Xander waved from his seat in front of the fire calling station. "I'm here."
Alan nodded. "Is the fever breaking?"
"We're down to under thirty cases in the kingdom so within a month it'll be gone. The healer we borrowed is most happy how we handle such things."
"Not Gregory?" Alan asked, looking confused.
"I got him to look at the first case to make sure it wasn't the sort of fever it was. He's out at the centaur's helper's village with their cases. Apparently they have a slightly different strain because the first case there had been a centaur."
"Interesting," the queen from the Asclepian kingdom agreed. "That would matter some because it could lead to reinfections or allow it to be passed to animals. Did we find the initial cause?"
"Refugee that got made sick by the royal family's personal healer to test antidotes," Xander said bitterly. "Got the normals and them as he ran through the woods to get away. Which I don't blame him escaping from that."
"No, I wouldn't either," she agreed. "Have they been identified?"
"Buffy's kingdom's healers called ours about the sick, dead person."
"Are they infected?" Alan asked.
"No. One village is quarantined with a healer just in case." Alan nodded, making note of that. "So what's the purpose for this meeting?" he asked.
"A few things. Tony and Don have announced they will wed," Alan said with a smile. "In six months so we can use Xander's roads again."
"They're on the public works list this year," Xander warned. "So might have some bumpy areas."
"We can plan for an extra few hours then," Jethro agreed. He made himself a note. "I had our stonemasons asking our guards about the roads. Why?"
"I'm building the new school to take the place of the one that's too small and falling in. Plus a guard post in that area to protect the schools," Xander said. "I'm including space for healing, engineering, and military higher training as well. That way they have their places to train closer to where we are. Are the engineers okay, Jethro? I know a few here are worried about their peers."
"They're fine. They think most of the dams need rebuilt. They all made it out together and everyone's fine."
"I'll let them know."
"You're going to open up a small building to let the engineers who can't travel that far go there?" Alan asked with a frown.
"Yes. That way there's one that's farther away in case they get invaded again. Plus they're going to be dealing with my stepfather's stuff for probably at least another year. It'd be a good thing to give them a place to hold lessons and invent. Their present school's getting crowded. This gives them a second building to work from and it's a bit closer for the healers in case something happens in Horatio's kingdom or down there."
"That's actually really wise," King Aaron agreed. "I know the bards have been thinking about a second campus."
"They can have a building too," Xander promised. "It's in a nicely sheltered area with a small town nearby. If I was up there I could show you guys plans some of the engineering students drew up when I was working on some. They even took maps of the area for it."
"Did you ask the healer down there about what we'd need?" the Asclepian queen asked.
"I did. He agreed that maybe retired healers could teach those that are taught at home more and the military healers as well."
"That's actually an idea we've been thinking about," she admitted. "We're too far away to get to most emergencies in a speedy manner. That would still leave the western areas uncovered."
"We have a direct pass to well traveled road access to King Aaron's kingdom within two days from that point," Xander said.
"Which is over a week faster than ours or the healers to the north," she agreed. "I need to figure out where to put one to the west."
"Ask Stella to ask the people just above them if they have one and make an agreement," Xander said. "I was going to try to get healers from the Knights' kingdom and others in to train as well so the information could get spread."
"That's actually something some of us have suggested but got turned down by the older ones who're set in their ways. I wanted to know what the ones to the north know."
Xander grinned. "I'm not against adding them in if they want to send teachers."
"That's actually a really good idea," Alan decided. "Stella, can you ask that kingdom?"
"Of course. Or we can put one near the border there. It's in the mountains so no one will just wander up and bother them without it being a problem. If we put it a bit further south and west, where the border dips in, it'll have a large town there too."
"Which would help," the other queen agreed, smiling at her. "Thank you, Stella."
"You're welcome, Annabeth. Xander?" He hummed since he was swallowing some coffee. "Is everyone all right?"
"Genjo's taking a nap. It left him a bit tired but he's only been out of seclusion for three days."
"That's fine. As long as they're fine."
"We've only lost about three percent of everyone that got sick," he admitted.
"Interesting," Queen Annabeth agreed.
"None in the centaur village."
"Very interesting. Is theirs a lighter case?"
"Only Gregory or my daughter could tell you that. You can ask her after I beat her ass and yell at her for injuring two military road guards trying to stop her that she then healed."
That queen winced. "I'll ask Gregory. It'll take a long time for her to finish that punishment and she might forget such details. Can you have that healer call us?"
"I can do that. Healer Tyler, call your queen later at King Alan's," he called.
"Yes, King Xander," he called back. "I'll gather my notes for her."
"He'll call you later up there," Xander said with a grin. "I put him near the throne room so no one had to run too far to find him."
"That's excellent," she agreed. "We put ours in the front of the hospital and they have an unused office there by tradition in case something huge happens and they need someone to keep track of records. That new teaching college, is there a city nearby?"
"There's a town where a protective military post is going up to protect all the schools. It's not too tiny right now but I expect it'll grow. There's another six towns outside the mountain ring, so within about six hours at the most by carriage."
She nodded. "Not bad for hands-on training then. Good thinking."
He smiled. "I asked those who'd know. There's even some underground caves that they suggested they use for hands-on training or a morgue."
"We have one we insulated for that," she agreed. "A cave should do just as well as long as it's well lit. I want to look over those plans."
"When I can send things out I'll send you a copy," he promised with a smile.
"Good." She smiled at Jethro. "Would a military college work the same way?"
"They'd be teaching tactics and how to lead."
"Also their judges are getting trained there," Xander said. "And their higher level protocol managers."
"An excellent use," Jethro agreed. "It could be very handy to train there in a standardized training. Would it be open?"
"As long as we're not being aggressive with someone, probably. Your army would have to ask ours if your people could attend. They wouldn't say no unless it looked like a spy for a future war."
"That's good and we could slip in teachers from the other kingdoms' militaries," he realized. Xander smiled and nodded. "Very handy. Thank you, Xander."
"I always think of my own, Jethro. I was trained by them."
"Point." He nodded, looking at the others. "That could help a lot. We do a lot of it now with cross-training."
"Which would probably have to continue," Stella agreed. "Some terrains you have to train in to understand."
Xander nodded. "That would still continue but this would be for officers to train things into them. Like maps and tactics."
"That'd make us all happier," Stella decided with a smile for him. "Are you feeling all right? I know you can probably get a bit more sick thanks to all that poisoning."
"I'm okay. A bit tired but otherwise I didn't catch it."
"Good. You hate being sick."
He smiled. "Hakkai made Goku go into Genjo's sick room with him to keep him resting."
She laughed. "That'd do it for me too." She smiled at Alan. "What do the boys want?"
"No clue yet," he admitted. "Is that Gregory?" he asked.
Xander looked then shook his head. "The new butler at a house in the country. Is your family sick?" he asked him. He nodded. "The healer's beside the throne room." He pointed. The man went to report that. "He's closer to the western edge so we'll have to see if it's another wave going that way. I have the military people who haven't had anything like this before go to the western posts to hopefully keep them from getting sick."
"That's what I'd do too," Jethro agreed. "Do you need anything you're running short on?"
"No. We're good on food and medicines. The healers have all been planting herbs with the witches' help so they'll grow easier. We're good on most everything but some fruit. Our fall fruit won't be in for another two months and our summer fruits are just about out of harvest. But we'll be fine for another few weeks. Harvests are starting in about a month and a half."
Jethro nodded. "That's good."
"The bards are bored," Xander admitted. "Since there's no gathering in mass groups but they can't leave during the fever."
"They'll have fun once things get back to normal and harvest celebrations start," Stella said with a smile. Xander grinned and nodded. "Don't you have a harvest celebration?"
"One of our traditional big holidays is right after the harvest. We should all be not sick by then."
"That's good." She smiled at him. "We can ship in some fruit."
"I think we'll be okay. Unless the healers want it to help flavor the fever potions. That's why most of the berries are gone now. That stuff's nasty even with the berry juice added."
"Yes it is," Jethro muttered. "The healers can talk later about that."
"If he does, that's fine," Xander agreed. "We're about two weeks from a shipment from King Steve's islands of really nice fruit too."
That got a mass nod. A few of them were getting some too.
Queen Annabeth frowned. "How are you keeping the shippers from getting sick?"
"We have special units set about a mile from our borders, with the neighbor's knowledge. They take anything for the kingdom and bring it in. They were checked for sickness and kept separate on purpose. The guards on the border are checked daily by their healers to make sure no one's sick. If so they send a unit of not sick people down and quarantine those. The ones taking anything like shipments and letters take it to the border in our own carts and let the guards come over the few feet to get it inside."
"So you change carts?"
"If it can hit a centaur it could hit a horse," Xander said. "That's standard for any mass sickness though."
"That's not a bad idea," she admitted. "As long as you make sure that they're not in contact with anyone sick."
"No, they drop the carts off just outside the border crossing fence and then reload it into a cart to go inside the border. The border guards come out once they've left to get that shipment and bring it inside. For smaller things they come in once a day and get left in a big metal box in a rock stand so nothing gets wet."
"We just usually have the border guards take things," Stella admitted. "We have healers with them to make sure no one's sick anyway and they take it from the messengers."
"Ours on the outer ring seal anything like messages inside a bigger envelope with the name of the sender on it. That way no one can get nosy." Xander smiled. "I made that up when I was about seven because of that one itching one we got, that I got too, and it came from the former Rosenburg kingdom."
Stella nodded. "That sounds safer."
"It is," Queen Annabeth agreed. "Do those outer ones have a healer with them?"
"The border healer checks them once a day and the outer one's are checked once a week to make sure they're not sick. All the other healers in the country are checked daily by each other."
"That's reasonable. You do take good precautions."
"We've had a number of sicknesses from other places," he admitted with a small shrug. "It makes sense we do that. The same as any military unit coming back from somewhere else are in week-long quarantine to calm down and get off battle mindset while the healers make sure they didn't bring anything back. It cuts down on family injuries if they pounce him too soon and makes it safer for everyone."
"It does," Queen Annabeth agreed, smiling at him. "Very well thought out, Xander."
"After I suggested that inner/outer ring quarantine thing to the generals, they came up with that one themselves. They said they usually made sure on the way home but it usually took a few days to treat any injuries anyway."
"That's a good idea," she agreed. "I'll have to suggest that to others."
Jethro shook his head. "We don't quarantine ours but we don't usually go anywhere that has problems."
"If a fever starts in the mountains while we're cross-training with Stella's units it could be weeks before it's noticed," Xander told him. "That's why I put the most formally trained healers with the military units going out and about. That and any injuries need to be taken care of immediately."
Jethro nodded. "I do the same with the healers but I hadn't thought about the need to watch for fevers."
"Then again, yours don't go hardly anywhere," Stella told him with a smile. "Xander takes at least a unit with him when he has to go somewhere important or hard."
"Those we have a healer on hand and Hakkai if I bring Genjo," Xander agreed. "He's Genjo's healer and sometimes I have to impose on him. Plus all units are mandated to take at least basics of field treating injuries so they can treat a minor thing or let someone know it's something huge."
"I suggest it heavily," Jethro said. "Not mandate it."
"It's part of our basics in training," Xander told him. "You learn how to march, follow orders, bandage cuts, and treat bug bites."
Jethro nodded, looking happy. "I have to suggest that to mine."
"Definitely," Stella agreed. "We keep a healer with the outer units that're so far from a regular town's healers but still could be handy."
"Your mountains do have a huge problem with fleas," Xander told her. "We have to smoke everything when they get back."
"So do we," she agreed. "There's no good way to kill them out there though. They're things that bring diseases and we'd love to get rid of them."
Xander nodded. "Us too. We have towns that have feral cat populations to cure any mice or anything else that's running around carrying bugs. Like Genjo's people's temple cats, they roam everywhere whenever they want but they're useful."
"That's not a bad idea," Stella admitted. "Maybe we can start doing that too. Feral cats would be better than rats any day."
"You need to watch out for ones who might get rabies," Genjo said as he walked behind Xander. "We get a few every year and have to end them before it spreads."
"If there was some sort of medicine to give them, that'd be easier," Stella said. She looked at the healer.
"The animal healers have one. Hasn't it been spread?" Everyone shook their heads. "I'll talk to them when I get home. It's a simple yearly injection." They all smiled at her. "We'll handle that somehow." She made herself a note. "Xander, would you be willing to teach animal healing as well?"
"Of course. We could use a few new ones."
"Thank you."
"Not a problem. It benefits everyone." She smiled and nodded. "Maybe I'll even find someone to help me train war steeds. We had fifty-two foals born this year that look good enough to train. Also, we're adding in some new bloodlines."
"I'll warn the sellers," Stella said. "Will you be out in time for the fall sale?"
"I hope so. If not I might ask Dean to go for me."
"He hates going. Someone always wants to steal Impala," Stella quipped. "But sure." She got back to what she was writing down. "Fifty-two foals?"
"Yep. From forty-nine mares." He stared at her. "That's why we joked about Genjo's Merciful Goddess coming in one night to pet them."
She nodded. "Yeah, I'd say." He grinned. "How many studs?"
"Five that we know of but there's a few that came from somewhere."
She nodded. "I'll note you're looking for new stud stock." She made that note too. "Any riding ones?"
"They all can be ridden, Stella. Any heavy enough are taught to pull things too. You have to be able to."
"Point. Any I might like? My mare's about fifteen and getting cranky with cold in her knees."
"I've got a few that're good but they're not pretty."
"How not pretty?" she asked.
"One's twelve and got burned in a barn fire when she was a filly. It's scarred her back half but it doesn't hurt her any and she's a great mare. I ride her sometimes. She's my training mare."
She blinked a few times. "The scars don't hurt her?"
"No. She's only got a tiny bit of scarring where a saddle's back edge would go. The rest's on her flanks. Or we have the pretty but kinda stubborn and dumb one that we nearly named after Buffy. She was born right after I got back from the academy." Buffy huffed but shook her head. "Genjo rides her sometimes. I think to the last convergence meeting."
"I rode the red one last time," Genjo said from the kitchen, it was just around the corner.
"Or the time before that maybe," he admitted with a grin. "She's dappled."
"I might think about that. I'll pause on my way to Tony's wedding."
"We can look then," he agreed with a smile. "We'll have last year's in heavy training by then too."
Genjo walked back to stare at him while leaning on a wall. "You only have six in heavy training. One got claimed by a new general who wanted to finish her training himself and the other one's the gelded one that turned his ankle. We're waiting on the healers to look at him from what you grumbled. The third one...I'm not sure where she is. I haven't seen her being exercised and my quarantine window looked down on it."
"She's in the quarantine barn. She went after one of the grooms with her teeth again. We're not sure why. Again, waiting on the animal healer and she's sick."
"You could ask for one to be sent," Queen Annabeth noted.
"The one we have here is a gifted one with touch healing gifts. She's the head groom's daughter."
She smiled. "That's wonderful. I can still send one so they can learn from each other. Your people have ways of straightening bones that we don't."
"Sure. I don't mind." She smiled and nodded, making that note for herself.
Alan looked at him. "Who else helps you train the horses?"
"Me." He looked at him. "It's what I do outside of sparring practice."
Alan shook his head. "You need more help sometimes."
"I'm used to it." He shrugged. "I do need to train a protege."
Alan nodded. "I can see why. Maybe you'll find one soon." He looked at the others. "On to other business. Aaron?"
"Mine's mostly solved if the bards will have their own school with Xander's new school plans. They're overcrowding the school and becoming a nuisance to the kingdom."
"Send them traveling," Xander advised. "They have to journey to prove their skills anyway. Talk to the head of the school about the new lands we've met so they can possibly travel there."
"I can do that."
"Or note that there's not that many noble families that need personal bards in attendance."
"That's also possible," he agreed, smiling at Xander. "Do you have one?"
"No. We go down to the town when we want to hear bards."
"That's not a bad idea." He nodded then wrote out a long note to send later. "I can have Emily go talk to them. She's good at that."
"Can I steal Princess Reid to come teach?" Xander quipped.
"Hell no."
"Sorry."
"I might lend you JJ." He smirked. "She might like it. She's got a kid on the way."
"That's cool. If she wants it'd be a great thing."
"I'll approach her for you, Xander. In about a year?"
"Yeah, it should be built by then. We're on the last week of taking bids to build it."
"I'll let the builders in my kingdom know," Aaron said. "They're complaining there's nothing new to build."
"We have a yearly public works program," Xander told him. "This year's the roads again." He nodded. "They don't build buildings that well but things like roads and dams? They do great and it gives people who want to do day work some."
"That's not a bad idea," he agreed, making that note as well. "A week?"
"I'll add on two days for out-kingdom ones for mailing time."
"Thanks." He got up to go call his palace from the other fire calling station.
"Our public works projects include rebuilding from storm damage," Horatio said.
"I'm glad my kingdom doesn't get huge storms like yours, Horatio," Xander said. "It'd suck."
"It can," he agreed. "There's always people who use it to cover up bad ideas. We all work extra hours right after one."
"You the family or you the guards?" Queen Annabeth asked. "Healers have mandatory hours we can't go over because it wears us down and we start making mistakes."
Horatio blinked at her. "You do?"
"Yes, we do. Because if we're too tired, people die." He nodded slowly. "Though I have heard that they will go over them in the immediate hours after an emergency."
"Sometimes. I've seen some that have. How many hours are they allowed to work?"
"Not more than twelve in a row. They have to rest at least four hours."
"I did not know that," Horatio admitted. "Though it makes sense."
"It makes sense for disaster response teams," Xander told him. "Because you can't heft and tote debris as fast after twelve hours and you're too tired so might end up a victim yourself."
"I've done that," Horatio admitted. "I took a break long enough to get some food and water down then went back to it. We don't have time to wait."
"You need more people," Xander told him. "Has your military trained for it?" He nodded, looking angry. "Are they helping the immediate needs or just keeping order?"
"Mostly helping."
"Increase the military by two percent," Xander advised. "That's about ten more people per city probably. Maybe a few more in your biggest one. That'd give you a whole new shift of people to help. Even trainees can help. They can't catch criminals but they can help move buildings off people. That's what Jethro's does."
"I also have separate groups for finding criminals and the military," Jethro agreed. "You do have the smallest military, Horatio. You're on a vulnerable coast. If that was mine, I would've already increased it by at least five percent. Just to keep people from trying to come in and take over. Plus, none of your people have had updated disaster training. They don't know how to put up the new winches that got devised. Most of them don't know how to splint and bandage. There's a lot of training they could use. Make units specifically to handle the clean up duties that have the right to call in regular troops to help."
Horatio considered it. "What new winches?" he asked.
Alan smiled. "They've been focusing on disaster clean up machines this year."
"The new winch is an overhead grabber," Xander said. "Like to lift a wall off the ground."
"That's not a bad idea. Can I talk to Charlie or someone?" Horatio asked Alan.
"Not his field but the rest of the engineers are in Jethro's kingdom looking at his dams."
"I can travel up there. It'll only take five days," Horatio admitted.
"Speaking of, why didn't we cut that road through that forest?" Xander asked. "It's flat."
"It's cursed," Stella said. "Like your woods."
"Oh, that reason. I was thinking it'd mean at least a day off Horatio's travels."
"There used to be a road on the other side of the woods," Jethro admitted. "It hasn't been used so it's overgrown. It could be reopened easily enough. Mostly flat but one small rise near the center. It'd still cut at least half a day off most travels."
"That might be nice," Horatio admitted. "My country is basically off to the side with Mac and Stella's, and no one's nearby. The nearest borders are to that woods."
"We need to maybe redraw some boundaries," Xander offered. "Because we've got lots of places like that with no one watching it." Jethro and Horatio both glared at him. "Forest. Fire."
"That," Jethro sighed, nodding. "That's true. It's a necessity that my military usually handles."
"We have no one up by there because no one comes through that border. I have my water border and the one to the south covered more heavily."
Genjo coughed. "Also some of those batty zealots that're related to Pelgar," he told him. "They're trying to kill off your citizens who don't convert."
"I had to shoot one group to get them off the coven," Xander admitted. "They went on a huge hissy fit finding one of them doing some touch healing of a broken leg." Jethro winced. "I got there about when they tried to beat them to death with their walking staffs and then tried to burn them. It was the only way they quit. The one I wounded got back up to try it again. They've got a few groups of them wandering around."
"Abby heard one and stomped over to yell at them," Jethro admitted. "They sneered until her guard arrested them all and dragged them off whining that she's not *their* sort. The judges are trying to find a reason to charge them."
"We heard about one of the enemies up north, with those people, who do the same thing."
"They have magic behind them," Xander told her. "They're ashy and fireball places. These ones just use their methods as far as I can tell. But we could ask the guys in Buffy's kingdom if they're the same."
"I can lend you one," Buffy agreed. "They're the diplomats anyway." She leaned over to look at the fire. "Would you be asking one of them to come teach?"
"Of course. Of anything they want to teach." He grinned. "They know things we don't. The engineers all wanted to learn from them anyway."
"Point." She nodded. "Are you sure you're okay? You're sweating, Xander."
"It's really hot today and I'm sitting in front of a fireplace, Buffy," he said dryly.
"Oh, that stuff." She sat back again. "I'll have the diplomats brought to each of your kingdoms in a few weeks. We're starting with Jethro's since he's closest and they're military guys."
"That's fine," Stella said. "Give us some warning. If we have to, they can do mine and Horatio's by joining us on our way back from the wedding."
Horatio nodded. "That would make sense if we can arrange to go together. Though that one inn had a fire."
"I know the uses of a tent with a cot," Stella told him. "If we have to, we can do that or sleep in the carriages overnight."
"Point. We can do that with some of mine. I'll have to have it cleaned up."
"If we need to, I can let someone bum one," Xander offered. "We have ones that're nice to nap in."
"I might," Buffy said. "I don't have any at all." Alan scowled at her. "I had one, it's really broken. Mom's last fit had her taking a bat to it because she was mad at her body."
Alan nodded. "That's reasonable, Buffy. The major carriage makers are in Xander's lower city or there's one in Stella's upper city."
"I can write them letters, see if it can be fixed. Or how much a new one will be."
"Even if the carriage part can't be fixed, they can probably reuse the frame," Xander told her. "Just put a new passenger part on top."
"That could be cheaper," she agreed. "And it might be pretty. Our last one was all gold stuff from my grandmother. Mom hated it and only used it for official things."
"She had a smaller one," Stella said with a frown.
"All but destroyed. The frame bent when it got tipped that time."
"Oh." She nodded. "That makes sense. Might be able to be fixed?"
"Not sure. Mom didn't."
"You can check. It won't cost that much to have someone look," Xander told her. "Plus you could ask the people who do carts to look at it, might be even cheaper to fix the framework."
"That's a good point. Why does no one else have any of these things? I understand why Xander does, for the military."
"The carriage makers have been here for about three hundred years," Xander told her. "One of the younger relatives married into the country and moved a branch of the family business from Cas's people to here so he could run one."
"We need to do that," Buffy said.
"You'd need more woodcrafts being available," Stella told her. "They have to use a lot of wood and you don't have any in your country. That's why we have one and a lot of stone masons. They go where they can do their work."
"I have a lot of stone workers," Alan agreed. "Some of them went to work on Jethro's castle."
"I have a tower they need to look at," Xander said. "Can you have one contact me?" Alan nodded. "The back tower, overlooking the garden, is about to fall in."
"The one your stepmother stayed in?" Genjo asked. Xander nodded. "Have we even cleaned up her space?"
"Yeah. I had guards go up to sort through it for anything. It's in storage. They burned all the papers she had up there that looked like junk."
"We can sort through it," Genjo said. "Who knows, she might've had some of the crown jewels."
"We need to search the tower for that," Xander admitted. "There's a hidden room up there that my stepfather used to put special weapons in. I looked once but I couldn't get it open."
"We can figure it out," Genjo promised. "If worst comes to worst, I'll let Goyjo break the door." Xander grinned. "Do we need to fix the carriages?"
"One's cushions need to be replaced. The rest are kept in good shape and the one that the engineers got stuck they fixed."
Genjo nodded. "I still can't believe you have a carriage that turns into a siege engine." He walked off to get more tea.
Xander grinned at the staring people. "My stepfather's idea."
"Seen it in use," Stella said dryly.
"Saw it at that battle," Buffy quipped with a grin for her. "It was kind of handy."
"It's comfortable to travel in too," Xander told her. The others just shook their heads.
Genjo smirked at Xander. "We need to find out what the happy couple wants so we have time to have something made."
"They have no idea yet," Alan admitted. "You'll find something nice. They're moving to their own small house in town as well."
"That means we can find something nice for it," Xander decided. Genjo nodded.
"Just don't get Don any books," Alan said. "He's got plenty."
The others made notes and nodded. They got back to business for a while.
***
Xander and Genjo looked at their crafts guild's higher ups. "All right, we have three things to talk about today," he noted. They all nodded. "First, we're setting up the new school." A few smiled. "We took bids and didn't get hardly any. One of the groups from King Aaron's kingdom is going to be in charge and will be hiring local workers as well." They nodded at that. "Second, the school is going to housing specialists colleges."
"For the crafts?"
"One's for engineers." Xander smiled. "And the town's also building a military post to protect it."
"So the stone masons are going to have a ton of work," one of them quipped.
"And probably some of the rest of you too. The schools are going to need plates and stuff from the ceramics people. The wood in the schools. A lot of stuff needs to be put in." They all got happier with that.
Genjo cleared his throat. "Also, it's been noted that we're looking a bit...shabby."
They stared then a few nodded. "We've noticed that your stepfather didn't do much maintenance on things like public buildings," one of the woodworkers said.
Xander grinned and nodded. "And we need to fix it. We can't look shabby. We already get plenty of dirty looks for not being warlords." They moaned. "So you guys have a *lot* of work coming up." A few more moaned again. "But hey, it means getting more apprentices. I will allow out-country apprentices and possibly new masters if you want to steal some from someone."
They smiled at their protective, kind of insane, king and his bitchy consort. "We can do that," they agreed. "Thank you, Sire."
"Welcome, guys. Make us pretty again please." He grinned. "That way people quit sneering." They nodded. "These three engineers designed the new schools," he said, passing down the plans. "That's what's going up."
They unrolled them to see what they'd need to put in. The wood and stone workers were going to be horribly busy for *years*. The ceramics people were going to be spending months making plates and cups. The rest were going to have accessory workings going on.
Xander smiled at one specifically. "Write Queen Buffy about her carriages."
"I can do that, Sire."
"Good. One's broken thanks to former Queen Joyce and a bat. The other one tipped and I suggested she talk to the regular cart makers since it'd be cheaper and it's a frame problem."
"We can definitely do that," he agreed. "Do ours need work?"
"One needs new cushions," Genjo said. "They could be examined but I don't think they need a lot of work." He looked at Xander. "Can we afford to do this all at once?"
"Yeah. We have plenty of money now that we're not supporting wars everywhere."
"Okay then that's my only objection as long as it's tasteful." He looked at the stones people. "We're having someone look at that tower as well."
"Great. It could use it. We're good enough to build but fixing something already built takes special skills."
"We've asked King Alan to have someone call us," Genjo said. "We're going up today to look through it." The stone masons all smiled and nodded they'd help. They all took notes of what they'd need to be building in how many dozens and then the stone people went up to the old tower with the royals and one guard with a rope. He was paranoid and really wanted a rope in case they had to get out a window. Xander stopped at the door to look at it. Genjo looked. "Is that the switch?" he asked with a point at a brick that stood out.
Xander tapped it, shaking his head. "No, that one's just sticking out." He pointed. "That's the switch I know of but it seems to be locked."
The stones masons got them out of the way and opened the hidden door. One found a trick stair too by accident. The guard saved him. The door got opened and Genjo stepped back, staring at the shiny things. "I thought you said it was weapons," Genjo said.
"Those are. They're poisoned," Xander said, staring at them. "That's the necklace no one could find for Stella too." He leaned in to look around. "Weapons." He climbed in and found the side doors, pulling out boxes.
Genjo looked. "They're probably weapons. It looks like they throw things." He closed them and put them on the stairs. The poisoned jewelry was put into a box that was mostly empty, outside a few grenades. Xander found a few more weapons then climbed back out. He closed the door. Then he reopened it and found more weapons. He looked up since the floor was higher. "It's an elevator system?"
Xander climbed back in and up the new hole, nodding. "Yeah, there's a ton up here." Genjo moaned. "We'll bring it down later." He came out and they went up to the two rooms up there. His former stepmother's quarters. The boxes were still in there. The walls were crumbling in one spot.
One of the stone masons looked at it. "Was her chamberpot here?"
"She has a full bathroom," Xander said with a point. "Could she have ignored that? Possibly. She was fully drunk most of the time." They nodded. "We'll need these down so we can go through them." He looked at the furniture. "This is all to be trashed. We can offer this to someone as a work studio. Maybe a weaver." They went to the other room. "Hey, someone threw out all the empty bottles. Great." The guard laughed. "This was her storage room for that stuff."
The guard nodded. "I remember, sire. We parked a cart down below the window and just threw them down. It took us six hours." The stone masons looked at them. He nodded. "All empty wine bottles." They groaned. "The walls aren't in bad shape."
"No, they're not. It's mostly the external walls that have the problem," they agreed, patting one. "We can tell the ones that can fix the tower about the shape of things, Sires." They left, the others following while carrying down the stuff they had found. Xander went back to the storage room to get more stuff out with some of the military grunts. He found some older artwork that had been put up too. He also found the other entry, which led to a huge drop from the parapet of the tower into the moat. He went back but left that door open for a bit. It was too chilly today for birds. More people came up to heft things down. The statues took a few people each. Including Xander helping. He wasn't immune to hefting and toting. It was all his stuff now.
***
Xander called Horatio's kingdom. "Is Stella there?" he asked Eric.
"They're having dinner with Horatio, King Xander. Is there a problem?"
"I'm pretty sure we found that missing necklace of hers." He smiled and went to get her. She came back. He held it up and she smiled and nodded. "One small tiny problem? It's poisoned. He soaked the whole thing into a poison. I'm not sure how to clean it. We don't have the jewelry makers, you and Horatio do."
"I can have ours look at it. Is it a dangerous one?"
"Yeah. It's a seriously nasty one. The healers tested it and went on fits about his plot to use it as a mistress remover. It's labeled." He showed it to her. The note was written on the bottom of the jewelry box.
"That's so nasty," she decided. "Okay, well, when you can get out, send it with a special courier. I'll have someone look it over. Were there others?"
"Yeah. Some were even worse. They were sitting in poison that had dried around it." She grimaced. "And we found the old storage area in that tower where they put some of the statues to save them from my stepfather or that needed mended. We spent the last three days moving things down out of the tower."
"Wow," she said. "That's a lot."
He grinned. "Yes, it is, and it's mostly naked women statues." She laughed. "I'll send it with a special guard but I thought I'd ask since it's dangerous."
"Have you heard anything about a warlord trying to start?"
"No. I heard about a group of spoiled rich, lesser heirs trying to pretend to be warlords. And them not being able to do a thing but use weapons they order on credit."
"Okay. Can we end them?"
"They're in Genjo's people's area. We can tell him."
"I can do that. Thank you, Xander."
"You're welcome, Stella." He hung up with a wave. The box got closed and put into a sealed case. The healer had a note about the poison to go with it. It got put aside for a special courier when it was safe for them to leave the country.
They had more cubby holes they needed to find. Even the housekeeper didn't know about those spaces and she had been working here since she was a young girl.
***
Stella sat down at dinner, smiling at Mac and Horatio. "Xander found that missing necklace but it was dipped in poison."
"His stepfather did like that method," Mac said.
"He wrote 'mistress remover' on the bottom of the jewelry box," she told him. He rolled his eyes. "So they'll send it to me when they can safely reopen the borders." She dug in again.
"Xander's doing a lot of things," Horatio said.
She looked at him. "So why are you so down on him?" He glared. She stared back. "Not like we haven't noticed, Horatio, and I'm sure you got Alan's letter too. I know we did."
"It seems like that ploy of theirs failed. It killed King John and no one seems to care."
"It did work. We're not getting the minor demons that had been plaguing people. Now we're getting their versions of gods." She sipped her wine. "None of the minor possessing things have happened. They have to be possessing someone to get into the Joined Kingdoms and we have protections on the borders that show they're possessed."
"That one who gave us the scrolls."
"Is the level of the ones that were causing problems' gods," she said bluntly. "He's the one the lower ones all pray to."
"I'm worried that somehow Xander got warped by all that. We did lose a king. Most of us got injured. Xander got a bit cut up but nothing else?"
Mac wiped his mouth off. "John knew what he was going to," he told him. "By his journals, he had been there before about his former wife, who died at the one the boys went to up north. They reported seeing her. She had tried to stop that higher demon problem and died doing it." Horatio winced. "John was trying to find a way to get back to her side since the day she died. That's why he used to run off to hunt the demons that took her out, Horatio. They knew what they were doing. As for Xander's injuries," he said, looking at Stella.
"I overheard him talking to Genjo about the protections he has on his kingdom. He linked his soul into them. So no matter what, he'll be floating around as the price he paid to keep the kingdom more free." Horatio winced, shifting some in his seat. "He had one of Castiel's family help him. It kept the problem of what happens if the bloodline dies down for good."
"So we're not handling the minor level things possessing people, but the higher level that are more dangerous," Horatio said. Mac and Stella nodded. "That will cause more problems."
"No," Stella said. "There's not as many of them and they're the sort that plan things then send out minions. We're immune to the minions and they don't want to screw with Xander for some reason. Or Amellisame."
"There's some sort of prophecy that states them taking out healers would lead to their downfall," Mac said. "I asked Xander. They're scared of him because he's got some skills of his own that he doesn't use too often. He's had a few visions, which would make him a bigger target but he also got possessed at his stepfather's instigation before he was sent to the academy. Some sort of large hunting creature. He kept enough of the instincts that he scares them."
"That plus where he was born," Stella decided. "That lets him get to that point easier and possibly even use it if he wanted to study any form of magic. Which I'm thankful he doesn't."
Horatio relaxed. "Perhaps. He does seem so smug."
"Horatio, he's more than a third of your age," she said dryly. "That's a young guy for you."
"He is annoyingly bouncy," Horatio agreed.
She looked at him. "He needs better concubines." Horatio spluttered. "You know, if he was like his stepfather, he probably would've taken in Calleigh as one. Or Ryan."
"And probably Danny, Don, or Aiden," Stella said, making Mac smile at her. "No, he wouldn't have taken me. I'm not squealy in bed." She ate a bite of chicken with a grin.
"We really do need to find him one he can keep more than two years," Mac said.
"I think they're tired by then and he does give them gifts for their service," Stella reminded him.
"Even when Timothy was alive, I still never wore him out that way," Horatio said, grimacing some.
"Yes, but Xander's more like Eric," Mac said.
"He does do the same thing," Horatio agreed. "Maybe I should suggest him to be Xander's concubine. He does have princesses sitting around."
"Not as many now that Tony's marrying," Stella said. "That leaves Gregory and Genjo's guard team. Maybe whoever's visiting. His own daughter."
Mac smiled. "Amellisame's growing into the same stubborn her father is. I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for when they're locked in quarantine together." He smirked as he ate a bite of chicken and stuffing.
"Gregory can be sarcastic but he does care for her. He's been helping train her." Stella nodded while she chewed. "I'm sure he can get his point across," Horatio decided. "Maybe things will slow down soon. It'd be nice if things got boring for a bit."
"Too true," Mac agreed. They got back to their nice, friendly meal. It was good to have friends.
The End.
I'm pretty sure this is the End.
Qualified, Stressed Princesses.