Memory of Morning

by Susan Sizemore

  I came to a halt so fast that I almost stepped out of my shoes. "A son? But - I saw Lord North in white a few nights ago."

  "I didn't say they were married, I said they had an heir. I believe they did their duty and parted, but remain on very amicable terms."

  "You are not usually interested in nobles' gossip, Megere," Mother said. "Do you have some personal interest in your admiral's affairs?"

  "Of course not," I answered. "It must simply be the spirit of the Season catching hold of me - where everyone longs to know who is involved with who."

  Why, oh why, did Lord North's name and person keep snagging my attention? It was most annoying. And what did Aunt Gwin mean by amicable?

  This cultural exhibit was set up as a wonderful opportunity to shop as we strolled from hall to hall. We watched demonstrations of the arts famous in the north: weaving, carving, jewelry making, leatherwork. There was an outdoor demonstration of ship building, the most famous of all northern crafts. I took more time examining this clinker-built fast boat than my companions liked, but then, they had no interest in spending more time at sea than is necessary to go from island to island.

  Back inside there were musicians, singers, folk dancing lessons, a poetry reading. All in all, it was a very pleasant afternoon. There were many booths selling the craft wares and I managed to purchase several Winter Solstice presents under the noses of intended recipients.

  Being the Season, the exhibit was not only intended as a showcase for crafts, but another venue for Seekers to meet and flirt and make contacts. That flirting part of the day also went well, at least for me. I noticed Abethe ignoring every effort any gentleman made to get past anything more than an introduction and comments about the weather.

  I eventually put my arm through hers and said, "Come along, let us find something to eat. And, yes, food is my answer to everything," I added, which got her to smile.

  Buffet tables had been set up in a conservatory at the rear of the hall. We had to work our way through quite a crowd to attain even a sight of the food. After a major skirmish to reach the plates and forks I came away with some wonderful cheese, preserves spread on flatbread, and a slice of cake made from oat flour.

  "Imagine," I said to Abethe as we made our way out of the crush. "I didn't even know oats could be made into a flour."

  "If something isn't from Ang, you really aren't interested, are you?"

  "I have traveled the world, cousin."

  "On an Angish ship, among Angish companions, to Angish ports," she countered. "You are a typically insular Angish woman."

  "Well, I can't see anything wrong with that."

  "Nor I," she said. "Or I would leave the farm more often. I wish I were home now."

  I had hoped to lighten her mood, but now her expression went sad and weary. I looked around for some other diversion. "Who are those people by the palm trees?" I asked. I gestured with my fork.

  Abethe looked toward the tropical display in the center of the room where a half dozen or so nobles sat and stood around a grouping of benches beneath a glass-domed ceiling. "While I do not have your Aunt Gwin's knowledge of the elite, I would guess that the woman seated in the center of the group is Lady Harrier herself. The boy playing with tops at her feet is likely her son. I do not know who the two gentlemen hovering by her are, or the lady seated to the side. I would guess that the other woman standing near the boy is his governess."

  I had guessed who the central lady must be. She had red hair, cut, curled, and threaded with a gleaming string of jewels. The boy at her feet also had red hair. The lady wore black, the bodice decorated with a design done in jet beads. She looked as bored as could be as she looked upon the guests who came up to offer their thanks and pleasantries.

  "Shall we sidle closer and offer our hostess a curtsy?"

  "It would be the proper thing to do," she agreed.

  We finished the food while making our way forward to the receiving line, and the plates were whisked away by an attentive footman.

  Only for the poor servant to have the tray knocked from his hands as a whirlwind in naval uniforms pushed through the room. The crowd parted as quickly as we could, leaving the way open for the officers to stride up to Lady Harrier's party.

  The little boy looked up, grinned, and ran forward. He was picked up and swung into the air.

  Lady Harrier rose, smiling. She held out her hands.

  Lord North tucked the boy under one arm and grabbed Lady Harrier around the waist with the other. He then gave a quick glance around the room, which had gone still and silent with shock at such bold behavior.

  For a moment I thought his gaze caught mine before looking through me, but I was sure I was mistaken that he saw me at all.

  His attention went back to Lady Harrier. "Biti, my love! How long has it been? Yes, daddy loves you," he said to the boy. "But let me talk to mama for now."

  The next part of the conversation involved Lord North's bending down to give Biti a thorough and enthusiastic kiss.

  Just how amicable was the separation between this couple?

  Abethe hurriedly made her way from the conservatory. I went with her. She looked as annoyed and shocked as I felt at this scandalous public behavior by these disgraceful northerners. Though perhaps I felt it a bit more keenly.

  "Well! I've certainly never witnessed anything like that before!"

  "Don't worry yourself about it," I replied. "That's just the sort of thing he likes to do upon occasion."

  I had never sounded so bitter about anything in my life. I could actually taste bile in my words.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  "Don't touch me!" The patient pushed the nurse away and turned his glare on me. "I don't want your help, either."

  The Gray Woman stepped back from the examining table, silent and patient.

  I crossed my arms.

  "Fetch me a real surgeon," he ordered.

  "I can wait," I told him. "You will eventually pass out from blood loss, and I will stitch you up then."

  "You would let me bleed to death?"

  I shared a look with the nurse. There really wasn't any need to talk.

  The patient was a cleric, a Gracer with a head wound, rescued from a brawl and brought to Mercy Home by the local street guard. He'd been unconscious when he was carried into the walk-in room, slung over the guard's wide shoulder. Unfortunately, the cleric had woken up and started giving us trouble before I could treat him.

  At least his black cleric's tabard wouldn't show the blood.

  I picked up casebook and pen. The patient continued to mutter and complain while I made notes. I had worked several day shifts at Mercy Home, but this was my first night working walk-in. It had been a quiet night up until now. I had a woman in labor in the maternity ward, but the delivery was going normally.

  "May I have your name, sir? And occupation?"

  "I am in pain, woman!"

  I continued to gaze calmly at him.

  "Moor," he finally told me. He pointed at the badge on his tabard. "You know very well what I do, heretic."

  "And how did you come by your injury?"

  The guard had told me the cleric had been shouting at a group of refugees and started a fight. But that was not the cleric's story.

  "Drunken sailors attacked me! They threatened me and hit me!" He tried to stand, groaned, and fell back on the exam table. He put a hand to his head. "Do you plan to let me bleed to death? Help me!"

  He at last let me have my way with him. He was a shouter, noisily complaining every time my needle pierced his skin, even though he had plenty of numbing gel on his forehead. My last glance back at him after I stitched him up showed him meekly accepting a thimble of poppy concentrate from the nurse. I scrubbed up and changed to a clean smock, then went to the delivery room. Things were coming to a conclusion in there. The baby came easily, with very little help from me. I congratulated the parents and once again left the nurse to finish up while I went to scrub and change again.

  I c
ould have sworn I heard Captain Copper shouting in the distance as I rinsed my hands.

  I dried off with a fresh towel and walked out into the hallway. I paused beneath a moss lamp, listening, sure I'd imagined it. But there was no mistaking that voice when it rang out again.

  "Say something, woman!" he shouted.

  I ran toward the sound. Along the way I caught up with Mistress Reed, who was doing the same. We turned a corner and stopped at the sight of a big naval officer leaning over a small, gray-clad woman. He waved a piece of paper at her.

  "Explain this to me!" Dane Copper demanded.

  I would have obeyed that tone without question. The Gray Woman merely looked at him, unblinking, unimpressed.

  "Who are you, sir?" Mistress Reed demanded. "How dare you be here?"

  "Captain Copper? Sir?" I took a step closer to him.

  Mistress Reed stopped me with a hand on my arm. "You know this person?"

  I'd thought I did.

  Captain Copper turned his thunderous expression our way. "Kindly allow me to have a discussion with my wife in private."

  "Your - wife?" I croaked.

  "Dr. Cliff?" He peered at me. "Good gods, you haven't joined this foolish cult, too?" I happened to be wearing my gray and yellow dress beneath a fresh white smock. "I--"

  "We are neither foolish, nor a cult," Mistress Reed declared. "Please leave before I send for the local guard."

  He shook the paper at her. "I have every right to stand before my accuser." He looked back at the Gray Woman. "Whether you'll speak to me or not, there is a great deal I have to say."

  "Accuser?" I asked.

  "Were you this woman's husband?" Mistress Reed asked.

  "I thought I still was - until a few weeks ago. Please leave us in privacy."

  "You are the one who chose to publicly accost this woman."

  "I have never accosted a woman in my life! Though the court accuses me of it! What did you tell them?" he demanded of his ex-wife.

  I wished that Samel Swan was here. Whenever the captain's formidable temper erupted aboard the Moonrunner, the ship's surgeon always braved the beast and talked him back under control - even if he had to shout longer and louder than the furious captain to do it. Since Dr. Swan was not here, I spoke to Dane Copper very loudly. "Calm down, Captain," I said to him. "Please."

  He muttered, but he took a step back and took a few deep breaths. His fair face slowly faded from bright red to a more normal color. He looked back at me. "Will I do, Dr. Cliff?"

  Mistress Reed held out her hand. "May I see that document, sir?"

  He hesitated.

  "This lady is the administrator of Mercy Home, and the order of Gray Women assigned here," I told him. "Whatever the difficulty, I am sure she will be of help."

  He handed the paper to Mistress Reed. While she read, I looked to the nurse who stood silently by through all this. Of course I did not know her name, but I recalled working with her - without any thought of who she had been or why she was here. Which was the whole point of the life the Gray Women chose.

  The administrator read the document. Resignation added to her annoyance when she looked back at the captain. "You do have the right to confront your accuser," she told. "Although I wish you had chosen another way."

  "I believe in direct action, ma'am."

  "He does," I murmured.

  "Captain, Gray Woman, come with me to my office." She turned to lead them away, adding, "You as well, doctor. Two witnesses are necessary."

  I did not want to come along. I certainly didn't want to witness the private, painful, scandalous conversation about to ensue. This man had held my life in his hands for over two years and brought me home alive and wiser and richer for it. I considered him a friend, and more than a friend in my heart.

  "I am on duty, Mistress Reed," I said. "I cannot spend much time away from the walk-in."

  "Then we will go there."

  There was no getting out of it. Alas, there was no one in the walk-in waiting room. I showed everyone into an examining room. I stood by the curtained doorway, hopefully listening for a patient to come in from outside. Where was the screaming and blood when I wanted it?

  Mistress Reed took a seat on the examining table and said calmly. "You may address this Gray Woman, Captain Copper."

  "What are you doing here, Shele?" he immediately asked his ex-wife. "You never sent me word you were unhappy. I am sorry to have left you alone so much, but you knew my life. You could have gone to sea with me."

  She ignored everything but his question. "I come to be here because I wished this life. I knew I did not belong in the secular world. I knew the life I had chosen as a wife was wrong. I was empty whether you were home or not. When I discovered the pamphlets and speeches of the Women, I knew where I belonged. It was necessary to divorce you to join the order."

  "You abandoned me! What of your marriage vows? Responsibilities? Our child? It took me weeks to discover where you'd left Doree."

  "She was perfectly safe with my great aunt. You should have thought to contact my family sooner."

  "You should have talked to me. We could have worked this out."

  "No."

  "I believe this Gray Woman has said as much to you as she wishes," Mistress Reed said.

  "Did you have to claim abuse?" Captain Copper asked. "Do you know what the divorce grant accuses me of could ruin my career? I've already had to testify before Gracer committees three times. The Admiralty has questioned me, as well, about my beating my wife - which we know I have never done. Worse than that, our child doesn't think either of us love her. You have caused a great deal of trouble for others while finding yourself, Shele."

  "Enough," Mistress Reed ordered. She turned a stern expression on the former Shele Copper. "Did you lie to obtain freedom from this man?" she questioned.

  The woman faced Mistress Reed for a moment, her gaze on the floor. She finally nodded.

  Mistress Reed sighed. She addressed Captain Copper. "The Gray Woman will make a statement of the truth to satisfy the questions of your superiors."

  "And what about our daughter?"

  "Your daughter is yours. Take care of her. Come," Mistress Reed said. She took the Gray Woman's arm and hurried her out. I had to jump aside to get out of their way.

  Captain Copper would have followed them, but I pulled the door curtain closed behind their exit and stood firmly before the door. I would not let the big man get past me. "You can't change them, the Gray Women. Their discipline is as hard as any naval training," I told him. "Mistress Reed's promise is the best you will get from them."

  He gestured. "But--Shele--my wife."

  I shook my head. "I am sorry, sir. Believe me, I am." I was. Except for the gleeful guilty part shouting he's free! deep in my soul.

  He ran a hand through his thick, dark blond hair. "I don't know what to do. I have nowhere to go."

  This was most surprising. "But, the Moonrunner, captain?"

  "It will be months before the 'Runner is properly refitted. Plus I'm assigned to the Admiralty Planning department until the ship's ready. And there's no setting to sea for certain captains and ships while the truce with the Framin holds."

  "Word of the Moonrunner out patrolling might be considered a hostile gesture?" I asked.

  "Exactly, Dr. Cliff. I can't send Doree to the house she was born in. My estate is falling apart. I don't know if Shele is responsible, but there was a fire. I cannot keep my daughter at my club, and there's not an inn or guest house room to be had in Loudon with this Seeker Season nonsense going on."

  My answer was not an act of impulse. Though I thought the ramifications through quickly, I knew what I was doing when I said, "You and your daughter are more than welcome to stay with my family until you can get yourself organized. We have far more room than we can use. And having the famous Captain Copper as our guest will add much honor to our household."

  Some of the tension in him relaxed. He took a step closer to me. "I appreciate this offer, but
--"

  I gave him the direction to our rental palace before he could say more.

  "Hello?" a voice called from the waiting room before I could say more. "Is anyone here?"

  I dropped a quick curtsy to the captain and hurried back to my duties.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I found a man in the waiting room. His clothing looked ruffled, but he did not seem in the least injured. He looked me over quite thoroughly as I came toward him. He smiled.

  I smiled back.

  He was a very handsome young man, with wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes, sharp cheekbones, and a mouth that seemed to have difficulty not smiling. "Good evening, Gray Woman. Are you in charge here?"

  There was an educated tone to his voice, but his East Loudon roots could be heard as well.

  Stupid gray dress. "I am a civilian, I assure you, sir, but I am in charge. How can I be of help?"

  He consulted a small notebook. "I am looking for a Cleric Moor. I am told was brought here for treatment."

  "Are you a family member?" I asked. "Of course you are not," I corrected myself. "You just checked the man's name."

  "I am with the criminal apprehension division of the House of Justice," he told me.

  I noticed now that although he did not wear a clerical tabard, he did have a small enameled badge of office pinned to his tweed coat lapel.

  "Is he in trouble?" I asked.

  "Do I detect a hint of hope in your voice, ma'am?" He looked at me with his head tilted slightly to one side. There was a merry look in his eyes.