Chương 282: Nathan's Note

"A hand please?" Elica said, gesturing. She stood in the doorframe between washroom and bedroom, waving vaguely towards her hair. I already had water curved today, so I nudged that spell to strip the water from Elica's hair and her body and funneled it back to where water belongs. She blinked rapidly.

"It always dries my eyes out a little when you do that," she complained.

"I'll try to take note of that in the future," I said, as I stepped into my shoes. The laces started doing themselves up. It does stand to reason. There are parts of the human body that some degree of water is supposed to be present.

"How was your Sixthday?"

"Honestly?" she said, moving to her wardrobe. She started picking a dress from her hangers. Rinnie's not coming around this morning so she's going to try to get me to dress her like a ladies' maid so she can continue being the Elica that does not do things for herself. I'm already on guard for it.

"My Sixthday evening was crap. And I hated it."

"That feels redundant," I pointed out. She sniffed pompously.

"Something does not need to be crap for me to hate it. This was both. So I listed both."

"I appreciate your commitment to precision," I said dryly.

"So, why was it crap?" She selected a rather plain-but-versatile day dress with a nice fabric.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked.

"In what context?"

"In the context of something for me to wear while I sit in this room, study for my classes, go out only for meals and try to hide myself from the world as if I could forget about my failures or convince everyone else to forget about them too," she said. Her tone started out sharp and superior and ended up rather drippy and depressive by the end, with a remarkably steady gradient in between. Yeah the dress was fine for that.

I flicked lines of affinity and intention about, and the dress rose to the air, sorted itself over her and fitted into place by the time I got to her and wrapped her in a hug. I'm not going to hug her in her shift, and I'm not going to leave her hanging like that without a hug, so I had to dress her so I guess she wins this round. I gathered her in close, she's a couple inches taller but she draped on me like a blanket as I bundled her in close.

Something in her started winding tighter for a few more seconds before she started to relax. I patted her shoulder blades a few times, then moved that hand to the middle of her back and wrapped there. I leaned in, gave her a good squeeze until whatever was jammed in there finally pried loose. She sighed, and slumped.

"Damn, that's good," she said. I took her arms, held her at half an arm's length, wiped both her eyes with a handkerchief and then vanished it.

"Now, tell me what happened last night."

"It's stupid," she sulked.

"We're in school. Stupid problems are the best kind." I said it to cheer her up. I did not spend much time thinking about it. I'm not sure really what exactly I meant by that. But somehow it worked anyway.

"I was on a date," she said.

"Son of a mine owner who's been branching into real estate. I'm trying to set up some matches for later, since my parents are out of the picture and my lands need investment to start turning a profit. I'm trying to marry into money, obviously. And his family is looking for a title. An earl's title is a damn good title. But, you remember my story? Brunbling is top-heavy with earls. And while we were out at dinner, he found a rather top-heavy earl and left me at the soup course." I gave her another hug.

"Oh, Elica. Obviously we're going to kill this guy, right?" Normally I'd be spending this time at the pub in Skydown socializing with the villagers, but this felt like it needed my attention. Elica feels closer to me than she does even to Larianne and Vancy, so- Wait. Vancy is a pure-hearted true-blue Pollyanna sweetheart, but Elica would rather confide in me? Is it true? Was Thumper right? Am I nice?

I had her sat at her vanity and was brushing her hair while she hit me with the gory details, when my morning got even worse. You know what I hate more than being confronted by my brother first thing on a Oneday morning? Being interrupted by him first thing on a Sevenday morning. I started to call out a "who is it?" when I realized that I know who it is. The only person I can identify positively through a locked door.

My teeth snapped shut with a click and I glared at the door, and the human essence behind it that stood patiently waiting. I glanced over at Elica, who had already noticed my reaction.

"My brother," I said by way of warning, and then I opened the door remotely. It swung open before him, and I stood with my arms crossed, not hiding my annoyance.

"This is a girls' only dorm, Nathan," I said to him.

"It sure is," he said, stepping in and letting the door swing shut behind him.

"And it's a great deal easier to let myself in first thing in the morning than it is late at night. Sorry for this, and I won't stay long. I just wanted to give you something." From his pocket, a sheet of paper.

"I wanted to give it to you last night, but the cousins are... very protective of you. And it looked like you were having fun so I didn't want to ruin it for you. Good day, Lady Elica."

"Lord Harigold," Elica said icily. She did not rise at his entrance. I have already caught his implication.

"So, you're bringing me something mood-ruining?" Something bad enough that the other Harigolds would not allow him to bring me during my date with Thumper. Bless them.

"Regrettably yes," he said, setting the folded paper on my dresser.

"And having delivered it, I'll make myself absent. If you would like to discuss this later we may, but I'd rather you read it before we speak." He stepped back towards the door, giving me an expectant look. Hmm. Open the door for him? Make him open it himself to prove he doesn't get the benefit of my conveniences unless I will it? Make him try to open it but force it shut just to make him struggle? Or maybe just throw him at the wall until his bruises have bruises. Tempting. I opened the door.

"What's that about?" Elica asked.

"Nothing good," I said, making the easiest prediction that a prophetess can make. I gestured in, and the paper wafted across the room to my hand.

"You know not to trust what he's written, yes?" she said.

"I do," I said, unfolding the page.

"And if it's not something he's written, you know not to trust that either, yes?" she pressed.

"I do," I said. My brother's a master forger. Every day I find it harder to trust anything that is on a piece of paper. I read the note.

"Because it might just be something he wrote, anyway," she reiterated.

"I believe he understands that I'm not inclined to trust him either," I said, rereading the note.

"How so?" I set the note down on the vanity table in front of her.

"Ask Segina about the tapestry of the fox hunt," she read aloud.

"That's what it says," I agreed.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It doesn't say," I pointed out.

"Your brother is quite a vexation," she said, pushing the note away and pinning her hair back.

"Yes, he really is," I sighed.

"Anyway, Segina is Millstrong Greifir's wife, so she's heir to Greifir's duchess. I have no idea about the rest of it." And I wasn't going to find out until after I attended church, in any case. After the bad news and tragedies of my morning, my trip to Skydown was well-timed. The double-tap of Elica's bad date and Nathan's vague threats had started to sour me after my fun date with Thumper last night, and I would not have taken it well if they had thoroughly crushed my high.

Fortunately, I've got most of my cheer back by lunchtime, and I spend a good hour just chatting with folk and basking in the earthy earnest wholesomeness of that place. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. But by ninth bell, there was no more point in delaying the inevitable. Back to Hearstcliff. And from there, to the Harigold residence.

"Natalie," Bruce said, nodding to me as I walked in. He was sitting in a wingback chair badly, with his legs crossed over one arm of the thing and his back curled against the other arm. He was reading a magazine, folded back on itself. I couldn't see the cover, so I assume it's Sarcasm Monthly. He looked up at me over his glasses.

"I take it your brother finally harassed you in person?" I leaned over to give him a two-armed embrace before I backed off.

"He did. Said you and Petty did a damn fine job of shutting him out last night, too. Thanks," I said. The entryway did not have any other seating. I hopped up onto the sideboard and sat there.

"Least we could do," he said.

"You were really happy. You don't get a lot of that. So when I saw you smiling and giddy, I said to Petunia, 'I'll bet her brother shows up to mess this up', and she told me that if he does it's my fault for jinxing you and I would be in charge of keeping him away from you. So, twenty minutes later he walked in like he had just magically heard what I said, and I took it on myself to make sure he never even got into your line of sight. We used that 'human wall' trick you're so fond of."

"It does work," I commented.

"Did he say anything useful?"

"Just that he'd been at a different event and heard something you should know about so he came right over. So I asked him if it was a matter of life and death, and he said yes. And then I asked if it was a matter of life and death tonight, and he said no. I told him to leave a message, and he asked me where he should put that message, and so I told him where he could put his message."

"You didn't," I gasped, grinning, scandalized.

"I didn't. I thought about it. But for one thing, he does outrank me enough to cause real problems if he chooses. And for another, almost as many people disappear mysteriously around him as they do you." He put the magazine to the side.

"And then we got rid of him and everyone had a great time. By the way, thank you for breaking the tension at the beginning. His lordship the earl is a rather stiff-necked coot and everyone was on eggshells trying not to offend him until you started yelling."

"I wasn't yelling, I was cheering. Besides, the tension needed breaking. We're the Harigolds, after all. If we're not going to have an affable good time, nobody would," I said, shrugging negligently, no big deal.

"Anyway, I need direction to the Greifir residence, wherever Segina hangs her hat. Nathan has started me on a scavenger hunt."

"More of a bottom feeder than a simple scavenger, I would say," he quipped.

"Bottom-feeders are often toothless," I said, with only a small frown.

"I'm all for trash-talking my brother, but not in ways that minimize him or make him seem more harmless. I've learned hard lessons about underestimating him and I don't want to repeat those mistakes." Gedes strolled through the entryway, with his hands casually tucked behind his back, pausing to give a distracted half-nod to Bruce and then a dramatic double-take for me. It took a lot not to jump at him and hug him. It's been a good day for hugs so far, I guess I just wanted to keep the winning streak going.

Instead I hopped down, and dropped a curtsy.

"Mister Gedes. A pleasure again."

"Princess Natalie, good to see you are well," he said, bowing belatedly. I had caught him off guard but he did recover with surprising speed.

"I had not known you were here, but this is a good time for my report. It is only fair to tell you that someone tried to have you declared legally incompetent since we last spoke. And there was an attempt to put all of your accounts into a sealed trust, using a mistranslated version of a regulation that was originally intended for charities involved in wilderness conservation."

"I just saw you four days ago!" I protested.

"All that in four days?"

"Yes milady. I cannot state with authority that Aumerje fingerprints were on these attempts, only that someone's fingertips got scalded in the attempt." Some people learn to express their love through the medium of paperwork, and I am convinced that is what Gedes does. After a few minutes of chatting, Bruce did give me the address for the Greifir House's main outpost in the city. I asked him for aerial directions and he pointed out that nobody is ever going to give me landmarks visible from the air.

So I hired a carriage, and got dropped off at the front door of the manor house. I rang the doorbell, and was confronted by a valet that looked like a retired general who was undercover as a bodyguard and was in turn filling in for the house page.

"Good day," I said, with a curtsy.

"Princess Natalie Harigold to see Princess Segina Griefir if she is available."

"You're not her," he growled.

"I saw you step out of a paid carriage."

"I couldn't get directions to this place using aerial landmarks," I said.

"Nobody builds street signs that are visible from above. Now that I know where to find this place I'll be making more dramatic entrances from now on." He was still glaring dubiously at me, so I hovered up a few inches, hung there for a few seconds, and then descended. He nodded and waved me inside. Apparently he's been told enough about my abilities and habits to screen out imposters. I have to figure out what that means.

As it turned out Segina was out of home for the moment, attending to a matter, but was expected back within the half-hour. I was shown to a sitting room, offered refreshments, and permitted a book from the library. I chose a history of the Greifir house, because none of the books I've ever read would be as thorough as what they kept for themselves. And while I was at it I kept track of the whole house, in my own way. I confess to snooping, because their house was so much busier than the Harigold residence!

Greifir's Hearstcliff Manor was a hive, people coming and going, housekeepers and stablehands and cooks and maids, but also clerks and archivists and scriveners and messengers. I was mostly sure I had picked out which of these people was Millstrong, sitting in a very luxe study and taking visitors one after another. By comparison, Bruce and Petty are living in an abandoned derelict. We need to make some changes.

"Ah, Princess Natalie!" said Segina, who still had her hat in her hand and a slight flush of activity, as if she really had just stepped in the door and had not even taken time to change shoes before she came to see me.

"I have expected you would be by today, and I would have been here to receive you but I had scheduled that speaking engagement weeks ago and just could not cancel." I was rather surprised. For being so quiet and so ready to fade into the background when her husband is around, she was terribly lively now that it was just the two of us.

"Princess Segina," I said, standing and curtsying. Equal rank, and I'm in her home, so I dip first, and then she replies. After we straightened and smiled, she waved me to get comfortable.

"So good of you to see me on short notice. I was given rather little to work with and have nearly no idea what it is I am meant to ask you." She tossed her hat to a hatrack in the corner and stuck the landing like a pro, before she poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the sideboard.

"Well, I suspect I can clarify all with a simple story." I sat again, glancing at the hatrack. It was still wobbling slightly, before it settled. That was a very un-aerodynamic projectile to sail twenty feet sideways no-look no-net perfect landing. And yet my reticle gave me nothing on her: no class, no stats. She's just cool, I guess.

"Ahem, yes, well, clarified and simple are two of my favorite words, and I rarely get that kind of favor. I would really appreciate it." She stood at the window, looking out at the neighboring house, and took a sip of water.

"It was Ervhsez Lydpel, one of the hopefuls that tried to present himself for consideration to the house leaders when the coalition of factions was being formed. He tried again to assert for your... special position... while you were indisposed by a trial. He's over-reached and embarrassed himself, and he believes the only way to right himself is to take your particular consideration." Segina has done a good job of not saying "designated figurehead leader for the Rapier Revolt".

Segina is no Nhullit, but she does play the same game at the same level. She turned away from the window, facing me. She'd given me something to think about: Lydpel was one of the possible adversaries that I had skipped over. He was supposed to be out of the story now.

"And," she said, "the poor daft boy does not know who I am. Benefits of staying quiet while everyone looks at my husband. It gets me into important rooms where nobody knows me. Anyway, he had a whole long-winded metaphor about a fox hunt and a tapestry and frankly he spent more time talking circles around circles just to impress everyone with how circumspect he could be, rather than actually addressing his core point, which was that they should kill you.

I imagine all that guarded euphemism was why he felt bold enough to discuss this in front of anyone else. Though, I am rather good at pretending to be uninterested and uninteresting. I don't think highly of his judgement or his company. He had assembled a whole audience of people that he believed had been wronged by you, including two of the other frustrated candidates, as well as your brother, and Baroness Braux-""Pardon?!"

"The magister's aunt. Anyway, a cozy little conspiracy. He was trying to recruit angel investors to hire a Duskare assassin to get rid of you. I sat and sipped tea while they talked. They had settled on some figures, but they decided to pay extra for premium service, and that started negotiations and talk of financing. While they were quite agreed on killing you, it was the numbers and interest rates that started them arguing.

The baroness left in a huff, and the rest of them admitted they did not have enough cash to cover their share of the costs. Apparently, high-profile targets cost a premium, and you're almost as high-profile as the crown and throne themselves. Your brother suggested they could float the cost in a pinch, after all they would all make rather a lot of money once you were dead, and pay off the balance after that." I blinked.

"That is an extremely bad idea and they should know that." Even if there isn't a legendary Debt Collector, it should be an obvious mistake to renege a debt to your hired killer. But of course, even smart people can be talked into a bad idea.

"Your brother was persuasive," she told me, setting the glass down on a coaster.

"And when the conversation broke up, Nathan looked me in the eye, winked, and made a 'shush' movement." She mimicked the gesture, one finer laid along her lips.

"Then he ran out of that party with unseemly haste." I had her give me the address and the time, and compared. He could have made it from that party, to the wedding reception, during my dance with Thumper, but only barely, only if he found a carriage waiting and made rather good time through the streets. No time for any detours or tricks. I left Greifir's Hearstcliff Manor with my head in a whirl. Had my brother convinced my most bloodthirsty enemies to go into arrears with Duskare to try to kill me?

Deliberately provoking the Debt Collector? Did he know that was me? Oh who am I kidding. The writing's on the wall. Let's mix some blood in.