A New Star Chapter 101 (Patreon)

Tiffany D’Crough

I had been so busy of late, especially with Thomas having pissed off to the capital. At least he was getting settled down, a marriage finally being arranged after years of his partying and loafing about. It was even to a respectable viscountess, the daughter of the Count of Torrenburg, in the east. How he had managed to swindle his way into…well, nevermind, it didn’t do well to think such thoughts. I found my mind wandering as I walked through the first floor of the estate; I had been working in the office for hours now. I don’t know how Father and Mother did it, going over paperwork all day and still finding time to pursue their own agendas and growth. I couldn’t stand to just sit there for ten hours straight; I had to get out and clear my head from time to time.

I walked into the entry hall, a room the size of most common laborer’s houses, and found Christine standing there with a gaggle of her fans and dilettantes. She had graduated from academy, as had the rest of us, bar Marianne, who was a special case, and now Alexandra, who was an even more special case. Christine had always had a love of performance, and she had gone into theater and the opera after graduating from the academy. It would have been a bit of hot gossip in the older days, if Grandmother was to be believed, but these times were different. Especially so when the person in question was the talk of the town, with that town being the capital of the country, and was racking up accolades and awards. She always had a group of ladies hanging about her, fawning over her, though she had remained surprisingly levelheaded for all that.

Timothy, two years younger than Christine, though that still put him at twenty-five, was also in the room. Perhaps he had come in with them, or perhaps he had been attracted to what all the commotion was about; either way, it was clear he was rather taken with one, or perhaps more, of Christine’s hangers-on. As long as he behaved himself, which wasn’t a bit concern with Tim, than he was fine. He and Edmond, who was two years Christine’s senior, had both returned to the House after their academy days and had joined with the guard, starting as lieutenants and working up to become captains. The goal was eventually to have one of them take over the guard and have the other act as their second, which would also help keep good family control over the units.

I had slowed my steps as my mind wondered, but I needed to get back to work. Just as I was thinking that, a shadow blossomed by the front door, though calling it a shadow was an understatement. Tim and I had immediately gone on alert, and I noticed Christine, despite her appearance, or maybe even act, of being silly and unfocused, had her hand on her weapon and focus on the door. We needn’t have bothered, in more ways than one, as Alexandra walked out of the darkness, the shadow disappearing behind her. The Youngest had always been a bit…strange, and cold, but knowing now that she likely was a partial or full Old Soul did a lot to explain that.

She scanned the people in the entry hall, not bothering to disguise the glance, and it felt like being under a microscope, though it was not hostile. Rather, it felt like when Father had found one of us in error when we were younger and had given us a very stern look. She did no more than glance at everyone present, the group of ladies hanging about Christine giving slight shivers when her eyes passed over them, before turning down the same corridor that was my destination. Well, better get back to work, as it looked like the afternoon was about to get a whole lot more interesting, and I knew I was going to be assigned tasks based on what happened.

I followed behind Alexandra, not missing the fact that she tilted her head slightly, clearly hearing me coming but choosing not to stop. Not until she got to the doors to the office, which had the standard two guards outside, both of whom shifted nervously, much in the way they would when one of our parents stopped in the doorway. It was no surprise Alexandra had that effect; she had been training in the guard’s yard for a decade now, and she had shown a level of combat proficiency and power that approached frightening. Many of the guards were at least a little wary of her, though she had never harmed a guard or even disciplined one overly harshly. Yes, I had had several complaints com across my desk over the years after she assigned, directly or indirectly, a punishment detail of cleaning this or training like that, but nothing ever came of it. The guards had a tendency to relax around the estate, as it was much safer than their patrols or assignments at other outposts, and sometimes that relaxation tipped directly into laziness. Nothing I had read in any report or gotten from the captains ever said she was excessive, so I never took punitive action, not that I would even necessarily be able to. How did one punish someone who, by all accounts, was stronger, more skilled, faster, smarter, and much more knowledgeable? Put them in time out?

“Tiff,” said Alex as I stopped beside her. “Good evening.”

I looked at her slightly peculiarly, saying, “It’s mid-afternoon, Alexandra.”

“Time. Just a construct,” she replied, which was both confusing and a slight bit concerning, but I didn’t have time to follow-up before she opened the doors to the office.

“Tiffany, could you-“ started Father before he saw who was in front of me. “Ah, Alex. So good you could finally grace us with your presence.”

It was always hard to tell whether Alex didn’t pick up on the subtle, or not-so-subtle, sarcasm of comments like that, but based on comments she herself had made over the years, I think she understood just fine. The problem was that she, quite strictly, did not give a shit. She replied in a very blasé manner, saying, “It’s always a pleasure to light up a room.”

Well, speaking of sarcasm…

“And what have you been about?” asked Father. Mother was not present today, and had not been at the estate for a few days. Despite their desires, business called them into the capital fairly frequently these days, which also meant more of the administrative load fell on my shoulders. Edmond and Timothy helped keep the guard in check, and Christine was rather good about social connections, though that didn’t get the rest of us out of formal occasions, but nobody was left to help with the paperwork. The only other one was James, but he was just finishing a stint in the military, hoping to move from there to the Royal Guard after his first ten year term of service. If he didn’t make it, he might sign up for another five in the military, which would be a pain, considering his other option was to come back and handle the affairs of the house, and I could really use the help. Alexandra certainly wasn’t interested in paperwork; I’d tried that once two years ago and she had done it competently, but it was very clear that it was a one time thing and I shouldn’t expect more of it. Also, very hard to pin down someone that could just step into a different plane of reality whenever they wanted, one the rest of us couldn’t access.

“Oh, you know, out jogging,” Alexandra replied, which almost made me trip as I resumed my seat in front of Father’s desk. I glance across at Mother’s secretary and saw them not miss a beat on the report they were writing; for anyone else, the tone and behavior would have been startling, especially when used with Father, but everyone was so inured to Alexandra’s quirks, for lack of a nicer way to frame it, at this point that it passed almost unnoticed.

“And was it a productive jog?” asked Father with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his chair.

“Well, I picked up a few things here and there,” Alexandra replied, shrugging. “Don’t know what the damage is, yet, but I’m sure it’s worth something.”

“You do have some odd colloquialisms,” Father muttered before continuing, “I suppose there must be something you need, given that you are here and not, uh…jogging anymore.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Alexandra said, though her tone and posture changed not in the slightest. I still sometimes got nervous asking our parents for a ten-minute break, despite them actually being rather easygoing about many things. They were our parents, after all, not to mention they were the grand duke and grand duchess. Alex had no such qualms, ever, and continued, “I need some space to house a few people. I don’t know exactly how the housing arrangements in the estate are made, but these will not be servants.”

“How many people? And what people? Who are you bringing here?” Father asked, suspicion and curiosity fighting an interesting war on his face.

“I’m putting together a small team,” Alexandra said calmly, which did have Helen nearly break the pencil she was using and would have had me falling out of my chair if I wasn’t quite as used to Alexandra’s antics.

“What kind of team?” Father asked. It was quite interesting to watch the battles of emotion that played across his face when talking to Alexandra. Right now, it was massive fight being waged between incredulity and interest.

“A little, elite unit. I find that I cannot do everything by myself, as surprising as I am sure you will find that proclamation,” she said, which was indeed a surprise, but she gave us no time to process that. “I have already recruited a few people to work with, and they will need some kind of lodging at or near the estate. I would purchase them a place in Umberton, but that is not particularly convenient and comes with other…issues.”

Issues being an understatement, considering the way in which Alexandra had pinned someone to the old oak in the center of town with her spear. A spear she very often kept hidden, which led to a little out of sight, out of mind kind of situation as I jolted, remembering the peerless weapon that she had tucked away somewhere. The townsfolk of Umberton were of two minds about Alexandra; on the one hand, she was rather frightening and not someone they were quite comfortable around. On the other hand, she routinely cleaned up the worst of the scum and villains in and around the area, both man and beast, and the whole place was far safer with her presence. Even the House guard didn’t do as much for Umberton as she did, and the town watch wasn’t anything to write home about. Her buying property in town, however, would have complications, and not just of the town’s attitude.

“We do have guest quarters at the estate,” Father said, eying Alexandra up and down like she was some businessperson with a shady offer. “However, those are meant to be temporary. There is also the guard barracks; we could assign officers quarters to these…followers of yours, assuming there aren’t a great flood of them.”

“Too messy,” Alexandra denied immediately. “Best to keep separate chains of command separate. My team will not be a part of the guard; best keep their intermingling limited. Good even for a healthy rivalry to develop there, in some cases. Though that might just involve the captains.”

“The captains?” I asked, only realizing I had spoken the surprised thought out loud when everyone looked at me.

“Yes, Sister, the captains,” Alexandra said coolly. “I am not throwing together some group of rabble here; this is an elite unit, and will act as such. I doubt even the lieutenants will be able to stand toe-to-toe with any of the team within three months, and they should be providing the captains a challenge within nine.”

“Well, you are certainly ambitious, if nothing else,” Father said mildly, though I could definitely detect the faint underpinnings of sarcasm in the comment.

Alexandra looked like she was going to say something, even opening her mouth slightly, before closing her mouth again and thinking for a moment. She did that from time to time, and I had come to realize that she was tamping down on her urge to share little bits of wisdom from a partially remembered past. That didn’t always go over well, the sharing wisdom bits, but it also always seemed to blow by Alexandra without affecting her, like a rainstorm over the mountains.

“I certainly am,” Alexandra finally said, which made me think she should have just said whatever the grain of wisdom was, if that was going to be her response. “There are things I must do, a lot of things, and half measures won’t be tolerated. But we’re wandering far afield; what are the options, outside of the barracks, in terms of housing?”

“Well, there is the section in the east wing for a visiting noble household. Such traditions are used far less these days, what with the invention of these trains and such, but there was a time that travel was difficult and dangerous. A noble house might travel to another noble house with a full retinue and stay for a season or more,” Father said slowly. “Apart from that, there is a small guest house in the eastern courtyard, but that isn’t really meant as permanent lodgings; we often use it when putting on events.”

“Hmm, the eastern wing will likely do, unless it’s not something we can occupy long term. What are the prospects of securing that wing for the long term?” Alexandra said.

“Well, we don’t have anything particularly…impressive planned for some time,” Father said, sitting up straight and shuffling some papers about his desk. “We don’t expect any royal visits or anything of the sort; we’re far too remote up here in the North for such things to be more than once a decade. We don’t have any expeditions set to depart any time soon, either; nothing worth noting, that is. We have plenty of other guest quarters for those that decide to stay for a time, including the guest house. I suppose we can put this…force of yours in the visiting household section for now, but that can’t be a fully permanent solution.”

“I will arrange something, then,” Alexandra said, thinking again, but this time not to formulate a proper response. She was clearly pondering something complex, doing some calculations in her head, before she said, “I have a few places that are possibilities, but none of them work at the moment. Even given that the team is, and will remain, rather small, I will need to make certain arrangements.”

“When do you expect them to arrive?” Father asked with a sigh.

“I have not called for them,” Alex replied. “I will make my way to the capital personally to fetch them, though I do have one other thing to do first. It will be at least a week, if not longer, and at that time, it will just be two people, possibly three if the latest recruit comes along.”

“Oh, well, that’s far better than I thought,” Father said, shuffling some more paperwork. “When you said a small force, I had thought you were talking about a hundred or so, not three people.”

“Well, it is currently six, and it will likely be ten before the end of the year, but no, I do not expect this team to grow to even that size, not nearly,” Alexandra said with a shake of her head.

“Then we can make the arrangements within that time quite easily,” Father said.

“Excellent,” Alexandra replied and, before anyone could say anything else, was suddenly swallowed by darkness and disappeared.

“I suppose your mother and I were lucky, getting six well-behaved children out of eight,” Father said, directly addressing me.

“She does mean well,” I replied, though it was a rather half-hearted defense.

“So it seems.”

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