returned home and James is on his way.”
There was a knock on the door and Lia went to answer it. Amber asked how she knew that someone was coming. I gave her a basic explanation of how our remote viewing worked and also let her know that Lia had perfected the ability to be looking in one place 23wqand talking to you all at the same time.
James came in and invited us all to join him and his family. He’d sent down for dinner already and Star was looking forward to meeting Amber. We followed him around the stairway to the other double doors and went inside. I heard a familiar squeal and dropped to one knee as Ivy ran the length of the room and jumped up to hug me. I introduced Ivy to Amber as the first wizard Halfling ever in Eredwynn. Ivy glowed with pride and took Amber to meet Star. Star waved at me from behind a stack of paperwork and then stood to meet Amber. James dragged me to a couch and we sat.
James said, “So tell me about your adventure. I see that you found out that the sixteen year old trip to freedom can get you hooked! She is a lovely young lady and seems to be nice, too.”
“Like I said earlier, she was getting robbed and I interfered. It seemed like none of the other people around wanted to even take notice. Father came from a harsh world. The first business that I went to cheated me badly and the manners of the people are nonexistent! Men were cursing, women and children cursing, children playing games pretending to kill one another. It’s an awful place and I don’t think that Amber will miss it much. There might be some things that she will, but for the most part I think she’ll be happy here.”
“Well, I recommend that tomorrow you show up at Wizard’s and let father know that you’re home and that you’ve found the woman you intend to marry. He’ll be happy for you and Mother will do everything she can to help and to push consorts on your betrothed.”
“Amber is dead set against consorts. So that won’t be a problem for us. I’m too much in love to think that I’ll ever want to be with another woman, anyway.”
“She says that now, but I know that father is assigning you to Perlsea Castle. That place is almost as large as Kethos and will take work to run. When she finds out that she’ll be expected to handle staff and payroll for the entire place, which should make her want help. Then she’ll have to answer all the castle shopkeepers’ requests for orders and inventory. When children come, she’ll be taking care of them on her own, too, unless she has consorts to help.”
“We’ll figure it out, I’m sure. Don’t mention to her that we’re getting the castle. I have her convinced that father has a small house just outside a little town. She seems happy with that and I want to see her reaction when she learns we’ll have a castle.”
James laughed, “You’re as much the joker as I was at your age and in your position. I hope that things turn out for you as well as they have for me. I’ll go pry your companion away from my ladies and you two can eat and call it a night. You should try to get to Wizard’s Castle early, because your mother rarely goes to the throne room before lunch. I’ll expect you back here afterwards, to tell me how things went.”
We all gathered around the table and enjoyed the meal. We talked about nothing for a while and then I excused us so we could call it a night. Everyone grinned and told me how sweet they thought Amber was and that they were planning on being at the wedding. We said goodnight and slipped back to our room.
The next morning, we were awakened by a quiet knock on the door. I woke and nudged Amber to wake her as two maids came