by Power, P. S.
His uncle, the giant, and good looking Tenet Baker, who was also a wizard, just nodded.
"I'll put up a notice, just in case. I hope you can make it, but if not I'll make certain to offer your excuses. Everyone will understand, I'm sure. I do, and King Richard sent you there, so that's a good sign, don't you think?"
He nodded, trying not to seem like the sleepy little kid he felt like.
"That does sound pretty reasonable when put that way. I'll try to see you there. When you come in make sure to take ten or fifteen minutes to move the last few thousand feet when you land at the palace. Do that on the north side of the building. I don't know if you've ever done that. It isn't hard. Think of it like docking on a ship?" He didn't know if Tenet had done that or was even a pilot, but he smiled.
"Ah. I can do that then. This is kind of exciting. I haven't been back since I left. Eleven years ago now. I was just a boy then. Tess and I had to stay back here, in case you killed the rest of us for abandoning you all." There was a serious edge to his words, even though no one had even been thinking that when the others had come back to Earth.
Not that he knew about anyway.
"Really? You should get with Sam Builder and set up a room then. That, or get Taman to make a house for you. The pods aren't bad, but I think you'll need it to be a bit higher, if you want to stand up. Though..." He stopped and thought about that for a moment, as the dark eyed man watched him, smiling happily the whole time. Finally he shook his head. "I was just thinking... I can hide the door on it, and turn the floor into a mattress for sleeping. It isn't meant to change like that, but it can do it if you focus enough. So if we had the basic magic and focused enough, we should be able to make it larger, right?"
That got a sudden head tilt, and then a nod.
"You know, I bet we can. If you can do that, you can probably build, I bet. It helps to have something to work from, but that, hiding a door on a magic like a small Tam-house... It should mean you have the basic ability, and probably enough focus to actually just start out doing things without the boring building up portion of things. It took me years to get to that level, so you're lucky. Have you thought about taking lessons for it?"
He pursed his lips, then was just honest about the whole thing.
"Not really. Timon said he'd teach me to step outside of time, and that it would be really hard, but I don't know what that will actually require of me, training wise."
That news got a pause, and the fellow looked away for nearly a minute. When he looked back there was no more smile on his lips.
"That's going to be hard I bet. No one else that has tried it has worked it out yet. It's direct effect, and a complicated thing to set up, at the same time. The wonder builders, Tor, Tim and Tam, they can all do it, but no one else has gotten close yet. Not even Terry, and he's good. So if Tim thinks he can train you for that, I have to bet it won't be fun. I'll suggest the building part of it, too. You might as well gain a useful skill at the same time, if he isn't already planning that part of things. He will be, of course. He's Timon." That bit held a certainty that was nearly strange. As if there was no way for Timon Baker to ever fail, at anything.
It seemed like dumping an awful lot on his shoulders though, thinking that.
The man kept speaking after a bit, nodding to himself.
"I'll handle that part of things. See you later, I hope?"
"I'll do my best." Dareg wasn't going to promise more than that, since this man would probably remember if he did. None of the wizards were stupid as far as he could tell.
As soon as the handheld went dark after that, he touched the side of the ship and made a small room that only had a bed in it. Then he put his name on the door, in case anyone needed him, adding that he was the pilot, under that. It was nice and dark inside, and he drifted off hard.
When he woke, it was to the door being opened, and a soft female voice calling out.
"Sir? Captain Jones wanted me to tell you that we're finished? It's five in the evening."
He sat up, and stretched.
"Got it. Thanks. I'll be ready to go in about ten minutes. Or as soon as everyone is loaded up. I need the restroom first or it wouldn't take me that long." First they had to shift the chairs around, since things were still set up for food. A mess too, since they'd worked out how to get luncheon for themselves. That meant there were plates to be tossed and things to be cleaned up.
He sighed, and waved at people.
"Can we get the plates stuffed into that hole?" He waved at it, and the five or six people that were inside started working, while he dashed to the back, where the room he needed was. That didn't take long, even with his washing up first, but they had that part done, and things ready for him to get the soft travel chairs back out. He just copied the set up from earlier, fit the wall that had been left open, and decided to turn it off later, to get rid of the ten thousand bugs that had flown in while he'd slept.
As soon as everyone settled in, half exhausted or more from being up for most of the day, Dare took them up, went out over the ocean and dumped all the water that they'd picked up earlier. Not the solid mass, because that would make a mess, but the water was gone, which was a start. Then he turned the heavier mass into air and vented it as they flew back to Wildlands Station. This time there was no hurrying in particular, as the people kind of dragged themselves off the craft.
Going last, Captain Jones stopped and bowed.
"Prince Dareg. Thank you for aiding us in this effort. We may never get any praise for the work, but people being able to keep their homes is enough for me."
He thought for half a second, and then nodded.
"Great point. You did some good work. I'm more than happy to grab some of that glory by having gotten you all there. Don't imagine I don't know who did it though." It was a thing he meant, but the man just bowed again, grinning a little.
"Good. You can send a note to my boss then? I'm sure he'll love to hear how wonderful we all are."
That got a snort from both of them, and the man walked off. Someone else carried his gear for him, Dare noticed. That was part of the privilege of command, no doubt. You got other people to carry the bags and all that. It was probably nice, after a fashion.
Two hundred miles wasn't a lot for a space craft, but he went slow, and took about ten minutes to get back to the port. Taking the ship down, he did his own trudging, heading back to his pod house alone. There weren't even a fraction of the people out and about that there had been during King's Week, a month prior. In fact, he only saw about ten or so, and most of them were outside the tan buildings about a quarter miles away from his place.
No one waved or called out to him. Not that anyone would. Even if they knew who he was, they probably wouldn't have bothered. That meant a shower was available, and another brushing of his teeth and hair, leaving him clean and dressed in fresh magical clothing.
Oddly enough, he felt all right, after that. Awake, or as much as he had in the last weeks, and ready for the day. That probably meant he was going to be asleep by the time the meal was served, but it was nice not to be half asleep finally. To that end he tried to think about which of the many things he'd been ignoring that he needed to get too. There were actually two of them that were pressing at the moment.
His father, and Karina, his fiancé. At least he thought they were both still going with those titles. The easier of the two for him to deal with was actually the Ancient of Mars, for some reason he wasn't totally aware of. Probably because he, more than anyone else knew how hard the whole thing must have been on Tor. That the man still lived was nothing short of a miracle. To that end he got out his handheld and tapped it to life, calling his father.
After all, leaving the easy part for the last bit just felt right.
To his surprise Tor not only answered himself, but seemed to be walking as he did it. Dareg blinked and then nodded.
"All right, that's a bit better than the bed ridden skeleton I was expecting. I take it that you use
d some kind of magic to get yourself up and around, too?"
Tor smiled at him, glancing at his hand. The background was very smooth and filled with grass where he was for some reason.
"Dareg! Yes, I used a meditation technique that I picked up a few years ago. It still took me nearly a week. You look good. I figured it would be most of a year for you to recover. I also thought you weren't talking to me, for some reason?" He seemed worried to be mentioning it, but wasn't dodging the idea.
"Um, no? Why would I do that? I was just sleeping for a month. That and eating all I could force myself to, in order to build up enough so I could use a healing amulet. Which I did... Yesterday now. There was a problem down south, in County Riven? A flood. I had to take some soldiers there, from Wildlands Station. They got the work done, and I slept through most of it. I was just calling to get caught up. What's going on?"
Tor didn't make him explain that he didn't know everything, just sharing outright. As if Dare had a right to know that kind of thing.
"Ali and I are in Vagus. We set up just outside the port here, near the mage school. Alyssa has been teaching classes, and I've been trying to duplicate the all-time field into an amulet. So far... That hasn't worked at all. I'm a little panicked over it, to be truthful."
That got him to nod, since it was a big deal if Tor couldn't make something happen with magic.
"Timon thinks I can learn how to do it myself. Tenet suggested that I learn to build at the same time, since it's going to be almost impossible to learn anyway. No one else has yet? That doesn't speak well to my chances, does it?"
There was silence on from the device, then a very brief, soft chuckle.
"You know, it doesn't work that way. You were able to do it once, and that means you can again. I should have thought of that myself. If I take the others into it for a while they'll be able to understand it. I should get on that. Maybe next week?"
Dare nodded then.
"Or maybe in a few hours? Get over here for dinner, and several wizards will be here. Tess, Tenet and Taman are coming to give the King and Queen a gift. I'll check with Richard to make sure you're allowed. If not, you can cram into my pod house to wait. We can't afford to be lazy. Not now." Not after him taking a month off, being nearly dead. "You also need to walk me through that thing you did. The meditation one? It took me way longer to recover than you did."
The man narrowed his eyes a bit, but was fighting a smile, instead of seeming annoyed.
"You can just call up the King like that? I always could, but not everyone can I hear."
He nodded.
"I can try. If nothing else I need to report in anyway, about the flood. Which I should do right after I find Karina. If you aren't about to fall asleep and not get up again, I'm going to do that now. I'll get with you if you shouldn't come. Bye."
"Bye. See you in a bit."
He figured that Karina would be away in space, on one of the Martian Circle space stations, since no one lived on Mars yet. Instead she was about five miles distant instead, in the Palace already. That, or she'd made her room in space look exactly like one of the big sitting rooms in that place. Which was possible, of course. Magic was good that way.
"Prince Dareg? I thought you weren't taking my calls?" She seemed annoyed by that.
Instead of trying to smooth things over, he nodded.
"The device was in a box, so I could sleep. Which I did for most of a month. Thank goodness Tam-Unit was just outside. I'm still not really back, but I managed to get out of bed, which is a good sign that I'm not going to die. Are you here? I was going to see if I could get you to come to dinner tonight. At your parents. I assume they'll let you come, anyway? If not we can both skip out and sit in a nice dark room, napping. Together though. That's romantic, right? A nice... Nap."
She laughed at least, then ignored his wonderful idea of how to spend the evening.
"I'm at my parents, and yes, I do get to come to dinner. I suppose, if you aren't avoiding me, that I could be your partner for the meal? I'm glad to see you're doing better. We've all been worried. Mother nearly ordered Sam to take your door down so she could get in. The only thing that stopped him was that he'd rather she be mad at him than you. I can't see why. You're very sweet."
He nodded, smiling. "I know! I mean, hey, I got you that present and everything."
That got her to nod, as if she wasn't concerned.
"I didn't know about that?"
He smiled, and then winked at the screen.
"Yep. I've set up a new transportation system, that will have regular, daily, ships coming and going from Mars. Well, to the stations there at first. Everywhere else too, so it will make it a lot easier to get workers out there. They can come and go, but that should help more of them feel comfortable with the whole thing, and be willing to give it a try."
She stopped, stared at him and then smiled brilliantly.
"Really? That is a good present then! It's been an issue out here for a while now. Living on a space station isn't horrible, but it feels different. Not really comfortable. Letting people come and go like that might really help. Thanks. I didn't get you anything."
He snorted.
"Sex. The answer is sex, thank you. Though not just yet. I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't totally back, health wise. Soon, I think." There was, he hoped enough playfulness in his tone that she wouldn't really feel pressured. They were supposed to be getting married though, so the idea of sex wasn't off the table, even before then.
Better, she was a noble of Noram. That meant her response to his teasing was just to nod, seriously. As if it had been a simple, and desirable, suggestion.
"Let's do that? We can get away in the next few days, if you'd like? Even if you need to sleep most of the time, we should get together. Do things. Talk."
He made a face that he hoped was considering, rather than anything less than that. Including over eager. The Princess was cute, in a lean and tall way.
"Would you... Like to go to Saturn? There's a whole science trip that was planned. Day after tomorrow."
"Oooh. Presents and a trip? A chance at romantic napping too? I think I'm in. If you're serious, I mean? I don't want to be a bother, but if you want the company?"
He felt relieved, actually. They weren't exactly close, but at least they'd spent a few hours together. Otherwise he wasn't going to know anyone at all on the voyage.
"That would be really great, thanks. We'll have my uncle Tenet too, so you know, don't run off with him. He's great looking. Tall, too. If it helps I hear I should end up being like nine feet tall. Not a joke." Eight or nine feet, actually. Taman had said it that way, so it would be between those he didn't doubt. Still he sighed and shook his head. "Well, within a foot of that. Eight feet... I never even considered that I'd break six. The point is, I shouldn't end up shorter than you are, if that kind of thing matters to you?"
She shrugged.
"Well, I don't care, but my father will be glad to hear it, I bet. You know how parents are. Always worrying about their black sheep children." She was smart enough to not wince too hard when she said the words, but there was a gasp from behind her, in the distance. It sounded like Constance. She enjoyed being concerned that he was always going to have major problems with the fact that his mother had died. It was far from his favorite thing in the world, but he did have a father now, himself. So far he hadn't noticed that kind of thing however.
"Right. Parents. I asked Tor to come to dinner. Can we fit him in? Alyssa as well? If not I need to call them right back and let them know."
Those words got Connie to move into view, over her daughters shoulder. She looked no more than a few years older than her child, but that was down to good use of a disguise amulet. Apparently she'd just prevented herself from aging however, and really had looked that good when she was younger. Dare had seen her without anything on her face, and the basic structure really was there.
"Tor and Alyssa are coming? How wonderful! Yes, that would be marvelous.
After everything we hardly spoke after the return. Thank you Prince Dareg."
He screwed his face up, and looked at her directly.
"Or, you could just call me Dare? I hear we're related, in a strange fashion." Enough he should have felt bad about Karina, but he didn't. The blood link was fine, he'd been told, and that was all that really mattered. Even Tor was all right with that part of things.
Probably because Dare was going to end up being eight feet tall, and just plain different than Tor had been made. That part was true for both of them, if by different means. Tor had been a clone of his grandfather. Laurie, Tor and the others mother, was a copy of her own mother. The Gray Ancient. The evil one that had nearly destroyed the world.
Whereas he was a magically created natural child of Tor's. The emphasis was on the magic portion of things too. He was clearly Tor's child, but also different enough that it was never going to be a problem.
Instead of seeming put off by the idea that she had a new little brother, if a half one, the Queen smiled hugely.
"Indeed! Well, Dare, I need to get across the room and ignore what you two are saying now. See you at nine?"
"See you then!"
Karina laughed, hiding the sound totally, though it showed in her eyes.
"I should go too, I suppose. See you in a few hours?"
"All right. No promises though, I've been just falling asleep without being able to control it. So if I don't show up, just assume I'm sleeping in a ditch somewhere. That way I can rest in my comfy bed for a while longer, before anyone finds me. Clever plan, don't you think?"
"Hmmm. On that note, I'll be going. Later."
"Later."
After that he had hours to wait and absolutely nothing to do. It was tempting to lie down and nap for real, but he didn't need to and if he fell asleep there was no way he was going to get back up anytime soon. Just thinking about lying down made him feel sleepy, as insane as that sounded to Dare at the moment. So the better part of valor was probably going to be doing something for a bit.
