A New Star Chapter 31

I slept again, dozing in the chair for a few hours before waking. I felt…fine, if I could say that. My body was essentially fully recovered,

I slept again, dozing in the chair for a few hours before waking. I felt…fine, if I could say that. My body was essentially fully recovered, if still just a bit shaky, but the Tribulation had done more than just injure my body. I made sure I was properly dressed before heading out, finding it to be in the afternoon. Well, I would resume my training tomorrow, given that everything went fine the rest of today. Spiritual strain was always a hard thing to adapt to, as the physical body felt just fine, but the soul felt weak and unsure, which created a dissonance between the physical and metaphysical. 

I made my way down to the kitchen walking slowly as I didn't want to jostle anything. The kitchen was a wonderful place in the estate as it ran almost constantly, only going dark for a couple hours in the middle of the night. Even if it wasn't mealtime, there was always some kind of food available, including freshly baked bread, the large ovens used for the baking the reason why the room was half-buried and along the back wall of the building. The heat those old things generated was no joke and was enough that foods could be put just outside the kitchen on racks to dry out, as long as they were watched so that nothing got into them, even with them being closed racks. The estate even made batches of hardtack or ship's biscuit that way, baking the low water content bread for hours and hours in the excess heat of the ovens.  

It would be no hardtack for me today, however, as I secured a big shank of roast monster shank, a bowl of noodles in gravy, and a platter of steamed vegetables. All of that was either readily available, or in the case of the vegetables, able to be whipped up by one of the secondary cooks in a few minutes. A kitchen as large and busy as ours always had some kind of meat roasting or stewing constantly, even overnight, and there was usually some type of noodle or rice available to go with it or as a meal itself. I cleaned the food from all three of my bowls as I pondered the kitchen's operations, afterwards taking them over to the giant wash basin at the back of the kitchen that was used for dishes and cutlery. One of the few privileges of being a noble I would take advantage of; not having to wash off my own dishes.  

Before I could set about my next task for the afternoon, the count swooped in and grabbed me, though not quite literally. He whisked me away, though it wasn't to any mysterious destination in the hinterlands of the kingdom; no, in fact, it was my parents' office that was the destination. The duke and the duchess were both present when we entered, both sorting through paperwork, passing signed forms and reports to their secretaries. Tiffany was now filling that role for my father, a detail I noted with some slight pleasure; Thomas was an over-bloated ass, and it would be much better if Tif took an interest in the running of the estate and the duchy than him. Helen was still serving as my mother's secretary, an old friend of hers who wasn't quite as powerful but was very skilled in administrative tasks and organization.  

"I have brought her," Emmanuel said as he took a seat in one of the central chairs, pulling out a his pipe and putting it in his teeth without lighting it.  

"Good. A moment," my father said, giving Tif a nod to file what he had just handed her.  

The four of them kept working while the count sucked on his pipe and I sat in a chair, sitting up straight but propping my head against the back of the chair. My parents continued with their work for a few minutes, solely focused on the task, though I could not say the same for Helen and Tif, who kept throwing me glances as they went over the papers. The count was content with his pipe, not even throwing me a side-eye, and I was just happy to be in a seated position for a while, even if I would rather be doing several other things. I needed to research some things in the library, for a start, and I needed to do a ton of work in my lab, including replacing the rather good healing items my little encounter with a Tribulation had burned away, some of them literally. 

My parents finished what they were working on and came around their desks, sitting in chairs across from the count and I while Tif and Helen moved about, preparing drinks for the company. My mother was a proponent of strong tea with just a touch of honey, a resource that was still a bit of a luxury in this day and age, though I understood there were a few apiarists practicing their craft. There was also the honey of beasts, but that was much more rare and rather dangerous to harvest, a luxury typically only affordable by the ultra-wealthy. While the price wouldn't be a problem for my new family, they saw no reason to splurge on such a generally wasteful expenditure. The honey of beasts could provide a boost to mental clarity and slightly increase mana restoration, but was otherwise just a status symbol, though I could think of several things I could do with it in my lab. Better I got my hands on some myself in the Untamed Wilds versus have my family buy it. 

"So, Emmanuel," my father began. "I hear tell that the youngest has been out into the Wilds with you and father-in-law? Is this correct?" 

"That's absolutely correct," the count began before I interrupted. 

"What is this, a progress report? Must I be here for this?" I asked, causing Emmanuel to choke on his pipe. 

"I wasn't finished speaking, young lady," he scolded moderately. 

"I know," I said, again before anyone else could interject. Tif and Helen had rather wide eyes at the exchange, my father seemed to not be very amused, and my mother was exasperated, if I could tell anything at all from her expression. 

"Alex. Hush," my mother said as Tif and Helen finished setting out refreshments and sat on a couch to my right.  

"Fine," I said, having to get the last word in before subsiding.  

"Yes, we've been taking her out into the Wilds, as you surely know," Emmanuel continued. "We've done a number of trips at this point, including several multi-day trips. I think she has a natural gift for the exploration of it, if I am to be any judge of these things at all." 

"And she was injured in the Wilds?" asked my father, glancing between the two of us. 

"Injured is such a strong word," I said before the count could respond. 

"Alex," my mother said in a warning tone. 

"Yes, you can remember my name at need. I'm impressed," I said sarcastically. 

"Alex!" she barked then. 

I turned to the count before saying, "What do you think? Two for two, isn't she?" 

"Yes, well, be that as it may, let me finish this report," he said. 

"You have my permission," I immediately rejoined, causing noises of frustration to emanate from my parents.  

"Alex, please," my mother said then. 

"Fine, fine," I said, leaning back slightly in the chair and sighing.  

"Yes, so, the recent little debacle," the count said, my left eyebrow twitching at his word choice. "It seems that Alex discovered an unknown place of power somewhat far from the estate; nothing unusual there, as you are well aware, as such places dot the lands around here. The more unusual part is that, without any consultation of any kind, she decided to activate that place of power to get its benefits. At least, from my conversation with her and observation of her current condition, this is what I surmise." 

"Is this true?" my father rather coldly, looking directly at me. The tough northern lord act might make his vassals quake in their boots, but I had torn apart beings that wouldn't bother using my father for a toothpick, using nothing but my bare hands, so the effect was quite likely far less than he desired. 

"True in the relative sense, sure," I replied. 

"Now what does that mean?" he asked. 

"I did consult," I said, holding up a hand to forestall the count's objections before he could even make them. "I did quite a bit of research, as well as consulted with several people, though I didn't make the purpose of my questions readily obvious. There is such a thing as discretion, in case everyone else forgot." 

"This is something that should have been brought to us," my mother cut in then. Tif and Helen were rather amusing to watch during this exchange, as their heads bobbed back and forth trying to keep track of the conversation. 

"Please. Bring my find to somebody of higher authority and have it unceremoniously snatched away, either outright forbidden or used by someone else? You may think me naïve, but I can assure you I understand how the game is played perfectly well," I replied with a slight edge to my voice.  

"Alexandra, we're worried about your safety! We're not trying to steal from you," my mother exclaimed.  

"Six of one, half dozen of the other," I shot back with a small shrug.  

"And you believe all of this was worth it?" my father asked, his tone neutral bordering on cold.  

"Well, of course," I replied, eyebrows climbing. "It wouldn't have been an issue at all if someone didn't decide to spread it to the four corners of the wind. You'd think some people would have learned a thing or two in their long, long, oh so long lifetimes." 

"Excuse me!" the count replied, eyes widening.  

"Leaving aside Emmanuel's great age," my father began. 

"I say!" the count responded, looking at my father with a rather hurt expression. 

"We assigned him as your tutor for a reason, and this is certainly part of it. You can't just go galivanting across the Untamed Wilds without so much as a 'by your leave,' " he said angrily. 

"Well, I mean, I can, technically," I said with a shrug. "There's very little that anyone can do to stop me, as well." 

"Now, now, let's all calm down," the count said, trying to head off a brewing argument. "I think that I should keep a closer eye on young Alex, and perhaps we should prepare some more courses for her. I don't think that early admission to the Academy is quite on the table yet, but I'm sure we can direct her energies to productive things." 

"Oh, productive things, is it?" I asked, seeing Emmanuel visibly wince at my tone. "How about I teach you about some productive things, old timer?" 

"Excuse me!" he exclaimed, trying to stare me down, only to frown when I didn't so much as blink.  

"You're not excused," I said coldly. "As for this charade of an inquest, I think we're done with it for today." 

"That's certainly not for you to decide," said my father. 

"Oh, it certainly is," I said, rising from my chair. "If you'll excuse me?" 

I didn't wait for them to reply, falling into the Dark Paths as soon as I finished speaking. I was just enough in contact with the real world that I could see a ghostly image of the room, from which it was quite clear that nobody there could see me or detect me in any way. Shaking my head, I turned and walked right through the wall of my parents' office; if they wanted the story, I was prepared to allow them to get as much of it as the count had surmised and no more. Especially if they were going to try to use him as a spy on my activities and ambitions; I would rather keep them all in the dark and assume all the risks than having them poking about my business. 

I made my way down to the lab, sliding right through the shut door, which was rather a bit of a problem. I was going to have to come up with better ways of safeguarding my places, which would either mean learning some enchanting, or picking some of the more esoteric forms of alchemy. The more I had delved into its study, the more depth I found there, and the more fascinated I became with the craft. It was possible to create liquids, for example, that could mend metal or stone to look like multiple disparate pieces had all been part of a single whole since their formation. It was possible to make similar but opposite liquids that could separate things into different component pieces by just using a few drops, and those liquids were some of the simplest forms of what the more esoteric branches of alchemy could accomplish.  

I wasn't able to concentrate on any of that right now, however, as well as the various experiments I wanted to run. I thought about what I could do to incorporate my new lightning affinity into a pill but had to quickly shake myself out of such daydreams. I had work to do, a lot of it quite tedious, but all of it very necessary. I first needed to replace all the healing items I had burned up, then I needed to create a few more consumables that would be of great value to me as I continued to explore the Wilds. One of the things I wanted to focus on for a few days, apart from getting my healing items fixed up, was to create a batch of pills that greatly boosted regeneration. The Tribulation had shown me the value of such pills, how being able to have a moderate but steady, long-term healing effect might have quite a few uses.  

But first, potions. I need to make several batches of healing potions, keeping the best of what I made. I would sell the excess of my production runs to Pietr, who was always happy to have anything I could sell him. I suspected he kept a lot of the healing and mana potions for his own people's use, but I didn't really care about that one way or the other. Of the two gangs that operated in Umberton, Pietr's gang was the far lesser of those evils, even if they weren't great themselves. Which did remind I would likely have to do something about Robert and his gang at some point, but one thing at a time. Today and tomorrow would be potions, as long as I could keep up my concentration, and then I would worry about anything beyond that.  

The brewing took the rest of the day, and I left off after three batches and returned to my room where I fell into a deep sleep as soon as my maids had seen to me. I was a bit surprised nobody else showed up, then or in the morning, but I figured I was kept better out of sight and out of mind for the rest of the household at this point. It really didn't bother me, and in fact, give me quite a cause for joy, as I would much rather be able to move unconstrained than have a gaggle of nannies watching me all the time.  

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