Sons (Book 2) (130 page)

“Seth, he’s ready,” Jimmy said quietly, unsure if he should disturb me.

Ellorn was no less colorfully dressed than usual with a red and yellow diagonally striped shirt, yellow slacks and red shoes.  Too damn cute.

“Well, the rest of the Palace has seen to this morning’s needs quite admirably,” I said turning to my
Saun
.  “While we were sleeping, they managed to setup enough clothing for a day or two and breakfast for everyone, maybe even lunch, so that solves an immediate problem.  The next problem is to find everyone a place to live.  After that, we have to increase the amount of food we’re bringing in as well as the infrastructure on transportation, dissemination, storage… 

“You need a plan,” I decided.  “After you’ve eaten, start gathering an advisory board together.  Make sure you include both commanders and Lt. Brinks and at least the top five brownie representatives.  Define and prioritize your needs and what you need to do to achieve them on a recurring basis.  Oh, and you should have the medics give everyone a lecture on personal hygiene and sexual education.  You no longer have a breeding season like you did as brownies and that will confuse everyone.”

“What does that mean?” Jimmy asked.  The consternation on his face was almost funny.

“Well, you know how dogs and cats go into heat…?” I asked him, grinning.  I couldn’t believe the farmboy didn’t know what a breeding season was.

“Yeah,” he answered, still confused.  The pieces fell together slowly, but when it dawned on him, he burst into laughter.  “Ah, dude!  Better put condoms on the list of ‘Needs’!”

“Like Gilán can’t burst a rubber,” I muttered.  Ellorn looked back and forth between us like we were speaking in Swahili.  “First will stay with you today, but Kieran has work for me on the other side.  I’ll check back as often as I am able, but if you have problems, call me.  I have faith that you two can do this.”

Jimmy and Ellorn exchanged looks.

“Thank you, Lord Daybreak,” Ellorn said solemnly.

“We won’t let you down, Seth,” Jimmy said, equally as solemn.

“I know, Jimmy,” I said with a smile, then shifted to my bathroom.

~              ~              ~

“
Saun Huri
?  What language is that?” Kieran asked sitting down beside Peter with a plate full of bacon and scrambled eggs.  Apparently Peter’s cooler was off-limits to last night’s scrounging.

“The geas language,” I answered between bites of bacon.  “Not the language it was written in, but the language that evolved between us.  It’s a
Faery
-thing.  You probably chose the language you use with Shrank, but I didn’t think about it ahead of time.”

“So what does that mean, exactly?” Dad asked while buttering a biscuit.  “It looked like you changed a brownie into a wizard as strong as Thomas or Gordon and you’re calling this a
Saun Huri
, correct?”

“Think of it this way,” I offered.  “
Saun
is like
Sidhe
.  They even look extremely similar. 
Huri
means
blend
or maybe
hybrid
.  Translation is sometimes an inexact art.  The
Huri
are a blend of human and elven characteristics.  When you see Ellorn or any other
Huri
, the terms will make perfect sense.  And because they are a blend, they have access to both faery and human magic.  Not all the
Huri
will be that strong in human terms.”

“What about the Guard?” Ethan asked.  “Did they change, too?”

“Yes, but I’m not real sure how it’s going to affect them,” I admitted.  “The only real differences I see in their position is that they’re closer to the
Huri
than any other faery and their name within the geas is
Huri-ransé
.  That’s a more difficult word to define, too. 
Ransé
could be ‘to be received’ or ‘wanted’ or ‘requested’.”  I shook my head in confusion.  “It’s a complex idea with a lot of emotional contexts.”

“Will they be able to help today?” Kieran asked, wolfing down his food.

“I’d prefer not, if possible,” I said, “at least as far as an active role.  There’s no telling how active, violent magic will affect their senses
or
how they’ll react to it.  Oh, interestingly enough, both First and Ellorn can see Daybreak now.  Haven’t tested how far that extends yet.”

“Just the
Saun
?” Kieran asked, pushing his empty plate forward.

“Haven’t checked the
Huri
,” I answered, polishing off the eggs.  “What have you got in mind for today, anyway?  I’m sorry I’ve been so distracted lately.”  Peter and Ethan snickered then burst out laughing.  Kieran smiled at them behind a mug of coffee.

“Shrank, what’s the population?” Kieran asked.  The pixie popped out of a flower arrangement on a side table in a streak of green dust, his face smeared in pollen.

“Last I heard, Lord, the count was one million four hundred thousand,” he trilled, wiping his face on his sleeve.

Chuckling, Kieran said, “That’s not exactly a distraction, Seth.  Besides, this is fascinating.”  His eyes gleamed with curiosity and wonder.  Shaking his head slightly, he continued, “But unfortunately we have more pressing issues to deal with.  We found a correlation of names between Sondre and the European council and, possibly, Lucian.”

I searched through the memories I had of Sondre until I hit an image that fit the first two characteristics.  “Marchand?” I asked, barely believing the idea.  Those memories were murky and clipped, limited mostly to her time as Dieter.  Kieran had more time with her to dig deeper through those weird transfers of hers.

“Yes,” Kieran said.  “The hit you gave Dieter damaged his memory, but there was a conversation between Sondre and a lieutenant that mentions referring Marchand to a ‘Luke’ in a cul-de-sac in Faery.  It might be a corrupt memory, being on the cusp of the transfer before Dieter.  Regardless of that reference being correct, Marchand lives next to one of the smaller training grounds that the Russian supplied in Denmark.  We’re going to pay him a visit this morning.  Ask a few questions, under duress if necessary.”

“How long ‘sit gonna take to get there?” I asked.  “I need to check with the Pentagon sometime this morning, too.”

Kieran blew a slow breath out, but Dad answered, “I can get us there through the Weirdways in about four hours from London.”

“How about from Belgium?  Grammand?” Peter asked, hopefully.  “Both Seth and I can get us that far.”

“Cut it in half if we can find a way in,” Dad said.  “Faster with a smaller group.”

“I don’t know how to do it,” Peter said, shaking his head.  “Dad’s only showed me once and it was really confusing.”

“Tell me about it,” I mumbled in amusement.  “We got halfway across the forest by jumping over tree limbs and pushing through bushes.”

Kieran chuckled.  “Three’s a good number for the Weirdways, but we’ll come back to this.  It’s not that hard to do.”

“Oh, I figured it out when you showed me the long way into Faery,” I told him.

A knock at the door startled us out of our conversation while Peter answered the door.  Mike, Steve, and David followed Peter in, stifling any conversation about Lucian.  Considering the reference, it was tenuous at best anyway.

“Well, it seems we have a slew of new words to learn,” Mike said grinning.

“’Slew’?  How are three words a ‘slew’?  Thank you, David,” I asked Mike, acknowledging David as he and Peter started clearing the table.

“Three?  The Garrison has about a hundred fifty so far,” Mike answered chortling.  “They’re having trouble pronouncing a number of them but that isn’t stopping them from trying.”

“A hundred and fifty?” I asked, startled.  “What the hell are they naming?”  Part of my attention swung around to the Garrison, or more specifically, to Byrnes and Velasquez.  It only took a few seconds to see exactly what was going on.  The military mindset was at work and flipping rapidly through its rulebooks, acclimatizing itself to its new
Huri
environment.  The military has little issue with the rigid caste system and faery role definition.  Its only problem was with crossing the borders, so the
Ransé
formed a kind of permissions that allowed individuals to plug themselves into certain jobs or rankings.  As they had before, this gave them a level of ambiguity that worked within the military chain of command quite easily.

“Well, fortunately, it doesn’t look like you’ll have to learn all of those,” I said chuckling.  “Once they get everything settled down, English will work just fine.  The words they’re defining are mostly job titles.”

“That’s helpful.  If they were having a hard time with them…” Mike said, scoffing.  “Anyway, Byrnes said the list of international sites is ready for you and Brinks has an initial supply list ready to restock from last night and augment for a day or two.”

“I guess that defines what I’ll be doing while y’all search for a way in,” I said to Kieran.

“Just don’t get too bogged down,” Kieran warned.  “Dad, are you ready to go, or do you need to change?”

“No, I’m all set to go,” he answered.

“If you find yourselves in Switzerland by mistake, see if you can find a good clock,” Peter said.  “We need one around here.”

“Why?  The Palace’s alarm clock not good enough for you?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Oh, yes, it’s quite nice, really, but knowing the time relative to everywhere else is kind of important, too,” Peter said a little defensively.  And I did agree with him, so I shrugged a little.

“Pete, you wanna get them settled in Belgium while I see about food, then?” I asked Peter.

“That works,” he said, standing.  “Shouldn’t be gone but a few minutes.”

“Guess that leaves you guys with me schlepping produce,” I said to Mike, grinning.  “Or at least, tracking the money.  Guess we should have hired accountants instead.”  We all stood up from the table, ready to begin our chosen tasks for the day.  “Good hunting and be careful.”  I shifted the four of us to the Garrison to get started.  A few moments later, I felt a small rip in the veil around Gilán open as Peter opened a portal into Grammand.  Time to get to work.

The Garrison was surprisingly understaffed with barely sixty men in position at the moment.  Brinks had a crew in the kitchen working on lunch for two thousand.  There were brownies everywhere and Brinks definitely needed the help.  The kitchen was going at full bore in preparation.  Mankiewicz, Brick, and several of their top trainers were working out in the training rooms, trying to catalog changes to their abilities.  They already had a considerable list of differences, mostly improvements but some were questionable and would require study.  And the medics with several of the brownie and
huri
midwives were examining all of the pregnant women—sorry, the pregnant
ransé
—to preclude any problems because of the transformation.  A sensible precaution, I thought.

Moving us again, I knocked on Ted’s open door and walked in.  “Good morning, Lord!” Ted called from his desk, standing.

“Good morning, Ted,” I answered.  “Everybody out helping?”

Grinning, he said, “More like socializing, but yes, I didn’t see a reason to keep everyone cooped up in here if they could help out there.”

“Socializing is good for everybody involved,” I said nodding.  “Lt. Brinks has gotten an initial list together, though, and we need to start gathering stuff.”

“Are we still buying from stores?” he asked.  Accepting my nod for a yes, he called out, “Ric, send everyone with a ‘Price Club’ card to Meeting Room One along with a buddy, please, and instruct the Paymaster that we’re going after supplies shortly and to be ready.”  I heard Velasquez’s response to Byrnes through the geas, but we were the only ones.

Turning to Mike, I handed him the list and told him to head to meeting room one and break the list down into manageable parts.  Inventory control and purchasing weren’t exactly these guys forte, especially a street fighter like Ferrin, but they adapted well enough the first time.  Then I called for the
Saun
, interrupting what they were doing.  Jimmy and Ellorn shifted into Ted’s office.

“Good morning, Commander Byrnes,” Ellorn said cheerfully.

“Good morning, Ted,” Jimmy said at roughly the same time.

“Good morning,
Saun Gilán
First,
Saun Huri
Ellorn,” Byrnes answered happily.

“I know you haven’t had very long, guys, but how’s it going?” I asked.

“Surprisingly well!” Jimmy said.  “We’ve had time to eat and setup a scheme for residences.  We were working on a supply list when you called.”

“What did you base your residence scheme on?” I asked.

“Clan affiliation was the simplest,” Ellorn answered.  “There are eleven clans of
Huri
, the largest being my clan, the Lorash.”

“The ‘Go-betweens,’ you’re the diplomats, then,” I said, translating the word.

“That would seem to be among the talents of the Lorash, yes, sir,” Ellorn agreed tentatively.  “The next largest group is the Cordanes, the caretakers and builders, and the Amoran, the defenders.  These three make up about half of the
huri
.  The Amoran, I put in Garrison Two since One is too oversized.  Families can be assigned quarters in the suites next door to it as necessary, but most of the Amorans are currently unmarried.”

“Don’t expect that to last,” I muttered, grinning.

“I wonder if they’ll be monogamous,” Jimmy said idly.

“Of course we will!” Ellorn said indignantly, then he looked at me.  “Won’t we?”

Crap!  “Um, I don’t know, Ellorn,” I answered quietly.  “As a brownie, you found a mate and bonded together for life, but your life was, what, twenty to thirty years?  As a
huri
your lifetime could be two to three
hundred
years or more, even.  That bond might not exist with the
huri
.  This might require a societal change to something like serial monogamy.  We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Not a good time to quote divorce statistics, huh?” Jimmy snarked, laughing.

“First!” I growled, scowling at him.  Ellorn was seriously worried about this.  “Let’s put this on the back burner for a while till we can talk to some of the married couples and feel them out, maybe examine this mating bond somewhat.  We have time.  I’m about to send some of the Guard through the veil to start restocking the things we need from Earth and we need to consider the produce situation, too.  How much can we depend on the outland brownies without hurting their supplies?”

“Without knowing seasons and weather patterns, I would hesitate to rely too heavily on their supplies at this point, Lord,” Ellorn said after a moment of thought.  “However, there are a large number of orchards and fields that can be cultivated that are within the
huri
range of travel by Road that aren’t within the other faery’s range.  We could send a caravan out.”

“Will that slow down your preparations?”

“I don’t believe so, sir,” Ellorn answered.  “It may even help relieve some of the immediate pressure.”

“Do it, then, and include the
ransé
, if possible,” I said.  “And while you’re at it, why don’t you send several small groups around to the brownie and sprite encampments to introduce the
huri
and the
ransé
to everyone.  Socialize.  See how we might help them.  Maybe even take some of the children along to see the countryside.”

Ellorn smiled broadly.  “That is a lovely idea, Lord Daybreak.  We’ll do that.”

That gave Byrnes and Velasquez multiple things to do and First something specific to do instead of simply “help” Ellorn.  That only left three to contend with.

“Mike, the paymaster is going to need more cash, I think,” I said.  “We are increasing the budget remarkably, after all.  And since the three of you are more likely to think differently than they do, I’d like the three of you to help with supplies.  Manage things they wouldn’t think about, that I wouldn’t think about.  The unorthodox is your expertise and I’m sure they’ll hit snags.”

Mike turned his head slightly, narrowing his eyes, and asked quietly in his airy British accent, “What are you four up to?”

Briefly, very briefly, I considered lying to him.  “Pete and I are going to the Pentagon to try and hurry along some business.  Kieran and Ethan are looking into something.  Other than that… call it ‘reasonable deniability’,” I said uncomfortably.

Peter shifted in beside me, picking an excellent time.  “I miss anything important?” he asked, seeing the look Mike was giving me.

“He’s making sure everybody has plenty to do before you skip out,” Mike accused me.

“Isn’t that what the boss is supposed to do?” Peter asked smoothly.  Byrnes snickered quietly behind us and I had a feeling that nickname was going to live on for awhile longer.

Mike grunted.  “Don’t think I’m not on to you, kid,” he growled lightly.

“Oh, quit whining, Mike,” Peter said lightly.  “If we decide to go after one of the bases, trust me, you will be involved.”

He glanced over at Peter and back to me.  “Just so we’re clear about that.”

Byrnes was gathering the courage to say something similar, so I decided on the cowardly route and hurried us out saying I had another quick stop to make.  Shifting us near Mitch, we watched a bunch of
huri
boys playing in a park along the promenade.  Mitch sat among the other proud parents watching their kids and talking.  The boys moved through the trees like monkeys on speed and Donny kept up with them with no problem, instantly alarming us.

Since everyone wasn’t instantly aware of me, I concluded my aura wasn’t visible to the
huri
and
ransé
, but they saw us fast enough.  Ellorn was notified of our location and the Palace map was adjusted, just as the Situation room map would be.  I almost giggled as I watched it happen, but thankfully that was the only reaction.  We watched Donny playing very simple games like tag with boys younger and older than him, learning games.  They were getting used to their bodies all over again, something the adults had to do as well, only not so rambunctiously.  The problem was, Donny shouldn’t have been affected since he didn’t have a geas.  And he didn’t, I checked.  What Donny did have was a familial bond with Mitch and that bond was strong enough to allow the
ransé
abilities to travel.  And of course, this shouldn’t have been possible either.

Trading ominous looks with Peter, I called to him through the geas,
Donny, may I talk to you for a moment?
  A head of tousled brown hair popped up from a tumble of four boys of bright pea-green hair and started to fight his way free.  A few seconds later, he was hitting me in the chest at full tilt and throwing his arms around my neck.

“Seth!” he yelled in my ear as I grabbed a hold of him and stepped back to keep my balance.  For a kid, he had a hell of an impact.  Every head in earshot turned to see who had used my first name.  Peter laughed at me as I contorted to catch my breath and a half-dozen snickers accompanied Peter’s, then a chorus followed a moment later after everyone realized it was okay.  The few brownies around giggled freely regardless.  Donny squirmed excitedly in my arms as he jockeyed for position to talk face-to-face.  He started talking at a furious rate as soon as he was in place, telling me all about his morning, first with
Fre
and Ana, then breakfast, then meeting new friends and playing with them.

“Who is
Fre
?” Peter asked when Donny paused for a breath.

“It means ‘Dad’,” I answered for the confused kid.  He had to slow his mind down to understand Peter’s question and then he really didn’t understand the question.  It was a linguistics problem of magical translations.  And they were playing at
huri
speeds and strengths, which required
huri
speed of thought.  “Not everyone here speaks
Gilani
, Donny.  You have to be ready to explain terms, at least to some people.  That’s a good word, though.  So you’re having a good day, then?”  He leaned back in my arms, grinning and nodding.

“He ought to be,” Mitch said a few yards away.  “He’s been at it like that for about two hours now.  Ought to be exhausted.”

“Morning, Mitch.  You doing okay?” I asked, examining the bonds he held and created with his kids, both Donny and Ana.  The magical bonds between them may be new but they were strongly crafted through the emotional bonds he felt for them and were a pale image of the only bond he knew, the geas.  My only explanation was that the geas saw that pale image as a path when it wrote the
ransé
and included the Grimes children.

“Yes, sir, fantastic!” Mitch said smiling.  “Been here most of the morning.  Parents and children have congregated here and in other parks and we’re just waiting for them to wear themselves out.  Doesn’t seem to be working very well, though.”

“Have any of the parents joined in?” Peter asked, looking at the division of parents and children. 

Mitch laughed heartily.  “It’s a slaughter when we do!  Turns into a huge wrestling match: us versus them.  And we lose every time!” 

Crap, now I wanted to see that!  I must have looked like it, too, because before I knew it all the dads were on their feet and charging forward with huge grins.  The dads were outnumbered better than three to one, but even though they were faster and stronger than their kids, I didn’t see them winning this.  The dads would toss a kid off gently—comparatively, these weren’t human kids, after all—while the kids had no compunctions about barreling into dads four and five at a time and moving on to the next one while someone else piled on top. 

“Kids are evil, I’m telling ya,” Peter muttered beside me.  “All cute and cuddly at first then they turn into that!”

Within five minutes the dads were hobbling back to the sidelines with their own children at their sides helping them out cheerfully, laughing with them.  Everybody knew it was a bit of a put on, but damn those kids were vicious. 

“You saw what the brownies did to Ellorn last night,” I said, sliding Donny to the floor.  “Wasn’t much different.”

Mitch cocked his head to the side slightly, then asked, “Donny, would you like to go outside for awhile?  First is asking me to go out and meet some of the other clans and said that you and Ana can go with me if you want.”

“Really?  Outside?”  He was virtually boiling with excitement.  The noise level increased beyond bearable as that question was repeated and squeals of excitement pierced the air.  Shifting us to their apartment, Serita sat on the floor of Ana’s room amidst a group of girls playing with dolls.  She started packing them up, saying their parents were waiting out front.  Ana lost much of her shyness for the moment, looking up and smiling at Mitch and Donny.  Then she saw me and mimicked her older brother, launching herself at me by using the bed for height.

“Seth!  You came back,” she squealed as I caught her and cradled her in my arms.

“Pure evil,” Peter muttered behind a smile as he passed behind me.  I craned my neck back to look down to see her cute little face smiling up at me with those dark eyes and cream-laden coffee-colored skin.  Unfortunately, she was making Peter’s point for him.