The Silence Within (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (33 page)

"You need to call Smyth."

"Oh... Right." She did it though, stopping at the edge of the school commons. She knew how to use it though and Smyth picked up almost instantly.

"Westend." He was efficient sounding at least.

"Mags Helms here. I procured a communications device, under my name, and a craft for travel. A-" Tiera elbowed her, causing a small woof sound and mouthed the word
fast
. "A... Fast Craft?"

"Excellent. I might have something for you to do tomorrow then, if you're prepared to that level. Very well indeed. I'll pass the word to King Richard."

"Thank you, sir."

"Until we speak again, Miss Helms."

That did it, and Mags, if she wanted to eat her normal meal, needed to get to the dining hall or they'd close and she'd be forced to spend coin on it. She
had
it, now, but suddenly going out for fine dining would be suspicious, wouldn't it? That wasn't lost on her at all, though as far as either of them knew her position wasn't covert or anything. They didn't know the opposite either. That being the case, they parted ways, with Tiera heading back to her own room for a nice bit of dried fruit, before collecting up the last of her coin, so she could purchase supplies for her trip in the morning.

It wasn't late at all, so she made a point to find people, since she had time. Kolb first, since she could talk to Doris after meditation class. It took some effort, since he'd gone into the little town for dinner with the other weapons instructors, which meant going to the cheapest restaurant in town, and waiting outside for them to come out, since she wasn't going to be eating there. On the good side that gave her Karen, Havar and Kara the Royal Guard all at the same time.

  "Hello! I've had some things come up and have to go and find out who's trying to kill my brother, Timon. I'm heading out in the morning, so I won't be at classes for three days or so. I wanted to let you know the plan, so you wouldn't keep pounding on my door, or hassling Karen over it." She said it brightly, making it seem like a grand adventure, instead of a vast pain in the behind. No one bought it though, if for different reasons.

Karen glanced at Kolb and then shrugged.

"If it's allowed, I should go too. A few more of us maybe? I don't like the sound of someone trying to murder children. Even if it is Tim Baker." That one nearly got a growl from Tiera, who was feeling more than a little protective, but Kara, oddly, nodded.

"I hear you there. For a boy, he's
tough
. Not much of a fighter yet however. Stronger than most adults, in more ways than one. Still, we should set something up. I have my duty here, unless Tor is going too?"

Tiera shook her head.

"This is just fact gathering, so I doubt that I'll really find much. Still, I could use some company. Even in Fast Craft, things can take some time."

Kolb mentioned for them all to keep walking, and spoke softly, so as to not be overheard.

"It's dangerous. I'd go with you myself, but I can't see Black. Orange has problems there as well. Our systems don't mesh together and we'll fight. I get along well enough with Alice, if we aren't kept together for too long. It's one of the reasons I'm waiting for her to train some people before going up, so I won't be trapped on a ship with her. You... Might consider taking Doris."

That got a snort from Havar.

"The old meditations Instructor? What help would she be in a fight?"

Kolb actually had to bite his lips to keep from laughing at the man.

"She's not what she seems. Truly, if we get a chance, we should have her in for practice someday. I think you'd find it... educational, to say the least."

That got the man to glare as if insulted, and then look at Tiera from the side of his eyes. What he was thinking, she didn't know at all.

Until he spoke.

"I could go. Tiera is one of my students and letting her go into danger, without adding my own skills to the situation seems a poor plan."

Instead of telling him no, or asking what he was thinking, Kolb just nodded.

"You'll need to stay on the craft in Soam. At least when Julie White is around. She's afraid of tall people. It sounds minor. It isn't. We should get you a builder too, if Tor isn't going."

That started an argument, again with Havar, who thought that wasn't needed, though Kara called him an idiot after a bit. Tiera agreed, but had, with a lot of work, managed to hold her tongue on the issue.

"You're going into an unknown situation. True, most builders aren't Tor, but the good ones can read people, even Ancients. Grab one of the Lairdgren group and you might be able to learn far more than you would otherwise. I'd expect you to be a bit more far thinking than that, Baron."

He glowered, but stopped talking. Luckily they were headed back to Tor's because he was going to have to lend her some coin, at this rate. Though they could just stop at her place and collect some provisions the next day, she realized. It should work and she'd be able to make certain her Austran guests were comfortable and being provided for well.

 That made her feel better, since they just had to drop off Kara then, and go on from there, without asking for things again, like poor relations begging for crumbs. She was still poor, compared to him, but she had enough, she thought, if she were careful.

She had to peel off to see to her last class, which she tried very hard to do well, and after it was over, she stopped, not knowing if Doris would tell her no, or simply walk away when asked to do something dangerous.

The woman was old after all, and wrinkled, Ancient or not, which made her look weak and frail. Her hair was white, and she was pale all over, as if from never going out in the sun. Hardly someone that Tiera would have picked out for the job of finding a would be killer. More like the old woman in the village that watched the littlest children on the rare occasions their mothers had errands to run.

"I need to be gone for a few days..." She explained it all, going into as great of depth as possible, which got nearly no reaction from the woman at all. "I was hoping that you might come along? I don't know if your schedule allows for it, or if you can do that, but..." Before she could say that it would make her feel better, if nothing else, the woman nodded, once.

"At what time will we depart?" Her hands were folded in front of her as she sat and was serene. It was a pure and total thing that came off of her in waves, ripples in the air of the stuff hit Tiera, she realized, which had to be the fact that the woman was technically producing some kind of field that caused that result. Organization at the most basic level of being. It was a state that Tiera should learn to master, sometime.

Clearly it would take a whole lot more work than she'd been putting into meditation yet.

"Just after breakfast? In the commons here."

Then, as if that totally settled everything, Doris waved to the door, gently, one time. It was a bit strange, but she left, since it seemed that the Ancient was in it with them. It felt almost shocking, and she wondered if it was really that great of an idea? Kolb thought it was, so maybe having a more familiar face would be a bigger aid than Tiera thought. She'd met all the people she'd intended to visit herself, but seen once just wasn't the same as being an old friend or family member.

After that she got a small floating chest together, which was the one that had the communications devices in it, and added a few things for the trip. Like her toothbrush and some extra soap, pencils, pens and paper, in case the need to take notes came up. It didn't seem likely, but what did she know about things like investigations?

Then she got into bed and slept. Or tried to. She wasn't that worried about anyone attacking her personally. They simply hadn't and if it had been part of the plan, the school was a great place to do it. She didn't have a real lock on her door, and at least in theory the other students could be used against her as shields, or hostages to her good behavior. It wouldn't work very well, but it was a thing to try. She also knew that, despite being halfway decent in a real fight, thanks to rushing in hard, some extra strength and not quitting when it got painful, she wasn't all that wonderful as a fighter yet. Oh, pretty good for a first year, in the main, but even some of them had had years to train, as she'd learned earlier.

So, that probably meant that no one that would go after Tim would hold back out of fear of her awe inspiring abilities. No, she just wasn't a real target at this point, for whatever reason.

The reason sleep didn't come easily was that first Karen came stumbling in, trying to work in the dark, which didn't work, then turning the light on to full brightness by mistake, which was nearly blinding, and did mean the large Instructor had to wait a bit before going on, since she'd had her eyes open. She smelled of wine, which was a bit annoying, since she was too drunk for the night before a journey, in Tiera's estimation. It wasn't a huge thing, but it was enough of one that she secretly wanted to punch the girl a few times for being stupid.

On the good side, she didn't feel angry about it, she realized. Just really annoyed and ready to correct her. It was an improvement, even if it did have a tendency for hitting in the mix.

Then, almost as if knowing she was being a pain already, Karen decided to cap that one off by climbing into her bed, cuddling to her... And
crying
.

"It isn't fair. I know I'm not the best looking person in the land, but why do I always have to be alone?" It was said loudly and whined. Hardly like what Tiera would have thought she'd be like in bed, with just the two of them.

"You
aren't
alone. You never are. You've just been working on this three steps idea so hard for so long that you can't see that it cuts your marriage options. Even someone like Collette Coltress has to fight to catch a nobleman that's a baron or better. Too many girls and too few boys in the batter. If you can move outside that, do something unexpected, then there will be more opportunities for you." That or set her sights on Terry. He was as well placed as Karen was now, Tiera realized. Nearly at least.

Karen sobbed anyway, and gave a half coherent ramble about the things that had happened to her, with her father. It wasn't all understandable, but she really wished the man was alive again, so she could fly to his home, and kill him. It was probably just as well, since she knew that she really would have done it too. Her trick with the Space Craft had worked too well not to use again.

This took up most of the night, and her bed wasn't huge, so it meant being pressed against the much larger giantess the whole time. After a while the girl rolled on top of her, and slapped clumsily at her throat, leaving her naked in the dark. Tiera sighed. It was a bad idea, after all. She'd feel upset about it in the morning and get mopey over it, if they did anything, afraid Kolb would find out. That had been her rationale before at least, when explaining why she wasn't going to hit on Tiera.

In the dark, she couldn't see much, but tried to actually think through it all. Which was worse, in a scene like this? Rejecting an already hurting person's advances, or testing the bounds of what a newly minted Countess could get away with at Lairdgren school? Really, she knew the answer, didn't she? If it came to it, she could just explain it to Kolb, and while the man might beat them, or give them extra duty, Karen wouldn't be out of a job or punished
too
harshly. In fact, if the woman had been sober they could have claimed that it was all a test, to make sure that Tiera wasn't being a Doretta anymore. It was part of her job to ensure that.

"Roll off me." Tiera said it calmly, even managing to sound only half asleep, not like she was upset.

Karen did, slowly, sobbing once, until the move was reversed, ending with her much smaller person on top.

"That's better. I do
so
love to breathe when I can. So, what do you have in mind?" She tried to sound loving, and managed it well enough. It was weird, but she realized that Karen, out of everyone she had left now, was probably her best friend. Prison guard or not.

It turned out that she didn't need Tiera to do much at all, and twenty minutes later she was content just to cuddle for a while longer, then fell asleep and started snoring loudly. Right in her ear. It was a pain, but she didn't let her go, so that her friend would know she was loved. What was a little sleep lost anyway?

In the early hours, just before sunrise, she got up and washed, then went for a quick run to wake up and headed to the practice square. No one else was around, so she did her normal thing, working stones and then pells, and was busily punching the wooden poll in front of her four hundred times as hard as she could manage when a person finally did come. It was a strange one too, for this time of day, being the Dean. Tiera wouldn't have thought he bothered to wake before sunrise on most days, being old and not having to for his job.

"Countess Baker. I was just passing and thought I heard something, is everything well? I'm... not altogether certain that pells are meant to be used that way. Don't most use weapons for that?"

Tiera stopped and smiled at the man, who was visible in the near dawn light.

"I've
noticed
that, but it's part of my training. The hard part is doing head butts.
Such
a headache. I hardly cry at all anymore though, so I figure I must be toughing up, at least mentally." She meant it, but the man chuckled anyway. Then, she had sounded pretty friendly about it all. "I have to leave today, along with some of your staff and probably at least one student. It's important, but..." Really she just didn't know where to start explaining it all.