by Robin Roseau
“There will be a hunt. For Margotain to win, she must, with assistance, capture you. The hunt will begin at a particular location, which she will know. You will be given three possible destinations. To win, you must reach your destination without being captured.”
“Will I have any assistance?”
“Anyone who assists you automatically volunteers herself to a Galatzi trade,” Luradinine declared. “Perhaps you will recruit assistance; perhaps you will not. However, I will allow you to explore the city more fully, in my presence. You will vow to make no attempt to escape me.”
“I won’t try to escape,” she said. “I agree.”
I couldn’t believe it.
“I have heard stories of how well some star people are able to fight,” Luradinine said. “You should be aware weapons are strictly prohibited, as is fighting with the intent to cause bodily harm.”
Serenity nodded.
“Serenity, if you fight,” I said, “it’s a signal in itself. How hard you fight is another signal. If you don’t surrender, she’ll keep you as a prisoner.”
“No, she won’t,” Serenity said. “Will she?”
“No,” Margotain said. “Not after the first month.”
Everyone laughed, and then Serenity nodded. “Not after the first month.”
Luradinine nodded. “Are there any others here, those not already in a relationship, who wish to offer themselves to this hunt?” No one spoke. I wasn’t expecting them to. Then Luradinine asked, “Are there any who would like to experience this hunt for fun?” And she looked at Mama and Laradain when she asked the question.
Laradain smiled. “Catching Felda would be fun.”
“Catching you would be more fun,” Mama replied. She looked at Luradinine. “I’d chase her.”
“In your dreams.” She paused. “A fun event, Felda.”
“What do you propose?”
“Beacon Hill Vendart, can you see a way we would hunt each other?”
“I could arrange that as part of this event.”
“Whoever gets caught becomes a temporary Galatzi prize,” Laradain said. “Just until we have to go to the rejuvenation center for my service.”
Mama looked at me. That was too much, still, so I translated for her.
“Temporary,” she said in Talmonese. “But real.”
“Yes. When I catch you, I’ll tie you.”
“A fair event, Luradinine?” Mama asked.
“As fair as I can make it,” Luradinine replied.
“You want this?” Mama asked.
“I do,” Laradain said. “Win or lose, it will be fun. If you don’t, then I want us to help catch someone, but there’s only one prey.”
“There will be more prey,” Mother said. “Kalorain?”
My wife stepped forward and looked at me. “Care to play?”
“Sure,” I said. “What am I offered if I catch you?”
Kalorain laughed. “What do you want if you reach one of your destinations?”
“You. Bath girl. One day a month forever.”
“One day a month until the next time we do this.”
“Agreed.” I stood up and stepped to Luradinine’s side. “Am I also your prisoner until the event begins?”
“Yes. Darratine?”
“It is your choice, Farratain.”
“I don’t want to fight, but I would like to play,” Farratain said. “If you agree to the same agreement your sister did.”
Darratine laughed and agreed.
“Don’t even think about me as a bath girl,” Sartine said to Cecilia.
“You already give me anything I want,” Cecilia said. “I’ll play for fun.” Then she stepped over and stood at my side, offering herself as Luradinine’s prisoner.
“Anyone else?” Luradinine asked. She turned to Mama and Laradain. “Have the two of you decided?”
Mama turned to her lover. “Your decision.”
“I want to hunt you.”
“Do you want to hunt each other, or do you only want to hunt me?”
“I want to hunt you,” she said. “But maybe we can do this again sometime, and you may hunt me.”
“Beacon Hill would be willing to host an event like this every few years,” Luradinine said immediately. “Perhaps not every year, unless we have more Galatzi prizes involved.”
Mama nodded. “You may hunt me, Laradain.” Then they kissed before Mama stood and walked to join the prisoners.
“I have a request,” Serenity said. “Is it possible to bring Tranquility here? She’s going to want to be involved.”
“We’ll retrieve her,” Cecilia said.
“When is the raid?”
“Three nights from tonight.”
Raid
Luradinine kept us isolated, although she let us explore the village. But her sense of humor came out, and she tied us together in a chain. I was in the middle, my left wrist to Serenity’s belt, and Farratain’s left wrist to my belt, with about a half meter of slack. It wasn’t as if we were trying to escape, but her sense of humor was definitely in play.
She took us to the inn near the harbor, the one where Serenity had taken us. “We will begin here.” Then she led us through the town until we were about as far away as we could be and still be inside the town. From there, she assigned three distinct locations to each of us, and she made us decorate them so they were obvious.
“So our hunters will know our destinations after all?” I asked.
“They won’t know whose are whose,” Luradinine said.
“This seems too easy,” Serenity said on the second day, when we were done exploring. “There are a hundred paths we can take. How is Margotain going to catch me?”
“Don’t you want to win?” Luradinine asked.
“I’m fairly certain no one intends for us to win.”
Luradinine smiled and said nothing.
She kept us inside for the final day. It was late morning when Luradinine appeared. She untied me from the others and said, “Maddalyn, will you come with me?”
I followed her from the rooms we’d been given, and she led the way to her office. Cecilia, Sartine, and Pippa were waiting. “Did something happen?” I asked.
Pippa nodded to me then turned to Cecilia. “Governor Grace, make an offer.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Cecilia said. “Guaranteed implant. Blah. blah.”
“Seriously?” Pippa said. “Seriously? Is that the respect you have?”
I looked at Cecilia. She was angry. “What is happening?” I asked in German.
“Answer her in English,” Pippa said. She was angry, too, but I didn’t think she was when I first arrived. “I understood the question.”
She and Cecilia glared at each other. Luradinine and Sartine also both looked upset. I presume Sartine was upset on Cecilia’s behalf; I didn’t know why Luradinine was.
“Fine,” Cecilia said, the word clipped. “Luradinine has invited Pippa into a Galatzi trade.”
“Excuse me?” I turned. “The two of you?”
“Yeah,” Pippa said. “The two of us. I want to be your step-mom-in-law. I wasn’t as sure about the Galatzi part, but Luradinine was, shall we say, convincing.”
“So why are tensions high?”
“Pippa agreed subject to certain conditions,” Cecilia said. “Frankly, at this point, I am questioning nearly everyone’s judgment. Yours, in your choice of friends. Luradinine’s, in her choice of lovers, and mine, for thinking I wanted Pippa on this planet.”
“Oh, hey,” I said.
“I know she’s your friend, Maddalyn. And normally I trust your judgment and Luradinine’s, too. But I think she’s on the rebound, and I think you accepted friendship on Tarriton with the first woman who was kind to you.”
“I’m right here!” Pippa said. “Everyone thinks you walk on water. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Everyone calm down,” I said, physically stepping into place between them. I turned to Pippa. “You want to stay.”
“I did,” she said. She looked past me. “I’m suddenly not so sure.”
“Pippa, look at me,” I said. “Please, look at me.” Slowly, she did. “Good. Am I your friend?”
She took a breath then nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. Turn to Luradinine.”
“Maddalyn, Luradinine isn’t the problem.”
“Humor me.”
“Fine.” She turned to Luradinine, and the two faced each other. Without prompting, Luradinine took Pippa’s hands.
“I seem to be particularly clueless,” I said. “How long has this been brewing?”
“Since the day they arrived,” Luradinine said.
“Pippa?”
“Not the first day, but I started paying attention nearly from the beginning. It wasn’t until we started spending so much time together that I truly grew to appreciate her.”
“I haven’t noticed a thing,” I said.
“You’re clueless,” Pippa said. “Margotain noticed, and Serenity asked about it.”
Suddenly the things Margotain had said about the gift made sense.
“This is a little fast,” Pippa added. “But I thought about getting left out of the event tonight, and it made me a little sick. That was when I knew for sure how I felt.”
“And yet,” Cecilia said from behind me, “She places conditions. She holds both her relationship with Luradinine and me hostage. If it was just me, I could be amused, but it disgusts me that she’d do this to Luradinine.”
“Do what?”
“I’d give up everything I’ve tried to achieve for a decade,” Pippa said. “If I stay here, this is my last chance. There’s no way I’ll ever make enough money for an implant living here.”
“Ah,” I said.
“That’s not all,” Cecilia said. “But at least the rest I can manage. I could even manage if she’d accept ‘I’ll do my best’, but apparently that’s not enough. She wants a guarantee. And the only way I can offer a guarantee is if I offer to pay for it personally.”
“What?” Pippa said, dropping Luradinine’s hands and spinning. “What?” she repeated.
“I have no official authority to make promises that large,” Cecilia said. “And frankly, Anna White lost when she gave one to Maddalyn. She thought Maddalyn would come for a few years then be ready to go somewhere more important, after I trained her for a while. Instead, she fell in love with the planet. Anna isn’t so heartless to take her away, but that wasn’t supposed to happen.” She offered a rough laugh. “She underestimated Chaladine and Talmon. The only way Anna is giving you one is if she can yank you from this planet and send you somewhere else. So I have to find another way.”
She shook her head. “I offered a guarantee, but the only reason I’m doing it is for Maddalyn and Luradinine, and I’m no longer sure I want to hire you. In fact, I’m sure of it. You can have your damned implant and the rest, but if you want a job, you get it from Luradinine. If you want to teach, there are schools here, and I have no authority over them.”
“Wait,” Pippa said. “Just wait. You said a personal guarantee.”
“Yes,” she said. “I said that repeatedly.”
“I didn’t realize you meant a personal guarantee, like, you mean with your own money.”
“What else does a personal guarantee mean? Congratulations, Pippa. If Luradinine still wants you, you’re getting everything you ever wanted, and ahead of schedule besides.”
“Just wait,” Pippa said. “Just wait. I didn’t understand. Just wait.” She turned away and walked to a window, staring outside. We all watched her.
Then I leaned to Luradinine. “Go to her.”
Luradinine nodded and crossed the room, setting her hands on my friend’s shoulders. The two stood that way for a while. If they talked, I didn’t hear them. Then Pippa rotated in Luradinine’s arms, and the two kissed, and it was clearly not their first kiss.
They finally separated. Holding hands, they turned to us, stepping forward to stand before Cecilia. “Governor Grace,” Pippa said. “I didn’t understand. I really didn’t. Do I need your permission to immigrate to Talmon?”
“Yes,” Cecilia said.
“I have accepted Luradinine’s offer to partake in tonight’s activities. I am dropping all my other requirements. If you don’t want to hire me, then you shouldn’t. But I have requests.”
“I’m listening.”
“I do not want us growing old. Without an imperial salary, I don’t know how I can get us back to Tarriton for rejuvenation, and I don’t know how soon before this planet will have sufficient capacity for everyone. Can you help without it become a sort of hardship?”
Cecilia nodded. “Every ten years. When are you next due?”
“My last was three years ago,” she replied.
“Luradinine has never been. I will do my best to make arrangements within the next several years, and I will promise no greater delay than every ten years after. That is round trip to Tarriton, but I’m not contributing to any special work you want done.”
“Thank you, Governor.” She turned to Luradinine. “I want something really, really good if I make it to my target destination.”
Luradinine smiled. “You may have anything in my power to give you, consistent with the nature of the relationship we are entering. That part is not negotiable.”
Pippa nodded. “Agreed.” And then she folded into Luradinine’s arms.
I looked at Cecilia. No. I glared at Cecilia. She barely glanced at me but stared for a while at Pippa. Finally she said, “That’s it?”
“What else is there?” Pippa asked, not leaving Luradinine’s arms. “You were right. I was holding Luradinine hostage. I was willing to do that when I thought we were fighting over your budget, because I was fairly sure you would give me what I wanted. But the price is too high.”
She looked over her shoulder. “I was trying to have everything. I’ve dreamed of my own implant since I was old enough to realize what they were. I made some decisions that weren’t consistent with that goal, but I adjusted. But I’ve never taken a job I didn’t love, and I never climbed over someone’s back to get something I wanted. I’m not starting now. It took you shaking me up a little to realize I was being a bitch.” Then she turned back to Luradinine and pulled her mouth in for a kiss.
They were still kissing when Cecilia said, “Pippa Gaines, I need someone to help bring scientific education to Talmon. I don’t even know where to begin. Do you think you would like to help us figure that out?”
The two finished their kiss, and then Pippa whispered into Luradinine’s ear. She whispered back. Then Pippa rotated in Luradinine’s arms to face the governor. “Did you just offer me a paid job?”
“I did. Are you interested?”
“Interested,” she said. “Sure. But I’ll be living in Beacon Hill.”
“I can make that work,” Cecilia said, “provided Beacon Hill Vendart allows some travel. You might be apart some nights. She would be welcome to travel with you, but ultimately, I need her to remain the vendart she is.”
“We can make that work,” Luradinine said.
“Do you have a budget for this, Governor? If you tell me all you can pay me is in local coins, I won’t necessarily turn you down. But I want to know.”
“I have a budget. It’s not huge.”
“Which means anything I ask for comes out your budget for other things,” Pippa replied.
“It does,” Cecilia said. “But this is important.”
“Then I’ll tell you what I want, and you will tell me if I’m too expensive,” Pippa said. “I want authority. I want a title, a real title, one people will recognize. I want an official jumper for this travel, and if I decide to buy a second one, you’ll transport it.”
“Keep going,” Cecilia said.
“I want to be paid the equivalent of a university dean,” she said. “Ten percent in Imperial credits.”
“Five.”
Pippa paused. “Agreed.”
“Minister of Education,” Cecilia said. “Officially, our authority on the planet is deeply limited. I can’t give orders to anyone except those who work for me, and I have authority over what is allowed to be transported to the planet.”
“And you have authority over the imperial technology,” Sartine said. “The vendarti agreed.”
“Right,” Cecilia said. “I have no authority over education. And I can’t grant you authority I don’t have. Your position would be advisory to the vendarti but authoritative over anyone who we import.”
“I want Luradinine taught to fly, and I want more flight training myself.”
“No one flies on Talmon without a checkout from one of our instructors,” Cecilia said. “You see Maddalyn for that.”
“And Luradinine?”
“You see Maddalyn for that, too.”
“Was that a yes?” Pippa asked.
“Yes,” I said. “She just said ‘yes’.”
“Anything else?” Cecilia asked.
“If I buy things from Tarriton, you will transport them.”
“Not if it destroys my weight allowance,” Cecilia said. “And your jumpers need to be modest, no bigger than the ones we already have.”
“I’m going for cute and sporty,” Pippa said. She began grinning. “And anything else I want will be small. Oh, except we need to get some equipment here for our clubs.”
I smiled. “No we don’t.”
“What?”
“That’s not part of your negotiations,” I said. “I do have a little pull on this planet, Pippa.”
“Oh,” she said. “Right. That’s my list.”
“I have one,” Luradinine said. “She’s my prisoner for a while.”
“A while, hmm?” Cecilia said. “That better not mean a year.”
“And you haven’t caught me yet,” Pippa pointed out.
“Oh, please. I made the rules, and I never play to lose.” Luradinine looked back to Cecilia. “Three months. She’ll be available by tablet in two weeks.”
Cecilia nodded. “All right. Is that everything now?”
“Yes,” Pippa said.
“You’re more valuable with an implant, Minister,” Cecilia said. “But I can’t promise.”
“No, Cecilia.”