The World of Tom Stafford by D.A. Sanford - HTML preview

Chapter 11: Settling in

Nadean and I went to the altar to declare our marriage. We became officially married.

The thing that I couldn’t understand was that we were given four hundred years instead of Brian and Reba’s two hundred years for renewal. Below that was written Royal Lineage, Heir to the throne of Seaden.

We were totally lost. Good thing Kar was with us.

“Kar, this is strange. Can you explain what this means? It can’t mean what it says!” I ask.

Kar looks at the display. The look he has looks like he is in shock. He closes his eyes and sends a telepathic message. Then there was a contingent of officials that showed up and they were bowing to the both of us. There also with some uniformed military types lining up.

Shaking Kar apologizes, “Your majesties, please forgive me for not realizing who you were.”

“What the hell is going on? Your majesties? Somebody owes us an explanation!”

“Please allow me to explain your Highness”

One of the official looking men that came foreword

“I am the regent of Seaden, your kingdom. I have taken the liberty to do a recheck of the scan for your lineage. Your third great grandfather was our king. He went to the surface to see what was happening. At the time there were ships being destroyed only to litter our grounds. The other kingdoms were reporting the same. That was over a hundred twenty years ago. We later found out that the surface dwellers were at war but this time it was the whole surface world. They called it the first world war.”

“King Podacke disappeared and was feared lost. I was chosen regent until his status could be determined. Your scan allowed us to find out what happened.”

I stopped him right there. “I know nothing about my grandparents let alone a third great grandfather. How do you know this by a scan?”

The regent replies “That is actually simple to explain. Each one of us has a genetic makeup. In that makeup is a form of what you would call tribal knowledge. We all carry a knowledge of what went on in our family history. We have the ability to read that knowledge.”

“It seems that the king was found unconscious by the woman who would become your third great grandmother. He was washed up on shore. We now know that he fell in love and took a surface life span. You, King Thomas, are his lawful heir. Your new wife is now Queen Nadean. Please allow us to take you to your palace. We will need to schedule the coronation.”

If there were a seat, I would have dropped into it but I just floated.

“I just got here. My brain can’t process this. What do I need to do? What about the people from my surface town?”

“We will, with your royal permission, instruct you in what needs to happen. As far as your people. They can be your counselors or advisors. The other kingdom’s kings need to be informed and then your subjects.”

“Please explain this to my people and, if they want to, bring them to me. They are the people that know me and will be able to keep me grounded.”

As he is explaining this to one of his subordinates, I notice that there has been a floating royal carriage, that looks the part, brought to us. We are ushered into it and it starts moving. In there is the Regent, Nadean, Bart, Kar and myself. I insisted that Kar came along. I consider him my mentor since he was the first contact and was the one that finally convinced me to come home.

While traveling to the palace, I ask the regent if I now can appoint people to offices. He tells me that is to be expected.

“You were king the second the message appeared, the coronation is just a formality, so you can appoint people to offices right now.”

“Kar, I now appoint you as my public relations official. You know both me and Seaden. I trust you. Before you answer, remember that it was you that convinced me to come home. You are responsible for the king returning. Once the word gets around, if it hasn’t already, you are going to be a famous person. I want you as my advisor on what the public needs. What do you think? Want to work for me?”

He is humbled “As you wish your majesty.”

“Royal decree. Kar, when not in public, you are to address me and the queen as Tom and Nadean”

“As you wish your...Tom”

“Regent, you have not told me your name. Oh, by the way that decree also applies to you.”

“Tom, my name is Gartage. If it is your mind to be informal in private, please call me Gar.”

“Gar, I appoint you as my chamberlain. You have been running the kingdom for quite a while so I need your knowledge. Do you accept?”

“Your wish is most welcome. I will do it but I also advise you that you may want to have someone of your group train under me. I’m getting old now and since you have arrived, I

can think about retiring from public life. Having me around, people out of habit will turn to me to overrule you. It will be better to have someone trained.”

“I did not think of that. Of course, you are right but let me think on this. How long do you think you want to stay?”

“I think that it should be no longer than a year.”

“So be it. I look forward to working with you.”

“Nadean, you seem to be very quiet. Something wrong?” I ask her

“Something wrong, something wrong, your majesty! We are only a few minutes here and you just got to take over. We get titles and everyone is bowing. We went from a fort to a palace. NO NOTHING IS WRONG!”

Bart giggles at his mother’s frustration.

“What are you giggling about PRINCE BARTHOLOMEW?”

That shut him up.

“Breathe in, breathe out, Calm, go to your happy place.” Back in control of herself “It is overwhelming that’s all. I half expected that we could settle down but the other half thought that you could not just sit. Now your majesty, your queen will back you. I warn you right now that I won’t hesitate to tell you off if your get to big headed.”

“Chamberlain” she looks directly into his eyes “I expect you to make sure that he takes time off. Vacation at least a total of a month a year. Do we have a vacation home? OH, let me guess, it is a seaside resort.”

With that last remark, the whole carriage erupts into laughter. The tension has been broken.

Gar retorts as deadpan as he could muster “How did you know?”.

Arriving at the palace, I was in awe. It is larger than anything I could have imagined. It spread over quite a few acres. That is just the building. With towers on all four corners, parapets every medieval feature that can be built is there. It’s a castle.

The word has started trickling out, thoughts leak. There are crowds already forming.

trying to get the first looks at the king, me.

Upon arrival at the palace front doors the palace guards are lined in formation. Every one of them dressed in full formal uniforms. Spit and polished they make a handsome display. As soon as the carriage stops, they snap to attention. You can hear the cheers

coming from the crowd that have gathered. The top officer comes up to the carriage and opens the door and then welcomes the king as Tom exits the carriage.

That officer walks with the king. The second in command takes the hand of the queen and helps her down. The second offers the queen her arm and then she escorts the queen. The others passengers follow the two.

The chamberlain walks up to the king and tells him,

“Your majesty, it is appropriate for you and the queen to turn and wave to the crowd once you reach the top of the stairs.”

“Thank you, lord Chamberlain.”

We get to the top of the stairs, then Nadean and I turn and wave.

“Someone tell us, how long do we stand here and wave?”

“Just a few minutes. It gives them the opportunity to show you their appreciation and loyalty.”

“Well time to do something new”

I say. I have learned to broad cast with the telepathy. It is almost natural even though it has been less than a day since we came home. I know this will break tradition but I’m going to try something.

“People of Seaden, it is my humble honor that you have welcomed me to your country.

Because this is my first day home, my queen and I need to acclimate to our new environment. We ask for your support and we look forward to working with you.”

With that, we turn and go inside with cheering from the crowd.

“No king has done that before.” Gar tells him. “I feel that there is going to be quite a few new things going on. I look forward to your rule.”

I tell him, “This is the way I operate. Open and out front. Keeping everyone in the dark is no way to win trust. I’m the first king to reign in one hundred plus years. I want them to trust me. They won’t if I operate in secret. We will be listening to the people but we will need to also remind them that in times of danger, I will invoke absolute rule.”

“Now I’m tired and I’m sure that Nadean is also. We will let you set up the announcements to the other kingdoms and the coronation. Work with Kar to make sure that the public is up to date on all the events related.”

They bow and leave.

Standing to the side are the head butler and head maid. They greet us and tell us that they will show us to our rooms.

“Wait, our rooms?”

“The king and queen always have had separate rooms.”

I look at my wife then back to the staff

“This is a new era. The queen and I will be sharing quarters. We both will have separate offices but we sleep together. There is to be no further discussion. Now show us to our suite.”

The royal suite is larger than the whole house we left.

I look at it. I realize that there are certain protocols that royals must observe.

“Let us see what would be the queen’s chambers.”

The head maid shows us the chambers that was going to be queens. They are directly adjacent to the king’s chambers. We look at that one. It’s is a lot better.

“This is the room that we want. For the next few days” I say, the queen and I will sleep in the large room. That will give you enough time to knock a door through to the main suite room. You got two days. Do it.”

We turn back to the king’s room.

The next morning the chief butler and the head maid are knocking on the bedroom door.

The reason they knock is because, with separate rooms, they would knock then enter without waiting for permission. Being a bedroom the occupant would be in various stages of undress. This morning it would be improper for both to just enter since the king and queen were both in there.

Hearing the knocks, I nudge Nadean, “I think it is time to wake up. Someone is knocking at the door.” Then I say “It’s okay, you can come in.”

The head maid is the first to come in but not before cracking to door open slightly. “Your majesty, are you covered up?”

Pulling the blanket up so that only the upper portion of my body is exposed I tell her that I am. She enters but makes it a point to only look at Nadean. She is holding a robe and approaches Nadean.

“My lady. I ask you to kindly stand up so I can put this on you. I can then take you to your dressing chamber. We will get you dressed in your royal attire.”

“Can’t I get dressed right here?”

“No that is not an option. The maids will be bathing you and then getting you properly dressed. That cannot be done with his highness in his state of undress.”

Nadean shoots me a look. “If you weren’t in a state of undress” and sticks out her tongue.

She then asks the head maid “And what is your name?”

To which she answers “Marlenia”

“Marlenia” Nadean stands up without a stitch of clothing on “Lead me to my fate”

Marlenia quickly covers her in the robe making sure that it is securely fastened, then escorts her out of the room. I admire the view as she deliberately lets her ass go back and forth seductively. Before she is past the door, Nadean looks over her shoulder and blows me a kiss. What a good sight to see first thing.

Those thoughts were interrupted by the chief butler.

“Good morning sire. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Louisianian. I am the chief butler and will be directly responsible for your care.”

He walks over to a closet and takes out a robe for me to wear.

“Please stand and I’ll lead you to your bath”

I stand, he puts the robe on me and then we proceed to my bath.

Three lower ranked butlers follow us. The bath room is large enough to have a large party in it. Set up like a Japanese bath, there is a separate area that I was instructed to sit. Then the three come over to scrub me and wash my hair.

The experience is a little creepy but I have seen enough and read enough that this is common. It is their job and if I protested that I would do it myself, they could be out of a job. So, I endured it. They could not scrub my back the way Nadean could nor would I want them to do it her way.

Once scrubbed, I soaked for a while then I am dried and was dressed.

I found it curious. All the movies, anime and such had the merfolk swimming all around, naked with tails. Everyone that I have seen have legs and walk. They use self-propelled carriages. They are not drawn by large sea horses. There are no sea shell bras here.

Everyone is clothed in what looks like comfortable clothing. The look of those clothes seem like they are a modern style. So why am I being dressed in frilly attire?

I look at the chief butler “Lou, I’m going to call you Lou, what is up with this wardrobe. I like casual.”

Trying to maintain his composure after being called Lou, “This is, as you say, casual.

For official occasions we have royal attire.”

“I may need to speak to the tailor. See that it is put on my schedule. By the way, what is on my schedule for today?”

“Today the chamberlain will be briefing you on the state of the country along with the preparations for the coronation. Then there will be other items of importance. Informing you and keeping the schedule is the chamberlains duty.”

“New edict, if I ask you what is my schedule, I do not expect you to have explicit details but a general rundown. You okay with that?”

“As you wish” and he bows.

He leads me to a hall where there is a very long banquet table. He seats me at one end.

Then Nadean comes in and is placed at the other end.

“Nope” I say to her head maid “my wife is to be seated next to me at all times. In fact, Lou, I want you to set up a small table that will handle six people comfortably in a room near the kitchen. That will be where we eat our meals with the exception of state dinners. Is there such a room?”

“The only one is the staff dining area.”

“I need to see that area directly after we eat. Okay bring on breakfast.”

After breakfast, Lou escorts me down to the kitchen and staff dining area. I look at it.

Their dining area is just a small pass through. I would imagine that they would only be able to eat in shifts. I push open the kitchen door.

“Who’s the head chef here” I call out.

“Who’s bothering me at this time. If you didn’t get breakfast, come a little earlier.” The voice boomed over the noise.

“It’s only me, Thomas Stafford”

Did someone hit a mute button. All noise stopped. The head chef comes running to the door and kowtows.

“I’m sorry your majesty for being rude to you.

“You’re a busy man so no offense taken. I did not identify myself at first. Please get up. I have a few questions for you.”

He gets up from the floor but only looks down like he is bracing to hear that he is fired.

“First, that was a wonderful breakfast the you prepared for the queen and I. Thank you and to your staff, thank you. Now for the more important question, how many staff meals do you prepare for each meal?”

The chef tells me “Breakfast is for the live in staff and that would be 65 people.”

“Wait a second” I turn to the butler “How long have you servant been using this as your dining area?” I ask.

“Since before I came here and that was during your grandfathers reign.”

“That is unacceptable. From this point on, that dining room that you served our breakfast is now the staff dining area. The queen and I will eat here.”

“Your majesty, that cannot happen. You cannot eat here.” Lou says.

“My reign, my rules. If it is not good enough for me then it is not good enough for my staff. I will be taking this up with the chamberlain. If it shames me then it shames the staff.”

I see a door on the wall to my left so I ask,

“Where does that door lead?”

I open it before they an answer. It is a large room almost empty with some excess tables in it.

Turning back to the both, I put my arms out with palms up. “What’s this?”

“Storage” is the answer I get.

“No, inform the cleaning staff that the queen and I will be having our lunch here to celebrate with the staff their new dining hall.” I start to leave and I hear the kitchen staff

cheer. I turn and say “I’m looking forward to lunch with all of you.” This job has just got interesting.