Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (22 page)

The
boy, who had a bit of a bruise on his face now, thanks to Sam, frowned a
little.

"I
did
say I was sorry?"

Tiera
waved at him and decided that ignoring it would be the better part for the day.
She didn't even insist they truth test him, since if he had been doing
something on purpose, it really
would
lead to a prison term. Plus, he
had seemed to be sleeping, which was probably a good enough sign.

"I
didn't know we had guests. To what do we owe the honor?" If it was one.
Generally Tiera liked to be fed first, before an evening of molestation. Though
flowers were good too, or even, in a pinch,
mentioning
that it might
happen. This wasn't the best foot for a new friendship, she decided. What could
she do about it though? Either she pretended it wasn't a big deal, or she had
the man put away, if not killed. She could do either, but Sara was Tim
and
Tor's friend. Making problems for her brother would cause trouble all the way
around no doubt.

That,
or end with Kurt dead. It was hard to know which.

Sara
crossed her arms angrily and glared toward the rather cute blond boy.

"We
actually came to see about trying to get the Lairdgren Group to work with us on
some overseas deals. That or ones on the Moon, since no one else is even
thinking of that one yet. True, it won't make a lot of coin to start with, but
getting in early is almost always worth it, as long as you stand fast. Well, if
something works at all. It's a risk, but so is everything." She still
seemed a bit cross with her sibling, but that wasn't something Tiera could fix
for him. A solid door with a good sturdy lock might. With him firmly behind it.

That
sounded a lot like prison though.

Tiera
nodded.

"Well,
I'll take you around later and you can try to talk to Alice Orange. She runs
Space Fleet. Or we can take you along Sara." That meant finding something
for the boy to do, while they were out, but the blonde girl just blushed a bit
and looked at the floor.

Her
hair was just shy of shoulder length, but it worked with the shape of her face.
Tiera liked it at least. She had a friendly look about her. It was probably a
lie, but hey, who was she to judge?

Sara
tensed a bit, "I... don't really think Kurt was trying to rape you in your
sleep. He
does
really sleep walk. And have sex while sleeping, or so
I've heard. I've never woken up to it, but I hear mother has."

That
got a gasp, not from Karen or Sam, since she'd been horribly abused as a child
and Sam was an orphan, but from Kurt himself.

"That
is
so
much a lie! I crawled into bed with her once, but nothing like
that happened! I was young then too. A
lot
of children do that."

Sara
just gave him a
look
.

"A
child
of fifteen? From what I heard she woke up with her under garments
half off and you climbing on top of her. Like I said, well known pervert. You
know the very first time he met Tor he asked him to have sex? Not politely
either. It was 'Hello, I'm Kurt, want to get out of your clothes?' I mean,
Tor
.
He handled it pretty well, but they hadn't even met before really. Maybe five
minutes prior to that? Tops?"

Tiera
found herself blinking and wondering if prison really
was
an option. Not
over the Tor thing. Asking was fine after all. It might be best not to push too
hard, too fast, but it wasn't trying to have sex with your own mother.

Which,
she reminded herself, wasn't her problem.

She
explained.

"Alice
won't do business with him. She'll think he has an untrustworthy face. She
prefers... More exotic men." That was a polite way to say ugly, right?

Sam
nodded.

"I
get along with her all right. Timon says that he can't though. It just won't
work. She doesn't believe anything he says."

That
got the room to go quiet, and Kurt to look miserable at least. Enough so that
Sara explained for him, after a minute of everyone looking around awkwardly,
waiting for someone else to change the subject.

"I'd
been kind of hoping that we could put Kurt in on the Moon, running a shop. We
kind of need Space Fleet to get us there. Unless Tor has an extra ship around
for us? But he left town for a while." It was so clear she knew more than
that and that she didn't know if the rest of them did, that it might as well
have been painted on her face.

Which,
given that she was decently smart and a merchant, probably meant she wanted it
there.

Tiera
stood and stretched, her tall and rather thin body coiling like a snake for a
moment. Kurt stared at her, not even bothering to look all the way up at her
face. Then, she noticed, so did Sam. Karen too. Sara however, focused on her
eyes. That meant Sara was winning, as far as treating her like a person so far
that day.

"I
need to go and clean up for the day. Then we should find some food and see
about all this? I know, Sam, why don't you and Karen stay here and have sex
with Kurt, while Sara and I go for provisions? That should keep him busy."
She wasn't trying to be mean about it, but realized that Sam might have
problems with that, having just heard about the man asking Tor to have sex with
him. Plus, she didn't
really
have any right to say that at all.

Just
as she was about to say, just kidding, Karen nodded.

"We'll
need some oil." That got a knowing look from everyone except her, which
was amazing, since she didn't think that the builder was all that worldly
either. Apparently more than
her
.

Whatever
they planned to do, it let Sara and her out of the space, alone. She didn't
think much of it, but the girl pulled her behind the building, rather than
going off to the wash area.

Then
she hissed.

"I
have news. From Princess Karina. We have word from the rebellion that you're to
be approached soon. No one knows who will be sent for that, but you should stay
ready and be armed all the time. If you don't go in with them, they might try
to kill you."

It
seemed a bit dramatic, just for that news. She nodded anyway.

"All
I have for you is a possible attack on Austra in a few days. We're already
setting up things for that though. I don't know if it will be enough. I have to
do more building for them. I've mainly been sleeping lately."

There
was a quick nod, and then the girl stopped.

"Wait,
you build things too now? Like what?" They were talking about that when a
couple of drunk people came stumbling out of the woods. Instead of just not
talking, which had been her plan, Sara kissed her, and made her top vanish.
Then with a smirk, did Tiera's too. The drunk group had men and women, so while
there was some hooting, no one suggested they all have sex together or
anything.

Sara
smiled and kissed her again, pretending to look at the people leaving, and
keeping it up until after they were gone.

"Sorry,
we just needed a reason to be out here."

"Oh...
Like, I don't know, we could have been talking? That would have been my first
idea, if I saw someone. Besides, if you want to kiss me, at least let me brush
my teeth first. It will be a lot more pleasant." She winked and put her
top back on with a thought. Sara had to reach up and touch her amulet for it,
or at least did. She'd made the things vanish well enough without that kind of
thing, moments before.

Taking
a risk, Tiera read the girl and noticed a few things. She was looking for
information about Tor, she thought Tiera was kind of attractive, for a girl,
which was more about her age than anything else, and that she was a spy. For
the King. One with orders to infiltrate her life. The thing there was that her
little brother...

Really
was
just a pervert. She wasn't even truly certain he hadn't been trying
to have 'sneak sex' with Tiera. Worse, despite what she'd said, she wasn't
totally certain that he hadn't done the same thing to her a few times. She was
a deep sleeper and there had been some unusual signs of things. It was
troubling, but not a lot could be done without hurting their family name.

The
girl nodded.

"Right,
well, that too. We could try that next time. The talking. Or the teeth brushing
first. I know that would work for me." She smacked her lips a little, her
tongue popping out.

For
a moment she was tempted to confront the girl with everything that she'd picked
up, but got that outing the spy just meant a new one would be put in place. It
was a lot better to have one around that she knew about for certain. Then she
could control the information that got back to her enemies. Like the King.

"Let's
go and see to things then. We probably only have an hour or two." She
meant it to be funny, but Sara nodded, since spy or not, she didn't want to see
her brother having sex. Ever. Especially with that fantastic looking noble girl
that was Tiera's roommate. Even Sam was kind of cute. If they could ditch Kurt
they could all...

The
images in her head became too complex and vague to track. It was clear that she
didn't get that Karen was Karen Derring. Not at all. It wasn't illegal to
become better looking though, was it? Or even immortal. It was only that last
part that needed to be hidden even.

The
baths were mostly empty, so they showered, soaked in hot tubs while they
chatted and actually got some food from town, which, if Tiera's new build
worked, they might not need. It might not, so she was going to try it out alone
somewhere first. Then, if she had to, she could just start over again, until it
came out right. It was strong, field wise, true. That didn't mean that powerful
field did what she wanted it to.

So
she got some bread, rolls and cheese, along with four perfectly red, identical
apples.

Sara
nodded at them.

"We
need more of that. More of the new food. More devices for it. Is Timon working
on that? Is anyone?"

Tiera
made a face and wondered for a bit if spies got training in mind reading. It
was, she knew, possible.

"I
am. I... Let me test it first? If it doesn't work I don't want that to get
around." Except that once it was said out loud, she sounded cowardly, and
afraid of shame. That was pretty sad, she realized.

Sara,
instead of needling her about things, just acted like it was a real secret, not
her being vain and not wanting to look bad in front of other people. Even
though, honestly, that was the case. She made a hard face, and stomped back to
her room, deciding not to act shocked when she opened the door to find three
bodies intertwined.

They
weren't. They all even had clothing on, though they were lying on the beds,
looking a bit sweaty and spent. The room smelled like sex too, so
that
most likely happened. Sam blushed, but the other two were wicked nobles, and
didn't care about who knew what about them. Really, as far as they were
concerned, she was probably
part
of it all, having suggested it. Only
Sara was innocent in this one.

Tiera
dumped the canvas shopping bag of goods on her bed, right next to Kurt, and
then moved to her desk. Grabbing one of the new devices, she held her breath
and tapped it, figuring that nothing would happen at all. It did though, and
produced a nice pearl white device, about the size of her little desk, but
solid. It had a blue top and about a hundred glowing sigils on the side. The
amulet got set on the very top, in a little holder that had a bar to keep it in
place.

Before
anyone could ask what she was doing, she left, and ran to the woods behind the
building, filling the bag with dirt, some rocks and a few other things. Mainly
broken sticks, because they were easy to find here. Five minutes later she was
back inside. Without waiting she opened the small sliding door on the right
side of the thing and dumped the contents of the bag in. Then she looked
around, until she found one of the plates that she'd stolen from the dining
room, at the beginning of the school year. So that she and Alphonse and...
Regina...

She
had to stop thinking for a while and looked around, then put the brown heavy
plate in the left side of the device, which wasn't closed at all.

"Right,
so, any requests for breakfast?" She was waiting for someone to ask for
gold, or possibly a highly complicated dish, but Karen sat up, getting the idea
first.

"Um,
egg toast, three slices, with honey and butter? The whipped kind?" She
seemed to think that would be too hard, and it
wasn't
preprogrammed into
the device, but Tiera knew that one, personally, so touched the largest sigil
and imagined it on the plate, the way she wanted it to look.

The
light changed and she looked into the slot, expecting to find half of a burnt
skunk or something, but it was just the food she'd been trying for. She handed
it over, and waited for a review.

The
first bite was a little slow, but two more were taken, all without the use of a
fork, and Karen finally started to nod rapidly.