by P. S. Power
Still, he didn't want to blow it either. Guard Kara had mentioned that people liked to be in the know, hadn't she? It wasn't the same as having someone right on top of you all the time. That didn't give a good explanation as to why they were there however, so he made one up.
"We, my crew here, and I, are planning to stay overnight. In the morning we need to get to Printer, since Wallace here needs to return to school. I wish I had some deeper answer, but Misha figured that we should drop in and say hello, being that she's family." He made it sound relaxed and calm, instead of how he felt inside, which was nervous and worried.
It wasn't likely that he'd let anything slip to the Count that would end up with the man going into a rage, but what about Wallace? Or Erid? Dorgal... Well, he wouldn't. That was almost certain.
"Excellent! Come join us. Misha, Prince Gerent, would you join us at the main table?" The Count excluded everyone else, probably not even realizing he was doing it, but there were only two places left, so maybe it was just a practical consideration? "There's food and drink, if you wish?"
That was said to the others, but Gerent turned to them and shook his head a little.
"Eat if you want, but don't get drunk, please. We're on duty." It sounded official, and even if they could sober up pretty fast using healing amulets, he didn't really want to try and deal with any of these people when they were in their cups too far. Folk could go violent or loopy when they drank, but you could never tell which would happen.
It was better for them not to make a problem that way. Wallace looked a bit disgusted by the idea, but at least Dorgal and Erid just seemed to accept it, and when Misha and he moved to the table, a long thing with two places next to Maria on the outside, they managed to move away quickly enough. That got Maria to start talking.
Which after ten seconds seemed to be a very poor idea. Letting her talk, that was. She was being less than perfectly kind to her sister after all. Misha just sat, and looked at the table, turning red.
"I see that you've decided to be a girl again! Wonderful! Are you sleeping with Gerent? If so he must be good if it's enough to get you out of pants. I always thought that was a bit... Juvenile, for you. You're nearly thirty. We should see about getting you a husband, don't you think?" The thing about what she was saying, was that while all the words could have been kind enough, or at least most of them could have, they simply weren't.
She kept it going too, even as they watched people dance and the Dowager Ward tried desperately to change the topic.
"Prince Gerent, do you think that the food relief effort will be enough for everyone? I don't know the situation in all the other lands. Things have certainly eased here, in our county, however. Perhaps you could tell us about that?"
He did, covering things in brief, mentioning the various problems that they'd had.
"Tellerand and Soam are the major ones. The rebellion here is almost easy compared to that. There was a surprise in Harris, if the story I was told was correct." He took a sip of fruit juice, which was what Misha had too.
Maria seemed distracted, though she reached over her sister and touched his arm. After a moment it occurred to him that she knew. About Petra and the plan. Her voice gave that away to him, if not her words. "Really? Is it something serious?"
He shook his head a little and then rolled his eyes, smiling. "Not that you'd think. It just turns out that I have relatives there. I thought I was an orphan, or well, I am, what with both my parents being dead, but that's where they were from. A, um, Daniel Harris? Apparently he was half insane and kept on the family estate, but got a serving woman pregnant. That was me. Illegitimate, of course, since no one would let them marry, but it sounds like they both tried really hard to keep me. Then they died and before anyone could take me in, the games keeper walked off with me. You know, he was the kind that liked children, and as a midget that meant he'd have a tiny person to... use, for a long time." He'd never spoken of that to these people before, but the reaction was very different than Gerent would have expected.
Count Ward looked at him, his face closed and a bit brooding.
"I... see. Are we riding out to kill him soon then, or have your Harris relations already seen to it? Or... Did you?"
Gerent felt a tear come to his eye, when the words hit him. The Count found out that he'd been abused, and his very first reaction was to seek justice for it? Even if that would have meant doing it himself? That was a lot more than he would have expected. Misha cleared her throat, however.
"Thanks Marvin, but if that needs to be done, us crew will handle it."
It wasn't a real point anyway, but it was nice to hear that he had people that would back him up like that. Really, it hadn't occurred to him before that moment that he did.
"He died years ago. When I was about fifteen. So, about that many years back. Nearly. What's done is in the past, but yes, thank you, Marvin. That really was very kind of you." Changing the subject a little, he went back to the part he felt was important, that no one else would even find a very good story. It was boring of him, but he couldn't help it. "So, I have a family. Another one now. I went most of my life with no more than passing friends and suddenly, in these last years, I have people that claim me, for the first time. Ones that aren't just using me as a curiosity to draw crowds." It was a good thing. A great one, in many ways.
Maria, since she seemed to have only one note left to play that day, started suggesting that they get Petra to step aside and marry him off to Misha, which, if he understood the whole thing well enough, was really rude. Everyone else seemed to be a bit upset about the idea at least. Misha, because she was a man inside, and Ellen, the Dowager Ward, because it was being suggested that her daughter lose out on a good marriage match.
Gerent looked past Misha and shook his head at the Countess.
"Not me. For that you'll need to find a girl. In a few weeks we're... Timon Baker is going to change her pattern, and turn her into a man. All the way from the bottom level of being, so it will be real. Not just a seeming. Probably able to father children and so on." It served to get her to shut up, for about ten seconds, then she looked at her sister and snorted softly.
"You... aren't serious, are you Michelle? I mean... being a man... That... Can Tim even do that?"
Gerent shrugged, and pulled out his communications device and without speaking contacted Timon directly. He should have been asleep, if he were sane, but the boy answered, looking fresh and awake, regardless of the hour. Seeing Gerent he didn't speak, but seemed to be looking around, assessing things in that way of his. Ger took the device and moved it side to side a bit, slowly, so that he'd have whatever information he needed to work with. How he did it, Ger didn't know, but almost nothing got past the boy.
"Timon! I was just telling Maria Ward that Misha, her sister, is coming to Harmony in a few weeks so that you can turn her into a man, using magic. She wants to know if you can really do that. Maria. Misha doesn't doubt you like that, of course." Which was true most likely, but the woman did sit there, not speaking, looking a bit upset. Between them her fist turned white, below the edge of her chair. The other one, the one Maria could see was relaxed, and in her lap.
Timon spoke almost instantly.
"That's... right. It's relatively easy to do, compared to some things. We just change the basic pattern and hand her a healing amulet, and the work will be done in a handful of hours. If she doesn't like it, or even just wants to do both from time to time, we can always reverse it later. You're my assistant Misha, so schedule the time in for that, when you're going to be up here. I have a new project that I'm doing, but it's an organic grow, so I should have enough time left each day. It will take about five hours of work, so keep that in mind." He looked away and the face on the flat surface of the device shifted.
To Patty.
"Hey Gerent. You said Maria was there? Could I talk to her? In private maybe?" She seemed happy enough in the moment, not sent into misery by seeing him. Or at least she hid it well.
>
Then, the bad feelings that were left might all be his, he knew.
"One moment." He tried for cheery himself, given that being a sour face wasn't useful in the moment. He handed the device to the Countess, who removed herself, carrying the thing with her, even though she could have used her own for the purpose. That was new though and she might not have been used to the idea yet.
The conversation was much nicer for a while, and when the pretty blonde countess came back, she seemed subdued, rather than happy, or like she'd been visiting with an old friend. When she settled at the table her hand came out, to deliver the turned off device. Then, on the other side of doing that she hugged her sister a bit, which got a flinch from Misha that went unnoticed.
"Trice told me that I've been being more than a bit unkind to you, Michelle. Misha. Apparently becoming a different gender isn't unheard of on Harmony at all. Timon does about two a month. I guess we should... I really don't know what to do. Is that something you really want? I suppose it would give father a son, finally. Do you think he can accept that kind of thing?"
The hand that had been a fist had relaxed a lot and bumped up against Gerent's leg. But when Misha turned to her sister, she seemed thrilled, not just a little either, relieved and like this was incredible news.
"I do want it. I know that Father might have some trouble with it. Mother too for that matter, mine, not yours. Carol probably doesn't know that I'm alive. The honest truth is, if father can't handle me being who I was always supposed to be, then I'll go it alone. I have a job now, and it's important. I have to keep it, but I think I can. Bonita is set to inherit anyway, so all I lose are the secondary properties. I can do this." She seemed to be pretty certain of that fact, and Gerent agreed with her.
"After all, even if your position in Austra ends, you can just move to Harmony. Anyone can make it there, and you'll have all that experience, both here and over in Austra, by then. That has to make a person valuable."
That started a different discussion, though the topic did come back to swapping genders more than once. It was almost as if Maria was trying to convince herself that it would be all right for that to happen. That her sister becoming a brother wasn't a bad thing, just different. Probably because Patty had manipulated her into thinking that. Why she'd bothered he didn't know, or care to understand at all.
Except that, when he thought about it, which he really couldn't stop himself from doing, he thought he understood. It had to do with him again, as self-centered as thinking that felt. She'd picked up that he was trying to help Misha, and probably why, and chimed in with her old friend. Because she was his friend too.
That got put out of mind, and before another hour could pass, he decided that it was a good time to get back to the ship. Before anyone could wander off, or possibly decide that traveling around was too exhausting and that it might be better just to make themselves a little home somewhere.
No one had gotten drunk, though it was pretty clear that both Dorgal and Wallace had sipped a bit of something that wasn't made strictly of juice. Neither was tipsy however, just a bit relaxed through the face. That wasn't a huge problem, so he didn't mention it. They weren't serving on a military vessel after all.
They spent the night, each in their own room, sleeping. Or at least he did. If the others were up to anything else that was on them. No one asked to borrow his wakening amulet when he got up and ready for the day. Then, no one else was around either, still sleeping.
He showered, changed into practical and nearly military brown and green clothing, without adornment, and moved the ship to Printer before Dorgal came staggering onto the bridge, looking clean and well groomed. His hair was combed, and his face looked nice over his black merchant attire, after a bit he nodded, then closed his eyes, making himself a uniform that matched Gerents.
"So, we have things to do today?" The former King of Vagus seemed bland about the idea, but he was still right.
They had a lot to do in fact. Dark and important things that Gerent suddenly wondered if he'd have been better off taking on himself, alone. He wasn't a soft and pampered nobleman, no matter what the titles called him now. He knew, deep in his soul, what had to be done, and more, that he could do it. The same might not be true of the others in this thing with him.
"I want to get Wallace back first. He knows, about the old Count and that. I just don't want to take him to see this kind of thing, if I can help it. Erid either. He's a good man and doesn't need to be involved in this kind of work." He was ready to defend that idea, and was even willing to lie and claim that it had been suggested to him by the King or Queen Tiera, but to his surprise, Dorgal let his chin raise in a single tick.
"Agreed. The rest of the crew seems content to stay here for the time being. They don't know what's going on, and I'm not certain that we could explain it to the women. Deng would help, if he's needed, but Erid shouldn't. We'll need something for him to do. I know, he can work the ship while the rest of us attend to things? How about Misha? I don't think she needs to see this either. Bad enough you have all those Counts and Countesses involved." There was no judgment in the words, it was just stated as a fact. One that echoed his own thoughts of just a moment before. The idea that Dorgal, an assassin by birth and probably training, felt the same thing he did was strange to him. So much that Gerent just let that go, for the time being.
As a plan it was pretty thin, but hopefully it would be enough. They parked off the coast, near Holly Printer's stone castle, which was a multicolored and motley looking thing that made him smile to see, until he got to the collapsed half of it. That just pointed out how dire things really were, he knew. Even structures that had lasted for hundreds of years were at risk now. That probably meant that everything was.
Ger used the communications device to get a hold of her. He did that, sitting off to the back, while Erid piloted the Tim-craft, which was just big enough for all of them, and set down in the weapons square, since no one was there yet for the day. Wallace hopped out, his bag looking a bit out of place.
"Thank you for having me, Prince Gerent. It's been a pleasure to serve with you all." He bowed at the door, but instead of bowing back, Gerent waved at him.
"You don't really think you're getting off that easy do you? I just don't want you to fail out of this place. Make sure you get all caught up, because we may need you for the next mission. I'm going to collect more plants, if nothing else. It may not sound interesting, but it actually is." To him. The Captain. That should be all Wallace needed to be happy, right? Gerent smiled at the thought.
The boy waved back.
"Good then. Keep in touch?" He said it like that wouldn't be happening.
That was the way of the world, most of the time, wasn't it? You meant to stick with the people you once knew, but never quite managed to make it happen, if they weren't there all the time. He'd done that twenty or more times himself, over the years. Boon companions that simply wandered away and were never seen again.
The morning was filled with deciding who was going to go with them in person, and who was going to man the secondary positions, collecting data and contacting the others that might have information. On the good side, he only had to go and get people, since none of the Counts or Countesses really thought that Gerent Lairdgren should be seen as the prime driving force behind this. If he did all the work, then Count Ward might not view it at a group effort, later. When he found out. When, it was believed, would be the rule there. Not if. No one even hinted at that idea.
Petra was left to her normal day of teaching students how to fight, and not informed of the plans, but King Richard stood by when they finally had everyone they needed. The craft, looking very stately in black, which was the color of death, landed outside the King's Palace slowly. That was the rule, but Gerent also wanted to make an entrance. Killing a man in cold blood wasn't exactly new to him, but it had to be taken seriously.
The people on the craft had been pared down to five by that time. Erid was in control
of the larger ship, which was orbiting over the Capital at the moment. That left Dorgal, the former King of the largest land in the world, Count Thomson, Count Peterson, Count Harris and himself. There were two people standing outside the door. Or actually there were eight, since six Royal Guard stood there, all armed to the teeth, but no one pointed a weapon at anyone else, just at the ground.
The King was still the tallest person in the group, though Peterson and Harris were close enough that he didn't look too funny. Poor Dorgal was the one that seemed out of place, being only six-four.
The man next to the King wasn't anyone that Gerent knew, being that he had dusky skin, and dark hair, as well as brown eyes. In short, average looking, except for the fact that he was about three inches taller than Ger was. The man wasn't a child at all, but the age was hard to place. About forty, at a rough guess. His face was unlined and he seemed like the sort of person that normally would have been smiling. He didn't today, however.
Whoever he was, his face looked bleak. They all seemed more than a bit down, if he were going to be honest.
The King looked at the group with them, and blinked a few times, making it seem like it was too bright outside. That was close to the truth. It was a nice, sunny day, and the sky was a lovely shade of blue that begged for people to sit in the light, not go around torturing and killing others.