Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) (10 page)

“This,” the brunette said grandly, “isn’t my friend. He’s my new guard. Papa hired him.”

“Oh, a guard!
How wonderful!”
The pregnant woman smiled. “Well, I’m Mrs. Emers.”

“Hello. I’m Mathieu.” He said in a bored tone. Everyone felt the need to ask who he was today instead of just leaving him to his own. It bothered him to have such attention placed on him.

Taking a reclined position against the windowsill to alleviate the pressure on her back, she cleared her throat. “Avian. Where did we leave off?”

“Difference between a republic and a democracy.
Both are stupid.”
The princess said, arms folded.

Mrs. Emers tapped her toes lightly, a brow cocked. “What brings you to that conclusion? And
where
were you yesterday?
Hmm?”

Blushing, the brunette pointed accusingly at Mathieu.
“It’s his fault! He…he kidnapped me! Yeah, that’s it.” She grinned as he rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I don’t like either because they’re stupid.”

“We covered that,” The redhead teacher said.
“But
why
?”

Huffing, the young woman lifted her nose into the air. “Okay, so with like a democracy, everyone gets a vote, but there’s so many people that it takes forever to get anything done. If it’s a state of emergency, I want a decision made right then and there, not a year later after everyone sits around, talks about it, and pisses me off! I’m going to be a queen with intelligent advisors that will give me a five minute brief on what they think is the best course of action and why. Then, I’ll make a decision. Effective.”

“That’s an interesting theory…”

“And I dislike republics for the same reason because it’s the same crap, just on a smaller level.” Avian nodded factually.

Mrs. Emers smiled. “I’m glad that you’re so opinionated. Being a leader takes resolve and determination.”

As the teacher spoke, Avian got up and went to a group of scrolls, pulling down a slender tube of parchment and opened it, pinning it to the wall.

Mathieu got up and went to see it. “What’s this?” It seemed both him and Avian were tuning the teacher out.

“It’s my goal charter. Until the day I take over, I’m writing down all

of
the goals that I desire to accomplish, that I believe will
better the nation.” She looked at the long list and sighed. “I’m going to be really busy when I take over…Do you think I can do it?”

“I think you can.” Mrs. Emers was standing beside them, looking at the chart. She laid her hand on Avian’s shoulder. “These are all selfless
goals,
therefore accomplishing them will be important. Although important things can be difficult to accomplish, the fact that they will make things better for the majority is enough to help you through the difficulties and the trials.”

“I’m with the teacher. I think it’s admirable that you decided to do this. It’s good. It’s really good. And it’ll help you keep your head when you’re on the throne, know where you’re going.” Mathieu smiled at her and she blushed, writing her newest declaration to open conversations with all four districts
of  Korinth
to the list.

“There.” She added the date to the left of it and rolled the scroll back up, stowing it away for safe-keeping.

“So what now?”
Mathieu watched his charge curiously.

Avian turned to him, stretching. “Mrs. Emers lectures more about government.” She ran her tongue over her teeth.

The teacher put her hand on her stomach, wincing slightly. “If it’s all the same to you two, I’m going to sit down. We can move into free study if you’d like.” She said, waddling in a pregnant fashion over to the wingback chair.

“Sweet!”
Avian went to one of the bay window and curled up on the seat. “Tell me about what it’s like.” She
said expectantly, peering over his her glasses.

“What what’s like?” Mathieu said, confused.

“Out there.”
She shrugged towards the outdoors. “I’ve only ever been up to Fallon and even then, it’s in an armored carriage. I hate those things. They’re so loud.” In
an
poor imitation of the engine in a motor she pretended to drive.

Mathieu flopped into a chair, kicking his feet over the edge. It was an old habit. “Out there is…kind of like in here. I guess. People work to make a living, take care of their families, that kind of stuff. I’ve always lived in an orphanage, which is kind of like here too…kinda.”

Laughing, she looked down at the grounds. “You’re funny.
Really funny.
This place is like a cage, trapped here by rules that can’t be seen to navigate. I hate it here, you know.” Avian’s eyes were now looking past the walls of the castle, at the city outside.

Mrs. Emers looked at the clock and looked at Avian.
“…Jeez.
Like lazy rays of sunshine. Get out of here. It’s a nice day. Read some before you go to bed. Behave.” She tilted head towards the door, one hand on her tummy. “Go.”

“Are you serious?” The princess asked, excited. Her face lit up and she was on the edge of her seat.

The teacher fixed her with a look before grinning.
“Yeah.
I’m tired, you want to get out. We’ll reconvene tomorrow.”

“Thank you!” Avian gave her teacher a bear hug, before
she sprinted out of the room, Mathieu right behind her. “This is great! She never lets me out early. Normally, she makes me stay late.” She came to an abrupt halt. “What to do, what to do?”

“Why don’t we go into town? It’s a really nice place, the little I’ve seen of it, anyway.” Mathieu suggested with a shrug.

Avian bobbed her head in agreement. “Okay. We can go to this store that sells all sorts of crap. It’s pretty cool.”

“Crap is my kind of thing.” Mathieu joked.

She pointed towards the door. “Good, we’ll take the carriage.”

“Wait a minutes…I thought you’d only ever gone to Fallon…” He raised an eyebrow.

Avian wrinkled her nose slyly. “Sometimes I sneak out to go to this store, but it’s the only place in the city I’ve gone.”

Mathieu laughed.

The carriage turned out to be an armored, Energy Jewel ran machine that seated four people. Hopping into the front seat, Avian fired up the contraption and pulled out of the garage it was housed it. The engine roared as she drove through the city, passed the people crowded the streets and into the more industrial area. People didn’t seem to notice them mixing into the general populace, ignoring yet another carriage on the road. “You’re my protector, right? So you’ll like protect me even if I go to places like parties, right?”

“Er…yeah, I suppose.” He said with a small frown.

“Well, there’s this…thing. It’s a congregation of Elise and her officials along with our ‘important’ people. I want to go. It‘s in three weeks.”

“Um, ‘important people’?”
Mathieu tilted his head, “And why would you want to go to that?”

“There are always tensions between groups of people, or countries, and stuff. We aren’t any different. Just because we haven’t gone to war doesn’t mean that it can’t happen. I have no idea what the true political situation is like and I’m supposed to take over some day. I need to know. I
need
to know.” She pleaded slightly and pouted as she drove.

“I’ve never done anything like that. I doubt I’d be suitable to go. Take Narrie, she’d probably like that.” He tried to deter her.

Laughing, Avian parked the carriage. “Narrie
hates
going to gatherings. She can’t help from being her normal…charming self.” Getting out, she waited for him before going into the building.

It was dark inside with random knickknacks pressed tightly together: on shelves, on the floor, on counters, everywhere. It was an interesting sight, everything from obscure weaponry to soft clothing and cuddly objects. Some things squeaked with life while others lay there, waiting to be lifted and given purpose.

“I used to come here as a kid whenever I was healthy enough. The owner is a nice older man with a son he
never hears from. We all just call him Grandpa.” She edged around a rack of weird, slimy looking things.

Mathieu lightly touched a ball of bright purple light that sat on a shelf as he passed. It made an ‘eep’ sound before skittering away, floating a few yard back. Staring at it, he waiting, keeping his hand where it was.

Slowly, it cautiously floated forward until it had passed his hand and was a hairsbreadth from his face. It looked fluffy, yet also seemed to be made out of some sort of swirling, ethereal mist. He knew this was a façade for he had touched it a mere moment ago and it had been very solid.

“How odd.”
Mathieu smiled as it brushed against his cheek warmly in an affectionate gesture, making a soft ‘murr’ sound.

“Well, little fella, you finally got your glow back.” A wizen old man came out from behind a shelf and smiled. He held himself up with a cane and really did seem like the grandfather type. One of his eyes was blank with blindness.

Avian squeaked with delight.
“Hi, Grandpa!
How are you today?” She hugged the man around the shoulders.

“Good, good.
Haven’t seen the likes of you around here lately.
Not in a good while, that’s for sure. But who’s this? And where is that lovely Narrie?” Grandpa said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Narrie stayed at the house. This is Mathieu. He’s my friend.”

The man gave Mathieu a once over before nodding in approval. “The shop seems to like him. Tesla has been out of glow for a while now, but perked right up when your friend entered.
As did Nikola.”
Pointing with his free hand, a red ball of light that looked identical to the other floated around a nearby corner. “They’re a set you know.
Shadowriders.”

“Huh?” Mathieu said lamely. He would swear this man was speaking in one of the languages the Professor had been talking about earlier.

Smiling, the man allowed the red ball to rest in his palm. “These creatures have many forms. This is their most useless. All they do is float around and sleep. They have a bigger form, like a cat, yet not; more skeletal but kind of fluffy. Shadowriders have two other forms, a medium form about the size of a large dog and finally, an armored beast body that stands taller than you or I. They’re pretty amazing. They can even communicate telepathically with those gifted enough to hear them. I personally can’t, but I’ve heard of times when their species have saved those that were listening.”

“Shadowriders, huh…” His eyes were full of wonder at the small creature now resting in the crook of his elbow.

Releasing the one that he held, Grandpa patted him on the back. “Tell you what, for bringing Avian to see me
again,
I’ll let you have them. They don’t do me any good anyway.”

He left out that we can teleport, too.
The purple ball seemed to be pulsing as the deep voice filled his head.

Of course he did. He doesn’t know our secrets.
This voice
was softer, feminine.

The first voice snorted.
It’s not our fault that they are so ignorant. Useless, I swear.

“That was rude.” Mathieu said aloud.

Avian gave him a quizzical look.
“Uh?”

“Can’t you hear it? It said we’re ignorant.”

Grandpa laughed. “That’s wonderful. You can hear them, can’t you?”

“Hear who?”
Avian asked, feeling left out.