by Robin Roseau
Blaine caught me one day during lessons. Aston had told him of our discussion. I introduced him to Masalarn, and then the two began talking more quickly than I could follow. But she grinned at me and agreed with him.
Two days later, she took my Cabriolet back to the shop to install the lights Blaine made. “Meet me for lunch tomorrow, and you can pick it up after.”
We had a lovely lunch and then rode to the shop. When we arrived, I met several more of her family members, and then her husband’s father led the way into their shop. My cabriolet was in a dark room, and at first, I saw it by lantern light. But then Masalarn stepped forward, climbed on, and flipped a switch.
The vehicle lit with tiny lights, and it was beautiful. I clapped joyfully.
The lights were perfect, strings of them outlining the vehicle so it would be visible, but not so plentiful as to be gaudy. And then she flipped another switch, and the headlights turned on.
“It is magic,” she said, “and one of a kind.”
We all admired the cabriolet. And then Masalarn’s husband opened the door, allowing daylight to enter. With Masalarn still seated, he stepped into place, collected the poles, and pulled the vehicle into the daylight, Masalarn laughing and calling him a good horse.
It was Rutessain who moved the stand for the poles, and then she took my arm and guided me to my seat. I realized the cushion was done. “Oh, it’s wonderful,” I said. I sat for a minute while running my fingers along the fabric. Then Masalarn and I both climbed down. She and Rutessain showed me the cushion they had made for me. “Masalarn did most of the work,” said Rutessain.
“Rutessain did these details,” Masalarn added, showing me with her fingers.
“It is lovely and brilliant,” I said.
“The old one is in back,” Masalarn said, pointing. “You will not want to leave it there. It will grow musty.”
“If this grows wet,” Rutessain added, “you should set it where it can dry properly. If it becomes very, very wet, you can take it apart.” She showed me the clever hidden buttons. “And hang it near a fire.”
I could probably do better than a fire, but I didn’t say that.
“Thank you so much,” I said. I hugged everyone, and by the time I was done, Masalarn’s husband was backing Ristassa into place. Soon, I was on my way, driving my lovely cabriolet and feeling quite the Talmon girl.
An Education
I continued to study two languages. I learned everything I could about the construction equipment we had. I went out to the airfield and decided where I would put the hangar. I did more research and decided upon a design. That part was actually easy, as I had dozens of prepared designs to work from, and I only needed to pick one of the proper size. Of course, the prepared designs assumed modern materials, so there were changes, and more changes.
This was a project I wasn’t going to finish immediately, but I vowed I’d handle it.
I took Blessine for her ride, a near duplicate of her aunt’s. For the second, I invited Masalarn and Tressain. We drove down to the rejuvenation center, which was currently a collection of unused buildings, and had a lovely lunch picnic near the cliffs over the sea.
And then I received a call from Governor Grace, telling me little more than to form a video conference with Chaladine.
That took two tries, as I had to use my tablet so she could see me, but it was so good to see her, even by video.
Chaladine used her own tablet to show me Indartha. It was so beautiful and reminded me of Aunt Anna’s home on Tarriton.
Talking via video was harder for me. The equipment was very good, but there was a breeze and other noises, and Chaladine was excited, speaking more quickly than she might normally. But then I understood she was asking me to come to Indartha.
“I can’t. I have work.”
“We’ll ask Cecilia.”
“No!” I said. “She is a busy woman.”
“You must trust me, Maddalyn,” she said. Then she carried her tablet back inside and asked Cecilia for a favor. And five minutes later, we had plans.
I was going to Indartha!
* * * *
I stared at Chaladine. I had missed her so much. I had made other, tentative friends, but she was my first new friend on this planet, and I had missed her so much.
Slowly, I walked to her. I was sure I was grinning like a fool, but she was smiling as well. When I reached her, she took my bags and set them aside, then she pulled me into a hug.
I held her so tightly. She whispered to me that she had missed me. All I could do was hold her. She felt so good, and she didn’t seem to be in any more of a hurry to release me than I was to let go of her. But finally we separated a little, and I found myself staring into her eyes.
“You are so beautiful,” she said. She said more, but I didn’t quite understand. But she was holding me and calling me beautiful. I couldn’t stop smiling.
Then Blaine approached and spoke in Talmonese. “Hatchet Face knows how to smile?”
I stiffened, but I couldn’t make people like me. I needed to work with these people, and there was little I could do about it. I don’t know if he realized I had looked up those words when I kept hearing them, but I should have guessed. They’d been calling me that in English for months and months. And now he said it in Talmonese to my best friend.
And then my heart sank as that friend dropped my hands. I thought in those words he had poisoned her to me, but I should have trusted her. She turned to Blaine, and I could see her anger. She began yelling at Blaine. I didn’t understand many of the words, but she was yelling at him, and at one point she said clearly, “Her name is Maddalyn.” I heard other words I knew. Sweet. Beautiful.
But she yelled at Blaine, and I needed his help if I was going to actually build the hangar we needed. If being called names was a price to pay, I’d pay it.
But I couldn’t say a word. I watched as Chaladine yelled at Blaine, and I saw that he actually looked guilty. Then he said my name, my proper name. Chaladine yelled a little more, then softened. She sent Blaine inside to talk to Governor Grace. And then she turned to me. She smiled, stepped close, and gave me a little kiss. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
For a while, I lost my Talmonese. I spoke in soft German, not even trusting English. She had fought for me. No one had ever fought for me like that. And so I thanked her, speaking German, and told her I loved her.
I knew she wouldn’t understand. But she’d hear my gratitude.
She slipped an arm around my waist. We collected my bags. And then we walked down to stand beside the lake.
“Sehr schön,” I said. And it was. I pulled myself together. “So beautiful.” We stood like that for a while. I laid my head on her shoulder and sighed. “I have missed you,” I said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
* * * *
I had a wonderful, wonderful time. Chaladine and I both worked, of course, and I saw how Governor Grace used her. That was good. She was learning to delegate, although I could see her still doing things even I could have done. I didn’t fight with her about that.
But otherwise, we spent every minute of the day together, even at night. I was surprised at first, and a little confused, when I realized she was inviting me to her bed. I didn’t let her know I was disappointed the invitation was as a friend. I had, of course, assumed she intended something else entirely.
I couldn’t have been more willing, if that was what she wanted.
We spent hours and hours together, and she helped me learn more of what it meant to be a woman of Talmon.
Indartha was actually easier in those regards. Sartine’s house was right on the edge of the village green, and so it was nothing to step outside and already be in the center of everything.
But we ate at the inn, or went there after dinner, listening to the news of the day or playing one of the games available.
We talked. We hiked in the mountains. That couldn’t have been more beautiful.
Then, a few days before I
was to leave, we had what I thought would be the most important of conversations. It was late in her bed. Together we lay, side-by-side, talking easily. She asked me about Frantzland, and I realized how much she didn’t understand. I knew it would take years before I could teach her everything. But I taught her what I could.
And then, although I hadn’t intended to do so, I told her she had taken the job that was to be mine. We talked about that, and we talked about how she was my only friend. Oh, I was sort of friends with Masalarn, but she had an entire life, an entire family, and I knew it was a casual acquaintance and would never grow into more than that.
But it was different with Chaladine, so different.
And so, we had what I thought would be our most important conversation. I was wrong.
* * * *
“It’s a shame,” Chaladine said. We were seated for our final dinner, the four of us.
“What is a shame?”
“That you wouldn’t consider a Galatzi trade.”
“What is a…” I stumbled over the word. “Galatzi trade?” I looked in the dictionary, but it wasn’t there.
“It’s what Sartine and Cecilia have,” Chaladine said. “It’s what Luradinine wanted with me. I told you I was her prisoner.”
“Yes. Prisoner of the heart.”
“A Galatzi trade is normally permanent, but ours could not be. So I was her Galatzi prisoner, but only a month.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If you accepted a Galatzi trade, then you will learn Talmonese so much faster.”
“I don't understand.”
She turned to Cecilia, who eventually nodded. The governor turned to me and spoke in German. “I am only translating,” she said.
It took time. Chaladine explained the tradition. I said little. Then Sartine and Chaladine explained how it took two Galatzi raids before Cecilia became hers, and the mistakes made. Cecilia added, “Now I require evidence the Galatzi prisoner is aware of all aspects of this tradition and offers agreement besides.”
“But it is a raid,” I said. “They take prisoners.”
“Yes, but I am your vendart,” she replied. “And I can make any agreement I want before allowing a Galatzi raid on one of my people.”
“This is why you warned me not to call Baardorid or Sartine ‘Vendart’.”
“It is, or you could have been traded the way I was, without knowing what was going on.” She explained a few other things, about how it was supposed to be permanent.
“But that could be hundreds of years.”
“Yes, and so the tradition is changing. Maybe.”
“I think I understand. Why did you wait to explain this?”
“Because until you had begun to grow in love with the people, you wouldn’t have understood.”
“Oh,” I said. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have.” I turned to Chaladine. “Luradinine?”
She told me how she first found herself at Beacon Hill, and the agreements made. I turned back to Governor Grace. “And so they begin to practice your change in the tradition.”
She laughed. “I suppose they do.”
Chaladine said something to Sartine, who got up and stepped from the room. In the meantime, I asked more questions, trying to fully understand. Sartine came back, and I saw she carried two red cloaks and several bundles of rope. I stared at them.
“You take me as Galatzi prisoner now?”
“Only to show you,” Chaladine said.
I licked my lips and nodded. They were careful, but commanding. Yes, that is the word. They were commanding in their touches. They worked together, crossing my wrists in front of me, making sure my palms were facing up. I watched Chaladine, unable to take my eyes from her, as she bound my wrists. She was very careful in how she tied the knots, and I knew immediately that I wouldn’t be able to untie myself.
She stepped behind me and used more rope about my chest, talking softly the entire time. I understood only some; she was soothing me like I might soothe Ristassa. I found myself overcome with emotions. I found myself surrendering emotionally to what Chaladine and Sartine were doing to me.
They tied my arms over my head, bound to the harness about my chest. I struggled very briefly, only enough to verify I wouldn’t get free.
I didn’t want to get free.
Sartine wrapped me in one of the red cloaks. Chaladine tied it in front. Then they set me into a chair and tied my legs.
Somewhere along the way, I lost my Talmonese. I didn’t understand a thing anyone was saying.
I didn’t understand why Sartine was tying Chaladine, but I watched avidly. Soon, she was tied the same as I was, seated in a chair facing me. She looked at me, smiling.
“Am I your Galatzi wife now?” I asked, finding enough words.
“No,” she said. “If this were a Galatzi trade, only you would be tied, and I would keep you. Would you obey me, Maddalyn?”
“Chaladine say; Maddalyn do.”
She laughed. “That’s right.”
“What if,” I asked, “I wanted to belong to you, Chaladine?”
She dropped her gaze, and I thought she didn’t want me. “I’d really like that, Maddalyn, but I can’t. I have an agreement with Governor Grace. She is trading me to someone who will take me away.”
“Why?” I couldn’t believe that. It didn’t make sense. I must not have understood. But Cecilia explained how Talmon needed people who understood the empire.
“I will teach!” I said in Talmonese. Then I spoke in rapid German. “I will teach her. She doesn’t need to leave, Governor Grace.”
“I’m sorry, Maddalyn,” she replied gently. “No one person can teach everything.” They explained some more. And in that, I knew I would never be Chaladine’s. Her future lay in other directions.
“That is why you are no longer with Luradinine,” I said, finally understanding the rest. “You were so in love.”
“I know,” Chaladine replied. “If not for my agreement with Cecilia, you and I may never have become friends. I would have remained in Beacon Hill, Luradinine would not have come to Sudden with me, and we would not have seen you at the embassy.”
“Oh,” I said. I thought about it for a minute then nodded. “Talmon needs you, Chaladine. Cecilia needs you.”
“I’ll go away for a while. I’ll see new places. I’ll learn everything I can. And then I will come back.”
“And help make Talmon strong.”
“Yes,” she said.
I nodded then was lost in my thoughts. I hated that I couldn’t be hers, but I couldn’t, and I was a pragmatic person. I thought of the loss when she left, but I wondered what would become of me.
Sartine untied Chaladine. And then Chaladine stepped to me, her hands going to the knots holding my hands. But I twisted from her. “Wait.”
“All right,” she said gently.
I turned to Cecilia. “Governor Grace, I want a Galatzi trade.” I said it in Talmonese.
She refused and explained why. In short: she had no one to trade for me, and if I wanted a trade, I would have to find a vendart willing to do so.
Well, there was a vendart sitting beside the governor. “Indartha Vendart, will you accept me in a Galatzi trade?”
Cecilia didn’t give Sartine a chance to respond but refused. She needed me in Sudden, and if Sartine took me, I’d be in Indartha. As Cecilia was here, I thought that was a good plan, but I could see she was resolute, and that there would be no trade for me.
My heart, already sick at the thought of Chaladine leaving, fell the rest of the way to the floor. I slumped and quietly asked to be untied.
Sartine didn’t move. Chaladine did, stepping closer and lifting my chin. “Do you trust me?”
“Always,” I whispered.
She told me to talk to Cecilia for a few minutes, and to call her Vendart. I remembered the law: if I called someone Vendart, she could trade me. I realized Chaladine had a plan.
And then I realized it wasn’t a new plan. Oh, n
o. It wasn’t a new plan at all. She had planned all of this, and I had walked into it. Oh, I hadn’t just walked. I’d run into it. I smiled broadly and turned to Cecilia. “Vendart Governor Grace,” I asked her, speaking German, “When did you know Chaladine intended to make a Galatzi trade with me?”
She laughed. “She proposed it the day we called to invite you here.”
“Is that the same day she forgot all her English, so I would be forced to speak Talmonese, Vendart?”
“It may have been,” Cecilia said. “I’m not sure I recall.”
We talked for another minute or two. I used every opportunity to call her ‘Vendart’. Finally Chaladine spoke. I didn’t quite understand, but she and Sartine seemed to come to some sort of agreement.
And then Chaladine reminded all of us just exactly who she was, Sudden Vendart’s Daughter, the future Sudden Vendart, and on this matter, she spoke with authority.
And then she offered a Galatzi trade, an agreement between Sudden and Cecilia Grace. I would be become Sudden’s Galatzi prisoner, given as wife to a women Chaladine would choose for me.
And Chaladine would become the other half of the trade, given to someone from the stars, someone who would take her away and teach her the way of the empire.
An agreement was made, and I thought it was fitting that Chaladine and I had both been tied together. We were to be Galatzi trades after all, and I was even to be hers for a short time, while she chose my wife.
She made me promises, promises to find a perfect wife for me.
And I said one word: Ja.
They gave me two weeks to be sure. I didn’t need two weeks. I didn’t need two minutes.
And they untied me, but it was only for a while.
One Night
I was quiet the rest of the evening. Eventually, we climbed to our bedroom. Chaladine and I quietly prepared for bed. I watched her. I was still quite overcome by the conversation earlier.
