| Chapter 40 "Nick," Kevin said, shaking the younger man, "Hey wake up, we're here." Nick's eyes fluttered open and he stared at Kevin for a moment before sitting up and rubbing his face, trying to clear the cobwebs. He glanced out the window, seeing the transport approaching the palace. He took a deep breath and stood up, stretching. Everyone was gathering their things as the transport touched down with a slight bump. Nathaniel and his guards exited first, followed by Ana, Marie and the guys. "Anthony," Nick called, catching up to him, "I want you to come to the negotiations with me." Anthony's eyes widened in shock, "Are you sure?" Nick laughed, "Yeah, I need you there. You've seen how this is done, I need your expertise." "I'm no expert Nick," Anthony protested. Nick shrugged, "At least you've seen it done. That's one up on me." The pair exited the transport together, seeing the queen waiting on them. She smiled as they approached, but they could see the concern in her eyes. Nick hugged her, "I missed you." LaDonna hugged him tighter, "I missed you as well. I'm sorry to call you back so soon." Nick shook his head as they parted, "Don't be. It's my job now." Anthony hugged his aunt and together the three walked into the palace. "The dignitaries from Kholath have already arrived. They are settling in," she informed them. "What about the Jeptimian dignitaries?" Nick asked. "They will arrive within the hour," she said. Nick sighed, heading towards his room, "Alright, greet them and let them get settled as well. We will start the negotiations one hour after they arrive." LaDonna nodded, and turned back down the hall. Nick looked at Anthony, "OK, what do you wear to negotiations?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian stretched out on the bed, watching as Marie went about putting their things away. "Baby, we can do that later," he said. She smiled at him, "I'm almost done." He laughed, glancing over at the console, it was flashing. He sat up and walked over to it, pressing the button. A man Brian didn't know appeared before him. "Marie, call me when you get in. I want to catch up with you, see how things are going," the man said, then disappeared. "Is that your brother?" Brian asked. Marie sighed, sitting on the bed, "Yeah, that's him. The mighty Devon Lapool," she laughed. Brian walked back over to sit with her, "You don't like him?" She shrugged, "He never had much use for me, so I never had much for him." "Ohh," Brian said, "Are you gonna call him?" "Yeah, eventually. Otherwise he'll keep bugging me until I go insane," she laughed. Brian chuckled. "Besides, he needs to meet his future brother-in-law," she smiled, "But I'm calling mom and dad first. You need to ask my father if ....." "Already did," Brian grinned. Marie stared at him, "You did? When?" "When we were there. I had Nick translate for me. I knew if I didn't ask him then, that it may be a long time before I saw him again," he said. Marie pulled his face to hers and planted a playful kiss to his lips. "I love you," she said, "Now lets call mom and dad. I'm sure they're wondering if I accepted." Brian laughed, "I'm sure they know what you said." She giggled, "Yeah, probably so. But mom's gonna want details!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick sighed, adjusting his crown one last time before walking into the throne room. He was already not looking forward to this, and his first impressions when he walked in didn't help matters any. He sat down on his throne, Anthony taking a seat slightly behind him. Two tables had been set up, and each contained the dignitary from that planet and his assistant. Standing behind them, where their own guards, armed to the hilt. Nick caught the icy glares that shot between the tables, and he thought they were going to rip each other's heads off when both stepped forward at the same time to introduce themselves. Nick glanced over at the council who were seated at their table and rolled his eyes. He got knowing smiles from each of them, even his uncle. Nick looked back at the two dignitaries, each unwilling to let the other go first. Nick stood up and walked up to the nearest table, the dignitary and his assistant kneeling in front of him. He motioned for them to get up, then stuck his hand out, "I'm Nick Carter, king of Celeste. And you are?" The man looked shocked, glancing at the council for a moment before answering, "Tunk James, your highness. Ambassador of Kholath." Nick shook his hand, nodding at the man. He was Nick's height and build, with large, deep brown eyes and jet black hair, that fell to his shoulders. His skin was olive in color, giving him an exotic look. "Good to meet you, and you speak our language," Nick noted. "Yes, your highness, the entire system learns your language," Tunk replied. "How nice," Nick said, walking over to the other table. "Nick Carter," Nick said, sticking his hand out to the short, stocky man in front of him. The man took it, "Kelah Hatch, Ambassador of Jeptim." Nick nodded, regarding the man. He was older than Tunk, with gray eyes and short sandy blonde hair. His skin was fair, like it hadn't ever seen the sun. The two men couldn't have been any more different. "Good to meet you Ambassador Hatch," he said, then turned and went back to his throne. He sat down looking around, not liking the set up. Everyone had to look up to him, and the two tables right next to each other just wasn't going to cut it. The fact that Kelah had pushed his table up closer to the dias the throne was on was proof of that. He needed a set up where everyone was on equal ground, so they could dispense with the petty bickering of who was more important, and get down to the real business at hand. Anthony leaned forward, "What are you looking for?" "I don't like this set up. We'll never get anything done like this," Nick said. "This is how it's always set up," Anthony replied. Nick bit his bottom lip, wondering how his father ever got anything accomplished. He stood up and walked over to Rowland, "We need to change the room." "How?" Rowland asked. "I need equal seating for me and the ambassadors. Something like .... a round table. Please tell me we have a large round table," Nick said. "Yes, your highness we do," Rowland answered, having to hold back a smile at the look on Nick's face. "Great! Move these tables out, push the dias back against the wall, and move in the round table," Nick said. Rowland nodded, quietly giving several of his men the orders. Nick walked back up to the waiting ambassadors, "Please excuse us for a moment. I'm having them change the tables." Both men nodded, picking their things up and moving out of the way as the tables were taken and the round table brought in. Kelah and Tunk glanced at each other, not knowing what to think about this. It seemed the council was as baffled as they were. The three men whispering among themselves. When the table was set up, Nick gestured towards it, "Please, take a seat." The two men slowly sat down, each with their assistants by their side. Nick sat down, Anthony coming to sit next to him. The table was large enough, they could all spread out without the fear of encroaching into the other's space. "Now, that's much better," Nick said, taking his cape off and draping across the back of his chair. He settled in and looked behind the ambassadors, seeing their guards eyeing one another. "I must ask that you have your guards wait outside," Nick said. The look on the two men's faces told him that wasn't going to go over well. Nick looked at them sternly, "I will not have them disrupting our work, and by the looks of them, if someone sneezed, we'd all be dodging fire. You may keep one man with you, but the others must leave." The two ambassadors glanced at one another again. Nick could tell they were not used to being told what to do, or to this style of negotiation. Finally both men conceded, sending all but one guard out. Nick motioned to Rowland, having the guard lean down so he could whisper to him. "Have your men keep an eye on the guards. I don't want them running into each other in the halls and starting something," he said. Rowland nodded, instructing his men of Nick's wishes. Nick looked at the two guards, still feeling uneasy with the amount of weaponry they displayed. "I require one more thing," he said, looking at each of the ambassadors, "I want this room to be a safe zone. No weapons of any kind should pass through these doors. That includes my guards as well." "But your highness, we must be able to defend ourselves," Kelah protested. Nick grinned at him, "If there are no weapons in the room, there should be no need to defend ourselves." Count Dumal leaned over to Mason, "Good point." Mason raised his eyebrow, nodding. His nephew had just broke a long standing tradition and already had everyone in the room thinking it was a good thing. How did he do that? Nick waited patiently as the two ambassadors thought about his order. After a few moments he could see that neither was going to be the first to disarm. Figures. "Rowland, please designate two guards to take their weapons," Nick ordered, watching as Rowland pointed out two men in the room. The two men walked over and began taking each of the guards weapons from him. When they had finished Nick turned to Rowland, "You may stay, all other guards I wish to leave, and have one of them take your weapons as he goes." Rowland nodded, handing over his sword and gun to one of his men as he exited the room. Nick waited until the massive doors were shut, then looked around. The council was seated at their table, and he and the ambassadors at the round table in the middle of the room. Each man's respective guard pulled up a chair to sit behind him. Nick smiled, taking his crown off and laying it on the table in front of him, "Now gentlemen, let's get down to business." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian sat next to Marie as she made the connection. Suddenly the man he'd seen earlier appeared before them on the console. "Marie, you're already back?" he asked. "Yes, you wanted to see me?" she asked, getting straight to the matter at hand. "Yeah, it's been to long sis. How bout we have lunch tomorrow? And are you going to introduce me or do I get to guess who the nervous looking young man is next to you," Devon smiled. Brian quickly put the hand down he was chewing on as Marie introduced him. "This is Brian Littrell, my fianc�," she said, taking Brian's hand. "Your.....well congratulations," Devon said, recovering quickly from his shock, "Then we must have dinner tomorrow to celebrate." Marie glanced at Brian and he nodded. "Alright, we'll meet you at Brown's," she said. Devon smiled, "Great sis, can't wait. It was nice meeting you Brian." "Nice to meet you," Brian said. Devon looked impressed, "Ohh you speak the language." "I'm learning," Brian replied. "Good, well see you tomorrow then," Devon said, breaking the connection. Brian looked at Marie, "Well that wasn't so bad." She laughed, shaking her head, "Just wait, you don't get the full jerk affect unless you're in person." Brian laughed, leaning over and kissing her cheek, "Well he can't be all bad. He's related to you, that has to count for something." "You'd think," she replied, laughing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ana slowly unpacked her clothes and souvenirs. She had gone to her room and slept for a while, before getting up and putting her things away. She knew she wouldn't get to see much of Nick until the negotiations were over with. She sighed, wishing for just a moment with him. She already missed him. She picked up a small figurine that Nick had bought for her in Dacadia. She gazed at it, remembering the kiss they had shared when he gave it to her. "That's lovely," LaDonna said from behind her. Ana turned around, quickly kneeling, "I didn't realize you were there." LaDonna smiled at her, gesturing for her to stand, "I wanted to see how your trip was." "Good," Ana replied, smiling, "We saw a lot of things. I think the king was impressed." LaDonna sat on Ana's bed, perusing her souvenirs, "You went to the springs?" "Yes ma am," she said. LaDonna nodded, standing back up, "Nickolas will be in negotiations for some time. Why don't you come and work with me until you are able to resume his lessons." Ana stared at the older woman, seeing a glint of something in her eye, "If you wish." LaDonna smiled at her, heading for the door, "See you in the morning then." "See you then," Ana said, wondering what she was up to. Chapter 41 |