Prized (34 page)

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Authors: Caragh M. O'Brien

BOOK: Prized
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The crowd settled again.
“Thank you. We're going to keep this simple,” Mlady Roxanne said. “We'll first hear the votes for Chardo Will, and then for me, and then for Gaia Stone. Ready?” She pointed to Will. “All those for Chardo Will, say ‘Ay.'”
“Ay!” came a loud surge of male voices, and then a spontaneous burst of applause and laughter. It was the first time the men and libbies had ever voted for real, and their joy was contagious.
Will put out a hand, gesturing to Mlady Roxanne. “And now,” he said. “Those for Mlady Roxanne, say ‘Ay.'”
Another loud “Ay!” echoed through the commons, with a stronger mix of female voices. Of the two votes, Gaia guessed Will's had been a little larger, but she couldn't be sure.
Mlady Roxanne turned to Gaia and put a hand on her shoulder. Gaia looked briefly to Leon, who watched her steadily, a slight smile curving his lips, and then she turned to face the crowd.
“And finally,” Mlady Roxanne said, “those in favor of Gaia Stone, say ‘Ay!'”
The sound that followed was deafening, a roar of approval from every corner of the commons, and then the cheering began.
further
W
HEN SHE FIRST sank into a hot bath, the heat seeped deeply into her sore muscles. Like some limp, boneless thing, Gaia didn't even try to move. Her chin hovered at the surface of the water, and she closed her eyes, imagining she could hear the minute bubbles layering over her skin. She didn't let herself think of the Matrarc dying under her blade, or the people of Sylum, or the future, or Leon or Peter or Will or Maya; she simply existed, and when at last the water began to cool, she worked soap into a lather to wash her hair, dunked, and hauled herself out, half blind, only to fall asleep the instant she hit her bed.
She made it to the funeral the next day, but otherwise she rested in the lodge, listening to anyone who had concerns about Sylum and how it was going to be run. She ate slowly, finding even a soup spoon heavy. She asked Mlady Roxanne, Will, Dinah, Dominic, Mlady Maudie, and half a dozen others to serve as advisors, and though Dominic declined, the others began to draw up a framework of basic laws that would be fair to all. Dominic, Taja, and the rest of the Matrarc's family stayed up on the bluff, and Gaia knew they mourned deeply. Dominic
offered to vacate the Matrarc's house up on the bluff for her, but Gaia declined. She moved back to the lodge, to the little first-floor bedroom she'd slept in when she'd first arrived, but with the bars removed from the window.
“You could live with me,” Dinah offered. “We'd have fun.”
“The lodge has a nicer bathtub,” Gaia confessed. “And it's just easier to run things from here.”
It would be days before Gaia could move again without aching, weeks before the last pain in her neck and wrists was gone. Josephine took a bedroom in the lodge, and the mlasses shared the work and pleasure of raising little Junie and Maya. Leon and Norris agreed to oversee conditions at the prison and determine which cases warranted review, so Leon spent his days divided between the prison and the lodge, where he was often near Gaia. At night, Leon slept in an extra hammock in the cabin Norris shared with his cousin's family, where he wasn't too far from the lodge. Mlady Roxanne took charge of expanding the school to include the boys and men who were most interested. On a practical level, many things went on as before, but everything felt different, full of promise and trepidation, both.
Whenever anyone asked Gaia how soon they'd leave Sylum, she said it was too soon to know. Conversations about who might go and who might stay were rife, and Gaia decided it best not to push anyone too hard, for now. She trusted, in time, the majority would persuade the others in their families.
Peter went back out to the perimeter, where he and a dozen of the other outriders began a series of expeditions south, experimenting with doses of the black rice flower and scouting sites for the future exodus.
“Will he ever want to see me again?” she asked Will after a meeting once in the atrium.
“Honestly? We don't talk about you,” Will said. “He hardly talks at all, frankly. But if I had to guess, I'd say no, he won't want to see you. I think the nicest thing you could do for him would be to leave him alone.”
The thing was, she missed Peter. She hated feeling like she would never be able to put things right with him, or laugh with him again, or see his eyes all warm and joyful. Even worse, she couldn't escape the feeling his unhappiness was her fault, and guilt plagued her. Though Leon offered to listen, talking to him about Peter was impossible for her, so she did the only thing she could: she locked the black swirl in a box in the back of her mind and tried not to remember it was there.
As the days progressed toward the full moon, it became clear that most of the men wanted the tradition of the thirty-two games to continue. Gaia realized the competition would be an important emotional outlet and serve as a celebration to give credibility to the new regime. So she proposed a change that was immediately popular: only women who were present at the games and at least fifteen years old could be chosen as prizes. Mlasses who didn't want to be chosen simply had to stay away.
“Are you going to the games?” Leon asked her once in passing.
She smiled. “What do you think?”
He smiled back. “Just checking.”
The night of the games, Peony stopped in the lodge kitchen to see if Gaia wanted to walk with her down to the shore for the bonfires that would follow.
“An excellent idea,” Norris said to Gaia. “People need to see you, especially since you won't be at the games. They have to get used to you as the new Matrarc.”
Gaia still wasn't used to having the title refer to her. “I thought I'd go to bed early with a book,” she said.
“No hiding. You need to get used to yourself as Matrarc, too,” he added. “When Mlady Olivia first took over after your grandmother, she was always around talking to everybody.”
“You told me. I've been doing that. You've seen me,” she argued.
“But tonight's important. I can watch Maya for you, or Mx. Josephine can, but you need to get out there.”
“I see,” she said, smiling. She stroked Una's soft fur and glanced up from the rocker. “You just want to take over with Maya. Grandpa.”
“Can I help it if she adores me?” Norris said. “And it's Uncle. Uncle Emmett.”
Gaia walked down to the shore with Peony and helped throw extra logs on the five bonfire piles that were ranged down the beach. They could hear the cheers from the field, distant and unified. Even the laughter came in waves.
The sky streaked orange and purple over the marsh as the sun dropped below the bluff, and after the games ended, more and more people began milling between the bonfire piles. Partiers were supplying cider, and she caught whiffs of rice flower smoke. Guards, too, were present in pairs at the fringes. She'd assigned the same number that the Matrarc had designated the month before and hoped, with the new climate, it would be enough.
Peony unfolded a couple of blankets, and they sat down by the wood pile nearest the main road.
“Is this visible enough?” Gaia asked.
Peony nodded. “Norris would approve. I'm glad it hasn't gotten too cold yet. That red's a good color on you. Where's Leon?”
Gaia glanced down at her new sweater. “He's at the games. I asked him to keep an eye on things there for me.”
Peony flicked some sand off her blanket. “I didn't know he takes orders from you. That's so, I don't know, ordinary. Like a regular guy from Sylum.”
“He doesn't,” Gaia said. “One of Norris's nephews was bugging him about it, saying how the last winner ought to at least show up even if he doesn't play. Besides, I thought he'd have fun going.”
“So you sent him?”
“No, he was going anyway, so I asked him—Why am I explaining this?” Gaia asked.
Peony laughed. “I think it's nice. You took a totally wild crim and tamed him.”
Gaia curled her knees up in front of herself and hugged them. “That's not true.”
“It's what my mother said. I think so, too. Everybody does.”
Gaia rested her cheek on her knee and gazed absently at the big logs, puzzling it over. She wasn't the only one who'd changed, she realized. Only a few weeks ago, Leon had openly fought the guards on the thirty-two field and practically jumped down Gaia's throat. Now there was something happy and generous in the way he treated everyone, and not just Gaia. It was in the courteous way he addressed Mlady Maudie, who still ran the lodge, and the way he hefted things for Norris in the kitchen between their discussions of the crims. When she went looking for Maya, she often found the baby over his shoulder, even when she could have been sleeping in her crib.
But none of that made him tamed. “It's really not like that,” Gaia said. “He's just being who he always was inside.”
Peony tossed a pebble toward the pile of wood. “It's sweet to see, in any case. Say, I never thanked you for what you said to my mother.”
While she was making rounds of the village in the days
after the election, Gaia had gone to find Peony's mother and assure her that Peony's miscarriage would remain confidential, even if she didn't go ahead with the arranged marriage. Peony's mother had thanked her and said the family would consider that.
“It wasn't much,” Gaia said.
“It turns out I'm sort of liking Phineas.” Peony dropped her voice. “Will you induce any more miscarriages if someone asks you?”
“I've been thinking about that. I know the Matrarc wouldn't want me to, but I still think it's a private decision. Do you regret what we did?”
“No. It's different now, too,” Peony said. “If I got pregnant now, and got kicked out of the cuzines, I'd still have the same rights as any other woman. They can't take babies from libbies anymore, can they?”
“Never again.” It gave Gaia tremendous joy to know Josephine would never be separated from Junie.
The beach thronged with people now, some throwing yet more wood on the bonfire piles and others passing cider. Young boys hunched over on the dock, peering down into the dark water. The light of the sky was retreating behind the bluff, and someone lit the farthest bonfire.
Gaia looked toward the road, but instead of Leon, she saw Will walking across the sand with more men from the games. He peeled off to join them, and Dinah arrived at the same time.
“Hey, Will,” Gaia said. “Who won the games?”
“Walker Xave. He picked one of the young mlasses, a fifteen-year-old named Leila.”
Gaia would have to check that the girl had an astute chaperone at the winner's cabin. She glanced at Peony, who was blushing faintly and didn't meet her gaze. Dinah spread out her
blanket, and her son Mikey, running by, stopped to give her a hug.
“Did Peter come to the games?” Peony asked.
“No,” Will said.
Gaia shifted uncomfortably. “Did you see Taja there?” she asked Will.
“No. I heard she stayed up on the bluff with her dad,” Will said. “They've got their hands full, but I guess it's working out to have Mlady Beebe's family next door. Was that your idea to send them up?”
“I'm sure it would have occurred to her if I hadn't suggested it. She saw immediately that it was the thing to do,” Gaia said. “She's good to nurse both babies.”
As Dinah sat, Mikey curled up beside her, and she passed him a handful of sunflower seeds to shell and nibble.
“Are you joining us?” Dinah asked Will. “Or just standing around? We have room.”
He glanced at Gaia, then took a place on Dinah's blanket and lay back on an elbow, crossing his ankles. Dinah's son passed him a seed. So far, none of the libbies had asked to have their biological children restored to them, but Gaia wondered if any would. That would take some delicate handling.
“I've been thinking,” Dinah said. “A lot of our men are excited to leave Sylum, but the Enclave might not be pleased about two thousand refugees showing up on their doorstep.”
“That's a complication,” Gaia said. “We'll have to prepare. We can't arrive all needy, and we have to be able to defend ourselves.”
“You could teach all the men to shoot, too,” Will asked.
Gaia picked up a flat, circular stone to twiddle. “We could. The problem is, no matter how much we train, our arrows and swords won't stand a chance against the Enclave's rifles. We're
better off going prepared to negotiate. We have something they want.”
“What's that?” Dinah asked.
“We're a new gene pool.”
The Protectorat, Gaia was certain, would immediately see the potential of her new people.
He might be interested in having his son back, too
, she thought uneasily.
“That sounds scary,” Peony said. “Like they'd experiment on us.”
“No,” Gaia said, laughing. “Their medicine isn't that advanced. I just think our unmarried men from the pool will be especially welcome inside the wall to help diversify the gene pool there. It's a win-win situation.”
“You're sure?” Dinah said.
“Nothing's sure,” Gaia said. “Would you rather we head west? Or become nomads? I don't know how they even survive.”
The others exchanged glances. “At least we have some idea what we're going to with the Enclave,” Will said. “They have resources there.”
“Not to mention we know it exists. That's a plus,” Peony added, and the others laughed.
Gaia looked toward the road again for Leon, but he still wasn't coming. It began to feel vaguely lonely to her. Stars were coming out one by one, and the eastern horizon glowed where the moon would soon rise over the marsh. Some men farther down the beach began to sing. She wondered where Peter was, and what he was doing, and if he were alone. She curled her knees up again, snuggling into her sweater.

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