"Hear that, honey?" Roff smiled at my words and leaned in to kiss me.
"Now, about the other business," Karzac sliced into his rack of lamb, which was the latest course. I was full after the quail and silently attempted to auction off my lamb to someone else. Drew winked at me. I kept a little for myself and passed the rest down to him and Drake. They'd been out training the vampires and comesuli that made up our new palace guards and army, so I knew they'd be famished.
"What other business?" I asked, tasting the lamb. It was delicious, but I was about to pop and we still had dessert coming. The strawberry soufflé would have to wait until later.
"The off-days business," Gavin growled.
"Yeah, who isn't getting off-days? And why haven't I heard about this before? I may have words with the ones responsible," I grumped.
"Then you need to get a mirror," Tony snickered. "And I want to watch you chew yourself out." My fork was still in my hand as I gawked at Tony.
"Since when does the boss get a day off?" I said and busied myself with a forkful of lamb.
"Since the entire Inner Circle decided," Karzac said. "Lissa, you have yet to gain an ounce, you push yourself for sixteen hours or more at a stretch and are generally asleep the moment your head hits the pillow. I can't say I'm completely familiar with your power, but it isn't doing anything to keep you from exhaustion."
"When we confine ourselves to a corporeal shape, it drains us," Kifirin appeared and sat in his seat at the opposite end of the table. "I did that for a very long time and it almost drained me completely. That is why I slept, avilepha," Kifirin accepted a plate from a vampire server. "You will drive yourself into the same state if you are not careful. I have discovered that if I spend one or two hours each day in my energy state, it rests me and I can continue as you see me now."
"But I don't know how to do that," I said. Honestly, I was afraid to do it, since I was unfamiliar with the concept and afraid to go Looking.
"I know this, m'hala. I will teach you." Kifirin was devouring his quail, a satisfied smile playing about his lips.
"Back to off-days," Karzac grumbled.
"Karzac, I don't know when I could take any. And I've wanted to find a place in this palace for a pool and hot tub and I haven't even had time to go look."
Everybody at the table was staring at me, now. Gabron cleared his throat. "What?" I asked.
"You have a pool and hot tub," Tony said. "And if you'd take five minutes for yourself, you'd know that."
"I take time," I grumped, feeling embarrassed. "Where the hell is the pool and hot tub?"
"Between the Royal Wing and the Guest Wing," Gabron sighed. "I thought you had the ability to reach out for information, my darling."
"I do have that."
"She's Looking for other things," Karzac was at his grumpy best.
"I will clear your calendar for tomorrow and then we will decide on regular days off," Gabron went on.
"But what about the City Councils?" We were still hip deep in hammering out universal laws. With this diverse a population from eight different planets so far, everything had to be woven together into whole cloth. We weren't anywhere close, yet.
"We need days off, too," Flavio weighed in.
"All right, what do you suggest?" I glared at the third most beautiful man I'd ever met, daring him to complain. He gave me a lovely smile. While that might make most women swoon, it wasn't doing a thing for me at the moment. Kifirin was smiling and ducking his head to keep from laughing at me.
"A decree from the Queen, stating that the City Councils take the week endings off from meetings," Flavio said.
"A Royal Decree," Kyler nodded enthusiastically. I was only now realizing that I'd been cutting into her time with Flavio.
"Great. What am I supposed to do, wave my arms or something?" I grumbled.
"That would work for me," Flavio chuckled.
"You need a royal seal; you don't have one," Gabron offered.
"One that can balance a ball on his nose," Tony snickered.
"I'm coming over there," I threw my napkin down and misted toward Tony.
"Lissy, we can't wrestle in the floor, think of the neighbors," Tony said when I turned up right next to his chair.
"If the neighbors complain, I can put them in a headlock, too," I tugged on Tony's ear.
"Lissa, please be more circumspect," Gavin was seated next to Tony and chose to hand out the usual chastisement.
"Fine. Any other complaints before I leave? No? Good." I misted away.
"Now where the hell did she go?" Karzac demanded, standing and angry in an instant.
"She is tired. Now isn't a good time to draw attention to what you think of as her shortcomings," Griffin offered.
"Then there won't be a good time," Drake said. "And it probably wasn't a good idea to do this in front of everybody," he added. "She's good if you tell her with just the Inner Circle, but she gets embarrassed with others around."
"I should learn to hold my tongue," Gavin muttered.
"Where's Lissa?" Erland Morphis folded in.
"Have a seat, Warlock," Griffin pushed an empty chair out with power. Erland sat and someone came to serve him. "We don't know where she went; she left a few seconds ago."
"Warlock, when you finish eating, we will visit the Dark Elemaiyan planet," Kifirin said. The Dark Lord was halfway through his rack of lamb. Erland was given the update on Lissa and current events while he ate.
I walked through a field on Evensun, the Dark Elemaiyan world. Twilight was falling across the section of the planet where I walked and I wondered why they'd traveled away from it. Stars were beginning to appear over the eastern horizon and they winked and twinkled over my head as I gazed about. I wouldn't have walked away from this place, I don't think. I did a little Looking and there was no construction anywhere. Several thousand years had passed since the Dark Elemaiya had returned. Had they found that gating to other worlds held more appeal than the world they'd stood upon, or did they have the desire to travel so much that staying in one spot was unbearable? It mattered no longer; they were going to live out their days upon Evensun. I wasn't sure they deserved such a beautiful world, but they were getting it, nonetheless.
"Avilepha, do you think we need to build some sort of shelter for them?" Kifirin had come and was now taking in the planet and what it offered. Everyone else from the dinner table followed Kifirin and they appeared in twos and threes around us.
"Kifirin, my handsome love, they have had too much handed to them already. Let them worry over their own shelter. Let them fashion their own tools and find their own meals." I shook my head at the thought of providing them with anything other than what we had already.
"There are a few young among them," Griffin said, wading through the grasses to my side.
"Are there any that are quarter-blood?"
"No, those were sent away with the sixteen," Griffin replied. I'd sent sixteen to another world—the handful that hadn't wanted to participate in the Elemaiyan attempt to grab Fox, who was a quarter-blood and the Ka'Mirai.
"Good. How old is the youngest among the others?"
"One is seven, another is fourteen and a third is sixteen."
"What do you suggest, then?"
"I'd like to speak with them and feel them out before we cast them to the winds with the others."
"Then we'll go tomorrow," I sighed.
"I wish you to speak with one other," Griffin said.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"You will see. I will come to get you three hours after the sun is up on Kifirin."
"All right," I agreed.
"What do you think of this world?" Kifirin asked.
"I think it's beautiful," I said. "Why did they leave it? I don't understand."
"The Elemaiya were always afflicted with wanderlust," Kifirin replied. "They were never satisfied with staying in one place." It sounded as if he was withholding information but I didn't press him on the matter.
"Too bad, that's what they're getting now," I said.
"Avilepha, I have my doubts that they will ever be self-supporting as a race. They have lived off other races for so long, now. The Ra'Ak, too. They have vague memories of what they were before, but as you have likely discovered, the Copper Ra'Ak only allowed the strongest and most dominant to live. The only one who did not fit that mold was Gilfraith and I have yet to determine how he managed to slip through and become Ra'Ak."
"I'm glad he did. And I think the answer to your question is love, Kifirin. Gilfraith loved. Both in the past and in the present. All you have to do is watch him around Fox. He would die for her."
"I think you may be correct, my love." Kifirin put his arms around me and nuzzled my neck.
"This is very nice, I have never been here before," Connegar folded in and looked around. Reemagar folded in right behind him.
"Hi, honey," I went to take one of Connegar's hands in both of mine.
"Do I understand correctly that the ones upon Kifirin will be coming here?" he smiled down at me.
"Yeah. Seems like a waste, doesn't it?" I asked. The night sky over our heads was such a perfect deep blue and even more stars were winking and glittering now.
"We will see what they do with it," Connegar replied.
"If they do not recognize the gift, then I pity them," Reemagar remarked, coming to stand beside us.
"Me, too," I smiled at him. There seemed to be a sadness in him and I hadn't run into that before with a Larentii.
Before we left, though, I wanted to place a benediction upon the planet itself. Sort of an apology, if you will, before handing it over to those who would likely curse it instead of appreciating it for what it was—a lovely, unspoiled world. I sang How Can I Keep From Singing while a light breeze rippled the tall grass around my legs and the stars trembled over our heads.