by Elin Peer
“Is your name Willow?”
“Yes.”
“May peace surround you. I’m Ben.” He moved forward to take my hands in a formal greeting.
“Are you a performer too?” I asked.
He smiled. “No, my job is behind the stage. I’m Salma’s manager and friend. We’ve worked together for years and I take care of a lot of the practical matters to make Salma’s life easier.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“I promised Pearl Pilotti that I’ll be looking out for you on this tour.”
My hand flew to my chest. “Me?”
“Yes, don’t look so surprised. I was told that you’re very special to Pearl and her husband Lord Khan. She said that you are one of the finest dancers in the Motherlands.”
“Pearl said that?” I gaped at him.
“Yes, she did. Let me take your bags and you can get in and meet the lovely Rose herself.”
My hands felt clammy when I got into the drone and took the seat next to Salma Rose.
She didn’t take my hands but smiled. “Peace and all that to you.”
“May peace surround you too.”
Geez, could I sound more formal?
Don’t stare at her. Don’t stare at her. My smile was a little stiff and I blamed it on the fact that my heart was racing like crazy and my legs were shaking.
“I like your name. Willow Darlington. It has a nice ring to it. What a perfect stage name.”
“Thank you.” I beamed at her. “It’s my real name, though.”
Salma’s long hair had a color similar to mine and she possessed a natural beauty with her fine features and golden tan. “Lucky you. My real name is Barbara Clemens, but Salma Rose sounds so much better, don’t you think?”
“I like Barbara Clemens.” When she frowned, I quickly added. “But Salma Rose is much better as a stage name.”
“I came up with it as a child when I used to dream about being a star.” Salma was distracted by Ben, who got on board and took his seat.
“All right, ladies, next stop is the border, where we’re meeting with the rest of the group. It’s a long flight, but don’t worry, I brought snacks.”
I inclined my head in a polite manner. “Thank you.”
“It’s funny. You look like me. Same hair color, gray eyes, cute…” Salma tilted her head. “We could be sisters.”
I lit up. “Really?” There was no need to tell her that my eyes were green and only looked gray sometimes.
She smiled back at me. “Yes. Obviously, you would be the big sister since you’re taller.”
“Huh. It’s true, you two do have similar features,” Ben agreed. “Although Willow would have to be the younger sister since there’s five years between you.”
“Impossible.” Salma’s face scrunched up.
“Willow is only twenty-two.” Ben used a matter-of-fact tone and turned to me. “I couldn’t help notice that you’re very tall. I’m surprised because all the dancers I know are on the smaller side. You have to be among the tallest women I’ve ever seen.” He was picking through a bag as the drone took off. “You’ll have to help me. The file I got on you made no sense. I thought they’d made a mistake.”
“What do you mean?”
He pulled out small containers with fruits, nuts, and biscuits and handed them to us. The drone was for four people and each seat could be rotated a hundred and eighty degrees, making it possible for us to either face each other or look out the windows that ran all around the drone.
“It says that your height is fifty-nine. I figured they forgot the one and meant you were one meter and fifty-nine centimeters but after seeing you, I know you’re much taller than that. I mean, you’re taller than me and I’m one meter and seventy-two centimeters.”
“I’m one meter and eighty centimeters.”
Salma widened her eyes. “Oh, wow. I’m only one meter and fifty-four.”
I smiled at her. “That would be five feet. The Northlands don’t use centimeters like we do.”
“Five feet?” She wrinkled her nose up. “That’s sounds like nothing. I’m more than the length of my foot times five.”
“It’s not your foot. It’s a fixed measurement of a little over thirty centimeters.”
“Who decided that? I’ve never heard something that bizarre. To measure people by the length of someone’s foot – and who in the world have feet that big anyway?”
My smiled widened. “It’s how they’ve always done it in the Northlands.”
“Let me guess, you took the culture-prep-course they sent us?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer before Salma continued talking. “It’s so brave of you to join the tour last-minute. You must be terrified. Especially after Lily chose not to go for safety reasons. To be honest with you, I was close to canceling myself, but I’ve been assured that we’ll be safe. Right Ben?” Salma looked to Ben, who was chewing on a handful of nuts and held his hand to his mouth before he spoke.
“You have my word, darling. The ruler of the Northlands has guaranteed that his best security staff will be there to protect us. I told Lily the same thing, but her family kept pressuring her to stay home.”
“It’s a great loss to the Northlands that they won’t get to see Lily White.” I lowered my brow. “She’s probably the best dancer in the world.”
“Oh, we all adore Lily. She and I are friends.” Salma leaned over and touched my arm. “But now we get to enjoy your dancing. I’m sure the Northlanders are going to love you just as much as Lily. And think of the great adventure it will be to see the Northlands for ourselves.”
“I’ve seen the Northlands.”
Both Ben and Salma stared at me. “You have?”
“Yes, that’s how I know Pearl. I lived there for two and a half years.”
“I was going to ask you about that, but I didn’t want to jump you with a question about how you knew the rulers as the first thing.”
“It’s ruler, not rulers. Pearl isn’t a ruler. Only Khan is,” I corrected Ben.
He and Salma exchanged a glance before their questions rained down on me.
“Were you married?”
“When did you live there?”
“How long have you been back in the Motherlands?”
I held up a hand. “Let me explain.”
Ben leaned forward in his seat with an eager expression.
“When I was twelve I was selected to participate in an experiment. It was the first school with children from the Motherlands and the Northlands. There were ten of us and ten of them. It turned out that I was selected because one of the boys, Hunter, had been a twin when he came from the Motherlands at three. I was his twin and they reunited us.”
Salma tilted her head. “Your mother was a peacekeeper, then.”
“Yes. It was never her intention to be a mother, only to do her part and give birth to one of the Northmen. I’m not sure what went wrong or why she ended up with twins, but she didn’t want to live in a family unit and care for us. My brother and I lived together until he was three and delivered to the Northlands. Back then his name was Jeremy, but all Nboys are given new names when they arrive in the Northlands.”
“Yes, I heard they have peculiar names.” Ben offered me some of the nuts he was eating and I took a small handful.
“Northmen are named after heroes and gods. It’s their belief that it makes the boys strive to be great themselves.”
“So, Jeremy became Hunter?”
“Yes, Hunter Hercules, after the Greek god.”
Ben giggled. “That’s funny.”
“I know, but you shouldn’t make fun of their names in front of them,” I warned. “They are proud men.”
Ben shook his head. “No, of course not, I would never be that rude.”
“But Willow, if you have a brother who is a Northlander does that mean…” Salma tilted her head with a thoughtful expression.
“It means I’m part Northlander too.”
“Oh.�
�� Salma sat back.
“That’s why I’m so tall. My father was a Northlander.”
“Wow.” Salma moved in her seat. “All right. Now, with you being such an expert on the Northlands, do you have any advice for us that we should know about?”
I scratched my collarbone. “Just be yourself but don’t touch them. It’s not that they don’t like to be touched. It’s just that they have strict rules. Touching a woman can get a man killed.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No.” My face was serious. “They are taught from early childhood that the greatest honor a man can achieve is to marry a woman. They hold tournaments and fight to win a bride but there are so few Northlander women that only one man in a hundred thousand can win a woman. With that honor comes huge prestige and a million dollars.”
“Darling, they still use a monetary system like in the old days,” Ben addressed Salma to explain the concept of dollars.
She looked confused. “That means nothing to me. How much is a million dollars?”
“Enough for them to live in luxury for the rest of their lives.”
Salma moved in her seat. “I’m starting to think I should have taken the culture course. Why didn’t I, Ben?”
“Because you were busy and sometimes you overthink things, honey. It’s better to approach everything with an open mind.”
Salma used both her index fingers to circle her temples, her eyebrows drawn close together. “But now I worry that they won’t like our performance if they’re that different from us. What if they hate it?”
Eager to calm her fears, I smiled at her. “They won’t. I was in the Northlands for a reunion party with my old classmates ten days ago, and I can assure you that the Nmen enjoyed our dancing very much. They said we looked like fairies when we danced.”
“But what about my music? Will they like my songs?”
I gave her another reassuring smile. “They’ll love you, Salma. Just remember not to touch them and no matter how charming or good-looking they are, you can’t get too close or they might think you want to be with them.”
Salma chewed on her lip again. “But touching is such a natural thing for me.”
“I understand. Me too. But you don’t want anyone to get in trouble or die because of a misunderstanding, do you?”
“Oh dear, no, of course not. That would be horrible.”
Ben leaned back in his seat. “I can’t believe they would oppose touching that much.”
I gave a small shrug. “Once we get there you’ll understand. Imagine what life would be like for the few women who live there if they didn’t have strict rules to protect them. We women would be in constant fear of being kidnapped and raped.”
“What?” Salma paled. “They don’t kidnap women anymore, do they? I was told those stories are just old rumors.”
Ben’s eyes told me to be careful and I was starting to sense that Salma Rose wasn’t as confident and fearless as I’d thought.
“Don’t worry, Salma. It’s ingrained in all boys from early on that they can’t touch a woman. Just use common sense and stay close to the guards. You don’t want to go around on your own.”
Ben put a calming hand on her arm. “You’ll be fine, dear. As long as you don’t touch them.”
Salma turned her chair to look out the window. “But what happens if I touch them by accident? Will I be in trouble too or do these laws only apply to men?”
“The laws are made to protect women. There are no laws against touching males.”
“Then what about Ben? What if they all go after him?” Salma looked back from her chair with concern marring her pretty face.
“They won’t. Homosexuality isn’t paraded in public.”
“I’ll be fine, darling,” Ben assured Salma. “Don’t you worry about a thing.”
In the four hours we flew to get to the border, Salma, Ben, and I spoke about her career, the current political situation, my brother Hunter, and what we would miss in the Motherlands these four weeks that we would be touring. Salma hadn’t slept well the night before and took a nap, while Ben talked about his long list of famous clients and his excitement that romance movies and books were now allowed in the Motherlands again.
“There’s an exciting script on my table that I’m hoping to find actors for. Part of the story takes place in the Northlands and I promised the director I’d look for talent while I’m there.”
“That’s exciting.”
“Yes. I’m always open to spotting new clients. How about you, do you have an agent?”
“No.”
“Maybe we can work together. I’m good to my clients, you can ask any of them.”
“How many do you have?”
“Oh, about twenty. I’ve got singers, actors, and even a few sports stars.”
When we reached the border, the gate between our countries was closed, with border drones hanging in the air. We could see from the sky how a group of around thirty people were already gathered on the Motlander side with two drones taking off, implying that some of them had only just arrived as well. On the Northlander side, two drones were waiting. One of them was about twice the size of the one we were arriving in. The other was a huge transport.
“They are waiting for us.” Ben tapped his finger against the window of our drone, which was slowly descending. My eyes were on the twelve Nmen standing in front of the drones. All of them had serious expressions and police uniforms, except for one tall man who was military. We were too far away for me to tell what part of the military he belonged to but none of the men looked familiar to me.
Ben was the first to exit when the doors to our drone opened.
“It’s going to be fine,” he told Salma, whose eyes were darting around. “Just stay close to Willow while I go talk to the other organizers.”
I didn’t mind when Salma hooked her arm under my elbow and kept me close like a safety blanket.
“Just pretend we’re going on stage. It’s all a performance,” I whispered.
She straightened her posture and loosened her tight grip on me.
“We should all be here now, so let’s get this tour started,” a woman around fifty said in a loud shrill voice and waved her hands for us to step closer. “I’m going to call out your names and you’ll gather in the groups you belong to. That way we can all get a quick idea about who’s who.
“Let’s begin with the organizers. My name is Kerri, and this is Ben and Luba. We’re here to make things run smoothly. Then we have the technical crew. If you could stand over there so we can all see you.” Three men and two women walked over to stand in a cluster and Kerri read out their names.
“The Floral Chorals, please gather here to my right. There should be ten of you in the choir.” The women smiled and moved to stand in two rows as if they were about to perform for us. Each one of them raised a hand when Kerri called out their names.
“Great, now if the Enlightened String Orchestra could gather over there.” Kerri pointed to her left and read out fourteen names.
“And last but not least we have our two solo artists – Willow Darlington, who is a dancer, and Salma Rose, who needs no introductions.”
Everyone was smiling at Salma, who raised a hand and waved.
“Our first stop will be in a town called Kingston where you’ll be performing tomorrow night. You should all have received the program of the twelve towns we’ll be visiting over the next four weeks. Our original plan was to make this tour last for four months, but we understand that it was too big a commitment for several of you with your busy calendars. At the end of our tour you’ll be performing at the palace and get a chance to meet Lord Khan, the ruler of the Northlands, and his lovely wife Pearl Pilotti.”
Excited murmurs broke out among the crowd and Salma leaned against me. “I bet you’ve already been to the palace, haven’t you?”
I confirmed it with a low “Uh-huh.”
Luba stepped forward. “All right, it’s time to get on board the drone
and get going. Ben and Salma, you two will be in a separate drone. Your contact is a man named Leonardo da Vinci.”
“Oh, maybe he can paint your picture,” I joked and squeezed Salma’s arm. “Told you they’re all named after great men.”
The gates swung open and we walked across the border. Salma kept her head high but her fingers bored into my arm and almost without moving her lips she whispered, “I’m scared, Willow. Where is Ben?”
“You’ll be fine. My brother and several of my friends are Northlanders. They are good people.”
“Ben,” I called out to him and he came running, which made his puffy hair sway back and forth.
“I’m right here, my jewel.” Being slightly out of breath, he hooked his arm under Salma’s and led her forward. Like me, he had bags that hovered just above the ground and followed the GPS in his wristband.
“Can Willow stay with us?” Salma asked and kept me close.
Ben looked back to Kerry and Luba, who were walking with the rest of the group. “Yes, that was my plan, but how about I talk with Kerri and Luba about that once we get to the first town? Right now, we’re all a bit on edge, and I think it’s better if we get going.”
“It’s fine,” I assured Salma, who was reluctant to let go of me when I had to steer to the left and she was going to the right.
Ben kept his arm linked to hers. “See, darling, they look like nice people, don’t they?”
I scanned the two men in front of the drone that Salma and Ben were headed toward. I didn’t blame Salma for being nervous. Even though the larger of the two was smiling at her, it was a different sight than what she was used to in the Motherlands. The men stood tall and with their chests out in a masculine stance. None of them had bright colors or jewelry to soften up their hard appearances, and the dark uniforms and neck tattoos made them look dangerous.
“Willow dear, did you hear me?” Luba called out behind me.
I turned and made eye contact with her.
“You’re going on the big drone.”
“That’s fine.” I nodded to emphasize that I’d understood and moved into the line of people getting onboard. The drone was similar to the one that I’d flown in ten years ago when my class had gone on a weeklong field trip to the Motherlands.