"I don't lie about food, either," I said, when Hild Marolla said the crepes were the best he'd ever tasted. He sipped gourmet coffee with his meal and seemed satisfied. "And I do have a Master Cook's license on Tulgalan," I added.
"So, you really are related to the Desh family," he said.
"You did a piece on that, years ago," I told him. "You were looking for me after you did the exposé of Breszca Loffus. I'm her granddaughter, but I barely know her. She's married to my grandfather, now."
"Why couldn't I get into your records?" The journalist asked.
"The ASD had them locked up," I replied. "Want more coffee?"
* * *
Vid from my unplanned press conference spread like wildfire across both Alliances. People were calling for Cynthin's resignation, as well as that of the other two who'd backed her accusations and then demanded that Teeg step down. I didn't know how all of it would end, but for the moment, at least they weren't dragging my name through the muck.
Then the ice cream started selling. People stood in lines outside ice cream shops, waiting to pay thirty-five Alliance credits for a single scoop on a cone. Reporters went out to interview customers about the gishi fruit ice cream, all while money poured in. The recipe was protected by patent quickly and EastStar Groves wallowed in a tsunami of fame for creating the best and most expensive ice cream. I'd told Edward to leave my name out of it and keep the ice cream under the EastStar Groves label. It worked out very well and we got the new plant open quickly.
* * *
"Beg her to come look at the groves," Glinda said. "They're not thriving and the fruit is smaller than it should be." She sat in Jayd's private study, watching her High Demon husband closely.
"Are they watering properly? Is someone checking to make sure the sprinklers are all working? What the hell are those people we hired doing?" Jayd rose to pace. "And now that gishi fruit ice cream is selling everywhere and making a ton of money, we can't get our hands on the recipe."
"Because Reah patented it through the Campiaan Alliance," Tory skipped in looking dejected. Glinda had sent mindspeech to him earlier. He'd finally shown up to see what his aunt wanted.
"This is Reah's. I shouldn't be surprised," Jayd muttered.
"Edward Pendley, who owns EastStar Groves, has already asked her to marry him," Tory grumbled.
"You could ask her," Jayd pointed out.
"You think I haven't thought of that? If I ask now, she'll react with suspicion and rightfully so. She has no reason to trust anything I say."
"Will she come look at the groves, at least? I'll pay," Jayd offered.
"I'll ask," Tory sighed, "but she'll likely throw it in my face." Tory skipped away.
* * *
"Torevik." I acknowledged his presence while monitoring ice-cream makers inside the new building. The facility was everything I wanted it to be. Our ice cream was selling before it was made and Edward was negotiating with the owner of SouthStar for blemished fruit. He was offering top credit for their less than perfect gishi fruit. Edward's employees inspected the fruit before it was purchased; he had a knack for choosing the right people for those things.
"Reah, the groves on Kifirin aren't doing very well. Jayd has offered to pay if you'll come to the Southern Continent and take a look."
"What's wrong with them?" Edward, who was there and watching me work, asked.
"We don't know. The Crown was never involved with the groves. They depended on Reah to do everything."
"And now they pay the price," Edward said. "Reah, let's go take a look," he sighed.
"Edward, you're not obligated," I pointed out.
"I know. But the trees are being mistreated. I feel it. Let's go look." Less than a click later, we were walking through the Kifirini groves that I knew so well with Jayd, Glinda, Lissa and Garde. I wanted to snarl at Garde but held it back. Astralan, alerted by Teeg no doubt, showed up as well.
"These sprinkler lines are broken, see?" I pointed out where the soil was saturated with water, keeping the roots too wet surrounding the break. "And these past that point aren't getting water at all. Aren't they walking the groves?" I asked. "What are they doing?"
"No idea," Jayd raked a hand through his hair. Glinda seemed very upset.
"Let's find out," there was a light in Lissa's eyes. We folded to my old cottage, which had been enlarged, I discovered. What we found inside it had Gardevik raging. I thought he would tear the house apart. The new grove manager was running a gambling establishment. I saw many of the disabled inside, playing for coveted items.
"I think you're under arrest," Lissa informed the manager pleasantly.
* * *
"Now what do we do?" Garde held his head in his hands later as we all sat inside Jayd's study.
"I have a suggestion," I said. "But Lissa might not like it."
"What will I not like?" She looked at me curiously.
"Bring Corent," I said. "At least two days a week. He's a gentle soul, but if you mistreat the trees, I think you might be surprised at the temper that will cause. And he can heal the ones that have been over or under watered."
"Corent?" Edward looked at me.
"Green Fae," I said. "He takes care of the apple trees and such on Le-Ath Veronis. He's the last of his family."
"I'll lend him out for two days each week," Lissa agreed. "But you'll pay him fairly," she poked Garde in the chest. He almost fell back. Lissa was vampire, after all, and she held the strength of a Queen.
"Right now, I'm willing to do almost anything to get the groves back on track," Jayd agreed.
"Good," I said. "I need to get back to making ice cream."
"You're making the gishi fruit ice cream?" Garde stared at me.
"Yes. I'm making the gishi fruit ice cream. Why?"
"Kifirin said I'd cut my own hand. He was right."
"Too late now," I said. "I was going to ask Jayd for funds to build a plant here when the debts were paid. That won't be happening, now. Edward is handing half his profits to me. He offered all of the profits, but that was too much. Would I still be walking barefoot through your groves, dressed in rags if things hadn't gone as they did?" I asked Garde. "You'd have kept me like that forever, wouldn't you? Was it all because I was only a quarter-blood? Is that what it was?" My emotions were welling up again. They were a major downside to being pregnant. "How much do you hate me, Gardevik Rath? How much?" I was weeping by that time.
"Reah, can't you see there is nothing left in him? I don't think he feels." Edward took my hand, nodded to all present and Astralan folded us to Avendor.
* * *
"Garde, what happened to you?" Lissa demanded. "Surely you know better than this."
"He was first-born," Jayd sighed, dropping onto his desk chair inside his study. "He took the heat from Father for the rest of us. Father always blamed us and our mother for either not being daughters or not having daughters. He knew the race was dying even then, our father did. And he was angry because he couldn't do anything about it."
"So, you're really angry because Denevik went out and made a daughter with a humanoid, is that it? And then his daughter had a quarter-blood-daughter. Are you blaming Reah for all of this, Garde?" Lissa looked up at him.
"It was so easy for her," Garde turned away. "So easy to have daughters. I lashed out at her. Our parents are dead. Mother dropped into Baetrah because she couldn't handle the pressure any longer. Father, not realizing how much he actually depended upon our mother, followed closely behind her. I did wrong. Placed blame. Let my prejudices show. Lendevik was right to keep me from the Kingship. I was helpless to keep Kifirin from bankruptcy, and that little slip of a girl comes in and creates solvency out of nothing. I am supposed to be the one to do that. I should have found a way out of that mess. I didn't, so I did my best to persecute the one who did."
"This is so fucked up," Lissa tossed up a hand in resignation.
* * *
"Reah, you can't help that other people make mistakes. They may not always intend for the consequences to be so devastating. You have to take care of yourself, first." Edward and I swung lazily in the covered swing outside his suite. He'd dried my tears earlier. Astralan lounged on a chair nearby, watching me closely.
"I know," I said. Kevis came out and took a chair next to Astralan. The doctor was waiting with one of his sessions, no doubt. "I wish I could get drunk right now," I added.
"You'd be swigging straight from the wine bottle, wouldn't you?" Edward teased, grinning at me.
"I'm that desperate," I nodded.
"Most people get medication, Reah," Kevis said. "But you're pregnant and High Demon. The levels of the drugs you would require would be too hazardous to the child. We can't risk it," he added.
"I know," I agreed. Edward held me tighter against him. Kevis pulled me away after a while, herding Edward and Astralan away. I'd have stayed and napped on one shoulder or the other if he hadn't.
"Reah, what happened earlier?" Kevis asked as he settled onto the swing with me, comp-vid in hand.
"I don't know. It's easy to blame it on the pregnancy," I said, leaning back and staring at the underside of the canvas canopy.
"I believe that's part of it," he agreed. "Perhaps not all."
"You don't ever get to choose your family," I breathed deeply of the fresh air rising above the gishi fruit groves. "And like it or not, I'm connected to Glinda and Jayd and Garde. Glinda is my great-aunt, whether I want that or not. She's never deliberately mistreated me, but when Garde handed my girls to her, she never questioned. She just took what she wanted."