Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (17 page)

The
food came then, so they stopped talking for a while and just ate. She was
starving and so, it seemed, was everyone except Alice.

When
they were all pretty much finished, they opted to skip dessert, and get right
to brass tacks, negotiating for various magics that Tiera didn't even know if
she could make.

Orange
didn't think it would be a problem at all. Actually, she sounded like Tiera was
the new Tor or something. Confident that just saying the words to her would
make it all happen. Possibly in an instant.

"Your
brothers can do it, which means you can too. You have the right sort of mind
for it, as far as I can tell. So don't whine about the load, just carry it and
set it down in the right place. Especially since no one else can do it."

As
motivational speeches went, it was both good and lacking in things. Like common
sense, but that was fine. Aunt Alice wasn't exactly a master statesman after
all. More of a... There really wasn't a single term to describe her, Tiera
realized. Thankfully.

No
one should be summed up by a single word, after all.

When
they left Gerent and Alice got in his Fast Craft, which was preset for two
people and left from in front of the place they ate. It was all green with
orange trim, showing both of their colors. It wasn't that far for Tiera and
Karen though, so they simply started to walk away, only to have Johan and a few
other men following along behind them. It would have actually been pretty
creepy, except that, before they got too far away, Johan called out to her.

"Countess
Baker? A moment?"

She
spun, but made herself smile.

"Of
course, Johan. What may I do for you?"

"Um,
I was wondering if you might introduce me to your friend?" He was normally
shy and retiring with girls, so it was a bit strange really, for him to be
responding that way. Or not, if chemicals were being dumped into the air to
overwhelm his poor little male mind.

"This
is Karen? From the fighters section? Haven't you ever seen her without her
disguise amulet on? I'm almost positive she went to some training sessions like
this a few times. She normally hides her looks so that it won't be a
distraction to everyone... She's pretty famous for them though. I kind of thought
everyone knew that?" So, she was playing with the guy, but it made a good
enough cover, didn't it?

Karen
smiled, which even Tiera thought looked pretty good, and called out.
"Keras? We need to get together in the morning and go over staff work, as
well as set up training for the new weapons. Magical ones. Kolb will explain.
They're very high level." The problem was, she didn't sound like her now,
but like some kind of sexy, sultry, vixen.

Still,
pheromones or not, no one followed them when they walked away after
that
.
It was a good sign, Tiera hoped. It would be annoying, having boys follow you
around
all
the time, and she didn't really want that for her friend.

She'd
gotten into her sleeping outfit, which was just a variation of student browns,
if with a soft cotton aspect to it rather than heavier canvas, when someone
knocked on the door. Tiera wasn't so tired that she couldn't get up, but Karen
was already asleep. At least her breathing was heavy and slow.

She
peeked out of the door, her eyes a little narrowed, since she knew that she was
going to have to send some boys away. At least if they'd followed Karen back to
her room, hoping for sex. That would be pretty forward though, wouldn't it?
Shouldn't they at least have talked to her first? Worse, Tiera kind of knew
that if that happened she might have to offer
herself
up, for sexual
relief. At least if anyone bothered to ask her. Her friend was pretty now, but
only about as much as she was and not a lot more. Maybe that would be enough
for them? She didn't really want to be bothered with it, but she
also
didn't want everyone running around claiming that she'd turned back into an
evil Doretta again. Really though, sleep was a nice thing, and she should be
allowed a little, every now and then.

So
she was shocked when she found an all black and nearly invisible woman standing
there, next to a pale and rather short boy. Maris and Remy. She hadn't
forgotten about them, but for some reason had figured that Timon would have
taken them along with Trice and himself. That didn't seem to be the case.

"Hey."
She had no clue what they might want, so stepped outside, just in case they
hadn't come to get Karen to sleep with them both. Not that it wouldn't have
been sort of funny if they had. "Is there a problem?"

It
was, strangely, Maris who spoke for once, her face smiling, Tiera thought. It
was hard to tell, because her face was a deep and pure night black, but so were
her teeth and tongue. The features were probably as cute as her or Karen, if
you really noticed that, but it was hard to see any definition.

She
sounded pleasant however.

"Um,
hi! Sam Builder said that he thought you might know where we were supposed to
sleep? We're a bit at loose ends here. No one gave us any money for a hotel or
anything." She looked away, a little shyly, as if she didn't have a right
to ask for anything at all.

Tiera
thought about it all for a second and then pulled her Fast Craft from around
her neck and handed it over to the all black woman. It was hugely trusting, but
what else could she do really? Tim had made a point of letting both of these
new people know they weren't prisoners, and if they weren't then it was what
she'd have done for anyone else, wasn't it?

"That's
a Craft like the one we came in on? It can make a nice little set of rooms. We
can set it up in the commons I think, if we don't make it so big no one can get
to classes in the morning. If you're going to fly it..." She shrugged.
"Well, I'd suggest lessons first, but if you want to take it up on your
own, go pretty high and practice for a while. Land slowly, or you can make holes
in the ground too. It makes beds and restrooms. Showers and baths too, but we'd
have to hook water up." Then she just stood there, waiting for someone to
say something at all.

Remy
put a single hand out and touched her arm, which might have been taken as
flirtation, except that the creature, who looked fairly normal and like a young
merchant, if with pale skin like most of her own family, pulled his hand back
after making contact.

"Nope,
not a hologram. Totally real." There was a smile about that, as if it made
sense at all. Tiera had to figure the joke was a thing so old or obscure that
she just couldn't get it. She knew what a hologram
was
, having seen some
in Austra, but why her not being one was humorous escaped her. She smiled
anyway, since that was the polite thing to do, when in doubt. The Remy moved
back and held a questioning look on his youthful face. "What if we simply
take it and fly back to Gray and her cohorts?"

Tiera
looked at the thing, who wasn't, she knew, a person at all and considered that
for a moment.

"Then
I'll lose my Fast Craft? You aren't prisoners. You're on our side. If you
change your minds, which I hope you won't, then you do. Both of you are more or
less family, and I have to help you do what you want, if I can. Even if that
means giving you my only Fast Craft." She forced a happy look and winked
at Maris, who returned the look, more or less. "Though honestly, I hope
you'll consider us as a real option. Our side. The good guys that don't want to
kill everyone? Now, if you don't need me, I need sleep." She waited, but
both of the others bowed, as if it were natural for them, and turned away.

As
she got into bed again, and turned the light off with a flickering thought
against the metal plate on the wall, she wondered if they'd be out front in the
morning or not?

The
answer to that, was no. She didn't see them at all in the cool early morning
when she went off to the bathing chambers to clean up. It was a bit sad for
her, since she really liked having a Fast Craft, but she hadn't been lying.
They were, more or less, in a strange fashion, her family. She was required to
help them out. They'd been on the other side, true, but when given a chance
they'd been non-violent with them. So far at least.

She
started running on the trail behind and around the whole school complex. She'd
been trying to increase her running, as much as she hated it, so did six laps,
which would be, she thought, about five miles. It wasn't totally comfortable,
since she tended to run fast, not with a controlled and measured pace, but she
got it done and into the weapons square about forty-five minutes later anyway,
with only a bit of ragged and pained breathing, having sprinted the last half
mile or so.

There,
to her surprise, she found her craft. It was set up along the edge of the
little pond, with a line of water going to and from it. Since that would filter
itself, that was actually pretty clever, she thought. She nearly felt bad when
she started working, knowing that it was going to make some noise. On the good
side, the ship was made of shield material, so things probably wouldn't be too
loud really.

It
wasn't until about half an hour later that she made enough sound for anyone to
notice, when she snapped the pell she'd been working on in half. Her greater
size had led to more strength, so that happened now, every few days. When she
was fixing that, Remy Two came out, looking a little taller and older now, but
still like he could be a new student at the school.

"Ah,
warrior training! I thought I recognized the set up. Care to go a few
rounds?"

That...
Seemed like a poor plan at first, but the killing machine actually started
slowly with her, so that they could work out some rules. True, they did end up
spending a while slamming each other into the ground with great force, but she
managed to sort of hold her own, more or less. Not, she noticed, that anything
she did seemed to hurt the being.

It
was an impressive thing really. She did more damage to herself, hitting Remy
with a fist or kick, than it took from the action. Timon had warned her that
the thing was tough though. It was just, on some level, that she'd thought he
was joking, or making the whole thing out to be more than it was. That, she was
coming to realize, after the third time she healed from what should have been
lethal damage, using the ceramic shard that Count Lairdgren had put in her rib
cage for that purpose, wasn't truly the case at all.

The
interesting part was that they kept going harder and harder, instead of backing
off like most people did over time. Testing her limits, she knew. It wasn't
until they stood trading thunderous blows, with a crowd gathering around them,
that the thing stood back and bowed.

"Excellent,
for the first day. Can these others match that?" He looked at the crowd,
but most of them actually shook their heads no.

Tiera
tilted her head and pointed at Johan, since he was there already and it was
early for him.

"He's
all right. Keep it this side of lethal and we'll hang a healing amulet on his
neck. It will need to be used every few minutes or so." That last bit was
for the rather disgruntled looking large boy, who was still shorter than she
was, if not by all that much. Six inches? She felt tall for a moment.

Remy
went to the table that the magics were stored on and selected the correct
device, without even being shown which one it was, which meant that he had a
lot more information about things in Noram, or even there in particular, than
Tiera had thought. Handing it over, he bowed, then waved everyone else back.
The beating Johan took was brutal, but Remy was actually nice about it, making
him heal over and over again. Even suggesting he do that while they fought,
more than once.

That
went on until Kolb got there. He simply stood back and waited, until Remy
smiled at him and waved a little, as if they were old friends.

"Kolby!
Come play? You meat bags aren't too horrible when you have the new repair units
on. You should all get them implanted, like Tiera has though." That got
more than a few people to look her way, but their weapons master surprised them
all, just taking the amulet from Johan and fighting for the next two hours,
without stopping visibly at all. Not even to tap the device around his neck.

It
was shocking, more than impressive. Remy stopped playing as much and it was clear,
after a few moments, that the being could have won at any time, even though
Kolb was a lot better when he wanted to be than any of the rest of them. When
Remy called a halt to things, Karen had shown up, and was waved over by the
thin looking boy, who had on now tattered clothing. Tiera would need to get a
clothing amulet for it.

She
was set to sword work, herself, and ended up working with Mags, who was good,
but not half as impressive as Remy had been with her earlier.

Then,
neither was she.

The
interesting part was that when her roommate walked up she looked like... her
old self. It was a disguise amulet, but even then she was getting a lot more of
those covert looks than she used to from the boys. A few of the girls too. Mags,
for instance, was a bit distracted by her, which Tiera capitalized on. They
were just indicating blows with taps, using full control. That meant, without
using any special speed in particular, she actually managed to look pretty
good, for a few minutes.

Finally
the woman pulled her attention around and her greater skill won out. It was
closer than it had once been that way though, so Tiera tried not to let herself
feel too bad about it all. Finally, at about lunch time, Maris walked out,
looking meek, but happy. She came over however and bowed, which got Mags to do
the same thing. Tiera too.

"Oh,
Mags, this is Maris. She's an Ancient, as you might have guessed. Maris, this
is Mags Helms. She's a student here, and a friend of mine." That was
proper enough, she decided, but it got more bowing.

Finally,
almost as if being diffident, the Ancient dipped her head.

"Would
it be permitted for me to have something to eat?" There was no
condemnation to the words at all, but Tiera blushed, feeling embarrassed.

"Oh!
Yes, I'm sorry! At once." She called out to Remy and got him to stop
fighting with one of the new instructors, who was the Royal Guard, Kara. She
was at loose ends, since Tor had run off like he had, to join the Others. It
was her job to watch and protect him. Why Tor had a watcher and she didn't,
Tiera had
no
clue. She blamed the King though. The guy was like that.
"Remy, Kara! It's luncheon time!"

Where
the food was coming from she didn't know, and grudgingly decided that they'd go
to the student dining room. The food was probably safe, and even if gross, spit
and snot wasn't going to harm her. She needed to toughen up a little that way,
she knew. It was really icky, but she couldn't afford to feed herself all the
time. Though, oddly, that cost was in
time
now, not coin, which she
actually had enough of finally.

That
got Kolb to release the entire section, and even follow along with them as they
headed over, his face a bit stern looking. When they got to the stairs, outside
the room itself, he put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her off to the side
of the walkway.

"A
word, Tiera?"

It
wasn't that she couldn't think of anything in particular that he might want to
say to her, she realized, it was that there was far too much. He had hundreds
of things he might ask of her, or complain about, didn't he? She'd brought a
super killer to class, just to start with.
That
could get a girl poor
marks, she bet. Or, it might be about the Fast Craft parked in their practice
area? They'd kept it smallish, but that wasn't a great place for it, if handy
for the night.

She
didn't even run out of things that it might be before he spoke.

"I
heard something about you planning a new food device with greater range? Orange
called to ask me to remind you to work on that."

She
froze then, taken off guard.

"I...
I'll try? It's a complex idea, and I don't have a lot of time. I guess I should
grow it, using an organic model? I'll work on that later today. I have a few
weeks, so..." The Fast Craft and the Space Craft had both taken nearly a
month to grow that way, with Timon and Tor working on them. She had less time.
Her build was probably close to as hard too.