Episode 57: Meeting (Talise)

It was the weekend or it was Monday and work never ended – being the crown heir never stopped – so Niels and Talise found their way to one of the conference rooms. The conference rooms were full of plants and leather and all kinds of comforts such as snacks, an improvement from last week that made the situation feel more sanguine than it should have.

This wasn’t a get together, this was a serious meeting. With serious things to talk about.

Talise made sure she acted serious, so she would fit in.

Everyone looked at them when they came in the room. Everyone was, at that moment, her mom and Konrad. At least they weren’t kissing or touching or other weird things.

Her dad wasn’t there.

That wasn’t a good sign. Maybe he was sick.

I mean, they never got sick, but Talise could hope that this time it was a rare fairy-illness.

Maybe he was so sick this was a meeting to discuss a new disease that was plaguing fairies and her parents would be okay and stay together.

The odds sucked, but she could hope.

Talise groaned as she sat and Niels looked at her, puzzled.

She shrugged, because she didn’t want to tell him she was experiencing a series of guilty feelings for wishing her dad was sick and not just absent from the meeting or excluded or late. Late meant he was busy. Busy meant he was doing something.

Maybe a well burst.

And no one died.

That wouldn’t require guilty feelings.

Or seven wells burst. Or ten. Or thiry.

Her dad walked in, kind of tense and weird but also light. His feet almost didn’t touch the ground.

She didn’t like it. He was too happy for someone who was having marriage issues. He was too healthy for someone dying. He was too dry, fire aside, for someone fixing a chain of well explosions.

Which meant the worst possible outcome was coming true: her dad wanted to split.

Talise hated meetings.

Meetings were places hope went, met reality, and died.

Unlike her dad, who looked healthy.

She didn’t want him to die. Her real dad was dead. One dead dad was enough dead dads. Maybe too many.

“I’ll make this short,” Konrad said. “Sometime yesterday afternoon, Camilla was kidnapped. Orris and Olida have identified a few palace workers by name, and they mentioned Tarragon. It’s likely that when Camilla is recovered, she’ll be pregnant.”

“Doesn’t anyone know how to use tea,” her mom quipped.

Talise laughed; her mom was the most anti-tea person in the universe.

Oh you’re pregnant Talise? This is setting such a good example for the kingdom. You’ll be an adult soon and we’ll help you.

She regained composure because everyone was staring at her. It was only a tiny laugh.

Her mom just be struggling with her pregnancy; she had a list of guys who could be the dad and no one who wanted her.

She didn’t mean it in a bitchy way, she loved her mom and thought she was warm and compassionate. But sleeping around wasn’t a winning way to keep a guy interested. Maybe for some guys, but Meldrick, her dad, was one of those loyal forever types.

She guessed they had….

Camilla was what?

Okay.

Camilla, Spence’s big sister and the only heir to the Upper Dell throne (That no longer existed but still…) was missing and breeding.

Being bred.

This was bad.

She tried to recount what he had said. The key points were that her big brother Tarragon was alive recently, possibly currently, and some workers at the palace were enemies, and Spence’s big sister, a royal family member, was kidnapped and probably pregnant.

Did Konrad think Tarragon had caused the pregnancy?

Her mind tried to fit the pieces together. Tarragon, Orris and Olida, employees, Camilla…

They were trying to stake a claim.to the throne. A child from both Dells. Her mom was a sea fairy with no claim. Talise only had rights to the Lower Dell, plus the war they won…

But the Upper Dell.

She focused on Konrad as he spoke to her parents, “Zero is testing this morning to determine whether Orris and Olida are your grandchildren.”

Konrad passed each of her parents a small container.

“You’re sure It’s Tarragon?” her dad asked as he placed a few hairs in the container.

“If he were sure, we wouldn’t be testing,” her mom argued.

“I’m not; it’s just as likely to be Gramm.”

“Yes. Gramm the albino.. making babies in the Lower Dell by grave? Does he have a grave?” her dad asked, his mood light and airy and wrong.

Not wrong. She just got it – How her mom must feel. When Spence had left her it wasn’t some golden marriage of happiness but there was affection and friendship and family. Being moved on from sucked. Even while her mom had her Konrad-gancanagh-curse-romance thing she hadn’t been willing to leave her dad. They were inseparable most of the time.

She felt bad for her mom, sitting there probably sad but unable to say anything. Her dad looked like Spence had – moved on, happy, peaceful.

Real things, outside of love and stuff, there was this issue though.

“If they can conceal her with wicca magic,” Konrad said. “They can bring him back with wicca. He is pale enough to be their father.”

“I thought I was the only one with memory issues,” her mom joked.

Her dad laughed, “The problem is everyone is tan compared to me. You can’t trust me descriptions of skin tone.”

“Just like how everyone has normal hair compared to me,” Niels added.

“For now,” Talise said.

She had to find some dye now.

The thing about these meetings was that there was so much depth to everything. New jokes and old jokes and everything in between. Everything that came.up mattered though; a joke about dye triggered the thought that any of these workers that Orris and Olida had remembered could dye their own hair. She would have to start paying attention to roots. White roots could mean family.

“Who is holding court today?” Konrad asked.

She thought this was a meeting about Camilla.

Maybe he was hoping they would be attacked in court – by Tarragon, Camilla’s kidnapper, or someone else after them.

“I’d like to see how Niels handles it,” her mom said.

That never happened.

The room was silent, her dad gaped.  “With Talise,” her mom added.

She looked between them.

“You got divorced,” Talise accused.

“I didn’t say that,” her mom pleaded. It wasn’t a take me back plea, it was a let me be plea. She knew the voice.

“No one is stepping down,” her dad said, because he couldn’t handle silence but couldn’t answer it either.

Maybe she just didn’t understand it. In the end, her mom would be single and pregnant and whoever’s babies she was carrying wouldn’t matter because they wouldn’t be heirs, they would just be babies. Her mom must have been panicked. She needed a vacation to sort herself.

There was a possible war coming.

Talise straightened her spine and addressed the table, “Right. Go on, get ready King Niels. I’ll sharpen your crown.”

Niels laughed, so at least there was that little piece of respice. She could do this. They could do this.

“Sharpen? Do I get to throw it at people who annoy me?”

“Yes,” she replied.

If she could laugh, or smile, or joke… they’d see that she was okay enough. Or cold-hearted and making a divorce mood a joke mood.

She could handle this though. She had what amounted to a superhero for a husband – he was strong and brave and charismatic and confident and he was her partner. They hadn’t been forced together like her mom and dad – either dad. Even Konrad was forced because of the curse. Her mom needed to choose someone.

That was a gross thought. But true. She wanted her mom to be happy. Even If it wasn’t with her dad.

Her hopes of plagues had been replaced, in the span of having to adult for the Camilla Crisis.

“We’re not stepping down, Talise,” her mom said, looking more at Niels.

He must have been anxious looking. She tried not to look at him too much in meetings because it was too distracting but she suspected h3 looked tense, with his eyebrows a little lower like they got sometimes and his mouth a little tighter and his hairline all stretched with worry.

He had brown roots. Just like his eyebrows.

Not that it mattered.

“But you divorced,” Talise insisted.

Her mom rubbed her face.

“That remains to be seen,” Konrad stated, but it also kind of sounded like a get your shit together threat.

“We did, formally,” her dad corrected.

So she was right and Konrad was annoyed.

“With the kingdom under subtle attack?” Konrad snapped.

It wasn’t really a snap, because he was a statue most of the time, but essentially.. he snapped.

Niels got all tall beside her. She wanted to tell him that was her thing today. Talise: tall, capable, and alert princess.

“Last night, or two nights ago?” Niels asked.

She loved his accent. It was silky and Danish and perfect.

She loved him so much. It was ridiculous. He just – she had the crap with Spence and now she had this whole universe of happy with Niels.

She hadn’t forgotten the Camilla thing, she just had other things to focus on since no one liked to stay on topic in meetings.

“Does it matter?” her mom asked.

Her mom was smart. She was asking, did you sleep with Giana, Niels’ mom and my friend and the girl you have tea with daily.

“Yeah, it really does.” Niels was asking too.

“Last night,” her dad said.

No one liked his answer.

Konrad broke the tension, “Alright. You’ll have extra guards in court today.”

“I love guards,” Talise said, imagining the many ways someone could try to kill her today.

“I love a functioning kingdom,” Konrad said.

“You love something other than Nell?” her mom asked, all menacing and sharp.

Her mom was such a water-fairy. She could almost see the jagged fish hunting teeth emerging when she got in moods like this.

This was also the first time she was ever in a mood like this.

It felt like a pattern was going to emerge. Like saying first annual. How is it a first annual if you don’t even knowing you’ll do it again

Even the title of second annual is ambitiously committed.

“Many things,” Konrad replied.

Talise loved many things too, like talking about Camilla.

She needed to bring it up.

“Anything I should know?” Konrad asked.

“Yes,” her mom replied. “While I am not stepping down in haste, you should all consider this court day the official beginning of our transition. At the soonest opportunity, you should take the trial. I want push it, but we are in the transition process.”

Well, Camilla was dead in nine months. The kingdom would go to war. Happy Pavish.

“No one is stepping down or up until this is resolved,” Konrad demanded.

“I think she understands that,” her dad replied. “Transitions can take years. With a major altercation on the horizon, it’s a good idea to have Niels and Talise mentally prepared for the possibility of an immanent trial.”

“Alright,” Konrad said

Her trial wouldn’t involve paying attention, unlike everyone else in the room.

“Great,” Talise stated. “Let’s go calm some angry farmers while Camilla is tortured.” She took Niels’ hand and stood.

Talise and Niels left the conference room and headed for court.

“Well that was toxic,” Niels said.

“Toxic you feel sick or toxic you want a divorce?” Talise joked.

Niels stopped in the hall, his hand dragging her to a stop as well. He swung her into a kiss, his lips warm against hers, “Toxic maybe you want a divorce.”

“Never,” Talise promised. “A divorce would mean I would have to deal with someone else’s gross habits. I’m too used to yours; I can’t handle that kind of thing.”

She leaned in to kiss him, which she should have known was a bad idea.

He burped and the taste of coffee lingered in the air.

“I see what you mean,” Niels said, a big smug smile spread across his face.

“Ewwww, Niels.”

He laughed, and kissed her, in one of those light laughing kisses, “You set yourself up for that.”

“What if I got sick. Not so funny when it’s my toxic sewage all up on your face. Even if it smells good.”

The best part of a stressful situation with Niels beside her was that he didn’t let it drown him; he liked jokes and distraction but his mind was also focused in the background. She wanted to ask him about Camilla, but right now they also had to talk about themselves too. They couldn’t rule as well, as focused, if they didn’t get the divorced parents thing out of the way

“But I’m addicted to all of your gross habits too,” he said, his hands running through her hair.

She really hoped she wasn’t blind to some gross hair habit.

She let him kiss her for a few minutes then, when they and stolen too many moments from the chaos, she groaned, sad to feel his lips slip away (because she moved).

“They got divorced,” she stated

She needed to hear herself say it, the reverberation of her own voice and the truth of it.

Niels rubbed circles on her back as they walked, “Yeah, but your mom’s not a quitter. We won’t be ruling a soon as she says.”

Niels needed to share his optimism toast with her for breakfast.

“But if we do, I’m yours,” she said. They had done the elixir, but she had no regrets.

“Maorekel,” he said, always in Elesarian.

“Maorekel and for evigt,” she replied, to combine his native Danish into the sentiment.

Niels kissed her head then pushed open the door to the courtroom.

The room was a big square with carved wood pillars and big windows lining the back of the room. The ceiling was a painted mural of a misty dock and tiny elephant packs and mermaids and a forest and a desert. The images flowed effortlessly together and were the largest reminder that this was a kingdom run by a sea-fairy not a native.

That would change soon, Talise guessed. She wasn’t ready but she was born for this. Her dad dad had died for this.

“Ready to face the madding crowd? I vote we divide the room into thirds, throw one group in jail, fine one group, and send the last set home to be grateful they survived,” Niels said.

First, Talise laughed. Niels was her favorite person ever. She loved how he took make anything feel easier. Manageable.

Then she took a deep breath and entered the room. The dais with two big chairs beckoned to them and reminded her that she belonged here, even if it felt intimidating.

“Instilling confidence in our abilities one disaster-created at a time?” she joked.

“It would convince your mom we aren’t ready to rule,” he joked.

“Yeah,” she replied

Except, she knew they were ready. They were ready enough to make it work. They were ready enough to survive with the support of everyone that cared.

They’d manage, together whenever, whatever challenge and adventure crossed their paths.

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