by David Weber
“Nonsense.” The dowager lady steadholder held up a hand. “Those two young women have passed on. It isn't right to sully the names of the dead.” She pinched her lips and gave lie to the fine words. “Any way, the last formal documents we have in their names call them artisans. It would be near impossible now to find evidence that they did or did not engage in the work willingly or of their own accord without their head-of-household's approval. The authorization to work outside the home, which I had checked, quite clearly states that they have positions as wait staff at an entirely different venue, The Gym, I believe.”
The second wife's crimson blush revealed that she somehow knew different. Claire wondered who had told her.
Claire shook her head, “It's the same venue, Madam Steadholder. It's much like bars called The Library situated outside colleges. The Blackbird Gymnasium. The customers call it Birdies among themselves and ‘The Gym' to their wives, I understand.
“Could you see clear to letting my Aunt Jezzy Bedlam know about Lucy and Mary passing? I haven't been able to afford a call to let her and the rest of the family know. They'll know they're missing already, but I took part in the rescue. They might be thinking that there's still a chance. I saw. There's no way. It was really awful. There aren't going to be any more names added to the survivor list—especially not from Birdies' part of the yards.”
Mayhew remained entirely blank-faced as Claire glanced at him. The existence of gentlemen's clubs was likely not something one normally discussed in mixed company. Mayhew seemed to be dealing with it by ignoring that part of the discussion, and the Burdette ladies were in turn ignoring his presence for that awkward piece.
Claire gripped her skirts again. “I had hoped to avoid all this awkwardness Madam Burdette. Please convey my continued gratitude to your son for the appointment to the Service. I remain honored to have been a daughter of Burdette Steading, but I shall have to apply for a transfer of citizenship to another steading now.”
Claire froze her neck muscles with an iron will to keep from checking Mayhew for a reaction. If he was acting appalled at the suggestion, they would never believe that another steadholder might take her in. But if he just kept that blank face a few moments longer . . .
The dowager raised her eyebrows and glared past Claire's shoulder at Mayhew. With an abrupt command she sent the youngest daughter-in-law off to fetch the steadholder. Was it a call for reinforcements to crush an uppity steader or a decision to save a weakening city's dome by releasing just a little pressure?
Claire repeated her bid for freedom. “Madam, I have an obligation of service. I just ask that—”
The Burdette ladies vanished. Lord Nathan Fitzclarence, with the Seal of Burdette Steading carved in his study wall behind him, leaned forward and stared intently. “Yes, yes. You've had your questions. Now I have mine.”
Had he been watching the conversation the whole time, waiting to see what a Mayhew with one of his steaders was doing calling a private line? Claire checked Mayhew's response. It seemed yes.
Entirely unflappable, Master Mayhew said, “A pleasant morning to you, Nathan. Glad you could join us.”
Claire ducked her head in a seated bow. “Tester's blessings, Steadholder.”
Lord Burdette made a flicking motion with his right hand as though to brush away all the usual courtesies. “This is quite a mess you've brought me, Michael.”
The arch to Mayhew's eyebrows implied he didn't think that he'd brought the mess at all.
Claire felt the blood rise up in her ears in a familiar feeling of shame mixed with frustration that usually went with public notice of her family. “It's not Noah's fault he never had a dad.” Claire glared at both men daring them to contradict her. “So what if he doesn't know how to grow up? He never had anyone to show him! That's your fault. If you'd just let some of the women around him be adults, we could have taught him.
“Instead, he went straight from a baby to a dictator without ever the chance to make mistakes that didn't leave half the family in hock and make my two cousins have to go off and strip on Blackbird just to cover the debts and then end up dead with nothing but folk looking down their noses at them as if they didn't do all that they had to do because there wasn't no better way.” Claire flushed as she realized her Saganami Island grammar had abandoned her in her fury. She wasn't done though.
She darted a look at Mayhew and then back at her Steadholder. “There's no way I'll be leaving the steading legally. And the GSN doesn't allow law breaking in the officer corps, so don't you worry, Sir. My life is well and fully ruined, because some idiot leeched onto Noah's guilt to get him to rescind my authorization to work outside the home.”
Her two listening steadholders were dead silent. Claire wanted to vomit. “But, Lord Steadholder, you could have had a whole troublesome family that might have finally amounted to something. Tester knows that Aunt Jezzy, Lucy, Mary and the rest thought that with the Saganami Island appointment you'd decided to save us all. It was going to be a leg up for the whole family.”
Steadholder Burdette shifted uncomfortably.
Claire held her peace focusing on the fine weave skimming over her knees. Maybe she could keep the skirted uniforms after her discharge and wear them for Founding Day parades or something, just to remember that for a while she'd served.
Lord Burdette said, “I suppose I could grant just you legal independence, but I don't see how that could do much for any of the rest. If they just had one strong man to keep them from falling quite so much . . .”
Oxygen flooded in through Claire's gasping open mouth, and then the words came pouring out.
“Give them to me,” she pleaded leaning towards the screen and nearly kneeling. “I've been managing a whole division of techs for a year and a half now, and I've done well enough they made me an ensign. There aren't but six or eight left in my extended family now, depending on who was actually on Blackbird in the end. I know them. If you give me charge of myself, I can take charge of them too.”
Mayhew muttered something near inaudible about every man's responsibility for meeting his own Test. Claire gritted her teeth, and Lord Burdette slowly nodded, “I suppose I could make you Noah's guardian in lieu of the appointed paroleman, and his dependents would come with that. But what would you have them do? You'll be away most of the time. That's no way to run a family.”
Elsabeta and Commander Greentree both bristled in Claire's peripheral vision.
“I'll do what the GSN has done for ages and leave Aunt Jezzy to run things. But like the officers do, I'll leave her the actual power to do so. And,” Claire added almost in spite of herself, “I mean to leave the service after this tour. I had wanted to work on the shipyard. I suppose I'll have to help rebuild it first.
“We're going to need it to go after whoever did this to us. Whoever our enemies are, they know how important Blackbird Yard's industries were, or they would have hit our population, instead. But we can rebuild the station, and we will. They should have hit Grayson; they just don't know it yet.
“Some of my cousins aren't too bad at schooling, if Noah weren't raiding my funds anymore I could get them into some decent trade schools. Maybe enroll Noah in one, too. He could stand to learn a thing or two and do something useful, so he'd have something of his own to be proud of. Maybe we'll have a company in a few years for the rebuilding. The GSN is going to need it, and shouldn't Burdette have more space industry anyway?”
“Why not?” The edges of a smile tipped Steadholder Burdette's lips. “Your legal manumission will be in the next care package from my wives. And congratulations on the promotion, Ensign.”
* * *
The gleaming clean corridors from the captain's cabin back to Claire's stateroom held the usual bustle of crew members, but either Cecelie's stories had extended only as far as those she'd believed could help or the crew genuinely didn't object to Claire trying to break from whatever it was that could stamp a teenager as protector to his mother and female cousins. There were
boys who could do it. Probably. Noah just wasn't one of them.
Claire recorded a message to Aunt Jezzy and saved it. Rustin would lend her something to get it passed. Tester knew she couldn't count on Aunt Jezzy getting a payable-on-receipt message without pawning the restaurant cookware. Doubt curled in her stomach. Lord Burdette would reconsider, or somehow she would flub up worse than Noah ever did.
Claire walked back into the wardroom to find Cecelie, Commander Greentree, and Elsabeta talking avidly about the implications for Burdette law of stretching head-of-household to include a female officer and what it would mean if Lord Burdette's judges decided to apply the precedent.
Lieutenant Loyd smiled a greeting at Claire and offered a seat next to her roommate.
Claire sank into the soft, stiff-back chair and nodded tightly at Elsabeta's congratulations.
Cecelie's fair to bouncing out of the seat excitement stilled. “Claire, what's wrong? Your Steadholder didn't take it back, did he? It was witnessed, he couldn't!”
With a quick shake of her head, Claire hugged herself. “What if I blow it? My family, they aren't easy. They aren't like crew with skills and training and believing that directions can be trusted and generally followed as long as the officer isn't being too much of an idiot about it.”
Commander Greentree shared a knowing smile with Lieutenant Loyd at the description of junior officer leadership. “You'll do okay,” he assured her.
“Of course you will.” Cecelie smiled and got a little bit of the bounce back. “You should hear the crazy stories my chief tells about officer families. He says he's been bored with me, because I haven't got any wives to spend every cent or kids to flunk out of school.”
Elsabeta added, “And of course, the wives club does extend membership to extended family for whatever crises come up. We're around when the rest of you are off chasing down pirates, Havenites, or whatever.” She flicked a wrist towards a group of the embassy staff as almost an afterthought acknowledgement of the Blackbird Yard destruction.
“Strengthening family support is one of the things a command team does.” Commander Greentree said. “I don't see why your family should be left out.”
“You'll help me?” Claire nearly stuttered staring around the wardroom. She read their faces and believed them.
Lieutenant Loyd just grinned at her. “The slogan does say, ‘Join the GSN. We'll make a man out of you.'”
Table of Contents
BY THE BOOK
A CALL TO ARMS
Epilogue
I
II
III
IV
Epilogue
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
THE BEST LAID PLANS
OBLIGATED SERVICE