Four
A huge party was held in honour of the new princess. The more important members of the court-myself included-sat at the head table. I was seated next to the Queen, with the King on her other side, and Azkadellia on his other side. To my left was the Queen's uncle, who was oddly quiet and ignored me for most of the night.
"Jealous yet?" I asked Azkadellia when the King and Queen had risen from their seats to talk to some guests.
"I'm not jealous!" she protested, but her eyes flickered to the table of gifts for the baby."Tell you what," I sighed, "why don't we take that boat of yours outside tomorrow?"
"It'll be too cold."
"Well, maybe we could just go skating then. Do you know how to skate?"
Azkadellia shook her head.
"Tomorrow, I'll teach you once all my work is done, OK?"
Azkadellia nodded, satisfied, "OK. Are you going to teach DG how to skate when she's older?"
I paused and shrugged, "Maybe. I guess I'll see if she wants to."
"I don't think she will."
That drew a laugh from me, I'll admit. She said it so dismissively, but she was so young...it was just cute. I ruffled her hair lightly and looked around thoughtfully. What would I do with DG when she was older? I made the decision right there and then to let Azkadellia be the one who taught her to skate. I would teach her to dance. Dancing was something I'd taken to when I was young, much to my father's utter humiliation. My mother, however, loved to dance and was thrilled that I had what she referred to as 'her rhythm'. I took off the 'her' part almost immediately. It wasn't her's alone, now was it? Everyone could have it if they tried; that was my thought on the matter. They just needed to know what to do, and that would be my job with DG.
"And now the family has to give their gifts to the baby."
I froze. I had a gift, of course, but I didn't want to give it to her in front of all these people. Down the table, relatives and other important people rose to bestow gifts on the little princess, who had been placed in a crib just before the head table. Azkadellia rose when it was her turn and put a stuffed animal in the crib with her sister. It was one of her favourites, so it really was a significant gift.
Then it was my turn. Slowly, I approached the crib and looked in.
"Hello there," I said quietly, as DG looked up at me with those wide, blue eyes, "this must be really awkward for you, huh?"
DG simply blinked, my voice nothing but noise to her baby ears.
"Well, I think it's awkward," I whispered, "but that's alright, because you're getting a gift out of it."
I pulled locket from my pocket and dangled it over her. DG giggled and batted at it like a cat with string. I let it drop and she clutched in her tiny hands and fumbled
with it. Surely a baby couldn't understand that a locket could open...could she? I opened it for her, to reveal the tiny spinning figure concealed within.
"It's like a portable music box!" Azkadellia said.
"It's a hologram, darling," the Queen whispered.
DG stared at the dancer and let out a loud giggle which made me grin uncontrollably as I returned to my seat.
Skating with Azka-D was an interesting experience. After I taught her the basic moves, I held out my hand.
"You just focus on staying up," I said, "I'll pull us along, alright?"
Azkadellia nodded nervously and took my hand.
"Ready, one...two...three..."
I took off, lightly pulling Az along with me. She trembled severely for a while, and then fell flat on her behind.
"It's no use! I can't do this!"
"Of course you can," I sighed, "come on, get up."
"I don't want to."
"Are you just going to sit on the ice all day?"
She nodded and pouted.
"You know what will happen if you sit there all day? Your bum will freeze to the ice and you'll be stuck there until spring."
"Will not, you're making that up!"
"Am not!" I pretended to look offended, "I never lie."
Az looked thoughtful, "I'll really be stuck here?"
"Until the ice thaws; then you'll fall into the lake and have to swim home."
Azkadellia got up, wobbling dangerously on her skates, before taking my hand to steady herself.
"Fine, let's skate," she said.
She did better that time, and as we skated, I slowly let go, until she was skating on her own.
"Look, Mister Ambrose, I'm doing it!" she cheered.
"Excellent!"
"Ambrose!"
I glided around on my skates to face the King, "Hello sir!"
"Come to join us, daddy?"
"Why darling, look at you!"
"I want to do this every day!"
"Well, I think Mister Ambrose will be far too busy to skate with you every day."
"Is something the matter, sir?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, not a thing," he said brightly, "come, let's go inside and we can talk there."
Azkadellia protested, gliding around in circles. I apologised to her, removed my skates, and trudged behind the King back up to the castle.
"My wife is...not well..."
"Oh dear, she not-"
"-Oh no, nothing like that! Little DG took a lot out of her. I finally convinced her to spend the week in bed."
"She so dedicated," I said admiringly.
"Yes, she is, and it's taking its toll. You and I are in for a long week."
I nodded, "I'll do anything you ask of me, sir."
"Excellent, now, there's a conference with the southern nobles tomorrow night and I've been reading up on the issues, but I'll certainly need
you there."
"Of course, sir."
"I'll have a servant send down the information to you for study. The famines are becoming more and more persistent. It's been a rather unlucky few years."
I nodded; it was true, of course. Famine was becoming wide spread throughout the Outer Zone.
"I'll get straight to work," I promised, turning on my heel to head for the lab.
"Oh, and Ambrose?"
"Yes, sir?"
"DG has been transfixed with that hologram you made her. I daresay you've made a new friend."
"I certainly hope so," I laughed nervously.
The King smirked, "Get to work, Ambrose."
I nodded again and headed for the lab. Sure enough, a servant had already been there and there was a rather large package of paper on my desk. I sat down and ruffled through it, reading the information. I realize most people would find that pretty boring, but I found it fascinating.
"Apparently the weather been so uncooperative that no food can be grown...but not a great deal of food comes from there anyways, that's mostly imported," I'd risen at that point and was scribbling on my chalk board, "but the east has had completely different effects. Flooding; the plants die from too much water...and they are a chief exporter, especially for Central City...they need more sun..."
Soon, I had a written outline of every problem, but no solution to speak of. After all, it was the weather we were speaking of, and this was hardly something humans had control of. Or could they?
"But surely that would take years to even plan, let alone build," I sighed, whipping a bit of chalk off my nose, "and I have no idea how one would go about doing it...but that's never stopped me before."
The conference was a...humiliating moment, to say the least. When asked my opinion, I stood and proudly declared:
"With proper time, I can build a machine that will bring more sun to the east and allow for more farming!"
Well, I thought I was extremely impressive at this point, and I took the sudden silence and confirmation. That is, until everyone but the King began to laugh. That kind of put a damper on things.
"Ludicrous!"
"Man cannot control the weather!"
"This is the great advisor? What an idea!"
I sat down bashfully, thoroughly embarrassed at the whole ordeal. How could I have been so foolish to assume that people would take me seriously? A machine that controls the weather is like something out of a story book!
"Ambrose..." the King looked thoughtful, "can you...do this?"
"It would take years and years, but I fully believe it can be done," I half-lied. Hysterical laughter kind of shakes your confidence.
"Yes, well," one of the members said, "even if such a thing were to work, we don't have years, we have months."
I sighed, "Fine. For an immediate solution, we must look for some sort of alternative. The east is the main farming location, and the west is mostly sea life. The extreme north...nothing can be done in the north, or the south for that matter, as both are either too dry or too cold. The only thing I can think of is to relocate the farm land...but there's a problem with that."
"Which is?"
"The greatest expanse of nearly uninhabited land is the great forest surrounding Central City. As you all know, it's fairly huge. It is also home to a great many creatures."
"Are you proposing we cut down the trees in the forest to make farm land?"
"No. I'm not proposing anything."
"Except his mysterious weather machine," someone snorted and I blushed furiously.
"I'm merely saying that this is one of many options. At this point, there is no painless option to speak of!"
"And of course, the creatures of the forest will welcome us with open arms," someone else snorted.
"What do they live off of?" the King asked, looking through his papers, "the people of the forest?"
"They hunt your highness."
"Why were these people not in the information packages we were sent?"
"We didn't think it was important," the man said sheepishly.
"I'd say it is! They are people as well, and if intruding on their territory becomes a problem, we need to know about it."
"Apologies, your highness."
Sadly, my little speech about my machine resulted in my being mostly ignored for the rest of the meeting. When everything wrapped up, I was about to trudge down to my lab to sigh, mope, and possibly brood, when the King pulled me aside.
"Ambrose, are you serious about this machine of yours?"
"It can be done, I believe."
"Right..." he looked thoughtful, "listen, I think you should go ahead with it."
"Are you-are you sure?"
"You're the only one who claims to have a foolproof solution. I'm going to go to the forest tomorrow to converse with those who dwell there. I'm sure we can reach some sort of agreement, but to ensure that this does not become a long term issue..."
"You want me to start building the machine?"
"When you have free time from your other work, yes."
"This could take years, sir."
"I understand. Take as long as you need."