Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (37 page)

It
was later in the day, but when she got to the door of the space, the lady was
there, along with several crew members, working to get a small ship unloaded of
people. They were all yelling, and then a group standing to the side loaded up.
Her new friend slapped a speaking device to her throat.

"The
Morning Star is exiting the Winters Kiss...
Now
, Captain."

"Ready
to go, everyone get ready to go. We leave in five minutes." Alan Sorvee
sounded confident of that. It was his job, so why not?

Dropping
the device from her neck, the woman called out to the new arrivals. "I'm
Jennifer Quigley. Top mate for the loading section. We have guests on this
cruise." Glancing over at Tiera , she gestured. "They're all dressed
like this, for ease of finding them. School kids from Noram, but hard workers.
We will
not
have any problems with them. Is that understood? The Fleet
Admiral set that order herself. If one of them asks you to do something, then
see that it gets done, duty allowing." The misery was still there, but
came out as bitter hardness, not pain. The people looking at her seemed to be
wary though, as if it all might just be a trap.

Jennifer
Quigley stared at Tiera for a bit.

"So,
can I help you with anything, Miss?" The tone was a bit leading. Or really
a lot leading.

"Yes.
We have an overage of stone blocks? Outside of Waste management. It's part of
the new system."

That
was all she said, and the crew that had come, their bags still in hand, were
sent off to see to that at once.

Tiera
went too, since, after a fashion, it was her mess.

The
first three days of the trip were pretty nice, considering everything. The food
improved for everyone, and Sara, Trice and Ali grabbed one of the new devices
and made all kinds of things with it that impressed everyone else. None of it
was actually needed, except for some toothbrushes. If people had a problem with
them being made out of waste, well, they didn't know, did they? The girls had
asked for something to work with, so the practical people on the ship provided
some nifty and handy blocks. That was all.

Tiera
certainly didn't mention the idea to them.

There
was also a lot of jewelry, silver and gold things with fine gems. After a few
days a lot of people were wearing things, including the crew, if off duty. They
had a dress code after all, and oddly enough, ten pounds of chains weren't part
of that at all. One clever Austran man managed to make a machine that could
think, using it. A computer. It was simple though, since he wasn't an expert at
such things, he admitted. It was just his hobby. He gave it to Taman to play
with, after a bit, which meant she and the other kids had figured out how to
make it work about ten minutes later. Or so it seemed.

The
truth was that they'd had lessons from one of their tutors.

The
interesting part came on the fifth day, when one of the Austran crew people
found her, stacking stones onto a float palate for Ong.

"Tiera?"
It was a small commoner woman that spoke, who Tiera actually recognized.

She
set her stone down and gave a nod, to show she was paying attention.

"Kendra.
What can I do for you?"

The
woman stopped, and let her right hand go to her chest. "You know my
name?"

"Sure.
Kendra, from the storage section. One of the new people."

"Ah,
right. Well, the first mate... There's a problem? One of your people was
harassing Mindy in air cycle processing, so another of your people beat him up.
Pretty badly too. I was asked to come get you, so that you could tell us what
to do with them?" She seemed nervous about it all too. Like it was a huge
thing.

She
looked at the blocks and shrugged.

"Let
me get these loaded. It will only be a minute or two. Then we can go see about
it all. After all, the beating won't get any worse for me taking three extra
minutes. Probably." She grinned, but the truth was that she didn't really
think she was needed.

If
it was something serious, then they had the Military Counselor on board to see
to things. If on the other hand, it wasn't a big deal, then no one would care.
It made sense that the problem wasn't that huge, since she wasn't hearing about
how the Captain had set someone outside without a shield on. That Kendra had
been sent was a good sign really.

They
hurried though and when she got into the room, Tiera was a little bit
surprised. After all, she'd really expected Kurt to have been the one doing the
harassment, and Terry to be standing there, looking fierce and ready to kick
the man's behind again. Instead it was one of the sixth year fighting students
that was bloody and looked to have a broken arm, and
Guide
that stood on
the bridge. Mindy, it turned out, was no older than she was, and still on her
training cruise.

The
fighter, Gerahd Grant hadn't even been trying to force the girl into bed or
anything, but had simply been pushing her around, if verbally. Like a bully.
Guide saw it, and ordered the man to stop. That got him to try and beat up
Guide, which given they all had shields didn't work too well. Especially once
the Lairdgren Group member turned the other man's shield off and started to
fight back.

"Ah.
I see." She spoke the words without even having to stop and think about
them at all. "One of these kinds of things. Well, we need Kolb then. Karen
Derring, too." After a second, she shrugged. "My little brothers as
well, I guess."

They
were all summoned and Alan Sorvee looked at her nervously, not getting what was
happening. They ended up in hangar two, which was where they practiced fighting
every day. She didn't have to explain the idea at least, since almost
instantly, once they were there, Kolb and Karen took care of things. Though the
way they did it was strange.

Kolb
bowed to the Captain, going low and then did the same with Mindy.

"Miss,
please forgive Gerahd here. He forgot himself and erred. He'll apologize,
now
."
There was nothing pleasant about that part of the words, and the man bowed and
muttered something. It wasn't a real apology at all.

Which
Terry called him on, instantly. Really, the giant fighter should have seen that
one coming, if only from reputation.

"Do
it right." There was violence in the words, and Guide nodded, clearly
getting ready to back the tiny boy up, if another fight started. It didn't
though, and the man spoke more clearly, if grudgingly.

"Forgive
me. I misspoke and was crude. I shouldn't have said that you were ugly and that
no one would want to fuck you. It isn't true, because the world is full of drunk
and desperate men with no standards." The horrible part was that the man,
his plain student browns looking like canvas, even if he was clearly a noble,
seemed utterly sincere in his words, as if he couldn't tell they were
insulting.

The
girl was perhaps a trifle plain, but only that. She was symmetrical and clean,
lacking only better clothes and perhaps a bit of make-up. Even at that, Tiera
didn't doubt that most of the men on the ship would have actually slept with
her, not even thinking twice about it. It wasn't like they were picky, as a
group, was it?

There
was a bit of a race then though, as to who got to the man first. It turned out
to be her little brother, who tiny or not, cheated like a pro. Like a real one
too. Kolb watched what went on closely, but Terry simply started in on the man,
who went down hard, his shield turning off after the fifth blow.

That
was Guide, naturally. She could feel the effect happening. It was just a thin
line of intent too, not a weapon or device being used. Intense, but just his
mind being used. No one said anything for a long time, as the fighter tried to
rally. He was good. A lot better than Terry was. But the boy was shielded, and
didn't give up, and while some painful joint locks were managed by the older
fighter, one of which dislocated Terry's left elbow, that didn't save the large
man in the end. It was a brutal, but largely unfair battle.

That
meant Gerahd ended the thing unconscious, on the deck of the large hangar, with
Terry kicking him methodically. The boy was gasping a bit, but not as much as
Tiera would have at that age.

No
one else did it, and Tenet looked scared, so she waved a hand at her other
brother.

"Take
a moment, Terry. Perhaps Mindy would like to try as well?" Tiera kind of
expected the girl to not do anything, but as soon as the big man woke and stood
up, she moved in too and fought with more power than seemed normal. She was
obviously trained, at least a bit. It didn't last as long, but she did all
right.

Then
Tiera looked at the Captain.

"Sir?"

He
grimaced, "I think enough has been done. Please tell your man that this
was his warning, however. If I hear of this again, I'll have to take sterner
measures. Understood?" He was looking at Kolb, who bowed again. Tiera did
it too, which started a chain, but they were done after a minute.

Then
the Captain signaled Crewman Damic to leave with him, and cleared the room. It
was Tenet that walked up to the downed man, looking at the healing amulet in
his hand. Gerahd held his hand out for it, but the boy stopped, and pulled
back.

He
looked very wide eyed and innocent, but also determined and very, very young.
Which he was, being only seven.

"No.
I don't think so. You should have to wait to be healed, if you aren't going to
be hurt permanently. It's part of your punishment."

That
had to be hard for the gentle kid to say, and it was clear he really wanted to
hand the thing over, but Kolb agreed instantly.

"You
heard him. The Captain too. What the hell were you thinking? Crewman Damic
could have asked for your death out here and it
would
have been
delivered. Terry, heal that arm, then if you and Sir Derring could see him back
to his bunk? You're to stay there for the duration of the trip there, Gerahd. I'm
so ashamed of you that I don't want to see you right now." Then he left
too, waving for Tenet to follow him.

Tiera
stayed, but didn't speak. That was mainly to make certain that her remaining
brother and Karen didn't keep beating the man. He sort of deserved it, so it
might occur to them.

They
left though, Karen helping him walk out, with Guide right behind them, until
she held him back.

"Don't
worry, they can both turn his shield off. They have weapons for it, if it comes
to that."

He
looked up at her and gave a single somber nod.

"If
I'd done that at school, I'd be swinging by now, I think."

She
had to agree there. It might not have been literal, but what he'd done would be
assault on a noble. If it had happened in Noram.

"And
here
it's part of your job. I wouldn't worry too much. Keep your shield
on, but that's all. I guess he could try to take it out on you in practice, but
that's fair enough, and you can give back what he gives, if he tries it
there." On the ship at any rate. In practice too, but the man could push a
case in court, if he was high enough in the system and wasn't bright enough to
know that fifteen people would just make his body vanish if he tried that.

Though
if he pushed for a duel, well, that might actually work. The trick there would
be going unencumbered. With only his own weapons the man couldn't face a
builder really, she was willing to bet. Now, unarmed, that might work. Naked
too, if he was smart. He would have heard what Terry had done to that young
Baron.

The
thing there was that commoners weren't challenged to duels, as a rule. They were
just killed or punished. That wouldn't work with Guide, so noble rules sort of
applied. If that was done, Guide would be forced to either claim he wasn't
worthy, which would mean that regular commoner rules would be in force, or take
the offer up.

In
that case he'd lose. Gerahd was good, and without some kind of extra trick, the
man in front of her wasn't ready yet.

Though,
that probably wouldn't happen at all, really. Kolb would see to that.

That
was, more or less the bright spot of the trip out however. They worked,
minimally, and entertained each other with games, meditations and practice.
They learned the ship rules and planned things for the new colony. Tiera kept
up with her new organic build, which was ready in good time, without stressing
her at all. That was about it. She bathed a lot too, not having much else to
do.

That
was, oddly enough, what she was doing when they got to the Moon. The tub was
made to look like slick black glass and wasn't all that large, considering they
had nobles on board and it was their habit to bathe together. She was able to
sink into the warm water though, and lean back, relaxing. It was nice, and
since the water would be cleaned and recycled she wasn't actually wasting
anything really. Not much. There was some cost for it, since the heat had to be
gotten rid of again and all that, but it wasn't much.

Her
eyes were closed when they finally got close enough for her to feel the thing.
The other planet. It pulled at her, just a bit, like a person standing behind
her. Felt, but only so vaguely that it tickled at her subconscious mind a tiny
bit. It wasn't real to her yet, but it was there, and was solid. More than
that, it felt familiar, which didn't make sense at all. Oh, she'd been there
before, and knew it, more than most did, on that deep level, but it was more
than that.

It
felt like
home
.

True,
for her that was everywhere she'd been really. School felt that way, and so did
Two Bends. It seemed a strange spread to her, really. A little forest village,
a high end school for the elite... and the freaking
Moon
. Because those
were the places that a normal girl thought of as where she belonged?

The
idea made her smile, so at least she looked happy, or slightly bemused, when
the wash room was invaded and the door made to vanish. She opened one eye to
see who it was, knowing full well that it was Kolb the whole time. When he
turned to look at her, he seemed flat, and a bit like he was hiding something.
Rather than just trying to peek at her naked.

"Hello
Kolb. Come for a soak? We can make the tub bigger, if you want?" She was
joking with him, and he knew it, having been around long enough to get that
kind of thing. It was sort of refreshing.

"We
don't have time really. I... need to talk to you." Then, as people almost
always did after saying those words, he went silent.

She'd
noticed that one before, and even done it herself, but couldn't think of a
single reason why everyone did it. Wouldn't it be more effective to blurt out
what you had to say? If it was the point at least, sitting on the words for an
extra three minutes wasn't actually going to help at all. Not that she was any
better than anyone else that way really.