Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15)

by P. S. Power

  "No, not Queen Tiera. The All High is the One God of Tellerand. We should try to show our support for those of that place by praying with them, and trying our best to mean it. It is what we have to do, so that they'll let us help them."

  That got some questioning looks, but to their credit, meaning it or not, the people all knelt and prayed with them then. That got a strange look from Roget, but he didn't stop them from trying it out. When they stood, released for the night, Sara spoke again.

  "You should all do this as often as you can, and learn the ways of the people of that land. They need our help, but aren't certain of our good will. If you can believe in their god, or seem enough like it, then you can go to them and make certain they have food and good, strong houses to protect them from the storms. I know I can count on you all to think about it." That was all she said. After all, these weren't her people to order around.

  There were a few nods from the people there however, as they moved off. Whatever that really meant. It was hard to tell with the common people of Noram. She was pretty tall, and a lot of them would defer to someone like that. As long as they were around. Then, later, when there was no virtual giant standing over them, they'd do whatever made the most sense to them. It was a good thing as often as not, since that type was modest in their needs and desires. They were better than the nobles that way, now that she thought about it.

  Without waiting, she waved to Roget, and then Gemma.

  "This way Squire. We can go and hassle your Knight after I get some sleep. Or you can just go on your own and push her around a bit. Finding her on the Moon makes a statement that even Trice won't miss. Not that she would have anyway. I can't believe she forget a whole Squire though. She normally takes better care of her people than that. Well, we can have fun-" That was interrupted by the need to take a few deep breaths to prevent yawning again. "Oh, sorry there. Sleepy. Back to the ship. Plotting later."

  It only took a few minutes to get back inside the ship, and Sara was careful to not change the internal size of it when she made two little rooms and a restroom for them. She did take time to get a water line flowing, since that would make the morning a lot nicer. She'd always liked bathing, but now was seriously considering making it her primary hobby for a while.

  They didn't talk much while she touched the wall of the jump ship, making it reform to her will, more or less. Gemma stood silently, watching it all happen, as the walls melted, pushed into the room and ate the chairs that had been there. Then soft beds came into being. Little ones, but each big enough for a single woman. It was a sign. One that Sara was sharing with the other girl.

  She wasn't looking for company that night.

  Not that the girl wasn't cute enough.

  She really was, in a slightly round faced way. Not fat, but she had high cheekbones that changed how she looked a lot. Clear tan skin too, and hair that was a lot like her own, Sara knew. Or like it had been, before it had grown into a wild mess for months. Now it was longer than she'd been keeping it, and a bit shaggy. Really, even if she wanted to grow it out again, she should get the ends trimmed off.

  In the morning though. Harmony had a hair shop, that for some reason painted finger and toenails too. That was an Austran thing, but the place was owned by people from Noram, she thought. She'd never gone before, but it would be free, like everything else there was. Given that she didn't have any coin on her, that was a good thing, for the time being. Everyone was both poor and fantastically wealthy, where she was at the moment.

  "Night, Squire Gemma. Try not to wake me up until... I don't know, three days from now, or whenever people come and try to invade? My bet is that first one, but you never know around here."

  "Thank you, Ambassador. I'll try to make certain that you're left alone to get that rest." She patted her side pocket, which was a thing that armed people did when letting the rest of the world know they were serious.

  Feeling good about things, she went to the back sleeping chamber, which wasn't huge at all, and tucked herself into the deep black that was hard to find anywhere but on a ship like hers.

  Sara slept, hard, until thirst and a screaming bladder forced her to get up and take care of things. She had to check her watch to find the time, and then translate what it said to local time, which took some doing, having been reset to Tellerand schedules for too long.

  Nearly one in the afternoon. So much for noon prayers at the meeting house then. She'd need to go later. It was a constant pain, but the effect it had on the people from Tellerand was too powerful to ignore.

  There were voices coming from the front area, where the controls were still up, and two chairs sat side by side. She ignored them, sneaking into the restroom first, then, back to her bed chamber. It took a few seconds to make a shower in there, but ten minutes later she was clean, and nearly dry enough not to feel awkward about things. She did put on a nice light blue outfit. It was classy, without being so much so that it seemed like she was letting her position go to her head. She was still the Ambassador from Tellerand to Noram for, oh, whole hours yet.

  That was what she was thinking when she went out to find who was making noise in her parlor, as it was. Two chairs, but four people sat there, two of them on the floor.

  Since she was awake, she touched the wall without speaking, and made the rooms go away, except for the restroom at the back. That kind of thing was just handy to have all the time. Then she made the whole thing look like a proper sitting room, complete with several green sofas and soft chairs made to match. Not that she really figured that Queen Tiera or her little brother Terry had come to cuddle with her. That Timon was there, talking to Gemma, and sitting next to her on the floor was a bit of a surprise. The boy even smiled at her when she looked over at him, and stood, his tall form lean and hard looking now. He was getting big. Six-ten or so, and if she heard right, not even close to being finished with his growth.

  "Ambassador Debri! I was just helping Squire Gemma plot against my wife. More to the point I was begging her to not actually make Trice's life too difficult, because I'll catch most of the fallout from that. The poor beleaguered husband always does." There was a small smile on his lips, and he walked over to her, not bowing like she expected.

  Instead he closed in, and hugged her for a long time.

  When he spoke, his voice was a good bit harder.

  "Now, do you want Tiera and I to hold Terry here while you spank him? Mother almost disowned him, after it was found out that he'd made you beg and humble yourself for months like that. Karina has refused to talk to him for over a month. Alphonse does, but he keeps shaking his head sadly at him every time they meet. Isn't that right Ter?" There was no hint of teasing to the words either.

  It was funny, but she'd never thought to blame the boy for that part. It had even stopped feeling humiliating after the first few weeks. Things did if you had to perform an action enough times.

  The boy, who was attractive, but not all that tall yet, being just about five-six, stood up from the chair he was in as the Queen looked on. Then he got to his knees, his plain brown outfit standing out against his very pale skin. She would have thought it odd once, but now she was kind of used to it. Almost everyone in Tellerand was that color. A lot of them were even lighter, like Tor was.

  "I apologize, Sara. I tricked you into going and doing that. It was petty of me, and showed a lack of faith in you. I'll hold my shield off while you beat me." There was no sense that he didn't mean it. None at all.

  She shrugged.

  "Except that there's no violence here. I don't want to mess up that nearly perfect track record. I know, you can go and pray with the people from Tellerand here for the next, say, six months? That works. You can't bribe them to take things they aren't certain are within their religious views, but showing them that you share them makes all the difference. Now, get up and let's get to business while I'm still important enough to be in the same room with all of you."

  No one said anything about that, but Terry gave he
r a hug when he stood up. It was warm, and not all that familial, she noticed. So did everyone else. At least they grinned about it. He rather leaned into her chest a good bit, which wasn't that uncomfortable for her. He was young, but good looking already. Not that she was the kind of pervert that would do anything with a twelve year old.

  Tim cleared his throat.

  "So, Tor told me that we were supposed to get jump ships around for Gemma, her brother, Clemance Thomson and eventually his little brother, Dumas?" He was looking at her, but talking to Tiera, clearly. "Sara volunteered to teach them how to fly."

  Tiera grunted, her face blank. Tired looking, even if she seemed well rested to look at. It was a subdued thing. Almost depressed seeming.

  "That's a problem. Nothing against you, Gemma, or Gerald, but you're both sworn to defend Noram, and obey the King directly. I don't really think that we should be handing over powerful warships just yet. Not when there's a rebellion on. There's still hope for a peaceful resolution. Nearly bloodless, as such things go."

  Sara nodded.

  "Sure, but if we tell King Richard that he can get some people with ships out into space, that he controls, as long as he swears not to use them for war, I bet he agrees to it. Just as a spying platform that would be a boon. Relief efforts, or even just to have people coming and going more often." She shrugged, and noticed that Terry glanced at her chest. Then away, quickly enough that it wasn't too much, even given his age. It was pretty clear that he wasn't a little boy any longer though. Not that way.

  Probably not in any way.

  To show that he nodded.

  "If we can find someone from Tellerand that's willing to learn to do that, will you teach them too, Sara? I know I have no right to ask anything of you right now, but I'd agree to those rules, too. We should get some for each land, as long as their leaders agree."

  Sara didn't sigh, since training people to fly, or even jump, wasn't that hard. It would give her something to do, if nothing else.

  "I can do that. Since, you know, we're adding people to the original deal anyway. I wasn't even aware that Gemma had a brother. Is he cute? And more, is he still unmarried?" That was almost a joke, since she was too far out of the three steps to be considered by a Countier, but Gemma nodded, looking over at her carefully.

  "My twin brother. He's actually been being trained though, since his Knight is good about things like that. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Much. What little I've learned has been because he's flown back to the Capital once a week to work with me. It would be good if I could set up something for him."

  That got nods from the others, since to them it was all about family, wasn't it? Possibly to Gemma too, it seemed.

  That reminded her that she had a family problem to deal with too.

  "Egh. So, Kurt... Do we need to make him vanish into the void, or what?" They didn't have the death penalty there, but Tiera made a face that told her how close things really were to that.

  The Queen growled before speaking.

  "He found out that a lot of the Afrak women could be worn down by his advances if he were persistent enough. Really, that part is within the rules, since he hasn't been using force, or acting before they gave consent. The thing there is that, to their minds each woman he slept with is married to him. It's up to three already, and would be more if Tim hadn't offered to turn him into a girl if he didn't cut it out. He has some real problems, Sara..." She shuddered a bit. "I don't want to give insult here, but he's... not well. Inside. Everything is about sex to him. Day and night. It's warped him into something that nearly isn't human. Sooner or later he's going to step so far out of the bounds that we'll have to do something drastic. There are a few things that have been rumored that we've carefully not asked him about with a Truth amulet on. Just to give you an idea of how bad this it, Tenet nearly went after him last week. Tenet."

  Sara blinked. That was the good brother. She knew that much. He was also ten, she thought. Kurt was twice his age, size and probably fighting skill. So for the boy to be that angered, something really wrong had to have taken place.

  "What... What did he do?" Sara knew that she was supposed to be upset that her brother had been threatened, but as Tiera had said, Tenet.

  He was sensitive, and so kind that he made his sisters seem like dock workers.

  Terry looked away, looking more than a bit upset himself.

  "Tess. She's of age, but Tenny doesn't really see that as being a good enough reason, given all the other trouble Kurt's been getting into. I wasn't the only one being scolded lately by ma though. I don't mean my sister either. As it is, Tenet hasn't really calmed down. He made a statue of Kurt... It's next to his shop, carved into the wall. Well enough done that no one is calling it vandalism, but... Well, if we were in Noram, there would probably be a duel over it." There was tension in the words. In both Terry and his older sister, really.

  Timon was more laid back now. Focused on what was in front of him.

  "No one wants to risk a war with you over it, so we've held off doing anything. What do you think should be done? Tiera's right, by the way. He's sick. As in truly ill inside, not bad. I could strip him of his sex drive. That or turn him into a girl, or... both? We could also make him honor his marriages. We don't have any rules saying he can't be married to three women, just that if he gets them pregnant he has to care for the children himself. Queenie over there is leaning toward exile back to Earth. Blue Four is actually on my side. The rest either don't care enough to have opinions or are suggesting the death penalty for it. It's your call though. He's your brother. I won't support anything too far against your decision on this one."

  She suppressed a shudder, since her hands were pretty well tied on the matter, weren't they? Kurt was her responsibility, and she couldn't let them hurt him, if it was in her power to stop. Still, just sending him back to Noram, even in disgrace, wouldn't fix him, would it?

  There was no speaking for a long time and Gemma looked away, her face set, but not hard. The others all looked at her, expecting a snap decision.

  Finally, after five minutes, she looked over at Tiera.

  "Queen Tiera... Would you accept him here, if he got treatment for his illness, and honored the marriages that were assumed by those other people, if they're still willing to have him, I mean?" She held her breath, knowing that the easiest thing to do would be just getting rid of the problem. Tiera wasn't averse to killing, personally, for all the laws in her new world forbade the practice.

  "What treatment?" The words were a little cold, but Sara looked over at Tim then, desperately seeking help.

  "We could strip his libido, like Timon said? And... Turn him into a girl for a while so that he can't act out as easily?" He had too many bad habits for either of those to be a perfect fix, but Tiera perked up.

  Terry however shook his head.

  "Not against his will. That's evil. It would be kinder to kill him than make him feel that helpless."

  Sara frowned at the boy, even if he was one of the most important people on the two planets.

  "Being a girl is that big of a thing? That huge of an insult?"

  To his credit, he rolled his eyes at her and smiled a bit.

  "No, that's probably a good idea. I might even try it someday, myself. Just to learn what it's like. It's the part where we're talking about taking what he is from him, without giving him any kind of choice. That's wrong. He's sick, but is he really? He likes sex, and wants it all the time, but is that bad? It's what he chooses to do in order to get it that are at issue. I don't know what to do though. Does the state have the right to strip what a person is from their very being?"

  It was more philosophy than Sara was ready for, but Tim covered that part nicely enough.

  "Yes. Sometimes the government has to do things to people, or make them do things for the good of society, that they might not want for themselves. If a person had a plague and was going around spreading it, we'd have to heal them, wouldn't we? Even if it was against their
wishes or religious beliefs. Kurt Debri is impacting the lives of others with his choices, and can't really see it as anything except normal. The biggest danger here is that we might change him, only to find that he doesn't change. Like Sara said, so much of what he does now is habit. Plus, he's been doing things that skirt the law so strongly that in Noram he'd have been put to death. More than one person has gone for drinks with him, only to wake up the next day having been used."

  He looked at Sara closely, and so did Tiera. Terry however went wide eyed.

  "He... did that to you?" There was no glancing at any of the others, just her.

  She had to look away.

  "I don't know. I think so. It was that clear in my pattern?" It was hard to remember that all of the Baker kids there were builders. Good ones too.

  Tim grimaced, having already worked it all out, no doubt. In fact he'd probably known for a long time, she realized. It was kind of him to have left Kurt alive, given that.

  "So, Terry, what do you say, given that information? Is it still wrong to change him? Should we make him disappear instead?"

  That got a hard look in return. New hormones of his own or not, the boy was still very honorable, wasn't he? It practically poured off of him.

  "I think we should present all of this to him, and see what he wants. Now though. There's no benefit to letting him do this to anyone else."

  Then he stood, as if to say they should go right then.

  Gemma did too, her left fist clenched into a fist.

  Tiera shook her head slowly.

  "No. Terry, I like that you're a good soul, but this has to be my decision. We go with what Sara said. He's lost his right to beg mercy, or plead innocence. I do agree that we should do it right now however. Let's see to it. Tim, you have the magic parts?"

  Standing, his frame smaller than his sister's, if blockier, Timon just moved toward the door, not speaking. Then, he didn't really need to did he? His plans seemed to be going along with what she'd just told them all to do to her brother. Sara moved with him, feeling like the world was about to burst open. Not in a fun way like a surprise party either.