Thursday December 20 in the Year 723 After the Founding
"Here's to the Winter Solstice. May tomorrow soon be over and the days lengthen again!" So saying Hiroshi Macklin raised his glass and the rest of the crowd gathered around him followed suit. Though I supposed a gathering where there are only four other people can hardly be called a crowd. Well, no matter, Blair, Hibiki, Yoko, and Jason shared the toast with him and sipped their drinks.
"I don't care so much about the days getting longer. What I want is for them ta get warmer!" Yoko pulled the shawl she was wearing more snugly about her shoulders while the others looked on either sympathetically or with a smile.
"That's better. Now I can at least pretend that I'm warm. Ya know, there are peoples in the northlands that used ta think that if they didn't have a big celebration and bigger fires on the day of the solstice that the sun wouldn't come back again. There are some things that they did then that weren't very nice. Oh, sorry, I guess that right now isn't a good time ta go into them."
Seeing nods all around she continued with, "It's interesting though. Everything here in The City is all mixed up. I mean, Daddy's and Mrs. Fukui's families are Buddhist. Mrs. Donetti's is Muslim, but Mr. Donetti's, Mama's, and Mr. Fukui's are Christian. I can't figure out how everyone keeps anything straight."
Blair looked a question at Hiroshi. He nodded, so she answered, "Frankly dear, there aren't very many of us who worry too much about that. I mean, all three of them, and the Hindu and Jewish faiths, were founded by great teachers. If you take away the, oh, I guess you'd call it the legends that have grown up around each of them, what they teach is practically the same thing. It's all about behaving ethically and lovingly toward other people.
"That's why none of the churches here allow any intolerance. To tell the truth, calling them "churches" is pretty much wrong when you consider that so many are properly referred to as "temples" or "mosques" or "synagogues," but it's easier to use one word for all of them, and that's what was decided for here in The City. Besides, if you can use a generic term, you won't be embarrassed like you would be if you accidentally called a mosque a temple, or vice versa."
Jason nodded more vigorously than the rest. It was easier for him to deal with things if he could sort them out in his mind before he had to talk about them.
Biki tilted her head to the side, thinking, "Wait a second Mother. I've heard you say that Mrs. Donetti is your best friend and more than once. If her family is Muslim, and yours is Christian, how did you two meet in the first place? I mean people here in The City are pretty tolerant of other's beliefs, but they still do not hang out together very much if they practice different religions."
The attention of all the children was pulled away from Blair by a not very well muffled snorting sound coming from Hiroshi. By the time they had turned their heads, he had both his hands covering his mouth. He stood quickly, pushing his chair back with his legs, then walked briskly out of the room. Once he was outside, rapidly receding footsteps could be heard.
Blair looked after him with a disgusted look and muttered, "Coward."
When she turned back, she found herself the focus of all three children's attention. Realizing that she was well and thoroughly trapped, she composed herself to answer the question, after taking time to smile inwardly at how differently the three of them looked.
Yoko had the: "Oh boy! More family history to learn!" look.
The expression Jason wore was more in the line of: "I have no idea what just happened, and are you going to explain it?"
Hibiki was Hibiki. She didn't care what the stories she heard were as long as they were interesting, and, better yet, embarrassing.
Today was one of the rare occasions where all three of them would be satisfied at the same time.
"All right. I'll tell you, but ONLY if you promise never, ever, to mention it to Miranda or, well, anyone at all, unless I give you permission first. Deal?"
That was followed by three impatient nods. Blair admired their restraint, to a degree. None of them said anything out loud, but all three of them might as well be shouting: "Will you get on with it!" She'd have to work with them on their facial control, but that could happen later.
She took a deep breath and sighed. She might as well get it over with. Besides, now, almost 22 years later, she had to admit that it was incredibly funny.
At the time though....
May 16 in the Year 701 After the Founding
It was a lovely day in late spring. There'd been a shower the night before, but there was only just enough humidity left to make the air feel fresh. In other words, the rest of the day promised to be fabulous.
Blair Macklin had always been an outgoing, fun-loving girl though now, at 18, she was beginning to be distracted by a vague urge to "grow up," whatever that meant. It wasn't any pressure from her parents. Far from it. She'd occasionally heard them bragging to their friends about how they loved they way she refused to take life too seriously.
That left the question as to why she felt like she did. As she tried to wrap her mind around it, she wasn't paying quite as much attention to where she was as perhaps she should have been. When she finally realized that the way to her boyfriend Hiroshi Tsukimine's house should have been uphill rather than down, she was fairly deep in a part of town that a young woman of her age was ill advised to tread while alone.
She reasoned that running might draw a great deal of unwanted attention, so she turned around and set off at a brisk pace, as one might if one were on an important errand. At least that's what she intended to do. She managed a few paces, and had reached a crossroads of sorts, more like where a wider than normal alley crossed the narrow road she was on, when a tall, slim body clad all in white came flying backwards at her from the side.
Fortunately Hiroshi had been teaching her this thing he called "karate." She hadn't learned much yet, but she had learned how to brace herself against an unexpected impact, and that's what she did. Consequently neither of them fell down, though it was a near thing.
Following the young woman out of the alley, for that's what she seemed to be in spite of a streak of silver hair at her brow, was a mismatched group of what Blair could only call "ruffians." They were dressed in various kinds of clothes and footwear, though one and all had hair that made the word "bedhead" seem like praise.
The one in front was shorter and wider than the rest, but he was clearly their leader. "Now you look here girlie, I don' care who ya are or what ya know! When you're in my part 'a town you does things my way, or else. And my way says that ya gots to pay a toll ta use mah streets."
Although she was alone, what with Blair being almost completely shielded by her body, she seemed not to be intimidated in the least. "Oh? Nowadays your kind are calling it a 'toll'. I see. I thank you for the instruction. And here I thought that the proper word to describe it was 'extortion'. Times certainly do change, don't they?"
"Ex..what? Well never you mind. Either ya pay up in cash or..." Here he leered at her, or at least he tried. In truth, it looked more like he was having gas pains. "Or you can pay us with yer body."
In spite of her bravado, Blair could feel the sudden tension in the other girl. She'd revised her estimate of her age downward substantially when she'd spoken. She took a chance and peeked out from behind her back. How interesting. These young men were standing like they'd been set up for tenpins, and they were only about a meter and a half away.
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Inspiration hit her, which resulted in her acting before she could even think about thinking about it. One other thing Hiroshi had taught her was about keeping one's balance, and how one could upset someone else's.
She grabbed the other girl's left, upper arm as tightly as she could and then took one rapid step forward, after which she put all her strength into a jump straight at the leader. She extended both her legs and hit him right in the center of his upper chest, after which she pulled back on the arm she was holding and swung her legs down to the pavement.
She shifted her grip lower on the other girl's arm, spun toward the north and yelled, "RUN!"
As the two of them darted up the street she dared a quick glance behind them. Sure enough, all five of the bullies were on the ground, cussing up a storm as they tried to untangle themselves. Blair figured that they had only moments before they were pursued. She yelled, "Faster!," then redoubled her efforts.
By then she wasn't pulling any more. The other girl had taken her hand and, surprisingly, was easily keeping up with Blair, something that very few people could do. It was a good thing that she could, for Blair heard the sound of rapid footsteps behind them.
She led them on a zig-zag path, hoping to lose their pursuers, but they were having no luck. They were heading west at the time, so at the next intersection she planned to head uphill again, hoping that they'd find themselves in a safer part of town before they were caught.
They skidded around the corner, and, before they could notice the obstruction, tripped and fell into a large container of what seemed to be mud.
(No it wasn't mud. It was something much more insidious, as least as far as the girls were concerned. What they'd fallen into was a container that was just over a meter and a half wide, two and a half meters long, but only 20 cm deep. It was filled almost to the top with a mixture of water, clay, and a moderate amount of cement.
Not every house in The City was made of stone. Some, especially in this neighborhood, were brick. Brick structures don't hold up well against either earthquakes or the repeated sonic impacts from the bespelled bells that rang on Festa days, even if the walls were three quarters of a meter thick. Consequently they were coated with this particular mixture. It worked very much like glue applied from the outside. It stabilized the walls, it was cheap, and it could be reapplied quickly at need.)
The uses of the concoction were not what the girls were thinking of. They were frantically pushing themselves up far enough that they could clear their noses and mouths so they could breathe, and, hopefully, get moving again before their pursuers caught up with them. They were, however, much too slow.
"Hah! We gots ya now, and yer gonna to do 'xactly what we wants for as long as we wants. I think we's gonna sell you ta whoever wants ya when we're finished with ya. Won't matter any more then. Nobody else would want a 'ruined' woman. You'd a been better off iffen you'd paid tha toll."
In the silence that followed, broken only by the sounds of panting made by their pursuers and a sucking noise as the girls continued their efforts to get out of the trough, a deep woman's voice made itself heard. "Well whadda ya know! They've saved us the trouble of having to search for them. It's our lucky day, isn't it Corporal?
A masculine voice replied, "I do believe you're right Private. Not only for us, but for these two ladies as well.
"Take them!"
Blair and Miranda....
(Well who else could she have been but Miranda? Weren't you paying attention when I described her?)
Blair and Miranda as of yet couldn't see anything, but they heard the sounds of a scuffle and fists making contact with bodies. Afterwards there was some moaning. When they finally had their eyes cleared they turned as one and beheld a full squad of the Guard standing over their five pursuers, all of whom had been securely trussed.
The Guard sergeant was a tall man, almost two meters in height and was, probably, only slightly older than Blair and Miranda. He towered over the prisoners, whose leader was glaring back at him in spite of being on his knees and tied like a pig at market.
"You know what Scavo? We were only going to arrest you on suspicion of theft. You might even have talked your way out of it. This time though...."
He shook his head in disgust. "I don't think it's going to go easy for you. All eight of us heard what you said to these ladies. Therefore I'm not only arresting you for suspicion of burglary but attempted extortion, assault, rape, prostitution, and slavery."
The corporal nodded several times. "Nope, not a good day for you at all. My testimony as a corporal of the Guard alone is enough to convict you, but you just had to do it in front of seven other members of the Guard and all these other good citizens as well.
"It looks to me like the lot of you will be spending the next eight to 12 years working on the road gangs. Either that or learning to use an oar on one of the King's coastal galleys."
He dusted off his hands. "Well, let's get going. Get them up and moving. While we're at it, we can escort you ladies to...where?"
All the workmen who had thus far had their attention fixated on the arrests now turned to Blair and Miranda. Guffaws, shrieks of laughter, and other sounds of extreme mirth accompanied their gaze. The girls were covered from the top of their heads to their toes in the concoction they'd fallen into.
Corporal Murray distracted the girl's glares by saying, "You know, if that dries in your hair, you'll probably have to cut it off to get it out. Is there somewhere fairly nearby you can go to get it washed?"
Both of them unconsciously raised their hands to their heads and shrieked, "OH MY GOD!"
Blair did some fast thinking. "Corporal, are we anywhere near the intersection of Broad and Niche streets?"
He answered, "As luck would have it, we're only about 300 meters away, and it's on our way. Is there a particular house?"
"Yes, if you please Corporal. It's the Tsukimine residence."
"Well now! I know it well. Let's be off before you harden. Besides your hair, it'll be very difficult to walk if you can't bend your joints."
It really wasn't very nice of him, but he wanted to distract them from thinking about what could have happened to them if the Guard hadn't been there when they'd fallen.
The procession drew a great deal of attention. In this part of town a group of guards escorting someone they'd just arrested, while not common, was certainly not rare either. What was rarer than hen's teeth was the sight of two walking statues in their midst.
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After an eternity that was really little more than five minutes, Blair knocked at Hiroshi's door. It was answered by Hiroshi himself, who had been worried about Blair being so late.
(I have to give him credit. He didn't so much as twitch when he saw them.)
Blair said one word, "Help."
Hiroshi spun around and, without a word led them to the largest bathing room and opened the door. As they entered, he followed.
"Hirosho, what do you think you're doing? We need to bathe. We certainly don't want a man here with us!"
Miranda, who had still not spoken a word, had a very serious expression as she nodded her agreement.
"You silly girl. Girls. You're still fully clothed. At least I assume that you weren't wrestling naked in the mud. If one of you washes the hair of the other, that one is going to have to shave her head because the mixture will set by the time she's finished and you can trade off.
"I, on the other hand, can take care of washing it out for both of you. Once I'm finished, I'll leave and the two of you can take care of the rest."
Through the open door they could hear a feminine voice, "No, don't try to wash it out. It won't work and it'll leave a mess. Just sluice it off. Since it's still mostly soft, it should just dissolve away if you use enough water. Just make sure there aren't any chunks left. Then let it dry. After that you can use a brush to remove what's left."
A small woman with her hair in elaborate arrangement entered the room and watched while Hiroshi poured bucket after bucket of water over the girl's heads. "Once you're clean, I do believe that I'm going to enjoy hearing about how this happened."
Her volume didn't change, but a steely tone crept into her voice, "And I think you both are going to tell me every single detail."
Speaking in a normal tone she added, "I'll have a maid bring you some robes to wear afterwards. Once you're dry and in the robes, we can see if your clothing is salvageable."
She looked Miranda up and down. "Which I hope it is. I misdoubt that you'll be able to wear any of my things. Fortunately one of my husband's robes should fit."
She bowed slightly. "Now, if you will excuse me."
Before they could blink, the space she had occupied was empty.
All the while she was talking, Hiroshi had been working on their hair. After about 20 minutes he stepped back. "Well, I don't think I missed anything significant. You can check each other after I leave."
Just before he closed the door he turned his head to look back at them. "Oh, and do try to get off all the large chunks that are left before you get into the bath. It might clog the drain if some of them fell in."
Once the door was firmly closed Blair stood. "You certainly are a tall one. Just stay sitting. I'll barely be able to reach your buttons if you stand up. Oh, and by the way, I'm Blair Macklin. The two you just 'met' are my almost fiancee Hiroshi Tsukimine and his mother Murasaki.
"I'm 18 years old. At first I thought you were much older, what with that silver hair you have, but obviously you're not."
"Miranda Kastner. You may not believe it, but, like you, I'm 18."
"You're kidding! Never mind. I didn't say that. I wonder.... I was born on December 29th in AF 683. You?"
Miranda laughed. Blair noticed that her voice was quite deep, though for one her size it really wasn't surprising. "I never believed in coincidences. I'm not sure I do now, but I was born on November 23rd...in AF 683."
They looked at each other in silence for a good 10 seconds or more, then broke out laughing.