The evening's council meeting see the release of telescopes and paper and discussion of several other subjects. Later, Jenet discloses a near-embarrassing moment and Garia relives a strange memory.

Somewhere Else Entirely

by Penny Lane

18 - Parrel Gets Busy

Disclaimer: The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended. This story is copyright (c) 2011-2017 Penny Lane. All rights reserved.

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They met in the same room they had previously, but there were differences. The numbers were greater, besides Robanar, Terys, Keren and Garia there were Bleskin and Merek, Gerdas, Tanon, Parrel, Tarvan and Margra the healer. Sitting beside Master Scribe Pitchell were two further scribes which he introduced as Korben and Merinar. Since much of what Garia had to tell the council needed to be described by way of pictures, a blackboard and chalk had been provided at one side of the room. There was also another man whom Robanar introduced.

"Mistress Garia, may I present Master Hurdin of the Glassmaker's Guild. Hurdin, this is Mistress Garia who is the reason for tonight's meeting." Robanar turned to Garia. "You asked for a glass-maker for tonight's meeting so I decided to get the best. Hurdin is the Guildmaster, I imagine there is nothing he doesn't know about his craft."

Garia nodded to the stranger, who was little taller than herself. He was late middle aged, perhaps, and the top of his head was bald although a white fringe ran round the edges. His face and scalp were reddened but from standing near furnaces rather than through drink. His arms, visible below the short sleeves of his best tunic, were broad with muscles and covered with dense hair. The hands were large and heavily scarred from his life of working with hot glass.

"Mistress," he said, giving her a slight bow. His face tried to hide his puzzlement at the reason a young girl should be involved. Garia wasn't too bothered as she knew Robanar would put him straight once the meeting started.

"Master Hurdin," she responded, "every single person takes one look at my face and body and fails to understand my purpose here. This meeting should satisfy every question that you might have."

"I've told him, Mistress," Robanar said, "but, as you say, it is difficult for others to see past your appearance."

Because of the new people present Robanar brought out his crown and made them take the oath that the existing council members had taken, and then they all found seats around the big table. The first part of the evening was spent bringing the newcomers up to speed.

Once this was complete Bleskin lifted a long box onto the table and took from it a telescope, the same pattern as the ones on the roof. Gerdas explained the use of such instruments and what he had seen, and then Garia stood and told them some of the other uses that were possible. Besides mariners at sea she mentioned semaphore systems for signaling and use as a surveying instrument.

"Although the telescope up till now has been kept a state secret," Robanar told them, "Mistress Garia has argued that their use should be made fully public. Gerdas has added his reasons to hers and I believe that I am prepared to agree. Bleskin?"

"A military man has a general reluctance to let his enemy have control over any advantage he might get, Sire, as you well know. However, I agree with Mistress Garia that since we are not at war with anyone it will be difficult to keep the secret long. In fact, being able to use them freely will make my own task that much easier. Given the many other uses to which a telescope may be put I give my consent to the telescope being made available to all who wish it."

"Anyone else have a view?"

"Sire," Parrel said, "does this mean that we will shortly be asked to make a significant number of these devices?"

"It does, Parrel," Robanar replied. "Although I understand that Mistress Garia has improvements to suggest about the design."

"Aye, Sire, Master Gerdas has mentioned brass tubing, and I must say I wish that I had thought of it. In that case, we will move into production as soon as possible." He frowned. "What with the production of forks, and paper, and now telescopes, we are going to become quite busy."

"Master Parrel," Garia put in, "I'll have something to say about that later, if I may."

"Mistress." He bowed in her direction.

"Agreed, then," Robanar said. "Telescopes from this day forth are no longer secret but from tomorrow shall be manufactured for sale like any other device. Pitchell, you may need to make a separate list for items we permit to be disclosed, in case there is future need to clarify anything."

"Sire."

Garia said, "Sire, I have something to add about telescopes to Mistress Margra, who is looking understandably confused as to exactly what she is doing here."

"Well, yes, Mistress," Margra said. "I think I understood from the descriptions given what it is a telescope does, but I fail to see how such a device has anything to do with me or those I represent." She started and then added, "Unless there is some application in the solving of crime? You mentioned certain methods when we examined Master Morlan's body, is that what you mean?"

"As always, Mistress Margra," Garia smiled at her, "the answer is yes and no. There is no direct connection, it is true, but you may understand when you hear my explanation. In your healing duties, do you have any knowledge of the causes of diseases of the body? I would guess that you do not."

"That is true, Mistress. There is much conjecture but no agreement as to the cause of any disease or of how it is transmitted from person to person."

"Most diseases are caused by... creatures... life-forms... too small to be seen by the naked eye," Garia explained. "If you think about what a telescope does, it takes an image of something far away and gives a larger version to you, making it appear closer."

Margra nodded. "That much I did understand, yes."

"The point is, it takes something small and makes it appear larger. Now, if you make a special version of a telescope, you can use it to investigate things so small you would not know they were there. On Earth we call that a microscope. Here, I'll draw you some diagrams to explain how the system works."

She stood by the blackboard and drew a cutaway of a telescope, showing how the light was bent by the lenses and how it was focused. Then she drew a microscope, showing both the similarities and differences.

"So, because the area you can view will be so small, you have to put the sample you wish to examine on a glass slide, that is a small piece of flat glass that can be slid under the lens here," she indicated. "The light can come from above or below, that will make a difference to what you can see."

"How big will these microscopes of yours be, Mistress?" Parrel asked. "As big as this telescope here?"

"Not at all, Master Parrel. The ones I've used are about so big." She raised her hand a foot above the table and shrugged. "Some might be larger, some smaller. You will be able to examine plant and animal tissue to find out more about the natural world. Master Gerdas, didn't you mention once that one of your colleagues is away exploring the plants in a remote region?"

Gerdas nodded. "I did, Mistress. You imply that he would be able to use this instrument to examine the samples he brings back with him?"

"He would. In fact, he might take a microscope with him on his travels, if one can be made compact enough. Master Parrel, you could also use this tool to inspect the work your Guild produces. It can only help to improve the quality of your output."

"I understand the possibilities, Mistress, but making these as well will involve yet more work for us."

She bowed her head. "Of course, and we can talk about that later." She turned to Margra again. "On the general subject of health, again, I must repeat that as a young person I don't have a great knowledge of the subject but I can certainly add to your understanding."

Margra sat up and took notice. "Mistress, what do you mean when you say, 'health'?"

"This is related to what I said earlier about tiny organisms causing disease," Garia said. "I'd like to tell you how we started discovering what caused disease, and then how we prevent people becoming infected. In the home or at work, for example, after operations, or while they're recovering from an injury."

Garia began describing the nineteenth-century processes which led to the discovery of bacteria, and the measures that had to be taken to ensure cleanliness during operations or childbirth. She learned that the healers of Alaesia had discovered some of these by accident so conditions here were better than she might have expected. The local healers didn't know why their precautions worked, only that they did, and so Garia's explanations were a revelation. They were already washing hands and cleaning instruments, although not boiling them, and Garia gave them other ideas to help the healing process along. There was extensive use of herbal remedies but no-one had the means to examine the herbs and identify or extract the specific ingredients which made them useful. Margra agreed to meet Garia with several of her colleagues for further discussions, since some of the others at the table were becoming restive.

"Sire," she asked Robanar, "the council is going to need to meet much more often, unless you will consent to me meeting like this in small groups. We can always bring our conclusions to the full council afterwards for approval."

"You think it is necessary, Mistress?"

"Since this evening, yes, Sire. I will need to talk to various parties about different subjects, and while all can become involved at some level a lot of it is going to become plain boring to others. Not everyone here is going to be interested in metalworking, for example, or the details of some new machine, or the methods of healers."

Robanar nodded. "You may be right, Mistress. But I would ask you to agree such meetings with myself or the Queen before you confirm them."

"As you command, Your Majesty. In that case, Sire," she added, "I believe we may continue with our planned meeting."

Robanar told the others, "For the next item for discussion tonight, Mistress Garia will talk about a new numbering system which I am led to believe will make all our lives easier."

Garia again stood at the blackboard and wrote the numbers down just as she had done previously, and explained how easy it would be to use them to make calculations, giving examples they could all follow. She found it interesting how the frowns over the strange symbols suddenly turned to expressions of delight as the method sunk in to each person's mind. It was clear that she would have no need to sell this to the council.

"Pitchell," Robanar said, "we will implement this new system immediately, although of course it will take some time to teach it to all those who need it. Can you make up an instruction sheet and have it copied? I want this system to be spread around Palarand as fast as possible."

"As you command, Sire. I must consult with Mistress Garia about the symbols she uses, they are strange to us and I want to ensure that I do not make any mistakes."

"Of course, Master Pitchell."

"Master Pitchell," Garia asked him then, "do you understand what I mean by printing?"

"I know the term of course, Mistress. The method is mainly used for adding pictures to manuscripts, if that is what you refer to."

She turned to the metalsmiths, holding up a fork. "Master Parrel, on the back of this fork, you have stamped some marks."

"Aye, Mistress, a maker's mark together with a silver quality mark."

It was plain that neither man could figure out the connection.

"I would like to talk to both of you together tomorrow afternoon, if I may? I have another idea, requiring both of you, which will speed up the copying of documents."

"If you say so, Mistress." Parrel appeared puzzled.

"Then can you bring with you your set of stamps, punches, whatever you call them."

"As you wish, Mistress."

At Garia's sign that the interruption was over, Robanar asked her, "Mistress, I understand that you were successful in making paper today."

"Yes, Sire, we were, and I have here the very first sheet made today with my own hands."

Garia opened the envelope and carefully lifted out the sheet she had made. Looking at it she wished that it had been tossed back into the copper bath as it was flimsy and ragged. In the workshop it had seemed reasonable for a very first attempt but seeing it now she shuddered.

"Since this is the first one we ever did it is not all that good, Sire." She passed it, on top of the parchment, to Robanar to examine. "I can promise you that much better quality sheets will be produced in time, and you will wonder why you ever bothered with parchment." Pitchell looked up from his dictation with an interested expression. "I suggest that Master Pitchell accompanies us the next time we go to the paper-making workshop, as a representative of those who will use paper, he may have suggestions to make."

"I also have a sheet I made," Tanon said, pulling out a parchment folder like Garia's. "While I am no expert in such things I could see that it is simple to produce, and in quantity."

The sheets were passed from person to person and inspected closely before being returned to their owners.

"Another invention I have no hesitation in declaring of public interest," Robanar said. "Pitchell, add it to the list."

"Sire."

"What next, Mistress?"

"I wanted to talk to Master... I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Hurdin, Mistress." He seemed uncomfortable. "These things you have shown us here tonight are interesting, Mistress, and I can see where your new method of numbers is going to come in very handy, but I don't see why I am here. The art of blowing glass has been practiced for hundreds of years in Palarand and I don't think there can be much more improvement to be made."

"Master Hurdin," she began, and then thought. He sounded resistant and she didn't want to put him off. "Master Hurdin, there is a great deal that can be done with glass-making. For example, the windows to this room, the panes of glass aren't very big, are they?"

Hurdin looked superior. "That's due to the nature of glass, Mistress. You can't make flat sheets much bigger than that because they sag or crack as the glass cools. We've tried any number of times to come up with a way to do it, there isn't one."

"Well, Master Hurdin," she replied, "on Earth, each of those windows would be a single pane of glass, so flat and clear that sometimes you might not realize that there's glass there at all."

Hurdin regarded her with suspicion. "Are you making fun of me, Mistress?" He turned to Robanar. "Sire, I did not come here to be insulted. By a girl."

Robanar bristled. "Hurdin, I should remind you that Mistress Garia's knowledge is the entire reason for this council. She has taken an oath that within this room she will only state the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is she who has been insulted, not you."

"Sire, I beg your pardon," Hurdin said, lowering his gaze. "I find her statements hard to believe."

"Oh, Master Hurdin," Garia said. "It gets much worse than that. We have windows much bigger than that. In fact, most of our shops have windows instead of front walls and the panes of glass must be four or five strides on a side. In fact we have many buildings which have walls entirely of glass."

"Mistress, how is this possible?" Hurdin seemed to be having a hard time understanding what he had heard.

"Oh, we make glass a totally different way to you," she said. "Now, as I have said several times already, I am not an expert, but it is perfectly possible to make large sheets of flat glass. In fact, we have factories several Marks long with sand going in one end and a never-ending stream of glass sheets coming out the other."

"This is insane," Hurdin said, "Begging your pardon, Mistress. How can this be possible?"

"I believe the term used is float glass. Now, what would happen if you poured glass onto a perfectly flat surface, Master Hurdin? Assume it had been heated so that the glass cooled slowly."

"Why, it would stick to the surface, Mistress. As any glass-blower would tell you."

"Ah, but suppose your surface is a liquid?"

"Why, then..." He looked at her helplessly. "But what kind of liquid can you pour molten glass onto? Surely it would boil instantly?"

"Not everything would boil, Master. Master Parrel, could you supply Master Hurdin with a bath of molten tin?"

The two men gaped at her as the idea became obvious to them both. Hurdin looked at Parrel.

"I'll call on you first thing tomorrow morning, Parrel," Hurdin said. "It shouldn't take us long to get something set up." He turned back to Garia. "Mistress, you have my sincere apologies. The idea is obvious, but first someone has to think of it."

"As you say, Master Hurdin." She gave him a smile to show that there were no hard feelings. "There's more, Master. On my world we only use human glass-blowers for special hand-made glass objects these days. Most glassware other than sheets, of course, is made in molds using compressed air."

"Molds?" asked Hurdin. "How does it not stick to the mold? What is compressed air?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure about the molds. Maybe they are made of metal alloys that don't stick. Maybe the glass isn't in the mold long enough, or the ingredients are different, or the temperature is higher or lower. I'm not a glass maker, but I know that it is possible to do these things, I've seen them."

"You've seen them, Mistress? You were allowed into a glass-maker's workshop? Do the guilds where you come from allow women into their places of work, then?"

Oh. Fun times. How the heck do I explain this little lot to them? Television, lack of guilds - but we do have unions instead, tourists watching glass blowing? Garia sighed. This could be a long evening.

"Sire, in order to answer Master Hurdin I'm going to have to explain some background, and that's probably going to use up the rest of the evening. With your permission?"

"Was there anything else you wished to specially tell us tonight, Mistress?"

"There is much, Sire, but I would rather spend time and prepare for a future session if I may," Garia replied to the King. "What I want to tell Master Hurdin tonight will be useful for everyone else to hear, as it will give you all an idea of how I lived before I came to Anmar."

"Very well, Mistress."

"Thank you, Sire. All right. Firstly, Master Hurdin, there are no Guilds on Earth, leastways they still exist in some places but only as ceremonial organizations. We do have groupings of workers in particular industries called unions but they are more concerned with protecting the rights of the workers.

"Next, there is very little distinction, in theory at least, between men and women where work is concerned. Naturally, because of the demands of any particular job, men get drawn to some and women to others. That's why blacksmiths tend to be men and healers tend to be women, for example. You'll probably have to start training and employing women yourselves at some time, simply because there won't be anyone else to do the work."

The look on Hurdin's face showed resentment that a girl was telling him he had to let women into his guild, but given what she had just told him he knew that glass-making would be changing forever. He merely gave her a resigned nod.

"As for letting me into a glass-maker's workshop," she continued. "I have never been to such a place, and if I did they probably wouldn't let me in as such places can be dangerous for those who don't know what they're doing." Hurdin and Parrel nodded agreement at her. "But we have methods of recording images of such things and playing them back to anyone who cares to view them. Um, let me see."

She looked round the room. On the walls were paintings of some of Palarand's earlier kings and she pointed to one of them hung beside the blackboard.

"Imagine that this is a device, a little thicker than that frame, we call a television. The working part has a glass front, yes Master Hurdin, a single piece of glass that big. Instead of a painting, behind that glass is a complicated mechanism which receives pictures from somewhere many marks away and shows them to the viewer, complete with sounds. We have televisions like that in every house, sometimes in many of the rooms.

"The other side of this process is a place called a transmitter which sends out the pictures. I have seen many such pictures which have given me some knowledge of things I would never get to experience otherwise. So, I have seen demonstrations of paper-making, and programs showing what happens inside glass factories and many other things besides."

"Maker!" Hurdin was a white as a sheet and the others were almost as pale. Garia took pity on them.

"Not to worry, Masters, the devices I have just described to you, you won't be able to build for at least a hundred years or more. I just wanted you to understand how it is I have some knowledge of certain things without having direct experience of them." She added, "Of course, there are many things I do have direct experience of. Quite a lot of what I tell you will be common-place where I come from."

"But, Mistress," Parrel said, "if we are unable to make any of these marvelous things that you describe, why do you describe them to us? It seems very frustrating to me, just like the bracelet you showed Tarvan and me which tells you the time."

"For two reasons, Master Parrel. First, because of the way some ideas happen it is possible you might never stumble across them over the years. I'm just making sure you do get those ideas, even if you can't do anything with them yet. Second, because Master Pitchell is writing everything down, and in the future a time will come when these things could be built, and you will then know that it is possible to build them because I told you that they had once been built on Earth."

Parrel nodded. "I understand, Mistress." He shrugged, helplessly. "It just seems so... annoying to be told about things that are out of reach."

Garia smiled at him. "There will be plenty of new things you will be able to make, don't worry about that. Next time, we will talk about the key ideas which will get this whole business moving. Ideas which should eventually ease your problems about manpower."

Robanar raised an eyebrow. "You already plan our next meeting, Mistress?"

"Sire, I am. I'm beginning to get a feel for what we need to do next but before then there are some things I must find out. I don't want to say too much more without information about Palarand and its resources, and I don't think it's a good use of everyone's time if I sit here and you all tell me about your country... and that brings me back to the general point I wanted to talk about." She regained her seat and took a deep breath.

"Your Majesties, Your Highness, Masters, Freemen. Master Parrel is concerned about the amount of work we are making for him, and he is right to be. I've been thinking about this for some days now, about what will happen to Palarand. I tell you this, in the next few years it must mean a change in the way you all operate. There will simply be too much to do for Palarand to continue in the way you do now. I don't know how your guilds operate, Master Parrel, but I'm afraid that they are going to have to change significantly if they are to survive at all."

"Mistress?" Parrel stood. "Are you threatening the Guild system?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. What I'm saying is that you're going to need so many people to make the objects and devices I'm going to tell you about that your current methods won't work. Tarvan here told me that he has a six-year indenture. You can't afford to take that long to train people. If you do, by the time you've finished, what you've told them will be out of date. You're going to have to find another way."

Parrel looked shaken. "Mistress, I am horrified by what you tell me. And yet, I am so intrigued by what you have shown us so far that I know that there is no way back." He turned to the King. "Sire, I wish to learn more about what is to come, if I did not I would not be here tonight. But I will have to call a meeting of all the Guildmasters to try and consider what we will need to do in the future."

"I understand, Parrel, that is your right. Remember, though, that we are set on this course, Guilds or no Guilds."

"As you say, Sire."

Garia resumed. "You will end up employing far more people than you do today, Master Parrel. The population of Palarand, the country as well as the city, is going to expand immensely. There is going to be a huge demand for building, as well as roads, water, sewage and all that goes with cities, not to mention food. Palarand may increase in population by ten times in the next thirty years, and you will need every one of those people."

"Maker!" someone muttered.

"You will need more of everything that is around now as well as all the new things. You'll need a bigger City Guard, for example, each man of which will need equipping. More carriages, more frayen, more stables, more wagoneers. The list goes on."

"You make your point well, Mistress," Parrel said, nodding. "Very well, I will talk this over with my fellow Guildmasters. If I were to ask you to attend our meetings, would you consent to come?"

"If your fellow Guildmasters will consent to listen to a young woman," she replied with a wry smile, "then I will."

"Mistress," Robanar asked her, "I assume that this will mean greater prosperity for Palarand?"

"It should, Sire, and for all those countries which surround it, as well."

"Trade," Tanon said. "If we produce items that people want, they are going to buy them from us. Forks, for example. That means money coming into the country, with which we can buy our needs from our neighbors." He shrugged. "Sire, a discussion we must have sometime soon, I think."

"Sire," Parrel said, "the changes Mistress Garia brings will make Palarand unrecognizable. Can I ask if you understood what would happen when you agreed to set up this," he waved his arm around the room to encompass them all, "council?"

"Master Parrel, I did," Robanar replied. "Although as a rule the peoples of Alaesia do not believe in things we cannot see, like chance, fate, and luck, it was plain that Mistress Garia's unusual appearance was some kind of signal that she would bring change to us. I was then left with the three choices of accepting the consequences, ignoring them or attempting to prevent them. If I accepted them, then the safest place for Mistress Garia to be was here in the palace, and that was our decision.

"The first alternative was to turn her loose in the world, to let her make her way as best as she could. That would simply mean that some other country would seek to exploit whatever they might get her to reveal. She tells us only what she chooses to tell us and she does that freely. Another country might not be so generous, and I don't have to draw a picture for any of you, I think.

"The second alternative, one which existed but which the Queen and I never seriously considered, would have been to prevent her making any changes at all. We could only have done that by imprisoning her somewhere remote and effectively ignoring her, or by executing her, either immediately or later."

The cold way in which Robanar explained his thought processes chilled Garia to the bone. She understood his reasoning, though, and after all he was the King. He was not the ruler of a pseudo-monarchy like those in Europe, which had governments which actually did the ruling, Robanar was an old-style absolute monarch, and right at the moment she was extremely glad he was.

Parrel bowed. "Thank you, Sire. I guessed at most of your reasoning, and knowing you I wouldn't have expected you to have made any other decision. The years ahead will prove busy for all of us, but being busy means improved income if nothing else. I look forward to the new inventions and ideas to come. I will have to take Mistress Garia's words to heart, and learn to 'think big'."

"You have no idea, Master Parrel," Garia smiled at him. "You have no idea."

~o~O~o~

"Whew!" Garia sat down heavily on the foot of the bed. "I don't think I'll have much trouble sleeping tonight, Jenet."

"No, Mistress. You used a lot of energy this morning, didn't you?"

"Uh, sort of. It was always there inside me, I'm just glad I've found a way of getting it out. Is that the tunic I wore this morning? How did you get it cleaned up so quickly?"

"Oh, that was easy, Mistress. When you settled down for your after-lunch nap I rinsed the clothes you wore this morning in the bath and then hung them out in the dressing room. At this time of year it's warm enough for clothes to dry very quickly, and then I ran the iron over them this evening after I left you with the King."

"Ah! Good, I was wondering how I was going to manage, seeing how sweaty I got this morning."

"This is only a temporary measure, Mistress. I assume that when you ask Mistress Yolda for clothes that fit you properly, you'll ask for several sets and then we can just put them in the palace laundry like everything else." Jenet put down the tunic and rose from her seat. "There is one thing I discovered, though."

Jenet went into the dressing room and returned carrying the tights, which she spread apart for Garia's inspection. Between the legs the seam had begun to part.

"Oh!" Garia reddened with embarrassment. "Do you think he saw anything?"

Jenet shook her head. "No, Mistress, I don't think so. This must have happened when you did that amazing thing with your legs right at the end, neither of us would have seen anything as your tunic would have covered it." She folded the tights over her arm. "When you have your proper clothes made, Mistress, we can ask for more material down there to allow for your movements." She looked apprehensively at Garia, licking her lips. "Mistress, should I be expected to make my legs go apart like that?"

Garia did a double-take. "Oh, no, Jenet! Not at all! I would think that you wouldn't be flexible enough to do anything like that, and no-one is going to make you, anyway. You see," she explained, "on Earth, girls who want to do gymnastics like that start young, say seven or eight years old or maybe even younger. Then, as they grow up, their bodies stay more flexible from all the training so they can continue to bend their bodies like you saw me do, even when they are as old as you." She hesitated. "Actually, I was a little surprised that I could do it without any resistance, but I'm sure going to keep doing it now, so my body stays flexible."

"Thank you, Mistress. There are traveling groups who have acrobats and others who do things with their bodies, I wasn't sure whether you were suggesting we should all be able to do those things."

"Ah, no, Jenet, you're quite safe as you are. There's no reason, though, why you couldn't do the Tai Chi exercises if you wanted to. I'll be getting the Prince to start them tomorrow, would you like to try as well? It will help to keep you supple and your muscles properly stretched each day."

"If you think that I can do them, Mistress," Jenet answered cautiously. "Would I need to change into any special clothes like yourself and the Prince?"

"No, I think you'll be able to manage as you are. Would that be a yes, then? I don't want to make you do them if you don't want to, it has to be your own decision."

Jenet nodded hesitantly. "Then I will try, Mistress."

"Look, if you don't think that it would be a good idea you doing the exercises, then you can stop and I won't think badly of you. Just give them a try, fair enough?"

"Yes, Mistress, and thank you."

Garia yawned. "Time to get this gown off, then."

After they had both changed and Garia had been settled in her bed, Jenet had blown out all but one of the oil lamps in the bedroom, and, clutching the last lamp, entered her 'closet' and closed the door. Garia lay perfectly straight in bed, her arms folded tightly below her breasts. Very slowly, she began to relax. Very gradually, hesitantly, she released her tight control and allowed herself to examine the strange thing that had happened to her earlier that day.

When she had broken down on the mat, finally admitting to herself that what she had desired was never going to be, her two friends had come immediately to her. That was the first thought, that she had friends in this strange place she was just beginning to become part of. That others were prepared to invest their time and effort in her, she found very comforting. Okay, the King and Queen had said as much, but as Robanar had shown her that evening, her presence had significance to the realm and that partly guided their responses to her. It could be said that Jenet's response was part of her duties as a maid, but it was plain that she was going well beyond her duties. Keren could do whatever he wished, but he had chosen to spend his time looking after her.

The strange thing that had happened had occurred when he had put his arm around her shoulders. She had been aware that something in Keren had responded to the touch of her skin, and she had been aware that he had tried to conceal it afterwards, tried to manufacture a tiny degree of separation between them, and she thought she knew why. That she understood, and she knew the reasons why he had done that. What she hadn't expected was her own response to the touch of his skin.

She carefully let her memory go back to that moment so that she could replay it, examine the moment in detail as she hadn't been able to then. Then, she had crammed the whole thing down into a tiny locker and shut the door, because her response had been so strange she didn't recognize it, didn't understand it, was afraid of what it might cause her to do. She had successfully suppressed her reaction all day until now.

Slowly, like a flower opening towards the sun, she released the memory and let the feeling flow through her body again. It was not like anything she had ever experienced before, either here or in her previous life in Kansas. It was not a bad feeling, quite the opposite, something of contentment, something of security, something of relief, something that promised good things to come. Ripples of emotion bloomed through her body then, a new experience, nothing like the evenings when she had fumbled with her new body but almost as overwhelming.

How can somebody's touch do that to a person? she wondered. I never felt like that before, and it wasn't there when he pulled me to my feet either. Is this a girl thing? Is this what's going to happen when I finally find someone to be my boyfriend?

After Keren's touch, do I really care about anyone else? An agonized thought came then. He's out of my league, how am I going to be able to bear it?

As sleep came, she tried to picture herself with a boy but found it difficult. Any eligible male in Palarand would behave totally different than the guys back home in Kansas. How would they treat her? Would she be able to respond appropriately? Did she want to? She tried to envisage herself tilting her head upwards to receive a kiss from a guy, but the face that bent down to meet hers was always that of Keren.