Resolution

by Douglas E Roff

  “I think she is the unfathomable one, not me. I have no clue. But she sees things; things in people and connections to future events. I listen to her and often rue the day when I do not follow her advice. She is a gift.”

  “And a very tasty morsel.” They laughed and joined the others who did not like seeing such joviality between Adam and the Demon Queen.

  Chapter 57

  The seating arrangement for a full dinner table was odd at first to Adam’s sight. Misti was seated at one end with Adam on the other. He assumed the women of the cabal had honored her in this way. There was one empty seat to Adam’s immediate right, which he presumed to be symbolic of Kendra’s ascension in importance to the female leadership of the project. The only open seat left, not filled by other invitees such as Helena, Bella and their husbands, nor occupied by Tar and some of his captains, was one between Vera and Hannah. Adam presumed that the result would be planned spills, accidents and all manner of mischief concocted by his wives and mates to humiliate and punish Saldana for no particular reason.

  This did not improve Adam’s already foul mood and was transparently intended as a gesture of disrespect. Kendra did not take her seat, understanding the situation as quickly as Adam and instead offered the honor to Saldana.

  “Please,” she said. “I have much to discuss with both Hannah and Vera.”

  Adam’s face, always slightly tan and ruddy, simply said, “Hold!”

  Kendra had heard that voice before and froze in mid step. Saldana had not heard that tenor but remained frozen too. She did not need to know what Adam meant by it; she knew it from her days as a mischievous child in the wilds of Mongolia.

  Adam continued, “Whose idea was this? One of you, some of you or all of you? I know two who were not a party to this disgrace, but I wish a straight answer and now. Who?”

  The silence was awkward at best, deafening at worst.

  Adam stood, “I said who! I shall not repeat myself a third time,” he roared.

  If the women thought silence would avoid responsibility, they were wrong.

  “Defiance and disrespect again. I shall discover the truth and, if any of you here think I am beyond individually probing your minds, including you Bella and you Helena, you are wrong.”

  Both Normie and Octavio rose at the same time.

  “That is rape. We will not permit it. No one, Gens or human should permit this travesty.”

  “Would a trial for treason and sedition suit you all better.”

  “There are no such crimes in Paraiso,” said Octavio.

  “I shall call it the common law of Paraiso, brought over from Mother England as are all laws in the countries colonized by Great Britain. If you would rather I simply take heads, I will most willingly accommodate you too. Perhaps you first Octavio. You seem to object most often to my decisions. Or perhaps you could just ask your wife to tell the truth.”

  Octavio through down his linen serviette angrily.

  “You think I’m afraid of you, cousin? You have grown mighty, that is not in dispute. Mighty in arrogance and threats. Mighty in ignorance and pettiness. But you have become poor in currency of respect for others, unappreciative of the efforts those around you make and indifferent to the feelings and needs of those who love you most. If it is a fight you wish with me, let it begin now.”

  Tar stood up quickly and said, “Perhaps now is not a good time to resolve disputes between family and friend. Perhaps when our tempers cool, we should discuss what angers the Manti. As to you Octavio, I admire your courage in defending your wife but if she has committed serious offense, I will take both your heads. Nobody, neither family nor mate, shall challenge or threaten the Manti. I hope we are all clear on this point.”

  Hannah rose, defiant as ever. When she spoke, her words fairly dripped with high octane sarcasm.

  “Oh, Chosen One, Manti of the Village of the Gens Germania, Protector of the People of Dietschberg and our great leader, I beg your forgiveness. It was I and I alone who arranged this insult. So, if it is your will to take my head, then have it. The King of Nabataea said that we shall be mated only so long as we wish to be in union. I wish it no longer. I divorce you.”

  She was not finished. “I call you a coward for threatening those weaker than you and a disgrace to the very concept that embodies Paraiso and the City of Light. I wish nothing to do with you and shall depart as soon as it can be arranged.

  “You threaten your cousin and you threaten Normie and would dare enter our minds against our will. There is more honor in one hour of Octavio’s life than in the entirety of yours, no matter how long you live. I used to love you, and more than that, respected you. But as Octavio said, you have grown mighty in the worst possible ways.”

  The room was silent. Tar had never heard a leader dressed down in the way of the Chosen One.

  Adam spoke, “And yet you, also a coward of the worst kind, conspire to humiliate another of our people and then show no honor in refusing to own your actions and decisions. You would have said nothing and hoped for the best. You have lied and deceived me and circumvented my wishes. There is but one leader this day and that leader is me. I care not for your feelings nor whether you agree with my judgments. In the end, it was I, not you, who was chosen by the Creator to resolve these dilemmas. I have formed no Council that outvotes me, nor do I need one. The path forward is what I say it will be, after taking counsel from those far wiser than you, Hannah Parker.”

  Silence.

  “You have acted as a child and a petulant child at that. It is not your right to decide who stands at my side in the dangerous matters before us. It is my right and my right alone. I have appreciated your work and the work that Vera Capri have done for us. But it is also true that your talents are no longer needed.”

  Everyone, even the Gens Guards, were taken aback by the bitterness of the last statement. James and Raoul stood up defiantly, ready to respond. Adam stood angrily; waving them down.

  “When you don armor and weapon, when you put yourself in harm’s way, when the dogs of war bear down on you, then you may call me coward and criticize my strategies. Until then, go back to the warmth of your home and wife and be comforted that the very umbrella that allows you to work in the comfort of your safe and secure office is provided by the very same coward who provides that umbrella of safety and security. It is this coward who rushes every day toward danger to protect the ones he loves, not away from it. And you, ex-wife, what do you do? You draft memos.”

  Adam finished with a wave to the assembled guests.

  “If my consent is required for your demand to divorce, it is given. I have lost my appetite and shall retire to my quarters. Go in peace. I apologize for words spoken in haste, but this behavior will cease, one way or another. Be aware that neither family ties nor bonds of matrimony outweigh the needs of our people nor the inhabitants of this planet. Hate me if that is your wish but obedience will prevail, or offenders must leave. I have no time or patience for pettiness nor the time to waste on your constant criticisms of my decisions. I see everything; you do not.”

  Adam left alone with Kendra and Saldana close behind. They remained a distance back lest the doors to his quarters be slammed in their faces. By the time he reached his quarters, his ire had cooled.

  He hated what Hannah did, but still loved her.

  He felt trapped by his own temper and knew no way out. Fortunately, his little one did. Saldana would have killed the lot of them. In the morning, and possibly later that night, Kendra would begin the healing.

  She pulled Saldana off to the side. “You shall bed him alone tonight. I shall begin with you but I will feign that your depravity will cause me to leave. Take him quickly to your erotic palace, to the worst rooms with the most depraved behavior. Keep him occupied and reeling, mind and body until daybreak.”

  Saldana began to ask what she was about to do, but Kendra cut her off. “Don’t ask, so he will not know.”

  “You’re sure you know what you are asking?�
�

  “Have I not tasted some of your most exotic brew?”

  “Almost none, my little kitten, almost none.”

  ***

  Kendra finished her tasks by daybreak and had assuaged the feelings and egos of all in attendance the previous evening. She was, however, forthright about future conduct. She informed Tar to inform his men how things were to be done in the future.

  He told Octavio and Normie that challenges to Adam would cease or they would have to leave immediately. The women were warned that the decisions made by Adam were final. Attempts to humiliate Saldana or undermine Adam’s plans for her would not be tolerated.

  She explained, especially to Hannah, that everyone’s role in the endeavour had changed, Adam’s most severely. He was under immense pressure and the chance of his death gone from “maybe” to “certain”. His plan was complicated and not to the liking of the Creator, who had promised Adam pain, retribution and death, whether he succeeded or failed. But just to Adam.

  Kendra told Hannah that Adam needed the support and love of all his mates and if she would just look around to see how much had changed for everyone and how different the work was for each these days, then she would understand what Adam was trying to accomplish. She took the plan that Adam had given her and gave it to Hannah and Vera, as she did to all the women were in mind union with Adam. Helena got it from Kendra, who shared it with Bella.

  By morning all was not back to normal, but the Revolution had been called off. Hannah would delay divorce proceedings for now, her own ire cooled but a few degrees.

  Chapter 58

  Adam had just arrived alone in his office adjacent to his quarters and had just splashed down into his chair, arms and legs sprawled out with nothing and nobody around him. His door was closed, and he hoped for some peace and quiet, to be vanished without a trace for just an hour or two.

  A pipe dream, as seconds later both Vera and Alana were front and center, door locked and key in Alana’s hand. A letter had appeared out of nowhere, seemingly crafted by magic. When touched, writing appeared. It was addressed to Adam.

  Adam said to Alana, “How can you have so much energy after just giving birth? Shouldn’t you be lying down somewhere? Maybe far away with the Nabataeans? I hear their healing arts are without peer.”

  He turned to Vera, “And you. So much chatter and mind union. You should be in a coma right now.”

  The women looked at each other, then Adam. They weren’t smiling.

  Vera said, “Tomorrow you leave with your bodyguards for Germany, then off to visit the Eighty-One minus one. You will be gone months and even with the new mind communication we can do at great distances, it’s hardly the same as if you were here.”

  “But that is not why you are here, is it.”

  “No, it is not. The letter in front of you arrived and you have not touched it. We wish to know who it’s from, how it got here and the nature of its contents. Every time we touch it, writing appears outside saying to leave it alone, it is for the Chosen One only. Then the writing disappears. The writing appears in every language known to anyone who touches it. Plus, we cannot lift it or move it. It could be dangerous.”

  “Dangerous? What a weak excuse for idle curiosity. It’s not from some exotic lover, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “Hardly,” said Vera. “After all,” she said demurely, “you have us. All of us. How many more do you need?”

  “Not sure. I’ll answer your question after this interrogation. I would expect such dissembling from Saldana but not from you two.”

  Just on cue, there was a knock at the door and a platoon of women, this time led by Saldana Ri herself, entered the office.

  “I thought I heard my name. What’s he said so far?”

  “Nothing yet. We were just getting around to that.”

  “Were we now? I don’t recall any such discussion,” said Adam.

  “We were,” said Alana. “Now open it up so we all see what this is all about. While we’re still young.”

  Adam could not understand why his women seemed so upset with him. They now knew all the facts, everything that he did and had asked each what they would done differently, if anything. None said a word, quieted, it seemed, by the facts. Which were his mortal sins? There was a fair bit of humming and hawing but, in the end, they had just grumbled and walked away. Angry at his actions, sure, but with no rational alternative to support their angry moods. Yet he was the bad guy.

  Alana understood both sides but could not explain it either. Something should have been wrong, terribly, terribly wrong. But none, not even Noki, could put a name to a sin given everything they now knew.

  Adam believed that some, but not all of his women, were just moving on from one point of Adam’s suspect behavior to another. There had been no evidence put forth other than the arrival of a mysterious and suspicious envelope that seemed to have magical powers. This infuriated the women, even Alana and Misti, who seemed otherwise inclined to let things go. Hannah, however, was not of that mind and after learning of the depravity of Adam’s relationship with Saldana Ri, was more inclined than ever to discover the contents in the envelope.

  For her part, Kendra remained quiet. At various times during the fury that had ensued after his arrival back with Saldana, she approached Adam quietly, said she loved him and gave him little kisses on his forehead. The only advice she ever gave him was when she held his head between her hands, stared deeply into his eyes and said, “Be strong. This too will pass. My daddy used to say that, and he was always right. Mother could be a fury and a harpy.”

  Hannah came forward, anger in her eyes still unabated, even after the attempt at reconciliation the night before. It had come from Kendra, not Adam. She remained wary and unconvinced.

  “Well, open it. Or is this yet another secret, another deception. We’re all waiting.”

  Adam looked down at the envelope but had reached his limit with the women who no longer trusted his judgment or motivations.

  He picked up the letter, then said, “I will open this envelope and I shall read it aloud. I do not know of its contents, who penned the letter if that is what is inside or by what means it got here. But no matter the contents, when we are done, Hannah Parker, and whoever else has lost faith in me, should leave Paraiso and the City of Light immediately. Hannah, you may return to Portland or Seattle or wherever you wish. If Vera is in accord with your feelings, then I will miss you both. I thank both Bella and Helena for all they have done but I can see in your eyes that you no longer trust my words either. Take your men and children with you and go. Misti is as good as gone anyway; she is so often angry with me these days for one thing or another. Never good enough, never pleasing her enough to her satisfaction. I was not even allowed to be present for the birth of my son.

  “So that only leaves Noki and Alana. I think you should leave too. I have lost your trust and when I lost that, I lost everything I ever loved most about you and I thought you loved about me. Even if I fucked up, there was always that. Trust. Gone on shallowest of the desert winds and just as easily.”

  He continued, “Kendra has never waivered from my side, so it appears that it is only she I can really trust. Saldana, though evil and untrustworthy, is at least honest. I will have Kendra to watch her closely for treachery.”

  He stopped, then continued.

  “If you think that I cannot do as mandated by the Creator without you, you are wrong. I have loved each of you, without reservation, but I now see that my love was misplaced except for one whose love for me has grown. Perhaps, one day, I will lose her love too. You mock me calling me the ‘Chosen One’ as if this were a game of palace intrigue; a child’s role play. I assure you the burdens of my tasks are not fun. They are not easy to carry out and it apparently earns me the enmity of those who I trusted most to understand.”

  Alana started to say something, but Adam held up his hand for her to stop speaking.

  “I first experienced this self-centered egotisti
cal conduct in Hawaii with Misti. Why I thought it was an isolated situation, an outlier, I’ll never know. It is built into all of you save one. I shall remove the hardship you feel I have become here and now. I have no need of you or your services from here on out. Leave by the time I arrive back home from Germany.”

  Misti started to interrupt.

  “Quiet I said. Talking is finished and my commands are clear. I shall offer you an alternative but betray me again and I shall have all of you forcibly removed. I have heard and witnessed enough to know how you all feel. I am bitten and stung by such paltry faith in me and talking now would be but empty words and ring hollow. Forget our loving commitment to building a new kind of family together; in that, the Prophecy and the Creator were wrong. Stay if you will, as I do not wish separation from my children. But stay away from me, for my anger is great and the pain unbearable.”

  The women except for Kendra and Saldana were in shock. All save the two were indignant and outraged at Adam’s ingratitude. Nothing had been resolved by Kendra the night before.

  Nonetheless, all remained for the reading of the letter.

  It read:

  Greetings oh Manti and Warrior of the Gens Germania, Chosen One of the Creator, leader of the breakaway community of humans and Gens seeking to restore balance to a world fraught with division. Have I left out any titles or accolades? If so, I apologize for not giving you the homage and respect you deserve. And how exceedingly rude am I for not properly introducing myself or for permitting your mewling cows to attempt to open a letter meant only for your eyes. Had I taken physical form, I might have hurt them severely for their obviously ill-mannered and devious behavior. It is apparent that you have not trained them well, not even the little princess you call Kendra. She did not seek the contents of the letter and her loyalty and fealty to you is strong.