by TylerRose.
“I have.”
“He is doing it. Somehow he learns what item of value a ship is transporting and he stops the ship and takes it.”
“You would work for this man?” she asked.
“He is sanctioned by the Rosaas, though they don’t admit it. He does nothing wrong if they tell him what to take.”
“Really? I think the Celestial Congress would think otherwise. Osan would kill you if he knew you told me this.”
“He would not know unless you told him I did. Any one of us could have told you. We all know the deal with him.”
“So Mankell won’t let you go because he doesn’t approve of the government sanctioned piracy?” she guessed. “Even though his own father is one of them?”
“The Lar is most perceptive,” he said, the music of the song ending.
“Find out if Saber will be my permanent escort along with you and follow me.”
She left. He and Saber caught up when she turned toward the House entry. She only went as far as the portico, stood on the top step and seemed to watch the sunset. She was searching for Osan in the House next door, not finding him. He’d gone out for a while.
“Chi.”
He stepped closer.
“The Rosaas have sanctioned this piracy but it is not general knowledge of everyone on the planet, yes?”
“Correct.”
“So it is secret that they are doing this?”
“Correct.”
“Can you pick four good men to go meet with Osan and join his crew tomorrow?” she asked. “Four men willing to sever ties with their Birth House and go, having every intention of following through with the job? They don’t even have to do any double-crossing. I want them to perform every duty as Osan requires. I’ll be able to get whatever information from them I want when they get back or if they give you a phone call and I’m there to hear it.”
“The split has to be absolutely real,” Saber put in.
“Yes,” she agreed.
“I know who to put it to,” Ch’Wik replied. “I’ll talk to them tonight.”
“Good man.”
She went back in, back to the Hall, and took the seat that had previously been offered.
“I needed a breath of air,” she smiled at Mankell. “I don’t want you to constantly have to change the guards around me. I like Chi and Saber. They can be assigned to me and others can go to other duties instead of having to find where I am and make an exchange.”
“As you choose.”
“So you don’t want your boys working for a pirate. That I can understand,” she said quietly.
G’Ven brought over a pitcher of wine to pour a cup for her. She smiled a thank you, sipped and watched the younger men arm wrestle over their table. A wrestling match suddenly broke out among two of the older men, with bets going around as to the winner and how quickly.
“I hope this showing off isn’t for my benefit,” she said to Mankell.
“No, it’s like this all the time. K’Tran is very big on personal competition. In the Gar Hall is the place they are most likely to catch my attention and be given some higher task or job. Will you dance with me now? Or must I wait my turn?”
She smiled at him and put her cup down, expecting him to take her through a Promenade. Instead, he kept her to the waltz-like dances so he could have his arm firmly at her back and keep her close to him.
“I apologize for offending you earlier today on the road,” he said eventually. “I forgot for a moment that you are not of our world. Your duties to the Congress, by definition, require the asking of such questions and my response was rude.”
“Apology accepted. Think no more of it. You can stop thinking you’re going to get me into your Favorite’s room. That won’t be happening.”
“Why not?”
“Because I cannot give you a child and that is the sole purpose of being in that room. Because I’ll only be here a couple weeks. Because I have a life outside of this planet. Because there are cameras and listening devices in that room. How many reasons would you like me to give you? I have more.”
Conversation halted as they neared another couple and she resumed when they were farther away again.
“I may or may not eventually come to your bed, Mankell; but I will never be yours. Stop chasing after me like I’m from around here. I’m not. If you want me, you have to meet me on my terms. Not yours.”
“What are your terms?” he asked without hesitation.
“Don’t treat me like a piece of meat you’re entitled to have whenever you want. You’re not entitled to anything form me. Treat me like an equal. Give me a reason to want to be with you other than the fact that you are Gar. I couldn’t care less your position in your society. Being rich doesn’t impress me. What you did today, getting into the ditch and going into the pipe yourself, knowing there are deadly snakes in the area? That impresses me. That shows a man who cares about his people and their well-being. That is a man I would want to be with. Then you ruined it by turning back into an entitled Gar demanding obeisance. I’m hungry. Can we eat now?”
With their next turn, he looked over at the bench tables. The men were eating, some plates more than halfway emptied.
“Yes, we can eat now,” he said, and broke hold to take her back to their seats.
“Is there a particular procedure?” she asked.
“The men eat first. If there is a poisoning, they will show signs of it. Enough of them have eaten that all the dishes are taken from, and no one is ill. So I think it safe to assume we’re not going to die at my table this night.”
She laughed with his humorous tones while he gestured to G’Ven. A wave from the Houseman and four men went to work carrying two small tables over to their Gar. Another two men carried utensils and napkins.
“Perhaps Lar Tyler would like to look over the fare and tell me what she would like to have?” G’Ven suggested.
“Is it done that way?” she asked Mankell.
“For Offworlders, yes. I did instruct the kitchen to keep to more common fare and less exotic dishes, as might be served on the Congress.”
“Then let us see,” she smiled, and took G’Ven’s offered arm.
G’Ven stopped at the utensil containers first, and took a handful of spoons and forks. As they worked their way down the buffet, she pointed out things she already was familiar with and liked. When she wasn’t sure, he offered her a spoon or fork to taste with. Saber walked with them, dishing up as she indicated. She ended up with a plateful on her return to her seat. Saber placed the table in its proper position over her knees and G’Ven served the plate.
He bowed to them both and retreated as Kellina brought her father’s plate to present it to him. The Gar and his guest ate by themselves but in the same room as his soldiers and older daughters, the majority of the Household having already eaten. They began dancing to entertain themselves and their Gar and his guest.
Saber took a step back and to the side, standing near enough to intervene if someone tried to attack her. Men from other Houses had begun to arrive. Untrock was there, a couple other Gars. The Rosaas would be arriving soon enough – and they were never late.
No sooner were the two small tables taken away than Captain Osan came in the door with his own Gar. Both men gave a stiff, just to acceptable sort of half bow.
“Lar Tyler, this is Gar Toring, from the House across the stream. And his brother Osan, pirate Captain pretending to be a legitimate transport operator.”
Osan grinned at her. “Gars are extremely delicate creatures. If any of their young men want to leave to find some excitement, it bruises their fragile egos.”
“And insulting each other is an art form,” she played along.
The two men truly hated each other and Gar Toring wasn’t much better than his brother.
“Might I tempt you to a dance, Lar Tyler?” Osan asked with a hand extended.
She took it and he turned her directly into a promenade. Motions second nature for him, his m
ind was open for her to learn everything she wanted to know about his operation.
Did these people not know she was from a space station full of telepaths? How did they perceive the Congress?
The answer to that was “a place too far away to matter,” and she was so different from K’Tran women they couldn’t help themselves. Drooling idiots, every one of them. That was why Julian had been pushing for her to have this particular assignment. He knew she would be able to manage them. Other women wouldn’t and a guy, like Alen, would just be seen as competition.
With the final stomps, the room applauded. Louder thumps from the corner door and the room lowered to kneeling. One of the Rosaas was standing there.
“If we might speak, Lar Tyler,” he said, and turned around, expecting she would follow.
She went, Pisod directly behind and Ch’Wik and Saber bringing up the rear. They crossed the hall to the door near the corner. A room with three two-seat sofas and a chair. The other two Rosaas were already there, still standing, and they all bowed to her as formally as could be. They introduced themselves.
1st Rosaas – Oel’Akier
2nd Rosaas – La’Sek’o
3rd Rosaas – Que’Fero
“Saber, shut the door,” she said, taking the chair and making the Rosaas sit two on one side and one on the other, opposing each other with herself in the power position.
Her two men started to step out.
“I didn’t say leave,” she said. “Shut the door and take your spots, please.”
“This is to be a private audience, Lar Tyler,” one of them said.
“It cannot be. Unfortunately, a particular criminal escaped Quarint and it has been decided I will not be alone. I admit, I must agree. I am certain I can rely upon the discretion and silence of these men.”
“Most certainly,” Pisod said from her right side.
He stood just far enough back that he didn’t block her view.
“What do you want to discuss?” she asked. “I’m sure you don’t want to hear the things I want to discuss. How about I go first,” said so quickly they did not have time to begin anyway. “I was told there was no slavery on this planet. But today, I saw a woman assaulted and begging the man who owned her to forgive her for some insignificant transgression. This was no sex game. This was real buying and selling of people. I was told the law against slavery exists but is not being properly enforced. I need to tell you that it must be properly enforced. I have to show arrests and convictions, women freed to go about their lives. Also, I was told there were equal opportunities for women. Yet I learn that a woman cannot be Houseman. Why is that?”
“The name itself says man, Lar Tyler,” Oel’Akier said.
“So you call it Housewoman or Houseperson,” she shot back. “Or leave it as Houseman out of tradition, disregarding the gender of the person holding the post. There’s nothing wrong with that either. What I do know is that slavery is alive and well and nothing is done about it and there is no such thing as women’s equality. It’s only my first day. I can’t wait to see what I learn tomorrow that no one wants me to know.”
“We will instruct the Gars to better enforce the slavery laws,” La’Sek’O said.
“We will also take steps to further equality for our women.”
“Good. I call this meeting concluded then,” she said and exited with Pisod close behind and Ch’Wik opening the door for her.
The Rosaas were left to stare after her for a second time in the same day. Houseman G’Ven came in, bowed his best.
“Would your Eminences like to speak with Gar Mankell?”
“Yes.”
He’d already been waiting at the doorway for the summons, having seen Tyler stomping her way out with the men rushing to keep up. G’Ven looked out and nodded and Mankell straightened his tunic and crossed the short distance.
He bowed low and slow to the three most powerful men on the planet.
“Your Eminences. The Ancient House of Meathe welcomes you. How may I serve K’Tran?”
“You are protecting her?” La’Sek’o asked.
“I am, Father, as much as she will allow. Prince Shestna sent one of his brothers to guard her as well.”
“She resides in your Favorite’s room?” Oel’Akier asked.
“She refused. She took for herself a different room. She has selected a team of two of my younger men to be her guard-companions. She already proves she will not go solely where I guide.”
“It is her safety that matters,” La’Sek’o told him. “As she goes looking around, she will upset more Gars.”
“I will protect her to the best of my ability, Eminences.”
The Rosaas stood, indicating the end of the visit. Mankell went with them to the portico to see them off. The grav-bikes were gone again.
“Where did she go?” he asked G’Ven.
“I do not know except they went to the west.”
Tyler rodearound the perimeter of On’R City to head west away from it. She stopped at a quiet crossroad five or so miles down the road, and looked up to the sky.
The sun was fully down, the stars so bright they illuminated the road and the fields around them. There were no street lights out here. Harvested farmland, empty of people except for an isolated farmhouse here and there.
Peaceful.
“What do you want to do?” Pisod asked her.
“Stay right here on this spot for the rest of my life. Chi?”
“Yes?”
“Are you willing to be dragged to hell and back in the name of the greater good?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Call one of those four men and tell him what to do. Tell him to make a good gossipy show of it tomorrow morning.”
Not a word. He got out his phone and spoke into it. “Volf.”
Pause.
“I have a job for you but you tell no one who told you to do it.”
“What?” Volf answered from his post somewhere on the property.
“Tomorrow, you, Miga, Rez and Loocho pack your bags first thing and take them to the Hall for the morning meal. Tell Mankell you are leaving the House to work for Osan. Make the break official. Walk away and go tell Osan you’re ready to start work at once. Be as convincing as that time you blamed the wine thing on Rez.”
“Okay. And?”
“Learn everything you can about how Osan’s operation works. How ships are picked, where his orders come from. Get him to trust you as much as you can without being suspicious,” Ch’Wik said.
“The end result being?”
“Right now, just the information. The rest is too dangerous for you to know. Don’t even tell the others why. Just get them to stand with you. You need to be a team. Osan isn’t a ‘path, but someone else in the crew or along your travels might be,” Ch’Wik said.
“I won’t call to tell you what I found until we get back,” Volf decided. “This trip is only a week or so. We can meet someplace when we get back. But if we make the break, we can never come back home.”
“Do you think that will actually stand, given the intended end result?” Chi asked. “Mankell will accept you back as celebrated men. He won’t know you’re doing this or why. He knows nothing of what I’m asking you to do. From his perspective, your break is absolutely the real thing.”
“We’ll make it good, then,” Volf promised.
Call ended, phone put away.
“No one say anything to anyone else,” Tyler said. “I’ll talk to Mankell tomorrow after the scene is over and the men have left. Will the Rosaas have left there yet?”
“Most likely. They almost never stay more than an hour, especially if they are displeased,” Saber said.
“That they were,” she smiled.
“They do not like to be challenged and you challenge everything about them,” Ch’Wik said.
She turned her bike around to start back to the House, this time riding through On’R City. The nightly supper party was still going when they arrived.
&nb
sp; “Has he done the toast yet?” Ch’Wik asked the nearest man in the entry.
“He has been waiting to see if she comes back.”
“Lar Tyler, it would be appropriate to step into the Hall for a moment. There is a nightly toast and it is likely to be about you,” Chi explained.
She went in without a word, hanging out with them near the tables and watching as Mankell signaled G’Ven. A small shot of something was brought to him while trays of small glasses were placed on tables for the men to take theirs. She took one as well.
“Today we welcome into the Ancient House of Meathe a guest who could not have come from farther away,” Mankell started. “We hope that she will become such a friend that she will never be far. Welcome, Lar Tyler.”
“Welcome, Lar Tyler,” the entire congregation repeated.
Mankell drank his shot and spun on his heel to throw the glass into the back of the fireplace. It shattered, falling to join all the other glasses he’d ever toasted with.
Tyler drank hers and put the glass down, to the disappointment of many in the room. There was something of an unspoken joke that the uninitiated often threw their glasses as well.
She told the guys to go about their night and left the Hall. She and Pisod went to the table in the back. Sitting in the dark, she conjured up a lantern and brought her messenger bag to her hands. A few tokes of the pipe and she opened the journal to start writing.
She appeared not to notice the night sounds of animals hunting, chirping and calling, mating. The breeze was nice.
Twenty pages later, Mankell was coming down the path. More for his own peace than to hound her, as he was lonely for the favorite who had recently died. He had loved her very much. Gars weren’t supposed to love; but it seemed to her that there was always that one woman who captured a man’s heart.
“The hour grows late, Lar Tyler,” he said on reaching her table.
“Does it? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Will you allow me to walk you to your room?”
She had more work to do, but could do it in her room. Book and pipe packed up, she turned off the lantern to carry it. Pisod took her bag.
“I hope you are enjoying my grav-bike,” he said.
“It’s very convenient. Better than a car. Do you have another so I don’t have to keep taking yours?”
