Josie could see why Picard liked his chair so much. She liked it a lot too. Maybe she
could wrest the Enterprise away from Jack if she wanted to abandon the planet in the
future.
At this moment, she had responsibilities that she had to discharge so she could settle
her world down.
“All right,” said Josie. “We are over the capitol. Your Majesty, I will put you down
in the throne room. I will bring the Queen home tomorrow, and look after Caroline
as if she was my own.”
“It will be fine, Rickard,” said the Queen. “It has been a long time since I have been
able to walk around without notice. Things will have to be done if you are really
stripping Rustam of his lands and titles.”
“There was a moment where he was about to receive more than a stay at the delve,”
said the King. He hugged his wife. “I will wait on word.”
Josie agreed with that statement. Rustam and Brant had chosen well not to take up her
offer.
“Do you still have some of the emergency paper?,” asked Josie.
“Yes,” said the King.
“You can check on Lois and Caroline with that,” said Josie. “They will just have to
write a reply and send it back to you.”
“All right,” said the King. “I feel better about working.”
“Things have to be done,” said Josie. “Now, let’s get you home. I want a place for
June to move to so I can be a little bit happier.”
“That’ll never happen,” said June.
“Shut up, you,” said Josie. She stood and gestured for Rickard to precede her to the
elevator.
“I am going to tell the girls embarrassing stories about you while you are gone,” said
June.
“Don’t forget the time you fell down a flight of stairs,” said Josie. She and the King
stepped in the cab as soon as the doors opened.
“I haven’t fallen down a flight of stairs,” said June.
“Yet,” said Josie as the doors closed on her.
Josie led the way to Transporter Room One. She gestured for the King to step on the
pad.
“Will Case give us grandchildren?,” asked Rickard.
“Not my problem,” said Josie. “I think that will be the least of your worries. Rustam
might have been a top enemy. People won’t be happy that you stripped him of his
titles. You are going to have to contend with some rebellion at the notion.”
“I have seen how you do business, Mistress Fox,” said the King. “Rustam was lucky
to come away whole in the dealing. I can see why the people at the hospital would
believe a story enough to call you Ear Ripper.”
“It is what it is,” said Josie. “Enterprise, King Rickard has to be put down in his
throne room. Keep an eye on him in case of trouble.”
“Affirmative,” said the machine.
The transporter engaged with a whine, and then the king was standing in his throne
room. His guards were happy to see he was back. They were less happy with the
absence of the queen.
“I would like for the command staff of the army to be summoned,” said Rickard. He
nodded at the guards getting themselves together in his unexpected presence. “I also
need the heads of the Exchequer. And I need someone from the ministry department
on titles, and a judge. Please send for the ambassadors of the other countries. Tell
Cook that we will need a large dinner prepared and for everyone to meet me in the
planning room. We have a long night ahead of us.”
“Her Majesty?,” said the captain of the guard.
“She is staying overnight in Hawk Ridge, then will be back tomorrow,” said the King.
“Caroline has picked a suitor, and a protector as dangerous as anyone in the kingdom.
Let’s get started.”
The guards left the rooms to get the summons flowing for the crown.
Josie stepped back on the bridge. She was unamused that June was sitting in her
command seat, talking about something that had happened when they were kids. She
frowned at the group hanging on her words.
They should know better than that.
“Why are you sitting in my chair?,” asked Josie. The girls and the queen jumped. She
supposed they hadn’t heard the elevator doors opening. “Enterprise, take us up to
Solas. We want to be over where we picked up Boim Russ after Mister Warner saved
her and June.”
“He didn’t save me,” said June.
“That’s not what the archive said,” said Josie. She made a get up gesture. “The
obvious thing to do is take over the Frankenstein house. No one else will want to go
near it.”
“There were boxes of body parts on ice,” said June. She pulled herself out of the
chair. “I don’t think I want to live somewhere that creepy.”
“It will be your chance to improve the neighborhood,” said Josie. She sat down.
“They don’t have realtors here. It’s not like we will be able to find someone to just
sell you a house.”
“You could talk to a solicitor,” said the Queen. “They should have a list of properties
for rent, or sell.”
“All right,” said Josie. “Enterprise, can you locate a solicitor and put their office on
the main screen for us to look at.”
“Affirmative,” said the machine. The big screen lit up with a picture of the city from
an overhead angle. Marks were added to indicate the confirmed solicitor building.
There were two close to the house June and Mister Warner had invaded.
“We’ll go down and talk to those two and see if we can get a list of properties,” said
Josie. “The sun will be going down soon, and we need to get this done before June
goes home.”
“And if we can’t find a house, Jo Jo?,” asked June.
“I’ll cut Jack loose on this,” said Josie. “He would love to give you a house.”
“He does like to build things,” said Aviras.
“You might have five rooms sharing the same space in different parts of the city,”
said Matilda.
“That’s what I am afraid of,” said June.
“Jack could build you another Enterprise that doesn’t fly,” said Melanie. “It would
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.defend itself while giving you a place to stay. It would be a fort in the middle of
things.”
“That sounds good, but not something as big as the Enterprise D,” said June. “Maybe
something like Devermore, a small castle.”
“I think we should look at what the city has to offer since the Society is going to
frown on anything like that,” said Josie. “And I am supposed to be keeping all of you
on the straight and narrow. Laura, I want you to take June and Boim since you can
carry them. I will take everyone else. One group of us goes to this solicitor, the other
goes to the next closest. Keep your eyes open because June and Boim will probably
have to help the locals with their problems.”
“What makes you say that?,” asked June.
“With the Society comes the policing,” said Josie. “Don’t worry about the condition
of the building, I can fix that, or June can practice fixing that with her magician. What
we want is something near the center of town, sitting by itself, no other people living
there.”
“Sounds good,” said June. She glanced at Boim. The other woman nodded.
“Do you want to shepherd all the rest of us around, missus?,” asked Beatrice.
“Take the youngest,” said Josie. “We will split our list. Aviras can call on the
Enterprise if you need it.”
Beatrice seemed surprised that she had been given responsibility of her youngest
sisters. She smiled after a second. It felt good to be able to wander without oversight
despite having to do a job.
“We’re strangers here, so be careful,” said Josie. “Enterprise, you are on overwatch
in case of trouble.”
“Affirmative,” said the machine. Josie didn’t hear the hum of phasers charging, but
she expected golden rods burning the sky if there was trouble.
“Remember to look for something I can use to house Red,” said June.
“Let’s go and do this,” said Josie.
They split up into their groups and took the elevator down to Transporter Room
One’s deck. A quiet walk over, and they were beaming down to the city beneath them.
Josie led the way into her target office. The secretary looked up at her and her small
platoon of followers. He seemed unprepared for so many females in his foyer office
at the same time.
“Yes,” he said. What could this woman want?
“I am looking for a residential place for my partner’s sister,” said Josie. “I was
advised that solicitors kept a list of houses for rent, or sell.”
“Do you want to talk to Master Crowl about this?,” asked the secretary.
“No,” said Josie. “We just want to find the house we need at the moment. If we find
one on your list that we like, I will put up the funds to buy the place.”
“You will put up the funds?,” said the secretary.
“That is what I said,” said Josie. She drummed her fingers on the counter top between
her and him. She thought that she could pull him over the counter and start kicking
with a bit of leverage.
“Master Crowl may want to talk to you about this,” said the secretary.
“That’s fine,” said Josie. “I’m hoping to find something today. So can you give us a
copy of your list?”
The secretary went to a filing cabinet and pulled out a sheave of papers. He handed
them over.
The queen looked over Josie’s shoulder. She frowned.
“Some of these prices are banditry,” she whispered.
“It’s not the prices, but the locations,” said Josie. “Are all these places within walking
distance of your office?”
“Most,” said the secretary. “We have some that are further afield than we like.”
“All right,” said Josie. “If I find something that I like, I will be back to get the deed
and hand over the money.”
“I will inform Master Crowl that you are interested in his properties,” said the
secretary. “I think he will be delighted to sell one of these places.”
“Thank you,” said Josie. She scanned the sheets of paper as she headed for the exit
door. Her troops fell in behind her.
“He’s lucky if he sold one of these to someone,” said the Queen once they were
outside the office. “The prices are much too high.”
“He might be expecting to haggle over the final payment so has put up the highest
price he can expect to get money for while the customer tries to haggle the price
down,” said Josie. She split the papers and handed a few to Bea.
“You guys see one you like, mark it down,” said Josie. “Be careful. If you have any
trouble, call me. I’ll use a bird to find you.”
“If there is any trouble, Aviras will protect us,” said Bea. She glanced at her part of
the list. “He is a great defender.”
Josie saw the dragon puff up at the praise. Would he reach his full strength under
Matilda’s care? She decided that was for a future where she wouldn’t be around
to find out the answer.
“All right,” said Josie. “The faster we get this done, the faster we cut down our
need for more food supplies.”
“Let’s find this first place, and see what it looks like,” said Bea. She mentally
commanded her ring to lift them up and carry them down the street.
“She is going to get tired of doing that,” said Josie. “All right. We should get
started too.”
The next hour was a whirlwind tour for Josie’s group. She used her birds to carry the
three of them to the addresses. They spent a few minutes looking at the houses, or
apartments in some cases, and moved on. She marked all the apartments and some of
the houses as unsuitable.
The list had been winnowed down to three maybes, depending on what June and
Bea had found with their searches.
“Most of these houses are ramshackle at best,” said the Queen. “It’s no wonder our
solicitor friend can’t do anything with them.”
“I doubt he wants to lay out good money to fix them up when he can just sell them
and let the new owner take care of it,” said Josie.
“Do you think the others found something better?,” asked Melanie.
“We should check in with them,” said Josie. “We should at least make sure that
Aviras hasn’t set someone on fire.”
“He seems even tempered enough,” said the Queen.
“For some reason, he has adopted Matilda,” said Josie. “I think he would die before
he let something happened to her. I don’t know why.”
“It’s obvious,” said Melanie.
“Really?,” said Josie.
“Matilda was the first person to show him kindness,” said Melanie. “Jack might have
brought him home, but we have seen his real stature. It’s nothing like he is now. And
when Matilda said she wanted to keep him around, he knew she was sincere
about it.”
“That’s a good analysis,” said Josie. “I didn’t think of it that way.”
“He might also be waiting to get his revenge on Jack when he is big enough,” said
Melanie.
“I think revenge is the farthest thing from his mind,” said Josie. “I think you are right
about the first thing. Let’s call the others and see how they are doing. We might need
to regroup.”
“This has been a fast search,” said the Queen. “We’ll be back in Hawk Ridge before
the sun goes down.”
“It’s probably already close to being down in Hawk Ridge,” said Josie. “I don’t know
what the time differential is, but it’s probably close to three hours.”
“I don’t understand,” said the Queen.
“For some reason, the sun rises in the south where the Village is, passes Hawk Ridge,
then the Capitol, and then sets north of here,” said Josie. “The passage is marked by
different start times. So dawn in the south would be the morning bell. It will be
another hour before dawn in Hawk Ridge, then two more before the sun reaches your
castle, and then three more before it reaches here. Even though it is moving into late
afternoon for us here, the Village is already setting up their nightwatch, and bedding
down.”
“So by the time we get done with this, it will already be dark in Hawk Ridge?,” said
the Queen.
“Maybe,” said Josie. “I don’t know what the difference in time is.”
“The Enterprise would know,” said Melanie. She smiled at the thought. “It’s high
enough to see the sun with its magic eyes.”
“You’re right,” said Josie. “You have been hiding this, haven’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said Melanie.
“You know exactly what I mean,” said Josie. “You have been hiding this brain power
of yours so you can slack off and get the other girls to cover for you.”
The Queen raised an eyebrow at the sudden turn of discussion.
“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” said Melanie.
“You already know how to read and write, don’t you?,” asked Josie.
“A little,” said Melanie. Honesty was the best policy now that her big sister knew she
was doing some minimal effort not to expend more energy than she had to on
her chores.
“All this time you have been shirking,” said Josie. “The other girls are not going
to let this slide, Mel.”
“They don’t know, and I would appreciate if you didn’t tell them,” said Melanie.
“Why wouldn’t I?,” said Josie.
“I like not having to work so hard because people think I am useless,” said Melanie.
“You should do your fair share, and you should work a little harder,” said Josie.
“Will you keep this between us?,” asked Melanie.
“You’re going into melee against Jack in the next few days,” said Josie. “If you
expect me to keep silent, I expect you to win.”
“Jack is a lot better than all of us,” said Melanie. “Only Alicia can keep up with him.”
“Do your best,” said Josie.
Josie regarded her middle girl. Melanie was old enough to go out on her own by the
local standards. She wasn’t sure that was something good for the girl. If she got
caught in the middle of something, she would have to fall back to the Hole in the
Wall.
She admitted she had been fooled by the whining, and the slackness of her sword
training. Harp had been fooled by her effort.
“You think I made a mistake,” said Melanie.
“Do I?,” said Josie. “Hiding yourself was what you wanted to do. Do you want to
keep hiding yourself? It will make things more difficult for you in the future.”
“I like the way I am,” said Melanie. “I don’t mind no one knowing.”
“No more whining for free rides,” said Josie. “Now that I know you can walk, it’s
time for you to show me how far you can go.”
“I understand,” said Melanie.
“All right,” said Josie. “Let’s get our flock of ducks together so we can figure out
what to do.”