by P. S. Power
"Right, like she'd marry me? It would be good to see Timon. I haven't in a while, with him living up in space now. I get to the Ranford occasionally though, so at least there's that."
Karen was still shifting away, and by the time Tiera was running out of things to say that seemed to be about done. She looked incredible, not just cute. Not really like herself anymore either though. More like Collette Coltress, if she'd been beaten around with the pretty bat a bit longer as a child. In short, she was going to have a lot of suitors coming in soon, Tiera didn't doubt.
"Can you and Alice get away later? I'll take you to dinner? Karen Derring and I will." It was a risk, showing off her new face like that, but if any of the Ancients were going to be on their side in this whole thing, it would be her.
"We'd love to. Would seven be all right? That will make it so that we aren't too far off of ship's time. We can meet you there? At the school?"
Right, they both knew where her room was and everything, being family and all that.
"That would be lovely! Thanks Gerent!"
"See you soon!" He sounded very happy for some reason. As if visiting with her and Karen wasn't a common occurrence. Really, it wasn't, she knew. She should have been a better sister to him. Like a real one.
Sighing, she waved at the other woman, who wasn't changing anymore.
The other woman still had her eyes shut.
"I think I felt something, but... I can't look. Am I hideous? Or just the same? What do I look like. No, don't tell me. I'm even uglier, aren't I?" She really sounded worried, which was a bit too vain, if they were going to talk about the subject.
It meant she couldn't even tease the woman in good conscience.
"Eh... Well, no. Actually you look... Well, better than Collette Coltress, but similar in style. You don't look like Karen Derring at all though. So it will be a shock that way, I bet. I wish I had your breasts. No one will believe you aren't using extra supports for them." That at least got the eyes to open, which were a pure and striking ice blue. They were nearly haunting. "Oh, that's nice. Go look in the mirror, we have a meal in an hour, it will probably take a few minutes to get you going."
That wasn't wrong. Of course Tiera hadn't expected the crying part of things at all, but they were happy tears. Lots of them. It nearly made it so they weren't ready when the knock came at the door. They'd just gotten themselves into nice, but somewhat plain, dresses, and had all the red removed from around Karen's new eyes. Mostly at least.
She still looked like a different person. Totally and completely. She wasn't displeased by that either. Tiera had never thought about it at all, but it was clear that how she used to look had always sort of bothered Karen. That it had made her feel like other people were better than she was, even though that was silly. Like looks mattered that much? Then, maybe they did, if you felt you didn't have them?
It was Alice Orange at the door, and when she looked in and saw Tiera she put a happy expression on her face.
"Not-so-little hellion! And a new friend? Or no... I've met you before... Karen the fighter?" She openly sniffed the air, and stared for a few moments, then shrugged. "That's different. When did you become one of us?"
Karen started to say something, and it probably would have made sense, but Tiera cut her off, since she was rude like that.
"Earlier today. Timon worked out how to do it with magic. We think that we can get away with adding twenty new people or so. New immortals, I mean. Mostly my family, some people from around here."
Orange could have done anything, from hitting her, to yelling, or even acting like it was a big deal. Instead she nodded past the door to Karen.
"Well, you look lovely. Shall we go to dinner? I haven't eaten all day." Then she turned on her heel, seeming like she normally did. Lately at least. Hurried and a little tense. That was the price of power, after all. As she walked away with everyone else scurrying after her, she kept talking. "Do you think that you could get this for Judith Kerry and Gerent here?"
Those words seemed strained too, but Tiera knew part of the answer.
"Gerent for certain. That's already in the plans, being that he's family. I'm not sure about Judith. But, honestly, it's Tim doing it, so that would be up to him. If you want that for her, you should probably throw in with the rest of us then, or the other Ancients will be calling for our deaths inside a week." She thought so at least.
"No, they won't. We all know that we're about done. It's been coming for a while now. A few hundred years. You should hear the rest of those babies whining when you young folks aren't around. It's sad. I'm doing fine, but Green and Brown are going to pass in a few hundred years, one way or another. I've seen it before. Most of the others are pretty much finished too. In a hundred years I'd be shocked if there are fifty of us left at all, even with your new ones added to the mix. The time of the Ancients is finally done. It's the age of the Young Ancients now. Because someone has to clean up the mess we've left behind. That's always the way though."
Oh. Well, hopefully it went that smoothly. For some reason Tiera doubted it would. People were involved after all. Old ones too. That could end up being a bit of a problem. They walked to the nice restaurant in the little town near the school, and got their share of looks as they passed. Mainly from boys that went to the school, but they still paid attention to them. All of the women at least. No one stared at Gerent overly, since he was a little funny looking still, but honestly, that wasn't some huge problem, was it? He was used to being glared at and made fun of. Even mocked openly in the street for being too small and strange. Now he was just blandly normal, over all. His ears a bit too large still, and his nose slightly funny shaped, but it wasn't bad.
Just a bit different. Enough to be special. Unique.
Plus, he was a really kind and gentle person. That counted for a lot more than looks, didn't it?
Tiera started to move to the front, in order to flash a little coin to the lady at the door, so they'd be seated, but she actually bowed, as if they were important or something. Or known to her, which Tiera didn't think would be the case as far as she went personally.
"My Lady's. Sir. Please, be welcome." Then with decent grace, she held the door for them all and had to dart past them to show them to the best table in the place. This was from a town woman too, who had no clue who they were, not some country girl that had no idea that anyone over six feet high wasn't automatically made the lord of something or other.
It was a decent shop, for the size of the town they were in. The food wasn't cheap, but she'd be paying in silver for it, not gold. Even with the gratuity. A few of the wealthier students were there, off to one side, but it seemed like it was a quiet night. One of the boys, Johan, who was from the fighters section, stared at them. First at her, and then Orange, but he ended up looking right at Karen, as if he couldn't help it. Yes, she was very pretty now, but it was a bit too much, to tell the truth. A lot too much. Several of the other men started to notice her too. Orange figured it our first and laughed a little.
"Oh, the good looking ones will make your heart break and life difficult, won't they? Tim, that little sneak, added in pheromones for you. Luckily it doesn't seem all that bad. No doubt you'll have plenty of company from now on." Then as if it didn't matter at all, she changed topics while they waited for the food to be ordered. "Now, you didn't ask me to dinner to discuss my coming wedding, did you?" She didn't even pretend she wasn't serious, and Gerent looked crestfallen, as if she wasn't talking about him?
"Well, that too. First, we want a new force put in place. We have four hundred armed Elite soldiers coming for you. We have some weapons and shields too. They'll be stationed on some of your ships, and be ready to drop from the sky onto problem areas at need. We ran a test run from the Ranford yesterday? You heard about that?" Modern communications were a marvel after all.
"We have. I don't object to the basic idea, but who's paying for the food and upkeep? I don't actually have a real budget you know. So far we've been giv
en a lot and vastly underpaying our personnel, but fighters might object to that sort of thing. Not being paid, I mean."
"Eh..." She had no clue. If she had the right idea, Noram would pay for their salary, but that didn't cover food on a mission though, did it? "I'll get you some of the new food units when I have them ready? They'll make a whole lot more and be useful for different things, if I can swing it. Tim already did the hard part, coming up with how it can be done, taking apart things and making them into something new. Then you just need dirt or moon dust and you can feed people forever. That will help, right?"
Gerent was the one that answered, his face going still first.
"It... would. Can you do that? I know that Timon did the first ones, but..."
Right, he had no clue about her being a builder at all. Not yet. Karen filled them in, proudly, including news about the successful communications devices, which had Alice looking at her greedily.
"We'll need ten thousand of those. When can you have them ready?" She didn't talk price either. Because, as she'd just mentioned, she didn't really have a budget. It was... A lot of work.
A whole lot.
"Um, a few months? I don't know when I'll get to work at all. Or if I will. I still have school after all. I finally got lucky and had things happen over a long off section, but I have to be at classes and insist on sleeping at least a few hours per night. It's a thing I like to do. I just lay around lazily for, oh, hours." She was being snarky and knew it, but Orange didn't seem to care, slapping her on the arm hard enough to make her shield turn on, from all the way across the table.
The food came then, so they stopped talking for a while and just ate. She was starving and so, it seemed, was everyone except Alice.
When they were all pretty much finished, they opted to skip dessert, and get right to brass tacks, negotiating for various magics that Tiera didn't even know if she could make.
Orange didn't think it would be a problem at all. Actually, she sounded like Tiera was the new Tor or something. Confident that just saying the words to her would make it all happen. Possibly in an instant.
"Your brothers can do it, which means you can too. You have the right sort of mind for it, as far as I can tell. So don't whine about the load, just carry it and set it down in the right place. Especially since no one else can do it."
As motivational speeches went, it was both good and lacking in things. Like common sense, but that was fine. Aunt Alice wasn't exactly a master statesman after all. More of a... There really wasn't a single term to describe her, Tiera realized. Thankfully.
No one should be summed up by a single word, after all.
When they left Gerent and Alice got in his Fast Craft, which was preset for two people and left from in front of the place they ate. It was all green with orange trim, showing both of their colors. It wasn't that far for Tiera and Karen though, so they simply started to walk away, only to have Johan and a few other men following along behind them. It would have actually been pretty creepy, except that, before they got too far away, Johan called out to her.
"Countess Baker? A moment?"
She spun, but made herself smile.
"Of course, Johan. What may I do for you?"
"Um, I was wondering if you might introduce me to your friend?" He was normally shy and retiring with girls, so it was a bit strange really, for him to be responding that way. Or not, if chemicals were being dumped into the air to overwhelm his poor little male mind.
"This is Karen? From the fighters section? Haven't you ever seen her without her disguise amulet on? I'm almost positive she went to some training sessions like this a few times. She normally hides her looks so that it won't be a distraction to everyone... She's pretty famous for them though. I kind of thought everyone knew that?" So, she was playing with the guy, but it made a good enough cover, didn't it?
Karen smiled, which even Tiera thought looked pretty good, and called out. "Keras? We need to get together in the morning and go over staff work, as well as set up training for the new weapons. Magical ones. Kolb will explain. They're very high level." The problem was, she didn't sound like her now, but like some kind of sexy, sultry, vixen.
Still, pheromones or not, no one followed them when they walked away after that. It was a good sign, Tiera hoped. It would be annoying, having boys follow you around all the time, and she didn't really want that for her friend.
Chapter five
She'd gotten into her sleeping outfit, which was just a variation of student browns, if with a soft cotton aspect to it rather than heavier canvas, when someone knocked on the door. Tiera wasn't so tired that she couldn't get up, but Karen was already asleep. At least her breathing was heavy and slow.
She peeked out of the door, her eyes a little narrowed, since she knew that she was going to have to send some boys away. At least if they'd followed Karen back to her room, hoping for sex. That would be pretty forward though, wouldn't it? Shouldn't they at least have talked to her first? Worse, Tiera kind of knew that if that happened she might have to offer herself up, for sexual relief. At least if anyone bothered to ask her. Her friend was pretty now, but only about as much as she was and not a lot more. Maybe that would be enough for them? She didn't really want to be bothered with it, but she also didn't want everyone running around claiming that she'd turned back into an evil Doretta again. Really though, sleep was a nice thing, and she should be allowed a little, every now and then.
So she was shocked when she found an all black and nearly invisible woman standing there, next to a pale and rather short boy. Maris and Remy. She hadn't forgotten about them, but for some reason had figured that Timon would have taken them along with Trice and himself. That didn't seem to be the case.
"Hey." She had no clue what they might want, so stepped outside, just in case they hadn't come to get Karen to sleep with them both. Not that it wouldn't have been sort of funny if they had. "Is there a problem?"
It was, strangely, Maris who spoke for once, her face smiling, Tiera thought. It was hard to tell, because her face was a deep and pure night black, but so were her teeth and tongue. The features were probably as cute as her or Karen, if you really noticed that, but it was hard to see any definition.
She sounded pleasant however.
"Um, hi! Sam Builder said that he thought you might know where we were supposed to sleep? We're a bit at loose ends here. No one gave us any money for a hotel or anything." She looked away, a little shyly, as if she didn't have a right to ask for anything at all.
Tiera thought about it all for a second and then pulled her Fast Craft from around her neck and handed it over to the all black woman. It was hugely trusting, but what else could she do really? Tim had made a point of letting both of these new people know they weren't prisoners, and if they weren't then it was what she'd have done for anyone else, wasn't it?
"That's a Craft like the one we came in on? It can make a nice little set of rooms. We can set it up in the commons I think, if we don't make it so big no one can get to classes in the morning. If you're going to fly it..." She shrugged. "Well, I'd suggest lessons first, but if you want to take it up on your own, go pretty high and practice for a while. Land slowly, or you can make holes in the ground too. It makes beds and restrooms. Showers and baths too, but we'd have to hook water up." Then she just stood there, waiting for someone to say something at all.
Remy put a single hand out and touched her arm, which might have been taken as flirtation, except that the creature, who looked fairly normal and like a young merchant, if with pale skin like most of her own family, pulled his hand back after making contact.
"Nope, not a hologram. Totally real." There was a smile about that, as if it made sense at all. Tiera had to figure the joke was a thing so old or obscure that she just couldn't get it. She knew what a hologram was, having seen some in Austra, but why her not being one was humorous escaped her. She smiled anyway, since that was the polite thing to do, when in doubt. The Remy moved back and held a questioning look
on his youthful face. "What if we simply take it and fly back to Gray and her cohorts?"
Tiera looked at the thing, who wasn't, she knew, a person at all and considered that for a moment.
"Then I'll lose my Fast Craft? You aren't prisoners. You're on our side. If you change your minds, which I hope you won't, then you do. Both of you are more or less family, and I have to help you do what you want, if I can. Even if that means giving you my only Fast Craft." She forced a happy look and winked at Maris, who returned the look, more or less. "Though honestly, I hope you'll consider us as a real option. Our side. The good guys that don't want to kill everyone? Now, if you don't need me, I need sleep." She waited, but both of the others bowed, as if it were natural for them, and turned away.
As she got into bed again, and turned the light off with a flickering thought against the metal plate on the wall, she wondered if they'd be out front in the morning or not?
The answer to that, was no. She didn't see them at all in the cool early morning when she went off to the bathing chambers to clean up. It was a bit sad for her, since she really liked having a Fast Craft, but she hadn't been lying. They were, more or less, in a strange fashion, her family. She was required to help them out. They'd been on the other side, true, but when given a chance they'd been non-violent with them. So far at least.
She started running on the trail behind and around the whole school complex. She'd been trying to increase her running, as much as she hated it, so did six laps, which would be, she thought, about five miles. It wasn't totally comfortable, since she tended to run fast, not with a controlled and measured pace, but she got it done and into the weapons square about forty-five minutes later anyway, with only a bit of ragged and pained breathing, having sprinted the last half mile or so.
There, to her surprise, she found her craft. It was set up along the edge of the little pond, with a line of water going to and from it. Since that would filter itself, that was actually pretty clever, she thought. She nearly felt bad when she started working, knowing that it was going to make some noise. On the good side, the ship was made of shield material, so things probably wouldn't be too loud really.