by Robin Roseau
* * * *
The next day, we flew to Indartha. Colonel Blue made sure I knew how to find it and then said, “Landings in Indartha are disallowed by civilian craft if the navigational beacon is inoperative, except during day with no clouds.”
“Half the time I’ve come, we’ve flown above the clouds,” I said.
“Probably. And the bottoms of the clouds are typically below the tops of the mountains. Some hotshot pilots will follow the passes you might follow on foot, but that’s a very bad idea. If we ever get a true global positioning system in place, the answers could change.”
“I understand completely, Colonel Blue.”
“Furthermore, civilian landings are disallowed when the beacon reports ceilings under 200 meters or ground visibility less than a half mile. And that means civilian takeoffs are discouraged under the same conditions.”
“Discouraged but allowed?”
“It better be an emergency,” she said. “And not simply a diplomatic emergency, either.”
“Right.”
“All right. First landing I want on automatics. Set it up.”
We did three on automatics, and I hand flew six more. For the last two, the Colonel said, partway into the descent, “Simulated: the beacon just failed. What are you going to do?”
The first time she did that, I could clearly see Indartha, and I told her that.
“Is it safe to land?”
“Yes.”
“If it were nighttime?”
“Maybe, but would that break the rules?”
“At that point, you need to recognize the reason for the rules. Do you feel, if you can see Indartha, you could land?”
“Yes, probably, but it might depend on how well. If it were a dark night in the summer, no. But in winter, the snow reflects so much light that it’s a lot easier.”
“Good.”
“A judgment call?”
“Yes.”
The second time she said, “Simulated: the beacon just failed.” We were in the clouds, and I didn’t wait. I applied power and began climbing. “Good,” she said right away. “Beacon is fine. Let’s go say ‘hi’ before we head back to Sudden.”
* * * *
Several hours later, Colonel Blue held out her hand and said, “Congratulations, Maddalyn. You are authorized for flight to Indartha. Daylight flight only into any unfamiliar locations, and no descending through clouds below 800 meters above ground unless within 50 kilometers of one of our few navigation aids.”
I smiled broadly. “Thank you so much, Colonel.”
“We’ll fly together in a year or two,” she added. “When we do, I want to see clear evidence you have been working on precision. However, always fly safely; no showing off. If it’s something that would rattle any passengers, it’s a bad idea.”
“Some of the people of Sudden are rattled thinking about flying.”
She smiled. “I believe you know what I mean.”
“I do, Colonel.”
“Excellent. So, if I hoped to find some soft, lovely companionship for the evening, where should I go?”
“Oh, Colonel,” I said. “You could go to any inn here and have more attention than you can handle.”
“I can handle a lot of attention,” she said with a grin.
“Perhaps you would like to go to dinner with my wife and me. Do you like to dance, Colonel?”
“Call me River,” she said. “And I do.”
River was very, very popular.
Part Four
The Age of Cecilia
Departed
My jumper arrived. I had my very own jumper! It wasn’t anything fancy, but it could seat four comfortably or five if three of them were small and very cozy with each other. My first flight with Kalorain was a surprise visit to Beacon Hill. Kalorain cried a little.
Cecilia obtained a few more vehicles for the embassy. We would need them.
Cecilia’s family came to visit. All of us were extremely busy in the weeks leading up to their arrival. The entire planet rolled out the red carpet, so to speak, and we gave them as grand a visit as we could.
I loved August and Christianna, Cecilia’s parents. Everyone did. Savannah was nearly as popular, as were Corinne and Shawn, Cecilia’s children, and Amirah, Shawn’s wife.
Savannah’s son, Arthur, chose to remain on Talmon. At first he would live in one of the houses at the embassy but eventually move into a place inside Talmon.
And then Chaladine left.
* * * *
I didn’t see her off. I couldn’t. I didn’t even go to work the morning the shuttle was leaving with everyone. Cecilia didn’t ask about it, either.
Instead, I stood outside, watching. And then the shuttle took off, and I knew something, I knew something that was, to me, absolutely horrible.
I began sobbing. Kalorain must have been waiting, because suddenly she was there, wrapping around from behind me. But she didn’t try to soothe me, and she didn’t ask what was wrong. She knew.
The very first friend I’d made on Talmon was leaving. Chaladine had changed the entire course of my life. She’d become not just my first friend, but, not counting my wife, my absolutely most important friend.
“She’s leaving,” I sobbed. “She was my first friend here.”
“I know,” Kalorain whispered.
“We wouldn’t have met without her!”
“I know.”
“We won’t see her again for decades, Kalorain. Decades!”
“I know.”
“We won’t be the same. She won’t be the same. We’ll be strangers.”
She paused before she whispered. “I know.”
I turned in my wife’s arms. I cried on her shoulder. I sobbed in grief for another woman, who may as well have died, I felt so horrible. And Kalorain, my lovely, lovely Kalorain held me and let me cry.
Eventually, she pulled me back into the house. She moved me to the sofa. I let her hold me, my tears gone for now, but I stared ahead, unsure what to think.
Why did this hurt worse than leaving Mama? I didn’t have the answer to that.
Eventually, Kalorain got me moving. We made lunch together. I didn’t remember actually making it, and I didn’t eat much, but at least I was moving. But we ate, and we put away the extras, and we washed up. Then she turned to me. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to go out?”
“I don’t know.”
She tried a few more questions. Finally I asked, “Can we just stay home? We can play a game or something.”
And so we stayed in. We played a game she’d taught me. I wasn’t very good and probably never would be, but I was especially bad that day. But we played anyway, and then there was a knock at the door.
Kalorain left me where I was and went to answer. When she came back, Cecilia was with her. I jumped to my feet. “Governor Grace. I-”
She didn’t say a word. She simply crossed the room to me and enveloped me in a hug. I saw her eyes were as red and puffy as I thought mine were, and the sight nearly did me in, but I manage to hold it together, breathing deeply to control my emotions. Cecilia was doing the same thing.
“It’s too early for this conversation,” she said. “But I am particularly bad at sitting around doing nothing when I’m miserable.” She separated from me and said, “I would like a conversation with the two of you.”
“Of course, Governor.”
“Perhaps at the table,” she said. And so Kalorain led us to our small dining room table and offered refreshments. We agreed on tea, and so the governor and I sat quietly while Kalorain saw to us.
Eventually we were all seated, sipping our tea for a minute before Governor Grace said, “I should wait on this, but I’m not going to. I have grown dependent on Chaladine. I have grown dependent on having someone with me, everywhere I go, to take care of, well, pretty much everything.”
“That was supposed to be my job,” I said.
“Y
ou weren’t ready,” she said. “Kalorain, I need someone like that. Chaladine has suggested I could use two people. She wasn’t subtle about it. I have avoided making Indartha the center of my feeble government.”
“Are you asking Maddalyn to go with you?” Kalorain asked.
“I am asking both of you to go with me,” Cecilia clarified. “You may decline and continue doing what you’re currently doing. If you accept, between you, you’ll do the work Chaladine has been doing and at least a portion of what you’ve been doing, Maddalyn, probably most of it.”
“And the rest?” Kalorain prompted.
“My next conversation is with Mordain.”
“How would this work?”
“Sartine’s house is big,” Cecilia said. “You would have a room there and offices at the consulate there. You could keep this house, perhaps, or perhaps a house at the embassy for the times we’re here. Either would be fine with me, so that is between you and Valtine, I suppose.”
“You’ll pay us?”
“Yes,” Cecilia said. “Maddalyn’s pay is set by her contract, a mix of imperial and Talmonese money. You will be paid in local funds only. I am spending my entire imperial budget. If I can get more money, we could talk, but that might not be for years.”
“I am a Galatzi prize, Cecilia,” Kalorain said. “I don’t know if I am free to move.”
“Okay, that’s an interesting wrinkle,” Cecilia said. “The Empire doesn’t recognize slavery, after all.”
“It’s not slavery!” I said.
Cecilia smiled. “No, but the way Kalorain put it made it sound like she had no control over her life. That conversation is for another day. This wasn’t my first stop. Both Indartha and Sudden vendarti know we’re having this conversation.”
“Knowing about it doesn’t mean they’re happy about it.”
Cecilia paused. “Kalorain, you don’t have to accept. I should go.”
She started to rise, but Kalorain put her hand on Cecilia’s arm. “No, you shouldn’t go.”
Cecilia settled back into her place then said, looking right into my eyes, “I don’t have a backup plan. This has been my plan for at least a year. I think when Chaladine suggested a Galatzi trade was when I realized you were going to be everything I needed. But you weren’t ready.”
“I know I wasn’t.”
“Of the off-worlders currently on Talmon, you and I are the only ones who may be making this permanent. Sunny wants to leave. Blaine and Aston? I don’t know. Erica and Mallory intend to remain another decade or two, but I don’t think this is permanent for them.”
“I don’t ever want to leave,” I declared. I turned to Kalorain. “We’ll travel, if you want, but I want to come back. This is home.”
Kalorain smiled broadly. “I know. So, my Galatzi wife, should we say ‘yes’ now or see if we can get her to make promises first?”
Cecilia began smiling broadly then laughed. “Like either of you have the experience to out negotiate me.”
“What about Ristassa?” I asked.
“You won’t need your carriage in Indartha,” Cecilia said. It was a much smaller village. “And Ristassa won’t like the elevation. When we go somewhere by horse, we use village mounts.”
“Maybe Mordain would like to take care of them for us,” Kalorain said. “Then they’ll be here when we come to visit, but Ristassa will get exercise, and your carriage will do someone good.”
I nodded then looked at my wife. “I am obligated to do any duties the governor assigns me.”
“But the governor is not a coldhearted woman who would take you from your wife,” said the governor. “And while I could assign you anywhere on the planet, I have no such authority over Kalorain.”
“Do we need to discuss this privately, Maddalyn?” my wife asked.
“Only if you want to turn her down,” I said.
“Yes, Governor,” Kalorain said. “When do we start?”
“In the morning. I would rather return to Indartha soon, but I imagine you will want a day or so.”
“Does Mordain know you’re coming?”
“Mordain knows she has a meeting with the Vendart,” Cecilia said. “Did the two of you wish to join us?”
“Yes.”
* * * *
We made the short walk. Sartine’s younger sister was already with Baardorid and Valtine. I thought I detected more puffy eyes, but everyone put on smiles. Mordain was the only one surprised to see us.
“Some of this was Chaladine’s idea,” Cecilia said by opening. “I never wanted her to leave. She’s not my daughter, but for years, it has felt like it. My heart aches, but I know she’ll have adventures and come back to us.”
“You sent her with your very own sister, Cecilia,” Valtine said. “Our hearts also ache, but she couldn’t be in better hands.”
“That was my thought,” Cecilia said. “Let us address Maddalyn and Kalorain. I have asked them to assume greater duties for me. I want them doing the work Chaladine did for me as well as continue to do most of what Maddalyn has been doing. I believe they have concerns.”
“What concerns?” Baardorid asked.
“Our duty to Sudden,” Kalorain said. “We are both Galatzi trades, after all.”
“I believe they also wish to know if they could retain their current home for when we are here,” Cecilia said, “and at what terms.”
Baardorid and Valtine exchanged a look, and then it was the Vendart’s Wife who answered. “A Galatzi trade is first and foremost about sharing our biology,” she said. “Our DNA.” She said the letters almost as a magical incantation. “The Galatzi tradition has been an important part of our culture almost since our very beginning. But as tradition goes, it is most important for the two of you, and for the joy the raids brought to those involved. You have our blessings, Kalorain and Maddalyn.”
“What of our other duties?”
“You perform your duties to all of Talmon.”
“No,” I said.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
I turned to my wife. “I am a good Talmon girl. We will become of both Indartha and Sudden, and I want us to act like it.”
Kalorain nodded. “Yes.” She turned to the governor. “We will be available for the important needs in Sudden.”
“And Indartha,” I added.
“Yes,” said Kalorain.
Cecilia nodded. “Then when you’re managing my schedule, you will know when I am already occupied.”
“Did you just offer yourself to me, Cecilia?” Valtine asked.
“I did. In moderation, and you will get these two in moderation.” She looked at me and smiled. “A good Talmon girl. But my home is Indartha, and so Sartine will get more of my duty than Sudden.”
“Then we are quite pleased,” Valtine said. “As for the home, at least for now, it remains yours. I do not promise that forever. We’ll work out how it may continue to be used as a guest house.”
“I imagine as it always has,” Kalorain suggested.
“I wasn’t sure how many of your things would remain here, and how you might feel about people going through them in your absence.”
“And you know I’ll be over there the day after tomorrow to poke my nose through everything,” Mordain said with a grin.
I thought about it and shrugged. I wasn’t worried about that. Kalorain did the same and asked, “Do you want us to move out of the largest bedroom?”
“No. Keep that for yourselves. It is still your home.”
Kalorain turned to Cecilia and said, “We will be able to leave with you when you return to Indartha, Governor.”
“Thank you, both of you. This is a relief.” She turned to Mordain and smiled. “Now we get to why you’re here.”
“Because you miss me and want to spirit me away to Indartha with you?”
“We do miss you,” Cecilia said. “But no.” She turned to Baardorid. “How often does something like this happen? She and I are the opposite sides of a Galatzi trade.”
> “You are crushing all the traditions we hold dear, Cecilia,” Baardorid said. “Whatever will you do next?”
“I am entirely unsure.” She turned back to Mordain. “How would you like a job?”
“In Indartha?”
“No. Here, at the embassy. You’d be doing the things that Maddalyn does now that she won’t take with her. Your duties will grow significantly over the next two years. Basically if I need feet and eyes in Sudden, you’re my woman.”
“And ours,” Kalorain said.
“And theirs,” Cecilia confirmed.
“I’d have to do what they want?” Mordain confirmed, gesturing at us and suppressing a grin. “I’m not sure I want it.”
“The job comes with a benefit you might like,” I said.
“What benefit?”
“Use of a cabriolet. We won’t take mine with us and wanted to know if you would see to it and ensure Ristassa gets exercise. We’re not giving them to you, but you could use them when we’re not here.”
“Really?” she asked. “That’s cool. I wouldn’t suppose you would sweeten the pot by loaning me your jumper, too?”
Everyone laughed, but I thought she was serious.
“Making use of your flying skills is a future portion of your duties, Mordain,” Cecilia said. “I don’t know what I’ll ask you to do five years from now, but this is what I could use right now.”
She turned to Baardorid. “Vendart, I would love to work for the governor.”
“You don’t need my permission,” he said.
“I need my husband’s.” She looked around. “Four of the six people in this room were Galatzi trades!”
“You know Balotorid will give you anything you ask,” Valtine said. “But we can talk to him together, if you like. We’ve already invited him to dinner, and Sartine knows already, Cecilia. She is on her way, I believe.”
“If Balotorid agrees,” Mordain said, “Then I would love to work for you, Cecilia. May I come to Indartha more often?”
“If Balotorid agrees, but you will be based here most of the time.”
* * * *
Dinner was a little somber. Chaladine’s absence was notable. My mood was subdued, and mine wasn’t the only one.