The crowd was murmuring and exchanging glances among families. Elan was about to dismiss them to talk amongst themselves and come to a decision, but Isolde whispered in his head he needed to take questions. He opened the floor.
“How will we all get there?” someone asked.
Isolde stepped forward. “I had no idea my mother was a part of the faction until I got here. I knew the faction was working on building a ship to get us there, but I only recently found out my mother ordered a large ship big enough to carry entire families at once. The rest of our ships will be outfitted with the blink drives to get through the wormhole and be used as cargo ships. We will be making several trips and if there are things you don’t want to leave behind, you won’t have to.
“The new ship, it’s called The Voyager. It’s named differently than the rest of our ships and faction members on Cendis gave input on the interior. We know we are asking a lot for you to step foot on an Avalian ship into the unknown. The people who built The Voyager wanted to make it as comfortable as possible for you. Most of our things are made by machine, but we do have artists and musicians too. Some of our artists were apparently scratching their heads trying to figure out how to make some of the things you do. I hope once we’re all together, your artists and musicians mingle with ours and come up with great things together.”
More people in the crowd were starting to nod. A pinched faced high-born Elan hadn’t really liked very much stood up.
“Are we electing a king to take your place? A king and advisors?”
“Not unless that is how you choose to govern yourself. I should think the time for kings has passed and maybe we should return to a democracy like they did on earth. From what we are taught, it started that way when we landed here. We just burned several men for plotting the exact same thing that switched us from a democracy to a monarchy.
“We’ve had a king with a council of high born since Amin overthrew the government. Maybe it’s time to elect a governor for each city that meets and comes to decisions for the betterment of everyone. I’ve watched our council meetings when my mother was regent. Maybe the other way is the better way.”
The pinched-faced man eyed him for the crowd before giving him a curt nod. “We all get a voice,” he agreed. “Who will handle rations with the military leaving?”
Elan opened his mouth, but Isolde stepped forward again. They hadn’t talked about this, but he agreed with her right away.
“I think you will find with the swarms dead, you can plant more vegetables and fruit. I will find out what sorts of seeds we have on Avala that will grow well here and have shipments brought over. I am in love with the spices you have here. Elan was not lying when he told you I’ve been eating a lot of spicy food since I got here. I—”
“It’s true!” a voice yelled in the crowd. Elan saw Ratna stand up and wave. “I’ve served her Shakshouka three times now! She eats like a Cendian peasant!”
Isolde wasn’t embarrassed when the crowd started laughing. “I imagine I’m going to get quite fat if Elan keeps showing me his favorite foods. I’ve loved everything I’ve eaten so far.”
Several people in the back of the crowd started hooting and hollering. Shakshouka was comfort food and the only reason Elan had eaten it was because Botak cooked it on a hunt. When he found out how hot she liked her food, he asked that it be served. She ended up loving it and ate it for breakfast for three days straight. Most of the people in the crowd seem to love the fact that Elan had even eaten it before and an Avalian princess liked it enough to eat it three times since Ratna became a servant.
“What’s Avalian food like?” someone yelled.
“Very different. We don’t have the same spices you do. In fact, we have none of the spices you do. We smoke our meat or salt it. We have a cheese there you don’t have here that I imagine may be good in some of your curry dishes. We cook with all parts of the animal, including the organs and the blood. It’s good, I promise. I hope you’ll at least try some of our food.
“I can cook too. I cook for myself when I’m out hunting. I’m already imagining some of our smoked meat in one of your stews with the vegetables we’ll probably be able to plant on Ragnis Crystal.”
“How do you stay that thin if all you think about is food?” That reply came from one of the high-born girls who gave her dirty looks the first time they saw Elan without his baggy shirts. She didn’t look like she was being cruel, she looked like she was legitimately curious. She had more meat on her bones than Isolde, but she looked like she would rather have Isolde’s body.
Isolde picked up on it right away. “I think everyone in the faction thought Elan might not like me when he saw me because I’m not curvy, like a lot of men prefer. I think you’ll find there’s someone out there who’ll find you beautiful no matter what your body looks like. He may be here on Cendis or he may be waiting on Avala.”
The girl sat down and sighed dreamily, thinking of some far away man who would look at her the way Elan looked at Isolde. The questions were starting to die down, so Elan dismissed them to go talk and decide what they planned to do.
It seemed like most Cendians would either want to come or would stay behind and establish a working community. He hoped they would get the same reaction when they left for Avala in three days. He hoped he had the time to see Isolde’s home the way he had shown her his.
Chapter 44
Fjola had a feeling she was irritating everyone around her. Viljar was constantly trying to calm her down and Jovin flat out avoided her unless he needed an update. He tried to do as much of that over COMM as possible. She could practically feel Isolde’s prickly demeanor through COMM when she ordered her to turn her COMM on and leave her pod camera system up and running so she could watch. Isolde argued none of the people she was bringing were going to hurt her and everyone on Avala had seen her custom-designed pod she had overlaid with a silvery green carbon.
“No one has a pod like mine! I designed the J20 myself and I didn’t release the blueprints because I intended it to be a new model when the alliance was formed. You know everyone working on it kept talking about how sleek and showy it looks. They wanted one. The entire military wants one because of the weapons design I incorporated. Even if they thought I had the king of Cendis on the J20 with me, they aren’t going to shoot me out the sky.”
“Isolde, just do this for me. I’ve been worried about you the entire time you were gone and anything could happen when you show up with Elan and fifteen other Cendians. I know you’re about to say something about me having your entire life to worry about you and I did. You said you would hear me out once we are face to face.”
“We aren’t there yet and don’t think you’ll be watching me all the time on secret cameras on Ragnis Crystal,” Isolde snapped.
Elan started rubbing her back. “If it makes her feel better to have the cameras activated, just do it. Both of us are probably going to do things that irritate the twins too.”
Isolde calmed down and just ignored her, even though she left the COMM going as she led them through the Cendian forest to get to her J20. When she said she wanted to build her own pod, Fjola was impressed. When she snuck down there to get eyes on it, she thought Isolde was just showing off. She had the seats made from the same gel they made their mattresses from like she was designing a lounge and not a pod.
The pod was sleek and resembled some sort of predator. It started out black, then she had the shiny green carbon put on top so it just screamed Isolde when you looked at it, even if she decided to name it the J20. At the time, Fjola thought she was just building it to take it to Cendis, but after it was finished, she took it out all the time. Fjola knew the only reason she hadn’t taken it to go find Ragnis Crystal was because she wouldn’t let anyone give her a blink drive until right before she left for Cendis.
Fjola wouldn’t put it past her to disappear into the wormhole and just never come back because she was having too much fun exploring and throwing that spear at things. Isol
de was focused now. She found her purpose when she found Elan and the alliance was finally happening. Isolde had been told to land that ostentatious pod in an area the Cendians thought was cursed. It was a beautiful part of the forest. It wasn’t like anything on Avala and she couldn’t imagine why they thought it was cursed. All of the slaves and people with her weren’t talking about it.
Oleh’s eyes lit up when they landed on the J20. “Are all the Avalian pods like this? Can I get one?”
Isolde winked at him. “Special design that will go into production on Ragnis Crystal. Except the inside can be custom to how you want. I want these to be like cars so there’s less road traffic.”
“Well, show us the inside!” Oleh hollered.
The J20’s camera system lit up and Fjola got a full few of the interior of the J20. Isolde was in the captain’s seat and Elan was sitting to her left. Isolde was firing up the controls while the rest of sixteen and the slaves were squealing about the seats and asking if they could get beds like this. Isolde was laughing as she was flipping controls and programming the console.
“All our beds are made out that material. No more straw mats, even on Ragnis Crystal, for any of you. We don’t have floor pillow there. We eat sitting on chairs and we have chaises for you to lounge on. I like the floor pillows now, but it’s up to you how you want to furnish your houses if you come.”
“Isolde, we all decided we’re coming. We want to see Avala, but we hardly know anything about it. If we’re going to go to a new home with new freedoms, we’d rather learn new things with everyone else. You and Elan are special and we’d rather follow you.”
“I’m glad. Once we break the atmosphere, I’m going to initiate the blink drive. We’ll be in the Avalian solar system in a matter of seconds. You won’t feel anything and the jump doesn’t jar the ship in any way. Just to warn you, the J20 has automatic climate control, but it will take a few minutes to adjust once we get into Avala airspace. I have no idea what the temperature is there right now. I left during a freeze, but I was told the ice boiled the night Elan and I bonded.”
Fjola knew she would probably get snapped at, but she chimed it. “It’s still winter, but not everything is frozen this time. Only smaller bodies of water are frozen.”
“You need to have winter clothes waiting for everyone when we land. Everyone is dressed for Cendian weather,” Isolde barked.
“I’ve never seen snow before,” Elan said, trying to diffuse the situation again. “The night it snowed in Cendis, I had more important things to do.”
Isolde gave him a sly smile. “I have several ways to keep you warm once we are there.”
“Is your bed made out of the same thing as these chairs?”
“Yes. All of the beds are. I was thinking on Ragnis Crystal, we have a frame like your bed, but a mattress like mine. Everyone hang tight! I’m about to initiate the blink drive.”
Fjola watched her program the console like an expert, even though this was only her second time using that drive. She sat back in the captain’s chair and took Elan’s hand as the automated voice started to countdown. Fjola watched the flat screen monitor flicker and go black, then light up again. Isolde was officially back in Avala airspace. The countdown after the drive and the diagnostics read out, but she hadn’t programmed the landing course in yet.
“Everyone okay back there?” she called.
“It really is just like blinking,” someone called from the back. “I have to get me one of these.”
“You and Palina have that in common, Eros. She made me swear she’d get the first one off the line when I released the design to the public. Fjola, gather all the military to the coordinates I’m sending to your COMM. Tell them they will be meeting me and under no circumstances do I want to see a weapon trained on anyone I have with me. If I see someone going for a sidearm, they will be running the punishment track until they can’t walk for weeks.”
“And what am I supposed to tell them so none of them get trigger happy?” Fjola knew what she would say, but she also knew this wasn’t her show anymore.
“Tell them I’m landing with the Cendian king and his ambassadors, then you soften the blow by telling them I have every Avalian slave on Cendis who wanted to come back with me. You tell them Elan agreed every single slave who wants to come back can and I have an announcement about their future they are getting first. And you need to do it fast. You know what engine I had put in here.”
Elan was looking at her like he was smitten with her barking orders at her mother like they weren’t related. Fjola thought he had been on her side a little about Isolde hearing her out. When she didn’t get off her chaise right away, Isolde snapped at her to get up and move like she was ordering a soldier around and not the queen regent. Fjola knew she had to get used to this, even if Isolde forgave her. Her daughter wasn’t going to be the same type of ruler they were used to.
Viljar knew today was the day and the only reason he wasn’t with her was that he apparently knew she would talk to the military first. He was in the barracks when she raised him on COMM. Jovin was sitting right there with him like they were both just waiting for her. Every single high ranking military member was sitting with them tapping their fingers like they were waiting for them to reveal why they were really there. The conversation was short and Viljar only wanted the coordinates. He’d never been that short with her before. He must have been just as nervous as she was.
She made him put his earpiece in so she could tell him Isolde’s full message. He just gave her a curt nod and told her someone would be there to escort her. She wished it was him, but Viljar needed to be there calming everyone down so they didn’t shoot Elan as soon as he stepped off Isolde’s pod.
She mostly paced until someone buzzed her hatch door. She wondered what Viljar was thinking when the door clicked open and she was looking at someone Isolde’s age. He probably hadn’t received the same type of training she had and probably had just gotten out of his training greens. She didn’t say much to him as they walked out to Isolde’s chosen landing spot. The J20 was there, but she hadn’t lowered the ramp and come out yet. She had an aerial camera system installed, so she would have seen everyone waiting.
“Are we going to eventually get those?” the boy asked, eyeing the sleek green pod.
“Wait and listen,” Fjola fussed.
The ramp started to lower and only Isolde came out. Fjola already knew she was wearing the clothes Sartika had made that were unlike anything on Avala. Unlike Cendis, Avala allowed women in the military. Most of the women were looking at her like they wanted to know where she got those clothes. Aside from the corset, they would be functional in battle and the soft leather looked comfortable. The men were eyeing the curve of her small waist appreciatively, like they had totally forgotten the cover story about the rucksack.
It was like Isolde or something supernatural summoned a wind that blew her long, black hair back as she stood on the ramp of the J20 and eyed down everyone in the military.
“Some honesty and some hard truth. I’m not alone in my pod, but before I bring anyone out, I want your weapons disabled. No one with me is your enemy, despite what you might think when you see them. My husband is on this pod and you’ll ruin decades of planning if you hurt anyone on board. I’ll kill you myself if you do.” Isolde watched and waited while lasers were disengaged. They all seemed to be trusting her, even after she said she had a husband on board they knew nothing about. “Gregor, I said disengage, not pretend and keep your finger on the trigger waiting for my guests to come out.”
Fjola saw an older, decorated member of their military actually look sheepish at the tone of her voice. He didn’t even seem suspicious how Isolde could pick him out that far back. Isolde crossed her arms and dared anyone else to pretend. “Now, I want your side arms at your feet next to you. If you reach for them, you will regret it. Don’t make me hurt any of you when I’m here to give you news I hope you will like.”
The ground was soon littered wi
th sidearms. Most people had put their other weapons down too, either to show they trusted her or they didn’t want to piss her off.
“The blink drive that was developed eighteen years ago allowed secret faction members to go beyond the wormhole. A few stars beyond the wormhole is a planet big enough for Cendis and Avala to live together in peace. It has none of the problems of either planet, though I think if you stay behind, you will find the drinking water is safe for the time being. The Cendians think the answer to our water problem lies in charcoal filtration. I know this because I haven’t been in the mountains with a rucksack. I’ve been on Cendis trying to finalize an alliance that’s been in the works since I was born.
“Me and the other children born the night our fathers died are special. There are sixteen children exactly like us on Cendis. Those of us born on Avala have ice and other gifts and those on Cendis have fire and other gifts. I’ve married the Cendian prince who was born that same night. Together, we want to lead our people to the new planet, Ragnis Crystal. Look, this would be our new home. There are already buildings and houses there that aren’t in these photos. They aren’t like Avalian or Cendian dwellings so no one will feel out of place.”
She pressed a few buttons of her COMM and projected the photos on the side of the J20. “Do you see? Clear blue water, beautiful mountains, and so much greenery. I’m not sure what the soil will take, but think of what we could plant from both Cendis and Avala and what might be growing naturally. From what has been reported to me, there are four distinct seasons there and no long freezes or endless heatwaves. Everyone called it the paradise planet before we gave it a name and for good reason. Just look at it.
“We aren’t forcing you to come, but if you do, there will be changes. Things we have already started on Cendis are that there will be no more arranged marriages, no more slaves, and no system that keeps a person in poverty. We will establish universities and anyone who wants to attend one can work any job they choose.
Child of Fire, Child of Ice-A Sci-fi Romance Series (The Waljan Chronicles Book 1) Page 34