Diplomat

by Robin Roseau

  “I also had a nice time, and I’m not disappointed. If I invite you again?”

  “Sure, but give it some time.”

  “I will.”

  We moved closer, and I let her kiss me. It was nice, although not earthshaking. But I held her for a minute later before turning for the door.

  * * * *

  “You,” I said, looking up at Olivia.

  “What did I do now?”

  “Is my event at the arena?”

  “Of course it is.”

  “Olivia!”

  “Where did you think I meant when I said it would be in public?”

  “You’re selling tickets!”

  “Yours is one of perhaps fifteen events,” she said.

  “Are ticket sales higher than average for an odd-week?”

  “Maybe,” she said slowly.

  “Is there a reason for that?”

  “Perhaps everyone expects a lovely day.”

  “Uh, huh. The entire town is going to see me naked. I’m not doing it.”

  She moved into my office and sat down. “Are you serious?”

  “Of course I'm serious.”

  “You’ll break Dee’s heart like that.”

  “We can host a private event,” I countered.

  “And refund those extra tickets,” she said.

  “Oh, no. I had nothing to do with those ticket sales. Don’t try to guilt me.”

  “All right,” she said. “I thought you were trying to fit into Ressaline society.”

  “What does that have to do with it?”

  “I wouldn’t say everyone living in Charth has participated in the arena, but the majority of the people you refer to as friends have.”

  “Fine. My event will be right after yours.”

  “Allium,” she said gently. “I’d prefer you ask me to participate a different week, one in which you aren’t about to spend a week living in my home.”

  “I’ll belong to Dee.”

  “I want to be free to see properly to you,” she replied.

  “You’ve competed in the arena before?”

  “Not very many times,” she admitted. “But yes, I have. Other people you call friends do so very frequently.”

  “Are any of my friends competing today?”

  “No. Do you think I’m lying to you?”

  “No,” I replied. “I wish I’d gotten these details from you instead of finding out last night.”

  “I should apologize,” she said. “I knew you didn’t realize the implications, and I was trying to hide them from you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I was feeling playful.”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Of course, but I’d rather you were gracious. You’re going to enjoy the event, even with an audience.”

  “People are going to be watching.”

  “People have watched every single time you’ve done this.”

  “But not the entire town.”

  “It’s not the entire down.”

  “Don’t play that game with me,” I told her. “I’m going to embarrass myself.”

  “Because Dee is going to have little trouble beating you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re new. Everyone knows that. They’re not coming to watch you lose, Allium. They’re coming to share the joy. The entire town is pleased you are here. They know we’re struggling. We have ample food and everything else this country produces. No one is starving. Everyone has a home. But you represent the potential for greater economic success.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “You’re a symbol,” she said. “And if you can embrace our culture while also remaining true to Flarvor, then so can others. Please, Allium. Please find joy today.”

  I waved a finger at her, but she’d taken the fight out of me. “It has been suggested I should observe next week.”

  “Of course.”

  “I think you should participate with the other people offering their twice annual obligation.”

  She laughed. “Do you? That won’t happen. But if you ask for something just a little less extreme, you might get it.”

  I’d been thinking about that very thing since last night, and I hadn’t come up with a thing to bargain for. I admitted that. “Anything reasonable I want, you’d probably grant.”

  “You’re probably right,” she said. “Ready for lunch?”

  “I suppose.”

  * * * *

  I looked at Dee. She looked quite odd without the resin. I crossed the room to her then reached out to brush her arm. “You look so different.” We were both wearing our white shifts, although we’d go upstairs to join Olivia shortly.

  “This is a handicap against me,” she said. “My body craves the resin, and I know how to make it climb faster.”

  “What are my choices?”

  “There are dozens of standard event types,” she said. “I picked four that are very different.” She explained them.

  “You want to wrestle?” I asked.

  “It’s fun,” she said. “Even if you are the one who gets tied, you can still win, if the other person succumbs faster. But being the one in control is an advantage. If I were to tie you, you will almost certainly lose, but if you tie me, you have a better chance.”

  “That makes it kind of like the second one,” I said.

  “The only real difference is neither of us begins tied. Allium, if you don’t like any of these, I can pick four others.”

  “Dee, I’d do any of these,” I said. “Which is your favorite?”

  “I like to wrestle,” she said. “I bet you’re stronger than I am.”

  “Don’t try to manipulate me,” I told her.

  “I was only telling you that you could win that part. That isn’t where I’ll necessarily beat you. Allium, I picked from four I like. You should pick the one you want the most.”

  “That sounds like fun,” I said. “We can do that.”

  She smiled. “I’m glad.” She took my hand. “If we hurry, we can watch the other events. We’re last.” I let her pull me from the room. In the corridor, we told a black-clad slave who we were and what event we were doing, and then she pulled me through the arena.

  We found Bee and Olivia. Around us were some of my friends. We exchanged greetings, and then she pulled me down to sit between her and Olivia, Claary making room for us by moving back one seat.

  The host for the day stepped out onto the turf below. She walked a circle, waving, before coming to a stop facing us. “Lady Olivia,” she called out. “Welcome!”

  “Thank you, Teasest,” Olivia called back. “A robust audience today.”

  “I see that,” Teasest replied. “I imagine the woman seated beside you is a good portion of the reason.” At that, the crowd screamed, and I heard both my name and Dee’s. Teasest let them share their approval, then lifted her hand. “Our first event is a practice challenge between two young subjects.”

  Claary leaned forward and said, “That means they are not yet citizens.” I nodded my understanding.

  Teasest invited them forth. The two woman, each wearing their own shifts, stepped out onto the turf. The audience went crazy, which I thought was nice. The two came to a stop facing Teasest, one to either side.

  She explained their event, turning a slow circle as she did so. She finished facing me. “Ambassador,” she called. “Did you understand?”

  “Perhaps enough,” I said. I stood. “May I ask? How old are these contestants?”

  “We’re both seventeen,” one of them called back. “She’s going to look fabulous in red.”

  The arena roared, and I decided the people liked the taunting. I was impressed by the woman’s confidence, not that she might win, but that should could stand there in her white shift with all these people watching her.

  When I could, I said, “I wish you both a good competition.”

  “Thank you, Ambassador,” replied the other. “I don’t know if I’m going to win,
but I’m going to do my best.” She blew me a kiss and then another to her opponent.

  I sat back down and said to Olivia, “She seems sweet.”

  “Very sweet,” Olivia said. “And a total tiger. Taralla has no idea.”

  They held their event. Dee leaned to me and said, “I considered this, but I like them a little more complicated.”

  “A good event for relatively young participants?”

  “Yes.”

  Their event was perhaps six or seven minutes long. At first, I thought Mestarla, the total tiger, as Olivia called her, was losing, as the resin reached her knees while it barely covered Taralla’s feet. But then things changed, and I could see the resin actually climbing Taralla. I wouldn’t say it swarmed up her body, but there was a steady climb, and then Taralla’s defenses seemed to crumble.

  And that was when it slowed.

  “Mestarla is playing,” Claary whispered to me. “Making it last so Taralla falls more completely.”

  Taralla was consumed by the resin, entirely consumed, but it was another couple of minutes before she began calling out her joy. It took another minute before Mestarla asked for help escorting her new slave from the arena.

  The audience cheered and called out Mestarla’s name.

  In all, we watched eight events, the eighth a very chaotic group event. “This is how Claary made her name,” Olivia said. “A very similar event, very early, before she was a citizen. She performed extremely well.”

  The event held two teams of five women. It began with a tussle in the middle, but then one team managed to drag two of the opposing team members to the far side. Two women were secured, and it was now five to three.

  “My event was a little different,” Claary said. “We could work the entire arena, so that wouldn’t have worked quite like that. The team on the left could have worked to save their lost member.”

  “They had to stop at that line,” I said, pointing.

  “Yes.”

  I leaned to Dee. “This is a little bit like our event.”

  “A little, yes,” she said.

  The right team secured their prisoners and then stepped forward to try to capture more. The left team held back for a minute.

  “This could go on all afternoon,” Olivia said. “But if they don’t take a risk, we implement a penalty. We eliminate their safe end.”

  It was another minute before the three dashed forward and grabbed one of the opposing players. The other four then converged, and in the end, two more were pulled away, leaving one standing alone. She stood at the center, watching as her teammates were secured.

  “It’s not always this lopsided,” Claary said. “And it can depend upon the sporting nature of those involved.”

  “That one can’t do a thing about this, can she?”

  “No,” Olivia said. “Once the event begins, you either win or lose. But the event isn’t over just because she gets tied. They still have to claim her.”

  The final woman waited. She looked resigned, but when the five turned to her, she held up a hand. The five approached, but they came to a stop a respectful distance apart. I couldn’t hear, but there was some sort of negotiation, and then one of the five stepped forward.

  The audience cheered loudly.

  “Now, this part is very much like our event,” Dee whispered. “If the other four don’t intervene. They still might.”

  “It’s not against the rules.”

  “You heard all the rules,” she said.

  “Right.”

  The two squared off. They circled each other, and then one rushed the other. There was a flurry, ending with both on the ground, one on top of the other. I wasn’t sure, but I thought the one on top was from the team that was winning.

  “That’s a mistake,” Olivia said. “She should have moved it closer to one of the pits.”

  The two struggled, but they weren’t really getting anywhere.

  There was scrambling, but it looked like it was going to take a long time. Evidentally, the other women agreed with me, as two of them offered looks then stepped forward and grabbed the woman on top.

  She screeched and tried to fight them off, but it was two against one, and they dragged her to their pit. The other two met them, and it took a minute to secure the struggling woman.

  And in the meantime, the other one remained at that middle.

  “What just happened?”

  “Her own team turned on her,” Claary said. She laughed. “Sometimes that happens.”

  “That seems mean.”

  “It’s not a choice I would make,” she said. “I don’t respond well to it when someone does it to me, either.”

  Apparently, the audience wasn’t that put out by it. There were a lot of catcalls, but no sounds of true disapproval.

  The four finished securing their clearly irate teammate, and then they removed her shift besides. They hadn’t done that to anyone else. Then they turned around and approached the woman waiting in the middle. There was another negotiation. Then one of the four stepped forward. She offered her hand.

  And the one from the middle let the other woman lead her to one of the pits, and then lay down and let herself be tied.

  “Why?’

  “I don’t know,” Claary said. “Maybe they gave her a choice of being gracious, but let her pick who would attempt to claim her.”

  The other three women retreated to their end. They each knelt beside one of the bound women. Shifts came off, and they began to play with them. That left two people tied and unable to free themselves, but we watched as the four women attempted to claim four.

  And yes, four women were claimed, but the fourth was the one who had led the solo woman willingly. She eventually cried out and then collapse on top of the woman in the pit.

  “Now what happens?”

  “The last two will be claimed,” Olivia said. “Sometimes people turn on each other, but I don’t think that will happen.

  It took a few minutes, but then one of the women untied her new slave. The two moved to one of the other women. I realized it was the one whose teammates had betrayed her. I couldn’t see her well, but she looked angry.

  The new slave owner, along with her new slave, knelt on opposite sides of the pit. And then they began talking to the woman. Talking turned into stroking. Stroking turned into more intimate touching.

  And then the previous winner climbed atop the woman and began to move.

  “She’s losing,” Dee said.

  The others untied their slaves. They communed, and then one of them, with her slave, went to the last woman. They began to give her attention. But it was the middle competition that was most interesting.

  The woman had arrived half coated in resin. We watched as it climbed higher, and I thought the angry woman in the pit was going to win after all. But the woman on top said something to her slave. And the slave became far more involved.

  “It might be too late,” Dee said. “This is going to be close.”

  It took several more minutes. Both women were coated in the resin, as best I could see, and I thought they were both lost.

  But then the one in the pit screamed a name, arching her back as she did it. She screamed the name again, then a third time before falling limp, gasping heavily.

  “Close,” Claary said. “Being greedy can do that.”

  It took another minute, but then the guards appeared from the sides, and they helped all the women from the arena.

  The audience went wild.

  “Come on,” Dee said, grabbing my hand. I let her hurry me.

  * * * *

  Down below, they separated us, and a black-clad slave led me to another door. She waited a moment, listening, and then said, “I hope you have a good time, Ambassador.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I stepped out into the sunlight. The audience was roaring. I looked and saw Dee on the other side. I turned a slow circle, waving, and then turned for the walk to Teasest. I came to a stop where I had s
een others stop. And then I took a hint from the first contestants. I blew a kiss to Dee. I blew one to Olivia. And then I blew one to the audience in general.

  They began chanting, half the arena saying my name, the other half saying Dee’s. But then that half switched, and they started saying, “Coo!” instead.

  That caused laughter, and then my side took it up. Then it went back to Dee and Coo, Dee and Coo.

  Teasest quieted them, and I lifted my voice. “You’re all brats, each and every one of you.”

  They cheered.

  Teasest explained our event. She asked if I had any questions.

  “Would you indulge me?” I asked. “Dee has done this before, and I have not.”

  “You’re going to lose, Coo!”

  “Thanks, Bee!” I called back. “Teasest, the goal is to subdue our challenger in one of the pits, and then help the magic claim her.”

  “Correct.”

  “Could I receive a tour of the pit?”

  “It is a shallow depression partly full of resin,” she said. “I am unsure what a tour would look like. But if you wish to play in the resin for a minute, no one minds.”

  “Dee, do you mind?”

  “No, Coo.”

  “Cute.”

  But she stepped forward and offered her hand. And so I stepped forward and gave her mine.

  “Aww,” someone yelled, and then the audience began applauding.

  Dee led me to one of the pits. She stepped in and then encouraged me to join her. The audience was loud, so she pulled my ear towards her. “It isn’t deep,” she said. “And is higher at the middle.” We walked from end to end.

  “Why is it so long?”

  “Sometimes you tie two people at once,” she said. “They can be head to head, feet to feet, or head to feet.” She gestured towards the two ends. “It isn’t deep enough to be dangerous, even if your head is at that end. But you shouldn’t push me face first.”

  “I wouldn’t,” I said.

  “Sometimes people lose themselves,” she said. “Do you want to start at one end, and me at the other?”

  “All right.”

  We hugged, and I realized my heart was pounding. “Don’t be scared,” Dee said into my ear. “It’s just me, Allium.”

  “And half the town.”

  She kept her arms around me but pulled away, and I looked into her eyes, her sweet, loving, gentle eyes. “It’s just the two of us,” she said. She smiled. “Allium, this is going to be so much fun.”