Envoy to Earth

by P. S. Power

  As they walked forward a bit, Gerent smiled.

  "Count Harris?" It was a guess, and a risk, but the fact was, the man looked like his face did in the mirror now. Not identical to it, but close enough that he could see a certain resemblance. Unless he was imagining that.

  "You have me at a disadvantage, sir. I am, however, Maverick Harris. Count Harris. May I enquire as to why you've come? We haven't had any visitors with such a fine craft as this, before." He tried to keep his voice calm, and very cultured, and made it, for the most part. There was a large gesture at the Tim-Craft, which shouldn't be too unfamiliar to the man, since Tim's business, the fast transportation service for people, used the same ones. This man was rich enough to have at least tried it, unless he didn't want to for some reason. That was possible, since flying could be scary for some people.

  "Gerent Lairdgren. These gentlemen with me are Baron First Wallace Eager, and High Servant Erid. We have some magical devices for you, from Queen Tiera of Harmony. Oh... Um, I'm also some kind of relative of yours. I just found that out, from Dowager Harris? I... Here, there's a letter. I don't know what it says. Hopefully nothing too bad." He passed the heavy paper to the man, who took it instantly, looking down at Ger a little.

  It wasn't a glare or anything like that, just a questioning look. Then he popped the seal and read whatever was inside paper, folding it again after three or four minutes, and smiled. Then he bowed, which got Gerent to do it back and everyone to change positions as they tried to bow to all the right people, in the correct order.

  Finally the bigger man reached out and clapped Gerent on the arm, if gently.

  "So, cousin Gerent? You aren't even coming for a handout, but are actually bringing things for the County? I have to say, that's different, isn't it? Most of the time the family offshoots just come to see if we guard the silver well enough. Mother wants me to invite you to stay. She fears that she scared you away with her story." That wasn't really an attempt to save the day, but the man didn't seem unkind about it, did he? Gerent searched the broad and rather unbalanced face, but couldn't see it there. This man was big, and hard looking, but not mean. Not to family at any rate, or possibly other nobles.

  He may keep prisoners or slaves out back, but he waved the guards away then, casually, as if Gerent being a relative, even an unknown one, was enough for him. Erid and Wallace bowed again, and then went to unload the goods. It occurred to him then that Erid, High Servant or not, had actually used his oath as an excuse to get out of the awkward conversation, and waited for them instead of leaving to get things done.

  It didn't take too long, since they sort of had the pattern down now.

  As they did that, Maverick moved a bit closer and whispered slightly.

  "You need my aid in taking down Count Rodriguez? He's being held in the palace. It will be difficult to get at him. Do you have a plan? Mother didn't mention why you needed to kill him, or the particulars, but I'm in. Do we need to take a full force? A few men and women might move more quickly. I can't promise that however. The Royal Guard are tough. Can you get shields from your contacts?"

  Gerent had to catch up mentally, and then ran over the whole thing with Petra, using her name.

  The giant teared up, but then shook his head, his slightly gray hair moving a bit. He wasn't ancient, but looked to be pushing sixty or so. He also seemed to be doing it in good health, with a lot of strength behind his movements. Nothing tracked down his stubble covered cheeks, and the man was back in control of himself a moment later.

  "Ward must be ready to kill them all. I would be, if that had happened to my sister. So, what's the plan?"

  Gerent took a deep breath.

  "We won't have to attack the King's Palace. We have an inside man there. As for the guards, we need to track them down. I suppose. It will need to be in a few days. On the good side there, I can get you a shield. A good one too, rated for space work. Everyone that helps with that part, collecting the evil men, will get them. Petra... She's very close to Timon Baker. His best friend, I think. That's the wizard Tim, Tor's younger brother? The one that made the new shields. The food devices, too. We need to get one set up so we can show you all how to use it. Anyway, he can't come and see to this, so we need to do it."

  The Count acted like that was totally normal, and paid close attention to how to work not only the new food unit, but everything else that he was given, ending with the communications devices from Terry. That those were a gift from Countier First Baker wasn't lost on him, for all that he had a fairly simple feeling about the way he spoke. The words were on point, and even clever enough, showing real understanding, but there was just the hint of something simple behind his eyes. Innocent, without being that way at all. Kind enough, but also like thinking was hard for him, and that it took work to do it most days.

  No one had ever said that all noblemen were intelligent however. Well educated, and in charge, but that was all. That, and generally large. Smiling, the man thanked them for coming, and asked that his thanks be sent to Tiera.

  "Say, is she looking to get married? I have a son, Ronald, he's thirteen and will need to find a good woman soon. How old is this new Queen anyway?"

  Blinking, Gerent had to think about it for a second.

  "I... Honestly, Tiera is single still, I think. I'll need to enquire about that, but she isn't old. Sixteen now. So that could work out. Is Ronald interested in space travel? He'd need to live on the Moon for a while, since Tiera and the rest of the Baker family, as well as the new immortals, are all barred from Earth by a magic that Timon made. It will be another nine years nearly, before they can come back." It was nearly boring, telling that bit of news again, but at least he didn't have to cover how it had all happened. The man was far too interested in getting special perks for his boy.

  Since Gerent had a ship, and Ronald was, as it turned out, interested in trying out almost anything new, the man suggested it might be educational for him to go up. It was a bit heavy handed really, and clumsily done, but did make a certain sense. If the boy was slow, or simply hideous looking, it would be best to know that sooner, rather than later. Then he could find a way to let the kid down gently, without bothering Tiera with the idea.

  They decided, that if the idea worked out, Gerent would ask the boy if he wanted to go into orbit, on his next visit. The man didn't pressure him on an exact date, but since they were discussing things that would have them together inside a week, two at the outside, it probably wouldn't be all that long. It wasn't exactly hard work, doing that, so he nodded about it and waited for the man to let them all go. It took longer than it should have, the man actually wanting to impress Gerent it seemed. Why that was, well, he had some small idea. He was, at least as far as anyone could tell, family. The Dowager had probably asked him to be nice.

  That he'd done it was impressive, however.

  After that, they managed to get back to the Capital fairly quickly. The time it took to get from place to place in the space ship was simply amazing. No place on the planet was all that far away. Not for him, or he imagined, Sara Debri. You just went straight up, into the dark sky, found where you wanted and settled in place. The speeds had to be incredible, but it felt like raising your hand a bit, and the world just shifting under you. So a trip that once would have taken him months of walking on foot, with a lot of hunger and waiting for the weather to be good enough to travel, took place in about twenty minutes. He wasn't even trying to go fast.

  Of course there was a real point there, that was easy to miss, if you lived like he was, thanks to Timon and Tor. Tiera now too, since she was the one that had made the magical space vehicle he was using. If you knew the right people, and had the needed connections, you could go anywhere in the blink of an eye. If you were wealthy enough, you could hire a slower, but still pretty quick version of the same thing for yourself, family and friends, using Tim's people moving service.

  If you were a regular merchant, you used a horse. If you were a farmer, you probably had
a wagon that was pulled by oxen. Peasants walked, which meant they didn't get to go anywhere at all, most of the time. Gerent had hardly used his own feet in days. It was a tremendous difference, but the fact of the matter was that even giving magic away, there were the rich and powerful, and then everyone else in the world. People that had to beg for scraps at the feet of those that loomed over them.

  Once that had been nearly everyone in the world, compared to him. It would have been easy to simply turn around and do that back to them now, since he had some power himself. He had the needed magic to impress people, and thanks to the Bakers, he was big, strong and people imagined him to be important. That was all being a noble really was. A fantasy of being in control that other people thought was true. He was good with that, but didn't want to be one of that sort, he decided.

  The world, as he knew, was filled with bullies and people that hated without reason. He didn't have to add to that, did he? No. It would be better for him to become someone else. A kind person that protected others. How to do that, he wasn't really certain, other than trying as best he could. It wasn't enough, but until something came up that told him what else he could do, that was all he really had, wasn't it?

  It was night time when they landed, but just the early cusp of true dark, with the sky a deep blue at the edges, instead of pure black with spots. Overhead it was like that, but Tor's place had so much lighting on the outside that it was easy to find. The glowing rivers also made it pretty simple to locate the Capital too. The big one was mainly purple right now, but the smaller loop that surrounded Tim's place, behind the city, was its normal, and brilliantly shining, silver.

  There was beauty to it, but you could make the things out from very high up, especially at night. The rest of the land seemed pretty close to dark, if you were far enough away. Most of the world was, except for a smattering of light over Austra in a very few places, from space. There, and this place being the only exceptions to that.

  He didn't land the craft, hovering over the city to the South, instead. Then, getting everyone to come help, they put the remaining items in the one hangar bay, and standing there with the forty odd people and all their things, he made the whole ship become much smaller. Removing most of the air by letting it outside, and causing the ship to be about the same size as... Really, there was no direct comparison, was there? It was probably about a hundred feet in each direction. Too big to be a house for all but the wealthy, and too small for most of them to bother with. The point was that he let it settle near Tor's house, making the lights bright, so that everyone could see it and get out of the way if they were just lurking in the dark for some reason. It was done carefully, and he left several feet above the ground just in case. If someone was under there, they could lie down and survive it. Then crawl out and probably come to yell at him for nearly killing them.

  If they were that stupid though, nearly being hit by him when he was moving that slow, then they didn't have a lot to scream about. There were always drunks and fools around though. Life had taught him that, clearly enough.

  The plan was for everyone to stay indoors at Tor's that night, but of course, he hadn't mentioned that to anyone. When they walked in Collette and her mother Glaren ran into the room, along with a boyish looking Austran man, from the direction that probably meant they'd all been in the conference room. He thought that was what they called the room with the communication device in it. Really, the house needed to have one of each kind, didn't it? He decided to make sure that an extra one from Terry's supply was set up in there at the very least. The boy wouldn't mind and it could even end up being useful.

  Before he could squeak out an apology for the minor invasion, Glaren stepped forward. She was dressed in a very nice gown that was pink with soft off-red highlights. It looked delicate and gave a slightly younger appearance to her face. She wasn't old, it was just that he was comparing her to Collette, who stood there too, smiling. The mother wasn't as pretty as the daughter, but it was close enough that he got the idea. In ten or twenty years, the younger woman was probably going to look a lot like this. Still gorgeous. Almost mesmerizing.

  "Gentles! Welcome." It was said with warmth, and no sign of panic, though Collette seemed to feel that it might be warranted for some reason, from the look on her face. "I'm afraid that we haven't been preparing a meal yet, we normally do that at nine, here in the city. Would..." Now she looked at Gerent, who nodded back.

  "That sounds good. Perhaps a bit later, so that everyone can clean up first? I want to try out the new Tiera Food device anyway, if that's all right with you?" He really did, but it was also clear that he was going to be yelled at if he didn't pull a token from his sleeve pretty fast. Luckily he had one. "I have one for the house here too, so it might be worth doing, if that won't interrupt your current plans?"

  Collette clapped a few times, happily, and didn't even pretend they were going to be tossing out a seven course meal in order to let him play with his new device.

  "Wonderful! I know, why don't we set everyone up on the second and third floors, and then put that up? The meal will be a bit late, I imagine, so, can everyone hold out until ten? We'll set up in the main dining room, which is just through that door." She pointed at the right space, which was just off the main set of stairs going up. "That will give everyone about two hours to take a bath, or rest?"

  No one seemed to desire arguing that one, and she moved to lead the way to the rooms. That they had that many, just sitting empty and waiting seemed nearly like this was all planned and not him being a moron, bringing home a small army like he had. It was good to have resources, he decided, even as he watched them all climb the stairs, most of the people carrying little bags, but about half having floating cases with them.

  The Austran man goggled, and then turned to Glaren as Gerent walked up to them.

  "That, the floating cases, would be so helpful. Do you think father would get me one if I begged hard enough?" The voice showed that this man wasn't one, and from the accent was a Noram noble, not Austran.

  The clothing gave her away too, once Gerent really looked at it. It was all brown, and had the look of a jumpsuit, even being one, after a fashion, but it had a seam at the waist, where someone had sewn a tunic to some trousers to make it look right. It almost did, but the Austran ones didn't have seems like that, just a line in the front, so that you could climb in and fasten it easily. Plus the material was wrong. This was a heavy material, that looked a bit too rough when he got to the people.

  So not really from that land. The rest was pretty close however. The hair was eccentric, and the woman had two piercings through her nose on the right hand side. Her locks were a deep blue color on the top, and so short on the sides that scalp was visible. It was decorative at least. Her face was very oval, reminding him a bit of Bonita Coltress, actually. Now, of course, Nita was the Dowager Lairdgren, even if she was only about thirty. This woman looked about that age too. It was hard to tell because when she'd been a man to his mind, the woman had seemed about ten years younger than that.

  When he walked up she stabbed a hand at him, and tried to fake an accent. Poorly, but it was an interesting effort.

  "Good-day, I'm Misha. Misha Coltress. Nice to meet you." She grinned at her own act, knowing enough to get that he wasn't going to be fooled for long at least. The words gave it all away. Still, he didn't care, and wasn't going to judge, so simply leaned in a bit and took her soft hand in his. It was tiny, compared to his own, but he managed a real enough smile.

  "Gerent Lairdgren. If you're going to be Austran today, I guess we should go with their rules? So no titles at first. Are you going to be working with us for that land? We could use someone that can blend a bit better there. They kept looking at me like I was going to eat someone yesterday, even as I gave them presents." He had no clue what the woman had going on in life, but she scowled at him for a bit, before speaking.

  Her voice had gone harsh too, and she actually moved at him like a man would, her chest out
. Like she wanted to fight him for some reason. His natural inclination was to back away, but he just kept his face blank and waited to see what happened. He had a good shield on, and while his two fighting lessons probably wouldn't mean much yet, he felt a lot less afraid looking down on the potential aggressor than up at them, he realized.

  From above it was a lot easier to be the voice of reason, he bet.

  "What the hell? You're mocking me? We haven't even met before! What kind of an asshole are you?" She doubled up a fist, as Glaren looked mildly panicked.

  Ger just shrugged.

  "The kind that needs someone to help with Austra. I'm in charge of aid distribution from Harmony, so, are you in? If so, you might want to back up a bit. It looks bad to hit your new boss on the first day." It probably sounded insane, but she did step back, her rather plain face seeming baffled, rather than angry suddenly.

  "Forgive me. I... You work for Harmony?"

  He nodded, gave a smile and then a correction.

  "Yep. The Envoy, though that isn't the official title. So, are you too busy to help? I bet I can sweeten the deal and get you your own pet floating box. Not mine of course, but Boxy is special. You know, since he's mine." He waved at the strange looking lady a bit and then winked. "Which is only half a joke. I do have a case that I named that. On me, actually." He got Boxy's amulet out and turned it on, to show her that she wasn't being mocked. After it was on the thing floated forward a bit. Like he was a dog that wanted to see the new people and greet them. That got a wide eyed look from the woman.

  "Oh... I, Baronetta Second, Michelle Coltress. The black lamb of the family, as you might imagine. Sorry about becoming aggressive there, but I learned a long time ago that assholes are best confronted right off, so they know that trying to bully me won't work."

  That sounded like a plan, if you were five-ten and had a title, he decided. It would have never worked for him in life. Even armed with magic no one had ever thought of him as a real threat. Ger couldn't blame her for being what the world had made her however. Weird, and owning it, if he had the right idea. She just did whatever she wanted, it seemed, or near enough.