An Indecent Proposal

by Jaleta Clegg

  "Because she knows too much, she's too good at what she does. Although no one can quite figure out exactly what it is she does."

  "Are you working with Lowell on this?" Jasyn asked.

  "Who?"

  "Grant Lowell of the High Command."

  Garvin's face went still. "I don't work with the Patrol."

  "That's a real touchy issue right now," Leon said. "Most of the military in the Federation were Patrol. They've been branded as traitors by the Empire and regarded as heroes in the Federation."

  "And after what we've heard about the Patrol, no one wants to claim them anymore," Garvin said. "They're confiscating any and all ships that come near one of their ports. Those lucky ones who escape say it's a nightmare for any caught in the net. Which is why I'm warning you against trying to enter Imperial space. Your ship would be caught. Your entire crew would be shot as traitors. Someone really doesn't like you."

  "What about Dace?" Jasyn asked.

  "We have one of our top people watching her," Garvin said. "She has friends in very high places."

  "And enemies," Leon added. "I personally think she's trying to find the real traitors. Again. Though why she'd get mixed up with them is beyond me."

  "Vance? What about him?" Jasyn prodded.

  "Vance Shiropi was named Second Speaker, approved by the Council of Worlds. As far as we can tell, Dace is either serious about marrying him or she's much better at the game of deception than anyone suspects. We don't know that answer." Garvin leaned forward in his chair. "Look, Jasyn, the best you can do for her and everyone else is to stay here. The Council has called taltonnui. They'll all be here by tomorrow."

  Jasyn got up abruptly and walked to the window. She kept her back to the room, staring out at the afternoon city. "What does that have to do with me?"

  "I want you there," Garvin said. "You are the Elder of the Shellfinder clan. You have the right to address Council at taltonnui. Much as we wish it were otherwise, Shellfinder is the most powerful clan at this time. You hold more business interests, you have greater resources, on both sides of the border."

  "Because of Leon," Jasyn said. She turned back to them. "The Council never acknowledged me before. Why now?"

  "They still don't recognize your claim as valid," Garvin said. "They don't recognize Lady Rina's unorthodox way of handling her affairs. But the clans respect you. And more important, the ship captains respect you."

  "What do you want me to say to the Council?" Jasyn's shoulders slumped as she gave in to the inevitable. The faster she dealt with this, the sooner she could leave for Linas-Drias. Despite repeated warnings, she was determined to find Dace.

  Garvin smiled, thinking he had won.

  * * *

  Taltonnui was held in the governor's mansion. Tebros had quite a few large conference centers and hotels and other places that Clark assumed would be more suitable for such a meeting, but the ways of the Gypsies were steeped in tradition. They met at the governor's mansion, posing as relatives stopping by to visit. They fooled no one. The shipyards and landing fields were full to overflowing with ships, all belonging to Gypsy clans.

  Jasyn was reluctant to go. Garvin was setting her up. Clark didn't know if he should be angry about it or not. Garvin's plan was good. It made sense. But it would keep them far from Linas-Drias and Dace. Personal matters would have to wait. For the good of everyone, not just the Empire, the Federation, or the Gypsies.

  Jasyn was also nervous about leaving Louie with Clark's friend. Yancy, his wife and three girls had made them very welcome the night before. Louie was ecstatic to have the three girls fuss over him. Yancy's wife offered to watch him for the afternoon while they met with the governor. Jasyn reluctantly agreed.

  Clark tugged his collar straight. He felt almost as if he were back in uniform, in the dark green they wore as crew of the Phoenix. Garvin tried to convince Jasyn to wear the captain's bars. Jasyn flatly refused. Those were Dace's and until she told Jasyn personally that she didn't want them, Jasyn refused to wear them.

  Jasyn stood like a statue in the small anteroom. Her face was pale. She had said nothing to him since they'd left Yancy's house. He put his hands on her shoulders.

  "Are you ready for this?" he asked quietly.

  "How do you prepare?" She leaned against him.

  "You imagine them in their underwear," Clark whispered in her ear.

  "That's your standard answer."

  "It works. Admit it, Jasyn."

  She was saved from answering by the door opening. One of Garvin's aides waved them into the hallway. They followed the woman to a wide set of double doors. The woman opened them.

  Jasyn stopped just inside the room. It was dim, lit by flickering oil lamps set on polished wood tables. Fifteen figures, hooded and masked, sat behind the lamps. The doors shut softly behind them.

  "Jasyn Pai, of the Shellfinder clan," the central figure intoned. "Your clan is not recognized. Your claims are not recognized. You are the product of a forbidden union. You do not exist within the Council records."

  Jasyn set her chin angrily. She strode to the table and leaned over the figure. "What kind of a farce is this? Sitting around in masks pretending to be mysterious. Lady Rina did it much better than you could ever hope to."

  "You will remove yourself from our presence," the figure replied icily. "You offend us."

  "You offend me! You judge me as not acceptable because my parents chose to marry rather than carry on a stupid feud over something that happened three hundred years earlier."

  "You are not recognized by the Council."

  "And who appointed you to be on the Council?" she questioned, stepping back only far enough so she could address all of them. "Why do you hide behind masks? Are you ashamed of your decisions? You should be."

  "We will not listen to such impertinence," the leader said. "You will leave or you will be removed."

  "No, you will listen to me," Jasyn said. "I challenge your right to sit in judgment of the Gypsy clans. I challenge your right to sit in Council."

  "You have no standing to challenge us," another one said. "Only a clan leader may challenge us."

  "I lead the Shellfinder clan," Jasyn said.

  "A clan of misfits and abominations not recognized by this Council. Most of your so-called clan members are not of Gypsy blood. Those who are carry tainted blood."

  "Lady Rina herself adopted them in."

  "Lady Rina had no authority to name herself a clan or adopt any members into it!"

  "She had more authority than any of you," Jasyn said with a smile. "I, Jasyn Pai, leader of the Shellfinder clan, challenge all of you."

  "You have no right and no backing," another member said, rising to his feet. He wore a long, muffling robe.

  "Quite the contrary," Jasyn said. "I have the backing of two dozen clans. And the backing of the ship captains from thirty seven other clans."

  The doors opened again. People filed in silently, men and women, all wearing shipsuits, all different colors with different ship affiliations. Every single one of them wore captain's bars. They filled the room behind Jasyn.

  "Mutiny," one of the Council muttered.

  "This is treason," another spat at the assembled group.

  "No," a captain Jasyn didn't know spoke up, "this is taltonnui the way it is supposed to be held."

  "The first thing we are going to do," Jasyn said, "is remove the masks. Council will be held openly from now on. No more secrets. If you don't like it, you are welcome to leave. I have more than enough candidates for positions on the Council."

  "You show no respect for tradition," the leader of the Council objected.

  "You have perverted the old ways for your own personal power and gratification. In the past, the Gypsies were traders, those who kept commerce flowing in the Empire. They will hold that position again. But this time, we do it openly. And any who apply will be granted acceptance. If they meet the basic requirements, of course."

  The leader of the Council stoo
d. The flickering oil light made him seem mysterious and powerful. He straightened to his full height. "You will be cursed." He lifted his hand slowly to point at her.

  "Not while I carry the blessing of Lady Rina. Your theatrics are childish and silly. We have business to discuss."

  Someone hit the light switches. Artificial light, bright and clear after the murky oil lamps, filled the room. The door opened again, this time admitting Garvin and several other government officials.

  "Outsiders!" the leader of the Council shouted.

  One of the Council pulled off the mask and pushed back the hood. She was older, her face lined and her hair streaked with silver. "She's right, Nils. We do look a bit silly in these." She nodded at the leader. Others on the Council followed her lead. Three of them clung stubbornly to the masks and their position of righteous indignation.

  "This is an outrage!" the leader shouted.

  "I call for a vote," Jasyn said. "I question your right to make decisions for the Gypsies."

  The vote was unanimous for removing the three Council members. They were escorted out, protesting loudly, by the ship captains. The councilwoman who had first removed her mask motioned Jasyn to the leader's chair.

  "It's yours by right," she said.

  "I don't want it," Jasyn protested. "But I'll sit here until you find someone else."

  "The first item of business," Garvin announced once the room quieted. "The Federation has sent a representative to us to discuss matters of trade." He turned to a quiet woman at his side. She stepped forward.

  "The Federation government is well aware of the Gypsy involvement in trade," she said. "If our figures are accurate, ninety two percent of the freighters currently operating within the Federation either work for or belong to a Gypsy clan." She shuffled notes on a handcomp. "Within the Empire, the number is only sixty one percent."

  "And?" Jasyn asked. This was the part she wasn't clear about. Garvin had refused to discuss it last night.

  "In the past," the woman continued, "the Guild of Independent Traders oversaw trade. Those ships with their affiliation were ships that could be trusted to deliver the cargo as promised for the price agreed. The Guild no longer functions. Even on the Inner Worlds of the Empire, Guild ships routinely steal the very cargo they are paid to deliver. No one polices trade. The Patrol is too busy preparing for a war. The Federation military is responding. Our proposal to you, as the recognized governing body of the Gypsies, is that you take the place of the Guild. You become the regulating body for all matters of trade."

  Jasyn was uncertain how to respond. "What do you say?" she asked the room full of ship captains.

  There was a long moment of shuffling feet and sideways glances.

  The councilwoman who had spoken before stood, her robe rustling around her. "We would be honored to act as the official regulation body," she told the government woman. "It will take us some time to work out the details, though."

  "I will be here," the woman said. "All regulations will have to be approved by the Electorate."

  "Of course. Until we have official rules in place," she addressed the ship captains, "the Gypsy code will be in force. Any clan that dares to dishonor the code will be shunned. On approval of the Council leader, of course."

  There was a general movement out of the room. The captains had shown their support, their part was done. Jasyn had no doubts the news would be spread through the Federation within a week. The Empire might take longer, but it would reach every Gypsy ship soon enough. And everyone would know that Jasyn Pai, once outcast by the Gypsies, was now the leader of their Council.

  She resisted the urge to put her head down on the table and cry.

  Chapter 36

  I woke early. The light was bright, clear and golden. I stood at the window in my room, watching the shadows streak across the desert. I tried to open the window but it was sealed. I wondered, if Vance's mother hated the desert so badly, why did she live here? The grounds of the house were artificially watered. The green stopped abruptly at the fenceline. The desert stretched away in shades of gray and brown and pinkish orange.

  I wondered what I was supposed to do that day. The night before had been bad enough. Vance's mother had insisted I was tired as soon as we finished dinner. She'd sent me to my room like an errant child. She wasn't going to push me around so easily today.

  I dressed and went looking for trouble.

  I found the dining area. Breakfast was laid out on a side table in self warming dishes. I helped myself to a plate. I was alone, other than a server who may as well have been carved from stone. He stood, silent and impassive, near the kitchen door.

  "You're up early," Vance commented as he entered the room.

  "I couldn't resist the sunlight pouring through my window."

  "You can opaque it."

  There was a wariness buried in his words that warned me he was expecting me to attack. I smiled sweetly instead.

  "But I enjoy it," I said truthfully. "I wanted to open the window but it's sealed."

  He sat across from me at the polished, expensively carved table. He ate carefully, watching me as if I were an unpredictable animal prone to leaping onto people with fangs bared.

  "Do I have something in my teeth?" I asked, when the tense silence finally got to me.

  "No, not that. Mother was talking to me last night after you left. About the wedding. She thinks we need to alter our plans. What works on Linas-Drias just wouldn't be right here."

  "I'm looking forward to spending hours with her," I said, lying through my teeth. "I would love her opinion on how we should plan this. If we're going to have the ceremony here, in her lovely garden, then we really should let her help decide everything."

  "I'm so glad you feel that way. Mother also invited some friends to stay a while. Some of them arrived last night. We didn't want to disturb you, you looked so tired." He wouldn't look at me. That was warning enough that I wasn't going to like his friends. "Mother felt we needed more young people around here. She really isn't up to entertaining guests much, but she wanted us to feel at home."

  "I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself."

  "Speaking of entertainment," Vance said, switching the subject, "I have a surprise for you. Are you finished?" He gestured at my plate.

  "I was just waiting for you, dearest."

  "Good." Vance took my hand, pulling me to my feet. "You are going to love this." He hauled me through the house.

  I would have loved to linger in the garden. The area behind the house was lush, breathtaking in its simplicity. Vance hurried me through it. But not fast enough.

  "Vance," a very feminine, very familiar voice called out before we had crossed into a fenced area at the back of the property.

  Vance pulled me to a stop and turned to face Charise. He smiled at her. "Good morning, Charise."

  She ignored me, which was fine with me. I would have been tempted to say something very rude.

  "Are you going riding this morning?" she asked.

  "Yes, in fact we were," Vance said.

  "Would you mind terribly if I joined you?"

  "No, not at all," Vance answered.

  Charise clamped her arm around his. She leaned around him to talk to me. "He told me it was a surprise for you. You are going to love it."

  "How sweet, a surprise." I wondered at her apparent change in attitude. She was pretending to like me now.

  We passed through a high wooden gate at the back of the garden. We were at the top of a sheer cliff. Below us was a narrow valley with a matching cliff only a few hundred yards away. The bottom of the valley was wide and level and very green. A shimmering ribbon of water threaded through the trees below. I wanted to stay and admire the view but Vance kept going.

  We walked a path carved into the side of the cliff. It was smooth and wide enough for all three of us. There were buildings at the bottom, clustered near the base of the cliff. They were big but didn't look like houses. Vance led us to the biggest one. Wide slidin
g doors were open to the cool morning air.

  I took a deep breath. The plants down here were pungent, a pleasantly clean smell. What I got from the building wasn't. It smelled of animals, big ones. I looked closer into the dim interior. Horses watched us curiously, their heads pushed over the tops of waist high doors. I stopped in the doorway.

  Charise kept going, dropping Vance's arm to hurry down the row of horses to a spotted one.

  "You are going to love riding these beauties," Vance said.

  "I tried riding a horse before," I said. "I didn't care much for it."

  "Dace, you can't possibly have ridden a real horse before. This valley is one of the few places in the Empire where they thrive. The climate is perfect for them."

  Horses were rare in the Empire. They were very expensive to own and even more expensive to keep alive. The reason Vance's mother lived here became clear to me. If horses thrived here, the land was extremely valuable. It didn't make me appreciate them, though. They were big and they were animals and I really had ridden horses before. I remembered the horrible aching in my muscles afterwards. I remembered way too much about Dadilan, where the economy was heavily dependent on horses. Horses on Dadilan didn't seem to know they were supposed to be delicate. They were everywhere.

  "Vance, I am not getting on one of those animals."

  "They're really gentle, Dace."

  The closest one showed me teeth the size of decking plates. I shook my head.

  "Dace, humor me. Just come riding. I promise you'll love it."

  "I'll hate it, Vance. I speak from experience. Nothing you say is going to get me onto one of those creatures." I turned away, headed back for the trail up the cliff.

  "Dace," he tried one more time. I didn't stop or turn around.

  It didn't occur to me to think about his real motivations until it was too late. I stopped, halfway up the cliff. What if he wanted me to come with him so he could talk freely? What if he wanted to tell me something he didn't think he could in the mansion? I turned around and looked out over the valley.

  I saw him, on a white horse, with Charise next to him on the spotted one. They were headed into the valley along a broad trail.