Yet neither of us were pruned when we got out and put back on our robes. Not that I normally got prunny like humans did, it must be a feature of my demonic DNA. I was happy enough that seeing the devil waiting for me on the other side of the curtain didn't make me mad.
That was all the way until I opened the locker I had put my clothes in to find them gone again. "Really! I tried to be nice about you replacing my uniform but you will return it at once!"
I looked over at the devil as he snorted and covered his mouth with his hand, "You do realize you are yelling at magic correct?"
"So this is a pretty complicated piece of magic, and it needs to return my clothes. I don't wear skirts." I stepped aside as Theon looked around me to show him the long purple dress hanging where I had placed my uniform. The dress would be from fitting and I am sure it would look good on me and that was probably why the palace shield had picked it after all but it was not something a fighter would wear.
"I don't understand the problem, you don't have to wear anything at all, it isn't like you are human enough to get hot or cold in the temperatures that can occur planetside."
"Says the devil wearing clothes." He had on modest clothes, a black button top and black pants with scuffed well worn black boots. It made his red skin stand out even more.
"Not of plant or animal material. The spell serves no function beyond helping me not look out of place, as bad. More a concession to you wanting to be around these creatures that care about such things than anything else." The devil paused then shrugged when my eyes narrowed, "Lady Des."
"Now that I think about it I have never seen you out of uniform, besides your armor do you own any other clothes?"
"I have to budget what I spend my money on like I told you before." Theon's eyes grew distant as he thought about the facts behind what I had said and what I had carefully not said. "Not that it matters, I am always on duty. I am a master which as you know means I can be challenged anytime I am out."
"Right, which means today, you can wear the dress. As no one currently within the city wall is on duty. Pretty much your first holiday since being born."
I turned and raised an eyebrow at Theon, "Oh, no that is too much. Just have it return my uniform."
"You still think too lightly of yourself my love. The moment you accepted me you accepted command of the entirety of the armed forces that identify as elven. Defense of the realm is the job of the female line. Management including funding the defense effort, is my job."
"All the more reason not to wear dresses, that can hamper movement."
"Last I checked, thanks to you, my mother isn't dead yet. Even if that weren't the case, there is no reason for you to leave for the rest of the day. Since we are not at war, beyond our continuing fight against the shadow, and are unlikely to be attacked here you can feel free to dress as a civilian when not on duty. No one within the palace would challenge you without giving you time to change. The guard wouldn't let them. Also seeing as how management is my job, I feel perfectly reasonable paying for the dress. Which does remind me, I talked to Ravon about paying for the project you gave Trevon."
"I have enough to cover it." I bit my lip thinking about just what my funding looked like. Islee weddings were pretty cheap compared to other affairs but with buying the armor I might have to figure out how to cut some other things.
Theon frowned, "You are pushing the boundaries of our oath. I took two promotions this last break, I was running out of ways to turn them down. That they haven't been offered to you wasn't going to fly this time. Hopefully I have done some work to get that fixed as well. The reason I brought it up is as a veteran commander I can see what people are paid and the marks on their recruitment file."
"So you now know how much I make that doesn't mean you know how much I have."
"I can do the math easily enough. Ravon can do the math easily enough. From my short conversation with Markus he isn't numerologically impaired and he did the math as well. I am not ready to do anything about it directly yet but I will tell you that if the islee won't take care of their best warrior in generations, the elves will. Hopefully, what happened today with the reds, wakes up the elders because they won't squash you and if they keep it up they are going to make other factions of the army very mad."
"Maybe, maybe not. Most reds are black as well. Either way I still intend to practice today and I cannot do that in a dress."
Theon smiled at me, "Depends on what you practice. I am guessing you haven't been talking with the shield while we relaxed."
"It doesn't tell me everything. Why what did it feel the need to bring to your attention?"
"Just the 30 some red wizards that have stopped by asking to see you for one reason or another. The palace did allow entry to five and one is currently tied up at the moment. The shield seems to have some very strange rules. The rest are waiting in the dining room even though the kitchen won't serve them at the moment."
"Guess I do need to deal with them."
"Right, but you aren't a wizard, you are not on duty, and no wise wizard is going to give you a reason to punch them while they are in the palace. Hence the shield picking you out a dress which was paid for by the palace coffers. Same as your armor will be, you really need to stop going around looking like a ruffian. If you feel bad about it when you because General I will manage your estate for you. Then it will be fair."
"My estate," I sighed. My estate would be the funding for the islee and half of the tower. If two generals were picked again. The idea of anyone wanting me to manage that was crazy. I am still not even a commander and the weapon masters also leave me out of any voting or discussions on their membership as well. "won't be eleven and if you take control they will cry foul. So I think I will just have to accept some reasonable gifts from my new husband, as long as he doesn't let it go to his head, Hum." I pulled the dress out. It was cut in an old elven style.
It was a strong fabric which was good as I feared it might rip as I pulled it on over my slightly bulkier frame. It was all one piece, from fitting from my butt to my shoulders. With long sleeves that clung tightly to the arms but didn't bind or restrict the movement somehow, even though it covered all the way to a ring on the middle finger of each hand and the dress had a hood which was the old style to cover if you had horns or pointed ears. I left it down and it hung to the middle of my back. Which helped to hide the odd bumps on my back where the wings threw off the lines. The dress had a split from the floor to my hip on the left side. It would be easy for me to move it to the right to clear my legs if I wanted to run. It would not be proper but it would work. It would still drag the ground behind me too. This was most certainly not to be worn outside. The hem rested on the stone floor when I stood still and pooled behind me if I walked.
I found leggings that were my skin color and two different types of shoes in the locker. I gave the killer high heels a nasty look before sliding on the more sensible flats. Theon had gotten dressed while I wrestled with the dress. Looking at him I could appreciate the palaces' taste a bit more. The purple accents on his white more formal attire brought out the golden flecks in his green eyes just like it highlighted the golden color to his silver hair.
He was much too pretty wearing nothing at all but this was nice too. Quintus was studying me from where he stood out of the way. He seemed content enough to just watch for now. I was relatively sure that that would change over time, but I didn't know how or when and I doubted he would tell me, anymore than he has told me why his other master wants me dead. "Quintus, wait for me, there." I showed him a wing that I had seen in the shield. The same wing were one of the five reds were tied up at the moment.
Quintus bowed and vanished. "Well that is convenient. Do you think that was built for something like this? I mean the red was put in a room near there."
I looked back at Theon as I opened the main door, "Yes, our ancestors are not always nice people."
The guards looked at me when I stepped through the doorway. Besides the two that Theon had left, Ravon, Cryon and Markus of all people were standing outside the door. I stepped out of the way just a bit more quickly than I had intended and almost tripped on the dress. Theon grabbed my arm out of reflex to steady me, and I hoped I wasn't blushing as hard as I thought I might be.
Markus spoke up first, "So you do know how to wear something besides pants, general." I looked up to see him tilt his head, "Not a bad." Cryon's eyes got a bit bigger and she slapped his shoulder. "What? I haven't seen her in anything but a uniform."
"I don't think many people have, she seems to have an aversion to time off."
Markus laughed, "I suppose I would too, if people kept trying to kill me. Is it paranoia if everyone is out to get you?"
"Sure, just means you are right." Theon shrugged and looked over at me, "Mind if I wander off and get to know Markus better. I should be back by dinner and from the sounds of it you will have more than enough to do without me watching over your shoulder."
"As long as you don't care if I borrow your weapons while you are out, and you don't let him get you into trouble."
"The ones you can borrow you may take anytime you wish. Just remember the palace will remove threats, so try not to resort to dismemberment even if they deserve it." He kissed my forehead then turned and started down the hall.
Markus gave me a surprised look and hesitated, "What do you expect? He is used to getting his way, he is a prince. You better hurry if you don't want him to find trouble alone." Markus snorted looking the way the prince had gone, frowned, grabbed Cryon's hand and started after him.
Cryon looked surprised but she didn't pull free. Ravon raised an eyebrow at the other two guards, "I don't care who follows but one of you should really try to catch them."
They looked at each other holding some unspoken conversation of long acquaintance before the one closer to the direction the others had went saluted Ravon and headed off. I raised my own eyebrow at Ravon.
"Tradition holds that one of the royal family by birth or marriage should have two guards even in the palace when not in the apartments, since he took one of your guards it was only fair you keep one of his."
"Let me guess, outside the palace I should have five? You do know I am stronger than most combinations of five that you could come up with right?"
"Seven for anyone but you, if mother would have been allowed more than four she would have assigned all seven. Even if she was rather upset with you."
"I am guessing my first meeting with her hasn't made her feel more forgiving of me."
"Oh, she was beside herself with panic when you ran out of the room. The only thing that kept her from throwing out everything made of gravewood was the royal physician's promise that it never reacts twice. It was probably what else the physician said that made mother give up on her hope that the prince was wrong and I was just being foolish. Apparently gravewood only reacts like that to royals and as far as he can tell it only killed one royal, but there were rumors at the time that he was not army material if you know what I mean. Then again gravewood products are not allowed in the palace."
"I didn't and don't think your mother wants to kill me. Graveroot on the other hand reacts that way every time someone is foolish enough to touch it."
"Guessing you had first hand experience with that since you knew what was happening right away?"
"Yes. Though graveroot is at least safer in that you cannot create things with it. Nearly impossible to kill as well."
Ravon shrugged like it was no big deal, "You saw what it took to get what boils down to a small piece of gravewood. It is part of why harvesting it is illegal, not just because it is sacred."
"Sounds like sound reasoning to me. Are you hungry? I was thinking about stopping by the dining room for lunch." I started down the hall with Ravon and the other guard in step behind me.
"About the dining room…"
"There are quite a few wizards waiting around for some reason. Yeah, Theon told me since I accepted the bond his ability to interact with the palace has gone up. I have been working on what the shield knows about them while we have been talking. They haven't said much though. My money is on that they are here to try and teach me something they think I desperately need to know and they are sure I don't know what that is."
"I might be willing to take that bet, I think at least one is here because they need something from the leader of the reds, like you to order other reds to help them with whatever pet project they are trying."
"Maybe, but I think not more than two are here for that reason alone. I will buy your lunch if I am wrong."
Ravon laughed, "You will buy my lunch either way, the palace funds pay for the food that comes out of the kitchens already."
I wandered if Ravon could see my smile as we walked, "Hum, think I might have known that, safe bet then."
Ravon shook her head as I opened a side door to the dining room. I walked in like I owned the place which was common enough that most people didn't even look up. Spy training 101, believe you belong, look like you belong, act like you know you belong and no one will question whether or not you belong. Doesn't always work but works way more than it should, even more so in places where not everyone knows everyone else. The off duty guards who were grabbing a bite between shifts all looked at me, and saw me but few recognized me. They went back to what they had been doing when they saw Ravon with me though. Islees were uncommon so I must be important and with Ravon with me clearly I was, so all was still right with the world.
Since the guards did not react the wizards didn't look up from their groups across the room. They were all in their own groups like a sea of red robbed outcasts. I noticed none of them had food as I found an empty table and sat down. It was harder than I had predicted to sit on a bench in a dress. If it hadn't had a good split to begin with it would have had one by the time I sat down.
I looked back to see Ravon covering a smile with her hand. "Well, since I managed to sit down and you found that entertaining maybe you could see if there is anything good for lunch, Ravon?" The other guard was watching the room like an on duty guard. "As for you owl whose name I have not heard…" The palace shields chose that moment to supply a name. I paused to roll my eyes at the ceiling. "Anyway, would you mind sitting down? You are much to sentry standing above me. It gives me a strange urge to trip you."
The guard blinked a couple times as he processed what I had said. I gave the poor man a few minutes, he probably wasn't used to important people talking like soldiers. Wow, I just thought of myself as an important person. Trippy. The Guard then looked at Ravon with an expression that said, "is she serious?'' I got the impression that the owl thought I might be missing a few puzzle pieces. "Probably best to sit, she is certainly capable of tripping you even in that dress. Would you like me to bring you something too?"
He opened and closed his mouth twice in an impression of a fish before choosing, "I am still on duty."
"She is a master 15 times over, able to talk to the palace shield and has a few senses we don't. You serve as much protection for her sitting and eating as you do hovering over her. Though if she does choose to trip you it would probably would have been better off to have been seated." The guard nodded and sat down to my right. Which made sense as he wore his weapons like he was right handed. Ravon laughed again, shaking her head as she walked to the kitchen window.
I looked at the guard. "Previor, might I borrow one of your knives while we wait?"
Previor kept the same stony expression as he handed over a knife by holding the hilt out to me. He held it with his right hand and seemed to expect me to take it with my right. I gripped the hilt with my left and waited a moment for him to let go and move his hand clear so he didn't get cut. He still didn't say anything as I looked at the weapon.
A couple guards that seemed to know Previor came over to sit in the spot across from him. They had come in after us so maybe they hadn't noticed I was an islee. "Hey, Previor, you get to take a lunch break? The prince lost in law books again?"
The other guard laughed, "I am surprised you let someone else take over he might get a paper cut." Both the guards that had sat down were female which was more common for eleven guards. Previor was probably assigned to the prince partly because he was male there were only two other male guards eating at the moment, which if this room held an average spread of guards, only 10 percent must be male.
I balanced then flipped the knife while I thought, "There are more off duty guards then there should be." I was talking to myself but by Previor's reaction with a slight, very slight smile at the statement I was sure I was right.
The two that just sat down had expressions of shock as they reevaluated me. "That looks like one of Previor's knives."
"It is. Are there more guards because of the wizards?" I flipped the knife again without thinking. I had mainly wanted the weapon to practice after all. It was a good weight. I had learned knives early, my quick healing meant I hadn't had to buy practice knives and work my way up. If I cut off a finger or gave myself a deep cut it would grow back or otherwise heal.
The guards across the table narrowed their eyes at me, "Of course, the wizards tried to kill the princess, and would have killed a good number of us to do it."
I tilted my head at the one who spoke, "Sounds like you are angrier at the attempt on the islee."
I got the feeling that Previor was watching me more closely now, "You won't understand, islee rarely do."
"Islee say the same of elves, doesn't hurt to try."
The guard frowned at me like she was trying to figure out who I was. It made me wonder if more islee had stopped by for one thing or another since I started spending more time here. I just looked back at her with mild interest. This conversation wasn't going to continue much longer either way. They might not know me from anyone else but it seems they would probably know Ravon. "Well, bonded pairs aren't known for measured reactions when one of them dies; it is worse when they have a group to blame. The tower knows that, yet they let a member attack the princess? Not just one member either. I hadn't known much about darkroot before hearing what happened, but all of the palace knows about it now. There are layers of safeguards to keep it out of our general supply, so no hyper red could have it gotten out of the tower alone."
"Still didn't have to be more then a small handful of people. Demonics are dangerous, I am more surprised there haven't been more attempts."
"We are all dangerous, that doesn't change the point."
I shrugged wondering if she would be able to answer my next question before Ravon returned, "What is the point, or your point?"
I was still playing with the knife with my left hand while we talked. The elf paused, I guess she didn't really have one besides that is just not what you do, "That life is unique and precious and deserves the chance to exist. Which is what the oath teaches us."
Well that was a better answer than I thought I would get. Pervior looked behind me but I was already aware of Ravon carrying the plates back. I tossed the knife in the air and caught the handle. Then handed the weapon back to its owner hilt first. "You need to take some time and sharpen that one. Just because it is poisonous doesn't make up for dullness. If you coat the well in wax it would help but it would also make it easier to identify which weapon was used."
Pervior had raised an eyebrow as I spoke. The other two were now more focused on standing than listening to me. Pervior sheathed the knife with a nod as the two girls looked very surprised at me as Ravon set down three plates. I tilted my head with a small smile. Ravon and Pervior had salads with nuts and dried fruit but she put a plate of sliced chicken, a slice of some fish and egg with dried berries and nuts in front of me.
She sat on my left careful to leave enough space that I wouldn't feel trapped. "The kitchen insisted that you would prefer that even after I reminded them you work in the army."
"I am guessing this was meat left over from other dishes?"
"Yes, from dishes made for the human guests the kitchen was expecting today." Ravon looked over at the wizards as the other two guards seemed to be trying to figure out what they should do.
"Good," I picked up the piece of fish and took a good bite. It had lemon and pepper for flavor, for a kitchen that doesn't make much meat it was very good. "Yeah, I found long ago that I should eat more meat. I try not to kill animals or let them be killed for me but if they were just going to be wasted anyway." I shrugged. Ravon shook her head and started picking at her food. The other two sat down again but the commotion had already gotten the attention of one of the red wizards.
More than just his robes marked him as out of place. His short cut black hair stood out more than his ears in the present company. I didn't look up from my food as he walked over, the elves around me tensed. My resolve to ignore the man was tested when the key around my neck cooled. "Sorry to interrupt you, but might you be my lady Des?"
My eyes narrowed as I looked up. Then I did something that should have made the man's blood run cold, I smiled. "No last I checked I am not." I looked over at Ravon. She was not doing as impressive of a job hiding her surprise as the guard on my other side looked so stoic you could tell something was wrong. I looked over at Ravon and picked at the egg. "You would think Des has earned enough titles that people wouldn't have to try and placate her with more."
"Oh, that was the problem." Ravon rolled her eyes, "You are a stickler sometimes." Ravon looked up at the human who was watching the exchange trying to puzzle out what was going on. "I know lady Des, is there a message you want to pass on?" The only people who might be able to call me their lady were Ravon, Quintus, and maybe Theon. I didn't consider it right for anyone else to do so. So the title he gave me was wrong.
The wide open neck of the dress gave me no way to hide my strange key, but not that many people had seen my key and crystal jewelry in the city was not uncommon. So unless he knew more than he should I wasn't worried about him realizing that I was Des just not his lady. The wizard did a double take between me and Ravon. "I am worried about her that is all while she is strong she doesn't know how to truly use and control demonic en-"
He cut off as seven orbs glowing every color of the rainbow appeared in a row in front of his face. They backed away from him a bit as a circle of pink, grey, brown, black and white appeared. That got the attention of every wizard that was demonic sensitive since I was going nothing to hide the type of energy I was using. The orbs started moving around each other in a seemingly random pattern. I tilted my head a bit, I was going to have to work on getting rid of that tell at some point. The number of orbs appeared to have doubled. As far as the eye could tell they looked exactly the same. To all the wizards in the room they were as different as the hot and the cold I felt from my key. The wizards who hadn't looked up before looked up now.
"You think you are qualified to teach control of demonic energy to a demon?" I looked at the doors as the physician came running in.
No one stopped him as he ran up to my table, "Stop that if those collide!"
I picked up the price of chicken, and took a bite as he stopped at the table, "Oh, you mean like this."
All the wizards ducked as a blue orb struck a red orb created of different magics. I smiled at their reaction, I know what I had made was better than what any of them could do, clearly. A warm breeze blew from the point they had collided. I counted the number of shields and took note of anyone who shielded more than just themselves. It was a short list. The physician looked up at me with wide angry eyes, "No more like this!"
He struck six orbs with his own magic. They didn't flicker, slow or otherwise show any response to having been interfered with. I raised an eyebrow at the elf. "It would be easier to just tell me which combination you wanted to hit. Or maybe you are afraid I would lose control all at once?" I looked up at the orbs that had started circling higher. They were in the rafters now. I looked back at the physician when he didn't answer.
He growled and launched a magical attack against me. I blocked it redirecting the energy into the palace shield so it didn't fall apart randomly. "You have to do better than that, if you want to show me the dangers of losing control. I will let you in on a little secret of mine though, you cannot make anything dangerous with the magic I have summoned so far. If you could hold them all I could give them all to you and let you collide them to your heart's content in any order or all of them at once. I know very well how dangerous magic is and I wouldn't have made anything I wasn't sure about in a room full of people some of whom cannot even protect themselves. Not that I trust tower wizards to be so considerate."
I finished my food and picked up the cup that had been brought out. I raised an eyebrow at Ravon, it was blood and not water. "From the halla. The cook looked into what you would need after the last time you visited the kitchen and he found out you don't really eat much." I shook my head with a bit of a sigh. "He seems to like you. I didn't think he was an easy man to impress."
I took another sip, halla weren't bad tasting. It was hard not to laugh as six more wizards attacked one or another of the floating spheres of light. None of the attacks did anything to the lights. I could tell they were trying to figure out why. Yet the crystal thinks they have something to teach me. The physician and other wizard were both standing over me with their arms crossed. Neither had a brown stripe. "If you have something you wanted to say, you should say it now. While I am not planning on doing army work today, I do have enough other work to be on about." I took another carefully measured sip.
The wizards seemed to come to the conclusion that I wasn't intimidated by them at the same time. They both frowned up at my magic instead of me. The lights were still moving in a seeming random pattern. Three collided while I took another sip. The breeze was cold this time. I drained the rest of the cup while noting who still shielded and who didn't. The number of people shielding other non magic users didn't change. I set the cup down and stood up. "Any wizard here for a reason other than to tell me I am not trained and don't know what I am doing?"
The palace guards had their hands on the hilts of their weapons while I looked around the room. No one spoke up, I could feel more anger boiling under the surface but everyone kept it to themselves. "A shame, well the palace still isn't open to wizards who don't have a specific reason to be here. Wanting to show me something isn't a good reason, please leave." A servant grabbed my dishes before I could and dashed off. I shook my head at her retreating back but I had a bit of a smile, it took skill to snatch things before I did. I looked up at the lights and waved my hand. All the remaining lights vanished as if they had never been. The wizards were even more on edge with that display. Unmaking magic could be more dangerous than making magic. It was hard to control how it would break down and what would happen to the energy as it broke down. What I had just done was considered more dangerous than just letting it fade out.
I started walking to the door with the palace guards, Previor and his two friends, and Ravon moving around me. They might not be wizards but they knew what I had done. Most elves and islee could sense magic. Elves were better at it on average, so they would have an idea why the trained wizards were all pale and staring at where my magic had been. The guards did a great job not letting their own caution show in their motions or expressions though. It was impressive, even more so to me, I have never been good at not expressing myself. I figured everyone could read what I intended to do next in how I walked.
None of the wizards stopped me as I left the dining hall. Probably good for them as I wasn't sure what the shield would do if I wizard had tried. The shield seemed to be less forgiving of the attempt on my life than I was. I walked down two halls before I stopped and looked around. Because of the shield I knew where I was going. "Ravon, did I win our bet, maybe I didn't give them enough time to answer?"
Ravon shook her head at me, "No, you won that one. I don't think any of them wanted anything other than to show you that you need them. I am pretty sure that display didn't convince them."
"No, I expect it to have the opposite effect. What do you think, tomorrow's lunch, more than 60 wizards or less?"
"I think that depends on what other trouble you make today. Have you always been like this?"
"Of course, just normally not with other people around to see it."