Chapter 12: Departure

The palace was rather quiet that morning as Jason, Dalton, Ron, and Delano sat on the porch overlooking the palace garden. Dalton was relating their experiences on the Electra to Ron and Delano when Gwen came storming onto the porch.

“My lord, the captain of the Electra just sent me a message, telling me to inform you that the Electra would like to un-dock from the space station no later than noon tomorrow.” Gwen said. She was half out of breath and looked excited. “The message states that the Electra shuttle will be ready to lift with you and your party anytime starting tomorrow at 7 am. I already informed your Chief of Staff as well as the duke’s ADC.”

That afternoon the Moorefield wing of the palace was in utter chaos as the large number of female members of the new Viscount’s household ran around packing for a trip of at least a year. By mid-afternoon Gwen informed Jason than she had to arrange for a smallish space container to hold most of the luggage of the many females in his household.

Just before supper Jason got called to his office by Clarissa. When he arrived at his office, he found Clarissa and a very familiar face waiting in the outer office. The last time Jason had seen Mister Gray was when he and his fellow teacher discussed Jason’s educational achievements with the duke’s sword master. They didn’t see Jason and was not aware that he was listening to them as they inadvertently informed Jason that he finished his high school requirements at the age of fifteen.

“My lord, it is great to see you” Mister Gray said as he bowed to Jason.

“Mister Gray, likewise” Jason responded as he took Clarissa by her elbow and guided her and his old tutor into the inner office. “Let’s have a seat.”

“The reason I brought Mister Gray to see you is mostly just to inform you that I already hired him as tutor for House Taurus” Clarissa said as they sat down.

“I knew we had to get a tutor for all the young girls in my household” Jason said. “I was thinking of asking you to get somebody on Secundus but having Mister Gray available now means we can keep the girls busy on the way to Secundus, provided you are available to leave Grendel immediately” he added as he addressed the older male.

“I already told Mister Gray about the departure deadline” Clarissa said.

“I have been offered a teaching position at the city college but I decided I would like to see more of the cluster, and when I heard that you are the head of House Taurus, I couldn’t think of a better way to do it. I’m packed and ready to leave now, my lord.” Mister Gray said. “I don’t have any remaining family anywhere”

“What about school supplies?” Jason asked.

“I understand that each of the young ladies in your household either already has a suitable tablet or will have one by the end of today.” Mister Gray said as he glanced at Clarissa. “Anything else can wait until we get to Secundus”

“I have already assigned you a room in the palace for tonight” Clarissa said to Mister Gray. “You should also already have access to the educational records of the entire Moorefield household, including the military records from the Grendel Marine Officers’ Training College.” Then Clarissa turned to Jason with a surprised look on her face. “How did you manage to get into that college at age fifteen? You still had at least two years of schooling to complete?”

“I can answer that, my lady” Mister Gray said with a smirk on his face. “It seems Lord Jason figured out that he already finished high school at age fifteen. As a matter of fact, he passed his final exams about a week before he suddenly disappeared.”

“How did you manage that so quickly?” Clarissa asked in confusion.

“I have a theory about that” Mister Gray said. “The two of you were the two best students I have ever had in my entire teaching career. To me it nearly seemed as if you two were competing against each other.”

“To be honest” Jason said. “I was chasing after you. I tried hard to end up having the same tutor session as you, so I could sit in the same room as you for those sessions. I never managed to catch up to you” Clarissa looked stunned while Mister Gray burst out laughing.

“That explained everything” he said. “The only problem with your plan was that by the time you decided to catch Clarissa, you were already at her level. You basically just widened the gap between the two of you. At least now she is your Chief of Staff so you get to summon her to your office whenever you feel like it” When Jason looked back at Clarissa, he found her looking at him with a funny expression on her blushing face.