Did I just say that?
Carmen smiled with her lips but her eyes burned with the insult.
“Louie, dear,” Carmen said sweetly, putting emphasis on the ‘dear,’ “I need to talk to you in private. Let’s get some air. Something smells askiroso in here.”
Louie excused himself and followed Carmen, who threw Nariko a backward glance as if she were looking at some kind of thief. Nariko felt her anger building within her.
Back in the tower, Keiko had become fed up with Nori’s ability to dodge questions. “I’m not concerned about her cholesterol levels; I need to know what it could do to her.”
“Well, for all we know the massive dose of arkotocin could be poisonous to a half-demon.”
Keiko and Don Kielter looked at each other in concern
“So, what are we supposed to do if it is poison?” Keiko huffed, her hair shimmering white.
Nori sighed. “Well, in that case I suppose you have two choices.”
“What are they?”
“You can either watch her die or leave the room.”
“Nori!” Keiko yelled. “When I get back to the Onikano I’m gonna take your stupid garden and...”
Don Kielter shoved Keiko aside and grabbed the microphone.
“Okay, well, assuming that it does not just kill her straight out. We need to know what the psychological effects might be.”
There was a pause on the vox-line and the sound of a finger tapping a forehead.
“Well, among other things, I’d guess that she’d become irritable and irrational...”
“So how would we tell the difference?” Don Kielter snickered, unable to resist.
Keiko slugged him in the arm, her hair shimmering back to its natural ebony.
“...and experience occasional fits of insanity,” Nori added.
The velvet lounge spun around Nariko as she got to her feet and began walking forward. She had already gone through hell for this mission and she wasn’t about to let some snooty little stick of a woman walk off with her target like that. Distantly she could hear the voices of the people around her, but they sounded like they could have been miles away.
Her peripheral vision faded away and her sight became a tunnel. At its center Carmen and Louie were disappearing behind a curtain door at the other end of the room. Nariko felt her blood pounding through her veins. This was an obstacle, a barrier in her path and she would break through it with all of the strength and ruthlessness that the Amano’s were known for.
The swirling room seemed to tug at her, as if the very air were opposed to her progress. The colors in front of her took the shape of a man, cold and distant, disapproving of everything. Nariko pushed her arms forward and broke through it. As she did so, its shape changed to that of a waiter, falling to the floor with his tray of beer mugs.
Now the colors took on the shape of a great serpent, with scarlet scales. Its lips did not move, but it spoke with a familiar voice. Keiko’s voice. It reverberated in Nariko’s skull, telling her again and again to abort the mission. Nariko cried out and threw her shoulder into the side of the serpent, whose image changed to that of a young couple, falling backwards against a coat rack.
Reaching the doorway of curtains, Nariko threw them apart and saw Louie and Carmen speaking intimately. Nariko heard a shriek in the room and it took her a second to realize that it was her who was screaming. She had sacrificed every shred of dignity she had for a chance to take down Inami. The disgrace of wearing these clothes, the humiliation of acting the part of an idiot courtesan, it all came crashing over her as she staggered forward. She would not be defeated. Nothing would stand in her way. Taisa or no Taisa, Nariko would defeat her.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment. A wave of shock expanded out through all those who could see, starting with Louie and Carmen and then spilling out into the people near the curtained doorway, finally passing over the nearby traffic control tower where Keiko and Don Kielter watched in horror.
Nariko had grabbed Louie by the collar and was kissing him fully on the mouth.
It was probably the most un-passionate kiss of all time. Nariko kept her eyes so tightly shut that tears formed at the corners and waves of revulsion flowed through her body, causing her to whimper in disgust. Louie, for his part, was kicking and pushing, trying to pry Nariko off of him as muffled protests came out of his throat.
Unable to hold it any longer, Nariko broke off her kiss and dropped to her knees, coughing and gagging, her stomach heaving in response to the horror of what she had just done.
Then there was another shriek, but much higher in pitch. Nariko felt herself being knocked over onto her side. Instinctively, she kicked out with her leg at where her attacker should have been, but struck only air. Something was striking Nariko repeatedly in the head and shoulders. The way it lashed out, it felt like some sort of wild animal.
Did they sick some sort of security dog on me? Nariko wondered before crying out in pain as something bit down into her neck. Nariko struck out with an elbow but couldn’t make contact. Rolling over, she attempted to throw her assailant off of her back, but her opponent wrapped her legs around her and began clawing at her face and eyes as she screamed profanities in her native tongue. That’s when Nariko realized that her attacker was Carmen.
Nariko forced her mind to focus through the blur of the drug and moved to grab Carmen’s hand and put her into a wristlock, but Carmen grabbed a wad of blonde hair and yanked Nariko’s head roughly to one side. Nariko was forced to roll with the force to prevent her neck from being dislocated and the two women rolled over one another, Carmen kicking and screaming wildly and Nariko trying impotently to get a hold of her.
Nariko Amano, Correllian Senshi with nearly four-and-a-half centuries’ combat experience, couldn’t believe that she was losing to a 4 foot, seventy-pound she-devil of a girl.
A few minutes later, the back door of the Dirne house flew open and Nariko was carried out struggling and kicking. Louie’s bodyguards set her down and walked back inside. Sorano and Sakurako were nearby in their civilian attire, but thought it best to keep their distance. Keiko and Don Kielter turned off the vox-link. There was no need for it now, anyway.
Nariko fell to her knees and her anger finally collapsed in on itself. It left a void which quickly began filling itself up with shame. She had failed. She had gambled everything and lost.
How can I ever go back to the Second Division now? She imagined Inami wearing that smirk of hers. Nariko brought her hand up to cover her face and she accidentally stabbed her cheek with the sharpened nail on her index finger.
Nariko let out a wheezing sound and began snapping off the artificial nails from her hands. The bonding agent they had used was pretty strong, so some of them took chunks of fingernail with them when they came off, but she didn’t care. She tore them off one by one, the pain in her fingers felt good compared to the shame inside of her.
As Nariko worked at prying the final nail off of her hand, she became aware of a pair of legs standing in front of her, dressed in finely cut black business pants and shoes that had been brought to a fine shine.
“Your nails are short now. I hope this doesn’t mean that you are no longer available for a first-night,” a voice said.
Nariko looked up and saw Brannon looking down at her. His eyes were filled with sympathy and pity and Nariko hated being looked at that way.
Brannon brought his hand up and scratched the back of his neck, looking like he didn’t have any idea what the proper thing was to say was in a situation like this.
“Try not to feel too bad. Louie’s engagement to Carmen hasn’t been officially announced yet, so you can’t really be blamed for not knowing.”
“I don’t like being spied on,” Nariko hissed, ignoring the hypocrisy of it.
“I am sorry, but I saw everything inside the Dirne.”
“If only that little stick hadn’t been there,” Nariko grumbled as she snapped off the final nail. All Nariko wanted to do now
was ditch this guy in front of her and go climb into bed and never wake up again.
“Well, even if they weren’t engaged, it wouldn’t have worked out.”
“Why not?” Nariko asked doubtfully.
Brannon blinked at her, wondering if she was kidding.
“Because he’s gay, of course.”
Nariko could only stare at Brannon with her mouth open. When the full weight of it hit her, her shoulders slumped and all she could do was chuckle sorrowfully. It was so typical for such a crucial detail to have been missed. Inami might have omitted this fact on purpose as some kind of sick joke, but it was absolutely inexcusable for her team not to have known that about their mark. A rational piece of Nariko’s mind identified one piece that didn’t fit. Why would he be engaged to Carmen?
“Does Carmen know?” she asked.
Brannon chuckled to himself.
“It’s a great deal for her. She fulfills her duty and welds our two families together, comes into more wealth than she could ever spend and doesn’t even have to consummate the marriage.”
Nariko accepted the explanation, but now an even bigger piece was staring at her.
“Our families?” she repeated.
“Perhaps I forgot to fully introduce myself,” he said, bowing deeply, “I am Brannon Fitzgerald Faust. Louie is my brother.”
There in the moon-bathed light of Fulles-mond, Nariko felt like the sun had just crested over the horizon and landed on her. There was still hope for completing their mission, after all. She just might beat Inami yet. Suddenly her attitude about Brannon completely changed and she smiled at him for the first time, introducing herself properly.
Brannon smiled back at her.
Keiko’s second lesson: To a man who can have any woman; there is nothing more irresistible than a woman who declines him.
“If you’re feeling a little heart-broken, I can’t think of any better way to get back at him than to start courting his younger brother.”
Brannon held out his hand and offered to help Nariko to her feet.
“Who knows,” he added, “You might even find you like the younger brother better.”
Chapter Thirty
The Fountains of Diamant Plaza
You cannot grant mercy unless you have power to exact justice.
You cannot be generous unless you have power to take away.
You cannot pardon unless you have power to condemn.
Benevolence, mercy, and forgiveness are all predicated on strength.
-Book of Cerinţǎ, Chapter 19, verses 41-45
A few hours later, Nariko found herself being guided by the hand out of an exclusive hover-gondola. Diamant plaza was one of the most fashionable parts of the city. Beautiful bronze and copper statues of various saints and heroes of the Empire lined the canals of clear blue water, which flowed calmly under the night sky, reflecting gently the light from the three moons of Ardura.
Brannon pointed his elbow at her. Nariko looked at it blankly for a moment before Don Kielter prompted her through the re-established comm-link to take his arm as he escorted her along the marble canals.
As they walked, Nariko found herself growing anxious, so she distracted herself by mentally estimating the energy necessary to pump and purify trillions of liters of water a day up to these higher levels, only to have them cascade down the canals and waterfalls back down to the lower levels again without having served any real purpose. The waste really bothered her logical side. Another part of her, however, admitted that the effect was quite lovely and it did lighten her spirits somewhat.
The smoke and pollution of Tridia seemed like a distant memory up here.
Brannon had taken her to a public bathhouse where Keiko and Ami had cleaned her up and put her in some new clothes and kesshouhin. Thankfully the current dress they had her in came down to her ankles and up to her neck. She had been getting quite tired of the short-skirts and low-cut outfits they had been dressing her in. Instead, this outfit showed off her body by being as tight on her as a second skin. The material was a light blue color that shimmered a darker hue of blue when the light hit it the right way. It was surprising to Nariko how much the color of the dress matched pleasantly with her red eyes and blonde hair. This kind of material was more fashionable on nearby factory worlds like Machari and Dunstil and it clearly set her apart as an off-worlder, but there was no harm in that since Brannon already knew that about her, so Ami had suggested playing up the exotic off-worlder angle instead of trying to masquerade as a local. The skirt had a slit on one side that ran all the way up to her hip. At first Nariko had thought that the purpose of this was simply to reveal a good portion of her leg, but once she tried to walk in it she realized that the skirt was so tight that without the slit she wouldn’t be able to take even half a step forward in the thing without tripping.
Nariko had added her own touch to the outfit this time. She wore an agate brooch that she had purchased in the city.
As they walked through the restaurant, Nariko could see the predatory look in men’s eyes as they looked her over. She had dealt with this since the start of this absurd mission, but instead of getting used to it, she was getting more and more uncomfortable each time it happened. This time she could actually feel her cheeks blushing and she couldn’t wait until she could get back into a combat suit.
She also noticed the women looking at her as well, but this was different, it was an icy cold stare full of envy and malice. Nariko realized that they absolutely hated her. As if to emphasize the point, Nariko swayed her hips a little more as she walked and threw her head to the side, causing her hair to flip back over her shoulder sensually. Seeing this, the women no longer hated her they despised her. This pleased Nariko more than anything she had done in recent months and she suddenly found herself enjoying this mission immensely for the first time.
The waiter showed them to their table and Brannon held out Nariko’s chair for her. The room was ornately decorated with bright colored walls with gold leaf trimming pressed directly into it. Along each wall were several coats of arms from each of the royal families that were regular patrons of this restaurant. There were so many patterns and so many jewels. It was sensory overload and seemed gaudy to Nariko, who preferred more simple elegance in design to the over decoration that Ardurans preferred.
In each corner was a traditional cast iron heater, sculpted with shapes of children and creatures in the act of play. A large mural had been painted onto the domed ceiling depicting heroes from Arduran mythology, with a great crystal chandelier hanging from its center sending out gentle reflections of light that gave the room a sparkling effect. Arduran Opera played in the background. It had been a long time since Nariko had been in such opulent surroundings.
She felt surprisingly comfortable there, so much so that Keiko had to remind her to take care because there are only a couple of positions one can sit in while wearing a tight dress and remain modest.
If you can’t even sit without exposing yourself then you need to seriously rethink what you wear.
“Betti, you are looking quite lovely tonight,” Brannon said kindly as he hung up his coat and sat down.
Nariko was unsure of how to reply and instead just managed a shaky smile. It was hard to tell the difference between a genuine compliment and a lewd catcall from some stranger on the street. They still both felt very much the same to her.
Nariko followed Don Kielter’s instructions and placed the larger cloth napkin on her left leg, its leading edge parallel with the hardwood table edge and the smaller cloth napkin on her right leg, turned 45 degrees so that it sat in a star shape. Whenever Brannon would speak to her, she would have to remember to rest the tips of her fingers on this smaller napkin, as was the custom of the women here.
There were over twenty pieces of copperware: plates, bowls, saucers, and glasses on the table before her. There was also a small bell, although Nariko couldn’t guess what it was for. She found the traditions of this world exhaustive to say the l
east, but despite that she was finding herself more and more wrapped up in this role. The restaurant itself was very exclusive and Brannon had gotten them a good table.
“Boy, he’s pulling out the stops on this one,” Don Kielter commented through the comm-line. “I like this guy already.”
As Nariko was smoothing out her dress, the waiter handed each of them a food and wine list. Nariko was fairly hungry by now, so she ordered the first thing she recognized.
“I would like the roast tungar, please,” she said hungrily. Both Brannon and the waiter looked at her indignantly and she realized that something was wrong.
Don Kielter let out a huge sigh over the comm-line.
“The man always orders during courtship, Nari! The woman only orders if the man she is with is a serf or a slave,” he barked.
“I’m very sorry,” Nariko apologized to the two men. “I am still learning your traditions. Please forgive me.”
Brannon and the waiter accepted this with a smile and Brannon proceeded to order some strange dish Nariko had never heard of before. Then, to Nariko’s surprise, Brannon got up and left with the waiter. Don Kielter explained that the man traditionally participated in the preparation of the food during the first night of courtship.
Nariko didn’t like being dressed this way in public and sitting by herself made her feel even more uncomfortable than when Brannon was with her and she found herself wishing he’d return quickly. With her enhanced hearing, she could hear a muted argument from a nearby table where a woman had caught her husband staring at Nariko for longer than she deemed appropriate.
Just how long is it appropriate to ogle someone?
Nariko also could hear the whispers of two of the women who had glared at her when she had entered. They called her outfit tasteless and her hairstyle ghastly. They criticized that her hips were repulsively large. Nariko wished that she could just walk over there and politely disagree by hitting them with a chair or something, but that would blow her cover so all she could do was sit there. For the first time Nariko regretted having enhanced hearing.
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