Ricci was beaming at Arous. “And,
Simon said you weren’t interested in me at all but only interested in finding
your mother.”
“What?” was all Arous could muster.
The change had stunned her and she stood there in disbelief.
“I mean, really, it’s been all these
years. The last time I saw you, you were
only about this high. I’m so happy I
could cry, if I was the crying type, but I’m really not. But if I was I would
be broken down by sobbing.
Uncontrollable sobbing.” He laughed.
Arous thought he was crazy or she was
crazy or this was a stress dream about confronting Ricci.
In a quick movement he moved to her
and hugged her.
“Oh how I wanted to see you
again. But I’ve been so busy trying to
run things. You understand, don’t you?”
He pulled away and looked at her. “Of course, you do.”
He pulled her to the bench to sit
beside him.
“I’m sorry, this must be a great shock
for you.” He turned to her and grabbed
both of her hands. “Arous, I’m your
father.”
At that
moment Arous heard Simon cry, “Uncle,” as Senator Hodges-Baire stumbled into
the gazebo followed by Jellina and a rather frantic looking Siobhan.
“Indeed, Ambassador Hodges-Baire, meet my
friend, Ladoiselle Arous,” said Siobhan.
“Siobhan if
you would be a dear and let me know when MiJin gets here? She’s supposed to
find me,” said Arous.
“Okay, I’m
not sure I’ve seen her,” said Siobhan. She didn’t leave but stared at Jellina.
“I’m sure you
know where to find her,” said Arous with emphasis. “Earlier we were in the
kitchen-”
“Oh, she’s
such a bore. You’d be better off if she doesn’t find you at all,” said Jellina
eyeing Arous. “Matter of fact, I don’t know how you stand her.”
There was
silence. Arous and Siobhan traded quick glances.
“Wait. Didn’t
I just see MiJin here?” asked Jellina.
“Wasn’t she just with you, Ephor?”
“Jellina,”
said Arous. “Mind your own business.”
“The fact of
the matter is,” said Jellina, “you could get shipped off the a HaleSpa for
being with an Ephor without his Idelle present.”
“And, where
did you run off to?” asked Arous.
Jellina was speechless. “Fact is,
Jellina, correct me if I’m wrong Ephor Ricci, but weren’t you just saying that
MiJin was your loyal one?”
“Why, yes,
Arous, I believe those were my exact words.”
“I thought
so.”
Jellina’s
eyes flamed at Arous, after she got over her initial shock.
Jellina
pulled up close to Arous.
“Don’t cross
me,” she snarled. “Trust me, I know how to return the favor if you cost me this
Idelle-ship.”
“Come on,
Jellina,” said Siobhan. “Let’s go find Mijin.”
Jellina
stormed out and Siobhan followed.
“Ooo,” said
Hodges-Baire laughing, “You made that one all hot.”
“It doesn’t
take much.”
Ambassador
Hodges-Baire sat down beside Arous and leaned on her arm, whispering, “If you
ever find yourself needing work, I will have a job for you. You are quite good
at poking the bear and not getting your head removed.” He winked at her,
applying just a little pressure to her arm then got up and exited the Gazebo.
“My, my, my,”
the Ephor began. “I’m not sure what to think. First, I think, how long have you
been here without me knowing and how is that possible? Then, I think, you are just like your mother.”
Arous sat in
stunned silence. Nevertheless, her face remained that of a Desperado poker
champion.
“You’re my
father?” Arous asked though she had known the answer. Even before she said it. Therese had hinted at it. Her mother had alluded to it – had she
expected her to just guess? Still, hearing it out of his mouth . . . out of her
own mouth . . . Her mind reeled.
“Let’s cut to the chase. What do you want to
know?”
Arous hadn’t
thought of it this way, not in detail. She had planned for the fight, for the
struggle. She hadn’t been prepared for it being so easy.
“Well, I didn’t expect you to be so
unprepared. From all I’ve heard, I expected a more formidable opponent,” said
Ricci smiling. “Or are you taking your time reading me like your mother?”
Ephor Ricci
had that classic Amalgamese smile, his dark honey eyes sparkled with crimson
flecks. Something about his voice soothed her. He looked so young. He touched
her shoulder.
“It’s okay.
We’ll sit here a minute. Ask me whatever you want.”
“I want to
know . . . I want to know if she’s in the North HaleSpa,” said Arous. “I want
to know when I can see her.”
The Ephor
smiled at her.
Something
about Ricci, Arous found familiar and aggravating all at the same time.
“Come by my
office tomorrow. I’ll get you into the news paper archives. It’s funny. Through
all the centuries no one has made an improvement on the hopeless newspaper. The
best thing they did was to make it all pictures and add chewable V-dot, if you
care for words,” said Ricci.
He leaned over, kissed her on the cheek, and
began to get up. She grabbed his arm and
forced him still.
“Why would I
want to read a bunch of stupid newspapers,” she hissed. “You know I’ve come all
this way to see my mother.”
Ricci sat
back down. The Amalgamese warmth left his cheek. A spark remained in his eyes
and his smile became honest and calculating.
“That’s much better.”
“I’m your daughter,”
she said. “I got easily enough to you.
You broke down my shimmer but if you thought that was good, I have other
skills.”
Ricci
laughed; his laugh was the contagious kind but Arous found it grating. It made
the hairs on her arms stand up.
“A threat? You didn’t get to me. I brought you
here. Let’s at least get that straight.”
He laughed again before composing himself. “Whatever delusions of grandeur you
might have about yourself, you’re no threat.
You should also know something else,” He stood. He leaned down and put his lips
close to her ear, “What you did, conspiring with an Idelle to trick me, was
very, very dangerous. If it wasn’t for your mother, you would be dead.”
Ricci started
out then turned. Simon was standing at the entrance to the gazebo.
“If it wasn’t
for your friends,” Ricci said as if Arous couldn’t hear him in the gazebo,
“you’d never pulled it off in the first place.”
He put his arm around Simon. “What, good, good friends.”
Simon turned
his head to look at Ricci who smiled at him.
“Captian, you
just earned your promotion,” Ricci said patting him on the back, grabbing his
shoulder.
“Yes, sir.
Thank you sir,” said Simon and turned away.
“Arous, I’ll
see you next week,” he said. “Whenever you have the time, I’ll be sure to make
time for you. My daughter.”
Ricci’s eyes
flashed and he strode off into the night flanked by two of the Spartan Guard
dressed smartly in grey.
And Arous was
at Simon’s elbow.
“He knew?”
she looked up at him pleading then it hit her. “You told him!”
“Ricci has
known about you as soon as you got here. There hasn’t been anything I’ve told
him that he didn’t already know.”
“Siobhan?”
“Siobhan is
his Idelle. She didn’t get there by
sitting around eating ice cream.”
“She -”
“But you
can’t blame all this on Siobhan.”
She tried to
jerk away from him but he held her tight. “I can’t trust you, it seems!”
“Look, Ricci
is ahead of all of us. We’re all playing
into his game.”
“Yes,” she
said beginning to cry. “You all have been playing me. Who else is in on this? MiJin? Jellina?
Jude?”
“I could ask you
the same thing, Arous. You knew I worked for Ricci,” said Simon gently. “How
long have you known about Ricci?”
“The letter
Siobhan gave me. My mother alluded to my father and I had picture of her with
Ricci and I just kind of thought maybe it was all connected. But I didn’t know.”
“And you
didn’t tell me,” said Simon. He voice began to break but he remained calm and
gentle. “Arous, I told you I wanted to
help you and you didn’t tell me any of your suspicions.”
“Oh, don’t
try to switch it around like I’m the one you can’t trust.”
“Arous. Stop
it,” she tried harder to pull away from him this time. Instead of struggling with her he pulled her
back into the Rose Gazebo and sat her down and sat by her.
“Arous, look
at me,” he said. Simon’s voice was
gentle. He loosened a grip on one of her
wrists and wiped away her tears. “Arous, I still want to help you. Everything I’ve
done has been for you. I’m Captain of
the Gray Guard now. I can get you in to
see your mother.”
He pulled her
close to him and rested his chin on her head.
Her body melted into his and she sobbed all the harder. She closed her
eyes a moment and let herself drift away.
Her mind was only on the arms that were around her.
Arous took a
sharp inhale; for one short breath, she imagined it was Jude, not Simon, whose
arms enveloped her.
