Chapter Seven #2
She laughed. “No, that would be insane.”
He cocked his head. “Why?”
“I don’t shit where I eat.”
He blinked and started laughing.
Emmers said, “Do not tell Amy that.”
Krys smiled. “I won’t. I have my habits, she has hers. You are her snack, and that is that.”
Emmers grinned. “I am?”
Krys looked at him and laughed. “Don’t get a swelled anything about it. You still have to go on the first official date. The Night Faire with your grandmother doesn’t count.”
Emmers’ jaw opened slightly. “How do you know that?”
“The options are I am friends with your grandmother, I am friends with Amy, or I am a member of her new clan.”
“Uh, member of her new clan?”
Krys turned to him and flipped the side of her blouse to one side, showing the collarbone with the silvery snowflake that some of her people wore if they were affiliated but did not have snow-based skills. “My parents are arctic wolves.”
He blinked and nodded. “Right. So, you arrange these things for the clan?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Uh...”
“I arrange these things for extranaturals. Occasionally, some Frostfires are there. Mainly, I work with a lot of exotics who are trying to meld and mix two different traditions.”
She started taking measurements.
“So, the clan isn’t great.”
“The Frostfires are way better than the buttheads who ditched her. I just never told them when the wave set other things off. Everybody was content the way things were.” She laughed and smiled.
“In Frostfire, if you don’t have snow skills, they don’t make you go to the endless mixers that they throw, they don’t make your parents introduce you to suitors, and they don’t make you participate in the winter games.
I am way better off as a member under my parents. ”
Emmers blinked. “You don’t want to seek a partner?”
“Not now. The moment that I do, I out myself to Normic and Keel, and they will have a line of guys or girls out the door, whatever I am up for. They are very supportive, but it can be a little much.”
Understanding dawned on him. “You are wanting to live on your own a little.”
“Yup. They put me through school, I got the marketing job, but then I helped a friend with her wedding, and I was hooked. There are so many logistical stressors and organizational tornadoes. I love it, and it doesn’t leave a lot of room for anything else.”
“So, it makes you happy.”
“Not just me. I throw a helluva party. The happy couples don’t remember me, but they remember perfect weddings.” She grinned. “And I still get paid.”
Emmers laughed. “Well, Amy and I are not there yet.”
“When you are, you know where to go and who to call. Of course, the leader has his own coordinators, so you will be dealing with someone else.”
“What if we want to use you?”
“You will have a fight on your hands.”
He nodded. “Okay. Got it.”
She smiled, got a measuring tape out, and started measuring entryways, the grand staircase, and the entry into the room with the erotic mantelpiece.
She measured the mantelpiece and smiled. Kairek came near her. “So, why are you measuring it?”
“Some photographers might have squeamish clients. Making a high-quality facade that they can put in when they tidy up the images will be easier for the photographers, and they can’t have more or less naked dark elves for the kids’ pictures that get taken to school.”
She looked at it. “Or I can do this.” She snapped her finger, and it looked like it was carved of unmarked stone. “Just an illusion, but it is an option.” Krys smiled. “I am pretty handy with illusions.”
Kairek smiled. “Do you use that for anything else?”
“Oh, sure. Getting out of traffic tickets, for one.” She grinned.
The couple taking over the mansion walked down holding hands. There was affection there and hope. Love was going to arrive when it wanted to, but it appeared to be not too far away.
She looked up the stairs. “May I go and seal those rooms for you?”
Vaia nodded. “But we can still get in, right?”
“Of course. I will be right down and go talk to Sable.”
Krys headed up the stairs and slapped each of the doors lightly, putting an invisibility shield on the rooms. The ward would hit with the force of a turned-up taser.
When she was done, she skipped back down. Everyone was chatting, and she walked out back to the stone statue of a gorgeous young woman in an elegant gown.
“Hello, Sable.”
The statue moved. “Hello. I don’t remember you.”
“My name is Krys, and I am here to let you know that the mansion is going to start hosting weddings.”
“Really?”
“Certainly. The haunt has been removed, and the dark elves are hanging out at Neekil and Hannah’s.” Krys smiled. “Did you want to have your plinth moved there? Or did you want to join a lot of parties?”
Sable stepped down off her plinth and said, “Can I think about it? I mean, Benko made this body for me. My bones are here. I was killed here.”
“I know. You will be an honoured guest to any and all events held here, but I didn’t want you to look around and see vendors setting up for a party and wondering what the hell was going on.”
“Who are the people taking over the mansion?”
“A dragonborn and his wife. Azreen and Vaia. Vaia is a local dressmaker, and Azreen has been growing up abroad for the last fifteen years. They were part of a marriage of convenience, and now they actually want to have a ceremony and event with their new community.”
Sable smiled slowly. “That will include me?”
“If you want it to. Despite your temporal situation, this is your mind and your new body. You can do whatever you want with it.” Krys paused.
“I can even tell you how to control a wedding, and you could work as my assistant. You are anchored to the property, so if you want to participate, holding a tablet in front of you is a great way to keep a bit of distance between you and the masses.”
“So, there will be flowers?”
“Yes.”
“Music and dancing?”
“Yup. Food, too. Oh, and I can make you look alive if you want. It will be just an illusion, but it will be you at your best or the best I can imagine.”
“Can I taste things again?”
“Well, the problem about that is there would have to be an exit for everything.”
Sable blinked. “Oh. Right.”
“However... there can be charms designed and crafted that will give you a simulation. It will work off memory, but it doesn’t have to be your memory.”
“What?”
“I can work the charm by wearing it while I eat, and give it to other people who are experiencing things, like the taco truck.”
She smiled. “Benko hasn’t been to the taco truck yet. Can you make the charm and give it to him and then take him around to eat?”
“If he’s up for it, I can haul him around to eat his way through the city. If he can come out during the day, I can even take him to a teahouse for prissy tea with tiny sandwiches.”
Sable smiled. “I like the idea of this.”
“It is yours as long as you promise to enjoy the events here at least. I will bring all the couples to you for introductions, and then it won’t be a stranger issue.”
Sable grinned. “You are really talking to me like I am alive.”
“You are in a different body style, but you have an advancing consciousness. You are alive, you just don’t have a pulse and are harder to kidnap.” Krys smiled. “So, food?”
“Yeah. As much as you can load on one of those charms.”
Kris touched the cool hand. “It doesn’t just have to be one. I can make a few, and you can have one for desserts and one for mains and one for appetizers. Even hot versus cold. Or an entire charm full of street food. I don’t cook a lot, so this is going to be an easy assignment.”
“I can create the charms and then embed them into the stone.” A low voice spoke carefully from the shadows. A dark elf that looked like a younger, less impish Neekil. “What do you need?”
“You are Benko?”
He nodded and walked up to Sable, taking her hand in his. “You are talking about letting her taste food?”
“Well, she can upload the memory of the taste. How are your taste buds?”
He blinked. “Why?”
“Because she can taste through the charms. If you make them, I will prime them.”
“What do you need?”
She made a glowing disk. “What is the dark elf glyph for memory?”
He carved it into the disk, and she smiled. “That is what needs to be on the charms. They should be no larger than an inch and a half and easy to put in a pocket. They will be activated when there is something in the wearer’s mouth.”
Benko grinned. “So, if you are with your lover, you would take this out of your pocket.”
“If I were with my lover, I would have suffered some kind of head injury. I don’t date.”
Sable blinked. “Why not?”
Krys sighed. “For me to date, I have to ask permission of my clan leader, as I am too old for my call. So, I don’t really want to ask them, so I don’t date. It leaves me all kinds of time for planning weddings. I really enjoy them.”
Benko frowned. “What’s a call?”
“A sound that the females of the northern clans make that is designed to make ourselves known to compatible males across great distances.”
He nodded as if he understood. He kissed Sable’s cheek and said, “I will be right back. Please excuse me, miss.”
Krys nodded and said, “So, do you enjoy the gardens?”
“Yes, but there aren’t enough flowers.”
“I can fix that. I want to make a dozen different arbours here for couples to get quiet pictures and have a horticultural mage grow them into full bloom before each event.”
“Do some with bare vines that can be dusted with glittery and fresh flowers.”
“Will do.” She added them to the list, along with different coloured roses.
“What are you doing?”
“Well, in this business, when someone mentions something, you write it down as completely as you can and sort it out later.”
“My finger doesn’t register well on contact devices.”
“So? Use a stylus.” She popped the stylus out of her tablet and tapped the code for unlocking it, making notes in an app. “See?”
“Oh, can I get one of those?”
“If you like.” She smiled. “So, you are interested?”
“Can you teach me what I need to know?”