§
It was Dilorè’s shift at the helm when we arrived in Tëan Tír. This time we used an official landing area, a grass field about a mile away from the Fairy King’s Castle.
“This is where Prince Manlon normally parks his launch,” Dilorè explained as she taxied the craft to a parking spot. “It’s also used by the valley’s mortals for their air defense corps. They keep their flying beasts over there.”
She pointed out a typical block of wyvern stables as she said it. Then I noticed a beast receiving a bath to one side of them and made a choking sound.
“They use thunderbirds?“
She saw where I was looking and laughed.
“Those guys fight with the fairy forces. Mortals can’t manage them. And they won’t sleep indoors, so the stables aren’t for them.”
Thunderbirds are smaller cousins to ancient dragons, more than three times the size of wyverns. I’ve mentioned this before, but wyverns are much smaller than dragons, whether ancient or demonic. They’re magical beasts similar in size to hippogryphs or small airplanes. Dragons are bigger than 747s. Thunderbirds are business jet size.
As she pulled the craft into place, she lightly asked, “So you’re reconciled with the prince now?” in a tone like inquiring about the temperature outside.
To be frank, I couldn’t agree with that statement at all. What we had established was détente. The atmosphere between us was still awkward.
“Hm,” I pondered, then stated, “I can’t call it reconciliation. He’s promised to cooperate.”
In the conversation earlier, I had asked Rod, “So you’re okay with the idea? With me getting pregnant as soon as possible?”
“Not in the slightest,” he answered immediately, his tone very frank.
That was jarring. With my mind full of Mother’s jeopardy, I was going to retort, until he continued.
“You’re too young,” he explained more kindly. “In this life, I mean. I understand the need, but when you’re asking for second opinions, you should ask for a way to delay it for a few years.”
Actually, common women all over Huade have their first child at my age. But not the aristocratic women of Orestania. For nobles, getting married at seventeen is the norm, with the birth of one’s firstborn at eighteen.
I narrowed my eyes slightly. “You know they’ll be infants. Children. Mother won’t remember her previous life for years to come. She won’t be the Deharè you remember for the foreseeable future.”
I didn’t say it, but what I meant was, She won’t be the war potential you expected from her.
He nodded. “Lady Serera explained that, yes. Her power is gone, but that’s beside the point. She’s family and she needs my help; I would never refuse to cooperate. But, whether you do it or not is not my choice. I will cooperate with your decision.”
We ended the conversation there. He would ‘cooperate’. I felt very dissatisfied with his answer, but I was grateful he didn’t plan to refuse. And I have to admit, he was keeping things polite. That was quite a lot, coming from Rod.
“Shut down the engines for me,” Serera called, while working on moving the fins and rotors into their parking position. I dug up the knowledge I had absorbed while attending ‘flying school’ in the simulation network and got to work on the engineering controls.
“Cooperate?” she prompted.
“He’s agreed to help me, as far as what Gaia needs.”
“Then no time like the present,” she teased. “You two need to go make babies!”
I protested, my cheeks burning red. “You should rephrase that, you know?”
Dilorè let out a merry laugh that made clear she hadn’t said it by accident.
“It can’t work that way, anyway,” I told her.
“Lady Serera already told me,” she replied with a smug smile.
Serera told everyone, didn’t she? I need to gripe at her about that.
“Also, I’m here to consult with a couple different people on… um… the question of timing.”
Dilorè, who was done with her work, had turned to face me. She tipped her head, an unspoken query.
“I want to know if I really have to do this immediately. Gaia said ‘a short time’, and I’m not sure exactly how long she meant. I assumed months at the time, but a god’s idea of short is different from mine.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to get it over with?” she wondered.
I frowned, but didn’t get a chance to respond. Once we entered Tëan Tír’s protected air and no longer needed an armed escort, Lady Serera flew ahead to make arrangements for us. She chose this moment to return, opening the hatch and sticking her head into the craft.
“I spoke with the field manager. We can leave the vehicle overnight on my royal knight’s authority. Ready to head out?”
“Head out?” I wondered. “Where are you taking us?”
“Well, we can’t camp here, Your Highness,” she replied, looking slightly perplexed. “Naturally, I’ve made other arrangements.”
“The Fairy King’s Castle?” I guessed after a slight hesitation.
“That is obvious, Your Highness. We’re carrying a foreign royal. Not to mention a princess of Faerie.”
I winced. It was dicey enough bringing humans there last time. I felt like doing it twice was seriously pressing my luck. But she was right.
“Please try to keep our mortals isolated from the rank and file fairies, My Lady.”
I trusted the closer relatives, but many others lived in the Castle.
She sighed. “Yes, Your Highness. They are sending carriages for us, so please have everyone prepare to leave for the night.”
§
My visit triggered a jurisdictional battle.
In this corner, Garen, Terese and Genette, being my house knight, Mother’s lady’s maid and my lady’s maid.
And in the other corner, Khaulmar, Khortys, Austrydhur and Pirkitta, being my catkin footman and my three elven maids.
The cause of the struggle?
Dinner.
She’s the First Daughter of Pendor. We should be dressing her.
She’s a princess of Faerie. We should be dressing her.
She is leading our mission to Pendor. She’s in our charge now.
This is the Fairy King’s Castle. She is our charge now.
You get the idea. I retreated to a side table with Durandal, who had never received a proper cleaning after being in the middle of that explosion over Langram.
Eventually Khaulmar noticed me working the blade with a bit of cloth and fetched a proper maintenance kit for me. Conveniently, thanks to my status as a fairy knight, he had already stocked one in the suite.
“In defense of my gender,” the catman said quietly to me as he placed the case on the table, “Your bodyguard and I are not participating in this.”
It was true. Garen was hanging back next to the entrance to the sitting room where this conflict was taking place, watching the bickering women with a wry smile and wisely saying nothing.
I chuckled and nodded. “Would it be better if I step in and stop it? I thought they would sort it out quickly, but…”
“I think it would be best,” he nodded.
I pursed my lips, bothered to have to do this, being the youngest person in this room full of grown women… Well, Austrydhur was the elven equivalent of a teenager, but she was still several decades older than me…
It couldn’t be helped.
“Khortys,” I called, loudly enough to hear through the din. “I should like a cup of tea.”
With a triumphant smile, Khortys answered, “At once, Your Highness!”
“And please show Terese and Genette where the tea things are, while you are at it,” I added.
Khortys almost kept the dismay off her face. “Your Highness?”
“Terese has made tea for Princess Deharè for many years. I am sure you can learn from her as much as you can teach. You two should work closely together. And Genette has been my own lady’s maid since long before I met you three. I greatly value her help as well.”
Now the shoe was on the other foot. The elven trio were less than happy, and the two Pendor maids were standing taller.
“Terese and Genette,” I then stated, “work closely with these three. They are my trusted strength whenever I stay in this place, and they are treasured Ladies of the Fairy King himself. I wish to be supported equally by all. Is that clear?”
All five looked like they were getting the message. I suppose I could have just demanded, Stop bickering! and be done with it, but I thought this would work better.
I received my cup of tea, and the five somehow agreed to rely on the local wardrobe and leave the Pendorian things packed, for expediency’s sake.
This was where I realized I had made a tactical error. Mother’s fashion sense had long since infected the Pendor maids, and I had just let them loose on my wardrobe in the Fairy King’s Castle.
I needed to wear black, so the choices were limited to only three outfits. The five quickly settled on a gorgeous number made entirely of lace above the waist…
“No,” I declared instantly, once I saw it in the mirror.
“The opacity should be sufficient where it covers your nipples, Young Mistress…”
“And nowhere else! I said ‘No’!”
I might as well be topless! Wasn’t it a negligée?
The next item… in place of a plunging neckline, it had an upwardly-plunging– sorry, I don’t know how else to describe it– diamond-shaped bewb window centered on the solar plexus, narrowing as it rose to a point at the collar bone, leaving beautifully exposed underboob, valley and navel. With the rest of the gown looking like a perfectly modest Victorian evening dress, it was a surreal sight.
“I’ll just wear the kimono from last time,” I declared once I saw it on my body. The dress code was Atian Formal today, but I had to draw a line.
“We have one more, Your Highness!” Khortys begged. “This one should be okay!”
I looked in the mirror once it was on me and suspected they had hit me with the others first so I would find this outfit more acceptable.
I knew the second I saw it on my body that Mother had designed it, and yet, for once, it somehow seemed decent, even though the back was exposed in case I needed to grow my wings.
The bodice was 21st century Paris runway. The fabric was amazing, probably dwarven-made. The upper part was transparent at the shoulders and grew rapidly less so as it descended my chest, becoming fully opaque just before reaching the nipples. It ended by hanging like a curtain from my bust, while the lower part started out transparent again where it hugged me beneath the breasts, draped my waist with partial opacity and became properly opaque when it reached the skirt.
But the skirt was Victorian, a properly flaring full-length skirt over petticoats.
As long as nobody got a look from below, it was fine. Although not visible from eye level, my breasts were fully open to the air from underneath. I also needed to avoid rapid motion, since there was absolutely no attempt at bust support here.
My travel cases were packed with black dresses, since I would be in mourning for the near-term. I could insist on unpacking those, but…
I needed to start pushing back someday and insist on more modesty in my attire, but…
It was too soon to cause my maids trouble. Also, it somehow seemed appropriate to wear Mother’s design.
“Fine,” I said. “We’ll do this one.”
Five happy maids cheered, then proceeded to choose accessories for me. These five had gone from war to cooperation in such a short time, it was a little amazing to watch.
The amulet and Lucy’s stone were not negotiable, but they still had to choose hair arrangement, hair ornaments, earrings, bracelets, etc. Rather than a veiled hat, Atian women in mourning now wore an eye mask of black lace, covering from the forehead down to the cheeks. The weave was open enough over the eyes to see through. It looked a little…
As they discussed, I continued to stare into the mirror, and began again remembering the probable designer of the outfit, the woman who had suddenly vanished from my life, and what I was being asked to do for her.
Rod had conceded his cooperation, but as I thought about it, I needed a lot more than that. Forget that it was a couple souls that Heaven wanted to keep on Huade. This would be two little girls who needed to be born and be raised, and they would be our responsibility. I didn’t just need Rod to hold my hand for a few minutes, I needed someone to help me parent!
Was I even capable of parenting them? I was currently envisioning a future of constantly having to use my spiritual technique to consult my more experienced past incarnations. As Tiana I was not close to old enough for this, and even as Robert I was just a twenty five year old single guy!
Should I even agree to do it? The king needed my sword, the duchy needed leadership, and a demon god had already tried to kill me once. Was this the sort of life that I should be adding a pair of babies to?
The longer I thought about it, the faster the anxieties flew at me. Eventually I had to just shut them out and stop thinking about it.
