《The Other Side of the Bed - Half-Stuck in a Fantasy World》42. Recommendations
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Few people in the castle had the clearance to know about the failed expedition to the mana quake's epicenter, but everyone knew that something bad must have happened to put Alexia in such a foul mood. The Head Maid stormed around the castle putting pressure on the other maids to work harder and chiding them for wasting time chatting.
After two days of that, Princess Evelyn intervened. She assigned all Head Maid duties to Bethany until further notice. Evelyn claimed it was because Alexia's attention was needed elsewhere, but it was clear that there was more to it than that.
Alexia was not in a good place after failing her mission in almost every way possible, short of causing a death. The injured guard Tal had lived, thanks to significant effort from several Healers, but he would likely never return to guard work. The elf's poison was successfully cleansed from Tal's body, but not before it caused nerve damage that was beyond the power of healing magic to repair. Alexia bore that weight on her conscience, along with the knowledge that the elves were out there somewhere, plotting against New Albion and her allies and casting unknown spells large enough to shake the very foundations of mana.
She wasn't proud to admit it, but she had taken out her stress on her subordinates. At first she was able to justify her behavior, telling herself she was just holding her staff to a higher standard during a dangerous time. But she was forced to admit she'd been out of line when Evelyn intervened and transferred her responsibilities to Bethany. Yet another failure on Alexia's part. Now she couldn't even do her maid job properly.
In addition to the burden of her failure, Alexia felt alone. The only person she could confide in was also one of the people she had failed. If she bared her soul to Evelyn and asked for help, it could weaken Evelyn's faith in Alexia's abilities even further. But if she didn't talk to someone and work through her feelings, she feared she might fall even deeper into despair.
That night in the Princess's tower, while an evening thunderstorm rolled down from the mountains and poured rain onto the city below, Evelyn said, "Alexia, can we talk?"
Alexia hesitated. She knew exactly what this was about: her failures. But she couldn't avoid this conversation forever. "Of course, Princess. What about?"
"About you," Evelyn answered with a caring smile. "I think you're in pain and I want to help." She sat on her bed and patted the spot next to her, inviting Alexia to join her. "Sit with me?"
Alexia kept a stony expression as she sat down, trying to hide her emotions. She was also trying to work through them, trying to understand her own thoughts. She wasn't a very emotional person, so when she felt them this strongly, she wasn't well equipped to handle it.
"Please tell me what's bothering you," Evelyn said gently.
After a long pause, Alexia let out a slow breath and started, "I feel like I failed Fern, the kingdom, and Tal, who was injured on my watch. And I feel like I failed you."
"That's true," Evelyn said, much to Alexia's shock. The last thing anybody wanted to hear was that their worst fears were true. But then Evelyn added, "But that isn't the end of the world. People fail, usually more often than they succeed, and they get up and try again. In my experience growing up in this world and in the other, that's the same everywhere."
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Alexia's composure slipped and she blurted, "You don't understand. I proved that I'm not good enough, that I couldn't handle the responsibility I had. I was sloppy and reckless and we're worse off now than before that mission."
Evelyn shook her head. "Mistakes were made, but that doesn't prove anything. Everyone makes mistakes sooner or later. It's your actions going forward that will prove what sort of person you are." She turned to look Alexia in the eye. "I know I haven't talked much about my adoptive family in the other world, but my dad had some good advice that stuck with me. He said, 'You can't control everything that happens, but you can always control your own reactions to it.' He usually said it when I was frustrated with another person, but I think it applies here too."
Alexia frowned down at her hands, rough and calloused from years of training as a guard and months of cleaning as a maid. "Even if I could control my reactions, that doesn't help me. I still don't know what to do."
"Solve problems," Evelyn said matter-of-factly. "You're good at that. When you encounter a new situation, you quickly identify the problems and start working on solutions. I've seen it. It's why I made you head maid, and my personal bodyguard."
Alexia couldn't argue with that. Problem-solving came naturally to her, and whenever the status quo was flawed, she felt a need to change it even if doing so was sure to upset her superiors. But since that failed mission she hadn't been solving problems, she'd been causing them. She needed to get out of this rut.
She looked up from her hands, meeting Evelyn's gorgeous blue eyes. "What problems can I possibly solve? The elven threat is beyond my reach… The Guard will never lend me soldiers again after that disaster."
Evelyn only had to think for a second before she answered, "Then look local. Use your network of informants in the city. Maybe they've seen something that you could fix. Or just start by fixing your relationships here in the castle. I'm sure the maids would appreciate an apology after your little reign of terror."
Alexia nodded along, considering every word. She had been hard on them, and even made Beebee cry a little after a particularly unjust rebuke. Alexia wanted to make up for that.
Then Evelyn added, "And this is unrelated, but it does need your attention: Zach and Riley want your permission to tell a magic researcher from the Mage College about Zach's flipping, to try to figure out why it stopped working. We don't need to reveal that I have the same ability, but there's a chance she could piece it together with what she knows about my disappearance."
Alexia went stiff. The thought of revealing that information to anyone outside the castle terrified her. Every additional person who knew was another chance of a leak, and if an elven spy learned of it, Princess Evelyn could become a target. Alexia couldn't possibly risk that.
"Who's the researcher?" she asked, putting up a calm front.
"Some quirky professor who Riley studied under for a few months. She's brilliant, but apparently a bit too weird to be teaching junior conjurers, so she got moved to a full-time research position."
"What's her name? I can ask my contacts to see if she's trustworthy."
Evelyn answered, "Morgan Deschain."
Alexia flinched. The Deschain family was a recent arrival to New Albion, immigrants from the Old Kingdom just one generation ago. With the gold and other valuables they'd smuggled out when they fled, they had quickly ingratiated their way into high society. While their love of magic and their distaste for the Old Kingdom seemed genuine, some within the Guard had doubts and kept a watchful eye on the Deschains, just in case. Not that Alexia cared much about what the Guard thought anymore.
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It took less than five minutes of interaction for Alexia to form an opinion of Morgan Deschain. She had gathered intel in advance of course, but her informants kept saying that Alexia just needed to meet the woman for herself. And now she understood why they'd said that.
The woman waved her hand over a strange apparatus that seemed to be made of dozens of wands and hundreds of small mana crystals, all tied together in a tangle and glowing brightly. "So as you can see, I've now reversed the flow of mana, a feat previously thought impossible! But the effect is only temporary and cannae be applied ta anything useful. Yet!" She had a strange accent, with dropped 'T's and 'G's and lots of flat vowels. It had elements of Zach's accent and some of her own, but it was exaggerated dramatically.
"That's very impressive, Miss Deschain, but I'm not here to—" Alexia started.
"Nonsense, I know you're here ta gather information for those damn directors, always tryin' ta undercut my research grants. Clever of them ta send a non-mage, so you can report back somethin' unflatteringly skewed by your lack a' knowledge." Morgan suddenly darted forward until her face was mere inches from Alexia's. Her eyes were a vivid green and a little bloodshot. The heavy bags underneath suggested that she hadn't slept in days. "But they underestimate me. I am nothing if nae a good teacher. I'll getcha ramped up in no time so you can give a proper review."
Alexia didn't have time for this. It had already taken far longer than expected to find this secluded laboratory. She grabbed Morgan by the collar and firmly said, "I am not here on behalf of any director. I am here on behalf of Princess Evelyn Gildahart, and I would appreciate your cooperation."
Morgan blinked for what might have been the first time since Alexia arrived. Her unblinking gaze had been quite unsettling, actually. Then she took a slow breath and said, "Huh, seems my hypothesis was flawed, so I shall revise it and try again."
The mage somehow slipped out of Alexia's grip and danced away, saying "Are you here about my ties ta Frederick Reading? I assure you I played no part in his decision ta leave the— Wait, no, that theory still relies on you being here on behalf of the College, or perhaps the Eagle Society." She stopped moving and crossed her arms under her sizable breasts. Even through her heavy robe, it was clear that she was very curvaceous. She stared at Alexia with a very puzzled expression and asked, "Why are you here, anyway?"
Alexia fought back the sigh that very much wanted to escape her lips, then said, "The Princess has need of a magic researcher, and you came recommended by a Miss Riley Roth."
"Ah! Riley Roth!" Morgan blurted, her eyes wide with recognition. Then she shrugged and said, "I don't remember her."
Alexia lost the battle with her sigh. She took a second to compose herself, then said, "In any case, I've been sent to see if you're available for a research project of unknown length, to take place inside the castle."
Morgan shook her head. "I'm nae interested." She waved a hand over the weird experiment on the table. "I'm too far down this rabbit hole ta come up for air right now. I need ta see this through."
Alexia countered, "What if I could secure your funding for several years?"
"Tempting, but I'm nae the one. But if you wan' a researcher that'll do you proper? Milo something-or-other. Don't remember his last name. Surprised I remember his first. But he's sharp as a dagger, wits and tongue both."
Alexia had not expected that. "Milo?"
"Aye. He's brilliant, at least when he applies himself. And a mysterious research project for the Princess is exactly the kind of thing that could get him ta apply himself."
After seeing how Milo acted while Fern was around, Alexia knew of at least one other way to motivate him. And he had been very reliable during the skirmishes that occurred on their two missions together. She could definitely make this work. For some reason, Milo and Zach hadn't seemed to get along, but they'd just have to get over it.
Alexia found Milo in the grand library amidst piles of books on every subject imaginable. He'd flip through one for a few minutes until he lost interest and tossed it aside, then he'd move to the next. She sat down at the opposite end of the table and propped herself on her elbows. The table was shaking in an obnoxious way so she leaned back instead.
"Greetings, Milo," she started.
He looked up. "Ah, Alexia. What do you want?"
Alexia thought, Maybe this is why they don't get along. Zach is rather polite while Milo is… not. She forced a smile. "I've got another job for you, much safer this time. No leaving the city."
He glared at her over a pile of books on monsters and other wildlife. "What kind of job? I'm not interested in anything basic. If a conjurer could do it, hire a conjurer."
Alexia had already formulated a plan to convince Milo by catering to his interests and his ego. She answered, "We're trying to understand a strange magical phenomenon, unrelated to that mana quake. Fern has been helping, but we need a brilliant researcher. I know you're a skilled battlemage, but you also came highly recommended by Morgan Deschain."
"Professor Deschain? That kook?" he scoffed, but there was real respect hidden beneath his harsh words.
"Yes, I approached her first, but she said you'd be an even better choice."
Milo's eyes widened for an instant, then his perpetual scowl returned. "Alright, you have my attention. What's this strange phenomenon?"
"It's too important to talk about here. Meet me at the castle in two hours, in the private study."
Milo navigated the castle hallways himself after refusing a maid's offer to walk him to the study. He'd been there before and he didn't want some curly-haired child babbling at him the entire way. Milo was only 25 years old, but anyone under 18 just seemed so immature to him.
He entered the study without knocking since he was expected. Alexia was already there, leaning against a marble pillar. He had hoped Fern would be there, but he kept that to himself. "I'm here. Are you going to brief me now?"
Alexia looked even more serious than normal as she said, "What I'm about to say is a royalty-level secret, not to be spoken aloud outside this room." She paused until Milo nodded in agreement, then resumed, "There is another world that runs parallel to our own, like a mirror's reflection. And they have no magic."
Milo blinked several times. He hadn't expected anything like that. Maybe a request to help unravel elven magic, or to try to incorporate human spells into kobold engineering, but nothing about another entire world. He asked, "What do you mean? And how do you know that?"
"It's as I said. There's another world that's a copy of ours with a few significant differences. They have no magic whatsoever, and their history diverged from ours long ago, possibly around the time magic came into our world." Alexia paused dramatically, which didn't really suit her, then said, "And we know because someone has traveled here from that world."
Milo still wasn't sold on all this. "Uh, huh. Who?"
Alexia walked over to the study's other door and opened it, then beckoned someone in. A man in merchant clothes entered and Milo felt his jaw clench even before he consciously recognized the new arrival. It was Zach, the weird merchant kid that the Princess let hang around her for some reason. A huge part of Milo refused to believe Zach was from another world, but it would explain so much, like why he was such an idiot about basic things, and why people treated him like he was important.
"Him? Really?" he said at the exact same time as Zach said, "Why did it have to be Milo?"
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