Free Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) by P. S. Power

breakfast time. Not that the King won't rush to see you as soon as he is able, of course!"
    Sara smiled, because she understood what Gemma here was doing. Covering for every possible slight or insult that might occur, even before they did.
    "That works for me. Thanks. You can reach me on this device, under the name Sara Debri. I also have a new communications device, if that's preferred? I'll have both out. I'm in the Capital right now, if that's useful information?"
    "Very good, Madame Ambassador. I'll see to that directly. It's been wonderful to hear from you this fine day. Is there anything I can do for you other than that? Anything that you need that we here could provide for your comfort?" She was clearly ready to go on, but Sara let herself chuckle a bit.
    "Not that I can think of. I should get off the connection so you can set that in motion? Thank you again, Squire Gemma. I hope that we can talk later?"
    That got the girl to go silent for a second. It was actually very polite, but also meant that Sara was thinking of her as an actual person. One that might have value at some point.
    "I'd love to. I'm free this evening, if that serves? About eight?"
    They made plans to meet at a pub not too far away from the palace. A bit of a walk for the girl, but nothing too adventurous. It never hurt to make friends however, even ones as random seeming as this. Gemma worked in the palace, which meant she had good connections. Being a Knight Esquire, and a woman was impressive too. There were what, ten of those, in the entire Kingdom? You didn't get to be a Knight Esquire without being pretty impressive either. Most of the time, if they bothered at all, they simply made you a Knight outright, if you were worth calling that.
    It probably meant that the girl was worthy of that status, but something was in the way of it happening. Like one of her marks of valor being so secret that it couldn't be mentioned out loud. Given everything that would probably mean the girl on the device had been involved in ferreting out traitors. If she were given a full rank as a Knight because of it, then everyone would know, making it much harder to do again.
    It could be something else, of course. Politics came to mind on that one. Everything for people of a certain rank had to be filtered through that, when it came down to it.
    Sara simply waited, ready to spend the rest of the day there, if need be, so that she wouldn't be on with someone else when the King sent word to her. She expected his business secretary, because she was still just Sara the merchant's daughter.
    What she got shocked her a bit. Not two minutes later, on the newer handheld magical device, the image of the King himself flashed into being when it buzzed at her and she tapped it into activity.
    "Ambassador Debri! How wonderful to hear from you! I was told that you'd like a meeting with me as soon as possible? Is everything well?" His tone was polite, jovial, and perfect for the situation. The last words though were code. Not a subtle one either.
    He wanted to know if there was a massive emergency that was causing her to lie about being the Tellerand Ambassador.
    "It is, thank you. I was just asked to give you an update on how things are going in Tellerand, by Terrance Baker. I'm also supposed to try and see if I can get any aid from you for us? We need bodies to help set things right. People who aren't too humble to pray to the All High so that the people there will accept our help. It's a bit rough that way. I can tell you all about it, if you like?" She meant right then, but the man smiled and nodded at her. Searching her image in his huge giant's hand for information about what was really going on. He always did that kind of thing however.
    The hard part was keeping herself from bowing and scraping just seeing his image. She was playing at being important though, and that meant doing a good enough job that anyone spying on them would buy it.
    "How would a meeting at luncheon do