The V'Dan (23 page)

“I will state this very clearly: Jai Du is
not
a designated arbiter. She does not have any authority in this embassy outside of her specialization as a pathologist and a medical doctor. If your people have a problem with any of my people, they need to bring those concerns either to me or to Rosa McCrary.
We
are the only two with arbitration power in this embassy. Ideally, all such queries should be sent through McCrary, unless it deals with her specifically, then it should be brought to my attention. If at any point it is a matter in which I
do
need to be involved, it will be brought to my attention.

“This was outlined in the list of protocol questions we
answered. That your people should request such protocols be arranged only to ignore the proper, requested procedures does not leave a good impression, Empress. The same as how insulting us by ignoring our actual maturity in favor of some arbitrary skin marks does not give a good impression,” Jackie stated. “Your people need to understand that we do consider such things insults and that we will only tolerate so much disrespect before we will be forced to take appropriate action.” Her body felt tired and achy from the fever, her mind racing with energy from her meal. Pausing only a moment, Jackie said gravely, “. . .
Now
I am finished. I thank you for listening with such courtesy and patience, Empress.”

Hana’ka stared for a long moment, her mouth pressed tight. When she spoke, it was in clipped tones—more clipped than the usual glottal-stop-filled V’Dan. “You speak to me as if you are my equal—”

“—I
am
your equal, Empress,” Jackie asserted sternly. “My government is a representational government. I represent the Terran United Planets.
All
of it. My equals in the scope of representation are the Secondaire and Premiere. As an Ambassador, I have the right to propose legislation,
and
the right of the executive branch to see that any treaties are carried out as they pertain to Terran interests in the greater galactic community. I cannot single-handedly authorize a treaty, nor turn a proposed law into an actual law, but those are among only a very few limitations on my power.

“I am third-ranked, yes, but third-ranked in a government system completely
unlike
your own. I am
not
the equivalent of a child who stands to inherit. I am
not
a princess to any throne.
I am higher ranked
than any princess could ever be. Nor have I been given my great authority on a whim. My people have voted to grant me the power to determine all policies in regards to how your people are handled—they bestowed their confidence in me
knowing
of the holy pairing your son and I are now in. With that vote, I have the power to veto any suggestions you make about your treaties with us. I hold the authority to send our ships into battle at your side. I also hold the power to send them into your face. I am
responsible
for all such orders, and I must report my reasons to the Council as a whole and be judged accordingly, but that does not make me a
subordinate
.

“I say it again, and I hope you carve it into your brain this time: I am
not
V’Dan. My people are
not
V’Dan. Our government is
not
V’Dan. Terrans are
not
V’Dan. We are the same species, but we are
not
the same culture,” Jackie asserted. “Your son is attempting to remind me
telepathically
not to insult you, but this is
not
an insult. This is information you clearly need in order to be able to accept, assimilate, and access it each and every time you address one of us. In a representational government, when I say I represent the
entire
Terran United Planets when I stand before you . . . or lie here in an infirmary bed,” she amended wryly, “then that means I
am
your equal.

“So yes, I can and
do
speak to you as a peer, Empress Hana’ka V’Daania,” Jackie told her. “I realize you are not accustomed to considering very many people your equal, and none of them a fellow
Human
, a member of your same species, before now. But until the Secondaire or the Premiere stand here with me, outranking me in person, I
have
that level of authority. There is nothing you can do or say to remove that power from me. Only an act of the Terran Council can do so. You are
not
Terran and have no vote in such matters. Just as I have no say in your being Empress of V’Dan.

“I apologize for diverting your planned speech, but it is clear that there are a lot of preconceptions and misconceptions that need to be clarified between us. I admit that I have an advantage in that I have been able to ask His Highness many questions about your government structure, and that you have not had any similar opportunities of your own. One day, we will both hopefully know enough about each other that such interruptions will no longer be necessary.”

“You seek to correct me?” Hana’ka asked, lifting a blond brow. Unlike her son, none of her burgundy
jungen
stripes, small and more frequent than his, crossed her eyes. None came farther onto her cheeks than their edges, in fact.

“I seek to save you from making costly diplomatic mistakes out of ignorance. My people have a saying, Eternity,” Jackie said. “There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance can be cured through education and enlightenment.”

Her eyes narrowed. The Empress lifted her chin slightly. “You said earlier that to continue to . . . insult . . . your people would be an act of great stupidity.”

“In light of your apparent prophecies proclaiming you will need our help, yes,” Jackie agreed. “Insulting someone over and over makes it that much less likely they will want to assist you in any way. My oaths as a member of the Terran government require that I offer assistance to your government to ensure our interactions are mutually beneficial. But I cannot behave properly
for
your people. Neither am I a rug to be walked upon by everyone in the room. If they or you insist on continuing to treat us in ways that we find insulting, after we have informed you that they are insulting to us, then
that
would be an act of stupidity, not an act of ignorance.

“Mature people cease performing the actions or speaking the words that insult another person, once informed of the transgression. Only the young think they can get away with such things indefinitely even after they’ve been enlightened. Neither of us are
that
young, Empress,” she finished dryly.

Hana’ka lifted a brow, her own voice just as dry. “You think you are as old as I am?”

“I am told that V’Dan and Terran years are very close to each other in length, to within less than a single day. The age of adulthood in Terran society is eighteen. I have been told that the age of legal adulthood in V’Dan is, coincidentally, also eighteen. For your people, this means the age at which they have most likely passed through the
jungen
fever, plus have acquired a sufficient level of education to function as an independent adult. My people don’t have the virus, but we also expect our youth to be educated and behave with maturity and responsibility by the time they turn eighteen.

“I am thirty-six, Empress Hana’ka, which means I am
twice
that age.” She could feel her headache from the fever coming back, and hoped the conversation would end soon. Or rather, the hammering home that she was not a juvenile and would not stay quiet at being insulted like that again. “I may not be sixty-two, like you, but I have not been treated like a child in a very long time. Just like you.

“I have served for five years in our military, with the responsibility—the burden—of fending off a technologically vastly superior foe with just the power of my holy gifts. I have served for years as a government translator, with the weight of ensuring that no mistranslations lead to costly misunderstandings
among literally hundreds of different cultures. I have served as a Councilor, responsible for the safety and well-being of millions of people. I am now responsible for the safety and well-being of
billions
of people. Every single member of this ambassadorial delegation, staff and guard alike, has also long since been proved to be a responsible, mature
adult
. Just. Like. You.

“Now, do you have an actual problem, Empress? One which only I or your son can handle? Because I am sore, tired, feverish, I have a headache building, and I need to rest. As a consequence of our inadvertent holy bond, your son is
also
sore, tired, feverish, and in need of rest.”

“Then you will break that bond. I will not have my son—”

“—Your
ignorance
is showing again, Empress,” Jackie interrupted, rolling her eyes in a silent plea to her ancestors for patience. “The only way to break this bond is death. Long-term separation brings deep depression, anxiety, and a decline in health that leads to each partner’s dying. Slaying one of us will cause the murder of the other as well. There is
nothing
that all of Terran science has been able to uncover that can stop this process. Your V’Dan mysticism is even less useful, given its sheer ignorance of
psychic
abilities. We can barely slow down the progression of this bond as it stands. I agree that it is inconvenient, but it is also not an obstacle.”

“
I
believe that this bond is an advantage, Empress, not a disadvantage,” Li’eth stated, asserting his own political opinion. “The Ambassador and I are being forced by it to see past shallow differences of skin color and cultural expectations. We are forced to find compromises that benefit us both. We are forced to respect each other as individuals as well as representatives of each other’s culture.”

“I do not recall appointing you as such,” Hana’ka told her son.

“That is irrelevant, Empress. I
am
a representative of our people because of this bond,” he told her.

“You seem confident that they understand holy pairings. Are you so certain they understand such things far better than we do?” she asked.

“I have zero doubt, Empress,” he confirmed. “The Terrans are vastly superior to the V’Dan, the Solaricans, and even the Tlassian priest caste in their understanding of all such holy
abilities, whether it is speaking mind-to-mind, seeing emotional auras, even to how to train the summoning of holy fire to appear
at will
, my Empress. I have absolute confidence in their understanding of holy pairings because they have spent
generations
of time in scientifically studying their holy pairs.

“I have spoken with many different holy ones. I have been given instruction by a
professional
trainer. It was just a few weeks’ worth of training, but already I have so much more control over my abilities that I feel like the holiest of priests is a stumbling child by comparison, now that I can safely walk through the universe without feeling like I might accidentally set someone on fire . . . and I myself am
still
a stumbling child in turn, compared to the mental acrobatics and athleticism of someone like the Grand High Ambassador, who underwent years of formal training in her youth and who has been using her abilities consistently for decades.”

“There is no shame in admitting to a point of ignorance,” Jackie stated. That refocused Hana’ka’s attention on her. “Doing so simply says, ‘I know I do not know this subject, and I am ready to be enlightened on it.’ There is, in fact, great honor in being willing to learn. I state freely that I am ignorant about artificial gravity. My people acknowledge our ignorance openly and agree that we have much to learn about it. If you want to know about artificial gravity, you go to someone who understands it. You find an expert in gravitics, you ask questions, and you listen to what they have to say. This is no different.

“Read the report we prepared,” she repeated. Tired now, she let her eyelids drift shut as she spoke. “As His Highness has said, it is backed by decades of solid, observed-and-tested data, if not centuries. He has personally overseen its translation, and specifically its correlation to similar incidents reported in your
Book of Saints
on holy gifts and holy pairings. If you have more questions after having read it, you may come to me, or to any of our four holy-gifted translators. Particularly Heracles Panaklion, who is a certified instructor of such things.” Struggling to get her eyes open again, Jackie eyed the woman on the commscreen. “Now, is there anything else you need to discuss at this time?”

“If my son’s health is being affected by yours . . . how are
you
doing?” the Empress asked her.

Her inquiry sounded sincere. Jackie rubbed at the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Exhausted. Tired of feeling ill. Tired of aching all over. And I have no experience in managing
biokinetics
—what you call holy healing—and neither does your son, so neither of us knows how to speed this up. Nor do we know if it’s safe to do so deliberately since I am having my genetic code rewritten in every cell of my body. And what I want right now, more than most anything else, is to just put my head on his shoulder and sleep, because touching each other alleviates some of the pains and the aches. But I am prohibited from doing so because of all this cultural
crap
.”

“Crap?”
Hana’ka repeated, uncertain of the Terranglo word.

“Shakk,”
Li’eth translated.

His mother colored a little but diplomatically ignored the blunt, inelegant word. “If it will alleviate your suffering . . .”

Jackie seized on that hesitant statement. “Thank you.” Rolling off her elbow, she dropped her face against Li’eth’s tunic-covered shoulder, tucked her arm around his waist, and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. “Feel free to have a conversation. I’m going to rest, now.”

Li’eth prodded her mentally into shifting just enough that he could unbury his arm from how she draped over his side. Tucking his biceps under her head, he stretched it out, then curled his arm back in. Fingers cupping her hair, he cradled her head on his shoulder and met his mother’s stare. “This is the most physically intimate we have been, Empress. No matter what she may look like to ignorant eyes, neither of us are juveniles, to be ruled by unthinking hormones.”