In The Study
I finally got through registration after choosing to take Vanessa’s class as one of them. Luckily for me, it was offered for those wishing to become a royal scribe. According to Jess, the scribes can craft magical items to help the King in his every day tasks as well as the scribes with their own day to day jobs. She also said that amongst all of the scribe candidates that Freshmen who show promise in their futures, will get an internship with the castle. The castle takes three Freshman scribes a year and amongst those three only one gets to intern with the head scribe who is essentially the only assistant to the King. Jess says that the first Freshman scribe is well coveted amongst the women in Vellum as the King is it’s most eligible bachelor. Jess said, “He’s very attractive and has not married yet, women in Vellum will try anything to catch his attention including going after positions they’re not suited to.” That pissed me off to be honest, I was honestly trying to just do a job that sounded interesting and I already have the misfortune going into a field where people are using it to become Queen. I furrowed my brow, “Ugh, well count me out of trying to get any of those three jobs then.” Jess shook her head, “It doesn’t work that way, hun. You get chosen whether you want to be one of the three or not.” I clenched my fist in frustration, “Well then, I will just have to rethink my career choice.” Jess giggled, “How? You’ve already given your paperwork to your mother who has no doubt sent it using a Toxzi rider.” I raised my eyebrow at her, “A what now?” She sighed, “I keep forgetting. A Toxzi is a large type of bird, kind of like a griffin but they look like crows. All black. On them ride messengers for both the university and the castle. In Terre, the rider leaves the Toxzi in Blackwood and takes a provided carriage to the manor. You’ve probably seen one. They usually wear black track suits; they get supplied from Terre because we don’t have them in Vellum. My dad said they used to wear full riding gear but it was bulky and tired out the Toxzis rather quickly.” In my memory, I did remember seeing men come to the door in black track suits a few times. I had always wondered why they didn’t come off that trend, it was tacky. I popped up from my seat at the window and started pacing, “Well then I will have to see a guidance counselor when I get there then. I’m sure I can switch at that time.” She giggled again, “It doesn’t work that way. You see the paper you used was a magical item. It can gauge what is in your heart and your aptitude when you write your profession on it. It’s destiny if you don’t hear back from the university that you will need to change your career. I’d say tomorrow, you’ll know. The floating papers should come then to let us know if our career has been accepted and who your head teacher is. Head teachers are responsible for guiding your education. I heard the teachers there were pretty much tripping over each other to get you assigned to them. Daddy said it was a whole uproar and ordeal.” I guessed I had been stuck with possibly going to a job where I would be judged because I was a woman but not for the usual reasons.
As I was left pondering my conundrum and nervously chewing a hole in my lip, I heard a knock at my door and black head of hair poke around it. He smiled at me and then looked at Jess, “I have a surprise for one of you ladies, would you both be so kind as to join me in the study when you’re ready?” I looked at Jess then back at him and nodded, “We’ll be right down. I just need to tidy up or Mom won’t ever let me rest.” He nodded, “Oh yeah, just don’t leave me there for too long little rose.” He left the room just as gracefully as he left. Jess cleared her throat, “I cannot ever get over how cat-like your dad moves. It’s so lovely to watch. I’m sure the ladies around here stare at him.” I took the cushion I had in my hands and threw it at Jess, “Stop it!” She laughed and threw the cushion back, “Not that way, it’s just so cool. My dad is a goober and trips over himself. He’s rather ungraceful for a freaking wolf. I love him but he’s just such a....well...goober.” I laughed at her as I finished putting the pens we used in the cup on my vanity, “I think that’ll do, we shouldn’t keep him waiting. He’s not temperamental as my mother but I feel bad if I make him wait.” We walked down the stairs and heard two men in the study joking with each other rather loudly. One of the men was, of course, my father but the other didn’t sound very familiar to me but I figured it out as soon as I looked over at Jess. It was her father as she pulled a wide smile on her face and ran down the stairs. I got to the bottom of the stairs and caught her arm, “Wait Jess, I’m pretty sure in the presence of my father and yours, you’ll want to portray an air of dignity like you had the first couple of days you were here.” She made a soft gasp and clench the material of the shirt on her stomach, “Oh my goodness, I almost forgot. Thank you so much Xan.”
She straightened her back and beckoned me to enter then gracefully entered the study after me. Immediately a tall blonde man, who very much looked like a male Jess bowed his head at me. I pulled my hand out to him and said, “Lord Kellen, it is so nice to meet you. I am Alexandra Rose Batiste of Blackwood Deep.” He grabbed my hand and touched his forehead to the back of it, “It is very much my honor to meet you, Your Grace. Crud, I had forgotten that was thing now. I had to think hard about what my father had said to Jess the first day she was here because I wanted to get the custom right. Ah, there it was in my impeccable memory banks, “My best of wishes to you and your house, sir.” He pulled up from my hand and smiled, “Your Grace, I am so glad to see you adapt so quickly to Vellum’s customs. Your father brags about how astute you are and I see that you are indeed.” I smiled back at him, “I’m just glad you sent me your daughter for the summer, sir. She has become my very best friend in such a short time and you don’t know how much that means to me.” I nodded to Jess as I said this and smiled at her, “She has been the very definition of manners and grace, sir.” He beamed at Jess and then opened his arms to her but looked at my father, “If it is okay with Your Graces, I would like to hug my daughter now.” My father nodded, “I will never deny a father love for his daughter in this house or anywhere in my presence. I know how precious they are. Go ahead and we can now drop the formalities as we are now meeting as friends.” Lord Kellen, during his hug with his daughter, shook his head, “Your Grace, you know I cannot do that until we finish my official business.”
My father nodded, “Oh I forget myself amongst this father-daughter love, I’m a softy for it. Of course, let us get the business out of the way and then we can have dinner.” He gestured to the settee to Lord Kellen who took Jess by the hand and led her over and they both sat down. My father and I took our official seats as both Duke and protégé of Blackwood. He turned to Lord Kellen, “Okay now that we are all sat down, please give your report.” Lord Kellen nodded, “I was told by message from the King that whatever your solution is for diplomatic relations to resume, it would be best to deploy it. I was to come here and retrieve you to go to Washington and attend a meeting with the President and Joint Chiefs the day after tomorrow.” My father closed his eyes and nodded then opened them again, “Okay, I believe I can now fill you in on the plan since Vanessa was able to help us.” He set his eyes on me, “Vanessa has crafted a magical item that will lift a small portion of the suppression from Alexandra’s ability. It will only be long enough to affect the ability for 24 hours. She said the magical item will not be able to handle the stress for long and will crumble under the pressure. I’m hoping the Aphrodite ability will ease some of the tension as Alexandra will explain that she grew up in Terre and more specifically Everly, Colorado. How she was able to be part of human society and she will have a captive audience. The Aphrodite ability is known to last a lifetime so I’m hoping just a small portion can help out.” Lord Kellen looked at me and then at my father, “Well, Your Grace, I don’t like having to use abilities on those we are trying to negotiate with. That said, I think the Chairman is the tough one to crack. What we can gather from the Xion on our staff, the others are on the fence truly but the Chairman is very manipulative and can get them thinking his way with his tactics. This pretty much would be fighting fire with fire but ours is napalm instead. I had hoped our daughters could have stood out of it but neither of us could do so, Your Grace.” I had been stuck on the word Xion, that hadn’t come up in my studies yet. I was furrowing my brow and chewing my lip again. My father spoke, “Alexandra, please stop that nervous habit. Unless you want to taste your own blood.” I looked up at him, “Sorry Father, I was trying to remember if Mother has taught me about Xions.” Jess spoke in a mousy voice, “Your Grace, your mother hasn’t taught you that yet. Xions are creatures that can hear thoughts much like a Pretre but they don’t have to have physical contact, they just need to touch something you’ve touched recently.”
Realization dawned on me when she said that, “Oh so like a door handle to a meeting room or a borrowed pen for example.” Jess nodded, “Yes, Your Grace, exactly like that. No doubt the Xion touched the knob of the door to understand their thoughts. It is troubling that one man can influence so many and having been in a room with him, his aura is like black flames emanating off of him. He gives off an air of evil which is a shame because everyone else we met seemed lovely.” Lord Kellen cleared his throat, “So I assume we are bringing both our girls along with us to this meeting then?” My father nodded and Lord Kellen continued, “I will have my scribe get the clearance ready for Her Grace then.” My father rose from his chair, “I suppose you’ll want to give him a call then?” Lord Kellen got up as well, “Yes, it should be done right away so they have time to put her on the schedule.” My father then nodded, “Well, we can consider this official business done then, Tomas.” Lord Kellen nodded, “Yes, we can Reggie. I am so glad to be here with you all.” He turned to me, “Alexandra, I thank you for your kind words about my J.J. She truly is my greatest gift and I am glad someone else can see that too.” After that he kissed Jess on the cheek and left the room to go to his room to make the phone call. I turned to Jess smirked and said, “J.J?” She shot me a dirty look, “It’s my nickname, I was born Jesslynne Jorna Kellen so dad calls me J.J. Jorna was my mother’s middle name.” I smiled at her, “I love that actually, I don’t suppose I can use it.” She rolled her eyes, “Nope, it’s only for dad.” As we walked out of the room Jess gently squeezed my arm and said, “You’re going to see the most powerful man in Terre the day after tomorrow. How do you feel?” I shrugged, “Oddly, calm about meeting him. The prospect of meeting the Chairman, I’m scared.”
