BOOK 0: FIELDS OF FIRE Chapter ix

The Armada’s General Population Quarters were sturdy but also hastily built and offered dull gray walls. The few windows available were on the observation decks, covered by blast shielding for the journey. The engineers tried to improve the lighting but the ships for the most part were dim and depressing, and definitely had an adverse affect on the people. It was hard to be hopeful in a constant shade of fog. They were grateful to have museum artwork to display.

Every now and then, groups would forego the warm lighting of the Standard in order to sprawl out on the observation deck furniture to sip drinks and chat. One evening, Gareth and a small clutch of friends had a treat. In gratitude for the quick repair of a stove in a dining hall, they were given a newly created bowl of crunchy something. They could not identify the bite-sized items but did not want to ask. They sat in the observation deck seats to try out the food when Carrol and Keleigh Shanaugh sauntered in, fresh from common duty and ready to relax. They were invited to test the foodstuff.

“It is brittle,” Keleigh said. “I am not certain if it is supposed to be that way, but I like it.”

“I think they overcooked a loaf of bread and did not want to admit it,” Ren Renaugh said as he dunked a piece into his drink and bit into it. His eyes widened. “This is the stuff!” he told them, and they all tried it.

“Well, anything dunked in wine is going to taste better,” Gareth pointed out. “This is simply the hasty man’s Crackle. Here, Your Nibs: you and The Great Keleigh finish up this bowlful. I have got to move along to my common task.”

“What is it this time?” Carrol asked curiously.

“I am to take a lift and clean the ceilings in Hanger Three,” he sighed. “It looks like a long haul for Dame Duncan’s eldest boy.” He handed over his share of the crunchy treats. “There; now you must never say I never gave you anything but a hard time,” he teased, and threaded his way through the throng of outstretched legs.

“Oh, you are quite right,” Keleigh declared suddenly to Carrol. “He has got a nice aft rudder.”

Carrol slapped at her, horrified, but it was too late. The high-pitched chorus of teasing voices rose in direct proportion to the rising red blush on Gareth’s neck. He turned and regarded the two women. Keleigh beamed and popped a wine-soaked crunchy in her mouth, thoroughly enjoying the moment. Carrol was just as red-faced as Gareth only she looked guilty, possibly of saying exactly what Keleigh related. Gareth decided to deflect the moment with humor and gave a sharp tug on the back of his tunic.

“Name of All, would you women please stop judging my rudder!” he demanded, over the catcalls and whistles of his friends.

“The wingspan is not bad, either,” Keleigh declared, “but I warrant, Carrol has got an eye for your fuselage!”

All Gareth could do was look down at his feet with his hands on his hips, and chuckle with embarrassment. Oh, he was pleased; quite pleased, in fact. But with their friends present he could not respond as he would have liked.

Ren Renaugh got to his feet and stood beside Gareth to rest his arm on his friend's shoulder.

“Ladies allow me to direct you to our latest model, our GD-123. No detail was spared in the building of this model, I assure you. Yes, from the top of his cockpit to the tip of his – cockpit! – here is the epitome of a quality machine.” Other women entered the room, so Gareth moved to leave, but Ren hauled the red-faced mechanic back around to position again.

“Notice the broad wingspan, the well-encased engine,” he said, thumping on Gareth’s barrel chest. He sounded just like a D’tai businessman touting his wares. “As an added bonus, a high grade, low-maintenance computer has been placed in this oh-so-kissable, user-friendly console!” Ren pinched Gareth’s cheek, and Gareth bit at his fingers.

“Is he guaranteed?” asked one of the newcomers, and all the women giggled.

“We offer only the best guarantee. Better than anywhere you will find this side of the wormholes! He has the latest fuselage design, the ultimate in rudder stability and when I say he has it all, why just check out his hardware!” Ren proclaimed, slapping Gareth on the seat, as close to the major’s ‘hardware’ as he cared to get.

“Leave my hardware out of this!” Gareth objected in alarm.

“It is a bonus for the ladies,” Ren pointed out to him. “Now keep quiet, I almost have you auctioned off. As I was saying, good ladies, our GD-123 comes complete with his own energy source. No need for cartridges, he is ready when you are.”

“You had better get him while he is hot,” Keleigh laughed as she nudged Carrol. Gareth looked at the princess and was thrilled by the look of keen appreciation for what was before her, written all over her face.

“Low maintenance, high usage,” Gareth added in the spirit of the moment, and then winced when he realized what he said did not mean the same for a man as it did for a stabilizer engine. It was not a good reflection for a gentleman, and his friends renewed their catcalls.

“No actual previous owners, but he is high performance, all the way,” Ren chortled, and Gareth elbowed him in the ribs.

“I have a task to do, unlike certain wastrel navigators I know,” Gareth told him.

“But I need you here, I need a model of the GD-123,” Ren protested. “I must sell them on your rudder.” In reply, Gareth patted his own seat.

“My rudder is not for sale. I give it to whom I please,” Gareth told him as he thumped Ren on the head with a flick of his finger and thumb. “And I generally please, to whom I give it.” He strode out of the room to a raucous cacophony of cheers.

Hours later, Gareth descended from his task of hanger cleaning. As he gathered his equipment, he heard Carrol’s voice behind him. “Well, it is the new GD-123 model!”

He turned, and the smile on his face increased. She was stunningly dressed in a powder blue gown, with part of her hair up in elaborate curls and rest cascading to her waist.

“And just what model are you?” he asked as he wiped off his hands.

“I am a prototype, I suppose,” she said. He stood directly in front of her and the glow in his eyes made her tremble with anticipation.

“I would say you broke the mold of grand allure,” he observed. “What is the occasion?”

“I am supposed to go with Stuart and Aura to the Daven Bau. Hartin and Melina Medina are having a special tea for Aura’s birthday.”

“That sounds nice,” Gareth replied. “I wager you will have fun.” He frankly admired her from head to toe and was rewarded with her modest blush. “Ah ah ah! Anyone willing to go along with that GD-123 business earlier will just have to put up with the GD-123’s appreciation of her software,” he told her.

She reached to smooth back a stray lock of hair from his face. He touched her hand to press it to his face gently. She was about to speak when Stuart and Aura came into the hanger. Aura was irritable as usual and Stuart sounded in no better frame of mind, himself. Carrol smiled at Gareth as he quickly kissed the palm of her hand before he let go.

“And do you?” she whispered. He indicated with a look that he did not understand her meaning, so she added, “…appreciate my software?”

“Yes, I do,” he told her in a whispered reply. “Just ask my hardware.” She looked astonished and even a little delighted, as if she heard a naughty passage from the Tarinade. It was fairly on par with some of what the Tarinade had to offer, he supposed, and he was appalled by his crudeness. “I am sorry,” he apologized. “That was a terrible thing for me to say.”

"Perhaps in front of a cadet or a child,” she told him. “But to a grown woman, it is more of a challenge.” She smiled up at him. “You are a naughty boy, Royal We; with a very appealing windscreen.”

“I might have known, you would be out here chatting with our good Gareth,” Stuart complained good-naturedly as he and his wife approached the couple. Gareth could not have removed his own smile with a heavy-duty sander. He watched Stuart help his sister and Aura into the ship. Aura gave Gareth a cool once-over and a nod of the head, and Gareth bowed to her. Stuart saluted him playfully and took the ship out of the hanger. Gareth went about his business with a lighter heart than he ever had before.

Tea at the Medinas was always a treat on Thuringa. Melina Medina was known far and wide for her interesting chat and her gracious manner. Hartin usually tried to stay away when Melina held a tea, since he felt that a nice party should not have a grouchy officer as a decoration. But this was Princess Aura’s birthday and Melina begged him to stay. Stay and chat with Stuart, she suggested; he would enjoy a warrior’s conversation.

Hartin agreed since he did enjoy the company of the crown prince. But when Hartin Medina answered the door for their first guests and thus discovered who else Melina invited, he nearly exploded with consternation. He abruptly shut the door in their faces.

“If you are in league with mischief itself!” He stormed to where Melina prepared to open a bottle of good Thelan wine to let it breathe. “Guess who is standing out in the hall, awaiting entrance?”

“Who?” Melina asked innocently.

“Brent and Isador Ardenne!”

“Why, I thought you liked Brent Ardenne.”

“I do, but in case it slipped your pretty little mind, this is a party for Aura Phillipi de Ardenne,” Hartin fumed. “It is rather rude do you think, to say nothing of dangerous, to invite two warring factions to the same event?”

“Oh, they are not at war. Aura’s displeased with her brother but he has no quarrel with her. And besides, with all of us in attendance I should think Aura will be gracious and Brent will be less likely to irritate her. Hartin, did you just leave that poor man standing out there in the hallway like a D’tai vagabond?”

Hartin went back to the door and snatched it open. “Come in, bait,” he invited ominously.

Brent laughed and sauntered in with Isador and a bottle of brandy in hand. “I was beginning to think we came on the wrong evening.”

“No, unless you lost track of your own sister’s birthday,” Hartin grunted, and knew immediately something was wrong by the way Brent jerked back as if stung.

“Name of All!” Brent gasped. “I have got to get out of here!”

“But why?” Isador asked. “We were invited to the party.”

“Aura’s birthday party and I doubt she specifically invited me,” Brent said, almost in a panic. “My presence will hardly be welcome by her.”

“Well, it is not as if you are forbidden from wishing your sister a long and happy life.” Isador turned to Melina. “Are you certain Aura agreed to it?”

Melina smiled weakly.

"Thunder and lightening, Melina,” Hartin began when another knock was at the door. “You need to pardon my wife; she is a do-good to the last inch.” He answered the door and ushered in Stuart, Aura, and Carrol.

An awkward moment would be a massive understatement for those first few seconds. Hartin decided to outflank the Ardenne siblings. “Oh good, Stuart; I was just telling Ardenne that skimmer rigs might be what the Freen needs.” Skimmer rigs in the artificial ocean of the Freen were superfluous; their tall sails required a directional wind to get anywhere and the fans that stirred the air could not possibly do the job. Hartin knew that, just as he also knew how watermen always scoffed at the helpful ideas that airmen like Hartin offered.

“Skimmer rigs!” Brent snorted in derision. “I am certain if we put square wheels on airships it would prove every bit as helpful! Honestly, Hartin. You are such an airman.”

“Never said I was not,” Hartin said, and herded the Phillipis into the room. “Aura, you look absolutely exquisite. I do not know why women celebrate birthdays; none of you ever age.”

Hartin Medina was not in the habit of making gallant statements. He did not believe in coddling the hyper-sensitive like Aura, nor was he particularly concerned about sheltering Brent Ardenne. All Hartin wanted was to spare his wife of being hostess to a nasty row between the Aquatic siblings. Melina genuinely meant well and that was enough to make Hartin her champion.

Aura eyed Brent suspiciously. She just spent the entire flight to the Daven Bau in a lecture to Carrol of the necessity to retain one’s dignity and bearing, and now she had to demonstrate that statement by not making a scene. Out of habit, one hand reached to stroke her throat, smoothing down the four slender gill slits along the sides of her neck. It was a gesture that always annoyed her brother, a gesture that emphasized her desire to hide her waterman heritage. She could tell his silent reply was the deliberate flaring of his own fully formed gills. There was another knock at the door, and it opened before Hartin could reach it.

“I cannot imagine what you want with me, but if it is my other leg you are after—“ Searl Ardenne began, and stopped short when he saw both Aura and Brent in the same room without shouting or broken furniture. His wife Ellis took his arm and urged him forward as she smiled at Melina in triumph.

“Happy birthday, Aura dear,” Ellis greeted her daughter.

"Oh, my watery door chime; that is today," Searl muttered an oath.

“You had to trick my father and brother into attending a birthday celebration for me?” Aura asked, almost wistfully.

“You would not have asked me,” Brent said, “but I would have come if you had.” Aura made no reply. Melina handed out wine in delicate crystal goblets.

“Nothing like excellent Thelan wine to begin a celebration,” she sang cheerfully.

“Was this subterfuge your idea, Melina?” Searl asked, albeit with a small smile on his face. “Are you a clever girl.”

“No, it was my idea actually,” Ellis said. “I would like to see my family all together; is that too much to wish?”

“I think it is a wonderful idea,” Stuart assured his mother-in-law warmly.

“Then invite them for your birthday,” Aura snapped at him.

Gareth answered the knock on his door that evening and was surprised to see Carrol still dressed in her blue gown. She looked as if she had run a hazing line from the way her shoulders drooped. Even her hair looked unenthusiastic, straggling down from its former curly glory.

“Poor little Nibs! Do you need a safe haven?”

Gareth drew her into his quarters. She was happy to see Glendon, Ren, and Ton gathered around a table, deep into a friendly game of rattle. Gareth bid her sit between Glendon and him as the game continued. Carrol gave a deep sigh, and they all chuckled at her nervously since they had no idea as to her purpose there.

“I thought you were going to a party.” Glendon knew her schedule as her Naradi Famede, but she did not require a guard that particular time.

“I did, and I even lived to tell of it.”

“Tell us about it; perhaps it will purge itself from your recall.” Gareth handed her a glass of water.

She took a welcome drink and then leaned against his shoulder wearily. “Ellis Ardenne tricked Brent and Searl into attending Aura’s birthday party at Hartin and Melina Medina’s.” The four men roared with a mixture of delight, horror, astonishment, and naughty glee.

“We only have to blast our way through the occasional asteroid field,” Ton remarked as he tossed his ante onto the center of the table. “We should send up grateful praise to the God of All that we missed a battlefield like that of the Medina quarters.”

“Oh, that is not the evil of it,” Carrol said as she nestled her head against the comfortable pillow of Gareth’s shoulder. “Instead of getting upset at Ellis for instigating it, or Brent and Searl for being there, or even Melina for agreeing to play hostess, Aura decided to take it out on Stuart.”

“What?” It was a unanimous question.

“Somehow he managed to garner her displeasure. Everyone else she treated with sweet respect – even me! – but she was unreasonably cruel to Sunny.”

Glendon realized Carrol was far more distraught that she looked. She did not normally use her pet name for Stuart in front of non-family, much less admit to family dissension.

“The Crackle had been served and the wine was almost as gone as any useful conversation. Everything Stuart said elicited a sarcastic comment from her. Finally, she threw a glass of wine in his face when he remarked about the pleasure of surprises, and then she threw the glass itself and it shattered on the floor. It was a part of an irreplaceable set that has been in the Saulin family for generations. It was awful.”

Gareth brought his arm around her shoulders for comforting embrace. Ren quietly put down his rattle cards. “Perhaps we should abridge until another time,” he suggested.

“Oh no, please do not go,” Carrol begged. “You are having such a nice time; I should not have come.”

“We are losing hand over fist to Ton,” Glendon assured her. “Perhaps if he breaks his tempo, we can earn a little honor back.”

“Suppose I sit out a few rounds, Nibs, and you can tell me of your woes,” Gareth suggested. “Lads, go ahead and pass my spot for the now.”

“Do not expect mercy when you come back,” Ren warned as he munched on a handful of crispies. They continued their game.

“Your Nibs, you are as pale as a stone,” Gareth said gently. He patted her clasped hands with one hand and hugged her shoulders gently with the other.

“Oh Gareth, it was horrid,” she said with an effort. “Melina did not say anything, but you could tell she was upset about the broken glass. That entire crystal set has been in her family for so long and it has a great deal of sentimental value. So many families had to leave precious mementos behind on Thuringa and have so little left of past generations! She swept up the shards into a catchbin while Ellis and Isador tried to distract Aura’s temper away from Stuart. Then Hartin saw the tear on Melina’s face when she straightened, and that was when it all came apart.”

“Oh, I imagine it did,” Gareth said with a whistle.

“He turned and lit into Aura as if she were Lyra on her first day of consue. Told her she was an ungrateful brat and if he had his way, he would smack her until her gills opened up to force an apology to Melina.”

The rattle players all stopped their play and stared at each other in disbelief even as they attempted to fight back uncomfortable smiles. Aura turned away from the Aquatic life early in her cadet days and painful though it was, she kept her gills closed in order to better live like an airman. Searl accused her of turning her back on her water heritage and they never enjoyed a pleasant conversation after that. She refused to allow Erich to further develop his gills after the scouts left for Earth, and for four years she pointed out that a future king to a population of an airbreathing majority did not require such action. It made sense to the airmen Phillipi. The peculiarities of the Aquatics were considered an internal problem within their kind.

But for an outsider to the family, Hartin Medina (that most air of airmen!) to threaten to strike her gills open by force, was an outrageous statement of epic proportions. Gills were more than just processors of water and air. They were also extremely sensitive orifices of the body. If one ever sought to woo an Aquatic, stroking the gills was as sure a path to intercourse as one could follow. The emotional state of an Aquatic could be determined just from the color and movement of the small diagonal slits on the sides of the neck just below the ears. Threatening to smack them open by force held a corresponding connotation that one might expect of such a sensitive area. If not for the fact that he was an aquatically ignorant Airman, Hartin Medina sounded as if he threatened to rape Aura Phillipi de Ardenne. Carrol continued.

“Then Melina cried harder and asked Hartin not to speak so crudely. Hartin said he only meant a good firm spanking on her rudder was what Aura needed. Searl took additional offense to what he saw was a critique of his parental skills. He and Hartin began to argue their usual ignorant airman – stupid aquatic stances, only it was in earnest then. Isador and I pushed Brent and Stuart into one of the bedrooms and begged them not to become entangled in the argument. Brent said Hartin was not very astute about certain aspects of Aquatic culture, but he understood what Hartin meant to say. Stuart sat down and wondered how he managed to start this mess. He blamed himself! Gareth, I could have strangled Aura with my bare hands at that moment.”

Carrol curled her legs up to tuck them up under her seat, and she snuggled deeper against the firm musculature between Gareth’s shoulder and his chest.

“I asked Brent and Isador to stay with Stuart and assure him it was not his fault, and I returned to the parlor. The two Elder men were still shouting at each other, Melina was crying, and Ellis was trying to physically push the men apart. Those two were nose-to-nose and furious. I do not know why I did it, but I went in and stamped my foot on Hartin and Searl’s feet. I demanded to know why Aura’s rude behavior had somehow given birth to an argument about gill structure.” She wiped her nose on a clean cloth Gareth handed her. “Aura said she was insulted and oh, Gareth! I got so angry I could not see straight. I got this enormous headache and said the most horrid things I have ever said to my sister-in-law in my life.”

The rattle cards were all face down on the table by then. Ton sat with his chin propped on his palms, his elbows against the tabletop. Ren turned to watch his princess wide-eyed with anticipation of what the sister of Darien Phillipi said, and Glendon Garin the Naradi silently tapped his fingers against the table as he stared at the cards vacantly.

“Well, what did you say?” Gareth prompted.

“I told her she was a noxious child who did not appreciate the fact that she broke a crystal goblet that had been in Melina’s family for over eight hundred years and impossible to replace. I pointed out that she did not apologize for being clumsy or careless, or rude for throwing wine on her own husband in front of other people. The party was to celebrate her birthday and give her the gift of opportunity to make amends with the family that loved her, and she had squandered it. Then I told her that inviting misery on others only achieved misery for her. Oh, I cannot believe I said all that to her, it was as if someone took over my mind! It must have hit home to her, as she began issuing apologies to everyone; to Melina, and Searl, and Ellis, and Hartin although I think she is terrified of him now; and she even apologized to Stuart.”

“Well, that is a good sign, is it?”

“I do not know. She told Stuart she was upset because it was her birthday and she thought it was a mean joke to invite the very people she did not like. Oh, that cut poor Brent and Searl so very much! Brent kissed Melina’s hand and asked her not to be upset; that Aura was a destructive force even as a child. Before Aura could respond to that, he took Isador’s hand and left. He told Hartin as they went out that if his sister did not want him there, he would leave. It hurt him so much, Gareth, it positively pained him to be insulted by his own sister.”

“It is her gills,” Ren suddenly said, and they all looked at him quizzically. “That is why she is so irritable. She is still a full Aquatic by birth, and her gills might be inflamed or dried out or whatever they go through. She needs to let the Medinas treat them, and she will be back to her old self again. I used to keep company with an Aquatic girl a few years ago,” he explained. “She ended up marrying another Aquatic and it was just as well. She would have been miserable with an Airman and I was quartered too far inland for anything serious to have continued.”

“There are successful Aquatic/Airman marriages,” Glendon pointed out.

“Yes, but they all lived on the shores of Thuringa in homes that were built specially on land and in water. They worked hard at a happy marriage for themselves. You will notice Princess Aura was comfortable and happy in Arne, a seaport city, and the home of the prince. Here in space, she lives with her husband on the airship Quantid, when she ought to be living on the Freen with access to the sea.”

“True,” Glendon agreed. “But she chooses to live with him there. Carrol, you might want to look into the medical aspect of Princess Aura’s woes.”

“I am not sure about that,” Carrol said. “After a bit of awkwardness, Hartin and Searl apologized to each other, and Searl told him he spanked her one time too many as a recalcitrant child and after that, nothing worked. Aura did not like that, but she did not reply. Ellis apologized to Melina, and of course Melina was gracious about her lost goblet. We left the four mending the tears in their friendship and went to the hanger. While Stuart did the pre-flight check, Aura picked up a coat from a bench in the waiting area and swatted me with it.

“I thought she was playing until I saw the anger in her eyes as she struck me again and again. Stuart was able to pull her away and fly us home. I am a medical officer, a researcher and surgeon. I am not trained to give aid to the emotionally unstable.” She turned her head to look into Gareth’s eyes. “I think she needs the Major Sword-and-Fist method for straightening out distressed women.”

“A good scolding? You gave her that,” Gareth replied. “Word, Your Nibs, if the ever-pleasant Prince Stuart can anger her with a simple phrase, imagine what my uncouth mouth might offer!” They all laughed at the thought. “But perhaps I might arrange some sort of misting apparatus for their apartment. It might be a little soggy after a while for your brother, but if it brings a measure of relief and comfort to Her Highness and the young prince, then perhaps things will improve for Stuart as well.”

“You are a good one,” she sighed as she closed her eyes.

Ton Medina’s eyebrows rose in speculation. He caught Ren’s eye and gave a quick jerk of his head. Ren observed the pair and grinned at Glendon. Glendon was not surprised at what Ton and Ren assumed.

"Well, it is late; we had best go along now. We all know that Ton cheats anyway—” Ren yawned, and laughed as Ton yanked hard on Glendon’s braid.

“Leaving already?” Gareth exclaimed, although he remained seated beside Carrol. “But the game is only an hour old.”

“Bigger game is on the horizon,” Ren laughed.

Glendon turned to the couple. “You know I am not on Naradi duty right now, but you might try to avoid such speculation about yourselves,” he warned quietly.

“Please do not leave. Rattle is such a nice ordinary game; do go on and play. I will be quiet now,” Carrol told them without moving. “After the evening I just endured, I crave the company of people I trust.” The men exchanged glances of varying appraisal and agreed to accommodate her comfort. “And if you allow my watching, I will be even more comfortable in the observation of four friends in a somewhat suspicious game of Rattle.” She sat up and pulled her hair down out of its pinned-up state. They started up the game again. She got a comb out of her pocket and combed her hair as she watched them play. In time she laughed and joked along with them.

Gareth lost every chip by the end of the game. He was distracted by the beautiful woman next to him.

Melina did not tell Oriel about the crystal; Hartin did. Rather, Hartin told Lycasis the whole unpleasant tale, still stung that Aura dared bring a tear to Melina’s pretty eyes. Lycasis was irritated with his daughter-in-law but not really surprised. He wondered where Stuart got the patience to put up with her, and idly mentioned the incident to Oriel, just before Royal Court. The royal couple went to the throne room and the court began. Lycasis was calm and dignified as usual and wondered why the people who gathered shifted from foot to foot uneasily. He glanced at Stuart and Carrol, and then at Darien. All three stared in alarm at their mother seated beside Lycasis. He also looked at her, and the hall fell silent.

Oriel’s eyes were round and large, and the very air around her appeared to smolder. She held a tight grip on the arms of her chair. Her glare was aimed directly at Aura, who trembled with fear. Oriel’s eyes held an unnatural shine, and a ring of wavering heat distorted the air around her, emanated from her small frame.

“My dear, are you unwell?” Lycasis asked gently.

“So it would seem.” Oriel’s reply was crisp. “Please continue. It is nothing for concern to the crown.” Lycasis held royal court, a curiously quiet one, and shorter than usual.

“Something has the queen in a dreadful state,” one man whispered to another.

Even Thurman Garin could not pick her up as the royal family gathered after court in concern. He drew in a quick breath and swiftly pulled back his arms in alarm. She gave a brief shake of her head, so he bowed and backed away. Asa Mennar came forward as usual with a late complaint, and Oriel hit him with a high-voltage glare almost physical in impact.

“Get out,” she growled. Asa swallowed hard and decided nothing was worth crossing her. He left quickly.

“Mother, what is wrong?” Darien voiced the family’s thoughts. Oriel locked gazes with Aura, who stood pale as a light slightly behind Stuart.

“Mother?” Stuart prompted gently.

“More than mere crystal was shattered,” Oriel finally intoned to her daughter-in-law. Lycasis kept silent. Until now he did not give a thought to the incident Hartin told him, but now he realized how much it mattered to his wife.

“I am terribly sorry –” Aura began.

“Do not speak to me.” The shivers down their spines made the entire family spasm. “Your wicked tongue has caused enough pain. Correct it at once.” She stood on her feet firmly and stalked off to the royal quarters, Thurman striding right behind her. In her wake the air briefly wavered with distortion.

“You had better get busy,” Carrol told the terrified Aura. But Aura stared at the seat Oriel just vacated. It smoldered in the small spot the queen occupied only seconds before, scorched.

Lycasis followed his wife to their quarters, where Thurman was gently closing the bedroom door. Thurman bowed to his king and left silently. Lycasis found her on their bed, soaked with perspiration. She no longer distorted the air, and she reached out a hand to him weakly. “Lycasis, that girl is beyond understanding. Poor Melina. Poor Stuart.”

He gathered her in his arms. “Ssh. Oriel do not take on so. Melina and Stuart are strong enough to deal with her. She is not worth this effort and vexation from you. Stop before you hurt yourself.”

“She declares herself to be supreme in decorum, convinced that petulance and self-absorption is her right. Melina and Ellis were only trying to mend the tear in her family, and she lashed out at everyone. I will never speak to her again unless she apologizes to each and every one that she hurt. I cannot. I fear I will harm her.”

After Oriel fell into an exhausted sleep, Lycasis went to Stuart and Aura and told them her exact words and added his own: “I suggest you think hard about it, Aura. I have seen her like this only once before, when we went to the Stellar Council on a diplomatic mission for my father. One of the Scodan up-and-coming commanders insulted my father, her father, the Thuringi religion, and me and further made an indecent suggestion to her. She appeared to radiate heat just as she did moments ago, and it was a terrible thing to behold.”

“I will make amends, I promise,” Aura choked out.

“Good.”

Lycasis did not tell his daughter-in-law or his son the rest of the story. A Hunda stood near Oriel at the time, and he smoldered as well. The insulting Scodan fell dead moments later as he strutted down the hallway from the council chamber. Doctors said he appeared to have burned to death from the inside out. Lycasis knew it was the nearby Hunda man’s deed somehow, as Oriel was honestly shocked to learn of the Scodan’s death. Lycasis forbid Oriel from visiting Hunda again or allowing Darien to visit, since he recognized mystical powers when he saw them. Oriel agreed at once, but never visiting again did not mean she forgot what she learned, or the variations she created on her own.

It was all she could do to keep her ability in check in the throne room, and Oriel was surprised that she still could work up a slight smolder. She did not wish to physically harm Aura and was afraid that if pushed, she might. There were far more important causes to fight than some self-centered noble’s petulance.

The next time he saw his queen Thurman Garin bowed deeply and said, “You worry me, you know.”

“You must not worry,” she said fondly.

He shook his head. “I am your Naradi Famede, Your Majesty. I have been thus for a hundred years, and I have never seen you walk as firmly and as far as you did from the throne room. I also saw the way you sank to the floor with exhaustion when you reached your bedroom and could not reach the handle. Whatever troubles you, please let me deal with it if at all possible. I would rather bleed my life out onto the floor than see you so agitated.”

“Oh Thurman; it is simply the terrible times in which we live, when people act most peculiar and I am disappointed in my failure to see trouble under my very nose.”

He knelt before her chair. “Queen Oriel, my father always says that the measure of a man is tested in terrible times, and that the heat of troubles either forges the steel or weakens the pudding… or something like that, he is the poet of the family and not me. You and your royal husband are steel, it is true, but even a sword can depend on the protection of the scabbard and there is no shame in this.”

She patted the cheek on his elegant Garin face. “And we do depend on you, dear Thurman. Very well, if there is anything you might do for me, I promise to tell you. Just knowing you are here gives His Majesty and me a great deal of comfort.”

Thurman rose to his feet and returned to his place behind her mobile chair, and nothing more needed to be said in the matter.

Gareth installed a gentle mister in Stuart and Aura’s bathroom. Aura did not like the idea and said so. Stuart gave Gareth the go-ahead, and sharply told Aura anything would be an improvement rather than risk another debacle like the one at the Medina’s. “If it would keep you from displaying such rancorous behavior again, I would submerge the whole damn apartment,” Stuart said, and the discussion was over. When Gareth was done, he demonstrated the controls and features for Aura, Erich, and Stuart.

“In order to conserve the water, you must keep the door closed, and just take in enough mist to make you comfortable. Now this little hand-held wand here is portable and will give you the ability to direct the mist specifically at your neck, or at any area you might find necessary to moisten,” he explained.

Aura was surprised at herself. Normally words of that nature coming from an airman stranger would have made her uncomfortable. But this man was not intentional in his familiar statement. He was a mechanic who simply gave instructions about a machine, and he was inoffensive in its delivery.

“Press this button for on, this for off. You can adjust the size of the mist with this little dial on the spray head. Just spray the mist for however long and go on about your business.”

“Will this bring out our gills?” Erich asked with great interest. He liked the idea of being able to fully develop his gills like his cousin Triton, and he did not think he visited the Freen often enough.

“I do not know. You would be better off asking a medical about that. But I do know that this mister was tested on some people from the Freen, and now I have got to go install a few for some of the inhabitants there. They found it very soothing.”

“Will it hurt?” Aura asked cautiously. Her gills were raw on the inside and on the outside, they were white and brittle from her long neglect.

“It might at first when you are getting used to it,” Gareth told her, frankly. “I imagine it is like rubbing a tender place on your foot, a callus from ill-fitting shoes. The skin is sensitive, and you have to ease into it. If you will, Your Highness,” he said, and adjusted the dial and handed it to her.

“What, now?” Aura asked, scandalized.

“Your Highness, I am not trying to be impertinent, but I need to know that it works or if there is a suggestion for adjustment you might have. Word, Your Elegance; I am a simple country boy turned inventor. I harbor no dark motives toward a lady.”

She smiled at him a bit timidly and glanced at Stuart. Her husband nodded to her, and she tested the mist spray on her gill area. “Ow,” she gasped.

“Is it too forceful?” Gareth asked.

“No, it is not the device, it is simply painful for me,” she said. Erich took it from his mother and tested it on his gills.

“Ouch, it is a little painful, but it is handier than diving into the Freen’s waters,” Erich told them. “There is no traveling involved, no shock of sudden water and it… why,” he took a deep breath, “I feel wonderful! Mother, try it some more, it is good!”

“Oh, perhaps I should take it slow,” Aura said reluctantly.

“No, get them good and wet,” Erich insisted, and misted her thoroughly. Gareth could see the tiny lines along her neck begin to flutter. He offered a small bow to her and Stuart and went out of the bathroom. He put his tools neatly in his bag and started for the door.

“Thank you, Gareth,” Stuart called to him. Gareth waved and went on the Freen.

Stuart turned and addressed his wife in a low voice. “Thanks to my friend Gareth, you may have a measure of relief. Then as soon as you are able, we will visit my parents. Mother is still so frightfully angry with you, Aura, I cannot possibly begin to express it. She has no quarrel with me, but if you wish to avoid her wrath you had best find a new attitude and present her cousin Melina with it as soon as possible.”

Aura nodded miserably. Even Brent behaved better than she. She closed her eyes and drank in moisture through her gills. It hurt as the sore muscles became re-hydrated, but she could already feel the relief, too.

Aura made a point to return to Hartin and Melina’s by herself to apologize for the broken goblet. She needed to make the apology, not Stuart. It was the only way she could regain Oriel’s approval and she knew it. Hartin sat on the couch polishing his boots and neither rose to his feet nor made a comment. Melina invited Aura in and bid her sit down.

“I behaved so dreadfully, and I did not even realize it was a physical malady that was at the root of my actions. But still, that is only an explanation and no excuse. I am so sorry, Lady Melina; Brigadier General Medina,” Aura apologized to them. “I would give anything to be able to replace that which I so thoughtlessly destroyed.”

“I quite understand, and I appreciate your coming to say such sentiment. It is silly of me to become so emotional over mere things,” Melina told her.

“But I of all people should know about the precious sentiment of heirlooms,” Aura told her. “I fear Mother Oriel will never forgive me for bringing you to tears.” Hartin cleared his throat but continued to concentrate on his boots. “And I want to apologize to you as well, Brigadier General Medina. It was wrong of me to act so awful as your guest.”

“One can only hope she apologized to her suffering kinsmen as prettily,” Hartin commented to his boots, still refusing to look at her.

“I did,” Aura told him. “I told Stuart I was sorry for being unfair to him.”

“That took a lot of catching up,” Hartin grumbled, buffing the boot toes hard. Aura pursed her lips in dismay, and Melina sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Hartin, really,” Melina said in a low voice. “The child is trying to make amends.”

“Well, she need not try any further,” Hartin said shortly, and for the first time he addressed Aura directly. “Look over there at my cabinet.” He indicated an ornately carved black liquor cabinet that commanded the space of one of the parlor walls. “You may notice the row of crystal lined up on the middle shelf. Those were a gift from your brother Brent. He offered them over to my wife with as gracious an apology as the ear could hear, on your behalf. Even quoted from old text, he did, about the fragility of caring and friendship and family. All in your name, mind you. He said they were Ardenne crystal. I know that it is, because it is the same crystal your parents had when we all celebrated Brent’s naming. It was given to Brent on his wedding day and was likely to have been passed on to young Triton on his. But instead, to make things easier for you, he offered them to us. We could not refuse it, of course, as that would have been ungallant.”

“I did not ask him to do that,” Aura pointed out.

“No, you did not,” Hartin agreed readily. “But poor foolishly loyal Brent, whom you profess to detest, did it out of love for his little sister. You have an impressive brace of foolishly loyal men in your grasp who love you, Aura Phillipi de Ardenne. I do not know why they do, but it is hardly a trait to fault either Brent or Stuart. And I fully intend to give the crystal back to Triton when he marries, God willing. I will be more than happy to provide Melina with a set of Medina crystal so she may have a new heirloom to pass down.”

“You have no crystal,” Melina reminded him.

“Yet,” Hartin said. “As you said, they are mere things, and mere things are a poor substitute for a loving heart.”

Melina smiled at him, and Aura could see that despite his hard exterior, Hartin Medina had a soft spot that was exactly the size and shape of Melina Medina de Saulin, the former Belle of Fellensk.

He turned back to Aura. “Well, as long as you have apologized to my dame, I suppose I shall now stop behaving like a bad piece of fruit. Thank you for your sentiment. It took a lot of sand, and I admire that in a woman.”

“I supposed it was a matter of manners,” Aura remarked.

“Manners can be cultivated, but courage demands bedrock,” Hartin told her.

“Are you full of platitudes today!” Melina declared. “Now, perhaps you will address your own wrongs. Something about gills, I believe it was.” Hartin’s head snapped around to Melina in surprise. She elegantly dared him with silent appraisal. “Bedrock,” was all she said.

“Oh. I apologize for my rude threat to smack you, in a most ill-phrased statement,” Hartin said to Aura. “I meant nothing more than to indicate correction, nothing more.”

“I shall never understand the mind of an Airman!” Aura exclaimed. “You only meant to strike me; oh, there is an apology! I should sit at your knee and learn from your hard-earned wisdom, General Medina. You have such a way with words, yourself. I can see that I am an amateur.” Hartin’s face slowly reddened. “Are we settled on the matter, General?” Aura asked.

“I suppose if either of us apologizes any further, we will end up killing each other with kindness,” Hartin muttered.

“Please, let us not entertain the thought,” Melina said.

As Aura rose to leave, she took another glance at Brent’s crystalline gifts. Their grandfather was an artisan and made those glasses as Searl and Ellis’s wedding gift. Ellis felt so wretched about pulling the Medinas in on the Ardenne family problems, no doubt she and Searl approved of Brent’s gesture.

Aura bid the Medinas farewell and went to the Freen. She searched all over the ship until she found her brother studying a monitor. Brent was surprised to see her. Since he did not know why she was there, he nodded apprehensively.

“That was a very nice thing you did for the Medinas,” Aura finally managed to say. “You did not have to, you know.”

“Of course, I had to,” Brent said. “An Ardenne pays the debts of his family; even a degenerate like me.”

“I do not need your help in correcting my mistakes,” Aura told him.

“I do not mind.”

“I do not want your help, Brent,” Aura said a little more sternly.

“I did not do it for you. I did it because you embarrassed Mother and Father,” Brent snapped. “And, because you embarrassed Stuart and Carrol. My God, in all my years of bad behavior, I cannot recall that even I managed to score a complete set of goals like that at the same time.”

“Ha! And Hartin Medina thinks you did it in the spirit of a gentleman!”

“And I suppose you had no other motives driving you forth,” Brent came back sarcastically. “Certainly, the wrath of Oriel Phillipi has nothing to do with your change of heart?”

“You boor!” Aura declared as she stamped her foot at him.

“You scold!” he said with a stamp of his own foot in return. She uttered a sound of irritation. “Why do our conversations always go this way?” he wondered aloud. “You say you dislike me, and I have no choice but to accept it since no amount of amends that I attempt will ever change your mind. Why did you even come here, if you do not appreciate my trying to help my only sibling?”

Aura could not answer him right away. She suddenly recalled slipping and falling into a muddy puddle on the way to Atest services as a little girl. Searl and Ellis warned her to be careful, for she was to read from the Book of Prayer in the Cathedral of Gallina at high services as a representative of her school poddack. As she hurried to arrive early, she mis-stepped and ended up with the front of her dress thoroughly drenched in dark brown mud.

Brent was home from his duties in the Sea Command and came upon her as she still stared down at her dress in horror. He went home to get another dress for her and rushed back. He cleaned her face, arms, and hands as best as he could in the cathedral washroom and managed to make her presentable. He had not known her stockings were also stained as were her shoes, so he had not brought substitutes for them. Brent went ahead and soaked what she had thoroughly, and made it appear as if she wore intentionally dyed brown stockings and shoes.

The Bishop and the vicars did not notice anything odd, and she even received some compliments from some in attendance about her charming costume and her lovely matching stockings and shoes. Searl and Ellis knew there was something off about her but decided that she had made yet another change of mind as to what she might wear. Brent could only stay long enough to see her read and had to ship out again before she had a chance to thank him.

“Thank you for the dress,” she whispered.

“What?” Brent asked, convinced that Aura lost her mind.

“I never thanked you for the muddy dress,” she explained, and could see he did not remember. “When I was little, I got muddy and you kept me from getting into trouble.”

“Oh.” Brent said, still unable to remember. “Well, you are welcome,” he said, unwilling to spoil her spasm of generosity.

“And, er… thank you for the goblets,” she whispered. She turned and fled for the exit.

Brent leaned against the monitor and whistled to himself. He glanced at the monitor screen. There were little spots of pink here and there, an indication some of the Freen’s seams were under stress but nowhere nearly as bad as could have been. “I imagine Aura’s seams would be white hot,” he mused, and shook his head. Well, at least she was speaking to him again, for the now. She had not said more than ten words to him since they fled Thuringa. “It is a start,” he sighed.

Aura made a point in the dining hall to approach Gareth and Carrol. They drank cold luket and estimated the true cooking time of the friaks in front of them. Gareth looked up in surprise when he heard his name spoken. Aura appeared relaxed and certainly not as pinch-faced as she sometimes did. The brittle white diagonal lines on the sides of her neck were now pink and flexible. They did not flutter when she spoke like those of the fully water living Aquatics did, but they did move a bit as they lay flat against her neck.

“I believe every soul on the Freen appreciates your little invention, Major Duncan,” Aura said. “I must say, I do feel more comfortable now. Thank you.”

Gareth rose to his feet. “Why, of course you are welcome, Your Highness.” He sat back down as she went on her way. Stuart gave Gareth a friendly salute.

“Remind me to give you a big bottle of brandy sometime,” Stuart whispered as he passed by.

Carrol giggled and explained to Gareth. “Ren was absolutely right. Aura is still the same old fussy, proper scold that she always was, but at least she does not tear into Stuart as quickly as she used to.”

“I noticed she and Hartin are on speaking terms again,” Gareth said.

“Well they are, and Melina is the soul of forgiveness, but I am afraid Aura has reached the limit of Mother’s patience.”

“Your Mother? Why do you say that?”

“Melina is Mother’s numbered kinsman. They are both Saulins, and Mother remembers when the entire crystalline set was given to Melina by their great-grandmother. It is not only wine goblets; there are bowls and tureens and pitchers and glasses and cups of every scale, but we are uncertain if any of it in storage will survive the trip. For all we know, it might all be shards when Melina opens the cartons when we ultimately unpack on Farcourt. After the destruction of Thuringa, the crystal is the only thing Mother and Melina have left of their great-grandmother’s existence. Mother was so pleased that Melina was made its caretaker, and she is appalled that her daughter-in-law caused such a terrible brawl at her own party and did not respect Melina’s home. Mother is mortified.”

“But does she not understand the kind of pain in which the princess has been living?”

“Yes, she understands. She says it is precisely that knowledge which prevents her from smacking Aura on the nose. I believe that is the phrase Hartin intended to use.”

“I had no idea the princess was so touchy.”

“Oh, the internal turmoil of the royal family has been on ongoing matter ever since Stuart brought her home. Darien says the Ardennes would have paid to get her out of their house, and Stuart did them the favor for nothing.”

“That is terrible!” Gareth said with a wheeze in his attempt not to laugh. He sobered to add, “I cannot help but feel sorry for her. She is a fish out of water.”

Carrol dropped her utensil and covered her mouth her hand. Tears came to her eyes, and his alarm changed to amusement when he saw that she, too, was trying not to laugh. “Do not ever say that to her,” Carrol managed to choke out.

“She will fin me?” Gareth whispered in her ear, and Carrol burst into a laugh.

Warriors like Sandan and Keleigh and Ton simply glanced their way and smiled. The Bishop looked at the two and frowned. This fraternizing between the royal princess and a common mechanic was still too casual for his taste, even though they were seated a proper distance apart and were surrounded by a dining hall full of “chaperones”. Bishop Trapis elbowed Asa Mennar next to him, and Asa frowned and nodded.

Aura went to the royal quarters by herself and entered at their bidding. “I am so dreadfully sorry for my horrible behavior,” she told them, her lovely eyes downcast in humility. “Thanks to Carrol’s friend Gareth Duncan, I have a misting device that eases the pain of my gills a great deal. In fact, all Aquatics enjoy the relief it offers. I knew I was misbehaving but I have been so clouded with pain and rage and fright, I did not care why. I know how terrible that sounds but that is the only explanation I have. Erich uses one too now and it is a blessing. I apologized to Lady Melina and she was gracious enough to accept my apology and keep Brigadier General Medina from scolding me further, however justified he was to do so.”

“And Stuart?” Oriel asked noncommittally.

“Yes, I have apologized to him as well. Oh, I was not brought up this way, I swear I was not! These are such evil times and space is so frightening!” She stopped herself in time and paused so she would not break down and cry. Once she had control again, she added, “I have never flown in deep space before this journey.”

“I am sorry you have had to; it is my failure to prevent it,” Lycasis said.

Aura shook her head firmly. “It was not your failure! It was those dreadful Shargassi and their jealousy! They are as bad as a Scodan – well, at any rate I truly regret my deeds and my erroneous decisions concerning Erich. But he is my son and I love him so, and…and… I thought it was in his best interests, but it was not. I have made a mess of things.”

“No one is perfect, and you will only harm yourself if you attempt to force it upon yourself and those around you. Do your best of course, but remember to allow for human error, my dear.” Lycasis kissed her on the cheek. “Goodness but you have your father’s temper all right! You also have his high expectations and his talent for achievement. Pray try to relax, Aura, and let Stuart comfort you. He is a good man.”

“I know; he is the best of men!” she agreed readily.

Oriel smiled at her, and Aura left for her own quarters. “Do you trust her, Lycasis?”

“What? Of course, I do! Do you?”

“I suppose so.” She did not sound convinced.