I had never been inside a space-faring shuttle before; all the shuttles on Voltaire were strictly inter-atmospheric transport, so I was caught unawares by the sudden shift from atmospheric speeds to lightspeed travel.
“I think I’m gonna be..”
There was a wastebasket in front of me before I could even finish voicing that thought. “Don’t you dare puke on my brand new floormats. We’re stuck in here for the next eight hours at least on recycled air.” Finally satisfied that his upholstery was safe, Puck turned back to flipping and turning and adjusting controls on the dimly lit panel with quick, practiced movements of his fingers. “So…how’s it feel to finally be off that misbegotten chunk of rock…?”
I waited until I was sure that the only thing coming out of my mouth would be words before I ventured to speak. “Be great if…you know…we hadn’t left my stomach back in the inner atmosphere.” I took a deep breath, willing the contents of my stomach back down once and for all, and trying very hard not to look out the viewport at the sudden rush of stars speeding towards us. It was like looking into infinity, and it was just a little too much for my colony-bred mind to handle. “Oh, yeah, and if I was really sure you weren’t some loon who’s going to kill me and jettison my body out the trash chute.”
“I don’t have a trash chute. I have a high-temp incinerator. Lots cleaner, and it recycles the leftover carbon into emergency fuel.” Reaching down to adjust the position of his seat, he set a few final controls and then sat back, the craft shifting a bit as it settled into what I assumed was an auto-pilot mode. “Besides, I’ve got no reason to want to hurt you, trust me. Aside from t he fact that, like I already said, I’m the closest thing to family you have around these parts….you’re also my ticket home. If I had the guts to go home empty handed, your grandfather would have my liver roasted and served on a platter.”
I stared at him for a moment. Mother…father….grandparents….for my entire life up until that point, those had been terms used in relation to other people, never to me. Despite the little part of me that still thought he was probably insane….I wanted it to be true. “My grandfather, huh…?”
“Uh-huh. Look, I know you’ve probably got so many questions you’re about to burst,” I didn’t, really. Or, rather, I did, but there were so many I couldn’t have even managed to formulate one verbally, my brain just wasn’t up to it just yet. “But I’ve only got a couple, so I’m going to go first, okay?” I nodded, shifting the strap on my safety restraint a little so it would stop cutting into my shoulder. “Stop fidgeting.” I frowned at him. I wasn’t fidgeting. I didn’t fidget. “First, can you tell me how you were found?”
That was easy enough. “It was a shuttle crash. Nobody knows why it crashed, but they told me at the home that it looked like the pilot entered in bad command coordinates. No survivors. They found me hidden in one of the storage compartments.” I stared at the lights on the control panel for a few seconds, remembering the story the staff at the children’s home had told me. “There were two other bodies on board, but they didn’t have time to get them out before the shuttle exploded….and after, there wasn’t enough left over for them to even identify a species.” I watched Puck quietly for a moment. “My parents, huh…?”
“Yeah,” Puck agreed softly. I wasn’t too surprised or disappointed. I mean, that’s just who I’d always assumed it had been. “I was her godfather, y’know. Your mother’s, I mean. She was…..well. She was like my own. ….Anyway.” He continued with a sudden smile that was just a little too bright to be believed. “Next question!” He gave a little pause for dramatic effect. “What the hell’s your name? I can’t very well go introducing you to your grandfather as ‘that kid’.”
“Oh,” I realized sheepishly that I hadn’t told him my name. To be fair, though, I had only learned his because Tengu had been shouting it. “They dug me out of the wreck on Christmas Eve, so the lady from the children’s home named me Holly.”
Puck just stared at me in silence for a good minute, as if he thought I was making it up. Sure, it was kind of a corny way to get my name, but when he started to laugh, I thought he was blowing it a little out of proportion.
“What?” I frowned. “It’s not like it’s a weird name, or anything.”
“That’s not it,” he chuckled. “I knew Fate had a sense of humor, but this just proves it.” He grinned over at me. “Your mother’s name was Ivy.”
I showed my appreciation by rolling my eyes. “Sure it was.”
“It was. Honest. Your grandfather named her because he said her eyes were the same color as the ivy that grew up the castle wall, right where her nursery was. Come on, kid. I couldn’t make something that lame up.”
I groaned. That was awful. “Are you sure? I’ve heard some of your jokes bef—hey.” I sat straight up in my seat, eyeing him suspiciously. “…Castle?”
“Oh. Right. I forgot to mention that part.” He smiles serenely, sitting back in his seat as if he was getting some kind of perverse amusement out of me. “You didn’t think all these people would be out hunting just any old orphan, did you…? As of this moment, you are the heir apparent to the High Throne of the world of Faerie.”
