Potential For Danger
Jess let the word President linger in the air for a while like a blow of smoke from a cigarette that wafted through the air. This prompted my father to lean forward in his seat with his elbows rested on the arms of the chairs and the glass grasped in both hands. You can tell just these words were troubling to his as his knuckles were white. As sign that I should be troubled as well, I was new to all of this so I didn’t really react even seeing this. I ran my index finger across the arm of the chair closest to the fireplace then looked up at Jess to urge her on, “Please continue when you are ready.” Jess took another drink from her soda and spoke again, “Your Grace when you left, the negotiations were running smoothly. It felt like the partnership with Terre’s United States would be a very smooth and beneficial one. They weren’t exactly ready to place us Vellinians in any powerful positions and we weren’t asking as much but they were willing to hear our purposes for revealing ourselves. This had worked for a long time until, that is, the President decided it would be best to bring in his Joint Chiefs. Father believed that is exactly when your ability wore off.” She sighed and her brow furrowed. My father then leaned back in his chair deflated, “I can guess how that went over with them.” She nodded, “They see us as a potential threat to the safety of their country. With them being solely responsible for the safety of their country and a large part of the safety of their world, they are telling the President that we cannot be trusted. I can’t say I blame them. You find out there’s a portal to an entire world in a small town in America that has citizens that are seen as a danger to humans. If I were them, I wouldn’t exactly feel safe either. Sadly, they don’t know that their lore is incorrect.”
I leaned forward in my chair, “From my perspective, I don’t blame them either. I grew up around that lore and there wasn’t exactly anyone around to correct my misconceptions.” I shot my father a quick dirty look and he nodded and closed his eyes to think. We all sat there in silence the only sound was the muffled sounds of Vanessa’s crew cleaning up and the grandfather clock in the room ticking away. Jess had a blank look on her face but she was staring at piece of ice floating in her drink as if it had mesmerized her. I looked at her briefly but went to staring at my father wondering what he was thinking. How would he help to fix this problem? How would I handle it if it were me who had to deal with this? He opened his eyes to stare back at me and that went on for a while again. Then suddenly his eyes widened, “I think I have a solution.” Suddenly Jess looked up from her drink to father looking amazed. He looked to her, “Xan has only ever known the lore of Terre in regards to pyrios and lycans. I imagine that your father has tried to demonstrate that he is no threat to Terre being a lycan himself.” Jess nodded, “He even brought me in to show the group that we were no threat. He figured a quiet young woman would show that I was no threat. The only thing that did was make the generals more skeptical. We didn’t hear this from them exactly, father used a Hearbat that was on his staff. He conveyed that the President was starting to lean the way of the generals even though he was resistant to them at first. Apparently, my appearance only helped to convince him to change his mind.” Father then looked from her to me, “I believe Xan will be the solution to the problem. The King was wise to ask that she be educated in Terre. Living amongst humans your whole life and not having a problem with her presence her largely. Her ability may come in handy but I will need to talk to Vanessa to see if she can assist. I will have Talia summon her.” It was then that the serious mood turned in to one that was slightly comical to me so I giggled. My father cleared his throat, no not a throat clearing...it was the growl he got when he was angry. I stopped laughing, “Please excuse me daddy. I may have a solution for that.”
With that I placed my glass on a coaster on the side table and got out of my chair and strode to the door, I peered out into the foyer. There were workers buzzing about cleaning up the mess from the night before. Chairs being stacked, crystal drink ware being carefully placed in crates, men on ladders taking down the sterling rose garland from high up. I asked the first worker that came by me, “Excuse me.” At that the worker placed her tray of silverware on the floor and bowed their head from the neck, “Pardon me Your Grace, we aren’t meaning to make so much noise. We were assured by Her Grace it would not be a problem.” I waved my hands, “Oh no, you aren’t disturbing us. I am just wondering where Vanessa is.” She smiled, “Oh, well, she’s upstairs with Her Grace. Shall I fetch her for you?” I thought to myself, I don’t want to inconvenience anyone but it would easier if she gets her and mother wouldn’t come after me. I nodded, “Yes, please. If that’s not too inconvenient of course.” The worker smiled, “Of course, it would be my honor. You picked the right person, as I am Vanessa’s assistant and would have the sole privilege of interrupting her. My name is Eugenia.” I looked at Eugenia and nodded, “Thank you for your assistance, Eugenia. Please let Vanessa know what His Grace would like to see her right away and that it was urgent.” She bowed her head again, picked up her tray and a power walked away. My turned back into the study and closed the door behind me, “Vanessa is here today to have her crew clean up after the ceremony. I had her assistant summon her from Mom’s studio.” Mother was an artist, she dabbled in many mediums but her favorite was clay. She called it her therapy from all that bothered her and I suspect that I was a source of quite a few of those therapy sessions. Knowing her, I’m pretty sure the anxiety from the results of the ceremony last night coupled with my reaction this morning was the source of her frustration today. I sat back down in my chair waiting for the knock on the door.
It took Vanessa approximately 5 minutes to come to the study, the knock that I was expecting never came. She strode in like she owned the joint. I gasped and waited for my father’s growl but he just sat there. He hated when people wouldn’t announce themselves, the only two people in the world that could do that as far as I knew were grandfather and mother. She looked amused that father had summoned her out of the blue as she walked over to the bar to pour herself a Scotch. She leaned against the bar, she was wearing a low-cut cross bodied red shirt, skinny jeans and a pair of black stilettos. Her hair was down in curls except for one side was pinned up. She smiled at father, “Well Reg, I gotta say I wasn’t expecting to be summoned by you and using Xan and my assistant to do so is rather amusing to me. Not at all like the uptight formal Reginald Batiste I know.” She emphasized ‘Reginald Batiste’ with a regal air and she giggled amused at this fact. My father rolled his eyes, “It wasn’t exactly my idea. I mentioned that I would need Talia to summon you and Xan went off script by waltzing out of the room to summon you.” She looked at me smiling, “Oh you are an amusing one. I cannot believe you’re the offspring of these two. You have more of my personality, that’s ironic since I believe the reason you dumped me back in high school was that I was “too much like a wild card. From what I understand, Xan is like your favorite person in the world. This must be what unconditional love was.” I gasped, “You two dated? As in like you smoochie faced with him? Oh barf!” Beside me Jess stifled a laugh; it was the first time she looked like she had color since she started to give her report to my father. I was relieved to at least have been the source of giving her something to take her mind off the troubles she so clearly had in her mind when it came to her father. Meanwhile my father rolled his eyes again, “Yes, Xan I dated Vanessa way back in the day. I thought she was gorgeous but her personality was difficult and therefore I had to break up with her to preserve the integrity of the duchy.” He turned to Vanessa, “I believe I explained that my mother did not approve of you because you didn’t know when to muzzle yourself. Tact was never your strong suit and I can see why you would think Xan was like you but she has the clarity of mind to restrain herself when the occasion calls for it. There were many occasions last night that she could have embarrassed this family but she was the definition of grace and elegance. I very much doubt you would be so poised.” Vanessa still had that amused smile on her face, you could tell my father’s attempt at insulting her rolled off her back. She looked at me and winked. Somehow, I knew that what was about to happen wasn’t going to be amusing to my father, I hardly knew the woman but I felt like I had known her all my life. She looked at him and, in a mocking, tone announced, “Oh dear, you hurt my poor little feelings. I think I’m going to pack my toys and go home. I don’t think you need me as much as you say you do.” My father was clearly not amused, he was grasping his chair arm so hard I was afraid it was going to break. Through clenched teeth he uttered, “Oh bloody hell, would you just sit-down Vanessa? It’s exhausting having you two in the same room.” He relaxed his hand and brought it up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He then spoke, eyes cast down, trying to get rid of the headache she so clearly caused him, “We have a problem Vanessa and I’m hoping that you can help solve it. I humbly ask for your help in making a new magical item.”
