Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (24 page)

"Tor! Well, that was a nice party. Sorry about my slight... misstep there earlier. That wasn't your fault. No one can plan for party crashers. I'd been hoping that things could be smoothed over there, with the Wards. We'd just gotten things going in a normal fashion and then... things were misunderstood. Now I have years of feather smoothing ahead of me with her. I hadn't been planning to knock her teeth out in your concert hall, I swear." She smiled about it though, as if to let anyone watching know that she didn't mind having done it all that much.

The King sighed, loudly.

"Yes, I fear a great rift has begun there. Not that it wasn't truly started years ago, when they foolishly declared war on the kingdom, but... yes. We'll have to deal with this sooner rather than later, I fear."

Who they were putting on the show for Tor didn't know. Looking around he realized that it was probably the musicians, since at least a few were carefully listening to what was said, causing them to pack up more slowly than their compatriots. They probably made extra coin selling information on the side or something. He started to read them all, but that was too much work, especially standing next to Connie like he was, since she was broadcasting pain and angst at him so hard it nearly drowned out everything else, once he started to pay attention.

That made sense though. She was worried that he blamed her for what had happened, as if
she
controlled her bloodline? It didn't make a lot of sense, but then feelings often didn't. To reassure herself she moved in to hug him, which made him feel suddenly too close and slightly panicked. He let go of her after a second and stepped back, forcing a smile onto his lips, which probably didn't reach the eyes. In other words it looked like he was slightly snubbing her, no doubt. Tor felt horrible about it, but it was all he could manage at the moment. Her eyes looked hurt then, as if he'd kicked her puppy or something, but her face stayed calm and politely pleased.

"It was a lovely gathering Tor. Thank you for inviting us." She said the words correctly, but they were the kind of thing people always said at the end of parties. If the building had caught fire and she'd been burned in three places, the Queen would have said much the same, without hesitation.

They left then, with Richard looking more than a bit strained. Since having an unhappy wife was probably going to ruin his week, Tor thought he understood why that was. He wished he could do something else, but what was there to
do
about it? The woman had been his lover and what they'd done was so wrong that... Really, he shouldn't stay near her at all. It was that level of incorrect. The thing with Varley was just as bad, even though they hadn't been as close really.

For her part though she just seemed like an instant adjustment had been made. Tor was a relative now, so she treated him that way. No sense of being upset or like she wanted more from him at all. She was standing next to her husband the Count, who toward above them both, and let him do most of the talking. That was unusual for her, but not out of keeping with a party like this.

Peterson smiled, a vast thing that made his slightly wild eyes gleam and his large slightly red colored brown beard twitch merrily.

"I liked the music. Very good food too. We should have you and your wife up to our place soon. We could go hunting." He seemed to be pretty pleased with the idea, and for all his gruff ways, he was being polite enough, seeming to mean it. Then, Tor realized, they
were
basically friends, weren't they? He'd supported the fellow in what he wanted to do enough that there were no hard feelings at all at least.

"That sounds like a plan. It will be a bit though. I have loads of work to do in the next weeks. Maybe we could put something together for after the Council of Counts?" It would have to be after that anyway, he knew. It wasn't like the people got time off for hunting while that was going on.

The man smiled as if given a prize instead of an inconvenient potential guest.

"Perfect. Let's set that up then. I'll have my secretary be in touch."

The line of people at the door wasn't that long really, it just felt like it, because some of them wanted to stand around chatting for long periods of time about various things. The last one out the door was Countess Printer, who hadn't brought a date with her or anything. Ali had moved in alongside him, having said her own goodbyes already and while there were a lot of Ancients about still, they were off to the side, in a sitting room, talking about something or other.

"Holly! Thanks for coming." Tor gave her a warm hug, one that was probably a little inappropriate, given that they'd never been more than friends really. He was just so glad that there was someone around that he was almost certain wasn't related to him.

She hugged him back just as warmly though, nearly picking him up off the floor. She'd put some muscle on over the last year, and was back to nearly being in fighting shape, it seemed. He was still a bit thin really, since building and running hadn't made him into a solid fighter by any means.

"Don't thank me, it was my pleasure. You, however, need to come and visit Printer again soon. Not a week goes by when someone from the city suggests it to me. I mean on the street, when I go out walking. They won't come up to me for anything in most cases, but the campaign to have you in town seems nearly organized. Say in the spring, if we aren't all too busy then? Both of you must come. You can look at the school grounds there and see if there's anything else you want done. Plus, you really should review your fishing fleet. Otherwise they'll forget they're only
renting
the boats from you."

Another thing to do, but Tor nodded, knowing that obligations wouldn't just go away because he was tired. That wouldn't last forever either.

"Let's do that. I'm planning to take some time off here eventually, so I should have the space in my schedule." He turned to Ali and winked. "That just leaves my wife's work and schooling in the way. They get breaks though, so it will work well enough, I think."

Without thinking about it he put an arm over her shoulder, which got her to smile and relax a bit. That sort of surprised him, since he hadn't thought that she'd be tense about anything overly. Maybe a potentially world ending virus, but the rest of it? Not so much.

It wasn't until another round of hugs had gone past, again being pretty warm, with just a bit of groping on Holly's part toward them both, that Ali explained what she was thinking.

"You think that my work is really that important? I'm just a student after all. You're the important one." She seemed almost shy suddenly, which wasn't really her way.

"Thank you for thinking so, but that really isn't true. Besides, I can do whatever I want almost anywhere, and
you're
actually getting an education. That kind of means that we follow your schedule for now, doesn't it? That makes sense to me at least." He kissed her cheek. It wasn't as nice as it should have been at all, but she smiled and returned it, not pushing herself on him overly, even if it was her right.

Without waiting the Ancients all poured out of the side room, with Blue Four sharing the plan with him without waiting. Out of all the Blues she was the one he felt closest to, he realized. It was odd, but Cordes Blue was kind of weird. More, the Cordes in his own head thought so too.

'
No one ever said I'd like myself though.
'

Tor could feel that pretty keenly himself and thought about it for a few seconds, remembering the last few years of information. He got along alright with Burks, who was basically him, but had so many different experiences they were clearly different people. His mother didn't seem to like Gray at all though, did she? The last time he'd seen them together in more than passing it had seemed like they were going to start swinging at each other which would have been confusing, since it would have been hard to tell them apart.

Four was a bit flat in her delivery, but her words seemed confident and like everyone agreed with her.

"Alice Orange, Dan Green and myself will accompany you to your other dwelling. We will see first that you have the needed working materials for the coming magical building process you're to undertake, and then aid you in the design of space worthy craft, if possible. Timing may not allow that. These others will work on two tasks. The first will be the genetic screening of those individuals that you've requested. The second will be to go to the lunar facility and attempt to track Lara Gray. Cordes Blue, Blue and Tiera Baker are slated to handle that." She stopped suddenly and stared at him, not breaking eye contact at all.

"You're taking Tiera? That's interesting." He had no idea what that would be about, but Burks waved a hand at him, his face blank.

"After her recent hardships I thought it might be helpful for her to get away for a few days. It will only take about a week, so she should be back about the same time you finish your work. It is some time away from school, but Kyle will let her go. How often do our students get to go to the moon after all? We can have her write a report on it for the others or something. Perhaps make an announcement kingdom wide. There will be a need to introduce the idea of space travel soon anyway, so it makes a certain amount of sense."

It might also keep Sandra and her family alive while the trial was going on. Not that Tor thought his little sister was planning anything as evil as all that. She was still angry though, and he couldn't really blame her. He was nearly positive for instance that the only reason she hadn't taken off after Richard and the others already was that they were family. That bit of information had at least that one good side effect. Tiera might scream at the man now, or even hit him, if she really lost control, but she wouldn't betray him to his enemies. That she'd already started on that path was pretty grim, but maybe this would help her pull back. That or...

"Green, Brown... Aunt Alice, may I speak to you alone for a few moments?" He smiled and winked at Ali and waved at the few people remaining. "Plotting against my little sister a bit. Uncle Dan, would you come too?" That was an afterthought, but he was family too. Technically they all were, but he didn't want to bother all of them with the idea.

Ali smiled and moved to talk to the remaining Ancients, who were all Blues. That probably made it seem like they weren't trusted, but that hadn't been his point at all. Sighing he waved at them. "Four? If you'd jump in too? Since you seem to be the Ambassador now." It was an offhand comment, but she smiled as she jogged over, seeming pretty pleased with the promotion.

His plan was simple enough, and he didn't like it, even if it was his own idea. They could send Tiera in to spy on the rebellion, if they took her up on that offer. He really just had the others around so that they could inform him how stupid it was and talk him out of it. Except the only one to do that was Green, who didn't like it at all. The rest of them seemed to think it was a fine plan.

Denno thought through it all and finally nodded, speaking first.

"Dangerous, as you said, but that kind of information would be very valuable. You need to have her attack something in a way that would truly show that she's on the side of those others. It would be good to get this little situation out of the way as fast as possible, since we can't afford to have Noram out of commission for ten years, not with three possible invasion fleets coming at us." He seemed thoughtful, but simply agreed with Tor on the idea.

Count Lairdgren growled a bit, which wasn't something that Tor thought he could do. It made sense, but the man always seemed so bland about everything.

"Yes, brilliant Tor, let's send a little girl into a nest of vipers. We're halfway to losing her already you know. One more thing going wrong and she might well turn on us for real. We might be able to salvage this situation, but not that way. It would be better to pack her off to Austra or Vagus for a decade or so. Give her a chance to learn some self-control. I can't believe that you'd even put this idea forward."

"Really? I mean, do you think that putting her away for a few years will get her to calm down? She's been working pretty hard to control herself, but Tiera isn't going to really make herself into a better person if we do that. I just don't want the King to find out what she's already done, and have her put to death for being a traitor, is all. If we make it look like she's just doing it to help him, that might fix things." Tor waited, expecting someone else to jump on him then too, since it really was a less than perfect idea, but Orange moved to place her right hand on his shoulder, reaching down just a bit.

"She is young, but fierce. Do not underestimate her resolve in this matter. I think that you should take steps to protect her, but if she wishes to be involved, do not try to stop her. Especially don't lock her away. Control cannot be learned in a cage, no matter how large. Not for those such as she and I. In fact, why don't I look into this and see what might be done to aid her?"

Tor nearly said no, but surprisingly, everyone else started nodding then and Green, for some reason, acted like he was relieved.

"That would be most welcome Alice. I should have thought about that before. Tiera is very like you in many ways. How you used to be. If anyone can reach her it will be you. Thank you." He looked at Tor, his face bland then, expecting a fight.

Like he had anything better to offer? His plan had been to send her into danger to try and buy her life from treason charges. Having Orange do it might not make things better that way, but the rest of them seemed to think it was more important, over all. When he mentioned that Brown shook his head.