by Robin Roseau
"What do you need?"
"I want you to serve as my personal assistant. It even has a title." She spoke in English; I understood some of it. Then she translated. "Personal Assistant to the Governor. It is oftentimes not perceived as very prestigious, but it is important."
"What would I do?"
"Anything I need. That can be from trivial chores such as taking my laundry to the bathhouse up to handling very complicated issues for me. Basically, you would take any duties from me that you can so that I can focus on everything else. Much of what you would do is, frankly, beneath you. But you would follow me everywhere. You would hear everything I hear. I need someone I can trust. And while much of it is beneath you, some of it would be very important. You could also expect special assignments."
"In other words, in many ways I would do for you what I currently do for Father."
"Yes. You will be paid in imperial credits."
"You don't have to pay me."
"Actually, yes, I do," she replied. "I have a budget for staff, and Anna White yelled at me because I'm not spending it and more specifically because I haven't acquired a personal assistant. I haven't done it because it galls me to ask someone to handle things I can do for myself, and I told her that." She sighed. "I received a lengthy lecture on the meaning of the word delegate."
"I understand."
"You can decline," Cecilia said. "Do you have questions?"
"One. Is Luradinine going to Centos Four?"
"No. You were right. I need her right where she is."
I lowered my head. I had known, if Cecilia looked closely enough, she'd come to that conclusion, but still, I had hoped.
"When do I start?"
"Instantly, unless you need time here."
"I'd like to visit a few people. I only need a few minutes with them. I won't need more than a few more minutes to pack."
"Of course. Chaladine, this isn't goodbye. I'm in Sudden a lot."
"But I'm moving to Indartha?"
"Yes, unless you turn the offer down."
I smiled. "Do you really think I'd do that?"
"No, but I don't want to take you for granted."
I looked at Father. "I presume you would have said something if you prefer I don't do this."
"Of course I would have," he replied. "Go on. We'll see you off."
"Is a half hour okay, Governor?"
"A half hour is fine, Chaladine," she said. She smiled. "Thank you."
* * * *
From that point, I went everywhere with Cecilia. When we arrived in Indartha, Sartine met us. The two exchanged affection, and then I took my own hug from Sartine, which surprised me. "Welcome to Indartha," she said. "It's good to see you."
"It's nice to be here when it's not so deathly cold."
They took me to their home. There was a room already waiting for me, and they gave me time to move in. From their appearance later, "we'll give you time to move in" really meant, "we haven't seen each other in four days, and we're going to jump each other". But then they collected me, and we went to the inn for dinner. When it was time to pay the bill, Cecilia slid a thick money pouch to me.
"I get paid already?"
"No. This is you learning the first of your duties. That's my money. You will pay for our meal and then record the cost on your tablet. I'll show you how the first time."
My tablet had been upgraded. I didn't even see her do it. There were several new programs waiting for me, and I would learn all of them over the next few weeks. When I spent money for her, I recorded where we were, what it was for, and whether it was a personal expense."
"This was a working dinner," she explained. "And so you mark it as for work." She showed me. "Use your judgment, but be conservative. If you're not sure, ask. Most of the time you're not sure, I'll probably call it personal."
"Why does it matter?"
"Personal expenses are my responsibility. But work expenses come out of the money the empire pays me as Governor. Other people will review the expenses, and it's common for people to get caught making inappropriate charges. They're not worried about small things, like a meal, but there are people who have charged the government for fairly indelicate charges."
"I don't understand."
"Girls. Apartments for girls. Improvements to their mistress's home, or their own home. I could have charged the empire for the improvements to Sartine's house-"
"Our house!" Sartine said firmly. Cecilia ignored her.
"-but frankly, I didn't want to explain it, so I paid for them myself. I needed those improvements for my duties, but someone who has never been to Talmon would have gotten that report, and then I would have been asked to justify it. Life is too short to deal with things like that."
"I thought you live forever," I observed with a grin.
"Even if I live forever, any time spent dealing with bureaucrats is too much time."
Neither Sartine nor I understood what she meant, but I would learn, eventually.
"All right. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Perfect. Now, from this moment forward, you carry your tablet everywhere you go. Make sure you keep it charged. There's a plug in your room, and you'll find here are more all over the house and my offices. You can charge them in the jumpers, too. If you have a few minutes and you're next to a charger, plug it in. You can use it while it's charging."
"I understand, Cecilia."
"You'll find this isn't natural to you," Sartine said. "It is for Cecilia. She won't even realize she's doing it. But you and I have to think about it."
* * * *
As I said, I went everywhere with her. My days began early, oftentimes sharing breakfast with Cecilia and frequently Sartine. I then did anything Cecilia needed during the day. At first, it was largely the trivial things, and that remained a constant. I did, indeed, take her laundry to the bathhouse. I also saw to the mending, although when Cecilia realized I was doing it myself, she told me, "Now it's time of you to learn to delegate." And so we paid a woman of the village to do the repairs. I cleaned her own tablet, although she used it rarely, preferring her implant. I made sure she ate a midday meal, frequently preparing it and cleaning up afterwards. I ran errands, fetched her cloak for her, and otherwise took care of her.
I also learned.
She showed me how I could use my tablet to communicate with other people. I learned about electronic mail. That was a marvel, but not as shocking a marvel as a video conference.
"I heard what you and Luradinine did for Hatchet Face."
"Even you call her that?"
"She'll even answer to it, in either English or German," Cecilia said. "Probably not Talmonese. I don't want you practicing your English with her. She speaks English in an odd style and peppers it with German. She'll only confuse you. But I won't mind at all if you continue to help her settle into Talmon. Frankly, I don't think she's here to stay, but I have to act as if she is."
"You should trade her," I suggested.
Cecilia's eyes grew wide. "A galatzi trade?"
"What other type of trade is there?" I asked. "She is not related to anyone on the planet, and she's very beautiful besides. You could get three or four people for her if you bargain carefully."
Cecilia laughed. "Oh, wouldn't Anna kill me?" Then she realized I wasn't smiling. "You're serious! You can't be serious."
"It worked for you," I said. "You spent a few months here, and your Talmonese improved dramatically. So maybe it takes a few years for her. She wouldn't have anyone to speak English or German with her, and she would be forced to speak only Talmonese. Trade her to someone who will be firm but kind with her, who will put several babies into her."
Cecilia was shaking her head.
"Maddalyn is lonely," I said, "and she will respond positively to anyone who is kind to her. No one at the embassy likes her, and they don't show her any kindness. Luradinine and I offered kindness. We offered friendship. And she responded. She is a nice person, Cecilia. But even you
call her Hatchet Face. She doesn't deserve it."
She opened and closed her mouth several times before looking away, staring out the window. We were in her office, a lovely location right beside the like, adjacent to the field used for the jumpers, and she stared out at the lake, then lowered her eyes to her desk and folded her hands. "Now I'm ashamed."
"You can't make anyone like her. If your staff doesn't like her, you can't make them. But why doesn't anyone like her? She's beautiful. She is thoughtful. She is very earnest. She has a wonderful laugh. She tried anything Luradinine or I suggested to her. We fed her some of the most outrageous foods, and we couldn't even tell her what was in them. Sure, she didn't like a lot of them, but she tried a little of everything, including a few I wasn't willing to sample. When she brought me back from Beacon Hill, I held it together until perhaps a minute after we were in the air, and then I began to sob. She did something, and the jumper flew by itself, and then she unbuckled our seatbelts and pulled me into her arms. She spoke gently. I didn't understand a single word, and all I could do was sob. But she was gentle with me." I shook my head. "If I can see these things, and we can barely communicate, why can't the rest of you?"
Cecilia sat quietly, and I shut up. But then I saw a tear escape her eye. She brushed it away.
"Cecilia?"
"We've been terrible to her. Anna forced her on us, and we all decided she was here as a spy. But she's good at what she does for me, in spite of being slow to pick up new languages. And not once has she complained. She came to this... You know I love Talmon, right, Chadaline?"
"Of course."
"But it's a backwater. She came from one of the most technologically advanced planets in the Empire, and there's none of that here. She doesn't have anything she has at home. But not once has she complained. I'm so ashamed."
She looked over at me. "You're serious about trading her?"
"Yes. I know it's not as simple as I make it sound. A galatzi trade is supposed to be permanent, and I know you couldn't trade her permanently. I don't know what to do about that. No one on Talmon is going to want a trade he knows is temporary. A trade is about children. Can you tell her to produce children then leave them behind? Can you tell him you want her to produce children, but when she leaves, she will take them with her? But otherwise, yes, I am serious."
"I get galatzi offers from almost every village I visit," Cecilia said. "Some of them are offers for a third with Sartine and me. Sartine growls every time she hears one of them."
"I bet you find it funny."
"I do. Some of the offers are for themselves -- people who want to leave their villages for whatever reason, and they offer themselves and ask me to talk to their Vendart. Some of those offers are because someone wants to leave their village, and I suspect if they had the opportunity, they would offer themselves to any visiting vendart. Others want a tour of the stars, but wish to come back here after a while. A few want to be traded somewhere they will be showered with gifts; I don't know what image they have about life amongst the stars, but it's not all that different anywhere else. Life is hard wherever you go. It's just the nature of the hard that changes."
"Some offer temporary trades?"
"You did, and I'm even arranging it. But most of the temporary trades expect to go off world. I would be losing Maddalyn but accrue the cost of sending someone abroad, and finding someone abroad who wants a galatzi prize but won't abuse the person." She shook her head. "I'm not some sort of slave trader."
"It's not slavery!"
"It may not be to you, and within the context of Talmon, it's not. But as soon as I even think about sending someone off world like this, it feels like slavery. At the very least, it's an arranged marriage, and I don't know even like to think about that."
She shook her head again. "I understand what you're saying, Chadaline, but there are too many problems, and I wouldn't force an arrangement on her, anyway. It's not like she'd agree. But I don't know what to do about her now."
I looked at my tablet for a minute. "Does she have to be in Sudden to do her job? Could she do it here?"
"I don't want my government based here," she said.
"Temporarily. A few weeks?"
"Yes, she could do it here."
I smiled. "Now is when we practice that word you have been trying to teach me."
"What word is that?"
"Delegate."
She laughed. "What are you going to do?"
"Invite her here. Are you willing to share meals with her?"
"Yes, of course."
"I don't want you translating for her. No English."
"You and Sartine need the practice."
"It's only a few weeks. No English. Make her communicate with me in Talmonese. I'm going to forget all my English, too. And so is Sartine."
"A few weeks isn't going to matter."
"Don't let her ask Madge to help, either," I added. "Don't translate anything for her unless I ask you to. You can help her with words, but make her say them."
She shook her head. "I don't know what you think you're going to accomplish."
"You let me worry about that," I said. "Will you trust me?"
She studied me for a good minute before she answered simply, "Yes."
I smiled and pulled out my tablet. "I need you to help me establish a video conference with her." The English words were growing more comfortable, but I knew my accent was horrible. Cecilia helped me, then said, "Push that when you're ready."
I got up and walked back to the outer office, my space in Cecilia's offices. Then I changed my mind and went outside before pressing the button. It took only a few seconds, and then the screen changed, becoming a swirl of colors, purple and blue and green, with a hint of red and orange.
"Chadaline?" came Maddalyn's voice from the tablet. But I didn't have video; just these swirling colors.
"Maddalyn," I said. I kept my words in Talmonese. "This isn't working."
"I. You. See." she said. "Where. You?"
"You can see me?"
"Um. I see."
"I'm in Indartha," I said. I held the tablet to point it at the lake. "Do you see?"
"Water." I pointed it to the mountains, and she said a word, but it wasn't Talmonese. I turned the tablet back to face me.
"I can't see you. Something isn't working." I walked back inside and interrupted Cecilia. "It's not working." I pointed the tablet to Cecilia.
"Governor Grace," Maddalyn said, then she spoke in English. Cecilia responded, and then Maddalyn.
And then the colors stopped, and the window said, "Call terminated."
"It didn't work."
"Actually, it did. You were talking to her via her implant. She is going to find a tablet to use and will call you back. If you accept the call, you'll see her."
"Oh. I'm sorry to bother you."
She smiled, and then I stepped away again.
It took a couple of minutes. I waited outside, and then my tablet said I had an incoming video conference from Maddalyn. I accepted the call, and a moment later, I could see her. We smiled at each other.
"I see you," I said and waved. She waved back. We stared at each other for a minute, smiling stupidly. Then I turned the tablet to the lake. "Indartha," I said. I moved it slowly so she could see the lake, the town, and the mountains.
"Alles schön," she said. I wondered if I had just learned a few words of German. I turned the tablet back to face me.
"Maddalyn, you should come here. I miss you." She didn't understand. Of course she didn't. It took several minutes before I got her to understand. I didn't use a single word of English.
"Cannot," she said. "Work."
I babbled at her, far too fast that even Cecilia wouldn't have understood, at least not before. I supposed she would now. Maddalyn looked frustrated and asked me to slow down.
"We ask Cecilia," I said.
"No!" she said. "Governor busy!"
"Trust me." She didn't know those words, but when I carried her bac
k inside, she didn't end the call.
Cecilia surely knew I'd be back in, and she was already looking at the doorway when I stepped in. "Cecilia," I said. "I want to ask a favor."
"Oh?"
"Yes. I miss Maddalyn. Can she come here for a few weeks? Couldn't she work from here the same way you do?"
The tablet was facing me, so Cecilia was free to make facial expressions. She shook her head but grinned. Then she made a clear sigh. "Give me your tablet."
I handed it over, and she turned it to face her. "Governor Grace," Maddalyn said. And then she began speaking rapidly. I was sure it wasn't English.
Cecilia responded in the same language. The two talked back and forth, and then she handed the tablet back to me.
Maddalyn was grinning madly. "Chaladine! I Indartha come!" She began babbling in German, but I interrupted.
"When?"
"When?" she repeated. She cocked her head, then her face cleared. But then she struggled, and she babbled in German. I heard the 'Governor Grace', but nothing else.
Cecilia sighed. "Tomorrow," she said. "She'll be here tomorrow morning. But I'm not your translation service. The two of you will have to act out if you can't understand each other." Then she spoke in German, and I gathered she was telling Maddalyn the same thing.
Maddalyn was practically bouncing in her seat. I held the tablet so she could only see me, but Cecilia could see Maddalyn.
"I'll see you tomorrow," I said. "Bring warm clothes."
She scrunched her face. It was priceless.
"Please at least translate that, Governor," I said. And so she did, and I thought perhaps she said a few more things.
Then Maddalyn said, "I see tomorrow. Bye-bye, Chaladine!"
I blew a kiss to her, and then the call terminated.
I looked at Cecilia. She was staring at the tablet then looked up to me.
"You're a hundred and two years old, Cecilia," I said. "By now, there are a few things you should know."
"Oh?"
"Yes. There are a few things everyone wants, and top on the list are friends, respect, and love."