(Pov Jasmine)?

  Jasmine pulled the bow across the strings of her instrument. A deep ethereal drone filled her study. A haunting sound that most would rather expect to find in a Viking great hall or old Germanic ritual or death song. She had lowered the light and closed the curtains, as she always did when practicing.

  The talharpa was a beautifully crafted instrument, the wood carved to show intricate patterns of magical beings hunting people fleeing their destruction, shifting into images of walls of pikemen standing atop abandoned armored vehicles, ending at the very top of the soundboard in a walled city. Along the arms ran twisting carvings of sea serpents. The only thing Jasmine didn't like about the instrument was its size, as the thing was almost half as tall as she was.

  While the instrument was stunning in its design, that was not why her mother had gifted it to her nor why she had made her learn it. Being satisfied that she would be able to play the current song easily enough, Jasmine started shifting her focus to her magic. Pushing it through the small mithril stubs in the arms and into the shadows within the soundbox, she started giving them mass and form. Listening to each minute change so as to use as little of her power as possible to elevate the melody.

  The instrument was ultimately a training device, one her mother had come up with. A way for her kind to learn both patience and fine control over at least one aspect of their magic.

  Jasmine winced at a tone that was a little too high. She had given parts of the shadows within the wrong shape and made them too solid, in short, too much power.

  Jasmine's arms stopped moving as she rested the bow hand on the talharpa closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. She held it for a few seconds before letting it out slowly. Opening her eyes again, she started to play and lost herself in the music.

  —-----------------------------------------------

  (Pov Julie)

  Julie looked over the files and plans in front of her. While she was nominally Jasmine's private assistant, there was significant overlap with the professional side of things. Not that she was complaining, no, she liked the work. But it meant she needed to go through the headache that was West Stars and Jasmine's plans in the area, hence the need to look through the orders for both.

  Her eyebrows furrowed as she read what Jasmine wanted her to get for the lodge. She wanted an anaerobic digester and for Julie to look into getting an Einstein refrigeration unit, two of them, actually. With the additional one being one that could be hooked up to chill a large room.

  Oddly enough, every renovation and improvement that were planned for the hydropower station could also exploit mechanical force directly. Which the notes clearly said made it less efficient at producing electricity and more costly to build. The drop in power production wasn't large, but it was notable.

  Julie knew such infrastructure existed elsewhere in the world. But it was nearly nonexistent outside northern Europe, though that was mostly because they were paranoid. At least that was most of the world's opinions of them. It was mostly a preparation used by the countries and groups that expected the power to go out and never come back on again. And as such, only the areas directly around Scandinavia even bothered to do it. For one reason and one reason only… Magic.

  She had seen what magic could do in military applications during her time in the Marines. Especially during training when they had been taught basic sword fighting. It had seemed useless at the time, god knew she had seen what guns do to both people and to training dummies. Julie felt a shiver move up her spine as she recalled the way 9mm rounds simply stopped before even hitting the magically protected training target. The idea still made her hands shake slightly. Normally, you could at least kill anything that followed you into a building or a tunnel by putting a bullet in its skull.

  No, her trainers had been adamant that there were only two ways to realistically deal with magical opponents : melee or overpressure. One of them, a Scandinavian woman and mercenary, had called small arms a plebeian's weapon. Something you gave to people you simply didn't bother to equip better or train properly, and whom you, in general, were comfortable losing. Though she had conceded that it was perfectly fine for what the US typically fought. Ironically, the woman was also probably one of the best marksmen Julie had ever met.

  Julie shook herself from her reverie and sorted the documents according to their importance, urgency, and project before placing them in their own folders. Getting up, she started the walk through the lodge towards Jasmine's study. She still wanted to ask Jasmine why they hadn't started using the local office attached to the hydropower project, but she had yet to do so.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  As she closed in on the study, the air filled with the ethereal sound of a lyre. It was distant at first, but as she got closer to the study, the music got louder. Some of the tones surprised her, while other parts of the song made her breath hitch.

  Her phone buzzed just a few steps from the door. Looking down at the screen, she read the automated message on the screen. Julie's jaw tensed.

  “Well, shit.”

  She walked the remaining steps faster than earlier. She knocked on the door with more force than she intended.

  The music stopped. “Come in.”

  Julie opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind her. The study was still a room filled largely with boxes, but some books had filled in the bookshelves along one wall of the room. Three tapestries hung along the other, though she hadn't studied them enough to see the story there. There were some couches in a nook of the room where Jasmine was currently sitting, the instrument sitting in her lap.

  “Hey Julie, what's up?”

  “Hey, I have the reports you wanted.”

  Jasmine looked at her for a second before saying. “Already? I didn't need them before Friday. Great work, Julie, but do take time off when it's not urgent."

  Julie walked over and handed her the folders. Jasmine's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she skims them quickly.

  “Thank you, Julie. I will go over them in detail by tomorrow.”

  “There is one more thing. Remember you told me to keep an eye on anything related to the permits and funding for the resort further up the valley.”

  Jasmine tilted her head. “Yeah, I do. Why do you bring it up? What happened?”

  Julie drew a deep breath, bracing herself for the news she was about to deliver. “They have managed to lobby for the new permit hearings to be pushed up to late next month, and they have organized several more meetings with possible new sources of funding. I think they might be planning for expansions that weren't in the original outline.” Julie straightened her posture. “I just got the notification before I knocked so I haven't looked into it.”

  Jasmine frowned and looked down at the floor in front of her. “Well, shit. That's not good.” She put down her lyre and started pacing along one wall while lightly tapping the bow to her shoulder. “Thank you, Julie. Can you look into exactly who they are going to try to get funding from? I will start dealing with the hearing.”

  “Yeah, I will see what I can find out.” Julie made to leave but stopped. “On another note, I have a doctor's appointment on Sunday. Could you look after Sam? Unfortunately, the kindergarten is closed, so that doesn't work.”

  The smile that spread across Jasmine's face was warm and wide. “I would be happy to. We can throw a little party, and I can feed him massive amounts of sugar just before you get home.”

  Julie gave Jasmine a deadpan look. Jasmine seemed to slightly suppress a giggle. Julie let out a sigh and said. “Thank you, Jasmine. I know you're kidding, but please don't get him too hyper.”

  Jasmine waved her hand in a dismissive fashion. “I won't, don't worry. He's a great kid; I don't think he would be that bad with just a bit of sugar. But I won't." Jasmine seemingly added the last statement in response to the look Julie gave her.

  —-------------------------------------------------------

  (Pov Jasmine)

  The door closed, and silence returned to the study. Jasmine leaned against one wall as she thought. She would have to find some way to prevent them from getting the permits, and if that wasn't possible, some way of preventing them from getting the funding to act on it.

  Jasmine picked up the talharpa and put it and the bow back on the shelf along one wall where she kept them. She walked over and sat down behind her desk. She opened the top drawer and pulled out the phone in the back of it.

  The resort going through would be a problem; the attention it would bring to Fairvern and the additional tourist activity in the northern Rockies in general would be a problem. With the permits they already had and the funding they already had, it was entirely possible they could have the resort up and running by mid-summer. If these permits involved some sort of summer activities in addition to skiing, that made the problem that much worse.

  Jasmine tapped her finger on the desk. She needed options, at least more than she already had. Sabotage was possible. And sure having the project lead killed was an option, at least in theory. It's not like the clans were above that sort of thing. But the fact remained that the resort wasn't a big enough problem that she could justify it, nor for her to even want to. Plus assassination brought attention, which is exactly what she didn't want.

  There was also the matter of honor, assassination was a dirty tactic in general. Not one to never be used to be sure, but one used only when there was no other way of achieving a goal. And a goal of sufficient value at that. Every life might not hold the same value, but none were without value. She was loath to have another life on her conscience without a very good reason. At least when there might be other usable options.

  She could involve the clan's intelligence assets, but the Matrons wouldn't like that. They had much, much bigger fish to deal with. No, she would only get them involved as a last resort. It would both be a political nightmare, and if she was being honest, managing this project with only minimal involvement from the others was a point of pride. But her not using the clan's direct assets didn't mean she couldn't use their contacts and allies.

  Jasmine scrolled through her phone until she found the contact she was looking for. She clicked on it and looked at the call button. Then she pressed it.

  The call tone sounded for around twenty seconds before a voice came through. “Hello” the voice was feminine, belonging to a woman who was probably thirty-something.

  “Senator Smith. It's been too long. It's Jasmine Bjork calling.” Jasmine said, forcing a smile onto her lips.

  “Ahhh, Jasmine, it's nice to hear from you again. So tell me what I can do for you?”

  Jasmine leaned back in her chair and turned to look out the window behind her desk. “Well, now that you ask, I do need a favor.”