Obligations

by Cheryce Clayton

  Enrico saw her glance from the window in time to see his expression, and he hoped she didn’t recognize it as having to do with nightmares and unshed tears. “I do not know what of my life would interest you,” he said in an empty voice.

  “I will not pry, child,” Neavillii said, and it felt like a mild rebuke. “I only wish to know you better so that I might help you.”

  “I do not remember requesting help, my patron.” He sat stiff, staring at the glass and not the room.

  “I am not your patron any longer. It would please me if you would consider us family, you and I.” Neavillii leaned across the space separating them to touch his knee.

  “I have no family. Does apprenticeship require that I become physically intimate with you?” and knew he startled her when he turned his gaze to her in challenge.

  “No. No, it does not,” Neavillii said, and pulled her hand from his knee. “It does not require that you even like me. How must your family have treated you, to react so?” Neavillii moved back until her head rested against the cushioned riser and closed her eyes.

  “You saved Sam’s life, and for that I honor you. For that, I’m grateful. I can give little else.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes.

  “Then it is I who must do the giving. Come, it is late, we should leave now.” She opened her eyes, moved forward and stood, offering her hand.

  “They will feed soon, I wanted to watch.” Enrico remained seated, ignoring her hand.

  “Another time.” Neavillii moved across the room and retrieved his cane from where it leaned against the door frame.

  “As you wish, my patron,” Enrico said, and wondered if his inflection was insulting. With a sigh, he stood and turned toward the door, to find Neavillii beside him holding out the cane.

  “I have accepted an invitation to dine with the lovely ladies Aldera, Yolunu, and Thanera,” Neavillii said, and he knew she chose to ignore the inflection. “You will share my quarters, but tonight, I think, you will sleep alone.” Neavillii smiled as she held the door open for Enrico.

  “I have to stop by and tell Tracy I will not be there for dinner.” Enrico paused on the ramp leading out of the subterranean nursery.

  “I should visit the other human survivors as well. Tracy is your mate?” Neavillii put her hand on the small of his back and nudged him into moving.

  “She is just a little girl who has a - is devoted to me.” He searched for the Sansheren word before shrugging and continuing up the long slope.

  “The English word is crush, I believe,” Neavillii said in English, and Enrico stumbled.

  He threw a quick glance in her direction and saw that she was smiling. “I was not aware of your talent for language,” Enrico said in Sansheren, and struggled to continue walking up the ramp as his knuckles turned white on his cane. “You humble me.”

  “I thought we agreed not to use the court speech between us?” Neavillii asked, again in English, and moved to take his free elbow. To help him, he thought.

  “You told me not to use court language, my patron,” Enrico said in Sansheren. “You also told me to voice only those compliments I felt. I apologize if I’ve misunderstood your instructions,” and he stepped forward quickly, to lose her hand at his side, but only succeeded in getting even more off balance.

  “Indeed, I did,” she said, and hesitated before letting go of his elbow.

  He fell, catching himself with one knee and the railing. He quietly righted himself and continued up the ramp.

  “There is a lift,” Neavillii said from behind him.

  “I need the exercise,” he said, not raising his gaze from the path before him.

  “I agree,” Neavillii said without continuing, and Enrico felt forced to turn around and join her at the entrance to a level corridor. “But I desire speed. Come.”

  “As you wish, my patron,” Enrico said, and followed Neavillii into an elevator. He leaned against the wall until they reached the ground level where she led him outside to a parked ground car.

  The sun’s light was blocked by clouds and too feeble to penetrate the vehicle’s darkened windows on the short ride to the converted warehouse that the human survivors used as a barracks.

  “It is not the word one should listen to, but the inflection. Try it once more: beautiful,” Yolunu said in Sansheren, and Enrico looked across the large room to the corner where eighteen humans formed a semicircle around his Sansheren friend. The rest of the humans sat about the room in small clumps or lay on their cots pretending not to listen to the language lessons.

  “Beautiful.” The word echoed through the room from more than just those sitting in on the class, and Enrico could hear Tracy’s voice through the rest.

  “When the brave Enrico told me you were giving language lessons I did not imagine it included the art of insults, most lovely and talented Yolunu,” Neavillii called from the doorway of the cavernous room.

  And Enrico turned to watch Neavillii.

  “My Lady,” Yolunu said with a startled gasp as she moved to a kneeling position before standing, and Enrico wondered at Neavillii’s position among the Sansheren. “It is but an incentive I’ve offered the intelligent humans whom it is my pleasure to teach.”

  “Indeed. Tell me, have they all learned to speak with the same stubborn eloquence of my new apprentice here?” Neavillii asked as she nodded her head toward Enrico.

  Enrico froze as Neavillii placed a hand on his shoulder before she continued her slow move into the room. All activity in the room stopped as the humans sat, staring at Neavillii with open distrust, and Enrico tried to ignore Tracy’s shock.

  “Only a few. I am ashamed to admit that my skill in teaching is not nearly up to their need to be taught,” Yolunu said with her head bowed, but Enrico saw that she continued to study Neavillii’s approach.

  “I remember well the difficulty of teaching my beautiful wife the many facets of our language. Do not feel discouraged,” Neavillii said as she joined Yolunu in the corner of the room.

  Enrico still stood in the doorway watching and trying to follow their conversation. None of the humans would meet his eye.

  “Is he our new owner boy?” Alistair asked in a whisper from where he lay on a bunk to Enrico’s left.

  “No,” Enrico answered, and resisted the urge to turn. “She’s married to a human named Morgan, he’s our new owner.” His eyes never left Neavillii.

  “So Morgan is human. He, you said?” the old man continued to stare at the two aliens talking in the corner of the room.

  “Yeah, I guess. Tell me something. You ever heard that their bodyguards are self-appointed?” he darted a glance at his friend.

  “Yeah, something like that. Why?” and their eyes met, if only for a moment.

  “Just thinking. Here they come,” he turned his body away from the old man.

  “Enrico, would you be so kind as to ask everyone to sit in the chairs so that I might speak with them?” Neavillii waved her hand toward the corner that still contained the language class students.

  “I am sorry to inform you, my patron, that it is impossible for me to comply with your request.” Enrico stood stiff, not leaning on his cane.

  “May I ask why not?” Neavillii placed a hand on Yolunu’s shoulder when the other started to speak and asked the question herself.

  “You are my patron; you may ask anything of me. I cannot comply with your request because not everyone present can sit in those chairs,” he nodded toward the few high-backed chairs that were empty in the corner.

  “Indeed. Would you be so kind as to make arrangements for everyone to gather in the corner in whatever manner is most comfortable and convenient?” Neavillii smiled as she turned her back on him and walked to the corner.

  Enrico felt Yolunu’s questioning gaze and looked up to meet her eye before she walked away.

  “What were you trying to prove?” Alistair asked in a low voice as Enrico moved to his side and helped him strap on a prosthetic leg.

  “I don’
t know. Come help me with Josef,” and he limped away.

  #

  Neavillii waited as Enrico moved from group to group

  The room was a large converted warehouse, she surmised. Big and drafty, it now contained almost two hundred humans of various races, sex, and age. At some point during her absence the injured humans had been moved from the hospital rooms and in with the mercenaries Tadesde had captured.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Enrico crossing the room toward her. Less than half of the remaining humans joined those in the corner.

  “Is there a medical reason they do not follow you?” She leaned against the wall and called to him.

  A shrug was his response.

  “Then I must conclude I did not make my request clear enough. Tell them this: anyone who comes and sits with me will be free to leave this planet when I have finished speaking. Tell them that only.” She glanced from him back to Yolunu who looked confused.

  “My most generous mate has seen fit to declare family all human who choose to make this planet home. Or, if they choose, to provide them with transportation to the planet Wergol.” Neavillii shifted so that she could watch Enrico’s progress.

  “Then they are truly honored, to be listed in the scrolls as founders of a new House,” Yolunu said.

  “An honor you share, I am pleased to state.” She laughed as Yolunu reached blindly for a chair to support herself, only to find the shoulder of a sitting human.

  #

  “Is he trying to say this Morgan has adopted us?” the question echoed through the room as Alistair translated the French into English for Enrico.

  Enrico did not translate into Sansheren before answering. “I think so, yes. We all have five years in which to learn the language and customs.” He kept his gaze to the room; not wanting to see Neavillii’s expression.

  Alistair spoke for some time as he translated. Another man translated into Arabic, and the Arabic became Chinese.

  “After five years, those who can, must work,” Neavillii said when the room became quiet again.

  “It’s not a free ride; we will be expected to work.”

  Alistair had already translated Neavillii’s statement, he added Enrico’s on.

  “Doing what? All I know is fighting.” The speaker was an old woman, the language was English, and again he did not translate. But only stood waiting for Neavillii’s response.

  “What would you have me tell them, my patron?” he bowed his head to her, for a moment.

  “If you would be so kind as to tell me the question, I would gladly give you a response.” The bite in Neavillii’s voice was distinct, and Enrico tightened his grip on his cane.

  “She is old, and she said she knows no skills but fighting. The question, my most intelligent of patrons, is what job is there for her?” Enrico kept his face to the crowd of humans, making eye contact with Alistair, and that but briefly.

  “All have five years to choose a job. She may choose any career that appeals to her, surgeon if that would be her choice. She will be apprenticed to the best in her field that is available. We’re a small House on a desperate planet; I would hope that most choose a job they are already proficient at. To the soldiers, we are in desperate need of defense personnel to assist the Gulardee soldiers,” Neavillii said, watching the crowd.

  “You can pick any job you want, brain surgeon for all they care. You apprentice to someone until you’ll learn the job. She reminds us of the shape this planet is in and asks that we choose jobs we are already trained for. As for the mercenaries, they need them.”

  As Enrico spoke, Neavillii drifted away from him to stand beside Yolunu.

  “It speaks English, don’t it?” Alistair asked in a low voice before beginning his translation.

  “And you, my friend, speak Sansheren. Perhaps we could both cast the ruse aside.” The room went silent as Neavillii spoke in English.

  “As you wish, most wise and intelligent Lady.” Alistair offered a mock bow from his seated position.

  “I wish,” again in English. “Please, your translations,” she said with a wave to the silent room.

  #

  “I fear my new apprentice has an agenda quite her own.” Neavillii sat on the floor of Aldera and Yolunu’s apartment.

  “He forced your hand about knowing their language, it would seem,” Yolunu said with more than a touch of pride and then held out a plate of food.

  “So it seemed to me,” Neavillii accepted the plate, took some of the meats from it and offered it to Aldera.

  “How?” Thanera asked as she accepted the nearly empty plate from Aldera.

  “By not translating everything I said, by asking my opinion without having first translated what the humans said. The thing that confuses me is she betrayed the human’s knowledge of Sansheren to trap me.” Neavillii leaned back as she spoke.

  “She betrayed no one; I knew a few humans spoke Sansheren better than they admitted to. Think, who taught Enrico to speak our language to begin with?” Yolunu reached for a stack of flat bread.

  “It is something we have discussed: he is smart. He would have known you would inform our lovely patron of their held knowledge.” Aldera accepted half of the bread from her wife.

  “Indeed. Then it would seem that the only thing she sacrificed was a day of knowledge and one person. How many others do you think speak our tongue well?” Neavillii reached to retrieve an uneaten piece of bread from Yolunu’s plate only to have her hand slapped at.

  “I would be honored to serve your most beautiful person. More than five but less than ten. It is hard to tell.” Yolunu held the bread out to Neavillii, but Aldera had already placed a piece on her plate.

  “I am overwhelmed,” Neavillii laughed as she accepted Yolunu’s offering and gave it to Thanera with a smile.

  “But why betray you, her patron?” Thanera accepted the bread with her own shy smile as she spoke.

  “I must have forced her to choose between myself and the humans. In the future, I will have to be careful of the position I place her in.” Neavillii shrugged as she spoke.

  “But one’s loyalty must always be the one’s patron, why was she in conflict?” Thanera asked, and Yolunu thought she was puzzled.

  “Our customs are not theirs. But tell me, as a new apprentice, would you not feel conflict if your master’s House declared war upon your father’s House?” Yolunu held a small cup of fermented juice to Thanera as a way to soften her words.

  “Oh,” was the response as Thanera sipped from the cup.

  “Indeed. My friend and mate Morgan was a child when she came into the lovely Neadesto’s home. Enrico is older, and I fear she has been ill-treated by those who should have protected her.” Neavillii also sipped from a small cup given to her by Yolunu.

  “Did he tell you, then?” Aldera asked as she offered a cup to Yolunu.

  “She told me little. The pain was there to read.” Neavillii did not ask the questions that Yolunu could see burned her tongue like the wine they were sharing.

  “Then I will not betray his confidence, only, it was his family who sold him into slavery.” Aldera met and held Neavillii’s eye for a long time as the others in the room sat and waited.

  “I cannot fathom her pain. My resolved to help her is strengthened by this knowledge. Thank you.” Neavillii held her hand out to Aldera.

  “Another point, my Lady. Humans are sexually limited, Enrico is a masculine person. He can be nothing else,” Aldera stated after she released Neavillii’s hand.

  “Indeed. I knew that of humans, I just never thought to ask his limit. I will be more careful when I assign gender with the humans.” Neavillii placed her hand over her plate as Thanera moved to put a bit of meat on it.

  “I too am full, my Lady.” Aldera bowed her head and blushed when Neavillii’s smile answered her compliment.

  “Go, both of you. We will clean up,” Yolunu said, and her laughter was joined by Thanera’s as Aldera’s blush deepened.

 
Neavillii stood and offered her hand to her new lover.

  #

  “I may have found a crew, finally,” Yolunu said, and Thanera rolled away, trying to untangle the blanket that wrapped itself about their legs.

  “An orbital crew, to hunt mines with? I thought you were halfway done?” Thanera asked as she shifted her position to grab the second blanket which had fallen from them unnoticed.

  “Barely half finished. I do not see any reason to continue at this slow pace when five of the human mercenaries have offered to fly a ship which belonged to them originally,” Yolunu said. The first blanket twisted beneath her, and she was forced to raise herself onto one elbow to free it.

  “They are competent?” A casual question in a sleepy voice.

  “So they say. One speaks a minimum of Sansheren. In the accent of the House Medori of all things. I have a meeting with them tomorrow; we will see.” Yolunu finished speaking in time to hear Thanera’s faint snore.

  Chapter Fifteen - Wergol - 2012

  Morgan stared out of the cramped ground car as Sam struggled to climb into the seat beside her. She knew Isaac was watching her as she again adjusted the banners of order and House that crossed her chest.

  “So, the black banner is for being the Sansadee?” Isaac asked a question he already knew the answer to, she thought.

  “The color black says that I am Sansadee. The banner says I’m of the Tenth rank,” Morgan answered in a distracted manner, never bringing her gaze into the vehicle as they started moving away from her shuttle. She focused on a large mural on a far building that showed a human woman with black skin and metallic green eyes and bone white teeth offering a plate of steaming food to a group of small children.

  Sam sat with the now ever-present Tansea sleeping at his side.

  “And the red, white, and blue is for America,” Isaac said.

  “No. The multicolor banner always denotes one’s House. I choose red to compliment my father, Neadesto. I then added the white and blue to personalize it. I named my House America.” Morgan continued watching outside the ground car as they passed several grounded shuttle craft. Each craft had a human woman painted on its side and Morgan startled when she realized that she had never seen a picture or painting while living as a Sansheren and that she had never questioned the absence.