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Dinner was hell.
It was actually a tour-de-force of the estate chef’s finest, truly befitting a royal guest. The chef had shaved an aged ham made from golden bristle boar, the signature luxury meat of the local hill country of Western Atianus, in beautiful thin slices, serving them as an appetizer beside potatoes fried in duck fat, following that with a main dish mingling more ham with mushrooms and lentils, alongside an amazing array of side dishes that simultaneously showed that the estate would spare no expense for the prince and his retinue, and that the estate was having to depend almost entirely upon stored foodstuffs. Only the greens, radishes and asparagus from the kitchen garden, the mushrooms from the estate’s mushroom barn, and cream and butter from the estate’s dairy were fresh. All other ingredients were like this ham, which had come up from the long-term stores in the basement. Cheeses, root vegetables, jams, and dried fruits played significant roles in most of the sides.
Although heavily-salted cured ham has to be served sparingly, the meat was spectacular. The golden bristle boar is among the few monsters domesticated for their meat. Most monsters become somewhat inedible within hours of death, but for animals like this boar, the vanishing manifested mana leaves behind natural meat with condensed and intensified flavor, and tenderizes it at the same time. The meat flavor was intense, the fat was sweet, and both meat and fat tasted faintly of nuts, because the boars tend to eat a lot of wild acorns and butternuts from magic varieties of oak and white walnut growing in mana-rich environments.
A cluster of underground meadows near Mother’s estate are maintained as estate farms by the lord of this province… in other words, Uncle Owen… in partnership with Mother and a local country baron named Brant, whose barony lends them their name, the Brant Caverns. None of them are directly below our grounds, but one with a strong mana spring is practically next door. Mother’s growers raise fairy grapes there which, when mixed with the mortal grapes grown on the estate, give her brandy its special character. But golden bristle boars and the mana-synthetic plants they feed on are the primary stock in trade of those underground farms.
But although I did my best to play hostess, while secretly engaging in foodie-themed escapism like the previous few paragraphs in order to stave off my anxiety, I was completely failing to do so, or fool anyone else.
Carson had seated us according to Mother’s preferences. She hates the practice of seating host and hostess and opposite ends of the table, putting herself and Uncle Owen far apart, so she either breaks the rules, seating herself at his elbow when he’s at the end of the table, or for more formal occasions she sits directly in the center, with Owen across from her. Apparently, it isn’t against etiquette, it’s just unusual. Technically, one is just swapping the long and short dimensions of the table, so it doesn’t break the rules.
We were following that pattern today. I and Rod were on opposite sides, being seated in our respective parents’ positions, with Dilorè to Rod’s right and Matthias to mine in the man and lady of honor seats.
The Pendor Estate’s dining table is plenty big enough to accommodate twenty one diners, but it is narrow enough that Rod was able to reach across and put his hand over mine.
“What’s wrong, Ti?”
The conversation around me had mostly been Rod and the knights recounting the demonic attack in the Tabad, which had ended in victory for the mortal side but nearly ended in disaster. The entire force around Rod’s headquarters had nearly been wiped out, with only a small group of survivors still standing at the end of the battle, and the knights having evacuated Rod to a secluded location, isolated from the rest.
This sudden shift in subjects caught me off-guard for a moment. I had to reply, and naturally, I couldn’t tell him about Carson and Benedetta’s connection to Mother, so I simply smiled and said, “I’m just worried about our parents. I understand you all have had a long trip and must rest, but I’m itching to go after them right now.”
He stared at me for several heartbeats, then his lip twisted. “There’s more than that, I’ll bet.”
To my right, Matthias chimed in, “Indeed. You were calmer when we first arrived.”
“He’s right,” Dilorè nodded. “You’ve learned something new.”
While avoiding the gaze of Carson, who was standing at his station near the wall behind Rod, where he could easily see signs from the hostess (me), I lied, “It’s more like I realized something. I suppose it has made me more anxious.”
Yes, I learned something new, dammit! And I can’t tell anyone here!
The aggravating trio were waiting for me to continue. I grew my consciousness to maximum and put several personalities to work immediately, holding an instant committee meeting like a certain other duke’s daughter.
Quickly, we found a way to get out of the spot they were putting me in. All three primary conversation partners knew the truth about Mother’s identity, so I could at least shut them down for the moment with a hint.
“Mother has certain private matters that we can’t discuss in front of everyone, right? You three are privy to the matters I mean, but most people at this table are not.”
Rod’s eyebrows furrowed, as he grasped my meaning. Dilorè simply wore a studied smile.
Matthias suggested, “Perhaps it would help My Lady’s mood if we turned the conversation to a more constructive subject, such as how we should approach matters tomorrow?”
Rod’s lip twisted in thought, then he nodded. “That’s a good idea. We’ll need to start with the headquarters camp. I’m assuming you stopped us from heading there directly because you aren’t confident of security?”
His question was to Matthias, but he seemed to be including me in it. Well, I was the one that more-or-less told Matthias to come to the estate, so it made sense he was indirectly asking me.
“The impression we had in Cara Ita was that Uncle Owen’s headquarters were still in considerable disorder, Your Highness,” I answered. “We don’t have a clear understanding of who is in charge. I want to do a reconnaissance before you go there, to assess the conditions. You should also send someone ahead to prepare them for your arrival.”
“Reconnaissance…” he scowled. “You’re treating it as possible enemy territory?”
He wasn’t entirely wrong, but I shook my head.
“I believe our side is still in control, but I’m concerned about what could have snuck in, during the confusion, Your Highness. We encountered large numbers of demons disguised as humans in Cara Ita.”
“That was Hamagaar, which is much closer to demonic territory,” Matthias noted.
“The asura that I defeated up in Cara Ita was an old acquaintance, Uncle Matthias. I first encountered her right here in Atianus.”
Planning carried the conversation all the way through dessert– a plum pudding using dessert wine from our vineyards and fairy grape raisins from the stores in the basement– and our after-dinner drink in the parlor. Overnight, I would go in secret to make sure the camp was clear of demons. After I gave the all-clear, in the morning, two of Rod’s knights and Dilorè would ride to the headquarters camp using mounts borrowed from our estate.
Having Dilorè, dressed as a mortal representing Rod, right there beside the knights would give them better odds in the case of a nasty surprise. It was an abundance of caution, but the knights were in total agreement with me about proceeding carefully once they heard about disguised demons. After all, they had experienced near-defeat against demons in the Tabad just two days before.
“You’ll use Mother’s riding beast,” I told my cousin. “So you’ll need to make friends with her tonight.”
She tipped her head. “I heard that Deharè bought you a golden hind to ride. Wouldn’t that be suitable for me?”
I thought about Falhàn, the ill-tempered deer-like magic beast that had been Tiana’s adversary as much as her riding beast. Most horses have a strange natural aversion to fairies, so Mother purchased a fairy riding mount for Tiana, when she needed it in order to tackle the horsemanship requirement of Royal Knights training. Tiana eventually made peace with her, but nobody else could ride her.
With a grimace, I answered, “You’ll have better luck with Mother’s mount. You can reason with her properly. She’s as intelligent as a human. If you have to take to the air and abandon her in a fight, she can find her own way home.”
“Reason with her?” Rod echoed, his brow bunching up in mystification.
“You didn’t know? Mother rides a kelpie.”
She couldn’t ride a mortal horse, after all. She’s a fairy.
His eyes bugged. “A what?“
In legend, both on Earth and on Huade, a kelpie is a beautiful woman who lures men into the water, then turns into a monster horse that kills them. Or a horse that drowns its rider. Or there’s a few other versions. But the real-life kelpies of Huade are simply monster horses that live in and near the water. Although, now that I’ve met Mirna, I can’t be quite as certain that no kelpie ever transformed into a beautiful woman. I’ve just never heard of a real-life example of one.
However, the fact remains, a kelpie is a monstrous beast, and normally a very dangerous one.
“Mother recruited her. She’s very well-behaved, and since she can speak and understand Ostish just fine, Dilorè can negotiate with her. Actually, she may do it simply if I ask her. We’ll head down to the mill pond after this and have a chat with her.”
The prince was shaking his head with a wry smile. “Why would anyone ever want such a dangerous thing as her mount?”
“Mother’s tastes can be pretty unique,” I admitted with a smile. My gut was still twisting, but the conversation had lightened things up for me a bit.
As people went back to their rooms to turn in for the night, Rod and Matthias drew me aside once again.
“Talk to us, this time, Ti,” Rod told me.
I looked from one to the other, and then to Dilorè, who had sensed the topic and was coming to join.
“Come on,” I told them, then told Genette, who had attended me during the meal, “Tea in the receiving room.”
She nodded and led us in that direction.
“I’m quite full, though,” Matthias muttered.
“It’s etiquette, Your Wisdom,” Rod responded. He was right, of course. I was also full, and had just added a glass of dessert wine and a blue cheese canapé on top of my meal and dessert, but by the rules of society, I had to serve tea.
Once we were seated, the tea was served and the doors closed, I admitted to them, “I can’t tell you things that are Mother’s strict secrets, no matter what. So I really can’t tell you what I’m basing this on, but it is concrete evidence that she must be in real trouble.”
Rod looked at me with slightly lowered brows, then nodded. “Alright. I’m worried, too. But we’re talking about a fairy who leveled a large castle with one blow during the Dorian civil wars. Back in Imperial times, she’s supposed to have sunk an entire fleet of war galleys. Don’t you think that, before she lost a fight, she would cause so much destruction that the whole country would know about it?”
I pressed my lips together, then shook my head. “What we can imagine is beside the point. This is about simple facts. She would understand the crisis we’re in, and she is a fast flier. Faster than me. She could have made a half-dozen round trips between Pendor and here since the attacks. She wouldn’t leave us hanging with the situation as it is, right now. And Amana indicated she should have had a crystal with her, to link her to the network, so she should have called by now.”
Uncle Matthias nodded, and noted, “I believe we all understood these things well, before any of us arrived. But aren’t we correct that you learned something new?”
I sighed. “I did, and it’s strictly confidential. I can’t tell you.”
The sage then asked the question that was begging. “Is she alive or dead?”
“That…” I frowned and shook my head. “If she were dead, there should be evidence that I would receive. But through the same agency, I should also have evidence she is alive, and I don’t have that either, Uncle. I can’t explain this any better.”
His eyes narrowed. “You truly cannot say more?”
I sighed again, and shook my head again, then simply changed tacks. I looked at Rod and said, “Your Highness, the royal mages are busy continuing their attempts to divine His Majesty’s location. Please direct Baroness Destia to divine Mother’s location. She did a divination for us when we were looking for Amelia. I need to go looking for Mother, or at least know something is being done to find her. I’m betting they are in the same place, but I need to look for her, regardless.”
Or else I would turn into a useless nervous wreck.
