Esther smiled, a touch of sadness gripping her heart as she knew the words Oluchi spoke were true. The sadness was not because she or her family had changed…it was because she hadn’t been there to change with them. She wondered how different her little sister Alley was now. It had only been a few months, but she remembered how much little children grew in just a few short weeks and suddenly, an urgent wish to see them gripped her heart yet again. That was another reason why she had decided to go to Tewksbury to visit her family. She wasn’t sure when she would get to see them again. She hoped that Asserius would allow her to stay until Christmas and she had sent a letter to him asking whether that would be possible.
“Yes…much has changed,” Esther said, placing her hand on top of Oluchi’s and giving it a squeeze before reaching up and tugging at her cloak once more. “But you’re right…I shouldn’t fear that change.”
Oluchi smiled back and they stared ahead in comfortable silence. Worry still tinged her brow, however, for although her discussion with Oluchi had calmed her fears of change in general, she continued to fear the change from peace to war. Although the defeat of the Madrausan battle group at what was now being called the Battle of Ardmorr had been a major setback for the Madrausan’s, Esther was certain that it was only the opening act of what would likely be a very long and costly war, and she was afraid that the name ‘Battle of Ardmorr’ would soon be changed to ‘The First Battle of Ardmorr’.
- - -
Gregory’s trepidation grew almost unbearable as he approached the Queen and he shivered with more than just from the cold air. He’d been trying for hours now to work up the courage, but between Mr. Aleed yelling at him for constantly messing up, and his own fear, he hadn’t been able to get within ten yards of her. But he’d finally found both the time and the courage to do it, and he now he stood just five feet behind her as she looked out over the countryside from the bow of her ship.
Her tall Easterner guardsman, with skin as black as any Gregory had ever seen, stood next to her, watching him with emotionless eyes that made Gregory’s heart beat even faster. The Queen turned to face him then, perhaps receiving some signal that Gregory hadn’t noticed.
“Well hello, Prince Gregory, although I suppose I should call you Mr. Haraldsson now that you are one of my midshipmen and part of my crew.”
“H…hello, Your Majesty,” Gregory replied nervously. “I…I just wanted to th…thank you for accepting me as one of your crew. This is truly a wonderful opportunity.”
The Queen smiled and he couldn’t help but feel warmed by it. That and her grace, confidence, and poise caused his heart to flutter. He knew she was two years her senior—almost three really—and her dark skinned Chief of Staff outshone her in pure natural beauty, but Gregory’s heart had already found its first crush the moment he’d seen her dancing with Frederic. He really liked it when she smiled—especially at him. The thought made him blush and he looked down.
“It’s my pleasure, Gregory, and I’ll do my best to make sure you get the best education here as possible, both in terms of sailing and other areas. However, I think that is Mr. Aleed looking for you.”
Gregory looked over his should and sure enough, Mr. Aleed, the carpenter was stalking towards them, and he didn’t look too happy. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what Queen Esther had meant about the ‘other areas’ of his education. No time to think about that now, though, and he quickly bowed and went to see what he had done wrong this time.
Chapter 14
Home
Esther was still amazed at how fast airship travel was! It had only taken a short six and a half hours to reach Tewksbury from Lancaster—a trip that would have taken six or seven days by horseback or wagon. She had spent the time practicing her swordplay with Oluchi and Geoffrey and had just finished taking a quick cold shower when Mr. Najafi had informed her that they were approaching her family home near Tewksbury.
She had decided to wear simple clothing because she didn’t want to make her family feel out of place by dressing in her normal attire. Of course, Marigold would never let her wear anything like the dark brown farm dress she used to wear around her family’s farm, but the simple cream-colored dress she wore now was plain enough that Esther felt comfortable. Marigold had tailored it without any attempt to hide the fact that Esther was pregnant, so her small, but growing baby bump was readily visible. She also felt grateful that she wasn’t required to wear her crown all the time. That would really have set her apart.
When Esther stepped up on deck, she was surprised to see two large Ardmorran warships hovering in the air about a mile distant from her family’s house. Of course, she should have realized that her decision to marry Asserius would also have implications for her family, but she just hadn’t thought about what effects it would have. A foreign head of state’s family must be protected at all times and Esther was relieved to see that it was being done. She hoped that their presence wasn’t too intrusive for her family and that they didn’t resent her for it.
Perhaps it was just psychological, but she could almost smell the scent of the grasses of the farmland below wafting in the air. It was the smell of home and it made her heart feel just a little bit lighter.
“The signalman just received permission from the lead Ardmorran ship to advance, Your Majesty,” Mr. Najafi said. Esther nodded and turned to gaze forward as they approached her homestead, a thrill of anticipation coursing through her veins.
“I’m sure you’re looking forward to seeing your family again,” Geoffrey said, stepping up next to her.
She turned to look at him, and nodded. “Yes. It’s only been a few months since I saw them last, but it seems like an eternity.”
“I was fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time with my family while we were in Lancaster for the negotiations,” said Geoffrey. “It was quite nice.”
“Oh Geoffrey, I’m sorry that the negotiations occupied so much of my time,” she said, placing her hand on his by way of apology. “I would have liked to have met them. How are they? Did your sister marry that Duke?”
“No, thank heavens.” He chuckled. “I think she finally recognized all of the challenges that would come with marrying someone thirty years her senior and decided she wasn’t ready to take them on. Besides, I think she met a university student and is now head over heels about him.” Geoffrey rolled his eyes, and Esther laughed.
He looked over the bow railing and stared down at her family’s farm. “This really is a beautiful place.”
“Thanks,” Esther replied, also looking over the now empty fields where saug plants used to grow. The fall harvest was complete and the fields lay fallow through the winter. They might have even had one or two snowfalls already, though no snow covered the ground now. Winter was just around the corner, however, and the trees had already shed most of their leaves.
The Retribution’s escorts peeled away as they approached her parents’ home and took up position a short distance away, while the Retribution sailed in closer to the house, settling towards the ground on a grassy knoll about thirty yards distant. The side platforms lowered men and equipment to the ground and they began pounding massive stakes into the earth on the grassy knoll using sledgehammers. Then they grabbed the thick mooring lines and secured them to the stakes.
A small figure burst out of the house and came pelting across the grass towards the Retribution. Esther smiled and walked quickly over to the portside platform. She stepped aboard and Marigold, Oluchi, and one of her marine guards, Corporal Dilshad, stepped on right behind her. She nodded at the crewmen manning the platform capstan and they immediately began lowering to lower it. Alley had reached them by the time the platform touched the ground and Esther knelt as the little girl came bounding into her arms, wrapping them tightly around her neck.
“Esther, I missed you!” shouted the little girl.
“I missed you too, Alley,” said Esther, holding her little sister tightly as she stood, tears of joy welling up in her eyes.
Esth
er’s mother and most of her other siblings had arrived at the platform after walking quickly from the house, and Esther stepped forward to meet them, reaching out and hugging her mother. When they pulled apart, her mother looked her up and down, her eyes fastening onto the swell of her baby bump.
“Esther! You’re pregnant!” her mother said and Esther laughed, nodding.
“How many weeks?”
“Almost fourteen.”
“And you’re this big already? You could be having twins.”
“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” said Esther, shaking her head. “I don’t think I could handle twins.”
Her mother just smiled at her. It was then that Esther noticed the swell of her mother’s abdomen.
“Mother! Are you pregnant?”
Her mother smiled again. “Yes. Almost eighteen weeks now.” Niniva Kelley had always been a slim woman and wore the pregnancy well, in Esther’s opinion.
“Isn’t that nine for you now Mrs. Kelley?” said Marigold.
“Yes, we’ve got quite the crew now. And how are you, Marigold?” she asked. “Are you keeping my daughter out of trouble?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hmm. If I remember correctly, you were usually the one getting Esther and Charity into trouble.” Marigold gave her mother her most innocent look and Esther couldn’t help but laugh. Her mother turned to Oluchi. “It’s good to see you again, Oluchi. When we were in Hadiq for Esther’s wedding, I didn’t get to talk to you as much as I would have liked, but from what Esther has written, I know I can genuinely thank you for keeping my daughter safe and out of trouble.”
Oluchi bowed. “You are most welcome.”
“Come on,” her mother said, wrapping her arm around Esther. “Let’s get you in out of the cold. Dinner is almost ready. Your arrival was unexpected so I’m afraid I don’t have enough to feed everybody, but I should have enough for your little party here to join us.” Her mother turned to her sister Melissa and her brother Gabriel. “Melissa, fetch some more goat cheese, berries, and dried venison from the cellar. Gabriel, go get some fresh milk. We’ll see if we can’t spice up our meal a bit to make it fit for a queen.”
Embarrassed, Esther turned to her mother. “Ma, you don’t need to do that. I’m just…me.”
“Nonsense!” her mother replied, “You’re the Queen of Hadiq now, and besides, we have guests. Would you have guests eat common gruel?”
Esther looked down, properly chastised. “No mother.”
“Alright then, come, let’s get inside.”
“At least let me contribute some grapes,” said Esther. “I bought some at the market in Lancaster before we left. I also brought some oranges for each of you…I know how rarely we get them here.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Esther,” her mother said. “The kids will love it.”
She let her mother guide her to the house. It felt strange to have her crew see her being cared for by her mother. For the last several months she’d always been the one giving directions. It was nice though, not being the one responsible, and she let her mother guide her to the house as another platform of marines lowered to the ground to guard the perimeter of the area.
An hour later, after she and Marigold had finished helping her mother prepare supper and Esther’s father had returned from the fields and washed up, she sat with her family at their large dining table. Esther had invited Oluchi and Corporal Dilshad to eat with the family, but Oluchi had insisted they remain standing guard by the front and back doors, so it was just Esther, her family, and Marigold at the table. Even so, it was crowded.
“That’s a fine looking ship you have there, Esther,” her father said after they’d said grace and started passing the food around the table. “Ardmorran built, am I right?”
“Yes, sir,” Esther replied, feeling proud.
Her father nodded. “I thought so, though you’ve got her outfitted and fancied up quite a bit—not that I’m complaining, she’s a queen’s ship after all. I’d love to have a tour.”
“Of course. In fact, I’m planning on heading into Tewksbury to say hello to Tanya and Charity tomorrow. We can take the whole family if you’d like and I can give you a tour on the way.”
Her siblings broke out with pleas of ‘Oh, please, father, can we go?!’
“That sounds like a great idea,” her father said, and her siblings burst into shouts of joy.
“Alright, quiet down you all,” her mother said sternly.
When the room quieted down enough, Esther’s sister Melissa turned to her. “How long are you going to stay, Esther?”
“Well, I’m hoping to stay until Christmas. After we completed with the negotiations and parliament ratified the treaty—”
“The treaty has been signed and ratified?” asked her father.
“Yes.”
He sighed visibly. “What a relief.”
Esther nodded her agreement. His imprisonment on a Madrausan ship after Tewksbury was raided gave him first-hand insight into what Madrausan’s could do. “After parliament ratified the treaty, I wrote a letter to Asserius and told him I was going to go to Tewksbury—”
“And just in time for your birthday next week,” her sister Arabella said, bobbing up and down so hard she almost fell out of her chair with excitement. “Maybe you can even help us with some of blankets we’re quilting to raise money to rebuild the school in Tewksbury.”
“Yes, Arabella.” Esther smiled at her younger sister. “And just in time for my birthday, and I’d love to help you quilt some blankets.” Esther turned back to her parents. “I didn’t know the school was destroyed.”
“Yeah,” said her father, “burnt completely to the ground during the raid.”
Esther shook her head. “Well, in my letter, I asked him if I could spend Christmas here before returning to the palace. I’m still waiting to hear back.”
“That would be great if you could stay for Christmas,” her mother said. “I just wish I could be there when the babies are born.”
“Baby, mother. Singular, not plural,” corrected Esther. Her father chuckled and Marigold was trying to stifle a laugh.
“We’ll see,” her mother replied with a smile.
Chapter 15
The Tour
“Well, where did it go?” the big man with the scar above his left eyebrow said gruffly. The slight man who stood before him didn’t know if the big man was Hadiqan, Ardmorran, or some other ancestry—the color of his skin was a mixture of more than one, although his features were Ardmorran. It didn’t really matter, he was the one who gave the orders and that’s all that mattered to the slight man.
“I…uh, I don’t know,” he said nervously, “No one seems to know. We weren’t expecting the Retribution to leave and so no one was paying attention when it did.”
“Were there any messages at the drop?”
“No, sir.”
“Damn! Alright, well she’ll likely return eventually. We’ll stick to our plan for now. In the meantime, keep trying to found out where she’s gone. The Madrausan’s won’t wait forever before sending someone else and I mean to have her head.”
“Yes, sir.”
- - -
Esther was excited to show her family her ship and she held onto her little sister Alley’s hand as they all scrambled aboard the platform.
“Alright, everyone hold hands,” said her mother, “we don’t want anyone falling off when they raise us up.” Her siblings babbled excitedly and were all smiles and giggles as they squished together on the platform.
“Ready, mum?” Esther asked.
Her mother surveyed her children one last time, then turned to Esther and nodded. Esther turned to the marine standing next to her and gave him the signal. He blew a loud whistle and the platform began to rise, causing several of her younger siblings to let out excited ‘Oohs’ and ‘Ah’s’. As the platform drew even with the main deck of the ship, a full complement of marines and many of the crew not currently manning their stations wait
ed on deck to greet them. The bosun’s whistle sounded and the crew came to attention.
“Welcome back aboard, Your Majesty,” said Mr. Najafi, reaching his hand out to help her off of the platform.
“Thank you, Abdel.” She took his hand and stepped onto the deck. Mac, Baird, and a couple of other crewmembers came forward to help the rest of her family off the platform as well. “I’d like to introduce you to my family,” Esther continued. “This is my mother, Mrs. Niniva Kelley, and my father, Mr. Hans Kelley. These are my siblings from youngest to oldest—Conall, Alley, Arabella, Brandon, Melissa, Gabriel, and Merek,” she said, pointing to each of them in turn. “Everyone, this is my first officer, Mr. Abdel Najafi.”
“First officer?” asked Brandon, seeming to be a bit disappointed. “Where’s the Captain? I’ve always wanted to meet a ship’s Captain before.”
Esther smiled. “Well, Brandon, my ship doesn’t have a Captain. It’s a bit complicated, but given the constraints we were under, I thought it best to proceed without one. Mr. Najafi fills many of the roles that a ship’s Captain would normally fulfill. That’s why we call him the ‘Queen’s First Officer’.” Brandon nodded, though he still seemed a bit disappointed.
Esther introduced her family to Mac and the rest of the officers and senior crew members, then led them back onto the quarterdeck. “This,” she said, sweeping her arms around her, “is the quarterdeck. This is where the officer’s and I guide the ship from, and where our duty station is during battle.”
“Have you ever been in battle, Esther?” her brother Gabriel asked.
“Why yes I have,” Esther replied, “Just recently in fact. You probably have heard about a mighty battle that took place a few weeks ago which some are calling the ‘Battle of Ardmorr’?”
“You were in that battle?”.
“I sure was,” said Esther.
“Your sister wasn’t just in that battle,” Abdel interjected, “She led that battle.”
“Have you ever had to kill someone?” said Brandon.
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