Aliandra: nymph: Book 1 The Nymph chronicles (11 page)

Chapter 21

The helmet was completed by Ali by the end of the week under Hephaestus' supervision. It had to be an outstanding piece before they were satisfied enough to send it to Dionysius.  Dionysius was ecstatic about the helmet; he sent a thankyou note for the gift and included for Aliandra a VIP pass to his many clubs in return. Hephaestus pointed out that those VIP passes were valuable and highly sought after because it would allow her to socially mingle with senior gods. Ali accepted that it was a good way to drum up business by meeting with seniors and designing for them. She sent a thankyou note back to Dionysius and noted that she hoped that he would continue to enjoy the duck helmet for many years to come.

Aliandra brought Amirael to work the front desk and bring order to the office files. Amirael was extremely competent but Ali insisted to Hephaestus that he had to find his own secretary and that Amirael was just a temporary fix. Donny visited the office and gave Amirael a list of his recommendations to carry out to make the office more efficient. Ali asked Hephaestus if Rom could come to work with her, Hephaestus agreed and they piled up gunny sacks in a vacant corner as a bed for Rom.

After Gramma returned, Ali waited until she was settled before she approached the subject of Brand. Gramma and Ali had just finished a physical training exercise in the basement and were lying on the floor resting when Ali asked "Can we talk about your son, Brand?"

"You know about him already?"

"Yes. I know you to be a loving, warm and maternal woman who has cared for me all my life. I think you care deeply for all your children. Are you able to explain to me why Brand was left to be raised by demons?"

"He got down on his knees, weeping and begging me to do that" replied Gaia tearfully.

"I am missing something here. He was an infant when he was left in the underworld?"

"This is not the first incarnation of the multiverse. When corruption and cruelty rules and there is no hope of justice prevailing I start the universes again from scratch. I enter your dimensional window and this reality plane dissolves and begins again. It is my presence that keeps every molecule together and maintains the basic laws of physics. In every incarnation that you and Brand have ever met, you have fallen in love and married. In every incarnation before this one I lovingly raised and educated Brand. He was my baby boy. Whenever you were murdered by your enemies Brand became a broken man, unwilling to live without you. When you didn't meet, neither of you reached close to your full potential and our quest for justice failed yet again. It was not a fit place to raise your children if any survived at all. You and Brand challenged each other and loved each other beyond measure in every lifetime" answered Gaia.

"That does not explain why he was sent to the underworld."

"When he was begging me the last time it was over you dead and broken body. He wanted to be strong enough to protect you and his children. He believed that was only possible through a tortuous training regime such as they have in the underworld. Brand ordered me to put him there when he was a baby and I finally acceded to his will even though it has been painful beyond measure. The least I could do was to raise the woman he loves while he suffered."

"How many incarnations have there been before this on?" asked Ali.

"Forty one."

"Were you ever planning on telling him about all this?" asked Ali.

"I have tried. He will not see me" said Gaia.

"I will send him to you when I can, then you will explain to him as just you explained to me" instructed Ali. "No doubt he will approach me at some time."

Chapter 22

As the months passed, Ali designed and more work began to flood in. Hephaestus said he recognized the need that they work out a more formal business partnership agreement since Ali was bringing in so much work. The agreed on a fifty-fifty profit sharing arrangement for all projects Ali designed. Ali spent the evenings and weekends doing design consultations with various gods and goddesses. Donny visited as often as they could manage. She was sleeping in her dimensional window every night so she could work on her projects and study through the night. Sometimes she didn't bother to leave the office in order to complete her work. Hephaestus struggled to understand why Ali didn't buckle under the heavy workload.

Hephaestus had copyright protection developed for the papers on which Aliandra designed. The designs could not be copied and they could only be seen by the person for whom it was designed, Hephaestus and Ali. Ali ensured all their equipment was upgraded; measurements were now taken precisely by lasers. Ali had her own forge built and a portable forge was ordered for her. Metal ingots were piled high in storage ready for all the orders that were flooding in.

Ali then suggested she design new crowns for Zeus and Hera as a way to advertise her design talents more widely to the upper echelons and present them as a gift. For Hera she designed a blue diamond peacock crown with different lengths of colored baguette diamonds to form the peacock tail. For Zeus she designed a fierce platinum and diamond eagle crown. Plenty of small payments were coming in and they both worked hard and fast to keep up with new orders, so Hephaestus agreed to the crowns. When the crowns were finished to their mutual satisfaction, Hephaestus dressed carefully to present the crowns to Hera and Zeus. He became so nervous that Ali felt sorry for him when he looked as if he were stepping up to the guillotine rather than to see his parents.

The crowns were a success; but the best part for Ali was that Zeus and Hera invited Hephaestus to dine with them. Hephaestus' success was celebrated and he was increasingly invited more often to dine with his family members. The forge business received larger and more elaborate orders from the counsel members. She kept up with the business projects and got Hephaestus' advice whenever she needed it. Some days the ping pong balls were knee deep on the floor by the end of the day. Ali worked hard and armored up often. Hephaestus still found it all hilarious as the ping pong balls flew harder and faster. He also remained entirely bemused by his new-found popularity.

When Hephaestus spoke of his close friends he mentioned Dionysius was wearing the duck helmet to every event he attended and also into his clubs. Quacking was still the new vogue with the men. He moaned about the fact Brand steadfastly refused to let him make him anything as a gift. He said Brand's armor was a low-quality mortal-made embarrassment that took a full five seconds to activate. Ali asked why he wouldn't buy a good suit of armor. Hephaestus explained that the underworld pay isn't good and Brand has a large family to support. Hephaestus said he desperately wanted to make Brand a better suit of armor but the only order Brand had ever put in was for a basic dagger. Hephaestus waved around the invoice for the dagger.

"Hephaestus, did Brand put this order for a dagger in recently?" asked Ali.

"Yes, it arrived this morning."

"Let me see the invoice." asked Ali. "It says it is for a custom-made dagger. Can we write up some rules that say any custom-made dagger comes with a complimentary sheath or that the customer must come to the premises to have the dagger custom-fitted to his armor?"

"Yes. That is no problem. I will advise him of that" he said.

"Then I can get Brand to accept an entire suit of armor with all weaponry installed if you leave it entirely to me. Tell him the fitting appointment is for precisely thirty minutes and he will have our services availed to him throughout that period; no more, no less. Tell him do not be late. Make the appointment at the end of the work day next week some time" said Ali.

"You cannot steam-roller Brand. He is unmovable. He will never accept" insisted Hephaestus.

"He has already lost this fight" she said "Just impress on him that I am your valued business partner and for your sake he cannot offend me under any circumstances. I assure you he will leave with full armor and accessories. He wont see it coming" she laughed.

Chapter 23

Brand arrived early for the appointment and Ali had her mouth full of food as he walked in. "Sit" said Ali as she pointed to the chairs. ""You are early. I am still on my break."

"I was warned not to be late" he replied.

"Good. Hephaestus hasn't been in all day and I always bring extra food for him and if it doesn't get eaten it will go to waste. Here, help yourself if you are hungry" she said as she put plates of food on the table before him. She then gave him a glass of water.

"Your appointment starts in ten minutes and you have paid for a full thirty minutes of my time. Not a minute more. I work fast so we can get the fitting done if you do not dawdle, sulk or waste time. This is an armory business, not a charity or a god coddling service" she stated.

Brand nodded and started eating. Exactly ten minutes later Ali stood up and brushed the crumbs off to prepare herself for the fitting.

"Stand please and activate your armor" she directed and Brand did so. She inspected the armor. "Well, Hephaestus was right, it is a piece of junk. It took more than six seconds to activate and it is broken here and here: she pointed out the breaks. Too tight on the chest and so much space on the lower torso I could fit my fist in there. In the thirty minutes allocated to you I can make some quick adjustments and fix it where it most needs it. Remove the armor please" directed Ali. "Pass me your storage unit too and I will try to improve its activation time." Brand took it from his nape and handed it over.

"Remove your shirt and go into that room so I can get your measurements to adjust your armor" Brand entered and Ali pushed some buttons and lasers traced his form precisely. Three minutes later Ali took the readout.

"Where do you prefer to draw the dagger from?"

"Does it matter" he asked.

Ali's eyes rolled. "Tell me your preferred weaponry and I will decide where to put the dagger." Brand reeled off a long list of weapons.

"Two choices. You can pull your dagger from your arm, like so. Or your chest, like so. A leg sheath will not work for you." she demonstrated. "Any preference?" asked Ali. Brand shook his head. "You try those movements and we will see which one you are more comfortable with." Brand complied and Ali announced "Chest. Sit. I won't be long, make yourself comfortable."

She piled his armor on a trolley and wheeled it into the workshop. Ali then opened her dimensional window and rolled the trolley right inside and closed it behind her.
Too easy!
Now for the hard part.

Ali had stored all the required tools, metal ingots and a portable forge in her window. She now carried everything through the portal to her ancient planet and set up her forge in a sheltered area of the forest. It took two days of designing before she was happy with the result and weaponry placement. The armor had a dark dragon design and looked completely bad-ass. Ali improved the storage gem and included space for further weaponry she would install.

Using the laser measurement readout, Ali carved an exact wooden replica of Brand's torso to check the fit of the final product. She then spent the next ten months at the forge creating her work of art. She ensured each weapon would fit into his hands perfectly, the details of the designs ensured the handle grips never slipped and she honed each weapon to perfection. When it was put together, it was breathtaking. Finally Ali melted down Brand's old armor and made a statuette of a funny grimacing demon. She had everything ready and waiting in the storage gem. Ali stayed another month to unwind and prepare for the inevitable confrontation with Brand.

Ali carried all her equipment back to the main window from the planet. Finally she heaved a deep breath and opened the window. She stepped out with the storage disk containing the armor and weaponry and closed the window behind her. Ali called out "Hephaestus bought a great coffee machine and I am going to make myself a coffee. Do you want one too?"

"If it is no bother."

"None at all. It is through here as she walked through the waiting room and into a side room. Follow me please." Ali pushed her finger onto the machine's sensor and the machine produced a coffee according to her downloaded preferences. "You have to press your finger on the sensor and then I put in how you take your coffee. Let me guess. Black, strong, no sugar." She turned to him and he nodded. "Really? I am getting better at this." Ali programmed the machine and it produced a cup of coffee to his liking. "Taste it. It is the best." Brand tasted the coffee and nodded.

"I won't be long please take a seat" she said in her professional tone.

Ali removed the statuette from the storage and tinkered around adding a few things to it as she hummed and sipped her coffee.  She then took the storage disk in her hand and returned to Brand.

"Let's see how the armor fits now" she said as she handed the disk to Brand.

He replaced the disk in his nape and activated the armor. It looked superb and fitted perfectly. "This is not what I ordered and paid for" said Brand scowling.

"Let me check the invoice. One custom dagger. Is that right?" asked Ali.

"Yes. Where is the dagger?" he asked.

"Fitted right here on your chest as we decided. Pull it out please."

Brand pulled out the dagger and inspected it. "This is not a basic dagger" he growled.

"No, you ordered a custom dagger and you have now received a custom dagger. Your handprint is now downloaded to the dagger and you will be the only one who can draw the weapons and activate the armor now."

"Where is my armor?"

"You are wearing it."

"The armor I wore here?"

"Of course. I will get it for you" she said. Ali returned with the statuette. "Your original armor, voila!"

"You said you would fix it" he said angrily.

"I did fix it. It is as fixed as it can get. No-one is going to be injured in that death trap any more."

"I did not pay for this armor" he shouted.

"Yes, you did! You paid for a dagger custom fit into your armor. This is your armor because it has your dagger sheathed in it. Unlike the other one, it actually fits you. Your thirty minutes is almost up, are we going to keep yelling at each other until then?" Ali shouted back fearlessly.

Brand sat down scowling and looking angrily at his new armor.

"If you can sit quietly and behave I will tell you about the other weaponry in your armor" she challenged. Brand scowled at her. Ali gave Brand a quick rundown on all the weapons and their placement. She also told him of the extra weapons in his storage gem. "I have also downloaded a grooming option that will activate when you touch the end of the dagger handle. It provides a haircut, shave, clean and polish. It was a sample from Aphrodite's if you are interested in other options. The grooming option requires for me to heal your facial scars for it to effectively shave you or you will look ridiculous. Since you are earth, I can heal you. You have five minutes left of my time so sit still I have to touch your face while I do this."

Brand stood and stored his armor. As Ali raised her hands to Brand's face he glared angrily into her eyes. "Don't forget your receipt on the table when you go." Ali said as she poured every ounce of her energy into healing Brand. He caught her as she collapsed unconscious in his arms. Brand let out a furious bellow that shook the ceiling.