Ch7-7: Breakfast in Baron
A pair of fuzzy, striped ears poked up at the far end of Rosa’s small breakfast table. The young Queen peered at them, patiently waiting. She was all too familiar with this happenstance. It had almost become a part of her morning ritual.
After a moment of what Rosa always considered to be stalking around, there was a cheerful yowlp as the young Hummingway kit, Nodd, leapt up into the empty chair on the other side of the table. “Gooood morning, Yer Majesty! How are you today!?”
Rosa smiled her normal, gentle smile. “I’m doing quite well today, thank you. And you, Nodd?”
“I’m fine!” the kit was already helping himself to some of the buttered muffins that were set out for just that reason. Nodd seemed to have a delight in all the different kinds of foods of the Blue Planet. But he was especially fond of the blueberry muffins that were baked in the Baronian kitchens for Rosa every morning.
There were more than enough muffins to share. Though usually, her table was also home to the three young Mysidian Mages that had been ordered to watch over Nodd.
Palom, Alexander and Newton are late today. They’re such lazy-heads!
Though they were quite a rabble, always bickering and talking just a little bit too loud, the young Queen didn’t mind sharing her breakfast hours. If anything, the company helped Rosa not think about the fact that she had to eat her meals alone. Now that Cecil was gone. And it took her mind off the worries she had, if only for a little while.
“Any news for me, Queen Rosa?” Nodd asked, his little ears perking forward. He brushed the crumbs away from his mouth on his robe sleeve and watched her with expectant hope.
“I’m sorry, Nodd. There’s been nothing yet,” she told him, picking up a muffin of her own.
“Oh, okay…” the kit sighed. But he didn’t let it dampen his spirits too long before his attention was fixed back on the food in one hand.
Every morning the kit asked the same question. And every morning, Rosa had the same answer. They had found no news or trace of Namingway’s whereabouts. Though there had been much more pressing issues to maintain, Rosa had taken pity on the kit’s plight to search for Namingway, and had ordered that her men keep an eye out for any sign of him. But so far, as she had expected, the elusive kat had not been found.
Because they were strangely alone that morning, Rosa found herself prompted to start up conversation with the kit. With a hint of curiosity she began, “Is Namingway a relation of yours?”
Nodd stopped in mid-chew and peered at her. “I dunno. Hard to say until I meet him. But he is one of my kind.”
“Yes. I only met him a few times on my travels, but he certainly did look a lot like you,” Rosa smiled.
“But he was older, right?”
“Oh yes. He seemed all grown up,” she nodded. “Though, I don’t know much about the Hummingways, so I’m not really a good judge for this sort of thing.”
The kit didn’t seem in the slightest bit offended by her lack of knowledge. If anything, he gave her a wide cattish grin.
“Is that why you want to find Namingway?” Rosa asked, twisting a strand of hair around one finger as she leaned forward. “To see if he is part of your family?”
“Sorta…” Nodd replied, the grin fading. “Actually… I want to find him because he might be the last living Hummingway anywhere. Other than me.”
The Queen paused and blinked. This was something she hadn’t heard before. “Oh? Why… what happened to the others?”
“I’m not sure,” the kit told her, his tone suddenly serious. “After the Red Moon left the orbit of the Blue Planet, something happened to us. All I know is when I woke up, I was with the Lunars… and all the others were missing.”
“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Rosa told the kit.
“Yeah. I’m sorry , too.”
Rosa had always thought the Hummingways to be a strange bunch. No one knew very much about them other than they were a race of cat-like humanoids that made their home in one of the caves on the surface of the Red Moon.
I only met them just that once… they seemed polite enough. If a little odd.
No one knew if they had existed upon the Moon before the Lunarians chose to make it their place of slumber. No one knew if the Hummingways had actually been a race that coexisted on Runne and escaped the destruction of that planet, much as the Lunars did.
And now, from what Nodd says, with the passing of the Red Moon from the orbit of the Blue Planet, the entire race has totally vanished?
Not much was known about the one called Namingway. He seemed to bear the same manners and appearance as the felines of the Red Moon. However, he was a well known vagabond that traveled from kingdom to kingdom over the Blue Planet. Though he wasn’t notorious for being a troublemaker of any sort, his cat like features helped to mark him in the memories of those who had come across him. Namingway always had a strange way of popping up places when one least expected it.
Putting the pieces together only made Rosa puzzle all the more. But at least now, she understood why Nodd was so intent on finding Namingway.
I’ll be sure to ask the guards to double their effort to keep an eye out for him. I really hope Nodd will find Namingway one day.
Not wanting to leave the conversation off on a somber note, Rosa peered around and asked. “So where are the other boys? Shouldn’t Alexander and Newton be coming soon? Or did they decide to sleep in?”
“Oh, no Your Majesty,” Nodd said around a mouthful of muffin. “They never went to sleep last night.”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw them leave late yesterday afternoon. I guess they never came back last night.”
“Oh, really?” Rosa wrinkled her brow. “What about Palom?”
“I haven’t seen Palom either,” Nodd told her with a twitch of his tail.
“That’s odd,” she mused to herself. “You checked their rooms and everything?”
“Of course! I couldn’t find them anywhere, so I figured I’d come get some muffins anyhow. I hope that’s alright?” the kit peered at her.
“Certainly,” Rosa told him. But her mind was far away, thoughts lingering in concern.
I wonder what’s going on? At least they could have sent word if they were going to stay outside of the castle last night. Newton is a back-talker, but he’s not been one to shirk his duty. And neither is Alexander, by far.
A light knock at the door drew Rosa’s attention away from her concerned thoughts. Half expecting to see the three wayward young Mages parade into the room, Rosa gave a soft call, “Yes? Come in?”
It wasn’t one of the boys at all. Rather, the flushed face of Calleen poked through the widening door crack. Once a good friend and classmate of Rosa’s when she had been a student of the White Arts, Calleen was now one of the supervisors that presided over the White Mage branch of the Baronian Academy. She was also the one major connection of direct information that Rosa had with the department, now that she was the Queen.
“I hope I’m not interrupting, Your Majesty?” Calleen gave a questioning bow, then remained standing and awaiting her answer.
“No, of course not. Please come in,” Rosa answered with a genuine smile. “Would you like a muffin?”
“No, but thank you, Your Majesty. I have a few errands to run this morning. But I wanted to give you the weekly outlook,” the White Mage answered, folding her hands properly.
Weekly Outlook? Is it Wednesday already? How the week goes by so fast…
“Please, by all means, don’t hold yourself up here any longer than you need to,” Rosa replied, putting her muffin back on the plate to listen.
“Well, it seems that a majority of the Mysidian refugees who suffered wounds during the destruction of the Water Crystal are nearly at full recovery… or very close to being,” Calleen nodded with a pleased look. “There are a few cases of more serious injuries that are harder to heal, of course. But, for the most part, I would report that nine out of ten citizens of Mysidia are on track to full recovery within the next few days.
“Amazing,” the Queen smiled, feeling somewhat heartened. “Especially if you consider the nature of their wounds to begin with.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Amazing is quite the word for it,” the White Mage agreed. Then a sly smile crossed her face. “We have been concealing the exact identity of the item that we are using to heal the Crystal-inflicted wounds from the masses. Still, there are some Mages in our branch that have to wonder at the healing power of King Cecil’s holy… undergarments.”
“Boxer shorts!” Nodd interjected with a mouthful of muffin. So far, the kit seemed to be zoning out the boring adult talk. But there was no doubt his ears were tuned for any talk of the mischief-making sort. And there were very few that could not laugh a little about the idea of Cecil’s Holy Boxers.
“Now, Nodd,” Rosa gave them both an amused glance.
“Well, the word is that it must be a testament to the great Paladin King’s purity that his… um… boxer shorts… can heal with a touch,” there was a twinkle of mirth in Calleen’s eyes.
Rosa couldn’t help but give a girlish giggle of her own. “Oh, they do, do they?”
“Yes, and it’s priceless, Your Majesty.”
“I bet it is,” the young Queen nodded with a wide grin.
“Not King Cecil,” Nodd added with a murmur. “It’s Golbez.”
Silence fell over the room as Calleen’s face grew uneasy. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”
“It was Golbez’s spell that heals. Not King Cecil. It just happened to be King Cecil’s shorts, that’s all,” the kit corrected her with a frown.
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” the White Mage’s expression was somewhat troubled. Then she looked to Rosa, as if to gather an answer.
“It’s true,” the young Queen replied, wincing a little at Nodd’s words. And wishing more than anything else that this topic hadn’t come up.
Maybe it’s wrong to have not said so. But we thought it was best if people thought whatever they wanted about the healing. Knowing they probably wouldn’t be very comfortable thinking it was Golbez’s power that was being used on them.
“Really?” Calleen seemed to be mulling this over. “I didn’t know that Lord Golbez could cast healing magic.”
There was just too much confusion going on… what with the Mages coming in from Mysidia. And cleaning up after the Dragon’s attack on Baron. The last thing we needed was for there to be a protest against the use of Golbez’s magic… it was the only healing spell we knew could work.
“He can,” Rosa nodded, trying to make the situation sound less troubling that it really was. “It’s tough on him, though.”
“Yet, he could produce such a powerful spell to undo the wounds that one of the Elemental Crystals cast?”
“He knows Crystals,” Nodd answered firmly. “He builds them. So he would know how to undo the things that the power of a Crystal has done.”
“Builds… Crystals…” the White Mage’s mouth was now nearly agape.
“Well… ah… that’s what we’ve heard, anyhow,” the young Queen interrupted, trying to get the conversation back in control. “But it’s all really hard to say. The most important thing is that the people are healed.”
These are not at all the type of rumors I want spreading around here about Golbez. It’s hard enough trying to keep people calm about the fact that he’s been welcomed into Baron by Cecil. And it’s just as hard on Cecil to worry about what people think about him for doing it.
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” Calleen answered, still looking a bit concerned.
“Is there anything else that you were going to report to me?” Rosa asked in effort to hurry along the visit. She didn’t want Nodd to spill any more unneeded information.
“Let me think,” the White Mage answered, tapping her chin for a moment. “No, that’s really about it, I think.”
Rosa nodded in relief.
“Oh! Oh yeah! There was one other thing,” Calleen’s head jerked up. “Nothing serious, mind you. But I just wanted to mention that it seems like we’ve got a nasty case of a summer cold going around town. We’ve got a lot of people complaining of mild fever… you know, the norm.”
“It’s that time of year,” the young Queen sighed.
“Well, make sure you don’t go getting yourself sick, Your Majesty,” she smiled teasingly. “It just wouldn’t do.”
“You too, Calleen,” Rosa smiled too, hoping everything was okay.
“Alright, well, I’d best get to my rounds, then. I hope you both have a pleasant morning,” the White Mage gave a low bow.
“Good bye, nice lady!” Nodd waved cheerfully.
Calleen gave another smile before opening the door to leave. She paused a moment, as if stopping in mid step. The White Mage looked over to the right, addressing someone in the hallway that Rosa could not see, “Oh, Sir Highwind. You startled me! Do be more careful.”
A deep, familiar voice murmured an apology. Then, as the White Mage made her way down the hall, Kain poked his head through the crack in the door. “Rosa?”
Busy morning…
The Queen peered up at the Dragoon, resuming her breakfast now that the White Mage had left. “Hello, Kain. Come in?”
He fidgeted a little, looking a bit uncomfortable about entering her chambers when there was no trace of Cecil in the castle. But it didn’t bother Rosa in the least. And she let it show on her face.
“Thank you…” The way his voice lingered in concern spoke volumes where the silence did not tread. There was something on his mind. Something that must have been serious. It reflected in the depths of his icy eyes.
“Is there something wrong, Kain?” she inquired.
“I’m not sure, Rosa,” he replied. “I don’t want to raise a false alarm but there’s something I think you should know about.”
“False alarm?” Rosa straightened in her chair. She knew Kain well enough to realize that when he said things like that, it was no little matter. “Please… continue?”
“I don’t have a lot of details. But I have confirmed the reports that have been brought to me just today…” he was hesitating.
“Which are?”
“I have strong reason to believe that there is an army of some sort amassing in the Baronian forest just a few days west of here,” Kain told her in a grim tone. “They seem to be gathering arms to march for the city.”
Rosa dropped her muffin with a doughy thunk.