Chapter 3: The Princess and the Prolls

“So, you’re the heir to the throne?”

The young woman in front of me tried to hide a wince. “Seventeenth in the line of succession, yes.” She gripped her teacup with a fragile decorum, raising the simple brew to her lips. “This is quite fresh, my compliments to the chef.”

Electra put a hand to her mouth, holding back a giddy laugh. She was getting off on this whole thing.

“I shall ensure he knows.” Rel removed the teacup as… Princess Ishanti set it back down. Somehow, she was doing better in this whole meeting than I was.

I blamed her stupid skills. I wasn’t specced to deal with people of higher ‘social status’ than me, in this life or the last one.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. We were in the house I’d commandeered for the three of us. Well, I say commandeered, the thing had been abandoned for more than a season, and it was close to the docks. Getting it back in living condition was an ongoing project.

At least we’d fixed all the leaks.

“Ostensibly, the adventurer’s guild works for you.” We didn’t have many spies in Silverwall, I couldn’t afford to have too many magic mirrors floating around yet, so at the moment I was working off of woefully outdated information. “There’s no reason for them to be chasing you.”

Ishanti shook her head, silvery hair glinting in the overhead lamp.

Okay, so maybe I abused my authority a bit to get interior lighting installed her. It’s not like anyone else wanted it before I lit up the whole town!

“The Adventurer’s Guild, or what remains of it, now works for Seneschal Hawkwright, as do the guard and other ancillary institutions of Silverwall,” Ishanti said. “My aunt, the Duchess Ivey, has limited control over the household staff and her own personal retainers, which is how I managed to escape the city to begin with.”

“Wait, wait, hold up.” Electra waved her hands. “So, what, you were just a prisoner inside your palace?”

The woman hesitated, glancing off to the side slightly, before nodding. “It was nothing odious, for the most part… but my freedoms, and that of any member of the Royal Family, are severely curtailed.” She folded her hands in her lap. “It was no different in Corvandr.”

That would be the capital huh. “Well, that’s a surprise. You’d think the King and Queen would have something to say about it?”

“The Queen of Vecorvia is a ceremonial position that exercises little in the way of outright power.” Ishanti recited that little tidbit as if she were reading from a book. “We are a Republic, after all.”

“Coulda fooled me.” I leaned back, turning to look at Rel. “Did you know anything about that?”

Rel shrugged. “I wasn’t really educated, Mistress.” She scratched her cheek. “I believe I occasionally heard about the Senate during one of my apprenticeships?”

Ishanti nodded. “The Royal Senate is the de facto and de jure governing body of Vecorvia. Though, likewise, they allow most of the cities to attend to their own affairs.”

“Well, aren’t you a delightful little info dump,” I muttered. “So. What does this Seneschal… Hawkwright of yours keep you and your aunt locked up in that Ivory Tower for? What was so important that he’d pay good money to hunt you down and drag you back?”

The princess’s eyes tightened. “I… do not know.”

I blinked. “Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

“It is the truth.” Ishanti looked at me, gold eyes flashing for a moment, before she glanced back down at her lap. “There is… a procedure.”

Electra tilted her head. “A what now?”

“A procedure.” Ishanti tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I have not witnessed it myself, nor have I been made privy to the details. But my aunt undergoes it over the course of a moon’s turn. I know that it wears on her, leaving her listless and feverish by the end. A month of rest is prescribed by the royal physicians, before she is required to submit to the procedure again.”

“Required to?” I raised an eyebrow. “So that’s just one more thing that you don’t have any control over.”

“I have surmised it is the reason that Vecorvia still has a Royal Family at all,” Ishanti said.

“Well, that’s not ominous.”

She glanced up warily at my words. I waved a hand. “Relax, I’m not about to dump you at Hawkwright’s feet or anything. Silverwall hasn’t done anything to endear itself to me.”

Ishanti’s eyes fluttered with relief. “They will… continue attempting to retrieve me, you are aware?”

This time, Electra did laugh. “Girl, you have no idea how to bargain, do ya?”

Ishanti looked away. “Barter is crass trade of the lower classes.”

I rolled my eyes. “And I wonder why the Vecorvians would want to do away with their royalty.”

“Honestly, I’m kind of surprised they still have any at all.” Electra rubbed the back of her head. “Don’t most of these sorts of revolution things end up with people beheaded or shot, or something awful like that?”

“Don’t be an idiot, Electra.” I leaned back in my chair. “You can hardly apply Earth history to a world with magic. Really, it’s somewhat a surprise that they still have monarchies at all, but I guess the addition of magic wouldn’t really change feudalism, would it?” I gave a wry grin. “Just the definition of who has the biggest stick.”

“It is true then.” Ishanti leaned forward. “The two of you are, indeed, Outworlders?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Do we look like we’re from around here?”

She sat back in her chair, looking relieved. My other eyebrow rose to join the first. “Is there something special about us being outworlders?”

She demurred, looking down as her cheeks grew a light red. Christ, even her blushes were delicate. “Merely that they don’t follow the same logic as the people of this world. In truth, I would scarcely believe you would shelter me otherwise.”

Even still, wasn’t she way too trusting?

I wouldn’t have had an issue selling her back to Hawkwright, but I knew how these sorts of deals went down. First, he would play all nice, and then the moment he had the girl back in his clutches, all of the loose ends would just start to… disappear. The whole situation reeked of a coverup, after all. Whatever the true rulers of this tiny island kingdom—excuse me, republic—did with their ‘royalty’, they didn’t want the common people to know.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

I sighed. “What a mess that you’ve dumped on our lap.”

“My sincerest apologies. If I had anything that could ease your burden, were it simply in my power to offer it—”

“You know writing and arithmetic, don’t you?” I asked.

Ishanti blinked once at my interruption. “They were both a… part of my tutelage, yes.”

“Well, in fact there is something you can do then.” I smiled. “We need more accountants after all. I’ve tried to teach the people here how to read and write, but it’s slow going.” I waved a hand. “Whatever translation magic that’s on us doesn’t help.”

“You want me to… notate documents for you?” Her mouth pursed slightly. “As if I were some sort of barrister?”

“It’s either that or school marm.” I grinned. “Somehow, you don’t strike me as the best with kids.”

“I see.” She nodded once. “And if I were to say that such things were… beyond my capabilities?”

“Well, first off, you might have had more luck with that before you told me you’d gotten an actual education.”

She gave a faint grimace. “And second?”

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “It’ll cost me less to carry you back to Silverwall than to carry your ass here.”

“There is no need to be crass.” The young woman sniffed, turning her head. “Very well, you drive a hard bargain, but I see no other option. I shall serve as your personal notary, provided that I am not tasked with unnecessary trivialities.”

“How generous.” I waved a hand. “Dee, go show her the guest room. Knew I had it installed for a reason.”

Dee nodded. “Yeah, Boss.” He stepped away from the wall. “Thissa way, princess.”

“My thanks, good sir.”

He chuckled. “I’m not a sir, lady.” Still, he didn’t protest as she laid her hand on his beefy arm to lead her up the stairs.

And people said that chivalry was dead.

Electra perched on the table next to my shoulder. It was a roughly-lacquered thing cut into a rectangle. It was large enough that I could meet with various family heads over a meal, and much less ostentatious than the ‘audience hall’ that Rel had set up in the water mill.

I felt like I was in a bad drama, with the massive stone chair and the gears turning over my head…

Ugh, you had to be there to really appreciate it. I’m sure I’d be suitably annoyed with it later on. For now, I had more than enough trouble on my plate without borrowing more.

“So.”

I glanced up at Electra, raising an eyebrow.

“You weren’t really gonna kick her out, were you?”

I chuckled. “Would you rather wait on her hand and foot yourself? I have enough work to do.”

Electra opened her mouth, then paused, tapping her chin. “Well, maybe for a day?”

“Oh my god, is this another novel thing?”

She blushed. “No!”

I rested my head in my hands with a groan. “If you show up to work in a maid uniform, I’ll ship you back to Silverwall.”

“Puh-lease.” Electra leaned back on her palms. “You need me here. No one else can do any of the wiring work at all.”

“Yes, well, I apparently have a personal secretary now, so maybe I’ll have more free time to handle that myself.” I glared up at her. “Or do you think you can handle that as well?”

“Mistress…”

We paused, glancing over at Rel.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Why is… that woman your secretary?”

I paused for a moment as Rel shifted awkwardly in front of me. I sighed, getting to my feet and walking over to my minion. “Rel, you’d be wasted on a desk job like that.”

“Still, My Lady, I could.”

“Rel.” I reached up, cupping her cheek. “I need you exactly where you are, trouble shooting for the rest of the town.” I sighed. “A secretary is useful, but you’re the one who lets me handle two projects at once. All of this would be impossible otherwise.”

She eyed me suspiciously, but for once it was nothing but the truth. While I couldn’t assign her any technological work—what little of it there currently was—Rel was the only person I could put in charge of a work crew and know that she’d oversee them to my every specification, often without me even needing to specify.

And when setting up a power grid, a port, an iron refinery and literally everything else I needed in about half the time it would normally take, that sort of skill was worth its weight in gold.

She sighed. “I understand.”

I gave a laugh. “I don’t know what you’re so upset over, Rel.” I shook my head. “Just because this princess Ishanti is going to be my ‘notary’ doesn’t mean we’ll get along.”

Rel tilted her head, but Electra just snorted.

“Oh you’ll get along.” She grinned. “Like a house on fire.”

I sighed. “You can already tell, can’t you?”

“You bet I can.”