Diplomat

by Robin Roseau

  “To make sure they did a good job?” asked Vance Sellaite.

  “No, Mr. Sellaite,” I said. “They did an excellent job. We’re using this bridge as an example of what is possible. Mr. Sellaite, I wish you to oversee the inspection beginning on this end. Take your time. Make notes of anything that you believe requires my attention. You will probably find a few things, but I anticipate a short list. Ms. Lazuli and Ms. Kunzite, have either of you been across the border?”

  “No, Ms. Cuprite,” they each said.

  “I would like you to accompany me while we see how much permission we may receive. I do not wish to cause an international incident.”

  “Of course, Ms. Cuprite.”

  “Mr. Sellaite, I might have done this slightly differently if it were any other border.”

  “I’m happy to stick to this end of the bridge,” he said with a laugh, echoed by some of the crew. He was a good man.

  The three of us walked. It was a beautiful day, the sort of day that helped to make my job wonderful. I pointed that out then asked, “How do the two of you feel being on my team?”

  “I love it,” said Ms. Lazuli immediately. “You give me opportunities I’ve never had before.”

  “I’m learning so much,” added Ms. Kunzite. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said. “There are three basic types who make it to a crew like ours.”

  “Ma’am?” prompted Ms. Kunzite.

  “There are people like the two of you and Mr. Sellaite,” I said. “People hungry for knowledge, ready to absorb as much as they can.”

  “Thank you!” they both said.

  “Then there are good workers, the sort that form the core of the crew. We couldn’t accomplish what we do without them.”

  “We work hard, ma’am,” Ms. Lazuli said immediately.

  “Yes, you do,” I said. “But of our entire crew, there are four of us who understand the math of what we’re doing, if you understand what I’m saying.”

  “Oh. Yes, ma’am. What’s the third group?”

  “The ones I fire.”

  They both laughed, although I was being serious.

  We reached the center of the bridge. Ahead of us, I saw the guardhouse with two guards watching us. I brought us to a stop but waved. “I actually don’t know if we can just keep going. This is the border.” The guards waved back. Using gestures, I tried to ask permission to finish crossing. They offered, “Sure” in response.

  We finished the walk, coming to a stop before the little gate. “Good morning,” I offered.

  “Welcome to Ressaline,” said one of the guards.

  “I am Allium Cuprite,” I said. “I work for our ministry of transportation.”

  “We remember you from last year,” said the other guard. “You inspected the bridge.”

  “I did, and then last fall, I spent two months in Charth.”

  “Did you,” said the first in a knowing tone. “Are you here looking for something a little more, hmm. Challenging?”

  I laughed. “Not today. My crew is going to be working on some of the smaller bridges in the region. This is the only one that spans our border, but your crew did such an excellent restoration, I want to use it as an example of what is possible.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Well, that’s good.”

  I gestured to my companions and provided introductions. “I have two other women, but the rest of my crew are men. I would prefer to show as many as I can the entire bridge. I don’t know what is allowed. If you ask us to remain on our half, I completely understand.”

  The two exchanged a look. The second turned to me. “Ms. Cuprite, you, of course, are free to enter Ressaline as you desire.”

  “Thank you.”

  “The women on your team,” she said. She paused. “Do they need to see the footings on this end?”

  “Not if it’s a problem for you.”

  “But you said the entire bridge,” she pointed out. She nodded at something. “The women are free to review the entire bridge. As they approach this point, they must be under escort.” She adjusted her gaze and offered an appraising look. “If you are found wandering unescorted, you will be arrested.”

  “We won’t,” Ms. Lazuli said immediately. “You’d give us back, wouldn’t you?”

  “Eventually,” said the guard.

  “Two of the other women are 19,” I said. “The rest are over 21.”

  “Then you understand what ‘eventually’ means.”

  “I believe I do.” I paused. “You know what idiots men can be.”

  “Actually, Ms. Cuprite,” she replied. “I have very little first-hand experience, but I’ll take your word for it.”

  Everyone laughed, and three of us nodded. “What happens if some of my men foolishly decide to go for a walkabout?”

  “And are caught on the wrong side of the river? If we have convincing evidence it was accidental, such as due to a boat capsizing, they receive a slap on the wrist and find themselves returned across the river.”

  “Very humane,” I said. “And if it’s on a dare?”

  “Ma’am,” she said. “No one wants to upset you.”

  “Me, personally?”

  “Any Flarvorians with free permission to travel inside Ressaline,” she said. “The list is short.”

  “What happens?”

  “We sell them.”

  “As slaves?” Ms. Lazuli asked with a gasp. “I thought you had no men.”

  “Yes, as slaves. And there are markets. We are more understanding in those areas where the border is not as obvious, but no one can mistake the border here. And we’re slightly forgiving if it’s a young man fishing from the wrong side of the river. That happens. On the first offense, we confiscate his fishing gear and hand him across the river. On the second offense, we do so in a fashion that leaves him quite subdued. There is no fourth offense. Ma’am, do you anticipate a problem?”

  “No. I wanted Ms. Lazuli and Ms. Kunzite to hear you explain,” I said.

  Ms. Lazuli rubbed her hands. “Now I know what dares to give one or two.”

  “Ms. Lazuli,” said the guard with a sigh.

  “Kidding,” she said. “I’m kidding.”

  “I hope so,” she said.

  “If Ms. Lazuli’s sense of humor doesn’t change permission to view the entire bridge,” I interceded. “I believe that’s everything I wanted to discuss.”

  “Would you linger a moment, Ms. Cuprite?”

  “Of course.” I turned to my employees. “Retreat out of hearing distance. I’ll be with you shortly.”

  “Of course.” Three of us watched the two as they turned back across the bridge, and then they each pointed out some of the features of the bridge. Once they were sufficiently far, I turned back to the guards. “What can I do for you?”

  “I am Corporal Nissault,” she said. “This is Pandary.”

  “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Do you feel as if you’ve recovered from your first?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I miss her, and I miss my other friends from Ressaline, but otherwise I’m fully myself.”

  “Good,” she said. “You understand that as a Flarvorian, you are not obligated to accept challenges.”

  “I thought no one was obligated,” I replied.

  “It’s a little more complicated than that, but you are largely correct. I only wanted to be assured you understood there is no obligation.”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  “Is there desire?”

  I stared for a moment. “Did you just make an offer? I’m in charge of a work crew. I can’t neglect my duties.”

  “The period can be very short,” she explained. “The shortest I’ve played is two hours. Until morning is quite common, and probably more common than until morning without a challenge.”

  I laughed. “Really?”

  “That’s been my experience,” she said. “I suppose I shouldn’t speak for all of Ressaline.”

  “I was prett
y worthless for a couple of weeks,” I pointed out.

  “That’s what happens after you do one for two months,” said Corporal Pandary. “Recovery after something short is almost nothing at all. Would this be your first challenge?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then either you should only accept for two hours, and stay here overnight anyway. We would take care of you, but you would be back to yourself by morning. Or you can accept until morning, but only if you don’t need to command your crew the next day. We’d take care of you, and you should be safe by lunch, but we can keep you through dinner if needed.”

  “That’s not necessary once you’ve done it a while,” added Corporal Nissault. “I’m a little needy until I’ve slept, or for an hour or two in the morning after she lets me go, but that’s all.”

  I considered both of them. “Are you both offering?”

  They grinned, and Pandary said, “There aren’t a lot of opportunities here.”

  “I tell you what,” I said. “We’re going to be based here.” I gave them the name of the inn. “What are the rules for sending messages?”

  “No men past the border.” She gestured up the bridge. “And no women, excepting yourself, of course, past this gate, unless she’s volunteering for a new experience.”

  “So I could make an invitation to dinner. Are you allowed to cross the bridge?”

  “Yes. The local businesses seem quite pleased to accept our money. We mostly stay to this side, but we like the town.”

  “All right. I need to see how the crew settles in here, but I find it likely I’ll be making offers to dinner.”

  “We can’t do anything on that side of the bridge, Ms. Cuprite.”

  “No, but you can invite me back to this side, and if I accept, I’ll also expect a challenge offer.”

  They grinned again. “Sounds good to me.”

  I nodded. “Thank you, Corporals.”

  We clasped hands for a moment, and then I turned and walked back to Ms. Lazuli and Ms. Kunzite, waiting perhaps a quarter of the way across the bridge. “Problem?” Ms. Lazuli asked.

  “Personal,” I said. “She asked me on a date.”

  “Seriously? She’s a woman.”

  “And I’m a woman. On that side of the river, they’re all women.”

  “You told her no, of course.”

  “No, I didn’t,” I replied.

  “But she’s a woman.”

  “If she was a man, how would you feel?”

  “Then it’s different.”

  “If I were a man, and she were a woman, how would you feel?”

  “That’s different, too.”

  “So you can understand why someone might want a date with a woman?”

  “Of course,” she said. “If he’s a man.”

  “Why does it make sense for a man to want to date a woman, but it doesn’t make sense for a woman to want to date a woman?”

  She stared at me then said, “You’re teasing me, right?”

  “Not intentionally.” I switched my gaze. “Ms. Kunzite, are you offended by the fact the corporal asked me on a date?”

  “No.” She grinned. “Does she have a friend?”

  I laughed. “There were two of them,” I said. “Although you won’t be able to let her take you home.”

  “That’s fine.” She offered a little laugh then gave Ms. Lazuli a nudge. “Lighten up, Ressie. You should try it. You might like it.”

  Ms. Lazuli looked back and forth between us. “You two are serious.”

  “I am,” I said. “Wesla?” I didn’t normally use first names with my crew, but this had become a personal conversation.

  “Yeah, totally serious.”

  We both turned back to Ms. Lazuli. “I’m certainly not interested in getting involved in your dating life. I would prefer if there was as little drama as possible with mine. Do we have a problem?”

  “No, Ms. Cuprite,” she replied. “No problem. But you’re really going to go out with one of them?”

  “Why is that so difficult to believe?” I asked. “They were polite. I think they look dashing in their leather. Don’t you?”

  “I think they look a little intimidating.”

  “Okay, fair enough. I was pretty intimidated when I was here last year, inspecting this very bridge. Clearly, I can’t vouch for everyone north of the border, but I trust everyone I got to know. Just remember: you may not proceed past the gate.” I hooked a finger. “No drama.”

  “No drama,” they echoed.

  “Perfect. We have our permission and recognize our limits. Let’s head back and form crews. I want to spend a day or two here, then we’ll go do our jobs.”

  * * * *

  Rightfully so, the entire crew was impressed with the work. A few times I had to address the basic question, “Why are we here?” and there may have been a few dismissive looks addressed to the women to our north, but I combated that by getting someone else to comment on the quality of this repair or that one.

  When we were done, I gathered everyone together. “Clearly, this bridge is not new, and the restoration didn’t involve rebuilding the entire bridge. But it is good work, and I wanted everyone to see it. I expect us to do no worse. I hope you’re all on board with that goal.”

  As a road and bridge crew for Flarvor, our work never really ended. It was an ongoing battle against time and water. The wealth and well-being of the country was tied to our ability to readily transport goods and people from one end of the country to the other, and that required reliable roads and safe bridges. We began by traveling west, a road that paralleled the border. Ten years ago, this road rarely saw use, but as travel through Ressaline had become more restrictive, people either traveled through Flarvor or along the Verlies river. The problem with the river was simple: it wasn’t fully navigable. For most of the year, it ran slowly enough that barges could move both up and down river. But approximately twelve miles east of Tebradine there is a two mile rapids ending at a wide waterfall. Along its length, before eventually joining with the East Ressa River, far downstream, there were a total of twelve distinct unnavigable stretches. And so, the river could be used for local traffic, but it was impractical for use for major transportation.

  And so the road we were on had become important, but when it was built, it was barely suitable for dogcarts. That had changed, but the work we did was important.

  We repaired a washout. We built a few culverts that were needed. We inspected a wood bridge spanning a stream, and I asked my crew for their comments.

  “It will need paint in a year or two,” summarized Ms. Lazuli. “And there’s rot in the decking at the west end.”

  “Have you identified the cause of the rot?” I already knew the cause. I’d suspected the rot even before we reached the bridge, but of course, I would have had to inspect to be sure.

  “No, Ms. Cuprite.”

  “No one?” I asked. I paused. “All right. We’ll come back to that in a moment. Recommendations?”

  “The rot isn’t bad. We can repair it when we paint next year.”

  No one contradicted her. “That’s one plan, and it’s perfectly fine. It’s not what I want us to do. We’re going to paint now. Keeping up with paint protects the wood, and this bridge will last longer before it requires more significant work. We’ll repair the rot while we’re here, but if we don’t identify the cause, we’ll be repairing that decking every several years. I’d rather not.” I pointed. “Who knows what sort of tree that is?”

  They all turned. We were between seasons when it would be easily identified, especially from this distance. A month ago, the tree would have been fully flowered. In another month or so, the fruit would be far more evident from this distance, and a month after that, bright yellow besides.

  “That’s a goldenplum,” said one of the men.

  “Yes, it is. Who knows what you can distill from goldenplum pits.”

  “Solvent,” said the same man. “My grandfather makes some every autumn.”
/>   “Very good, Mr. Thinaksite. I presume everyone has had goldenplum.” Of course, they had. “Has anyone noticed who else likes goldenplums?”

  “Horses,” said Mr. Thinaksite.

  “Just about every fruit eating animal likes goldenplums. Has anyone watched how green tufts prefer to eat?” Green tufts were a moderately-sized ground animal, although they were quite capable climbers. Several of the crew made motions, holding their hands up as if they were cradling something and nibbling from it.

  “Yes,” I said. “But first, they find somewhere safe.”

  “They like to stand on a fence post,” said Ms. Lazuli.

  “Yes, Ms. Lazuli, they do,” I agreed. “What is important for this lesson is that they also would happily rest on the railing of a bridge. They get a good view of approaching predators and multiple paths of escape. And what happens to the goldenplum pits when they’re done eating?”

  “They fall on the bridge,” said Ms. Lazuli.

  “Where they rot, and some of Mr. Thinaksite’s solvent leaches out.”

  “Stripping the paint and rotting the wood,” said Ms. Kunzite.

  “Exactly. Now, after all that, I could be wrong. Those boards could have been poorly painted, perhaps by someone who didn’t pay attention to his work, and that may be why they rotted. But there are very inexpensive things we can do in case I’m right. Anyone?’

  “Give the green tufts somewhere else to sit.”

  “Very good, Mr. Thinaksite.”

  “My grandfather does that,” he said. “As a kid, I had to go along from fence post to fence post, cleaning out the pits the greenies dropped around the posts. Ma’am, is that what we’re going to do?”

  “I think it could help protect the bridge. What do you think?”

  “We haven’t seen any greenies here,” he said. “But they’re everywhere. I think you could be right, ma’am.” He paused. “Ms. Cuprite, could we have a little fun with them?”

  “I presume you mean the new perches, and not the green tufts.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Are you proposing anything that might shock my tender sensibilities?”

  Several people laughed, but he just said, “No, ma’am. Maybe just make the perches different. Do you know what I mean?”