by P. S. Power
Honestly, he could do it himself, but taking the Dragon Shifter was just good business. Not just because she was a line walker, either. The girl was one of a tiny handful of people from other worlds who was fluent in Standard, meaning she could actually hold a conversation there. Cindy managed well that way too. So did Sara.
That was about it, from the IPB world. At least among those he’d met. One of the women there supposedly had magical Infected powers that allowed her to speak any language she heard, but he hadn’t met her yet.
The thin blonde woman moved up behind them, smiling a bit, her eyes seeming distracted, given she was reading things over the heads of the others there constantly. When she stopped, she placed a hand on his back. It was meant to be possessive. The feeling of that rolled off of her.
“Okay girls, he’s mine. At least for now. We should be back in… Gah… A few hours?”
Three hours would be a full day in Noram, which was actually about right.
“Yes? If anyone wishes to attend from here? Everyone is invited.” They might have to clear that a bit, but the fact of the matter was that if anyone from the IPB wanted to know anything about his world, they could just ask. Or, if it worked better for them, go and poke around. They weren’t hiding anything from them.
Which reminded him of something.
“Oh! Um, Clemance Thomson…”
Before he could ask after the boy, Marcia Turner moved toward them from across the room, clearly having been listening to everything he was saying.
“We can see if he can get some time off in a few hours? Maybe with some of his flight trainees? The new President really wants us to have a presence in other worlds that isn’t Infected. Not that he isn’t grateful for the jump ships. Actually, I’m pretty certain that your King Richard is dating him now, from what he said.” She was clearly joking, which was a poor plan, given the subject matter.
Willum just winced and shook his head.
“He’ll want to set up the relationship carefully then. King Richard is huge. Over nine feet tall. That has to make for some uncomfortable time together if they aren’t careful.” The funny thing is that he meant it and Cin started laughing wildly.
When she stopped, a minute later, tears in her eyes, she explained.
“Oh… God. Yes, that really is an issue. Probably best not to suggest things like that, either. King Richard might just feel obligated, since he was the one really giving the nice present like that. That isn’t a joke, Marcia. Also, he’s really big, in that way, so…” She shook her head, but got no more than a few polite chuckles from the other.
So, almost in retaliation for the lackluster response, she took his hand and pulled Will away.
“We’ll be back in three hours, to get anyone who wants to go with us. Try for Clemance, at the very least. His mother has to be worrying about him. He’s been gone for nearly a year there already.”
“That’s the word on the topic. My Aunt is more than a tiny bit concerned on the matter. It really would be nice if he’s available. If not… Well, he has a job to do here. We all understand that. Duty comes first.” Willum looked around the room, but was tugged away by Cin. She was smaller than he was by about six inches, but nearly as strong. They both had similar powers that way.
When they got outside, she walked firmly, not speaking until after they got into the box and came out the other side. In the Noram Capital. At the space port there, to be exact. The air itself smelled different. Like dust. There was normally a river that ran around the place, but it had been turned off as the wall river it was hooked into started to fail. They would be able to get it back the next day, thankfully. Otherwise the trees and plants that were planted all around the focus stone disk would start to die. They felt a bit wilty already.
“It will be easier to…” Crossing his eyes, he waved toward the box again, pulling the woman by her tan clothing, back into the box. “I’m an idiot. Sorry. I need to get a house from Aunt Taman. That or make one. I hope I don’t have to, first thing. That would take a while and I’m not certain how much time we have before dinner.” It was daylight there. In fact, the blue sky was lovely that day. The light on his skin was probably warm, but neither of them were going to feel it, so that wasn’t an issue.
That one, getting a house, thankfully, was fairly simple, since Taman had a large box in her room, filled with different magical things. In fact, instead of a tiny pod house, she handed over a full-sized palace.
“You don’t have to make it big, after all. This way you can host people up there though, without bothering anyone. Make sure to take some coin with you though. You have to pay for the land rent up front. If you put up a palace, even a small one, the tax collector will be out to collect in short order. That’s what Tor and Timon always said on the matter at least.”
That was probably good advice and not actually a thing he knew how to do. Cin just stood there, after winking at Taman. They didn’t really speak, which was interesting. Not out loud. Instead they passed mental messages the whole time. It was leaving him out of things, but for the life of him Willum couldn’t give a damn about that kind of thing at the moment. If he really wanted to he could have joined them. Which meant the natural topic would be his emotional state, or they would have used their words. Hopefully that part, the depression, would break soon.
From the testing done at the IPB, he should kick that about fifty times faster than a normal person would have. It wasn’t the kind of thing he was prone to, so it shouldn’t take years for him to stop it.
Then again, there were a few thousand things they could have been going on about, other than him. Including real matters, such as intrigue. In that case he wasn’t doing his job at all, since he was pretty certain that Aunt Taman would totally use his emotional state against him. Even if she felt bad about it later, it could easily happen, if she decided he needed to learn a lesson in that area of life.
The side trip took about twenty minutes, though it was only a little after noon, by the position of the sun in the sky. It was good to notice, since it would be the same back in Noram. How he’d missed that, he didn’t know. Which was, of course, a very dangerous thing to have happening to him. Time was essential to everything he did anymore. Losing track of it in the world he was in could be dangerous or lead to mission failure at any point.
They moved back to the Noram space port, then jogged around the wall of the Capital, heading left, moving at over fifty miles an hour, heading out along the river at a good clip. It felt nice to move, but it wasn’t hard for either of them. Will watched the flat flood plain along the river turn into trees, out by the groves. A green area had been formed around the whole place, but it was wider and thicker out in that direction. Those were mainly fruit trees, berry bushes and some nice flowering plants, but there was some variety of those there. Thousands of species, having been put in thickly along the route. There was a nice focus stone path through the things, and a clearing in the depths of them, just large enough for a nice palace to be set up. In a field of grass. It was very nearly made for it, but no one had done anything with it in particular.
Waving, so that his buddy from another world would get the idea and stop, he paused, breathing hard, but not feeling it at all. Not waiting, he started to set up a house. Even as he gasped for breath. After a few moments, the simple house that came into being was made to look like a black stone tower, instead of a real dwelling. It was tall, stretching up about seventy feet. The circular roof was made to have a slate looking top on it, which let the whole thing seem just a bit military and sinister. The footprint was large enough that the whole thing could easily house several hundred people, since there was no reason for it not to be that way.
Then he focused, and added the water line. That floated through the air, coming from the natural river that flowed past the large city. That came along in a line that was filtered so pure that it was nearly invisible, except for a soft glint in the air.
A nice internal staircase, kitchen and
facilities was arranged for as well. The first floor was big, if not vast really. At least if they were going to compare it to say, Tor’s palace or the one owned by the King, not too far away. The other floors above it were, for the moment, identical. There was a basic plan that he had in mind, with wedge shaped room, but before he could do anything at all, Cindy wrinkled her nose at him.
“Heh. By your Noram rules, the girl gets to pick what things look like inside the house, right? Let me…” She moved inside the front door, touching the wall off to the right.
What she picked was fascinating. Unlike anything that he’d ever seen before. Not exactly. The furniture was in white and gold, but shone like metal in places. The floor was of stone, or so it seemed, being actually made of magic, but the marble had a pattern inside it which glowed and swirled, just a tiny bit. Not enough to make him feel ill.
It certainly wasn’t natural, which would be apparent to everyone in the world who saw it.
The walls were done in metallic colors, with the doors to other spaces inside being all in the same metal. It was, in all, a bit crass looking. Gaudy and a little loud, to his sensibilities.
Still, Cin didn’t stop there, just moving rooms with a wave. An instruction for him to follow along with her.
“This is basically a copy of the house the new President lives in back home. Um… Now… His place, not the presidential palace. We call that the White House, if it ever comes up.” The rest of the place, thankfully, was done in different colors. It was all very wealthy looking. Really, that existed on a level that Willum doubted he could have copied, without having seen it first. It was… Nice didn’t cover it.
Gaudy really did come to mind, but even that wasn’t the pure truth. It lacked slightly in perfect taste, perhaps but had a feeling to it that somehow resonated with the viewer of it. The inside seemed to scream about power and wealth, without really ever explaining how that was supposed to work. There were no guards or servants, but it felt like they’d come running if he called out for aid.
The Ambassador, looking cute enough in her tan outfit, clasped her hands in front of herself.
“There. I did my womanly duty, right?”
He nodded, then filled in the rest of it for her.
“Yep. If you were my wife or girlfriend. Even at that, it would be closer than just dating. Life partners? Well, good to know that we’re that close.” He did manage to smile at her.
They were speaking in Standard, which was what they did every time Cindy came to Noram, now. Instantly, so she could get all the practice possible. He did the same in any world he went to, if he had the language there at all. It wasn’t always possible for him, but he tried to learn them all, if he had even a hint of a chance at it.
Rather than look embarrassed, the woman just snorted softly at his ridiculous words.
“I know. Which is as close as I’ve gotten to an adult relationship in a long time. So, what’s next? I need to work up a good outfit. I think I can, being here. I have a clothing amulet and can pick the brain of some of the best designers in your world for us. Um… We need to get with Veronica Peterson?”
Willum jumped at the mention of the name.
“I nearly forgot that part. It’s… Still really hard, just talking to people like that. I mean, who am I, right? Some woodworker from a village so tiny that it barely has a name. Pine Creek. They named the place after a rivulet. You’re correct though. I need to get with the… Princess of the realm. As much sense as that makes.” It was the truth that doing that kind of thing wasn’t exactly easy making for him.
Then he did it, since being cowardly aided no one.
After a few minutes of waiting, sitting in his new, rather nice tower, Veronica appeared in the palm of his hand. The focus stone communications device wasn’t vast, but it did have great resolution, he realized. Better than the HD television he was used to seeing in Cindy’s world.
“Mr. Baker?” Her voice was very polite sounding, which was kind of her. No one in any world would have insisted she be that way with him. Not even Will would have. Not out loud.
“Princess Veronica. Ambassador Mableton has come to visit for the evening, as you suggested. We also set up a dwelling at the edge of the Eastern grove, near the river. Aunt Taman tossed a palace amulet at me for the purpose. I made it look like a stone tower, instead of something nicer. I don’t want to reach beyond my station, after all.” Which had been part of his thinking on the whole thing. At least it was now that there was time to think about it. It wouldn’t serve to outdo the King or even his Uncles, who were rich and powerful men of renown.
“Wonderful! You can both be here at eight this evening? You have transportation?”
That got him to stop, since the truth was, he simply didn't own that kind of thing. Most days it really wasn’t a concern for him. He moved from world to world, under his own power. From the void he could drop into almost any location at need. The one place where that was really frowned on in his own world was, naturally, the very place they were going to be expected to go that evening.
He nearly growled at the poor princess, as if it were her fault he wasn’t totally ready at the moment. Worse, it wasn’t even a difficult thing for him to fix. He could get a vehicle, at need. A million gold magical craft could be brought in for him inside an hour, if he asked one of half a dozen people for it. The only real issue there was that doing that would make him seem more connected than he actually wanted the world to understand about him. Rather than letting anything show on his face, he shrugged. That was mainly about buying time.
He needed the extra two seconds to come up with a solution that would both make sense and make him look a bit like he had to beg people for help to get anything done in life. That wasn’t exactly true, but it was about what he wanted the world to be thinking at that moment. Especially if there might be rumors of him helping Alice with her little mutiny problem the day before.
“Perhaps I could hire a town carriage to carry us? Or… I might press in and beg help from Aunt Tamerlane… I’m sure we can manage in time. If nothing else we can walk the distance. The people of the IPB are rather heartier than the nobles here, I think.” That part was actually true, but Cindy was reading up on what he was actually doing, so had to cover a laugh. She moved back, so that her face would be off the device he was using at the moment.
From her expression, Princess Veronica seemed to be getting the whole thing. All of it, from the feeling coming off of her. That part was interesting to get, since she was miles away.
She bowed slightly, her face going strained. Only a bit, so as to not rub in how poor he was in resources.
“I have heard that Countess Thomson is in the Capital for the river hanging tomorrow…”
Willum took a deep breath, then held it for a few moments. Showing that it was galling to him, having to ask a relative for help like that. It wasn’t actually false, so it was pretty easy for him to sell that way. Half of him was tempted to just make a magical carriage to ride there in. He didn't have the time, but it was a poor plan, even if he did. Not that people wouldn’t get that he could do that kind of thing, if he had something to work from. The river that was going up the next day was so powerful and new in many ways that it was technically a full build. A novel one.
He just didn’t want people to get that he was able to do things like that quickly. Even if he could manage it.
“I should connect with her then, if she’s taking my calls at the moment? Rest assured, we’ll be in place at the correct time, even if we have to run there. Princess.” He bowed over his hand, and the woman, seeming awkward, let the thing go dark.
As soon as the blue glowing names and sigils appeared on the front of the thing again, Cindy laughed. It was kind of sinister sounding, to be truthful. Husky and deeper than her real voice would have been by a good bit.
“Oh… She’s good. She also thinks that you are too, by the way. Normally she would have just called in a carriage from the palace, since we were asked
for, but she’s backing your play here. Not that she totally gets why you’re doing it. She’s half afraid that you’re going to force an Ambassador to walk through the entire city for some reason.”
Willum didn't bother trying to joke about it with the woman, since she was already up on everything he was thinking. What he did do was bother to speak about it. After all, just because she could read everything he was thinking, that didn't mean she wasn’t a person, like everyone else.
“It occurred to me that I don’t want to seem too resourceful in my own person. It’s bad enough that I made that stupid river. It wasn’t easy and is close enough to building that some will assume it means that I’m actually a wizard. Which… Technically I guess it does. It isn’t exactly new, but I took half a dozen different tricks and put them together to make this thing. For most people that would count as a novel build. It isn’t even my first one, I guess.” It was hard to explain, except, of course, Cindy didn't make him have to do that at all.
“Right. It’s new, but a bit like making a new piece of art by copying several others work and pasting it together. I get the difference.”
He nodded, then looked at the device in his hand. The whole thing felt like a lot of work at the moment. Everything did. Smiling, he tried to look at the Ambassador in a positive fashion.
“Let me see if I can beg a ride for us?”
While he waited, the Ambassador changed clothing. It was magical, and she clearly wasn’t getting ready for the big party yet. That meant she ended up in a nice dress. A pale blue thing with some lace around the collar and sleeves. There was a fine white pattern to the whole thing as well, and black shoes showing at the bottom as the woman stood there. Looking down Will smiled, since he was still in an IPB uniform himself. Before the device in his hand could pick up, he moved into a black velvet outfit that was pretty common for Noram. At least if you were rich enough to have magical clothing.