by Robin Roseau
"This time."
"You will find me galatzi trade."
"Yes."
"But tonight I free. Tonight you free." She moved closer. "You say I pretty."
She stepped up to me until we were just touching. I found myself holding my breath.
"I would not lose friend," she said. "I want kiss. Good kiss. And more. One night." She took my arms and pulled them around her waist, and then she wrapped her arms around my neck. "One night. Only night. You want?"
"I want."
It was sometime later that I saw she had her wrists crossed behind her neck and her eyes closed, and I knew she was wondering what it would be like if I tied her as a galatzi prisoner for lovemaking. She moaned her pleasure.
Later, much later, we cuddled quietly. "Is good night," she said. "Lovers tonight. Friends again tomorrow."
* * * *
"Chaladine!" said Father. "I didn't know you were coming."
I crossed the room, ruffling Margotain's head on the way past, and gave him a hug and a kiss, then a longer hug and kiss to Mother.
"Father, I have been busy."
"I imagine you have been."
"I require a private audience with the Vendart, and with his wife, if she is available."
"Now?" he asked. "Lunch..."
"Ten minutes. Then lunch."
He sighed. "Uppity eldest daughters, run off with the governor and think they own the world. Fine, fine." His grumbles were good-natured. He climbed to his feet, helped mother to hers, and then led the way to a sitting room. We all took seats, and he said, "Is this an emergency?"
"No, but my ride back to Indartha is leaving in two hours."
"Well then, we'll skip the preliminaries."
"Do you have a match for Kalorain?"
He glanced at Mother. "Not yet."
"Then I do."
* * * *
Maddalyn cried as Kalorain tied the knots, but I knew it was emotional overload. Finally it came time for the gag, and she stared at it.
"Wait."
"No," said Kalorain. "Open."
"Wait. Please." She looked around, trying to figure out where I was. I had pulled my hood back up, but I pushed it back again. She brightened. "Who give me?"
"Kalorain," I said, "she's a little overwhelmed. She only needs a little reassurance."
And so Kalorain pushed back her hood. She was young, but I knew she would be a good match.
"I am Kalorain. I will take very good care of you, my galatzi prisoner."
"So young," Maddalyn said.
"I will take good care of you. I will teach you Talmonese. I will teach you all about Talmon. I will teach you our ways. And some day, you will teach me yours." Kalorain caressed her cheek. "Maddalyn, you are my galatzi prize. Will you obey me?"
Maddalyn studied her, then smiled and nodded. "I obey."
Kalorain kissed her, she kissed her deeply, and then when she was done, she held up the gag.
Maddalyn obediently opened her mouth.
English
Cecilia was managing several large projects. First and foremost, she remained a diplomat, Talmon's main contact with The Empire. She attended major events such as the balls in Sudden as well as other festivities throughout Talmon. She also had a travel schedule set to ensure she visited as much of Talmon as could be expected. She couldn't visit every single village, but she was diligent in traveling to the various regions.
It became my responsibility to manage the resulting chaos. She handed everything to me, told me how much she was willing to travel, and gave me her past schedule for examples.
I found ways to improve efficiency. It was cumbersome to communicate, but I encouraged the villages throughout Talmon to show some care with the Governor's schedule. If they wanted her to attend a particular festivity, they couldn't schedule it in competition with other festivities on the other side of the planet. She could attend more festivities if a particular region coordinated their events so she could attend their events one after another instead of weeks or months apart. This reduced travel time.
We also encouraged villages near each other to combine their events, even if they had to adjust their traditions.
Some villages made the sorts of adjustments I recommended; many did not. But even a few changes could free hours or even days of the Governor's time, and so I worked hard at this.
We also needed to make it easier for the people of Talmon to send her messages. That was a long term issue that would be improved over time as Imperial technology spread throughout the planet. But some of the others at the embassy traveled extensively, especially Erica, and there was nothing wrong with them carrying the mail. We used this as we could, although Cecilia told me not to spend much time on this. The problem would disappear over the next twenty years.
It seemed odd to me to consider solutions that would take twenty years to implement, and to feel little urgency.
"It's a big planet," she said.
She was still evaluating the impact of the technology she had imported to Indartha. There was a large solar power array and power distribution center along with a means of storing that power for when the sun wasn't shining. I didn't understand that. What I did know was that Sartine's house used no oil lamps. Instead, one could stand in a room and say in either English or Talmonese, "Lights, high," or "Lights, off," with the expected results. The lights weren't available in every house in Indartha, but they were being installed. Unfortunately, not a single Talmonese had the skills to do this, and we had limited personnel to perform the installation.
In addition to the lights, we also had electric heat, which was being installed with the lights.
Sartine's house also had other conveniences not available as widely, but these were conveniences Cecilia imported and paid for herself, and it might be some time before they were widely disseminated throughout Talmon, if ever.
"I don't know how many lives we can save with electricity," Cecilia said to me. "There is no data. We don't know how many fires there are from heating or cooking fires going out of control. We don't know how often an oil lamp is tipped over. We don't know how many people die while collecting firewood. We don't know how many people freeze to death because the fire goes out and they sleep through an unexpectedly cold night." She shook her head. "We have to do this faster, but I don't know how."
"All this equipment costs so much," I replied.
"The empire will give me the equipment. It's been promised. Yes, it's a great deal of money." She shook her head again. "I don't have the staff. I would import the staff, and Anna would pay for that. But it takes several years to learn enough Talmonese to answer the questions, and everyone has so many questions. No one knows how to turn on a light. No one knows the electricity can kill. And even if we install everything, the systems aren't perfect. They need service. Some of the service is easy, like washing the solar panels. But some of it requires years of training to perform. I don't want to bring in the ten thousand workers I need to handle all these things. I want the Talmonese to do it themselves. But I don't want to ship ten thousand Talmonese off planet for an education."
"You need a school here."
"A school? I need hundreds, and we get back to the same question. Who is going to teach? I can't ask Talmonese to learn these things in English. So the teachers need to learn Talmonese well enough to teach. That's a years-long commitment. I can get people to commit for a few years, but not five or ten. Once they come, some will stay, but most won't."
She shook with frustration.
"If we had enough money, it would be different. If I was patient, it will all solve itself. And that's fine, but people are dying in the meantime."
I nodded. "Do you wish I had just asked you to send me to school somewhere?"
She sighed. "No. Part of me wishes I could keep you here with me; you're doing important work here now. But you'll do more important work if I send you away for a while. Talmon needs that." She smiled. "And you took Maddalyn, so now you're promised."
I laughed. "True."
Something I truly loved: we also had water, all we wanted. I had once taken a shower at Cecilia's house in Sudden. But now I could have one whenever I wanted.
Cecilia still used the communal bathhouses, but she showered every single day, and she insisted everyone else in the house do the same.
I loved the shower.
I wasn't sure I trusted the equipment in the water closet, though. It made the most horrendous noise, and I didn't understand what happened afterwards. These changes were spreading throughout Indartha as well. Cecilia told me, "This is healthier."
"But how does the bathhouse make hot water. Does this go to the bathhouse?"
"No. The bathhouse has electric water now. It was the third place to receive any, after this house and my office. It's not unlimited hot water, but it's as good as unlimited."
"So your shower does not replace the communal bathhouse."
"No. It's too important a part of Talmonese culture, and it's one I have learned to enjoy." She laughed. "Although the first time Sartine took me, it was a little shocking. At first, I was afraid we would all bathe together, men and women alike."
And so, spreading the technology The Empire offered was a major project for her, and she was constantly stymied that she couldn't move faster.
The rejuvenation center was her next priority, and it was actually of a higher priority than the technology. We knew the problems there, and so I helped Cecilia find people who would learn English, who could learn to help at the center. "But it's going to take time," she said. "More time, and how many die?"
"People die," I said. "It is not your fault."
"But I could help them! If I could afford it, I'd send them all to Centos Four for rejuvenation, but the cost... I could send some. I could ask Colonel Blue to sneak a few with her every time she goes somewhere. But how many is that? A handful at most. Ten thousand people are dying a year that don't have to die, Chaladine."
"It is part of life."
"Not for me," she said firmly.
And so, we spread her tablets and their charging stations around a little more fully, most of them in Indartha and Sudden, where the students could also spend at least some time with someone from the embassy, so she could practice with a real person and not just a machine.
But I knew they were learning English in Beacon Hill and a few other villages. Cecilia taught my tablet to teach other tablets the English training program, so where ever we visited, I asked if the vendart's family wished to learn English, and I explained why. Some did; some didn't.
It was something.
Cecilia also wanted to build a tourism industry. "If we have good reasons to come to Talmon, reasons that show well in a video, then some very rich people will come for rejuvenation, and they will leave behind some of their money."
"More English."
"Yes. More English." And more cries of frustration. "I need to send a thousand Talmonese to school. I can't transport that many, Chaladine."
"Ask your Anna White for more money."
"She's paying a great deal already, and now she expects Talmon to help itself."
I thought about it. "Talmon will help itself."
"Yes, but it is so slow."
"I thought you were the one with all the patience."
"Not always."
But these were the things we worked on. And I worked on my English as well, right alongside Sartine. Six months after my arrival in Indartha, Sartine declared a new rule. "No Talmonese is to be spoken in this house. Anyone caught speaking any language other than English will be punished."
"Visitors?"
"Okay, when we have visitors who don't speak English, then we will speak Talmonese."
"If I catch you speaking Talmonese, will you accept your punishment?" Cecilia asked with a glint.
"Yes. The rule is suspended during lovemaking." She grinned.
"No, it is not. In fact, I believe lovemaking to be a perfect time for English lessons. You certainly once found it a perfect time for learning Talmonese."
"What about difficult conversations?" I asked. "Everyone here understands Talmonese well enough to discuss anything."
Sartine considered what I asked. "All three of us must agree to suspend the rule," she said.
"Hey! What about my approval." Hilopid asked.
"Do you really think we're going to wait for approval from a man?" Sartine asked. Hilopid grumbled, but I thought perhaps he was used to his sister's taunts, and he didn't push it further.
"What about when we're not all in Indartha?" I asked. "How will we get approval?"
Sartine sighed. "You may speak Talmonese if it is necessary, but you better be able to explain why it was necessary."
Cecilia turned to me. "Do you want this rule enforced at work?"
"I need to be able to do my job," I said. "I think we should try sticking to English, but when we're in a hurry, or I just don't understand, or we're both getting tired or frustrated, then we relax."
We both turned to Sartine and waited. She was Vendart.
We all got caught speaking Talmonese, especially in the first weeks. Even Cecilia got caught, as did Sartine. But I was caught the most, and Sartine's punishments were mean. As she applied them to herself when she slipped, I couldn't complain. If I slipped once, rarely, the punishment wasn't bad. But every time I slipped, I accrued points, and points were bad. The punishment was based on the points I had. Every day I wasn't caught, I lost a point. So if I built a bunch, then I had to stay clean for several days before I was back to no points.
If I had fewer than five points, then Sartine ordered me to hold my arms straight out in front of me while reading a poem Cecilia wrote designed to be difficult for a Talmonese tongue. If I mispronounced a word, Sartine added weight to my hands, and once I finished, I had to read the poem again, repeating that until I read it perfectly.
But Sartine wrote a poem in Talmonese for Cecilia, so she didn't get off easily if she were being punished.
When we all got too good at reading the poem, Cecilia wrote more, and some were designed to be difficult even for her, but if you collapsed under the weight you were holding, you could start over with one of the easier poems and no weight.
When I accrued too many points, Sartine devised a harder punishment.
"Bend over at the waist," she ordered. "Wrap your arms around your legs then tuck them in and clasp your ears. Keep your butt in the air."
Just doing that was hard. But then she set the poem on the floor and told me to read it.
She picked the hard poem, and I began trembling and was near collapse before she replaced it with the easiest one. It took me two attempts before I read it properly and she allowed me to release my position.
She and Cecilia had to support me when I finally stood.
"Sartine," said Cecilia. "I am not sure how I feel about this. This is cruel."
"These are punishments we use for the most minor crimes in Indartha. What does The Empire do?"
"Fines, community service, and jail or prison." She explained each.
"I see," she said. "Chaladine, what punishments are used in Sudden?"
"I don't know the words in English."
"We will allow Talmonese words for the names, but English to describe them."
"Father uses the stocks and the pillory," I said. "Public drunkenness, if the person becomes a problem from the drink, is usually time in jail to sober up and then a period in the stocks or pillory. Father will use a period of time in the stocks for lesser punishments, anywhere from four hours for something minor to several days, excepting severe weather, for something more serious."
"What are those?" Cecilia asked.
"You walk by the stocks every day," Sartine said. "They are in the green near the gazebo."
"That... wooden thing?" Cecilia asked. "I thought it was some sort of sculpture. I didn't think it was very artistic."
I managed not to laugh. Barely.
"What does it d
o?"
"It opens," Sartine explained. "I place someone's ankles in the holes and close it again. I can make it smaller for smaller legs."
"That's it?"
"Father places a small sign explaining why the person is here, and for how long. And the villagers may make the time less pleasant."
"Less pleasant?"
"If it is a minor offense," Sartine said, "Several of my villagers are fond of removing the prisoner's shoes and tickling their feet. But I do not allow anything dangerous or well out of proportion to the offense."
"Like what?" Cecilia squeaked.
"If someone is unpopular," I started to say.
"Or if someone's crime was against a particular person," Sartine added.
"Then people can be... Um." I didn't know the word. "Please, Talmonese?" They both nodded permission. "Vindictive."
Cecilia told me the word and had me repeat it.
"Father once caught someone about to cut off a prisoner's toes," I added. "He was livid, and that person received a far harsher punishment."
"What?"
"A caning," I said. "He was placed in the pillory and given twenty firm strikes. And then banished from Sudden. Father was very angry."
Cecilia took a breath. "I have to ask. What is a pillory?"
"I don't have one," Sartine said. "It is like the stocks, but the holes are higher, and there are three."
I bent my head over and held my hands up, simulating the position one would take in the pillory.
"The stocks aren't necessarily uncomfortable," Sartine said. "Well, unless the villagers make you uncomfortable. But it is humiliating, and that is sufficient punishment. I allow the villagers to increase the humiliation, but they may not do worse than that."
"The pillory is worse," I explained. "Being in the stocks is boring, and perhaps uncomfortable in poor weather, but the main punishment in the stocks comes from whatever torment the villagers devise." I paused. "I have experienced both."
"What?" Cecilia asked. "What for?"
"My offenses were minor: both times were for talking back disrespectfully. In the past, Father would have devised punishments you may find more tolerable, but I am to be Vendart, and so he explained I must understand the nature of the punishments I may one day mete out. He gave my siblings and two of my friends permission to add to my torment, and he told me if I retaliated once I was freed, I would be right back and for a much longer duration."