Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) (24 page)

"We will be. You too. All of you." She didn't want to let go, and a feeling nearly overwhelmed her then. Just how much she actually loved him. She always had, as far as she could remember. Her grasp tightened a bit, but she forced herself to let him go. It was indiscreet, given that his wife was right there.

Alyssa wasn't the one that gave her a sad and longing look though. Trice did.

It was clear that Timon saw it too, and for once he turned away a bit, his face still, but making it clear that he didn't really like seeing that happen.

Sara wondered if it seemed to him that every woman he wanted, his brother already had? That would be a heartrending thing, but it was very nearly true, wasn't it?

The only one that Sara didn't really know about that way would be Petra Ward. She was going to be married to Gerent Lairdgren though, so there was a different brother getting her, in the end. What did that really leave him? Pain, came to mind, but Sara buried that thought and moved to give everyone else a hug. Except Lars. She didn't know if he could be trusted yet.

Not even if he'd been telling the truth the whole time.

That took longer than actually getting things set up did. In fact, she had the new ship set up outside, filled with enough dust to keep them fed and in water and air for several years, and had the devices that everyone had pressed on them ready in about that fifteen minutes that Tor had thought getting the dirt would take. She was getting good at her job, after all. Even with all the time off she'd had, playing beggar in Tellerand.

No communications came in before they left, but that part wasn't hard either. No one was standing around outside to watch them go. Really, Sara didn't even feel like a proper spy, like she was stealing away with Timon illicitly, or anything fun at all. When they got inside the new ship, which was well lit from the ceilings, she glanced over at Tim, who hadn't even gone to get so much as a toothbrush.

"Have everything you need?"

It was just making conversation, but his answer shocked her a bit. Not too much, but it was the kind of thing that she forgot about, just talking to him, or Tor.

"I have a set of things with me all the time. Anything I missed, I can make now, in about ten minutes." There was a smile then, one that was angled to look charming, and, she thought, just a bit flirtatious. "Ten minutes for each thing. Unless you want a ship like this. That would take a month. I
can
do a jump ship in that time, but it's an organic grow, not a forced building. It makes a difference. These things are incredibly powerful though. Even these old ones that Tor made."

His large hand stroked the wall, the smooth white of it turning silver under his fingers, then, almost as if he really were flirting with her, a complicated pattern of silver interwoven with tan, to match the clothing she was wearing. It was complex but also very finely done. A pattern that nearly seemed to shimmer, the lines were so close to each other. The floor changed too, but was a deeper brown that looked a lot like wood, polished to shining. If there was a repeating pattern to the thing, Sara was missing it. That took a lot of skill.

Rubbing her bare and now bald head, she giggled a bit.

"Not bad. You can help me make some hair later? I have a disguise amulet, but..." It was a weird thing to ask, but there was almost no hesitation there.

"We can do that. It's going to be nearly a week just getting to the farming unit. Sheri's space station. She doesn't live there. So far no one that runs the stations does. Mainly due to lack of people. We're going to have time to do things, was my original point. So, we can make hair, have sex, and I can teach you how to make copies from a template? Or... You know, I never asked, can you do that already?"

Sara looked at him, feeling her eyes narrow just a little. It was pretty clear that he was trying to bury something in that, having mentioned sex like he had. The thing there was that he
had
to know that given the situation she'd do that with him without having to be clever about it. They were pretty much trapped together for the time being. Yes, the ship was large and they didn't have to see each other for that time if it became a problem. That would be lonely though, wouldn't it? So, Tim was going to have all the sex their bodies could handle, most likely.

Her too. There just was nothing else to do.

So she nodded, locking eyes with him.

"You want me to learn to be a builder? Is that something that you can pass along when you change people? I've noticed that a lot of the top builders are immortal."

Timon let his head come up a bit, and then took a slow breath.

"Well, most of the ones that have really done that were builders already, and among the best, before I did anything to them. They did get a bit better after that, but a lot of that improvement is physical in nature. The ability to work for longer without dying, for instance. The rest is mental, but varies from person to person. We all have our strengths. I think you should learn how though, if you're moving out that far away from help."

Looking away, he smiled, his eyes going still as he looked at the far wall, well ahead of them, and started walking toward the bridge. They didn't talk while they moved, and he didn't run, but he kept looking at her from the side of his gaze. Carefully collecting every emotion and bit of body language, no doubt.

She finally looked back at him and smiled.

"Wait, were you
really
trying to sneak in the sex bit? You have to know that's going to happen. Unless, I understand if you're too busy, or have something else that you've already committed the time to."

He cleared his throat a little, seeming almost prim, and then shook his head.

"It's not just that. I'm... Rather fond of you. You know that though. I get that things could be tense because of that. You love Tor." There was no stopping or pausing, just steady steps down the wooden looking floor. "Not that you should have a problem with that kind of thing, but you have to know that
he
might. I think he might be doing better that way, but it's hard to change things that deeply ingrained. In Two Bends you didn't even think of having more than one woman in your life. I notice that he's managed
that
part well enough. I'm not sure if he's up to sharing yet. Not with his own brother."

It was insightful, but she shook her head.

"Tor... He's been being very loving lately, but for a long time he barely seemed to notice me. It wasn't for lack of me trying, but I've kind of come to realize that I have to let go of him. Not altogether, but I have to learn to just take what's there, and move on otherwise. If you want to be friends, then... Well, I can't see any reason why not? Trice is good with it.
She's
even mentioned the idea to me. I really do like you, regardless of what else happened before."

Going into
why
didn't seem like a good idea, since they were getting to the bridge, and he already knew the meat of it. From the King himself. That was surprising to her, but not something she hadn't noticed before. Richard loved Timon. Tor too. It wasn't even sexual in nature, which she
could
have seen, given how good looking they both were. No, he seemed to look at them as if they were his own sons. Maybe even closer than that.

What she didn't know, was why. Douglas Baker was clearly their real father, and while King Richard had slept with their mother when they were younger, she wasn't certain that either of the boys knew that. Not for certain. She had it from Laurie Baker herself. Said in passing, years before. The first time they'd met, in fact. Trice knew too, but it was the kind of girl gossip that you kept to yourself, so as to not ruin someone else's liaisons. That would be beyond rude.

Besides, she'd mentioned having been
much
closer to Queen Constance. It had been years later when Burks Lairdgren, the Count and Laurie's father, had mentioned to Sara in private that Tor's mother had very nearly become the Queen herself. Things had gotten in the way, and worked out differently than that, but it wasn't that surprising. She was little, but so pretty that Richard probably would have had a hard time seeing anyone else, with her around.

They didn't speak for a long time, Tim locked into a bit of a trance, she thought, watching what she did once they got to the bridge. She started to tell him what she was doing, so that he could pilot in case it came up. Not that he couldn't have figured it out anyway. He could fly a fast craft already, and was as good at that or better than anyone else living.

Touching the arm of the comfortable, blue colored, chair Sara murmured gently.

"Make sure that the air lock is put away, and everything is sealed. There's no need for tie down, like a water vessel, but that doesn't mean there can't be connection points. Take off touching anything except the ground, and it will probably come with you."

Then she took off, going straight up, pulling the metal fob up gently. The vessel shot into space, and Sara pointed with her left hand out the front window shield.

"We'll orbit and find Earth visually. Then just head toward it and keep it in view the whole time. It isn't fast this way, and we'll need to regularly make alterations to the course, but only a few times per day."

Then she just sat, waiting for him to do or say something. What he did was a lot different than she expected, since it was just pulling a bit of focus stone tile, white moonstone, from his pocket and closing his eyes. She got that he was working, making magic, but it really wasn't that interesting to look at. The end result might well be, however.

In this case, he probably needed a toothbrush. That, or towels. She could share however, so it
might
have been something else. About twenty minutes later, Tim sat up, stretched his arms over his head, and then slipped the tile, which had a blue glow on the top, underneath the control piece that floated in the palm of her hand.

"Here we go. Let me..." When he tapped the piece nothing happened. Until she tried to move her hand. The control device was locked into place solidly. Even pulling on it, the thing didn't move. She got the idea pretty quickly.

They didn't need to make a lot of course corrections on the trip they were on. Like she'd said, a few times per day, since the Earth was constantly moving a bit. Less than that if she'd hit the travel line correctly the first time. She probably hadn't. It was harder than it seemed like it would be to aim at a planet from that far away.

Timon grinned then.

"It should make things easier, and
try
to follow what you aimed at. That part's a bit new, so it might not work perfectly. We need to keep an eye on it. Do you want to do that hair yet? Or something else?" The words were a bit bland sounding, as if he were hinting at sex. Perfectly too. With just enough notice given to it that she could back out, or pretend she didn't get it, in order not to give offense.

Before she got to that idea, he shrugged.

"I can make a template, and show you how to make a copy? You have the organization you need for that mentally, I can tell that much. It isn't hard. Or we could eat. When is the last time you had anything?"

For a moment she couldn't remember, but she knew that she was still raw boned and thin looking, from her deprivations over the last months. Blinking, she looked away.

"It's been a few days... Things have been too busy for much comfort."

"Right. I'll get something going. Call it five minutes? Do you want to eat in here, or in a dining room?"

She shrugged, knowing that there was no reason not to set up a room for that kind of thing. They had the time they needed.

"I'll get the room, to the right of this one out the door there. No need not to have things be nice."

"Got it."

She was just getting the table set, which took no more than setting her hand on the focus stone table she'd called into being, and summoning some plates, white with gold edges, and real looking silver, along with white linen napkins. It looked nice enough, if a bit casual, compared to the room she'd called into being. It was nice enough to have servants in, and individual courses. You didn't do that at small intimate meals though, unless the point was to impress someone with your wealth. If she were trying to get Timon to work for her family, she might have had six men in uniform to wait on their every want. At least if he'd just come fresh from the back country, unused to anything nice or refined.

That wasn't the case here, naturally.

Timon was an odd combination of things now. Young enough that she kept expecting him to whine or complain about having to go into hiding to try and protect Lars and his family, as well as himself. Noble enough that she kind of wondered why he hadn't just ordered the rest of them to fix things.
Now
. Oh, that couldn't be done any more smoothly than it was going to be, but it was the way she always thought of nobles as being.

Even Alphonse, who was sweet in his own way, was more than a bit demanding most of the time. If it was him there with her she'd have
known
, without asking, that they'd be doing whatever it was he felt like. Day or night. Timon was
asking
what she wanted though. Not
just
to get her into bed either, she didn't think. No, it was almost like he was the one trying to woo her into working with
his
family. The meal that came was floating on a tray, one that she realized was actually a magical chest made to look like a silver serving dish, and contained enough food for six people. Even a half dozen giants. There was a good mix of things too, and it looked incredible. Candied whole fruits, that were more decoration than luncheon, and fine cuts of beef. A whole roast chicken that seemed to be herb encrusted, and a dozen side dishes of various kinds. It smelled wonderful.

Without moving the amulet around, like a normal person would have to do, Tim just waved at the table, which had the float chest move into place smoothly. Almost as if he were controlling it with his mind.