CalledtoPower (2 page)

Three cups of hot tea later, Wadara got a ping. “Syrella, I am sorry to tell you that while your grandmother was tactless, she was correct. You are the only living heir to the imperial throne of Vexa and its properties. You are the new empress.”

“How in the seventeen hells am I supposed to do that?” She ran her hand over her hair and looked for an answer in her cup of tea. The tea was not forthcoming.

“The same way you became an instructor while you were still a student. Learn what you can and then teach others what you know, and when in doubt, use that talent of yours to freeze them in their tracks.” Wadara sat back. “They are sending a vessel for you.”

“Oh, wonderful. I can hardly wait to be back in pinching corsets and skirts that I trip on.”

“Syrella, you are no longer a child. As empress, you can make the skirts and dresses be whatever length and fit you like.” Wadara kept a straight face until Sy started to giggle.

Sy snorted. “Yes, I am sure that altering the formal wear of nineteen worlds will go over well.”

Wadara chuckled, “Well, I am glad to see you are getting over your shock. The vessel that they are sending for you is an imperial ship, but we are not sending you away in the custody of strangers. Relay has pinged Citadel Darfoth, and they are sending a contingent of bodyguards, on the house.”

“Bodyguards?” bemused she reached for and poured another cup of tea.

“Yes, bodyguards. You are the first empress ever educated at Thoola. We want to make sure you get on the throne and stay there.”

“Stone. Emperors of Vexa sit on a huge, carved block linked to the heart of the world when they appear in their court.”

“Sounds uncomfortable.”

“It is. Very.” She sipped at her tea and sighed, “I think I will return to my class. When will the ship be here?”

“Tomorrow at the earliest. Why?”

“I need to visit C’dallia. If I am getting sent away, I will need something other than instructor robes when I arrive on Vexa. Out of all the females here, she is my best chance for getting a wardrobe in one night.”

Wadara laughed. “I will call her in and have her come to the Citadel. It will do the students good to meet a l’nal, and she hasn’t visited in over a year.”

“Good. I have to check on the new arrival.”

“Alwinia? She is a troubled case. Her family dumped her here when she was rejected by the links. No one will meld their minds with her, and it pains her that she cannot be trusted.” Wadara sighed, “She has severe abandonment issues.”

“Well, I have put her under Halwen’s care. She will find a place with the animals and find her center there. From that point, she will have a solid foundation for learning control.”

Wadara had a wistful expression on her face. “We will miss you here.”

A lump formed in Syrella’s throat. “This is the only home I have known since my talent showed as a little girl.”

“And we have been happy to have you. Your skills as an instructor are amazing, and your unfortunate situation has given you an empathy that the girls really feel. You have also been a good friend, Sy. I hereby order you to keep in touch when you take your position on Vexa.”

Syrella put her cup down on the tray. “I will, but for now, I have to coach some students through making cheese. Halwen always gets distracted during the bacterial culture.”

Fighting tears, Syrella left the headmistress’s office and returned to the barn’s workshop. True to form, the girls were sitting quietly and confused and Halwen was nowhere to be found.

Sy plastered a grin on her face and asked Yveen, “How long has it been?”

“Thirty minutes, Instructor.”

“Good. I will be right back for the next phase.”

She walked into the barn where Halwen was showing Alwinia how to muck out the stalls and clean the hooves of the goats. Alwinia was using a hayfork to move the bulk of the stall contents, and Halwen was supervising.

“Hiya, Hal. I am back.”

“Oh, Sy. Damn, I lost track of time.”

“It’s fine, Halwen. Continue and, Alwinia, good job.” Sy inclined her head. “Now, you just have to work on keeping control of the animals. Two of our milkers are getting away.”

Halwen chuckled and stood aside to watch Alwinia trying to gain control of two beasts that didn’t want bipedal interference again until their udders were full.

Snickering quietly, Sy realized that she was going to miss moments like these, but for now, it was time to show the girls how to make cheese out of goat milk.

Ruling an empire could wait until tomorrow.

Chapter Three

“I get to make a gown for the Empress of Vexar? I am touched.” C’dallia clicked and her translator made the insectoid noises transform into Alliance Common.

“I am sorry about the short notice, C’dallia, but I just found out. If you don’t have time, I can and will accept a care package from Thoola.” Sy stood on a small platform and let the giant arachnid bustle around her.

“Well, I do have something that would be suitable for a coronation if you like. I brought it along. Keeba, bring it out.”

C’dallia’s journeyman weaver opened a wooden box and drew out lengths of gold silk that fluttered gracefully in the light breeze coming into the common sunroom.

“It’s lovely, but I don’t know how much I have stashed away from my instructor’s fees. Until I take the throne, I am still the same moneyless twit you have known since I was tiny.”

C’dallia stroked her face with one soft foot. “Whatever I can do for you, I will. You will not go to Vexa as a pauper. My students and I will work through the night.”

Sy’s heart swelled at the outpouring of support and affection. “This is all too much, I am getting weepy. Wadara has arranged bodyguards, you are providing me with a wardrobe, all I have to offer is some tips on shearing and carding.”

“You have done plenty over the years. This is our chance to send you off in style. It is not something we get to do that often.” Wadara was watching from the sidelines.

An impromptu party had been called, and their efforts at cheese making were being devoured by any and all who came by to give their best wishes. It was a little off putting to be on display in her shift while C’dallia measured and pinched, but watching a l’nal in action was not something that happened every day.

Syrella allowed herself to be an object lesson as she was poked, prodded, turned and wrapped. L’nal silks were the finest in the universe, and each metre of fabric was a light air puff of concealment.

C’dallia was chattering happily, “Your planet does have the most lovely gowns. I am basing this design on traditional Vexar patterns.”

Wadara snorted and held her composure. Halwen giggled and passed a tray of cheese and crackers.

It suddenly struck Syrella that she was this evening’s entertainment.

“Lakial, show Syrella how her gown is coming along.”

The student knelt in front of Syrella, spread her arms apart and generated a mirror of gathered water.

Syrella was currently in a silvery gown that wrapped her tight from breast to hip and flowed into a skirt with a four-foot train. “It’s lovely and surprisingly comfortable.”

C’dallia cackled and clicked away. “Now, Keeba will mark it, and we will enable you to get in and out of it on your own. We will make the gold gown more dramatic and far more regal.”

“Oh, good. At least I can look the part when I take the test of the thorn. It is rather important to look one’s best when facing death.” She kept it bright, but everyone in the room froze.

Wadara was suddenly looking a lot less amused. “What?”

Sy smiled, “Don’t you wonder why I am suddenly the heir apparent?”

Wadara frowned, “Well, I knew you were a duchess, but I thought you were in the royal line.”

“I am. But to prove my right to the bloodline, I have to prick my finger on the thorn at the back of the throne. If I am the true heir, the throne will glow, and if I am not, the thorn will send poison through my veins that will kill me in precisely one hour.”

C’dallia clicked, “You are sure that you are of the bloodline?”

Sy turned as Keeba moved her arm to one side and shifted position as she was dressed and undressed in front of the gathering. “I am sure. My grandfather was tested as alternate heir, and he contracted with my grandmother for a child of direct lineage, and no one who ever saw my parents together could doubt that any child she bore belonged to him.”

“So, what do you think happened to the sixty-six folks between you and the throne?” Keeba whispered it quietly, but there was curiosity in her solid blue eyes.

Sy breathed in and out in a controlled motion. “I am guessing that it involved a lot of screaming. The Vexar nobility are not known for their fidelity.”

C’dallia clicked, “What of your mother’s line?”

Sy watched the careful pleats that the l’nal placed in the gold silk. “My mother was a commoner by classification and a royal by her great-grandmother’s birth. It wasn’t common knowledge, but it was the factor that allowed my father to marry her.”

Halwen cocked her head. “Are your people so hung up on bloodlines?”

“Only when it comes to filling the throne. All other nobles can breed with whatever takes their fancy. Also, they are not my people,
you
are my people.” Sy fought the prick of tears as Keeba started pinning the gown into final shape.

Wadara had her own tears as she smiled, “And you are one of us. You always will be. Call on us if you need it, we will be there.”

The women in the room nodded and muttered agreement.

Halwen latched on to a piece of information, “You breed under contract?”

Syrella wanted to laugh, but C’dallia was pinning around her torso until the fabric was a second skin. Careful not to move too much, she said, “Yes. For inheritance purposes, it is imperative to make sure that the parents are confirmed. When I was born, I was tested and confirmed to be both of my parents’ legal heir. My father’s property was entailed along the male line, and my mother’s family did not have any commercial property to speak of, so I have an empty title and good memories of my first years at home.”

Halwen cocked her head. “Will you have to contract for a breeding partner?”

Syrella sighed and then winced as she was pricked. “I guess I will. I have not given it much thought.”

Wadara perked up, “Oh, Sy, that reminds me, Dorium has volunteered to be one of your guards.”

Sy flushed crimson. She swallowed and tried to breathe. “You don’t say. Well, thank you for the warning.”

The room full of women and girls laughed at her, and she tried to regain her composure.

Wadara was still chuckling when Halwen asked, “Who is Dorium?”

The headmistress filled her in. “He is my brother. Syrella has had a crush on him since she was a child. I have never told him, and she puts up a barrier when he is around, but her mind goes haywire.”

“You are sharing too much information, Wadara.” Syrella tried to be prim, but she wasn’t going to lie. Every time she had ever seen Dorium, her heart had tried to pound its way out from behind her ribs. Knowing that he would be taking her to Vexa, she was ready to collapse in a heap.

Trying to pretend that she wasn’t fixated on the mental image of the literal man of her dreams, she asked, “Who else is coming?”

“Agoth and Perinio. Between them, they should be able to keep you covered around the clock.” Wadara filled her glass of wine again, and her smile was a little loose.

C’dallia was focussed on her creation. She clacked, and Lakial knelt again, bringing a mirror into being with her hands and mind.

Syrella’s breath whooshed out of her lungs as she took in the gown that she would wear for her first or final day on Vexa. Tears started down her cheeks. “C’dallia, Keeba, it is lovely, it feels like I am wearing nothing but air.”

C’dallia lifted her chin on one fuzzy foot, bringing Sy’s gaze to her mandibles. “We are proud of you, and we will show the court of Vexa that you do not enter it alone and friendless. You have the Citadel to call upon, and we are a formidable force.”

The mandibles clicked and C’dallia leaned forward to place her deadly appendages on either side of her temples. Syrella held still as she was given the l’nal blessing. It translated into
too good to eat
.

When C’dallia let her go, Syrella smiled and pressed her hand to the stiff fur covering the huge spider. “Thank you, C’dallia. I will miss you too.”

Keeba was smiling gently, and she moved into high gear as C’dallia clicked. In moments, the gold gown was removed and set aside for permanent stitching. The apprentices were working on the first day gowns that Sy had picked out, and no one was complaining about the pace.

Once she was back in her loose robes, Sy made a beeline for the wine and took a bite of the cheese that her students had made that afternoon. It wasn’t bad. It needed more salt, but they would get the hang of it in time.

She just wished that she would be here when they did manage to get a grip on their new skill. It seemed like she was just getting started and she had to leave. Sy chuckled softly before joining her going-away party, leaving just as something good started was the story of her life.

Chapter Four

The travel gown was a deep purple that made her pale eyes sparkle. She blushed hot pink when Dorium left the Citadel shuttle and she stood in stunned surprise as he and the other two bodyguards went down on one knee before her.

“Empress, we are here to serve.” Dorium’s voice sent shivers through her as it always did.

“Thank you for your enthusiasm for the project, but I am not empress yet. I am merely the heir apparent.” She inclined her head and gestured for them to rise.

Dorium stood with a smile, “We were practicing. It is not everyone that gets to guard a soon-to-be empress.”

“Hello, Dorium. Welcome, Agoth, welcome, Perinio. I believe that we are waiting for the Vexar ship.” Syrella gestured to the huge tent that had been set up in the courtyard. “A space has been prepared for us while we wait.”

She didn’t say another word but swept her skirt out her way and moved across the grass to the shaded space. No men were allowed within the Thoola Citadel. The unstable hormones of the females were devastating to an unprepared male.