by Robin Roseau
"They can do that?"
"Oh yes," I said. "You would be surprised." I didn't mention my own eyes.
We talked a little longer. Finally I asked, "Do you feel better about this?"
"Is this what being in The Empire means? Did I ruin this for all of the Talmonese?"
"Nearly," I said. "While I was gagged and helpless, I vowed to myself that when the marines came to rescue me, that I would leave the planet, and they would assign someone else. And I knew that person would not care for the Talmonese the way I do."
She hung her head. "I was so stupid."
"Yes, you were. But that isn't what is going to happen now. You are going to court me, and woo me, and eventually I will call you what you want me to call you. Isn't that what is going to happen."
"It is?"
"Isn't that what you want?"
"Yes," she whispered. "Please let me kiss you."
"Nope. Not until I call you 'vendart' again."
"Maybe I will withhold things you want until you offer kisses to pay for it."
"Don't play that game with me, Sartine. It will backfire now. It was cute and amusing during the trip, but too much has happened since. When I call you 'vendart', that is when you may next begin to kiss me. And I do not mean when I say, 'the vendart'. You will know the difference."
She nodded. "I understand."
"Good. Now, hug me. We both need a hug."
And so she did, and we said nothing for a while.
"Was there more you wanted to discuss in private?"
"Probably, but not tonight. I want to share you for a while, and show you off."
I laughed.
* * * *
It was a lovely evening, although she grew weary far too early for my tastes, and I found myself alone in my room before I was ready to sleep.
Still, it had ended as a good day after such a poor beginning.
* * * *
The next day, she began showing me more of the town. During the day, we would visit this business or that home, and I learned a great deal of how the town operated.
She bought skis for me, and I demonstrated my competence. I was not as good as any of them were, but I was adequate. And so two days later, we took an expedition, using both snowshoes and skis, and we climbed a ridge over the valley.
It was beautiful, and I could see for miles.
At the top, I asked if I could sit for a few minutes, facing south. I asked Minerva to establish a satellite link, but after a minute she reported no signal.
We were perhaps too far, or perhaps it was something in the mountains that ruined the signal.
I didn't try again that winter, and so I was cut off from the outside world.
I would find out later, much later, that the satellite had been offline for a day, and if I had picked another day, it would have worked.
But I brought my tablet with me, now with a full charge, and I took pictures and videos, then showed them to Sartine. She laughed to see herself.
But it was on the way back to the village that I demonstrated a skiing ability she didn't have. She led the way down the hill, and she took a conservative route. I watched her, then I did it my way, swishing in long, clean swoops back and forth to control my speed down the mountain.
I passed Sartain, laughing with joy. A few seconds later, she cried out. "What are you doing? How are you doing that?" I did a few more turns before I came to a stop. She caught up to me. "How are you doing that?"
So I taught her, and then we took turns leading the way back down the mountain.
But she fell, and I skied up to her, then as she sat up, I started a snowball fight.
It didn't end until she finally managed to tackle me, both of us tangled in our skis, but she climbed on top of my while I giggled too hard to fight her off. She poured snow down my back and demanded I call her 'vendart'.
But I caught her in my arms and held her tightly. "You can't demand that, Sartine, but if you pick something else, I'll say it."
"At least... tell me you're mine."
"I am your galatzi prisoner, Sartine. And your friend."
And that was a good start, too.
* * * *
She took me further, and she showed me wonders, but they were not the sort of wonders The Empire coveted. But we camped out overnight, and she taught me how to make a house in the snow, and to stay warm enough to survive, if not quite comfortable.
The mountains were beautiful, and over the next two months, I saw four different places I would put a ski area. But no one was going to come so far to go skiing. If they were here, they would come, but they wouldn't travel the stars to ski.
She took me hunting, but I couldn't bring myself to help kill the creatures. She showed me quint fur. Quint were modest animals, smaller than a dog, with thick winter fur, and beautiful. I did not question the need to take them, and they made for good eating, besides. There were people who would pay for the fur, but they could not find so many quint as to be worthy of imperial attention.
She showed me a cave, and when we grew deeper, she turned up a lamp, holding it over her head. The walls glittered, they positively glittered.
Her lamp could only do so much, and to her eyes, it was beautiful. But I used my eyes, and I realized the entire cave was lined with diamonds, so many diamonds I couldn't imagine.
She was watching me carefully. "I told you we had wonders," she said.
And the cave was a wonder, but diamonds are only compressed carbon. And these diamonds would have value for their novelty.
But The Empire could make diamonds, and the energy involved was far, far less than what it took to send a ship across the stars.
And so I told her, "Do not ever allow anyone to take these diamonds. They are more valuable where they are than if you remove them. Leave this wonder as a wonder, and someday you will be able to make people pay to visit this cave."
"But your empire is not interested."
"No, Sartine. My empire is not interested."
* * * *
We talked for hours, every day we talked for hours. And if she locked me in my room at night, or when she had other duties, I resented it, but not as badly as I once would have.
She presented me with more clothing and other gifts. The winter solstice arrived, and she hosted a party for thirty or so of us villagers. There was dancing, and I found myself in her arms more than once. But I also danced with many, many people.
It was a joyous time.
* * * *
I didn't get to know all the villagers, not in a few months, but I grew to know quite a few of them, some more than others. When we would walk through the village or visit the inn, we were both greeted warmly. They would greet her with, "Hello, Sartine" or "Good evening, Vendart." And I would receive my own greeting, my name sounding strange in the accent, but I grew accustomed to and even comfortable with that.
My Talmonese continued to improve. I knew it would take years before I would be able to understand normal speech, and everyone knew to speak carefully to me if I was to understand. But it took less and less concentration to understand. And so my visit to Indartha accomplished that, as well.
Not speaking English to anyone at all made such a difference, after all.
I began to allow her caresses again, and as soon as I did, it as as if there was an open floodgate, and she became generous with her touches.
But we did not start kissing.
I was waiting for something before I would allow that, and I wasn't sure what it was.
Nor did I address her as 'Vendart', although I referred to her as 'the vendart' from time to time.
And I accepted her leadership. If it was something related to her official duties, I always accepted her orders; to do anything else would be insubordination. But away from her duties, if her orders were gentle, I accepted them, and I saw it pleased her that I did.
But if she barked an order, or acted as if it were her due that I obey, then I dug my heels in, typically demanding I be retu
rned to my room if that's how she intended to treat me.
I remained her galatzi prisoner.
As for my imperial duties, well, I got to know a group of people I would not otherwise have gotten to know. And I learned about life in a segment of Talmon I might not otherwise have experienced. If I didn't find some wonders I could use to wow The Empire while doing all of this, it wasn't through lack of trying by other of us.
And then, disaster struck, but it could have been so much worse.
Vendart
It was a pleasant evening at the inn, although a cold night to be outside. There was a game in progress, although Sartine and I sat along the side, watching the antics and laughing.
Life in Indartha was difficult, but when night arrived, the Indarthans knew how to have fun.
But then someone looked out the window.
"Fire!"
The room instantly grew still.
"Fire! Fire at the stables!"
Sartine sprang into action even before anyone else. She began issuing orders, far faster than I could follow, but from the resulting actions, I could see that she took what could have been chaos and caused order. People ran from the inn, but they did so in order, not crowding the doorway.
And she didn't neglect the dangers of emptying the inn completely. She ordered the two barmaids to bank every fire in the building and check every room. "And don't forget the kitchen."
And then she was out the door with me on her heels. I hurried to keep up with her, but she turned to me. "You go home!"
"I can help!"
"You don't know how, and I can't watch you."
"I can help!"
It took her one breath to decide. "Hilopid!" she screamed, and her brother came running. She spoke rapidly to him, and the only word I understood was my own name, but then she said slowly, "Do what he says." And then she was gone.
He didn't try to explain. He grabbed my arm, and together, we ran.
We ran to the baths, and in the doorway, he stopped me. "Go to the women's side. Grab every bucket you can. Bring them to the park near the water. Bring them all, five trips, ten if you must. Go!" He said it carefully enough I understood. And so he went one way, and I went the other. I collected as many buckets as I could run with at once, and I stepped back outside just a second or two behind him.
I was faster than he was, even in the snow, but for the first trip, I followed him. He carried the buckets to the steps of the gazebo and dropped them there, and then we both ran back. For the next trip, I was faster, and the third trip, faster still. And soon we had every bucket from the baths in a pile.
I saw Sartine at the edge of the lake, calling out to the men. They were chopping through the ice. I didn't know why they didn't use pumps, but it wasn't the time to ask. They were going to use lake water.
Hilopid grabbed me, pulling my arm, and we went to the smithy. The smith's middle son was handing out tools. He handed some sort of pick to Hilopid then hefted a long, metal pole with a sharp end. I could tell he thought it was too heavy for me.
"I'm stronger than I look." I grabbed it from him, and then Hilopid and I were running to the lake.
He stopped me at the edge. "Do not fall in. Stand on safe ice, outside the hole, not inside. Watch where you strike, but also watch where others strike. Don't get hit."
And then I followed him.
Sartine was still there, directing us. She shoved Hilopid in one direction and me in another, pointing. I began digging at the ice, and then she was gone.
We made a hole, a big hole. Then Meorid was there. He handed me his axe and pushed me away, taking the pole from me, and he used it to push on the ice in the center of the hole, somehow shoving it further out of the way. Others smashed at it with their tools, breaking it into smaller pieces.
And then Hilopid was beside me. "Take the tools to the gazebo then find me!" He shoved his pick into my hands, and I ran.
In the distance, now highlighted against the flames, I saw Sartine, issuing orders. Then she rushed forth and caught a horse before handing it into waiting hands.
I ran back and forth, collecting the tools, leaving them where they would be expected, but not where someone would trip.
By the time I was done, the bucket brigade was forming. I found Hilopid near the shore of the lake, only three people from the water's edge. I took my place next to him, but a moment later, Sartine was there. She grabbed me and turned me to her. "Your boots are better than ours, but if you get wet, you can freeze to death. Be smart." And then she pushed me towards the lake, and I took my place with my feet just inside the cold water. Someone thrust a bucket to me, and I had it filled and handed to the beginning of the bucket brigade, already reaching for the next bucket.
I don't know how many buckets I filled, standing there with frigid water pressing against my boots. Sartine was there again. She pulled me away, and someone stepped into my place. "Let me see your hands."
I was wearing gloves, now sodden wet. She pulled them from me. "Do you feel your fingers?"
"I'm fine."
But she took my hands and shoved them inside her her coat, up underneath her arms. It had to be cold, but she didn't flinch.
"Wriggle them, one finger at a time. Try to tickle me, one finger at a time."
And I did.
"Are your feet wet?"
"No."
She hollered, and someone ran over, handing her gloves. She pulled them onto my hands then pushed me back to the water. "Don't fall in." I took my place again, filling bucket after bucket.
Twice more she came by, checking my fingers. And not just mine, but anyone whose hands could get wet.
"Are you tired?"
"No. Don't ask again," I told her.
She sent me back.
She went up and down the line, adjusting where people were standing, adding more villagers to the line when they appeared to help. I barely noticed.
Ten minutes later, she was back, checking me, putting new gloves on my hands. I didn't know why; they would just get wet.
"Will we save the stables?"
"No. We are fighting for the entire town."
"The horses?"
"Singed. Go."
She drove us. She drove us hard. If someone lagged, she pulled him from the line, spoke to him quickly, then judged his reaction before putting him back. Every time, he demanded to go back.
She was here. She was there. When a secondary fire started, she had it out in minutes.
I don't know how long we fought the fire. My job centered on my simple task. Take a bucket, plunge it into the lake, hand it up. Over and over and over.
Others kept the ice away from me as I stood in the water, at one point breaking the ice as it formed around my feet. I didn't flinch. I continued to fill buckets.
Over everything, over it all, there was Sartine, yelling encouragement, making adjustments, striving to improve our efficiency. A few times she pulled me away to take a break, but after a minute or two, she shoved me back. "You're faster."
It probably helped that I could see better than any of them, and while the rest of me became quite wet, my feet at least were dry.
But then Sartine came to me, and when I reached for a bucket, there was no bucket held to me.
But the emergency wasn't entirely over. She started with me, pulling me from the lake herself. "Look at me!"
I looked at her, barely focusing.
"She's not shivering!" she called out. Then she issued more orders. Kilarn took over, checking those from the bucket brigade. Meorid ran to me and scooped me up in his arms and began to hurry for the bath house, two more men steadying him on the now ice-slicked pathway. Sartine hurried along beside us.
"Put me down," I protested weakly. "I can walk."
She ignored me, but ahead of us, others ran to the bathhouse, and by the time we arrived, the entrance was lit with lamps -- very carefully tended lamps.
"Counter!" she said, and Meorid set me down.
"I'm fine!" I complaine
d.
"You're not," she said. And then she and one of the bath house girls -- I didn't see whom -- began pulling my sodden clothing from my body.
"Vendart! The men!"
"Shut up."
They stripped me, my clothes landing in a basket, and I saw Sartine's marker land on top. Then she began to check me herself.
"Her feet are dry," she said.
"Where did she get those boots?" Meorid said.
"Nervermind," Sartine said. She checked my hands and face. "I don't see any frostbite. There should be frostbite."
"I'm fine."
"Get her in the water."
Meorid picked me up, and again I protested.
"Vendart!"
"Shut up," she said again. She hurried ahead, but the bath house girl was faster, opening doors in front of us. Meorid carried me inside -- at least it was to the women's side. And I thought he was going to just dump me into the tub. But instead, Sartine said, "Slowly!" And so he dipped my feet first. When I didn't complain, slowly he let me slip from his arms into the water.
She grabbed the bathhouse girl. "Check her again. Check everywhere."
Then she was gone, although over the next half hour, I would see her again and again, never stopping.
The girl stripped out of her own clothes and practically jumped into the pool She turned to me immediately.
"What is your name?" she asked.
"Cecilia Grace," I said. "What is yours?"
"How many fingers am I holding up? How many now. Close your left eye. How many now? Close your right eye. Not funny! Open your left eye. How many fingers." She did test after test. Then she took my hands. "Close both eyes. Which finger am I touching? Now? Now?" She did the same with both feet, and had me wriggle my toes besides.
Sartine returned with another woman, and in she went into the tub.
"Sartine, how?" said the girl. "She's fine."
"Keep checking."
"Vendart! I know my health better than you can possibly imagine. There is no frostbite. There is no hypothermia. Let me help."
She stopped and looked into my eyes. As if she could tell anything from my eyes. I didn't laugh. But she made me trace the path of her finger, then clasp her hands with one hand, then the other.