The Ardoon King Page 79

  Chapter 77: Fiela Counters

  Two hours passed before the meeting could re-adjourn. In the interim, Thal had been taken to the infirmary in the cave below Steepleguard and heavily sedated. Lilian had been summoned by Barnum and told what happened.

  Fiela seemed to have vanished, but Lilian said they would find the girl in a high place, and soon she was spotted crouching atop a bookcase in Barnum’s office. The junior queen looked very much like a gargoyle. She seemed not even to be breathing. Her eyes were closed. The blood dripping from her mouth pooled on the hardwood floor below.

  Persipia and Barnum remained on the far side of the room as Lilian calmly approached the bookshelf and lifted one hand toward her sister. She made a sound like the sound a mother would make to calm a child and began speaking very softly. The words, barely discernible as words, were from a language unknown to the Barnum and Persipia. Fiela opened her eyes and stared down at her. Her eyes still glowed brilliantly, but dimmed as Lilian spoke.

  Lilian turned toward the spectators. “Leave,” she said. “Close the door.”

  Twenty minutes passed before Lilian stepped out of the room. She moved to Barnum and said, “She’ll be fine. She just got a little excited.”

  Barnum’s eyes were wide. “No, Annasa! We saw-”

  “You saw nothing,” said the queen. “You were scared and your imagination got the better of you.” She looked at Persipia. “Both of you. Fiela bit her tongue. She heals very quickly, though. I’ll have a fetch clean up your office, Wily. My sister won’t remember much of what happened. It’s how she deals with trauma. I’ve explained to her what happened. She’s not going to kill you. She just blurts things like that when she’s upset. It almost never comes to pass.”

  Barnum saw that Lilian was wiping blood from her hand with a silk cloth. The woman said, “I’ve given her something to calm her. I apologize for all this. It’s most distressing.”

  She began to walk away, turned. “Please be more careful. She’s a sensitive girl. It’s in her genes.”

 

  Barnum and Persipia entered the attorney’s office and saw Fiela sitting at the conference table, studying them as if they were insects.

  She said, “Sorry. I think I got angry.”

  “A bit, lass,” replied Barnum, sitting very slowly in his chair and watching the girl. “Um, listen…I believe you misunderstand the procedure, Annasa. The process requires bargaining, you see. Persipia is required to demand the most stringent penalties upfront, with the expectation that she will withdraw many of them later, at your request.” He dabbed at his forehead with a handkerchief. “I am very sorry we upset the lady, of course. Hearings like this are very rare. I could have handled it better.”

  Persipia, who had also returned to her seat, said, “Annasa, I did not choose this role. You know that. I was assigned it by Lilitu. Please do not hold it against me! I am doing what I have been required to do and nothing more! I despise this role. I do not want to cause you pain. You have always been my champion and I would never betray you, but what am I to do? If I am too harsh you will kill me, I know, but if I am too lenient, the lady will be killed. Please understand!”

  The attorney, speaking very softly, said, “Annasa, this is where you provide us your explanation as to why the penalties required by Lady Persipia are-”

  “They are not mine!” protested the consort, looking at the man nervously. “I merely represent the kingdom. Please, Wily! Let us be accurate!”

  “What? Oh, yes.” The man cleared his throat again. He noticed that Fiela’s violet eyes still glowed more brightly than normal.

  “She will not be cut,” said the girl.

  “Pardon?” asked Barnum.

  “Circumcised,” said Fiela. “She will not be mutilated.”

  “Ah.” The man waited. “But Annasa, you must provide a reason. That is how this goes. You justify your position with a reason, for the records, and as a basis for deliberation.”

  The girl leaned forward, her hands on the table. “I don’t think anyone at Steepleguard should be mutilated.” She lifted her chin and tilted her head to one side. “Am I wrong?”

  Barnum swallowed hard. “No, but, um…can you perhaps give me a little more to work with?”

  Persipia, eager to make amends, grasped the hand in which the attorney held his pen. “Yes,” she blurted. “She has a reason. Don’t you, Annasa?” She looked at the girl anxiously.

  Fiela squinted at her.

  “You two are very close,” said Persipia. “Remember? You told me how close you became while you were in the wilderness.” She leaned forward and whispered, “Intimate, even?”

  Suddenly, the queen understood. “Yes.” She looked at the attorney. “Intimate. She and I have a sexual relationship. I do not wish for her to be unappealing. She is very nearly my consort.”

  The attorney breathed out. “Yes, of course.” He thought for a moment, and looked at Persipia. “If she were to be effectively circumcised, but not physically, would that be acceptable?”

  “How could that be enforced?”

  Barnum shrugged and shook his head. He wanted to escape this topic as quickly as possible. “How should I know? It would be an honor system, obviously.”

  Fiela frowned. “I do not understand.”

  Persipia took in a breath and said, “She would not be mutilated, as you say. Yet she must not benefit personally, aside from being more physically appealing to you. Her body is being preserved for your benefit, not her own.”

  Fiela said, “I think not being cut between the legs is a very great personal benefit.”

  Barnum, pulling at his collar, said, “Ah, yes. Just so. You agree to the terms, then, Annasa?”

  “Sure.”

  The attorney took a gulp of his bourbon. “Lady do you-”

  “I agree to the terms,” said Persipia.

  “Good, good,” the man replied, nodding and managing a weak smile. “We are making progress, then.”

  Fiela looked at Barnum, then Persipia. This conditional victory had a dramatic effect on her. She suddenly seemed almost human. She said in a more familiar voice, “She is my mentor, also. The king assigned her as such. I require that she be with me at least…” The girl thought. “Eight hours each day, in my suite. Also, three nights every week.”

  Barnum raised his eyebrows. “She will mentor you at night?”

  “No. That is for sex,” she said, again leaning forward. “We are intimate.”

  “Oh.” He looked at Persipia.

  Persipia, emboldened by the girl’s return to normalcy, said, “Annasa, if I grant you that, you will grant my demand that she will not be allowed alone, nor outside of my company, without an escort I designate. She must at all times be watched and shall be allowed no privacy. This includes in your quarters. If you are unable to physically monitor her every move, you will bring her to me.”

  “She is not a spy, Persy.”

  Persipia said nothing but her expression indicated she thought otherwise.

  Barnum said, “Please, lass! She is being more than fair! You must concede some points or this will all be for naught!”

  “Very well. But I do not like the communications restrictions. She must be allowed to assist the king in studying the tablets. She is the only one who can do so.”

  The attorney rotated his pen. “That is tricky, he being an alleged party to the crime.”

  “I can escort her.”

  Persipia summoned her courage and shook her head. “No, Annasa. If you are her proclaiming yourself her ‘lover,’ you cannot fulfill that role. She may meet with the king for two hours a day, if I am her escort, and if you will agree to the other restrictions. She is not allowed communication with anyone, in any form, unless I am present and have given her permission.”

  “That will make it very hard for her to mentor me,” observed Fiela.

  Persipia thought for a moment. “Within your suite, she may ask permission to speak from you in the same manner as
she requests permission to speak from me. But only within your suite. Not in public. That is reserved for me.”

  “A fair trade,” said Barnum soothingly, looking at Fiela.

  The girl ruminated on this. “As you say.” As Barnum scribbled, she added, “I do not want her harmed. Your guidelines for punishment are far too broad, Persy.” Her eyes sent a private message. “Some physical punishments are too severe. Don’t you think?”

  Persipia did. “I will allow that her punishments must not result in injury.” When Fiela continued to stare at her, she added, “Nor will she be permanently marked.”

  The stare continued, and Persipia, said, “Nor will any punishments be unusually cruel.” She swallowed. “Please, Annasa, is that not fair enough?”

  Fiela finally nodded and looked at Barnum. “Let me see the list of demands, Wily.”

  When he handed them over, she reviewed them, and said, “What is the age of a child? Why this prohibition? Why can she not be with children?”

  “It is punitive, Annasa. It is intended to deny her a motherly role.”

  The girl’s face twitched. “She is already prohibited from marrying or having children of her own. Is that not punishment enough? I know her. She is a natural caregiver. She desperately wanted children but was never given permission to marry. And now you say that she should not be allowed to care for the children of others? That she cannot even be near them? I will have many children, if my new god so blesses me, and intend to share my joy with her, if she cannot have her own.”

  She focused on Persipia. “You are a woman. Do you not think this extreme?”

  Persipia lowered her eyes, saying nothing.

  Fiela shook her head in disgust. “I think this worse than the cutting. No. I will not have it. It makes me angry to think such wicked laws could be written.”

  The girl’s breathing seemed to be growing shallower. Barnum looked nervously at Persipia, who, in a very meek voice, said, “I withdraw the demand.”

  The attorney nodded appreciatively and wrote something.

  Eager to move on, Persipia said, “Fiela, she cannot be a lady. I’m sorry, but think on that. She is accused of adultery with a king and of violating the eugenics codes. Her conduct-”

  “I know,” replied Fiela. “It does not matter. She will never be accepted in society now. The title is pointless. And without title, she cannot inherit. I do not wish to argue those things. But I will not have her head shaved, or allow the other restrictions which defeminize her in almost every way. No cosmetics? No jewelry? Ugly clothing? What is the point of any of that? It is ridiculous.”

  “They make her undesirable,” said Persipia.

  “You mean physically less attractive.”

  “As you say.”

  Fiela shook her head. “She cannot be with a man, and she’s not-” She stopped herself and looked furtively at Barnum. “I mean, she is not attracted to any woman other than me.” She turned back toward Persipia. “Yet she is still a woman. She will still seek to feel beautiful, even if that beauty serves no outward purpose.”

  Persipia said, “Annasa, commercial cosmetics are no longer being made, and what we scavenge will expire or be used up. They need to be reserved for ladies who still play a role in society and, to be frank, are still marriageable. They would be wasted on her.”

  The queen brooded. “That does not mean her head must be shaved.”

  “Hair care-”

  “I will share my own supplies with her.”

  “Annasa, that is the same thing. It depletes the overall supply.” Persipia bit at a nail, glancing at Barnum. “She may keep her hair, but it must be plainly kept. Washed with soap and nothing else. She may not use a fetch to cut or style it.”

  “Am I a fetch, Persy?”

  “No, Annasa!”

  “Then I agree to your terms.”

  Persipia thought better of arguing the point. She said, “Thalassa may, on rare occasions, use cosmetics of my choosing and in exactly the way I prescribe. If I do not allow it, she will wear none at all.”

  “But you will allow it?”

  Persipia tilted her head back and thought. Then, looking at Barnum, she said, “Thalassa may use cosmetics, and jewelry, in a manner I have described, if she is to remain with Fiela that night. It will make her more pleasing to the queen.”

  Fiela glanced at the attorney. “Because we are intimate those days.”

  The man sighed. “Yes, I understand the game well enough, thank you.” He continued writing.

  Persipia said, “Yet her manner of dress must be always plain. She is no longer a lady. She need not wear fancy clothing. Also, her hygiene will meet whatever standard I set.”

  Fiela began to object, but Barnum said, “Annasa, you have won a great many concessions already. You are close to winning too many. Do not make the verdict unpopular. You will defeat your own purpose.”

  The girl stared at him a moment. “Okay.”

  “What else then?” asked the man, looking back and forth between the two women, and then at the blood on his polished wood floor.

  Persipia took in a deep breath. “Annasa, you must absolve me of any actions I take beyond what we have discussed. If I am to do what is required, you must swear to recognize me as her only authority figure and to recuse yourself from all authority over her, or over me in my dealings with her. When you are with her, you must act in my place, and you must enforce the agreement we have made today using my interpretations, not your own. If you are unclear on anything, you will ask me for clarification and abide by my answer. I realize this is restrictive, but have I not given you most of the things you requested?”

  Barnum nodded, looking at Fiela. “She has, Annasa. Thal was fortunate to have you represent her. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you the results of similar cases. I do not think there has ever been a lighter sentence for the crimes Thal has been accused of. Yet this should satisfy the citizens and nobles, who are, after all, not as knowledge about such matters.”

  Fiela sighed in resignation. “As you say. You have my oath, Persy.”

  The attorney nodded. “Please sign here, Annasa.”