Conflict and Courage (54 page)

“I hear message
from Kolyei. It is your lisya. Her name is Ruth. She comes here to
you. Safe here.”

“My
sister?”

This was a bolt
out of the blue, Ruth, her oldest half-sister. Daughter of the
hated General Murdoch. Sister of the young King. What age was she
now? Jessica did a rapid mental calculation, fourteen or
thereabouts she thought and on her way here of all places. She did
not want her here. She was jealous of the time Ruth had had with
her mother and there were ramifications; she was heir to the
throne. Is that why Ratvei had said ‘safe here’?

“How long
before they get here?” she ventured.

“I do not know.
I will find out from Kolyei,” Ratvei promised, “Cherry met her.
Cherry likes her. Cherry says she must come here. Southern men will
not come here and take her back.”

So
,
thought Jessica,
I am expected to take Ruth in, the daughter of
the man directly responsible for my parents’ deaths
. She liked
Cherry’s nerve.

“Do you know
any more?” she asked. “Why now?”

“You must ask
Cherry and Baltvei when come,” he advised.

Ratvei realised
that she must blame Ruth for the deaths of her parents, however
irrational that might seem. Perhaps he could pour some oil on
troubled waters here, or better, speak to Gerry at the earliest
opportunity. He made only one further comment. “We have a duty to
help those in need. Your lisya more so. She is of you.”

It took Ruth
and her escort over a fortnight to reach the Ratvei rtathlians,
time enough for Jessica to become reconciled, if not happy with the
idea. It was also plenty time enough for Ruth to get more and more
nervous about meeting her elder sister.

She talked
endlessly to Cherry about it. Cherry was approachable, ready to be
a friend.

“I wish I could
stay with you and Louis,” Ruth said, “but I can’t and it’s because
of who I am, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” answered
Cherry. “You’re a very important person in the south.”

“But I’m
female, females don’t count for much. It’s different here though,
isn’t it, you can become somebody here, like what mother wanted –
but I feel I’m being exiled.”

“Is that how
you see it?” asked Cherry with a smile. “Please understand, you are
going to Ratvei for your own safety, to give you a chance to grow
up in peace, to learn.”

“I can read and
write a little, measure weights and lengths and embroidery.”

“Here it is
different. Men and women are equal, with equal education and
freedom of choice. It’s the same with the Lind, an equal
partnership. Quite half of the human element of the Vada is
female.”

“Is Jessica
nice?”

“Very and you
have something in common.”

“What?”

“Both of you
loved our mother very much. Talk to her about it, it’ll bring you
closer, believe me.”

“Honestly?”

“Honest
lindjun.”

At domta
Ratvei, Gerry had done his best. “What is past is past. You can’t
transfer her father’s sins on to the girl. It is not fair and you
are a fair and rational woman. This spite against Ruth is not like
you. Against all odds she has managed to extricate herself from an
unenviable position. She is scared, unsettled and unsure of her
reception here. She’s your sister!”

“My
half-sister,” she corrected.

“Okay then,
your half-sister, but you share the same mother. You both loved
her. Imagine what Ruth’s life must have been like after she died.
Eight years old she was. You were fourteen when you were
parted.”

“Joseph was
only eight when he left and Cherry only ten.”

“They had
you.”

“Fourteen’s a
bit old for mothering.”

“At least greet
her with an open mind, that’s all I ask. You might be
surprised.”

“What does she
look like?”

Gerry laughed,
“by all accounts she is the spitting image of you. I’ve always said
that in looks you take after your mother, though in character, for
sheer doggedness you are your father all over again. If you think
about it, you will realise that he wouldn’t have held any grudges
against Ruth.”

“I will try,”
she promised.

“The boys are
making her a welcome present,” he added, “they are very excited
about meeting their new auntie.”

When the group
arrived from the stronghold, Jessica was waiting, a smile on her
face and four very excited young boys bobbing about at her
side.

“Where is
Auntie Ruth Mama,” asked Gerald. “Which one is she?”

The escort of
Lind peeled away, leaving one solitary Lind. It was Baltvei, Cherry
on his back and a pillion passenger behind.

Gerald couldn’t
wait one moment longer and the awkward moment disappeared as he led
his brothers towards them shouting, “Auntie Cherry, Auntie
Ruth.”

With practised
ease Cherry swung her right leg over Baltvei’s withers and dropped
to the ground and turned towards her passenger.

Gerald
pre-empted her.

“I’ll help
Auntie Ruth down,” he shouted in excitement.

“Head up, stand
tall,” encouraged Cherry as she stepped back.

“Come and meet
Mama,” Gerald said. Ruth laughed, took his proffered hand and slid
awkwardly to the ground.

Thank you,” she
said, “and you are?”

“I’m Gerald,”
he said, “and these are my little brothers, Jim, Martin and Peter.
I do have a sister,” he added proudly, “but she’s too small to come
and meet you. She’s waiting for you at home. She can’t walk
yet.”

Ruth looked at
her newly acquired nephews. At least they seemed pleased to see
her. She stole a glance at the man and woman standing at the
doorway of an edifice she was learning to call a daga.

Cherry
whispered in Ruth’s ear.

“That’s Jess
and her husband waiting for you over there.”

Ruth stood as
still as a statue.

“I’ll take you
over to them shall I? The boys will spend the next bell or so
falling over Baltvei. They’re old friends.”

The four smiled
again at Ruth then as one turned towards Baltvei with shouts of
glee. They began to clamber all over him, talking all the time.
Baltvei gave Cherry a long-suffering look.

She laughed and
taking Ruth’s arm led her to Jessica and Gerry. Ruth took a deep
breath and allowed herself to be so guided. Ruth didn’t look where
she was going; she stared at her feet.

When she did
lift her head, and she only did so when she saw two pairs of muddy
boots and couldn’t put it off any longer, she saw her sister
Jessica, a tremulous smile of welcome on her face, her arms open.
Most of Jessica’s doubts were behind her now. She had watched the
diminutive figure dismount and stumble towards her. Her misgivings
had vanished in a puff of smoke. This was her little sister; the
daughter of her beloved mother and her heart went out to her.

“Ruth,” she
said, “a thousand welcomes to my home and family. You are part of
our family, just as Mama would have wished. Now let go Cherry and
come give me a hug.”

Ruth stepped
into Jessica’s arms; arms that hugged like her dead mother’s and
were full of the promise of belonging again. She burst into tears
and Jessica was no whit behind her.

Gerry spared a
glance at Cherry and winked. Cherry winked back and reported to
Baltvei
: It’s okay, you and the boys can come over now
:

They bounded
over in a gaggle of arms and legs as only a group of youngsters
could thus putting an end to the tears of mother and aunt. They
entered the daga where a decent meal was waiting and the first real
experience Ruth had of a normal family life began.

That evening,
once Ruth had fallen into an exhausted sleep in the small room set
aside as her very own, her elders talked seriously about her
arrival.

“Is she in
danger?” asked Jessica, “will the convicts try to get her
back?”

“She will be
safe here,” said Gerry, “don’t worry.”

“What is she
like, really like?” pressed Jessica.

“She’s been
very alone since Mama died. She keeps her counsel, is monumentally
quiet and it’s blatantly obvious she didn’t have what we would call
a normal childhood, not that mine was much different before Joseph
and I came here to you. I get the feeling that life was pretty
grim. She talks a little about Doctor Arthur, a Sister Cara and
someone called Xavier. I know who he is; he was in the boat they
came in. He’s gone to the Garda in Argyll. Perhaps she’ll open up
to you Jess, I take it that you noticed she’s inclined to shy away
from men.”

“She never
looked at Gerry once.”

“That’s the
southern way,” said Cherry. Women are considered inferior and are
completely subservient to men. You should see what women have to
wear if they venture outside the home, black from head to foot,
only their face showing. I can understand that some societies
insist on a rigid dress code, take the Holy Writ Sect in north
eastern Argyll, but they have a sacred reason for the garb, not
that I condone it any.”

“Live and let
live,” Gerry said.

“In Murdoch,”
continued Cherry, “there’s no religious reason behind it, it’s
being insisted on for one reason only, to keep women subservient.
The Lords say it’s for their own safety but only fools believe
that. The intelligence reports about the slave markets would turn
your stomach. Anyway, to get back to Ruth, I’m to tell you that not
many know she is here and that we’ve planted a few false
trails.”

“How long can
you stay?”

“Not long,
Louis and Ustinya are away and I want to be there when they get
back.”

“Young love,”
Gerry twinkled.

Cherry blushed
a deep crimson.

* * * * *

Ruth was not
the only person whom Jessica welcomed into her family that
summer.

Some weeks
after Ruth left the stronghold Francis McAllister stormed into his
family quarters in high dudgeon.

“What’s up with
Thomas?” he questioned Laura. “He’s like a gtran with a sore paw
these days.”

“He’s jealous
of Jacques Duchesne,” she answered, “and young Jim too. He feels
he’ll never find a Lind partner. The new cadets are beginning to
dribble in. He feels that as the Susa’s son he
should
be
vadeln-paired.”

“Parentage
gives no guarantees, he knows this.”

“You have told
him often enough” Laura agreed, “but he still thinks he has some
sort of ‘right’ to a pairing. I keep telling him that the Lind for
him just hasn’t come along yet but he won’t be told. It is
unsettling for the other children Francis, he was extremely rude to
young Jim yesterday.”

Francis
grunted. Thomas, their first-born, was becoming a problem he could
do without.

“I can’t
produce a suitable Lind out of thin air.”

“Nobody’s
asking you to and it’ll get worse when term starts,” said Laura,
“he’s the only one in his school class not paired and I’m
worried.”

Francis hadn’t
been married to Laura for nearly fifteen years without knowing his
wife and her convoluted thought processes. She was leading up to
something and wouldn’t rest until the situation was resolved to her
satisfaction.

“So what do you
suggest?” he asked, wise husband that he had learned to be, “send
him away somewhere?”

Laura beamed at
him.

“Good man,
that’s exactly what I mean.”

“He’ll think
himself rejected.”

“Oh, I don’t
mean he leaves forever,” she said. “He will return one day.”

“If he
doesn’t?”

“Then he’ll be
someplace where he won’t be reminded of his failure.”

“Okay,” Francis
said, “where is it to be? With Winston and Janice? We can’t send
him into Argyll, he’d feel that worse than anything.”

“No, Holad
domta Winston is awash with Lind not looking for a human partner,
although I might have thought about it if Thomas had shown any
interest in medicine.”

“I see what you
mean. It might be worse there than here. Where then?”

“I think he
should go to the Russells,” she said, much to his surprise. “Last
time I was in touch asking how Ruth was getting on, Gerry mentioned
that the horses were beginning to get a bit much for him and
Martine. He’s breeding them as hard as he can. Argyll is demanding
as many as he has available, not that he sends any breeding mares
east, not yet. He would accept Thomas at Ratvei if he wanted to
go.”

“There are Lind
there,” he reminded her.

“Few already
bonded. He’ll have more of a chance and our son needs a career in
case he doesn’t bond, to keep his mind off the problem. I have a
feeling that is what is putting the Lind off, he wants it too much
and they veer away.”

“I’ll ask Asya
to send word,” he promised.

“Do it soon,”
she warned, knowing her husband of old. “Some emergency will come
up and you’ll forget and I want Thomas on his way before classes
recommence. Do it now.”

Francis
complied; it was wiser, in the long run, to do what Laura asked of
him as he had found to his cost.

* * * * *

Four years
later, Xavier Kushner made the long journey to the Ratvei
rtathlians to claim his bride. Within the week Ruth had decided he
was the man for her.

“You have to
admit Jess, there’s not much to hold her here, three families, none
with sons of a suitable age and unlikely to be, at least in the
short term,” was Gerry’s comment.

“Thomas
McAllister?”

“He’s not
interested, he’s made that very plain.”

“So what do we
do?”

“We let her go,
that’s what, but take precautions.”

“I’m still not
sure,” Jessica worried. “She’s very young.”

“You were
younger when you set your sights on me!”