“Clear,” I repeated automatically to the already blank screen. I was shocked again to realize that Jan was no longer chatting for hours with each call she made. The changes in her were incredible, and I’d get to the bottom of it that night—whether Rod cared for the idea or not!
“You may serve me before going to the writings,” Tammad said from behind me. I was tired of having him sneak up on me, but I had other thoughts to occupy me.
“Barbarian, we’ve been invited out tonight.” I said as I dialed femmer stew for him. “Did you say Murdock McKenzie sent clothes for you?”
“He did.” He nodded, keeping serious eyes on me. “The woman who called upon friendship—was it she who asked for our presence?”
“She’s the one.” I agreed. “I’ve already told people that you’re a colleague of mine from Dremmler’s sector, so they won’t be expecting much from you. There’s also very little risk since her crowd includes only two XM’s—me and Len Phillips—and Len left the planet last night. If you feel you’d rather not take the chance, though, I can always go alone.”
“I shall accompany you,” he said, taking the plate I handed him. “The woman did not seem right, and you will not go alone.”
“Your concern is touching.” I told him with a snort. Are you going to protect me from a feral Jan Elliott?”
“Your amusement is misplaced,” he countered. “It is not the woman herself who bids caution, but the reason for her condition.” He started toward the wall with his plate, hesitated, then turned back to the table. He put the plate down, then gingerly lowered himself into the chair. The chair creaked under his weight, causing him to grab for the table edge, but it held together in spite of the threat and he was able to glance at me again.
“Do you need the switch to remind you of that which you must do?” he demanded testily “Get you gone!”
I swallowed a smirk, then turned and left the kitchen. Unless I was mistaken, he planned on trying to use a prong as well as a chair, and I was much better off not seeing that.
I took the opportunity to rinse off quickly in the tub before stretching out across the foot of my bed with the reports. The third one that I’d been unable to read the night before was nothing more than the explanation of Rimilian customs that Sandy had neglected. I glanced through it, sure that it held nothing I hadn’t already learned, then picked up the final report. It was a thick one, filled with geographical exactitudes, approximations of barbarian populations, definitions of Centran aims, and more nonsense of the same sort. I began at the obvious point, bored with the thing already, and made my way through it.
I read for hours, mostly under the watchful eye of Tammad. He had come into the bedroom and stretched out on my bed, but hadn’t said a word. He napped lightly for a while, opening his eyes each time I shifted my position, only to close them again immediately. Finally, he opened them and kept them open, reaching over to unwrap the towel from me so as to have what to look at. The action irritated me, but there was little I could do about it. I read the report, and ignored him completely
When I finally finished the last page, I sighed and stretched, looked at the time, then stood up. “We’d better eat now if we’re going to dress for the party” I said. “This is one party I have no intention of being late to.”
“Will there not be food at this party?” he asked, snatching at the towel I’d wrapped around me again. I jumped back out of his reach, and tucked the flap firmly in place.
“The place to eat is at home.” I lectured over my shoulder as I headed for the kitchen. “Parties are for socializing and nothing more. Don’t tell me you eat at parties on Rimilia because I already know it and am shocked no end.”
“We both eat and drink at gatherings on my home world,” he answered lazily following along behind me. “My brethren too would be shocked at such singular lack of hospitality. To invite a man to your roof and then fail to offer sustenance is a deadly insult.”
“We’re much more broad-minded on Central,” I said, dialing two portions of matider in cream sauce. A nice, chilled wine also seemed to be called for, so I ordered a bottle, then added, “Deadly insult is a refined art here, and a game most of us enjoy playing. If your planet is ever civilized, you’ll know what I mean.”
“Such does not mean civilization to me,” he muttered, lowering himself carefully into a chair. “Such are the ways of beings without a purpose in life.”
And I suppose you have a purpose?” I snapped, stung unreasonably by his backward, barbarian criticism.
“Indeed I do,” he answered, taking the plate I handed him and sniffing at it. “For the moment, my purpose is to learn what manner of dimral this might be. Do you serve me poison, woman?”
“Poison?” I repeated in deep indignation. “I’ll have you know, barbarian, that that dish is not kept in every home. Only those of the highest social position can even consider it, and ....”
“I shall be pleased to taste it after my host,” he interrupted flatly, gesturing toward my plate. I glared at him, then took a good-sized prongful without further comment. He watched me chew and swallow, then tasted his own. The taste did not please him, but he began eating anyway. I controlled my outrage, and poured two glasses of wine.
“I’m sure you’ll find this vintage much too bitter,” I said, lifting my glass without really looking at him. “Don’t bother if you aren’t in the mood.”
“It is discourteous to refuse the offerings of a host,” he muttered, taking the glass with a singular lack of enthusiasm. He sipped at it, his brows went up, then he drained the glass in a single gulp. “The drink has no body, but it pleases me,” he announced graciously “You should have offered this sooner.”
He took the entire bottle then, drinking half of it without using a glass. I rubbed my eyes for a moment, then turned my attention to my food. In future, I’d make a point of separate meals.
As soon as I finished eating, I went back to my bedroom, but my house guest was right behind me—with something to say.
“Do not dress as you did during the last sun,” he ordered in an offhand manner, going toward a pile of boxes that was nothing of mine. “Should there be men at this party, such a display would be most improper.”
I stopped where I was, and turned to stare at him in disbelief.
“You have more nerve than an aching tooth!” I said in outrage. “How many times have you stripped me naked in the last few days? How many times have you raped me? How many times have you...”
“That has no bearing,” he interrupted impatiently, waving it all aside with a single gesture. “Will you never learn that you are my belonging? Do as I bid you, and do not cover your face as it was covered. A woman’s beauty was not meant to be hidden beneath the paint of savages.”
“Savages!” I echoed weakly, realizing again that he was beyond belief. He, a barbarian, spoke to me, a woman of civilization, of savages! I closed my eyes in surrender, then continued on to my bathroom.
I set my makeup applicator for the barest minimum possible, then studied the results in the mirror. I’d asked for the barest minimum, and that’s what I’d gotten. I hadn’t even received cheekbone underlining.
Sighing deeply I settled myself under the hair styler. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to have my hair parted in the middle and combed straight down, but I still felt upset. If I hadn’t been so eager to see Jan, I would have gone directly to bed.
Considering my mood, there was only one thing for me to wear. I hadn’t worn it since I’d Mediated a dispute on Garendar, but it was absolutely perfect for the occasion. It was a sheer, gauzy material of brilliant green, wrapping so many times around me that it covered me tightly from neck to ankles, winding one extra time around my shoulders and half my upper arms. Nothing could be seen of me but my face, and naturally I went barefoot. I examined myself in the mirror with a very deep sigh, then returned to the bedroom.