by Payne, Lee
"You and my sister seem to be getting along. You're both interested in old junk."
"She reminds me a little of you."
"She's not me, sport. And I want you to remember that. Every time you're with some other woman and she holds you tight against her and she fills your whole heart and soul with love, I want there to be one place, one tiny spot down deep inside where, even then, you remember tonight—you remember me."
And there always was.
***
The aircar was packed and ready to go. Malie was trying not to cry. "I'll say I'm sorry about calling you a fat man if you'll say you never really meant to skin me."
He folded her into his arms. "But that wouldn't be a fair exchange, my sweet Malie. For I am a fat man and you know I never would have skinned you."
"We brought you a present so you would remember us," the child said, wiping her nose.
Alira stood solemnly behind her, an ancient forest empire book in her hands. "We know how much you wanted one," Malie sniffled.
The Commodore reverently held the thick book. "Oh, Malie, Malie, how you tempt me. A book from the ancient empire, rare on its own world, would be beyond price elsewhere." He handed it carefully back to Alira. "It's value would be so great that a number of my customers would happily murder me to obtain it.
"No, my sweet. The lads have recorded all your books. We will stop off at a planet of artisans we know of, on our way back into the galaxy. They will make a number of duplicates of your originals. These we will quietly sell as contraband at outrageous prices to several unscrupulous collectors we know. The rest we will donate to museums so that the collectors, when comparing the tiniest detail of their own copies with those in the finest museums, will find everything in agreement.
"You see the problem. A real one would be instantly branded a forgery simply by the weight of numbers. But the story of your gift will be retold a hundred times and our profit will increase each time I tell it. Perhaps someday this world and Ohan's people will rediscover their past. This is where the books belong, in your safekeeping."
He took out his tiny jeweled dagger. "Besides, my sweet, your gift is not enough. It is not rich enough by half for what I would have from you. Hold very still." He cut several long strands of hair from Malie's head and some more from Alira's. "Those same artisans also work in fine gold. You may have noticed that I wear no jewelry but I shall have them weave these stands of hair into a golden ring that I shall wear as a part of you forever with me."
Malie threw her arms around his neck. He held her tightly and whispered in her ear, "Rudyard Kipling is my gift to you. And when, years from now, you climb aboard fat old Ruddy and ride out beneath the stars, I want you to look up and remember that somewhere up there is another fat old man who will always love you."
He set the child down, closed the aircar door and they were gone.
***
The big stone house was ablaze with light. The sisters were stately in long dresses. They seated Ohan at the head of the table, Leahn on one side, Laral on the other. The Commodore was given the place at the other end. Harz, Erig and Feren were all invited. Scrubbed, combed and in new clothes, Ohan didn't recognize them at first. Em sat next to Silane and tried to smile once in a while.
The evening started slowly and Leahn was forced to declare, "Last time we sat here you were all being sad because of my return. Now I'm going away and you're still sad."
"We're just so sorry to see you go, darling," Silane said.
"Don't be. I could hang around here and become everybody's doddering old aunt, the one with the wild stories and the rusty sword. Or I can go off and become Leahn Among the Stars, a legend in my own time. I want to go and I want you all to be happy for me—happy that I got the chance to do what I wanted to do."
After that, the Commodore told some of his best stories and something approaching gaiety prevailed. The dinner was excellent and Silane insisted that Elor take the remains of the roast for supper their first night in space.
As they again prepared to board the aircar, Ohan and Leahn went off to one side for their last farewell. "I don't think I can bear it," Ohan said sadly.
"Sure you can, sport." Leahn hugged him. "Broken hearts get better. They don't go away but they do get better. I know. I had one once and nursed it with hate for three long years to make sure it wouldn't heal. Now, just when that one got better, I've given myself an new one."
She held him tight and kissed him, her mouth hard against his, her breath in him, her tongue caressing deep inside his mouth. Then she held him, gasping, away from her and smiled. "While you're growing old and gray down here with kids and grandkids running around the house and my sisters driving you crazy with their bitching—when it all gets too much for you, go outside and pick a point of light in the night sky. That will be me, sport, still young and beautiful, still on my way to great adventures, still thinking of you. In my memory you'll always be as you are now, as we were on the beach. You'll always be the one I loved."
The Commodore came up beside them. "The world dreamed of Leahn among the stars, lad. In that it was correct. Do you recall its dream of you?"
Ohan swallowed his tears and tried to think. It was an image he had examined in his mind many times. "My heart was cut out and stretched around the forests, around the whole planet, stretched tighter and tighter until it burst."
The Commodore nodded. "This is a pretty place, lad. Few worlds can match it. None surpass it in all the universe. Should you lose it, there will never be another quite the same.
"I'm a wanderer, lad. I go from place to place leaving little of lasting value behind—if I'm lucky, a memory or two. I have to depend on those who stay to keep these pretty places for me. To be a traveller would be no fun, were there no places worth visiting.
"I can't help you do it. I can only tell you that it must be done and if you don't do it, no one will. And I'll also tell you this, you don't do it with kind thoughts and slogans. You do it with money and power. They are the things that shape mankind's universe for good as well as for evil. These ladies seem to have accepted you as master of the estate. Blackman Nol coveted it as the foundation of great power, though the uses to which he would have put that power make one shudder. Now that the estate is yours, the power can be too. The world dreamed of your heart encircling it, protecting it. I don't think there can be a higher calling in all the universe than that.
"I'd like to stay and help, but that is a life's work and my attention span is short. A few months and any project, even the triplets, begins to chafe. All I can do for you, lad, is tell you what both the world and I think you should do, and offer this little token of remembrance. It's not as nice as Leahn's gift but I hope it will help you remember an old comrade." He handed his tiny jeweled dagger to Ohan. It was wrapped in a piece of paper.
"I will never forget you, Commodore," Ohan said. "This is very nice. I'm afraid I don't have anything for you."
"We've done quite well here, with your help, lad. Don't lose that little piece of paper. It's the instructions."
"Instructions?"
"You press the jewels in the proper sequence and the laser inside will kill a man at 30 paces. It holds four shots and recharges in sunlight."
"Wait a minute," Leahn said. "You had that knife when you saved me from my uncle. It didn't make any difference that I couldn't hold my sword or that Hossen Em decided to change sides. You could have blasted him any time you wanted to."
The Commodore closed Ohan's hands around the little weapon. "It's called an ace in the hole, lad. It does wonders for one's self-confidence. Even if you never use it, it's nice to know it's there. I wouldn't mention it to Em though. He made the right decision. No sense telling him it didn't really count. He'll be your man as long as Silane loves him."
He heaved himself aboard the aircar. The others were shouting their good-byes. Before he closed the door, he leaned out and confided to Ohan, "And if you really need power, I'd wait a couple of years and go find Malie.
That little lady is going to make Feathered Shield and Leahn's uncle look like a couple of amateurs."
