na Gall drank without hesitation and when it was gone she handed the glass back to her mother.
“Apple juice,” she said to Bock and then smiled. “Any peach juice mother?”
Her mother smiled at her before looking quizzically toward the maid, who shrugged and left the room once more. Another servant, a tall, painfully thin man, brought in a tray of bread and cheeses. He set it before the Traveler and na Gall immediately began to eat without comment.
“Welcome home Jessie,” Miranda na Gall said and patted her daughter softly on the shoulder.
“Miranda…” Bock said mostly to himself. “Miranda na Gall…the cellist?” Miranda nodded and Jess beamed. Lonogan looked down at Jess as the Traveler stuffed food into her mouth at an alarming rate.
“Your mother is Miranda na Gall, the cellist?”
Jess nodded, but did not answer because her mouth was full of bread, so Lonogan turned back to Miranda.
“I had the pleasure of hearing you perform in Solarii…four years ago now I guess it was. You were wonderful,” he added and then his eyes went wide and he turned back to Jess. “Your father is General Clark na Gall?”
“Retired,” Miranda corrected, frowning at her daughter who continued only to nod and eat. “Although you would never know it by the amount he travels these days. He’s in the west, reviewing the Palmerrio borders with General Keadle. Our neutrality in the conflict is creating a lot of tension with our neighbors.”
“Mother,” Jess began and swallowed the bite of cheese she still had in her mouth. “Where’s Owen?”
Miranda shrugged. “He’s around,” she answered then turned to Lonogan. “Her brother. I apologize. I believed I raised her to have better manners.”
Bock smiled and Jess huffed. “Mother!” she spouted, but then went back to her eating.
“Slow down child,” Miranda said but lowered herself gently and sat by her daughter’s side.
Jess continued to eat rapidly, her every instinct telling her that her body needed nourishment…and fast. She only paused to deliver one-word answers to a comment or question and looked up relieved when Katty, the maid, returned with large glass of a thick yellow juice.
“Peach?” Jess asked between bites and Katty nodded. The Traveler took it and quickly guzzled the full contents.
“I have more,” Katty, who was young, maybe a few years younger than Jess, said with a laugh. “I’d not wanna be around when all of this decides to exit your other end.”
“Katty!” Miranda shouted but Katty just raised her eyebrows and smiled then turned and departed quickly. Jess laughed and Bock tried to stifle a grin in an attempt to spare the feelings of the elder na Gall as she turned pink in the cheeks.
“I apologize again…what you must think of us,” she muttered.
“Oh mother,” Jess stated, “we’re at war. We’ve been living in the dirt and mud with danger and death all around, a little joke is hardly going to offend either of us.”
“War…” Miranda said very solemnly. “We somehow managed to get your father through his entire career without a major conflict…but now you…” her voice trailed off, and then her brows creased.
“Jessie why are you here?”
“Mother,” Jess began but stopped as another glass of peach juice arrived, this time by Lamont, the thin man, and Bock surmised that Katty must have decided to make herself scarce.
“And you’ve brought a General,” Miranda added, glancing up at Bock.
“Mother we’ve come to talk to King Marc…” Jess began again.
“He won’t see you,” her mother interrupted.
“I think he will,” Lonogan disagreed. “There are only two Travelers left alive,” he continued, purposefully neglecting to mention either Gwaynn or Laynee. That makes your daughter a very important person.”
Miranda sat very still, breathing heavily. “Well, she’s always been an important person, but Marc is very…well he’s timid. He’ll not hold an audience with you if he suspects it will send the wrong message to the High King…he’s very loyal to Mastoc.”
“Not loyal enough to fight at his side,” Jess interjected.
Miranda shrugged. “As I said, he’s very timid.”
“Perhaps your father…” Lonogan began before Miranda rounded on him, standing quickly to face him on equal terms.
“You will not involve Clark!” she demanded hotly, just short of yelling.
“Mother!” Jess shouted back but then the front door crashed open. Bock spun and drew his kali instinctively. The move was very smooth and very fast. Gwaynn was teaching his General well.
The intruder was a young man of about twenty who gazed at the crouching sword bearing man before him with wide eyes.
“Owen,” Jess said quickly as one of Bock’s men followed the young man inside, “my brother.”
Bock immediately straightened up, and signaled to the man at the door that all was well. The soldier retreated as Bock smoothly replaced his kali.
“Sorry about that Owen,” Lonogan said as the young man cautiously navigated around him. Once passed Bock he broke into a smile and fell upon his sister. They hugged, kissed and tickled just a little before Owen stood and faced Bock once more.
“Owen, this is Lonogan Bock, the Massi General,” Jess said from the couch.
“Excellent!” Owen answered and stuck out his hand.
They shook hands heartily and Jess took a moment to study Lonogan closely. Not surprisingly she found that she completely agreed with her brother’s assessment.
?
Zarina Monde was good, very good. They appeared in the clearing just below the cabin and there, sitting on the porch sipping tea was Tar Nev, smiling down at them. Gwaynn smiled back and waved as they made their way up the hill, but the High Zarina did not share his enthusiasm.
“He’s a bit creepy,” she whispered, “sitting there like he’s waiting for us.”
“He probably is,” Gwaynn whispered back.
“I’ve been expecting you,” Nev said to Gwaynn as they came within speaking distance, then Nev glanced at Monde. “I’ve food ready in the cabin,” he told her and with a slight bow led them both inside.
The table was already set…for three. It held the usual; meat, cheese, fruit, but also on the table was a large bowl of sugar cubes and in the middle a pitcher of liquid that, after a quick inspection, Gwaynn realized was peach juice. He smiled at Nev as Monde again whispered under her breath.
“Creepy.”
“I see your war preparations are going well,” Nev said and they all sat down. The High Zarina did not wait to be invited but immediately began to fill her plate and eat, taking more than her share of sugar cubes.
“Try the juice,” Gwaynn told her and she did without a word. “The High King is coming,” he said to Nev, while picking at the food, eating very little. “There’s no way we can stop him now.”
Nev nodded. “Yes, I heard about the Toranado fleet. Without the help of the Cassinni I don’t think you’ll be able to keep out an invasion by sea. Massi has far too much shoreline to cover.”
Monde raised her eyebrows. “You know about our trip to the Cassinni.”
Nev shook his head negatively. “No, but it is what I would do. Any answer?”
“Not yet,” Gwaynn answered. “But we need all the allies we can get,” he added and it took him a moment to realize that the High Zarina was no longer moving, and the air had become silent.
Nev smiled. “Come,” he said and reached into the bowl for a large handful of sugar cubes. He led Gwaynn outside and away from the frozen Traveler. They moved around to the side of the cabin and without a word Nev bent down and picked up two logs from the stack placed against the cabin wall. Gwaynn followed suit, searching briefly for the two smallest logs he could find.
