Chapter 17: Beletaran Interludes and Intermissions

The preparations for the trip to Beletara soon became all-consuming, once the excitement of the Thanksgiving feast had died away. In addition, I had to give Master Jo an hour a day. I felt like I was starting over in my training with him. Every old thing became new when wrapped in the philosophy and knowledge of the Master.

I was also taking his instruction in the Bow, along with everyone else. Somewhere at the far end of the training, the Way of the Staff and the Art of the Bow would meet on the common ground of Master Jo's philosophy. But right now I was too busy thinking about the position of my arm and the angle of my wrist and a million other little details that I seemed to get wrong along with everyone else.

Fleet Arral had the Guard nine hours of the day and Master Jo had them for two. Winter was in both sessions with the Master, learning the Staff and the Bow along with the Guard.

We returned to Esterton with the ladies for a final dress fitting a week after Thanksgiving. Queen Esterhal supervised personally this time, and Spire and Glow were with her. Once they saw that Winter wasn't with us they lost some of their enthusiasm, but only a little, as they too would be attending the Midwinter's Eve concert in the Grand Hall of Beletara. Wick and Violet Shavrom had extended them an invitation personally. The Esterhal's youngest, their infant son Wish, was remaining in Esterton with his nannies.

I was once again providing transportation. Serene Esterhal had insisted that she would host morning meal at the Palace for everyone, so we were gathering there that morning.

I made several visits to Earth, mostly to touch bases with Alexei, Hash, Arne and Yuri, and to make sure there weren't any hang ups in the process of getting the Joint Study Group to go along with our designs and our modified plans for the trip.

I brought Long Ears back with me on two of the trips. Specialized versions from Dad. I had six launched and they were maintaining stationary positions over the valley, which gave me an eye into all the surrounding kingdoms, Norhal, Midhal, Westal, Zadrain and The Chain Mountain kingdoms of Lamin, Porin and Glest. These pocket kingdoms had long served as a buffer between Beletara and Zadrain. I was hoping they would remain undetected for a while, but as with all things on Arbor, Magical interference was a possibility. Someone whose magical ties were with the stars or the sky might eventually find them as well. In the meantime I was happy to be getting what I got, and recorded everything.

The alaspore was now being tracked from above Arbor's atmosphere. The sensors were recording all the electromagnetic frequencies that we had found traces on, as well as gravitic traces, and the tracking covered its complete path through and beyond the border and into Norhal's territory. I was working on a way of capturing the ancient device without damaging it, but Firetree and Skydrift had only been able to offer anecdotal information. The devices were just too rare. My most promising bit of research so far was based on outright theft. I'd stolen quite a bit of Cor's basic concept for her space suit and its use of layered gravitic fields with nanofluids embedded between the layers. My layers were going to be fields of Magic rather than gravity, though I was actually using Magically-generated gravity as a part of it. I was playing with forces I barely understood in some cases, but my being Named 'The Weaver' had so far seemed to be working in my favor. Arbor took that seriously it seemed, and provided me with extraordinary instincts for this kind of work.

Now that I knew for sure where the probe was returning after its missions, and with recorded evidence of it, I began tentatively exploring that route remotely, with my senses. Once again my use of the Gifts in their pure non-magical forms worked in my favor. I found and bypassed many traps and alarms along the route, none of which were capable of detecting my remote presence. A few did seem to make me twitchy as I got closer, and those I gave a wide berth.

The alaspore's trail led to a walled keep, quite a bit larger than the ranger station I had seen built into the side of the mountain. This keep was large enough to house a considerable force and appeared to be situated to maximize its defensive effectiveness.

Watch and wait was the current plan, and that was what I did.

I had brought a few other things with me when I returned from Obsidian with Dad's special Long Ears.

I brought a half dozen bracelets, the old Legion Light-based jump bracelets, the ones that Con had developed before the advent of the Legion Armor. I had some hopes for these as well, and today was their day to be run through The Weaver's Loom.

Okay, that sounds overly dramatic, but in truth, I had come to see much of the prepared Magic I did as Weaving, and the spring and pool at the Focus was my Loom.

I stood waist deep and naked in the pool, letting the waters of the spring fall through the bracelet I held. I let the Magic slowly erode and replace most of the Light and Seeker technology. I had to guide it here and there as I watched the Magic flow with the Wizard's Sight. The trick of that, the little lesson of it from Firetree was so much more valuable than it seemed at the time!

Once the falling waters of the spring had eaten away at what was there to the point I needed, it was time for the pool. I took a step back from the falling water and lowered the bracelet into the water, and I pulled the Magic to me, swirling in it into my work. I slipped past the trace of the valley's Magic, around and past a few other specific traces I didn't want until I found the pure tendrils of Arbor itself, and I threaded a few of those carefully here and there, earth and sky and sea. I pulled that final surge of Magic from myself to finish the Weaving, and it was done. I climbed out of the pool, dried myself off and got dressed. I tucked the finished bracelet into an inner pocket in my cloak. The rest of the bracelets would remain unfinished at the bottom of the pool, alongside the staves and Moonstones that had yet been woven into their final forms.

Thunk!

"An adept student of the Bow does not stop to consider range to target, windage or elevation." Master Jo said, sending another arrow thunking into the slowly spinning and swinging target across the river from where he stood with his class.

Thunk!

"An adept student of the Bow does not pause to gage the speed and direction of his target, or the pattern of its flight."

Thunk!

"Because an adept student of the Bow will already have that information. The adept student's well trained senses and disciplined mind will have registered all the facts and made the calculations necessary without the need for a conscious decision to do so."

Master Jo lowered his bow and motioned for the first of the students to step forward. Me.

"You my students are not adepts, so these things must become known to you, and you must teach your minds to find and follow these paths."

Oh well, time to be embarrassed again I thought.

"So its really a five layer solution?" Con asked.

"Really more a case of dual two layer solutions sandwiching a control layer." I answered. The two outer layers guarantee external integrity. The two inner layers guarantee internal integrity and the 'meat' of the sandwich is the control structure, the nanofluidic circuitry, power source, material reserve source sites and interface gear — what I've been calling the 'nanglionics', the electronic to nanotic interfaces."

"Excellent! Cute name too, Cor. Derived from ganglion?" Con asked. I nodded. "Show me the backup circuitry pathways and the emergency sensors and switching systems."

"Here. they are a completely separate system, cross-connected only here, here and here. They lay against the inner interstitial spaces of each layer for further protection." Cor answered, flipping the holo display to highlight the new set of circuits and controls. "Even the power supply is separate and redundant."

"Is anything in this new version based on new research or unpublished theory?"

"Nothing that I haven't already published myself. The nanglionics is new, but only a new application of my existing published work. It should be very patentable on its own though. I've done the preliminary work on the patent applications. They are on the datapak as well."

"I'll hand that stuff off to A.J. when I give the rest to Dave and let the patent guys run it through the shop." Con said.

"Okay!" I said, closing out of the design program and shutting the display down. I popped the datapak out of its receptacle and handed it to Con.

"Corycia Caldwell, this is not just excellent work, it is incredible and amazing. This is going to get you mentioned not just in future text books, but history books as well." Con said. "Give me the go ahead and I'll have the crew over at Guardian start prototyping immediately."

"Absolutely!" I said, kissing Con on the cheek. "You've answered big question number one today. Big question number two is what to get Mom and Dad for Christmas. One problem at a time I guess."

Their parents must have had some sort of conversation with Spire and Glow, because the two young women were much more reserved in their behavior around Winter. There was still some pleasant chit chat, but their obvious fawning over my Warden was much suppressed. He did cut a fine figure in his Valley leathers and the Long leather riding cloak that Cor had given him. Glow captured it best perhaps when she saw him in it and gushed.

"Spirits! Winter you look to be right out of some epic saga in that cloak!" It was black leather, supple and flowing, highlighted on the hood and collar with bits of green and brown and blue-gray, the Valley's colors. Cor had, as The Wind, acquired a knack with her hair and her cloak of it seeming to be self-managing. Everything moved in just the right way to emphasize her image as 'The Wind'. Together we had sort of unraveled that bit of Magic, and I had applied it to my own cloak. We called it the 'comic book superhero effect', but we kept that description to ourselves. Cor had given Winter's new cloak the same treatment.

Morning meal at the Palace in Esterton was, surprisingly, not the lesson in opulence I had expected. Serene Esterhal, Queen of Midhal had taken the friendly, familiar tone of our Thanksgiving dinner to heart, and breakfast was in a small inner courtyard, almost a greenhouse really, with its high glassed-in roof and sprinkling of cedar and pine trees. There were flute players, a trio of them, in a room somewhere nearby. They played a fine, almost subliminal series of melodies and counterpoints that ran underneath all the conversation and breakfast noises. I saw Thistle lean over several times to whisper something to Starlight, and her nods in return. Probably pointing out some aspect of the music, or the musicianship.

The Meal itself was simple but still excellently done. It was a traditional dish called vedu, a polenta-like cornmeal that had been fried like a pancake and topped with roasted sausage and peppers. Soft boiled eggs sprinkled with slivers of Khere one of the better soft cheeses of Arbor accompanied this, as did a quite excellent Cintosara.

"Weaver, I know We're your guests, and the Shavrom's will be our hosts, but with word of my being here for the performance, Princess Redstone has requested that Serene and I join her for midday meal. She would like to meet you and Wind as well. Do you think the Shavrom's would mind if we stole the two of you away for the meal?"

"I think you should ask Wick if he'd mind, since we're his guests, but we'll go where the two of you think we should." I answered. "Perhaps the Princess would be willing to join us for lunch at the Shavrom estate?"

"I bet Wick would love that option! The Princess does not often accept offers to dine with the mercantile class, no matter how well placed."

"You know Lord, It wasn't until the third or fourth time I met you that I realized your first name was actually 'Lord', and that it was not a title." I told him.

"I often think it was a joke gone bad played on me by my father." Lord said, laughing. "It does cause no end of confusion until people get used to it. I still get a surge of annoyance when I hear myself introduced at formal affairs as King Lord Esterhal. I had always hoped for a magical Naming somewhere along the way, but its never been in the cards I guess."

"Your informal manner doesn't help. You seem happy to be referred to as Lord Esterhal in most situations."

"And I am." He said. "You can consider yourself fortunate that we have not had to meet during any official State functions. I am insufferably stuffy and proper then. Perhaps you will get to see that if we wind up taking our midday meal with the Princess."

The women folk, Cor excepted, had to pack their evening wear in favor of the more normal travel clothes to ensure the evening wear remained pristine and for the sake of comfort during the long day ahead. As they arranged the packing I took Firetree aside.

"Firetree, I have something for you." I said as we stood beside a small artificial pond in one corner of the courtyard.

"Something for me?" He asked.

"You have been my friend and mentor since I came to Midhal, and you will be standing for me during my upcoming Examination." I said. "I wanted to give you something special as my way of saying thanks."

"Really Weaver, that is..." He stopped his protestation when I pulled the bracelet out of my cloak.

"This is a recent... weaving of mine, and I want you to have it. I may make more in the future, but you shall have the first. Hold out your hand."

I slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. The way the metal bracelet managed to adjust itself to allow it to slide over the hand and onto the wrist seemed just as magical here as it did elsewhere.

"Touch your free hand to the bracelet and picture the courtyard at the Red Flag Inn in your thoughts." I said.

Firetree disappeared. I stood and waited for a long minute before he reappeared in front of me.

"Weaver this is an incredible gift!" Firetree exclaimed. "And marvelous magic!"

"It does have its limitations. You cannot jump into the Valley of the Wind, or anyplace that is warded properly, like this palace is, unless you have first used the bracelet to jump from that location. Also, it uses a bit of your physical and Magical energy every time you use it, so if you were to make a series of jumps very quickly you might suffer from serious exhaustion and hunger until you are able to rest and restore yourself. Pushing it beyond that point should be difficult to do, but if you were to find a way, it would be potentially dangerous to your health, if not your life, so exercise caution!"

"Weaver, thank you! This is a finer gift than I deserve, but thank you!"

"You will need to show the King your gift, and of course I expect you to use it in service to him, as you do all your gifts." I said, adding a cautionary note. "You would do well not to let this become public knowledge though, it is a formidable tool as well as a convenience."

With everything packed and prepared for the journey, it was time to get going. There had been some debate as to how we should proceed. I would have preferred to simply jump directly to the Shavrom courtyard and bypass the city gates and streets of Beletara completely. Lord Esterhal, being King of Midhal felt some obligation to make this something of an official visit, and that would mean arriving in the city in carriages and with a full troop of Midhal's mounted Royal Guard. In the end we compromised. We had carriages, and we had eight Royal Guardsmen, and we had Weaver, Ash, Wind and myself as outriders.

Cor was excited about this aspect of the trip, because it gave us a chance to reveal the completion of Grendel's transformation. We had kept her in her stall during Thanksgiving because she was still in the middle of it. Her transformation had been far longer and less traumatic than Winter's had been. It had begun on the Road to Beletara and only completed a tenday ago. With the organizing of the carriages and the riders spreading confusion, Cor and I used that moment to slip back to the Tower and get Grendel and Slider saddled and ready for travel. We had spent several days together after the completed Transformation modifying Grendel's saddle, and it took a bit more to get it on than a normal saddle on a normal horse.

When we appeared back at the Palace with Slider and Grendel we caused a moment of panic among the other horses, but I sent a wash of calming Light through them and got them settled down quickly.

A winged horse does have an effect.

Our procession began, with Cor and I in front and Winter and Ash in the rear. The Royal Guard were interspersed evenly around the three carriages, except for one senior guardsman who rode alone in front of us, ostensibly to announce the presence of the King at the city gate. With everyone aligned and moving, I jumped us all to the road leading to the gate.

It was after all, Midwinter's Eve in Beletara. Some confusion was to be expected. The streets of Beletara were alive with revelers and celebrations. There had been parades in the streets at all hours of the day in the five days just past, as various guilds, trade associations and clans sought to outdo each other. By Tradition and Royal decree, there were no parades on the day of Midwinter's Eve, and the Royal Parade, signifying the end of the festival would be tomorrow. Even without parades it looked a bit like pictures I remembered seeing of Mardi Gras.

We had little problem making our way to the Shavrom Gate, as the quick thinking guardsman at the gate had sized us up, foreseen the potential problem, and quickly designated a couple city guard and a handful of the ever present runners to clear the way in front of us. We arrived in front of the Shavrom gate no worse for the wear fifteen minutes later. I found one of the guardsmen who had cleared the way for us and handed him two small purses.

"Divide one of these between you guardsmen, including the quick thinking fellow at the gate, and divide the second one among the runners. We appreciate your efforts."

"Midwinter blessings on you Wizard." The guard said with a bow.

There was no need to bang on the gate or ring the bell today. The gates to the estate swung open and we were very quickly through them and into the courtyard. I saw young Trough and a large number of liveried boys and young men swarm over the carriages and begin tending to the horses, the carriages and the packed clothing. Trough himself came up and asked if Grendel would need any special tending.

"She will do fine if you treat her as any other horse." Cor told him. "She would like a chance to stretch her wings in the afternoon, so if you think to let her into the courtyard or somewhere with enough room, she will appreciate it."

"Yes Ma'am!" Trough said with a bow.

"And Trough, make sure she's not around the other horses when you do. Her wings seem to make them nervous." Cor added.

"Ma'am, they tend to make me nervous too." Trough answered with a laugh.

Wick and Violet Shavrom met the King and his family the moment they stepped out of their carriage, and with everyone unmounted and situated they led us inside. Cap and Marsh joined us just inside the door, along with most of the rest of the adult family members. This was not just semi-formal schmoozing I discovered, as each of them led us upstairs to our rooms. Cap and Marsh showed Cor and I to a very nice room with a balcony that offered a view of the back gardens and an interesting view of the city rooftops to the west over the walls of the estate. Unlike most of the guests, Cor and I had no bags waiting for us in our rooms.

"Will we need to be formal in our dress before the midday meal?" I asked Marsh as I tossed my cloak onto the bed.

"No, casual and comfortable inside the walls of this house always!" She laughed. With a wave of NeedleThorn I was wearing a polo shirt and a pair of black slacks with my favorite leather deck shoes. I managed to distract them from Cor's quick change. She was wearing a top that was robin's egg blue and almost sheer enough to be interesting, but just missed it by a disappointing margin. That was the desired effect, she had told me when I'd complained. Her black slacks matched mine and her feet were covered in open toed leather shoes. I dropped NeedleThorn onto the bed on top of my cloak and turned back to Cap and Marsh.

"We have time for a little visit I assume, before we have to be back downstairs?"

"Of course." Cap answered. "We're on no schedule at all for the next couple of hours. I think Wick will be busy making sure that King Esterhal has a chance to communicate with Princess Redstone and her court now that they're here, but the current plan is to have her as our guest for midday meal. Midday meal is when things begin to get very scheduled!"

We all sat by the fireplace, Cap and Marsh taking a couple of comfortable armchairs, leaving a softly cushioned love seat for Cor and I.