I turned and looked at the elf I had asked to wait, "Thank you for waiting, I needed two witnesses in the absence of two dragon ranks. If you could be here when I get back, that would be great, if not oh well." I smiled and then nodded to Ravon.
Ravon stepped out of the elf's way. He hesitated for a moment then ran off.
After he was out of sight I shrugged just a bit, "Sorry for ordering your people around, Ravon."
"As my mother likes to remind me I am not the lady of the house yet. Not that it would matter." Ravon shrugged and started walking along the path.
I looked up as two shadows stood up and started following as well. "So they did catch up."
Ravon shook her head, "Happens when you take hours, I almost fell asleep waiting."
"Hum, I thought you had fallen asleep, guess even I can be wrong sometimes."
"You are strange even for an islee."
"And for some reason that makes you more relaxed around me rather than less."
Ravon nodded as we traveled along another tree path. With Trevon following us, he wasn't as relaxed as Ravon but part of that was he seemed to be lost in thought. "Oh, it doesn't make you less predictable, just strange."
"So you think you know what I am going to do next?"
"Absolutely."
"And what will that be?"
"Something to upset the status quo, and then something to uplift the tread upon. Maybe something to test belief thrown in."
"That doesn't make much since, what do I gain by doing that?"
"Seemingly you take a pervus pleasure in spitting in people's eyes then convincing them that it is raining."
"That might be a factor. Yet, I don't think anything I have chosen to do hasn't benefited me directly as well."
"Sure but I would be surprised if you could tell me the benefit to you was your major motivating factor. If it was you wouldn't be trying to buy armor from an unknown on just a soldier's pay. Ah, welcome to my childhood home, your highness."
I rolled my eyes at Ravon, we were approaching a tree house. It was bigger than the other houses I had seen but it looked like it belonged in the forest just as much as any of the other homes. Ravon opened a door that looked like part of the tree trunk. It was amazing how much green was on the tree. I would have thought the tree must be dead with so much carved out of it, but when I looked closer I could tell the tree wasn't carved. Like the palace it had been grown to look like it did.
I followed Ravon inside and Trevon followed me. There was a spiral staircase in the middle of the room which looked like a giant circle. Four green rugs covered most of the floor with chairs, couches and tables arranged on each. There didn't seem to be any exits other than the one we came through and the stairs. My two shadows straitened their uniforms as they stepped through the door behind Trevon.
There was already someone else in the room when we entered. Ravon straightened her uniform as well as she saw the man standing by the stairs with a book in his hands. He seemed lost in thought as he read the book. He didn't even notice us entering.
"Good evening, Father, what brings you down?"
The elf looked up in surprise at being addressed. He was wearing a robe that looked warm and comfortable yet somehow still formal. It wasn't a wizard's robe so there weren't any bands on the sleeves or hem. He had a blot of ink on the end of his nose, clearly he had been working on accounts before picking up the book. "Ah, Ravon, you are home, your mother will be happy to know. It is close to dinner, have you eaten? Will your army friends be staying?"
Ravon bowed now that her father was looking at her. "I didn't ask." Ravon turned to look at me, "Would you like to eat dinner with us, lady Des?"
"I don't know, can I eat dinner at your house without it turning into a formal affair?"
"Sure," just probably not with mother and father.
"You remember I can read minds when I want to, right?"
"Oh that is right, well it shouldn't be too bad, mother should be more mad at me than you. You are islee and don't know better after all."
"Ravon! I know you were talk to speak better than that!" Ravon's father seemed mortified.
"Talk to lady Des like she is anything other then a lifetime soldier and you are likely to make an enemy father."
"Are you serious?"
"I have been around her for over three weeks. I might not have figured out how to truly make her mad yet but I have picked up some clues in that time. Then again, the longer she hangs around the higher the chance the prince will show up."
"That is so true, It is almost like I can track her or something." Theon slid down that spiraling staircase in the center of the room. "In this case I got here first. Good even Hearon, sorry to have missed you when I stopped by but I already talked to Zeeon about staying for dinner." So those were the names of Ravon's parents. I think he does that on purpose. Considering how good I have been at learning my new teammate's names anyway. "Lady Zeeon said she would meet me here when dinner was ready."
Hearon frowned at the prince, "Good evening your highness, might I ask how your mother is doing?"
I wondered if three weeks was long enough for that question not to seem threatening to Theon. The way he had asked I wasn't sure. I also don't remember seeing this man at the meeting to overthrow the queen but that didn't mean much. "She is very well. Probably better than she was before, someone tried to kill her. I think her new exercise regimen is helping. I am still on the lookout of more names to add to her equipment list, pretty sure I haven't found them all yet, lord Hearon."
Lord Hearon nodded like the prince had shared great wisdom, "That is good to hear, your highness. Might you let me know how many you told my wife we should expect?"
"Just the six of us, I don't think my guards, or Desdemona's would feel comfortable eating with the royal family and a powerful liage family even informally." Theon stood just a bit differently while he talked to the lord. He was just a bit more tense, much like how he looked before a dual.
It gave the impression that he enjoyed the challenge. Maybe there was more to what he does than I think. "No I don't think they would. Truly I was checking that more of the royal family would not be getting it into their heads to just drop by, my prince."
"Oh, no, mother is throwing herself into her work every night and father is still tied up I hear. It has been an interesting reversal of roles."
"Not the only changes in roles, since you broke off your arrangement with my girl."
"Father! That isn't fair."
"Learn now my girl that life is rarely fair before it bites you in the ass. For a third time." Hearon looked at Trevon when he said that line.
Ravon blustered trying to come up with a reply. Trevon straightened behind her but said nothing as Hearon looked at him.
"See prince, your choice has left me with an unarmed opponent set to inherit my estate, and a daughter that would rather be off playing soldier than supporting the house."
I cleared my throat and Hearon turned to look at me with surprise, "If you find Trevon so desperately lacking maybe you should be focusing on building him up instead of trying to tear him down, Lord Hearon. He is not so old as to be set firmly in his identity yet, unlike some. Your daughter and her husband are who the crystal city gave you to work with and the personalities that it thinks is best to carry on the house line. Do you think you are a better judge then the city? No wonder the islee think the elves are arrogant."
Hearon seemed to think for a moment before replying to me, "Yes, well of course I think the crystals know best. Not that you have much room to talk."
"I thought you didn't want me to complete the bond? I haven't made up my mind yet that is correct, but I cannot hear the pull that all elves claim they can hear. So I still have room. My problem was that you clearly blame Ravon, for two things in her life that are both much more my fault than hers."
Hearon frowned, "What do you mean? You didn't cause her to bond."
"Theon first saw me when I was not where I should have been. He also wasn't where he should have been but it could be my fault. As for Ravon finding Trevon, did you ever ask her why she went to a smithy near the edge of another estate?"
Hearon shrugged, "Something for the army?"
Theon snorted, it made me smile and I looked up at him. "No, lord Hearon. Guess you should spend more time talking with your daughter instead of to her. Des, how did your mission go anyways?"
Theon walked over to stand next to me. "About as you might expect. Positive side, no one died, this time."
I watched as Theon smiled. I could almost kick Ravon when she spoke up. "Negative side, she beat up our wizard and then accepted a sparring match with him if he can get a ring. She undermined the unit commander often, not that, that hardhead didn't deserve it."
I frowned at Ravon, "Well gesh, if you are going to give a full report. On the unknown quantity, Cryon seems to have a bond with the commander I got raised from my old unit. I still don't know the names of four of the people in my unit and I think I might have had a minor conversation with the shadow while trying to save the heroes. There seems to be at least three heroes this time."
Hearon blurted out before anyone else figured out what they wanted to say, "Talking with the father of lies falls under neutral for you?"
"Talking to an unknown entity of unproven identity generally does fall under a neutral event for me. Even more so when the entity is claiming an identity that expressly sows discord when it can. With both truth and lies."
"That is an interesting line to walk in on." I turned to see what had looked like a solid wall was now standing open leading to what looked like a dining hall. Guess you don't want strangers or honored guests wandering all over your house if they came for dinner. "Hopefully I haven't missed all the good conversation. Ravon, show our guests where to sit, if you don't mind."
Ravon smiled at her mother but it looked like a mask. "Certainly, this way, Lady Des, my price."
I let Theon take the lead by a step as I considered the order Ravon had named us. Did it mean something or am I trying too hard?
The dining hall had a long table which was obviously meant to hold many more formal guests then it was going to have tonight. The dark wood shined with polish that made it stand out against the lighter wood color that made up the walls and ceilings. There was a beautiful rug running the length of the room. It almost made you think of a wildflower field. There were three large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, only the one at the far end was lit and it cast more than enough light to see. If they were all lit the place must be as bright as a clear midsummer day. Yet I found the room a little unsettling, as the walls felt just a bit like they were closing in. The rooms that connect to this hall must all be circled of different sizes. It gives the corners sharp angles and with the walls bowed into the room, well it wouldn't help anyone with claustrophobia. I wondered if that is why the decorations seemed to be trying to get you to think of wide open spaces, it was an interesting contrast.
I followed Theon who followed who followed Ravon down one side of the table. She pointed out two chairs near the head of the table. Theon pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit. I sat gracefully, well, I tried to sit gracefully, people seem to think I am more graceful than I think I am but hey, I wasn't too embarrassed this time. Ravon took the seat to my left and Theon took the seat to my right. Zeeon, Hearon and Trevon took the seats across the table in that order from the head of the table. They left the head of the table empty.
Two Servants entered and set a bowl of soup in front of each person down their line. I smelled very good, it had been awhile since the last time I had fresh food. That probably wasn't the only reason it smelled good. Once the servants left the prince picked up his spoon and took a careful sip. "Your cooks are still among the best Hearon."
"Thank you, your highness, I do think there are some things worth paying for."
"I would think having a master smith would help lower the costs, and possibly create another source of revenue in the future."
"Sure, if my estate had one, but it doesn't."
"Yet." I looked down at the soup so I didn't have to see Hearon's reaction.
I still felt the prince look over at me. "You set him a master task then?"
"Yes, managed to beat you to it, again." I saw Hearon frown while I sipped.
"I feel sorry for him, any task you set is likely to be three times harder than any other reasonable master would set."
Trevon shifted in his seat with a frown. For a moment I thought he wasn't going to speak but when Hearon seemed uninterested in asking for him he asked, "What makes you think that, my prince?"
"Lady Des has to go beyond reasonable to receive any credit for her achievements. She also knows that if you exercise her right to raise a master they would have to be beyond scrutiny because the association with her will increase the scrutiny on anyone she raises in rank. I would be very surprised if she chose to raise anyone's rank who she didn't at least believe was good enough to move beyond that rank already."
"I don't see why you would think that lady Des would have to work harder than anyone else the rules are clear for all army rank." Zeeon was half way through her soup already.
"Do you believe so? Might you share what the requirement to earn the dragon crystal rank on say, the staff is?"
I set down my spoon and turned to look at the prince. "How do you know about that? No one else was in the room."
"You are right I was not in the room, but I had stayed after that day to talk to a different instructor in the room that overlooks that one. I was talking to them about joining the academy at that time. The teacher wasn't happy with him when I stopped him to look out at what was going on in the room you were in. After he looked at what I was looking at himself he almost threw me out of the room. If it weren't for the fact that I am not allowed to leave the palace without guards, he might have succeeded. Considering the amount of interface in that fight on the side of the masters, their excuse for defying the rules was very flimsy."
Zeeon set her spoon down with a frown, "Are you really trying to say that lady Des defeated all the crystal staffs? That was the first crystal weapon she earned, correct? I think I remember hearing about it because she was so young."
"She didn't just beat all of them, she beat them all at the same time. Which is probably why the one staff holder at the time that was not a member of the army is the only one that gave a public answer for how she had gotten the crystal staff so young. Just in case someone asked the unlikely question."
"What reason did they give for not granting her the next rank, if she had earned it?"
"By definition she earned in and should still have it. I have heard two reasons from the people I could get to talk to me about it after I earned Crystal myself. The most common answer was that she started the fight without a weapon. Which is silly and not a rule for anyone but lady Des as far as I can find. The other answer I figured but no one would confirm it until Des decided to fight the tower out in the fields."
"That was not my fault."
"No it was the towers, and I think the city's answer to the provocation was right on target. My view still isn't the popular one. Just like not agreeing with the master's council on denying the dragon crystal staff to you because you transformed to keep five older, armed opponents from probably killing you if you had not. Then again, my opinion on how you are treated doesn't matter, everyone knows my judgement is compromised."
"Well you do have to admit, she was born with an unfair advantage." Hearon set his spoon across the bowl signalling that he was done.
Theon took another sip before answering Hearon. "I wasn't born blind, deaf, missing fingers, toes or limbs, doesn't that mean that I was born with an unfair advantage in life?"
Hearon shrugged, "No not having those mutations is normal."
"They are normal for my species you mean, and by normal you mean more than fifty percent of my species that makes it to adulthood were not born that way. Well, from all the records we have if you go back far enough, we are the same as her. So then her advantages are normal as far as we know and our species is the one that has changed."
"So your argument is, she should move up because she was born with the capabilities others train their whole life for?"
"If you are going to be a stickler for the rules, yes. The rules are all ability based. The foundation of the army is all ability based. The rules don't care if you train to get the ability or if you are born with it. If you want an example of that you should look into why Ravon was allowed to be selected as lady Des' unit backup commander." Theon set down his spoon over his empty bowl so I set my spoon as well. I wasn't very hungry right now.
A silence fell as the servants picked up the soup and replaced it with cheese, nuts and dried fruit. Filling the cups with fresh wine before leaving again. Lady Zeeon cleared her throat, "I had wandered about that, Cryon, Avon, and Bryon all only just passed the test to be guards. They mostly got in because they were already a part of the army and we are short handed."
Well, at least now I know their names. "Ravon lost a public challenge against me, she cannot be placed in a chain of command that might end in her giving me orders. Which is why she is a co-commander that is specifically in place over just the elves in our unit."
Ravon sat up straighter and I looked over at her while eating. "That is why? They think you would choose no to obey me if I felt I had to give you an order?"
"It is in line with what I have found. Lucky for me they forgot to take into account that you are a good commander."
"They also seem to underestimate how strong an effect those unwritten army rules still have on the children even hundreds of generations after the founding."
Zeeon frowned, "Unwritten? Then it isn't a law."
"Part of what I have been spending so long in the libraries for is trying to find out what the unwritten rules really are, and why so much bad stuff seems to happen when they are set aside without very specific orders from the crystal to do so." Theon took a sip of wine and when no one jumped in he continued. "Turns out they are from our demonic roots, and we tend to follow them whether we mean to or not."
Ravon frowned, "I find that hard to believe."
"Really, I can think of three times you could have given an order but asked me first and four more times when an order was actually framed as a suggestion. Actually since you lost so badly to me you have behaved around me much like you behave around Theon. Which makes since you did tell me you lost to him at least once."
"Not as badly though." Ravon rubbed her chest as she spoke.
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to kick you that hard. I also don't think demonics care much how badly you lose. Just that you lost."
"You were a bit distracted at the time, giving warnings about the palace shield, talking to something in a strange language, and keeping your hands clasped behind your back. I was just glad you didn't break my ribs."
"Oh, sorry, no I broke three of your ribs. That was the whole reason I touched you the first time. Finding your bond after you were healed was an unintended side effect, most likely brought on by what I had been thinking about at the time."
"Wait you used unauthorized magic on my daughter!" Hearon looked angry.
"I would rather she fix me than some authorized army wizards I know."
"You wouldn't be saying that if she had killed you."
"Silly argument, except in a few extreme cases the dead don't talk."
Trevon dropped his fork which seemed to be an accident but it got the room's attention. "Sorry, I need a bit more practice it seems." Hearon rolled his eyes. "If people who have been beaten by lady Des cannot give her orders wouldn't she have to be an arch officer?"
"That is why it is traditional to make anyone who gets a crystal weapon an officer at the least. The elders decided that Des was too young to be made an officer as she had yet to graduate the academy. The second time she earned one they had already broken tradition so why did it matter? Now she has beaten in fair combat 14 of the 15 army arch officers. So she could only possibly be placed under the orders of one arch but that officer is an elf and no matter how backwards the elders are being they won't put an islee in the direct chain of command of an elf. Which makes it fun to follow the chains that it takes to issue Des orders. As Des has pointed out and there are many other examples across time, people who have badly lost to an opponent have a hard time even phrasing orders to the people that beat them even if the order was important for the army.."
I shrugged and took a bite of bread with cheese. It was still drier than I had thought and I grabbed for the glass of wine. Well the cups were not glass, they were an impossibly polished and smoothed wooden goblets. I wouldn't have thought putting wine in wood would have been a good idea but these seemed to be fine. I would almost say they were really made of the same material that Trevon had been working with in the smith. It looked much darker and almost dangerous when not under the heat of the forge.
My hand touched the goblet as Zeeon started to speak. I was looking at her and not the cup, not that it would have made a difference. I felt the cup move as I touched it. I reacted by trying to let go but the cup had grabbed me. It was growing like a tree. "Crap!" I jumped up spilling the wine and getting the undivided attention of the table.
Theon reached for the cup. "No, don't touch it, it will pull you in too." I moved my hand away as pain shot up my arm. "I need to lay down." I was already headed through the door we came through, with Theon right on my heels. I bit down on my tongue to keep from crying out as the pain grew to shoot down my spine. I knew if I screamed Theon would try to pull the cup off and get caught as well. I laid down on one of the couches without looking at the growing cup. With a long breath out I closed my eyes, and let the now living plant pull me into the mind behind it.