“We’re going to need some time.”
Marcel kissed the crook of her neck and muttered, “I figured you would.”
Then he let her go and reached to grab the undergarments of the fuchsia dress lying on the bed.
“It’s probably best you talk to Tsubame first anyway.”
2
MaLeila grudging followed one of Tsubame’s maids to where the woman was waiting for her. She was in her room, a large room on the third floor of the compound with double doors. The maid knocked and the door swung open seemingly on its own. The maid stepped aside to let MaLeila enter the room. Once she was past the threshold, the door closed behind her.
Tsubame was scurrying about the room in her red kimono dress, hair cascading down her back. She glanced at MaLeila and then went to her bed to fluff a pillow. Once she was done with that, the red and gold arrangement was done.
“This place still has a long way to go as far as aesthetics are concerned, but this is certainly a start.”
That said, Tsubame sat on a bench at the foot of the bed and patted the space next to her. MaLeila adjusted the flowing skirts of her fuchsia dress before sitting down next to the woman. For a moment all Tsubame did was watch her in what MaLeila would describe wide eyed wonder. MaLeila stared back at her doppelganger, though with not as much wonder as it was wariness. Even still it was unnerving to be looking at a woman who looked just like her, who claimed to be some version of her.
“Well don’t you look fine in that dress,” Tsubame finally said in a breathless tone. “I knew it would be befitting of you.”
“Who are you?” MaLeila blurted out. “Are you me?”
“No. I’m not you,” Tsubame replied promptly. “I’m a version of you.”
“What kind of version? A future version.”
“A future version from an alternate world. Maybe an alternate timeline would make more sense to you,” Tsubame explained. “It really is quite marvelous… How this universe works, working so hard to keep all her timelines and worlds and galaxies within her separated so that while they may be aware of each other’s existences, they are to never cross, let alone be traveled in between.”
“If that’s the case then how were you able to get here?”
Tsubame smiled and said, “Magic.”
“Let me rephrase that. Why?”
“A lot of reasons. Boredom for one. And then arrogance that grew out that boredom that I could take any nation, any world, if I just had access to it, prove once and for all that I am the most powerful sorceress to ever live and leave an eternal mark on the universe by making myself ruler of multiple worlds,” Tsubame replied.
The answer, while certainly honest wasn’t entirely truthful. Because Tsubame could obviously do that on her own if she wanted to. So something must have obviously changed that she also wanted MaLeila to help her do it. If the woman had all her powers and then some, why did she need her?
“What changed?” MaLeila asked.
Tsubame smiled again, like a teacher who was proud of her student for asking the right question.
“I have nothing to prove to anyone in this world. They’ve never put me down, nor do I care what they think. While taking over this world on my own would leave a mark, it wouldn’t be the humiliating mark I want it to be,” Tsubame said explained. Then she stood up, going over to a desk near the only window in the room as she said, “But you have everything to prove. And I’m going to help you prove it.”
MaLeila rolled her eyes. “I have nothing to prove to anyone.”
“Don’t be so quick to talk out of misguided pride. You have everything to prove and I could give a myriads of ways you’ve given this away, but I only need to give you one,” Tsubame said.
“And what’s that?”
“You’re still here.”
“Because you brought me here.”
“That I did. But I haven’t been keeping you here. You’ve been by yourself in that room for three days now and not once have you tried to escape even though I’ve made it so easy for you. I haven’t bound you physically or magically, there are no alarms to alert me that you’ve left your room or even the compound, and I haven’t given anyone any orders to make sure you stay put or even put a guard on the room.” Tsubame pointed out.
“You would have come after me.”
“Any captor will go after their captive after they’ve worked so hard to capture them in the first place,” Tsubame agreed. “But that doesn’t stop the captive from trying to escape when they get the chance if they really wanted to escape. You simply don’t want to escape. At the very least, you’re curious to see what I have to offer, right?”
MaLeila could admit to that. There was nothing wrong with being curious about what Tsubame had to offer. She had listened to people’s offers before, starting with the Magic Council, the Longs when they first sent Irvin, and more after that. They always had a different reason for wanting her whether it be for her magic, prestige, even sex, but regardless there was always a selfish cause wrapped up in noble intentions. At least Tsubame appeared to be upfront about her intentions, if not entirely truthful.
“I am,” MaLeila admitted.
Tsubame turned from the window, a small smile on her face as she said, “Good. Let’s take a trip then.
Tsubame notified no one that they were leaving, not her maids, not Marcel or Nika. She didn’t even tell MaLeila where she was going. The woman simply sat MaLeila at her vanity, plucked and arched her eyebrows, put lip gloss on her lips, black mascara on her lashes, smoky eyeshadow on her eyelids, foundation and blush on her face and pinned up MaLeila’s hair in a delicate bun with random curls falling out of it in places. When she was done, Tsubame hardly let MaLeila admire herself in the mirror before standing her up so that they were face to face and then MaLeila blinked and they were gone from Tsubame’s room at her compound and in the large foyer of an undoubtedly large house.
Tsubame had disguised herself to look like Nadiyyah again, but this time she had a certain glow to her face and was wearing red lipstick and hair in an elaborate bun with a black crystal comb in it. MaLeila found it much less unnerving to look at Tsubame like this, though it was still hard to look the woman in the eyes because they were so much like the eyes she saw when she looked in the mirror.
“Where are we?” MaLeila asked, turning away from the woman to observe the foyer.
“I have an appointment,” Tsubame said simply just a servant came into the foyer.
“Ms. Nadiyyah,” he said. “Follow me.”
Tsubame followed the man, not prompting MaLeila to follow her, but MaLeila did so anyway, not sure what this trip had to do with Tsubame showing her what she had to offer, but she was sure the woman would explain it all the same if MaLeila didn’t figure it out before all was said and done. He led them to a door and then opened it to let them into a small clean office with a heavy wood desk, a leather chair and a window off to the side of the room. It was the person behind the desk that made MaLeila stop in her tracks even as Tsubame swept into the room and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
Back when she had just discovered magic, one of the first people that came to see her after the council was the head of the leading magic family in the West: Jonathan Claude Thorne. He had hardly spared her a glance back then, unimpressed with her potential and unable to comprehend why his late uncle had decided to choose her as an heir. He left after about half an hour of talking with her and Bastet, and MaLeila never heard from the Thorne family again nor had they tried any underhanded techniques to get rid of her or bring her under their control like the council and many other magic families had.
“Come have a seat Ms. Samara,” Tsubame said softly.
MaLeila did so looking between Jonathon Claude and Tsubame, wondering just what Tsubame could want with the Thornes. If there was one thing she knew about the Thornes, something everyone knew about the Thornes, it was that you couldn’t trust them as far as you could physically move a mountai
n. The whole family were a bunch of greedy liars, always willing and ready to use a noble cause to justify their greed and wrong doings as though it could justify their evil. And when they couldn’t use a noble cause, they threatened with the vast military might of the country they secretly helped to shape and control because while it was hard to defeat magic, most families could only do so much against the strength of enough nuclear power to bomb the world four times over.
“I’m very appreciative of the fact that you were able to take some time out of your day to speak with us today,” Tsubame said.
“To be honest, I’ve been looking forward to meeting and speaking with you myself,” Jonathon admitted.
“Is that so?” Tsubame asked.
“You must know that the Thorne family has always sympathized with your country’s fight to take down ruthless terrorists and dictators in order to establish freedom and peace. We were pleasantly surprised and impressed at your tenacity when you were able to stop the Russian drones from dismantling that peace,” Jonathan added.
“I wasn’t aware that you had been so closely following our conflict,” Tsubame replied.
“Yes. I see it’s been especially difficult for you in the last few days. My daughters in particular have been talking about you a lot, which is why when you reached out to me for help I knew I had to do everything I could to assist you,” Jonathan replied.
MaLeila looked in Tsubame’s direction, knowing she couldn’t ask but wondering what Jonathan meant by everything that happened in the last few days. He couldn’t have been talking about Fathi’s death. What about that would have been so difficult or had even inspired any sympathy from him or his daughters, so much that Jonathan would be willing to assist them or even have Tsubame asking for help? Or maybe the better question was what in the world would Jonathan be getting out of the deal by helping them.
“And for that I am grateful. After the failed attempts at diplomacy with the Magic Council, the Russian Clan has begun to threaten us even more and I think they plan on sending much more than a drone in to neutralize us,” Tsubame replied. “And with the army now fighting against me, I fear that they might ally with the Russian Clan to not only kill me but slaughter all the civilians that I’ve brought under my protection.”
MaLeila resisted the urge to give into the frown tugging at her lips. What in the world had she missed in the last few days?
“Fears that are completely warranted,” Jonathan agreed as the servant came into the room with what smelled like both tea and coffee. Only once the man sat the platter on the table and left the room did Tsubame reply.
“So you’ll help me?” Tsubame asked.
“Just because I sympathize with you doesn’t mean I can just put troops on the ground to defend you without giving any specific reason,” Jonathan said as he reached forward to prepare himself a cup of coffee.
In other words, he needed to get something out of it and as far as MaLeila knew, Tsubame had nothing to offer the Thorne Clan. As far as they knew, she was an upstart sorceress with no political ties, who had a special affinity for magic and was trying to solidify her name in magical history, not much different from MaLeila herself.
“Don’t do that,” Tsubame said suddenly, stopping Jonathan from pouring his coffee. “Let Miss Samara do it.”
MaLeila turned to meet Tsubame’s gaze at the woman’s request. Tsubame simply nodded and without arguing, MaLeila stood from her chair and made her way around to Jonathan’s side of the desk where she took the coffee from his hand and poured his coffee.
“Cream and sugar?” MaLeila asked.
When Jonathan declined, MaLeila let out a short breath, resisting the urge to roll the tension out of her shoulders that was usually the result of someone closely watching her.
“Pour me a cup of tea, sweetheart. Cream and sugar too dear,” Tsubame said and then promptly turned her attention back to Jonathan to whom she said, “I think the better question is what aren’t you getting out of this? I’m not naïve enough to think that the only reason you’re doing this is because you want to make progress in some great humanitarian effort. That’s only the noble excuse you’ll use to help you sell it to the general masses of your country. You’ve been looking for a way to bring down the Russian Clan for a hundred years and I’m giving you a reason to go toe to toe with them, tit for tat in a physical military war to decide all wars once and for all. What I’m getting out of it is insignificant comparatively.”
Tsubame took a sip of her tea and frowned saying to MaLeila, “A tad more cream and a tad more sugar.”
MaLeila bit her tongue to prevent from reminding the woman that she was not her servant and stood to refix the tea.
“That may be true, but I’ll be the one risking my resources to fight your war.”
“Resources?” Tsubame asked with a laugh. “What resources. You’re the shadow leader of a country that boasts that it has enough bombs and military might to destroy the world multiple times over. The fight with Russia will be over as soon as you declare war… if you even have to. And then you’ll have truly defeated your last rival and not only will you be able to boast that you’re the greatest magic family with control of the greatest nation on earth, you will certainly be it. You wouldn’t even have to answer to the Magic Council anymore,” Tsubame said taking a sip of the tea that MaLeila had once again sat in front of her. She barely took it from her lips and looking over the rim added, “Unless… you really aren’t as powerful as you make me to believe you are.”
“Power isn’t an issue. I just want to be sure that you’ll deliver on what you promise.”
“It’s there for the taking,” Tsubame said sipping on her tea again. Then she turned to MaLeila and said, “Perfect.”
MaLeila had a feeling Tsubame was talking more than just about the tea, but didn’t get a chance to ask until after the two women left the mansion. When they were back in the woman’s room later that evening, MaLeila sat on the bench in front of Tsubame’s bed while the woman dug through her trunk. When it was apparent that the woman would be going through it for a while, MaLeila asked, “What was all that? What were you trying to show me?”
“What I have to offer.”
“As far as offers go, I’ve gotten better.”
“Maybe,” Tsubame said as she opened her wardrobe, the same wardrobe the fuchsia dress MaLeila now wore used to reside, “you just need a little context.”
Now in the wardrobe was a shelf and on it was a television turned to some international news station. Tsubame stepped aside to let MaLeila view.
MaLeila looked at the screen where pictures flashed of Tsubame in the compound, the gardens, in the market and at the hotel during the conference, and other photos that MaLeila had no clue how the media got their hands on circulated in a montage. She couldn’t understand the language but she managed to get the jist of the story from the captions. Fathi’s murder and the subsequent accusing of Tsubame for the crime had caused a media firestorm as the world dissected and analyzed who Tsubame was, what she had done, how she had come to power.
Apparently after Tsubame fled with MaLeila in tow, the Magic Council used their many connections to release the news about Fathi’s murder. Then they accused Tsubame of the crime, her guilt evident by the fact that she quickly fled the country. While trying to save her image from the media onslaught, Tsubame had also been forced to contend with the division of Fathi’s army, who unsurprisingly refused to listen to her lead. As far as they were concerned, either Fathi was as good as dead or if he wasn’t (because Tsubame wouldn’t confirm it) they still didn’t have to listen to her because no matter how fond of her the man had been, she hadn’t been his wife. They had attempted to take the compound from her and kill her, but Tsubame had managed to run the dissenters away. It was a temporary victory though, because just as soon as Tsubame ran them out they joined forces with the other warring factions that Fathi had once tried and failed to negotiate peace with. As it was, what remained of the army Tsubame m
anaged to retain was severely outnumbered and outclassed, with most of Fathi’s strongest fighters deserting him and the entire city was surrounded on all sides. Yet Tsubame didn’t back down and in the midst of the media onslaught did the American feminists catch wind of what was going on and rise up to defend Tsubame and criticize their own nation for not coming to her aid.
“At least they’re good for something,” Tsubame muttered in passing while MaLeila watched an interview of one particularly popular political feminist blogger.
MaLeila didn’t ask what she meant by it, but by the time MaLeila was done putting together the pieces of what had happened when she was knocked out and consumed with trying to find the connection between her, Devdan, and Bastet, MaLeila still didn’t understand what it was that Tsubame was trying to offer her.
“I still say I’ve gotten better deals,” MaLeila said to the woman when she came back into the room.
“That’s because you aren’t reading the fine print silly girl,” the woman said to MaLeila though she wasn’t looking at her. Tsubame was staring past MaLeila, like there was something or someone over her shoulder. “When we were born in this world we already had two strikes against us. It was that we were black first and women second, both that came with a bunch of stereotypes that put us at a disadvantage. Some true, some false. But instead of working so hard to prove them wrong, instead of working so hard to prove that you’re strong instead of weak, all you have to do is let them think it’s true, make them sympathize with your struggles, your weaknesses, and then they’ll offer their hand to let you eat out of it, not realizing that you’ve actually got them eating out the palm of yours.”
Tsubame finally looked MaLeila directly in the face and said, “I’ve just proven that every rock they’ve thrown against you for being a woman of color, you can use as a stepping stone or throw right back at them to get whatever you want without trying to act like a man or be anything other than what you are.”
The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Ascension Page 2
