Narisa was glad the corridors were deserted
when she made her way back to her own chamber, and very grateful to
find Chatta asleep on a low couch. It was just as well that Chatta
could not see the rumpled dress. Narisa liked the little maid, but
she did not want Chatta gossiping about her relationship with
Tarik. Any information about Narisa and Tarik that leaked back to
the Assembly and its Leader could be used against them, or against
Almaric.
Narisa pulled off the hated dress, dropping
it carelessly over a chair, and crawled into the huge,
heavily-draped bed. She was not sleepy, which was just as well. She
had a great deal to think about.
When she and Tarik made love, they had shared
more than physical intimacy. Each had touched the other’s innermost
being, and their agreement to have a child bound them together in
love and trust. They belonged to each other for the rest of their
lives. Tarik was the man for whom her heart and soul had longed.
She could never take another into her heart or into her arms, and
she believed he felt the same way about her.
She knew their love for each other would not
keep them safe. They might be separated by a ruling of the Assembly
when their punishment was decided. But before that could happen,
one or both of them would very likely be killed when the Cetans
attacked, unless they could convince someone in power to prepare a
defense. Never before had Narisa held such hopes for the future,
and never had the future seemed so elusive.
She sighed, turning over in the too-soft bed.
How complicated everything had become. How simple life had been
before she learned to love Tarik. Simple and easy, she told herself
scornfully, to be oblivious to reality. She was fully aware now,
and she had no desire to retreat into her former state of blind
obedience. Because of Tarik she was happy, and she was terrified at
the same time. And most important, she was determined to fight for
what she wanted, if need be until there was neither breath nor
blood left in her body. She knew Tarik would be at her side to the
end.
Drifting toward sleep at last, Narisa’s
thoughts turned to Dulan’s planet, to the simplicity and freedom it
offered. She could almost see the birds behind her closed lids, and
their calls echoed in her heart.
Chon. Chon-chon. Return one day. Return.
Return.
Chatta greeted the new morning with the
announcement that Mistress Kalina would like to see Narisa as soon
as she had dressed and eaten.
Narisa decided to wear her Service uniform.
She would not, she told Chatta firmly, be fastened into another
complicated gown like the one she had worn the night before.
“You will not have to,” Chatta replied with
her usual series of giggles. “Mistress Kalina ordered Beltan dress
prepared for you. She thought you would find it more
comfortable.”
Chatta held up a cream-colored garment.
Narisa snatched it from her fingers with a delighted cry. She had
not worn the dress of her youth since she first put on a Service
uniform. It slipped easily over her head, the rounded neck circling
the base of her throat, the long narrow sleeves wrist length.
Chatta fastened the small silver clasps along the left shoulder.
The ankle-length un-cinched garment was narrowly cut so it clung to
her figure, yet it was loose enough for easy movement. The footwear
Kalina had sent was Beltan, too- flat sandals with silver strips
winding between her toes and around her ankles. On Belta, Narisa
would have worn a wide silver bracelet on each wrist. There were
none to be had, but she did not care.
“This,” she said happily, “is much more
comfortable than the clothing you wear here at the Capital.”
“It looks like an undergarment for the cold
season.” Chatta sniffed, offended. She brightened, however, when
Narisa said she was needed for an important errand, and sent her
off to Service Headquarters to get a supply of the pills that
prevented growth of body hair.
“My Mistress Kalina has some,” Chatta
exclaimed. “I’m sure she would share them with you.”
“I’m certain she would,” Narisa agreed, “but
the Service provides them free to all its personnel. There is no
need to take Kalina’s pills.” She had an ulterior motive for
sending Chatta. She hoped the talkative, friendly girl would pick
up any gossip that was circulating about the Cetan threat, and some
hint of what, if anything, the Service proposed to do about it.
Almaric undoubtedly had more orthodox sources of information, but
Narisa wanted to hear what ordinary Service people were saying.
With Chatta on her way, Narisa hurried to meet Kalina in the little
square hall just outside the secure room.
“There is someone I want you to meet,” Kalina
said after Narisa had finished thanking her for the new Beltan
clothes. “This may be difficult for you, Narisa, but please listen
to what she says and believe her as I do. It is extremely important
that you do. How I wish Almaric and Tarik were here.”
“Where are they?”
“They left early this morning with Jon. I
can’t say more here.” Kalina opened the door and motioned to Narisa
to enter before her.
There, in the center of the secure room,
stood a woman who was a few inches shorter than Narisa, who had
flame red hair, large green eyes and a voluptuous figure.
“Suria, what are you doing here?” It was
Tarik’s former lover, who had been navigator of the
Reliance
before Narisa, the sensuous, throaty-voiced creature of whom Narisa
had been so jealous.
“Greetings, Narisa.” Suria put out her hand,
and under Kalina’s expressive look, Narisa felt compelled to take
it. “I came here to warn you.”
“Of what?” Narisa wanted to shout that Tarik
was hers, and that Suria had no right to come back into his life.
She could not keep the hostility out of her voice. “What do you
want, Suria?”
“Narisa, please.” Kalina moved between the
two younger women. “I asked you to listen to Suria. I have known
her for years, and I am certain she is telling the truth. Let us
sit down and speak rationally.”
Narisa sat, perching on the edge of a chair,
never taking her eyes off Suria, who sank gracefully into another
chair, while Kalina took the third one. Narisa had noticed
something about Suria, and could not contain her curiosity. Suria
wore the simple wrapped garment over trousers that was the costume
of her home planet. Her waist was tiny, and though her hips curved
in a way that must be inviting to men, her abdomen was flat.
“I understood,” Narisa said in a slightly
more pleasant tone than before, “that you left the
Reliance
in order to reproduce. It has been more than six months since that
time, yet your figure is unchanged. Has no genetically suitable
father been found?”
“No.” Suria laughed bitterly, and her next
words sent a chill through Narisa. “I have been refused permission
to have a child.”
“But I thought with your important family,
there was no question of refusal.” Narisa looked more closely at
Suria. With a new understanding born of her own intense desire for
Tarik’s child, she saw the sadness on that beautiful face, the tiny
lines around eyes and mouth, and the shadows beneath the green
eyes. How would she, Narisa, feel if told she would never be
allowed to have a child? A sense of comradeship began to erase her
initially hostile feelings toward the woman facing her. “Suria, I
am sorry. You were willing to postpone your career in the service,
so you must have wanted very badly to reproduce.”
“And now I have neither child nor Service
career,” Suria responded. “I was too insistent. I even taught
myself midwifery and child care. I wanted to raise it myself. That
was one of the reasons I was refused. I was told my eagerness was a
sign of emotional instability.”
“But there are many planets within the
Jurisdiction where people raise their own children,” Narisa
objected. “Belta, for example, or Demaria, and on those planets
some people are even permitted to have more than one child. I don’t
understand why you should be refused for such a wish.”
“As you know, Narisa, all planets living
under the Jurisdiction are permitted their own laws only at the
discretion of the Assembly. The various planets tolerate this
arrangement because the Assembly has succeeded in keeping peace
within the Jurisdiction for many centuries. We are all taught in
childhood just how terrible were the wars that preceded the Great
Agreement, which led to the formation of the Jurisdiction and
establishment of the Assembly to rule it. I don’t have to remind
you how all the Races were nearly destroyed by those long-ago wars,
and how grateful we all should be for the peace we have now.
“But,” Suria went on, “The various agencies
of the Assembly can be capricious in their judgments for
individuals, and they are not required to explain their decisions.
I pressed the Reproductive Agency for an explanation of their
denial of my application. As a result of my determined persistence,
I am no longer permitted to leave the Capital. I have been told I
am free here, but it has become a prison for me. I can’t even
return to my home planet. My own family refused to take me in. I
disgraced them by failing to get permission to reproduce, and they
want nothing more to do with me.”
“You have been a loyal officer of the
Service,” Narisa cried. “To treat you this way is outrageous.”
“No more outrageous than the Assembly
refusing to believe Tarik and placing him under arrest,” Suria
replied. “I believe his story, Narisa. I know him well enough to
know he is completely honest, well enough to be aware of his doubts
about the Assembly and the Service, his fears that both have become
so powerful and irresponsible they make a mockery of the original
Jurisdiction Agreement. There were times when I thought Tarik was
an overly romantic fool. Now I realize he was right.”
“I thought he was foolish, too,” Narisa
murmured.
“You love him.” It was a simple statement. It
required no answer, but Narisa bowed her head in acknowledgment of
Suria’s perception. Unexpectedly, she felt Kalina’s hand on
hers.
“I came here to give vitally important
information to Tarik, not to seduce him. I have no desire to become
Tarik’s lover again,” Suria said bluntly. “It was a convenience
between us, and a certain fondness, but no more. We were always
honest with each other. We treated each other well. We remain
friends. I will be your friend, too, if you will allow it. Tarik
found me trustworthy, and Kalina will vouch for me.” She faced
Narisa, half challenging, half fearful.
Narisa could find no spark of anger or
jealousy in her heart toward the unhappy woman. Suria deserved
better from the Jurisdiction she had served so well. More
importantly, it was obvious Kalina believed her. If Kalina trusted
Suria, then Narisa would trust her, too, though friendship was
another matter. Still, Narisa would give what she could.
“I see no reason why we should be enemies,”
she said, and felt a reassuring pressure from Kalina’s hand, which
was still holding her own.
“Suria, tell Narisa what you have learned,”
Kalina urged. “Tell her what you would have told Tarik had he been
here.”
“To earn my daily food supply, I have taken a
menial position in the household of the Leader of the Assembly,”
Suria told Narisa.
“But you are an expert navigator. How can you
let all that training go to waste?”
“I have no choice. I had to resign from the
Service before applying for permission to have a child, and now
they won’t let me rejoin. If I could leave the Capital, I might
find a place with a private merchant’s fleet, but no one wants a
navigator who is forbidden to go into deep space. If Leader Tyre
hadn’t taken me in, I might well have starved. There are those who
would say I should have done that instead of accepting his
proposal.” Something in Suria’s voice told Narisa exactly what
those last words meant.
“He uses you?” Narisa whispered in horror,
and heard Kalina’s soft cry of distress. When Suria nodded, Narisa
continued, “Against your will? The Leader of the Assembly, that
unpleasant man, forces you to lie down with him?”
“He lies down. I’m not allowed to,” Suria
responded wryly. “It’s not very often. He would rather eat and
drink.”
“My poor child!” Kalina cried. “I did not
know about this. We are old friends - why did you not come to
me?”
“I was too ashamed.” Suria sat up straighter,
lifting her chin. “I’m not ashamed any longer. I think it is a good
thing I remained in that dreadful man’s household and have
admittance to his most private room. Kalina, that is how I heard of
the plot to kill you.”
“Leader Tyre wants to kill Kalina?” Narisa
was in a state of confusion. She wasn’t certain she had understood
this last charge.
“Not just Kalina,” Suria responded. “He wants
all of you dead - Almaric, Tarik, you, and the Cetan who came to
the Capital with you.”
“Gaidar.” Narisa was still trying to take in
all Suria was telling her.
“Gaidar, that’s the one. You see, Narisa,
Leader Tyre fears the prestige Almaric has attained by being honest
and devoted to the welfare of the Jurisdiction rather than to his
own personal advancement. He believes Almaric is plotting to
overthrow him. That is what Tyre would do in Almaric’s position, so
he wants to strike first and eliminate Almaric. Tarik’s appearance
before the Assembly has provided Tyre with the perfect
opportunity.”
“The Assembly has to be told what their
Leader is planning,” Narisa said. “The Members aren’t all corrupt.
Surely they would never allow such violence.”
“Why not? They have allowed violence before
when it suited their purposes. The Jugarian Civil War, for example.
The Assembly could have prevented that, but they let it happen. The
Jugarians are an unpleasant Race, so the majority in the Assembly
voted to allow them to kill each other until there were few left.
The Assembly will now have Jugaria resettled with colonists of
Leader Tyre’s own choice. I know Almaric voted against that
decision. It’s one of the reasons Tyre hates him so much.