Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera)

by P. S. Power

  She rested more, awakening when Sam Builder and Guide came in with Karen. It was pretty clear they weren't there for extra combat practice or anything. She waved a bit and then rolled over, trying to sleep. When she woke up however there was a warm presence at her back. Spooning her. She was, she decided, all right with all the people that had been there earlier doing that, and she still had her night clothes on, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Resting well, she didn't get up until it was nearly light out.

  That meant she nearly yelled when she realized that the person behind her wasn't anyone she knew at all. Or, well, if she was honest she knew that he was familiar in some way. He had blonde hair, and seemed like she should know him, even though she just didn't. They certainly weren't people that would sleep in the same bed without talking about it. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that the boy, who was still asleep, was grinding against her, and clearly hadn't finished yet.

  That... What was she supposed to do? If she stopped him, that had to be fair, and not her being a Doretta, didn't it? Her rolling over and hitting him in the side of the neck decided that for her, since it made him scream and wake up a bit.

  Across from her, in the other bed, another person was sleeping. It took a bit for her to make out who it was, since the boy was skittering from her bed in terror. She made herself go back to a calm state and focus, and worked out that it was Sara Debri. They weren't close friends, but she liked the woman well enough. Looking at the boy, who was a few years older than she was, Tiera noticed as he fell over Karen, who was asleep on the floor, cuddling Sam to her. They both would have been stomped if not for the magic of shields.

  There was a bit more yelling suddenly, some of it panicked, as Sara jumped up and started hitting the man that had invaded her bed. He had, on the floor, a bedroll made up, so at least tucking him in with her hadn't seemed to be the actual plan. He'd probably done it in his sleep.

  That, or he'd been trying to molest her on purpose, which would have his head in a box.

  Only, she knew, that wasn't going to happen. Instead she'd just let Remy beat him for a bit. That worked pretty well and was already established as training there. No one could say much against it after all, with that being the case.

  "Um, not to be a bitch, but since you were just trying to have sex with me, maybe we should exchange names? I'm Tiera?" She nearly threw in the Countess Baker part, but left it out, since so far the young man actually seemed decently freaked out by what had happened. It was part of why she'd said have sex with, instead of rape. So far this was annoying, but that was all.

  The boy bowed, and stared at the bedroll accusingly.

  "I went to sleep on the floor, I promise! I wasn't trying to do anything yet!"

  She blinked a bit, and then sighed.

  "Yet? So you admit you were going to later?"

  The boy suddenly calmed and smiled in a way that was a lot more flirtatious than it had been. "Well, yes, of course. You're very pretty. In fact, we could do that now, if you want? I'm already up after all." He wasn't shy about looking down at the bulge in his pants either. He would have gotten more out, except that Sam stood up and punched the man so hard he ended up sitting on the bare wood floor of the small space.

  Tiera looked at the shocked face on both boys and nodded to her new hero.

  "Thank you Sam. Now, again; hello, stranger I don't know, I'm Tiera!" It came out decently bright and cheery, so she stood and hugged Sara, since, clearly, she was getting up already. Not that it was all that early. The girl who was tiny in her arms now, swallowed hard and hugged her back warmly. Enough so that Timon would have been jealous even.

  "Sorry Tiera. That," she let a delicate finger range out, accusingly. "Is my younger brother, Kurt. If it was any normal boy I'd suggest you cut him some slack, even with what he was doing. It's him though, so prison time seems like a plan? My little brother is a well known pervert. I can't defend him. Not won't, I actually have no basis on which to even try."

  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 tryin
g 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.

  "It's even warm! Just right too. Perfect! Do another one?"

  That meant getting another plate. Or dumping the food, but that seemed like a waste. Though it could go back into the other side easily enough.

  Sam, being a builder, just got up and walked to the thing, whistling in a low, smooth tone. Kurt however sat up and bounced a little in place.

  "I can have anything?"

  Tiera grinned, not really meaning it.

  "No, we can try anything, what you get might well not be what you wanted, if you get too fancy. It will get as close as it can. Pretty much just things that I know how to make, or at least have eaten before. That's a good range, but isn't everything at all."

  "Hmmm.... I'd like a thin sliced steak, with candied peaches on the top, and frozen cream on the side." Because, obviously, he was a sick, sick individual. Still, closing her eyes and trying to focus, she made the effort.

  It came out. It looked horrible, and like anyone trying to eat it should vomit, but Kurt tried it all, using his fingers.

  "That's a hard order, but it did it. That's impressive." He picked at the things a little, and proclaimed each one to be correct tasting, but Tiera stole the plate back and dumped it in the hopper. It was dirty still, but Sam didn't mind that, not being as picky as some in the room, that way.

  Or maybe he was, since he produced a stack of Guideware plates and handed that over. It was a trick of course, since it might not have worked, the magic of the flatware conflicting with her new build. Luckily nothing exploded, or even reacted at all. She simply made a single slice of white cake, with soft white frosting on it. It came out perfectly centered in the middle of the thing. Sam used silverware, that he made with the tap of a sigil, and waved at Sara.

  "She should try. It looks like you're concentrating pretty hard to get this all done. Can a non-builder use it? That will make a difference."