Envoy to Earth (6 page)

"
Does
Tiera need
anything? I heard that the Moon makes whatever they want. Even gold and jewels
have no value there, since they can simply toss dust and rocks into a magical
device and produce them. I think she may be quite past bribery, Baron Eager. We
will have to simply swallow our pride and beg, that being the case. That, or
all visit her and see if we can soften her up with sex. That's harder to do by
letter, so I think perhaps that first option is the right one, for now.
Humbling, but we don't have a lot of other options." She looked at Gerent,
shyly, and then after a bit, more boldly. "I know, we'll all take turns
seducing her Envoy here, and he can lobby for us. You aren't related to her by
blood, so you can go and-"

Petra snorted, loudly, and let it
turn into a dire chuckle after everyone looked at her. It really did sound mad,
Gerent realized. Like her mind was coming unhinged.

"Leave him alone, Maria. At
least that way. No, we can just send some letters and ask. You
always
try to go for intrigue all the time. That, or assume that everyone else is
going to make you pay and pay for whatever it is you want. Tiera is a
Baker
.
She won't expect you to grovel too much. It seems to me that I remember hearing
about her brother, Tor, who is perhaps your worst enemy in the whole world,
once fighting seven assassins to save your life.
After
you were vile to
him and nearly pushed him into killing himself in shame. I doubt that Tiera
will really require you to debase yourself."

Gerent didn't know that story,
and didn't ask, since it was clear from the looks on their faces that everyone
else in the room did. He didn't want to be that boring person that always
wanted the old tales repeated. He'd just have to ask Collette, later.

Maria clapped, once, a startling
thing that made him jump a bit.

"Would you be willing to
take some missives for us, Countier Lairdgren? Official ones, I mean. Some
others too, if you don't mind? I fear that with the Heir to the throne and the
middle Princess living on her doorstep, we may be at a disadvantage when it
comes to the Queen of the Moon. We should all see to that now. I know it's
awfully rude of us..." She actually seemed scared for a second, and stared
around the room. In the end she lit on her own mother, and then tried to get
Petra involved in whatever she was thinking, only to have both of them shake
their heads.

The Dowager spoke first.

"No, dear, we should write
as well. Petra is a close friend of several people there, and I have some passing
friendship with Torrance. Perhaps Debbie would entertain them for a while? I
know that she's only a servant, but..." She looked ashamed of herself
then, even though Miss Smalls let her head come up proudly. It was Maria that
looked horrified and froze for a moment. Enough so that Holly Printer looked
away, so as to not see the scene that was unfolding.

Gerent smiled at Debbie, and then
nodded.

"Actually, I have some
business to discuss with Merchant Smalls, I think? I should be able to talk to
Tor and Tim about stock and all that?" He didn't know that for a fact, but
the woman smiled at him as if he'd just invented Noram Day.

Maria seemed relieved at the
words, and the room went back to slightly formal and stuffy, rather than
dangerous. Why it had gone there, he didn't know, but it was clear that there
had nearly been a screaming match just then. Over Debbie being called a
servant. That didn't make sense to him, since she was filling in at that job. Unless
it was like Glaren at Tor's palace?

The lady worked there, but was a
noble, so couldn't be paid for it, strictly speaking, since that would make her
a mere hireling. Tor had lamented, more than once, that the woman wouldn't just
draw a salary, or even take an allowance from him. There was an almost constant
need to give her gifts of value, so that she'd stay on, but they had to be done
carefully, so that it wasn't an insult.

Debbie was a merchant however,
and not a high one. So, what did it mean, Maria acting like that? Were they
lovers? Or even just close friends? Had the Dowager been simply misspeaking, or
had she been trying to cause problems, using the baker and magic shop owner as
a goad?

Really, he couldn't tell, but
stood and moved to the door, where she still stood.

"We'll be back in, say an
hour or two? Do you need more time?" He looked at Marvin and then Holly,
since they were the ones that were sitting rulers. Well, Baron Eager, too. It
was a strange dynamic of power in the room then.

It was, he considered, much
easier to live alone like he had been. Then he didn't have to fake being noble
or anything and could just mutter to himself or Boxy, and go on with his day.
They walked out of the room after collecting a few nods, with the floating case
right behind them. Debbie ignored it, until she got to the front door, and
started to walk across the space that was now a bare patch of dirt, but had
once been a nice grass covered and well cared for lawn.

"This way, sir." She
sounded diffident, and almost awkward.

"Gerent. Or Ger, if you
want. From what Tor told me, we're pretty much expected to be friends, or
else
.
You know how he is. If we aren't he'll look all sad and hang his head, sighing
at us until we change our minds. Much easier to just start out as pals, don't
you think?" This came out easily, but the woman next to him just looked up
as they walked, her expression letting him know that he must be at least half
insane.

"Easy for you to say. I
liked it better when
I
was the tall one. Now you not only have a title,
but enough size to pull it off. You say, 'hey let's be friends' and I keep
expecting you to simply order me to my knees for whatever it is you want at the
moment." She blushed in the twilight, but didn't stop walking.

Gerent didn't need that one
explained to him, since the idea was pretty clear, even if he'd never
considered it applying to him before.

In general, if a nobleman told a
woman, or even a man, to do something, they did. It wasn't a matter of having a
choice. A pretty woman like Debbie had probably been ordered to her knees more
than once in her life then, since she'd lived in the Capital for years. True,
the good ones would never do that kind of thing, but how many people in the
world were truly that decent?

Now, without hardly noticing
himself changing, he'd become that to the woman next to him. A threat, or
perhaps a potential asset, but not someone that she could easily accept as an
equal.

"I understand. We'll just
have to fight through that anyway, because I was serious. We have orders to be
friends, if unspoken ones."

Gerent smiled, letting himself
seem happy about it, since it wasn't exactly a hardship for him at least. The
woman next to him, leading the way, reminded him of Tamerlane, which got him to
grimace, after she turned away to open her shop, which was just down the street
from where the Wards lived. Close enough that it showed special favor, them
letting her set up that close to the palace. Not just anyone would be allowed
to do that, he was willing to bet.

She grabbed a sheet of paper and
a pencil, and then handed them both to him, which got a wry look to come to his
own face.

"Well, this is awkward. I
hate to admit it, but I don't write well. Or read much either. Midgets aren't
given much schooling, laws saying otherwise aside. No one sees much need for
it. Honestly, if my friend Patty hadn't taken the time to teach me letters, I
wouldn't even have that. I should practice more, I know, but for the moment it
might be faster if you do it?"

She looked horrified, if only for
a second, then smiled, covering for him. It was embarrassing, not knowing how
to do that, but she didn't rub it in, like some did.

"Here then. Things haven't
been selling out too fast, but I could still use some replenishing. A year is a
long time, even in a slow market." Then she walked her shop, marking down
how much she might need of what items, and then tapped the page, at the end of
it. "I'll mark down that I could use anything new that they want to part
with as well. Thank you for suggesting this. Even if nothing comes of it, it
would be good to be in touch with Tor. I heard that he can't return here for
years?" She looked at him, sidelong, as if trying not to accuse him of
anything.

It was his fault, but had still
been needed.

"That's right. It would kill
him. Nine more years, I think. You can go visit him
there,
however. I
should have a jump ship, after this trip, so we can set that up. I don't know
if they have inns there, or how that works, never having been myself, but it's
a good idea."

She demurred, but then, she
would. He was, like it or not, a nobleman in her eyes. That meant the kind of
person that could say anything he wanted to get her to drop her undergarments,
even if he didn't just order it done. So, until he actually took her there, anything
he said like that was going to be viewed as idle chatter. Gerent thought it
might be a good idea, however. As long as things up there weren't so primitive
that no one should go. If that was the case, he'd know it shortly himself.

They didn't dawdle, which left
them with about an hour to kill. On the good side, Debbie softened toward him,
and spoke more freely as time passed, showing him her house and relaxing a good
bit when he didn't insist they retire to her bed chamber.

"I live pretty simply, most
of the time. Right now I spend my days over in the estate. Maria and Marvin
have been very kind to me, so I want to do what I can to repay them. I don't...
Well, other than some baked goods or magics, I don't have much. Coin isn't
short for them, so... Playing servant. I know I should be humbled by it, but I
don't mind. I was raised in a small village, Copperton, and moved when I
decided not to marry the local blacksmith's second son. Nothing against him,
but I like my men to have at least most of their teeth." She tapped the
magic light as she walked past, making the bright glow stop suddenly. It
plunged them into darkness, but it was pretty clear she was taking him outside.
Or he thought that was the case.

There was a whisper then, as she
moved closer to him.

"I... Maria and Marvin, they
aren't
really
against the King. I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but you
need to let Tiera know that. She can... we need the help here. I'd go and beg
myself, if I thought it would work.
We
do fine, but people in the other
cities are starving, or at least half starving. We don't have the resources
that the Timon devices offer. Even with them working for the King, he can't
show them favors, since that would give them away to our enemies. But if you
got those devices for us, we can claim that it was... I don't know. Can you
work that out? We need help." She moved close enough to him that Gerent
wondered if she were going to try to kiss him, but that didn't happen.
He
was probably supposed to be the one doing things like that, he knew.

It was just so far outside his
own experience. Not that he was all that shocked to find out about Maria and
Marvin. Rebellion right then was stupid. If he'd been the one in charge he
would have told everyone to wait ten years, for things to stabilize a little.
Or at least make sure they had regular food before spending their time and
efforts trying to get rid of a King that was no worse than any they'd ever had.

"I'll ask about that. Even
if I can't figure it out, I bet some of the others can. We should get back,
before everyone thinks that I'm stealing you away tonight." Not that it
wouldn't be fun, but it was pretty clear that wasn't exactly what the woman was
going for.

"Thank you. I know that
you'll do what you can."

Then, as they walked back, she
folded the paper she'd been working on and handed it to him. He made a special
little pocket for it, on his left breast, so he wouldn't lose it. There was a
little flap that lifted, keeping it from falling out.

Debbie might not have been family
to the Wards, but she walked right into the palace there as if she owned it,
not even bothering to knock. In a bit they were back with Collette and the
others, who seemed to have done their writing work quickly enough. One by one
they all handed him their sealed envelopes, marked with different names on the
outside. Several to Tiera, Timon and Tor. One addressed to Conserina Karen
Derring, and one to Conserina Farlo Ross. They were both in the same hand, if
he could make that kind of thing out well enough.

Thanks to Patty he could
understand them. He hadn't lied to Debbie, about not reading well, but his
writing was very slow and stilted, comparatively. Gerent could make out most of
the simple words on things now, if he tried hard enough, and guessed for a
while. He'd never even tried to read something like a whole book. That was the
same as magic to him. As far as he knew it was even related. After all, the
wizards
he'd
met could all read.

Gerent was willing to stay and
talk, but the important things had apparently all happened while he was being
coached by Debbie at her store. Collette stood and started hugging people at
any rate, so he followed along. Bowing to most of them, except for Petra who
grabbed him pretty forcefully. The embrace being just a bit warm. Friendly
even.

That got Maria to smile and move in
for her own hug, though the Count stood back this time, just smiling.

His deep voice rumbled enough
that Ger actually felt it in his chest.

"We can expect you both back
soon? Perhaps for a longer stay?" It was polite, but the fact of the
matter was that Gerent just didn't know the real answer.

Collette started to nod, as if
wanting that, but he had to think first, trying to work everything out.