Getting to the yard of the hotel and unloading was a, memorable production, to say the least.
It caused quite the stir as our muddy, bloody clothes and general demeanor were noticed by the more well-to-do. However, for me, that was nothing more than a minor annoyance at best, when I noticed the other group that was already there, waiting for us.
Reporters.
The most annoying, self righteous, nosy people on earth.
After all, I had personal experience dealing with one of them. I idly wondered where that infuriating woman was, since I didn’t see her with the rest of the question shouting jackals. I was actually almost disappointed.
Almost.
Of course they all came running up to us with questions and pencils and little notebooks, and each question was more annoying, and in some cases, more ludicrous, than the last. A lot of them swarmed me, but Orna, Halona, and even Maggie got their own swarms. And they all predictably began peppering even the Pinkertons and moving men with questions in such rapid fire, as to be unanswerable and disorienting.
I resolutely ignored them, even going so far as to shove them out of my way if need be, though most of them seemed smart enough to stay out of my way in the first place.
Mores the pity.
I took my hat off and had the little primary mouse family I was familiar with hop into it, much to the amazement of the reporters, and then turned to head inside.
“Miss Rowan is in charge of unloading her equipment. Mr. Carnegie should have some rooms lined up for her use. I’ll direct the staff to help unload all her stuff. And take care of the mice folk.” I told the Pinkerton leader as I walked by. He nodded, keeping an eye on the reporters and keeping them reasonably at bay from the wagons.
I walked inside to the surprisingly quieter lobby of the hotel, and up to the young attendant behind the desk. “I’d like to rent some more rooms please.”
The man at the desk looked up, blinked, did a double take, and then just stared at me and the tiny mouse people in my hat on his countertop. They waved at him with big smiles on their faces. He waved back, a bit numbly.
“Uh, Mr. Carnegie spoke to management, and we are to accommodate all the needs of your party, Mr. Ranger, sir.” The young attendant said uncertainly. “I’m just not sure what needs will be required to be accommodated with your, um, friends?”
“In some of those traveling catalogues I’ve seen back home, called Sears or something, my sisters told me about small little fancy doll houses.” I told him, thinking back to my little sisters and their friends pooling their money to order one. “If I recall, they are about the size needed for pixies, fairies, and now my friends here. Have several of them purchased and brought into several rooms, rooms near mine, if possible. Set them up around in the rooms, and I’ll take care of the rest. Feel free to charge Mr. Carnegie for the expense.”
If I had to put up with all this crap, then he was damn well going to pay for it!
“Right away sir!” The attendant said, now much more confident with a clear plan in place.
“Also have room service bring some menus to those rooms, and then take any orders of food for them for the length of my stay here.” I told him, thinking through as much as I could for the mouse family, and the damn mini-village that had come with them. “And some buckets of warm water and soap. Also find any seamstresses who would be willing to work with these fine, tiny furry folk on making new clothes. Again, feel free to charge Mr. Carnegie.”
“Not a problem sir.” The young man nodded, now more confident than ever. Odd little mice people were one thing, but a paying customer who gave out a clear plan of what was wanted was something else. Something normal that could be latched onto.
It was a trick every NCO in the military learned, sooner or later.
As did junior officers.
“Did Miss Rowan have some rooms set aside for her work as well?” I asked, wanting to get this done. “She has a lot of equipment, so will need help unloading, unpacking, and setting it all up. The great Exhibition is in a few days, after all.”
Keeping the sarcasm out of my voice about that blasted Exhibition was growing more challenging by the sentence. Glancing around the lobby I noticed a young little girl clutching a contented looking house cat, and I was reminded of my own stowaway feline pet.
Sighing, I looked back to the attendant who was going through various books.
“I also have a cat beastkin guest. A woman. She’ll need her own room as well, and much the same treatment and help as these fine mouse folk.” I told him. “Her names Maggie, but she’ll be needing a bath and a fresh pair of clothes before anything else. That should be it.”
“Understood sir, we’ll see to it all right away!” The attendant nodded and then began waving over bell hops and delivering information.
Myself, I was too worn out to care, now that things had been wrapped up and tasks delivered. All that was left was to see to the unloading, and then to myself.
“I’ll need some food, a bath and some clean clothes, and my current clothes cleaned, as well.” I told him. “Apart from food, laundry, or special guests, I want no disturbances otherwise.”
“Our pleasure sir.” He nodded, and with a nod in turn I took my hat, the mouse family, and walked back out to the chaotic bedlam outside.
The swarm of reporters had only gotten thicker, and now the bell hops were having to shove their way through to join up with the Pinkertons to unload Orna’s gear.
“Pity I can’t just shoot them.” I muttered as I began to carefully work my way back to the wagons.
“Thank you for helping all of us Mr. Wild Ranger!” Phillip shouted-squeaked over the crowd from from my hat.
My response was cut off as a sudden silence descended on the area around me. Glancing around, I saw several reporters turning to regard me, holding the hat with mice people in it with sudden, keen interest. I felt like a hungry pack of wolves had just turned to look at me.
I actually shuddered from the feeling.
I really wish I could shoot them! I thought darkly.
“Mr. Ranger, who are they?!”
“Mr. Ranger, what are they?!”
“Wild Ranger, are you officially partnering with Andrew Carnegie?”
“Have you come to bring Frontier Justice to the streets of New York?”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Why are you giving mice a ride in your hat? And why are they wearing clothes?”
“Is it true you fought monsters in the Frontier?”
“Is it true your centaur woman views you as her owner?”
“What was it like fighting the Snatch-Worms?”
“How many towns have you seen destroyed during you journey east?”
“How many women have you gathered up?”
“Do you have any children?”
“You famously went to war for the love of a woman, so what happened to her?”
“What about Miss Orna Rowan was so special to you?”
“Is it true you just fought a major street battle with the man who bet against you?”
“Is Andrew Carnegie hiring you for a special job?”
“Is that really the infamous Hell Cat Maggie?”
“Are Miss Orna and the infamous Hell Cat Maggie part of your stable now?”
“Have you joined with a Five Points gang?”
“Mr. Ranger!”
“Wild Ranger!”
On and on they went, men and women, none giving me time to do anything or say anything.
And each question only got more bizarre, or insulting, than the last. The one about stables throughly caught me off guard.
The hell does that even mean? I wondered, lost, before deciding it simply didn’t matter.
Glaring, I turned slightly and shouldered my way through them, throughly fed up with the situation already. Glancing down, I saw the little mouse family watching everything with a sort of terrified awe. The kids even waved, in a sort of numb, terrified way.
The reporters only redoubled their efforts, practically losing their minds when they saw that.
After all, normal mice don’t wear clothes, or wave at people.
Finally, I reached the wagons, to find that the bell hops and Pinkertons had finally started unloading them, all but shoving their way through the reporters as well. With a sigh, I dived into the task alongside everyone else, resolutely ignoring how exhausted and sore I felt. I wanted this task done, and the sooner it was done, the sooner I could rest.
“I got you a room.” I told Maggie as she carried some coppersmith device towards the hotel. “The staff will lead you to it when we’re done here.”
“Thank you ever so much.” She nodded back as she walked by, a smug grin on her face the whole time. I noticed she showed more teeth than necessary whenever a particularly pushy reporter got in her way.
Brazen as it was, I had to smile with just a little bit of envy.
“Wow, these people really like you Mr. Wild Ranger!” Phillip called out excitedly, looking around with wide eyes at all the crazy chaos going on around the hotel yard.
I winced at the sudden silence his little voice caused.
Once again all the eyes of the reporters turned to focus on the little mouse, and me. I’d actually had to fend off hungry attacking animals, and monsters, out in the Frontier, and some of those situations had been less terrifying than this one. The looks of hunger on the faces of the reporters was disturbing.
“They can talk!?”
“How do you know the Wild Ranger?!”
“What accent is that?”
“Are you a new species?”
“How long have your kind been here?”
“Do you have a deal of some kind with the Wild Ranger?”
“Is the Wild Ranger now adopting you?”
On and on it went, again, with both male and female reporters as they desperately tried to crowd around me and my hat, which still held mouse family. Said mouse family was now rightly terrified, and clustering down into my hat together.
I’d about reached my limit for this nonsense, so I deliberately shoved my way through them with no remorse, bowling over a few who didn’t move fast enough, and once inside the hotel doors I shoved them shut in the reporters faces.
“Well, that was fun!” I snapped, breathing a bit fast as I struggled to calm down and catch my breath.
“Wasn’t it though?” Maggie asked, amused, standing a few feet away with a very young and anxious looking bell hop. “I’m infamous, but you’re famous. And now I finally understand the real difference. Me they ask questions because I’m interesting or exotic. You they mob just to know what you ate for breakfast.”
“It wasn’t this bad before.” I replied defensively, moving over to her in the relatively quiet lobby, finally catching my breath. “What the hell changed?”
“Probably this mornings newspaper.” The young bell hop boy suggested, looking like someone who was very nervous, but working very hard not to be. Seeing him try to behave like a professional made me smile, before what he said suddenly sunk in.
“This mornings newspaper?” I asked suspiciously. I suddenly had a very dark idea about where all this newfound fame came from.
“Yes sir!” The excited boy replied, grinning at me. “Your latest adventures were all over the front page, along with several stories of what you have done on the way here!”
“That damn woman!” I hissed, glaring around the room. “Where is she?!”
“What woman?” Maggie asked, amused. “And, dear boy, was that all this mornings newspaper had to say about our dear Wild Ranger?”
“Well, no ma’am.” The young bell hop smiled at her, excited at her apparent interest. “There was another story about how Mr. Carnegie is working with the Wild Ranger on the big Coppersmith Exhibition!”
“Oh, really?” Maggie asked, turning to look back at me, grinning. “How famous indeed!”
“I guess ma’am.” The young bell hop shrugged. “Maybe that’s what his guest wants to talk to him about?”
“My guest?” I asked, looking back down at the boy with raised eyebrows. “What guest?”
“The lady in your room.” He smiled back at me. “She’s wearing a dark green dress, said you would know who she was, and that she was expected?”
“Dark hair, dark eyes, slightly dusky skin, about this tall?” I asked, raising my hand as I described who I already knew it was. Utter sense of entitlement to every secret and private matter in my life? Enough stubbornness for days with endless smiling quips to go with it? Beautiful, brave, brilliant, and totally bratty at the same time?
I very carefully did not say those thoughts out loud, but something of them must have been on my face, considering the increasingly mischievous smile Maggie had as she watched me.
“Yes sir!” The bell hop nodded enthusiastically. “She said she’s happy to wait for you to return, however long it takes. Said also she won’t mind the long wait, as it gives her plenty of quality time to puzzle things out?”
“Oh of course she did.” I half sighed, half groaned, before forcing a smile back on my face as I looked down at the wide, innocent eyes of the young boy before me. “Thank you young man. I know who that is. She’s been, expected, for awhile. I’ll go and speak with her presently.”
“I’ll go with you.” Maggie stated firmly with a smile as she tossed him a silver coin. “Thank you for letting me know my room is being prepared for me, and for giving me the key young man. I’ll head there after my business with Mr. Ranger. My dear friend Orna, the fiery red head with all strange devices, could use some help. As could her two siblings I wager.”
“Right away ma’am!” The young boy ran off, clutching the coin Maggie had tossed him, looking as excited as could be.
“Can I go play with him, Mom?” Phillip asked, sounding like every kid wanting to run off to play, ever.
“We have work to do!” Mama mouse stated firmly. “Besides, how would you even play with them? They’re huge! And we’re now tiny!”
“Oh, I’m sure they could find a way.” Maggie cut in, smiling at the mouse family still in my hat. “Children can always find a way to play rather than to work.”
“What’s this about you coming to my room?” I asked as I began walking forward, too tired, sore, and annoyed with the reporter situation to bother paying attention to the family debate.
“Just what I said.” Maggie replied with a smile and a shrug as she turned to follow after me, while the managed chaos of Orna, her now reunited siblings, and the Pinkertons flowed around us. “I would imagine this woman waiting for you is special somehow. The look on your face alone is worth a meeting with her! After all, someone who can so thoroughly vex a legendary folk hero must indeed be someone worth meeting!”
I glared at her as she started laughing at me, wholly unimpressed by my glare. Problem was she was basically right. So, with a sigh, I gave up on the glare, since it did jack-all to a cat woman, and faced forward as we headed to my room. I knew damn well who it was going to be, and I knew, just plain knew in my gut, that she and Maggie were going to get along swimmingly.
I was doomed. I just knew it.
“So, since we’re coming with you, who are we meeting?” Father mouse asked, looking between the two of us with a slight concern. I couldn’t blame him: his fate, and that of his family and his people, was no longer in his hands. He’d placed it, quite literally in this case, in mine.
It was a precious, heavy burden, such trust.
Not just the trust of his own life, but that of his wife’s and children. The most precious treasures of all for any man worth his salt, no matter his species. And he’d handed them all over to me, on the faint, desperate hope that I could make their lives better.
And he was hardly the only one who’d done that.
Orna and her family, Halona, even to some extent the bratty woman I knew was waiting for me in my room. Facing down snatch-worms, and the thing they were feeding, was no easy feat.
That realization actually helped calm me down and focus.
I breathed a sigh as I reached my door, before glancing over at Maggie, and then down to the mouse family.
“Another reporter.” I explained, opening the door to my room. “One I sadly know very well. She’s the one who cursed me with the name Wild Ranger.”
Inside my room, sitting at the small reading table with a notebook out on it that she was working on, was what was quite possibly the bane of my existence. Or at least of my general career in life. She looked up at us as the door opened, as beautiful as ever, and smiled wide upon seeing us.
“Everyone, this is Lillianne Lancaster. The woman who ruined my life by making me famous.”
Maggie started quietly giggling. “Oh, what fun this will be!”