Diplomat

by Robin Roseau

“Exactly,” Olivia replied.

  “And then her accent gives her away, although she could be a daughter of Charthan.”

  “True. Perhaps she makes that claim. Perhaps this is happening with some frequency, and we don’t recognize it. Allium, we’re not out patrolling, just hoping to find Flarvorians across the border. If we find someone, it’s largely by accident.”

  “At some point during the conversation, things may not quite make sense.”

  “The person who decides this may not have authority,” Jessla said. “But she knows how to summon authority. Perhaps the woman agrees to submit herself to someone in authority. Perhaps she doesn't. If the person has authority, she may take direct action.”

  “At some point, someone in a position of authority is involved.”

  “Yes,” Olivia confirmed. “If we know she’s from Flarvor, and she is well past the buffer zone, she is arrested.”

  “And pacified?”

  “Not necessarily. It depends on the situation and the person making the arrest. If the woman in question surrenders peacefully, and especially if she has been honest about who she is and what she is doing, she may be brought here without the tonic. If she’s been engaged in poor behavior, or if she has been or turns uncooperative, she is pacified.”

  “How does that work?” I asked.

  “Frankly, we hold her down and pour it down her throat,” Olivia said. “Understand that she’s already misbehaving, and we assume she won’t accept it willingly.”

  “All right,” I nodded.

  “And then, each day, she receives a fresh dose. This can be done more gently.”

  “As she’s become very docile.”

  “Exactly.”

  “She is brought here.”

  “Where we ascertain the truth,” Jessla said.

  “You?”

  “Yes, assuming I am available.”

  “I am also present,” Olivia said. “And now, you will be as well.”

  “What are you going to do if I’m indisposed.”

  Everyone smiled at that. “We’ll resolve that first, which probably means freeing you early.”

  “So she might be held for a day or two, but probably not longer.”

  “Correct,” Jessla said. “We ask questions. She answers. And then I pass judgement.”

  “She will undergo her first, per our fresh agreement. Two months, or shorter if she is young.”

  “Or returned across the border with a figurative spank to her backside,” Jessla said. “If she’s younger than sixteen.”

  “Explain that,” I demanded.

  “Only a talking to,” Jessla said.

  “All right,” I said. “If she was honest and cooperative, what happens?”

  “We question her first without the tonic,” Jessla said. “If we don’t believe her, we give her the tonic and try again. If her story does not match the story of the people who bring her here, we question them the same way.”

  “There’s room for abuse.”

  “Oh?”

  “The person who reports her may not be the person who brings her here.”

  “True. If while pacified she insists she wasn’t in violation of our agreements, we return her home, no worse for wear. If there is evidence she was tricked or worse, she returns with compensation. Frankly, we do not believe that will ever happen. It’s too easy for us to determine the truth.”

  “You’d simply believe her denials.”

  “Yes,” Jessla said. “We would.”

  “Wow.” I paused. “All right. I think we might come back to this. The men.”

  “The men,” she echoed. “Right. With men it’s a different story. Any men found on our side of the border are arrested. If it appears they are here unwittingly, and it is a first offense, they are kindly returned across the border.”

  “It ramps up.”

  “Right. But we’re here for more extreme cases.”

  “Right,” I agreed. “So he’s caught doing something I don’t want to know about. What if it’s a woman doing things like that?”

  “Arrested, pacified, and brought before me. She’ll confess, and she’s treated like any other criminal, although we keep her.”

  “Forever.”

  “If the crime is sufficiently serious, yes.”

  “So the men all arrive here pacified, and then you question them.”

  “Yes,” she said. “There are accusations. We may not require witnesses, but we can have them brought here if his answers don’t match the charges.”

  I nodded. “All right. How are we going to do this?” I gestured. “How are you going to motivate me to lie?”

  “You’re going to tell us,” Olivia said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Claary is going to share a secret with you,” Olivia explained. “Then we’re going to pacify you. Once it has taken hold, we’re going to ask you what we should do to you if you give us Claary’s secret.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “And then we’re going to ask you what Claary told you. You’ll tell us. Then we’ll take care of you while the tonic wears off. Once you’ve recovered, we’re going to do to you whatever you told us we should.”

  I stared at her. “You are an evil woman.”

  She laughed but gestured to Jessla. “Her plan.”

  “Backing down?” Jessla asked. “We can do this without incentive.”

  “I think I need to see this through,” I said. “So you hand that to me, and I drink it?”

  “No,” Olivia said. “We’re going to treat you as if you are partially resistant. Unless you want to experience what happens if you are entirely resistant.”

  “I’m not sure I do.”

  “I wouldn’t,” Olivia said.

  “Knock my teeth out?”

  “Nothing so drastic. Typically, we would choke you out until you fall unconscious. Once we’re sure you’re breathing all right, then we pour it into your slack mouth.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” I said.

  “Questions?” she prompted.

  I dropped my gaze back to the tonic and stared at it. “No.” I steeled myself then looked up. “Now?”

  Olivia nodded. Claary stood and walked around the table. She bent over and whispered into my ear, cupping her hands to control the sound. “No one knows what I’m about to say. Olivia told me to tell you a secret. Instead, when they question you, this is your secret. You’ll tell them with whom you would like a challenge and whether you’d rather win or lose. Understand?”

  I turned to look at her and nodded. I opened my mouth to say something, but she set fingers over my lips. “Don’t give them any hints.” And so I nodded again.

  Claary straightened, turned, and walked to the doors, inviting four of Olivia’s soldiers into the room. Major Bess was with them. I stared at them and slowly climbed to my feet. They moved to surround me, and I realized my heart was pounding. I looked into Bess’s eyes. “How many accept this without a struggle?”

  “If we have to pacify them,” Bess said, “struggling is likely.”

  “It’s too late to change your mind,” Olivia said. “We’re doing this, whether you want us to or not. Do it.”

  The soldiers grabbed me. I had intended to remain passive, but the moment I felt their hands, I began to panic a little, and yes, I struggled with them. But there were four of them, and they knew what they were doing. Two held my arms tightly, also weaving their legs with mine to pull me off balance, my legs spread. Another wrapped around me from behind, pulling me tightly against her with one arm around my chest and the other around my head, pulling my head backwards.

  I began panting, and then Bess was there with the tonic. Before I could react, she emptied it into my mouth and slammed her hand in place, blocking me from spitting it out.

  I swallowed reflexively. It tasted vile, and I didn’t like it anymore as it slid down my throat. Then, they simply held me like that.

  “There you go,” Bess said, her to
ne gentle. “It takes a minute or two. Not long.” But she kept her hand over my mouth, although I could breathe through my nose.

  I’m sure my eyes were a little wild.

  It didn’t take long. I was waiting for it, and I felt the magic begin to go to work. I calmed down, and then calmed down further. My eyelids drooped a little, and my body went limp.

  “There you go,” Bess said again. She lifted her hand and used two fingers to close my mouth for me. “There you go, Ms. Cuprite. That's a good girl. What is your name?”

  “Allium Cuprite,” I said. “I feel funny.”

  “I imagine you do,” she agreed. Then she began to ask me a series of questions. They were innocuous, but I had already decided I was going to lie. That decision went out the window. “How old are you? Where were you born?” They were simple questions, and there were no secrets. And then she declared, “She’s ready.”

  “Allium,” Jessla said. “Look at me.” I was languid about it, but I turned my gaze to her. “We wouldn’t normally perform a demonstration. The people who receive this tonic learn how obedient it makes them. But for you, we’re going to demonstrate. Bess.”

  “Allium, kneel to me and the other guards. Thank us for what we’re doing to you.”

  I wouldn’t say I dropped to my knees, but I didn’t hesitate. I knelt, facing Bess, and said, “Thank you for what you’re doing.”

  “Repeat that with the rest of us,” said one holding my arm. And so I rotated to her and thanked her, then did the same with the other two.

  “Allium,” ordered Bee. “Crawl to me and set your head in my lap.”

  Without a thought, I did that. For the next several minutes, I did everything I was told. None of it was horribly embarrassing, but I didn’t even consider defying them.

  I was, in a word, pacified, and it was quite complete, just as if I had been enslaved. But at the same time, it was different. I felt at peace, but I did not receive the same sort of pleasure I would have felt as a slave.

  I didn’t think of that at the time.

  Finally two of the soldiers ordered me to stand, and then they told me how they wanted me to arrange the room. Working alone, I moved the tables apart, both still before Jessla’s bench, but now to one side and the other. Then they took my arms and brought me to a stand before the bench, Jessla now in place looking down at me.

  “Allium Cuprite,” Jessala said. “You are accused of keeping a secret for Claary Rosebush. Are you holding one of her secrets.”

  “No,” I said.

  Everyone in the room froze, and then several people turned to look at Claary. I looked straight ahead. Then Olivia said, “Someone is playing games with us. Keep going, Jessla.”

  “Ms. Rosebush,” Jessla said. “There are laws.”

  “I haven’t broken any,” Claary replied. “And you can’t legally pacify me to find out if I’m lying.”

  “I can’t go on a fishing expedition, either,” Jessla complained. Then she lifted a finger. “But if you say one word to Ms. Cuprite, I can pacify you, and you won’t like it.”

  Claary folded her arms and didn’t say anything. Jessla huffed at her and looked at Olivia. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Simple,” Olivia said. “She wants a proper demonstration. Ask her what she wants you to do.”

  Jessla considered then said, “All right. Ms. Cuprite, what do you want me to do?”

  I looked up at her. I opened and closed my mouth. “I want a proper demonstration,” I said finally.

  “Do you want us to let you go?”

  “I want a proper demonstration,” I said more firmly.

  “All right,” she said. She paused. “This is only a proper demonstration if you are motivated to defy me. Do you think you can defy me?”

  “No.”

  “What will it take you to do your best to defy me?”

  I thought about it. “I can’t defy you, can I?”

  “No. But you need proper motivation. Tell me how to motivate you.”

  I looked down. I’d wondered about this. I hadn’t come to any answers. Jessla let me stand there then said, “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “It needs to be a threat I would believe,” I said. “But it needs to be fairly bad. But if it’s too bad, I won’t believe you’d go through with it. That means it also has to be something that won’t ruin our relationship.”

  “Have you thought about this?”

  “Yes. On and off for the last several weeks.”

  “And did you come up with anything?”

  “I rejected everything I considered as either not enough or too much.”

  “And so you can think of nothing?”

  I tried not to tell her. I tried, but my defiance lasted almost no time at all. “I thought of something.”

  “You just told me you hadn’t. Now you tell me you have. Explain.”

  “I thought of it now that I understand I’ll obey you.”

  “Tell me.”

  “While I’m pacified, you could order me to write a letter to the new Minister of Transportation, telling him what I think of how he treated me.”

  Olivia made a noise, but I continued to look up at Jessla. She considered me then said, “Ms. Cuprite, do you want to explain that to your friends?”

  I looked down. She let me think about it. “No.”

  “Ms. Cuprite, the people in this room have come to some conclusions, and now they are very worried about you. I cannot legally ask you to explain yourself. Is there anything you can say that will help them feel better?”

  I nodded. “He didn’t hurt me. Nothing like that.”

  She paused then said, “All right. Do you think you will defy us when we order you to write the letter?”

  “No.”

  “Will sending it destroy your career?”

  “No,” I said. “It will destroy my backup career. I imagine that would please Lady Olivia.”

  “I imagine it would,” Jessla replied. “Ms. Cuprite, if you tell me what Claary wants you to tell me, we will make you write this letter. You will send it. You will do so while still pacified, and you will be very, very thorough. Do you feel motivated to avoid my questions?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Do you want to go back to your old career?”

  “No,” I said. “But I do not feel qualified in the new one, and I believe it is only a matter of time before everyone else realizes it.”

  “I understand. Olivia.”

  “Ms. Cuprite,” Olivia said. I shifted my gaze. “You may attempt to defy Judge Jessla. Good luck with that.”

  I said nothing, and then Jessla said, “Ms. Cuprite, did Claary whisper into your ear?”

  “Yes.” I answered without thinking.

  “Did she tell you a secret?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “She told you something.”

  “Yes.”

  “But you don’t know if it’s a secret.”

  “No.”

  “Explain that.”

  “She told me Lady Olivia didn’t know what she was going to say, but that she was expecting a secret. Then she said something that isn’t a secret. I don’t know if that makes what she said a secret.”

  “That would be an interesting point of philosophy,” Jessla said. She looked at me then shifted her gaze. “Ms. Rosebush, whether she wants a proper demonstration or not, I can’t go on a fishing expedition. It’s illegal.”

  “Even though that is the entire idea?”

  “No,” Jessla said. “It is not. She is accused of holding a secret, which she is not doing. There are no other accusations in place for me to pursue.”

  I stared straight ahead, but Claary moved into my line of vision, looking at me, then turned to Jessla. “I’m sorry, Your Honor. I didn’t realize. What do you want me to do?”

  “Order her not to tell me what you said, and then give me permission to ask her about it.”

  Claary nodded. “Allium, do not tell Judge Jessla what I w
hispered to you.” I nodded, and then she turned back to the bench. “You may ask her about anything I’ve ever said to her.”

  Jessla nodded. “Allium Cuprite, what did Claary whisper to you several minutes ago?”

  I didn’t even pause. I couldn’t pause, much less actively resist her question. “She told me it was my secret, the list of people with whom I would like a challenge, and whether I want to win or lose.”

  “She’s lying,” Claary immediately said. “I told her she was going to tell each of us what she thought of us, beginning with Bee.”

  Inside, I was filled with a little horror. I loved both of the sisters, but I loved Dee far more deeply. I thought Bee would be hurt with the admission, even though I thought it likely everyone already knew. I wouldn't have wanted to say it aloud, not to her or anyone else.

  Jessla hadn’t taken her gaze from me, but she stood and slowly walked around her bench, coming to a stop in front of me. I stood still, staring ahead and down. She set her hands on my shoulders. “Ms. Cuprite, did Claary Rosebush just lie to me?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Do you consider Claary your friend?”

  “Yes.”

  “If she lied while in my courtroom, I may legally enslave her for a period, and I may do so in a fashion that brings no pleasure. Do you want me to do that?”

  “No.”

  “Did she lie to me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you lied since you received the tonic?”

  “No.”

  “Did Claary Rosebush whisper to you anything about telling us what you think of us?”

  “Only if listing challenges, and who I would like to beat counts.”

  “You’re playing a dangerous game, Ms. Rosebush,” Jessla said. “Ms. Cuprite, you are dangerously close to losing our agreement. If you continue to answer my questions, you’ll be writing that letter. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Judge Jessla.”

  “I do not want you to list names in a particular order. Do you wish a challenge with me?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Win or lose?”

  “Lose.”

  “Why?”

  “I’d learn more than if I win, and frankly I’m pretty sure you’d never agree to a challenge I could win.”

  “Do you wish a challenge with Olivia, and win or lose?”

  “Yes, and I’d enjoy winning, but I don’t think I’ll ever beat her, either.”