by E G Manetti
“Nay, sweetling.” Lilian wipes her hands on a towel and reaches for Katleen. “Then, right after the ruin and my protocol review, Dean Joseph could not offer further shadow.”
“Lilian?” Katleen pulls back from the embrace to search Lilian’s face.
“Dean Joseph expended considerable influence to spare me the Final Draught,” Lilian gently explains, lightly caressing Katleen’s red-gold curls. “His reputation has not yet recovered to the point where he can weather the scandal of taking you and Maman into his house. He could be forced from his post.”
“Oh, that would be a poor return for all the Dean has done.” Katleen nods. “So if the worst occurred, Maman and I would have eight months before we would be forced to take shelter in Mulan’s Sanctuary.”
“An additional eight months for Dean Joseph to rebuild his reputation and look for other solutions,” Lilian elaborates in a bracing tone. “It is not ideal. A year would be better, but Dean Joseph is clever. It may be enough.”
Face somber, Katleen sets the controls on the cooker and releases the door.
At Katleen’s nod, Lilian slides the fish and vegetables into the cooker’s maw. When it chimes, they will have dinner.
Turning back to Lilian, Katleen solemnly observes, “We have come far, but there is still far to go.”
Wrapping her arms around Katleen and kissing the top of her red-gold head, Lilian confirms, “Yes, sweetling, there is.”
26. Celebration and Survival
As each of the Five Warriors stepped into eternity, to celebrate their great achievements, their descendants and chief retainers established an annual festival and rushed to document the Five Warriors’ deeds and teachings. The collected and annotated records of the defeat of Anarchy and the rise of Order became the Five Warrior Canons. While all five canons agree on the central events, each canon has a distinct viewpoint and includes segments unique to the history of its Warrior. Comparison has revealed conflicts in the histories, particularly in the references to Adelaide Warleader, who appears in all five canons.
Archivists dedicated to preserving the Five Warriors’ legends congregated to share their records and resolve canon conflicts. By the early decades of the second century, the shrine centers emerged. By the third century, these became the Warrior Sects and the Warrior Rings. ~excerpt from The Foundations of Order, a scholarly treatise.
Sevenday 83, Day 6
“Truly, Chrys, I envy you the visit to the Mercium facility on Troy,” Lilian exclaims as they stride toward the risers. “Rebecca and I labored hard to identify that property. The visuals are fascinating. It is so desolate and yet riveting.”
On the coming First Day, Chrys will be part of the team Seigneur Rachelle leads to Troy, in the Fifth System, to oversee the initial production of Mercium.
Slowing her pace, Lilian adds, “I will also miss your presence.”
Halting at the unexpected disclosure, Chrys turns. “Lilian?”
It is difficult for Lilian to express her feelings. Since the scourging, she has come to recognize how much her friends mean to her, particularly Chrys. It will be at least a month before Chrys returns to Metricelli Prime and Crevasse City. “I suspect you do not realize your import to me.”
“I will miss you as well,” Chrys responds with his ready smile. “Truly, I still cannot fathom how someone who projects an almost model obedience to protocol and stricture can be so completely unconventional. I think better in your company. I do not believe you realize your import to me.”
After a long moment, both smile and resume their progress. Lilian insists, “I care not the duress, you must return by the Five Warriors’ Festival. This season I am determined to enjoy the spectacles and free entertainments.”
Sevenday 83, Day 7
“Hurry, Lilian, the acolytes are here.” Katleen rushes into Lilian’s bedchamber, red-gold curls flying. “We must be there before Master Chrys and the others arrive.”
Tightening the tie on her loosely dressed hair, Lilian turns from the fly-specked mirror. “I am ready. Have you a rain shield?”
“In my satchel.” Katleen grabs Lilian’s hand to tug her toward the door. “It is not raining now. Please hurry. I do not wish to be late.”
“Katleen, it is your birth festival,” Lilian reassures her eager sister. “They will not start without you.”
“But it would be rude not to be there to greet my guests.” Katleen drops Lilian’s hand to race down the stairs to the entry where Helena waits with two shrine acolytes.
Ruin notwithstanding, Katleen is the minor child of Helena Faesetili, Sinead’s Voice or Seer, and under the protection of the Shrine. When the apprentices defended Katleen during the festival brawl, they fulfilled the Shrine’s duty and placed the Shrine in their debt. A debt Sinead’s Shrine Keeper is determined to discharge.
The light clacking of Lilian’s heels on stone betrays her eager pace. She is looking forward to the celebration almost as much as Katleen.
“It is too bad about Masters Nickolas and Fletcher,” Katleen comments as Lilian secures the door.
“Katleen, you know I could not invite the protégés,” Lilian sighs. “It would have been presumptuous.”
“You went to dinner with them during the last green season,” Katleen points out as they fall in behind Helena and the acolytes. With the robes of the acolytes declaring the Shrine’s protection, Lilian relaxes her guard and focuses on Katleen. This night, insult is unlikely.
“That was Cartel business,” Lilian replies. “A personal invitation from an apprentice to a protégé is unseemly.”
“Could not the shrine keeper issue the invitation?” Katleen persists. “The Shrine is honoring my rescuers.”
“Lilian and her friends rescued you,” Helena enters the conversation. “Masters Nickolas and Fletcher rescued Lilian and her friends.”
“That seems a paltry reason to exclude them,” Katleen huffs.
“They were not excluded,” Lilian explains as they reach the café entrance. “If I were able to invite them, the shrine keeper would not have objected, even though Maman is correct, Sinead’s Shrine owes no direct debt to either warrior.”
“Master Douglas!” Katleen calls out, abandoning discussion of the protégés at the sight of Douglas approaching from the other direction.
With a flurry of greetings, the group moves across the rain-soaked patio and into the café. The half-filled café rustles like a flock of disturbed birds as Lilian follows the seer and acolytes. Passing behind lattice-worked screens, they enter a private area and find Sinead’s Shrine Keeper and Discipline Master already seated.
“Honor of the day, Katleen.” Clarice offers the traditional birth-festival greeting as she follows Mr. Hidaka to the table. To Katleen’s open delight, Clarice adds a small pink package to a side table that holds parcels from Douglas, Lilian, and Helena.
Mr. Hidaka bustles about, providing wine and water, beside himself with delight to host the gathering. Sinead’s Shrine Keeper, Discipline Master, and Seer bring a great deal of cachet to even the most elegant of establishments. In addition, he is host to a complement of heroes. Mr. Hidaka is firmly in the camp that considers the gallant Serengeti apprentices the epitome of warrior values in their willingness to embrace almost certain doom to face those drunken louts who were no better than Servants of Anarchy.
Gallantly holding a chair for Rebecca, Douglas compliments her, “You are ravishing in that elegant frock.”
Preening slightly, Rebecca settles gracefully into her seat, passing a flat silver box to the nearest acolyte for inclusion with Katleen’s other gifts. Her simple blue silk frock lacks the flamboyance she normally favors. Rebecca is certain it would meet with Seigneur Trevelyan’s approval.
“That is a lovely frock,” Clarice agrees, her rose knit dress bringing her black hair and golden skin into striking relief. “Where did you acquire it?”
“A little shop near the Associates’ Quarters.” Rebecca peruses the menu. “I’ll take y
ou there next Seventh Day, if you like.”
“Master Chrys, sit here.” Katleen jumps to her feet and points to the chair next to her.
“Honor of the day.” Chrys smiles as he adds a small green bag to the gifts.
Repressing a smile at Katleen’s exuberance, Lilian accepts that Katleen continues to mature. Her budding figure in its azure tunic and skirt could no longer be passed off as that of a ten-year-old.
“Lilian,” Chrys turns to ask her a question and halts mid-speech.
“Chrys?” Lilian returns, puzzled.
“I beg pardon,” Chrys starts. “I was but surprised. Your hair...”
“It is redder without the warrior’s queue,” Douglas quickly chimes in before Chrys descends into impropriety.
“And the mist green brings out the highlights,” Clarice adds while Rebecca hides a snicker behind her hand.
Truly they are all a little stunned by Lilian’s appearance. Even on liberty days, Lilian keeps her hair in a tight queue and dresses in training garb. The slender woman in mist green, hair loosely dressed, seems a stranger.
“Lilian had the skirt and tunic at the university,” Katleen chimes in. “She has not donned it in ages.”
“Shall we order?” Sinead’s Keeper interjects quietly. “Our host is waiting.”
With the arrival of the first course, Katleen can no longer contain herself. She has waited for days to tell Lilian’s friends and Master Chrys her story. She has succeeded in having the loathed Beverly rebuked and removed from her place in the Balance Way until the dry season. Katleen’s place has not been restored, but she accepts it as a reasonable penalty for having been so readily manipulated.
“It was as Lilian suggested. Once the master scholar owned knowledge of the situation, he was very displeased. Truly, I cannot say which displeased the master scholar more–Beverly’s spite and maliciousness or her effrontery in questioning his decision to admit a warrior disciple into the school.” Katleen, almost bouncing in her delight, asks, “And how did it happen that the master scholar was made aware of this young woman’s misbehavior?
“It was a play. Two of my friends discussed the reasons for Beverly’s taunting where they could be overheard by the master scholar. One of my friends, who is a favorite of the master scholar’s, pointed out that it was an offense to question the master scholar’s judgement.” Pausing to sip her watered wine, Katleen briefly basks in the attention of the group.
At a nudge from Lilian, Katleen continues, “Nothing happened for a while. It took some sevendays for the master scholar to confirm what he heard, and then he acted.”
With that, Katleen’s normally sunny expression takes on a fierceness that gives her a startling resemblance to Lilian.
Laughing a little at the recitation, Douglas asks, “How did you come to devise such a clever ploy, Mistress Katleen?”
“Lilian assisted me, Master Douglas. She said she knew of the most amazingly clever play that had been enacted in the Cartel. Mine did not work quite as well. Beverly has not been swept from the school. Lilian says I must be watchful. She will come at me another way once she has finished licking her wounds. What think you? Is Lilian correct?”
“Yes, Mistress Katleen, your sister is quite correct.” Douglas grins. “Both in that it was an amazingly clever play and that you should mind your back.”
“Douglas would know,” Clarice murmurs into her wine, setting her fellow apprentices laughing. Katleen is not certain why her success is causing so much laughter among the company, but she is happy to have them share in her triumph.
It is a wonderful evening with much teasing and exchanging of stories. As Mr. Hidaka’s staff clears away, Helena nods at Katleen. The small stack of gifts is paltry compared to what Katleen received before the ruin. It is a great deal more than she had a year gone.
Lilian is pleased that Katleen is able to restrain her desire to leap on Chrys’ gift first. Instead, Katleen honors Douglas, who defended her at the festival brawl after only a few bells of acquaintance. The peridot-green enamel hair combs are greeted enthusiastically. With Rebecca’s aid, they are secured among Katleen’s curls and dutifully admired by the company. The silver gauze scarf from Clarice is equally admired as it is draped around Katleen’s throat, both gifts matching the peridot and silver of Katleen’s festival garb and acolyte robes.
Unable to wait any longer, Katleen turns to Chrys’ gift and pulls a delicate strand of translucent purple beads from the soft green sack. “Master Chrys, they are lovely! What are they?”
“Genji amber.” Chrys smiles. “My sister Rhyliss has always favored it, and I know you enjoy purple.”
Ignoring the clash between the peridot combs and purple amber, Katleen happily rearranges the silver scarf to add the beads.
Rebecca’s flat silver box opens to reveal record strips for two of the season’s most popular lurid entertainments. Eagerly, Katleen stows them in her satchel while Lilian resists the urge to comment on neglected studies and chores.
Helena’s and Lilian’s gifts raise eyebrows around the table. From the seer, a small flannel rug suitable for an infant, and from Lilian, a wiry brush. Even more surprising are Katleen’s exclamations of delight and the fierce hug she gives Lilian. With an air of resignation, Lilian says, “If you must keep that thing as a pet, keep it groomed.”
To which Helena adds, “The shed is not a tree. There is nothing in which to nest.”
At which point Katleen enlightens the group as to the wonders of her sparkly tree-wombat. With the arrival of Mr. Hidaka’s renowned strawberry tarts, the conversation turns to Chrys’ pending adventure on Troy. Although communications are easy between planets, they will be subject to the Serengeti monitors. After much consideration, they agree to meet when Chrys returns to learn the true story of the adventure, not the official one.
27. Cartel Justice
The Serengeti Headquarters complex covers an entire city block in the heart of Crevasse City’s Commerce District. The structure is segmented to enable ready interaction among the member cartouches while preserving the sovereignty and security-privilege of each cartouche. The lobby has four entrances that correspond with the four riser banks: Blooded Dagger, Grey Spear, Iron Hammer and Cartel. Although each entrance enables access to every level, they are configured to limit access to the security-privileged areas of each cartouche. Below the levels dedicated to each cartouche, the lowest levels hold the common areas used by all members of the Cartel and approved visitors. These include the lobby; first-level storage and maintenance; the Associates’ Hall and a variety of conference chambers on the second; and the training facilities and Dispensary on the third. Separating the semi-public areas from the commerce levels, Militia Central occupies the fourth storey with the physical and automated security controls for Serengeti. ~excerpt from The Serengeti Group Associate Guide, a training text.
Sevenday 84, Day 2
Gracefully Lilian dodges the sword aimed at her head. Pivoting, she attempts to sweep the ankle of her adversary and briefly shatters Trevelyan’s balance and momentum. Lilian dives under his guard and marks his ribcage before spinning away. A glancing blow to her buttock causes Lilian to stumble.
Springing away, Lilian turns to face Trevelyan’s advance. The match timer sounds.
With a grin, Trevelyan puts up his training sword while Lilian tallies the marks from her chalk thorn. Their first match had been hand to thorn. Lilian remained afoot for thirty minutes. It followed with Lilian employing the short sword against the long. She was disarmed after fifteen minutes. This last has been but ten minutes and finished without a clear victory.
“In addition to the ribs, the seigneur is hamstrung, and there is a mark that might have damaged the spinal column,” Lilian catalogs her marks. “There are three other marks, but they are naught.”
“You do well, Lilian,” Trevelyan says with approval. “You are as quick as you ever were, and you increase in cleverness.”
It has been a month and a half
since Lilian was scourged. It took almost a month to rebuild her skills after cosmetic intervention. Now, she is once again advancing in skill.
»◊«
“You look rough. Have you been sleeping?” Rebecca asks bluntly as she joins Lilian at a fountain-side table in the Lobby Café.
“Not as well I would like,” Lilian admits. “Maman has been a little strange since Katleen’s celebration.”
The lie is a great deal easier than the truth. Seeing Helena to her bedchamber after Katleen’s party, Lilian discovered the vision panels had moved from disquieting to truly disturbing. The odd vine that had appeared in milord’s panel two months gone has spread into Lilian’s panel. What Lilian thought would be night-blooming blossoms has turned into snakes. A large multi-headed snake creature threatens both the Lucius and Lilian panels. Surrounded by, or possibly controlling the coils, is the clever-looking fox that resembles Seigneur Garwynn.
The recordings of Helena’s ramblings hold multiple references to the mongoose and snakes but nothing truly helpful. The past two nights have provided little rest. Not wishing to give Rebecca a chance to probe, Lilian quickly adds, “I suspect I am a little dismal now that Chrys has departed. It has barely been a day, but it seems longer. I am happy for him, though. It is a wonderful opportunity. I would very much enjoy visiting Troy, as I know you would.”
For sixteen months, a lifetime in many ways, the three have worked together to overcome challenges and build their futures. Trevelyan’s aquamarines twinkling in her ears, Rebecca shares her friend’s dismay at the loss of their third. “Chrys is thrilled. Only an apprentice, and he is part of commerce-changing technology. Seigneur Rachelle could not provide better for Chrys were he a protégé.”
Attempting to encourage herself as much as Rebecca, Lilian says, “It is not forever, Rebecca. Chrys will return before the Five Warriors’ Festival. We are being ridiculous. We lived to majority and beyond without each other, we can survive a month or so.”
Straightening her shoulders, determined to throw off her morose mood, Lilian demands, “Tell me the latest. Who is on the rise? Who is on the decline? Who is under duress?”