Life Legacy

by Vlad ben Avorham

  She realized with a shock, “I’m actually beautiful." Some of what mamma had warned about made a bit more sense now. Ivor was going to go into shock, she thought with a wicked grin. “Oh, mamma! You’re wonderful!”

  Feylynn watched her little wild flower blossom, not just in reality but also in her own eyes. This was what she had missed with Shadrea. This was what being a mother was, getting to shepherd your daughter in her first steps of becoming a woman. Feylynn wiped a small tear from her eye. “You are absolutely beautiful, my daughter. Just remember what I’ve said and enjoy yourself.”

  Be Home by Midnight

  Sha showed up to Angvar’s room late in the evening. She carried with her a small case. “One make over coming up, Angvar go annoy my brother. We will not be getting ready with you drooling in the corner.”

  Angvar grinned broadly and bowed and exaggerated bow, “As you command, Arch Tzadi.”

  Sha gave him a very undignified snort.

  Angvar stopped at the door for a moment. “Sha, thank you very much.”

  “Yes, yes, I’m wonderful, I know.” she said in an exaggerated tone. “Now get, so we can get ready.”

  She listened to hear the bolt slide closed after he left.

  “Now, lets talk! How bad do you want to stop his heart?” Sha asked with a grin.

  Soph blushed until she could feel the tip of her ears burning. “Let’s try not to make it fatal. I’ll work on that tonight.”

  Now it was Sha’s turn to laugh out loud. “It’s a deal! Let’s start with the gown, we’re just going to create one magically as it is the only option this late in the game.”

  Soph started to giggle, and Sha quirked her eyebrow at the girl. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help but wonder if I needed to be home by midnight like in the stories?”

  Sha grinned. “Funny, and no, these will all last for as long as it is in contact with human skin. If it comes off, it goes poof. Think about that before you let young Angvar sweet talk you into anything too adventurous.”

  Soph’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah, that could be really bad.”

  Both girls broke down into giggles, but after a few minutes, Sha got control of the situation. “This is fun, but time is still short. I have to create you a gown, and one for myself, and that’s going to be exhausting, so I’ll want an hour to recover before we have to be there. Let’s get started...”

  The Big Night

  Pavel adjusted his tunic, he really hated these formal affairs. Oh, the blacksmith’s son who lived in the back of his mind, couldn’t help but be impressed that he was actually there, but everything else about it was a pain. He was just grumbling for the second time tonight about how uncomfortable his tunic was when the ladies decided to join them.

  Pavel had his own jaw drop. Sha was lovely as ever, but she seemed to have worked her magic on all of them. Little Esta was suddenly all grown up, and Sophia the mousey little librarian had bloomed into a sophisticated rose. He remembered most of these people at their scruffiest, on the run at home, and facing goblinoid armies. Damn but they cleaned up nice.

  Angvar and Ivor were both speechless. OK, it took each of them a moment to remember to breathe. Even Galan who’s duty it was to be his mother’s escort on these occasions when his father was unavailable was rather impressed with effect his entourage was likely to have on the room. Recovering his wits, he broke out in a wide smile. “This is what I’m talking about!” He held his arm out for his mother, as they all looked at him a little odd. “Let’s go show them all what sets out Dutchy apart from all the others. You ladies look phenomenal!.”

  Angvar and Ivor finally recovered their wits and gained control of the drool, enough to remember their manners and the compliments began to flow. As the leather-lunged majordomo announced them into the reception area, the milling crowd quieted and the collective impact of their arrival was noticeable. Galan grinned. ‘Yeah, that’s right people. We have arrived.’ he thought, and was gratified to see, the people were taking note. This would be fun...

  Preparing to Return Home

  Shopping for People

  Sha and Pavel set out for the mercantile district early in the morning. Fancy parties and State dinners are all well and good but if the Red and Green Spires were going to be meaningful to the Kingdom, and mankind as a whole, then they would need students. Even those with barely recognizable talent could be trained to their limits. They would be in demand by the guilds as a practical alternative to hiring a tzadi away from their more important work. Not that the work of the guilds wasn’t important, they make life as we’ve come to know it possible. Still, it isn’t the same as the work tzadi do to advance knowledge and protect the people.

  With Pavel’s experience, they start at the smith’s guild hall. The guild masters are all there, very respectful of the pint-sized Elven arch tzadi, the request for the meeting had come from the crown itself after all, but Pavel could see that they thought they were just humoring her. Pavel was ready to step in if things didn’t improve, but he wanted to see how Sha would handle it .

  “Gentlemen, you are all masters at your trade, and have years of experience doing things a certain way.” She smiled at them all. “My stepfather, the Duke of Mirron, as you may have heard has been shaking things up just a little in our Dutchy.” she hesitated to let the uneasy shuffling die down. “I’m not here to upend your lives as much early on. What I am here for is to test your apprentices who are ready to become journeymen. A certain number of them, unknown to me at this time, I will be buying out their apprenticeships.”

  A large balding man with an enormous pot belly leaned forward and squinted to see her better. “What ever for, M’Lady?”

  Pavel knew Sha could handle this, but he also had a pretty good idea as to how they would react. So he began to unobtrusively strip off some armor. He had a feeling that a demonstration was going to be needed.

  “It had recently become known to us that men can study to be tzadi as well.” She let the gasps die down. “It has also become known to us that while even those with the ability to touch the power few have the ability to become full tzadi. My foster brother, has recovered the Red Spire.” again a moment while they all adjusted to having the rumors confirmed. “These young men, and women for some of the other guilds, will be taken to the Red Spire, where they will be trained up to the limits of their abilities. They will serve the Spire for a time to repay their training, and will then be free to return as Saeti, and Journeymen in whatever trade they came from.”

  One of the other Master Smiths hesitantly came forward, he was a wiry man with a gray beard that jutted out from his chin, “Again M’lady, and meaning no disrespect, whatever for?”

  Pavel interrupted at this point, “Sha, allow me.” He stepped forward, “I am Pavel Smithson, on a forge until my fifteenth year.” He says by way of introduction. “Send someone for a bucket of cooling sand and forming clay!” he began to roll up his sleeves. Seeing the iron burns and the large ropes of muscles, each man there knew his earlier statement to be truth. The scar on the side of his head and the comfort with which he carried that over sized axe of his, also made his words not to be ignored.

  Pot belly, as Pavel thought of him, gave the order and in a few minutes he was pouring water from the pitcher on the table into the sand bucket and adding the clay. The thick, sloppy mixture was then poured out on the table and the Master Smith’s drew back so it did not run on them. “What is the meaning of this!” Wire chin squawked.

  Pavel’s gravely voice barely rose above a whisper. “One question at a time, damn it. You wanted to know what a Saeti could do, and I’m going to show you!” he continued rolling out muddy mess until it was all about the thickness of belt leather. He wiped his hands and pulled his own belt knife and started to trace out brackets and even a full set of horseshoes. The Guild Masters were looking at him like he had gone mad. Then Pavel gathered in his will and focused it. The Guild Masters let out a collective cry as the mud turned before their eyes to a fi
ne stone, and then in just a few more seconds into a soft black iron. Pavel let them recover as he tossed a part to each of them to inspect.

  He sat down the sweat dripping from his forehead and running like a river down his back. “Not all of them will be able to do this much, others considerably more. I’ll want at least the horse shoes back. They still need hardened and annealed but as you can see they’ll work.”

  Pure bedlam broke out. Demands as to how they expect them to eat when a man can pull iron work out of the dirt. Pavel gestured to Sha to let them go on for a bit. Once the objections started to repeat themselves, he made the sign of a wolf at her. She just shook her head slightly, her lover’s love of the dramatic would get the better of them one day. Still today was not that day, and they needed to regain control of this setting. She drew in her will and called forth the great dire wolf they had seen on the plains by Red Spire. The reaction in the room to a seven hundred pound wolf appearing in their midsts and settling at the tiny arch tzadi’s feet was exactly as Pavel imagined. She had to fight back gales of laughter and instead settled for an only slightly unfriendly smile. “Gentlemen. Remember me?”

  She, and well the wolf, had their complete and undivided attention. “You had asked me how you were going to do this? May I suggest quickly? I request it, your king requires it, and Gundred here hasn’t eaten this morning.” she said as sweetly as if she were asking to borrow a cup of sugar.

  Pavel was getting his wind back after the exertion of the demonstration. He was pulling his armor back on and fastening it into place. “Oh, and while you’re at it, send word to the Cabinet Maker’s Guild, as we will be going there next, and it would be ever so tiresome to have to repeat this demonstration at each location.”

  “Of course M’Lord!” Pot belly said in a shaky voice as he was all too glad to have an excuse not to be in the room.

  Alone Time

  Galan found himself with time on his hands and a little money in his pocket. Angvar was preoccupied, and Galan wished him well. His mother and the King were going over plans for the semi-covert Green Spire mission. Pavel was escorting Sha to recruit for Echal, and even Esta was let loose to run with Ivor, on the sole condition that they always be in public view so that no one could have an excuse for defamatory rumor.

  So it was he finds himself back on the town. It doesn’t take him long to find his way back to the little brothel that he and Angvar had found. With no one to be the wiser, he steps in much more boldly than before. The proprietress smiled kindly at him. “Back, I see. What happened to your friend?” She asked in a tone that was an odd mix of motherly care and leering suggestion. It was out of Galan’s frame of reference.

  “Oh, you remember?” Galan said surprised and thinking about heading back to the door.

  “Course I remember, two young noblemen come in, stay for several drinks and then leave together. My girls were starting to wonder if you two just wanted a room together.” She said it in the tone of a friendly tease not a lethal insult and Galan tried to let it pass but he was blushing until his ears burned. He stammered for a moment, trying to think of what to say when the matronly woman abruptly hugged him into her cleavage laughing. “Och, lad it’s not that bad. The girls were just having a bit o’fun.” She pulls back to look him in the eye. “We’re just glad to have you back. Can I get you a drink, or would you like to maybe meet a couple of the girls?”

  The cleavage had been remarkably good, even considering that this woman was old enough to be his mother. OK, not as old as his mother, he thought with a giddy mental laugh. Trying to battle the fog of embarrassment and uncertainty and even the first stirrings of desire, “He found companionship at court. I thought I’d come see about a bit of companionship myself.” Then he realized how that could be taken, “Not that we were ever like that, I mean I’m not, and I assume he’s not.”

  He continued babbling and the proprietress finally understood. “First time is it deary?”

  Again, Galan’s face burned. “Well, not exactly.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, part of the problem in a place like this, there is just so much to see, and girls to do that a young man can get distracted. You just go up to the first door on your right.” she said pointing at the stairs. “Make yourself comfortable and leave the rest of the evening to me. Just one thing before you go...”

  Galan turned to look at her with an uncomprehending look, and then it hit him. These were working girls and they expected to get paid. His face showed the moment recognition reached him and the madam smiled, with her hand still out. He pulled from his pouch two golden crowns. It was more than he would usually spend for an evening but this was a special occasion.

  Galan entered the small room, it had a bed and was furnished much as most women’s dressing rooms. His mother’s and sisters' rooms were similar enough to this. He pulled off the heavy out wear to be comfortable, draped his sword belt on one chair and spun around reaching for his knife as the door unexpectedly opened. In came an attractive young woman with a pitcher and basin. Galan was a bit disappointed. Oh, it wasn’t that she was ugly it was just that compared to the others. Still, he was determined to get his experience...

  She giggled as he took the basin from her and carried it to the table. She began to loosen the ties for his tunic. “I think you misunderstand. I am here to get you ready. Your companions will be arriving soon after.”

  Galan face reddened again. He started to stammer, but she just put a finger to his lips. “You are beautiful. I envy those who are coming later. Let’s not worry about that right now, and let’s get you clean and relaxed for a good evening.”

  Galan finally just settled back in and learned to enjoy being catered to. The sponge bath, that included a happy ending he was pretty sure wasn’t supposed to be part of the package, and he was nearly drifting off to sleep when the two young women that were to be his companionship arrived.

  Galan was pretty certain he had died, because things his good just didn’t happen in this world.

  Angvar to the Rescue

  Angvar was sleeping better than he had in months. Soph was curled up under his left arm and the thick stone walls kept it dark and quiet. So it took him a bit to respond to the near frantic knocking at his door.

  He slipped out from under Soph and whispered, “Shh, you sleep. Duty calls, I’ll be back when I can.”

  He wraps in the blanket and opens the door. Feylynn is standing in the hall and he can see her distress. “Angvar, I’m sorry to wake you, but Galan is not in his room. The servants said he went into the city earlier and it’s well past midnight and he hasn’t returned.”

  Angvar blinked and tried to force the fog from his mind. “Uh Your Grace, I don’t know. Wait, I might have an idea, but you really should let me check it out. Don’t worry, I’ll bring him home safe. Can you please let the stables know I’ll need our horses saddled, while I get dressed?”

  “Thank you Angvar, I don’t know what could possibly keep him so long. I’ve been so busy, I’m afraid I wasn’t keeping as close an eye on him as I should.” The worried look never leaving her face.

  “We met some friends in town when we were here last time.” He lied. “I bet he’s with them and just hasn’t realized the time.”

  Angvar was fairly certain he knew exactly where Galan was, he would have been back himself had things worked out differently with Sophia. He found the place fairly easily and tied the horses up out front. The door was still open, but he heard the tired voice of the madam. “Sorry about the door, but we’re closed. Be happy to entertain you tomorrow.”

  Angvar smiled. “Not here for your wares, but if my friend is sleeping off visit, he’s been missed at the castle.”

  The madam came in to the foyer and greeted him. “Ah, the young friend who found companionship at court, welcome back to the Mounted Night. Yes, he’s had quite the evening. You can go up, it’s the door on the right. I’m fairly certain we’ll see him again.” she just chuckled to herself as she moved over to finish c
leaning the bar.

  Angvar grinned. This would be amusing. He didn’t blame Galan, this was in his plans until Soph changed them all. Still, he bet this was not how he had planned to end the evening. He knocked on the door, “M’Lord” he called out softly. “Her Grace has missed your presence at the Castle.”

  He chuckled to himself as he heard Galan swear and was that two feminine voices telling him to come back, he’d paid for the night. He could hear Galan banging around trying to get dressed in the dark. “On my way.” Was all he heard loud enough to be sure what was going on.

  Angvar went back down to the horses, wouldn’t do to have to walk back because the horses were stolen. Galan stumbled down the stairs. Exchanged pleasantries with the madam and stumbled out into the night. Angvar was there with his horse. Galan was glad not to have to walk back. Between the wine and the marathon indulgences he wasn’t sure he would have had the energy to have made it back on foot.

  As they were heading back, Galan sighed and asked, “How bad is it? How much does she know?”

  “I told her we had met some friends, and you were probably there. So when we get back, you hit the shower, and I’ll let her know you’re safe. By the time she gets to your apartment, you can be cleaned up and ready to greet her.”