Chapter 61: 64.

I'm... feeling a little guilty right now. Not for something I did, mind, just for being an eldritch abomination. Because all of my wives (yes, including Bridgit) are looking and vocalizing like they went through a weekend bender, while I'm fresh as daisies. In spite of being busy all night somewhere else. I never really paid it much attention before, but apparently stamina is not something I need to be concerned about. Physical stamina, obviously. Mental stamina is an entirely different concept, and I am not impervious to feeling tired of socializing. Particularly so, if socializing in question happens to occur with people taxing my patience.

Case in point, extremely fruitless discussion with dean Ambercrombe right now. He, for reasons I am not really grasping, appears to be unable to comprehend the idea of a vehicle that is not pulled by some manner of creature, and is pretty set on trying to take me to task for bringing monsters into Academy at night. My offer to bring the airship back and let him poke around it until he finds the beasts he is bleating about meets rather cold reception, for some inane reason. In the end, I'm forced to invoke the king's name again. Thankfully, while Ambercrombe is utterly clueless about magitechnology, he is reasonably savvy in politics to comprehend the folly of making the king wait. Honestly speaking, I strongly suspect that his refusal to go and find the beasts in question can be summed up as 'I'm going to ignore the facts that deprive me of leverage', nevermind that he never had any to begin with.

I'm... feeling rather ambivalent about him right now. On one hand, he is a passably competent administrator... In the moments where he is not trying to score one over me. On the other, he seems pretty deadset on finding fault with me by hook or by crook. The question is, therefore - am I willing to tolerate his inept attempts at getting me in trouble for the duration of my stay in Academy, or would it be less hasslesome to deal with a new administrator asserting his administrative authorities by reviewing every single decision Ambercrombe made and revoking them willy-nilly? Because that is the usual modus operandi here - new broom sweeps in new pattern and all that. Bleh, let's keep the annoying bastard for now. Better the devil you know.

So... Agenda for today. Primo, take the airship to the castle. Secundo, pamper wives. Tertio, investigate Bridgit developing superpowers. Let's get cracking. First is easy, I spent most of the night making sure the airship is ready, though some of the things have to be procured in the morning due to needing a market visit. So, the instance of me in the manor collects the groundskeeper and a couple manservants (I've hired three more guys when the airship was being built, due to increased traffic in the manor, they're proving their worth so I'm going to keep them for now.) and hit the market. Foods are bought, loaded and brought back to the manor, where they transfer the supplies to the larder in the back of the airship. Also, while it is not really important, the guys in question seem to be taking being in the employ of the airship owner as serious bragging rights. Why, I'm pretty sure one of them scored a date just off that. Well, none of my beezwax, they're all adults here.

Second is also easy, though much more pleasant. In order to keep Bridgit from huffing at me, however, I let her take care of the table setting, while I put on a big breakfast for everyone. ...And put up with being grumbled at by my maid for being so ridiculously 'not noble' about it. She definitely appreciates the omelettes, however. After breakfast, I poll the harem on their preferred activities. Moon Unit and Roxolane express an intent to veg with books. Lily-Anne asks about airship demonstrations and insists on being taken along for a ride. Fine, not an issue. I tell her to be ready in an hour to be picked up at the gardens. Why, yes, I'm still feeling salty about Ambercrombe being a git. Let's see him point out the "obvious beasts" in the daylight. As for Bridgit, I ask her to stick around for the powers examination.

She starts off by denying everything, of course. So I show her my memory of yesterday as an illusion. Which, in turn, jogs her memory and she readily demonstrates the "being in two places at once" by thinking hard about it. Which results in two Bridgits standing shoulder to shoulder thinking at the illusion. Which I dismiss and gently but firmly turn both instances of Bridgit to face each other. Cue stereo doubletake and collapse back into singular. Still, having had consciously achieved it once does help to put Bridgit into the right mindset to reproduce it. Before long, she splits into two locations at will. Which, as we discover, is not in any way blocked by walls or line of sight. My next suggestion is to make an instance behind the wall and then dismiss the original location... Aaand I have teleporting maid now. Who is, after some initial shock, extremely giddy about her newfound abilities and demonstrates them by blinking around the dorm apartment repeatedly.

What's more galling is that I can not determine the exact nature of this trick. Insofar, as far as my senses and detection spells tell me, Bridgit is doing the same thing I do with copper bits when I make copperphones. However, I'm still rather puzzled as to how she achieves the spatial displacement. What we DO find out, however, is that distance matters to her - blinking around the apartment is effortless, but blinking to the garden and back leaves her feeling tired, which she dutifully reports to me, Moon Unit and Roxolane, who had abandoned their books in the face of such unusual development. We also find out that Bridgit can move stuff this way, but is limited to what she can bodily lift. Which, yes, includes living critters, such as a chibi version of me. She reports no perceivable increase in strain or difficulty from taking the objects along and appears to be able to decide if she wants to move with the object or without. Which, in turn, leads to Moon Unit making an incautious remark, and Bridgit attempting to act on it. Which, in turn, leads to buck-naked Bridgit falling on Roxolane's lap and so much blushing I start worrying about their blood pressures. Then Moon Unit ups the ante by placing herself on Bridgit's lap and asking her to blink away without her, but with her clothes. While Bridgit's still naked and stammering.

Conclusion? Moon Unit is an incorrigible tease and I'm lucky this did not devolve into a full-on orgy. Also, Bridgit just became terrifyingly dangerous and it might be best to keep her abilities out of the public spotlight. Also, she is taking a hell of a lot of advantage of this already. Unfortunately for her, however, being in two places at once means she gets tired twice as fast. Which changes the focus of our studies. So far, I was giving her generic magic lessons, but now, the focus is going to be shifted to body enhancement, haste and other support spells that would compliment her ability nicely. I also ask Moon Unit to teach her some basics of knife fighting and throwing. It might come in handy.

___

Meanwhile, the other me lands the airship in the Academy gardens. Or, more precisely, sets it to hover and drops the ladder, because ruining a good chunk of flowers by landing this thing on top of them would actually give Ambercrombe a legitimate reason to bother me, and that is not something I want. Let the man make a fool of himself... oh, and there he goes. Face like I just forcefed him a bag of lemons. And, what's worth to notice, straight away from the gardens. I guess he had time enough to run through the conversation we had in the morning and realized there is no way I'd just fob him off if I couldn't back up everything I said. Nice.

Lily-Anne clambers onboard eagerly and greets me with a hug and a kiss. Very nice. After making sure everything is alright and no one is attempting to climb the ladder (no one is, though there are plenty of eyes staring from all the windows), I reel it up and turn the dirigible into a lazy ascent towards the palace. If memory serves, the plaza in front should be empty enough and big enough to properly land there. Of course, I remembered to call ahead, though Lily-Anne is more of a last minute addition. Really, not planning on anything much, here, just a quick jaunt around the city to show off the ship, and back to the Academy I go.

Hm... a bit of a crowd there. I wonder how - while I did mention the inspection, I didn't specify the plaza as a place for it. People doing the logical conclusions or Abraham didn't bother making a secret out of it? I wonder. I'd worry, but I have preemptively cased the area. The perimeter is maintained by, well, me. So far, everyone close enough to be a problem is within my awareness, is constantly observed and will suffer a "mishap", should they attempt anything hostile-like.

So... if I were a king, where I would expect the boarding ramp to be?... Probably right in front of palace doors. So... ....So I can't quite land like this. But I can hover over the desired position and veeeery slowly descend until the people grasp the hint and clear the fuck out of the LZ. And... it works. Mostly. Except for this child, who is by my consideration about eight, who just stands right under the landing gear (which is good five meters off the ground still, and not advancing, mind), stares at it and quite enthusiastically screams his head off. Good grief. I'm not Austin Powers, this is not a steamroller and you're not a mook. Get out of there.

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I... think the child in question begins to feel more than a little silly after the five minute mark, given that I keep on serenely hovering well out of reach. Eventually, a couple of guards march in, grab the kid by the arms and march him out. Now, I am wondering the hell was that all about? Just kid being eminently stupid, or someone put him up to this? Possibly misleading him to think that even if the ship were to land on him, it wouldn't be much of an issue? Something to inve... oh for crying out loud. Malicious intent confirmed. Because the moment I triggered the descent again, that same kid twisted out of guards' hands, and run right back under the landing gear to resume his screaming. Very well, kiddo, if that's how you want to play it...

I let the ship drop to hm... locally, that would be three demitouse. Aka, a little under three meters. Which is where I leave it to hover, and drop down the ramp stairs instead, which thunk down a good distance off from the kid. Who, once again, shuts up and looks annoyed before the guards march him back again, this time keeping a hold on his collar. Just in case. I guess there won't be much to find out from the kid, at best he's going to point a finger at one of his relatives. And probably not even that, it's highly likely to turn out to be "a guy paid me to do that". Admittedly, given the second try, I think the boy is in for a whipping in a guard barracks, he kind of tipped his hand here. Oh well, maybe that'll learn him not to do that. I wonder if he realizes he'd be a smear on the pavement if I really landed on top of him.

I come out, because, well... the king. Everyone comes to greet the king, not vice-versa. Thankfully, Abraham is mindful of hijinks after this debacle with the kid, so he simply introduces me to his party and everyone hustles into the ship, letting me lift the ramp and hover up again, well out of the reach of casual observers. Aside from Abraham himself, there is Monika (I would be more dubious about having both king and queen on the airship in the same time if it was not Alexander who'd step in in case of Abraham being incapacitated instead of Monika. Firstborn is the first substitute, not the spouse. I might need to finagle something about my spouses to make sure they get authority in case I'm not around for some reason.), there's Malachi, there's a couple other people whose reason for being here is more or less 'I was in the court and I'm prominent enough to secure myself a place next to the king'.

Lily-Anne inside greets her parents enthusiastically, and engages everyone in conversation, relaying to them the trivia I myself gave to the people yesterday, while I guide the zeppelin to ascend slowly. The hubbub increases as people start noticing the palace sinking below the windows, and conversation breaks off in favor of everyone staring outside. The initial silence is broken by excited whispers soon after, as people start pointing out landmarks to each other. Lily-Anne grasps the moment splendidly by bringing out the spyglasses. Abraham obviously gets the first pick, then Monika, then everyone else. Sir Malachi impresses everyone by pulling his personal spyglass out of his coat.

I take advantage of the distraction to set some basic refreshments on the table. Fruit, water, cold slices, juices, sweets, wine... A nice assortment for lunch that's not really lunch. It takes quite a while for Abraham to break out the main topic. No wonder, everyone's riveted to the windows, as I set the airship to slowly circle the city along the wall line.

"Impressive as always, lady Gillespie." - he offers to me finally, passing his spyglass to one of the guests and sitting himself resolutely in the middle of the lounge, out of the way for window-gazers - "I assume this trip yesterday was a test on how well your airship handles the distances? I am curious - just how far did you get last day?"

"Not that far, your highness." - I offer back lightly, as I lean back on my own chair - "Only to Haver and back." The smugness on some of the faces when I mention "not far" and the consequent doubletakes when it is "just to Haver" are eminently pleasing. And I take a note of which people were pleased with "limitations". I am turning things on their heads a lot, I believe I'm quite due for some conservative pushback by now.

"Only to Haver." - Abraham repeats sardonically - "I love that 'only', lady Gillespie. As usual, you're doing 'only' the nigh impossible."

"It's not that far. Or that fast." - I object. Honestly, he overstates the case.

"Lady Gillespie, I know for a fact that a courier on the horseback would take the whole day to reach Haver from here. If he were to depart in the morning, gallop the whole way and change horses every two hours, he would be in Haver by the evening. At best. You had departed after midday, went there, had some adventures there from what I was able to understand from Edward's report and returned back before midnight. That's beyond fast. That's ridiculously fast. Add to that the fact that you were all as comfortable as one could be at the palace... I think you understand where I'm going with this." - he proffers - "So. Having had seen the interior and experienced the feeling of air travel... HM?"

I raise my hand to stop him. "We're currently drifting, your highness. If you want to see how it went for travel, I'd need everyone to sit before I push the props into cruising speed." - explain to him... apparently, in the middle of everyone's attention, because the moment I say that, there is a shuffle, and when I take a look around, I see everyone seated at the lounge table securely, sampling the foods from the plates. Fair enough. The plates themselves come with high edges and ribbed bottoms to keep them stable on the table in case of acceleration, so... here goes. I take a hold of the controls, and push on the throttle, setting course over the grassland and steadily accelerating until I hit the cruising speed.

"And this is the conditions at which the ship travels." - I explain - "I suggested everyone to sit to make sure no one is wrongfooted by sudden movement. I'm sure all of you felt it." I get back a number of nods and some mutters of 'could have taken it'. Oh well.

"Alright then. Now I can really say I experienced the travel." - Abe continues in fine mood - "I believe this is eminently suitable to visit our neighbors. So, what do you say, lady Gillespie? I believe the first day of next week is a good time to depart."

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