The Tymorean Trust Book 1 - Power Rising

by Margaret Gregory

  Chapter 10 - Friendship

  Stenn Reslic tried not to look self-conscious as the large uniformed guard transmitted him into the hall of the small lyceum. He saw Tymos and Kryslie arrive with their escorts and flashed them his brightest grin. When he walked over to talk to them, his escort remained where he was.

  “Why are you here, Stenn,” Kryslie asked having noticed him with a guard.

  “Um, my father gave me permission to put a show on for the younger kids,” he said airily. “I’m to ask Niklas to let you help me. You in?”

  “I don’t know,” Tymos hedged. “We’ve missed two days…”

  “Lighten up, you two,” Stenn urged, still grinning. “It’s the afternoon stuff you need most, and this show business is meant to be educational – even for you.”

  “Well,” Kryslie wavered.

  “Great!” Stenn took their agreement for granted. His eyes strayed to the beam in point and his grin became positively malicious.

  Tymos turned and saw Zacary arrive, with a guard escort, and scowl when he saw Stenn. The bruise on Zacary’s left cheek and chin was noticeable from across the room. He also had a cut over one eye.

  “How come…” Kryslie asked, stopping to eye Stenn speculatively. “You don’t have your transmitter?”

  “And neither does his arrogance, Zacary?” Tymos added.

  “Ah, yes. Well, being caught fighting has a few consequences,” Stenn admitted, not at all repentant.

  “Why did you fight Zacary?” Tymos asked, adding facts together.

  “Who said I did?” Stenn asked, trying to sound innocent.

  “Hmm?” Kryslie stared at him, waiting for an answer.

  “Yeah, well, two days ago, just before …things happened, I saw Zacary flitting. That’s sort of an unauthorised term for transmitting short distances, multiple times,” Stenn told them. “So I kind of asked him about things last night, after I got off being grounded for other things, and he didn’t like my concern for his well being. Flitting is dangerous; it uses a lot of your energy reserves.”

  “I will accept your altruism, but do you think he had something to do with what happened?” Kryslie asked him.

  Stenn muttered, “My father doesn’t but I know the brainless cretin is sly-clever. He behaves when adults are around, and he makes sure they aren’t when he tries to bully anyone. Besides, his brother is a guard; he could have borrowed his brother’s personal force screen.”

  “Surely your father would have thought of that?” Kryslie asked. Stenn shrugged.

  “Here’s Niklas,” Stenn said abruptly. “I’ll ask him to let you help me.”

  Stenn strode off, deliberately walking near Zacary with his grin firmly in place. He said nothing, but heard Zacary curse him under his breath, and edge away.

  Tymos saw Zacary approaching and nodded to warn Kryslie.

  “You have new minders I see. What did you do to the others?” Zacary asked. “And where have you been for the last two days? Confined to your rooms?”

  “More or less,” Tymos agreed amicably. “It was decided that we needed more protection. How about you?”

  Zacary scowled. “Didn’t Reslic tell you? It’s why he is down here. He’s in trouble for picking on me. He reckoned I caused your misbehaviour.”

  “Our what?” Kryslie asked in surprise.

  “You know – your brother taking off,” Zacary accused.

  Kryslie glanced at her brother, and Tymos said in a quiet voice, “I wasn’t running away. I was taken away, and in no condition to talk to anyone. How did you know?”

  “I heard. They came to ask me if I knew where you were,” Zacary claimed.

  Niklas interrupted further conversation. “Tymos, Kryslie, you are to help Stenn. Zacary, I will take you in.”

  Stenn returned after Zacary had gone, and after requesting the help of his guard minder to fetch two chests from a storeroom.

  “Kennick and Nyler have gone to fetch the stuff we need. I’d have done it myself but, well, I don’t have my transmitter.”

  Kryslie noticed that the two guards that were escorting her and Tymos were still nearby and watchful.

  “So what is this about?” Tymos wanted to know. “Obviously being sent here is a punishment, but you are not acting like it.”

  “It is my father’s way of reminding me that if I act like a ten year old, I will be treated like one.” Stenn flushed slightly. “But then he told me that perhaps you two were working too hard and there were other ways to learn history. So…I get to spend time with you two, and have a perfectly good reason to keep you away from Zacary.”

  “Did your father say that bit about keeping away from him?” Tymos asked.

  “No, but I intend to keep an eye on that thick wit if he comes near you.”

  “What is it that makes you think we need all this protection?” Kryslie asked.

  “Nothing much. Just that you and Tymos are Uncle Ty’s only heirs,” Stenn said casually. “We can’t afford to lose you.”

  Tymos snorted softly. “We don’t intend to get lost. So why is Zacary still here? Did he arrive here late like us?”

  “Did he say that?” Stenn asked.

  “He said he is going off world soon,” Kryslie commented.

  Stenn snorted. “I don’t think so. They don’t even trust him to go off the estate.”

  “Why’s that?” Tymos wanted to know.

  “You two really are ignoramuses aren’t you?” Stenn teased with a complete lack of malice. “Zac is some kind of cousin of mine, and he’s got enough power to indicate he might reach second stage, but he has only got a couple of months left to show it. If he hasn’t reached it by his seventeenth birthday, he will have to start working around here. Start a career.”

  “Will all of the students here reach second stage?” Kryslie asked, but Stenn merely shrugged. His attention went to where the two guards were carrying one of the chests.

  “Come on,” he urged.

  Tymos looked into the chest after Stenn had opened it. He saw pieces of painted board. “What is this stuff?”

  “It is what I need for a figure box show,” Stenn said, as he began to lift out the boards, and then metal pieces to join them and some rods and curtains. “Help me get this set up.”

  “You’d better tell us what to do,” Kryslie murmured, but she quickly got the idea.

  The second chest arrived, and Stenn had it placed near the wall, and went on setting up what he called ‘the stage’.

  “We can slip in different backgrounds behind this window bit,” Stenn explained. “That’s what all those pieces are that I took out first. The other chest has the stringed dolls and the puppets that fit over your hands.”

  The students came out for the morning break as they finished fixing the last panel in place on the stage. There were many cries of excitement and one of the younger girls came up to Stenn and clung to him. She had curly blond hair and Stenn tousled it.

  “This is Jenni, my sister,” he admitted as the girl’s voice demanded. “What story are you doing?”

  “I haven’t decided yet. I may let my friends decide. Tymos and Kryslie have not seen a figure box show before.”

  “Never?” Jenni asked, wide eyed. “Why not, Prince Tymos?”

  Tymos saw an odd expression on Stenn’s face and glanced where his friend was looking. Zacary was only a few feet away and his face had gone white.

  Turning back quickly, Tymos said to the younger girl, grinned and said, “Too busy, I guess.”

  Senna and Tory wandered up. “Why are you here, brother?” Senna asked. “Haven’t you grown up yet?” She continued on her way.

  Stenn shook his head. “She’s twelve and she reckons she’s a lady. Don’t you believe it.”

  “How many other siblings have you got?” Kryslie asked, but her eyes were following Zacary.

  “I have four older brothers, one older and four younger sisters, and my mother is about to have another baby.”

  Stenn saw Kryslie’
s look of concern and he was sure it wasn’t to do with him having nine siblings. “Let him stew, Kryslie,” he advised.

  “I’ll be back,” she told him.

  She went first to get a cup of drink, and then to approach Zacary from the side. He was leaning back against a wall, staring at nothing.

  “Have a drink,” she said gently. He went rigid and looked as if he wanted to flee.

  “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” he demanded with some of his normal arrogance. “Why’d you make me look like an idiot? I’d thought you’d have had red hair – like your father.”

  “We didn’t know that you didn’t know and we are, in a lot of ways, still pretty ignorant. And we haven’t been encouraged to think we were all that important. As for the hair, we couldn’t help that.”

  Zacary pushed himself away from the wall and said, rudely, “Keep away from me, okay?”

  Kryslie watched him walk off and began to return to her twin. When she saw Niklas, she detoured to him.

  “Sir, I think someone needs to talk to Zacary`. He doesn’t seem well,” Kryslie suggested.

  Niklas glanced around the hall, found Zacary and followed his progress for a while.

  “I will. Thank you.”

  The children returned to their classes, and Stenn observed, “Zacary’s minder is gone. I wonder if he’s going to return today or tomorrow.”

  “He needs help,” Kryslie told Stenn.

  “I’ve said that all along,” Stenn retorted. “He’s a thick wit.”

  “I think he is in shock,” Kryslie tried to explain.

  “So he should be if he pulled that stunt two days ago,” Stenn said.

  “Leave it,” Tymos suggested soberly and Stenn stopped himself commenting further. “How about you tell us what stories you can do?”

  Stenn returned his attention to the project. “Mostly folk tales. Do you know any?”

  Kryslie listed several.

  “When did you have time to hear them?”

  “We have the youngest children in the section near our terminals. I have listened to the teacher telling stories.”

  Stenn whistled. “You two are incredible. I asked my father why you were put here to learn when you were having private lessons before this. Apart from joining in the afternoon lessons, he said you could learn the ‘baby’ lessons as I called them, while you did your own work. I didn’t believe him.”

  Tymos chuckled. “I guess we were at that. Anyway, what are you going to do?”

  “None of the ones you have heard. My infinitely wise father suggested the one about Gemon and Allise which is usually presented as a comedy.” Stenn pulled out a small data pad from his pocket, fiddled with the settings and held it out. “Here, read the script while I find the characters.”

  Kryslie read the story with Tymos looking over her shoulder. They both laughed at the end.

  “I think I know why your father suggested this one,” Kryslie told her friend.

  “It made you laugh!”

  “Yes, but there’s more than that,” Tymos implied.

  “It has a serious moral,” Stenn shrugged.

  “Yes, but who is the moral for?” Kryslie asked innocently.

  “The little kids of course.”

  “When did you last read the script?” Tymos asked.

  “I know the story by heart,” Stenn said derisively.

  Tymos took the data pad and read, “And the mischievous Gemon lived a long life with his wife Allise and his six sons, who were all just like him.”

  “Why are you turning that interesting shade of red?” Kryslie asked.

  “Never mind,” Stenn growled. A moment later, he relented and laughed. “I walked into that one. It is my father pulling one of his jokes. I thought…I thought I had got off lightly, and to my advantage. I should have known!”

  “Perhaps he needed to lighten up too?” Tymos suggested with an attempt at a straight face.

  “Yes, I guess he did. Wish some of my uncles would.”

  He didn’t explain that comment and quickly added, “I’ll show you how these stringed dolls work, and you can help me do the show.”

  “When will that be?” Tymos asked.

  “Probably tomorrow morning - I can’t see them letting you slack off this afternoon. And for that, Uncle Perrin is probably going to use me as the stringed doll.”

  Kryslie took up one of the dolls and let Stenn show her what to do. She quickly mastered the art.

  “Do you two have data pads?” Stenn asked his friends.

  “No, do we need one?” Tymos asked.

  “I was thinking of sending the script across, so you can learn it tonight. No matter, I can send it to your room terminals.”

  “We are staying in Father’s suite at the moment,” Kryslie told him.

  Stenn exhaled. If he were being watched as closely as his friends were, he’d be going insane. “You can see if you can get it from his terminal.”

  “There’s really no need. I can remember it,” Tymos assured him.

  “Me too,” Kryslie agreed.

  “Well…so…let’s have a practice,” Stenn suggested, wanting to see if they did know it after one reading.

  Tymos and Kryslie arrived in the small lyceum next morning to a scene of chaos. Twice the usual number of children were there, many only just walking.

  “What’s all this?” Tymos murmured.

  His guard explained cheerfully, “Young Stenn likes doing things like this for the little ones. They start learning history this way. My two boys could hardly sleep last night.”

  “Let’s find Stenn,” Kryslie suggested, and the guard waved her off as two little boys ran at him.

  Stenn had his hands full. With one arm, he held a little girl, who looked to be about three. She was clinging around his neck and giving him sloppy kisses. A girl who looked to be about six held his other arm.

  “Popular with the ladies, I see,” Tymos murmured, amused.

  “Yeah, well, they haven’t seem me for a few nights,” Stenn muttered.

  Senna added her wisdom as she passed. “Because he got grounded and because he was wasting time here yesterday and had to do his work last night.”

  A few minutes later, a woman with light brown hair, dressed in a gown of yellow satin trimmed with bands of tiny embroidered flowers came up to them. A cloud of floral perfume travelled with her. When Kryslie turned around, she saw at once that the woman was well advanced in pregnancy.

  Stenn quickly made introductions. “Ma, have you met Tymos and Kryslie?”

  “Not yet, but I have heard a lot about them from Tanya. It is a pleasure. I am Seoni Reslic.”

  She gave them both a peck on the cheek and turned to pluck the little girl from her grip of Stenn’s neck. To the other girl, she simply said, “Daisy,” and the girl released Stenn and went to her mother.

  “See you later, Ma,” Stenn said quickly, and took the chance to escape behind the stage.

  Tymos and Kryslie followed.

  “Everything is ready. I came over early to set it up. The backsets are all in order. If Kryslie can help with one of the dolls, you can change the sets.”

  “Fine,” Tymos grinned.

  The audience settled quickly, with each of the classes seated in separate groups and the smallest children sitting at the front. Kryslie noticed women in lemon coloured outfits holding some of the toddlers. Stenn, seeing her looking that way, explained that all the extra people were from the nursery.

  “Ready,” Stenn asked. Kryslie nodded, and so did Tymos when he glanced that way.

  Feeling a sense of excitement, Kryslie saw Stenn take out his data pad, and sit it in a holder within easy reach. He touched the screen and music began coming from a speaker within the stage framework. The last of the rustlings and murmurings ceased.

  Stenn put on a fine wire headpiece, took a deep breath and began to narrate the story. Kryslie only had one doll to manipulate but Stenn switched between four others, telling the story and gestur
ing to Tymos to change the sets. He brought the story alive, and adults and children alike were entranced.

  In a pause when her character of Allise was not required, Kryslie glanced through a one-way mirror at the audience and saw smiles on the faces of the teachers and the nursery staff as well. About halfway through, Kryslie noticed President Reslic, standing right at the back, near the wall, and she was sure she saw a trace of a smile on his face. She took a moment to wonder if there was more than one lesson he was trying to bring home to his son.

  When the show ended, Stenn insisted on having his helpers share the applause, and grinned fiercely as many of the audience of children realised just who Tymos and Kryslie were. His friends hadn’t seemed to think that being Tymoros’s Heir Designates was anything extraordinary – or that they really deserved the special guarding, or the deference of the servants.

  Well, it was about time they learnt how important they were to everyone on the estate.

  Stenn slipped away while his friends were busy, and found his father beside him.

  “Well done,” Reslic murmured, praising his son’s performance. “Bring your friends back with you this evening. I need a word with the three of you.”

  “I’ll do that,” Stenn agreed, and his father moved away.

  He was still exuberant, as he set about packing up the stage, after all the children had gone. Tymos began to help, but Niklas came and fetched him. Stenn gave him a shrug.

  After lessons, Stenn arrived in his father’s suite ahead of his friends and had time to take in the sight of all three Governors talking together in the main room of the suite. Since none of them were wearing their formal robes, but were in fact dressed casually, he relaxed. They were not here to give him ‘the chat’ about training for a career. His guilty conscience tucked itself away as he hurried into his room to wash up. When he returned to the main room, little Jenni was hanging on to Kryslie, who didn’t seem annoyed by her, and Senna was trying to flirt with Tymos, but he was looking faintly alarmed. Still, he didn’t have to tolerate it long. Stenn caught the look in his father’s eye that meant ‘come on’ and went to direct his friends into his father’s private sanctum.

  Stenn deliberately chose to sit next to Tymos on the long couch. That way he shared the regard of the three Governors with two who were not currently in his father’s bad graces.

  Tymoros spoke first. “I am hoping, Stenn, that you might agree to act as a mentor to Tymos and Kryslie.”

  “Ah, of course,” Stenn agreed, and saw his father smile faintly before returning to serious. “I’d be honoured.”

  Tymoros nodded and turned his attention to Reslic. Xyron sat and observed the three children.

  Reslic spoke then. “I would like to get impressions from each of you about young Zacary. You may speak freely, but I want you to be scrupulously fair.”

  Stenn, who knew Zacary best, spoke first.

  “Well, you know he and I don’t like each other,” he admitted right away. He went on to itemise his reasons, but admitting at times the friction between them was also his fault.

  Tymos merely mentioned, “He wasn’t being too bad to us, a bit arrogant and superior, and we were ignorant of a lot of things.”

  Kryslie expressed her agreement. “He didn’t know who we were and we didn’t think it should matter. We were meant to be learning, not acting important.”

  “Indeed,” Reslic agreed. “What happened yesterday?”

  “Jenni called me by my title,” Tymos admitted.

  Kryslie went on, “Zacary suddenly looked ill. I went to talk to him, and apparently, he resented us fooling him and not saying who we were. He told me to stay away from him.”

  Xyron finally spoke up, “Zacary’s attitude has been an issue for some time, but from what the three of you have told us, I think it was more thoughtless than malicious.”

  Kryslie spoke thoughtfully, “I think he resented being left behind, and still being in the small lyceum.”

  Reslic asked her, “What do you think might help him?”

  She spoke what she had been thinking. “I don’t think he is stupid or unintelligent. I think he needs to do something where he has some responsibility and is able to use his own judgement.”

  “Even if it is putting you and your brother in danger?” Reslic asked, his voice sharp.

  Three sets of eyes stared at Reslic, and Stenn blurted, “He had no reason to want to…”

  “Stenn, if he was feeling frustrated then having us come in and look like we would pass him too – he might have wanted to cause trouble,” Tymos proposed.

  “Trouble, yes. But he left you for dead!” Stenn retorted.

  “He probably wasn’t thinking clearly,” Kryslie said softly.

  “He believes he was hearing voices in his head,” Xyron inserted into the conversation. “Voices that told him how to work out his frustration.”

  “Like I thought I was hearing,” Tymos said, feeling pale.

  “But you did not do what they said,” Xyron observed.

  “No, but if he wasn’t thinking clearly…Will he be all right?”

  “What you have all said, will enable us to help him,” Xyron assured them. He rose and said, “I’ll be going.” His attendant appeared as if summoned.

  Tymoros followed his example, and stood up, but he waited while Stenn had a hurried conversation with Tymos.

  “I thought it was too good to be true that I could have guests when I am grounded. I will try to see you at lunch tomorrow – but I am back at my normal studies and still grounded.”

  Tymos thumped him on the shoulder. “Whose fault is that?”

  Stenn grinned.