Episode 37: Weekly Meeting (Niels)

Niels loved these weekly meetings. The most interesting shit came up at these things, and this week was staged to be one of the best meetings yet. It had been an insane week.

It was going to be an insane meeting.

Aadya and Meldrick came in together, late.

Aadya took a seat between Meldrick and Konrad.

Niels almost choked on his drink.

Either she was stupid or being a bitch or he didn’t know what. Maybe she and Meldrick had fought.

“Good evening, everyone,” Meldrick said to the room as a whole.

Niels ran his fingertip over Talise’s palm, soothing and musing.

“Have you heard anything about Terren yet?” Aadya asked Konrad.

He drummed his fingers on the leather sheath of his sword, which sat on the table. “No, I haven’t.”

Nell’s pixie wings shimmered in the light as he rippled them. Niels wanted to get those wings in a concert just so he could listen to all the special effects people wonder how he’d pulled it off.

Treaties about not showing off Elesarans came painfully.

Life was short. Well, maybe not for him, but for everyone in America. They deserved to know someone like Nell.

“An interesting thing happened last night though,” Nell said.

“Which is?” Aadya asked.

Niels thought Meldrick and Nell should sleep together. That would right everything and then all this tension would go away.

Or they should just let Niels and Talise ascend now so they could order them to stop.

“I got a new icee machine,” he said.

Ach laughed.

Speaking of people Niels wanted to order to do things.

Talise loved Ach, so Niels had tolerated him when he found out what had happened in his and Talise’s past, and it had grown into love over time, but at the end of the day Ach was the bastard who’d slept with Talise’s ex-husband, while she was still married to the guy.

Talise looked at Ach as the perfect best-friend twin.

Niels could never quite get past the fact that Ach had very casually hurt her, for selfish reasons. Or that Spence had.

He classified them as fiercely loyal, except when they weren’t.

He wanted both of them to do some kind of magic that encouraged them to be loyal to Talise.

“I wouldn’t worry,” Nell said, his eyes on Niels but his words directed toward Aadya. “Raqqa seems content.”

Raqqa, Terren’s dragon, would be panicked if there was something wrong with Terren. He might be missing, but he was fine.

“Maybe Raqqa is an idiot,” Meldrick suggested.

Niels agreed.

Nell shrugged his shoulders. “See if he wants to be your strategist now,” he joked. Again, his eyes were on Niels.

Fine, trust Ach and Spence not to be fucking morons when it came to Talise’s needs.

Fine.

Niels nodded his head at him.

“So that’s a no on Terren,” Aadya clarified.

“It’s a no.” Konrad’s eyes were on his sword, and not the queen or king or anyone else. “I don’t think it’s related to the twins.”

Meldrick straightened. “We have two other matterss to discuss this evening. Plus…” he looked at Talise. “You have news to share?”

Niels held her hand instantly. Despite being the royal heir, Talise hated the spotlight.

She blushed. “I’m pregnant,” she announced.

“Now you know,” Meldrick told Konrad, “in case something comes up. We have the Lower Dell issue as well as the enemies issue to address.”

Translation: Meldrick didn’t want Talise in danger in either of those situations.

“I am married to Nell,” Konrad pointed out.

Nell, who worked in the barn, was always the first to know about any family pregnancies because the dragons always laid eggs. Every fairy dragon heir got a dragon baby to grow up with. It was one of the things that made parenting them so challenging, because everywhere the babies went, the baby dragons wanted to be. It was like having a herd of insane fire-breathing puppies, plus twins.

Meldrick laughed. At something Konrad had said.

Niels studied him. He hadn’t seen them interact more than civilly in so long that the laughter was a surprise.

His mom was pretty happy today too. Not that she wasn’t normally happy, but today she’d been bubbly which Niels had never seen before lunch. She’d said it was because she’d visited San Marino last night and finished off her goal of seeing every country in Europe.

She’d said, with a flourish, “The Sammarinese are a glorious and hospitable people.”

Now, he wondered whether Meldrick had discovered how glorious they all were too.

Meldrick and his mom always had their teas together, their little jokes.

Niels tensed.

He didn’t want his mom getting involved in whatever mess Meldrick and Aadya and Konrad and Nell had between them.

He hoped he was wrong.

“I meant in the event of a crisis,” Meldrick clarified, “but I suppose she isn’t delicate.”

Talise turned a nice shade of cerise that rhymed with her name and reminded Niels just how much she was Acheron’s twin. She looked up at the ceiling. “Is this going to happen every time?”

“Everyone in this room is supportive of you,” Meldrick defended. “We just need to know your state in case of emergency. It could impact Ach as well.”

Ach turned white as a sheet.

So much for twinny thoughts.

“We’re expecting,” Indigo chimed in, probably in an effort to feel normal. “A boy.”

“Congratulations,” Aadya said with a warm smile, and just like that whatever weirdness passed between them was gone.

“Thank you,” Zero said. He suggested that Talise stop by for an ultrasound.

Niels smiled. He couldn’t help it. Deli Girl – Jo and Val’s mom – hadn’t involved him in the pregnancies at all. Val wasn’t actually his, and she’d hidden Jo’s pregnancy because they’d split up.

Talise’s other four kids were Spence’s.

This was, despite being a dad to six kids, Niels’ first pregnancy. First ultrasound.

“Now about the icees,” Nell interrupted. “I only procured three flavors. I’m working on bringing it up to five.”

“So long as you have blue raspberry,” Konrad teased, his eyes crinkled.

Konrad and Aadya could sleep together all they wanted, but it didn’t change the attachment between Konrad and Nell, or the fact that Konrad was one hundred percent Nell’s.

That wasn’t the case with Meldrick and Aadya. The tension between them could freeze a room. They could act the part most of the time, but it was just a show they put on for the kingdom and the little kids.

“I do, as well as cherry and birthday cake. Oddly. It’s a weird flavor. I’d rather lime or cherry or possibly coconut.”

“Lime and coconut might be an interesting combination,” Aadya mused.

Niels was reminded of a song, from Babylon, about lime and coconut. No one here except Talise would get the reference, or he would have sung it.

He still shared a quiet laugh with her. He loved the way her blue eyes lit when it was just them, just their smile.

“I’ve never considered it.” Nell said. “Maybe we should save the rest of the meeting for after a procurement break.”

Yes. Please. For the love of god, please.

“With three of us pregnant, and everyone else male, we should start having snacks at these meetings,” Aadya joked.

Acheron sat up, interested, and Niels smothered a laugh. Ach and Talise would eat the universe if they were left unsupervised, and they’d probably fight each other for the last bite.

Konrad shifted in his seat, his wing spreading out to encompass Nell’s back as he sat more upright. “We found thirty-seven different residences, all burned on the inside. Furniture, paperwork, even interior walls, were destroyed. Virtually no evidence or witnesses.”

Virtually.

Niels wondered what information Konrad was keeping to himself.

Konrad liked to present the full story when he knew it, not pieces of a puzzle.

Niels could respect that. Like every genius detective in literary history, Konrad preferred the wow effect after everyone was in the dark for the entire investigation. Niels had always suspected books did it for drama, but now that he knew Konrad he realized it was because he treated everyone as a suspect until he had an answer.

The houses,” Aadya asked Konrad, “were there any casualties? Injuries? Adjacent buildings or property damaged?”

Konrad angled toward her. “Just the girl, and all the damage was contained to the interiors of buildings. Tunnels between them, but not leading elsewhere.”

“I want control of this situation,” Aadya announced. “Turn all the houses into something new.”

Konrad’s brows furrowed just a little bit, as his wing tightened around Nell. “I was curious,” he said, eyes on Zero, “whether you might be able to work some sort of memory spell with the twins, that would enable us to see faces.”

Holy army of flying monkeys. Niels didn’t think he’d ever seen Konrad express annoyance so openly before, nevermind annoyance toward Aadya. Niels shifted a little, his hand now on Talise’s leg to comfort her in case she noticed what he saw. Something was up between them.

He hoped it wouldn’t cause problems.

Zero nodded his head. “I think I can manage that.”

“Also,” Talise stated, her voice getting louder with each word, “while we’re talking about wiccan things, we have the release of Sam this week…”

Indigo paled. Spence was Sam’s son, by choice. Spaden was Sam’s son, by not-choice. It would be a bad week for Indigo.

Maybe Niels and Talise should offer to watch Silas some night so Zero could take Indigo somewhere to calm down.

She gave Zero a weak, sheet-faced smile. “Up for a vacation this week?”

Niels smiled. Nailed it, again.

They could incorporate Silas into their insanity for one night. It wouldn’t kill them.

“Spence may need some extra hands in Sylem,” Zero joked. He entwined Indigo’s right arm with his, probably the closest thing to a hug he could manage in those chairs.

“The house is ready,” Talise continued, “it just needs wards. Spence has been setting those up but he wants to test them on someone.”

“I volunteer!” Nell said, before she’d even finished talking.

Niels peered at him under his brows. He wanted to know what the enthusiasm was all about.

“Oh, okay,” Talise said. “I’ll let him know.”

Aadya rolled up her blueprints, and suddenly the table felt bigger and more open, though slightly less interesting. Niels hadn’t actually bothered to look at them because he knew they’d change a half dozen or more times in the design process anyway.

“And the enemies?” Aadya asked.

“I prepared a comprehensive list of people that may be irritated with us and cross-referenced it with people that have been known to have slaves, high child populations, and secretive population statistics,” Medrick announced in an authoritative tone. He slid papers across the table to each attendee, passing to Meldrick and Aadya last.

Everyone skimmed the list.

It was an impressive list. Niels was pretty sure even the United States didn’t have that many enemies, and Denmark definitely didn’t.

“Why is Alder on this list?” Aadya asked, with blatant surprise.

Meldrick grinned and cocked his head to the side like a puppy. “I don’t know, Nell?”

Nell dismissed it with a flap of his wings, which forced Konrad’s away from his back. “That statue was destined to crumble,” Nell defended.

Maybe, Niels considered, amused, Konrad got Nell to stir up trouble with other people so that Konrad could keep being essential to the Dells.

“In which century?” Meldrick teased Nell.

This was enough of the playful bullshit. Niels tapped the list with his index finger. “Why isn’t Babylon?” he asked Meldrick. “They steal kids like crazy and there’s no way that guy checked everywhere there.”

“They aren’t our enemy,” Meldrick countered. “And the Rhoganoi are from Babylon originally, as is Jay. It’s illogical that they’re the realm in question.”

Meldrick obviously needed to get to know the Rhoganoi a little better, so he could find out they called the place with the purple lake their home. He doubted they’d originated on Earth.

And he needed to remember…

“Do you remember how fucked up the meeting with them was?” Niels demanded. “The lists they wanted? They aren’t exactly allies.”

Just because time had passed without trouble didn’t mean the meeting hadn’t been an almost-disaster. No one but Nazis demanded lists of names and addresses without an explanation, and that told Niels everything he needed to know about how his own realm did business with the rest of the realms.

“Are you proposing we add your realm to our enemies list and close all travel off?” Meldrick asked. He sounded incredulous, which was rich considering he was the one making the ludicrous suggestion.

“Where the hell did the second half of that come from?” Niels snapped. He better not be sleeping with Niels’ mom. “I’m just saying, most child traffickers are in-realm, even here. The only realm that goes between is Noc Thui and he says he’s checked there.”

With a shake of his head, Meldrick burned everyone’s copy of the enemies list.

“So they’re not on the list. We have an unknown enemy from an unknown place.”

Yeah, that made a fuckton of sense. Occam’s razor said choose the most bizarre possibility from the list, right?

He better not be sleeping with Niels’ mom.

Meldrick looked at Konrad. “How do we proceed? Let Nim and Soren discover them?”

“Fenton offered to go with them,” Konrad told them. He rubbed his fingers against his beard and looked down at the charred remnants of the enemies list.

“Do you think he should go?” Aadya asked Konrad. “Yes,” she added. “He should go, obviously you think it’s a good idea.”

“We track all of them,” Konrad stated.

At the end of the table, Delphine shifted in her chair and flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder.

“Yes,” Aadya said. “Are we allowing Amoret and Ariadne to join them?”

Short summary of Amoret and Ariadne: Amoret adored danger. Ariadne adored Nim and Soren.

“It’s not ideal,” Konrad sighed, “but they make excellent bait.”

Great, yeah, take two nine-year-old kids and send them into the arms of the unknown. Totally wise.

“Okay,” Aadya said.

Delphine ruffled her shoulders, her green eyes narrowed at Aadya.

Meldrick all but mirrored her look, although he was trying to be more subtle about it.

“Are there any other topics to discuss?” Zero asked.

Finally. An end to the damn meeting.

“I’d like to revisit the 37 houses burned down twins issue, when Konrad isn’t so annoyed about it,” Talise piped up.

Niels gave her his best glower. They’d almost escaped.

“Am I annoyed?” Konrad asked.

Niels was.

“Your eyebrows say you are,” Talise said, determined to push through.

Niels resisted the urge to ask her what she thought his eyebrows said right now.

“We can revisit it,” Konrad offered in a tone so mild that Niels wondered if he really was annoyed after all. “What in particular would you like to discuss? I have no further information until we do the memory spell.”

“I was thinking we could make up a shadow spell to show the last memories of the buildings,” Talise told him. It was a really good idea. “Like playing history on repeat. I’ve seen it done before.”

Konrad looked at Zero. “Alright,” he said after a minute.

“I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t done it,” Zero cautioned.

Maybe Indigo could help and be distracted from the Sam thing. Wouldn’t that be nice?

“And if that doesn’t work,” Talise continued, breathing faster from excitement, “I think you should check the memories of surrounding areas. Then we can tell if they have the ability to transport or possibly they all utilize air magic.”

Konrad drummed his fingers against the hilt of his sword. “Alright.”

“And also…I think we should look more into any ties Titania had with the wiccans. Since…she did…with the memory stuff…and maybe try and see if there is a link to the Caelum.”

Indigo sighed and hid her face in her arms. “This isn’t my week,” she groaned.

“So Naomi worked for her?” Talise asked, eager.

“Yes,” Indigo answered.

Indigo was concise, but she wasn’t usually terse. Maybe she was going to flip.

“We’ll talk later?” Konrad asked Indigo. He turned to everyone. “We also need to discuss the likelihood that all the Lavesques will need to move here unexpectedly and seal the realm.”

Zero nodded his head and unfolded his hands on the table. “I’d like to arrange housing for my three brothers and their families, plus my dad if he is interested. Though I believe he has another realm he would be interested in escaping to.”

“And security for Acheron and Spence?” Konrad asked, digging for further information.

“Yes, please,” Indigo all but begged. “We were hoping glamoured fairies so they can blend in.”

“Alright,” Konrad said.

Delphine had managed to un-slit her eyes and now spoke up, wide-eyed and innocent and harmless.

Niels tensed.

“I have an idea,” she announced.

Talise ignored her. “And I want to ensure that our kids are protected, since he’s probably going to have them in Sylem during this. Especially Fort and Emma, since they’re the first two in line behind me.”

“I’ll work on some spells to make them uninteresting to most, ward against things…” He looked up, thinking. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you,” Talise said.

Meldrick collected his stack of papers and somehow managed to make the ashes from the enemies paper look orderly on top of the stack. “Is that all? Any action items?” He looked at Delphine.

She huffed out a ton of air.

God, he hoped she’d tell someone off. This meeting had been so anticlimactic.

“Your bait idea,” she told Konrad, with a disappointing calm, “gives me a thought. We could advertise a wish for more diversity in the school, and say we’re looking for pale fire fairies. They may not be able to resist the temptation of having a spy in the school.”

Aadya sounded like she was holding a rotting animal, except she’d probably have a nicer facial expression if she were. “Would they be receptive to such a direct…thing?”

“So we broaden it,” Delphine modified. “Atypical anything.”

“Or we could just open it up to a few extra spaces for students and have a certain number from the Lower and Upper Dells. Perhaps two each. Interviews could narrow it down to which are Salamander.”

Except the school already offered a free place to anyone who could get in, and the Salamander enemies hadn’t tried. Or they had, and there was already a spy here.

“Do you want the keys to my office so you can take over the school?” Delphine offered, snippy.

Aadya swiveled in her chair and lashed back, “Why don’t you just coordinate your plans with Konrad, and see what he thinks of obvious tactics.”

Finally, something fun.

Niels leaned back in his chair. Too bad Nell hadn’t brought popcorn and icees to the meeting; they would have been useful.

“Well,” Meldrick stood. “I think that’s all for tonight then. Congratulations, Indigo.”

He better not be sleeping with Niels’ mom.

“Congratulations to you too,” Delphine said to Aadya. She wore an angelic smile when she added, “I’ll congratulate the dad when I know who it is.”

Ouch.

Best shot of the night goes to….Delphine!
Indigo would have been more entertaining, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Besides, the humane, empathetic part of Niels was cringing. Here were Konrad and Meldrick and Aadya and Nell, all suffering from that remark.

When it came down to it, Delphine was really just a jealous bitch. She flirted with Meldrick constantly. Meldrick had never once reciprocated.

Ugh.

Niels closed his eyes.

His mom and Meldrick had their teas and their jokes and their things they laughed about.

If they were sleeping together, it was so bad.

It would be a fucking disaster.

His mind buzzed so much that he barely heard Konrad ask Delphine to stay after the meeting, or Nell offer to wait for Konrad to talk to her.

“Perhaps you’ll get your way after all,” Aadya said to Delphine, snarky.

Niels wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but he was aware enough to know that he’d missed part of the conversation.

Niels didn’t want to miss the rest of this mess, in case it involved his mom. As soon as everyone was out the door – with the meeting room door still opened – Niels dropped down and untied his shoes. He planned to take forever tying them.

“Would you like to come by for a quick scan in forty-five minutes?” Zero asked Talise and Niels.

Niels nodded his head to Talise, a promise that he would be there.

She gave him an amused smirk. “Sure, thank you,” she told Zero.

Everyone walked off in a group, but Niels knelt by the door, eavesdropping like a bastard.

“Anyone want some?” he heard Nell ask, jovial.

In a deep, sinister voice, Konrad stated, “He is married and a king. This needs to stop.”

That was some beautiful logic there, considering Konrad was sleeping with the married queen.

“I didn’t realize that was how it worked,” Delphine sneered.

“Perhaps you need a new assignment,” Konrad said, cold. “Find a way to stop antagonizing her or find a new job.”

“I’m not just some soldier you can order around,” Delphine taunted. “I’m employed by the king and queen and they haven’t fired me because I’m good at my job. I doubt they’d let you transfer me.”

Nell spoke up, conversational where Konrad was threatening.

It was a great example of good-cop, bad-cop.

Niels had so much to learn about this kind of thing. He listened, waiting.

“I’m sure Meldrick is the only reason you’re here, and humiliating him isn’t a good way to secure your position,” Nell pointed out.

“Humiliating him?” Delphine returned.

“You may be upsetting Aadya,” Nell explained, “but you’re calling attention to what some may see as an inability to satisfy her. Think of the kind of statement that makes.”

Coy, Delphine asked in a sickly-sweet voice, “Are you protective because it also humiliated you?” She gave Konrad a square look. “You’re the one humiliating both of them, you’re the one who should lose your job.”

“Perhaps,” Konrad agreed, evenly.

“But he’s good at it, and more discreet,” Nell pointed out.

That wouldn’t stop Aadya or Meldrick from firing him if they decided they should, and then Spence would be up.

Spence wasn’t even a little ready.

There was a silence, just long enough for Niels to worry he was about to be caught, but then Delphine said, “I’ll be more discreet and leave her alone.”

“That’s all I ask,” Konrad told her. “You’ll need to sort out the details of your strategy with Aadya, and the two of you can’t work together if you’re arguing over detractive matters.”

“Anything else?” Delphine said, in a tone of voice that reminded Niels of Deli Girl.

There was a scraping sound – Konrad picking up his sword?

Niels stood and ducked into the secret passageway behind the giant painting of Dead King Drey.

He leaned against the wall and processed.

This was going to be bad. Konrad was mad, Nell was hurt. Delphine was superbitch and now she had a vendetta. Aadya was a mess, with Meldrick closed and poised like a wild corkscrew waiting to pop.

Not literally. Ew. Why did his mind have to go there?

No. Above everything else there, except maybe Talise’s probable anxiety about the odds of her parents splitting over Delphine’s comments, Niels needed to protect his mom.

Meldrick might believe he cared about her, but if he was sleeping with her while married to Aadya he didn’t care about her enough.

Niels pushed himself off the wall and went to find Talise, to get ready for the ultrasound.

Tomorrow, he’d find his mom.

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