The Space Merchants

by Wendie Nordgren

  I went into the bathroom. A huge deep square tub filled one corner. "Yes, please." I began filling the tub with hot water. Someone had stocked the bathroom with a new toothbrush and other toiletries. I brushed my teeth, unbraided my hair, folded my clothes, and placed them on top of my shoes. I sank into the glorious hot water and shut off the water flow. I dipped my head back under the surface and scrubbed at my scalp. After washing and rinsing my hair, I wrapped it in a towel, but stayed in the hot water. I rubbed at my eyes. "What is going on?" I yawned. Thunderdrop had bonded with me because he could smell my bloodline? I had a great aunt who was so happy I existed that she teared up each time she saw me. People wanted me in their families? I drained the water, dried off, and put on the borrowed gown that had been placed on the bed for me. I crawled into bed next to Thunderdrop. The storm boomed and cracked.

  The rain thrummed and the wind blew. It lifted my hair from my shoulders, and the thunder rumbled. I lifted my hand to feel the rain, but silk fell through my fingers. I smelled coffee and moved my hands from underneath the soft pillow that I had pressed against my cheek. "No, Stewart. It's too early, but you can leave the coffee," I mumbled into the pillow. Yuck. I wiped at my mouth as I rolled over. Gram sat beside me on the bed with a brush in her hand. She looked down at me with her pale blue eyes.

  "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. I had to make sure you were real and not a dream. I saw you sleeping. There was a towel on the floor, and your hair was full of tangles," she said in a sweet soft voice. I looked from her eyes to the brush in her hand, and I started to cry so hard that I began to sob. I buried my face in my hands. "Oh, now don't cry. Please, don't cry! What's wrong?" I managed to choke out a few words.

  "I'm sorry. I've always wanted.... No lady has ever done that for me before, except on Scipio and when I've paid to have my hair done. I'm sorry." Gram hugged me.

  "There, there. Everything's okay. Let's dry those eyes that remind me of my father's." Gram got up and got me a tissue. I sniffled.

  "Chirp." I took in a deep breath. I felt stupid. She handed me the tissue, and I wiped my eyes and blew my nose.

  "Now, have a few sips of coffee. Then, wash your face." Gram put a cup into my hands and threw the tissue away. An older lady came in with a pile of dresses over her arm. Sydney followed her.

  "What's this?" she asked taking in my red nose, eyes, and overall splotchy appearance.

  "Nothing," Gram said.

  "Corina, please put the dresses down on the bed for now," Sydney said. Corina left the room and then came back a few minutes later with a basket containing my now clean laundry from the night before.

  "Thank you, ma'am," I said.

  "You're welcome, Lady Teagan," Corina said. Gram took my cup away and pointed to the bathroom. I got up and went in, closing the door behind me. I tried to get my emotions together while I peed. I thought I had myself under control. I turned on the water to wash my face. After I had rinsed off all of the soap and brushed my teeth, I looked in the mirror. My hair looked soft and shiny. I felt it. She had just sat and brushed it for I didn't know how long and for no reason. The nice old lady with her blue eyes just wanted to be close to me. I started to cry again.

  "Shit." I took a deep breath and wiped at my face with the wet cloth. "You can't hide in the bathroom. It'll be better if you don't make eye contact," I thought to myself. I took another breath, turned, and opened the door.

  "Here," Gram said as she handed me my undies. "Well, put them on and pick out one of these dresses to wear. Then, you can have a fresh cup of coffee downstairs." I turned my back, removed the gown, and began getting ready. I saw a light blue dress with little purple flowers and green leaves that reminded me of my favorite dress, so I decided to wear it and slipped into my shoes. Gram said, "Hold still" and brushed through my hair some more.

  "Chirp chirp!" Thunderdrop said as he blinked at me from the door.

  "Thank you, Sydney," I said.

  "You are very welcome. Are you hungry?" Corina had begun hanging dresses in the closet.

  Gram said, "Well, of course, she is. Let's go. I'm not going down those stairs either." Gram led the way to a lift I had thought to be another room, since its door had been made to look like all of the others.

  Breakfast ended up being on a large table in a sunroom bursting with potted flowering plants. Thunderdrop bounced away to play, while ZeeZee watched him with patient curiosity. "I've never seen a room like this before," I said. Located in the back of the house, the roof of the room had been made from plasti-glass that continued on and comprised the back wall of the house. Rain slipped down the outside of the roof and wall. The soft plinks and patters of the drops were soothing.

  "This is my favorite room in the manor. It has been since I came here to live with Lord Alaric after we married. I was maybe a year or two older than you are now, and I was terrified of my mother-in-law," Gram said.

  "Why did she frighten you?" I asked.

  "It wasn't that she was half Laconian. My mother was Laconian. Having only met the Lady Alaric socially a few times, she was a mystery to me. Unlike you, I had been very sheltered growing up. My father became even more protective after Ettie was stolen, and my brother watched me when my father didn't. Being away from the home and family I had always known, and moving here to be the lady of the house was frightening. However, the Lady Alaric became the best friend I had ever had. We used to sit in here together for hours." Sydney kissed Gram's cheek.

  "Now, I get to sit in here with you, but I have to share you with Gina who loves you just as fiercely as I do."

  Gram said, "Give Teagan some coffee, Eliot. It's the promise of coffee that got her out of bed."

  After breakfast we went into a sitting room decorated all in cream and yellow. Gram sat on a couch. "Sit by me, Teagan," she said. Thunderdrop crawled up the drapes. ZeeZee "clacked" at him. Thunderdrop blinked at ZeeZee and crawled back down.

  "Eliot, did Thunderdrop just mind ZeeZee?" I asked. Eliot nodded. Ethan placed an intricate carved box on the table in front of Gram. He lifted the lid from the top.

  "This chest belonged to your grandmother. I've saved it all of these years, hoping. And here you are," Gram said. The last words had come out hushed and it made my heart begin to ache. Gram patted my knee. She pulled a framed print from the box. It was a picture of two girls and a boy. "Ettie is the one in the middle, I'm the little one, and that is our brother Ethan, Sherman's dad." She saw the question in my eyes as I glanced at Ethan Alaric who stood by a window with his back to us watching the storm. "I named my son after my brother. He was so proud of my boy, and then he had his own." Ettie had the same pale eyes as her brother and sister. She had a kind smile, and her hand rested protectively on her little sister Emma's shoulder. A spider peeked over Ethan's shoulder. The three of them wore expensive formal attire.

  "Do I look anything like her?" I asked.

  "A little around the eyes, but you remind me more of my father the more I see you." She pulled out a really old palm sized vid-screen and handed it to me.

  "What's this?" I asked.

  Gram smiled, "Ettie and mother used to spend a great deal of time in the kitchen making us all sorts of treats. Ettie put recipes on there just about every day." Finally, I had something in common with her.

  "Really? That's so neat! In our kitchen on Tora, I made a cake and cookies! I can't wait to see what all she made." I hugged the vid-screen to my chest. Gram met my eyes.

  "That's the first time I've seen you smile since we've met." She patted my knee. She pulled a small metal box shaped like an octagon out next. It appeared to have a web engraved into its surface. Gram placed it in my hand. "This music box was Ettie's favorite thing." I opened the lid and a tiny metal spider, with an abdomen made of a sapphire, moved in a circle around the web. Then, music began to play. It was a cheerful melody. I had heard a version of it before. She held me on her shoulder and hummed it, but she had made it sound so sad. Something bad had happened. My hands began to shake, and I cl
osed the lid. I placed the music box on the table and concentrated on the wood grain pattern of the floor and the sound of the rain. Thunderdrop bounded up into my lap and crawled under my chin to hug my neck. I pushed the memory away and down just as I had closed the music box lid. I ran my hand down Thunderdrop's back.

  His chirping was soft and soothing. Gram pulled out a bracelet made of the same metal as the box. It opened and closed with a hinge and clasp. The metal had been shaped to resemble the elaborate lace webs like those high in the trees and in the corner of my quarters. Attached to the web were three little spiders like the one in the music box. Gram said, "This was her favorite piece of jewelry. She wore it in the picture I showed you, but the sleeves of her dress hid it." I put it on and touched the delicate metal web with my finger. "She said there were three of us just like the spiders." I had something on my arm that my grandmother had worn on her own arm, that she had touched.

  "It looks like the web Thunderdrop made in my quarters." I began to take it off to hand it back.

  "No, Teagan. You'll keep that on, please?" I left it alone and took a deep quiet breath. Gram had begun to lovingly place the things back inside of the carved box. When she picked up the music box, I tried not to hear the humming woman. The memory hurt.

  "Chirp." Ethan and Eliot spoke quietly by the window. The drapes went almost all of the way up to the ceiling, but were open so we could see the rain.

  Gram said, "Ethan, will you put this in the transport, please?" Ethan picked the box up and took it outside. Gram stood up. "We had better go and meet that nephew of mine, or he may send out guards to collect us."

  Outside, a driver had opened all of the doors of the largest luxury transport that I had ever seen. Other than the driver and passenger seats, there were eight swivel chairs and a storage area. ZeeZee climbed into the back by my grandmother's box. The humming started in my head unbidden. I took a breath and touched Thunderdrop. Eliot had his hand on my back. He gestured toward a seat. Ethan, Sydney, Gram, and Eliot, and I all took our seats. The driver closed all of the doors and began the drive over to wherever the Montgomery clan lived.

  "Thank you for saving all of her things. It was very kind of you to share them with me," I said.

  Gram said, "Whose things, dear?"

  "What?"

  "Whose things? Tell me who this "her" to whom you refer is," Gram said. Looking into me with her pale blue eyes, she waited for my answer.

  Thinking carefully, I said, "Lady Ettie Montgomery?" Was I making her angry? What was I doing wrong?

  "Chirp," Thunderdrop nuzzled my neck. I felt my heart start to pound as she watched me. The transport was moving too fast for me to jump out.

  "I know my sister would not have wanted her little granddaughter referring to her as Lady Ettie Montgomery or with a pronoun. Ettie would have had your arms around her neck, and you would have called her something affectionate, but she didn't get to have with you what I have with my grandsons. Call Ettie grandmother from now on out of respect for her memory." I studied my shoes and the tiny flowers on the dress Sydney had let me wear.

  "Yes, ma'am." I tried not to think or feel anything. Ethan tapped at the toe of my shoe and smiled at me when I looked up.

  "You aren't in trouble, Teagan." I felt chill and achy inside. It kept rising up from my chest up to my throat.

  "Yes, sir."

  "What has you so sad, Teagan?" Ethan asked.

  "Nothing." I tried to force a fake smile, but he knew it to be a lie.

  "Tell me," Gram commanded. I stared her in the eyes.

  "How can you say you know she would want me to call her grandmother? She might not have liked me at all." Gram looked shocked. "It's true. She might not have wanted anything to do with me." Gram's eyes might look like ice, but I felt like a chunk of it cut at me from inside of my chest.

  "My sister would have loved you more than anything," she said with conviction. I crossed my arms over my chest.

  "I don't understand how that's even possible. My own mother didn't even want me, so why would my grandmother?"

  Ethan said, "Teagan, that isn't fair. We don't know what happened to either your mother or your grandmother. How could you possibly think they didn't love you?" I shrugged.

  "I don't know what I did wrong, but my father didn't like me either, so it must have been me. Yukihyo knows me though, and he loves me." I twisted the band on my finger.

  "That's what has you so terrified of us," Gram said. I didn't look up at her. My courage had gone. "You are practically paralyzed with fear that we will decide we don't like you and abandon you."

  "Chirp chirp."

  The transport stopped, and the relief I felt when the door opened was almost tangible. Simon waited with a smile on the wide covered platform in front of the home's door. I rushed up to him and buried my face in his chest. "Just get me away from here for a few minutes, please," I said. Simon picked me up and carried me off through the house. Then, my heart shattered, and the ice that had formed the sharp grating mass inside of me burst out through my eyes, and melted out as tears. I didn't know where we were, but I cried on Simon until I was hiccupping, and his shoulder was soaked through to the skin. He pulled a fancy silk square out from someplace and put it in my hands. Simon patted my back. I wiped my eyes and blew my nose. I tried to use a clean corner to dab at Thunderdrop, since my face had leaked all over him, too. "I'm sorry about your shirt, Simon." I still wasn't breathing, right.

  "It's okay. Your hair looks prettier than usual today. Did you use a new shampoo?" I met his eyes, ice blue like Gram's.

  "No, she, Gram brushed my hair." Simon went completely blurry, and I started crying again.

  "Oh, I see. She yanked and pulled and made your head hurt. That's why you're crying." I shook my head against his shoulder.

  "No, she was nice and kind to me. No lady's ever treated me like she did. It makes me feel like I'm gonna break or something. I don't know. I don't understand how to react or what to do." Simon held up my wrist.

  "This is beautiful, Teagan. Where did you get it?" I sniffed and wiped my nose.

  "Gram gave it to me. She said it was my grandmother's, and there was a music box, and it made me remember my mother humming to me."

  "It sounds like you've already had a busy day," Simon said against my hair. I drew in a shuddering breath. He said, "I bet a nice hot cup of coffee would make you feel better." I thought about how much I liked the smell of coffee.

  "Chirp." I thought about Yukihyo. If he were here, he would make all of these feelings lessen through our bond, and give me time to sort them out. Simon helped me stand up from where I sat in his lap. I saw we were in a small sitting room. I had made a mess of Simon's silk square. Simon stood. Thunderdrop moved from my neck to my shoulder where he gave himself a shake.

  "Simon, what should I do?" He put one of his big arms around my back.

  "I think you should wash your face and have some lunch." Simon walked me down a hall.

  The vid-screen in the main living area gave an alert. Sherman tapped it, and Eric appeared. "Sherman, is father there?"

  "Yes, he is." Ethan and Eliot went closer to the screen.

  Eric said, "Is anyone else present?" Sherman scanned the room.

  "Doors close." Sherman's command shut the room off from the rest of the house and prevented their conversation from being overheard.

  "It is only the three of us and ZeeZee. What have you discovered about Teagan?" Ethan asked his youngest son. Eric tapped at his screen and information appeared on the lower corner of the vid-screen.

  "What is all of this?" Sherman asked.

  "Those are the medical records Phillip filed on Teagan shortly after she joined Tora's crew." Eric highlighted sections.

  "Was she in a bad accident as a child?" Eliot asked.

  "No, the dates are different," Sherman said.

  "Keep reading," Eric said. Sherman's face turned red. Ethan stared at Eric. "Broken bones, skull fractures, and other untreated injuries susta
ined from early childhood until maybe a year ago is the short version. I have entrusted a team of militia investigators with this information, and they are searching for him now. Once I have him, I will find out what happened to Teagan's mother. I know what we should expect to learn. A man who could inflict repeated serious injuries to a helpless child could do much worse to a woman. I will find him. Alaric out.” The screen went blank.

  Eliot powered it down and asked, "Are we going to tell Gram?"

  The door opened and Gina, Sydney, and Gram were trailed by two butlers. They waited until the butlers had set out lunch and gone from the room. Gina approached Sherman running her hands from his wrists up to his shoulders. She stood with him in that pose for a moment. Then, Gina placed her hands on his cheeks and forced him to look at her. "Sherman, I have seen you this angry only a few times in all of the years we have been together. What happened in this closed door meeting?" Sydney took Eliot's hand in hers.

  "Tell me what this is about," she said. Eliot looked at his father.

  "It will upset you. Please do not ask," Eliot kissed her cheek. Gina's expression turned hard and serious.

  "This has to do with Teagan. Tell us," Sydney demanded.

  "Yes, tell us. I insist," Gram said.

  "Eric contacted us. He has a team investigating her," Ethan said.

  "Doors close," Sherman commanded.

  "Well?" Gina asked as she walked toward Ethan to hear his quiet tone.

  "Teagan suffered multiple traumatic injuries as a child at the hands of her caregiver. We assume it was her father." A look of revulsion took over Gina's expression.