Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) (11 page)

Sara smiled, and almost on a whim gave each of them a hug.

"Sorry. I'm really pretty much wiped out right now. Sleeping on the ground for months and all that walking. You get the way of it. I need to see to some things before we go. Eleven?" She watched Todd first, since he was the one going. "It won't take too long to get there. We'll be in early however, so we might end up sleeping on the ship."

When the words were out of her mouth she realized that he might just take that as an invitation to do a bit more than sleep. Which would normally be fine, but Sara was already starting to run on fumes. Nothing was worse than falling asleep on someone when they were trying to get your attention.

Luckily she was dealing with one of the Baker family.

"Do you need to rest first? You really can stay here. Maybe we could send a message to your meeting and ask her to postpone? I'm sure it won't be any trouble." The words were nearly noble in accent and timing. Clearly he'd spent some effort learning how to sound that way. Sara hadn't. Her training had focused on doing the opposite.
Seeming
like a merchant. Her mother had raised her in the Capital, and spoke like she was a noble herself. It was better for business when dealing with the upper classes. Sara's real accent was nearly as polished as one of the Princesses, but she affected a more common one, all the time now.

 She shook her head, even if the idea of spending the night in a magical palace was a pleasant one.

"That would set a bad precedence. The next thing you know I'd be sleeping until nine each day, and holding parties all night. One thing that the military taught me was the virtue of being an early riser."

Ursula gave her a final hug, then moved them all to the front of the house, out of the horribly ugly room they'd been eating lemon cakes in. Calling them muffins was a bit too lowly for what Todd had given her. If she'd gotten that for her birthday feast she wouldn't have considered it too dowdy. Slap a bit of sugar frosting on the top and it would be excellent for that, actually.

Smiling as she walked she winked at Todd, "I was just thinking that you could bring some of those muffins along with us? They're very good. If I could bake at all, I'd ask for the recipe."

Rather than be insulted, which nearly every other Count in the whole land would have been, he actually clapped his hands twice. Loudly and slowly enough that his deep blue shirt sleeves waved in response.

"I can do that. Some other things as well. I need to pack, but I can be ready in time. Good idea. I should take something as a visiting present anyway. Which means I should leave you both here and run do that, or my offerings won't be impressive enough." His eyes narrowed a bit, and his happy face actually moved into being stern. "That won't do at all. I just wish that Terlee could come too. Neither of us has seen anyone in years. Not since they left."

 Sara nodded, but didn't say anything. If Countess Thomson wanted to go with them, she was welcome, but the woman hadn't asked about it, and...

She managed to get out the door, and was in her small tan ship before she realized what she was actually thinking of doing. Trying not to let her throat close on her, she moved a bit outside the city and set down on the north side. That was where the new space base was being put in. All made of lovely tan and brown focus stone. Concentrated dirt. It was incredible stuff really, but not all of it was lovely to look at. This wasn't bad, but the kind made up north a few hundred miles was actually attractive. Black with streaks of red in it. Like the old style vehicle that Countess Thorgood used.

Really, she needed to suggest to Todd that he have Flynn build them one, with fine carvings all over the exterior of it.
That
would be stunning.

Patting her pocket, Sara tried to remember which one had the correct communications device in it. She had three of them now. One that only let her speak to Timon, Trice and a few other people. Most of them Baker family members or other Ancients. Immortals, really, since they weren't all that old. Most of them were younger than she was really. She'd never had to use that one, but the other two were handy enough.

She pulled the one that Terry had given her, and tried to put in Countess Thomson using her title, which didn't do anything, meaning the name wasn't there. After a few more tries, she simply tapped the surface of the glasslike device, hitting glowing blue and green letters until she worked it out.

"If her little brother put her name in, it wouldn't be as Countess
anyone
, would it? Not even Tamerlane. No, it would be what her people call her."

That got set up quickly. Terlee. Simple and so close to being common that most would have taken it as an insult. Not
that
Countess though. She was better than that. Above petty things like being worried what was said about her.

The voice that came had a picture with it. That of a lovely young woman whose face
should
have made Sara jealous. She was just so sweet, gentle, and generous, that begrudging her anything seemed wrong.

"Hello? Sara isn't it? Tor and Tim's friend? Tiera mentioned you, as well. What may I do for you today?" It should have sounded phony, or at least merely polite, but it didn't. She'd asked what she could do for Sara, and
meant
it. Because she was a friend with some of her family members.

Maybe even just because she was that good of a person.

Sara smiled at the little image in her hand. It was perfect and as clear as looking through a fine glass window. She knew that on the other end the same thing would be happening too, so she let her eyes wrinkle at the edges, even if she were tired already.

"Hello, Terlee. I'm taking a trip up to Harmony in a few hours, and was wondering if you'd like to go too? Todd's going, though Ursula is staying here, since she has work to do. I can come get you if you like? We're planning to leave at eleven, but I can push that back if you need?"

She waited then, realizing that her casual tone might just be enough to have her killed, if she weren't careful. Rather than explode Terlee simply sighed, happily.

"That would be
perfect
, Sara! I think that I can set up the nanny to watch the children for a few days. Or... Do you think that I could bring them? That would be too much to ask, wouldn't it?" There was actual shyness in it, since most people really didn't want little ones underfoot.

"Nah, they should go too. Tovey can come, if he isn't busy? We can set him to babysitting to make certain that nanny of yours can go and do some sightseeing up there."

That
was one person she thought she could get away with teasing a little. She actually knew Tovey after all. They'd been part of the same crowd, after a fashion, in school.

Terlee grinned at that, as if it were actually funny too.

"That does sound fair, doesn't it? We'd love to come, if it really isn't too much work. We're in Thompsonville right now, at our house there. We could put out some blue lights to mark the landing area? It isn't big enough for a jump ship though. Aren't those vast?"

That was the other woman simply making conversation, Sara realized. Tor and Timon both had mentioned that Terlee was brilliant and that less information missed her than it might seem. Timon had mentioned that she wasn't as intelligent as he was... but that she
was
very close to that level. Since he was one of the smartest beings on or off the planet, that was saying quite a bit, wasn't it?

"It grows, and shrinks, on demand. I can be there at about twenty after eleven? Sooner than that if Todd loads up faster than most people do. We can't count on that though. He's a noble. You know how
they
are." She deadpanned the words, but it got a laugh anyway.

"So I hear. He's
also
Todd. I'd wager that he'll be standing in place half an hour before you get there, if you wish to test him on it?"

"Um... maybe not. I set him to baking things for the trip, so that may play in to things. I meant it as a joke, but he ran right off to the kitchen. He has these
superb
lemon-walnut muffins. We'll also have Roget Smithson with us. He's from Tellerand. Um... Something like the third in charge of that land right now, after Terry and I. At least for Noram. So, you know, Ambassador's assistant, and all that."

There was no audible pause or break in speech at all. It was a sign that Countess Thomson was just as quick as everyone said.

"Congratulations. I imagine that taking Tellerand on as a project has been... Difficult. Gerent and Petra were speaking of the issue just a month ago. Are you going to their wedding? It's going to be up in Harmony."

Sara tilted her head, really not knowing the answer to that one. She knew Petra, a bit, from school, and Gerent was her boyfriend, even if they'd never been on an actual date before. The man had been teasing her lightly about a year before and asked if she wanted to be, so she'd said yes. He was a Prince. Even as a lark it was better than being some woman that a Prince
didn't
know, wasn't it?

She cleverly didn't bring it up, since it was so far from real that doing so might have been insulting to someone. Petra most likely. She'd been guarding the man like he was made of gold the whole time they'd been engaged.

"Well, I haven't gotten an invitation yet, but I'm willing to stand there and pout at them until they give in. When is it? I'm sure mine just missed me, or something?" This came with a grin. She probably wouldn't have been invited to Trice and Tim's wedding if she hadn't been part of it, standing as Patricia's lady's maid. Though, that one would have probably been fair, after how she'd had to treat Timon for all those years. The best she could really hope for there was the young man didn't really hold a grudge against her for it.

It was hard to tell what he knew about things though. Even if he figured out what had been going on, it might still be too much for him to take. She'd been worse than cold to him. She'd played it as if she were
indifferent
. If it hadn't been ordered by King Richard, she would have at least sent a go between to make sure his feelings weren't harmed by it. That, or even considered the offer. Sure, he was younger than she was, but also a Prince now. Even if he wasn't, there was no good reason for her to treat anyone like that. Not if they showed interest in her.

It had been a lesson that had been hammered home early on for her. Her own mother had seen to that. You didn't treat anyone, no matter who they were, as less than special. Even if they were vile, old, or ugly. Especially then. There was simply no way to tell who or what a person might become some day.

 Yes, it meant that she'd spent more than one night on her knees making sure that a man she didn't really care for was taken care of well enough, but it was better than being awful to them only to find herself and her family being hung three years later when they turned out to be important.

It was unlikely, but she couldn't help but remember that little boy with his youthful crush on her that turned out not only to be a Prince, but a wizard so powerful that no one could actually stand against him. The one that she'd treated, if not like crap, then at least like he didn't matter to her. That was going to cost her, in the end.

It might have already, since that same boy was the only person that could make people immortal. That potential prize had been taken right out of play, hadn't it? Sara would have scolded the King about it, but you just didn't do that sort of thing. So instead she kept her mouth shut, and pretended it had been her plan all along. Alienating him for some unknown reason.

Worse, if asked she really didn't have anything to say about it. If he ever just came to her and asked
why
, she'd be left stammering and trying to make up some kind of tale to amuse them both. It just didn't make sense to her. At least it hadn't until Trice had flown in and grabbed him up while he was still too young for anyone else to get married to. It was allowable, as long as the parents agreed, and she was trying to get out of a bad marriage arrangement herself at the time. Still, for that to have been the real reason, the King, or one of his advisors, would have had to be working on things behind the scenes for years.

Her guess was Count Lairdgren. The old, and now dead, Count. The Green Ancient. The one that looked exactly like Tor used to. The one that
had
been. Her friend, though no one other than her mother really knew about that.

Then he'd run off and gotten himself killed by the same plague of magic that held the other immortals off the planet. Probably to avoid having her confront him about what he'd managed to steal from her. The
jerk
. Hiding himself from her wrath by dying like that.

Not that she was all that angry about the whole thing. It was, in the end, what most people had. She'd live a life, and die when the time came. That was all. Asking for more was greedy, she didn't doubt. Brushing her blonde hair from her eyes she realized that Terlee was still looking at her, tracking all of what was going on closely.

Like Tim did. It was eerie, but she didn't think for a moment that the woman wasn't picking up a lot more than was being said.

"Merchants like me generally don't get asked to state weddings. I should send a note to them both though, congratulating them. I really am happy for them both." She was, but a sudden pang hit her, knowing that she didn't have any serious offers on the table for herself that way.

No one had ever even sent a proposal in for their ugly and pocked son or nephew. Not that anyone suffered from that kind of thing now. Not the nobility, or even high merchants. Everyone could just use a Healing amulet and it would all be fixed. It wasn't a lack of men either. Noblemen might be hard to find, but at her level there were loads of younger sons around that would want a wife soon. It probably wasn't her looks, either. She just hadn't been making it known that she was on the market, being distracted by Tor and a few other men that she really couldn't have, in the end.