Callie's Heroes

PART VII: LADY FIGHT

"This is really good," Callie said as she scraped the plate clean, wondering for a moment if she could get away with licking it clean instead. "It's a shame there's not more. I mean, I know it's real, but even replicated, it would still be delicious."

Pixyl had long ago cleaned her plate of the strange, lumpy, pudding-like dessert that had been brought out, barely managing to fight off the throng of eager eaters to also get a serving for Callie while she'd been off talking to the officers. Despite the rather unappetizing appearance of the blob of brown goop, it was a delicious melding of a couple different flavors. Vague chocolate- or coffee-resembling tastes were immediately apparent, but that was soon followed by a rich, tart, berry flavor and a few others difficult to place. While several large bowls of it had been brought out by the kitchen Goblins, the contents disappeared almost immediately.

By the time Callie had returned to Pixyl and the rest, after briefly talking to the Commandant, Jasryn had already been led off by Thorn, the two of them walking and talking as they moseyed away from the tent. Just before leaving her sight, the Gnoll's face brightened at something Thorn said, and Callie took that as a good sign. She was positive her new friend would absolutely nail the interview.

Callie had been still feeling a bit guilty at her realization that she had only seen Utora's melded power when she'd read through the logbooks, and completely missed her name. But that also got her thinking about the incoming group of Warriors they were going to try to teach melded skills to, and she quickly realized the organization that was needed in advance of them arriving. She had planned to talk to Thorn directly at some point, and maybe jot down a few suggestions and other notes to help whoever took on the task. But upon learning Jasryn was a numbers nerd like her, and wanted to stay, the whole idea coalesced in only a few minutes.

To say that she was jealous, in a way, was an understatement. Callie instantly knew how she'd approach analyzing the historical data. If she'd been back on Earth, she'd use some spreadsheets to help find the relationships between all the melded and off-class powers. That wasn't an option here, of course, so she'd been starting to give some thought to the Imorian equivalent of all those tools. Nothing had really come to her Tinker brain save a big bulletin board with thumbtacks and string to connect all the dots. Jasryn would need enough space for said big board, and a big table to spread out on. Callie amended her mental note to let Thorn know that.

Before long, Jesca wandered off, as did Ambria, leaving just Pixyl and Callie at the little table they'd commandeered. The two of them people-watched for a while, commenting idly on a couple pretty outfits people were wearing, speculating wildly about Lena's apparent love triangle, and enjoying the music from afar. Callie had suggested dancing, but Pixyl was still a little nervous due to her rough experiences the night before, and waved off the suggestion, eventually telling Callie to go dance with Ambria when she pressed a bit. She might do that, but would make sure Pixyl really was okay with her dancing with someone else first.

The evening sun had well gone orange when Lhawni approached, carrying a plate of the few remaining foods. She and Chown had missed dinner, for the most part, apparently having too much fun frolicking through the forest in their animal forms and losing track of time.

"Where's Chown?" Callie asked.

Lhawni chuckled a bit at that. "He fell into a creek on the way back. He went to clean up and change."

"Ewww," Callie and Pixyl both responded.

"It was stagnant mud, too, so he absolutely stinks. He's not very graceful in people form, sometimes, so he's soaked and covered in mud. His Swamp Sense completely failed him on that one. He's quite agile in his animal form, though, which was fun when … you know what, nevermind."

"In your animal forms?" Callie gasped, instantly seeing through her friend's deflection. "You can do that?"

Lhawni coughed, her face quickly growing several shades of green darker.

"You aren't even the same species of animals. That works?" Lhawni's animal form was a fox-like creature known as a Yalokin, that sported dark green fur and a pair of small horns on her head. Chown's form, about two-thirds the size of Lhawni's, was more akin to a relatively nimble long-legged raccoon, even decorated with a black mask. Unlike the Earth analogue, his form had long, bunny-like ears and patches of white on his underside.

"You get … creative then," Lhawni mumbled. Then with a sigh, she added, "Look, it's sort of frowned upon for shapeshifters to do anything … intimate … when in their forms. It was one of the first things Maugra taught us when we learned the magic."

"Which means it was the very first thing the two of you did," Callie said flatly.

Lhawni deflated slightly. "Well … you have to at least give it a try, right? I mean … " Her voice trailed off into nothing.

"Hey, you know what? No judgement here," Callie said. "Let your freak flag fly, girl!" She offered a high-five, which the slightly skeptical Lhawni hesitantly returned.

"Uh, excuse me. Callie?" a familiar voice asked from behind her, interrupting the girl talk.

Callie rolled her eyes and sighed, not even needing to see who it was. "Take a step back, Halc!"

The Dwarf immediately did. "Oh, sorry."

"That's better. Now, what do you want?"

Halc was silent for a moment, his hands a little fidgety as he looked toward the female Dwarf next to him. She was wearing a visitor cloth on her arm, and a bit of a scowl on her face.

Turning, Callie glared at the nervous Halc. "What?"

The visiting Dwarf appeared to be older, although Callie still didn't have a great sense of how the various races aged compared to each other. Certainly she was far older than Natala was, though. Dressed very properly, she had an air of self-importance, and definitely a bit of a cranky 'Karen' vibe about her, almost as if she was just aching to ask for a manager.

"Who are you?" Callie asked, startled out of her frustration with Halc momentarily by the new person.

"Ingris."

"Ingris? 'Kay. Hi." Callie turned back to Halc. "Well? What do you want?" She asked sharply. She was annoyed. She knew exactly what Halc wanted, and she'd already told him twice she wasn't going to sing tonight. He shouldn't need to be told a third time.

"Lady Ingris," came the follow-on correction, the Dwarf's eyes narrowing in irritation, voice flat and the Karen-meter going up by a few degrees.

Callie had been just about ready to fully tell Halc off once and for all. The incessant nagging for her to play the Over the Rainbow medley was just getting old at this point. But the words completely shriveled in her throat as her eyes went wide? Lady Ingris? Oh, shit!

In a panic, Callie tried to remember what Pixyl had done the evening before when meeting Lady Winafria. She didn't need to curtsey or bow, right? Kneel? No, wait … it was something simple! That's right. Gently nodding her head towards the Lady Dwarf, Callie croaked out a quiet, "Lady Ingris! It's … uh … a pleasure to meet you."

Ingris harrumphed, looking down her nose at Callie. "You young people don't have any manners. No manners at all!"

"I didn't mean to offend," Callie started to say. "My apol …"

"What was that so-call music last night?" Ingris demanded simply. "It was pointless, too fast and too loud!"

"She knows slower things, too," Halc said in a loud whisper. He was obviously intimidated at the moment, and seemed to be trying the best he could to defend Callie. Ingris was just an angry force of nature, though, and ignored him. Halc made a wincing, almost embarrassed face, while at the same time seeming to silently express an apology to Callie.

Flat out ignoring Halc, Lady Ingris just stared at Callie, apparently waiting for an answer to what had seemed like a rhetorical question.

"It … uh … was just music," Callie said, her words stumbling out of her mouth, unsure how to even begin to answer such a question. She didn't understand what was going on here.

"Hardly!" Ingris snorted at Callie's answer. "I've heard a lot of music in all my days, and what you played was anything but ..."

"Lady Ingris," someone called in a cool yet cheery voice, firmly interrupting the Dwarf's rant, and all eyes turned to see Lady Winafria approaching, swooping in almost as if coming to Callie's rescue. She was wearing a big smile that felt just a little bit artificial, and carrying a cup of what was presumably wine in one hand. "How are you on this lovely Midsummer evening?" While the question was polite, there was a bit of an underlying tone of snark and animosity.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Ingris narrowed her eyes at the tall Elf and sneered. "Oh, it's you, the baby Parliamentarian. I'm just talking to this … person … about her supposed music."

"Oh, yes! Wasn't it wonderful? So lively!" Winafria said, apparently not rising to the 'baby Parliamentarian' comment. She then looked at Callie. "Have you been properly introduced?" Without waiting for a response, she continued. "Ingris, this is Callie, a Ranger and a good friend of Prince Vanis. Callie, this is Lady Ingris, one of my counterparts serving in the Parliament. She is well-regarded, having served in the position for many, many, many years. Perhaps too many to count, in fact." While seeming to be polite on the surface, Winafria's introduction was very obviously designed to be a dig at the Dwarf's age and political longevity. The twitching eyelid on the Dwarf showed it had been effective. "The Lady also serves with me on the War Committee, so I'm sure she's quite impressed by the capabilities and sacrifice of all the recruits here."

Ingris shot Winafria with another glare, and you could tell she'd been verbally cornered. But decades of politics had also taught her how to slip her way out of these kinds of simple traps. "I'd expect to be impressed, considering how much this place costs us!" Ingris huffed. "For the most part, what I've seen is young people having too much fun when they should be learning to fight. There's a war on!"

"Ingris, it's Midsummer," Winafria cooed, almost mockingly touching her hand to her chest as if offended. "Certainly we can indulge them a few days to celebrate before they risk their very lives for those of us sitting so safe and comfortable back in Imor."

There was no way for Lady Ingris to retort to that without coming off as the worst, so she simply grunted, before turning back to Callie, deciding she was the better target. "Your so-called music is still awful."

"W-W-Why?" Callie asked, still very confused by this whole conversation.

"Music is supposed to tell a story," Ingris said flatly. "At least good music will. That racket you made last night? It wasn't a story, it was simply a statement. Nothing grand or epic, so just a lot of noise. And what was that 'ooga booga' Ogre music? In my day, our Bards could entertain hundreds, leaving them weeping at the very words that came from their lips, not jumping around and spouting nonsense like a bunch of crazy people." She rolled her eyes. "Gnomes. Your kind is never serious about anything."

"Uh … I'm sorry?" Callie said, not sure what else to say. She glanced back at Pixyl, who was simply wide-eyed and stunned, probably stuck between wanting to defend Callie and not offend a noble person, even though the title was effectively honorary. Unless Ingris actually was nobility! Across the table, Lhawni just looked uncomfortable, and was certainly wishing she had never come over in the first place.

"I'm sure she knows many songs that tell grand stories, or could bring tears to a person's eyes. Even to a person as dark and sour as you, Ingris," Winafria said brightly, salting the statement with spite. "The excited feelings of last night's magic I'm sure will be quite memorable for all of us."

"I use an active charm resistance skill," Ingris grouched, looking up at Winafria and waving the idea away, "so I didn't notice." Then she added in a lecturing tone. "In our position, we shouldn't allow ourselves to be influenced by such things! If you haven't learned the importance of that by now, maybe you should rethink vying for the renewal of your appointment until you have."

Winafria cocked her head, pausing as if trying to come up with something to say. Finally she settled on a barb she liked. "Can you let no feeling into that bitter soul you have, Ingris?" she asked mockingly. "Are you so cowardly and spiteful as to not allow even a song to touch you?"

Oh, that did it, and Ingris squared herself off against the Elf. Everything suddenly grew tense, the few onlookers the escalating spat had attracted all taking careful steps backward. The two politicians might not actually fight, but even the aura of pure hatred growing around them was enough to make anyone wary. The air felt charged, as if a menacing bolt of electricity was just waiting to strike at whoever might flinch first. Whatever this was, it had nothing to do with music! This kind of animosity was personal and long-standing, and the venom was dripping.

"What did you say?" Ingris hissed. "Did you just call me a coward?"

"No, Lady Ingris, I asked if you were cowardly," Winafria said slowly, as if speaking very carefully to a child … or an very elderly parent. She put on a face of trying to be helpful, turning her head as if looking for someone. "There are several Healers here. I'm sure one of them could assess your hearing if needed. Is this why so many of your district's concerns go unanswered, and they have instead come to me for aid? Is it simply that you can't hear them?"

"Ladies!" Lord Cessel lightly called, walking up to the pair, arms wide, his bright tone attempting to deescalate the hot situation.

"Fuck off, Cessel!" both Winafria and Ingris snapped in unison, neither of them taking their piercing, hateful eyes off the other.

"Uh … I do believe I'll be fucking off, then," Cessel said, his own eyes going wide as he backed away, raising his hands in surrender and taking up a spot next to Pixyl. He knew better than to get into the middle of this!

"You impudent, little child! You dare insult me like that? I've been serving my district since before your mother was on all fours like an animal conceiving you."

A surprised 'ooooo' went up in the crowd at the insult, eyes turning to Winafria to see what she'd do in response.

"Exactly," Winafria said, continuing to keep her icy calm. "Perhaps it's time for one with more … vigor … to step into your place?"

There was a tense, almost oppressive, silence. Callie swallowed hard, trying to understand how this had gone from a simple complaint about her music to two Ladies just about ready to murder each other. Was dueling a thing here? If it was, Callie was pretty sure one of these two was going to go down. Then she wondered what class each of the two were, and who had the advantage.

"My original question still stands," Lady Winafria said, breaking the silence. "Have you not the courage to actually feel a Bard's music?"

Neither moved. Neither even blinked. The tall Elf simply stared down expectantly awaiting an answer from the elder Dwarf. "I'll tell you what, Lady Ingris. How about a wager?"

"A wager?"

"Yes. Let's call it a test of your courage, shall we. Should I lose, I will withdraw my name for consideration for appointment. That should make one even as sour as you happy, would it not?"

"And if I lose?"

"Then you simply … go away." She made a walking gesture with her fingers. "You resign from the assembly, effective immediately, and slink off with your inexplicable riches, allowing your district to elect someone that serves them and not your current masters."

Ingris scoffed, waving her hand dismissively at the ridiculous proposal. She started to turn, her eyes falling on the growing crowd. All of their faces were looking back at her, though, wide-eyed and expecting a response of some kind. "And what would I have to do?"

"You need do nothing but stand there, Ingris. Or sit, I suppose, should you grow tired and need to. Young Ranger Callie here will play three songs." She made a point to emphasize Callie's class as she gestured towards her, as if to wave the fact she wasn't actually a Bard into the mix. "You will stand … or again, sit if you were to grow weary, and listen. Should you so much as shed a single tear, or raise your resistances to the magic, then you lose. It's that simple. If, after three songs, your face is as dry as your … well … then you won't need to deal with me across the aisle from you."

"What?!" Callie gasped, but neither Lady turned their eyes from the other. You could almost see the daggers flying from said eyes as the bottom dropped out of Callie's stomach, still trying to understand how she'd been roped into whatever the fuck this was!

"Fine!" Ingris snarled. "Anything to be rid of you. Let's go!"

Winafria shook her head. "No, not yet. Callie must have time to prepare, and we'll need to locate a Scryer to assure you keep your word and raise no magic of your own. We wouldn't want any cheating, after all. Two hours."

"Ten minutes!" Ingris countered.

"Two hours."

"Twenty, then."

"Two hours, or would that be too far past your bedtime?" Winafria taunted.

The crowd had been watching the back-and-forth as if it was a verbal tennis match, eyes now shifting to the angry Dwarf. A few glanced briefly at the increasingly panicked Callie, but quickly looked back. None of them had ever seen anything like this.

"Fine," Lady Ingris hissed, narrowing her eyes. "I'll agree to your two hours. In exchange, when you lose, you will resign from the assembly. Completely. Not just give up your appointment bid. Then I know I'll never have to see your smug, pointy-eared face again."

Lady Winafria made the briefest of glances towards her husband, silent words surely passing between them. Then she looked to Callie, who was wide-eyed and terrified, and seemed to consider her for a hard moment. "I accept."

A smug smile slowly crept onto the face of Lady Ingris. "It will be so wonderful to be finally rid of you." With an angry spin, she stormed off, stopping just long enough to look back at Callie. Slowly, lips pulled into a sneer, she scanned the Gnome up and down a few times, before scoffing once and continuing on her way.

Around Callie, the collective breath that had been held by the crowd was finally released in unison. For Callie, she was honestly still trying to figure out what had just happened; still unable to really process the mess she had somehow fallen into, or maybe been pulled into. She simply stared at Lady Winafria, mouth hanging open.

"Good! That will take care of her," Winafria said, brushing her hands together as if dusting dirt off them and smiling. "One more of the corrupt, old guard eliminated, too many more to go." She looked at the small crowd gathered around them. "All of you may disburse." She waved her hand, somehow seeming to brush everyone away by sheer willpower, the onlookers melting back into the rest of the partiers.

"What … what did you do!" Callie blubbered, her eyes wide and words panicky.

"Dear … " Lord Cessel said carefully, his own words slow and concerned. "Was this wise?"

"Oh I'm sure it's of no worry. We both felt young Callie's magic last night. I'm sure it can easily bore right into that cold, stony heart." Winafria looked at Callie and smiled. "Only a single tear is all I need, so simply charm her with song."

Callie's eyes went wide as she slowly shook her head. "It … it … the spell doesn't work that way!"

"What? What do you mean? I felt your charms. We all felt them, right Cessel?"

"No! The recipient has to be willing to be affected, Lady Winafria," Callie said, hands gesturing almost imploringly.

"I don't understand."

"I can't just make someone feel something! It is a suggestive charm! At least at Iron."

The smile of victory that had been on Winafria's face seemed to melt away. "Suggestive?"

Callie nodded vigorously. "Yeah!"

Clearing her throat lightly, Winafria tried to push her face back into a bright smile. "I … see." She looked at her husband, whose own face was some crazy mix of confusion, anger and worry. "Well … fuck …"