by P. S. Power
Dare pointed to his right.
"There are some good apples, over that way. Some other fruit too, coming I think. Not ripe yet. By the big palace over there?"
Gerent Lairdgren smiled at him, and clapped him on the shoulder then.
"I need to go and see to that. We should collect some of those. I planted the whole place over there. The house belongs to Tim. You know, you could go live there if you want. He won't mind."
Dareg shook his head a bit.
"No, thank you sir. Like you said, I have enough going on here. I don't want to be too far away. Anyway, we should get on that building, and the cleaning. I..." He looked at the recently groveling man in white and smiled. "I don't think I got your name?"
The man kept walking, and blushed a bit.
"High Servant Straughan, Prince Dareg."
"Call me Dare. Anyway, High Servant Straughan and I need to get right on that. Maybe some of your friends can come and help with the apples while we plan that out?"
Gerent smiled.
"Good idea. You can pass them out in town. That's what they're there for. For everyone to share."
That was enough to get the man to run away, which made the giant Prince smile and then sigh, like it was a real thing and not a joke.
"Now we wait to see if he went to set things in motion, or is just fleeing from the work. It can be hard to tell with that type. Who we need for this is High Servant Erid... You know... Here." They stopped walking, and the big man dug into the box he was holding. Then he tapped on a small white rectangle for a while. When he was done, that was passed over to him without explanation. Then a single finger pointed at it.
"Tap that one. High Servant Erid. He's the one you want."
Dare did, but felt like his stomach was doing flips. He'd never met the man, and was just contacting him like that, without permission. It was rude. Almost certainly.
After a moment a friendly looking man, who seemed to be about thirty, but in that youthful looking noble way which meant guessing his age would be hard to do, if the legends were correct. He was mid-toned as far as his skin color went, and had brown hair. Blue eyes though, which meant he was probably a noble in truth. Most of that kind had light eyes.
"Good day? High Servant Erid, what may I do for you?"
He felt like his tongue was glued to the top of his mouth, but speaking was needed, so he pried it loose and tried not to seem like a mental deficient.
"Hello! I'm Dareg Canton. I'm putting up some buildings at the Capital spaceport? Some of your High Servant friends offered to help, but it was suggested to me that you might be a good person to get with on that?" He ran out of things to say, which probably needed to be some kind of bribe, if he really wanted help.
"The spaceport? I can... It will take me a few days to get there. I'm in Second City right now. I'll attempt to be faster than that, however. Are you using magical dwellings or focus stone? Well, wood would be possible, but the cost to have it shipped in would be prohibitive." The man waited then.
Dare wondered how he could look at his face like that and not ask if his parents knew what he was up to. He wasn't doing anything of the sort though. Just watching him as if he were a grown man. Which he technically was. One that had a job to do, and needed real help with it.
"We can do both, but the plan to start with is focus stone. I was thinking of a bath house, a tavern, restrooms and the like."
The High Servant, bits of his own white outfit showing at the neck, nodded.
"I'll put in a requisition with the Commander. Sir Karen Derring. She has contacts as far as the magical side goes. You might want an inn, too. Are you planning to run these Harmony fashion?"
"Um, you lost me there. What do you mean by that?"
"We don't require coin here. For anything. It works, because we have a lot of magic around. With the spaceport you have two options. A lot of people that work in space won't have a lot of coin, but people there still need to be paid. Unless you provide everything they need. There's some risk to that. Economic balances. So, there are some choices to be made there."
Dareg had heard that one already. His friend, Tam-unit, had to have him tell her what was allowed that way, which meant it was important not to let the economics of the situation skew to far that way. Thinking for a bit, he started to nod.
"We'll get people to pay, but set the rates low. That way more people will use them. Copper a cup ale, use the bathhouse for free. Stay at the good inn for a copper, but in the low one without paying anything." That meant two inns, but he could work on it.
Erid, the High Servant, smiled at him as if he'd said something brilliant.
Chapter two
The little house that Prince Gerent set up was really nice. It didn't look like a place a person would live really, being very unique on the outside. It was shaped a bit like a pea pod, with lumps in several places. The color was nice though, being a combination of black and white. That changed as he watched it, which got him to blink.
Gerent waved at it.
"It doesn't change shape or anything, but inside it has a lot to offer. Let's get water for it. Touch the sigil there? Then point at the new river there." He pointed himself, to explain what he meant.
It was really simple to do. Once a thin line, about an inch wide, was flying through the air Gerent waved toward the round shaped, funny looking door.
"You should go in. I would, but it really was designed for people a bit smaller than I am now."
Without thinking about it, and forgetting for a moment that the man was a Prince, if on a different world, Dareg laughed. It wasn't a mean thing, and got a smile from the larger man.
"When was that, when you were three?"
"Oh, no." The giant glanced away then, looking at the flowing water that hovered over the ground, thanks to magic. "I was a midget. Until about nine years ago now. I mean, really little." A hand was held down toward the floor, a good head under Dare's own. "Tiny. Tor made it so I would grow into what I should have been. So, for most of my life I could have lived in something like this pretty easily. Good point though, I should be grateful for what I have."
Dare looked at the man, who suddenly seemed a lot more pensive. He hadn't suggested anything like that, had he? True, he'd let his mouth run and made things awkward, but there wasn't a lot of way around that kind of thing. The man was over eight feet tall. No one looking at him for the first time would think midget.
"Sorry. Not trying to bring things down. This place looks great." It was an effort to change the topic, since whatever had happened in the other man's life, it had affected him enough to come out after a few simple words. That was the kind of thing that he could understand though. Being different was hard. For him it was being too good looking, but it was still a challenge. Not the same thing, but a way to see into what another person might be thinking or feeling.
Not that he was going to talk about it. Being too nice looking wasn't anyone's idea of a hard time.
Ger shook a little, in a playful fashion and waved to the door.
"Don't mind me, this is for you."
The inside of the place, which was about twelve feet long on the outside, and ten wide, had low ceilings really. About seven feet, which was enough for him, but not for the man with him to be comfortable. At five-six it was possible to manage however.
The thing wasn't big, but it had a single bed in it, which was deliciously soft to the touch, with fuzzy blankets that felt sensuous against his palms when he rubbed over the top one. There were windows too, which weren't really visible from the outside. It took a few seconds, but he understood the basic idea. From the inside, he could see out, but when he looked at a wall, the thing would turn black on the outside. Not a lot of light was really coming in, which was why the ceiling was glowing. It matched daylight roughly, so he hadn't noticed it at first.
There was a sigil, a ball with arrows coming out of it that was part of the wall by the bed. When he touched it, the light above him changed. It took
a bit to figure out, but he tapped it off, then back on not too much later.
Toward the side that was away from the outside door was another one. It led, he discovered, to a tiny restroom, with a shower right next to it. No tub, but they'd have a bathhouse for that. There was already a bar of soap right there, too. Put in place by magic, right inside the stall where the water would pour out. There were sigils for it all, but he understood that quickly enough. That meant, given how tiny it was, that he got outside about five minutes later.
"Thanks for bringing me this. I really like it. You'll tell..." The words were so unfamiliar they pretty much stopped in his throat. Choking on them a bit, he spit the words out, finally. "You'll make sure Aunt Taman knows that I like it? It beats curling up under a bush." That sounded ungrateful, but before he could get to that, Gerent laughed.
"Doesn't it though? It's a virtual palace, for one person. Running water, a kitchen, a chair by a window. It will heat and cool itself, too. You still have to get food in, but that's why you have a job, right? Oh... Clothing." He started to dig in the box, which was nearly empty, or should have been.
Dare smiled and looked down at what he was wearing.
"The Tam-unit made this for me. It's pretty close to the best I've ever owned." That was true, but the man just nodded and kept digging.
"It is pretty nice. You should wear that kind of thing when you work, but what if you get called in to see the King? Or the Queen? That could happen. She loves Tor, and you look a lot like he used to. Before he got taller. Technically, in some weird way I never understood, she's kind of his daughter? Tor is a clone of the old Count Lairdgren. The Green man. Like the legend? Anyway, the Queen was really his daughter, due to a trick by someone else, and no one knew about it, so he, Tor, ended up becoming her lover. She's a noble, so didn't really care about that kind of thing. Tor was raised in a tiny forest village. His family ran the bakery there."
It was a lot of information to dump on him, but Dare tried to just drink it in. It might be important some day.
Then he shook his head.
"Except the part about me being called to the palace like that. I should be fine with this."
A large hand came toward him then, holding out two amulets. Both on stone, which was expensive, since that meant really powerful and long lasting work.
"Clothing and a shield. This is a Tim class three. Once you have it on, not a lot of people in the world will be able to do much to you. Austran missiles will still kill you, and from what I hear you should stay away from some of the larger nobles if they go into a combat rage. Countier Ross, I think was a name I heard for that. Now there's a big man. The other is a clothing amulet. I can show you? You'll need to step inside though, if you don't want to strip out here. Then just put them both on and tap the sigil on this one."
The man, his uncle, if by adoption, didn't watch him do it. The funny thing was that, when he hit the sigil, he ended up dressed almost exactly like he'd started. In plain brown, top and bottom. If anything, the shirt and trousers were coarser feeling than what he'd had on.
His boots were better now. It felt funny, because the ground had moved under him when the thing was started. That was just the soles growing under him however. When he walked out, leaving his clothing where it had fallen on the floor, Dare smiled. Free magic clothing, was still free. It was probably made new each time he turned the device off, too. So it wouldn't need to be laundered.
"Oh, we also need a place to do laundry. Not everyone has magic clothing." It felt a bit silly to say, but Gerent seemed to get the idea.
"A real point. So, if you close your eyes and try to think about what you want to be wearing, the clothing will change to become that. I always find it easiest to think of things that I've seen others in, and then imagine being in them. Once you have that it isn't hard to change the colors and all that. Go ahead."
In the last days he'd seen exactly three different outfits on people. The one that Gerent had on the night before, the High Servants robe-like tunic and trousers, and what he had on at the moment. Not wanting to get on Gerent's bad side if he could help it, he closed his eyes and dressed himself like one of the men in white.
The clothing shifted a bit, feeling almost like someone was tugging on it gently. Then he made the whole thing a nice deep blue color, changing the gold metal trim on the sleeves for something closer to copper.
When he opened his eyes he didn't know what to expect, but it honestly wasn't all that bad. The boots on his feet were still brown, but by concentrating he made them a nice shining copper color, too. Like they were made of metal.
Prince Gerent nodded at him when he saw it.
"Now you look like you're in charge. Possibly a bit deranged, but no one said you had to be sane to lead. Thankfully. Can you imagine that? We'd never get anything done. Now, we need to go over what's on your shield. It can do more than just stop people from hitting you with rocks and sticks."
He nodded, knowing that one.
"These can fly, right? I've seen that, a few times. People floating through the air on their own."
"The old style ones did that. These will too, but you can go much faster. It isn't a jump ship, but in a pinch you could fly this into orbit without it being a problem. We can try that later. I never have myself. But these are better for space work, in theory. Really, if you get a chance you should go to one of the space stations and see if they'll let you in. I probably won't have time. Unless you want to come with me? We can probably find someone else to take over here."
Shaking his head, and not wanting to seem ungrateful, Dare was at a loss for words.
"So, these fly?"
They did, and on mental commands, which were really simple to use, once they were explained. They could even be used as Tor-shoes. That was just hovering a little over the ground so you weren't really flying. Gerent showed him how to make that work.
"You have to be careful though, since these can go pretty fast. Enough to kill a person if they don't have a good shield on if you hit them. No flying over the city here either. Are you going to have the same rule for your space base?" There was a look, like that only made good and proper sense.
"I think so. I'd hate for anyone to be hit by a ship. Especially since I'm pretty certain that I'm the one that has to scoop them up. This will really let me fly into space? Or go other places? It took me months to walk here from Cannor. Nearly five, and we have really good roads."
"Yep. If you do fly up there, make sure you use your communications device to get in touch with Tim so he can get feedback on the design. I know that it's been bothering him that he hasn't been able to test it yet. It's remarkably hard to find people willing to go into space without a ship. I know Alice wants get a group of people trained up for that. If it works, you'll want to get in touch with her about it. Just cover the compact first. She won't trust you. You're too good looking."
That one normally went the other way around, but he simply nodded and took that in.
"Alice? I... Don't think I know her." Which was true, literally, but he meant that her name hadn't come up before.
"Right. Alice Orange, the Orange Ancient. Head of Space Fleet. One of my girlfriends. I have several." Then he waited, probably for the judgment to come. How it was wrong for him to have more than one woman.
Which was true. If he wasn't going to share. That would be obnoxious.
"Got it. So, fly into space, get with Tim and then Alice." He smiled, because it sounded impossible, but he had the amulet for it, so of course he was going to use the thing. So far it seemed really simple to use too. That would probably fade when he got into space itself, and was soiling his trousers three shades of brown, but until then he liked the idea.
He didn't mention it, because he really wasn't certain if the man was joking with him about it or not. He kept smiling, and that meant he was either trying too hard to get Dare to like him, or it was him being made fun of for being so gullible. True, both of those could come from a place of
kindness, but that didn't mean he wanted to be the fool, did it? So he kept his mouth shut, and started walking with the man that had claimed to be his uncle, then given him loads of really expensive gifts.
Gerent took a deep breath as they closed with his ship.
"You should call Tor. I know that might be hard, but this is all new to him, too. He's really nice, so don't let that scare you. If you need anything from Harmony..." Then instead of saying he could call on him, which was expected, the man slapped his arm. "Then fly there? Tim isn't certain that these shields will make the trip in time, so if you want to ever try it, you have to just go, and not hesitate. Full speed right at the moon. I wouldn't do it, but I bet he would, if he could come back here. Soon enough they'll be back. It's a good thing, but don't wait for that." Then he kept on walking, as if he weren't trying to get Dareg to do foolish things by mentioning them.
It was tempting to go right then, but he'd need at least a little time off first. Not that he was being paid to work, but if he had a crew of people coming in, then he did need to stand ready to help them. Plus he had to make certain his Tam-units were full.
The man stopped and smiled at him, then patted his shoulder a little awkwardly.
"I need to take off soon, and go get with Petra. Don't be a stranger, right? I know this has to be scary, having a new family, and it took me a long time to learn, but once you're one of them, the Baker family will act like it. I mean that. If you called up Tor and asked for a million gold coins, he might ask why you wanted them, but he'd probably give them to you. Tiera... Well, I imagine she'll eventually call on you. Probably to get you to work for her. You have to now. It's a law." He laughed and then shook his head. "Seriously. She made a law saying all her family members had to help her out when they could. A lot of them ignore her, law or not."
Then, as if it were even close to enough information, the man walked away. Dare didn't follow him. It was time to find something else to do. He did wave at the man when he turned, halfway down the street, and got one in return.