by Robin Roseau
Galatzi Joy
Robin Roseau
Table of Contents
Cast of Characters
Talmonese Words
Part One: The Age of Berdine
First Love
Journey
Nature
Aunt Anna
Reborn
Immersion
Joy
Training
Traveling
Part Two: The Age of Chaladine
Arrival
With You
Indispensable
New Friends
Visiting
Friendship
Transportation
Lights
An Education
One Night
Part Three: The Age of Kalorain
Taken
Together
Rules
Family
First
Duty
Return
Part Four: The Age of Cecilia
Departed
Contribution
Letters
Rejuvenation
Deep Dark
About the Author
Cast of Characters
Frantzland
Maddalyn Herschel
Felda HerschelMaddalyn's mother
Berdine PortnerMaddalyn's much older, dominant, ex-girlfriend.
Tarriton
Anna WhiteRegional Secretary of State. Maddalyn's mother's aunt.
Devon ParsonsAnna White’s assistant
Saira HornDean of Admissions for the University
Pippa GainesAssistant to Dean Horn
Dr. Serenity Hope
Tranquility Hope
Talitha RowlandA professional dancer
Talmon
Cecilia GraceImperial Governor of Talmon
SartineVendart of Indartha, Cecilia's Galatzi wife
ChaladineDaughter of the Sudden Vendart
KalorainDaughter of Beacon Hill Vendart, Galatzi Trade to Sudden
MordainSartine’s younger sister, Galatzi Trade to Sudden, Husband Balotorid
LaradainSartine’s Grandmother
EstalarnA baker in Indartha
MetarineA carpenter in Indartha
LishbainA carpenter in Indartha, Metarine’s cousin
LuradinineBeacon Hill Vendart
DarratineLuradinine’s daughter
FarratainDarratine’s Galatzi wife
Talmonese Words
The Talmonese name their children using a suffix to indicate birth order:
Birth Order
Daughters
Sons
1
-ine
-dano
2
-ain
-orid
3
-arn
-opid
For example, Baardorid is the second son. Chaladine is the eldest daughter and Margotain is the second daughter. Hilopid is the third son.
For pronunciation, in my head, I say Sudden with an ooo sound like in food. I pronounce Baardorid as Bear-door-id. I say Chal-ah-dine with the accent on the third syllable.
Part One
The Age of Berdine
First Love
Beer in hand, I roamed the party, not really sure why I had agreed to come. I had never really been a party person. I wasn't good at small talk, and I never felt like I fit in. But my old college roommate had practically begged me to attend. "I don't want to go alone." And so I had let her twist my arm.
Five minutes after arriving, she'd ditched me. "I see a guy I want to talk to." And so now I was on my own.
The party filled the entire apartment, it seemed. There weren't that many people here -- maybe only thirty or so. But each room had at least one group of people. And so I roamed from room to room, wondering how long I had to stay. Then I stepped into one room that was set up for games, and I stayed to watch. There was a card game I didn't recognize at one table and a board game at the other. I found the board game dull, but I liked playing cards. I didn't know the game in question, but I watched intently, trying to ascertain the rules.
I didn't notice the other woman when she entered the room, although when she took a stance next to me, I glanced over at her. She was watching me intently, and we smiled to each other. But then she turned her gaze back to the card game, and I did the same.
Five minutes later she leaned over. "I am Berdine Portner." She held out her hand.
"Maddalyn Herschel," I replied.
She was beautiful, but in the Empire, everyone is beautiful who wishes to be. She studied me, and her gaze was penetrating. I found myself lowering my eyes, suddenly shy.
"Do you know this game?" She gestured to the players.
"I've been trying to determine the rules."
Frau Portner proceeded to explain the game. It wasn’t that complicated, and at the end, I nodded. "I have played similar games."
A minute or so later, one of the teams reached across the table to each other, smiling and shaking hands. They had won. Everyone at the table stood up. Then two of the players declared they were done, and the remaining four looked around for replacements. Frau Portner turned to me. "You will be my partner."
"You just taught me the game," I said in a quiet tone.
"You will be my partner," she repeated. And so I nodded. Then Frau Portner turned to the table and declared, "Frau Herschel and I will take these seats." She moved to one chair and gestured to the one across the table. I moved to my place, and then before we all sat, Frau Portner made introductions.
It was an intense game. My partner spent as much time with her gaze fixed across the table at me as she did looking at her own cards. The attention was both unnerving and flattering.
My play during the first game was indifferent at best. While the rules were not difficult, there were subtleties of play, and I needed to learn them. In between most of the hands, my partner analyzed the game, discussing both good plays and poor. She had a fantastic memory, and I wondered whether she had an implant, but I would learn she did not. She simply had an eye for detail and a memory to match.
I was an avid learner, and while I was embarrassed when I played poorly, I only said, "Ja. Ich verstehe." I understand.
By the end of the first game, I understood how to play, and we did better. But we were far enough behind that the man to my right and his partner won the game. Frau Portner congratulated them then said, "We will play another game."
I nodded agreement.
We won.
We played a third game, and while we didn't win, it was close, and we lost not due to poor play by either of us but poor cards for the final three hands. It was a game of chance, after all, and even a good player can only do so much with poor cards.
Frau Portner declared we were done playing. We stood, and she circled the table, watching me the entire time. She bent close while we stared into each other's eyes. "I am taking you home."
I answered simply. "Ja."
"Call me Berdine," she said, "And I shall call you Maddalyn."
* * * *
If I were going to use only a few words to describe Berdine, I would use words like intense and commanding.
She was older than I was, I thought perhaps much older, but she never said, and she discouraged such questions. But it was while we traveled to her home that she said, "You are young. You have been through rejuvenation only your first time."
"Yes. I am forty-one."
That may be confusing. One must remember the definition of a year. A year is the amount of time the planet travels once around its sun. And thus a year on one planet is not exactly as long as a year on another planet. Frantzland lies very close to a small, red sun, and so our years are very short. Forty-one on Frantzland is only twenty-two on most planets. I had finished Univ
ersity only the previous year.
I was young, trusting, and naïve.
She reached out and caressed a cheek. I was unaccustomed to touch of this nature, and so my reaction surprised me. I pressed my cheek into her hand. Berdine smiled. "I like what you did during rejuvenation."
"I did little," I said. "I only changed my hands."
Her eyes widened a moment, but then she smiled again.
After that, she asked questions. Did I have a girlfriend in college? "A few, but none steady." Have I always lived in Ersteheim? "Yes." What were my aspirations? "I'm not sure. I'm still finding my way."
"Perhaps you simply need someone to give you clear direction," she suggested, her eyes boring into mine.
I looked down. "Perhaps you are right."
Berdine directed the conversation during the entire trip, eliciting information from me and sharing little about herself. I thought by the time we reached her home, she knew everything about me, and I knew little about her. But the continued attention remained flattering, and I soaked up all she lavished me.
It is not the Frantzland way to be physically expressive in public, and so her touches during our trip were fleeting. But then we arrived at her home. She palmed the pad then set a hand on my back, directing me into the apartment. At that point, everything changed.
She didn't give me a chance to even look around. The moment the door was closed, she was on me, spinning me around and pressing me against the door. She captured my mouth, kissing me fiercely, and I was for a moment stunned by the abrupt attack against my lips.
But then I found my lips, and soon my entire body, responding to Berdine. Like everything she did, the kiss was intense and commanding, and Berdine remained in utter control throughout the kiss. I wrapped my arms around her and held on, swept away, swept entirely away.
After that, it was no surprise that Berdine would remain in control. Still, I was left breathless not only from her kisses and touches, but by how efficiently she removed my clothing. Still pressed with my back against the door, I soon stood before her, entirely naked.
She consumed me with her eyes, and then with her mouth, and I could do little but moan and clutch at her while my body squirmed under her attention
And then, just as suddenly as she had launched herself at me, she turned away. "Come," she said, and I found myself helpless but to follow her deeper into her apartment. But I had little time to receive a tour. She led me to her bedroom, then turned around and captured me in her arms. I soon found myself, giggling somewhat nervously, flung upon the bed, Berdine in pursuit. She captured me again, first with her hands, and then with her lips.
I lay underneath her, still squirming.
She teased me mercilessly, and I was soon panting for her. But whenever I reached for her, hoping to give her a little of her own medicine, she captured my hands and pressed them to the bed. Finally she said, "If you move your hands one more time, I will punish you. Do not test me."
I didn't.
At first she was... rough. Not at all tender. But the more I moaned for her, the more tender she became, and when finally she entered me, it was with a sweet, delicate touch, the sort I craved.
But there was no doubt what she was doing. That night Berdine took me. She captured me completely. She took my body; she took my heart; she took my soul.
And for three years, she kept them, she kept them close.
* * * *
At the time, I didn't understand why Berdine made such demands of me. It was to be my second rejuvenation, and I took her with me to the rejuvenation center. The technicians and doctors did all the same tests they had done the first time, ten Frantzland years ago. Once the tests were done, Berdine, the doctor, a technician, and I met in a counseling room. Medical center rooms are always the same with bright lights and boring walls, but the chairs were more comfortable than an examining room. Berdine and I sat across a small table from the doctor and the technician while they explained my current health. That was a short conversation, as I was in good health, and there were only a few very small things they wished to do.
But then the doctor asked, "We must discuss your choices. Do you know what you would like?"
Berdine spoke immediately. "She should appear thirty."
For three years, I always did what Berdine said. She told me what she wanted, and I did it. Always. That was our relationship. And I was just as smitten with her now as I was the night we met.
But for the first time in our relationship, I said, "Nein." No.
I was only forty-four -- or on Talmon, twenty-four years old. I didn't want to look any younger than my natural age. But Berdine wanted me to look much younger -- only fifteen Talmon years old. She wanted me to look like a child.
Berdine turned to me, her mouth open slightly and her eyes wide. I'd never denied her before. Never.
I looked down and away, wilting under her glare. "Thirty," she said. "And we will discuss the other changes."
"No," I said again, but in a small voice. "I do not wish to appear any younger than I am."
"Perhaps we will leave the two of you to discuss it," the doctor said. A moment later, he and the technician were gone.
As soon as the door was closed, Berdine grabbed my chin with her hand and turned my face to her. "You will do what I tell you."
"I do not want to look like a child. No one takes a child seriously."
"I take you seriously," she said. "If I didn't, we wouldn't be together. You will do what I tell you."
"No."
And so, we fought until finally she said, "So, this is how it is to be? You have decided to fight me? I do not keep you in my life to fight me." Then she paused for a moment. "Thirty-two."
On Frantzland, thirty-two is the legal age to be considered an adult, almost eighteen on Talmon.
"Or I'm walking out," she added. "You won't ever find someone that will take as good care of you as I do."
At the time, I believed her. I told you, I was young and stupid.
"Fine," I said in a small voice. "What else?"
When I looked up, she was smiling.
When she told the doctor what she wanted, he looked at me for confirmation. All I said was, "Ja."
It probably wasn't the biggest mistake of my life but it was big.
* * * *
Rejuvenation did not take long. Berdine did not make drastic changes to my body, just my appearance. When I first looked in the mirror afterwards, I thought I looked foolish, but I would have done almost anything for her.
I'd been doing almost anything for her, after all. This wasn't really that new.
We'd agreed on thirty-two, and so I looked to be barely an adult, with smooth, taut skin, but a face that wasn't quite finished, either. I wasn't a big woman, but the doctors had increased my chest size dramatically, and my breasts were uncomfortably heavy. My hips were wide, and when I turned sideways, my previous rather petite bottom was much larger.
But that wasn't all. I was given permanent, blue eye shadow and thick eyeliner. I had often looked like this, as this was how Berdine liked to see my makeup, but it had always been temporary before. My lips were plump, beyond plump, and unnaturally bright red. I didn't think they looked at all attractive.
This was how Berdine wanted me to look?
But because it would make her happy, I had accepted these changes.
My recovery was short, and so not even two weeks after entering the rejuvenation center, I found myself on the transit system, returning to my home.
* * * *
Frantzland is not a beautiful place. The planet's surface is hot and harsh during the day, cold and harsh at night. The inhabitants of Frantzland didn't live on the surface. Our cities were subterranean.
But the planet offered riches. The planet was metal rich, which is critical for a technologically advanced society. And the extremes of heat and cold from day to night provided a continuous source of power. Whenever you have a difference in energy between two points, you can produce power. A
dam works because water on one side of the dam builds up and is released to a lower level. A wind turbine works because high pressure in one place forces the air to move towards a point of lower pressure, creating wind. On Frantzland, energy is produced in a variety of ways, with the steadiest form coming from heat engines driven by the difference in temperature below the planet's surface and at the surface itself.
And so, Frantzland had energy, ample energy for all our needs. And we had the metals and other materials required for a technological society. We had all the comforts, if you didn't mind living underground for most of your life.
Berdine's home was the Franztland equivalent of an apartment only five minutes from the public transportation. It was an easy trip from the clinic. I took one train for the twenty-minute ride to the city center and then another train to our neighborhood. I had very little I'd had to bring to the center, and it all fit in a small backpack. That was all I was carrying.
I arrived at our door and palmed the panel. The door chirped angrily at me. I stared at it, then palmed it again. The door repeated its complaint.
It should have opened.
I stared at the door for a moment then addressed the pad, asking it to ring Berdine. I had to wait two minutes before the door opened, framing my lover.
We looked at each other for a moment. She began to smile. "The door wouldn't open," I said. I took a step, intending to enter. But Berdine blocked the door.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I-"
She looked me up and down, and then she laughed. "You should have done what I told you to, Maddalyn."
"I did."
"I told you thirty." She gestured to me. "If you thought no one would take you seriously at thirty, wait until they see you like this." She laughed again. And then she reached behind her and grabbed a suitcase. She threw it out the door, and I jumped out of the way. "There are the rest of your things. You don't live here anymore."
And then the door closed, cutting us off.
