Chapter Eight #2
“Oh, my family’s butcher shop supplies a number of food trucks.
I am the rep who gets orders and takes hints about what the businesses are aiming for.
Like, the chicken for the quesadillas and chicken tacos.
It’s easier for them if the meat is marinated, so that is done before packaging now.
They thaw them out ready to go, and their sales are increasing dramatically. ”
Amy blinked. “Huh. I hadn’t thought about that.”
“It’s weird minutia like that that makes me a good event organizer. Okay, I will see you at the meeting.”
“Wait. Can I follow you?”
“Sure. Just let me sprint to the building before you get out of your car. I am not supposed to arrive late.”
Amy blinked. “Why? Wait. I know. My birth clan were sticklers for propriety and levels and rules. I just thought Frostfire would be a little more relaxed.”
“Oh, it is, if they know you have frost-related magic. But they don’t because I don’t want myself put in a level above my parents.”
Amy stared. “I get it. I really understand. Well, we had better get going if we don’t want to be late.”
Krys nodded, wadded up her wrappers, and stuffed them into the garbage can, which chortled happily. She returned to the table, snagged her lemonade, and sprinted to her car. “I will wait until you are on my tail.”
Amy smiled and cleaned up, got into her car, and followed Krys’s vehicle at a safe distance as they twisted their way through the city to the event space that doubled as the meeting space. Krys parked at the edge of the lot and then sprinted for the doors.
Amy waited until Krys was inside and then got out of her vehicle and walked to the doors.
They were pushed open at her approach, and she smiled as she walked in.
Normic and Keel hugged her and welcomed her to sit at the long table at the front of the hall.
She looked around and saw Krys way in the back at the second-to-last row. She sighed.
Keel looked at her, but then Normic stood and introduced her as their daughter.
Amy stood when Normic nodded to her. “Good evening, all. I am very grateful to the Frostfire clan for taking me on. I am not an easy person, and though I have several useful aspects, I know the feeling of being rejected for lack of acceptable magic. The wave gave me what genetics should have, and the pain of being thought of as lesser was my life until that moment. I do not differentiate between those with magic and not, because a sudden wave can change everything, and no one wants to make an enemy of family. So, if anyone wants to chat, I am always up for a good conversation. Thank you.” She sat down again.
Krys was grinning in the back.
A few more pleasantries and awards for members were offered, and then Keel murmured, “You can go now.”
“No. I don’t think I will. I need to see how things are done. That means all things.”
Normic looked at her, frowned, and said, “And now it has come to our attention that one of our own is poaching work from the Northern Star Catering Company. Krys-Alis? What do you have to say about that?”
Krys’s family tried to stop her from standing, but Krys walked clear of the back seats and said, “I would like clarification, clan leader?”
“Derek has indicated that there is a very large wedding that you are catering this weekend, and normally, the larger events are given to them.”
“I was requested by the mayor’s assistant and the mayor himself.
The extranaturals having their vow renewal are not members of the northern groupings.
Our agreement stipulated that if I was requested, I could service any event that wasn’t for one of our own people.
A dragonborn and a half shadow are hardly those with a link to anyone in this room. ”
Normic said, “You will surrender the contract.”
“No.” Krys smiled, and it wasn’t a nice smile.
Normic blinked.
Amy could feel the room getting several degrees colder, and for a change, it wasn’t her.
Keel leaned and asked, “Is that you?”
She shook her head slowly and looked with focus at Krys. Keel’s eyes went wide, and he shot to his feet, but Normic was already committed to it. “You will surrender the contract, or you and your entire family will be kicked out of the clan!”
Krys raised her hand, and the doors froze shut.
Normic looked at her. “What?”
Keel cleared his throat. “I was trying to tell you. She’s an extranatural with temperature skills.”
“When did you figure that out?” his husband whispered hoarsely.
“When my feet froze to the floor.”
Krys called out, “Clan leader, retract that last statement, and you can keep your very pricey shoes. Also, Uncle, do remember that you are a member of my family, and your statement would banish your own ass.”
Normic blinked. “I... uh. Reverse my previous decision and declaration. It was said in the heat of the moment.”
“Yeah, because I am a pain in the ass, Uncle. Now, I want the clan to just treat me like an outside vendor, with the exception of my family’s shop.
I am not servicing the northerners; I am working with anyone else.
Even my cousin couldn’t call on me for help with her wedding.
She had to deal with Nessa, and she fucked the big day up seven ways from Sunday. No bride deserves that.”
The woman with a baby, who must have been the cousin, said, “Krys is right. She ran around behind the scenes, fixing everything that she could, helping the caterers who hadn’t been able to get into the venue early because Nessa forgot to schedule it.
Sure, Nessa looks great in a designer suit, but she has the organizational skills of a glacier.
Krys is on the ball and looking for issues before they happen.
I have been to a wedding that she organized, and everyone was so happy and relaxed.
It was fun for everyone and a truly joyous day. ” The cousin sat back down.
Normic cleared his throat. “Krys, can you please stop freezing the floor?”
Krys sighed. “Fine, but ask Amy to thaw it. I can’t remove my ice. Well, not indoors.”
Amy chuckled and melted the floor and doors. “So, big reveal?”
Krys laughed. “Not hardly. I just didn’t want to be pulled up to a higher social level and leave the rest of my family behind. I like sitting with them at meetings.”
Normic looked past her, and Amy saw what was obviously his brother, shrugging. “So, niece, what are your manifestations?”
“Oh, nothing much. The ones you are concerned with are just a weather witch, I think, and a frost fairy.”
A woman in the crowd said, “There is no such thing.”
Krys transformed into a woman with ice-blue hair, blue lips, a lot of sparkles around her eyes, and two huge butterfly wings made of snowflakes and frost. “Oh, no. I don’t exist. Woe is me!” She flicked her fingers, and a frost imprint smacked the woman in the face.
Amy snorted with laughter.
The wings fluttered, and she rose and looked Normic in the eye.
“So, Uncle. What do you think? Can I continue to go about the matter of taking the jobs that I have been given by the mayor, or do you want to explain that someone he didn’t pick is a better fit for his expectations?
Someone who doesn’t understand the needs of the variety of races that this city offers?
Derek is a racist disaster when it comes to working with the undead or night creatures.
He hates certain foods and won’t include them in end-of-night buffets.
A little organ meat could fix so many things.
” She shook her head and kept fluttering.
Normic said, “But you know all of these things?”
“Sure. I learned it when I started working at the XIA.”
“You work at the XIA?” His voice was weak.
“Yes. You had to sign an authorization. It was a few years ago. I work there part-time, in marketing and PR.” She continued to flutter.
Amy saw someone standing and approaching Krys. She opened her mouth, but Krys shook her head. Amy watched the guy stretch out his hand to grab a wing, and when he closed his fingers around it, he started screaming a moment later and let go.
Krys smiled. “Frostbite. He also won’t be able to shift for two weeks. Serves you right, Derek.”
Normic blinked. “It’s a shift lock?”
“Yup. His leopard ass is going to have to wait it out. I don’t take grabbing from any species, let alone my own people. They should know better.”
There was a murmur from the folks who were staring at the pixie in jeans.
“So, clan leader. Will you promise to keep members of your gathering from interfering with commerce? It’s really illegal to do that.
I mean, I have been commissioned by the mayor’s office to orchestrate a minimum of three weddings in the next twelve months.
That isn’t something you want to mess with. ”
There was a woman in the crowd who said, “Sure, they chose you.”
Krys held up her phone and tapped the speaker. “Did you hear that?”
The mayor’s deep voice boomed out. “Normic, I was going to call you this evening. Kris-Alis Bright has a skill and an intuition for dealing with people, and as such, we have chosen her as the event planner for the Grunwald mansion. She gets along with the leaseholders and the other occupants of the property. That is not a balance you want to mess with. I am sure you don’t want a dragon letting it be known that you are restricting commerce.
I want none of your folk interfering either.
I have heard about some of the nefarious schemes that folks pull around weddings.
Leonora has delighted in telling me. Perhaps I will eventually make an honest woman out of her. ”
“Uh, of course, Mayor Matthias. She will be free to work in any capacity you wish. No interference from any of my people.” His voice was stern on the last sentence. “But, Krys? She’s a little...”