by Robin Roseau
“Claary?”
“Her, I’d love to beat,” I said. I smiled at that. Claary snorted.
She asked me, one after another. When she asked me about the guards I didn’t know, I wasn’t sure, but Jessla pushed, and I said, “I’d like to win.”
She got to Dee. “Yes, and I love losing.” For Bee, I also liked losing, but I wanted to win a few times.
She asked about others, and then asked about anyone surprising. “Queen Ralifta,” I said. “I’d love to win the queen.”
I ran out of names. I answered every question she asked. I made no effort to fight with her, although I really didn’t want to write the letter.
I didn’t even try to defy her. I couldn’t. I could think about it, but I couldn’t actually do it. And that was different than being enslaved, because when enslaved, defiance didn’t even come up. So in that way, it was different.
Finally, Jessla said, “Ms. Cuprite, are you convinced?”
“I was convinced as soon as it went into effect,” I said. “But we still had to do this.”
“You aren’t brainless,” she said.
“It’s not like my first time as a slave.”
“No, it’s not. Do you think there are any questions you would refuse to answer right now?”
“No.”
“Are you mad at Claary?”
“No. Are you really going to enslave her, Judge Jessla?”
“Do you think I should?”
“I don’t know the law, and I think you should follow the law, but if there is leeway, I think you should grant it.”
“Does your answer change if I offer to give her to you?”
I smiled at that but then shook my head. “No. She wasn’t trying to hurt me.”
“You may feel differently while the tonic wears off,” she told me. “It’s not pleasant. Do you want me to ask you more questions?”
“No, Judge Jessla.”
“All right, then,” she said. “If you ever ask me for a challenge, I’ll accept, but I’ll choose what it is, and it will not play to your strengths.”
“I’ll remember that, Judge Jessla.”
“She’s all yours, Lady Olivia.”
* * * *
Lady Olivia took me home. She, Bee, and Dee took care of me.
No, they didn’t make me write the letter, for which I thanked them, although I was surprised.
“It would be heinous of me to damage your career, Allium,” she said.
I was miserable for two days, but I had no doubt their tonic worked exactly as they’d told me.
Chapter Eighteen
Bridgie returned. She wasn’t alone. With her was Relishta Tantalite, Velma Periodot, and Yeshen Opal. Relishta was my second courier. Velma and Yeshen were from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Bridgie gave me a letter from the king. It was brief. He thanked me for sending five women of Flarvor to him and promised they would be taken care of.
Regarding the intriguing agricultural offer, I would not interfere if individual citizens wished to accept an offer. I am not yet convinced I wish to promote this offer and am sending two women from the Ministry of Agriculture. They are young but were the only qualified women willing to volunteer. Please support them in their discussions with Lady Olivia.
He then told me he continued to feel validation in his decision to send me. That felt good to read.
I looked up from the letter. The four stood before my desk. “Let’s move to more comfortable seating.” I gestured, and we took the comfortable seats at the other side of my office. “I need to know that the three of you know what to expect.”
“We’re going to be slaves,” said Relisha, the other courier. “For two months. We met the women you sent back.”
“How are they?”
“Doing better,” Bridgie reported. “And I think all of them were excited to have reached Barrish. I left all five in the care of the queen.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“I thought everyone was kidding,” said Velma. “But they aren’t.”
“No, they aren’t,” I said. “When did you come to that conclusion?”
“Halfway here.”
“You didn’t turn around.”
She straightened. “Yeshen and I are the only ones who would volunteer. We never would have been offered the lead on something like this, if it were anywhere else.” She smiled. “Now they’re depending on us. Don’t think you can chase me away.”
“Me, either,” Yeshen said. “But are you sure it’s temporary?”
“Yes, although at the end, it is typical to wish it were permanent.”
“That’s what that one said,” she replied.
“Rennda?” I asked Bridgie.
“Tardara, actually,” Bridgie said.
“You are all resolved?” They nodded firmly. “Unless you are escorted, you are confined to the embassy until you have had your first time.”
“Bridgie told us,” Yeshen said.
“Okay. Good. Give me a minute.” I returned to my desk and wrote a brief note to Olivia, then said, “Bridgie, find Cha or Vi-vi and ask them to take this to Lady Olivia.” I moved back to join the other women. “I imagine you have questions.”
* * * *
Olivia was ecstatic. She assembled a dinner similar to the last one, but this time she assigned both Bee and Dee to keep me distracted. I laughed and told them, “I know her game now.”
“It worked well the first time,” Dee said.
Instead of letting them distract me, I interposed myself and offered each woman a hug. “I know you’re nervous, but you don’t need to be.”
With Bee and Dee on either side, an arm from each around my back, we watched the last woman led away. I continued to stare at the door for another minute.
“Are you staying?” Dee asked.
“Not tonight.” I turned and pulled her head to me, kissing her forehead, then treated Bee the same. “Please bid Olivia a good night.”
I slipped away. With my heels clicking upon the floor, I strode from the house.
* * * *
A week later, Olivia returned the remaining Flarvorian women to me. I spent two days seeing to their needs and then escorted them to Tebradine. Two more women of the Royal Couriers were waiting, and they took the women from me.
And thus ended the first chapter of my new embassy.
Chapter Nineteen
I fingered the very elegant invitation. There were two delicately-cut foil flaps that opened like doors, and behind them, a simply-worded but elegantly embossed invitation from Lady Olivia to an evening of dinner, friendship, and dance two weeks hence.
I looked up at Cha. “This calls for more than a simple response. Do you know the protocol?”
“No, Allium,” she said.
“I can’t imagine she expects me to duplicate this in my reply,” I said. “I will write an acceptance. Can you bring me parchment and my calligraphy set?”
“Of course.” It only took her a moment. I set the invitation on the corner of my desk, carefully propped up against the little foil doors. I worked out simple wording before very carefully setting ink to parchment.
Lady Olivia, Duchess of Charthan,
Thank you so much for the delightful invitation to your event. I am pleased and honored to accept.
Yours,
Ambassador Allium Cuprite of Flarvor
I dried the ink. Cha had a suitable envelope waiting, and I addressed it to Olivia, then slid my acceptance inside. Cha readied wax and my seal. I traded the glass pen. While she cleaned the pen, I sealed the envelope, taking special care.
“I would like you or Vi-vi to deliver this yourself,” I told her.
“Of course, Allium.”
* * * *
I had reserved one gown for a special occasion. Olivia’s invitation was a clue as to the formality of this event, and so it was time for it to be seen. The gown was midnight blue, strapless, and extended to the floor with a light train. There was an inte
grated sash attached to the bodice on the right, and I could tie it at my waist, giving a sort of asymmetrical belted appearance. But the tails of the sash hung as long as the hem of the gown, and there was a similar sash on the inside. When it was time to dance, I could lift the hem alongside my left leg, pulling the gown from the floor and tying it off, this time asymmetrical on the left. I could actually choose how high to lift the hem, showing more or less leg based on the needs for dancing.
It was the most beautiful piece of clothing I’d ever owned, and I felt like a fraud wearing it. I was an engineer who built roads and bridges. I wasn’t the sort of woman who wore gowns, especially not a gown like this.
But I wore it anyway and felt beautiful besides.
I owned little jewelry, and nothing I owned was expensive. But I had one not entirely embarrassing ear adornment. And so I arranged my hair up on the left and down on the right. Once I lifted the hem of the dress, my hair would cause asymmetrical symmetry with the dress. I added the adornment to my exposed ear.
I studied myself and made small adjustments. There was a knock, and then Cha and Vi-vi entered my quarters. They came to a stop, and Vi-vi said, “Oh, Allium. That is absolutely beautiful.”
I turned to them. “Is it okay?”
They both stepped forward. I held still while they made minute changes, very minute. I don’t think they did it for the changes themselves, but simply to touch. Over the weeks I’d had them, they had become somewhat more likely to seek touch from me. I liked it and had encouraged it, but they weren’t pleasure slaves, and I didn’t treat them as if they were.
“Absolutely beautiful,” Cha said.
“Are the two of you happy?”
“Of course, Allium,” Vi-vi said.
“The Ressalines changed your lives,” I said. “This could be your life.” I gestured.
“No, Allium,” Vi-vi said. “I was young, but dresses like this would not have been my future.”
“Nor mine,” Cha said.
“I accepted my permanent challenge,” Vi-vi added. “I didn’t expect to win.”
“I asked for mine,” Cha added. “And I knew I was going to lose.”
“Perhaps you expected to wear red.”
“I asked for this color,” she said. “In the monthly event, I lost, and she made me black. I waited until I was sure, and then I approached Lady Olivia.”
“All right,” I said.
“I like the work I do,” she added. “I enjoy helping Lady Olivia. I enjoy helping you, too.” Then she took my hand and kissed it. This was also something new, but she’d said she didn’t mean anything special by it.
I cupped her cheek and then Vi-vi’s. “Your carriage is waiting,” Vi-vi said. “I hope you have a nice time.”
“I quite imagine I will. Thank you.”
Vi-vi smiled and offered her arm. I returned the smile and enjoyed the walk as the slave escorted me to the carriage. Before she handed me up, she set her resin-coated hand on my arm. I held still, and she slowly brushed her hand down my arm.
That was something she’d taken to doing.
“Good night, Vi-vi.”
* * * *
There were two of Olivia’s guards at the entrance to her home. One stepped forward as my carriage came to a stop, and she handed me out. “Good evening, Ambassador.”
“Good evening, Sergeant Jielsa. How are you tonight, Corporal Clarideen?”
“Very good, Ambassador,” replied the corporal. “You look lovely tonight.”
“Thank you, Corporal.”
The sergeant escorted me to the door. There were several slaves waiting, and I recognized Li-li. She was dressed in blue with piping of red and looked especially lovely. She clapped and took me from the sergeant, wrapping my arm in hers. “You look quite elegant this evening,” she said.
“Thank you, Li-li,” I said. “This is a different look for you.”
“Claary did it. She’ll change it back tomorrow, but tonight I am helping with this event. I like my usual colors better.”
“You look nice,” I said. “How is the bakery?”
“Doing well,” she replied. “If you will come this way.”
She led me to the ballroom. I could hear people well before we arrived. And then we stood before the doors, and I realized how full the room was. We came to a stop. “Am I late?”
“You arrived at exactly the time Lady Olivia wished for you to arrive,” Li-li replied.
“Will I dance with you later?”
“Not tonight,” she said. “It won’t be much longer before you have your staff back. Will you host events at the embassy?”
“I will,” I said. “And you will be invited, but only if I may dance with you.”
She giggled. “I love to dance. Have you learned to be a hunter yet?”
“No, and I fear I have found something at which I will never excel.”
“I think you like being prey.”
“I like closing my eyes and feeling myself in my partner’s arm. Li-li, when you are dressed like this, is it still appropriate to kiss your cheek?”
“Definitely.”
So I did that, and then she led me through the doors. Another slave was waiting, holding a long staff, grounded on a low platform at her feet. Li-li pulled me to a stop, and the slave banged the butt of the staff against the small platform, three times in all. The room grew still, and everyone turned.
“Lady Ambassador Allium Cuprite of Flarvor,” the slave said in a full voice.
Li-li paused a moment, and then she tugged me forward, still in possession of my arm. We walked a slow circle of the center of the room. I realized she was parading me, and the attendees offered me applause. Then Li-li led me to the people nearest the door and began introductions.
She didn’t introduce me to everyone. The room was actually quite full, and I thought, other than the slaves, I was the only woman in a gown.
But Olivia was last, and standing beside her was a stunning woman in her own gown, hers in teal and far more expensive than mine. She was young, quite young, and I wondered if she was still a teenager. But then I focused on the next set of introductions before being presented to Lady Olivia.
“Duchess,” Li-li said, “Ambassador Cuprite.” At that, Li-li released my arm and stepped away, but my attention was on Olivia. She offered her hands, and so I gave her mine.
“Good evening, Lady Olivia.”
“Good evening, Ambassador Cuprite,” she said. “You look exceptionally divine tonight.” We exchanged cheek kisses.
“Thank you, Duchess.”
“Allium,” she said, signaling an end to the lady-this and ambassador-that business, “I would like to introduce you to a guest from Ressaline City.”
The woman stepped forward and took my hands. “Call me Jaerella, Ambassador.” She kissed my cheek. “I am so pleased I am not the only woman in a gown tonight.”
“It is my pleasure, Jaerlla.” She had pronounced her name as Jay-er-ella, and I said the unusual name carefully. “Was that correct?”
“Absolutely correct,” she said. “Discounting your rather unexpected accent. I have never met a Flavorian before.”
“You are quite lovely,” I said. “And I am also glad I am not the only attendee in a gown, although I admit to some level of confusion.”
“Perhaps I can answer any questions.”
“I know why I am in a gown. I cannot figure out why you are.”
She laughed lightly. “You know that in Ressaline, we have citizens and slaves.”
“Yes. That I knew.”
“All are referred to as subjects of Queen Lisdee, unless, of course, they are foreigners such as yourself.”
“I understand so far. From your accent, you are not such a foreigner.”
“Not at all,” she said. “We also have people who are not yet citizen nor slave.”
“You have not won a permanent challenge.”
“I am 18,” she said. “I had my first two years ago, the day after
my birthday. But I am not yet ready to commit to a permanent challenge. And so I am not allowed to dress in leather.”
“And thus this exceedingly elegant gown.”
“Yes,” she said.
I turned my attention to our host. “Olivia, a remarkable attendance.”
“Dancing will be chaotic,” she said. “I’m sorry, but you won’t be free to dance with Bee and Dee tonight.”
“I am sure the ambassador will not lack for partners,” Jaerella said.
“I am quite sure you will also have ample partners,” I replied to her.
“Perhaps I will. This is my first visit to Charth. I wonder if there will be differences in the styles.”
“I couldn’t say,” I said. Again, I tried to turn my attention to Olivia, but Jaerella said, “I am sure Olivia has some pesky seating chart that places us at opposite ends of the table, but perhaps you would accompany me for the first part of the evening.” She hooked my arm and didn’t seem to be one to wait for a response.
I turned a pleading gaze to Olivia, who was openly smiling. “Get to know each other,” she suggested. “And yes, I do have a pesky seating chart. Behave, Jaerella, or I’ll move you to an entirely different table.”
Jaerella laughed and tugged on my arm. I let her get away with it, but then I pulled her to a stop. She turned and offered a puzzled expression. “We just abandoned the duchess,” I said in a low voice. “My title might be ambassador, but I am not the duchess nor the host.”
“And I am still nearly a child,” she said. “You fear a breach in protocol.”
“Furthermore, you are quite possessive with my arm. I am somewhat unaccustomed.”
“That isn’t remotely true,” she said. “You let the lovely slave bring you hither and yon. Have I offended you, Ambassador? That is not at all my intention.”
“I am not offended, but I am puzzled.”
“Ah, and now your engineer’s mind wonders what is happening, how I am so bold. And your engineer’s mind takes the direct approach to an answer.”
“And now I wonder whether you are offended?”
“Surprised. Frankly, this reaction is rather a welcome breath of fresh air.” She smiled, and she was truly lovely, but I had the distinct impression of someone who was sure she knew far, far more than I did. “Ask me what I am doing in Charth.”