Oblige

Keeping those around her happy leaves her balancing the honour of an adopted family with the duty of paying a debt by whatever means.

Lilia has been working for the Zel family for half a year, and she has enjoyed being the administrator of the design clan. When the clan is called upon to participate in an ancient ritual and the only clan member who is eligible is pregnant, Lilia has to step into the breach to run and hide for three days in order to retain the rights over thousands of acres of land.

The Almoss family has tried everything to get the Zels out of the competition, but finally, it comes down to calling up their eldest son from duty as a forest ranger half a world away and offering him a place with them once again.

When Lilia and Xeric collide, they are each looking out for their own interests, but when he offers her an option, she might be willing to oblige.

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Oblige

Copyright © 2015 Viola Grace

ISBN: 978-1-4874-0408-6

Cover art by Martine Jardin

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Oblige

Terran Times Second Wave

By

Viola Grace

“So, Miss Fisher, you have an aptitude for service?”

Lilia Fisher sat and smiled politely at the alien in front of her. “I have been a personal assistant for one person or another for the last decade.”

“Why do you feel you want to leave the Earth for alien worlds?”

“My current employer is retiring, and I have no urge to find another situation here on my home world when there is the possibility of so much more out there.” Lilia tilted her head.

“Well, your scores are excellent, and your amenability to leaving immediately is a definite bonus. I will be in touch later today.”

“Thank you, Recruiter. I look forward to the call.” Lilia got to her feet and inclined her head again. With her shoulders back and her hand on her purse strap, she headed out into the afternoon sun, and she nodded to the chauffeur who opened the door to the town car. As perks went, having a driver was convenient, but with her client retiring from public life, she was soon to be out of a job and the perks would dissolve away.

It was time to start the next part of her life, and hopefully, the Volunteer Project would assist her to find it.

Six months later, Lilia got up before dawn, rolled out of bed and got into her exercise gear. She had an early-morning workout appointment with one of her employers, and if she were late, she would hear about it for the rest of the day.

Lilia trotted out to the rear gardens, and Briel came out of the main house a moment later. “Are you ready?”

In answer, Lilia bolted down the path that they took every morning, and Briel laughed and chased after her.

The morning workouts were part endurance performance and part martial arts and survival skills. Between swinging from trees and pummelling each other at the fords in the streams, they were both exhausted, muddy and bruised when they staggered onto the patio where breakfast was being served.

The matriarch of the Zel clan was sitting with the morning data and working through the appointments.

“Lilia, the moment you finish eating, I want you to go over the schedule and make time on six-day. I need the whole day blocked off, but keep Briel on her schedule.”

“Yes, Madame Zel.” Lilia finished scrubbing her hands and face on the towels held by the household servants.

Briel made a face at Lilia across the table, and Lilia responded. They consumed their breakfast, with Lilia eating in record time.

“I will return in a moment and business as usual may begin.”

Lilia left the table and sprinted upstairs. A solar shower and a change of clothing and she was ready for a day of managing the business of the owners of the Zel Design House.

With her data cuff on her wrist, she returned to the breakfast table for a cup of tea and the morning briefing.

“Madame Zel, you have the late afternoon blocked out with no details. Is there somewhere you need an escort to?” Lilia smiled politely at the much older woman.

Briel spluttered and blotted at her lips with a napkin. “Is that today?”

Madame Zel nodded. “Today is the selection. The actual hunt is in ten days.”

Lilia cocked her head in surprise. “Hunt?”

The Wralik were nature lovers. The Zel family was the custodian of several thousand acres of untouched forest. They leased access to other families under strict supervision. It was one of the things that Lilia most enjoyed on a world where she stood out like a sore thumb. Respect for the world they walked on was everything to everyone.

Madame Zel scowled; her pewter-grey skin pulling as she frowned. “The forest is almost up for a new guardian, and we only have one chance to keep it under our control. Today, we find out if we are the hart or the hound.”

Briel smiled, “She is still confused, Grandmother. Today, Grandmother will go into the forest and meet at the standing stones with the head of the Almoss family. They draw lots, and one of them will draw a coin with the head of a hart, and the other will draw the head of the hound. Each family chooses a representative, and they meet at the standing stones ten days from the day of the draw.”

Briel suddenly looked a little green instead of grey, but she pushed on. “The hart runs into the woods and has to remain uncaptured for three days. The hound gives chase after two hours, and its goal is to capture the hart.”

Lilia cleared her throat. “What happens if the hart is captured?”

“Three days of service and their family loses all chance at the guardianship of the forest. If they are successful, it goes the other way. Three days of service and their family wins the rights to the forest for a decade.”

“So, Briel will be your representative?”

Briel had a weak smile for a moment before she bolted to the side and threw up in the bushes.

Lilia winced. She had suspected that Briel was pregnant a few weeks ago. Apparently, the Wralik went through morning sickness just like any other species.

Madame Zel tutted. “It is just nerves. Her father was the hound that won us the forest rights a decade ago. When we had larger families, it was easier to choose the best for the purpose.”

“What happens if a family doesn’t have any suitable members for the challenge?”

Madame Zel waved it away. “That never happens. There is always family.”

Briel heaved again.

Lilia got up and took a glass of water and a dampened napkin to her, pressing the napkin to the nape of her neck and offering her the water to rinse her mouth out.

“Thank you, Lilia.” She rinsed and spit. “We have the next season of clothing to work on today. The prototypes are ready for our assessment. I need your help with that.”

“I will be there if you need me, Briel. In whatever capacity.” She met her employer’s gaze and tried to make sure that she knew what was being offered.

Briel paused and then nodded. “It is a comfort to know. I need some more tea.”

Lilia helped her back to the table and poured her a cup of tea. Madame Zel was deeply engrossed in her financial reports, so Lilia was able to attend on Briel a little more than she normally would have.

Briel put her hands over her face, and she peeped at Lilia with her crystal-blue eyes through her fingers. “I need to speak with you.”

“We have to go over the fabrics for next season, Briel. We will have plenty of time to discuss whatever you wish.” Lilia looked up and noted that the housekeeper was hovering in the doorway, looking tense. “Please excuse me.”

The issue was a minor supply problem with Madame’s favourite tea. Lilia had taken care of it the day before, and a fresh supply would arrive before Madame’s tea ran out.

She returned to the table and got the daily briefing for what Madame Zel wanted her to accomplish. With the orders given, Madame Zel left to prepare for her afternoon visit.

Briel exhaled the moment that her grandmother had left the vicinity. “I have a slight problem.”

Lilia nodded. “You are pregnant.”

The wide blue eyes were watery with shock in her deep-grey face. “How did you know?”

“My species has the same sort of reaction. Is it Ymil’s?”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. “He said he was up to date with his treatments.”

Lilia sighed. “So, he is an Almoss, and he deliberately got you pregnant. Does it have anything to do with the hunt?”

More tears came down her cheeks. “It must be. I can’t be the hound and I can’t be the hart. I have been nauseated for three days, and I don’t think it will get better in ten.”

Lilia patted her hand. “Let me know if there is anything I can do.”

Briel got a gleam of hope in her eyes. “If Grandmother comes back and we are the hart, would you consider running the forest and fighting off the representative of the Almoss family?”

“I would consider it. Who is their representative?”

“Well, if they hold to tradition, it will be Weemar Almoss. He is a nasty little runt, but he isn’t a good woodsman. You would have a sporting chance if I trained you.”

Lilia smiled. “Enough of a chance for Madame?”

“You are nearly family by now. I would rather have you do it than hire someone. At least you can be trusted to do your best.”

Lilia patted her on the shoulder. “Come on. Wash your face and get changed for work. I am not sure about those greens. They look a little off to me.”

Briel grinned and got to her feet. “I will meet you in the front hall.”

Lilia sighed gently and got to her feet. She went to the kitchen and checked in with the cook to make sure that all supplies were at proper levels. When you ran a great house, you had to be prepared to whip up a feast at short notice and that meant supplies at the ready.

The linens, servant rosters and maintenance schedules were all under Lilia’s control. She ran the house, and it was strange to think that less than a year ago, she had ever done anything else.

Briel looked at the fabric samples and scowled. “You are absolutely right. This is more mud than green.”

Lilia nodded. “If you take what we have in stock and blend it with metallics, it will create a charming effect, but on its own, it is mud.”

The designer nodded and quickly grabbed a few samples of flowing fabric in all shades of metal. It turned the mud to moss with just the flare of contrast.

Lilia looked at the fabric and touched it, feeling the gauzy weight of it. “I would like three metres of this, raw with no hems, please.”

“Yes, miss. Of course.” The designer had the bolt swept away and began to show the new designs to Briel so that she could determine what would be produced by the House of Zel.

Lilia took the folded fabric from the assistant as a line of Wralik women and men stood, posed and moved in the designs that would bear the family crest for the next season.

Green, grey, black, white and a weird purple were all the skin colours of the Wralik. They were designed to blend in with the forest, and Lilia felt that she was a stark contrast with her pale-peach skin and snow-white hair. Every time she saw a group of the locals in front of her, she felt her alien nature very keenly.

It had taken a lot of correspondence and three full physicals before the Wralik government would allow her on their soil. Madame Zel pushed for her to join them, and the naturalization service had finally capitulated. She was on an indefinite work contract for no less than three years and working for a fashion house on what had to be a world she could never have imagined. It was a strange set-up, but she liked it.

She waited for Briel and the designer to break for lunch and saw Madame Zel off for her afternoon ritual. She retreated to her office and did the standard office work that was on her plate—paying vendors and looking into new fabrics made from a variety of plants and passively harvested animal fibres. Lilia would tackle the dyes tomorrow.