Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera)

by P. S. Power

  She was a good catch, now, but they'd known each other from before that, when she was small and therefore, to him, off limits as more than a place to find some fun. Given that he was an Instructor in her section and Kolb didn't let them have sex, as a rule, that fun had all been during practice.

  She considered it for a bit and then nodded. That was mainly so she wouldn't seem like a Doretta though.

  "Well, that's a most welcome idea Guide. Perhaps you should send a go between to my mother? I'll understand if you don't, being that you were clearly joking with me, but a girl could do a lot worse than you." Which was probably true in a lot of ways. He was nice enough looking, in a short and common way, but also bright and with a good future ahead of him.

  The boy simply shook his head and chuckled a bit.

  "That would be nice, but I'm almost certain your family would say no, right off the knock." It was a gentle enough deflection that Tiera was willing to let it go, but for some reason Farlo wasn't. It was probably a bit mean of her really.

  "True." She took a bite of toast and then, after having finished swallowing, finished the mean sounding statement. "Taman would be pretty upset. She's laid a lot of ground work there already."

  Timon jumped in then, looking at Guide with a more serious gaze than Tiera would have expected really.

  "That's... not wrong. I saw that gift you gave her for Noram Day, too. I mean, I know you're a good person, but I'm pretty certain she took it as a courting gift. For real, I mean. You might want to watch that." There was no brotherly threat to go along with it, but that clearly wasn't needed, since Guide blushed and went wide eyed. He didn't stammer out an apology though, so at least there was that. It wouldn't look good later if that kind of word got around and he had to marry the girl, after all.

  Ali nodded again.

  "We'll see her later today, right? You should bring her flowers. That would be romantic."

  Tiera covered her own mouth and shook her head.

  "That... Would have you lynched. I mean that too. That's something, in Two Bends the rules are different, so everyone should be careful. If you give people an order, they won't know what to do with it, most likely. So if you need anything it would be good if you said please and thank you. They're good people."

  That would have been a great place to start a conversation, but Lawrence Morris, her right hand man, walked into the room then, carrying a large case, that, if she had it right, probably had things for her to sign ready to go. He ran her County, but the County ran on ink from her pen for some reason. It wasn't all that efficient really. She was about as useful as...

  Well, everything she could think of was kind of crude. That was a real point too, wasn't it? She was willing to bet Lawrence could have thought of something.

  The man bowed in the door and looked at everyone else with slightly strained seeming eyes.

  "Forgive me, Countess Baker. I was unaware that you had guests." Then he bowed, and being smart, he managed to work everyone into that, no matter how tall or short they were. True, he hit the tall ones first, but that just made sense in his world.

  Tiera had just gotten her food and was going to eat it, no matter what, but she knew that there was business to take care of, and she was, like it or not, there. Ready to write her name, over and over again.

  "Have you eaten yet, Lawrence?"

  That was enough to get the man, who was older and had slightly gray hair, above his richly dark skin, to sit down and nibble at some toast, while she rammed food into her face in a manner that would have been rude, if she weren't in charge there. Ten minutes later she stood and waved at everyone else.

  "I'm going to have to run off for a bit. A few hours probably. We can leave about one? I said we'd be in about mid-afternoon, so we can take longer than that, at need." No one thought it was a horrible idea at least. Or if they did, they neglected to mention it to her. "Timon? Terry? You should come with us. This way please, Lawrence." She hoped. It was the right way, unless someone had changed the house around too much.

  They hadn't and she managed to get them into a study that was decorated for a man that was probably in his mid-fifties or so. Lots of leather, wood and a large powerful looking desk. One that wasn't really there.

  Lawrence seemed a bit annoyed by the two young boys that were following them, but he wisely held his tongue, getting that at least Timon might be someone important, being so tall.

  She gestured them all to sit around a table off to the right.

  "Lawrence Morris is my chief advisor, and actually runs the County. Yes, Morris, he's the second cousin of the old Count." She smiled at the two boys, but neither one reacted to that news. They were too jaded to be set back by her big hearted and trusting ways, she guessed. "Lawrence, these two are Timon Baker, my heir, and Terrance Baker, Countier Second. After him would be Tess, Tara, Tenet and Taman."

  The man shot to his feet then and bowed so low that it looked painful to her. Terry surged to his own after a second and bowed, then stood straight, and pulled Tim up for it. That meant they all had to bow, but then got to sit again.

  "Forgive me for not recognizing you sooner gentlemen. Are you here to set up a monthly draw for your allowances?" That, it seemed, was the only thing that made sense to the man. They were kids after all. To him she was too, no doubt.

  She corrected that instantly however, not letting either of her brothers speak. Or she was going to, but then modified it all, a little. In real life, Countiers of their station got allowances. Even as adults, didn't they?

  "That would be good. Timon what do you need that way?" She waited, and saw Lawrence hold his breath a little. He was in charge of coin after all, and who knew what an entitled noble brat might ask for.

  "I'm set that way myself. Terry?"

  That got her younger brother to tighten his lips and twist them to one side, which he did when he was thinking. Then he looked at Timon, and not her.

  "Do I get paid for the work on the Moon?"

  "Heck no. That's a public service. Really Tiera, you should give him five gold a month, so that he can share with the people he's working with. The High Servants get more, I hear, but Tor's paying for that."

  Terry went wide eyed, but Tiera shook her head.

  "One gold per week. You still have to share that with the others too. Not the younger girls, but your co-workers. I don't want to hear about you becoming selfish. If you do that, Lawrence will cut you off and make you muck out the stables to earn your supper." It was something that their parents had always threatened them with, even though they didn't own a horse at all. Do your share and don't be lazy, or else starve.

  Not that they ever let that happen.

  That settled she had to get to signing papers. It was boring, but Timon actually seemed interested enough in some of the issues to question Lawrence on them. Terry really tried not to sit there and go blank too. It was a lot of work for her, so no doubt he had to really fight for it.

  When they were walking out, Tiera had to borrow a second box from Guide, who luckily enough had one, and load up two hundred of the new weapons into a box for her advisor to distribute. Timon sighed and looked at the man, his face nearly exhausted looking suddenly.

  "I'll have shields for our people soon too. The new ones, for space work?"

  The man bowed, but didn't question how he'd be getting those at all. Then, everyone sort of knew that one, didn't they? They weren't called Timon-shields, but magically, everyone in the Kingdom had a good idea of where they'd come from anyway. There had been a major announcement after all.

  Then again, what she thought of as a big deal, being told about it at the Lairdgren School, by Karen, her roommate, might just not have made the rounds of all and sundry. Regardless, Lawrence Morris just seemed to take the idea of a twelve year old boy providing that kind of thing for granted. Maybe he figured that Tim was going to steal them? That, or get the Lairdgren Group to do all the work for him. It was a great idea, after all. Except that they, the kids there,
were all loyal to the Crown first and Count Lairdgren second. If they didn't have their own families to worry about before those things even came into play.

  Tiera had signed things past the time that her hand started cramping, not taking a lot of breaks. She worked as hard as she could to absorb the information that came from her advisor the whole time, and didn't let any of it go, but knew that she didn't really have all the needed information for all of it to make perfect sense yet.

  Still, they were able to leave by one-thirty, with Trice doing the piloting, and were in Two Bends all of half an hour later, even if it was about halfway across the Kingdom. The craft hadn't been made huge, since they had limited landing options, and since there was already a craft sitting behind the new family home, they had to make it even smaller.

  Tiera stared at the curious contraption, which was easily as large as two good sized wagons in length, all sky blue with a covered front. It also floated above the ground by about three feet. It looked pretty funny, but there was something about it that Tiera really liked at the same time. It was clear that the vehicle wasn't meant to impress anyone's friends or even get people to think you were wealthy. The design screamed usefulness though, when she examined it after getting out. Timon walked up and touched the side, and nodded once.

  "Tam did it. We should get her to take us all for a ride later, if we have time. After Terry gets done with his beatings, I mean." There was no energy to the words, but it just sounded a bit blank. Not like he was really teasing at all.

  None of the adults mentioned it, but the second girl, the one that wasn't Maggie, grimaced and moved to hold her little brother's hand. It was close to being inappropriate for Two Bends, but they were away from the street, so it would probably be all right.

  "Do you want us to go with you, Terry? That boy keeps saying that your parents will beat you. If we work together we can stop them." She clearly meant to be kind, but Terry shook his head.

  Ali however moved over and patted the young lady on the back.

  "Of course, we'll all go in. We can't stop his parents from beating him, but they aren't normally like that, so it should be safe. If they do... Well, he'll have to take it. His mother is a Conserina First, and the only person that can overrule her here, in her own County, is the Count. Even the King would have to send the army to undo his word, but Terry's mother is second that way." It made the whole thing sound dismal. Like the end of the world was about to come for the poor boy.

  It didn't.

  The first person they ran into was Tess, who happened to walk out the kitchen door at the back of the house, for some unknown reason. She blinked at everyone, then squealed happily and started running around hugging people. There wasn't a whole lot of organization in it, so she missed who all was there, and ended up hugging Havar and Kolb too, not realizing they weren't family members or anything.

  Neither reacted particularly, except to pat the little girl on the back. She was nine however, which meant that she had to be careful about that kind of thing, Tiera decided. In Two Bends it was slatternly forward, and to the nobles it was, at least possibly, an invitation. She'd mention that later, if they got time.

  That didn't seem to be the case immediately, since half a dozen servants came out to see what was going on, and the butler smiled and moved back inside rapidly, without asking them all in. He didn't seem all that strained or anything, but came back about five minutes later with Douglas Baker in tow. He looked...

  Sort of worn, Tiera noticed. Tired. His eyes ranged over the people arrayed before them and he slapped a professional smile on his face, as if this kind of thing was normal. He looked at the children too, but noticed Terry right off, and walked over to him rapidly.

  It was almost funny, in a life threatening way. As he approached the boy, who had his eyes firmly down on the ground, looking so guilty that everyone watching probably assumed he was about to be beaten in truth, their father teared up a little and smiled. He didn't miss the fact that nine other children all suddenly had what might well be magical weapon in their hands, but he ignored it and picked his youngest son up in a hug.

  "S'Terry!" Tiera had never seen her father cry about anything before. Not death, or hardship, at any rate. His son coming back, alive, seemed to do the trick though. Some of the people watching got a little moist eyed too. Not the orphans, who all seemed sad and happy for their friend at the same time, but the rest of them.

  After a hug that lasted long enough people were getting bored, her pa set his son down and took a very deep breath.

  "Where have you been, boy? Your ma was nearly beside herself for months."

  The tale of his adventures started to be told, but there was a cascade of people running at him, which stopped that from happening, including, after only a bit longer, their mother. She looked fierce enough that the kids turned their weapons on her, rather than Douglas.

  The difference there was that she didn't seem to notice it at all.

  "Terry! Oh!" The thing there was that despite how her face looked, she sounded just fine. Happy even. It was enough that most of the heavy arms went away. Not all of them, but only a few of the kids were actively ready to fight at that point.

  It was a nice enough scene, but once they had the idea that everyone was happy to have the kid returned, it was sort of important for them to see to the social aspects of things. That meant providing a place to sit, and refreshments. Or at least Tiera figured that to be the case. So, thankfully, did Conrow, the butler there. It was so close to the name of her own butler that she wondered at it for a bit, but let it go. It was a good name for the position, and for all she knew, the kind of thing that parents in that line of work named their kids.

  The next hour or so was hectic and boring at the same time. The Lairdgren Group was entertained, sort of, by Taman, who wanted to share all her new work and clapped happily when showed theirs. Tess gave everyone baked goods, and Tara, who was still seven, kept staring at Timon and her. Finally she just walked up and pointed. Rudely.

  "How did you both get so tall? Can I be tall too?" There was a confused air to it, as if she knew that it wasn't right, but still wanted in on it.

  Timon looked at her for a second and then shrugged.

  "If you want. I can do that now. You can be longer lived too, if you want. Make your choice soon though, because I probably won't be allowed to do it anymore once the rules of the Ancients go back into effect." That information got the Lairdgren Group over almost instantly.

  It was Farlo that stared though.

  "You can make people immortal? Is that what you're saying? How?"

  That started a long conversation about the process, and got Tara and Tess to both volunteer to sit for it, so he could demonstrate the technique. Sam watched so closely it was almost scary, and the others went between that and looking at each other. None of the grownups noticed it at all. They'd moved into another room when they started working.

  Ali however kept making a face, even though the work took hours. In the end she seemed miserable though, which Tiera didn't understand at all.

  "Is everything all right"" She touched her arm lightly enough that it might have been considered flirtation, but the other girl just seemed sad.

  "I can't do that, can I? I've never seen anyone do work on that level before. We all try really hard, but that... It's almost like Tim wasn't even there while he worked anymore. I can't really explain it, but... I guess we're all stuck, aren't we? The Group, I mean. Sam, can you do that? Guide?" It was funny but the others were left out and no one seemed to mind too much that it was the case. They knew who the best builders were, short of Tor. And clearly, Timon too, now.

  The two younger men looked at her and Guide finally explained.

  "I really don't think so. That isn't just saying that we need more practice, I just don't think that it will be possible for us. It's like... Tim is special that way. It's a shame, because I wouldn't mind being a few inches taller myself." This got said to Tara, who shrugged cu
tely.

  "Timon will do it for you. Make it so you grow big. Right?" There was a bit of hands on hip action then and the little girl stood and leaned in a bit, tapping her foot at her older brother. Tess seemed to understand that it might not be that simple, at least, and seemed a bit scared.

  Timon...

  He sounded odd when he spoke.

  "I was going to ask if you all wanted to. I won't claim it's perfect, being like Tiera or Tor is, but you all have to be a lot tougher if we're going to make it. Humanity I mean. A big part of what's going to be needed is coming from you, the ones here in this room. I can do it, if you want. You'll be tall, strong and fast, live longer and not age. I can even make you better looking, Sam. If you want, I mean." The last bit had a gleam to it, Tim's eyes shining. "I can't say it isn't dangerous though. I figure that we can do up about twenty people without the Immortals on our side having us all put to death for it. It would be best to keep it a secret for a while too. A few hundred years, if you can pull it off?"

  It took a bit, and they had to stop for supper about then, but everyone wanted to do it. All the builders at least. If only for the chance that it would let them be like Timon, or Tor.

  Tiera felt a strange pang, and realized what it was, her breath catching in her throat when she understood it. She didn't want them all to be like that, because it would make her a little less special. More normal. As if being one of a few hundred people like her was less important than a few hundred plus twenty? How shallow was that?

  After a bit, at dinner, she realized that she was a horrible person for even thinking that way. These were all good people. Not perfect ones, true, but kind and hard working. Even smart. Them being made more intelligent wouldn't hurt her though, would it? True, she might be a bit less by comparison, but so what? Shouldn't they have the same chance in life she was getting?