Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (16 page)

"Her
arm?"

Tiera
pulled the new style communications device from her hip and glanced at the
weapons she had floating against the back wall of the room, in the box that
Guide had given her originally for the new units.

"Sure.
Haven't you ever noticed that none of the Ancients have missing limbs? That
pretty much
has
to happen eventually. People lose things like that, over
time, right? They grow them back, I bet. Teeth too, even without an
amulet."

The
large boned girl just shook her head and pulled one out of her tunic top.

"Well,
I bet I still look the same. I can't get that lucky."

She
hit the sigil that was etched into the copper piece, meaning that one of the
others there at the school had made it for her. Probably Sam, since he and
Karen had been having sex at least once a week. At first nothing much happened,
but then, after about a minute she could see the shifting. It wasn't pretty.

Not
at first. Her face looked slack and flabby, until things started to correct on
their own, her nose becoming a bit smaller and straighter, as if it had never
been broken at all. Her cheek bones stayed the same, but her jaw shifted a bit
on the outer edge. The skin was nice to start with, but became smoother and
finer over the course of a few minutes. It wasn't a massive change, but the
girl went from serviceable in a dress with a lot of make-up, to very
attractive, even in fighting leathers and with hair that was too short. Even
with bare skin.

When
she stood it was clear that her hips had gotten a bit wider, and her stomach
just a bit more narrow, even if she'd started out deathly lean. Her bust line
didn't change at all, in size, but she looked perky, instead of like they were
in a race to find the floor. That made a vast difference. Tiera was so
interested, she forgot to hit the sigil in her right hand.

"Oh,
right, get with Orange." That done, she waited.

It
didn't take too long at least.

"Fleet
Admiral's Communication device, this is Gerent Baker, how may I help you?"

"Gerent!
It's Tiera. How are you? I've been meaning to get with you." She had, in a
strange fashion. The man, who was by adoption, her brother, spoke happily.

"Oh,
Alice and I are at the Training Base. We just got in a few hours ago. I heard
about you and those kids making a Space Drop. That's how we got back too. Alice
figured that we should try it before it isn't considered adventurous anymore.
It was sort of fun. In a soul rending way, I mean." He chuckled a tiny
bit. "I'm still shaking from it. But it worked really well, I have to say
that."

She
nodded, but didn't comment on that directly. If anything she was far more
interested in the fact that he and
Alice
had gotten back. Together? That
sounded... Close.

Snapping
the fingers on her left hand she tried to sound serious.

"Oh,
right. Uh, get with Tim, before you marry Alice. It might cause complications.
I'll explain later?"

"Right,
like she'd marry me? It would be good to see Timon. I haven't in a while, with
him living up in space now. I get to the Ranford occasionally though, so at
least there's that."

Karen
was still shifting away, and by the time Tiera was running out of things to say
that seemed to be about done. She looked incredible, not just cute. Not really
like herself anymore either though. More like Collette Coltress, if she'd been
beaten around with the pretty bat a bit longer as a child. In short, she was
going to have a lot of suitors coming in soon, Tiera didn't doubt.

"Can
you and Alice get away later? I'll take you to dinner? Karen Derring and I
will." It was a risk, showing off her new face like that, but if any of
the Ancients were going to be on their side in this whole thing, it would be
her.

"We'd
love to. Would seven be all right? That will make it so that we aren't too far
off of ship's time. We can meet you there? At the school?"

Right,
they both knew where her room was and everything, being family and all that.

"That
would be lovely! Thanks Gerent!"

"See
you soon!" He sounded very happy for some reason. As if visiting with her
and Karen wasn't a common occurrence. Really, it
wasn't
, she knew. She
should have been a better sister to him. Like a real one.

Sighing,
she waved at the other woman, who wasn't changing anymore.

The
other woman still had her eyes shut.

"I
think I felt something, but... I can't look. Am I hideous? Or just the same?
What do I look like. No, don't tell me. I'm even
uglier
, aren't I?"
She really sounded worried, which was a bit too vain, if they were going to
talk about the subject.

It
meant she couldn't even tease the woman in good conscience.

"Eh...
Well, no. Actually you look... Well, better than Collette Coltress, but similar
in style. You don't look like Karen Derring at all though. So it will be a
shock that way, I bet. I wish I had your breasts. No one will believe you
aren't using extra supports for them." That at least got the eyes to open,
which were a pure and striking ice blue. They were nearly haunting. "Oh,
that's nice. Go look in the mirror, we have a meal in an hour, it will probably
take a few minutes to get you going."

That
wasn't wrong. Of course Tiera hadn't expected the crying part of things at all,
but they were happy tears. Lots of them. It nearly made it so they weren't
ready when the knock came at the door. They'd just gotten themselves into nice,
but somewhat plain, dresses, and had all the red removed from around Karen's
new eyes. Mostly at least.

She
still looked like a different person. Totally and completely. She wasn't
displeased by that either. Tiera had never thought about it at all, but it was
clear that how she used to look had always sort of bothered Karen. That it had
made her feel like other people were better than she was, even though that was
silly. Like looks mattered that much? Then, maybe they did, if you felt you
didn't have them?

It
was Alice Orange at the door, and when she looked in and saw Tiera she put a
happy expression on her face.

"
Not
-so-little
hellion! And a new friend? Or no... I've met you before... Karen the
fighter?" She openly sniffed the air, and stared for a few moments, then
shrugged. "That's different. When did you become one of
us
?"

Karen
started to say something, and it probably would have made sense, but Tiera cut
her off, since she was rude like that.

"Earlier
today. Timon worked out how to do it with magic. We think that we can get away
with adding twenty new people or so. New immortals, I mean. Mostly my family,
some people from around here."

Orange
could have done anything, from hitting her, to yelling, or even acting like it
was a big deal. Instead she nodded past the door to Karen.

"Well,
you look lovely. Shall we go to dinner? I haven't eaten all day." Then she
turned on her heel, seeming like she normally did. Lately at least. Hurried and
a little tense. That was the price of power, after all. As she walked away with
everyone else scurrying after her, she kept talking. "Do you think that
you could get this for Judith Kerry and Gerent here?"

Those
words seemed strained too, but Tiera knew part of the answer.

"Gerent
for certain. That's already in the plans, being that he's family. I'm not sure
about Judith. But, honestly, it's Tim doing it, so that would be up to him. If
you want that for her, you should probably throw in with the rest of us then,
or the other Ancients will be calling for our deaths inside a week." She
thought so at least.

"No,
they won't. We all know that we're about done. It's been coming for a while
now. A few hundred years. You should hear the rest of those babies whining when
you young folks aren't around. It's sad.
I'm
doing fine, but Green and
Brown are going to pass in a few hundred years, one way or another. I've seen
it before. Most of the others are pretty much finished too. In a hundred years
I'd be shocked if there are fifty of us left at all, even with your new ones
added to the mix. The time of the Ancients is finally done. It's the age of the
Young Ancients now. Because someone has to clean up the mess we've left behind.
That's always the way though."

Oh.
Well, hopefully it went that smoothly. For some reason Tiera doubted it would.
People were involved after all. Old ones too. That could end up being a bit of a
problem. They walked to the nice restaurant in the little town near the school,
and got their share of looks as they passed. Mainly from boys that went to the
school, but they still paid attention to them. All of the women at least. No
one stared at Gerent overly, since he was a little funny looking still, but
honestly, that wasn't some huge problem, was it? He was
used
to being
glared at and made fun of. Even mocked openly in the street for being too small
and strange. Now he was just blandly normal, over all. His ears a bit too large
still, and his nose slightly funny shaped, but it wasn't
bad
.

Just
a bit different. Enough to be special. Unique.

Plus,
he was a really kind and gentle person. That counted for a lot more than looks,
didn't it?

Tiera
started to move to the front, in order to flash a little coin to the lady at
the door, so they'd be seated, but she actually bowed, as if they were
important or something. Or known to her, which Tiera didn't think would be the
case as far as she went personally.

"My
Lady's. Sir. Please, be welcome." Then with decent grace, she held the
door for them all and had to dart past them to show them to the best table in
the place. This was from a town woman too, who had no clue who they were, not
some country girl that had no idea that anyone over six feet high wasn't
automatically made the lord of something or other.

It
was a decent shop, for the size of the town they were in. The food wasn't
cheap, but she'd be paying in silver for it, not gold. Even with the gratuity.
A few of the wealthier students were there, off to one side, but it seemed like
it was a quiet night. One of the boys, Johan, who was from the fighters
section, stared at them. First at her, and then Orange, but he ended up looking
right at Karen, as if he couldn't help it. Yes, she was very pretty now, but it
was a bit too much, to tell the truth. A
lot
too much. Several of the
other men started to notice her too. Orange figured it our first and laughed a
little.

"Oh,
the good looking ones will make your heart break and life difficult, won't
they? Tim, that little sneak, added in pheromones for you. Luckily it doesn't
seem all that bad. No doubt you'll have plenty of company from now on."
Then as if it didn't matter at all, she changed topics while they waited for
the food to be ordered. "Now, you didn't ask me to dinner to discuss my
coming wedding, did you?" She didn't even pretend she wasn't serious, and
Gerent looked crestfallen, as if she
wasn't
talking about him?

"Well,
that too. First, we want a new force put in place. We have four hundred armed
Elite soldiers coming for you. We have some weapons and shields too. They'll be
stationed on some of your ships, and be ready to drop from the sky onto problem
areas at need. We ran a test run from the Ranford yesterday? You heard about
that?" Modern communications were a marvel after all.

"We
have
. I don't object to the basic idea, but who's paying for the food and
upkeep? I don't actually have a real budget you know. So far we've been given a
lot and vastly underpaying our personnel, but fighters might object to that
sort of thing. Not being paid, I mean."

"Eh..."
She had no clue. If she had the right idea, Noram would pay for their salary,
but that didn't cover food on a mission though, did it? "I'll get you some
of the new food units when I have them ready? They'll make a whole lot more and
be useful for different things, if I can swing it. Tim already did the hard
part, coming up with how it can be done, taking apart things and making them
into something new. Then you just need dirt or moon dust and you can feed
people forever. That will help, right?"

Gerent
was the one that answered, his face going still first.

"It...
would. Can you do that? I know that Timon did the first ones, but..."

Right,
he had no clue about her being a builder at all. Not yet. Karen filled them in,
proudly, including news about the successful communications devices, which had
Alice looking at her greedily.

"We'll
need ten thousand of those. When can you have them ready?" She didn't talk
price either. Because, as she'd just mentioned, she didn't really have a
budget. It was... A lot of work.

A
whole lot.

"Um,
a few months? I don't know when I'll get to work at all. Or if I will. I still
have school after all. I finally got lucky and had things happen over a long
off section, but I have to be at classes and insist on sleeping at least a few
hours per night. It's a thing I like to do. I just lay around lazily for, oh,
hours
."
She was being snarky and knew it, but Orange didn't seem to care, slapping her
on the arm hard enough to make her shield turn on, from all the way across the
table.