Chapter 24: Champions of the Unspoken

I had just finished another round of visits to the principals in our upcoming confrontation and was back home in the Valley of the Wind once again.

I had checked with the Armored foot in Lamin, and found that the majority of the Zadaru were there. There was some friction between the two populations, but it was being kept to a minimum, mostly by the continuous presence of the Wind of Arbor. My sweet Cor was as busy as I was! They planned to move out within days of my visit, so her mediating would soon taper off.

The Beletaran war fleet that had been sent north had finally joined up with the Westhalian fleet, and they were sailing combined runs doing picket duties at the edges of Norhalian waters. There had only been minor skirmishes so far, as single ships tried to run the blockade under the cover of night. There was no sign of the main fleet. Nor was anyone exactly sure what kind of fleet Norhal had.

Westhal and Midhal had combined their military engineering corps, and the combined units were madly building huge machines of war. Movable trebuchets, catapults, sling arms, arrow launchers, devices of every fashion. They had done this on the southern plains of Midhal, and now the military teamsters were working hard to move them ever closer to the border with Norhal.

Trellis had been with me every step of the way, and I have to credit the little imp, she was up for anything and everything I threw at her. We were in on the harvesting of trees for the engineers. We had lightened and strengthened the sails of the fleet. A disastrous broken rudder was fixed in a few hours when Trellis simply lifted the entire ship out of the water so the submerged parts could be worked on quickly.

I had worked at strengthening all the components on the catapults and trebuchets once they were built, and Trellis had come up with a clever modification that made anything placed in their ballast buckets only heavy in one direction! When the weights were ratcheted up into position, they weighed almost nothing. When they fell, they fell with full weight. It took some extra care to make sure you never let the weights slip down as you were raising them, but in the end it tripled the reload speed and allowed it to be done with a minimal crew. The engineers were ecstatic, and made Trellis an honorary royal engineer in both armies.

The Shar and the Fenrim would be there before the first battle, in time for us to plan for their effective use. Slate assured me of this himself. We could do no more for the moment. Until the forces began to truly gather on the plains of Midhal, we were home, and glad of it!

The guard tower had been completed well before winter was over, due to some judicious assistance with weather from Cor and some assistance with the materials and the 'process' from me. The guard were all moved in and long since settled. Our four Yaru rangers had picked out a nice cave halfway up the southwest valley wall as their official residence, and I had done a little tweaking for them to make it a little more cozy, including piping in some running water and adding a warming stone and some light stones here and there as well.

Fleet and half the guard were with Plank building a hay barn. We were going to make sure in the future we didn't have to do any emergency scrambling to keep ourselves in hay and feed through the winter. We had a few fields in production, but it was our first spring and we had only had time to get a small vegetable garden and a single corn field plowed and planted. With the amounts of rain and snow this valley got, Plank wanted the entire thing built up off the ground by a good four feet, and that meant engineering in ramps and covered swing arm cranes at the top. The main structural work was complete, and it was mostly the fittings and finish work now, and that brought the speed of this crew way down, since they were all rookies for the most part.

I found Vic Green and Plank up on the top floor arguing over the need to put leather hinge covers over the door and gate hinges in the hay storage areas. It seemed pretty finicky a request to me at first, but it soon dawned on me what Plank was arguing about.

"Vic?"

"Yeah!" He shouted.

"When you store hay you have to be really, really careful. It becomes so flammable it can almost be considered explosive. You have to prevent mold or mildew from forming and keep it well ventilated and you have to avoid open flames and sparks."

"Oh! ... I see." Vic said. "Well, that makes sense then!"

I left shaking my head. If Plank had wound up with just about any of the others it wouldn't have been an issue, he just got stuck with the only real city boy on Arbor. I'd give the full explanation to him at evening meal.

Fleet was checking the ground floor vents and stressing a little about airflow. To make the air flow as effective as possible you had to have vents as low as you could get them and as high as you could get them. The natural effects of warm air rising and cold air sinking would create the airflow needed for ventilation. Even with the relatively open design he was using, he wasn't sure about the airflow.

In the end I convinced him to let Plank worry about airflow, and maybe check with Cor. "Who better to advise you on airflow than The Wind?" I asked.

"I would almost feel better if we could run two crews, one for housing and one for infrastructure." I said.

"Weaver, we are already going to have to be running two crews. At least we will if you are still planning to try and get the Theater built at the Red Flag."

"Damn!" I spat. "Too much going on, not enough time, and that damned Golden Deleste in Norhal is throwing the worlds biggest monkey wrench into my happy life!"

"Well, I need you to take me to Esterton to see Hardy Jessek, so he can go over my designs for the Theater, while we're there you can chew out the King for marrying the wrong sister."

"What?" I asked, astonished.

"You didn't know? Serene Esterhal and Golden Deleste are sisters. The King courted both of them at first, before falling for Serene."

It was a good thing it was just Fleet and I there. He could see the steam building, but was happy to say goodbye when I said I had to leave. I jumped myself clear out of Arbor to an empty, nameless facet.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed into the cool, empty air. I kicked the dirt and punch holes in the hillside while I let myself cool off. I considered myself pretty level headed and slow to anger, but I had just flashed onto a pretty serious level of mad!

I was a nice guy. I didn't read people's minds unless there was a dire need. I didn't try to be sneaky, except in the surprise-at-Christmas kind of way. For that, sometimes it seemed I was destined to wind up in situations like this. Even the Spirits seemed to have conspired to hide this tidbit from me until now!

I did another quick facet jump to check on something and then was back on Arbor. I was calmer, but I was still steaming a little.

The steam was abating, but I had formed a plan in the heat of it that I still intended to carry out. I moved a few things here and there to prepare, and then began thinking about people. I wanted some seriously hard to deny muscle and firepower, and winter and Snow were the first. The Yaru would be a good choice too, and they would need to be freed from their duties.

I located Vic again with my senses and jumped to him.

"Vic!" I called. The steam must still be close to the surface, because I made him jump!

"What!" He barked back. "Jeez! You scared the crap out of me!"

"I need the Guard to cover for the Rangers for a while this afternoon. I'm borrowing them."

"Uh oh. Why do I think something has you riled up?"

"Something does. It will all probably seem much funnier when I'm telling you about it later than it does right now. Thanks."

I jumped back to the commons to wait for Winter and Snow. While I was waiting, I sent my next thought out, this time to Seablaze Marco

<Weaver??> He answered.

<Sorry to intrude on your thoughts Seablaze, but I am in need of some able assistance this afternoon. Will the Princess loan you to me for a while?>

<What kind of trouble are you brewing today Weaver?>

<Trying to solve a little family problem. Do you think you could get Skydrift Rambol to come along as well?>

<Check back in an hour or so? I should be ready, with or without Skydrift by then.>

Now it was the one I was dreading.

<Damsel?>

<Andy? What's wrong?>

<Can you put things on hold there for a few hours?>

<You mean can I literally ask the majority of the southern clans to hold their horses? No, but they can continue on without me for a while, now that we're on the move again.>

<Meet me in our room as soon as you can make your excuses.>

Well, I did have to explain the situation after all, and I hadn't seen or touched or held my sweetie in a couple of weeks. Needless to say the details of the situation weren't the only things brought up.

Once we were showered and our gear had received a dose of 'be clean' Magic and Light treatment, we headed out to the kitchen to see if there were any leftovers from the midday meal. It was also time to check in with Seablaze Marcos.

<Seablaze?>

<Ah Weaver! We are ready for you. There are three of us though, if you have no objection?>

<The third?> I asked.

<Greentongue Prisa, one of the local guild chairmen.>

<Do you consider him an asset or a liability when things get dicey?>

<Oh, he's an asset. Not exactly a people person, but very competent.>

I jumped cor and I to the roof of the Tower and then reached out and brought the three wizards to us.

"Welcome to the Tower of the Wind." I said. I had my forces marshaled, and with a quick mental heads up I jumped Winter and Snow up to the roof, immediately followed by the rest of the Rangers.

"These are our companions for today's adventure. They are quite formidable. I'm sure Seablaze and Greentongue recognize the shape of our four legged companions from a certain day some of us are still trying to forget. Cloud, would you give these men a glimpse of you in your defensive mode?"

"Of course." Cloud said, shimmering into invisibility.

"Weaver and Snow have their skills as well of course." I added, and as I said it the pair transformed into their Tree King form.

"Simply say so, and I'll send you all home, but we are going to either start a war early or end it before it can begin. In the process we may destroy friendships and families."

No one spoke up, so I jumped us all to Esterton, to the Palace and to Lord Esterhal's private chambers.

Firetree and Lord Esterhal were at a table with five other men.

"Weaver! Welcome, we weren't expecting you!" Firetree began. I jumped the five men at the table with them into the street in front of the gate. I reached out with my mind and found Serene, Glow and Spire Esterhal and jumped them into the room with us.

"When exactly where you going to tell me of Serene and Golden's relationship?" I asked.

I Light-scanned Serene then, down to the cellular level. I did the same to Spire and Glow.

"Weaver, I'm sorry but we didn't realize that you were unaware."

"I think that is close to a lie, Lord, but I am not going to ask you to prove it one way or the other. All I am going to do is act."

I sent my senses North across most of Midhal and half of Norhal until I found the Light signature that was a nearly identical echo of Serene's. Glimmer the sorceress was beside her and I jumped them both into the chamber with us. I slammed Glimmer into the wall with a rush of force and pinned her there with a little more telekinesis.

"Cloud, Star! If she moves or acts against me or anyone else in this room, kill her!"

I gave Queen Golden a Light pulse and watched the ripples and echoes as it ran through her. She had Talent in some fashion or another. Now that I had time, I did the same to Glimmer.

"Serene?" I said. She looked back at me defiantly for a moment before she turned to her sister.

"Hello Golden. Its been a long time," Serene said, almost wistfully.

"Ask for a truce," I told Serene.
"Truce?" She asked, after a moment of hesitation.

"I will know if you are lying if you agree without meaning it," I
told Golden.

"Truce," she agreed. Truthfully.

I released my telekinetic grip on Glimmer, easing her gently back to the floor. There was a long pause where no one spoke or moved as they waited for the reality of this to sink in.

Time for my big play. I jumped the entire lot of us to the dome on Dust.

The long pause turned into a prolonged silence then. You could almost hear the wind swirling through the dunes outside the dome.

In the center of the dome were a table and chairs, with room for all of us. I had several bottles of the Berenese Flame that Cap Shavrom had shared with me on the day I met Skydrift Rambol.

"Serene, sit with your sister and your nieces," I said. "Glimmer, you may want to join the guild wizards here at this end of the table. Firetree at least has questions about our recent meeting that I'm sure he's dying to ask you."

As these groups came together at the table, I looked at Lord. "Your Highness? Walk with me a moment?"

We walked away from the table, only a few dozen yards, close to one of the dome walls and we stared out into the swirling sands.

"There was a piece of this story you assumed I knew, and so you did not lie, I apologize for that accusation. But it is true that at some point you realized I was unaware of this information, and chose not to tell me, true?"

"Yes, and for that I owe you an apology."

"Accepted," I answered, and held out my hand. We shook, and a little of the man I knew seemed restored. The smile was back, even if he hid it carefully away again.

"My willingness to draw Golden out and into war was based on my desire to end this nightmare. It was a mistake to court both sisters at the same time, but their father seemed to think either would be a suitable match, and not knowing either, it seemed sensible."

"Once you had made your decision, did you continue to lead Golden on?"

"No!!" Lord said with emphasis, loud enough to draw the eyes of everyone at the table for a moment. "No." He repeated more softly. "I realized pretty quickly that I had fallen for Serene. It was not just that she was a better match, it was love!"

"Lets go get you back to the table." I said. We walked back and Lord was visibly more relaxed when we got there.

"Golden, can we let Serene and her husband sit together while you and I go for a stroll?" We repeated the walk to the edge of the dome, and up close I was struck by her resemblance to Spire.

"Lord and I have spoken about his courting of you and your sister. Is it true that he knew neither of you before he began his courtship?"

"Can't you just pull what you want from my mind? Glimmer tells me you have the gift of the Mind Touch," she spat.

"I could. But to do so except in self defense, or by invitation would make me a monster, and I prefer being a man," I answered. "I am right now touching your surface thoughts very lightly. This is not to read them, but simply so I will know it when you lie. If that bothers you I will stop, but it may make this process much slower.

"What process is that?" She asked, though with less scorn in her voice.

"The process of bringing understanding and agreement, and maybe even peace to your family, and stopping the juggernaut of events leading towards war that should never have been set in motion in the first place."

"Oh, that process."

"Indeed. Did Lord's rejection of you make you angry, or bitter? Did you feel betrayed by him? Help me understand."