The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

Blaze pulled on the weight. The chain whizzed downward as the counterweight flew up in equal measure. A soft click sounded. 

"Don't move." Noble placed her hand over her son's as she examined the device. 

"Relax, mom. I just set the clock to run for another week. What? Did you think it was going to explode?" Blaze laughed as he pulled his hand away. 

That was exactly the thought that entered Noble's head. A mysterious contraption entering her home while she was gone was suspicious, to say the least. 

How was it running? There was no electricity in the Dream Realm! 

Taking a closer look at the swinging pendulum, Noble realized it wasn't using electricity at all. The antique wood looked like it was left over from before the dark ages. Maybe it was. 

The march toward bringing electricity to Ravenheart was making slow but consistent strides, but they weren't going to be having electric lights just yet. 

The steady ticking of time was kept by gravity's pull on the weights and pendulum as well as many tiny gears. The mechanics of the machine were simple enough that the Dream Realm did not interfere.

'Fascinating.' 

Now that she was relatively sure that the clock wasn't rigged to explode, she turned to her other concern.

"Where did that come from?" When Noble had left that morning, the wall had been bare.

"Auntie Sarai brought it by a while ago when she came to check on me." Rain came down the stairs stretching out her sore muscles. 

The girl looked much better than she had two days ago. Based on the way that Rain was rolling her shoulder, she was feeling significantly better too. 

"Sarai also brought by some lunch. I figured you ordered both the clock and the food so I just thanked her." 

"I see," Noble was relieved that the gift had come from a known source.

Had it been anyone else, the professor would have been very suspicious about the timing. The professor had paid for lunch for her children, but the twins were supposed to pick it up. Either they had forgotten or Sarai had come by with the meal before they planned to leave. 

"I'll have to thank her also." 

Noble turned toward the entrance, letting her children know that the final member of their family was about to arrive. 

"I thought that was you!" Fort burst in the door with a spring in his step. "How is the most sensational woman in two worlds?"

"Better now that you are home," Noble hugged her husband, breathing in his scent. How something so simple as the smell of the person she loved most in the world could settle her soul was even more magical than her powers. 

Fort held her tightly as he looked at his children, who shrugged.

"What's that?" The ambassador asked when Noble finally let go.

"Sarai, brought it over," the professor accepted the man's kiss on the cheek as she turned her head to look. "I don't suppose you know something about it, do you?"

"Me? No. I just admired the one she was setting up in the bakery yesterday at lunch. I guess she took that as a hint. I'm not complaining. I got you home... fifty-five minutes early?" Fort squinted at the clock.

"Fifty-seven!" Blaze corrected with a wide grin.

"Haha, very funny you two." Noble nudged her husband with her shoulder.

Fort furrowed his brow. "Is everything alright? Normally I would get at least an eye roll for that kind of comment."

"It was just a long day. Thankfully I only have one more thing to do before my work is complete." Noble summoned her storage Memory. Taking the Academy contracts and setting them on the table, Noble passed the sealed envelope underneath to her husband. "Here are your papers. I won't be delivering them anymore. You'll never guess who will be."

"Who?" Fort opened the envelope and slipped out the pages inside. "TEDDY?!"

The lines forming on the ambassador's face relieved some of the tension in Noble's body. "That's right. She became an Awakened because she was craving sushi."

"I'm sorry, what?" Fort scanned the page, getting no more clarity about the strange situation.

"You'll just have to ask her when she comes for dinner this weekend. My retelling of events would not do it justice." The professor laughed for the first time that day. 

Her duties were done and her family was around her. The world outside might be crazy, but the one inside this cottage was perfect.

"What's that?" Brock peeked into the Memory and spied the brown paper crushed in the bottom. "Is it a note from grandma?" 

"No, I didn't see Grandpa Julius today. I found that paper on my way out yesterday and keep forgetting to throw it away." Noble felt strangely calm about her son seeing the page. 

She picked up the paper and string to wad them up. Rain's emotions spiked. 

The teen must have recognized the page. Had she been the one to get it for her mysterious Guardian? 

"I'll take care of it, Mom," Rain took the brown ball from her mother's hand. "It will be a good start to the fire for dinner." 

She shoved it into the wood-burning stove and watched the fire crackle to life. Within a moment, the paper, and its string were consumed, pressed down by a log of wood that Rain placed on top. The note hidden inside, too, turned to ash. 

With the paper, another of Noble's worries vanished. 

She had spent enough time worrying today and it hadn't done her a bit of good. It was time to focus on happier things. 

One of those happier things was sitting on the table. 

"Fort, sweetheart? Will you clear the table and I'll start working on an early dinner." Noble winked at her husband, who tilted his head to one side but complied. 

He stopped to look at the pages before placing them on top of the packet in his hands. Fort's eyes went wide.

"Is this what I think it is?" Fort read down the page. "You got permission to build the school!" 

"Did you doubt me?" Noble raised one eyebrow. 

"Never, but I am still impressed." The man set down the papers and caught his wife up in a hug. "We should celebrate!" 

"How?" Noble didn't think getting government papers signed warranted a party. 

"Let's go out for dinner. I heard a place in town got a shipment of orange meat from our favorite food supplier." The ambassador paused. "That is, if you are up for it," Fort looked at his daughter." 

"I feel like I could go on another hunt right now," Rain watched her father flinch. "But I won't, Dad. Not for a while at least." 

"Good. Maybe by then, I will come to terms with it," Fort reached out and squeezed his daughter's hand. "It's settled then. Everyone get on your shoes!" 

The mad rush for shoes and coats finally ended with the family dumping into the street. Only Noble remained to make sure the stove wouldn't catch anything else on fire. 

After confirming the brown paper's remains were completely destroyed, she joined everyone else in the street. 

Noble looked in the direction of where the new school would be built. The sun broke through the clouds, making the snow glisten with extra brilliance in the distance.

Monday, she would begin construction on what she hoped would be part of her legacy. 

"Are you ready?" Fort asked with a hopeful expression.

Noble's smile grew. "Yes, yes I am."