that matter Pete could do it, though he wasn't supposed to. It was his primary power though, and the one that he found easiest to use. Except healing.
Everyone had that as their strongest, which made her feel lazy again, not having learned any yet. If she ever got the time, she promised herself she would.
"Come on guys, I'll be good. Why shouldn't I go?"
It was, helpfully enough, Katherine that answered when the others all refused.
"You're going to be a Duchess, Gwen. Unless this stuttering and magicless Duke of yours realizes that a lot of women will marry for a title. Then you might be out of luck. Your Westmorland pets are tortured into loving the highest, aren't they? I really would have thought you'd have gotten that part by now. Why else would they put up with you?" She said it out loud, which had Ethyl glaring.
"Katherine Marie Vernor! We will not have that kind of talk here. Apologize at once!"
Gwen was suddenly back in control, and still being stared at, by the lady. Everyone else was looking away. It was a thing they did as a group.
"Um, she's back in hiding. Is that it though? Not that you're my pets, or that I'm that horrible to be around, but that I might be marrying up like that?" It had crossed her mind before, but Beth made a face and nodded a bit.
"We have been cutting you some slack due to that. Poor Mona cried each day after you were done with your training, and it isn't just because she loves you that much as a person, I'm willing to wager. In this case however it's simpler than that. If you go, you'll make a giant hash out of things. We need to send someone that has the needed skills for it, but whose very presence won't be taken as an implied death threat. You simply aren't the right person for that job. I'd send Peter in, alone, being nonthreatening still, in appearance, but he's too far the other way. The problem there is I don't know who to get for it. None of the family. Either family. Who does that leave? Mr. Winslow would do, except-" She winced, and did that looking away thing again.
Charles glared, but at William, who looked at his shoes.
For once though, Gwen thought that the answer was rather clear. It was a business related thing that might take money. Mets, that was, given where they were. So they'd need the right man for the job. Luckily, they already had him on retainer.
"Solicitor Grimes? He can go in first, with his ward, Bethany, so she can read this fellow's mind? Or, are you too old to be a ward now? You look young, but... Maybe Pete should do it? That would mean getting him trained up for telepathy first though. He's still on a healing rotation for that, isn't he?" She spoke like she wasn't talking to him directly, while looking him dead in the eyes. He was still working to heal the half crippled Will, but nodded.
"After a fashion. I've been doing a lot of other work, magically, of late, but I can do that. Really it's just that no one has bothered to come up with a new way to set up telepathic protocols yet. You should get on that, Gwen." There was no poke to the ribs, to nudge her into action, but he did it with his voice well enough.
It was a real point too.
"I'll get in touch with Central tonight and see if we can work something out for it. I'd really love to have someone on the ground that could find out who set this all up, and how."
Beth didn't seem too put out by not being invited directly, and actually smiled about it, since Gwen had pretty much just handed them a win. They weren't wrong after all. Half of what she'd done since getting to this new world had ended in death. A news man might well know that, too. If he were the type to pay attention. The big thing there was that he was going after her family and friends.
He should have known better than to do that.
Gwen let her chin come up, and spoke to Ethyl.
"Can you set th
at up? We should make a point of having him and Agatha Longbranch in as soon as possible. We'll need to clear her, but if she isn't the one trying to take you down, which I doubt very much she would be involved in, then she's exactly the person we need in on the investigation. If anyone knows the polite social circle better than you, it would have to be her." Unless that was wrong.
The truth was, she realized inside her own head, Agatha was just a person that she associated with being nice and polite all the time. She was pretty much the Western Kingdom's Miss Manners, so to her mind that transferred to being invited to all the best parties, but it might not be the case.
Ethyl seemed to agree however. It was in her body posture and facial expression, Gwen thought. That was the kind of thing she'd always had trouble with. For the longest time people only gave her three cues, so she learned those really well. Disgust was the most common, followed by hatred and on occasion, pity. This wasn't any of those. There was a subtle nodding at least, which really did have a positive feeling to it. It could have just been her being polite though, not desiring to insult Agatha, or even simply wanting to have her friend around.
Gwen knew she normally felt better when Beth was there with her.
Ethyl gave an answer almost immediately, her voice sounding kind and gentle, if not truly excited about the whole thing.
"I'll invite them over for a late dinner tonight? Agatha will scold me for doing it at the last moment, but this is rather an emergency. There must be allowances for such things."
There was a pause, and Gwen realized what it was going to mean to her personal plans. Instead of going, right then, to confront the evil Mr. Clements, and possibly kick him in the groin a few times, or torture him into good behavior, she was going to have to wait. Just sit back and let other people handle things for her.
She hated that.
In her life nothing good had ever really come of letting anyone else do things for her. In fact, in the main, no one had ever helped her in any meaningful way at all, other than medically. A few people had really done some work for her in that regard, back in the day. If not for them, she wouldn't have lived as long as she finally had.