April 6: And What Goes Around (8 page)

"That would
be perfect. Please send a bottle to their table and tell them it is from Dame
April Lewis." She discretely handed a folded hundred EuroMark bill to
Festus below the table and he took it readily with nod of thanks.

The staff waited
until the pianist finished the next number before wheeling a Champagne bucket
to their table. It was a Magnum. She hadn't thought to ask. That was a lot for
two people. The man, Ferdinando or whatever his real name was looked surprised
and then amused. After a few words with Jesse he looked at April and made a
gesture and face to indicate the Magnum was
huge
. Then he waved her over
to their table.

Jesse already had
a chair and was putting it beside Ferdinando opposite his wife. By the time
April got there and sat down Jesse had the cork out and presented it.
Ferdinando waved it off and after a taste had Jesse pour for all of them. It
was new to April and pretty good. The pianist returned then. Jesse stashed the
bottle back in the ice under a serviette, and they put off any conversation.
She was pounding out some jazz loud enough that April would have to be rudely
loud to shout over. Then she finished and took another break. Jesse returned to
refill their flutes and April leaned over and apologized to Ferdinando.

"I didn't
think to ask them what size of the Codorníu they had. It might have looked like
I sent the Magnum to pressure you to invite me over. I didn't intend
that."

"My dear, you
worry entirely too much about looking too forward. I've seen
pushy
in
every form and magnitude. Some to dwarf this bottle. You radiate neither the
self importance nor the devious smoothness of the obnoxious. You also sorely
underestimate my capacity for Champagne when it is this good. I am however used
to drinking it with little sweets to nibble. I wonder if they have
something?"

"They have
baklava," April offered. "Everything else is big or messier and needs
to be eaten with a fork or spoon."

"That will
serve," Ferdinando agreed

"They have
the duel here, dear," Sancha said from his other side. "Don't let a
Frenchman hear you call it Champagne or we'll be getting up at the crack of
dawn."

"Is there any
real
rule
that you can't sleep in and try to kill each other at a decent
hour?" Ferdinando asked.

"That's a
really interesting question," April allowed, looking surprised. "I
think it's just tradition. I admit when I called a fellow out I just
automatically told him he could apologize or meet me in the morning."

Ferdinando looked
at her closely to make sure he wasn't being played... "And what terrible
thing was this fellow doing to drive you to put your life on the line?"

"It was more
like putting
his
life on the line," April insisted. "You had
to be there to understand how we got to that point." She could feel
herself blushing and just
hated
that. It also didn't satisfy Ferdinando,
who wasn't taking that as an answer, just silently giving her the old fish
eye...

"This fellows
body guard jostled me but it escalated from an earlier disagreement,"
April started...

"Yeees...?"
Ferdinando prompted her.

"As a matter
of fact, he was littering," she admitted. It sounded so stupid now.

"Well, I can
see why the hallways are so spotless," Ferdinando said.

Jesse delivered a
tray of various shapes of baklava. After Ferdinando selected April got one with
pistachios.

"Corridors
actually," April corrected.

"Call them
anything
she wants, dear," Sancha counseled, laying a restraining hand on his arm.
He nodded a grave acknowledgment to her that it seemed a wise course not to
argue with April.

"It's not
like
that," April objected. "I haven't - shot anyone - in
ages
,"
she temporized.

"And I'm sure
your restraint is appreciated," Ferdinando acknowledged. Which didn't
sound sincere somehow. "You called yourself
Dame
. We'd say Doña. Do
you limit the use of the duel here to the upper class as the English did?"

"No, that
question came up before the Assembly already," April said. "A woman
from Central on the moon wanted to challenge a resident of Home to a duel. They
considered the question and the overwhelming argument advanced was that the
duel is a fundamental right not a privilege granted by the state. There were
issues. This particular challenge seemed unjust to many, but they allowed it
rather than lose or limit the custom."

"That
is
interesting. Who eventually won the duel, and how did these people favoring it
feel
after
the fact?" Ferdinando asked.

"The lady
called off the match. So far
every
duel called has resulted in a yield,
an apology, or the person decided to accept exile rather than yield or fight. I
don't doubt we will see a duel eventually with an ending everybody sees as a
bad. But it was generally agreed the duel addresses things the law doesn't deal
with well. The Assembly has made very little law so far, so custom
has
to address many things." April stopped her explanation abruptly and was
frowning.

"You have a
thought?" Ferdinando prompted her.

"I'm trying
to think how to explain, the other,  you mentioned before. On Home I'm not Dame
anything unless somebody calls me that as a courtesy. Or more likely is trying 
to get my goat, since I had a hard time accepting a title and my close friends
used to tease me about it pretty hard.

"We have no
royalty or peerage on Home, all that has to do with Central on the moon. My
friend Heather is the Sovereign of Central and declared some of her close
friends and subjects peers. That's why they started calling me Dame Lewis.

"Jon says I'm
more like a Baronetess. I have no time or inclination to learn all the titles
and differences, and Ja... uh, a friend, said they are all different in each
country and changed over time anyway. What does it matter now anyway, if it
isn't attached to something
real
like the land?"

"Indeed, the
study of titles of nobility, heraldry and your personal genealogy can be an
empty exercise in self importance if it's just a vain attempt to find some way
to elevate yourself with no real personal accomplishment or merit. Does your
status then attach to something real as you said? If you'll forgive me please,
what was happening off Earth wasn't of much interest to me until quite
recently."

"Well, my
land. I have land at Central and more importantly
cubic
. The surface is
harsh and exposed to risks. It easier to dig deep than on Earth. It isn't much
benefit right now but it will be. Right now it's more obligations. I support
Heather and help any way I can. We were allies long before she decided to go
grab land on the moon."

"Allies?"
he asked. "At what?"

"In business,
and then when Home rebelled in war with North America. I owned the armed
merchant the
Happy Lewis
with my brother. The hostilities started when
we had to fight our way back from ISSII on the
Happy
. We took out the
Chinese ship the
Pretty as Jade
and the USNA
James Kelly.
Later I
sent the
Happy
to support Heather at Central. She needed it against the
North Americans. They tried to invade her to arrest a bunch of her customers."

"And, with
your help, how did she resolve that?" Ferdinando asked, nibbling on a
sweet.

April blinked at
his question like she didn't believe it. "You really don't know what's
been going on up here do you? After they cluster bombed her landing field, she
sent my ship to make a low pass and took out Armstrong's field control building
and a ship with a ten kiloton weapon. They burned a hole straight through the
Happy
Lewis
on that pass too. It's amazing we didn't lose her. She had to deal
with their rover force on the ground too. But didn't use the
Happy
. She
has... artillery.

"That was the
North Americans. Now since we moved out here, further away from the Earth, we
had a dispute with the UN and the Chinese attacked Central on the way here. They
put a nuke on her development and dug a huge crater for her that is going to
take years to fill.

"Just like
the North Americans, none of them went home alive, so maybe they'll learn and leave
her alone for awhile. So the second time with the Chinese she helped us instead
of the other way around."

"Oh my... I
obviously have some catching up to do. If your friend Heather holds her nation
by arms I must respect that. It's all that matters in the end. Your Heather,
are you intimate with her?"

April looked so
oddly at him that Ferdinando immediately rephrased it. "Do you speak
freely and informally with her?"

"Well
sure," April said. "We go back too far for that to change. Heather is
all formal when she holds a court, but not between us or with Jeff."

Ferdinando nodded.
"Then you are not just Doña or Baronesa, you are Grandeza too."

"Ha! If I run
out of titles I have an old boy in Tonga who calls me
Pilinsesi. Our boat captain said that means
princess. I liked that better because the princess is always well regarded in
fairy tales."

Then the pianist returned so April felt she had to
be quiet again, but her theme changed a bit and instead of the lively numbers
of her first set she toned it down to quiet background music you could speak
over discreetly.

Sancha leaned close to her husband and April leaned
in close too as it was obvious she wished to speak across him. "Might I
ask why you addressed James as Jesse when you asked for the baklava?"

"Ah – he must have been too shook-up to
introduce himself to you. He's now Jesse
Duval
and his wife is Helen. If
you knew them... in a previous life, it would be a kindness to forget that.
Surely you understand?" April said, pointedly.

"Oh dear. I didn't think to reintroduce
us
when I spoke to him. I'll correct that. He was acting so strangely,"
Sancha said.

"What my wife isn't saying is we are not under
the same pressures as Jesse and... Helen? They are actively wanted as criminals
and I can see why they might feel the need to start a new life. We on the other
hand were invited to
retire
as unsuitable persons.

"
We
will never be charged with anything.
That would be most uncomfortable for both the secular and religious. But one of
the conditions for fading graciously away and being generously pensioned was
not to raise a fuss among our peers or in the media. So we would rather not be
interviewed or even the subject of paparazzi photos and speculation,"
Ferdinando said. It seemed a request.

April nodded, agreeable. "I believe he was
looking around after seeing you because he expected your security to snatch him
away. I think they are both constantly looking over their shoulders a lot
still, not sure if anyone will bother to pursue them this far. One of my uh,
sources, an intelligence officer really, said things in Spain appear unsettled.
It makes me ask. Did you not pick a successor?"

"Anyone I picked would have been tainted by
that fact. They are still watching everybody in Government and the churchmen
closely, terrified that they will
turn
young. Such a terrible
thing!" Neither would I give them the satisfaction. It would have been
almost a blessing upon their actions. Just like your Queen Heather, let the one
who can
hold
it snatch it. I doubt it will come to arms but it is still
a contest," Ferdinando said.

"I'm evil enough that it amuses me,"
Sancha admitted.

"Well, you know all the characters and can
appreciate the inside information. You should write it as a play after it all
runs out," April suggested.

Sancha looked shocked, but Ferdinando laughed
heartily. "They'd deserve it," he agreed. "What goes around
comes around after all."

"Thank you
for meeting me," April said. "I need to head home. I'm in the public
directory. If you need any help adjusting to Home give me a call. I grew up
here after all. I can be your native guide." She had a sudden urge and
patted Ferdinando on the arm before standing. That was probably against some
protocol with royalty, but it felt right.

"Well, it's a
refreshing change to have someone offer to help us instead of seeking
favors," Ferdinando told his wife.

"I think it
was sincere. She is amusingly innocent to think that princesses lead idyllic
lives," Sancha said wistfully.

Jesse returned and
offered a refill.

"No thank
you. James," Ferdinando declined. "We are informed you are now Jesse
and Helen. Be aware We are now Ferdinando and Sancha. You've always been such a
good youngster. You conducted Our business faithfully. We have no ill will
towards you. Your 'accident' is perhaps the best thing that has happened to Us.
You may expect to see a lot more of Us. We may settle down here."

Jesse looked
relieved. "Thank you for speaking plainly. It will be my pleasure to serve
you. In any way I can," he made clear.

"Why don't
you offer the Codorníu to the chef?" Sancha suggested. "It seems a
shame to waste half of it and he can use it in sauces and such."

"Yes, and we
are done for the evening," Ferdinando added, laying a bank card on the
table edge.

Jesse made a small
negating gesture. "I already marked your tab paid when Miss Lewis sat with
you. We never charge anyone keeping company with one of the owners."