The Sisterhood

by Juanita Coulson

  Renee felt Tae’s presence close by, in an adjacent room. He was feeding his support through his Ka-Een and hers. He and Martil, as Renee’s “subordinates,” had been housed in less elegant quarters. But their separation from her wasn’t complete, as the Ka-Eens were at pains to remind her. Nudged by those incoming signals, she said, “No, it is not wrong to want to shield your people, your children. But you have to see that there comes a time when the best way to care for those entrusted to you is to give them peace. As you yourself note, Eminence, the Gevaris, too, were concerned for the honor of Niand. And their zeal has lead them to commit dangerous acts. Further acts, carried to extremes, could destroy the attempts at a truce, could plunge Niand into still more years of war.”

  Zia scowled. “Matriotism and love of our people is not to blame!”

  Her mother laid a quieting hand on the princess’s arm. “Be patient, my dear. Renamos, you must forgive her anger. The recent truce proposals received from the Green Union during your … your absence are difficult to accept. The enemy is asking us to withdraw from frontier colonies clearly established as ours.”

  “As they will be expected to withdraw from colonies they have placed within territories you claim,” Renee retorted. “There will have to be compromise to attain peace. Compromise on both sides.” Zia was gritting her teeth, resisting the concept. The young woman reminded Renee of a tigress defending her threatened cubs. Maybe they had misjudged Zia. She was no beautiful figurehead. She really cared about her people, every bit as much as the matriarch herself did. They were two tigresses, equally determined to get the best deal possible for their people. Renee gestured to a nearby screen, the Niandian version of a computer terminal. “While I was recuperating, I had an opportunity to study the Green Union’s message. Are the counterproposals Niand will be putting forward any less chauvinistic? They want to protect their people, just as you do yours.”

  “Can the Arbiters promise that the Green Union will abide by any agreed-upon terms?” the matriarch demanded. Then she sighed and said, “I but express the fears many of my cabinet and premiers hold. This process will not be easy.”

  “It was not supposed to be,” Renee said gently, commiserating. “It never is. But peace is worth it, Onedu, Zia. Truly.”

  A door leading to the suite’s outer rooms stood ajar. A gaggle of palace servants was visible through the crack. Some of them, notably Beyeth, were peeking in. Eavesdropping. Their faces showed their loyalty, their desire to back up every word their leaders said with fervent cheers. Undoubtedly, most Niandian citizens felt the same. Whatever the matriarch decreed, they’d obey. Even if it meant rejecting peace and continuing this bloody interstellar war that was ravaging their Federation and the Green Union.

  Martil had said it was tougher to stop a war than to start one. And how! But the matriarch would have to, despite the Gevaris, and despite stubborn holdouts among her political factions. If she didn’t, if she and Zia couldn’t call a halt, neither side in the conflict would win, and millions more would die.

  “We need a bit more time,” Onedu said, and her daughter nodded earnestly.

  “Time?” Renee exclaimed. “To do what? To reconsider your people’s weariness? To throw more obstacles into the negotiations? To allow the Gevaris time to try to wreck the entire process — again? Perhaps you would rather they had killed me? That would have given you all sorts of time — is that what you’re thinking?”

  Matriarch and princess recoiled, and Onedu cried, “No! I swear upon the spirit of the Great Nurturer, the Gevaris are finished. They will not strike at you or at anyone else ever again.” Zia eyed her mother sidelong, frowning. Apparently, she wasn’t quite so confident on that score as the older woman was. Onedu went on, “We cannot tolerate the Gevaris. They are an internal threat to Niand that must be utterly abolished. When Hij and Pasyi are captured …”

  “You haven’t had much luck doing that, I gather,” Renee said dryly.

  “Please leave such matters to us, Arbiter. As soon as the healers have penetrated General Vunj’s mental confusion —”

  “That will take too long,” a male voice interrupted. The Niandian females stiffened, annoyed by such rudeness. Martil, Tae, and Chayo stood in the archway linking their room with this one. Chayo glanced ruefully at Martil, plainly wishing the fox-faced man hadn’t barged into the matriarch’s statement. “The assembly of premiers must be convened now,” Martil insisted. “As I understand it, all of them and your cabinet — a full quorum — are in the capital now, are they not?”

  The royal women bristled and glared at Prince Chayo. “You have told them this?”

  Chayo put on a hangdog expression, shamming apology. Beneath that mask, though, Renee detected a grim satisfaction. He might put on a groveling pose, but his personal feelings had a touch of shin-kicking to them. “Did you not wish peace? I was instructed to —”

  “Oh, it is of no matter,” the matriarch said curtly, waving a hand. “It is done. Yes, Martil of the Bright Suns, a quorum is gathered, finally.”

  “The meeting must take place at once.”

  Renee sensed the monarch’s hackles rising. Zia, too, was on the verge of erupting. Smoothly, the female member of the Arbiters stepped into the discussion, punching Onedu’s and Zia’s buttons. “The people’s suffering should end. As soon as possible. And this can only be accomplished if Niand’s leaders accept a truce. Is not the reward worth the sacrifice?”

  “No one can predict how long it will take for the healers to break down the damage the Gevaris did to General Vunj,” Martil said. All three Niandians peered at him with dismay. They didn’t argue the statement, however.

  He’d spotted the stalling tactic and torn away the verbal curtain the matriarch and her children had thrown up. “Therefore, we will proceed without further delay. Time is precious. We will expect the Niandian premiers to be assembled today.”

  Onedu opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. Apprehensive, she surveyed the Arbiters. Renee could all but see the wheels turning in the matriarch’s mind. Fear conquered her defensive urges. Fear that the Arbiters, now that they were committed to the peace negotiations, could cause more damage to Niand than even the Green Union had.

  “I see that there is no choice in the matter,” the matriarch said with audible resentment. “Very well. The assembly will be convened. My son will conduct you to the appropriate chamber, when all is ready.”

  “Thank you,” Renee said, inclining her head courteously.

  Zia and her mother mumbled the usual insincere parting phrases and headed for the door to the corridor. Beyeth fell into step behind them — after sparing one fierce glower back into the room, aiming her mother-tiger gaze directly at the Arbiters.

  Chayo waited until the ruler and her entourage were out of earshot, then grunted unhappily. “They blame me. I shall hear more of this, no doubt.”

  Renee perched on the edge of the computer table. Tae decided to sprawl at her feet, typically, doing his imitation of a humanoid blond Great Dane. “Vacillation, thy name is woman.” The men peered at her curiously and Renee shrugged. “The matriarch’s entitled to have second thoughts, I suppose. She wants the peace, and she’s afraid that it’s going to cost her people too much. Wants to have it both ways, and so does Zia.”

  “And there is the matter of Vunj,” Chayo said. Martil seemed ill at ease, scratching the mole on his chin. The prince went on glumly, “That situation has distressed my mother badly. The physicians can give her no assurances that the general’s mind will ever be normal again. It is not merely the knowledge of Gevari plans he holds locked in his brain which makes this an agony. It is a … personal response.”

  Personal. As in family? Renee bit her lip, moved for Chayo’s sake, and for his mother’s and sister’s. The matriarch’s edgy attitude tended to confirm Chayo’s speculation that his father was General Vunj. In that case, the matriarch had not only lost a valuable military leader, she might have lost the man who was the chosen fat
her of her children. Little wonder her feelings were in a muddle!

  “They still haven’t been able to coax anything out of him?” Renee asked. “Didn’t he put anything on paper? Er … on a computer?”

  Chayo was sourly depressed. “He did not trust anyone. It is likely he intended to capture the Lady Esher and all her cohorts and present them to my mother as trophies. That is the sort of operation that appeals to Vunj. Unfortunately, he kept his counsel utterly private. And now …”

  Martil waved a beringed hand, shooing invisible insects. “It is done. We must proceed as we planned. It’s possible that once peace is in place, your mother’s researchers may be able to come up with new techniques to cure the general. For the moment, the negotiations will take precedence even over the most painful personal tragedies.” Tae stared solemnly at the smaller man. The blond’s heavy jaw set with determination. Martil glanced wanly at him and at Renee. “Indeed. The mission takes precedence over everything. With each time measure, more beings die. We will not — must not — allow further repetitions of that appalling emergency at the spaceport. The only way to prevent more bloodshed is an immediate truce.” He narrowed his eyes, regarding Renee intently. “It will not be easy. How do you feel?”

  “I’m recuperated,” she said. “I ought to be. I’ve been eating like a horse this morning. Doing my best to make up for those four missing days.” Pausing, she added worriedly, “You did say this food was safe?”

  “Quite safe.”

  Renee turned again to examine her image in the room’s not-exactly-a-mirror. The palace’s wardrobe women had cleaned up her clothes, removing the vomit and sweat and other evidences of her ordeal. They hadn’t been happy, though, with her insistence that she wanted her own garments back, not fancy new Niandian ones. By now, Renee was aware that one never could be sure when a ride on the Ka-Eens’ essence transfer would occur. And if that happened, she had better be wearing guaranteed organic materials. To placate the dressers, she had agreed to wear a lacy top-layer white dashiki over the orange one her motel room on the Arbiter world had provided. The effect was a nice touch.

  Yes, she’d get by. Renamos of the Sisterhood of the Nine Worlds.

  Sister pride? No, Renee pride, which was something better.

  “I’m not sure you should let me attend the premiers’ assembly with you,” she said ruefully. “I’m a flop as an Arbiter.”

  Martil plucked a square-shaped, magenta-colored fruit from a bowl on a side table and bit into it with a loud crunch. Talking around the bite, he said, “Do not be ridiculous.”

  The prince had sidled around behind Renee, and now he began to massage her neck and shoulders with a strong but gentle touch. He was very good at that. She found the sensuous rubdown distracting. Nevertheless, she felt obligated to hammer home the obvious. “I’m not being ridiculous. I’m simply stating the facts.”

  “Are you making fun of Tae and me?” Martil asked. “Is that not your phrase? You are invaluable to the mission. These past days have proved that.”

  “How? By showing that I’ll stupidly breathe and drink and eat things I shouldn’t? By letting the Gevaris kidnap me? By making you guys and Chayo risk your necks to rescue me?”

  Chayo’s thumbs stroked the nape of her neck, and Renee made tiny, reflexive sounds of contentment. He leaned over her shoulder and said, “My mother and Zia guided the search. They were the first to understand that Vunj might provide the key to your whereabouts. They put the frill might of Niand’s intelligence-gathering divisions behind us.”

  “Thank them for me — again. Will you?”

  “No thanks are necessary,” Chayo insisted. “It was a matter of utmost urgency to all of us. Martil is correct. Your presence is essential to the success of these negotiations. The attitude you have taken in speaking with my mother and sister, your gift for going to the heart of our hidden motivations — these are far more than any Niandian could have anticipated.” The prince looked at Renee’s fellow Arbiters and added, “It is possible they might make some of the same points, but without your particular touch. It is … I do not know the term. A feeling exchanged between you and my mother and Zia. A thing common to your gender.”

  “Female intuition?” Renee muttered doubtfully. “A magical bond among sisters? Hardly likely. Certainly not across species lines.”

  “It exists, my Lady. I tell you only what is so,” Chayo said, his tone adamant under the deferential words.

  Martil flipped the core of the magenta-colored fruit away; the rug promptly swallowed it. “There is a lot of truth in what he’s saying,” the Arbiter noted. “It was you the Gevari tried to take control of and manipulate, Renamos, not us. Rightly so, from the Gevaris’ point of view. Here, your sex is more than a mere status factor. Lady Esher and her fellow rebels seized upon that — and upon you. At least it was a saner choice than the one they used previously — trying to kill all of us. Saner, and more devious. Considering that, we must remain on our guard against any attempt at repetition. The closer we get to obtaining a truce, the more desperate the Gevari and their sympathizers will become.”

  The massage had lulled Renee, but not so much so that she didn’t feel alarm at hearing his final comments. “Desperate enough to use their ultimate weapon?” Chayo’s hands stiffened. He, too, was apprehensive.

  “Not if we perform our mission well,” Martil reassured them. “And now that you are free of the Gevaris’ noxious potions, you will be able to think clearly at the assembly of premiers, Renamos. Most important. You will speak for the Arbiters — with our assistance, naturally. The Niandians will heed what you say, in all likelihood. They will ignore me. They’ll regard Tae with deep-seated prejudice.”

  Tae craned his neck, grinning up at her. How had she been deluded, even for an instant, into believing that all Haukiets were murdering monsters? Drugs and brainwashing seemed pretty insufficient reasons for her gullibility, in retrospect.

  “That assembly is going to be rife with male and female bias, as well as prejudice against the Green Union,” she warned.

  “Indeed!” Martil sighed. “Your earlier point was well taken: We should have sent a team of women Arbiters. If such a team had been available, which it wasn’t and isn’t. And if we’d been inclined to cater to the Niandians’ biological and cultural hang-ups, which we aren’t. But you were a bonus package, Renamos. It is almost as if the Ka-Eens sensed your essence, somewhere along their transference beam, and arbitrarily brought you into this situation in hopes of ending the war.”

  Smirking, Renee asked, “You mean I really was kidnapped? First by the Ka-Eens, then by the Gevaris …”

  “The incidents are unrelated,” Martil said, very huffy. “Struck a nerve, did I? Interesting. The matriarch and Zia got testy when I suggested that their ideals weren’t that much different from the Gevaris’. Now you’re bristling at the suggestion that the Ka-Eens grabbed me for their own purposes.” Martil scowled at her, and Tae’s big shoulders heaved with silent laughter.

  Prince Chayo cut in, on the defensive, “My mother and Zia may have been ill advised to send you to the spaceport to witness our war victims’ pain. However, their motives were honorable.”

  “Zia’s reactions certainly were,” Renee said. “I saw how affected she was there, and that she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, helping the medics.”

  “She is the daughter-matriarch,” Chayo explained, sounding surprised that the Arbiter was surprised. He quit massaging Renee’s neck and moved around where she could see him. “Our people are her children, as they are my mother’s. The rulers of Niand are the nurturers of our entire species. They care for us, at any cost, even that of their own lives.”

  “Okay. But I do wish they wouldn’t let that caring and concern hamper peace negotiations. They want a truce, and they’re afraid of it, afraid of letting the Haukiets get an advantage on Niand’s defenses.” Renee shook her head slowly. “No doubt the Haukiets feel the same way. Both sides are afraid to be the first to back o
ff. If you only had fast interspecies communications, we wouldn’t be teetering on this tightrope. I sure hope this doesn’t end up with another Battle of New Orleans.” The men looked bewildered, and she added, “It was a battle that happened on my home world. One that took place after the war was over. But the participants hadn’t yet received word of the truce, and they kept on fighting, and people died as a result, people who might have lived, otherwise.”

  “A valid simile to this problem,” Martil said. “The example is pertinent. Use that knowledge to guide you when we remind the assembly of premiers of the time differential involved in these peace negotiations. They must not seize upon the Green Union’s inabilities to halt hostilities everywhere simultaneously throughout the sector as an excuse for continuing the conflict. Any more than the Arbiters will allow the Green Union to pounce should Niand agree to a truce and then have difficulties in contacting all of its various military units and ordering them to lay down their arms. Fortunately, as yet, the Niandians do not know that the Green Union has accepted the Arbiters’ proposal for a cease-fire.”

  He, Tae, and Renee all glanced at Chayo. The prince was the picture of injured innocence. “You would not think that I would tell them?” he asked, offended.

  “Haven’t you?” Renee wondered. “Not even your mother and Zia?”

  He shook his head vehemently. “I know that might interfere with your plans. What we observed on the Arbiter world — the success of the Arbiter team’s work on the Haukiets’ core planet — must be kept a secret, lest it tip the balance toward the Gevari sympathizers at the assembly.”

  “Indeed,” Martil said tonelessly. “An excellent reason for keeping one’s own counsel.”

  “But what if —?” Renee sucked in her breath, then plunged ahead, “What if some of the Gevaris who are still at large move without waiting to hear about the truce? What if they decide to push that doomsday switch while the negotiations are going on? How do we stop them?”