"I don't want you to go." Toff took a chance and put his arms around Nissa. Surprisingly, she leaned her head against his shoulder as they stared through the windows at the capital city of Lissia. Toff had learned about Lissia from Morwin only that morning.
"Daddy won't let me stay, and since they know I made two working protection jewels, they'll step up my training."
"Don't they ever let you take a break? Roff told me that his workers get four weeks of vacation time." Vacation time was a new term for Toff, and he'd asked Morwin about it during one of his lessons. Morwin had explained it completely. There was so much that Toff didn't know and he was determined to learn as much as he could as quickly as possible. He missed Corent, but was surprised to discover that he didn't miss Redbird very much. He certainly didn't miss any of the others, except for Father Willow.
"I'll be back in four days—it's my birthday," Nissa said softly. Toff tightened his arms around her.
"How old?" Toff thought about kissing Nissa's cheek but held back.
"I'll be twelve."
"You look more grown up than that."
"Thanks." Nissa smiled at Toff. "And we do get summers off, but that's when Ry goes to train with his dad on Karathia. Tory spends a lot of time on Kifirin, too, which means we still don’t get to see a lot of each other."
"I'll be here." Toff surprised himself by saying it.
"I know. We'll have to see if Mom will let us spend time at the beach house, or go work at Niff's in Casino City."
"The beach house?"
"It's on the light side, right on the ocean."
"I've never seen an ocean." Toff had learned about them—there were three on Le-Ath Veronis. One stretched so far into the dark side of the planet that most of it was covered in ice.
"Hey, you two," Ry and Tory skidded into the arboretum. It looked as if they'd run up all the stairs to get there. "We want to ask Mom if we can go to Niff's for ice cream."
Nissa had Toff pulled off the bench immediately. "Come on," she grinned at him. "I want ice cream."
"Mom's in her office signing papers," Tory said as they all clattered down the endless steps to the first level of the palace. Toff was running to keep up with Tory's long-legged strides. Ry and Nissa were nearly trotting, so Toff didn't feel so bad. Eventually they made their way to an elaborately carved door that stood open on the first floor.
"Mom," Tory said first thing as they made their way inside a spacious room that Toff could only stare at in amazement. It was furnished in beautiful fabrics with rich paintings hanging on the walls. The Queen sat behind an ornate desk that looked as if it had gold trim around it.
"What is it, honey?" The Queen looked up from a paper she held in her hand.
"We were just wondering," Ry managed to get out before Toff clapped his hands over his mouth to keep the shriek from escaping. A huge snake lifted his head over the top of the desk and stared at them.
"Don't worry," Nissa's hand rubbed Toff's back as he stared at the snake in fright. He'd never seen a snake that large and this one had to be poisonous—its head was a triangular shape and lengthy fangs were visible when it opened its mouth. The creature was rising higher, now, right beside the Queen. Toff was terrified she'd be bitten.
"It's the full moon tonight, I forgot," Tory turned to Toff. "That's Uncle Norian. He's a shapeshifter, and that's his lion snake. He won't hurt you unless you decide to attack one of us."
Toff was still staring in shock. He'd seen Norian earlier at dinner. Now he was a snake? "Nori," the Queen said, reaching out to run a gentle hand down the snake's neck and body. "You're scaring Toff." Toff watched in amazement as the snake turned his head and looked at the Queen, his slitted eyes blinking at her.
"He understands everything, just as he does in his humanoid form," the Queen reassured Toff. "Do you know about the ASD?"
"What does that mean?" Toff asked. He recognized the letters, but there appeared to be another meaning to them.
"Alliance Security Detail," Nissa supplied the information. "They keep the Alliance safe from criminals and other factions that are unlawful inside the Alliance. Uncle Norian is the Director of the ASD."
"I've never seen a shapeshifter before," Toff breathed, lowering his hands.
"Too bad Uncle Winkler isn't here," Nissa hugged Toff. Toff wasn't sure about Uncle Winkler but he was sure about the hug he got from Nissa.
"We wanted to go to Niff's for ice cream," Tory was back to their original mission.
"Let me find someone to go with you," the Queen said, standing up and stretching. Norian slid his body onto the top of the desk, showing Toff his full length, which was twelve feet. Black and gray patterns ran the length of the scaled body. "Bring some back for Norian and me, too," the Queen smiled at the snake.
* * *
"Uncle Norian loves ice cream," Tory said as they followed Drake and Drew toward the entrance to the palace. "We get to ride tonight. I love riding to Casino City."
A tall man waited outside a metal carriage at the bottom of the palace steps. "This is Radomir, an old friend of Mom's," Nissa whispered to Toff as they climbed inside the vehicle. The seats were soft and comfortable; Tory rode in the front seat with Radomir and Drake and Drew rode in the back, facing Ry, Nissa and Toff.
"What is this called?" Toff asked as Radomir did something to start the carriage and then steered it away from the palace steps.
"A limousine, young one," Radomir said over his shoulder.
"Radomir hears everything, just like Mom does," Nissa patted Toff's hand. "And Uncle Gavin, Uncle Tony, Uncle Winkler, Uncle Aryn and Uncle Rigo. Don't say anything anywhere around them that you don't want them to hear."
"We're going fast," Toff marveled as the vehicle picked up speed along a smooth road.
"We'll have to stop at the checkpoint at the walls, but we'll be at Niff's pretty quick after that," Ry said. "Have you had ice cream before?"
"I didn't know what you were talking about, but I wanted to go with you anyway," Toff admitted shyly.
"You'll like it," Nissa assured him and sat back in her seat to enjoy the ride.
* * *
Zellar, I'm in the Queen's dungeon. Gren's mental voice couldn't hold back the whine. He'd never been imprisoned before and there was something surrounding the dungeon itself that prevented him from using any of his power. A dampening field had been placed around his cell. Gren's connection to the planet's core had also been cut off and he felt that absence like an addict kept away from his drug of choice.