Pet's Pleasure (9 page)

She said, “You don’t have to carry me.”

“Bekion is waiting and you cannot keep up with my stride.”

“Point.” She draped her arm on his shoulders. “Is he done with his meeting already?”

“Hardly.”

“Oh. Well then why does he need me?”

“Ask him.”

Starling got the feeling Nausic didn’t want to talk to her so she stopped trying to spark up a conversation. The walk to the audience chamber didn’t take long with Nausic’s speed. Starling caught sight of Rois and he, her. His relieved smile made her happy to see him.

Nausic stopped before Rois. He pulled his arm from beneath Starling and let her fall, causing her to yelp in surprise.

It was a short fall but unexpected. If not for Rois catching her against his side, she might have hit the floor and broken something.

Rois snapped, “Careful with her.”

“She’s fine,” Nausic ground out. He shoved the tablet at her.

Starling took it but didn’t thank him.

Rois said, “I don’t appreciate your attitude.” A small chime sounded and Rois looked at his arm cuff. “I’ll talk to you about this later.”

Nausic did an about-face and walked away.

“Nausic,” Rois called after him but Nausic didn’t stop.

“He’s in a pissy mood about something,” Starling said.

“Are you unhurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Good. Bekion is anxious to see you for some reason.” Rois eased open the door. With a hand at her back, he walked her into the room.

Bekion sat at the head of a long table. Surrounding the table were several monitors. Each monitor held the visage of an affluent-looking individual. Starling could only guess they were the lords of Panagiota Bekion had mentioned earlier.

A few of the lords noticed her. Their attention caused Bekion to swivel in his seat and look at her. That, in turn, made the others notice her. As the day before, she had everyone’s avid attention.

One lord said, “What a lovely human.”

Bekion said, “Yes, she is.” He turned his attention to Rois. “Thank you, Rois.”

Rois bowed and left the room. Starling watched him leave. Once the door closed, she faced Bekion once more. He and the others continued staring at her.

If they expected her to do something, she planned to disappoint them. She located a cushion on the floor a little away from the table, possibly meant for her, and sat down. She adjusted her skirt so it wasn’t bunched beneath her, folded her legs to the side and pulled out the tablet.

“Tablet transcription-mode only,” she said in a low voice, though she was sure everyone heard her.

“Transcription-only mode activated.” It surprised her when the tablet responded in the same low voice with which she had spoken. It really was intuitive.

She started at the beginning, which involved inputting the English alphabet and all variations of writing each letter. She wondered if the tablet would want her to sound out each letter once it returned to audio mode.

Bekion said, “Let us resume our business.”

Starling glanced at him. Why had he called her? Surely not to show her off to the lords. But no other reason came to mind since he now ignored her.

She turned back to her task. Her bent posture became painful because of her new afro weighing her head down. With an annoyed sound, she sat up and reached for her hair. She didn’t care what Bekion wanted. She wasn’t leaving her hair like this.

Using her fingers as a guide, she parted sections of her hair and braided quick cornrows. She ended up with six of them. They probably weren’t that neat but it was the best she could do without a comb and a mirror. She didn’t want to call attention to herself by asking for them either.

With that done, she went back to inputting English into the tablet. It went faster than she thought. The tablet returned an error message whenever her handwriting got lazy but she finished all the greetings and simple conversation phrases.

She made the mistake of scrolling through the list. Her thoughts of making good time disappeared. It was never-ending.

She sighed and went on to the next section—numbers. Again she had to write out each number and any possible variations. After entering numbers up to thirty, the tablet filled in the rest to one hundred and then asked if it was accurate. She confirmed it and continued to one hundred and five before the tablet caught the pattern and completed the rest.

Just for the heck of it, she tossed in Roman numerals. The tablet actually asked her which was proper for everyday usage or if the two were interchangeable. She hadn’t expected that question and ended up having to write out her answer in
jehlvan
, explaining that the Arabic numerals were the more commonplace. While simpler to speak to the tablet, she didn’t want to interrupt Bekion and bring everyone’s attention back to her.

Next came colors. That bored her quickly but she had nothing else to do. Only the goal of writing to her parents kept her at it. Unlike the other entries she’d seen, the colors section came with samples. That made sense. There were more color names today than a few hundred years ago.

The tablet didn’t show many colors beyond the more mundane, which was too bad since she had looked forward to salmon, blush, rose and all the other subtle shades of pink. Obviously the
jattikans
didn’t want to get that in-depth. Or maybe the program was saving those for later and the current list was an introduction.

She started humming under her breath as she wrote her answers. The list zoomed by a lot faster with a rhythm to set her pace. Soon she got into her singing and a few words of a song slipped past her lips. It was an unconscious action. She paused and waited to see if anyone noticed. No one paid the least bit of attention to her. She smiled to herself and resumed working.

Humming turned into singing under her breath. While she could keep humming, it felt so much better to sing. Besides, she sang too softly to cause any issue. The other occupants of the room probably couldn’t even hear her.

She finished one song and the section on times of day at the same time. The tablet loaded family terminology while she tried to think of another song.

Clapping started.

That startled her. Starling looked up. Everyone in the room stared at her as they clapped, even Bekion, who smiled as he held his hand out to her.

She set aside her tablet and went to him. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. Sorry.”

“Not at all, Starling.” Bekion stroked her cheek. “I didn’t know you could sing so beautifully.”

“We just met.”

He lifted her to his lap. “Would you grace us with another song?”

“You can’t understand my words.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It did before.”

Bekion made an amused noise. “In this instance, it does not. The melody and your voice are enough. Please.”

She nodded. No point picking a needless argument and she did want to sing.

Bekion sat back with his hand resting on her lower back. She faced her audience. A flippant song came to mind to vent her spleen about all the crap she’d endured but she chose a better song.

She bopped her head to the music only she could hear. The intro played. She decided to skip the harmony since it wouldn’t sound right without the background music. She let her eyes slip closed and started the song.

The original singer had a wide range and thanks to years of training and a healthy dose of genetics, so did Starling. Her voice was a gift from her father. He’d made sure it was honed.

She hit the part of the song with the drawn-out note. Several people started clapping at the length she held it. Actually, she could have held it longer but the song didn’t go that way.

The song ended and she bowed her head, signaling she’d finished.

Everyone clapped loudly. Some even cheered.

“Very beautiful, Sire,” called one man.

A woman down the table said, “How fortunate to have such a talented pet.”

“Hear, hear.”

The clapping continued.

Starling felt her homesickness returning. On Earth, she’d heard the same applause on a regular basis. As a singer at a nineteen-twenties period bar, Starling always received tips and appreciation from the patrons.

The job had been fun. She’d gotten a complete wardrobe and stylist so she would be the height of twenties chic. The owner had been a stickler for authenticity. Fortunately, he’d drawn the line at certain aspects of the twenties, like the segregation. Everyone had been welcome so long as they followed the dress code and kept things civil.

“Starling?”

She jumped and looked at Bekion. “Sorry. Yes?”

“You looked far away. Is something wrong?”

“No.” She shook her head to clear her thoughts. The past was gone. Thinking about it caused pain. She smiled at him. “Did you want me to sing another?”

Bekion couldn’t answer because many at the table called affirmatives. He smiled and waved her forward. She thought of a more upbeat song. There weren’t as many long notes but the song’s tempo and light nature helped lift her mood.

She bounced a little and bopped her head to the rhythm. At that moment, she wished she had stashed her MP3 player in her purse. She’d left it at home because the battery was low.
Jattikan
technology might have been able to adapt to it, or vice versa, and allowed her to hear the music rather than imagine it. But then, she hadn’t known she would never see her home again.

As before, she ended the song with her head bowed. Everyone clapped. A few people called for her to sing another.

Bekion held up his hand. The people in the room quieted. “That is enough. We have business to attend. I don’t want to tire my pretty pet.”

Starling almost laughed at the pouting faces turned her way. She could sing another twenty songs and be fine but she didn’t say that. She eased off Bekion’s lap and walked back to her spot.

Bekion said, “Bring the tablet and return.”

She thought he directed his comment to another until she turned and found him looking at her. She pointed to herself and he nodded. Why did he want her to return to him? He didn’t want her to sing any longer.

She shrugged and did as he bade. When she returned, he resituated her on his lap. She placed the tablet on the table and continued her task.

Bekion rested his hand on her lower back and said, “Continue, Lord Orvey.”

Starling glanced up.

The man pictured on the screen four seats down from Bekion’s left nodded. “Thank you, Your Majesty. As I was saying, the border has always been the Ajoki River. The river itself is unclaimed.”

“That is false,” barked a woman directly across from Orvey.

Another land dispute. Did Bekion do anything else besides settle borders and ownership? Starling focused on her project.

Bekion said, “Lady Ruset, I did not give you leave to speak. You two are acting no better than the people who come before my throne on a daily basis to air their grievances. I expect better from my lords.”

Lady Ruset bowed her head.

Lord Orvey glared at the woman.

Bekion drummed his fingers against Starling’s back. With his hand beneath the table, no one could see his action. Starling got the feeling he wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.

A wild impulse made her blurt out, “I want to see a map.”

All gazes turned to her. She made herself appear as wide-eyed and innocent as she could. They all treated her like a dumb animal. If it meant cutting the tension in the room, she didn’t mind playing the part.

Bekion asked, “A map, pretty pet?”

“Of this planet. I want to see a map. I don’t even know what the planet looks like or if it has a moon or what color the sun is. I want to see a map.” She gestured to the table. “You all have some impressive technology here. You can’t tell me there isn’t some way to show me a map.”

He lifted his hand from her back so he could tap his arm cuff a few times. The room darkened and the table glowed as a holographic projection of a planet appeared.

Bekion said, “Panagiota.”

Starling stared. It resembled Earth with its blue, brown and green surface. She leaned closer to the projection. It only shared Earth’s coloring. Panagiota had more land than water and the planet had no white, designating snow.

“It’s pretty,” she said.

Bekion flicked his fingers and the planet turned until he stopped moving. He pointed at a large island in the middle of a giant lake, enclosed in the center of what looked like Panagiota’s largest land mass. “We are located here.”

Starling asked, “Is this a natural island or did you make it that way so the palace would be easier to defend?”

Murmuring erupted from the lords and ladies.

Starling looked around. What had happened? Had she said something wrong?

Bekion waved the room to silence. “An ancestor of mine changed the face of the planet hundreds of generations ago in order to fortify his defenses. A single generation later, my family was declared rulers of this planet.”