2006-10-18 - 4:10 a.m.

Thel smiled shyly at Niobia. "Hi! Um� it�s nice to meet you."
Niobia looked sceptical, or amused. Thel couldn�t tell. She tried to think of an innocuous question. "How long have you been a slave?"
Niobia�s eyebrows went up. "Are you serious?" she asked. A cold bead of fear rose in Thel. It was clearly a stupid or, worse, rude question to ask an attendant on first meeting. "Um, well, yes. If you want to tell me, of course."
"Well, it frankly hadn�t occurred to me that you�d be that ignorant that you couldn�t figure it out. All slaves under the age of eighteen are born to it, by definition. Why didn�t you know that?" the taller, darker girl suddenly leant forward and looked sharply at Thel. "How many slaves have you interacted with before?"
Thel broke eye contact and looked at the floor. Oh god. She knew, she could tell; why pretend? "None," she replied, "I�ve been at a boarding school on� on Onyx. It�s a Free moon."
"A Burgh? Then you�ve had no tutoring on master-slave interactions? You don�t know the Laws? You don�t even know what you can and cannot require of me?"
Thel�s throat hurt as she swallowed, and shook her head, too frightened to look back up at Niobia in case her new attendant was looking at her in contempt. Her feet shifted, itching to take her out of the room, to run, to hide; but where could she go? "I�m sorry�" she whispered.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. "It�s okay," murmured Niobia, "I�ll help you; I�ll tell you what you need to know. If you just trust in me, everything will be alright." The warm words soothed her, and she leant in to her for comfort and salve. "Everything�s going to be okay," repeated Niobia, "As long as you have faith in me, everything�s fine. I�ll show you how to behave, I�ll teach you the laws and the etiquette and all you need to know to follow in your mother�s footsteps."
Thel smiled. "Thank you. I can�t imagine anything worse than letting Mother down"

Niobia smiled kindly. "Are you very close?" she asked.
"No! Not in the least; I barely know her. I�ve spoken to her� about as much as I�ve spoken to you, actually. But the families� fortunes do so rest on what she does, and I�m inheriting her duties and fathers�, too." Thel contemplated the duties she�d always known were awaiting her. "All I�ve ever known is that one day, I�d have to do� all that Mother does. And I have absolutely no idea what it involves or if I can do any of it. But I have to." She pulled herself up, suddenly, and looked Niobia square in the eye, not caring that her own eyes were reddening. "Look, I just have to, there�s no choice. So I need you to tell me everything. I am entirely in your hands."
Niobia smiled at that, and said, reassuringly, "Look, your mother was once where you are now. She inherited the ambassadorship, too, didn�t she? In any case, she had to learn it, and if she can, you can too. And remember, she�s done it all without any help."
"Well, she had my father. And I don�t know if she had an adjunct before � if Vanadia�s replacing someone."
Niobia jumped up and turned wildly to Thel. "Vanadia�s here? Are you sure?"
"Um� pretty sure. I�m fairly certain that�s the name Father mentioned."
"How sure, exactly?� pressed Niobia, �It�s very important to me"
"Why?" asked Thel automatically, startled at the apparent strength of Niobia�s response.

Niobia hesitated. "Because� if there is another slave aboard � and I know Vanadia from the estate, she�s very clever� then perhaps she can assist in your studies. She can help me train you towards� the proper behaviours."
"Oh," replied Thel, disappointed, "I don�t know if she�ll really have time to. Mother said she�ll be awfully busy. She�s Mother�s adjunct but will also perform as Father�s odalisque."
Niobia gasped, and sat back down, hard. "She�s a doxy? That can�t be. It must be a mistake�" she looked wildly at Thel. "I must see her."
Thel had almost agreed � it was clearly important to Niobia � when she suddenly thought of the look that might appear on her mother�s face if she bothered her to arrange something to please her slave. She couldn�t do it. She�d just have to refuse. Or maybe she could just put it off.
"Perhaps after this visit would be best. Mother�s so busy right now. I really don�t want to pester her."
Niobia looked furious for a moment, but then calmed down strangely. "Of course, I understand," she replied gently, "but I really think that me seeing her would be worth the small interruption to your mother�s preparations."
"But why? Like I said, Vanadia�s not going to be free to help in my training. Why do you want to see her so much? Were you close?"
Niobia looked almost offended at that. "I wouldn�t press this point out of a mere whim. It�s more complicated than you realise. You don�t understand slave interactions yet; no-one would expect you to. But there are things I should discuss with her."
"Like what?" said Thel, curious. Niobia glared at her.
"What do you mean, like what? Do you think I�m lying?"
"No!" said Thel hastily. "I truly wasn�t thinking that. I just� I don�t understand yet, and I was hoping you�d explain. Please?"
"Okay," said Niobia, apparently placated � although Thel feared she might be pretending to save her feelings � "well, if there were an emergency, your safety would be my responsibility, and your Mother and Fathers� would be Vanadia�s. So it�s best that she and I coordinate our plans � and as soon as possible."
"But ships this old are so reliable; accidents are so rare!"
Niobia drew herself up, and Thel admired the young woman�s elegance and sureness. "A slave�s duty to their master is not relative," scolded Niobia. "Any danger at all is unacceptable. There is an honour to our lives that you can�t imagine. You would turn me from this duty because it is probably safe?"

Thel crumpled and admitted, "no. I just really don�t want to get in Mother�s way. She frightens me a little."
"You�d endanger your life - and hers - because you are intimidated by her? She is your blood!"
"But she�s an ambassador too, and she�s made that her life. She must have gotten used to thnking of that first. I don�t want to get in the way of that. Please � I can�t!"
Niobia sighed. "Very well. But it�s an hour before we depart; I believe that your Mother is completing business planetside. Perhaps there is time for you to speak to one of the pilots or the logistician to arrange a very brief meeting. A mere minute would probably be sufficient for now."
Thel was sceptical. "Won�t they have lots to do, too?"
"No; the moments before departure leave no immediate duties to the ship�s logistician. You would be welcome if you gave her something to attend to briefly. Besides, it would be well for you to meet the crew as quickly as is possible; I believe there are five on this ship, so there is no reason to dally. As I speak to Vanadia, you can speak to the logistician- Rebecca, I believe � and make a good impression. From the little I saw of her when I came aboard, she thinks well of herself, so ask flattering questions and act as though what she says is fascinating. If she seems uncertain straight after you ask her something, you�re making her uncomfortable so move the conversation to another topic, but still about her. Can you do that?"
Thel�s head spun. She�d not had to plan conversations out when at school. She nodded uncertainly. "I think so. When?"
"Now, of course! It's vital that we strap in before departure; I understand takeoff to be very turbulent, especially in a ship of this age. Go now, and I�ll follow out in a moment."
Thel stood and turned to leave, but paused at the door and turned back. "Are you really sure that this is so important that it can�t wait a short while?" she asked. Niobia held her gaze steady. "There�s more at stake here than you realise," she replied, so Thel turned about and left the room.

She was disoriented in the corridor, but made her way to the crew quarters and found Rebecca, and explained that she wanted her attendant to speak briefly with Vanadia. Rebecca smiled. "I don�t think that�s a problem; let me just make sure the pilots don�t start take off 'til I say so," she said, and strolled into the cockpit, returning quickly and looking disgruntled. "Those two really don�t like being disturbed when they�re working. I�m very glad I didn�t choose to be a pilot, if it puts people into such moods" she commented as she fetched Vanadia. As the door opened, Thel was struck by Vanadia's beauty. She was older than Thel or Niobia, but still not yet a woman. Her hair was curly and her clothes were designed for both service and beauty and showed a lean, strong body.
At the opening of her door, Vanadia looked up in surprise. "Is there a problem?" she asked pleasantly.
"No," replied Thel, "Niobia just really wanted to speak to you."
Vanadia�s face darkened slightly. "Of course she did."
"What�s wrong?" asked Thel, and Vanadia�s face cleared.
"Nothing at all," she replied, "I�m sure she has good reason for this meeting; but that it will be brief. I�ll be back in a moment." As Thel clumsily tried to flatter and befriend Rebecca, she did not hear the hushed exchange between Niobia and Vanadia.

"We haven�t long to speak," whispered Niobia urgently, "I told her we needed to discuss emergency plans"
"That was a clumsy excuse, given so you could take an unnecessary risk."
"But I don�t understand why you�re here. Couldn�t she save you from it?"
"Don�t be ridiculous," answered Vanadia curtly, "she didn�t try to."
"But you�re to be an odalisque! Why wouldn�t she try to protect you from that manner of duty?" pleaded Niobia.
"You are such a child. You don�t see it? Look, it�s part of the plan, just the same as her securing you attendance of the girl. We need to be able to influence them. Now go back to your mistress and don�t let on that you care about me or even that we really know each other much at all."
"But, sister-"
"Go now! And never refer to me like that! What if you slipped in front of her? Let�s not talk any further. Just focus on what you must do."

Vanadia turned back to Thel with an open beam on her face. "I think we�ve discussed the procedures sufficiently. We should adapt to an emergency situation easily, but I think I ought to leave it there. The ambassador asked me to research some law while waiting for her return; I ought to continue with that."
"Oh!" replied Thel, abashed, "I didn�t think she�d�ve given you work already. Please don�t tell her that I took you away from that"
"Or that I did!" intercepted Rebecca, "Matter of fact," she said dryly, "I think it�d do none of us harm to pretend this didn�t happen."
Vanadia glanced at Niobia, then answered Thel, smiling helpfully, "Of course, if that�s your preference, ma�am, I wouldn�t want to cause you distress. For your sake, I�ll keep these events a secret."
Thel breathed a sigh of relief. She was so lucky that the women around her were looking after her best interests.