It was about a five hour drive to JFK. Alice did not mind as it gave them opportunity to chat. They talked about their makeshift Christmas first.
"I missed you then," Alice found herself saying.
Her husband smiled. "We will be spending the actual holiday together, you know."
She nodded. "I just have no idea what to get you. I thought about a book, but you probably have read anything that would interest you in any of the local bookstores. I thought maybe some sheet music for your flute, but once again I don't know what you already have."
"You are not required to get me anything," Hieronymous said.
"Well, you are family now," Clark piped up. "And Alice, I think you would probably have better ideas than I would. I didn't even know you played the flute."
It struck her that although Clark had been supportive of her and her marriage, he didn't really know Hieronymous that well. Clark had never been particularly loquacious, and while her husband could be quite eloquent he also had to have a goal in whatever conversation they were involved in. With a little nudging from her, her brother and her husband started discussing their hobbies and tastes. Hieronymous seemed surprised to find they had a mutual interest in theatre, classical music, and classical literature. Clark also was interested in military endeavors, the older the better, and Hieronymous launched into a historical lecture about how magic had been involved in some of the ancient battles when wizards and witches were able to make themselves known to normals and had had no government structure among themselves.
"Why did that end?" Clark wanted to know. As a freshman, he was not taking a historical class yet.
"There are multiple reasons," Hieronymous said. "Otherworld was not as it is now. Our worlds were more connected, once, with a barrier that is closer to gauze than steel. The demons fed off the chaos of disorganized society, but as society advanced and their 'food' supply diminished they wished to destabilize it again. This began a war between human mages who liked organized society, and the demons with the fair folk largely staying on the sidelines in most cases. This war resulted with the demons withdrawing to their strongholds in Otherworld, and the barrier became less permeable due to our efforts. Within a few generations, with fights between human mages and demons no longer a common occurrence, magic itself started fading into legend…or at least became rarer. Our numbers shrunk during the war, as did those of our enemies, and mages were needed in Otherworld to maintain the strength of the barrier."
"But demons can come into this realm," Alice noted, thinking of Damien.
"Correct," her husband noted, "but not in great numbers, or without certain costs to themselves. At any rate, in Europe mages were beginning to find it more comfortable not to be known as such to the general populace. With the decline of visible use of magic also came the decline of knowledge of it. Whatever one does not know, one also tends to fear. At this time there were no laws against making oneself known, but there was no reason to do so either. In the 'uncivilized' world this was not so, as mages openly practiced among their own people, but that also changed for the similar reasons once the New World was discovered.
"In the time after the war, treaties were signed. In order to be able to enforce the terms, such as a mage having to keep their Word of Honor, the Council was set into place with regional governments below them. Eventually, this is what led to the Velvet Curtain, though who is and who is not included behind it has changed from time to time. For example, normal family retainers and immediate family members of a witch or wizard were once included."
"Too bad that changed," grumbled Alice. "Life would be so much simpler…and better…that way."
Clark agreed with her. "So, Grandfather's servants will all be magical, then?"
Hieronymous nodded. "In any magical household, they will be. Some might be Brownies, but there will be human servants as well. Most of the time they will be mages that decided not to live and work in Otherworld—such as those with young children, those too weak to do so, or those with skills so specialized they would find no good place there."
Alice blinked. She had not really thought about servants before. Aside from being served when going out to eat or when Hieronymous had taken her shopping, she did not think that anyone had ever really waited on her. Of course a Councilman would have servants, though. She suspected that wealth…and magical wealth at that…would be an entirely new experience to her. With her grandfather being a Councilman, she suspected that a fair amount of politics would come with it. Still, she hoped for a relatively quiet, uncomplicated Christmas vacation.
There also followed a conversation about why they were driving and flying instead of using some magical form of transportation. Apparently, distance was an issue for teleportation…on Earth anyway. In Otherworld, this was not so as there were Gates located within heavily warded areas safe enough for children to come into that led to other Gates.
Alice understood, since she knew that her husband refused to enter Otherworld, and did not press the subject. She turned around and mouthed 'later' to her brother, and he nodded and changed the subject.
It was well after three in the afternoon before they got to JFK, but the plane did not leave until six. They had gotten a quick lunch at a drive through, so they weren't hungry. Hieronymous pulled into long-term parking, they got their bags out of the trunk with her husband managing her large suitcase as well as his own, and they went to the shuttle stop to wait. In a few minutes, it came and the driver stashed their baggage on board. As they drove closer to the actual airport, Alice was startled to see just how large it was; it was a city unto itself. The shuttle dropped them off at the British Airways sign, and they entered the building.
Hieronymous handed them each their envelopes with their tickets and travel documents. Alice looked at her passport, which declared that her name was Alice Carleton, and she was English. It seemed strange to her, claiming her maiden name that she had not known of before she had married.
Her husband directed them to the first class check-in booth, which only had two people ahead of them instead of about forty people in the next line over. When they got to the booth, the smiling man looked at her brother's ticket and greeted him as 'Lord Carleton.' She got the lady immediately to the right and was greeted as 'Madam Carleton.' "Is this your first flight with British Airways?" the smiling lady asked. At her nod, the lady reminded her, "As your flight does not start boarding until 5:45, you will have an opportunity to experience our private lounge here at the airport. Please feel free to stop in the spa as well; they are located in your terminal." The woman positively beamed. Alice suspected that the more expensive the item you had purchased was, the more people smiled at you. She half wondered if the woman's face ever cramped from smiling so much.
Apparently, first class tickets also allowed you to use the fast track lane through security. Alice almost felt guilty, looking over at the long, winding line that most of the other travelers were going through. Clark nudged her. "Don't worry about it," he told her. "I guess that they assume most terrorists are operating on shoe-string budgets." She had to chuckle at that.
After locating their gate, they did go to the lounge for a drink and a snack while they waited for it to get closer to boarding time. Hieronymous found himself a glass of 'decent wine' while they waited. "I don't expect we will see much of each other once we board," he said.
"Are our seats far apart?" Alice asked, comparing the locations of their seats on their tickets.
Her husband shrugged. "First class passengers have 'pods' they are assigned, rather than seats."
"So they have walls like a cubicle?" Clark asked.
"Precisely," Hieronymous answered.
As much as she loved her brother and her husband, they had been crammed into one car all day so a little privacy would not be unwelcome. What she said was, "Well, we will be sleeping through most of the flight to arrive in the morning anyway."
When they finally boarded the large plane, they were indeed led into pods, and Alice inspected hers after the stewardess took her coat. Her large, comfortable chair would lie flat when she wanted to sleep, there was a complimentary amenity kit, slippers and pajamas she could use, a table that folded out, and a large television. A pamphlet also noted that games, movies, and music were available for entertainment, and a self-serve food bar would be open anytime of the day or night.
She briefly wondered how much her grandfather was paying for this level of comfort, before reminding herself that he could probably dump this much cash out the window and never miss it. Her parents had taught her to be careful with money, and to save as much as she could. In the schools she had been in previous to Iris, she had had classmates that experienced this kind of luxury on a regular basis and had seemed surprised that she had not. It was not that she did not like luxury, but it just seemed…foreign to her. Hieronymous was probably taking all this in as a matter of fact, as he had always been rich. He did not look it at school, and she suspected few students knew of it, but there it was. In light of the charity work her mother had done on the side of raising five children over the years, it did seem a little wasteful to be traveling in such as manner. However, her mother had also made clear to her that time volunteered could do as much or more good than money donated. This was how Alice had found herself 'volunteering' at the local nursing home occasionally during her summers at her mother's behest.
Absently adjusting the electronic window shades so she could see out for takeoff, Alice wondered what kind of charitable works the wives of British lords/wizards got themselves involved in. She guessed it would be something both more elegant and less personal than helping the elderly with crafts or bingo.
Fingering her ring…which she had replaced on her finger as soon as the car was out of her parents' sight…she looked toward where she knew her husband would be making himself comfortable, wondering what he was thinking about. She was pretty sure her brother was already going through the list of games available. It was one thing he missed at school; he had been going through 'World of Warcraft' withdrawals after coming to Iris. She suspected that had he not been able to distract himself by learning to throw real balls of fire, they would have been worse.
It was not long after takeoff that the stewardess came and handed her a menu for a rather scrumptious supper. Alice made her choices, wondering what all the fuss about airline food was about before remembering that it would certainly be different if she had been flying coach. Hours later, she had the attendant transform her chair into her bed and then snuggled in the blanket she had been given. A soft blue glow lit the cabin enough to see as Alice stared up at the ceiling, wondering what the morning would bring.
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I try to answer all of my reviews, and realized that I didn't tell Katy thanks for hers as she wasn't signed in. Please keep reading/reviewing, and I'll keep posting! :)