Ingrit dismounted and gestured for Lilith to follow suit. The woman took her hand and led her over to one of the nearer trees, a young oak that was only two decades old at the most.
“When a Zommerlaandar girl is born, her Geboortsplaats en denn Naavelstraang--” Ingrit hunted for the right words in Standard for a moment, and then said, “her umbilical cord and her placenta, they are brought here and buried in the soil of this place. Then a tree is planted over them, and in time, the two become one and the same. It is one of the ways that we Zommerlaandars are tied to the land, and how the land is tied to us in turn.”
“That’s fascinating,” Lilith said. “I noticed that the trees here are different from one another. Is there a reason for this as well?”
“Yah,” Ingrit answered, “A very good reason. The Oude Mehnsz from Gaia believed that each kind of tree had a special meaning and a special time of the year all its own. They taught us that every month has its own tree, and when a girl is born, the time of the year she is born in is also the tree that is hers.”
The Zommerlaandar reached out to the young oak and stroked its trunk affectionately, “This one here, is Katy. You can see her name carved into the trunk here. She was born in the summer, in the time of the oak, and she is part of our land no matter how far away she journeys. Grammy says that that helps her to keep an eye on her, and keep her safe.”
“A very moving custom,” Lilith agreed, “and a very beautiful one.”
“That is not the only thing that is beautiful here,” Ingrit said suggestively, placing her arm around Lilith’s shoulder. ”Shall we ride on to the lake?”
***
That night, after supper was done, Grammy herded the adults out onto the porch. “The little ones are at it again with those toys you brought them, Katy. They’ll be busy until bedtime, so I thought we’d have some time for a little adult fun.” She was holding a box with some glass jars inside of it. A clear liquid sloshed around inside of them. Ingrit reached in right away and handed Lilith one.
“I thought we could all use a little of my special mash,” Grammy added.
“Mind you,” Ingrit warned, “drink it slow. Grammy’s brew can hit you pretty hard the first time you get to know each other.”
Lilith uncapped her jar and took a careful sip. To have described it as strong would have been an understatement. It easily surpassed the strongest Aqqa that she’d ever drunk.
“Goddess!” she coughed. Ingrit hadn’t been kidding this time.
“Gaad? Yah?” Ingrit asked. She took a healthy pull from her own jar. “Ahh, Grammy! This is the best batch yet! Just right for Katy and Lilith’s visit.”
Lilith tried another sip. This time it went down a little easier. It isn’t that bad, she thought, once you get used to it. Slowly, she felt the tension of the last three months drain out of her.
Later, after finishing a second jar, Ingrit helped her to stagger up the narrow stairs. “Goddess, I’m drunk,” Lilith laughed. “Your Grammy makes a very mean brew.”
“That she does,” Ingrit acknowledged, steadying her with one hand and opening the door to her bedroom with the other. “You looked like someone who needed a little of her special medicine.”
“Yes,” Lilith confessed, “I suppose I did at that.” She let Ingrit lead her into the room.
“Zo,” Ingrit asked, “you think you might be interested in something that could help you relax a bit more?”
“Like what?”
“This.” Ingrit gathered her gently into her powerful arms and kissed her deeply. When they finally parted, Lilith was breathless.
“If you want me to, I’ll go,” Ingrit said.
Lilith looked up at the woman, her pale blue eyes filled with uncertainty. This was the happiness that Ophida had predicted, she realized, sent by the Goddess herself to fill the void in her heart.
But can I take the risk? she wondered. Should I? The possibility of another loss in her life filled her with dread, but it warred with an even greater hunger to feel whole again, even if only for a little while.
She finally answered Ingrit in a small, barely audible voice. “No,” she said, “Please, don’t go. Stay.”
Ingrit smiled tenderly and gently ran her hand through Lilith’s hair. “My pretty little starship commander,” she said huskily.
They kissed again, and the moment seemed to go on forever.
***
Downstairs, Katrinn had heard the bedroom door close, and shortly after this, the unmistakable cries of mutual pleasure. She looked over at Grammy, her eyebrows raised questioningly.
“It seems your friend got with Ingrit at last,” Grammy said with a devilish wink. “They looked like they needed to spend some time together.”
“Leave it to my Grammy to set things a’right,” Katrinn observed, toasting her with the Mason jar.
***
Katrinn was already at the breakfast table when Lilith came down the stairs. “Godag!” her Second said cheerfully. “Hungry?”
To her own surprise, Lilith was. “Yes,” she replied. “Where is everyone?”
“Out in the fields,” Katrinn answered. “You know, life on the farm, gotta get up early! Bring in those crops!” She handed Lilith a plate and began to dish out a serving of biscuits and gravy. “So, how are you feeling today?”
“Much better, thank you. As if you didn’t know,” Lilith said accusingly.
“Oh?” Katrinn returned with a feigned innocence. “And did you sleep well, Commander?”
“Absent a few bruises, yes I did. Now, pass the bacon.”
After Lilith had finished with her breakfast, they agreed to ride out into the fields to join the others. On their way to the barn however, a hovercar with official seals on its side came down the drive and parked in front of the farmhouse. A policewoman got out and stretched languorously.
When she saw them, she waved. The two women had no choice but to turn around and see what she wanted.
“Heyas, folks,” the kaaper said. “I’m Klara Fryyasdaater, the local Constable hereabouts. The people over at Vaalkenstaad wanted me to come out this way and see how everyone was getting along.”
“I’m afraid you missed them,” Katrinn said. “They’re all out in the fields working.”
“Yah, well no matter on that. I’m really here to check up on you two. I heard tell you came out this way with a pair of energy-pistols. Zat zo?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Katrinn said. “We still have them.”
“That’s good,” Fryyasdaater said. “Can’t have weapons like that floating around unaccounted for. Where are they then?”
“Upstairs,” Katrinn replied. “Locked up in Grammy’s cedar-trunk. I have the key. Do you need to see them?”
“Nen, taake,” Fryyasdaater answered. “I’ll take your word on it. Damn silly if you ask me, having me come all the way out here on a hot day like this for a pair of pistols, but rules are rules.’
“Not that anyone really follows them, mind you. I can’t count how many folks out here have a few blasters that their kin brought back with them and tucked away. But we have to look like we’re trying to keep that kind of thing down. Sorry for bothering you on such a hot day.”
Katrinn got the hint. “Would you like something cold to drink for the trip back?”
“Why, that would be right neighborly of you, taake.”
Katrinn went inside, and came back out with a glass of ice-cold lemonade. Fryyasdaater drained the glass.
“Taake vaar,” she said, and then she got back into the hovercar. “Make sure someone lets us know when you two have left. It’ll save me another trip out this way. Oh, and give my regards to Grammy, will you?”
“Will do,” Katrinn said.
USSMC Training Facility, 75th Training Battalion, Hella’s World, Hecate System, Artemi Elant, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1043.01|16|02:51:98
Kaly struggled up the slippery dirt track, feeling like she was hauling the entire planet on her back. In reality, she was only carrying a 28-kilogra
m pack, but fatigue, and the heat, made every kilo seem like ten times more than what it really weighed.
“Close up that line, damn you!” Sa’Tela shouted. “I don’t want to see any stragglers.”
Kaly tried to obey, but keeping up with the taller girls was proving harder with every step. The desert didn’t help her either; the loose gravel under her boots made the going even slower.
Troop Leader n’Vera came up along side her. “Goddess blast you, N’Deena!” the DI hollered in her ear. “You’re taking too long to get up the fekking trail. Burn it, hatchie!”
At that exact instant, Kaly slipped and fell flat on her face. She tried to raise herself, but the weight of the pack and her exhaustion conspired to keep her down. Tears of frustration and exhaustion welled up in her eyes as N’Vera bent over her.
The DI was furious. “Are those tears I’m seeing? Fekking goddess damned tears?”
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” Kaly sobbed.
“Well listen up, hatchie! Marines don’t cry! Marines ignore their pain and march on. They are hard and you will be hard or you will fail! Do you hear me, N’Deena?”
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!“ Kaly cried.
“Are you hard, N’Deena? Can you march on? I don’t think so! I think you’re too soft to handle this.”
“Ma’am, no, ma’am!” Kaly yelled. “I can handle this!”
“We’ll see! Now, get up and get moving or I’ll give you a fekking good reason to cry. Do you hear me?”
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” Kaly struggled again to get to her feet, but only managed to rise up halfway.
“Goddess damn-it all!” N’Vera yelled, “Pick up your teammate, you stupid cows!”
Lena n’Gari ran up and grabbed Kaly by her pack-straps, wrestling her to her feet.
“Come on, Kaly!” N’Gari said in a low voice, “Let’s get going before she adds another kilometer to the march!”
Kaly started moving again and N’Vera came up alongside her. “By the Lady, you are the most worthless sack of crap I have ever had to deal with! You’d better get your act together, little girl. Your friends might not always be there to drag your ass out of trouble. Now, march! And I better not see you take another tumble, or cry one more tear. Do you hear me, N’Deena?”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” Kaly replied. The gravel tried its best to spill her a few more times, but through sheer willpower, she was able to stay on her feet and finally crested the small hill. She could see the base from there, far off in the distance, shimmering in the heat waves like a mirage.
Senior Troop Leader Sa’Tela was waiting for them at the summit, and blew her whistle. “All right, hatchies! I don’t think I can stand another nano watching this sorry-ass performance. We’re going back to base now. Double time! Let’s burn it!”
When they straggled back into base at last, Sa’Tela led the platoon through an agonizing calisthenics drill, before cutting them loose to stow their gear. A round of cleaning the barracks, and then an inspection that inevitably uncovered a reason for everyone to suffer more punishment, followed this.
That night, after lights-out, someone wept.
Kaly didn’t know who it was, or even where she was, but her sobs echoed through the common room, just loud enough to hear, but thankfully not enough to wake the Drill Instructors. There was a deep weariness and pain to the cries. It was the lament of someone who had been pushed beyond all endurance, and hope.
Kaly understood perfectly, and would have joined the unknown woman, but she was beyond tears herself. Marines ignore their pain and march on, she repeated silently. Maybe they did, she thought. But right then she felt like anything but a Marine.
Instead, she just felt numb. Numb from everything she’d been through in the last two weeks. As she lay in her rack staring at the ceiling, she wondered how much longer she would be able to take what the DI’s were dealing out.
I shouldn’t have come here, she realized. I shouldn’t have done this. Troop Leader Alika, back on Persephone, had been right. She was a stupid girl after all. Joining the Marines had been the biggest single mistake that she had ever made in her life.
Her hatred of the Hriss, her anguish for her ravaged home, her patriotism, all of her reasons for joining-up, now felt hollow and meaningless. All she wanted to do was to stop hurting, and sleep deeply enough to erase the memory of everything she’d been through. But she might as well have wanted to walk to the Andromeda galaxy. There was no end in sight.
Goddess, how will I make it? she wondered. The idea of enduring one more day on Hella’s World filled her with absolute dread. She could almost hear Senior Troop Leader Sa’Tela’s voice, barking at them to wake up for another set of calisthenics, another parade drill, or another forced march.
I can’t do it any more. It’s over.
In the morning, she was going to muster-out, and the Corps could be damned. Kaly rehearsed the scene in her mind, practicing the words that would free her from her torment like a magic spell. She pictured herself standing in front of Sa’Tela and telling her that she was quitting.
Then she imagined the expression of smug satisfaction that Sa’Tela and N’Vera would have on their faces, and a sudden spark of rage ignited inside of her.
Those evil bitches, she thought. They’ll probably enjoy seeing me muster-out. Making people quit was what the DI’s really wanted. Kaly was sure of it; she was positive that she’d seen the faintest traces of a smile come over their faces whenever the platoon was suffering its worst.
Grim determination suddenly surged up from the depths of her being. No, she vowed clenching her fists under the thin blanket. I won’t give you the satisfaction, you stinking bitches. I won’t let you crush me down just so that you can feel superior and laugh at me as I walk away.
She realized just then that she was in a fight; one that was just as profound as anything she’d been through back on Persephone. If she mustered out, she would lose it just as surely as if she had surrendered to the Hriss. That was even more unbearable than the pain her body was feeling.
“I’ll show you,” she whispered aloud. “I’ll show you who’ll make it through. I’ll be standing there when this is all over and then I’ll be the one with the smile on my face.” This decision brought a surprising new vitality to her being, overwhelming her soreness, and re energizing her.
Gradually, she forced her weary body to relax. She knew that she’d need all the rest she could get for the conflict ahead. A dreamless, deathlike sleep came for her…
The lights came on.
Sa’Tela’s familiar voice boomed out through the barracks, jarring Kaly and the rest of the platoon wide-awake. But now, it was also the voice of her opponent.
“Everyone out of your racks, now!” the DI shouted. ”Roll call!”
Kaly was out of her rack and standing at attention before the others around her had even gotten their feet on the deck.
“Sound off!” Sa’Tela barked. One by one, the recruits yelled out their names and service numbers. Then it was Kaly’s turn.
“N’Deena, Kaly 203031756!!” she shouted defiantly. Her voice was louder and sharper than it had ever been before, and there was steel in it now.
We’ll just see who wins this fight, Kaly thought fiercely as she watched the DI’s inspect the platoon. We’ll just fekking see.
***
Although Kaly had found a reason to persevere, Platoon Carli suffered its first casualties that same morning. It happened just after PT, and before breakfast in the mess hall. Normally, this was a brief period of downtime when the recruits caught up with maintaining the barracks and their gear, and it was also one of the few points in the week when a recruit could speak with the Drill Instructors in private.
Kaly was trying to rub some polish into a particularly stubborn boot scuff, when two recruits walked by and went into the Senior DI’s office together. One of them was a girl that had had problems from day one with everything. The other, her battle sister, hadn’t really seemed to h
ave had as much trouble (not that Kaly had spent much time watching anyone else’s progress except her own and her battle sister’s), but from the worn expression on their features, she could tell they had reached their absolute limits.
“They’re done,” Bel Anny said in a low voice.
“How do you know?” Kaly asked, watching as the pair knocked on the door to the DI’s offices.
“You can tell from the shoulders,” Bel Anny explained. “The way they slump. And you can see from the way they walked by us. You know, not meeting anyone’s eyes. It’s over for them. They’re opting out.”
The pair went in, and after a few minutes, Bel Anny’s ‘read’ of the situation proved accurate. A Corporal from Operations walked in to the barracks and went straight through into the office. When she came back out, she had the two ex-recruits in tow. They said nothing to anyone, and kept their eyes straight ahead, walking out of the barracks, and back into civilian life.
That won’t happen to me, Kaly vowed. The DI’s might have ground them down, but they won’t get me the same way. I won’t let them! She went back to work on her boots with a will.
Later, after breakfast, the platoon listened to a lecture on Military Courtesy given by Troop Leader n’Vera. After spending a full hour learning how to salute, when to salute, who and what to salute and what not to salute, they were marched over to the PTS Building for their first Psionic Training System feed. Kaly wasn’t too sure what the feed would be about, and she didn’t really care. They’d been spared the usual parade drills that normally followed breakfast, and that was all that really mattered.
The PTS room was a small amphitheater just large enough for the platoon, with a tiny stage at its head. A covered table stood on the stage and a podium was positioned off to one side, presumably for the Instructors to use. Every seat in the room had a pair of wireless headsets sitting on them, wrapped in clear plastic. And except for the spotlights on the stage, the lighting was dim.
Kaly breathed a sigh of relief as she and Lena found themselves places to sit. The air in the little theater was deliciously cool and inviting, and it was a struggle not to fall asleep right away.
Sisterhood of Suns: Pallas Athena Page 26