Princess Rescue Inc (127 page)

“I
thought you'd see it my way,” he murmured, arms around her... “Now since the
suns are going down, it's getting chilly.... how about
us
keeping
warm...”

Her
eyes lit with delight and her arms wrapped around him. “I thought you'd never
ask,” she murmured wickedly.

  <==={}------------>

“Knock,
Knock,” he said, tapping at the door the next afternoon. He'd promised to check
in since Deidra was busy.

“Hang
on... okay. Make it quick though,” Zara answered. He pushed his foot in first,
pushing away a baby. Another cocked its head at his shoe then attacked the shoe
laces. He managed to make it into the room and close the door without any
escape attempts.

“Busy?”
he asked, amused. Zara was seated on the floor Indian style. A book was in
front of her. Occasionally she would use her thumb to flick a treat into the
air. The gliders would swoop down and catch it mid air.

“No.
Well, not much. Just going over this introduction.” She sighed as she shut the
book before an over inquisitive charge could tear the pages.

“Kinda
hard to study in here,” he said watching a pair tussling. They were fully
engaged, with mock growling and fluffed fur. Zara reached over and stroked one
with a finger. The fight paused as they both looked up at her and crooned. She
smiled down at them. He noticed she smiled without her teeth, keeping it
simple. The imps did the same. They had expressive faces, he'd seen them smile,
pout, laugh, and look intensely curious or angry. She set a pair of treats down
in front of them and then watched them pick them up and nibble them vigorously.

“Hungry
little devils,” he smiled, arms crossed.

“They
can be at this age. The trick is not to overfeed them,” she said not looking
up.

“Why?
They turn into gremlins?” he teased. She looked up with a scowl.

“Sorry,”
he held up his hands, trying to indicate he didn't mean anything by it. “Old
movie reference actually,” he explained. She gave him a long look then shook it
off with a sniff.

“No
they can over eat and get lethargic or make themselves sick,” she said. She tossed
a treat up into the air. A glider tried to grab it, missed and ended up in a
roll on the floor. It jumped up and flicked its tail, then went into a serious
grooming session.

“You're
not fooling anyone mate,” Ryans snorted. The treat had fallen on his foot; his
erstwhile wrestling partner immediately abandoned his shoelace to attack the
treat.

He
looked up at the branches above to see the imps looking down at him cocking
their heads inquisitively. One looked ready to poop. He stepped to the side.
“Don't even think about it bub.” He growled as the little bastard seemed to
shift and try to follow him with its rear.

The
others looked at him, then chittered a high pitched chitter of anxiety. Zara
snickered. “Not a smart thing, to growl. They see it as a threat.” She pointed
to the groundlings, who had all abandoned the open areas to hide in the burrows
of rags. All sorts of eyes were peering out at him from under things.

“Sorry,”
he said shrugging. A moment later a droplet hit his forehead. He sighed. She laughed.

“Cute.
Really cute. Shampoo it's not,” he said, trying to keep his tone light. He
shook his head as he wiped at the mess with a handkerchief she handed him.

“What
are you reading?” he asked.

“I'm
catching up on my math... and looking up some primate material Nate
recommended,” she said. She hefted a three ring binder that had been under the
book. Its contents looked new.

“Cool.
He got you curious?” Ryans asked.

“Yes.
The whole tool using ability. I've got to read this just to keep up with what
he's saying,” she grimaced.

“Trust
me, I've been spoon fed most of that my entire life and I still have trouble
keeping up with him... let alone some of our other scientists,” Ryans replied
and then grimaced.

“How
many will be leaving?” she finally asked, looking down. She'd heard that the
gaijin were serious about going.

“I'm
not sure. It all depends on if they can of course. Max has got the plateau base
set up. It's crude, but it should work. Now that we've got windmills in
production he's got a dozen up along the coast. We should see another dozen in
the next month. Hopefully between them and the reactor it will be enough power
to trap the vortex.”

“Ah,”
she said. She nodded looking a little forlorn.

“I'm
not sure he'll go back,” he replied watching her. She looked up surprised.

“He
won’t?” she asked surprised and a little elated.

“No,
I think the challenge here's a major incentive. Then again the girl he's been
dating may have something to do with it too,” he replied dryly. She grinned
suddenly.

“Cecily.
I met her. She's... stubborn. Good for him. He needs a keeper. Someone to keep
after him because he forgets to take care of himself,” she said seriously.

Ryans
chuckled softly. “Yeah, I heard,” he said. Max had forgotten to eat a few
times, and sleep; sleep had been a luxury sometimes too. He shook his head,
rubbing his chin. “I'm not sure about Doc, she's on the fence. She's divided
between duty to her fellow man and going home to her family. The others are all
up in the air.”

“Ah.”
Zara nodded. “And the military?”

He
frowned. “Well, they
have
to go back. They have their orders,” he
explained. He grimaced as her face fell. “I think a few would like to come
back. We'll see. If we can iron out the vortex on both ends I wouldn't be too
surprised if some come back... and bring their families. I told those talking
about staying that they can send word to have their families join them.”

She
looked up at him and smiled, clearly delighted by the idea.

He
felt little claws climbing his pant leg. He looked down to see an imp looking
up at him. “And how are you this morning?” he asked, keeping his tone light and
soft. It cheeped. He tried to stroke it but it bit him. “Owww!” He shook his
finger but it held on then let go mid air.

Zara
hastily caught it. She glared at him. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly, looking at
his finger. She looked down and crooned at her young charge, stroking it with a
finely manicured fingernail. He shook his head as the little imp glared at him
then closed its eyes and purred.

“Show
off,” he said shaking his head. “So, do they get much bigger?” he asked, now
sounding a little worried.

“Oh
about four times bigger. But not for a long time. When they do their necks get
longer and they...” She flicked her fingers up to the poles above. “Lose most
of their fur... except the fur on their heads and tails. The ones on the ground
get bigger, fatter I suppose.” She looked over to the pile of rags. “They don't
like a lot of light actually. They're most active at night.”

“I'll
say. From the size of their eyes... Nocturnal. Those eyes are quite large. It
looks like two eye cells on each side fused together into one large eye. That
might be why they have that sort of cross iris. I bet they have great night
vision.”

She
paused looking up in thought then nodded. “It fits with what Nate was saying
earlier, since they live underground they need good night vision,” she finally
said. He nodded. One of the imps drank from a bowl on the floor. It paused to
burp then went back to drinking. Ryans had to snort at that.

“They've
got whiskers too,” she said pointing to one. “And very short tails.” They
watched one groom its short stubby tail, then move on to a leg. It seemed to
get frustrated because it couldn't hold it still, then got into a tussling
match with it. Zara chuckled as a second one came over, cocked its head one way
and then another, then attacked the first one's thrashing tail.

“Cute,”
Ryans smiled. “Well Deidra wants to see you for dinner tonight, and no your
friends can't come. She said something about you needing a bath too,” he said
wrinkling his nose. He smiled as she sniffed at herself then made a moue and
shrugged. She looked ready to object but he held up his hand.

“She
also said something about a couple of friends of yours are here for dinner.
Some of your classmates and a Duluth lord-ling...” Zara's eyes went wide then
she began to brush at her dress and comb her fingers through her hair.

“Oh
dear, why didn't she tell me earlier!” she said testily getting up. The
snoozing imp fell to the floor and then rolled into the rags. She turned.
“Sorry,” she said but it was oblivious, out cold like any youngling. She
brushed it to be sure and then rushed to pick up the books. “Let's go.”

He
chuckled as she rushed him out the door and then rushed past him up the
corridor to the stairs leading to her quarters.

“Was
that Zara?” Perry asked, amused, from behind him.

Ryans
turned, clearly amused. “Yeah, I reminded her she had company.”

“Ah.”
Perry snorted and nodded. “Got a minute?”

“Sure...
I was heading to get a bite, why don't you join me?”

“Phew!
No offense but what have you been into? You stink,” Perry said, waving a hand
in front of his face. Ryans sighed.

“What's
going on?” Perry asked, looking at the people hanging decorations. It was
pretty dark out, and cold to boot. Even in the castle he could see his breath
most of the time now. Damn cold. Everyone was wearing heavy fur coats and
boots, stamping their feet and keeping their hands in mittens under their
armpits for warmth. It was still the local equivalent of mid-December. Two and
a half months of winter with god knows how many to go. Four or five if they
weren't lucky he thought bleakly.

“Winter
solstice festivals,” Sydney replied, coming up behind him. He was filming it
all.

“A
little early but um.... Okay...”

“The
origins of most winter festivals on Earth. Christmas for one,” Sydney said
absently. “Though it was different in medieval times.”

“How
so?” Perry asked, watching a giggling woman stand on a man's shoulders to hang
what looked like branches from a native fir tree. It looked weird; the fir
tree's needles were blue.

“Well,
from what I got from the database, they got pretty rowdy. Caroling and drunken
parties, quite a mess.”

“Oh.
Lovely,” Perry sighed. He knew that meant his men were going to need to be kept
on a tight leash. Most likely they would be called in to break up problems.

“Yeah,
don't plan on much sleep for the next eleven days.”

Perry
immediately scowled. “You're kidding me,” he growled, eyes locking onto the
historian's.

Sydney
shook his head. “Nope. There is another party lasting a local week, about ten
days, that's two local weeks after that too.”

“New
year?”

“Yup.
Eat, drink, and be merry. Not much else to do while it snows,” Sydney chuckled
silently as he filmed the woman as she jumped down into the waiting arms of a
loved one. There was some tom foolery; she batted at his wandering hands
blushing as they both laughed.

“Thanks
for the info Sydney,” Perry walked off shaking his head.

  <==={}------------>

Half
way through the winter solstice fair Max knelt before Cecily with a ring made
out of something or other he'd found and reworked and proposed to her. She'd
informed him they were getting married earlier in the year, now he was making
it official with a more traditional method. She'd tearfully said yes of course,
hugging him. Deidra had smiled softly at their antics and had even offered to
pay for the wedding. Cecily had been unsure about that offer but Max had
reluctantly agreed to it.

  <==={}------------>

Grand
Duke Medicini finally arrived to a fanfair of trumpets. Ryans watched from the
parapet. The independent Duke came in a caravan. Each sleigh wagon was pulled
by a pair of white shaggy ox beasts. Each beast had a jeweled harness. The Duke
made annual visits to the capital since he had been boyhood friends with
Andreas and Duke Emory. They'd told him about the death of the King but he'd
insisted on coming anyway. Ryans sighed. Deidra looked at him. He shrugged.

She
was wearing furs, a heavy fur coat, nice supple white leather gloves and a fur
hat that matched the coat and boots. He couldn't wait to get her out of it and
into something warmer though. Unfortunately he had to wait.

“First
state visit,” he said.

“Yup,”
she said, syrupy sweet. He glanced at her, amused by her flippant reply. She
snorted.

“Nervous?”
he asked. She shook her head.

“He's
a pissant little duchy less than a tenth our size on the other side of the
North Western mountains. He may impress dad and Duluth but he's just a fat
blowhard to me. Even if he still holds a warm place in my heart,” she answered.

“Ah,”
he said with a wary nod. She smiled at him.

“Come
on. Let's get him settled in and let's get out of this chill,” she said,
shivering. He snorted and tucked his hands into his pockets. She hooked her arm
through his and together they walked to the stairs.