by P. S. Power
Instead Dare focused on his breathing. The rise and fall of it, and tried not to let things get to him too much. They'd been rude, and on a level that would be hard to forgive, so he'd have to work on that.
At the moment, regardless of anything else, he was officially on the first date that he'd ever been on, and sitting there fuming wouldn't help him look good. To that end he nodded, and once far enough away lifted straight up, going full speed.
They didn't talk, not for a few minutes, but he was able to remember that she'd spoken of a planet with rings, in their system. It wasn't that hard to make something up that worked to get them there, which had her looking at him surprised when it popped into view, a good way away. Even at that they were being slowly drawn toward the thing, so he had to pull back to prevent an eventual landing there.
Then, once they were just hanging there, he turned sideways to it, and made the entire side of the craft clear, so they had a nice view.
"Now, luncheon. What would you like?" He didn't really know what the craft could make, but he'd left enough water for them to use in order to make food, drink, and air for a few weeks at the very least. More than that really, he bet, because they could reuse their waste to hold out a lot longer than that.
Not that he wasn't going back that day. He had a party that evening, and as host had to be there. Then he needed to figure out what he had planned for Austra.
After blinking at him for a few moments Karina smiled at him. It was a polite thing, rather than being charming.
"Let me do it? I have a dish in mind. It might be hard to just explain however."
Moving back he settled at the table, since she probably did know how to use that kind of thing better than he did. You could make anything that could be imagined, or close to that, but she, being rich and living in space for over a decade simply had a broader perspective than he possibly could have. So he got out of the way. Then he smiled when she brought over a plate with what seemed to be braised meat, and vegetables on sticks with a dipping sauce.
It was interesting to look at, and his three sticks were artfully arranged on the plate, next to the small dish of cream colored stuff that came with it.
She had the same, so he let her get seated after serving, and take the first bite. He wasn't afraid of being poisoned by her. Not even that the food was bad. The truth was that Dareg didn't have a clue how the things would be eaten. That turned out to be easy, since all he had to do was pick the stick up on both sides, dip the bit he wanted to eat first in the bowl, then nibble, like with an ear of boiled corn.
The ship, being advanced, even produced napkins for them to use, when he tried to get something to clean up his slightly greasy fingers with. They were red, since that was what he'd been thinking of.
Karina looked at them and wrinkled her nose, which was adorable. A lot of things about her really were.
"I get it, to match the blood of Austra?" There was a graceful gesture as she picked up the piece of linen that appeared. Then she placed it on her lap, so he did the same figuring that she'd be the one with good manners.
"Not really. They did make me mad, but there isn't a lot I can do about it without just being a pain in the ass. I could call them names back, or hurt a few of them, but it won't stop the others from thinking bad things about me. I suppose I could just avoid the place for a while and let them forget about me? That might be for the best." Calling him a liar, or implying it as strongly as they did wasn't a nice thing to do.
Especially since they'd done the same to Karina, not believing her about him.
She nodded however, and ate for a bit, clearly thinking.
When she finally spoke, there was a bit of playfulness under the surface anger.
"Well, you could refuse to build a spaceport for them. That's fair even. If they won't treat you nicely, you certainly don't owe them your labor or friendship."
"That's a point. I probably should do that. It would save me time anyway. They can fend for themselves. It won't be as nice, but they have the ability. I can get how some places might not have had the ability to get things going already. Afrak for instance, just works differently, right? They just farm and weave cloth?" That had been in his school lessons, but the Princess shook her head.
"It's more than that. They shape life itself, and do a good job of it. It sounds primitive, but in some ways they're ahead of what we can do even now, with all our magic. The variety of living things there is impressive, if you get a chance to look around for awhile. Is that what you want to do next then?"
Sighing, he shook his head.
"No. I'll go get the port in Austra ready. Even if it means swallowing my pride. I just won't let any of those people be around me. It might work. I also might just hurt some people." It probably wasn't true, but she nodded like he was just speaking the whole truth.
"I understand. Really, that's kinder than most would be, after that. I wasn't joking when I told them they were declaring war. If they wanted to fight you that badly they should have named a champion so that you could just duel him and spare the rest."
He laughed a bit and looked at the giant planet outside the window. They were slowly moving toward it again already. They'd leave before it became a big problem though, so he didn't fix it.
"You know, we should talk about other things. I can be angry later, don't you think?" He was trying not to ruin things, but doubted it was going to end up being all that great, no matter what he did after all of that.
Karina however was a professional at conversation and managed to pull things out, not speaking about anything all that difficult for him. Which meant that they spoke about Mars, and what kind of things they were having to do in order to build an atmosphere that would work for people. It didn't sound easy, but luckily they had a lot of magic to bring to bear on the situation.
"The kids have been a big help there. Terry, Tenet, Tess and Taman. Tara isn't a builder at all. Like me. I've tried, but it just doesn't happen when I do it. No one really knows why. I've taken some lessons in it, since it would be useful, but it doesn't seem to be sticking. So much for Tor's idea that anyone smart enough can do it." She looked at him from the side of her eye and smirked. "I took a test, and it proved that I'm decently intelligent. So it's something else."
That seemed normal to him. Most people couldn't really do magic, as far as he knew.
Nodding, he looked out the window again.
"There are other things to do, and different ways to get them done. I mean, I'd barely seen any magic until about two weeks ago. Now I'm sitting here, in a place that no person has ever been before. With a Princess. If I can do that without being able to make magic, I have to feel pretty positive about my chances of getting on all right."
That got a head shake, and a sigh.
"I know, and you aren't wrong. It's only one thing. I can chant that phrase to myself while the little kids make all those incredible things happen. Still, Tenet's air producers are making a real difference on Mars already. Some two hundred years ahead of schedule. At this rate we'll have people living on the surface in... Oh, call it four hundred years?" She was joking about the time, but in a way that probably meant it was accurate.
Thinking about it for a second he nodded.
"That's impressive then. Planets are vast. I can't even begin to image what it would really take."
She looked at him then, a bit hard at first, like there was a lack of trust in what he was saying. It had sounded genuine enough, being that it was. Pieces clicked into place then, and he started to understand. Most people didn't get it, but thought they did.
His date for the afternoon took a very deep breath and blew it out slowly.
"Everyone thinks they understand the idea. You make some air. You plant some trees, and the rest will take care of itself. It isn't that simple. You have to do everything at the same time. Put in micro-bacteria first, as soon as they can survive, then work through stages. If we just wanted a ball in space that would be kind of livable, we rea
lly could do that. It was talked about, more than once. We could just flood the planet with what we need. The thing with that plan is that if the magic ever stops, everyone living there would end up dying."
She reached out and touched his arm, looking odd. It was a combination of sad, and determined.
Dareg did his own deep breathing, and tried to work through what was going on. She was immortal, but four hundred years was a long time for anyone to stick to one thing. It had to be nearly oppressive to even consider it.
They ate for a while in silence, and finally, after cleaning up, Dare looked at the Princess, smiling.
"We should get back, and see what new disasters people have invented." He stopped and shook his head a bit. "That isn't just me thinking that, is it? People really do create most of their own problems, don't they? I mean collectively? If we worked together... Stopped being selfish..." Then he shut-it, knowing that this kind of thinking couldn't work in the long run. The problem with getting people to do the right thing was that no matter what you were always going to be dealing with people.
Karina turned it into a joke and winked at him, seeming a bit less depressed by things then.
"Oh, sure. Everyone knows that one. We'll get right on that. Just as soon as we all get our share of the riches and dancing girls." Then she stood up too, and stretched a bit. "That part is always the catch, isn't it? We could do better, if we looked out for everyone, but there will always be a few that have to take the best for themselves. Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, Ancients... The man that runs the Inn, the woman that bakes pies for the country fair... "
It was clear the actual list could go on for a long time. It wasn't everyone, but a big enough portion of the world that it was kind of clear that he needed to prepare for a life of other people making things harder than they had to be. Not that he wouldn't add his own bit to the pot, he was sure.
It occurred to him though that he, just by letting himself be what he was, could change that. If he walked into the centers of power with his new amulet off, and got to know people, they'd eventually do what he wanted. Then things could be made better for everyone.
All it would take would be Dareg Canton not turning out to be as selfish and grasping as everyone else in the world. That wasn't going to happen. He knew that, even seeing that it was wrong to take more than his share.
Then he let it go. The day wasn't over, and barring death, the next day would come. His job was to get through it, not fix reality.
Looking out at Saturn, a place that had majestic rings around a world that was vast compared to Earth, he let himself feel a bit of awe.
"It's pretty." That felt like an understatement. He should have created a poem, or song, but he didn't know how to do those things. Thankfully, in the moment, he didn't need to.
Karina however got a mischievous grin on her face, and dug out her handheld. It was just like his own. She tapped out a name, rather than searching one by one like he always did. It was a lot faster, and clear that he should have been doing that himself all along. Dare had just missed that it was an option.
As soon as a man's voice started to speak, she interrupted.
"This is Karina Cordes. Dareg Canton and I have gone to the planet Saturn, and have the first pictures. Go live with this."
She didn't say anything about what was going on, or who she was talking too, just turning to him.
"Can you take us into orbit, Dareg?"
He could. It was a bit different than the Moon or Earth however, since he had to be a lot further out to get that done. The Princess kept taking the pictures however, sending them to whoever she was talking too. After about twenty minutes, she grinned.
"Now, we're going to offer a trip to an Austran science team in a few weeks. Get that together, and send in requests to Dareg Canton, if you want to take him up on the offer." Then she shut the handheld off, abruptly.
"There we go! That will set half of their people, the ones that want controversy, against the ones that want the special treat. It's one of the nice things about those people. Austrans always understand where the good things are coming from. Also who they owe for it. That's a big part of what happened earlier, I bet." She looked annoyed though, so he tried to ask for her to go on with a slight head movement.
When she did it was with a shrug.
"Years ago, Tor was targeted by the Larval. Their cloned army of super-human assassins. He won, defeating them all in the end, being him, but it had been a mistake the whole time. Then, instead of attacking Austra, the next thing they heard about him was Tor saving them all from a world killing plague. Not one person alive there now doesn't owe him. Timon too, thanks to the food units he gave everyone." She looked at him then, her face still, like she was willing him to be calm about what was coming next. "So, when you showed up, being naturally greedy and coin hungry, their entire land assumes the same of you, so looked for the trick in it. Not to insult you, or start a war, but in order to protect their friend, Tor."
Dare managed a weak smile, mainly by not thinking about what had been said toward him earlier.
"So, this will get some of them to realize that I might be valuable, and allow them to see that I'm not trying to use Tor and his family?"
She laughed then.
"No. They're Austrans. Good people, in their own way, but they can't imagine people not being like they are. It's always about coin to them. Even when given things for free, they look for the trick in it. The portion where they have to pay, eventually. It will distract some of them, for a bit, perhaps. That's all. On the good side they do run out of steam fast. A year or two from now, if you haven't killed them all for wronging you, and they'll pretty much have forgotten what they were going on about."
That didn't sound fun, but he'd live.
Then, settling into the big chair, he had them back at Earth, above the spaceport and the Capital instantly, and transitioned directly into orbit.
Karina sighed then, and shook her head.
"I really need to learn to do that. I've been working jump ships since the first one was created nearly, and I can't appear in orbit like that, above my destination. No one else can, either, so it isn't a magic thing. None of the wizards do that, I mean." She looked at him, with real worship in her eyes, if only for a moment.
It wasn't hard, since the ship took you where the user told you told it to go. For some reason most people were just more vague about that than he was. That was all, as far as he could tell.
Nodding, he smiled, then went through the complicated landing procedure, actually having to wait for another ship for once. He just hung back, and let them go. It was small, though made several times larger than his, and was all in orange, showing it was a fleet vessel.
At nearly the same time, another one took off. There was a group of regular people loading into a different craft that was still at the port. He could tell that because, even from miles away, he could get that most of them wore brown and gray, with only a smattering of color.
"Ah. Alice is coming through then! People are getting trips into space. Honestly, I didn't even mention it to her." It made him feel better, for some reason. Not that he was totally happy now with everything. It was nice to see good things actually happening though. Especially when they were just kind of mentioned in passing once or twice. As it was, Alice had probably thought the idea up for herself. That or Connie had spoken to her about it.
He settled not to long after, in a small space, on the extreme eastern side of the port, well away from all of the things he needed, meaning a walk was about to happen. The place was good sized, but it wasn't so huge that he couldn't do it in about twenty minutes. If he didn't dawdle.
It was, however, the end of his very first date. A thing which hadn't gone all so well, he didn't suppose.
"So, that could have been more fruitful, right?" He smiled, a bit sheepishly, only to have the Princess stand up and move to the door. He did too, and was a bit surprised when she kissed him. It was on the lips, a
nd at first he fumbled a little, not having done a lot of that kind of thing, but he got the idea not too long into it, and responded in kind well enough. It wasn't like it was hard.
When she stood back, she shook her head.
"This was nearly perfect, for me. I learned a lot about you in a very short period of time, which is the point, if I'm going to be married to you. For instance, I learned that while you are a bit of a hot head, you aren't unreasonable, even when you get upset. You also won't punish innocent people for things that others did. That's huge, for people like us. When you can get away with murder, it becomes a much bigger point of morality not to let that happen. Also, you're a really great pilot. That means that you aren't going to have to jump to Tor's whim in order to keep yourself together. If he won't give you coin, you can make your own. Not that he'd use that kind of thing as leverage, but it's good to know you won't be stuck. A lot of people your age really are." She winced, at the mention of age, then went on. Stepping away from her words almost instantly. "Older people too, if they don't bother to build their own life. Those are all important things to know. What you learned about me, I don't know, but it was a good date for me."
She seemed pleased enough, but he had learned a few things. Ones that she might not have realized she let drop.
For instance, she knew that a lot of her life would be spent doing something that no one else would see the value in for a very long time. Past that, she was also willing to back him up when people attacked. That had happened instantly, and without a lot of reservation. Then, when it was clear to her that Dareg didn't want blood in answer for the insults, she was adaptable enough to find a way to spread the enemy out for him.
That too, was a lot to learn about a person in a few hours.
He didn't say it all, but did nod at her and smile.
"I worked out a few things. So, what's next?" He meant for them, and it was pretty clear, but she ignored that part, and gestured to the door.
