Chapter Two - Overstay

Tapping the table absently, Jade asked, “So I’m a little fuzzy on the protocol there. How long were they planning on staying, exactly?” She wasn’t clear what the original plan had been, or how it changed after the attack. She kinda thought they’d been on the way out after the ball.

Ashanna sighed as she responded, “Honestly, this was a rather unprecedented visit from all three. We’ve never hosted more than one delegation at a time, and not without far more notice. In the past, they stayed for around a month, but none of them gave firm leave dates when requesting their visits.” She rubbed her temples, looking mildly harassed. Given that she was the one arranging everything, Jade couldn’t blame her for being frustrated.

Derrick patted his wife’s hand consolingly as he explained, “Given they’re here for you, I doubt any of them have the intention to leave before they get to know you better.” Well, that was only mildly awkward, considering the circumstances.

“So what now? Do we need to kick them out or something?” That didn’t exactly sound like a great plan either.

Shaking her head, Ashanna answered, “No. It’s customary for them to stay in the castle a few days while they get their estates in order, but with all that’s happened, they moved to their residences yesterday, which is one reason we were able to stay here without worry.”

Slowly, she asked, “So what I’m hearing is they’re going to be here for a while?” At Ashanna’s nod, she went on, “And they’ll be trying to keep in contact with me?” Another nod. “How does that work with classes and stuff? Are they still going to be holding regular events?”

With a sigh, the queen told her, “We’ll be issuing temporary student passes to those of the correct age.” She gave her husband a look as she continued, “Given that Eric is otherwise occupied, another one of my assistants is working with them to straighten out their schedules. Attendance will be light, but expect to see them in your classes. I imagine they’ll invite you to private parties. What you accept is your prerogative.”

“With a side of diplomatic guilt.” Jade muttered under her breath. An entire month of having to do the political song and dance sounded like a nightmare. She paused, then asked, “Do you think they’ll leave faster if I spend more time with them?” Could she speedrun the encounters?

Derrick nodded. “If they feel they’ve achieved their purpose.”

“What about the Saibreh delegation? You’d think with everything that went down with them, they’d leave sooner, right?” Her voice was maybe a little too hopeful.

“No, they’re the least likely to leave first. If they went back when they’re still on such uncertain terms with us, it’s as good as admitting they failed their mission.” Derrick analyzed calmly.

She groaned. “You’d think they’d get the hint that they overstayed their welcome, what with everything else going on.”

“Everything else going on is exactly why no one wants to leave. Like it or not, if things are unstable, they probably think they can convince you to leave more easily.” Ashanna lamented. “Putting your situation aside, it’s also important for them to show their friendship in the face of troubles to ascertain our treaties.”

Jade nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose that makes sense, although Aylin is the only one who stepped up to help that night.” She’d have to remember to thank the woman for volunteering to hold the gate open longer. Her people were the only delegates that came forward without reservation during the crisis. It wasn’t something they’d forget, and it made an impression.

“Yes, the Niloi were quite helpful that night.” Ashanna agreed. Although they hadn’t come through the gate, the queen had their help on this side to keep things organized. To be fair, all of their responses spoke of a society that was ready to step into battle at any time. The islands might be more chaotic than she thought, but it certainly made them prepared for emergencies.

“So…that’s it? Life as normal resumes Monday?” Well, as normal as anything got around here.

Derrick nodded. “Yes. You can relax for the next few days. Try to recover.” He cast another glance at her shoulder, and she got the message: stay out of sight and take care of her problem.

She paused, then glanced at her ring and asked, “So uhm. Would this be a good time to tell you that I’ve had some fae trapped in my ring for the last few days?” As far as she could tell, they were still sleeping in a sort of stasis, but she wasn’t sure how long that would last.

“You WHAT?” Ashanna practically choked out the words, eyes wide.

Smiling awkwardly, she explained, “So, uhm. Yeah. I kinda threw the living ones in a new spatial ring after knocking them out during the battle. They were being controlled, but also seemed intelligent, so yeah. I sort of forgot about them, but they’re still alive, just…sleeping? I’m not really sure what to do about them, because they were fairly dangerous, so I’m not positive that letting any of them out would be a good idea.”

Ashanna massaged her temples, at a loss for words. Derrick looked like he was trying to process. Finally, he inquired, “So you’ve just had living monsters in your ring this whole time?”

She half-shrugged, nodding. “Yeah. I’d say maybe we could put them in the zoo, but their magic is way too high-class to control that way. And plus, they actually do seem intelligent. Not really sure if they can be reasoned with or not. The few I overheard talking mentioned kidnapping humans like it wasn’t a big deal, so I guess it’s more likely that I just try to get information out of them before execution.” That didn’t exactly sit well, but it’s what she did with the doppelgangers. Killing sentient beings in cold blood wasn’t a choice she wanted to make, but when it was them or her…

With a sigh, Ashanna inquired, “Are you safe leaving them in there?”

Thoughtfully, she bit her lip as she pondered before answering, “I think so? They haven’t shown any signs of waking up, I just don’t know if they’ll eventually starve or whatnot.” It felt like she’d forced them into hibernation. If she wanted answers, she should probably deal with them sooner than later. She paused, then conceded softly. “I could…maybe ask the dragons.” She really didn’t want to do that, but Tadashi might have a solution for her.

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“Is that a good idea?” Ashanna seemed worried for her.

Jade sighed. “I don’t know, but I’m not sure there’s a better option right now. I’ll think about it. Maybe do an experiment before I resort to calling them.”

Derrick quickly requested, “Please make sure you have adequate backup when you do.” She nodded in acquiescence. Better safe than sorry. She had 38 tries to get it right, after all. In the worst case scenario, she’d just kill them and be done with it. That would’ve been their fate that night anyway. They’d already gotten a few extra days of trapped life.

It felt wrong to just sentence intelligent beings to death. Like she was sliding down a slippery slope of moral condemnation. Especially because she was considering just pumping them for as much information as possible like she had the mesmer.

“Right. So I’ll probably be holed up in the library, my workshop, or the zoo for the next few days, then.” She hadn’t forgotten she wanted to grow the trees for her fellacai, and maybe convert a few more queens. She might be ‘free’ for the next few days, but that just meant she had time to work on all her pet projects.

Ashanna nodded slowly. “Given your condition, it would be best if you had company. I’m sure the kids would love to spend more time with you.” She was offering up her children as chaperones, but Jade wasn’t opposed to the idea. Not being alone right now was probably for the best, given everything she’d learned and the circumstances.

“That’s fine. I won’t ditch anyone today.” She gave them a small smile as Derrick acknowledged her propensity for leaving guards behind. Looking at Ashanna, she asked, “By the way, do you know what state the zoo is in? I wonder how much the earth guard accomplished in a few hours.”

The queen shook her head. “I’m not sure. I haven’t had time to check since the incident.”

“Fair enough. Figured I’d ask. I’ll just go look at some point.” The groundwork was there at least, so she could always just work on it herself if she wanted to and had time. It wasn’t like she didn’t have plenty of projects to keep them busy when they came back. She still had to figure out how to build a subway, after all. Not to mention her future businesses and estate. Oooh, she needed to plan her place out at some point too. The royals would come in handy for that. Lots to do.

“Very good. Now, you mentioned you figured out how to see living spirits…” They spent a good half an hour as she taught Ashanna how to use her spiritual sight to look at spirits, prodding at her shoulder as they tried various things to see if they could make a difference.

In the end, though, all she had was an aching shoulder. Laying her head on the table, she sighed. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep trying, but for now, it’s not causing further problems so we can leave it alone.” Just accepting that her shoulder was burned mush wasn’t exactly ideal, but she added it to the list of things she might maybe ask Tadashi.

Derrick stepped to the side as they worked, making mirror calls as he began his work day. Ashanna started getting calls at the end too, so she sighed as she patted Jade on her good shoulder. “We’ve got time to figure it out. For now, I think we’ve overstayed our schedule, unfortunately. We should be getting back to the castle. Let us know if you need anything. The kids should be waking up soon, so try to keep at least one of them with you today.”

“Okay. You two take care.” Jade got up, giving them each a brief hug before they went into the hallway. They waved before heading down the stairs as she returned to her room with a nod to the guard who stayed behind. Noises came from a couple of the other rooms, showing that people were starting to wake up. It was almost seven, and she smiled as sleepy thoughts from her littles welcomed her back.

“Good morning, my loves. Did you get some sleep?” She asked as she approached the tree where they were roosting, stroking their wings as they started to wake up more. At their drowsy assent, she flooded their connection with her love and affection for them as she continued, “I’m sorry about not paying as much attention when the dragons were around. I didn’t realize how uncomfortable they made you.”

Lavender preened under her gentle ministrations as she replied, “It was necessary. More good than bad.” She sighed, but nodded.

“I know, but if something or someone is hurting you, I need to know. You’re my family, and I never want you pushed to the edge of what you can tolerate. I made a few mistakes yesterday, and I’m sorry. I don’t ever want to lose you.” She smiled sadly, remembering the biggest threat of all hadn’t been the dragons: it was her. She was the one who’d killed them all.

Some of her trepidation leaked through the connection, and they must’ve thought it was because of the dragons, because Carl piped up, “They will not break us. We’re strong, together.”

Letting out a small ironic laugh, she nodded. “You’re right. No matter what the world throws at us…we will not break.” It was a conviction to face her problems. She spent another minute just basking in their affection before she set out food for them while she sat nearby, pulling out a mirror.

A few seconds later, the mana connected, and Elena’s face came into view. “Jade! Good morning. Is something wrong?”

Behind her, she heard a familiar voice ask, “Jade called you?” before Eric stepped into view behind her, with Brayden popping over from her other side.

Shaking her head, she smiled at the trio as she replied, “Morning everyone. I see you’re all busy bright and early, but I guess that makes things easier.” They exchanged glances, but didn’t interrupt, so she went on. “First of all, Brayden, thank you for volunteering to set up my estate over there. I just found out about it a few minutes ago.”

“It’s not a problem. You’ve done your fair share of helping here.” He gave her a warm smile, and she nodded back to him.

“Thank you. However, it’s not a permanent solution. You have your own estate to take care of and can’t always be running after mine.” He bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement of that truth. Making eye contact with Elena, she went on, “That’s where you come in. Elena, I know you’re busy with your previous job and duties, but how would you like to be the permanent supervisor of my estate there? I’ll feel better knowing that someone who cares about the people will be in charge.”

Elena stared in shock, but Eric’s face lit up as he was the first among them to realize the implications of what she was asking. “That’s a wonderful solution.” He interjected happily.

Grinning, Jade replied, “Their majesties approved as well, so as long as Elena agrees…” Her voice trailed off, and that finally seemed to snap the girl out of her stupor.

“Yes! Yes of course I’ll do it! Thank you! You won’t be sorry! I’ll make sure everything goes well!” Her enthusiasm was palpable, and Jade laughed softly.

“Good, that’s settled then. You can help Brayden and Eric set it up.” She paused, then added, “And being my supervisor should ease some of the other problems, I believe.” At Eric’s grateful nod, she let out a sigh of relief. With a twinkle in her eye, she finished, “All right. Well I’m sure you three are busy, but I just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. Have there been any problems I need to know about?” She asked that last bit as an afterthought.

Shaking his head, Eric responded, “Nothing you need to worry over. We’ve got things well in hand here.”

Smiling when the other two nodded, she replied, “Sounds good. Call me if you need to. Be safe.” Elena gave her an excited wave as several fellacai flew behind her, and then Jade cut the connection, sticking the mirror back into her ring. She stretched, wincing as she moved her left shoulder. She kept forgetting. Rubbing at it absently, she grumbled before moving on.

She pulled out another mirror, staring at her troubled reflection for a minute as she debated. Finally, she put it back into her ring without making the call. Later. She’d muster up the courage to contact the dragons later.

Thankfully, the knock at her door was justification enough to put it off as she got off the bed to answer.

After all, the day had barely begun.