UC:Fates Act3-Part3
“Thank you Legent.” Nicole said formally with a small bow.
“Quit that Nikel, you know better.”
“Do you know what happened to me?”
“Yes. You had it coming to. I can tell from the young man blushing you’ve been obedient as well.”
“I have to be.”
“I know, but as your collar binds you to obey him, your companion’s collar binds her the same way and ties her arousal and desire to his. Every time he wants you, she wants him, she feels what he feels.”
“Oh sweet Chaos Sien, I’m so sorry.” Nicole whispered, “I had no idea.”
“I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” Sien tells her gently.
“Excuse me,” Prince Tagoni interrupts, “But did you say collar?”
“Have a nice evening everyone.” Legent Arie said walking off, with if ears were to be believed, a laugh.
“It’s complicated.” Micah says blushing.
“Then perhaps we can speak while your companion questions your attacker. I would ask questions mind you, but you came in with a Legent and she called him your attacker so I consider it verified for my purposes. I must ask though why the time limit?”
“Because he will either bleed in the brain or simply die sometime soon. I was forced to use my Seed magic on him to keep from drawing attention by having someone humbled with us.” Nicole answered, “I am new to using it and had no facilities to refine what I had or the time to do so internally.”
“Are you sure you can do the questioning Nicole?” Micah asked.
“Oddly, yes.” She replied looking puzzled, “Apparently sex toy doesn’t mean quite the same thing to her that it does to others.”
“She thinks of any service which helps him sleep soundly as that of a sex toy.” Sien answered.
“Odd.” Nicole replied as an odd thought poked in then ran away, “With your permission Prince, I have a prisoner to attend to.”
“By all means, though I do want a witness of ours present.”
“I don’t see a problem. Micah, I’ll see you and Sien later, I suspect I’ll be having more fun than you will.”
“Come.” Prince Tagoni said with a smile, “Let us see about finding a room where we can talk and get some of that not as much fun started.”
“Did she say sex toy?” Prince Tagoni asked once they settled in a nearby room.
“Yes.” Sien answered, “We are what she called bound by law. I and my companion are collared and hence forced to obey our assigned keeper.”
“I take it Micah here is your assigned keeper?”
“Yes Prince.” Micah answered still embarrassed.
“I have heard tell of these collars of obedience, yet only in tales of old, legends.”
“They are real.”
“What could someone so young, you must still be in magic school, have done to deserve such a fate and why hasn’t your Familydom protested?”
“Murder Prince,” Sien said bluntly seeing no point in evasion, “We were following the orders of our lady and we killed a bystander.”
“We?”
“Yes.”
“I take it there is much more to this tale than a few words then?” The Prince asks.
“Yes.” Sien answers after a shudder, her voice is different, the cadence of her speech is as well and she stands just a little bit differently to Tagoni’s eyes, “There is much more for them to tell when it is time.”
“You came back.” Micah whispers in surprise.
“Came back?” Tagoni asks.
“Yes Micah.” Lisa answers with Sien’s voice, “I told you, I need to speak with the Prince. You have exceeded my expectations, thank you.”
“It was not my doing.” Micah answers, “We got off the train ok, but then we ran into a Legent.”
“Which one?”
“Arie.”
“Excuse me, I know this is a ridiculous question.” The Prince interrupts, “But who are you?”
“I am Lisa, I am sorry about meeting like this but I needed to reach you as soon as possible and even that wasn’t fast enough.”
“Ok Lisa I thought named Sien, what can I do for you?”
“I am Lisa, this is Sien. I am speaking to you from a train near the far border of Michelson.”
“Like with a mirror but with a person instead?” Tagoni asked intrigued.
“Yes, but I have little time, the process is exhausting.”
“So what can I do for you?”
“Do you have any broken Mirrors? Ones that used to work but were somehow cracked or otherwise quit working, preferably a long time ago.”
“We have many, we have been studying them for years. It is my private project to find a way to repair or even better make new ones.”
“Can you shelter my people for a day or two please and find an old mirror?”
“Certainly I can, but why if I may be so bold?”
“I need to speak to you privately and I do not have time to go in person.”
“Then just mirror me.”
“I have recently learned that unless certain precautions are taken it is not a completely private way to speak to someone.”
“I do not understand then.”
“You find an old broken mirror. I will fix it, then we can talk safely.”
“You know how to fix mirrors?”
“No, but I know someone who does. He will walk me through the process.”
“You know how to use female Seed Magic like the blood lords of legend, I admit I am guessing but nothing else I know of could possibly reach this far like this, yet can not fix a mirror?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Obviously.”
“Micah,” Lisa asked turning to him, “If I loosen the strings on Sien, can I trust her?”
“I think so. She has proven loyal and obedient. I have not needed to change her role even once.”
“Good, I feel Nicole coming and this is going to be awkward.”
“What is?” Micah asked getting scared again.
“I have it.” Nicole said entering, “Sien, do you know if Bren has a Randolph on staff, perhaps with the Land Mothers household?”
“Sorry, I have no idea.” Lisa answered.
“So you’re back.” Nicole said staring, “I wondered when you’d show back up.”
“You know who this is?” Prince Tagoni asked.
“Yes. The body is Sien, a friend. The voice is Lisa Ericson, better known as Third Heir Thomson, not my friend.” Nicole answered frowning.
“You’re a Land Heir?” Tagoni asks staring, unsure what to think, or who to think it of.
“Yes.” Lisa answers, “Nicole, if Sien’s reins get loosened a little, can I depend on her to stay with Micah, not make a scene?”
“Yes. She is resigned to her fate, as am I in truth. Why?”
“Because my plans have changed and Sien will no longer do for what I need.”
“But I will do just fine as another skin?” Nicole asked as not really a question.
“Yes.”
“I know I will never be free. I carry the secret of female Seed magic, you can’t let me go free, even my own family and Familydom would hunt me then.”
“Then you know what I have to do?”
“Yes. Go ahead, I won’t fight you, on either part.”
“Uncharacteristic, why?”
“Because the only way I can fight you is from within. Eventually you will make a mistake, then I will fight you if the time is right. To fight you now is have my awareness and volition reduced, or removed, if I am to have a chance later, I need my wits about me.”
“Kneel and bow your head.”
“By your command.” Nicole says complying.
“Where did you hear that?” Lisa asked hearing a familiar phrase she has heard before, but with no memory attached, just a feeling of familiarity.
“Ask me when I’m back.” Nicole snaps with fear fueled anger that Lisa ignores.
“Fine. Would you rather I do the transfer or would you rather Sien did?”
“Do it yourself.” Nicole replies then pauses a moment, “Please.”
“Fine.” Lisa replied with a softer tone before turning to the Prince’s armsmen, “I need a drop of his blood. Could one of you get one please?”
“Why?” Tagoni asked more curious than concerned, actually seeming amused if anything.
“You have my word as Third Heir of Thomson that I mean you no harm.”
“I’ll play along, this is the most intrigue I’ve had in years.” Tagoni laughed.
“I need you prick your thumb then come over here.”
“Ok.” Tagoni says taking an unexpected sewing needle instead of the expected small knife from an armsman. Jabbing his finger to get a small drop of blood on his thumb pad then seeing her look of surprise, turns to her with a smile. “My men and I do much of our own sewing, without Magic, soldiers fall back on old skills and sewing is both simple and easy to learn. It also help with slivers of wood and metal when they find their way into our hands.” He joked.
“Place your thumb pad on the back of her neck.” Lisa said kneeling beside Nicole, unwilling to take the time to discuss how unlikely it is for a Prince to do his own sewing in her experience.
“Chaos take me I hope this doesn’t hurt.” Nicole whispers trembling.
“It doesn’t.” Micah said knowing what was about to happen, “Sien said it didn’t hurt at all when it happened to her.”
“Thank you Micah, I appreciate that.” Nicole said looking at him before bowing her head.
“This will feel funny for a moment.” Lisa said placing a hand on Nicole’s head and Tagoni’s. His world became a blissful white. He had fleeting impressions of conversation. Then he was back before his balance could finish failing and he stood back up. Random thoughts and words float in his head for a few moments then settle into the background and he knows his balance going meant that wasn’t humbling. He has no idea how he knows, but he just does.
“Did it work?” Lisa asked, how tired she was obvious in her voice.
“Oh yeah,” Nicole said softly, “It worked just fine. He is as intrigued by our skin tones, Sien and I’s that is, as he is by our bodies. He is also curious about this role thing that keeps getting mentioned.”
“What?” Tagoni asks backing away. Scared not by the words or the idea exactly, but his unbidden understanding of them, and what they imply.
“She’s yours for now.” Lisa explains, “You can assign her whatever roles you want. If she resists, she gets withdrawn into herself as far as it takes to meet that role. You’re own reaction to her will determine that withdrawal based on your own expectations.”
“What?” He asked aghast.
“Now for the hard part.” Lisa commented.
“How long for it to stabilize after the transfer do you think?” Nicole asked.
“A day? I’m guessing though. I am not experienced at using seed magic this way or at this kind of distance.” She replied then turned to the prince, “Can you have a mirror located by sixth bell tomorrow, your time?”
“Yes.”
“Good, I can but hope my Seed Magic will be stable in her by that time, ready Nicole?”
“Just do it.” She replied bowing her head and spreading her hair to the base of her skull.
“Tomorrow Prince Tagoni.” Lisa said as she knelt. Tagoni watched puzzled as Lisa knelt Sien then appeared to kiss the back of Nicole’s neck for a dozen heart beats, then collapsed.
“Wow.” Nicole whispered trying to catch Sien, “Micah, you want to take care of your chamber maid?”
“Is she ok?” He asked discovering that Sien is heavier than she looks when he tries to pick her up.
“She’s fine.” Nicole said standing up, “Now Prince Tagoni, what shall we do first?”
“What?” He asked.
“I’m yours now. She just made you my keeper, she wants me kept close so when the mirror is available she can reach out through me. She just transferred her Seed Magic from Sien to myself, I can feel it spreading out, preparing.”
“What do you mean you are mine?”
“You are my keeper. What role would like me to be?”
“Role?”
“What she means.” Micah interjects, “Is that as her keeper it is up to you what she is. Third Heir assigned Sien as my Chambermaid when she made me her keeper. Nicole was made my sex toy for the trip, I could have changed it anytime, but Nicole asked me not to.”
“Made?”
“Yes.” Micah replies hesitantly, “From what I have seen so far Chamber Maid cleans your rooms first then warms your bed. The Sex Toy role is bed first, then chores. With the blood bonding she did, Nicole will now respond to your arousal and other emotions, just as Sien here does mine. She also has to obey specific orders.”
“Is that true?” Tagoni asked Nicole.
“Yes Prince Tagoni, you are my keeper, you determine what my role is.”
“Then if I want?” He asks and stumbles to a stop.
“Yes. If you order me to your bed I am there. If you want a Chambermaid, I am. If you want me to remain a sex toy, I will. I have no say at all, the collar bends my very thoughts to your will.”
“What is your role now then?”
“At this moment I have no role, you are my keeper, you determine that.”
“That hurts.” Sien mumbles as she wakes.
“Are you ok?” Micah asks gently.
“Yes.” Sien replies weakly, “And Lisa said to tell you Nicole, that the lack of predefined role is a reward, gift and test for you. She recommends screwing his brains out tonight and to make him so happy with you he never has to define a role for you.”
“So at this moment I am free?” Nicole asks in a shocked whisper.
“Yes.” Sien answered with a grimace, “However, if you get too far from him it will be painful. If he tries to release you, you revert to Micah. Don’t be very far from Micah if he does release you.”
“Then Prince Tagoni,” Nicole says with a resigned grin, “It’s a cold night out, how about we go keep each other warm?”
“Are you serious?” He asked stunned.
“Yes. I have been given a limited gift, I intend to enjoy.”
“You have? You do?”
“Yes. So long as you are happy with me and don’t redefine me, I am myself. Granted, I will be affected by your level of arousal. If you want me, then I will want you. Like now, but you are far to much of a Prince to let it show.”
“Incredible.”
“What you think and feel affects me.” Nicole told him.
“You can tell what I am thinking?”
“No. I can tell what you feel. Right now you are curious if this is real, I can tell because I can feel the stress of desire to explore my body being held in check with iron will. My role is now defined by your words and your will.”
“Role?”
“Yes. As part of my parole I gave my word to Third Heir to obey without the need to use the control given by my collar. Make no mistake, I am not wearing this collar by choice. However, I know that me, my body that is, will be on your mind. Even if you behave, that is to say not take advantage of the situation and use me, day by day your own desires and fantasies will affect me. Eventually your desires, even unexpressed, will subsume me, drive me away from myself in order for my body be made more available and desirable to you. I don’t want that, I don’t want that at all. The only way I can remain myself is if you except me as myself. So please, sleep with me, let’s have sex and get it over with, I’ll make it great for you.”
“Why?”
“So I can remain free when I’m not in your bed. If stay out of it completely, whether by your choice or mine, then I will slowly be less than I am. Little by little I will be drawn away, a fate worse than death by far. I was kept there for a while after, events. I’m not going back, I would be your deviant toy by choice before going back there. They couldn’t do this for me at first, they learned how later.”
“They?”
“She can explain for herself.” Nicole replied firmly, “Now am I going to spend the night with you or one of your armsmen?”
“Why one of them?”
“So I can be close to you, I have no choice. That warning to stay close to you means whatever happens if I get too far away from you is bad.”
“Then I tell you what.” Tagoni says with a grin, “I’m going to go to bed. You are welcome to join me if you so choose. However I am neither ordering nor expecting anything. What happens is up to you.”
“I can live with that.” Nicole replies, shocked to find that she means it.
“You don’t have to do this you know.” Tagoni tells Nicole in his quarters later, “I’m a prince, company in bed isn’t exactly hard to come by. I’m never lonely, in fact I have been known to turn down offers because sometimes I just want to be left alone.”
“Yes I do have to do this Prince Tagoni of Dest, it is for my own good.” She replies as her clothes drop in a trail to his bed leading to his bed until she stands nude at his side where he lies watching, waiting, “Have you ever been with a Magist before?”
“No.” He replies with a gulp.
“Then you’re in for a treat.” She replies doing a silent spell to increase his response to touch.
“You really don’t have to, umm.” He starts in then pauses as he feels his own sensitivity increase to the point he can feel a hint of her before they even touch.
“Great isn’t it?” Nicole asks just as she touches him for the first time. The feedback through the collar is unexpected and overwhelming. His breath catches catching hers. He trembles making her tremble and she finally understands the trap. In trying to out maneuver Lisa, she had walked into the trap she now sat in. His responses magnified by her own Magics then returned through the collar drowned out her thoughts. She was pulled back from herself, made a witness and passenger in response as her body went onward of it’s own accord in response to it’s own desires, which are Tagoni’s, not hers. It knew what to do and she was in no position to stop it, even if she could have thought coherently.
“Oh sweet Chaos the taker, Order the maker help me.” Nicole muttered in her own mind in prayer, it was a pointless prayer though. The feel of touch spread, a tingling sensation, where they kissed the sensation spread outward blanking every thought it encountered. Her mouth was dry, her nipples were hard and responsive, wanting him to moisten them with his lips and he did. She found herself wet below and wanting it filled, then she trembled. Soon she felt herself salivate as she approached taking his erection into her smile.
Tagoni’s climax filling her mouth as his back arched, arched her back as she swallowed without losing rhythm. Only then did the real trap expose itself. With no role defined, with no expectations to interfere, she had defined her own role. The moment trapped her, her own Magics made the moment so much her own, that with her own desires fed back to her, the small thinking part of her knew then the collar was no longer needed. No shield ever made by any Magist could protect the caster from themselves, so she bore the brunt of her own unrestrained magic magnifying everything that Tagoni felt brought back into her by the collar she wore. She was now Tagoni’s. She no longer wanted the collar gone. She no longer desired her freedom to run away. This now defined freedom.
Whiteness ringed her vision with the intensity of his climax, her swallow was an attempt to keep that moment, to make it part of her. Tagoni panted in ecstasy, she panted in time with him, unable to fight it even if she been thinking and decided to try. There was no awareness as she raised herself up, then lowered herself down onto him. Her body moved of it’s own accord to push him in, then moved to take him part way out then slam him back in again. Over and over it happened, some small part of her became aware of what was happening, yet even if she were coherent it was already too late, and she is not coherent. Coherence is bells away and her choices are narrowing by the thrust. Had she been aware she would have known she was slowly speeding up as the ecstasy of release, orgasm and climax warred with the agony and torture of physical exhaustion that her addled mind and singing soul cared nothing about.
“Oh sweet chaos.” Nicole mutters to herself when she finally wakes. The sun is just living up to it’s daily threat and showing itself. Under her head she can hear Tagoni’s heart, but she doesn’t need her ears to hear it now though. Even in the bathroom later she can hear and feel his pulse. She can feel him sleeping in his bed. Experiences echoes of his exhaustion from last night, feels his want slowly morphing into her need, he will wake aroused and she will be ready.
“I suppose this is what you get for trying to play checkers against a grand master playing chess.” Nicole admitted as she stared at her reflection in the simple reflective mirror. Today of all days she is happy to have a non responsive mirror. In it though, she can see her own satisfaction, see how happy she is with last night. She will do it again, she hates it, but she knows it. She will do that as many times and as often as Tagoni wants, would like, or she can get.
Never once had she considered the affect of clashing wills and people’s Magics on sex, yet now she knows what the dance of wills is for. It allows for the chance of that kind of bliss, a part of her cries for the missed opportunity to experience that with a Magist so it could go both ways. She knows now the true sentence, to be given the gift of comprehension yet forever denied the hope of fulfilling that dream. As much as last night will forever sing in her heart, it is hollow knowing there is one last bit, one last step that she will never take. She will forever live knowing she will never have that last bit, that final indefinable thing of two Magists in perfect sync and further to know that Lisa has that anytime she wants with Charles.
Tears erupt as armies of rage and joy and bliss and frustration and many more things war with her mind the battleground and her soul the graveyard holding the fallen and the dead. Her hope of true happiness among them, all of them resurrected and reslain as she replays her life over and over, always to the same conclusion.
“What happened?” A healer demands of Charles as together they settle Lisa into her bed in her rooms at the house of Thomson at the lake near the Michelson border.
“She pushed too hard, it exhausted her.” He replied honestly.
“Pushed at what?” The healer demanded.
“A spell, a very hard spell.”
“What kind?”
“I can’t say.”
“Are you Charles?” A new voice asks startling him. He turns to see a powerful feeling woman a hand under a fathom with shoulder length dark brown hair. Sharp distinguished features outline and emphasize her dark brown eyes that contrast with her untanned almost creamy skin.
“Yes ma’am.” He answers having no clue who she is.
“I am Land Mother Thomson and I want some straight answers. The healer is leaving now so we can talk plainly.”
“I must protest.” The healer protested.
“Then go make an appointment with my secretary, I’m busy.” She replied flatly.
“Ethics require me to monitor my patient.”
“Out,” She pronounced as though holding court and the healer instantly suspected she might be, “I am quite sure the young man here can tell us if our Lady Ericson were to be in any unanticipated distress.”
“Is he a trained healer then?”
“No, she fairly courses with his seed magic though, if she were unbalanced he could not help but notice, now leave us, we have matters to discuss.”
“Under protest.”
“As long as you’re gone before I run out of nice ways to say go away.”
“Thank you.” Charles tells her staring at the retreating back of the healer.
“I don’t like them much either, and I can’t have him catching just how much you are sustaining her.”
“What?” Charles asks.
“Young man, do you honestly think you are the only one to have ever played with seed magic?”
“No.”
“And far from it.” She smiled, “On to other things though.”
“How can I help you Land Mother Thomson?” Charles asked formally.
“She has been giving lessons then.” She asked, surprised by his proper use of formal tone and words.
“Sort of.” Charles smiled.
“Close enough. Is our Third Heir in any danger of becoming our First Heir?”
“What?” Charles asked startled.
“Does she intend to carry your child as well?”
“Mine? As well?”
“Do not try to play me,” She laughed, “We know Brenhar’s child is yours, not our Lucas’s.”
“Oh.”
“So what is she doing?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Try me.” She ordered, and even to Charles’ inexperienced ear, it was an order.
“At this moment she is talking with Prince Tagoni of Dest.” Charles told her seeing no point in evasion though he dreaded trying to explain.
“Interesting.” She replied which startled Charles because she obviously believed him, and didn’t look shocked to hear it.
“You don’t seem as surprised as I expected.”
“Let’s call it, not unprecedented.”
“What?” He asked taken off guard himself.
“Later, for now I have arrangements to make.”
“How is she?” Yet another voice asked and Charles looked up to see House Mother Thomson in regalia in preparation for meeting the Michelsons, mistaking her is impossible. House Mother regalia is all the same design, as is all Land Mother Regalia. Yet each one is unique, each is built anew each generation from the same templates, so although they all looked much the same, no two were identical. No two are ever made by the same hand because power is personal. So the signs of office are as well, each as individual as the person who wears it in office.
“Resting.” Charles answered getting scared as he began realizing the level Lisa played at.
“Now we have to wait.” Lisa is saying to the staring Prince Tagoni with Nicole’s tongue.
“Wait for what?” He asks.
“It will take a bell or more to be worth checking on.” She tells him. She fails to mention the toll this is taking on her. Already she has been forced to combine Charles’s seed Magic with Nicole’s not her own, the distance is just to great, the strain too much for as little of her own Seed Magic as Nicole carries. The unwanted but necessary combination is used to start the mirror working on repairing itself using the energy of the combined seed Magic. Telling it to continue to repair itself from the Seed Magic bridges then outward as Charles had instructed is all she can do for now.
“I shall find a way to pass the time until you return.” Tagoni says seriously though with dreamy eyes.
“I take it she was good last night?” Lisa asks.
“I have never imagined anything like that. If it were not improper to ask I would ask what it would take to secure her services for longer.”
“You have her Prince and now I leave you to her tender mercies.” Lisa said withdrawing. A heartbeat later Lisa is checking on the progress of Charles and her remaining pawns.
She peeks and for just a heart beat she is seeing through the eyes of Brenhar and Charles at the same time just as both of them are looking at House Mothers in full regalia. Her heart turns chill as her stomach flops at what she sees. For in those twin visions, the House vestments topped by the necklace of reflection, weighted by the formal mirror fragment fairly glow as all Magist items of office do. Yet with her connection to Charles she knows these Mirror fragments aren’t just the same, they are identical. Since the vestments are remade for each holder of office, they can’t be identical; which is the point and has been the point for centuries, yet these are. That means trouble because being identical means they are fake, which is as impossible as them being identical, which makes them a trap. What kind of trap is beyond her, but the surety of a trap is beyond doubt.
“I’m sorry.” Lisa says as she seizes Brenhar while making the danger clear to Charles by way of their back channel. She is barely done explaining when Charles has expressed her strategic threat assessment as counter tactics, then they are acting nearly as one.
“Lucas.” Lisa says with Brenhar’s mouth turning to him.
“Yes.” He replies puzzled along with everyone else in the train carriage at the change in tone.
“On the Lake, in a boat, by itself, send it to the middle.” Lisa pronounces as she rounds on House Mother Michelson attacking with a stunning spell. The attack is a total surprise and even as the stunned woman is falling backwards, Lisa is rushing forwards not to attack further, but to separate.
“Sorry.” Charles grimaces as he catches House Mother Thomson completely by surprise, before her armsmen, kept even here in one of her own houses, can even start to react. He uses a fire spell to cut the clasp on the House token and races away with it, two armsmen in pursuit. Neither he nor Lisa know what them being identical means for sure, but they have no intention of finding out why they sparkle the same in perfect sync; in person that is. That is because two magical items that respond to each other the way these do could represent many things, none of them good, none of them healthy.
“Here.” Lisa hollers at Lucas tossing the token, “They won’t harm her, they won’t touch the child, they can’t. Run.”
“Third Heir?” He questions catching the thrown House token.
“Don’t look in the mirror fragment, just get it on the boat onto the lake. Trust me Lucas, please.” She pleads and withdraws. She is gone long before he decides to jump from the moving train.
“No.” Lisa says weakly to her Land and House Mothers as she tries to sit up, “Clear his path, Now!”
“Lisa?” They ask nearly as one.
“Clear his path.” She repeats pleading and panting desperately with exhaustion.
Charles races ahead of the armsmen chasing him who haven’t gotten word to let him go. Stairways were glide paths as he truly pushed his newly again enhanced magic for the first time. Levitation is hard and can only be done for moments, yet done right you can glide down stair wells as though flying. The lake, the centerpiece of the border town between Michelson and Thomson is over a league across. Charles reached the lake well ahead of Lucas. Taking the token he places it in a boat he finds on the shore, then casts the boat upon the lake with induced motion. His miserable best that is, even enhanced he still didn’t have a firm grasp on the underlying principle so his efforts were far less successful than Lucas’ will be.
The boat is over twenty fathoms out when the guards catch him, still standing at the lake side pushing it out desperately with his even in his own words, pathetic, ability to induce motion. His shields, far stronger and of a different type than a mere student should have. Along with his panic wanting it, the house token, away from him, finally convinces them to hide in the lee of a building so he will cease fighting them before someone gets hurt. Given his lack of real skill at induced motion despite his upgrades from copying Brenhar’s Magic though, Lucas across the lake with a much later start makes far more progress than he does. Charles makes no effort to resist the guards attempting to restrain him after getting away from shore. He had had his orders and had obeyed, now he hopes to learn why Lisa gave them. Her panic to bring the pieces together away from people had been enough to drive him, now he wants to know why she is panicked at them being the same, and why his instincts agreed.
On the boats the distance between the Mirror fragments has closed to a league. Once there, they began their true purpose for existing. Where Lisa had seen the barest glimmer in common connection through the link, they now began to glow visibly. A soft glow that sparkled, that drew and held the eye of anyone who looked upon either of the boats. As they drew closer to each other in the middle of the lake, they were drawn to each other as the sparkle became brighter, finally glowing nearly as brightly as the sun. Now no eye that looked could hope to look away and they wanted closer. Those staring began to walk toward the wonderful glow, undeterred by water or other hazards.
Surface ripples ran across the water as the boats were now truly propelled toward each other with more than inertia. The symbols of office were attracted to each other and the water allowed them to draw the boats toward each other where they would have only guided a person wearing them. The glow brightened and people began to hear singing, even those who were not watching. As the boats touched the distance between the pieces closed to a fathom, then the glow went pure white as a roar split the day. The explosion depressed the water a dozen fathoms as the boats ceased to exist, sending waves that were still well over two fathoms in height by time they struck the shores. Though time passed before they hit, it was to late for those watching.
Around him, Charles felt people by the dozen crumple from the impact of something that arrived with the flash, ahead of the awful sound, long before the waves inundated the shore. By the dozens people dropped as though humbled, then lay there as the waves pounded the shores half flat, taking some buildings and a lot of people back with the retreating waters. His own shields were rattled but held and he realized that had he not been shielded by Lisa’s seed magic, he would have been dead along with many more than the few guards he could save from the water.
“What was that?” The Land Mother Thomson demanded, not angrily, but with fear and curiosity when Charles returned after having ensured the guards would not be hurt where he left them laying in the lee of the building where they collapsed.
“I know this sounds ridiculous,” Charles answered still trembling, “but that was a humble bomb. You have dozens if not hundreds dead out there. You need to get people to stop the train. I also need a place to put you and the Michelson Mothers.”
“Michelsons?”
“Their train is on the far side of the lake, it will be here in no more than an eighth bell.”
“We can return to the capitol or the citadel here.”
“Is that your normal plan?” Charles asked feeling the strain as even now he and Lisa conferred, then panic as she went silent.
“Yes.”
“Then don’t. The Michelsons were victims as well. Their House Mother wore the other half of the bomb, if Lisa hadn’t been peeking it would have gone off in town.”
“Other half?”
“Later please, right now you need somewhere secure to go. A place with guards hand picked by the two of you. Sorry about attacking by the way, Lisa made it sound rather urgent.”
“You are speaking with her?”
“Not anymore, she appears to be comatose now. I can feel her, but she is not responding at all.”
“You said hand picked?”
“The guards have to be hand picked, not vetted. You are placing the future of two Familydoms in their hands.”
“Faith not trust then?”
“Exactly.” Charles replied surprised they understand.
“Can you get word to them?”
“Yes, why?”
“Here.” Land Mother Thomson said holding out a list. “This a list of pass codes to all the gates and watchways for the day, and a map of where we are going, can you guide them to join us?”
“Yes, but where are we going?”
“The only place we have nearby with hand picked guards.” Land Mother Thomson replied pointing to a spot on it, “We are here, go to here, work quickly.”
“Can you put me on a stretcher like Lisa is?”
“Why?”
“So I can concentrate on them.”
“You can really do what Lisa does? This far speaking thing?”
“Yes. I’ve done this with Brenhar before, it’s how I showed her recovering her powers after we fought.”
“How you showed?” House Mother Thomson asked parsing the statement in a heart beat, disturbing Charles at how sharp a mind he faced.
“Later.” Charles said studying the list and map, “Just tell them I passed out, aftereffects of the bomb.”
“Go with order.” Someone said but Charles didn’t know who, he was already gone.
“Where is Lucas?” Land Mother Michelson heard the Heir Primus demand with the third voice in the last eighth bell, the second that was obviously not her.
“He is returning. He was doing so when the lake exploded.”
“The lake didn’t explode, yours and House Mother Thomson’s siglets did. The mirror fragment centerpieces of your siglets were part of a humble bomb. If you have anyone who collapsed from it, they are likely dead eventually if they don’t wake soon. Thomson just lost a lot of people.” Charles replied as he felt the train slowing, “Good, it’s slowing.”
“All trains use mechanical trip wires to signal slow for stations, our Heir would know that.”
“Sorry about that.” Charles replied. The feeling of the growing lump in Brenhar’s stomach startling him as it threw Brenhar’s balance off.
“I take you are this Charles we hear so much about?” Land Mother Michelson asks unable to not stare openly.
“Yes.” He replied looking outside, “How do you move like this? She used to be much more athletic.”
“Don’t ask.” A wheezing Lucas says entering, “Caught the back of the train and ran forward.”
“Lucas? What is going on?” Land Mother Michelson demands.
“No time.” Charles interrupts stumbling as the train stops, “We have to move now. I have gate passes and a route. I need you taken to safety.”
Protests are overridden by expedient of Charles taking Brenhar and heading out, the Mothers followed their pregnant Heir, their armsmen followed them. The few places they encounter working gates, pass phrases send them on their way. Offers of extra escorts are declined as they speed on their way. He is surprised when the route takes them to a mine entrance.
“That’s weird.” Charles comments seeing a mine shaft branch become a formal tunnel.
“You are expected.” An older guard says meeting then leading them on.
“That’s weirder.” Charles says seeing himself across the room, he withdraws.
“What is this place?” Charles asks as the Land and House Mothers are greeting each other formally.
“The one place here we know is secure.” Land Mother Thomson replies gravely.
“What’s a tomb doing in a mine?”
“This is where Third Heir Lisa was conceived.”
“What?” He asked.
“This is her mother’s tomb, she lies behind that wall.” Land Mother Thomson replied pointing.
“This isn’t a tomb,” Charles says looking around at not just mere decorations, but true splendor, “This is a shrine.”
“That too.” House Mother Thomson admits.
“Why?” Charles asks, “I mean I know they survived two and half moons and she was pregnant with Lisa when they were dug out, but a shrine?”
“Well.” House Mother Thomson says hesitantly while glancing at the Land Mother.
“Guards, out.” Land Mother Thomson says firmly staring uncertainly at Lisa unconscious on a gurney as she had been for a while now, “The four of us, Lisa, Lucas, Brenhar and Charles remain, everyone else out.”
“You heard her, out.” Land Mother Michelson echoes to her own people, “We are in this together now, work it out.”
“Inner and outer doors, latch them both.” Land Mother Thomson orders watching them all file out.
“Now that we have some Privacy.” House Mother Thomson says, “Come here Charles and open this cabinet.”
“It’s labeled ‘emergency rations and supplies.’ Charles says reading it and getting puzzled, “I saw supplies in the entry way, why this?”
“Open it.”
“Ok.” Charles says complying, “I don’t get what you are so...”
“Now do you see?” House Mother Thomson asks in the ensuing silence.
“A fortnight.” Charles stammers staring at the supplies, “A half moon, no more.”
“Now you see our problem.” Land Mother Thomson says.
“They should have starved to death.” He says flatly.
“Yet she came out with child.”
“How?” Charles asks.
“We don’t know. She would never talk about it, never discuss it, then she died in birth after just over eighteen moons instead of the normal fourteen to fifteen.”
“Who were you?” Charles asks wandering over to the inner door. He stops staring at the portrait, a shocked expression turning pasty white on his face as he stares.
“Impossible.” He mutters moments later
“What?” Someone asks.
“How do I open this?” Charles asks looking at the door to the actual burial chamber.
“For orders sake why?” Land Mother Thomson demands.
“Because it’s empty.”
“What?”
“I know her and she isn’t in here anymore, she left.”
“What?” Someone demands but Charles doesn’t hear that, all he hears is conversations from many years ago repeating in his minds eye. Gentle encouraging words of a traveling sales lady, then her saying goodbye a few years ago.
“Open it.” He demands looking for the way.
“You don’t really want to open it though do you?” Brenhar asks feeling some of what he felt through the seed magic still in her.
“No, I have to.”
“Please open it.” Brenhar asks driven by the need she can feel from Charles.
“Ok.” Land Mother Thomson says hesitantly but none the less opening a small door and turning a wheel. The thick slab like door slowly rumbles out of the way, “This used to be a mine. We used one of our fire break doors for the lock mechanism.”
“Lucas, help me.” Charles says moving to the coffin inside even before the stale air can settle.
“Ok.” He replies puzzled and together they lift the lid to show an empty coffin. Only then do the others begin looking around. The Mothers Thomson are in shock, the tomb looks like a person lived in it for a while, then left one day, years ago by the look and feel.
“How?” is the universal question.
“This must never be spoken of.” Charles says flatly.
“Why?”
“Brenhar.” Charles says still flatly.
“Yes.” She replies held fast by his tone.
“I am going to give you a direct order and you will obey that order, do you understand.” Charles said speaking with strict formality.
“Yes sir.” She replied knowing she would obey even if she knew nothing of why.
“You are going to humble me and take every memory from the instant I walked in here and saw myself already here.”
“I’m what?”
“Lucas, you will hold her to it.”
“Why?”
“You know her?” Land Mother Thomson demands as her face pales trying to understand what was happening.
“Bren, you will take those memories with brute force, do a bad job, but a thorough one, make it look like some sort of echo from the bomb.”
“Why?” She asks.
“Trust me. Cover this, I am never to see this again, I can never see it, can never have seen it.” He orders placing a cover shroud over the portrait.
“Who is she?” House Mother Thomson demands.
“You obey Bren.” Charles orders.
“I obey.” She responds unable not to, “But the child, the back echoes.”
“We can replace it.” Charles says coldly.
“What?” The mothers gasp.
“We can replace the child easier than we can put this genie back in the bottle. I am sorry, but I can not tell you, any of you. Lisa will never understand and can never know, if I know she will, so I can never know. This knowledge would be bad for her, it would hurt her, it could break her. Know this though, you are both under attack from the same enemy and neither Donalson nor Dest is the problem, they are just pawns in a greater game. They are still your enemies, but someone else is using them and believe me please,” He pleads with tears starting in, pointing to the now covered portrait, “it is not her, she is not your enemy.”
“You are scared?” Land Mother Thomson states not asks.
“Yes I am.”
“You said you can’t hear her anymore, you called her comatose, is this why it has to be done now?”
“Yes. We are linked, what one knows, the other will soon enough. There are many reasons involved in this, but it has to be Brenhar that does this.”
“You control her, yet she hates you, she could break your mind with the freedom you grant her, is this secret worth that chance?”
“If I had to destroy both your Familydoms to keep this one, I would, it’s safer than letting those I suspect want this secret kept get involved.”
“Then it is not you that you fear for?”
“No. If the enemy, whoever it really is, knew what I know right now, they would move right now, be marching today, before it is too late.”
“What are my rules?” Brenhar asks hesitantly.
“DO! Your! Job!” Charles replies, every word striking Brenhar like a blow as everyone feels his shields evaporate.
“Ok.” Brenhar says putting her hand to his head and reaching out.
“Now what is this all about?” Brenhar demands once they are in the white room.”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I have to. You are talking about mind surgery with a butcher knife. I may not like you but I do value you since you gave me this child and I do not know what will happen to me if you cease.”
“Once you know you can’t unknow unless you do the same.”
“Prove it worth it.” She challenges.
“Watch.” Charles said and the room dissolved into an underground cavern. Girls, women are gathered round, all beautiful, they surrounded them in the memory. One face stands out, Legent Amina, though a very young, very savage looking her.
“Show me.” A woman to their perspective in the first person says firmly, “Walk me through it from the moment you saw Rhea’s step father.”
Then the scene dissolved again, reformed into an office full of Techist items. The same lady speaking before is speaking again, her audience of one, shown in the reflection of a mirror, is Legent Anna, a much younger Anna, listening intently as the woman speaks.
“As Amina is Wilhelm’s sharpest blade, so to was I my maker’s.” She says then the scene dissolves to show Charles’s view of his home with him as a small child.
“I’m afraid I have to go.” The same lady, but older looking, is saying, “Shifting markets, it happens, I hope to be this way again one day, but for now, I must sadly take my leave.”
“I never saw her again after that.” Charles is saying as the white room returns.
“Those memories, the first two were not your own.”
“No, those were from Legents from before the fall.”
“What? You mean our Legents are really THE! Legents?”
“Yes, it gets worse, the sync wars took a thousand years, not a century or two, this is closer to thirty six thirty two than twenty six thirty two.”
“Has Lisa seen those memories?”
“Yes.”
“Then how does she not know? And who is that woman.”
“She hasn’t been able to look at the portrait of her mother since she reached puberty. From what I can gather, she, Lisa’s mother, brought the Legents together before the fall.”
“Is she a Legent?”
“No, and she isn’t the threat either. Judging by the feel of it, she had Lisa on purpose.”
“Now what?”
“Surgery.”
“You’re still serious?”
“Yes. Tell them again that I said Lisa’s mother is not the problem.”
“Mind if I dig around a little while I’m here? I’m going to have Lucas take this anyway, I’m just curious that’s all.”
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you.” Brenhar said then stopped and smiled, “And for more than trusting me with this. Thank you for not destroying me.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Good bye.” Brenhar said and Charles’s presence dissolved allowing her to scratch a few itches before leaving. She even behaved and left alone what she really wasn’t supposed to touch, even like this.
“Pity.” Brenhar said releasing and leaving once her job was done.
“How did it go?” Lucas asked.
“Lucas.” Brenhar replied with an odd tone.
“Yes.”
“You will do the same for me. It needed to be me leaving foot prints because of his seed magic in me. It needs to be you in me because of this collar.” Brenhar ordered, once more amazed that the collar, so restricting in so many ways, allows her to order this.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, come into the white room and I will direct you on how to do it. Mothers, trust me on this, he didn’t know as much as he thought. Knowing what I know of our history as an Heir, he is far more right than he even suspects. Lisa’s Mother is not the problem, quite the opposite in fact.”
Are you sure of this Heir Primus?” Land Mother Michelson asks concerned by Brenhar’s calm acceptance of her asking someone to mess with her head and memories.
“Yes, I am more sure of this than anything Land Mother, on with it Lucas. Never, and I mean never, bring this up again. I wish in the name of order I dared tell you, but I don’t.”
“If you insist.” Lucas replied stunned.
“I do, and I mean that more than one way.”
“Ok.” Lucas said and they were in the white room, this time Brenhar’s.
“I know you want a reason, but I can’t give you one. However I do have one thing for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Give this list of places to look for clues to Legent Anna or Legent Amina, no one else.”
“Just them?”
“Yes, either. Mount Satrin, Indigo outback, North falls, Deacon’s echo and Yoland’s trench.”
“Tell them to look in,” Lucas asked repeating the names.
“Yes. Do not mention the crypt being opened, ever.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Do not worry, after events like these running into the Legents will not be a concern, they are already around, they just haven’t chosen to be seen yet.”
“Is this further in over my head than being made your keeper and consort?”
“Yes.”
It is the work of minutes once Lucas is done to reclose the empty crypt. Then Lucas tries to hide in the corner after trying to wake Brenhar and failing. Negotiations ensue as to the future of both Familydoms while they all waited for Lisa, Charles and Brenhar to wake so they could discover what was going on.
“Is everyone here alright?” Lisa asks later as she wakes to the greatest headache she has ever had.
“Yes Lady Ericson, we are all well thanks to you and Charles.” Land Mother Thomson replies from where the four of them sit in a square talking.
“How many did we lose?”
“A lot.” House Mother Thomson replies.
“I’m sorry.” Lisa whispers as tears form and fall, “I tried, I really tried.”
“We know.” Land mother Michelson replies, “We know that very well. Had that bomb gone off as intended, it would have decapitated both Familydoms and plunged them into war. No matter how many died today, many, many more would have been lost.”
“How did you know?” Land Mother Thomson asks.
“Your symbols of office, they were the same.”
“They are always the same.”
“No Mothers, I do not know how to say this plainly. You know the way you can tell who made a sword. The way the sheath tells you one thing, the blade another, the belt another?”
“Yes.”
“Your House markers, they were not made to the same design, they were the same, made by the same hand, they reacted as one and they knew each other.”
“No artisan ever makes more than one, that is the law and how do you mean they knew each other?”
“I could see them react to each other.”
“While you were peeking through Brenhar’s eyes?”
“Yes Mothers.”
“How good is your geography?” Land Mother Thomson asks.
“Decent.”
“Do you know which Familydoms pinch our borders?” Land Mother Michelson asks.
“Yes. Kelsini to the North and Yasan to south.”
“And the border?”
“Twenty six leagues.”
“We have spoken and decided that today has consequences.” Land Mother Thomson declares flatly.
“I am sorry. Today is my fault, let this fall on my head, they are not at fault.” Lisa says gravely.
“You mistake us.” Land Mother Michelson says with a smile.
“This is not what you think. There is no blame. This is more in the nature of a reward.”
“Reward?” Lisa asked puzzled.
“Yes, reward.”
“We have worked out the terms of a mutual defense treaty.”
“There will in the name of peace be a place between our Familydoms that is neither Thomson nor Michelson. Were we to fight, to go to war, it would destroy us both.”
“Where Michelson is the largest Familydom, we have the largest population.”
“Thomson is the most powerful on a person to person basis. Were we to fight, neither would nor could survive the other, both would not only fall.”
“But the lands left behind would be foul and grow no crops despite the rivers of blood to richen the ground and leaven the soil.”
“So to prevent this thought from ever forming we have decided we can no longer have a mutual border between our Familydoms.”
“Whoa, slow down.” Lisa pleads getting lost in the trade off.
“We have decided to establish something of a trade zone instead.” Land Mother Thomson continues ignoring her.
“That zone will reach the length of our mutual border which as you know is twenty six leagues.”
“It will also reach into our lands thirteen leagues.”
“Militarily, it shall be a no mans land.”
“No active member of either military shall be stationed here.”
“Unless accompanied by a member of the other’s also stationed here as escort.”
“Thus shall we together guarantee your safety and security.”
“So that you can concentrate on what you really wish to do. Our postings will be from the Michelson Tree guard, the same unit that guards our most sacred parts and provides our personal security.”
“Our posting shall be from the Sand Guard, which as you know provide personal security for the Heirs and Mothers.”
“It shall be overseen and the overseer of that Zone shall be entitled to a tithe of one part per eighth.”
“A regent shall be needed.”
“Who do you nominate?”
“What? Slow down, what are you talking about?” Lisa pleads.
“You will need a regent until you graduate.”
“So who?”
“Zone?” Lisa asks, still about six steps back.
“Yes. Twenty six leagues long, thirteen wide.”
“Who is the overseer?” Lisa asks feeling like she is losing ground.
“You are.” The Land Mothers say in obviously practiced stereo.
“What?”
“You may have a gift for games of strategy.” Land Mother Thomson laughs.
“But we have more than a dozen generations of practice to fall back on.” Land Mother Michelson laughs with her.
“This is not what I wanted.” Lisa says plainly with a confused glance at Lucas.
“We know. How ever this gives you a seat on both councils.”
“It is speaking only, not a voting one, but you shall be heard in both Familydoms.”
“Why?” Lisa asks confused.
“This is our way of publicly thanking you. We can not tell anyone what really happened of course, but we will let it be known that in your attempts to bring peace between us you became aware of a plot to ensure war.”
“This places a barrier between us so that we never need fear a direct invasion again.”
“Neither Kelseni nor Yasan will be happy with this. It is well known you have both avoided overrunning either of them to restrict the mutual border. They may see this as preparation for invasion of one or both.”
“That is why you shall not be a Land Mother.” Land Mother Thomson says.
“That is why you shall not be a Land Daughter or Heir.” Land Mother Michelson says.
“That is why you shall not be a House Mother.” House Mother Thomson says.
“That is why you shall not be a House Daughter or Heir.” House Mother Michelson says.
“We have decided instead to resurrect an old title as reward.”
“We greet you Hearth Holder Ericson.”
“What?” Lisa whispers, “The last Hearth Holder died over five hundred years ago.”
“As you know the last Hearth Hold ceased during the sync wars. The line of the Hearth Holders and hence the Hearth Hold itself died because they went without issue. Part of the strength of a Hearth Hold is that it is not bound by blood. Part of the weakness of a Hearth Hold is that it is not bound by blood. This places accomplishment above pedigree, yet leaves it weak when tragedy strikes the ruling family. Yet as such, you can invite who you will and reject those you will not. You will need to find a way represent your people though, so do be giving that some thought.”
“The last Hearth Holders’ bequest, became the Centerversity grounds and lands. It was their wish that their people be given a choice. The people of the land having no common blood tie did not wish to be forced into a Kingdom or a Familydom, so the Legents founded Centerversity. They declared it a neutral place of learning, under their personal protection. The few who have dared move against it or tried to take it have been reduced.”
“Your new lands are smaller than any clan lands.”
“They are smaller than some Family lands.”
“Will you be bringing Charles into your new lands?”
“Yes.” Lisa whispers looking at the chances and traps of new responsibilities. Turning them down is unthinkable. Offers of land are sacred, a bond of peace, of friendship, of trust, of life.
“As your consort?”
“No,” Lisa says as a new shape comes to mind as a new vision of the possible future unfolds, “He is my equal, my partner, my other half and he will be when we are ready, my husband.”
“You will make a fine Hearth Mother one day.”
“And he will make a fine Hearth Father as well.” Lisa says as hope blooms for her own survival.
“Are you sure you want to take that path?”
“Yes. We are equals, we shall always be equals.” Lisa replies smiling, “We do what we must in the mean time, but we are as one in my eyes.”
“We thought so, that is why we chose what we did. We know you are going to try to stop both the chaos and the madness. This gives you a better place to try from.”
“It gives me a chance,” Lisa answers, “It means I might live to see my dream.”
“Those living on the lands will be given a chance to leave if they so choose.”
“After that, they will be your people.”
“For now we name you Hearth Mother and Hearth Father.”
“No please, net yet anyway, Daughter and Son instead for now, we are neither grown, nor in truth, ready to rule. It would be unfair to our people.”
“Alright then, who are your regents?”
“For now leave everyone in their jobs, but I nominate Lucas’ parents as regents, that gives him standing here to go with his standing in Michelson, yet leaves his path open.”
“Accepted.” The Land Mothers replied almost as one.
“You knew what I would do?”
“We can feel Charles’ seed magic sing in you. We can feel you welcome it, welcome him.”
“Will you break Brenhar’s record before she truly holds it?”
“No.” Lisa says sadly, “I shall not. It will be years before I can consider that.”
“Then you will give Muren a child, just as you did Brenhar and she shall be as Brenhar is.”
“Why?”
“We have our reasons.” Land Mother Thomson smiled.
“It is our last command.” House Mother Thomson replied, “After this day, you are no longer of us, once we step out that doorway you are no longer our Third Heir, our Lady Ericson. You are Hearth Daughter Ericson, Lady Ericson in your own right, as he is Hearth Son Ericson, Lord Ericson in his own right. We will find a new Third Heir from among our clan.”
“Though we are hoping,” Land Mother Michelson says, “That he, you, would consider simply filling out all the ranks of our heirs the same way, once we have affirmed our Heirs Secondus and Tertius.”
“That way all our Heirs are equal.” House Mother Michelson says, “That way they can all have a child and no one can say one child is any better than another.”
“And if I fall, then you all are left with children of proven blood since Charles is obviously very much stronger and much more than anyone thought based on his birth.”
“Pedigree, or it’s lack, means nothing against accomplishment, we want the best children we can get for our lands. Having all our Heirs pregnant at the same time will speak loudly to our neighbors about our strength. Having a father such as he has proven to be, will speak loudly to the future.”
“So you pray to Order for my success while planning with Chaos in case I fail?” Lisa asked.
“Yes.” They reply each in their own way.
“You do realize I had planned on drawing little to no attention.”
“We know. However this provides you with a base, money and resources as well as a reason to send people all over.”
“As a head of state, even a small one, you will be expected to have your fingers in many pies.”
“It provides you with a ready made distraction, just lose your private business in the noise.”
“Oh.” Lisa says as she finally understands. Silence comes from her as further understanding dawns and her heart lifts.
“We can’t stop you, and after today we are convinced it isn’t safe to try. You would have been no more than a year from graduating when hostilities broke out.”
“You would have been the only legitimate surviving Heir in either Familydom, though some would have questioned you because of your mother being foreign.”
“It would have changed nothing in your responsibilities though, and saved no one who died in the meantime since neither side would have believed the other hadn’t been the one to set the bomb.”
“I would have been left with a major Familydom, or Familydoms, on a precipice, and been helpless as I watched it, them, crumble around me.” Lisa replied as the events unfolded in her mind.
“Yes.”
“That is for later though.” Lisa said forcing herself to look around, “What happened to them?”
“Charles reached out through Brenhar to guide us here.” Land Mother Michelson replied.
“When he, Brenhar, as Brenhar...” House Mother Michelson tried to say.
“When he used Brenhar to guide you here.” Lisa supplied.
“Yes. When he arrived and saw himself he collapsed.”
“Then he and Brenhar both began having some sort of seizure that got better as they got closer then suddenly much much worse.”
“Lucas managed to quiet Brenhar and that quieted Charles.”
“Good job Lucas.” Lisa told him staring at his haunted look, thinking it explained, so she looked no deeper than the bomb for cause, or the seizure for it’s depth.
“Thank you Third Heir.” He replied weakly.
“Hearth Daughter now.” The Land Mothers corrected almost as one.
“Sorry. Hearth Daughter.”
“Why did we come here?” Lisa asked looking at her mother’s tomb, carefully not looking at the portrait she assumed covered for her comfort since they were stuck here.
“Charles said we needed somewhere with hand picked guards, not just vetted ones.”
“He is right, I should have thought of that, vetting is not enough right now, we, you, need faith.” Lisa commented obviously annoyed with herself. “You all need to get in contact with everyone out there so they know you are ok.”
“We have done that. The Michelson Tree guard are outside with our own Sand guard waiting on us while we wait on conditions above. We are not going anywhere yet. We had mirrors brought in and have been in limited contact with our governments.”
“Oh.”
“We also bore in mind your warning about mirrors not being quite so secure as has been widely believed, so details have been scarce.”
“We are using that warning as reason to give as little information as possible, so we can to give the impression we are in more trouble than we are. That way we can see if anyone was ready to take advantage of this. Lacking any other guide to go by, we proceeded as though we were writing letters that could be opened and resealed unknown to us, to communicate with the outside.”
“Wise, very wise.” Lisa replied stunned at how far they had come in a few bells.
“Before we leave here we do have one question though.”
“What is that Mothers.” Lisa asked nervously, not really sure which set was asking.
“Who is your next target?”
“Dest.” She replied softly.
“It will have to wait for now.”
“I take it you have cooked up a real dog and pony show?” Lisa asked with deep resignation.
“We only want to show our thanks Hearth Daughter.”
“This is gunna suck.” Lisa whimpered as she heard the first signs of Charles and Brenhar waking.
“This is going to upset a large number of people.” Prince Tagoni says to Nicole where they sit watching by Mirror along with untold millions as the first Hearth Daughter, to become Mother in time, is seated in over half a millennium, predating the end of sync wars.
“I find it reassuring that the first person it pissed off and made mad is the recipient.” Nicole replies laughing at the sight of Lisa kneeling as the formal vestments of office are presented to her then placed in keeping above and behind her seat of authority, to be formally vested when she is an adult.
“Really?” He asks surprised.
“She might fool them, the audience that is.” Nicole answers smiling, “but she hates this. Charles is no happier at all. Were there a way to avoid this, he would. The poor boy is common born, completely unprepared for all the pomp.”
“I’m surprised he is doing this well.”
“She’s helping him, guiding him.”
“She tutored him so well? So quickly?”
“No my Prince, she is telling him what to do next as it happens.”
“How? And how can you tell?”
“The how is crazy, as for telling, he is reacting with her timing, even when it changes.”
“Oh, you’re right,” He replies after watching for a gross of hearts, “I hadn’t caught that.”
“No one who doesn’t know them would.”
“When do you return to school?” Prince Tagoni asked turning to her.
“That’s up to you.” Nicole replied, “It would be well if I could return to school though.”
“Then perhaps I should finish my education at Centerversity. I could go there three or more years, running my time over by age, but doing advanced studies and surprise no one. Would that help?”
“Yes My Prince.” Nicole replies with genuine gratitude.
“Then I have arrangements to make to travel.” He laughs.
“Head master,” Lisa says in greeting in his office a bell after her return to school, “You wished to see me upon my return.”
“Hearth Daughter, Lady Ericson.” He says formally in greeting.
“Please, I am Lisa.”
“How are Charles’ parents taking his new elevation?”
“I would say they are likely both proud and upset.” Lisa replied evasively.
“I arranged for the two of you to have a private dorm. I placed it next to Brenhar and Lucas’s.”
“Thank you Head Master.” Lisa replied thinking of the problems that saves.
“Have you and the Hearth Son named a regent or regents yet?”
“He prefers to be called Charles as I prefer to be called Lisa.”
“Going to stick to that?” He asked allowing the evasion.
“We are just students here, and yes, Lucas’ parents will fill in as needed for now.”
“Will Nicole be staying with you or with Prince Tagoni?”
“Nicole? Tagoni?”
“He is starting testing to see where he stands in our rankings tomorrow.”
“I don’t have an answer. I will speak to them as soon as I can to check on Nicole. I had not known he was coming.”
“Thank you for keeping the school out of your mess.”
“I,” Lisa says then stumbles to a stop, “I am just trying to find a peace that can last my time.”
“You fight because you want more than for it to last your time and then the deluge?”
“I am surprised you know the quote.”
“I am a student of history after all. I also know there is only one way you can spend the hours you do in the archives, nice job cleaning them up by the way, the staff appreciates it.”
“I don’t know what you mean, I just decided they needed some work.”
“The wards are specific to certain thought processes. No Techist can breach our library, no Magist can concentrate outside a single specific subject. Free association is painfully discouraged. The only way you can do what you did is to lose your powers after entering, then regain them before leaving.”
“Ok,” Lisa whispers frustrated, “Who else knows?”
“No one.” The head master replies, “That knowledge is restricted to the headmaster alone. You swim in dangerous waters Hearth Daughter.”
“This was unexpected.” Legent Amina says.
“Most.” Legent Anna replies, they are alone on the hill top over looking the town.
“Does Lucas have a clue the message he passed on?”
“No.”
“Is it her?”
“Yes, it feels like her doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Any idea how she did it?” Legent Anna asks.
“None. We are immortal, but we can’t have children of our own.”
“Yet Lisa is.”
“Yes.”
“And I think we can dispense with a maternity test.”
“Pointless, who else’s daughter could turn blood enemies into blood allies that quickly, especially via attacking them and waging peace as retaliation?” Legent Amina asks.
“Did Donalson make the bomb?”
“No.”
“Do we know who?”
“Not a clue yet, want to bet Lisa’s mother knows?”
“Bad bet. If the past is any guide to go by she has already won this war and is off fighting the next.”
“Like Mother, Like Daughter.”
“When do we tell the boys?”
“Let’s find her first.”
“You don’t want to tell them either?”
“No.” Came the hesitant reply.
“What went wrong?” The man asks staring at maps displayed on the mirror lying on it’s back as a table top.
“We don’t know yet. For some reason the bomb was detected before it detonated.”
“But it did go off? It did humble the Magists?”
“Yes, they died by the dozen. For some reason it detonated on the lake, merely Humbling hundreds along the shore. Though it did not kill them outright from overload at that distance, they died when the waves struck the shore because they did nothing to save themselves.”
“That is well.”
“Yes, and based on what we have so far it would have killed if it had been at half that. They are doing many autopsies to determine why they did nothing to save themselves and comparing to survivors that are still humbled and not going to wake. They think the people are in a coma though, not humbled, so they are looking at all the wrong things.”
“Then here another puzzle to throw at your doctors. They are in comas, as in truth are those who are humbled, it is a kind of coma. The bomb simply did with brute force and massive power in a burst what humbling does gently. That is why they, the humbled, respond the way they do, their higher brain functions are what amounts to off, only their Magic or potential for it responds.”
“Potential? Humbling works in Techists and they have no Magic.”
“And since you are a clever King that is a clue given freely, think of it as a reward. When you can understand why humbling works on the non Magist, you will understand why humbling works at all.”
“We also have reports of one who struggled to save some of the sand guard who were apparently chasing him prior to the explosion.” King Donalson replied changing the subject as he gave thought to what he had just been told.
“So at half a league it forcibly humbled all but a few, though it killed none directly?”
“All but one if the reports are to be believed. It is our belief based on fragmentary clues that he was shielded by something in the structures he was hiding in when they bomb went off. We are learning all we can about them as we speak.”
“How many did we lose?”
“We lost all of our assets in the lake village, all but one in the Michelson party and all but two in the Thomson party.”
“So something about this old thing.” The man says tapping the mirror top to make the picture of the building along the lake side bigger until it took up the whole top, “Shielded the boy from the blast?”
“Of course. We have from multiple sources that he hid there.”
“Bring me samples of it’s bricks and tiles.”
“It will take time. Perhaps a fortnight to insure no one knows.”
“It doesn’t matter King Donalson, it doesn’t matter at all.” He smiles, “I’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen. Finally, something that blocks magic not just disrupts it; a long time indeed.”
“You do realize you outrank me now, right?” Brenhar asks Lisa laughingly in her dorm.
“This was not in my plan.” Lisa complains.
“I believe life is making sauce out of your apples, cart and all Hearth Daughter.”
“You just have to rub it in don’t you Bren?”
“Of course I do. This is the only payback I get now,” Brenhar replies smiling, “This collar doesn’t permit more.”
“Did they happen to tell you why they chose Muren who has a consort over Tersa who doesn’t?”
“Yes.”
“Spill.”
“Is that an order my lady?” Brenhar asks with all innocence.
“You’re doing that on purpose, you’re pissing me off on purpose because you know I won’t upset the baby.”
“Exactly. I would also try to steal your boyfriend away for the occasional night of fun, but that would just be redundant wouldn’t it?”
“Good one Bren,” Lisa says laughing as tension relieves with the real laugh, “Well done. You know this is hard on me though don’t you?”
“Yes.” Brenhar says with sudden seriousness.
“Then why?”
“Because I finally understand that you are not my enemy.”
“Took you long enough.”
“I first had to accept that you saving your Familydom need not have to mean destroying mine.”
“If I save mine at the cost of yours I am merely trading lives, not saving any. That changes nothing in the long run, and accomplishes even less.”
“And that is why I can’t really fight you. I don’t know what you are planning now, I can’t see the way you can. I don’t have a second voice like you have with Charles. I have Lucas, but you provided him and I have yet to win his heart. Perhaps if I can someday I can fight you, or join you, I can’t decide until I can understand you.”
“Charles and Lucas have both indicated you think Charles and I are being easier on you than your own houses would be.” Lisa said shifting the subject.
“You are. They would have fought me being confirmed before I had a child to prove my worth. You punished me with a collar, you made me a pet, you domesticated me. Yet you saved me. Your revenge and humiliation saved me, provided hope and a center for my Familydom, and I have to wonder why.”
“Think on it.”
“I have. I have lain awake night after night trying to understand. As I look at each of your actions and Charles’, each of them says you both hate me. Yet if I look at all of them as a whole instead of each of them individually, I do not see that hate and I do not understand.”
“You are a pawn.”
“And I am hope.”
“Yes.”
“If you fall then you know Charles’s mind is preserved in my child. A deposit against fate and fortune.”
“Exactly.”
“Now you must enslave your own Land Sister just as you have your worst enemy.”
“I don’t in truth think of you as my enemy any longer, I’m past that. I can’t stand the thought of what I must do to Muren though, yet I must.”
“Charles, if you truly trusted him then, could have told you what the Mothers would think of the child. He could have told you the child is a talisman.”
“I know.” Lisa whispers as tears find their way through her defenses.
“He is in your heart.” Brenhar states.
“Yes.”
“He or you put him in mine, that is how I have this child, and that is why you can’t be with him again isn’t it?”
“How did you know?”
“Because you have pulled away from him. Whatever hold he had on your maids is over, yet you welcome them to his bed in your stead.”
“I can’t, I can’t take the chance.”
“Because you might be with child if you do again?”
“Yes.”
“Then I make this offer of my own free will. You can borrow Lucas as often as you wish, I’ll take Charles if you wish, to be fair. But both of you need to be held, do not come to hate your maids for fulfilling the part of his life you want for yourself. You already hate me, send him to me and hate me more if you must, but do not let yourself hate your maids.”
“Why do you care?” Lisa asks around tears.
“You know where I told you pawn to queens seven, check, before.”
“Yes.”
“Then this message may as well be from all our mothers, Rook to Queen’s Bishop seven, check.”