Chapter 39:
Kate's visitor was just as she'd described—corpulent and with a reddened face that suggested he was just moments from exploding. Clearly humanoid—even near human—he could've passed un-noticed in the New York colony. At the same time, his dark eyes held a hint of malice, suggesting that he was on the raw edge of violence.
At the same time, taking note of Billy sitting in Kate's chair, dressed far more formally than was his habit, the stranger and his minions seemed taken aback. Bill imagined he'd expected some jackass in rags to be waiting on him here.
"Good afternoon," Billy greeted him. "I'm Prince William, son of the King of Ooo. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"
As his minions exchanged whispers behind him, the fat man responded, "Duke Martin, third in line for the Red Throne. I represent the Queen of Hearts."
Sitting back in Kate's chair, Billy responded, "my father had intended to reach out to your overlord later this year. We've had a spate of crises to deal with, so we haven't had the time to send an envoy..."
That seemed to derail the stranger's train of thought. Eyes shifting back and forth, he seemed torn between consulting with his minions and shouting.
"There's time for peace, Your Excellency," Billy suggested. "The world's had enough of war, I'd say." "Then why are these ruffians threatening the Kingdom," the fat man demanded?!
Turning to Katherine, Billy queried, "are you aware of any such plot?" Offering Billy a sweeping bow, Kate responded, "my agreement with His Majesty is very specific, Your Highness. Stilt-Town is neutral in the affairs of the sea-faring nations. All may dock here freely..."
"That says nothing of your involvement in assailing our nation," snarled the stranger! Smoothly, Kate responded, "I have no army to attack anyone. I have a small guard to keep the peace in my city. We rely on the good will of our neighbors and those who travel the seas to maintain our freedom."
"Then it must be you," howled the fat man! Jabbing a finger at Billy, he snarled, "it must be you who's at fault here!"
Billy coolly replied, "I have no interest in assault against your lands, Lord Martin..." "Then why else are you stretching your hand across the seas," he demanded? "What other reason could you have? We know that you're in league with that harlot, the Pirate Princess! Our spies in Tequila Kingdom apprised us..."
"Princess Morgana is my mistress," Billy interrupted. He felt Kate spin to face him. Ignoring that for the moment, the big man declared, "Princess Morgana is allowed to collect her tithe for safe passage and to challenge those seafarers who do not choose to pay. She has no interest in the affairs of the landed."
Before the fat man would've pressed further, Billy leaned forward, declaring, "you are not dealing with my mistress, Duke Martin. You're dealing with the Crown of Ooo. My father..."
The fat man began swearing at him, threatening to cut off his head and put it on a spike. Calmly, Billy began draining the air of heat energy. While the fat man scarcely noticed, his minions did, as they began to shiver. Insulation, Bill, the Ice Prince thought. He's got plenty.
As the fat man hurled threats and the temperature dropped, his minions began to get very nervous. Tugging on the hem of the fat man's coat, one of the whispered urgently at him. It was only then that he seemed to realize what had been happening.
Steaming puffs of air told the tale. They were in a very dangerous position, facing down a foe with unnatural powers.
Eyes blazing, Billy declared, "there will be no war. You are not allowed to touch either Stilt-Town or the Lady of the Lake. I'm here to negotiate. We can discuss your concerns civilly, or you can take yourself and your fleet back home. Those are your two courses of action."
The fat man turned to storm out. Billy conjured a solid wall of ice before him, declaring, "I didn't say you could go, Duke Martin." The fat man's voice quavered, as he declared, "you dare not touch me! The Queen..."
"I said nothing of touching you," Billy retorted. "You came to talk. Talk. Let's hammer out an agreement. Let's put together a package of conciliatory gestures to assuage your granddam's concerns."
In the north, Lollipop stepped out of the truck that had brought her up from the beach. With the return of good weather, she now had all hands on deck. Now, on the borders of the rough colony where the shelters had been constructed, construction teams were working night and day to build houses.
Fionna was in the thick of things, using the uncanny powers of her crystal heart to work miracles. The bad bunny worked as long and as hard as anyone, to the point where her husband had to force her to stand down.
There were no well-bordered sidewalks and streets in the newest section of the town. Foundations had been put in to support the construction of homes. Now, those homes were going up at a fantastic pace.
Each day, a new load of wood came down the coast from the forests. It got sawn up on King's Island, with the resultant lumber brought over by barge. Once on shore, the lumber was carted by truck to one of a number of building sites.
Gazing around her, Lollipop remarked, "I can't wait for Finn to see all of this..." "Of course," Tasha Stanek remarked. Fanning herself, she opined, "it's amazing how much has been done..."
As they stood looking around, the woman of the hour strolled up, dressed down in shorts and a tee-shirt today, with a baby on her hip. Just behind her came Tania Stanek, her unofficial secretary.
In the end, permission hadn't come through for Tania to join her mother in the palace. Instead, she'd found herself helping out on shore.
Work crews that were falling behind on the schedule of building foundations or laying out streets would notify Tania. The leggy blonde would then rack-and-stack the priorities based on the City Council's dictates. Fionna would pick the top two or three tasks for the day and try to get them done.
Throwing her arms around Fi, Lollipop kissed her on either cheek. "How's your day going," she asked? With a shrug, Fi responded, "four streets done. Thinkin' of doin' lunch. You?"
"Catching up on what the Privy Council's doing," Lollipop responded. "Your grandmother and Sarah have gone on that little trip..." Fi nodded sagely.
What trip would that be, thought Tasha Stanek? She vaguely remembered Sarah as being the machine-woman who'd been with Finn Mertens on the Ark the day their world changed, but she wasn't sure which of the wenches in Finn's circle was the blonde's grandmother.
Her eyes flicked to her daughter. Tania was struggling with her current assignment both because she despised princess Fionna and because she saw squalor everywhere she looked in this place.
The fucking mutants were living like kings both on the island and, from what Tania described, far to the east across the ocean. Part of Tasha would gleefully have abandoned this place to live there, leaving husband and children behind.
I should've gone myself, she thought. Tania hadn't really managed to make any allies or accomplish anything of substance. Tasha wanted to paint that as her inexperience in making her way in the world.
More to the point, everything of substance was happening there. This was a sideshow. The fact that no-one from this 'privy council' bothered to come here suggested that they hardly saw the humans as important.
"Let's go have lunch," Lollipop suggested. "Sure," Tasha agreed. The mutant and her stepdaughter turned and strolled off down the muddy street. Tasha took her time, letting Tania come even with her.
"I still don't understand how she does that," Tania remarked. Tasha casually replied, "she's infected with some strange alien disease..."
Tania shuddered. "Not contagious from what I understand," Tasha remarked in soothing tones.
"I hate that our people are... are in this squalor," Tania growled. Glancing around them, she added, "they're going to put us in these wooden firetraps!" "Shhh," Tasha hissed.
After waiting to see if their benefactors had heard, the older woman said, "it's not like we'll be here for their little plan to go into effect. Be calm and patient, dear. We're going to get our people out of here."
"Can't you tell me what's going on," Tania whispered? "Stay steady, dear," Tasha replied. "There hasn't been a good time for us to chat privately." Nodding at the mutant, she murmured, "somebody has to keep an eye on our little tyrant."
Moving on, Tasha asked, "what did you get out of her?" "The usual," Tania sighed. "What kind of houses do people like? How wide were the streets in New York? It... I don't get it..."
Blowing out a breath, Tania said, "I suggested we like cement and steel, but she laughed that off." "It won't matter," Tasha chuckled.
"I don't understand her," Tania muttered. "She has all that money and power, but she acts like some airhead from the projects..." "A facade, dear," Tasha retorted. "You should know someone who could be a princess can't show her true thoughts and feelings easily."
"I feel like I'm failing to do my part," Tania muttered. "She'll be gone," Tasha responded. "Our friends are working to make sure she's far away from here, just like her brother and that fire-woman..."
The duo ahead of them strolled up to an itinerant street-hawker, selling meat-pies. Lollipop plunked down cash for four of them, plus some of the strange beer that the folk of King's Island swilled.
Neither Tasha nor Tania were fans of the bittersweet beverage, but rather than stir trouble both women sat down by the side of the road to eat as if this was the finest food they'd ever eaten.
Talk of the day between Lollipop and her stepdaughter was of the vast crop of kids and how fast they were growing. "Boy, Van's going to have lots of kids to watch over," Fionna chuckled.
"He's growing into being an older brother," Lollipop allowed. "How're Mona and Nadine doing?" With a shrug, Fionna replied, "s'good. I've been kinda' too busy getting caught up to see them much. I'm kinda' holding onto Charlie because he still needs feeding..."
Frowning, Tania murmured, "you don't actually..." With a shrug, Fionna responded, "daddy calls it the good stuff. My body's making it anyway, so why wouldn't I give it to my kid?" Tania shuddered, causing the strange woman to giggle.
Just then, the phone in Fionna's pocket began to ring. Deftly slipping it from its hiding place, the curvy blonde put the thing to her ear, announcing, "go..."
As Tasha watched, that pretty face subtly changed, suggesting that the news she was hearing wasn't good. "Seriously," Fionna demanded? "Right. I'll be on my way..."
Hanging up, the curvy woman turned to Lollipop, declaring, "something's happened in Jungle Kingdom. Somebody's damaged the T-Barrier. The western half of the wall is wide open. I gotta' go get it fixed."
Frowning, Lollipop remarked, "I thought you sank all the nodes down to bedrock." "Yeah," Fionna responded, "I did."
Face showing her alarm, Lollipop declared, "that's dangerous, Fi. That can't have been an accident." "I'll be fine," Fionna responded. "I'm more worried about the colony falling behind while I"m gone."
"You've already gotten us back on schedule, dear," Lollipop chuckled. "We'll handle things. Don't worry."
Swallowing the last of her pie, Fionna gathered up her son. "Y-you're leaving now," Lollipop queried. "Peeps might get eaten while the barrier's down," Fi sighed. "I can't stay."
With no further word, the blonde woman started walking, likely bound for the docks down on the beach.
"Serious," Tasha asked? Nodding distractedly, Lollipop replied, "apparently some of our troublemakers think it's ok to put thousands of lives at risk." Shaking off the mood, she turned back to her pie, declaring, "Fi got us pretty far ahead of where I feared we'd be. I think we'll be fine until she returns."
At the closing of the day, Kate watched William rise from the chair he'd sat in much of the afternoon and walk over to the balcony. Their little negotiation with the fat man had gone straight in the ditch and stayed there. His dukeness had gone apoplectic when William pushed back, and now they were faced with the aftermath.
As he stood there staring into space, Kate rose from the place she'd sat through the whole business and walked over to her young lover. Sliding her arms around his middle, she lay her head against his back.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. Frowning, he responded, "for what?" "Failing to manage," she sighed.
Turning to face her, he said, "you've managed quite a bit, Katherine." Finger's gliding through her dark, dark hair, the big man said, "the family manages burdens together, helping each other get back on our feet."
"I don't feel like I'm doing a lot," she admitted. "You're managing one of our key assets, baby," he retorted.
Warming to the topic, he remarked, "if Stilt-Town didn't exist, dad would have to create it. Money isn't infinite. It's important to husband the things we have... like this town... like Mr. Wilson's shipyard. It's easier to patch something up than to build it anew."
"He's probably got a fleet out there," Kate sighed. Nodding, William replied, "I'm sure he does. We'll know more when Cameron returns. In the now, I'll meet with Mr. Wilson and plan how we're going to do this."