Vankara (Book 1) (19 page)

The opening
ceremony of parliament wasn’t as nerve wracking as I had initially feared. 
Basically, all I had to do was sit on a wooden throne at the north end of the
main chambers and graciously greet the entering members two at a time before
they took their seats.

Each province was
required to elect two representatives, one for the white party and one for the
black.  After the proper introductions were made, the delegates split from one
another as if divided by an invisible line: the one for the black party sat on
the stadium style benches to the left of me and the one for the white party sat
on the right.  Since there were twenty provinces, that made for a total of
forty introductions.  Gabriel had the auspicious duty of introducing each
member to me as they entered.  I marveled at his ability to keep all the names
straight without using any notes.

Most of the
members were fairly ordinary in respect to their uniform black robes and
appropriate colored wigs:  black wigs for the black party and white wigs for
the white party.  But, when the men of the Turchek delegation came to pay their
respects, I couldn’t repress my smile at their
irreverence
to the proceedings.

They were of
course dressed in the customary black robes but theirs held the look of well
worn use instead of the polish of the newly dyed robes the other members wore. 
The man from the white party wore a trailing string of black feathers in his
wig and the member of the black party wore one of white feathers.  Unlike many
of the other members, I knew the men standing before me were united in their
cause.  I felt sure they were more interested in doing what was right for their
province than fighting one another over ideological differences. 

“Your majesty, I
would like to introduce Damon and Peter Albright from the Turchek province,”
Gabriel said.

“Greetings, your
majesty,” the two delegates said in unison, bowing before me. 

Damon and Peter
were quite similar physically and since they shared the same last name I could
only assume they were related, perhaps even brothers.  Each seemed to be in
their fifties and heavy set.  They both shared the same kind brown eyes and
rosy hued cheeks.  Damon wore a pair of wire rimmed glasses which was the only
difference to help set him apart from his kin.  

“Good afternoon,
gentleman, I hope the people of Turchek are fairing well these days.”

“Oh yes, your
majesty,” Damon said.  “As you know we’re a nomadic people so we’re always on
the move, except of course when our duty calls us back here.”

I could tell by
the way Damon said these words he would much rather be with his people than
standing within the halls of parliament.  It only added to my good opinion of
him.

The Turchek
brothers bowed and split away from each other to their appointed seats on
either side of the chamber.

After the time of
formal introductions, Thaddeus Irondale took charge of the proceedings and
Gabriel advised me to listen and try to absorb as much information on the
policies to be voted on as I could.

Thaddeus spoke
briefly about each item up for vote during this session of parliament.  They
all seemed reasonable enough.  The way Thaddeus explained the bills I was able
to understand what each one dealt with.  It wasn’t until near the end of his
speech that I became confused by one bill in particular.

The bill was
titled the Population Reconstruction Act.  From what I was hearing, the bill
provided money to people for producing as many children as possible and had
just passed through its one year trial period in Iron City.  Apparently, the
more children a couple produced, the more money they received.  I was sure I
must have misunderstood what was being said and asked Gabriel if I had indeed
heard the points of the bill correctly.

“No, you haven’t
misunderstood,” he sighed.  “I didn’t think this bill would be up for vote this
session.  Thaddeus must think he has enough delegates to pass it or he wouldn’t
be presenting it now.”

“So correct me if
I’m wrong,” I whispered, not wanting to be overheard by the delegates, “but
from what he just said the government is actually paying people to have
babies?” I asked.

“That’s it
precisely.”

“And do these
families do anything else?  Do the fathers work outside the home?”

“Not usually.”

“So we’re paying
people to lay about their homes all day and make as many babies as possible?” 
The scheme seemed a bit insane to me.

“Yes.  But
Thaddeus has always made the argument that most of the families who sign up are
unable to find work because of the automatons.”

“Then why don’t we
shut some of the machines down so real people can get back to work and start to
earn livings for their families instead of having tax payer dollars spent
allowing them to stay at home all day and procreate.”

“The problem is
that the people who have the automatons working for them don’t want to give
them up.  They say they would rather deal with the machines than real people
because the machines don’t complain.”

“Plus they don’t
have to pay them,” I added.

“Exactly.  At the
moment only Iron City has this program, but the bill Thaddeus is proposing
would open up the opportunity to anyone in Vankara who wants to participate. 
It’s said that if we do this, we can rebuild our population within the proposed
ten years.”

“But what sort of
population are we going to have, one which expects the government to take care
of them for the rest of their lives?  How will this next generation know people
need to work and earn their own way instead of relying on the government to
provide everything for them?”

“It’s a good point
and one the Queen has brought up numerous times.  We need to figure out a way
to stop this bill from being passed without making an enemy of Thaddeus.  He’s
an influential man and one we may need on our side from time to time.  Quite
honestly, it’s bad enough we have people here in the city involved.  We
definitely don’t want this program spread throughout the entire country.”

To say I was
disappointed in Thaddeus Irondale was a great understatement.  Inara’s father
seemed like a reasonable man, one I would never have connected to a bill which
fostered such ill advised dependency of the people on the government.  I
regretted having to go against him on this matter but I had to follow my
conscience.  As Queen, I had to vote against any bill I considered dangerous to
the publics interest.  Paying people to build up our population seemed fundamentally
wrong.  I could well imagine that most of the people who signed up for the Iron City program were from the slums.  Having spent a few years living among them, I knew
most were too poor to be educated.  So not only would we have a larger population
of poor but most would be uneducated and lacking in the basic knowledge you had
to work for a living.  It was a completely unacceptable prospect.

Luckily, no voting
was to take place until the official start of parliamentary procedures which
wouldn’t begin until the end of the week.  Gabriel had explained to me before
the opening ceremonies that each session of parliament, for which there were
three during the year, lasted approximately one month each.

Unfortunately, my Queenly
duties did not end when I left the halls of parliament that afternoon. There
was still the hosting of the formal dinner for all the delegates and their
wives or husbands.  I thought back to when I was a child and used to pretend I
was a princess.  In those childish games of fancy, I never imagined real
royalty actually having to work so hard.

When I walked into
my chambers, Emily and Dena were lounged on the sofa in front of the fireplace
reading a book.  MJ29 was standing by my bedroom door watching them with
undisguised interest. 

“Good evening,
your majesty,” MJ29 said with a bow when she saw me enter.  “I’m here to help
prepare you for the dinner.”

With the book
quickly forgotten, Dena scrambled off the couch and ran towards me.  I knelt
down to pick her up as she flung herself into my arms, never doubting I would
catch her.  I looked at my daughter and without asking for one she bestowed a
slobbery kiss on my lips then hugged me tightly around the neck while letting
out a quiet sigh of contentment.  I closed my eyes for just a few seconds to
enjoy the unconditional love of someone filled with such innocence.

I told Emily she
could take a break while MJ29 helped me prepare for my night of playing
hostess.

As MJ29 began to
work her mechanical magic on my hair, Dena cuddled up on my bed surrounding
herself with pillows and barricading her tiny form with her favorite blonde
haired porcelain doll.  She watched as the automaton coifed my hair into a
cascade of curled ringlets.

Just like the
night before, Inara, dressed in her usual brown leather captain’s outfit,
entered my room while MJ29 was setting the last of a series of ringlets across
my shoulder to trail down over my bosom.  The same male automaton from the
previous night came in ahead of Inara, this time carrying an elegant red silk
gown with a black swirl pattern and crystal beaded bodice.  He laid it on the
bed and left without uttering a word.

“How did the
opening ceremony go today?” Inara asked as she laid the black velvet box in her
hands down on the bed.  Dena sat up on her knees and watched with excited eyes
as Inara opened the box.  When Dena reached out of her pillow barricade to
touch what was in the box, Inara lightly tapped her inquisitive hand away.  

“As well as could
be expected,” I said watching as Inara turned around to face me.  In her hands
was a necklace with a large teardrop yellow diamond, the size of a plum,
hanging from a gold chain encrusted with clusters of white diamonds in the
shape of five petal flowers.  She walked up behind me and draped it around my
neck.  It felt cold and heavy against my skin. I had never seen a piece of
jewelry to match its elegance or worth.

“Father told me
what you said happened with Bellas.  Do you really think he took you to another
world?”

I could hear the
skepticism in Inara’s voice and imagined her father had put it there in the
retelling of my story from his point of view.

“Yes, I do,” I
couldn’t prevent the defensiveness of my answer.  I knew it wasn’t Inara’s
fault her view of my story had been tainted by a non-believer.  

I watched Inara’s
reflection in the mirror as she fastened the latch of the necklace secure
behind my neck.  She looked confused.

“You’re sure?” She
asked.

“Why would I lie
about such a thing?  It’s not even something I could have made up even if I
wanted to!”

“Calm down Em, I
was only asking,” Inara stepped back, looking at me in the mirror with a slight
bit of irritation on her face.  “You can’t blame people for questioning what
you said happened.  It’s not like anyone has ever heard of it happening before. 
Quit being so damn defensive, Emma.  I’m your best friend.  I’m on your side.”

I immediately felt
contrite for my outburst.  Why shouldn’t Inara question such a ludicrous
story?  If it hadn’t actually happened to me, I would be skeptical too.  In fact
I had been skeptical up until the moment I saw April Pew.

“I’m sorry,” I
said with a tired shake of my head.  “It’s been a long day and I have a long
night ahead of me that I’m not looking forward to.  I shouldn’t be taking my
aggravation out on you.”

Inara shrugged. 
“It’s alright, Em.  I’ll let it slide this one time.” She winked at me in the
mirror and I knew all was forgiven.

As MJ29 and Inara
were helping me into my dress, Emily came back to take care of Dena for the
rest of the evening. 

After Dena and
Emily left to go to Dena’s room, Inara said, “I’ll have what you asked me for
here in your room before you get back from dinner.  Can you tell me why you
need it?”

I swore Inara to
secrecy before divulging my plans of visiting the fae.

“How are you going
to get there and back in such a short amount of time?”

“I’m sorry but I
can’t tell you that.  But I do need to ask something of you.”

“What?”

“If something
happens and I don’t make it back…”

“Em…”

I held up my hand,
effectively stopping Inara from insisting nothing would happen to me.

“If I don’t make
it back, I want you to promise me you will look after Dena.”

“Well, you will
make it back,” Inara said, completely confident in her statement.  “Or I’ll
have Fallon’s head on a stick for not protecting you.  By the way, who is your escort
to dinner tonight?”

The question
caught me by surprise.  “I honestly have no idea.”

Strangely enough,
I hadn’t even considered the need for an escort for the night’s activities. 
Gabriel hadn’t mentioned anything to me about needing one.

Chapter 12

After Inara left,
I found myself pacing back and forth before the hearth in the drawing room
waiting for someone, either Gabriel or Fallon, to come to my chambers and
escort me to the state dinner. 

Almost half an
hour later, there was a gentle knock on the outer chamber door.  I walked to
the door and drew it open to find someone I had not expected to see.

Aleksander stood
on the other side of the doorway dressed in the same outfit he had worn to
Dena’s birthday celebration.   

He cocked his head
to the right slightly as he quietly studied my reaction to his presence.

“You look
surprised to see me,” he said, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. “Didn’t
Gabriel tell you he asked me to be your escort for the evening?”

“No,” I admitted,
feeling as though Gabriel had betrayed me in some way.  I felt completely
unprepared to deal with Aleksander.   “He neglected to inform me of the
situation.”