Chapter 64 part 2

Jenn merely shrugged. "At least it's something to hope and work for, right? Otherwise what'd we be left with?"

Embris merely shook her head, like she couldn't be sure Jenn was serious, which Jenn couldn't help but feel a little offended by. Though, she pushed those feelings down. This wasn't the time or place to deal with that, even though Jenn doubted she'd ever get around to it.

"Anyway," Cithis commented, drawing their attention away from the small disagreement. "If you're coming along, you'll need to talk with Tchisa about it. She's arranging the other guards to accompany Jenn to speak with the duchess."

"The duchess?" Embris echoed. "Why do you need to speak with her?"

"Simply because we'd like to build more structures in the forest, and currently they are her lands. So, we need to get permission from her before we can do that," Jenn answered, wondering how much of this Embris already knew or if it was all completely new information for her.

"And why do you need to speak to her about that?"

Jenn smiled. It would seem that she wasn't alone in her ignorance of needing to get permission to build on the land of the nobles in this world.

"Tchisa explained that we need to do that or the nobles tend to get… unhappy about new buildings being built," Jenn answered. "I'm not sure if it's because of the tax revenue they'd like to get from it, or if they're worried someone else might be trying to take their territory, or if there's another reason altogether about it. All I know is I- we'd rather not have her upset with us while we try to establish ourselves here."

Jenn hoped that Embris didn't catch her slip. She'd nearly said 'I'd rather not' instead. She recognized how it wouldn't be too difficult to deduce that she was more important here than she'd let out to be.

"Oh," was the only sound Embris made in response. Not that Jenn could blame her.

However, when they went to Tchisa about Embris joining the party heading to speak with the duchess in Pleonths, Tchisa looked at Jenn in a way that she didn't like. Almost like she was trying to get one of her friends special treatment, which this certainly wasn't the case.

"You know, I'd like to say yes, but I'd at least need a commitment from you," Tchisa told Embris.

"What kind of commitment?" Embris asked, looking uneasy under Tchisa's scrutinizing gaze.

Tchisa leered at the girl, and Jenn was mostly sure that it was simply to mess with Embris' head. Mostly.

"Just that you'd need to be part of our people during the trip. If you want to back out afterwards, that's fine, but if you're on the trip, you need to act like you're one of us," Tchisa informed her.

Jenn looked away as she smirked. She couldn't help but recall the line in The Pirates of the Caribbean: Part of the ship, part of the crew.

She knew Tchisa wasn't going in that direction, but with the way she worded things, she couldn't help but think of that part of the movie series.

"Do you think you could do that?" Tchisa pressed when Embris didn't respond.

Jenn felt more than saw Embris nod as she replied, "Uh, yes, I think so."

"Would have liked you to sound like you had more conviction, but I can work with that," Tchisa replied, slapping Jenn on the back. "She's a keeper, you know."

Jenn turned back towards Tchisa in shock, all movie lines gone from her head in an instant. She felt appalled that Tchisa thought that's what this was about.

However, before she could say anything about that, Embris spoke first. "If she's interested in me like that, then she'll have to be disappointed. I'm not interested in girls or women."

Jenn couldn't help but feel a little stung. She wasn't interested in Embris that way either, but the way that Embris put it, made her feel like Embris saw her as a girl. Which was the first time she could remember feeling anything about being thought of that way. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she hoped that it wasn't going to be something that really affected her much. If she was going to change like that, she'd at least like to know about the change as it was happening or because she made the choice herself and knew that she made it rather than having it come on her like this.

The other alternative was that she at least wanted Embris to think of her in a different light than that, even though they hardly knew each other. Jenn hoped that that would be the reason, but she really wasn't sure about it to begin with.

Tchisa then put her hand on Jenn's shoulder. "After finding someone you like, it's a shame when they don't like you."

Jenn rolled her eyes. "It's not like that," she protested. "I'm not interested in her either."

Tchisa grinned as she squeezed Jenn's shoulder comfortingly. "That's the spirit! If she's not interested in you, then don't be interested in her!"

Jenn felt stunned. Even she knew that's not how that worked. She glanced at Embris who was looking rather uncomfortable and Jenn sighed. It was clear both thought that she was interested in Embris when she wasn't. Not like that.

However, she could tell that she wasn't going to be convincing either of them of that fact. She might be able to convince them over time, but she couldn't say that she had a whole lot of hope on that front. Not with how they were looking at her right then. Maybe not at any point down the road, regardless of circumstances.

_

Three days after the morning of the departure, they reached their destination. It was a city that had a river flowing by it, where it would flow into the ocean not very far past. There was a stone bridge over the river that provided passage, despite the river being well over a mile wide. The arches were high enough that most river ships could pass under the bridge without trouble.

Although, Jenn also could remember swimming along one of those when the dorsal fin of a shark rose up next to her. The fin was at least fifteen feet high, and she couldn't say that it was a pleasant memory looking back, despite the fact that nothing happened to her, and that with the positioning of that fin, the shark wouldn't have likely been aware of her presence, given it was a river. Though, as she recalled, she was in the river while she was still working with the Lost, even though she was outside the forest.

She wasn't sure how that worked, just that it had. If she spoke with the Lost again, she thought she might mention that. If she could think of it at then, at least.

The city looked more fortified than any of the cities that Jenn had seen before. Even Veloutra.

The company that Jenn was travelling with was herself, Embris, and ten other girls, mostly older than Jenn herself, although she was the only one with any children, even adopted. Which certainly came up during the trip there and didn't cause as many hard feelings as Jenn would have expected considering how having children in this world seemed to be something that allowed a woman to have more status simply by the fact that they'd procreated. Even to the point where there didn't seem to be much morality, as far as Jenn could tell, in regards to how they got pregnant in the first place.

Maybe if she learned more about the way the culture worked, she might understand it a little more, but even then, she still had her doubts about it.

There wasn't anyone guarding the bridge as far as Jenn could tell, although she supposed that the guards were guarding at the gate, as the bridge was easy to see from the city. Even though the fact that they were more than thirty feet above the river would have made it a little difficult to see all those travelling on it from the gate. Even though when they descended the ramp from the bridge there wasn't anywhere they could hide from the gate the entire trip down.

When they reached the gate, the sun was going down and the gate was closing, much to Jenn's annoyance. However, there was an inn nearby for those who hadn't managed to enter through the gate. Which Jenn figured was probably better than anything else, even camping out like they had been doing up to this point and several other people who hadn't made it in time were doing.

However, what annoyed Jenn the most was the fact that the inn had already filled up the rooms that were available, and so all of them would have to sleep in the common area. Which, while it provided a cheaper option than the rooms, made Jenn feel like they still needed to keep a watch at night, as she certainly didn't trust the look some of the other people sleeping in the common room had.

"Captain, what do you want us to do?" the oldest of the members of her squad asked when she apparently gave them some signal of her displeasure.

"We'll carry on our rotation for the watches," Jenn informed them. "I know all of you were looking forward to a break from that, I was too, but I'm sure none of you would like to wake up to find others going through our things or worse."

Even though it was clear they were unhappy, they didn't respond, which Jenn took as a good sign. She still wasn't convinced that she was 'leader' material, but it was nice to see that she wasn't having to win the respect of anyone just because they didn't think she was 'strong' enough or capable enough.

Jenn wasn't sure if these young women and girls were selected to accompany her, aside from Embris, for any specific reason, but Jenn was at latest pleased that they weren't making the trip any more difficult than it needed to be.

One positive of having to do one more round of this was the fact that Jenn currently had the least desired watch: the middle one. While it was a pain to stay up later when she'd rather go to sleep or get woken up and have to stay up through the day after, it was worse to get woken up then go back to sleep, only to get woken up with everyone else in the morning. As her sleep would get interrupted twice, rather than just once, which tended to make her even more tired than she otherwise would have been.

This way she could get it over with, spend an extra day in the city recovering, and not have to worry about it waiting for her when they left. She wasn't sure if the person who would have that watch next would be as happy as Jenn, but that wasn't her problem. She was just happy to have the chance to get it over with sooner.

When the day started the next morning, Jenn wasn't surprised to want to go back to sleep when she knew they needed to get up. If only to avoid having to pay another tish for occupying space in the inn.

They enjoyed a short breakfast before making their way into the city. Embris assured Jenn that she knew of a good inn that wasn't that expensive, though Jenn suspected it was the inn she'd stayed at with her employer the only time she'd been to this city. As they had talked a good amount on their way. During which Jenn felt she learned a lot more about Embris than Embris probably realized.

And all without looking into Embris' mind!

Afterwards, Jenn wanted to take a nap and waste the day, even though she knew they really didn't have the finances for her to frivolously blow through the funds just to accommodate her comfort. However, Embris was the one who insisted she go find the duchess and deal with what they'd come here for that day instead of wasting the day and requiring them to stay another.

Jenn wasn't sure if Embris was just that way or if she'd done something to annoy or irritate her and this was Embris' way of paying her back. Regardless of which, Jenn couldn't say that she was very appreciative of her doing that. Even though she couldn't argue with the key points.

When Jenn walked up to the castle, the guards stopped her, which she'd expected. She'd left all but Embris back at the inn. She brought Embris simply because she felt more comfortable with her, though she was still working on trying to convince Embris that she didn't have any romantic interest in her. Which felt at times like a lost cause.

She wished she could just get the guards to let her through without any bother, including her having to explain what she wanted, so she could finish up that much faster and get out of there so she could get the rest she really wanted right then.

"What business do you have here?" the guard asked in a bored tone, clearly her mind on other things.

"I have a petition for the duchess," Jenn said, recalling what Tchisa had instructed her to say. She'd rather just say that she wanted to speak with the duchess, but since that's not the way things worked in this world, she couldn't exactly make things go her way for her own convenience.

If nothing else, she worried that it would create more problems for her if she did.

"The petitions are heard an hour after midday," the guard said, sounding rather bored as she motioned for Jenn and Embris to enter through a smaller door in the gate.

Jenn didn't say anything more, just walked through the door. Which a young man, in what Jenn could only call a maid's uniform, directed them to follow him.

Jenn noticed other young men waiting and she suspected that they were there to escort visitors who had a petition for the duchess, though she couldn't say how many typically showed up on any given day.

It was possible that there would be too many people ahead of them for the duchess to listen to their petition, but she also hoped that maybe, just maybe, they were the first ones there that day.

Yet, when the young man led them to a room, Jenn could see that there were several other people ahead of her. Which wasn't something she could really feel that happy about. She at least hoped that the duchess would be able to get through them all, but she also couldn't help but wonder how many had been coming in day after day to get their petition heard.

"Is this how it usually is?" Jenn asked, not sure if they just came on a bad day or something. Though, she hoped that's just what it was, even though she had a feeling this was pretty much an everyday occurrence, making her wonder what it's going to be like to be the Blue Rose full time when she needed to take that mantle on herself openly.

Embris merely shrugged in response. Which Jenn couldn't help but wonder why she thought Embris might know something about the matter in the first place.

And to think, I could have been sleeping right now, Jenn silently lamented to herself.

When the duchess did show up, one of her attendants announced that she only had time for three petitions. All others would need to return the next day for a chance to have it heard. Which Jenn could only clench her teeth in aggravation. She had a feeling that this might take longer than she'd originally planned on.

Although, it did mean that she'd be able to rest and relax for the rest of the day. Which was at least a kind of good thing for her.

In the end, it took them five days to get their petition heard. While Jenn tried heading over first thing, she found that, if the duchess had time for any petitions, 'first thing' was too late.

Even when she skipped breakfast, she found that she was still just a hair too late. Which annoyed her more than she could say. So, on the fourth day, she had reinstated the watches, though the duty of those on watch was to either wake the next person, or Jenn herself. So she could head over to be the first in line.

However, that day, the duchess didn't have time for any petition, so Jenn had to try that same plan again.

As she waited on the fifth day, she could feel the heated gazes of those whom she'd managed to bypass in line, despite the fact that the line didn't start until each day, and several of those people had already had a petition heard and had then come back with another, or at least reworded it to see if it would get accepted this time.

So, Jenn did her best to ignore them, as she knew that they weren't happy with what she did, but she was fairly confident that they weren't going to go to the trouble she had to be the first in line. She was confident only she was willing to go to those lengths. Largely because she was already tired of just waiting around for this. She wasn't sure what else to do, but at least now she'd be able to know this ordeal would be over sooner rather than later.

Yet, when the duchess arrived on that day, she apparently had a completely open schedule, where it was announced that she'd be able to hear so many petitions, that if Jenn had arrived 'first thing' she'd have been have to get her petition heard anyway.

The only consolation was that this felt more like a rare occurrence rather than one that happened every now and then, which meant that it wouldn't have been a good idea for her to have banked on this occurring to get her petition heard.

"I believe you're the first petition today," the woman that Jenn had figured out was the duchess said to her.

Jenn nodded, bowing her head, while giving a kind of salute that she made up on the spot, trying to show as much respect as she could, when she had no clue as exactly what to do in the first place.