Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (25 page)

"Please
state your name, affiliation and intent here today."

She
thought for a few seconds, and then nodded as the light amulet, hit her palm.
It wasn't activated, so she did it with a thought, her left palm closing around
the thing as the white and golden yellow glow surrounded her body, hovering
about a foot away.

"I'm
Tiera Baker. I've come to discuss some things with King Richard and perhaps
others. I intend no direct harm to anyone here today, and don't think that any
indirect harm will come either, though that may not be the case in the
future." She sounded soft and friendly when she spoke, and meant that
giving up her County might cause problems, but the words got several of the
other guards to stiffen, as if she'd just laid a dire threat or something. Kevin
just took the amulet back, left it on and handed it to Count Lairdgren, who
smiled, said his name and that he planned no harm.

Things
didn't get really interesting until they got to Karen though, since she was
well known there and didn't look like herself at all.

The
guard looked at her closely, his pupils flaring as he moved in, interest
pouring off of him. "Sir Derring? You look different."

There
was a bit of accusation in it too, as if that was a big problem, but she simply
shrugged and winked at him.

"This
is how I really look. Do you like it?" The amulet didn't flicker at all,
and, after staring at her for a long time, they were let in anyway.

It
was probably a mistake, all things considered, but there was only so much they
could do and not start a war, right?

That
was always a problem, in Noram.

Tiera
didn't do a lot of bowing and scraping, since that was her least favorite part.
The royal family was clearly uneasy though, which seemed odd. It wasn't like
she hadn't been to visit before, after all. She distracted them by producing
one of her new food devices. Tapping the sigil she let the pearl and blue thing
come into being, and noticed that there was a stirring from the walls. As if
she were about to be attacked. Like that would work?

"Could
we have a bucket of dirt or rocks please?" She said this to King Richard,
who looked like he was about to die for some reason, but raised his right hand
anyway. That was a thing they did, the servants in the Palace would see that it
got done then.

Like
magic.

He
looked at the arrayed group, and focused on Karen for a long time.

"I
don't believe that we've had the pleasure, miss?"

Karen
curtsied, the light blue and white dress she had on only had four or five
layers of puffy cloth, since it was a visit, not a grand ball. Tiera was
actually in something heavier and made of brocade. All dark green and light
blue. It wasn't pretty, but wasn't meant to be.

"Conserina
Karen Derring. I look different. Real changes, made by Timon Baker. What do you
think, Sire?" She was clearly being a bit vain about how she looked but
the man rallied without so much as a frown at all.

"Why,
you look lovely, as always. I wasn't aware that things such as that could be
done. It will rather make things more dangerous, once the spies get hold of
that trick, I dare say."

Count
Lairdgren bowed low, getting the man's attention and a light frown from the
Queen. She wasn't thrilled with the man, which was weird, since she very
clearly, and honestly, loved Tor. They were basically the same person, or had
been once. On the outside at any rate. That might have been her point though.
Tor was innocent and sweet, brave and courageous as well as powerful. Lairdgren
was youthful looking enough, seeming about thirty at the moment, but also so
old it poured from him all the time. That, and jaded. If Tiera had stripped
down and kneeled to service the King and Queen right there, he would have no
more than looked on with a blank expression.

She
doubted he'd do a lot more if she pulled an explosive and took her own head
off.

Constance
seemed to understand that, it seemed.

When
the old Count stood he looked relaxed and a bit bored. Like always. "Sir
Derring is one of a small handful that Timon is allowing to be changed. Twenty
in all. Since only a few people in the world can do such work at this time,
we're probably safe for a while that way. That is, ultimately, what we've come
to discuss today. Perhaps in a more private setting Ricky?"

It
was hugely out of place, but Sam looked at the Count and made a face.

"Tor
mentioned to me once that he
hates
being called that. Rich, or Richard
is preferred? He suggested I correct you if you make that mistake." He
winced, but so had the King right before that. To his credit, Burks did too.

"Which
I knew. Somewhere in here. Sorry Richard. Perhaps if we retire to the safe
room?"

That
seemed to mean something, but the bucket came in, filled with what seemed to be
part of a wall. All broken up into hand sized chunks of marble. Tiera hoped
that it wasn't something they'd made just for her, since really, some garden
dirt would have worked as well.

Sam
ran forward and provided her with a stack of bowls, plates and even clear wine
glasses and silverware. Not that any of it was actually there, but it would all
work, they knew. She put the dense chunks of rock in the hopper on the right,
and closed the little door, then turned to Prince Alphonse and Princess Abbey,
his wife. Her niece. After a lot of stupid and strange family tree nonsense.
She had lovely dark skin though and was even smaller than Tiera used to be. It
was very cute, what with her ice blue eyes, which, Tiera saw, were like what
Karen had now, and her flame red hair that stood up a few inches, all over.

She
spoke to the Prince though, this being the Palace and all that.

"So,
a snack? What would you like, Alphonse?" They were on a first name basis,
she was pretty certain. He actually relaxed when he heard his name too, and
moved forward a bit.

"Oh,
food? My favorite thing to eat. What choices do I have?"

"Pretty
much what you want. If I know what it is, I mean."

"How
about, spice chicken and cream potatoes? I've been wanting that all day."
There was a small smile on his face, but Tiera wrinkled her nose, not knowing
that one at all. Karen waved her hand though, since she seemed to have some
clue. Tiera got out of the way and let the large woman use the device for her,
a Guide plate going in for the food to rest on.

The
Prince wasn't a fool, so ran a rather nice Focus Stone poison detector over the
plate when it was handed to him, and, seeing that it was fine, took the
provided fork and slowly tried a bit of potatoes, then the chicken.

"This
is very good. I don't know if it's better than the food here, but it's better
than many restaurants I've been in. Father, you should try it." He started
to pass his plate over, but Count Lairdgren cleared his throat.

"That
will defeat the purpose of the demonstration. Ricky, Richard, would you perhaps
desire something different? Perhaps a dessert, or some wine?"

Tiera
let Karen run the thing for them, and a light, but perfectly frozen sorbet came
out, which seemed to be lemon. Connie had a glass of dry white wine and
Princess Abbey asked for something that Tiera had never heard of. No one else
had either, but instead of admitting failure, she waved to the woman.

"Why
not give it a try yourself? It might not be perfect."

She
got a bowl of vegetable stew in which none of the things in it looked familiar
to Tiera at all. Princess Abby seemed happy with it however and stood there,
eating it with a spoon, as if she might never get to have such a thing again.
She beamed however, a large smile on her face the whole time.

The
King nodded and waved at the machine.

"Amazing.
Simply incredible. Is this a Timon work? Or... is Tor back?" He looked
around, as if either of those made sense, which they did, but Lairdgren shook
his head.

Then
he bowed toward his granddaughter.

"Countess
Baker did the work. Which, I believe makes this a very good time to retire to a
secret space?"

She
left the device up, not wanting to bother with the rocks yet, and moved with
everyone else, first through the well decorated palace, and then down below it,
into the small dank room they held their most secret meetings in. Princess Abby
moved back, clearly getting it wasn't for her, and Sam was gestured away, along
with Karen. Connie, for once went with them and when they got into the space,
both Karina and Smythe of Westend were there, both armed and looking ready to
fight.

Her.

Tiera
winked at them.

"I
didn't come to fight. Far from it. I'm announcing my heir."

That
got an interested glance from the Queen, even if everyone else stared at her
like she was being silly.

Constance
smiled, just a bit.

"Isn't
that already your younger brother, Timon? Then down from there? It
is
traditional."

She
nearly proclaimed that was stupid, but given her family, it really wasn't. If
Tim had to take over, crazy like Burks had said or not, he'd do a fine job. Maybe
even better than she could. Terry would have too, if anyone would ever listen
to him. He was bright and more than that, good. But not in a soft way. He'd
fight if it came to that, to protect their people.

The
thing there was that he would anyway, even if they weren't his people at all.
Given that fact, he should probably have been put in himself as soon as he was
old enough.
That
...

She
nodded.

"I'm
putting Terry in, as soon as he turns twenty. In the mean time, I'd like
Lawrence Morris to manage things for him, if he'll take up the task. That means
that he'll basically be Count for ten years. Longer if he can make a deal with
Terry for it, which he probably can. Terry would then pretty much be his direct
heir." It was convoluted, but seemed to go over better with the room than
she thought it would. She'd figured on an argument, and being tackled by Royal
Guards.

Instead
there were simply nods.

The
King sighed at her though.

"Do
you feel that you've repaired the County enough to be done with it then? I have
to admit, if you provide your new devices to them, they should fare well
enough. Do you think that Morris is going to be loyal enough?" He meant to
her, she thought. It was hard to tell.

She
nodded anyway.

"If
he wishes, I'm certain that Terry will wait until he's ready to leave the
position." He had time, and might not want it at all.

Acting
as if it had been the plan the whole time, Lairdgren bowed to the King, and
smiled at the others.

"I
too, am changing my heir. To Kyle Hardgrove. There's news..." He paused,
clearly for dramatics, or thinking that someone would interrupt him, but no one
did, which got him to look shocked. "Ah, two times in the same century?
Well, Timon has a device that will kill all the Ancients on the planet. That
means that the rest of us have to flee for about ten years. Then we'll all be
back, but in the mean time, we need to set things to right. We leave in three
months, but word of that cannot leave this room. If it becomes known, then,
clearly, our enemies would have no reason not to do whatever they can to stop
us."

There
was silence for a long time, but finally Prince Alphonse nodded.

"I
understand, sir. So... Is that the change made to Karen? Is she going with
you?"

Tiera
smiled.

"You
are far smarter than I thought. How did you figure that out?"

The
man looked around and then made a face.

"Timon
came and offered to make me one of you. I told him that I had to think about
it. Does my duty as the future King mean I
should
take that, and rule
for all time, or does it mean that I
must
have a much shorter span, so
that the hubris won't cause me to misstep?" He looked a bit saddened by
the whole thing, but Karina smiled.

"Well...
Um... I'm moving to space then? Heh."

That
caused some problems then, though no one yelled at her at all, thankfully.
Mainly they screamed at Burks, it was heartening, for a bit.

As
if
he
were responsible for what Karina did?

Tiera
stood up and waved her hands around. She was, functionally, no longer a
Countess, perhaps, but she was tall, and it sort of worked anyway. After half a
minute they were all silent.

"It's
done, and only for ten years. Just think of it as her going off to school. It
isn't like she won't be able to use communications devices to talk to you.
Daily, until she works out how to dodge your calls. Really, Alphonse should
take the treatment too. If you live when we get back, then the rest of you
should as well. Except Richard, I mean." She was just being bitchy, but
the man nodded, as if that made some higher form of sense.

"So
as to not become a God-King?"

She
nearly snapped at him then, but shrugged. "At least put it off until
after
you abdicate. It will be dangerous, but someone has to stay
here
, that
can fight, just in case the Others pull out a trick that we aren't ready for.
We can help, from above, but that isn't the same as being here." It made
her feel proud that she hadn't suggested that the man take his own life by
jumping head first into a privy. She still felt a bit like that, but she tried
to let it go. In case he really
was
her family.

Constance
was still a bit upset, but asked for her to stay, when the others got up to
leave. It was... Strange. Still, she wasn't needed to write up the papers
giving her plan merit. Burks and the King could do that well enough on their
own. Probably better than if she were there, annoying them.

As
soon as the door was pulled shut and they were alone, the Queen walked around
the old and well worn table, which was made of real wood, and locked it. Then
she turned, looking up into Tiera's eyes. Her blue locked with plain brown, and
the slightly darker skinned lady grimaced.

"How
bad is this, really. I can tell that things were left out, but didn't want to
ask Burks. We don't always get along perfectly."

It
was actually slightly flattering, really. Tiera took a deep breath and then
just jumped in, voicing things she hadn't bothered to tell anyone yet. Not
openly.

"Aunt
Connie... The world is
dying
. Right now, people can make it, if we can
get enough magically made food and water to them, but the damage is
vast
.
There are big sections of the planet that no one can live in and won't be able
to for hundreds of years. Poisoned by the bombs of the Ancients. Us doing this
won't stop the Others from trying to kill us all, even as they die. They may
have machines ready to do just that, in case we do. Gray is insane and Cordes...
I don't know what he's thinking. It's like their minds are working, but they've
jumped to some conclusion that isn't right, but that they can't let go of. Even
doing all of this, we'll probably all die." She hugged the woman, which
was different, since they didn't have that kind of relationship, even as
family.