Galatzi Trade

by Robin Roseau

  But then I smiled. "I bet I could get villagers to pay to watch some of my movies on my tablet."

  She laughed. "I forbid it."

  "What?" I screeched. "You can't forbid it."

  "I certainly can. I am Vendart. I can forbid any business I want. I forbid this business."

  "You cannot make a rule that I cannot earn money."

  "I didn't. I made it illegal to make money by showing movies on a tablet. In fact, I just made it illegal to make money with a tablet at all."

  "You cannot make a rule like that!"

  "Of course I can. I will post a notice tomorrow."

  "You wouldn't really go to that work for a joke."

  "What joke?" she said. "If I hadn't forbid it, you could make money by showing movies. I forbid it." She moved closer, looking up into my face, and caressed my cheek. "You are dependent upon me for everything," she repeated. "And you will remain that way."

  And then she waited for the explosion that never came. I chuckled.

  "You have thought of a new way to make money?" she asked. "I forbid it."

  I laughed. "No, although if I do, I won't tell you now that I know your reaction." I smiled. "You know, I am the only person for a thousand kilometers around who can read the two books in your school house. We will discuss my fee for translating them another time."

  She laughed. "I don't care if they are translated or not."

  But I smiled. "I am not worried about money here. You have promised to see to my needs, and I trust you to do so."

  "You relinquish yourself to me?"

  "You have also made me a few other promises," I said, "ones you would never take back."

  "I wouldn't take any promises back, but which ones are these?"

  "You promised me when I need to visit the imperial doctors, you will go with me. And then who will be relinquishing herself to whom?" I grinned at her. "If I were you, I would exercise my financial domination very, very cautiously."

  Her expression clouded, and I knew she was disappointed her gambit had failed. It hadn't, not really. I truly was dependent upon her, at least for a while.

  But then she began to laugh. When I lifted an eyebrow, she explained, "Oh, I am so pleased Baardorid didn't let me have his eldest daughter. I took a much, much better galatzi prize."

  "Oh?"

  "Chaladine would have come with her own money, of course, but if she hadn't, if I had trapped her the way I thought I had you trapped, she would not have wriggled free."

  I set the baskets down and moved closer to her. I loved when she had to look up into my eyes. She was so beautiful, so alluring. Yes, in The Empire, everyone is beautiful, but this was a natural beauty, and an innocence besides. We had such a game going, and I felt my heart pounding with the excitement of it.

  I took her hand and pressed her fingers over my heart, the way she had done to her own heart earlier. Her expression went from amused to puzzled.

  "I could not win free of your ropes, Sartine," I said. "And I have not won free of this new trap, either. As you say, I am dependent upon you."

  She looked down at her hand, feeling my heartbeat, and then up into my face again. And I knew she wasn't sufficiently experienced to figure everything out.

  "You don't mind. I was sure you hated the idea." She looked at her hand. "I don't understand."

  "It was a startling revelation," I said. "You cannot understand how startling. My heart is telling you how startling. I did not wriggle free of your trap, Sartine. The only wriggling I did was to caution you not to let your trap squeeze me too tightly. I have never been trapped in this fashion before, and I would not have walked willingly into it." I smiled. "But I am trapped."

  "You smile."

  "Uh huh." I nodded slowly.

  She began to return my smile. "You like my trap?"

  "We are dancing," I said, "You and I. I like dancing with you. This trap, and indeed this entire dance we share, it is a new experience for me, and one I did not seek. It is full of surprises." I smiled again. "If I did not trust you, this dance would be intolerable. Instead." And I pressed her fingers more tightly to my chest. I shrugged. "You consider me a prize. That is, well, also unusual for me, perhaps not quite unique, but close enough. You may allow your trap to squeeze, Sartine. It is part of our complicated dance."

  I had no doubt of my ability to escape her trap, all her traps. Help was perhaps further than a phone call away, but if I lost time and suffered unpleasantness while awaiting rescue, I would survive and recover and, ultimately, thrive anyway. It is the planet that had the most to lose.

  And I thought perhaps Sartine understood that last part almost as well as I did.

  She looked down at her fingers again, pressed against my chest. "My trap causes this, but you are not angry."

  "Our shared dance causes this," I said. "You are an exciting woman, Sartine. This is an exciting dance. Right now, at this moment, I am having more fun with you than I have with any other women in my memory."

  "That cannot have been so many," she replied.

  "Nevertheless," I said. "You do this to me."

  Then I stepped away and picked up the baskets. "But I hurt. Please, is this just a fast bath, or do we soak?"

  "We soak," she said, "for as long as you desire."

  "Careful with that promise," I said, "for I may choose to soak until my skin is as shriveled as your grandmother's."

  And she laughed.

  * * * *

  I had never experience a public bath before, but even if I had, I was sure it would be different than the bath here. We stepped into a dressing room. Along one wall were cubby boxes. Most were empty, but several were occupied by baskets similar to the one I held. The cubbies seem to come in pairs, because immediately below each basket was a second cubby with one, or in two of the cubbies two, pair of boots.

  "Is one basket mine?"

  "They are both ours to share," she explained. "Clean clothes as we have, and dirty clothes in the other. When you take your clothes off, if there are terribly muddy places, you should hide those parts, so later we can carry our clothes home without becoming muddy."

  "Ah, I understand," I said. I looked around. "There are no robes."

  "Is it too cold for you?"

  "It would be if we were just to sit around. No, I am fine."

  "The bathing room is much, much warmer," she said. "There is even a steam room, but I do not care for it."

  "I have used steam rooms," I said. "They are nice when you will swim afterwards. The shock of hot to cold is exhilarating."

  "We have a lake," she said.

  "I think I saw icebergs floating in the lake." I had to use English, then explained as best I could, and she laughed. "That is too much shock for me."

  "Well," she said, moving to a bench and patting it. "We may sit here as we undress. Sit, and I will help with your boots, and you with mine."

  I didn't need help, but she looked at me hopefully, and I nodded. I took the seat, setting the baskets on the bench beside me. Sartine knelt before me and removed both my boots, setting them aside. Then she helped me to stand and replaced me on the bench, and I removed her boots, setting them beside my own. But I didn't straighten right away. I had seen her expression when I knelt before her, and I let her enjoy it for a moment, leaving my head bowed.

  I wasn't above giving her what she wanted.

  She leaned forward and kissed the top of my head. "I believe you enjoy my trap, Cecilia. All my traps."

  I looked up at her. "Not all. Now what?"

  "I believe if I am courting you, offering to undress you may be a jump in the process."

  I laughed, and so we both undressed ourselves. Sartine set the empty basket on the bench between both of us, and slowly we filled it with folded but dirty clothing. Once we stood there, naked, she set the basket of clean clothes into the basket of dirty clothes, and both went into a single cubby. The boots went into the cubby below it. And then she gestured. "This way."

  She moved ahead to
open a door, holding it for me, and I moved into a steamy, dimly-lit room. It was, indeed, warm. My eyes adjusted automatically, nearly instantly, and I looked around.

  Sartine stepped beside me and waited.

  Sunken into the floor to the left was a large pool of steaming water. There were Six women soaking in water to their necks, and I recognized four of them from our trip. One was Belain, the woman who I had literally kicked out of my house. I did not know the names of the others.

  I leaned over to Sartine. "I have a problem for you to solve, Vendart." I knew using her title would please her. "I am a poor diplomat."

  "I would not say so, but go on."

  "I spent three weeks in the company of several women occupying the tub, but I learned only the name of one of them. I have no excuse for my lapse. I didn't even learn the names of your aunts and uncles. But if you perform introductions now, it will only serve to highlight my inadequacy, and I feel sufficiently vulnerable already."

  "Trust me," she said. And I did.

  "Thank you. Now what do we do?"

  She gestured right. There were stone benches. "I will give you a choice. Do you wish to let me bath you, or do you wish me to show you?"

  "I should know how."

  "I can show you another time," she said. "Which would you most enjoy?"

  "You want to fondle my body."

  "Of course I do. But would it feel nice? Or perhaps you would like me to pay the girl to bathe you?"

  "Nalatine?"

  "Nalatine's sister, or perhaps one of her cousins. I did not see who was working today."

  "I would like you to show me, but I will allow fondling of my shoulders and arms when we soak."

  She laughed. "You mean you hope for a massage."

  "Isn't that what I said?"

  She led me to the right. Along the wall was a sink. There were wooden buckets, ladles, brushes, and soap. "We bathe first, then soak," she said. "That way, the soaking water stays clean." I nodded. It was no different than showering before going into a swimming pool. She collected two buckets, setting them in the sink, and there was a faucet. I was somewhat surprised when she was able to fill both buckets with steaming water.

  "How?"

  "There is a large boiler outside this room," she said. "The men's area is on the other side. There is a large fire under the boiler."

  "That must take so much wood."

  "They do not burn wood, but I do not believe you are ready to know what they might burn instead."

  At that, I figured it out, but I kept my mouth closed.

  She gestured, and I picked up one of the buckets. She used a third bucket for soap, brushes, and a ladle, and we carried our three buckets to the stone benches. "When you are very dirty, you may need more than one bucket, but it is good not to waste the hot water." She had me sit, and then she ladled hot water over me.

  In spite of wanting to do it myself, she helped bathe me, washing most of my body for me, leaving only the more intimate places for myself. I closed my eyes and let her do what she wanted. At the end, she rinsed me carefully.

  Then she sat down on the bench beside me and proceeded to bathe herself, not waiting to see if I would offer. I opened my eyes and glanced at her. She was watching me.

  "If we take too long, you would grow chilled, now that you are damp," she said. "This is faster."

  I was impressed by her foresight and kindness.

  She bathed quickly, rinsed, and then we both stood. She sluiced the last of the soap from her body, and I did myself, but then she stepped behind me and did my back, then I did hers.

  "I would wash my hair," I said "It is in desperate need."

  "That we do differently," she said. "Come."

  "What about-"

  "Leave it. The girl will take care of it."

  She led me to the tub. As we approached, the women all turned to watch us. I was self-conscious about it, but not horribly so, and a moment later we descended the steps into the tub.

  There was a bench along the exterior, and Sartine pulled me to one side, nudging over some of the women to make room for us, and we sunk down into the water.

  I moaned in pleasure.

  "I'm not leaving until tomorrow," I said. The women chuckled.

  No one said anything for a while, but finally one of the women asked, "Are you really from another world? Is it near Earth?"

  "I am," I said. "And no, it's not. It is nearly as far from Earth as Talmon is."

  "Have you been there?" Another asked. "Earth?"

  "No," I said. "I have been many places, but no one goes to Earth." I opened my eyes. "This is not a good story, the story of Earth. If you have images of a utopia, you should not ask me."

  "We would know the truth," Sartine said. "Will you tell us?"

  "Briefly now, and more another time," I said. "After this, I only want happy questions. Do you mind, Vendart?"

  "No, my prize. I do not." She paused. "Cecilia speaks our language, but you must all speak slowly, as you hear me speak, or she will not understand." They all nodded, and then they were each very careful, most of them speaking as if you might to the deaf or a young child. I didn't mind. At least I could understand them."

  "I do not know how much you all know. You know about planets and stars."

  "Yes," said one of the women. "We know it was centuries ago that our forefathers climbed aboard great, shining ships, and left Earth to come here. It was a very long journey."

  "Years," I said. "It took them years, perhaps nearly twenty years in the dark of space."

  "Did it take you twenty years to reach us now? You are not old enough for it to take twenty years, but maybe you were born on the ship that brought you."

  "No. The ships are much faster now. It took two months. But we were talking about Earth. Our forefathers left Earth partly for the adventure of exploration, but also because Earth was in trouble, deep trouble."

  "They polluted their world."

  "Yes," I said. "That pollution still lingers. There are portions of Earth where nothing lives, and nothing will for a very, very long time. They consumed the resources and killed so much of the planet. Every bad thing they worried about came to pass. And it has not improved in the intervening centuries."

  I looked at Sartine. "No one goes to Earth. No one would want to. There is nowhere on Talmon that is as bad as the best places on Earth." I paused and looked around. "I am sorry. It is not a good story."

  "It is a true story," Sartine said. "We do not blame you for the faults of others."

  I closed my eyes and leaned lightly against her shoulder. Under the water, I sought her hand, and we clasped.

  "This is playing hard to get?" she asked. She used the English phrase, so only she and I would understand.

  "No, it is not," I said. "My hurts are not all physical."

  If the women responded to my words or even understood what we meant, they didn't comment.

  "Before any of you ask more questions," Sartine said, "My galatzi prize has needs. I will tell you this, and I say it in front of her, although she may be embarrassed by it. She has given up much when I took her, and while I thought she understood and welcomed being taken, it turns out I was mistaken. It has been a difficult trip. She is still a little scared, as she does not know how I will treat her, and she is very, very far from everything she knows, including comforts we cannot even imagine. She is scared and feels she is alone, and she feels vulnerable besides. I expect this village to treat her very gently, and that begins first with me and then with the six of you."

  I did not expect her to be so blunt about all of it.

  And yes, I was embarrassed about it. But she knew these people, and I did not, and so I said nothing.

  I sighed, and then I said, "I must add one more thing to what the vendart has said. Your words are unfamiliar to me, and you speak with an accent that is not the accent I learned in Sudden. I must concentrate to understand, even when you speak carefully, and I will not understand at all if you speak quickly
or without care. When my head begins to hurt from listening too intently, then I will stop listening and let your words flow around me. I am not being rude, but I can only listen so long. When I am tired, it may be I will only understand the simplest of things, and this will be true at least for a while longer, perhaps a long while."

  "We do not blame Cecilia for having these limits," Sartine said. "Instead, we should be pleased to have her among us."

  The women said nothing. I finally opened my eyes, and their expressions were mixed, but I saw no malice.

  "I will say something else," Sartine said. "We are learning one name, and while it may be a very unusual name to us, all of our names are unusual to Cecilia. She is learning a great many names, and she will not remember all of them the first time she hears them. And so, for the next several months at least, whenever you meet her, you will remind her of your names, unless she has already greeted you by name, and you will not grow upset if it takes her time to remember everyone."

  "Of course, Vendart," one of the women said. "Cecilia, my name is Halarain." I opened my eyes. "I imagine I look different in another setting, and I shall not be offended if you do not remember me." By her name, I knew she was a second daughter.

  I smiled. "I am pleased to meet you, Halarain. Perhaps you can tell me something else to remember about you, something that maybe is not true about anyone else in Indartha."

  "Oh ho," she said. "I like your galatzi prize, Vendart."

  "So do I," Sartine said.

  "Everyone else knows this," Halarain said. "I once almost drowned to death."

  "Oh no!" I said. "What happened?"

  "I was seven years old. It was the beginning of winter. Do you know about winter?"

  "I do not know everything about winter, especially winter in Indartha, but yes, I know about winter."

  "The lake was frozen, although it was early, and it wasn't safe to walk upon the ice."

  "Oh, I see the story already."

  "Yes," she said. "I was seven and thought I knew better. I was not far from shore, but it was farther than I realized. Steps upon a frozen lake are far easier than steps along a lake bottom, and so I was standing over water that was much deeper than I expected. The ice broke, and in I went." She paused. "It was the vendart's mother who saved me, or I would surely have died. She almost died saving me. She went out onto the ice after me, crawling on her stomach the way you should when the ice is thin, and she reached my hole. She had a hold of me, but then when she tried to pull me from the water, the ice under her broke. But then she was able to break more and more of the ice, dragging me to safety. And when we reached shore, there were many hands waiting, and they rushed both of us here. They carried us both here and threw us into the hot water, still wearing our clothing."