Alessandra and Helga

Alessandra was skipping along beside her mother and Miss Kat on their way out the door to a waiting carriage. They were going to a tea party. She wasn’t exactly sure what that was, but it seemed like it would be fun; there was even going to be another girl her age there. Since it was a party, she had wanted to wear her pretty pink dress, but Mother had said “NO” in her 'I mean business' voice and let her choose from a few other dresses that she placed out. Alessandra had chosen a blue one with only a few ruffles. Mother had told her that she didn’t even have to be on her best behavior, just her better behavior. The other girl was a princess but was also her cousin, so she had to be polite but didn’t always have to use her title, just when non-servants were around. Since she was a little kid, she didn’t have to be perfect, but there would be ‘consequences’ if Mother or Miss Kat thought she was ignoring the rules on purpose. She did not want to know what the ‘consequences’ were, so she would try her best to remember.

“Mother, why are we taking a carriage and not just going through the gate Daddy uses when he visits the king?” she asked.

“One, it is to let the other nobles know what we are doing. Private audiences’ with the King and Queen are rare. And two, how do you know about the garden gate?”

Taking an extra-long hop so she could face Mother, she replied, “I saw him go through it while hiding from Miss Suzzane. When I asked where he had gone, I was told he went to meet the King. I’ve seen him use it a couple of times.”

Rubbing her eyes, Mother explained further, “I have forgotten how much little eyes see. The reasons your Father uses the gate so often are somewhat complicated, but the short answer is he does not care for the political games of the capitol, so I play it for the both of us. Nothing you need to worry about yet.”

After a short carriage ride that was a complete waste of time in Alessandra’s opinion - if you had a shortcut, you should use it – they were waved through the Palace gates. They were directed to a garden that, if Alessandra was correct, was right next to the garden of her house. Yup, she saw two guards standing next to a half-hidden gate. Mother grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her forward, reminding Alessandra that she shouldn’t stop and gawk.

A ’secretary’ met them and led them deeper into the garden. She stopped and waved them to a gazebo and a small tent, both with tables and maid-thieves standing nearby. There was a very pretty lady and a girl in a nice but plain red dress similar to the one Alessandra was wearing. She assumed that they were the Queen and her cousin, Klara.

Miss Kat stayed with the secretary. Alessandra was confused by that; Miss Kat went with her almost everywhere outside of the house. Maybe she was embarrassed that she was in trousers instead of a pretty dress? Mother dragged her up to the gazebo and curtsied to the Queen; Alessandra didn’t because, apparently, it was worse for a child to do it poorly than not at all.

“I know you're trying to set a good example, Helga, but that’s really not necessary,” the Queen said.

“It is hard enough getting etiquette pounded into Alessandra’s skull as it is. If she sees me and her Father ignoring it, she will never learn, Etain.” Alessandra was pulled in front of Mother. “Etain, Klara, this is your new cousin Alessandra. Alessandra, these are your cousins, Queen Etain and Princess Klara. Say hello.”

Suddenly nervous, Alessandra gave a shy wave and said, “Hello.”

“Hello, Alessandra. I know it’s not official yet but welcome to the family,” Queen Etain said. Waving to the small tent, she continued, “Why don’t you and Klara get to know each other away from us stuffy adults? The chefs made up a bunch of sweets for you two to share.”

From the way Klara quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the small tent, Alessandra could tell getting unlimited sweets was a rare treat. Getting near the table, both Alessandra and Klara’s eyes went wide at the mounds of cookies and sweetbreads. This was going to be a great party!

****

“That’s a lot of sugar you are letting them have,” Helga said.

“It’s a special occasion. It’s not every day that Klara gets to spend time with a child her age that she doesn’t have to be in princess mode with.” Etain sighed, “I only wish that Halrond weren’t so far away so they could spend more time together.”

“If I remember correctly, she has a Major Talent?” Etain nodded an affirmative. “Well, why not send her to our Guild when she’s ready for training? She’s far enough down the succession that surely no one will object.”

“That is a thought. Not sure if I want to send my baby that far away, though.”

“Just a thought; any decision is still a few years off.”

Waving her hand towards the girls, who were busy working through the sweets at an alarming rate, Etain asked, “Is Alessandra making any progress on her aura control? I noticed that she had two suppression bracers on.”

“She is. She realizes that she is dangerous and needs to control her aura. She’s just so uneducated that we are having to work through all the basics first. The two bracers are because she thought having one was silly as her arms didn’t match. It does not hurt anything, so I let her do it. According to her Counselor, letting her have meaningless victories will help her emotional stability. Having raised two boys, I can tell you not fighting every little thing helps mine,” Helga said.

Etain chuckled in agreement and replied, “I understand that. Have you let her pick her own clothes yet.”

‎ Helga shuddered, “Yes, and if I ever see another pink dress in a store, we are leaving immediately. If we are still here for the end of summer gala, I will let her wear her favorite dress in the hope that Countess North Lake has a heart attack from seeing it.”

Wincing, Etain asked, “Is it really that bad?”

“Do you remember that garish suit that Baron Southford wore to your Investiture?” Etain nodded. “I would sooner let Jerome wear that than let Alessandra out in public in that dress.”

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Shuddering, Etain changed the subject, “How about you? How are you handling having her in your life? It must be quite the change going from an empty house to having a semi-feral child.”

“It has not been easy. The first few days were really bad waiting for the Guild to try and take her, not knowing if she would kill us all because she got scared by anything. And the things that come out of her mouth! She thought that being given an undershirt meant we wanted her to be a whore! And did you know that she did not even have undergarments when Jerome found her? We still catch her peeing in the garden sometimes because ‘It’s too far to go to the toilet’”

With a giggle, Etain replied, “You know I would almost prefer that sort of problem than worrying if the latest girl showing interest in Georg likes him for him or the tiara that comes with his heart.”

“Ugghh, do not tell me about it. It is past time for Evan and Anthony to be wed, but neither one of them is making a move. Jerome has promised me that when we get back, he will force the issue with Anthony, and since Evan is here, he and I will have a knife-to-heart conversation soon.”

“Yeah, they are a bit old to still be bachelors. But back to you. What are you doing for yourself? You are on vacation.”

“I’ve mostly been shopping, reading books, and trying not to let Alessandra see me laugh at her antics. Getting her settled was rough, but I think I have her days structured enough to keep her out of serious trouble. I do talk with the Counselor twice a week about my worries.”

“That’s good. Have your….” A shriek of delight, followed by a crash, cut Etain off.

****

The tea was good, but not near as good as the cookies with the bits of chocolate in them. Kara was nice, so Alessandra was not intentionally shocking her by misunderstanding her questions. She was surprised that Father and Mother were letting the Paladins teach her to fight; Kara’s parents kept telling her that she was too young to learn. In turn, Alessandra was surprised that Kara was learning to ride horses and kargels. Alessandra had to ask what a kragel was, and Kara had told her that they were big lizards that the army used as mounts. Both of them thought that lessons with Educators were boring, but neither girl's guards would let them sneak away from them. Alessandra was beginning to feel very fidgety and was wondering if she needed to ask a maid-thief where a toilet or where a bush was that she could use was when she heard a weird voice asking for treats.

“Oh! Hello there Xander,” Kara said while putting a small sweetbread on the ground.

Alessandra looked over to where Kara had placed the sweetbread and squealed in delight at the large, cute cat-like creature with six legs and long fangs that was busy eating the treat. She jumped from her seat, knocking over her chair, and engulfed the creature in a death hug.

“HE’S SO CUTE!” she screeched. Looking up to Kara, who was giving her a look similar to Mother when she did something weird, she asked, “What is he? He kinda looks like Bitey but not. Where can I get one? Does he play, do tricks, or bring you rats?”

At this point, Xander had enough of the death hug and gently pushed Alessandra to the ground and placed a paw on her chest to keep her there. He sent a pleading look to Kara, who had started giggling at the rapid-fire questions.

“Xander is a galtrop. He’s a bit weird, yes he’s friendly, and like the sun, most of his kind are really mean and only come out at night. The guards keep them to help guard at night. I’m not sure where they get them. He does play tag with me sometimes. Do you want to play tag?”

Alessandra, who had worked free from Xander’s paw and was trying to hug the animal again, though he kept gently knocking her over whenever she got close. Xander was looking at her with a bemused look as she fell to the ground again, laughing.

From her position on the ground, Alessandra replied, “YES! That sounds fun.” She rolled over and stuck her hand under the table, and vanished. Appearing from Xander’s shadow, she slapped him and yelled, “YOUR IT!” and ran into a flower bed.

****

Rising from her seat, Helga started charging a mana bolt; incredulous, Helga asked Etain, “You let your galtrops wander the grounds?”

Grabbing Helga’s arm, Etain replied, “Just that one, his name is Xander. As a kitten, an alchemist experimented on him. They didn’t produce the results she wanted, but it made Xander too mellow to make a good guard animal. He does make a good pet, though. He’s gentle and patient with children, and as a certain assassin can’t tell you, he is still very protective of those he considers his. What’s strange is his offspring are almost as mellow as him.”

Slightly calmer, Helga watched on as Alessandra repeatedly tried to hug the creature but was gently, for a galtrop, rebuffed repeatedly. Kara said something to which Alessandra replied enthusiastically, and then shadow jumped to slap the galtrop and run off through a flower bed. The creature and Kara quickly followed her.

Etain turned to Helga, shock written all over her face, “She can use her magic even though she has two bracers?”

“Only if she concentrates hard enough. Shadow jump is the only skill that we are teaching her to use right now. One of the Paladins that the Temple of Life assigned to her is an instructor in that skill. It is a hard skill to learn and is teaching her control. And before you ask, of course, we know that the bracers would do little to stop her if she used Death Magic. We have replaced the braces five times in the month she has been with us.”

“My Gods. She’s that strong? If the Guild had got her, she would be dead or drugged to the heavens in some research chamber. I thought it was just one of Jerome’s whims that you had kept her from the Guild. Does my husband know of her power?”

Helga was slightly nervous at the course of the conversation. If Etain felt that the Queen had to join the conversation, things could go poorly. She had to be careful with her response.

“Yes and no. Jerome has not told him what I just told you, and from what Jerome has told me, he has deliberately not asked how powerful she is. He has implied that she is abnormally strong. If the King knew what she was before we finalized the adoption, the King would have to take her from us. As we are having an informal family gathering, I can tell you, my cousin, more than I can tell my Queen.”

Raising her eyebrows, Etain replied, “Give me your word as a Duchess and my cousin that anything you are hiding from the Crown will not harm it and is in the best interest of the child and Kingdom, then the Queen will not need to appear.”

“You have my word. There are still things that I cannot, under any circumstances, tell you. A Divine Gaes is in force. Her magic power is around 900,000 force per second. Her mana pool is off the scale. We have no good estimate of its depth, but she survived The Wet for two days unassisted and undiseased and most likely killed with her magic at least once. The tests indicate with training, her control will be near perfect. My Gods Etain, even wearing two suppression bracers, we need two powerful Life Mages around her at all times to keep her aura from killing the city when she loses control. If she were to consciously use her magics not even an Archbishop of Life would be able to stop her without the Goddess’ help.”

Frowning, deep in thought, Etain took a minute to reply. “If you had not mentioned the gaes, I would have ordered her execution this minute, Helga. Can you tell me, so I can tell the Queen, who the gaes comes from?”

Helga shook her head and said, “I cannot. I can tell you that the Archbishop of Life and Family passed it on from her Goddess, who got it from another. She was so shaken by who the message originated from and its contents that she drank two whole bottles of Jerome’s finest whiskey as if it were watered-down wine.”

Taking a sip of tea, Etain sat deep in thought. After a few moments, she set her teacup down and stood, “I have decided that this conversation never happened. I want nothing to do with the plans of whomever that message originated from. Let’s go see what damage the girls have done to my gardens.”