The Four Queens
Copyright© 2026 by Uncle Jim
Chapter 7
The following new characters appear in this chapter:
Principal Hayes
Principal of the new school, 6’-0’’ tall (183 cm), 175 pounds (79 kg), 50 years old, short brown hair going gray, hazel eyes
Doris
School secretary, 5’-7’’ tall (170 cm), 135 pounds (61 kg), 35 years old, short black hair, blue eyes
Mrs. Arnold
In charge of admissions at the first school. 5’-8’’ (172 cm) tall, a bit thin, mid thirties, short dark blond hair
Botum still has the Narrative
We didn’t remain in New York City for long after returning from the correctional facility. The city and the state just didn’t appeal to us. The crime, the crowding, the dirt, and all of the buildings just weren’t our idea of how things should be, and that isn’t even mentioning their ideas on identity and other moral issues. We had discussed when to leave on the return trip to our hotel.
“We could leave tonight,” Daeva said to start things.
“In the morning would be better,” Maly suggested.
“Why?” Daeva asked.
“We would be rested, and you would have the rest of the day to learn what your mother wants you to do, rather than being up half of the night learning that,” Deirdre told us.
“Oh yeah! I had forgotten about that,” Daeva said. “Maybe tomorrow would be better,” she finished.
We had dinner at the hotel and were in bed early. We were also up early the next morning. Everything that we had brought with us was sent to the Timeless Zone before we had breakfast, and then checked out of the hotel. The bill was taken care of already and would be paid by Dragon Security. We did have one item to discuss over breakfast.
“Do we go straight home?” I asked.
“Straight to whose home?” Maly asked.
“Yes, there is that to consider,” Nick added.
“Well, Charleston would be the closest,” Maly injected.
“Yes, and I could easily transfer to Chattanooga from there,” Myles agreed.
“You ladies and I could transfer to Atlanta from there also,” Yuryi pointed out.
“Alright, that sounds like a good plan,” I agreed, and that was what we did. Of course, we did it from the lobby of our hotel while standing in the middle of it, and we all changed into our Dragon Forms at twelve feet tall (3.65 meters) before just vanishing.
We arrived in front of the Dragon Security building in Charleston a second later and returned to our Human forms. We ladies were all giggling at the surprise we had seen on the faces of those in the hotel’s lobby when we transformed. Nicolae, however, was all business when we arrived.
“I need to check on how things are going here, and then I’m going home,” he told us before going inside.
“I’m for Chattanooga and then home,” Myles told us before turning to Yuryi. “We can get together on the lumber business in a week or so, after I check on things,” he told him.
“Right,” Yuryi answered and turned to the rest of us after Myles vanished.
“Are we ready to transfer to Atlanta?” he asked. We all nodded, and he cast the Transfer spell. We all appeared on the parking area near Maddy’s house a second later.
“You ladies all have a good rest of the day. I’m transferring to my house here, and then going to my house in Duluth. If your moms’ have any questions that the others can’t answer, call or email me,” he told us before vanishing, leaving the four of us standing there.
“I’m sure my mother will want to know what we were involved in while in New York. I may as well get it taken care of now as later. I’ll see you-all later,” Deirdre told us and vanished also, leaving just the three of us.
“I guess Deirdre is right. We may as well get it over with and see what our ‘Mother’ has committed us to,” I told my sisters, and we all vanished to reappear in the large parlor of our house. Mother joined us shortly after we appeared.
“Did you have a good vacation?” she asked.
“It was alright,” Maly told her but didn’t sound all that happy.
“Only alright?” she asked with a smile.
“We didn’t care for New York City much. It’s too crowded, dirty, and the laws aren’t enforced,” Daeva told her.
“What laws aren’t enforced?” Mother asked in surprise.
“Oh, only little things like robbery, mugging, car theft, rape, murder and others,” Daeva told her. “The police catch people, but they are released by the DA without any bail or a court hearing,” she finished.
“Really!” Mom asked in surprise.
“Yes, really. Even the Confinement Facility that we visited still maintained the theory that you can choose to be whatever sex you want to be. WE, however, enforced the law on two occasions,” I told her without being specific.
“Well, that’s something at least. You won’t need to worry about New York any further. You will be busy here. You will be starting college soon and will have other things to keep you busy,” she told us.
“MOTHER! What have you committed us to do?” I asked in an upset voice. She only smiled.
“I expected Deirdre to fill you in on what she had been doing. So, you know about Kiry. He is a very nice young man with a huge Talent. His mother, Mliss, also has a very strong Talent. However, neither of them knows any Magic. The three of you will alternate visiting them twice a week and teach them Magic. I have books for you to take for them to study. They will also need to learn Gaelic. I have a book on the language also with recordings for them to listen to for the pronunciation of the words.
“The only thing that I haven’t completed is getting him into a better school. There are a number of private schools in the Charleston area, but most of them have religious leanings. I’ll need to have your father go with me to check on which one is suitable for Kiry,” she told us.
“When do we need to start on this instruction?” Maly asked.
“Oh, next week will be fine,” Mom told us. We all went up to our rooms then to take care of getting the things from our vacation cleaned up and to think about what we had learned. I could tell that we all weren’t exactly happy about what she had told us, but that was before I remembered what I had told ‘the Warden’ before we left the confinement facility.
“‘The job of the Queens... ‘,” I had said before remembering that it included more than dispensing justice and settling disputes. It included taking care of those you were responsible for, especially the young, sick, and the old. Like young Kiry for instance. It was nearly an hour before the three of us met in our study room.
“I’ve been thinking,” I started when we were all seated. “The job of the Queens...,” I continued but was interrupted by the others.
“We know. We have been thinking also,” Daeva said. “The job involves a lot more than what we did in New York City. There is a lot of responsibility for other things. Things that aren’t flashy or ground shaking. Little stuff, but it’s the little stuff that often determines whether you are successful with the big stuff,” she finished. I had never heard Daeva speak like that. Usually, she was the one who was for a quick and often bloody solution to a problem. She wasn’t usually the deep thinker, that was usually Maly.
“There are many things that we need to learn to be good rulers. We will need to pay close attention to the classes that we take in college. We will also need to listen to the Queens of Old and their advice. When there are more Dragons, we will need assistants to handle many things, so we can concentrate on the important issues. We will need reliable individuals who are interested in specific areas to help us govern,” Maly reminded us.
“Yes, maybe someone like Kiry,” I said. “Someone who is smart with a strong Talent,” I finished with a sigh.
“We will have husbands by then and probably children,” Daeva reminded us.
“Do you have someone in mind already?” I asked her.
“Someone like Morgan MacFarland probably, but Deirdre pretty much has him locked up already,” she told us with a big smile.
Craig has the Narrative
At the same time in a different area of the house, Jorani was meeting with Craig on a different part of the Kiry problem.
“You have to go with me,” she was insisting to her husband. “I don’t understand about all of the Denominations in the Christian religion. Maddy tried to explain it to me once, but it’s so complicated. Buddhism is much easier to understand. Most of the private schools near them have, at least, some connection to the Christian religion,” she finished.
“Have you checked on the various private schools and decided on which ones to approach, or are we going to go through all of them to select one?” I asked.
“Yes, I have checked on a number of them. There were more in the Charleston area than I had suspected. I have chosen to visit two who claim to concentrate on the development of leadership in their students. Both are in the North Charleston area. Many of the others were further away,” she told me.
“When do you want to visit these schools?” I asked.
“Tomorrow will be soon enough. Will we need to have Kiry with us?” she asked.
“Very possibly and perhaps his mother also,” I answered.
“We should alert them today then, so they will be ready,” she told me.
“When will we leave?” I asked.
“Now is as good a time as any,” she told me, but we both waited until we had changed clothes.
Jorani transferred us, and we appeared in front of a rather normal looking house in a subdivision of similar looking houses. She rang the doorbell, as we neared the front of the house. It was answered shortly by a short young man of eight years of age. His mouth fell open on seeing who was there.
“Hello Kiry,” she said in greeting. “We need to speak to you and your mother.”
“Come ... in,” he said on recovering from his surprise. Inside, his mother quickly joined us. She spoke to Jorani in Khmer before Jorani turned to me.
“This is Mliss, Kiry’s mother. She asked if something was wrong,” she told me, before turning back to the two occupants of the house.
“This is my husband, Craig Sweeney. We came to alert you that tomorrow we will be going to speak to those in charge at two of the private schools here in North Charleston. The two of you will need to go with us to see if Kiry will be admitted to one of their schools,” Jorani told both of them in English. She then went on in Khmer to arrange the time to leave and what they should wear. I could follow part of what she said but missed some of it.
“We will return tomorrow morning at 9:30,” was how she finished before we left, and I transferred us back to our house.
In the morning, we were ready to leave by 9:00. Jorani transferred us to their house and rang the bell. Again, Kiry was the one who answered the door. He was dressed like he was ready for school and had on his best clothes. There was no surprise on his face today, and he quickly admitted us.
“Mother isn’t quite ready yet,” he told us, a bit nervously.
“Is everything alright?” Jorani asked, picking up on that.
“I don’t know. Mother wouldn’t tell me what she is going to wear,” he told us and didn’t appear happy about that. Even I could pick up his worry from his Talent. Mliss appeared some fifteen minutes later and was beautiful, much to our surprise. Kiry’s mouth fell open in amazement on seeing his mother.
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