Envoy to Earth (20 page)

Gerent looked at the man and then
nodded. He was a widower, but still young. A few years younger than Collette,
most likely. Not a noble by birth, but he'd been a
King
once, and that
had to count, didn't it? As far as the three steps went, that should put him
nicely outside and above that kind of thing totally.

"You are too, right? A
friend of his? It just occurred to me that you might want to look at him for
marriage, if he's willing. King Dorgal, I mean. Should I hire a go between for
you? I don't really know how that's done. I can keep him moving around for a
bit while you get set. No one else will be able to find him that way, before
you're ready. Like a pea under a cup. He'll never know what hit him, if you do
it right." He was teasing, but it was clear that his words made Dorgal
angry, at first. Was he still in mourning? If so... Well, then he'd have to
apologize.

The man's face turned to a smile
however, when the woman spoke.

"That... Really, he's a
pleasant and attractive man, and we
do
know each other. So,
yes
.
Let's go with that plan. I'll ambush him with a go between as soon as possible.
Can you get him to Warden tonight? I'll have Maria hire one for me. I hope he
doesn't have anyone else yet. Thank you, Gerent. That was most kind of you,
thinking of me that way." Her voice was slightly too sexy for mixed company,
so he cleared his throat a little.

"That works, get with her
now and I'll try to have him there for dinner? The Ambassador too, so warn
them. If they don't take this seriously I think she might just cut them."
Since the tiny woman had a knife in her lap, if one made of bone, that seemed
likely.

Collette sobered a little in her
next words.

"Fair warning. I know that
I'm serious. Do you know how hard it is to find someone in your marriage pool
for a noble woman? Don't tell anyone else about him, please? I mean, let me
make the first grab? That sounds desperate, but he's a catch, and the cupboard
is bare for too many of us. I'm not certain that I could handle all the
competition."

"I'll do that. Don't worry.
I should probably go soon, I'm about at the back of the ship. Love you."
He was surprised that he'd said it, but at least she answered back politely,
with a tiny lilt to her voice, that made it into a game, rather than a pledge.

"I love you too. See you
soon."

It was the very small woman, who
was he realized, floating along, instead of walking, who spoke first.

"Shall I prepare the dung
fire?" There was no smile along with it, but Gerent actually
got
that one, and nodded. It was how they got married in Vagus, hopping over a
little fire while holding hands, in front of everyone.

"I think so. Collette is very
lovely, and smart too. A good match for Dorgal. They have friends in common,
and
she's a successful business woman, so if he has to go around giving
everything away, she can keep him in clothing and food." He looked at the
lady and let his mouth quirk just a bit, then whispered to her directly.
"Do you think I've done enough to get him interested? I could tell all the
stories I know about times she's done heroic things..."

There was a gentle pat on the
back, that hit low, since the man wasn't as big as Gerent was. They all kept
walking however, until they got to the door they needed.

Then the former King stopped.

"You know, I hadn't even
thought about it. Lyn and I weren't a love match, but she was a good woman.
Smart, and funny. I guess it's time to think about moving on, but I haven't
really yet. We'd just gotten married when she had to go and spend her life to
save the world."

Then, as if to deny the words he
just used, he did just that, and moved on, walking through the door in front of
them all. Gerent followed along, since it was his ship. The others kept up, and
after a bit Erid organized the portion of what was left to go to Holly Printer.
It didn't take a full Timon-Craft. Not even close. As it was he made the one he
was using smaller, so that the paucity of it wouldn't be as apparent. Three
chests. Large ones, and full, but after all they'd given in the last days it
seemed to be stinting the lady.

He knew that she simply didn't
have as large of a space to cover, and that meant fewer mouths to keep fed,
housed, and clothed. It was still a bit embarrassing, when he got out, the
three boxes, all looking like fine jade, since Erid had decided that would be a
nice touch, followed him like puppies. That reminded him to take Boxy out for a
walk, the next day. After he got that sleep. If he did.

Standing tall and proud, along
with eight guardsmen, who were Gerent noticed, half women, and about fifty people
that seemed to just be folk from the city, the Countess smiled. They cheered,
those common people, when his feet finally reached the beach's sand.

Countess Printer, dressed in fine
clothing, and looking like her skin was flawless, thanks to a disguise amulet,
he thought, or real makeup, stepped toward him and bowed, getting everyone behind
her to do the same thing. They went
very
low. No one stood until the
Countess did, and even then there were some in the crowd that held the move,
not wanting to risk angering anyone by being impolite. You might look clueless,
doing it for too long, but no one could take
offense
at it.

In fact, a very low or long bow
was considered extremely polite.

"Prince Gerent, of Harmony,
we welcome you and your friends to Printer."

She stopped, and looked at the
rest of the people with him, her face fixed and not displeased at all.

Everyone from Harmony that had
volunteered was there too, since they'd been told that this was the last aid
mission for the time being. At least until they all had some rest.

It was an interesting problem,
being a thing that he understood instantly. He was supposed to introduce
everyone that was important, but they were all so varied that it was hard to
tell who that was, at a glance.

"Countess Printer, may I
introduce a few of these others? Not everyone, since we're all eager to see to
your gifts. The gifts for your County. I have a few for
you
as well, but
that should be done in private." He made a face, and rolled his eyes as a
few in the crowd covered their mouths. "No, not
that
kind of
private! Silly people." He winked at them all, obviously, which didn't
work as well as it should have. They fought the chuckle that he'd earned, not
wanting to be impolite to him.

One by one he did the people with
him. Starting with Dorgal, since he used to be a King. Then he hit Ambassador
Eto and finally High Servant Erid.

"He's the High Servant in
charge of world aid, right now. That makes him one of their very top people.
Second only to Karen Derring, I believe?" He looked at Erid, who narrowed
his eyes only slightly, and bowed a little, acknowledging that. It was true
enough, but also clear that he wasn't holding an official title as second in
command. Denying it would be claiming that Gerent was wrong, however, and doing
so in public.

"I stand ready to serve,
Countess." Then, a bit surprisingly, he bowed first to the lady herself,
then the entire crowd watching them. He was tall and clearly a noble, but
Gerent had a feeling that, if in that moment someone needed a horse stall
mucked, the man wouldn't have hesitated to grab a shovel. It was humbling. He
should be more like that, he decided. Willing to help people all the time.

They all should be. Things would
work better if they did that. Everyone bowed back at least.

Then Gerent waved at the rest of
the people. "Now, don't be confused, we have a full cohort of worthy
people here, but not enough time for all of them to announce themselves. We've
worked for two days straight, with no sleep, or real rest, so please excuse us
going through this rapidly! It's my own weakness that causes it to happen. Let
me show you all how to use these things? Then, if I may borrow your Countess
for a moment, I'll finish things up here?"

He knew that he was being a performer,
more than a noble, playing to the crowd and not the ruler, but thankfully, traitorous
rebel or not, the woman didn't seem anything other than slightly amused by his
antics. They did all listen and watch, then helped move sand and rocks into the
big hopper of the food unit he set up, which looked very clean, there on the
beach. Unlike the other places he'd been, Countess Printer took over almost
immediately, once she realized what they'd given her people.

"Emory? I want every major
city in the County to have at least two of these, and each town of more than
ten thousand to have one. The small villages will have to share, but try for
one to be within ten miles of everyone. Use the new ground craft for
deliveries. Set a schedule, so that everyone gets enough. Ride through the
night, everyone. We have people that are far too close to starving out there.
Leave no one hungering by morning! It's our duty to see to the well being of
all."

She looked over their heads, at
the horizon. Just enough to the side that they got a glimpse of her face on the
left, her blue eyes sparkling in the mid-day sun. It was, he decided, perfectly
done, and people cheered for her. He did too, clapping after a bit.

"If I can have a quick word?
I could use some aid of my own, on a project."

She walked with him to the side,
as Petra, who'd been in the crowd, working not too far from there as she was,
came over too. That was a literal truth, since the school was in walking
distance of the beach they stood on. The Countess gave her a single head shake,
but Gerent smiled and put a hand out toward the tall, dark skinned woman.

"This concerns her, in part.
First, I have those things for you, that I mentioned. Gifts from various people.
Some communications devices from Terrence Baker.
Countier First
, Baker.
That's important, since they're very good, and hard to make things. Here let me
show you?" He did that by punching in Erid's name, not wanting to wake
anyone by mistake. When his picture came up on the pale stone, in full and
living color, her eyes opened a lot. Even more when he moved and spoke to her.

"Countess Printer? Do you
need me for anything?" It was very polite, and Holly, while shocked by it,
was smart and a quick learner, it seemed.

"Not at the moment, High
Servant Erid. Prince Gerent was merely showing me how to use this fascinating
device. I can connect with anyone that has one?"

They chatted about that for a
minute, with her seeming pretty grateful for it, especially when she learned
that
everyone
was going to be getting them. All the Counts, Countess's
and even the Dukes and Duchess's. There was he thought, a plan for even more
than that to be made, but it would happen slowly, over the next year or two.

"That's impressive.
Terrence
Baker, you say? Is he related to Tor?"

Like all the best wizards weren't
at least in that general group? Still, he didn't want to bother the woman, who
was probably being just polite and knew more about the kid than he did.

"A brother. Mine too, though
there it's by adoption.
Also
a Prince. Second in line for the throne?
Tiera, Timon, Terry... Tess, Tara, Tenent and Taman. I think I got the order
there wrong. Tenent is before Tess? I need a chart."

To his surprise the lady gave a
tiny nod, "I have one. I could have it copied for you?"

He thought she was joking, but
said that would be nice and then gently pulled his future wife over, and held
her hand. That got a long look, and before he could say anything, the Countess
took his hand too, and then Pet's on the other side.

Petra smiled, her lips twitching
a bit.

"I don't
think
he was
suggesting that we all go to bed together. Though we should, soon. It's
something else. We're going to be married, Gerent and I. You'll come to the
wedding? It's going to be in Harmony, but we're taking care of transportation.
I was hoping that you'd agree to stand for me?" The way she said it made
it seem like that, their future wedding, was the real reason they were all
talking.

Holly Printer squealed like
someone had grabbed her behind at a county fair drinking contest. Petra got a
big hug, and then he did, with
his
behind, in fact, being grabbed. It
was a bit happier than he'd expected, to be honest. It wasn't
her
being
married, but she seemed pretty pleased by the idea anyway.

"Oh! That's wonderful. Yes!
We need to work on dresses, the theme, so many other things. I'll have my best
people on it. I suppose Maria will be helping you? Now that you two seem to
have made up?"

They'd been fighting? He nearly
asked, but the Countess, just shrugged and looked at him, understanding without
words that he didn't know the whole story yet. So it was a thing that she
figured would be hidden from him, he guessed.

"If you want to know that
one, I suggest you ask Maria herself. I'm sure that she comes off looking better
in her version than mine, and I don't want a war to start over it. This is
wonderful, can you both stay the night? We have so much to talk about!"

He shook his head.

"I can't. I need to get to
Warden, so that I can set someone up for a go-between. I promised not to
mention who. That isn't the whole reason I needed to speak to you,
unfortunately. I sort of want you to help me on a project of mine."

She smiled, her face looking like
she was the one going to be married, not her friend.

"What do you need? I have a
full
box of string that I'm never going to use. Some ribbon..." It was a joke,
but she stopped when he smiled, because it probably didn't seem all that kind.

"I'd like you to agree to
let me torture and kill Count Rodriguez. The old one. Maybe get the others that
are a bit against the King to go along with that too?"