by P. S. Power
Tiera slowly climbed in, already naked, since nobles didn't have a nudity taboo, even though just standing there with only girls seeing was a bit of a problem for her still. When the silky, nicely warmed water hit her chin, her behind firmly on the wooden bench of the tub, the other girl smiled at her.
"You're a friend of Ali Baker and Sherri Bonner, aren't you? They're nice girls, aren't they?" The words were small talk, but true enough. "I'm Wendy Boris. Baronetta third, Dart." it was said without a lot of pretension at least. That made Tiera feel a lot better about her.
"Nice to meet you. Tiera Baker. Countess Baker." She made herself look pleasant and explained that. "It's new. Where County Morris used to be, if you need to find it on a map."
The girl, who was at least tall enough that the water was at the top of her breasts, not her chin like Tiera, went very still and a little wide eyed.
"Oh."
The brown haired girl didn't try to scramble out, to get away from her, so at least there was that. She didn't claim that, being a Doretta, she should leave either. The other bodies in the place started sharing the tubs too, and only a few glared at her at all.
Tiera didn't really expect any conversation then, but Wendy seemed to want to talk, even if it was with her.
"Are you related to Ali then? I didn't know she had ties that way. I mean, I know that she's Tor's wife, which I heard was a convenience thing? They live together, which gives a lie to that, doesn't it? She's Conserina Derring, right? Conserina four?" The woman seemed to know already, so Tiera just nodded, getting her to go on. "I haven't really been invited to any of her parties, but I hear she and Sherri really do them right. For school kids anyway. Full meals and all that. Demis Sands said that she's asking Tor to the student dance. If so she'd best hurry, since that's tomorrow. Are you going? I don't have a date, but figured that I'd see what the situation was anyway. You never know who you'll meet after all."
It was a lot of talking, but the pleasant kind so Tiera didn't protest that she was too tired for it. Besides that, using her healing amulet fought off the worst of fatigue in a moment anyway, so it wasn't an excuse at all.
"I'm headed out of the Kingdom for a few days after this, which probably means I shouldn't soak too long. Errands for some family members and all that."
"How exciting! I've never even gotten down to the Capital, much less further away than that. Well, most haven't, so I suppose I can't complain too much, can I?" There was a wry and slightly self depreciating tone to her voice and a smile that was loopy, rather than seductive or suggesting that she be included immediately. It wasn't happening after all.
"Really, what you should do is go check out the Space Training Center, down the road toward Lenders? Go see if you can get in on that, if you want to travel. You might have to sign on as a low level ship hand at first, or scrub the floors or whatever, but they'll take you, if you can work and are willing. That might get you into other lands too." Tiera shrugged and had an idea. One that she should have thought of before, but hadn't really. "Certainly it's a good time to try, before everyone else in the world realizes it's available. I'm going out there later in a bit myself, to set up transport. If you have the time and want a ride? You'll probably have to walk back, but it might be worth it."
Wendy blushed for some reason, but seemed tolerably pleased with the idea, even if it did come with grunt work attached.
"That would be lovely. Thank you, Countess Baker."
Chapter twelve
In the commons they found a strange scene, for the school at least. Probably any of the schools. In the center of the smooth stone expanse stood several adults and only one student, all near each other, but not exactly cuddled together at all. It seemed like they were getting Sam Builder as their magic specialist, which wasn't too bad, as young as he was. He looked like a tiny child next to the others, especially Havar, who towered over the rest, even though he was only about seven feet tall.
Karen looked well rested, which Tiera figured had to be down to a healing amulet, after the night they'd had. That or a drug that she just didn't know about. The school didn't serve coffee after all, and the tall girl had never seemed to be hiding a bag of it in their room, as far as Tiera could tell. Her clothing was made to look like fighting leathers, all in a gray-brown that made it look both old and real, the straps loose, which meant she was ready for real combat, and probably had ten different weapons hidden on her. It wasn't a horrible idea, but they could check that out for each of them when they were away from the school.
Havar didn't glower, which was nice, and even smiled at her tentatively as she walked up with Wendy. His black fighting leathers where a shiny black version of what he wore each day. The only concession to style was that he'd turned a "V" shaped patch on his chest a deep vermilion.
It was the last person that stood there that got her attention, if only for a few seconds while she worked out who it was. At first she thought it might be Julie White. The skin was the same, a unique pearl color that shifted ever so slightly in the early light, showing hints of other things in it, blue and pink, with occasional green. It was incredibly faint however, not something big or obvious. The hair was still white however, and hadn't changed much, but all the wrinkles were gone, altering the overall appearance of the woman. She dressed in a simple pale blue outfit that Tiera realized was just re-colored student browns. Still made to seem like canvas even.
"Doris, Sam, thank you both for coming." She winked at Karen and threw off a small bow to Havar. "I knew you two would, but thanks as well. We have... About seven ways to do this, I was thinking we'd get out to the Space Training center first, and see if we can go that way." She said it like it made perfect sense and everyone could get it, but only Doris did.
"Yes. Using orbital travel with the new devices should be very efficient. I'd like to try it. Tor mentioned to me that the testing had been successful as to radiation."
Tiera nodded, not certain what that meant, but she really had heard something like that from Orange.
"Wendy is going out with us, and we're going to trade her hard work and willingness to travel to all the different lands for a ship. Part time, of course. She still has school." She was kidding, but the girl nodded so seriously that no one even cracked a smile about it, not even Sam, who stood holding a canvas sack. He was in black, but it looked nearly like a military uniform, which did serve to make him seem a little older. Maybe sixteen, instead of his true age.
Tiera got her Fast Craft out, the Timon built one because it was a bit nicer inside once fixed up, and set it to be small, but very comfortable, with a rich looking interior. Then she let everyone load up first, wondering how long it would take the normally meditative and ponderous Doris. That answer was a bit surprising. She was still clearly in a deep state, her eyes a little dreamy looking, even as the few students on the commons stared at her, more than a few clearly interested in a way that was funny, given who she was the evening before. The contrast was more than a little stunning, but with just a little observation, it was really clear who she was. To Tiera.
The others were all a bit questioning even though the name had been used, and kept looking at her with varying degrees of intensity. Sam was working very hard not to stare, or even do more than look with the corner of his eye, his chair in the back between Doris and Karen. Wendy was less interested in the new woman, but only a bit. After all she was distinctive looking, and attractive to a level that most humans just never encountered. It was as if she'd been specifically designed just for that. Which was, Tiera guessed, the case.
She didn't bother with an explanation, since her trip to the Space Training Center was over already, and she gently put down on the focus stone inner courtyard without ever actually going that fast. There just wasn't time for it. The others looked around, but only Sam and Wendy seemed all that shocked that this new complex had sprung up on them.
"Let's see if we can find anyone?" Tiera waited for everyone to get out, but left the vehicle up, the
deep green and sky blue looking distinctive, if nothing else. It wasn't taking up that much space, and no other vehicles where in the middle of the seven magical palaces, so it still looked rather empty, as far as that went.
They had to walk around for a bit, nearly half an hour, to find Orange outside, running with ten others, all of different ages. They were a mixed bag, but seemed to be mainly from Noram. Half of them were actually commoners, and they were running right behind her, not in the back.
"Bring it around... and stop. Better. I expect improvement each day. Right now I want you all to go change and bathe, then meet back here for piloting practice. Remember, only three days until we do the live, week long, exercise." The group, which was all men, stiffened for a moment, all at once, then jogged off, to see to their orders, Alice brushed her long honey blonde single braid out of the way, not even sweating at all. "Visitors! Very good. Come to join up? We could use some females. Actually we need to have a fifty-fifty mix, but the early applicants from the local area have all been men."
Tiera tilted her head at Wendy.
"Her. Part time, after school and on off days. We can try and get her cleared for the longer off planet work sessions, with the Dean. I'm pretty sure you can tell him it's worth full class credit and he'll just agree with you. I mean, space. Hard to be a stick in the mud about it." She grinned and got picked up into a big hug, pounded on the back a little at the same time.
The girl, who was actually taller than the Ancient, bowed, deeply and looked very proper suddenly.
"Wendy Boris, ma'am. I was told that I might be able to try?"
Alice looked her up and down and then nodded a few times. "Let's do that. This is the early Instructors section, so the standards are high, but if you come with a recommendation from Tiera, you'll likely do. Welcome aboard."
Then she turned back to the rest of them and smiled a bit, though she looked darkly at the meditation Instructor.
"Hello, Doris. I've been avoiding you a bit. What have you come for?" It was both blunt, and a little too eager to please, all at the same time. It was strange to see from Orange really.
Doris regarded her coolly.
"Someone keeps attempting to kill Timon Baker. I was asked to go along with these others to visit the ruling body. It was suggested that you might be able to provide us with an orbital, so that we can save some travel time?"
Alice got a look on her face that was more than a bit vulpine then and started pacing, if very slowly. She didn't speak for a long enough time that Tiera figured she was just looking for an excuse not to let them borrow one of her vehicles. They were hers to command, so it was totally fair, if that was the case. After a while though, a time that was far too long to go without speaking for most people, she turned and spoke, again, to Doris directly.
"I need you to be in control of yourself. Can you do that in an enclosed space?"
"I can. Much of my work, over the last few hundred years, has been directed at that capability. It's not even an effort for me at this point."
Orange continued, but spoke as if she trusted the pearl colored woman.
"I also cannot go into Tellerand. Or at least shouldn't be in direct contact with Black, when there."
"Agreed."
"Fine. I need six hours to prepare the crew for it. We'll need food supplies for a three day voyage. Can that be arranged?" She kept looking at Doris, but she, finally, glanced toward Tiera.
"Oh? I'm back in the conversation about my mission? Thanks." It was a bit dry, and her face had a forced smile on it, but she didn't let the bitterness at being disregarded linger. "I was going to get that from County Baker, but I should be able to call ahead and set that up. How many will be going?"
That, it turned out, would be seventeen, which would cost more, but let Orange spring a real job on her current trainees. It was part of the training, getting supplies, so while she was the one to call down for them, asking them to be staged on the Western side of Bakersville, off in the open, it was one of the small common looking men who actually had a list of what was needed that he read off into the device for her. He didn't yell, but he spoke very clearly, making sure each word was well projected, if slightly over enunciated.
When he got to the end, Lawrence set to making it happen somehow on his end and tried to chat for a bit, being a pleasant person.
Orange interrupted that.
"Excuse me. I need Countess Baker and these others now. We need to work on what will be needed as to rooms and cooking facilities. We'll spend the nights sleeping in orbit." Then she rather rudely cut the man on the other end off, as if it couldn't possibly matter.
"Hey!"Tiera actually felt annoyed and pointed at the device. "A bit more politeness with my people, please."
That didn't exactly cow the woman into apologizing. In fact, Tiera thought that Orange figured it as a joke she was telling. At least she smiled suddenly. Then she called for some of her people to come over and help make diagrams of what was desired. The only really good thing there was that even Orange agreed that they wouldn't use her color for it and they decided that pure black or white was so stark it seemed a bit hostile. Sky blue was just about invisible too, during the day. In the end they landed on tan, at Sam's suggestion. It was neutral enough to not be a problem for most people, and that was good enough.
It had a single room for each of them, with the crew being held away from the passengers a bit, though Tiera couldn't tell why. The rooms they were given were all decently nice, but not highly decorated, and most of the particulars had to do with heat reclamation, rather than other comforts. That was important, and one of the reasons the rooms weren't all that big. They needed to capture it in the walls, using them to hold it for latter, or exhaust it into space via radiation.
Tiera realized as this discussion went on that she eventually needed to learn this stuff too, so tried to ask questions and memorize it all. It had seemed easier before, but there was more to it than she'd known. The water and restrooms were the next concern, then air. It wasn't enough to tell the ship to do it, not for long term situations, it had to actually be monitored and controlled carefully, at all times.
It really did take six hours, but they ended with a nicely large craft that had about ten thousand upright narrow slats along the top of it, which were to let go of unneeded heat. It was tan and looked sharp, even if a bit more jangly than she would have designed it to be. She thought the idea made sense though. It was about increasing the surface area. In sunlight they could reflect or absorb, based on what color they made them, and in the shade they could insulate from the inside, or let space take the energy they didn't need. The shape, other than that, was still a six sided thing, because Alice liked it that way and she was in charge.
She seemed happy with it, on the surface, but called for two different men to check out every part of it, before they got in. The strange bit there was that Wendy was coming along too, as crew. She seemed shocked by the revelation, but the Training center had gear for her, so that wasn't needed. She wouldn't have to pack even. It did mean Tiera having to call and explain to the Dean what was happening, but she just sighed and did it, even if it hadn't been her plan. For his part he simply acted like it was and promised to get them all cleared from their normal duties for the next few days.
It was easy, even.
"I wasn't aware that Miss Boris had an interest in space travel. Not that I blame her, the idea is fascinating. Well, keep in contact regularly."
Tiera nodded, speaking over the device in her hand with a slightly bowed head.
"We'll do that. Oh, Alice also wants to teach a class on this stuff, particularly for girls. She said that you'd probably want to offer it as a real course next section. Seeing what all this involves, I think she's right. It's far more complex than it sounded like at first. I know that the Blue's craft had some of this, but they did it all, so I wasn't in on how it worked... It's incredible really. If we weren't on such a time crunch right now, I'd ask if we could take everyone.
" She was selling it pretty hard, but the Dean, on the other side of the thing, just cleared his throat.
"I'm not certain that will happen, but I'll get with you on it after you return. For now, be careful and come back as soon as duty allows."
She'd tried, if with a bit of lying, which everyone pretended not to notice for one reason or another.
The trip to County Baker wasn't even worth going out of the atmosphere for, it turned out, and the commoner man, Digs, who was in the pilot seat, actually made the call on that one. It was good to see, since he had to be fighting hard not to simply defer to all the big people in the command center on that score. Most of the crew was off doing other things and, Orange assured them all, they were only getting to be there because it was the first real voyage.
"On other missions we'll have an observation deck for that kind of thing. We won't have any space walks this time either, since Tiera hasn't developed the suits for it yet. I suppose I'll have to let that one slide, since she's only had a few days on the idea." It was a dig at her though, as if she'd had time for things like that at all?
The landing in Bakersville was smooth and they were met by twenty armed men, dressed in her colors, along with Lawrence. It was a bit daunting, so she went out first, in case a fight was going to start. She couldn't imagine why, and as she exited, walking down the ramp that Orange had one of her men provide for it, they all bowed, which was reassuring. When she got to the bottom of the thing she returned it.
"Good to see you all. Is everything all right?" The food was there and Lawrence walked up, wearing a green robe, with light blue trim. It wasn't actually the right color of either, but matched his dark skin better.
"I thought we might want aid loading? I didn't know how quickly it needed to be done." He didn't mention the price of the stuff, which was a full wagon load, a thing she learned when it was pulled around by the large and sturdy horses that drew it. There were only two of them, and one was a light color that reminded her a little of Alice's hair. The other was a chestnut, who stomped once when they stopped and seem to be irritated by flies at the moment.
