by Nel Franks
As I shrugged back into my robe, Panddra looked at me curiously. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you’d done defensive arts before, Gaia?’
I shook my head. ‘I haven’t. Why?’
‘Because I’ve never seen a beginner pick up the moves and put them together like that.’
I grinned in delight. We began walking back along the road to the Acolytes Hall.
‘Can I ask you, Panddra, how did Freia get that limp? And the scar? What’s wrong with her voice?’
Panddra shook her head slowly. ‘That’s her business, Gaia. I can’t tell you the details. But it’s all the result of an attack during a trading mission. If you become a Trader, and if she decides to trust you, she might tell you the whole story.’
I thought about that the entire way back to the Acolytes Hall. Trading must have enormous dangers if it left a woman of Freia’s skills with such damage.
Panddra left me at the Acolytes Hall with an admonishment to meet her immediately after the evening meal. I waved as she made her way up the street and ran into the Hall. Tomma was just coming out.
‘Gaia! Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you all day. Are you coming to evening meal?’
Impulsively I hugged Tomma. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I want to. But I have to do an errand for the Most. And I have to have a wash right now, I’m all sweaty.’
‘Eww! You certainly are!’ She wrinkled her nose as she pushed back from me. ‘What did you do to get so smelly?’ She accompanied me towards the ground floor communal washroom.
‘I had a self-defence class with Sister Panddra. She said my skills were really improving.’
‘How long were you working out, to get this stinky?’
‘All day.’
She stared at me with her mouth open. ‘Why do you need to work all day on your self-defence?’
Tomma’s curiosity was leading where I didn’t want to go.
‘I’m sorry Tomma, I’ve really got to get washed now. The Most wants me in her office by the end of evening meal, and I haven’t had anything to eat since midday.’
‘But what does the Most want you to do? That’s a really odd time to have to run an errand. What are you going to do ...’
I closed the washroom door in her face.
‘Tomma, I’ve really got to get ready. I’ll catch up with you later.’ I called through the door, feeling guilty about being so rude.
I heard her snort and walk away. As quickly as I could, I stripped off my robe and the sweaty underwear. I rinsed them in cold water, gently wrung them, and hung them on the line in the washroom. I rinsed myself, got a fresh robe, and set off for the refectory to grab some food.
As I was walking through the lobby to the refectory, Panddra came flying through the front doors.
‘Ah, Gaia, good timing! Actually, we don’t have time to eat. We’ll get something later tonight, I’m sure.’ She grabbed me and headed back out the door.
We jogged up to Administration and Panddra let us in. We went through to the Most’s private office. The Most was sitting behind her desk, which was covered as usual with neat stacks of papers. She looked us both up and down.
‘Well, sisters. How did Gaia do today in self-defence?’
Panddra smiled. ‘I’ve never seen a beginner pick it up so rapidly. Of course, we didn’t do attack, just defence, but I asked Freia to test her, and she said Gaia is ready.’
The Most looked surprised and pleased.
‘Well, that’s one less worry, at least. You shouldn’t need to use those skills tonight, Gaia, but I’m glad you did so well.
‘The task I need you to do is to take the contracts to Senior Lord Dolphus for signing. Panddra, I know you’ve done this before, but I won’t send one sister on her own into the Male Enclave. And there’s no-one else to send with you tonight. Everyone else is either sick or away on a mission. I’m afraid it has to be Gaia.’
I was dumbfounded. Go into the Male Enclave? Me? And Panddra. I hoped my face wasn’t showing the rush of feelings sweeping through me – shock, amazement, excitement, fear, and a mixture of trepidation and desire to see what male life was like. I swallowed hard and nodded.
‘But Most Elder ...’ I blurted, questions flooding my mind.
‘Yes, Gaia?’
‘Why do we have to go into the Male Enclave? Why don’t they come here? Or transfer the documents in secret in the tunnel? It seems so ...’
The Most waved a hand at me. ‘Yes, yes, I know Gaia. It’s complicated.’ She paused, took a deep breath and said, ‘Oh well. I probably shouldn’t say this, but the short version is that Dolphus, the Senior Lord is a stubborn, arrogant, self-centred man.’ She ran a hand through her short silver hair. ‘Neither he nor any of the heads of their trading houses will make the extra trip here to sign the papers. And he fears that any emissary he may send will read them and profit from the knowledge somehow. So, it comes down to us taking the contracts to him personally.’
Panddra looked at me and nodded too. ‘I’m sure we’ll be fine, Most Elder Sister. We’ve done it successfully before. And I feel confident about Gaia. She looks and acts older than her age, and she’ll look appropriate in the clothing.’
The Most moved to a cupboard between the bookshelves. ‘Yes, I think she will,’ she said, looking me up and down as she handed out men’s clothes. They looked unlike anything we produced in the Female Enclave, and I was dying to get into them.
‘You need to look the part, so you won’t be conspicuous on the walk in,’ the Most said.
I pulled on dark, heavy, loose-legged trousers that tied around the waist; rather similar in style to the ones we wore for the Perimeter Squad. There was a very heavy under-vest that the Most laced so tight I could barely breathe. It totally squashed my breasts flat to my chest. It was covered by pale light-weight full-sleeved shirt, and a long over-vest that came down almost to my knees. The Most asked Panddra to plait my hair, and then handed me a long, knitted hat.
‘Tuck your hair up in this, Gaia, and don’t take it off while you’re there. The braid will keep most of that cloud of hair under control, but the men don’t wear theirs like yours.’
I stuffed the braid in and pulled the cap down over my ears, envying Panddra’s short style. Reaching up was hard in the tightly laced vest, but I felt I was learning how to breathe in it. The Most gave the hat a tweak and said,
‘Yes, you could pass for a male. Be sure to listen carefully to everything that Panddra says and do what she tells you. Try not to speak unless you must, observe everything, and come back and tell me all about it.’
Panddra looked up at me and startled. ‘You do look like a boy, Gaia. You may be a real asset on this trip.’ My heart was beating fast. It was nice to be complimented, and not just because of the trip. I was unnerved by how comfortable it felt to look and act the way I thought a boy might.
This time, when the Most opened the stair pit to the tunnel, I saw how it was done: she slid the left lamp on her desk towards the edge and then back into its place. Noiselessly, the desk slid back, and the stair pit opened. We started down the stairs as the Most wished us the Goddess’s protection on our journey.
With lanterns lit, we started out down the cool dark corridor. All the measures of time seemed to evaporate – there were no windows the judge the night sky, no hourglasses. Only the regular passing of the unlit candle niches, and the steady rhythm of our steps served to give the tunnel a length and a time. At some moments, trying to peer ahead into the gloom, I felt as though we might be walking forever, in an endless tunnel that continued to unroll ahead of us with no end to be reached. I began to worry about the stone and earth above us and I could feel my head pulling down into my shoulders.
After what felt like a very long time, Panddra began to talk. Her voice echoed hollowly off the rock walls around us. I was so grateful for her practical information, not just so I would know what to expect, but because it took my mind off the unremitting stone going past. She talked about her observations of
men’s behaviour, how they greeted each other, their topics of conversation when socialising, and the power structure of the Male Enclave. All of it was fascinating.
‘Try walking with a longer stride, Gaia. Men aren’t held back by robes, so they walk a bit differently to us.’ She watched me for a few paces, nodded and kept up with my increased pace. ‘The tunnel emerges not far from the Wall on the male side, about one hundred paces. There is a door set into a rockface, which opens from our side, but not from theirs unless they have the key. We can get into the Male Enclave from the Most’s office, but they can’t get into the tunnel unless their Senior Lord approves it by giving them the one and only key.’
Just the mention of the end of the tunnel allowed me to relax, straighten up and to stride out a little more. I took a big breath but continued to brood about what she had said. Why didn’t women just leave the Enclave through the tunnel into the male side? What stopped them? A moment’s thought brought the answer. Very few women actually knew about the tunnel—the knowledge was heavily restricted to a few trusted people. And, I realised further, part of what kept women from using it when they did know about it, was the depth of our conditioning to reject the Male Enclave. We were taught that men were completely unnecessary, except for procreation. Everything else, we could do for ourselves. And who knew what would happen to a solitary woman who appeared in the Male Enclave? But I was beginning to see that there was more interaction between the Enclaves than we were generally taught about. Which brought me back to male messengers.
‘So how does a messenger let the Most know when he needs to come up out of the stair pit?’
‘There’s a warning bell he rings before he starts out. But when he arrives, he just knocks. The Most told me once, it nearly scared her witless the first time it happened. She’d been out of the office when he rang the bell. Of course, usually there’s a schedule and she knows to expect them. Like us tonight. Senior Lord Dolphus knows we’re coming.’
‘How far is it from the tunnel to his office?’
‘About a half hour walk. There’ll be a guide there to meet us at the tunnel; it’s a standard arrangement. But because we have to walk quite a distance through the Male Enclave, we have to be disguised. It’s why I keep my hair short; makes it easier when I go on these errands. Apparently, if you get recognised as a woman it can cause a riot. It’s never happened to me, but I’ve heard about it. It’s not a pleasant thing.’
‘Do you go on errands frequently?’ Her exciting lifestyle gave me a new focus.
‘Not really often. There are not very many traders, and I’m one of the least experienced, so I only get sent when the others are away on more complex missions.’
That brought me back down to reality, a little. We walked a distance in silence, the smooth stone walls of the tunnel sliding into the light of our lanterns and fading away behind us. Past the halfway point there were no lamp niches. It seemed the men liked to carry their lamps with them, as we were doing this time, while the Female Enclave liked to light the tunnel properly. The air was still, a bit musty, and cool. I was beginning to feel chilled, despite walking briskly, and the hairs on my arms were starting to rise.
‘How long will we be there?’ I coughed to cover how much my voice wavered, like the flame in the lantern.
‘I don’t really know. It depends a bit on Lord Dolphus. Sometimes he just signs them and we’re off back home. Other times he’s more expansive and takes us out for a meal. That can be exciting, but a bit nerve wracking.’
As we approached the end of the tunnel, Panddra warned me to call her Pan and she would call me Gaius if we should speak to anyone other than Lord Dolphus. He, of course, knew who we were. She knocked on the heavy door, then swung it open. A tall thin young man was waiting. He wore a thick short jacket against the cool night, and his dark hair curled out from under his woollen cap. He looked at us curiously, nodded but said nothing and began to lead the way. I was so excited to be in the Male Enclave, I kept trying to see further by raising my lantern. Panddra growled,
‘Keep it down. You’ll draw attention.’
We walked for about half an hour down through the hills I had seen from our side. There were the open pastures on either side of the road, and up to our left the dark mass of the woodlands began. We came to the beginning of a township, in a valley out of sight of the Wall. The houses were different to ours, made of stone, not mudbrick, and the streets were paved with stone. There were many lights in houses, above entry doors, and even some on poles in the street. Lots of men and boys were out walking and talking, going in and out of brightly lit buildings where I glimpsed long benches with beakers of some drink. A strong unpleasant smell wafted out of some of these places; brew, I could recognise, and the smell of wood fires, and other smells that seemed more fit for a farmyard; sour smells of sweat and urine, and wet wood-shavings. And, as bad as some of it smelled, I was so excited to be there, to be seeing how men lived.
We turned corner after corner, until I could no longer remember the way. I noticed that some boys leaned forward slightly and bounced on their toes as they walked, so I changed my stride to match. It felt easy to do. I hoped my new walk made me more inconspicuous. In one of the darker alleys, we passed a man, leaning against a wall and relieving himself. The puddle of urine steamed in the night air and stank sharply. I turned my head aside but Pan and the young man seemed oblivious.
There were large buildings with signs hanging outside, presumably for the family businesses. Some had names, others had designs of animals or the items they made.
After some time, we came to a three-storey building, with a large relief of a large three storey building. The silent young man pushed open the heavy iron-banded doors and we stepped into a broad lobby. I had a quick impression of lots of polished wood, green carpet, and iron grillwork, as he led us up a wide polished staircase. He knocked softly on an ornately carved door and led us into a grand office studded with tables. The room was at least twice as large as the Most’s, and like hers, lined with books. The young man stepped back and stood by the door, leaning on the wall, and waved us forward. There were at least seven lamps burning at their brightest in the room, an extravagance I had never seen except at festivals. Lord Dolphus rose from behind an enormous desk completely immersed in scattered papers. ‘Ah, Panddra, I see. And who is this with you?’
‘Gaia, Lord Dolphus.’ Panddra bowed her head briefly, so I did the same.
Lord Dolphus looked startled. ‘Gaia, whom I met last night? What is happening that such a young person is given such responsibility?’
Panddra replied smoothly, ‘That is something you would have to ask the Most, Lord Dolphus. We do only what we are told. However, both the Most and I have confidence in Gaia, regardless of age.’
I tried to look as though I deserved it.
‘Ah well. Ellie must know what she’s doing. So, let us get these papers signed.’
Panddra extracted a roll of papers from her vest and smoothed them flat on a side table. Dolphus signed both sets, kept one for himself, and the other Panddra returned to her pocket.
‘Now, have you two eaten? I am about to go out for a meal, and I would be delighted to show young Gaia here a little of our town. My son Anndri will accompany us. He is only little older than you Gaia, so he should be able to point out things of interest.’
Panddra interjected, ‘Lord Dolphus, I really think we should ...’
But Dolphus got up from his chair saying, ‘No, no I insist, dear Panndra. I want you and young Gaia here to be thanked for your efforts with some of our hospitality. I do insist.’
Panndra grimaced briefly and then nodded. ‘Perhaps it would be safer if you were to refer to us as Pan and Gaius, Lord Dolphus, while we are out in public.’
He agreed and waved to his son. I nodded as the tall silent young man bowed briefly. So Dolphus had a son as well as a daughter. I wondered who the mother of this young man was. Could the Most be mother to both of Dolphus’ children? I looke
d at him more carefully, but I could see nothing of the Most in him. He looked much like his father, but his face was more open, less polished by politics. He led the way as we left the darkened building and took us along a broad street. There was little foot traffic here, and most of the buildings seemed to be for businesses closed up for the night.
We walked down several more streets, which became more and more lively, until we reached a building with a swinging sign showing a man pushing a pig in a wheelbarrow.
‘This is my favourite tavern,’ Lord Dolphus said as we entered a large room. ‘This is where I meet a lot of my fellow councillors.’
I had never seen a tavern, or even heard of one. This very large room was warmly lit, like some of the buildings we had passed on the outskirts of the town, which I now thought must also be taverns. Here the tables were smooth and polished, instead of the rough trestles I had seen earlier. There were several pillars throughout the wide room, and around each were fixed tall benchtops, at which men stood, leaning on their elbows, holding what must have been mugs of ale. Around the walls there were ordinary polished tables, with benches on each side, and padded low walls set between each group, creating separate booths. Dolphus showed us to a booth at the far back corner of the room where nobody could approach undetected. Panddra—Pan, I reminded myself—and I slid along a bench on one side of a table with our backs to the room so no-one could look at us, while Dolphus and Anndri sat on the other side.
A man with a striped towel wrapped around his waist came to the table and bowed deeply. His face was deeply creased, his nose enormous and greasy, and he had an unpleasant wheedling tone to his voice.
‘Lord Dolphus, our humble establishment is once again graced by your presence. What may I get you and your party of delightful young men?’
Something in his emphasis on ‘young men’ made my skin crawl, but no-one else seemed to react.
Dolphus waved expansively and said, ‘Bring light ale for all my young guests. And I will have some of your best wine. And a bowl of tonight’s stew for everyone.’