Sons (Book 2)

by Scott V. Duff

  “Hello, clan Seron,” I replied, standing and putting Ana up on my shoulders, my hands behind her back. She gripped my jaw automatically, choking me some. Donny was crawling up Mitch’s chest while staring at the brownies fearfully. Pierce looked around the room in white-knuckled wonder, while Mitch murmured softly at Donny to calm him. “Brusa, Donny is worried that his new pajamas are too young for him. Could you arrange to make him several pair that showed his evident maturity and masculinity more effectively?”

  “Really, Lord?” Brusa asked. The twinkling in his eyes told me he understood the problem. He leapt across the gap to the couch I’d vacated to stand a few feet away from Mitch and Donny. “I thought the dancing color sticks quite whimsical and amusing, but as a grandparent we do try too hard to keep them too young for too long.”

  “You have grandchildren?” Donny asked quietly, leaning against Mitch’s chest.

  “Yes, sir,” Brusa chirped merrily. “The six children that were at your door when you first came out are my grandchildren. They’re under the table playing now.” He pointed behind the couch at a glass table on fake chrome legs. Three of them were trying to climb up the table legs fruitlessly, slipping down the slick surface before reaching the tabletop. The other three smaller children watched and laughed quietly under the table together playing.

  Brusa waited a few moments before trying to engage Donny again, letting him watch the children play. “What colors would you like, Donny?” he asked politely, once Donny looked back smiling. A few adults gathered on the floor nearby, sizing him up and quietly discussing patterns and styles. Walking past the coffee table, I sat on the floor and lifted Ana off my shoulders to stand in front of me. We were surrounded by a ring of brownies, instantly curious.

  “Ana, this is Moritsa,” I said, introducing the eldest in the circle. She wore a dark red dress with a bright yellow flower in her elaborately braided hair.

  The brownie stepped forward and curtsied, chirping, “Hello, Ana.”

  “Hi,” Ana said shyly as she backpedaled and fell into my lap. She smiled up at me bashfully as I arranged her nightgown more modestly around her.

  “Moritsa has a lovely dress on, don’t you think?” I asked.

  “Yes, it is a pretty dress,” Ana said, staring angelically at Moritsa. “And a pretty flower, too.”

  “Thank you, Ana,” trilled Moritsa happily, almost dancing in place at her compliment.

  “I agree. It complements her well,” I said, glancing around the room. “In fact, Brusa is quite dashing as well. Everyone is quite colorful and well dressed tonight. Did I intrude on a party?”

  “No, Lord, not at all, we just wanted a happy, joyful welcome,” Moritsa said smiling still. “Would you like a new nightgown, too, Ana? Our lord has some lovely lace and satin available. Perhaps a robe?” Ana hid her face in my chest of dancing crayons, giggling shyly.

  “Well? Moritsa is offering. Or would you prefer pajamas like Donny?” I asked, smiling down at her.

  “Could I have a dress as pretty as hers?” Ana asked me.

  “Ask Moritsa, dear,” I said softly, nodding at the brownie.

  “Can I?” she asked Moritsa eagerly.

  “Of course, Ana!” Moritsa said, smiling more broadly and twirling her dress so that the skirt flew out. “You like it that much?”

  “Yes, it’s very pretty,” Ana said, enchanted again.

  “Maggie, would you help me a moment, please?” I asked, lifting Ana up again. “Ana, stand up a moment and let Moritsa and the others have a look at you. Maggie, where should her waist be? I have no experience with little girls, especially dressing them.”

  “Oh, right about here,” Pierce said, kneeling and loosely holding Ana’s nightgown.

  “How long should the skirt of the dress be, ma’am? Above the knee?” another brownie asked along the circle.

  “This is Itsaunai, a nephew of Brusa,” I introduced the brownie wearing forest green satin pants with a bright saffron yellow shirt, belted with a bright red sash and shoes and vest, matching Brusa’s reddish-brown. Itsaunai beamed a bright smile at us. It was terribly cute and Maggie fell for them hook, line, and sinker.

  “I think just below the knee for such a pretty dress, sir,” Pierce said, blushing, then whispered between us, “He’s so adorable!”

  I whispered back, “They have much better hearing than humans, too. There aren’t a whole lot of secrets around them.” The circle of brownies giggled and she blushed harder. “I need to check on Donny. Moritsa, we need to go shortly, dear. They’ve gone through a long journey and need to start regulating a bedtime to Gilán’s timeframe anyway.”

  “Certainly, Lord. Right away, sir,” Moritsa trilled merrily. Two more brownies stepped forward with knotted cords for measuring.

  With Jimmy and half the Fae watching Donny, I really didn’t need to check on him, more like make a personal appearance. When I got to that circle, Brusa had Donny standing next to a chair with his youngest son standing on the arm taking chest measurements and a nephew taking waist and leg measurements. Donny looked overjoyed with the attention he was getting and Mitch was enjoying watching.

  After another five minutes, I called a stop to the tailoring sessions and let Maggie and Mitch start pushing them towards bed, backing up the pajama policy against Donny’s protests. Once they were both tucked into the double bed together and fighting off sleep, I sent the Serons in quietly. They started a sweet serenade of lullabies so quietly that I almost couldn’t hear them. A very faint faery fascination began to waft through their songs as they increased their volume ever so slightly. It was just enough of a fascination to make the children surrender to sleep. Soon enough, they were cuddled up close, more tired than either realized and fast asleep.

  I kept Brusa and Moritsa behind while Jimmy returned with the rest of the Serons. Giving them the kids’ history without making their mother out to be a complete bitch was really, really hard. Frankly, it came down to reminding them that children see the world, especially their parents, through much rosier lenses than we do. And frankly, Barry Grimes covered up many of her failings, both intentionally and unintentionally. They had no problem understanding her as a person, though. Their problem was understanding how she related to me. With so many diverse natures of humanity, they want more divisions within the species, like them. Couldn’t agree more.

  We made plans to visit the apartment tomorrow evening and ferry some of the excess baggage over and then for the final move on Thursday evening. After that, it was very general planning for day-to-day living with mostly “wait and see” type endings. None of us liked that but no one could offer any better suggestions.

  “Well, it’s time to say good night,” I said. “I’ll probably be too busy to come by tomorrow, but I’ll try to arrange to be here for the move. Don’t let it stop you or slow you down if I’m not, though. It’s more important that they’re safely at home than for me to be the one that takes them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Mitch said. “And thank you again, Lord Daybreak. I’ll never be able to repay your kindness.”

  “Yes, you can, Mitch,” I said, patting the big man’s shoulder. “And I’ve already told you how—take good care of them. Cpt. Pierce, I hope I didn’t come across too condescending with you tonight. I was trying to placate the children more than attend to your feelings.”

  “No, Mr. McClure, I understand, though admittedly it took me a few minutes,” Pierce said with a small smile. “I was wondering, though, you seemed to know all the Serons by name… How many do you know personally?”

  “All of them,” I answered.

  “And how many are on your staff at the Palace?”

  “A little shy of four thousand,” I said, wondering where she was going.

  “And how many of those do you know by name?” she asked.

  “Oh, now I understand what you’re asking. When I said ‘all of them’, I meant all of the faery in Gilán, Captain,” I said, cocking my head to the left. “We’re barely a
colony right now, which is one reason I’m so protective of them. Currently, that’s only a million, two hundred ninety-six thousand, eight hundred thirty-one, including the Guard.”

  “That’s… incredible,” Pierce said, shocked at the number.

  “I guess,” I said, shrugging. “It’s part of my job. First knows them as well, and Ellorn knows all the Palace staff and the elders afield and others as he has the need. The Commanders of the Guard have similar abilities within their realms of authority.”

  “Wait till you see the place,” Mitch said with a grin. “It’ll blow your mind.”

  I laughed. “That being said, I have a half-dozen things left to do, so I got to go. Good night.” And I shifted home.

  Chapter 48

  It was a perfect replica of the house outside of London. I hadn’t firmed the walls and floors yet, but Jimmy and I were still meandering through them looking at the details of our assessment. So far the only changes Jimmy made were in the basement, where I hadn’t gone.

  “Looks good to me, Seth,” Jimmy said, confidently. “Damn near perfect, really.”

  “Good,” I said, agreeing with him. “Ellorn, I have a possible joint building project for you. Could you gather a couple of builders and join us in the Throne Room, please?”

  Yes, Lord, right away! Ellorn called through the geas, as chipper as ever.

  “Commander Byrnes, could you get a few building engineers together and meet us in the Throne Room, please?”

  Yes, sir. Which kind of engineers will you need? Byrnes replied from the Garrison.

  “An electrician, a telecommunications or telephone technician, a security analyst, I suspect, and a construction engineer should be enough,” I answered. “Or some combination of specialists that can organize along those lines. You’ll be working with the brownies on this, so there’ll be some need for coordination, too.”

  Yes, sir, right away.

  Kieran and Ethan ran across the loop in the Road at full speed, heading for the Family Wing. Ethan nearly skidded into the wall trying to stop. Kieran somehow managed to run partly up the wall. They turned to look at the house, breathing heavily from their run, then slowly walked around it. I strengthened the floors and walls while they looked.

  The familiar pinprick of a shift signaled Dillon’s return home, so I called out to Peter. Seth’Dur’an o’an, I’m about to discuss renovations on the London house if you want to join us in the Throne Room.

  Okay. Be there in a minute, he responded sleepily.

  If you’re tired, I can do it alone, I offered.

  No, I’m not tired… He still sounded sleepy though.

  “What exactly are you trying to do here, little brother?” Ethan asked from the corner of the house. “Other than build a façade of a big house, I mean.”

  “I put a bid on this place this afternoon,” I said.

  “You’re kidding,” Kieran said, coming out around Ethan. “I hope you aren’t putting much into it.”

  “No, that’s the beauty of it,” I said. “The owner is between a rock and a hard place financially, but I’m offering him a reasonable profit from his point of view. He’s recently inherited it from distant relatives and the taxes will eat him alive if he tries to get a huge payoff on it. The only way he’s going to do that is if he dumps huge amounts of cash into renovations and he knows it.”

  Peter shifted onto the steps while I was talking, wearing shorts and an over-sized T-shirt and looking amazingly relaxed. Ellorn and three other brownies came in a half-minute later, stopping a few yards away while I spoke with Kieran and Ethan.

  “The house’s base structure, though,” I continued, “is quite sound and there are a number of features on that house that make it almost ideal for what we need. Hello, Ellorn, be right with you. It’s essentially out in the boondocks but less than an hour from London Metro. It’s wired for computers already and has excellent network connections. There’s a warehouse at the back of the property, accessible from a back road, along with several other small outbuildings. It’s on several hundred acres of land and surrounded by farmlands. No major ley lines in the area so any magic there would be easy to spot. And best of all, it needs work.”

  “Why is that good?” Kieran asked confused.

  Peter answered for me. “Because while we are pressed for time, we have a large workforce available literally begging to be utilized. Seth’s idea not only saves us time and money, but it gives us the added security of nearly building from scratch. If it works like we think it will, it’ll be a nearly perfect arrangement.”

  Kieran started to object, I think, then reconsidered. “That could work out well. Very nice, Seth.”

  “That makes the place in Winchester more interesting,” Ethan said. “But let’s see how well this works, first.”

  Byrnes arrived in the Throne Room with Velasquez and five of the Guard. Stopping opposite Ellorn, the six men saluted me in the US style but didn’t wait for my return salute, which was good because I wasn’t expecting it and wasn’t certain of a correct response anyway. I guess I fit the “Commander-in-Chief” title by definition, but I wasn’t sure I wanted those traditions followed.

  “Commanders of the Guard, reporting as ordered, Lord Daybreak,” Byrnes said in a conversational tone, much preferable to barking.

  “Thank you, Ted, Ric,” I said. “Before we get started on the main project, please notify all the women and the medical staff to meet us in the Meeting Hall of Barracks Three in about half an hour. I’d like to speak to them once we’re done here. And Ellorn, would you have… Denean, Joquila, and Leana join us as well, please?”

  “Yes, Lord,” piped Ellorn.

  “Yes, sir,” Byrnes said, and the geas was noisy with communications. Ellorn’s were quick and melodic while Byrnes’ were slow, blocky, and discordant. Of course, Ellorn’s species had millennia to develop while the Guard had a few days, so a comparison would really be unfair. It got the job done.

  “The next item of business is a joint project to be delegated however you see fit,” I said, sitting down on the steps. “Y’all can relax. You all look like I’m gonna pull the Day Sword out and start hackin’ on ya. I just want the two of ya to work together on a few things. If it doesn’t work, there are other ways.”

  “We aren’t worried, Lord,” Byrnes assured me. “We’re excited! At first glance, you’re letting us secure a compound. This is our first task in our mission.”

  “Well, your first task is a little more mundane than that, Ted,” I said smiling. “We’re about to have children here and as big as the Palace is, children need to play outside fairly often in the sun. We need a playground or two outside. With the Grimes kids, there’s enough of a difference in age and size that they’ll grow bored with each other quickly, but then there’s the matter of all the female Guard being pregnant—”

  “All of them?” Byrnes asked, interrupting me. Fire erupted on his butt, making him yell, “Ye-ow!” and jump up and forward.

  “Don’t interrupt Daybreak,” Jimmy said sternly, walking around the Guard in front to stand on my right.

  I tried not to grin while Byrnes rubbed his burned ass and bruised ego and continued, “With all the female Guard being pregnant, we’re going to have quite a few babies around here in the next forty to forty-five weeks and a few years after that, they’ll need a place to play, too. So, Ted and Ellorn, I want you to delegate someone jointly to find a place on the grounds to develop and build a small playground for the Grimes in the next week with an eye to expansion. There’s no reason the brownies can’t use it, too, so you don’t have to wait to start building, but there’s no rush there. Questions?”

  “Are there any regions that you wish to make off-limits, Lord?” Ellorn asked.

  “Not that I can think of,” I said. “Other than the obvious safety issues, not on the Road, not too near the lake or river, that sort of thing.”

  “All of them?” Byrnes asked, again.

  “Yes, Ted, all of the female Guard
are pregnant,” I said again.

  “This shouldn’t be difficult, Lord,” Velasquez said confidently. Byrnes was still stunned, which made me think he was soon to be a father. I could either search his memory or ask. Or just wait until circumstances pointed fingers.

  “Shall we move to the ‘elephant in the room’ then?” I asked, smiling lightly.

  “Please do, Lord,” Ellorn chirped cheerfully turning to the house, understanding the idiom. “It doesn’t seem to be quite your style. I presume this is for the other side of the veil?”

  “Yes, and you’re right on both counts,” I told my perceptive little Palace aide de camp. “But we aren’t exactly planning to use it as a residence completely, but more of an office and embassy combination. There will be need for two or three big bedrooms for visitors and a few bedrooms for live-in staff, though it’s possible for some of the outbuildings to be renovated for that purpose instead. Now this particular house isn’t a done deal, but I’m pretty sure the owner’s gonna sell.

  “It’s outside London on three hundred acres,” I said describing the property for them and projecting a panorama through the geas. “The power supplies, therefore, are cycled differently as well as the telephone systems. And the electrical lines are a mess at the juncture. You’ll see all that when you walk through and I’ll leave this here until you’re ready to begin renovations. We’ll be buying supplies over there, but using what we can from here as far as tools and such.”

  “Do you want a prospectus on design changes and interior designs?” Velasquez asked.

  “Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea,” I muttered, looking over at Peter. He was paying attention, but his eyes were half-open. And he was freshly showered, too. Then it hit me why and I blurted out, “Finally!”

  Peter shot upright on the steps, drop-jawed and glaring, “You said you wouldn’t look!”

  “I didn’t!” I said quickly, holding up both hands, palms out. “Your body language told me. You’ve never been this relaxed. And if I looked a little deeper, I’m sure I would notice the hormonal displacements, too.”