Chapter Six #2
They approached a large, sturdy vehicle, and he opened the back door for Kessie before opening the front passenger door for Keska. She settled into the seat with the belt fastened. Sorooth got behind the wheel and grinned. “This feels very right.”
“Uh-huh. Drive.” She smiled, and he put it in gear as they rolled down the drive and toward the gates. The gates opened as they approached, and they were on the main drive and moving around the perimeter of the city, heading toward the academy and international school.
Kessie asked, “Are there kids nearby?”
“The housekeeper has her little brother, and he goes to the academy. They live in a cottage on site.”
Sorooth raised his brows. “You have a housekeeper?”
“Yes, she’s also a property manager. She had been in a relationship with an Aksallan, but he cheated on her and was very stupid about it. She dumped him and exposed the affair to his family. Boy, was he surprised when it turned out that his side piece wasn’t pregnant with his child.”
Sorooth asked, “How was that determined?”
“Hemma is a scent tracker. I met her when we opened Uradda’s walls. She found some underground bunkers via their air exhaust, and her brother punched his way into the cells outside the city walls. If Hemma says the child doesn’t match the supposed father, it doesn’t match.”
“Does she know we are coming?”
“She does. I sent her a message. She’s an excellent cook and gained her teaching certificate a few months ago. It has been a busy year for her.”
She smiled. “You will like her. Kessie will like her. Her brother’s name is Ekbert.”
Kessie laughed. “That’s a fun name.”
“He’s doing the landscaping at my properties. He’s seventeen.”
Sorooth frowned. “But he’s at the academy?”
“Hemma and Ekbert are both genius-level, tested and confirmed. They work hard and study the rest of the time.”
“So, they have a learning activation.”
“They have a learning and comprehension activation.”
“Correct. But they are waiting for reassessment. So, the super sniffer adaptation that Hemma has is unrecognized. Only the ability to learn is accepted as their official activation.”
Sorooth paused. “Does that happen a lot?”
“Sure. Uradda has been trying to create useful actives by matching their most powerful together under controlled conditions. When the actives left, they were unassessed and uncategorized, and a lot of them were missing their parents. The parents were destroyed when the children did not add up to the guessed potential. That was the case with Hemma and Ekbert. They were raised in the creche.”
Sorooth said, “What does Ekbert want to study at the academy?”
“Botany and arborist interests with a minor in ocean studies.”
“He’s a water breather?”
“He has gills, but they aren’t opened as far as I know.”
“Is she a water breather?”
“Not that she has told me.”
Sorooth paused. “Are all the Uraddans in this situation?”
“The ones who were able to find jobs in Aksalla. Others had to move to the capitol, a few went to the Sethir but not many. The stories of their torturing Uraddan actives echoed in the cells. Your people didn’t know the difference between a weapon and a hostage and that they could be both at once.”
Kessie frowned. “What?”
“It’s politics, punkin. Uradda, the country I was from, decided that they wanted to use actives to take minerals and land from the countries around them.
The people in charge were not nice people.
A lot of people were hurt, and a lot died.
That made the governments mad, and they expressed their anger on any Uraddan actives they could find. ”
Sorooth said, “Are you sure this is a topic for discussion?”
Kessie frowned. “Grandma Nelith said she wasn’t welcome in Sethir. Is that why?”
Keska pointed to a quiet street as they passed the academy.
“Turn here. The international school is at the end of this lane.” She looked at Kessie.
“Yes, she was a weapon, bound with a controller following her and setting her off. The controller isn’t alive anymore, but since the weapon was, they punished the weapon. ”
Kessie frowned. “That isn’t right.”
“That is politics. It makes people think they are doing something for the masses, but it doesn’t really do anything to help.”
She looked. “The drive on the left.”
He turned and drove past the high wall and through the open gates.
Kessie looked at the house and whispered, “Wow. It’s almost as big as the house where Nigel lives.”
Keska smiled. “The house in Daycross is about the same size.”
Kessie got excited, and Sorooth chuckled at her chatter. He pulled up in front of the main entrance, Keska reached for the handle, and he cleared his throat. She snorted and waited.
Kessie chuckled. “Daddy says you have to wait until he opens the door so he can make sure that things are safe around him.”
She smiled. “Really? I always thought he liked watching my legs as I slid out of the seat.”
“Maybe it’s both.” Kessie got out of the car and stood next to her dad as he opened the door for Keska.
She put her hand in his and swung her legs out of the vehicle, sliding out and down so their bodies were touching. “Your mother would have a heart attack.”
Kessie grinned. “Grandma Lia said that you and Daddy make good kids, and she needs to talk to you to ask for more.”
“Wow. I wonder if there is an order form I need to write up.”
Sorooth smiled. “I will forward it to her with all speed.”
“Yeah, I am not actually going to write up a form. She has expressed her opinion of me, and I can take the rejection. I am good.” She smiled brightly.
Kessie took her hand and pulled her toward the house. Sorooth closed the car door.
They walked up the wide stone steps of the manor and into it. Keska heard a rustle and said, “Hey, Hemma.”
“Tea is ready, as is a snack tray. I know you are going out for dinner, but this should help you along. It will be out on the back patio in a minute.” The voice that came around the corner made Keska smile. It was lovely to listen to.
Hemma came around the corner with one tray on her head and another in her hands.
Kessie whispered, “Ooh. I have seen that at the court.”
Hemma walked with a slow sway to her hips.
Sorooth muttered, “Is she registered with the BDC?”
“No. Zera has already interviewed and trained her, but until Ekbert is an adult, Hemma is not going to risk being injured in the line of duty if she is his main provider.”
Hemma moved gracefully, opened the door to the backyard, and moved through it.
Keska smiled. “Apparently, we are having tea.”
Sorooth grinned. “Apparently.”
Kessie darted forward and through the open door, where she shrieked with excitement.
Sorooth said, “What is she excited about?”
“Um, at one point, Hemma was traded to the stronghold with the Uraddan ambassador at the time. She was given all of the etiquette and server training in those six months. So, now, there is always one room in the house that is Sethir formal. In this house, it is the back patio.”
As they got closer, he asked, “Why?”
Hemma’s rich voice said, “Because she always wanted one room where her daughter and partner would be comfortable. A place they can go to, to reset themselves.”
Keska looked at Hemma and grinned. “Hey. How are you doing?”
“Busy, picked up some hostess shifts at the live ranges. Ekbert’s graduation is coming up, and I want to get him something nice.”
Keska looked at the low table with cushions and the tea and pyramid of a variety of cookies. Kessie was hopping from foot to foot. “Dad, can I sit?”
Sorooth held Keska’s hand, seated her at the head of the table, and took his place on her left side. Kessie sat at her right. Keska smiled. “Okay, let’s wash up, and then someone pass me those cookies.”
They washed their hands with the warm water, dried them on a soft towel, and then the cookie tower fell.
Hemma took away the used clothes and retreated to the house.
Keska called out. “Hemma, when you are done with that, come back because I am sure Sorooth will have questions about you.”
“Very well.”
Sorooth said, “These cookies are good. Like my grandma used to make.”
“She’s an excellent baker. Way better than I am.”
Kessie nodded and stopped for some of the lemonade that Hemma had served.
Hemma returned with a fresh cloth and smiled. “Can I get anyone anything?”
Keska smiled. “Sit.”
The housekeeper sat across from her and smiled. “Congratulations on occupying the house.”
“Thank you. Sorooth and our daughter, Kessie, will occupy it.”
Sorooth smiled. “And Keska, when she is not otherwise occupied.”
Keska blushed. “I didn’t want to presume.”
“Keska, please live with us, or let us live with you. We know you have your own work and your own people, but we would like to be some of them.” Sorooth smiled.
Keska blinked. “You would? What about your family?”
“You are my family. Well, you and Kessie. I honour my parents, but they are not my future.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “That is now and only ever has been you.”
Kessie grinned. “Say yes! You can come to parent-teacher day, and we can spend time in Daycross with the horses.”
“Ah, that’s a big seller, right?” Keska smiled.
“Uh-huh.” Kessie reached for more cookies and then sat back with a sigh. “These are good.”
“So, Hemma, when were you in the stronghold?”
Hemma smiled. “Seven years ago.”
“Why were you there?”
Hemma grinned. “Espionage. The ambassador brought me into sensitive meetings. I was sent to learn from the kitchens and other maids. They thought I was younger than I was and told me everything. My nose told me the rest.”
Sorooth blinked. “Hypersenses.”
“Correct. I know who was spending time with whose wife, which generals were dipping in the pool of the merchant’s daughter. Which warriors were tangling off the sparring field.”
Sorooth sat back. “And then there was a sudden shift in personnel.”
“Correct.”
His eyes glowed. “You tipped them off.”