“We heard he stood off the Queens?” someone Nira couldn’t see yelled out.
“Oh, he did that and a dragon to boot,” her father said. “He and his lady have faced down the Winter Queen’s Black Frost twice and won both times.”
“A lad that young?” Lottie asked.
“When you look into his eyes, he doesn’t seem all that young anymore.”
“What’s his lady like?” someone else asked.
“That one you would never walk past without seeing, eh, Nira?” Armond turned to her, eyebrow up.
Recognizing her cue, she cleared her throat and spoke. “Lady Stacia has hair white as the crest of a wind-driven wave. Her eyes are the green of our fair island’s forests and her skin is tan like a fisherman’s but smooth and wrinkle-free. She’s a little taller than myself, strong and lithe like a dancer. She’s also beastkin.”
The room instantly hummed with a hundred shocked responses, the noise rising until Armond held up one hand, which dropped the hum to a dull buzz.
“My daughter has much to learn about the telling of stories. To say the Lady Stacia is beastkin is like saying that Lottie’s crab chowder is soup. She turns to a giant white wolf.”
“And a cross,” Nira said quietly.
“What’s that, Nira?” Dorian asked loudly, which caused a hush.
Nervously, she sat up straight like her father had said to. “She also changes to a cross between woman and wolf. Very large. Stands on two legs. She says it’s her favored combat form.”
The room quieted completely at the word combat. Nira very carefully kept her eyes roving, avoiding looking at her very probably ex-best friend and ex-best beau.
“You saw this?” Kuldennie asked after a few moments of silence.
“I did,” she responded.
“The lord and lady took a shine to Nira,” Armond said. “The residents of Idiria do not know what to make of the Realm Holder or his… wife?” He turned the last part into a question for Nira.
“Mate. Like wolves,” Nira said.
“Anyway, the residents are fearful of the Holder and his… mate, although they don’t seem to threaten anyone. Basically, Idiria is afraid of the Queens, who’ve attacked multiple times and been beaten back. For now, there is a bit of a truce. But my point is that Idiria doesn’t exactly embrace them and they don’t seem to want to embrace their power. When they’re in Idiria, which isn’t all that often, they seemed to really enjoy talking to Nira. And when Lord Declan was attending to matters of the Realm, Lady Stacia would often choose Nira to keep her company. Which makes sense, as fifteen is closer to twenty than forty is.”
“Twenty-one, Papa. Declan is twenty-one. Stacia is about a year or so older.”
“You are on first names with the Holders of the Middle Realm?” Lentin asked, astounded.
“They don’t like it when I use their titles. For all his power, Lord Declan would just as soon not be a lord.”
“And he’s got power like all that?” one of the crab boat owners, Bailey Fost, asked.
“He has power beyond all that,” her father answered. “The day we arrived, his Idirian aide, an elf named Stocan, met us and brought us right to their apartments. Inside, he introduces us to this young man and his beautiful lady. The lord immediately goes and gets the chair that I made that started all this and begins asking me all about the tree it came from. Far from being put off by witchwood like the Queens are rumored to be, he loves the stuff. Has a tree of his own back on Old Earth. Anyway, he asks me how much money it will cost to build everything he wants. I was caught off guard, but I threw out a ridiculous number.”
“Sure ya was caught off guard,” Old Kenny snorted to some nervous laughter.
Her father grinned and kept going. “The elf had the most pained expression on his face, which our young lord noticed instantly. Don’t worry, Stocan, he says, I won’t ask the city to pay for it. Then he squats down and touches the ground. We’re standing in a courtyard in his apartment, you see, all full of plants and things living in real dirt. He brushes the ground, then stands up and asks if we want anything to drink. Serves us fruit juice with his own hands. I no sooner take a sip and suddenly the ground around us shakes. Then the dirt by his feet opens and a lump of gold as big as Kuldennie’s fist rises right up out of the ground. He scoops it up, holds it in his hands and it just sorta… falls apart. Next thing ya know, it has sort of rearranged itself, becoming a stack of coins.” Her father reached into a pocket and pulled out a gold coin, holding it up for all to see.
“A wolf’s head on one side and a witchwood tree on the other,” Armond announced, turning the coin. “That’s how he feels about what we grow here.”
“Is it real gold?” “Is it plated lead?” “How much does it weigh?” voices yelled out.
“It’s solid gold… pure. He’s made a lot of them and the Idirians can’t get enough of them. Plus, they are each a tiny bit heavier than the Idirian jeel, so they’re even better.”
Nira couldn’t make out an individual single question amidst the uproar that his words caused. In fact, she had to cover both ears, it got so loud.
“HERE NOW!” Lentin bellowed, silencing the crowd. “Where are your manners?”
“Where indeed, Lentin Cobblink?” Lottie asked. “We’ve not even offered them food after a long journey. Armond, you and Nira sit here at this front table—it’s time for soup,” she said in a manner that settled the matter right then and there.
“Well, Idiria has a great many things, but it doesn’t have Lottie Stumbler’s famous devil crab chowder,” her father said, moving to the new seat. Nira was placed next to her father with the towering Kuldennie on her left, while Headman Cobblink sat on Armond’s right.
“Mayhaps they could
