Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (13 page)

Tiera
waved at the others. "So, it's not a shame, just a
thing
. I'm sure
we won't have to mention it again?"

That
got a soft sound from the room that seemed like they all agreed and the girl
blushed again, but didn't try to beat up Baron Havar for laughing at her, which
was good. Not that Farlo was
violent
. She'd probably make some new magic
for it, her Havar punishment scheme, that being the case.

Tiera
sighed and waved the large man over to them. She didn't have any real reason
for it, but at one point she'd thought they were friends and really had kind of
missed him. They used to work together every morning and lately hadn't been at
all. Part of that was due to the fact that he'd been teaching refugees to fight
at Wildlands, but even before that they'd grown apart.

Mainly
due to his anti-short person bigotry.

He
came over, schooling his face into not seeming like he felt anything at all,
and slid with decent grace into the large chair next to her.

"You
have something for me?" He meant a mission or something, but she just
shook her head. Then she sighed.

"Yes.
An apology. I found out that you thought of me as a pet or something and took
offense at it. Tor told me. I should have confronted you with it and made you
see me as a person, instead of not working with you each day. It isn't a thing
you have direct control over, seeing small people as being less than you. You
can fight it, but you have to want to." Which, she realized, he'd already
been doing, on his own. If not he couldn't have been doing his job well at all.

He
gave her a seated bow.

"It
was very hard for me to see and understand. I didn't see you as a
pet
however. I don't even know where that came from. I did come to understand that
my... thoughts towards those much smaller than myself could use some work.
Except for Tor, of course. He's
still
annoying to me. I like the rest of
his family, at least the ones that I've met, if that helps at all?" There
was no smile to go with that, as if he was afraid she'd take offense.

Like
Tor wasn't a pain in the rear sometimes?

She
chuckled a little and touched his arm, flirtatiously. He didn't do anything
like that back yet, but she had hopes.

Once
her head had hit the pillow, she was out. That came as a bit of a surprise
really. The room she was in was about as nice as any she'd ever slept in, and
was all her own, literally, since it was in her house. Her palace. The silk
sheets were made of magic, and had been made a blood red for some strange
reason that she didn't know, but it went well with the wood interior of the
place. Everything looked shiny and new too. The soft fabric felt a bit odd
against her skin, but it was real enough. She was just used to sleeping on
regular cotton sheets. Real ones.

She
woke in the dark, the room not having any windows, in order to keep her safe.
She didn't let her guards follow her around all the time or anything, since
that would end up being a lot more work than not. Most people of her current
rank didn't do that when they went to school either, so it wasn't just her
being a pain. It was, no doubt,
also
her being a pain. At least the
people on her staff thought that was the case.

The
fact that she was better prepared to fight off any given attack than her
personnel was her fault. She had the ability to provide for them, if she ever
stopped being a lazy little girl and grew up enough to see to it. To that end
she got up before everyone else did and started right to work. Or almost.

She
had to go and dig in the backyard first, the stars bright overhead still. She
managed to get her mind into good focus before starting though, so didn't mind
the night air, which was only a little warm. Humid too, but not horrible yet.
She took her time forming several hundred of the little pen shaped wands she
wanted to use, the look of the Focus Stone she compressed being far different
there than anywhere else she'd ever been. It was, curiously, a lovely shade of
jade green.

Tiera
figured that someone might have come and knocked on her door at some point, but
she didn't notice it, just making batch after batch of her new weapons. What
finally got her out of the room was a combination of things, starting with the
fact that she'd run out of materials to build on. There was also, she realized,
an acute sense of hunger burning a hole in her middle.

She
didn't have a clock, or watch, so went and cleaned up first, then moved down
the stairs, holding a red silk pillowcase that had to weigh in at nearly three
hundred pounds. It was filled with six hundred weapons though. Enough for the
four hundred that they were sending up, as well as two hundred for her troops
and guards.

It
wasn't that late in the day however, being only about nine-thirty. Others were
up, and eating, when she got into the front dining room, with Conway looking
very proper at the back of the space. On seeing her he ran over and tried to
take the bag from her, but that wasn't going to work. It was heavy for her to
walk around with, but the butler wouldn't be able to pick it up, most likely.
She didn't want to embarrass him by explaining that though. That meant she
needed a story.

Before
she could come up with one, Guide hopped up from the table and put a magical
box up for her, which she dumped the entire sack into. That earned a low
whistle from the boy.

"All
right." He spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, but was clearly
joking with her. "I'll marry you. If you want, I mean. This is...
Impressive for someone new. I could have done it.
Maybe
. Sam too. Lyn
Red, Tim and Tor. I think, possibly Mark?" He looked over but the noble
young man just shook his head.

"I
can do large batches, but that's a lot. I'd probably need a nap in there
somewhere." If he was kidding it was hard to tell.

Farlo
just stared at Guide, her eyes wide. After a bit she covered her mouth and so
did both Karen and after a few seconds, Maggie, the little girl.

Ali
beamed at both of them as if she'd been given a present.

"Perfect!
We'll have to have that here, since Tiera is a Countess now and this is her
County. We'll need to get everyone in." She seemed to be lost in thought
suddenly, but stopped talking. The rest of the table looked pretty blank on the
topic. They either didn't want to play or figured it was simply a real thing.
Except for some reason, Baron Havar. He actually smiled and then bowed toward
her.

"Ah,
and here I was waiting for you to graduate before putting forth my own offer of
marriage. See what I get for waiting?" He really didn't seem put out
though. Which, she realized, probably made sense. He not only understood that
she probably wouldn't be marrying Guide, but also had no plans to marry her
either.

She
was a good catch, now, but they'd known each other from before that, when she
was small and therefore, to him, off limits as more than a place to find some
fun. Given that he was an Instructor in her section and Kolb didn't let them
have sex, as a rule, that fun had all been during practice.

She
considered it for a bit and then nodded. That was mainly so she wouldn't seem
like a Doretta though.

"Well,
that's a most welcome idea Guide. Perhaps you should send a go between to my
mother? I'll understand if you don't, being that you were clearly joking with
me, but a girl could do a lot worse than you." Which was probably true in
a lot of ways. He was nice enough looking, in a short and common way, but also
bright and with a good future ahead of him.

The
boy simply shook his head and chuckled a bit.

"That
would be nice, but I'm almost certain your family would say no, right off the
knock." It was a gentle enough deflection that Tiera was willing to let it
go, but for some reason Farlo wasn't. It was probably a bit mean of her really.

"True."
She took a bite of toast and then, after having finished swallowing, finished
the mean sounding statement. "Taman would be pretty upset. She's laid a
lot of ground work there already."

Timon
jumped in then, looking at Guide with a more serious gaze than Tiera would have
expected really.

"That's...
not wrong. I saw that gift you gave her for Noram Day, too. I mean,
I
know you're a good person, but I'm pretty certain she took it as a courting
gift. For real, I mean. You might want to watch that." There was no
brotherly threat to go along with it, but that clearly wasn't needed, since
Guide blushed and went wide eyed. He didn't stammer out an apology though, so
at least there was that. It wouldn't look good later if that kind of word got
around and he had to marry the girl, after all.

Ali
nodded again.

"We'll
see her later today, right? You should bring her flowers. That would be romantic."

Tiera
covered her own mouth and shook her head.

"That...
Would have you
lynched
. I mean that too. That's something, in Two Bends
the rules are different, so everyone should be careful. If you give people an
order, they won't know what to do with it, most likely. So if you need anything
it would be good if you said please and thank you. They're good people."

That
would have been a great place to start a conversation, but Lawrence Morris, her
right hand man, walked into the room then, carrying a large case, that, if she
had it right, probably had things for her to sign ready to go. He ran her County,
but the County ran on ink from her pen for some reason. It wasn't all that
efficient really. She was about as useful as...

Well,
everything she could think of was kind of crude. That was a real point too,
wasn't it? She was willing to bet Lawrence could have thought of something.

The
man bowed in the door and looked at everyone else with slightly strained
seeming eyes.

"Forgive
me, Countess Baker. I was unaware that you had guests." Then he bowed, and
being smart, he managed to work everyone into that, no matter how tall or short
they were. True, he hit the tall ones first, but that just made sense in his
world.

Tiera
had just gotten her food and was going to eat it, no matter what, but she knew
that there was business to take care of, and she was, like it or not,
there
.
Ready to write her name, over and over again.

"Have
you eaten yet, Lawrence?"

That
was enough to get the man, who was older and had slightly gray hair, above his
richly dark skin, to sit down and nibble at some toast, while she rammed food
into her face in a manner that would have been rude, if she weren't in charge
there. Ten minutes later she stood and waved at everyone else.

"I'm
going to have to run off for a bit. A few hours probably. We can leave about
one? I said we'd be in about mid-afternoon, so we can take longer than that, at
need." No one thought it was a horrible idea at least. Or if they did,
they neglected to mention it to her. "Timon? Terry? You should come with
us. This way please, Lawrence." She hoped. It was the right way, unless
someone had changed the house around too much.

They
hadn't and she managed to get them into a study that was decorated for a man
that was probably in his mid-fifties or so. Lots of leather, wood and a large
powerful looking desk. One that wasn't really there.

Lawrence
seemed a bit annoyed by the two young boys that were following them, but he
wisely held his tongue, getting that at least Timon might be someone important,
being so tall.

She
gestured them all to sit around a table off to the right.

"Lawrence
Morris is my chief advisor, and actually runs the County. Yes, Morris, he's the
second cousin of the old Count." She smiled at the two boys, but neither
one reacted to that news. They were too jaded to be set back by her big hearted
and trusting ways, she guessed. "Lawrence, these two are Timon Baker, my
heir, and Terrance Baker, Countier Second. After him would be Tess, Tara, Tenet
and Taman."

The
man shot to his feet then and bowed so low that it looked painful to her. Terry
surged to his own after a second and bowed, then stood straight, and pulled Tim
up for it. That meant they all had to bow, but then got to sit again.

"Forgive
me for not recognizing you sooner gentlemen. Are you here to set up a monthly
draw for your allowances?" That, it seemed, was the only thing that made
sense to the man. They were kids after all. To him she was too, no doubt.

She
corrected that instantly however, not letting either of her brothers speak. Or
she was going to, but then modified it all, a little. In real life, Countiers
of their station got allowances. Even as adults, didn't they?

"That
would be good. Timon what do you need that way?" She waited, and saw
Lawrence hold his breath a little. He was in charge of coin after all, and who
knew what an entitled noble brat might ask for.

"I'm
set that way myself. Terry?"

That
got her younger brother to tighten his lips and twist them to one side, which
he did when he was thinking. Then he looked at Timon, and not her.

"Do
I get paid for the work on the Moon?"

"Heck
no.
That's
a public service. Really Tiera, you should give him five gold
a month, so that he can share with the people he's working with. The High
Servants get more, I hear, but Tor's paying for that."

Terry
went wide eyed, but Tiera shook her head.

"
One
gold per week. You
still
have to share that with the others too. Not the
younger girls, but your co-workers. I don't want to hear about you becoming
selfish. If you do that, Lawrence will cut you off and make you muck out the
stables to earn your supper." It was something that their parents had
always threatened them with, even though they didn't own a horse at all. Do
your share and don't be lazy, or else starve.

Not
that they ever let that happen.

That
settled she had to get to signing papers. It was boring, but Timon actually
seemed interested enough in some of the issues to question Lawrence on them.
Terry really tried not to sit there and go blank too. It was a lot of work for
her, so no doubt he had to really fight for it.

When
they were walking out, Tiera had to borrow a second box from Guide, who luckily
enough had one, and load up two hundred of the new weapons into a box for her
advisor to distribute. Timon sighed and looked at the man, his face nearly
exhausted looking suddenly.

"I'll
have shields for our people soon too. The new ones, for space work?"

The
man bowed, but didn't question how he'd be getting those at all. Then, everyone
sort of knew that one, didn't they? They weren't called Timon-shields, but
magically, everyone in the Kingdom had a good idea of where they'd come from
anyway. There had been a major announcement after all.

Then
again, what she thought of as a big deal, being told about it at the Lairdgren
School, by Karen, her roommate, might just not have made the rounds of all and
sundry. Regardless, Lawrence Morris just seemed to take the idea of a twelve
year old boy providing that kind of thing for granted. Maybe he figured that
Tim was going to steal them? That, or get the Lairdgren Group to do all the
work for him. It was a great idea, after all. Except that they, the kids there,
were all loyal to the Crown first and Count Lairdgren second.
If
they
didn't have their own families to worry about before those things even came
into play.