Kingdom of Stars (The Young Ancients: Timon Book Three) (19 page)

If he'd been going to Lairdgren, they probably would have
let him in to their working group there, and it was starting to attract the
best building students in the kingdom. All he had was himself and Deshi, who he
hadn't even seen at all since he'd gotten on the ship. That was being a good
host, there, he decided, rolling his brown eyes up at the overhead, which was a
light tan in his room. There were spots on it that glowed a pure clean white
light, making the whole place feel very clean, if not overly real.

It wasn't nice of him, he knew, but instead of finding the
man, who would be getting up to who knew what, Timon napped for a bit longer.
After all, if he was going to need to be in and out of trance states for over a
month, he needed to have at least a full days rest first.

"How can I have literally nothing else to do and still
be too busy to get all my work done? It's not like I have to be ready for the
big dance next week." He was stuck, floating in the inky black of space,
with nothing but different building projects to do. The idea itself was mind numbing,
but at least this next bit wouldn't be as bad. Tor had mentioned that he'd be
able to hold the field and move around for hours each day, if he did it right,
since it was being set to grow on its own. He'd done something similar before,
though his fast craft hadn't taken as long each day. About two hours.

This one would be closer to sixteen, if he had the principle
right.

After he finished his second nap, still feeling a little
tired, he got up, stretched and showered, then went to find Deshi and Monroe.
They weren't together, since the mage was more than a little in awe of the all
black man, thinking him a god. He wasn't against being with people though, so
had taken to practicing his Noram standard with the kitchen crew, who were all
treating him like they would a suitor, Tim noticed, each plying the slightly
strange looking robed man with sweets or cups of things to drink. It was a
good
sign.

Timon looked at the scene for a bit and then shrugged,
speaking from the door, his voice deeper than he recalled it being.

"If you want to propose marriage, let me know and I'll
pass the word to Lyn Red, the leader of Vagus. You'd have to be willing to move
there, but we are putting in a space base near the mage compound there, so it
might work without too much difficulty."

The girls all giggled, since they weren't all that much
older than he was, and one of them blushed, but looked at Deshi seriously
enough that Tim wondered if she'd really ask him to do that. Deshi just looked
confused for his part.

"I'm... Forgive me, Great Brother, my skills are not as
great at the language of your people as I presumed, perhaps? Why would they
talk to the Great Mother about marriage to me? Shouldn't they talk to
me
about it? More, why would they wish that?" He seemed truly baffled by the
idea at least and since he wasn't stupid, that had to be due to the vows that
Lyn was making all the mages take. It would basically keep them in poverty all
their lives.

Unless the mage married, and their spouse could provide for
them.

"Why not? You're attractive enough, and would be a good
father." That bit was for the girls, since they were common stock, all
looking similar enough to the girls from Vagus, with their brown or black hair,
and brown eyes. All orphans too. They probably couldn't tell what a good father
would be like at all. "That plus the fact that you have a certain
political clout, even if you do have vows of poverty to uphold in your own
land. Vagus has its charms however, too." Timon turned to look at the
girls directly, all of whom were dressed in magical clothing, which was in
black and orange. It was an ugly combination, but they were fresh and young, if
not exactly stunning beauties. Of course they weren't dressed and made up for a
court function, but cooking.

After a bit, Timon saw a row of chairs along the far wall,
and pulled one over. It looked like black glass, with a soft cushion on the
seat, done in orange. Like a round pumpkin that someone had squashed there. It
was comfortable enough at least.

"The land there is a bit wild, but the people are
honorable and not prone to prejudice or looking down on others. There are no
nobles there really, and their builders are less greedy than the ones in Noram.
You all have good jobs, and will be able to travel and since Deshi is probably
going to end up with some kind of liaison job with Noram, as well as his other
duties, it would be a good pairing, I think. For any of you." Timon smiled
a bit, but not too much, since he was actually being a bit of a jerk to
everyone in the room.

For all he knew no one was interested, and he was starting
something that would just be awkward and cause problems. Noram common girls
weren't all that forward most of the time, so he didn't think it would be that
big of an issue, but one of the girls, whose name he hadn't asked at all,
stepped toward Deshi and bowed.

"Would you be my husband, mage Deshi? I'm not rich or
anything, but I make a gold a month at my current job and it's good training. I
can work a kitchen, and will keep your home well, if you have one. If not, I
can help build one. I used to live at the focus stone manufacturing center. I
learned a bit there from some of the men."

Timon saw her blush again, and got that she'd probably
traded sex for that knowledge. It was about the only coin that an orphan had.
If so, she'd probably gotten good value for her time, if the fellows had
actually shown her enough to make a real home that way.

"Really? How good are you?" It was an
interruption, but sounded interested enough that she turned to him and smiled.

"Well, making things with focus stone isn't all that
hard, to be truthful. I nearly went into that business, but the Orange Lady,
she said that she needed cooks for a grand adventure, so I signed on here. Not
a lot of the girls have yet and more of us took the cooking and baking learning
than the boys." She bowed her head a bit, but seemed pleased and a bit
catty, if Tim was reading her right. "I have a compression unit though,
gifted as promised by the Wizard Tor, and if we had to, we could sell it for
several gold, to give us our start."

Why she was looking sly, Timon didn't get until he looked at
the other two, who seemed chagrined. From the way they were holding themselves,
they hadn't done the complete focus stone section and now didn't have that
little extra.

Timon nodded.

"Deshi, you should look at it and make some more of
them. We'll need ones that are more versatile and can do both very large and
smaller works as well as work from inside a ship, influencing the outside
world. For the Colony project? It will have to be a very large city, that's
able to keep all the air inside. Get with Monroe for what's really needed on
that. Um... this young lady, sorry, I don't know your name?"

She curtsied, messing it up horribly and looking awkward,
but he didn't say anything about it. They weren't in the King's throne room and
he wasn't going there anytime soon. Neither was this woman.

"Wistra, Countier Lairdgren." The very young woman
blushed again, then looked half panicked. "I mean... Countier Baker!"

That got waved away. They were in space and while he wasn't
going to tell her about it, she probably out ranked him, actually being ship's
crew.

"Tim. You should all call me that. Anyway, Deshi, get
with Wistra and see if she'll let you examine her equipment." He paused
for a beat, waiting for someone to laugh at the double entendre, but no one
did, not even the other girls that had been holding back. "Then, I don't
know, you might want to actually discuss that marriage thing? She seems nice
enough. It isn't my place to say, of course. Other than approaching Lyn about
it. That's a Noram thing."

Smiling he covered his mouth.

"Though if you want, whoever is currently the ship's
Captain could marry you, or if you can make a guide fire, you can do it Vagus
fashion and hop over it holding hands. It's a nice little ceremony. Maybe
something different though?" Now he was just teasing them both, but Deshi,
who had apparently been born either incredibly gullible or half diplomat, stood
and bowed low to Wistra.

"I was supposed to marry another girl, but she died
three years ago, before the Healing Stones came from the Great Mother's family.
I would be honored to get to know you now, with the promise of possible
marriage later." It could have been him putting her off, but Tim was
reading his field, rude or not, since if it were going to be a mess, it was his
fault.

He
was serious about it though, and was actually just
not certain that the girl wasn't teasing him a bit, in some strange and foreign
manner. No one had really wanted to marry any of the mages yet, considering
them a bit holy, after a fashion. They didn't have vows of celibacy though, and
Lyn had married Dorgal, so he figured it would be within the rules.

Rather than keep things going, since they could probably cover
the rest of it themselves, more or less, he looked at the other two and winked.

"See, it pays to be a bit forward at times. So, you
two... Well, there are other men here, and you don't have to get married if you
don't want to."

The one in the far back turned to a steaming pot and waved a
focus stone spoon at him, then stopped as if afraid that he'd think she was
threatening him with it.

"Does the pretty man of darkness have someone yet? He's
very nice to me, always smiling and telling me how pleased he is that I'm
here."

"Monroe? I don't know, to be honest. I don't think so,
but you need to ask him outright. I... There are some problems there. He's
immortal, and old, after a fashion. He has the memories of a life from a long
time ago at least, which sounds confusing, I don't doubt. Don't be shy with him
however. He may say no to you, but he won't be mean about it. He can't."
The rest of it he'd let her find out for herself, if she really wanted to.

The other girl just looked away shyly.

"Do you have anyone yet?"

Timon looked at her and was so glad that he only had about
half the ability to feel embarrassment as a regular person did. It was a lot
more off-putting when you were the one on the spot.

"Yes. I'm married. She lives in the Capital right
now." That should have been enough for a common girl, if she'd been raised
properly, in a rural setting, since marriage actually meant something there. At
the orphanages, that wasn't such a big thing though.

"But she's not
here
? Would you like to have me
come visit you later? I saw you when Wistra and I showered you, you're very
manly."

Timon shook his head a bit, but smiled, trying to copy how
Monroe always did it, showing just a hint of exasperation.

"Tempting, but I have to go right back to work. Deshi
will be too, I think, since he's taking the lead on the big project." It
wouldn't hurt to talk the mage up a bit, Timon decided.

Then, without making a big deal out of being asked if he
wanted the kitchen help in his bed, which he sort of did, he realized, Timon
got them to load him up with food. He had a heaping tray of things that
wouldn't go bad too quickly, and took it with him, so that he could stock up a
bit before the hard part started.

It was, as he'd figured, nearly impossible. Tor had made it
sound simple enough. You took several large containers of nano-dust, in this
case made of carbon, since that was what Monroe had been able to provide him,
and grew the field, making it very clear that it was to grow and spread, making
millions of copies of itself, with each little bit holding one.

That was basic enough, until he tried it, of course. Three
times he had to restart, failing utterly. The second one was so bad that after
a week, all the carbon had fused together into a single block in each
container. It held a lot of individual fields, but it was almost totally
useless. Monroe seemed impressed though, that he'd done that with nothing
except his thoughts, but it was an annoyance and was costing them time.
Finally, after a month of trying, he managed to get a good batch going.

The whole thing was mind numbing, and to his chagrin, the
girls kept showering him, every two days or so. They didn't abuse him, as far
as he could tell, but he didn't really need it, being able to move on his own a
lot more than normal. It wasn't horrible or anything, since they were all so
short, being smaller than he was. They also didn't push him for sex or
anything, which was nice, but he couldn't really speak the whole time, and
since it had taken most of two months to get it all done, he was nearly
crippled by the time it was all over.

Stiff and in need of a lot of exercise.

Worse, even as he came to the surface, he noticed that he
was different. It wasn't a little thing either, since his mind kept trying to
move back to holding the field he'd been making and had to be forced away from
it, over and over again. It felt like he was stuck, in a cage of his own
making. It meant that, an hour after getting up, drinking all he could hold and
finding some food, he was stumbling around the halls, feeling more than a
little bit like he wasn't really there.

The woman that he met in the hallway had orange on her
cuffs, which meant she was important. Nearly as high in rank as Alice, if he
had the system right. That the kitchen girls all did too... Well, they'd been
there the whole time, so he thought he understood what Alice was thinking.
These were going to be the section heads, or maybe even the instructors for the
entire fleet. They were young for a job like that, but that would change, with
time.

This one though, was tall, and clearly of Noram nobility,
being about seven feet tall and very thin. Not too old either. Blinking he
finally put a name to the face and then, after a while, managed to speak. It
was Judith Kerry, and considering she was probably his best friend in the whole
world, other than Denno or Petra, it wasn't a good sign that he hadn't
recognized her.