Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) (28 page)

Also, if what he said was really true, that they didn't know all of that. Sara had grown up in a manufacturing household, and she'd never heard things put quite that way before about magic, had she? That could also be Tim just trying to build up her confidence. Still, she was an Ancient now, wasn't she? That should make it easier.

Following the directions carefully, she focused on both the template and the little rectangles holding those in her left hand and the bigger piece in her right. Her eyes closed, she could still make out the stone pieces, and even feel the light tickle of energy from the field she was shifting.

It looked like a faint bluish silver to her, but wasn't hard to work with. Oh, her attention did try to split off and go its own way, about three or four times a minute, but eventually she thought she actually had it. Possibly not though. Shrugging she walked into the food prep area and asked for a single plate, so that she'd have something real to try cutting up.

"It either works or it doesn't, right?" She said this to the box as she got the plate, but there was just a pause, then a single word.

"Sorry?'

"Never mind. Here, there's no use in waiting to find out I failed, is there?"

That got another sorry, as if the thing didn't understand her, but like it had told her, it didn't think or understand much.

Setting the plate on the deck, making sure she was well away from the tiny cricket palace she'd had built, Sara activated one of the tiles with its etched arrow on it. Holding it carefully, since she didn't know if she could re-grow little things like a hand, or her head. Probably not, so it was best not to risk it. Cutters were incredibly dangerous, since you couldn't see or feel them, until something separated. Then it was generally too late.

"If this works at all, which, face it, isn't too likely."

Then she cut the plate into two perfectly smooth edged pieces. The deck under it was fine, being made of shield material, more or less. The next five cuts were all just as easy to make. That meant getting more plates and testing the other units. It didn't take long, so feeling a bit triumphant, she headed off to find her new tutor and show off the work... That he'd
already
pointed out was pretty simple to do. Feeling a bit chagrinned, she kept walking, carrying a few plates with her, since they made for a good demonstration.

He was in their room, sitting on the bed, with his eyes closed. Sara had to wait, but not for long, since five minutes later he opened his eyes and set the piece in his hand on the low table near the head of the bed. It looked like stone had been carved to make it.

"Good, you should get something to eat. We both should."

Sara held up the plates. "But... It's showing off time! I made magic. Sort of! Where are my accolades and the party I was promised?"

There had never been a promise of that, but she did get a big hug.

"We'll have cake with luncheon, how's that? Frozen cream, too. We might as well cut those up near the Taman-... You know, I don't think she ever named those things? Kind of annoying, how they speak like that, and learn to make your favorite dishes from description. I mean really,
I
should have thought of it first. She even has a version that speaks each of the major languages. For an eight year old she's not doing too badly, so far. I can hardly believe she turns nine in a few weeks." He grinned and looked at her little handful of Cutters.

She got it, without needing to be told. It was good that she'd managed it, but his world was a million times more advanced, so it didn't seem half as special as it would have if she'd managed it at fourteen and taken the courses back in Noram. Even if she'd done it now, on Earth, her family would have held a real party in her honor.

Except Kurt. Kristine probably wasn't going to be her best friend anymore. Not that he ever had been.

Hopefully it would help though, and her brother would learn not to be like he was before. If nothing else he had three wives to take care of now.
That
was going to be fun, telling her mother about it all. For some reason that idea didn't bother her as much now as it had before. It was probably the whole lack of fear thing.

"Well, I'm probably a few months away from doing anything really impressive. Still, cake sounds good. I haven't had any for a while now." It took a bit of juggling, but she managed to carry everything in her left hand, so that her right could take Tim's

Together they walked to the little room and first cut some things up, then got way too much food and took it to the dining room to eat.

Smiling, just as she finished her meal, eating the last of the delicate frosting from a slice of spice cake, since that was her favorite, she made eye contact.

"So, what's next? Making lights?"

Timon gave her a funny look, then nodded, a bit more firmly than she'd expected him to.

"Good plan. Light is actually
really
easy to make. It's already a field, so all you have to do is get a sense of it, and then place it on the object you want it attached to. Just like holding your attention using a template. You'll need to make some controls for it, and we'll want some different colors, but those aren't too hard."

There was a bit of a class on the topic then, and after they'd cleaned up the dining room, he waved her away, pretending to be high handed about it.

"There. You can make a copy of that in a few hours. Get to it and we can do something fun before bedtime."

There was no attempt to leer at her or anything, her friend just looking at her as if that were a good plan. Get the boring stuff done, then do something more entertaining.

"Sure. I'll see about this part, then meet you in the bathing chamber in say, three hours?" Not having a clue how hard the work would really be made her bold, but Tim cleared his throat.

"Six. I'll be waiting though."

It was really hard to hold the thing together in her mind, but she beat the time projection by forty minutes, and when she tested the little device, it made a nice bright light, that could be turned on and off. The colors were a little off, which she didn't understand, until she went to find the bathing chamber and tossed it to Timon.

He knew the answer almost instantly.

"Ah. It looks right to me. I bet it's that your eyes have changed, but you still think of colors being how they used to be for you. It's a good build for a first one. Simple, but not a copy really.
Almost
, I mean, little kids can do this, but you know, not bad, Builder Sara."

That bit caught her off guard, since she hadn't really been thinking of it that way.

"I built something? I... Does that count though? It's just a light."

"Sure it does. Most first builds aren't this impressive even. My first was an air lance. True, I came up with the concept with only a little theft from Tor's ideas, but the actual thing was no harder to make than this. It means that we can dump part of the work on you now though, which is the real point. Trice can't do it at all. Kolb can't either, so it isn't
just
about being smart, really. You probably always would have been good at it, if you'd gotten the correct instruction. My bet is that Count Lairdgren didn't want that for you. No, you were too well placed as a spy for that kind of thing. After all, he had all the magic he'd ever need. Good spies are always in demand however. Probably because they tend to die young, as a group. Anyway, now we can have a real party. Or... Well, that might be claiming my abilities are a bit above what they are, but we can do some of that fun stuff I hinted at earlier?"

She nodded, and tapped her clothing amulet off. The room was warm, and humid. The large tub already had a cute boy in it, and there were worse places to start an evening of pleasure.

That took up most of the evening, and they cuddled in bed after that, dozing for a while and taking turns getting up to get food, and make sure the new device Timon had built was keeping them on course and that they weren't about to hit anything.

They were headed the right direction, and Sara had rarely gotten close enough to anything
to
hit, and never on accident. The next day Timon walked her through a slightly more complex build idea then suggested she do that while he watched the ship.

"I can meditate, so it won't be too boring for me."

It was better than trying to do the same thing herself, so she sat on the bed and built a simple device that would do nothing but change rock or dust into air. It had been on her mind that having something like that might have helped when Harmony had lost their air. The idea was a simple enough one, and she tried to be careful, making sure it could transfer air from where it was created, by the amulet, and then be carried, even through a vacuum, to where it was needed, only flowing one way, so that an open hatch or door wouldn't just let all the air back out.

It sounded simple to her, compared to making a ship or even a shield, but when she woke up, her throat was nearly closed with dryness and she couldn't speak. Some water really did help with that, but she had no idea how long she'd been there. Working. Like Tor used to.

That meant someone had been taking her to the toilet and making sure she was staying clean after that. For half a moment she felt ashamed, then let that go. Timon had seen those bits already, and if he hadn't used them all yet, that was just because he was polite. So there was nothing to really be worried about. She'd never felt that way when doing the same for Tor, had she? No, she'd always just gotten her portion done, and then set him back to work. Timon wouldn't have done anything other than that, she didn't think. Not that she was worried about him having had sex with her. It was seeing her in that kind of state that was the problem. It was a very vulnerable thing.

There was none of the stumbling that Tor and the other builders did after long work sessions, which might be due to her new pattern, she thought. She wasn't sore or tense at all, and felt strong, really. Ready to fight, or run, if she had to. So after getting some food and water, she walked to the bridge, only to find that they were inside a large hangar. It was similar to the ones on Harmony, but the smoothness of it told her the entire thing was made out of magic. She could
feel
that part.

It was odd, but she didn't hesitate to walk to the door that had appeared in the front of the ship. There was a glowing red tube to it, after all, which was a thing she knew how to deal with. So, a few moments later she was jogging down the ramp, into the space station. There was no one to be seen at first, but after a bit she saw someone who looked a bit familiar to her. They'd met before, a few times.

The woman was about an inch taller than she was, and had long blonde hair, that reminded Sara a bit of honey. The dark kind, that glistened in the sun. The skin was golden too, and a different shade of it than her own. There were lovely emerald green eyes shining out of her face, too. Like gems, they were so clear. The clothing was different, not being made to look like something from Noram. No, this woman was dressed in fur, with what seemed like leather that had been dyed orange.

That fit her name and everything, plus made her easy to identify. Though why she was out of her Fleet Commander's uniform, Sara didn't know.

"Commander Orange?" She spoke the words gently, not being certain as to the correct title. That was a big thing in Noram. Wars could be started over an imagined slight, and had been.

This woman just smiled.

"Sara! I hear that you are now one of the long lived? Or was Timon making fun of me? Trying to trick me?"

That was a thing that she'd heard about, but hadn't realized was quite as real as all that. The Orange Ancient always thought that good looking men were trying to take advantage of her. Normally in a playful manner, or trying to get her into bed, which was probably also true, but for her it was a real issue. A constant thing that she had no control over.

"It's true. I should be able to go back to Earth, too. I guess that I was made a bit more like a Remy than one of you? I don't know what that means, and can't change shape yet, if that's even a thing. Other than that I feel pretty good. What are you doing here?" That last bit sounded almost a bit confrontational, so Sara started to backpedal instantly, "I mean, I didn't know you'd be around, that was all. It's good to see you."

The woman moved in and gave her a big hug, picking her up off the floor. Smiling. Then, without warning she tossed Sara over her head, toward the far wall. It all seemed to happen in almost slow motion, so she just did a flip in the air, and stuck one foot back after that, to kick the wall lightly, holding to her feet. The other woman ran at her, grinning then.

Sara wasn't certain what was happening, but didn't notice any fear about it either.

The fight didn't take too long, though it seemed longer to her than the reality, Sara thought. The other woman was just so much better than she was that it was a bit like an agile and able teen fighting a weapons master. Everything Sara did was countered, and her own blocks were gotten around about half the time. It was interesting and didn't really hurt, but wasn't comfortable either. Mainly because she didn't know what they were really doing.

Without even breathing hard, neither of them were, she held up a hand after finally getting away from Alice.

"Um, are we fighting, or playing? I need to know the rules here, I think. I mean I'm still alive, so playing?" She sounded hopeful, and not like she was teasing the other woman at least.

"Playing. So no decapitations. Go!" The next few attacks were so intense that Sara really didn't think she kept up with what was happening, but when they ended, she was on the floor, with both hands being held behind her back.

The Ancient let her go when she stopped struggling, and bounded to her feet.

"Finally, someone worth spending some time practicing with. To answer your question, I'm on shore leave. Our new head of medicine decided that it was needed for everyone to have a break occasionally. So here I am, since I can't find any nice beaches anymore. Not for now. So, shall we go again?"