Galatzi Life (Galatzi Trade Book 4) Read online

  She laughed then closed the door with her foot. We stilled, but she held me tightly.

  “Is something wrong?”

  She pushed me away, and I saw there were tears in her eyes. “Oh, Luradinine.”

  She shook her head and held one hand up. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’ve been watching you, and I was just a little overcome by what you’re trying to do for us, you and Cecilia and all the others.”

  “Oh, hey,” I said. I pulled on her hand to a waiting sofa. We sat down, holding hands. “Talmon is my home, Luradinine. Do you remember what I was like when we first met?”

  “You looked so miserable.”

  “I was. I was ready to beg to be sent back to Tarriton, but it would have been in shame. And then you and Chaladine changed everything. Everything! Talmon is my home, and it’s my home because of Chaladine and you and Kalorain. Think about what that means. Think about how the three of you being the people you are changed the entire course of my life.”

  She smiled. “You like being my daughter’s Galatzi wife.”

  “I couldn’t be happier,” I said. “Is this what you wanted to talk about?”

  “I wanted to thank you, I guess. How do you thank someone for what you’re doing?”

  “How do you thank someone who did what you and Chaladine did for me?” I asked. I smiled and kissed her hand. “I like being your daughter-in-law.”

  “I like you being my daughter-in-law, too. I want one of these clubs in Beacon Hill.”

  I laughed. “Is that the real reason we’re here?”

  “No, but make it happen.”

  “Let’s get through the next few weeks, and then either I’ll send one of my friends to look over possibilities, or we’ll all come stay for a few days.”

  “That sounds perfect.”

  “Luradinine, did I make a mistake today? Should I just have come to you with my tractors?”

  “No, Maddalyn. That is too much favoritism. If you bring in fishing equipment, I might have a different answer.”

  “Or dance clubs.”

  She laughed. “Or dance clubs.” She caressed my cheek. “I love you, daughter-in-law.”

  “I love you, too, mother-in-law.”

  We stood, and she danced me back.

  * * * *

  The dance was a hit. My friends were popular. So was Mother, and she was smiling broadly every time I looked at her.

  Eventually we ended back at home. I knelt to wash Kalorain’s feet. Serenity said, “You never do that for me, Tranquility.”

  “You’re not my wife,” Tranquility replied.

  “Is this a Talmon tradition?” Pippa asked.

  “It’s our tradition,” Kalorain explained.

  “So if I meet a nice, Talmon girl, she isn’t necessarily going to do this.”

  “Not unless you teach her. And depending on your relationship with her, she may not be interested in sharing the way Maddalyn and I do.”

  “I’m still trying to figure you two out,” Pippa said.

  “Keep working on it,” I said as I finished Kalorain’s feet. I stood, and then Kalorain knelt before me. I switched to Talmonese. “Kalorain, when you get me upstairs, I hope you will remind me I am your Galatzi wife.”

  She looked up, smiling. “I think I like that plan.”

  And she did.

  Good glory! I loved that woman.

  Tour

  The day began quite early. We had given the vendarti’s families the choice of returning home early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Half asked for the morning. And so we rose early to make our first trips.

  Then we made more trips, bringing the vendarti who had stayed at the rejuvenation center to the airfield near the embassy. All of us gathered at the embassy, including the twins. For their part, they seemed pleased to be included with the adults.

  “Do they know what’s going on?” Cecilia asked.

  “I don’t know. Vessatine, Trallafain, did your vendart explain what is happening?”

  “Yes. It seems fantastic.”

  “I think so, too,” I said. I turned back to Cecilia and said in German, “Governor, this is becoming very political.”

  “Then let’s make it technical,” she said. Then she laughed. “But neither of us are best suited to make this decision, are we?”

  “I know I’m not.”

  She switched back to Talmonese. “Vendarti, Maddalyn and I agree that neither of us are best suited to pick the best location, but we would prefer to keep politics out of it. What do you suggest?”

  They looked around, and then Bellain said, “As we already know they will not go to Tarlotte, perhaps I could make suggestions.”

  “I’ll accept that,” Roldano said. The others nodded.

  “We are looking for a site that has two square miles of cultivated fields broken into as few pieces as possible, and without any special challenges. We want this first test to have the greatest opportunity for success.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I think that’s fair.”

  “We should also consider any location that could be made by the time this equipment arrives. If there are fences, for instance, they could be removed.”

  “Not if they’re stone fences,” Trallafain said. “I wouldn’t want to move them!”

  They laughed at that, and Bellain nodded. “Agreed. The optimal location would be two square kilometers of flat field with good drainage in convenient proximity to a barn for storing the equipment.”

  “Or a place where such a barn could be built,” Sartine said. “And any existing barn must be big enough to store the equipment, with a sufficiently large door, and in good repair.”

  “Yes,” Bellain said. “Excellent points, Indartha Vendart.”

  “I’m not a farmer,” I said. “The harvester is for grain. It won’t work on potatoes. That’s a different attachment for the tractor, but I don’t have one.”

  She nodded. “Then we may also need to think about crop rotation. Perhaps we need to pick three sites and rotate annually. If we pick a single location, then that location must be prepared to rotate crops and still be a good site.”

  “Those are good points,” Roldano said.

  “Also, it is early spring, but the equipment will not arrive until summer is well in progress,” I said. “It may be that we have to wait until next spring before we can use the equipment.”

  “We could harvest in the fall.”

  “Only if you plant your rows the same width that the harvester expects,” I said. “And I bet your current equipment doesn’t do that. But that is fine. It will give us a chance to learn how to operate the equipment. Maybe we could till some fallow fields.”

  “Or plant winter wheat,” Bellain said.

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  “It is wheat that is planted in the autumn but grows in the spring. It is possible to get two growing seasons that way.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Yes.”

  “Then we should do a circle,” Bellain said. “We will visit each village, and then if there is not a clear winner, we can return to the best locations. Is that too much in one day?”

  “If we need a another day, we’ll use another day,” Cecilia said. “I enjoy being decisive, but this is an important decision.”

  “We will review all the sites. And then each vendart, the governor, and Maddalyn will vote for the three sites that seemed best,” Bellain said. “It may be that there is a clear, clear best choice. If not, we’ll review the three sites that seem most promising. And no vendart will vote for his or her own village. You must vote for a different village even if yours seems like the best choice. If in the end the voting is close, we’ll have longer discussions until we reach some sort of consensus.”

  I could see why Bellain was her village vendart.

  “There is an advantage if Hollern is picked,” she continued. “But Hollern Vendart himself mentioned sharing the imperial largess, and so there is a separate advantage if we specifically pick anoth
er location. What say you, Hollern Vendart?”

  “Unless Hollern is clearly the best location, then I believe sharing is best,” he said. “Governor, is transporting the equipment twice a year difficult?”

  “No, not really,” Cecilia said. “We only need to schedule use of my jumper. It is the only one we have that can do it. But as you see, we have ample pilots.”

  “Governor,” I said. “As long as we have two highly skilled pilots on the planet, I think for this, one of them should be our pilot.”

  “That is a good point,” she replied. “We will let Admiral Grace or Colonel Blue make that decision. Does everyone have their tablet?”

  “We don’t have one,” said Vessatine. “Do we need one? We don’t get to vote, do we?”

  “No, you don’t get to vote,” Bellain replied.

  “Governor,” I said in German. “Will you humor me?”

  She smiled. “You want to give them tablets?”

  “They could share one.” So she nodded, and I turned to Kalorain. “Please go fetch one tablet from the governor’s office.” I looked at the girls. “Do you know how to use one?” Vessatine nodded. “Good. And everyone knows how to take notes? If not, speak up, and we’ll arrange training while we’re flying to our first location.”

  * * * *

  We began at Hollern, which was the furthest southwest location. The village had two good sites and several more that could work. We looked them over from the air, and we kept all five jumpers on open radios, so everyone could hear everyone speaking.

  “I’d like to tour the mill,” Cecilia declared. “As long as we’re here. Roldano, would that be all right?”

  “Of course, Governor.”

  “Is everyone comfortable with the landing?” she called.

  The mill itself was along the river and used the flowing water to power the saws. This complicated the landing, but Cecilia led the way, showing the rest of us what to do. Soon enough, five jumpers were on the ground, and we would gather attention from most of the village before we left.

  The tour was fascinating. I was deeply impressed with what they were able to do.

  Like everyone on the planet, their pride in their work was evident as well, and yet again I was reminded why I loved this planet. I’d initially been put off by Roldano, but he gave a good tour, and I was convinced he would do well with the equipment he’d use.

  Then I caught Cecilia watching not the tour, but me, and I was reminded why she was governor. This tour had been for my benefit, not hers. I nodded to her, and she smiled.

  Mallishta was to be the last of the villages in consideration. By the time we arrived there, three of the others had good sites for my machinery. At first, it seemed like it would remain at three. Chasatain directed us, and she took us to two different sites that would work, but were not as good as the others we had seen.

  But then she said, “I have one more to show you. Head north, please.” The other sites had all been to the south side of the village, which sat on the south side of the river. But soon we were circling a cluster of homes surrounded by overgrown fields.

  “What happened here?” Luradinine asked.

  “This land belonged to one large family,” she said. “Seven winters ago, they all died, every single one. We didn’t discover this until spring.”

  “How did they die?”

  “Ergotism,” Chasatain said.

  “Melina,” I said to my implant. “Please define ergotism.” It took a few seconds then I said, “Wait. Why would your ancestors have brought ergot with them?”

  “It’s not actually ergot,” Baardorid said. “But it’s a similar contamination by a local fungus. How couldn’t they notice?”

  “We’re not sure,” Chasatain said. “My guess: one of the younger sons was tasked with walking the field, but I believe instead of walking the field, he was walking into the village to entertain a girlfriend.”

  “So these fields are contaminated by this fungus?” I asked.

  “No,” Chasatain said. “Ergot is actually easy to control, if you know you need to do it.”

  “It’s actually quite rare now,” added Roldano. “We haven’t seen any in Hollern in my entire time as vendart. I can see a young man growing complacent, but to know you killed your entire family.” He shook his head.

  “We intentionally keep some,” Chasatain said. “It’s easy to control, and it’s easy to grow. Every spring I require everyone in the village to see what it looks like, even very young children.”

  “I do that, too,” said Bellain. “Governor, I would like to land here. Is that possible?”

  “Yes, it is,” she said. “Where would you like?”

  “Can we park near the north edge of that field?”

  Again, we followed Cecilia, but this time, our landing couldn’t have been easier. We all climbed out of the jumpers then stood, looking around.

  I made my way to Luradinine and asked in English, “Is it safe?”

  “Yes,” she said. “They would have destroyed the fungus.”

  I looked around, then I made my way to Chasatain. “Are the houses safe?”

  “They should be,” she said. “But I haven’t been here in seven years. There may be critters.”

  I nodded, walked to my jumper, and climbed in. I didn’t invite anyone else but powered back up and took off. I set back down in the circle of houses and barns and then climbed out.

  I stepped to the nearest barn. The door was closed, but this was Talmon. There was no lock. It was sticky, but I got it open. Inside, it was big, dusty, and as far as I could tell, empty, but I had little doubt there were critters. I didn’t go looking.

  But the floor was dry, and the door was big.

  I closed the big door on the way out and walked to the nearest house. It, like the barn, was closed up, but there was no lock. I opened then sniffed. It smelled dusty, but that wasn’t anything a good cleaning couldn’t fix. So I wandered the house for a few minutes, wondering about the people who had lived here.

  I was half expecting to see the others would join me, but I remained alone when I stepped out. And so I climbed back into the jumper and returned to the others, still walking the fields. I set down, and by the time I climbed out, they were all turned to face me.

  “How are the houses?”

  “I checked one barn and one house. They seem sound, but I’m not an expert.”

  “If this becomes our site,” Chasatain said, “then we will ensure the buildings are sound.”

  “Vendarti, do we need to review the sites?” Bellain asked.

  “I will be voting for this site,” Roldano said immediately. “Bellain, perhaps a voice vote is sufficient.”

  She looked around. The other vendarti were nodding, so Bellain said, “Who wishes to bring Maddalyn’s tractors here?”

  Nearly everyone lifted her hand. Chasatain didn’t, because this was her village. They looked around, and it appeared unanimous, but then they all turned to me. “Maddalyn, you must vote. Do you prefer another site?”

  “I want assurances,” I said. “I want every verdarti here to assure me this fungus will not kill more people. I didn’t buy this equipment so we could let more people die.”

  “Oh, Maddalyn,” Bellain said. “We told you. It is easy to control. We cannot promise the fungus won’t return, but the people who work here will see it. They will control it.”

  “The fungus is rare,” Roldano repeated from earlier. “If there was a danger, we would tell you.”

  “No one lives here. Why?”

  “Because it is isolated,” Chasatain said. “And it takes many, many people to work this much land. No small family would move here, and large families have their own farms already.”

  “So who will come here?”

  She smiled. “Didn’t you say one small family could work the land? I can easily find such a family.” Then her smile broadened. “Especially if Governor Grace has a means of helping to build a bridge over the river.”

 
; Cecilia snorted. “I’ll send Blaine and Aston up once building conditions are good. Let me know when.” She turned to me. “Maddalyn?”

  I raised my hand. “Here,” I said. “But.” I smiled. “Mallishta Vendart, I have a request.”

  “Speak it,” she said.

  “Until the equipment arrives, I would like your two daughters to work directly for me. They will learn English and anything else I feel is valuable for them. They will be paid modest wages, and I will see to their housing and meals. I only want them if they wish to join my team, and I would wish your heartfelt blessing.”

  “Please, Mother,” Trallafain said immediately.

  “You do not need my permission,” Chasatain said. “You are both adults.”

  “You are our vendart, Mother,” Vessatine said. “And Maddalyn asked for your blessing.”

  “If you have special need for them,” I said, “be it duty to your village or for a family celebration, of course, we will return them.”

  Chasatain nodded. “Of course you have my blessing, but do you think we could let Ashalartine feel like she is part of this decision?”

  The girls laughed. “Yes, Mother.”

  I bowed agreement.

  So Much

  We departed for Indartha in the morning. It was quite the procession. We had Cecilia and Sartine, Kalorain and myself, our four guests, and the twins. That was one more than could fit in two jumpers, and so Mordain flew up with us and would stay a few days. As soon as Margotain learned about that, she asked to go.

  And then we had a surprise.

  Doctor Horton contacted Cecilia. She wanted to send all fresh patients home for anywhere from two to six months after training before using them at the rejuvenation center. Laradain, Sartine’s grandmother, was on the list to go home. And so she rode with Cecilia, Sartine, and Mother.

  Indartha was as beautiful as it could be. The village and surrounding mountains were still in the grip of winter, and it snowed the previous night, so everything was crisp and bright. But spring was just beginning to reach the village, although the surrounding mountains would remain in winter conditions for another two months.