by P. S. Power
"Yes? I... hello?" She stared, and then looked at the tray, which was nearly at eye level for her, given that she was pretty small. Five-seven, he thought. So a near giant to someone like he used to be, and a near commoner to the being he'd been made into. It was pretty clear that, like everyone else in the world nearly, she didn't see him as the same man she'd known.
Shrugging a bit, he tried for a pleasant expression, and gave a tiny bow.
"Um, it's me, Gerent? I grew a bit since we last met? More than a little. We spoke of that happening, when I was in Grenwyn last?" He wondered for a moment if having a sign printed up for him to carry around with that written on it would help. Probably not, since it would end up just being in the way more often than not.
He still had to wait for her to work that out, her mind clearly not wanting to do that much yet. That would have to be changed, somehow. She looked so miserable he had to fight to keep pity off of his face. He always hated being pitied, himself. Forcing that on someone else was worse than almost anything he could think. Almost. There were a few things.
The woman opened the door a bit wider and tapped the glowing sigil on the wall, just inside the door, which made a light appear from the ceiling. It was a glow that covered the middle third of the decently large space. Like sunlight, if not as bright.
"Please, come in. I... wasn't expecting you. Are you well?" She spoke the words, but it was clear that she didn't really care about the answer.
Ger grunted and made a point of brushing her shoulder on the way in. The fabric slid off his arm and she didn't look affronted by the gesture, which was good, but also didn't seem to notice it. That part was less than what he'd hoped for. It was a flirting and playful thing that was probably inappropriate given the fact that they didn't know each other very well. He nearly pretended to trip, but he didn't want to get her a new tray of food. Instead he located a large table, one that had two chairs at it, and set the meal down, uncovering it, and arranging it all inexpertly in front of the end. Then he pointed at the wooden chair, a dark and slightly shining thing, and smiled.
"Sit. Eat. We need to talk about some things. First, do you have plans for the next month, or so?" He knew the answer, but it was polite to ask.
She seemed surprised, but managed to get into place easily enough. Her thin frame made no sound as she settled. Her skirt wasn't too heavy, but she waited for him to sit next to her before speaking.
"I'm... free. Why? Is there a problem?" She looked at him, finally managing something other than a desolate expression. It was a bit surly, to tell the truth, but he could work with that. This wasn't him begging for a crust of bread on a street corner after all. He had emotional leverage already, didn't he? For one thing she hadn't even screamed at him yet for the murders he'd committed.
"Not a problem directly. I'm getting married soon? Petra Ward? I hate to say it, but I set Laurie Baker up to do most of the work, replacing my mother, forgetting that I actually had one now." He delivered that with a small bow, since it was, at best, a polite fiction. They both knew it too. "So, I need you to go to Harmony with me tomorrow and help with that. If you're willing of course. If not... Well, I understand. I lived my whole life without a real family, so... I can see not wanting someone like me being a burden on you." The manipulation wasn't subtle, but that was the kind that worked best. Blatant and obvious, but still pulling on the heart strings.
After a moment she bought time by taking a bite of food, or starting to. Gerent stopped her and dug out his poison detector, waving it over her meal. Nothing happened of course, but she nodded to him, with a bit more firmness than she'd had before.
"Thank you for seeing to my care. Now... Do you really need me to go?" There was deep suspicion in her eyes, as if she was accusing him of setting the whole thing up, betrothal and all, just to shake her from her solitude.
Like he'd be that clever?
"No, of course not. Laurie can handle the actual work, along with the Dowager Ward, but when I mentioned asking you, Douglas and Laurie practically begged me to bring you along. I mean that, too. They want you to stay with them, and are hiding your arrival from Tor, so that he won't get first crack at you. I didn't even know that you two knew each other. Tor, I mean." It occurred to him that bringing up someone that had once been identical to her dead husband might not be the kindest thing to do, but she simply nodded slowly, and then took a bit of a braised beef dish, using decent manners.
After a few more bites she looked at him and blinked slowly.
"I love him. Tor. After he had to marry Alyssa, to save her from her father, he arranged for me to marry Burks. I don't know if it was true, but he said that it was because he wanted me for himself. Only, now... Can he bear to look at me? I let his grandfather die. I tried to stop it. He... Burks knew it was going to happen. They all did. The other Ancients." She stopped, her eyes a little moist then, and really looked at him. Hard, but not unkindly. "I told him not to. I ordered him to live, but he couldn't find any other way to save the people of the world. None of them could. He told me that there was a plan to use the device Timon made, but that was all. Then... They all left. Tor and his whole family. I don't really know why. Burks was gone and the rest...Then I heard nothing."
Gerent clenched his jaw, but nodded. That kind of made sense, didn't it? She wasn't in the loop, as far as that kind of information went, not if Lairdgren was dead. That no one had told her... Well, that was his duty, wasn't it?
"The device Tim built, it sent out millions of tiny fields that will find anyone that has the Ancient's pattern to them, and it attacks them until they die. No one immortal, at least not in that fashion, lives on the Earth now. It's built to break down in ten years time, but until then, if any of them come back, they just die. Not just the old Ancients either, the young Ancients will die too. Tim, he managed to make a bunch of people like that, using magic, so that's why no one came for you properly. I should have, but I..." He stopped, not wanting to go on, but finally he did, trying not to seem too much like a coward. "It was my job to trigger the device when the time came, so I stayed here. I was invited to go live there, with the rest of them, but..."
It wasn't important really. He could explain that part of things, how he loved Patty too much for his own good, to the woman later, if she ever needed to know. There was a soft clatter, as her fork dropped to the plate, the silver metal making a soft clang as she turned to him. She looked surprised, but after a moment she started to cry.
"Oh... He... made you kill him? All of them? My poor dear!" She stood and came around the edge of the table and then held him as he sat, sobbing for a long time. He returned the move, a bit more strongly than he intended to, but she didn't complain. Ten minutes later they broke apart, and she seemed to be a lot stronger, suddenly.
Instead of storming around, or questioning him, she returned to her meal and ate it all, thinking it seemed, as he tried not to stare at her.
Finally, as she ate some berries covered with fresh cream, she nodded.
"I'll go with you. I'm sorry you had to do that. I don't know if I can be a good mother or not, but I know that I can be a friend. How do we set up this trip? Do we have funds for it? I... Burks left me some gold. Not vast amounts, but enough, I think."
Gerent smiled, and explained the plan.
"So, I can get us there and back and they don't use coin at all on Harmony. You might have to help out, by doing work, but nothing seems all that hard there. The plan is to leave at nine in the morning, which will get us in at about four-thirty in the afternoon by their clock. So, can you be ready at about eight or so and help get everyone else around? If so..." He held his head and then shook it. "I just realized I have a massive amount of work left to do, before I get to sleep. Princess Veronica is going with us, and I need to set that up on both ends. Well, Envoy means the same thing as slave, right?"
She smiled and packed the tray up, which he took after he stood.
Her voice was still shy sounding to his ear.
&
nbsp; "I don't know if that's exactly correct, but I can see how it might feel like that. Thank you for seeing to my needs, Gerent. I haven't had anyone except my sister for a while now... Oh!" She looked panicked for a moment, then shy as she looked at the floor of the room. There was a large throw rug under her feet, made to look all orange and yellow. Happy colors, he realized, meant to improve her mood.
Swallowing she put a hand out, and then bowed low.
"I... My sister, Misha... I"
Gerent smiled then, working out what the problem was.
"Crewman Misha Coltress? She's going to be our aid Ambassador to Austra. Or she might be. I think it's a good plan, but Tiera might have something else in mind when we get there. She, your sister, has a good look for that land however. Did you know that she feels that she's really meant to be a man? That's different, isn't it?" It wasn't as if the woman had hidden that fact from him, so he was willing to bet that her own sister knew.
Bonita smiled, and then spread her hands a little.
"A fact that disturbs both of our parents to no end. Most people, to be honest. It seems unnatural to them. I never minded though. Michelle always went out of her way to be kind and gentle with me, even when others were cruel. I won't abandon her now."
"Misha. She wants to be called that, not Michelle. Anyway, that part's already set up, or well enough along that you won't need to worry about it, unless we need you to go and see to another land as well. I'm really worried about Tellerand. Everyone else took the aid we provided, but they... Well, it isn't your problem. Right now... If you could be ready a bit early and then make sure that everyone going is packed and set up in time? I should be off and making the rest of the arrangements now."
He felt tired, but collected another hug from Bonita, and then managed to escape the nice room easily enough. She even smiled at him on the way out. It wasn't some brilliant and happy thing, but it spoke of a person not truly ready to take a cutter to their neck at that very moment. Balancing the tray carefully in both hands he returned the empty thing to the kitchen, where it was whisked out of his grasp by a short young woman that looked to be about sixteen or so. She was thin, but well dressed and her skin was smooth and tan. A commoner, but one that had used a healing amulet in the last months. It wouldn't take away wrinkles, if you were old enough to have them, but it did remove pock marks and scars. He certainly didn't have any left now.
"Thank you! I... Would it be possible to have a light meal ready for everyone at about eight-thirty in the morning? We need to leave at nine or so. Perhaps something set up for people to get a bite even earlier than that?" He tried to make himself sound very noble, but the phrasing was wrong, if not the accent. That wasn't perfect either, but the girl just curtsied a bit, her hands being full.
"Y'onit, M'laird. An you'll be'cert to gone on der'mon?"
He nodded. "Right, we'll be on to the Moon after that. I should be back in the evening, myself. I don't know about anyone else."
There was another curtsey, and then the girl scurried away, with the tray and dishware, to do whatever it was they did with things like that now. He had a strange feeling that it might involve a trip into the hopper on the food unit. That would certainly be faster than washing.
It took a lot more work on the communications device to get with everyone he needed than he'd thought it would. First he had to find a way to connect with Princess Veronica, which meant using the old, first generation, communications device that the house had, and talking to her husband, Count Peterson. He of course was mainly concerned with their other activity.
"When do we move on those guardsmen?"
Gerent blinked, but tried to put everything he needed together mentally before speaking.
"We need to speak in person first. All of us. I'll try to set something up with the King for tomorrow, or the next day, depending on his schedule and everyone else's. Can you manage to be free then? I think we need to see about the old Count first." He didn't mention which one, but then, doubted he needed to. "That situation has changed. The leaders of the rebellion seem to be more or less with us in that action, against him. So we need to make certain that the King is with us as well, but..."
There was a laugh, and that man didn't speak for a long time.
"You got them to give over the life of one of their own? That must have taken a pretty load of gold to pull off."
"Surprisingly little. None, in fact. I think most of them simply view this in the same way the rest of us do. There are things you don't allow to happen, because you don't want them to happen to you and yours at some other time. I don't know what the politics of the situation will end up requiring us to do, but it seems that everyone is more or less with us in this case. Except William Rodriguez. Or... Well, I haven't asked him yet. Perhaps the day after tomorrow?" He sounded flat and angry, as if he were going to torture and kill the man himself.
It was, he realized, his plan, but the real situation might not turn out that way.
Shaking himself a bit, he managed to make a pleasant sound and then sigh.
"At the moment however I called to see if your wife would like to come on a little trip with me in the morning? I just don't know where she is or how to get in touch with her. You're welcome to come along too, naturally, if you aren't busy?" Because, why not? The man was always nice enough to have around and less intimidating now that he only loomed over Gerent by a foot and a half, not nearly five.
"That sounds wonderful! Unfortunately I can't attend tomorrow. Not if I plan to take time the day after for other work. I can certainly ask Varley for you. One moment, I can cross connect with her, if she's still awake. It should be after meal time at the King's Palace."
It took about ten minutes, but the young woman seemed to instantly understand what he meant. That, or she thought he was inviting her on a picnic for other reasons, and was fine with that.
"Am I spending the night with you?" She wasn't coy about it, but her husband was listening in, so it would be indiscreet to say yes, even if she was supposed to stay the night on the Moon. Really though, he doubted that was needed.
Alison would need to sleep after all, and they would be getting in late in the day. Watching a sleeping child might just be a bit of a waste of time. He could get her back there when she needed to go after all. Even if it was the next day.
"If you want to, of course, but I think we can have you back in time for luncheon. I just want to impress you by taking you into orbit for a while."
Not that anyone in the world would be fooled by what he was saying. All the spies had to know that her daughter was with her brother and other sister in Harmony. Still, it was the noble way, making pretense like that, wasn't it? She seemed to be playing along and hinting that they were sneaking away for a romantic meal, rather than to see her little girl.
It was more interesting for him that way, but he wouldn't push his luck there. Having her in his debt as a friend, and not enraging her husband, was worth too much to him. He could pay for sex if he needed it that badly, but you didn't just buy having Princess Veronica owe you. Not that he needed anything, but that might change, later. If nothing else, she seemed like a nice girl. Someone to be protected and not taken advantage of.
He managed to get her to agree to meet him in the morning, at Tor's place, for an early meal and a trip into space for a few hours. Then he had to wake up Prince Alphonse or Princess Karina and try to make certain that the baby would be available, and not off at school or running the wine shop the Prince owned. Gerent smiled, not being so clueless that he really thought that a two year old would be operating a store on her own yet. So, school then.
It turned out that no one on Harmony was going to wake up before six in the morning, and that the work day didn't start until nine, which seemed a bit late to him. Neither of the Noram nobles answered his attempt to find them at all, so he had to go down the list to find someone that was actually awake. It seemed strange, but he finally gave in and tried Tiera, figuring that she was going to ha
ve her devices with her, if only for emergencies. That turned out to be correct, except that he wasn't waking her like he feared. She was already up for the day, and panting hard.
For a moment he wondered if she were having sex with someone, which would be embarrassing, but the image over her shoulder proved to be some kind of weapons practice area.
"Gerent! Is everything all right?" She sounded concerned, which probably meant he needed to be in touch more often so that she wouldn't get scared every single time he wanted to chat with her.
"Not at all..." Then disarmingly, he grinned at her. "I really just need to leave messages for people, and no one else is awake yet. I wouldn't bother normally, but Princess Veronica is coming, at about four-thirty your time? In the evening. Along with everyone else. Um, we have some dignitaries with us. The new Ambassador from Vagus, Princess Veronica and all those volunteers you sent along with us. They did wonderfully, by the way. There are a few wrinkles to work out, but most people at least have a chance at getting food now, which is better than things were. I still need to set up the weather thing for Austra... That will be a few days however. Some of the devices are already being deployed, but there are a few left, I think. I sent those off to Two Bends..." It was too much information all at once, but the girl just nodded, "I can set things up here for the visit later. I should get back to my work however. It's going to be a full day, it sounds like. Thanks for the call, Gerent. I'll talk to you before you land?" There was a bit of demand to the tone, as if he'd better make that happen.
"I'll get in touch before we leave even. That will give you about twenty minutes. Maybe... I don't know, but something smaller than what you all did the other day? That was intimidating, and Mage Eto doesn't seem the type to be hung up on trappings like that. Princess Veronica... Well, she's coming to visit her family." He whispered that part, then grinned so she could see his face. "Though if anyone asks we're having a tryst, her and I."
It felt naughty, saying that, but the lovely girl on the other end of the device nodded simply enough.