Center Worlds - Spark

by Tim Morrison

  Chapter 10.3

  A Gown Fit For A Queen, Tara -3 BA

  “Oh my Gods, it's beautiful!” Aya gasped as she looked upon the garment that had just been completed days before and which she was there for a fitting.

  As Mistress Tya stood back along with the small team of Veritas designers she had gathered from the Glimmerpearl manufacturing facility and the seamstresses who had merged the jewels and fabric together, Aya and Kya walked around the gown, both looking at it in amazement.

  The entire dress was layered, layer upon layer of fabric that was barely there, each layer looked like liquid oil, shimmering in the light and in the soft breeze from the air units. As the layers shifted, the light shifted as well, each layer caught the light and caused a play of colour as it wafted. The bodice was ribbed so that it would fit Aya like a second skin, and had layers and lines of Glimmerpearl and Firestone inlaid to give it a light all of it's own. The dress was ankle length and the layers slowly cascaded down, it was thin, but had so much volume that it almost billowed.

  “How many layers is it?” Kya asked as she looked at the detail, Aya was still at a loss for words.

  “We placed seventy-two layers of one microcim fabric together. Each layer has been infused with glimmerpearl dust to give the light play, and the seams are all Firestone sealed. The dress is fit for a Queen, which is what Lady Camelin is about to be. The first Confederacy Queen for more than four hundred cycles.” The head designer explained with pride in his work and in the reaction from the woman who would wear it.

  “I'm not really a queen, I'm his Consort. I don't get to rule the Confederacy, I get the Emperor. He does all the hard work.” Aya said, one hand very gently tracing the lines of the dress and only just touching it, as if contact might cause it to fall apart.

  “In a lot of ways, my Aya. You are the Queen, The people need something, you and the Emperor are now that something. There is a popular swell of opinion that you are suited for him. A merger between the two clans will work well to settle the masses after such a long clan war.” Tya said as she guided Aya away from the dress and then briskly loosened her clothing and stripped the girl so she could be fitted into the undergarment which had to match her exactly so that the dress could be laid over it properly.

  The designers slid the undershift over Aya and then as she stood there with four people putting their hands on her, just about everywhere, she was looking at Kya who was smiling somewhat sadly. Aya frowned and was just about to say something when Kya brightened and swirled away to get some mugs of hot Kaf for her and Aya. Dress fitting was thirsty work.

  Later, after Aya had been pulled, pinched, poked and prodded to ensure the undershift was fitted to her exact body shape, she and Kya found themselves back in the glimmerpearl grotto. Aya lying on the edge of the pool, Kya under a shady tree, idly watching the waves flutter in the soft breeze.

  “Why are you sad, Kya?”

  “I'm not sad, my Lady. What makes you think that?” Kya replied.

  Aya turned to look at her Lari'Sota. “I saw you during the fitting, you looked sad as you watched them making sure everything was set right against me. Why are you sad?”

  Kya just looked at her friend, but did not reply. Aya got up, walked over, and plopped herself on Kya's lap, then looked right into her eyes. “I asked a question, my Kya. I want an answer from you. Why are you sad?”

  “I don't wish to upset you or spoil your mood, my Lady.” Kya finally replied.

  Aya looked at her with a bit of confusion, then wrapped her arms around Kya and pulled her into a firm hug. “You are my best friend, Kya. You are also my Lari'Sota, and my first love. Tell me what is troubling you before I strangle you.”

  “I don't think I'm going to find what you have found, my Lady.” Kya finally replied.

  “What do you mean? Tyo?”

  Kya nodded. “He has love for you, a deep love that I don't think he even realizes yet. Even though this marriage is more of convenience and you both realize that, there is love and affection there for you, and from you to him. He helps to complete you.”

  “You complete me too, Kya. I'm not going to just cast you aside, you know that, don't you?” Aya said, hugging her friend earnestly and kissing her cheeks.

  “I know, but things will change. Your time will be split, you will spend time with the Emperor, I will do whatever it is Lari'Sota do when we are not needed. I just wish in some ways to have what you are going to have. Somebody to love me as well.” Kya said, then buried her own face in Aya's hair and Aya felt Kya cry, something that she had only done on very rare occasions.

  Aya was unsure what to do, normally Kya was the one comforting her when she was upset. She held her friend and did her best to comfort her until Kya drew herself back together and sat up, allowing Aya to pull back a bit so they could see each other's face again.

  “We'll find somebody for you, Kya. Trust me, somebody is out there. There are a thousand worlds, half a trillion citizens out there. To be sure there's a man who can complete you the way Tyo completes me. When it does, and it will.” Aya said, making sure she maintained eye contact with her Lari'Sota. “Then you will be his, no longer mine. I will release you from your oath and agreement, so you will not have to be concerned about me. Your happiness is as important to me as mine is to you.”

  Kya smiled through the tears she had continued to silently shed, then looked up to see Mistress Tya sitting on the edge of the pool, silently watching them.

  “How long?” Kya asked as Aya spun around to see their Palace Mother with a smile.

  “Long enough to hear the wonderful statement that Aya made for you, my Kya.” Their Mistress said as she rose to her feet and came over to sit on the grass beside them, both girls immediately cuddled up beside her, on both sides so both her arms were full of warm loving young woman. Tya hugged and kissed them both on the head, then they all sat back under the shade for a little while.

  “Love is a fickle thing in this day, my ladies.” Tya said. “We find it in the strangest places, and with the oddest people. You know this marriage is mostly political, my Aya. There is no doubt in anybody's mind about that. However, Lord Masilec does have true feelings for you. Feelings he has wanted to explore ever since you seduced him the night of the ball.”

  Aya giggled as she remembered what she had done.

  “Most marriages and consort agreements are made for political reasons now, my girls. True love among the Clan royalty is very rare. Mostly it is a clan daughter or son marrying another to ensure a war does not break out, or to seal an alliance or trade agreement. People are as much of a commodity as the raw goods that the Clans consume. In actual daily use, the agreement means little. The two people involved are still free to do what they wish to, couple with who they wish to, and to enjoy their time, together or apart. In ages past we used to practice something called monogamy, but that has been so far in the distant ages that it is almost a myth now.”

  “Monogamy?” Kya murmured, tasting the word and not liking it very much.

  “Exclusive to one partner, or to each other. Is what it means. What with the breeding paths that the Clans follow, and the Lari'Sota as well, monogamy would never work. Especially for the Desinlo girls, my dear.” She said with a light shake and kiss on Kya's head.

  Now it was Kya's turn to giggle as she recalled that for many hundreds of cycles, her ancestors had mated with each other as much as possible just to stay alive. Had they followed this monogamy, there would have been no Desinlo for Ryo Camelin to find.

  “Despite all that, my Aya. There is love for you and between you and Lord Masilec, and that is a rare thing. It will not be easy, I can see many arguments between you two as you find how to live together and how to live with each other. You are strong-willed, just as he is. You are also willing to stand for your own beliefs. Try not to cut him apart before we have a few more cycles of peace. We still have need of a Masilec running the Confederacy.” Tya said with a soft laugh as she hugged both her girls
to her.

  “You're not going anywhere, are you, Mistress?” Aya asked as she heard a slight tone in the words that Tya had been speaking.

  “Not yet, but I may. I have had an offer, you see. A kind and honourable man has seen fit to make me an offer to build for me a house on the shores of an oval sea, where I can spend my days enjoying the breeze and the sun, and my nights with him.” Tya said in a soft reply.

  “My Father?” Aya whispered.

  “Yes, my love. Your Father. He has been so lonely since your mother went to Pangea. He has had no other woman since, until he met me. I have managed to rekindle the passion within him, and I do enjoy his company.” Tya whispered back as she kissed Aya's head, then hugged Kya and kissed her as well.

  “If you do that, then that would make you ... my mother?” Aya said, then sat up to look at her Mistress in mild confusion.

  “Does that bother you, my Aya?” Tya asked in a carefully neutral voice.

  “No.” Aya said, shaking her head and going back into the cuddle, this time with one hand snaking around to hold onto Kya as well. “You are Mother, in every way that matters to me, at least.”