by P. S. Power
He tapped the code to get to Petra's name, and found it faster than Gerent thought he would have. Then he pulsed the unit and waited about a minute before a familiar voice spoke. Her face was just visible from where Gerent sat, and the mustached man smiled.
"Petra Ward? I'm calling for Gerent Lairdgren. One moment." Then he turned the thing in his hand and held it, so that Ger's fiancé would see the side of his head as he piloted the space vessel.
"Hey! I was thinking that I'd visit with Countess Printer, first, and let her take her part of things directly. Can you help set that up? You know her and I don't, really."
Dorgal rolled his eyes, but didn't speak, and Petra smiled happily.
"When are you coming? We could have a parade ready."
"Um, probably about fifteen minutes, if I go slow. Where should I land? Outside the main city there?"
There was a long pause. "I don't think so. We had an attack here a few years ago, from the air. That would frighten everyone. Let's see... Can you set down over the ocean and come in from the west? Slowly? It will take a while to get everyone around. If you orient on the castle, that should work. I need to get with Holly now." Then the thing turned off.
He didn't comment, just settling the huge vessel over the ocean, and taking time to use Ali's special device again. For the last time, he decided, until after he slept again at least. There was a lot to get done, but staying up forever would end up going wrong. There was already a fuzzy quality to his thinking, for all that he felt fine. A haziness that didn't seem to go away this time when he hit the sigil on the front of the stone slice.
So, real rest would be needed, soon.
Not until after that delivery however. He needed to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything, so looked around and blinked, hard. There was someone missing.
Collette. Panicking a little bit, he patted his right side tunic pocket and then realized that he had to land before reaching out to her. He felt pretty bad, but he hadn't even remembered her, until that moment. He was her ride home, too. If she'd been left on the Moon, then he didn't doubt that a certain newly minted Lunar Prince was about to end up in a great deal of pain. He decided to get into place first, before trying to talk to her, since the yelling and screaming might distract him otherwise.
He settled the ship about a half mile off the coast, and started walking toward the mainly empty holding bay at the back of the craft. As he did, Dorgal and Eto following, with Erid coming along as soon as they walked by the open door to his room. Gerent pulled the correct speaking device, and found the right name. Baronetta Collette Coltress. Just in case he'd forgotten her title and what that might mean. That he'd probably insulted a noble woman. Greatly. That was never a good plan. There was a quick response at least.
"Hello? This is Collette."
"Hi! Um, Gerent here. I was just wondering if you needed a ride anywhere?" He held his breath, waiting for her to say that, yes, she would like to be on her own planet. There were just a few soft chuckles however.
"I, surprisingly, am good. I needed to get to my businesses back here, in the Capital, so got Sara to bring me. I figured it would be faster. Besides, I wanted to make a connection there. The woman goes almost everywhere, and it can't hurt to have some connections that can do that. Or two, given that I also know you. Is everything going well? Do you need help with your end of this?" There was a guarded, and hesitant, spacing to her words.
Ger thought he understood that. She was passing him a message. His end of things. Not the program's. To her, that probably wouldn't mean the aid. No, it was the other project that she was most concerned with. Taking down the people that had hurt Petra, who was, after a fashion, a relative of hers.
"Not so far. That might change however. Most of the cargo is gone, but a lot of visits are left to come. I think that I'm going to dump a lot of that work on the various fast message services. I'm going to have to sleep soon, too, so I was thinking that after my next meeting, with Countess Printer, that I'm going to catch a nap. Everyone on the ship has to be close to exhaustion. Oh, I um, have the former King of Vagus, and their current Ambassador, with us. That isn't the same person. We need to take the Ambassador at least in to meet the King and Queen of Noram. Probably the Prime Minister of Austra too, and that lady that runs Afrak now. Abbey's mother? Tiera of course, but that will be in a few days." He stopped and looked at the others with him, who all seemed to be ignoring his conversation, which probably meant it was being memorized for all time. He would have been doing that if someone else was talking about casually visiting all the world powers like that. "Thankfully we have all these devices now. It will speed things up so much. So, am I forgetting anything important?"
There was a moment of silence and then a rustling of paper in the background. He'd asked, so Collette was actually checking the documents and notes she had on the subject. It was fantastically efficient. For a second he wondered if he wasn't making a mistake marrying Petra. Not that she wasn't wonderful, too. He smiled, thinking about it, because frankly, having that kind of a dilemma was so much better than anything he'd ever felt before. He was worried that he hadn't picked the correct incredible woman to be his wife. Him? Gerent the freak? If that was the kind of thing he got for problems from then on, he needed to plan more parties, because life was, truly, worth celebrating finally.
His friend's voice was very businesslike when she replied.
"I'll set up something with the King's people for the Ambassador. Do you know anything about him?"
Gerent looked over at the tiny woman, and then smiled.
"Yes. First of all, that's her, so we need to get that one correct. Her name is Mage Eto. That's her title, too. High Ambassador Eto of Vagus. The polite form of address is just Ambassador Eto however, or Mage Eto, to her friends. She's very nice and speaks some Standard, so that shouldn't be a problem. Their Mages are different than our wizards, so everyone needs to make certain not to try and bribe her for anything. It would be highly offensive." He wondered if he should add in a hundred silly protocols, but decided not to be that mean. Part of being funny was in knowing when to quit.
Collette, from the scratching sounds she was making, was taking notes.
"Got it. I'll pass that along. Now, the former King?"
"Dorgal Sorvee. He's traveling with me for now. Crew. Running a business out of his room, and one of the back docking sections." There was more writing then, and Dorgal just tilted his head side to side, but didn't speak.
Collette didn't get the idea that he was right there either. Luckily she was a polite person, most of the time.
"That's kind of you. I imagine that he'd want to leave there, after what happened. That's so sad. He and his wife had just gotten married. Is he well? I've met him a few times. A friend of Tim's I think."
Gerent looked at the man and then nodded. He was a widower, but still young. A few years younger than Collette, most likely. Not a noble by birth, but he'd been a King once, and that had to count, didn't it? As far as the three steps went, that should put him nicely outside and above that kind of thing totally.
"You are too, right? A friend of his? It just occurred to me that you might want to look at him for marriage, if he's willing. King Dorgal, I mean. Should I hire a go between for you? I don't really know how that's done. I can keep him moving around for a bit while you get set. No one else will be able to find him that way, before you're ready. Like a pea under a cup. He'll never know what hit him, if you do it right." He was teasing, but it was clear that his words made Dorgal angry, at first. Was he still in mourning? If so... Well, then he'd have to apologize.
The man's face turned to a smile however, when the woman spoke.
"That... Really, he's a pleasant and attractive man, and we do know each other. So, yes. Let's go with that plan. I'll ambush him with a go between as soon as possible. Can you get him to Warden tonight? I'll have Maria hire one for me. I hope he doesn't have anyone else yet. Thank you, Gerent. That was most kind of you, thinking of me t
hat way." Her voice was slightly too sexy for mixed company, so he cleared his throat a little.
"That works, get with her now and I'll try to have him there for dinner? The Ambassador too, so warn them. If they don't take this seriously I think she might just cut them." Since the tiny woman had a knife in her lap, if one made of bone, that seemed likely.
Collette sobered a little in her next words.
"Fair warning. I know that I'm serious. Do you know how hard it is to find someone in your marriage pool for a noble woman? Don't tell anyone else about him, please? I mean, let me make the first grab? That sounds desperate, but he's a catch, and the cupboard is bare for too many of us. I'm not certain that I could handle all the competition."
"I'll do that. Don't worry. I should probably go soon, I'm about at the back of the ship. Love you." He was surprised that he'd said it, but at least she answered back politely, with a tiny lilt to her voice, that made it into a game, rather than a pledge.
"I love you too. See you soon."
It was the very small woman, who was he realized, floating along, instead of walking, who spoke first.
"Shall I prepare the dung fire?" There was no smile along with it, but Gerent actually got that one, and nodded. It was how they got married in Vagus, hopping over a little fire while holding hands, in front of everyone.
"I think so. Collette is very lovely, and smart too. A good match for Dorgal. They have friends in common, and she's a successful business woman, so if he has to go around giving everything away, she can keep him in clothing and food." He looked at the lady and let his mouth quirk just a bit, then whispered to her directly. "Do you think I've done enough to get him interested? I could tell all the stories I know about times she's done heroic things..."
There was a gentle pat on the back, that hit low, since the man wasn't as big as Gerent was. They all kept walking however, until they got to the door they needed.
Then the former King stopped.
"You know, I hadn't even thought about it. Lyn and I weren't a love match, but she was a good woman. Smart, and funny. I guess it's time to think about moving on, but I haven't really yet. We'd just gotten married when she had to go and spend her life to save the world."
Then, as if to deny the words he just used, he did just that, and moved on, walking through the door in front of them all. Gerent followed along, since it was his ship. The others kept up, and after a bit Erid organized the portion of what was left to go to Holly Printer. It didn't take a full Timon-Craft. Not even close. As it was he made the one he was using smaller, so that the paucity of it wouldn't be as apparent. Three chests. Large ones, and full, but after all they'd given in the last days it seemed to be stinting the lady.
He knew that she simply didn't have as large of a space to cover, and that meant fewer mouths to keep fed, housed, and clothed. It was still a bit embarrassing, when he got out, the three boxes, all looking like fine jade, since Erid had decided that would be a nice touch, followed him like puppies. That reminded him to take Boxy out for a walk, the next day. After he got that sleep. If he did.
Standing tall and proud, along with eight guardsmen, who were Gerent noticed, half women, and about fifty people that seemed to just be folk from the city, the Countess smiled. They cheered, those common people, when his feet finally reached the beach's sand.
Countess Printer, dressed in fine clothing, and looking like her skin was flawless, thanks to a disguise amulet, he thought, or real makeup, stepped toward him and bowed, getting everyone behind her to do the same thing. They went very low. No one stood until the Countess did, and even then there were some in the crowd that held the move, not wanting to risk angering anyone by being impolite. You might look clueless, doing it for too long, but no one could take offense at it.
In fact, a very low or long bow was considered extremely polite.
"Prince Gerent, of Harmony, we welcome you and your friends to Printer."
She stopped, and looked at the rest of the people with him, her face fixed and not displeased at all.
Everyone from Harmony that had volunteered was there too, since they'd been told that this was the last aid mission for the time being. At least until they all had some rest.
It was an interesting problem, being a thing that he understood instantly. He was supposed to introduce everyone that was important, but they were all so varied that it was hard to tell who that was, at a glance.
"Countess Printer, may I introduce a few of these others? Not everyone, since we're all eager to see to your gifts. The gifts for your County. I have a few for you as well, but that should be done in private." He made a face, and rolled his eyes as a few in the crowd covered their mouths. "No, not that kind of private! Silly people." He winked at them all, obviously, which didn't work as well as it should have. They fought the chuckle that he'd earned, not wanting to be impolite to him.
One by one he did the people with him. Starting with Dorgal, since he used to be a King. Then he hit Ambassador Eto and finally High Servant Erid.
"He's the High Servant in charge of world aid, right now. That makes him one of their very top people. Second only to Karen Derring, I believe?" He looked at Erid, who narrowed his eyes only slightly, and bowed a little, acknowledging that. It was true enough, but also clear that he wasn't holding an official title as second in command. Denying it would be claiming that Gerent was wrong, however, and doing so in public.
"I stand ready to serve, Countess." Then, a bit surprisingly, he bowed first to the lady herself, then the entire crowd watching them. He was tall and clearly a noble, but Gerent had a feeling that, if in that moment someone needed a horse stall mucked, the man wouldn't have hesitated to grab a shovel. It was humbling. He should be more like that, he decided. Willing to help people all the time.
They all should be. Things would work better if they did that. Everyone bowed back at least.
Then Gerent waved at the rest of the people. "Now, don't be confused, we have a full cohort of worthy people here, but not enough time for all of them to announce themselves. We've worked for two days straight, with no sleep, or real rest, so please excuse us going through this rapidly! It's my own weakness that causes it to happen. Let me show you all how to use these things? Then, if I may borrow your Countess for a moment, I'll finish things up here?"
He knew that he was being a performer, more than a noble, playing to the crowd and not the ruler, but thankfully, traitorous rebel or not, the woman didn't seem anything other than slightly amused by his antics. They did all listen and watch, then helped move sand and rocks into the big hopper of the food unit he set up, which looked very clean, there on the beach. Unlike the other places he'd been, Countess Printer took over almost immediately, once she realized what they'd given her people.
"Emory? I want every major city in the County to have at least two of these, and each town of more than ten thousand to have one. The small villages will have to share, but try for one to be within ten miles of everyone. Use the new ground craft for deliveries. Set a schedule, so that everyone gets enough. Ride through the night, everyone. We have people that are far too close to starving out there. Leave no one hungering by morning! It's our duty to see to the well being of all."
She looked over their heads, at the horizon. Just enough to the side that they got a glimpse of her face on the left, her blue eyes sparkling in the mid-day sun. It was, he decided, perfectly done, and people cheered for her. He did too, clapping after a bit.
"If I can have a quick word? I could use some aid of my own, on a project."
She walked with him to the side, as Petra, who'd been in the crowd, working not too far from there as she was, came over too. That was a literal truth, since the school was in walking distance of the beach they stood on. The Countess gave her a single head shake, but Gerent smiled and put a hand out toward the tall, dark skinned woman.
"This concerns her, in part. First, I have those things for you, that I mentioned. Gifts from various people. Some communications d
evices from Terrence Baker. Countier First, Baker. That's important, since they're very good, and hard to make things. Here let me show you?" He did that by punching in Erid's name, not wanting to wake anyone by mistake. When his picture came up on the pale stone, in full and living color, her eyes opened a lot. Even more when he moved and spoke to her.
"Countess Printer? Do you need me for anything?" It was very polite, and Holly, while shocked by it, was smart and a quick learner, it seemed.
"Not at the moment, High Servant Erid. Prince Gerent was merely showing me how to use this fascinating device. I can connect with anyone that has one?"
They chatted about that for a minute, with her seeming pretty grateful for it, especially when she learned that everyone was going to be getting them. All the Counts, Countess's and even the Dukes and Duchess's. There was he thought, a plan for even more than that to be made, but it would happen slowly, over the next year or two.
"That's impressive. Terrence Baker, you say? Is he related to Tor?"
Like all the best wizards weren't at least in that general group? Still, he didn't want to bother the woman, who was probably being just polite and knew more about the kid than he did.
"A brother. Mine too, though there it's by adoption. Also a Prince. Second in line for the throne? Tiera, Timon, Terry... Tess, Tara, Tenent and Taman. I think I got the order there wrong. Tenent is before Tess? I need a chart."
To his surprise the lady gave a tiny nod, "I have one. I could have it copied for you?"
He thought she was joking, but said that would be nice and then gently pulled his future wife over, and held her hand. That got a long look, and before he could say anything, the Countess took his hand too, and then Pet's on the other side.
Petra smiled, her lips twitching a bit.
"I don't think he was suggesting that we all go to bed together. Though we should, soon. It's something else. We're going to be married, Gerent and I. You'll come to the wedding? It's going to be in Harmony, but we're taking care of transportation. I was hoping that you'd agree to stand for me?" The way she said it made it seem like that, their future wedding, was the real reason they were all talking.