Sharon Green - The Warrior Enchained

The day was sunny, bright and fresh after two days of rain. I stepped out of my house onto the Neighborhood lawn, still wondering if I’d been wise letting myself be talked into attending the Neighborhood party. After a week and a half of being back on Central, I still wasn’t in a party mood.

The blue, blue sky stretched far and wide above me as I walked; a small breeze chased around here and there, stirring my hair; the lawn was cool and green and thick as far as the eye could see. I wore a dress of pale yellow that billowed around me to the ground, making me feel as if I were floating, and my neighbors turned where they stood or sat, smiling and waving and waiting for me to join them. The success of my assignment had been made public three days earlier, but the rain had kept me from being mobbed by admirers right from the beginning. I’d had to turn the call off to save my sanity, and that in itself was a new experience. But then, one of my rewards was that I saw everything in a new light.

“Terry, come sit over here,” Leebril Conrad called, her face animated behind the alternating pink and orange diagonal stripes of her face makeup. “I’m so excited I may burst!”

“Not on a Neighborhood chair, if you please, Lee,” Sam Raymond put in dryly. “Save it for your own furniture.”

“Samprey Raymond, you stop teasing me!” Lee pouted as everyone within hearing laughed. “Just because you’re Neighborhood Chairman doesn’t mean you can tease everyone—isn’t that right, Terry?

A large number of eyes turned in my direction, and I could feel the sudden wall of expectation arising from each mind behind those eyes. I was supposed to say something monumental and historic, something legend would some day be built on.

“What suddenly makes me an expert on Neighborhood Chairmen?” I asked, watching Lee tug at the skirt of the Alderanean leisure suit she wore. She was short and plump and the brief leisure suit looked terrible on her, but she’d worn leisure suits before without caring how she looked—as long as she was dressed in the height of fashion.

“Notoriety makes the acclaimed an expert on everything.” Sam grinned, stepping back to give me access to a chair if I wanted it. “If you plan on staying home for a while, I’ll probably end up losing the Chairmanship to you.”

“Not to me,” I denied with a headshake. “I’m not Chairman material. And even if I were, tomorrow I’m off on another assignment, so your position is safe.”

Sam echoed everyone else’s disappointment at hearing the news, but he seemed relieved even as he protested his displeasure. It was the main reason I’d said what I had, even though I hadn’t originally intended making an announcement of it. His original words had been lighthearted, but he’d been seriously worried.

“Terry, that’s not fair!” Lee protested, getting to her feet once she was sure I wouldn’t be sitting. “You only just got back from talking those savages into letting us build our complex on their silly planet! How can they give you another assignment so soon?”

“Possibly it happened because I asked for one.” I shrugged, ignoring Lee’s resentment. “I’m feeling very restless these days, and work is the best cure for that.”

“It certainly is,” Ted Rohman agreed, putting an arm around my shoulders. Tedlor Rohman was a newcomer to the Neighborhood, as tall and good-looking as Sam, but five or six years younger. “But don’t forget, Terry, work is also the best thing to make us appreciate relaxation. I’ve been looking forward to asking you to a real, but you’ve left me very little time. You’ll have to tell me what time to pick you up tonight.”

“You pick her up?” Sam frowned, moving a step closer. “What makes you think she’s going out with you? I intended asking Terry out myself tonight.”

“Neighborhood Chairmen and diplomats don’t have every privilege.” Ray Ladiff interrupted the argument. “I’ve known Terry longer than both of you, and it so happens I was going to . . . .”

“You’re not a Mediator, Ray,” Sam interrupted with a gesture of his hand. “Just working in Terry’s department doesn’t entitle you to special consideration. As far as knowing her the longest goes, longest doesn’t mean best. I can remember. . ”

“That’s right, longest doesn’t mean best,” Ted agreed, interrupting in turn. “It seems to me this can be taken care of by. . ”

His words trailed off as I moved out of hearing range, disgusted by the way the three of them were acting. They didn’t want to take me out, they just wanted to be seen with me, showing everyone what big, important men they were. I could feel everything they felt when they looked at me, no matter how they tried to hide it.

“Terry, wait a minute,” Lee called, hurrying after me. I stopped where I was until she reached me, and she gave me a broad, friendly smile and asked, “Aren’t they disgusting? Can you imagine men fighting over a woman in this day and age?”

I looked back at the three men engrossed in calm conversation and saw, in a flash of memory, three other men facing one another in the rain. All three carried swords and all three had wanted me, and only one had walked away from the disagreement.

“I don’t know if I can stand the excitement,” I commented, again ignoring Lee. This time she was jealous, even though it was common knowledge that she’d already had all three men in her bed at least once each.

“Well, you can teach them all a lesson.” She smiled, smoothing her straight orange hair. “If you come to the party I’m giving tonight, they’ll all be left feeling foolish—especially if you stay over as my house guest until it’s time for you to leave.”

I looked at her easy smile, seeing nothing but warmth in it, wondering why I never realized before how shallow she was. Lee wanted me at her party and as her house guest, but only for the prestige my presence would bring. It was easy to feel that she didn’t like me, that she resented my height, my slender build, my un-made-up face, my plain, long brown hair. .The only thing she did like about me was my reputation as a Prime Xenomediator, a reputation she could use to advance her own cause.

“Lee, I’m crushed but I can’t make it,” I said, projecting the least amount of honesty and regret. “There are still dozens of things to be taken care of before I leave, not to mention all those reports on my new assignment. I’ll be spending the rest of the day and night on them.”

“That’s too bad,” she pouted. “I guess I was looking forward to having you come more than I should have.” She hesitated briefly. “Well, you’ll just have to promise to be my guest as soon as you’re home again. You will promise, won’t you, Terry?”

“Of course I promise,” I assured her at once, patting her hand. “You can give me a homecoming party.”

“How lovely!” she squealed, clapping her hands in delight. “No one has ever given you a homecoming party, and I’ll be the first!”

She turned around and hurried away toward another group of our neighbors, anxious to pass on the word about how important she was going to be. I watched until she reached the nearest group, then turned away and headed back to my house. The party had definitely been a mistake, but now I knew it as a fact.

Once I got the front door closed I leaned against it, automatically clearing my mind of all the emotions that had been prodding at me. I took a deep breath and went upramp to my living quarters, heading directly for the bathroom. I’d already had one bath that day, but I felt the need for another. I’d been bathing a lot since I got back from Rimilia, but whatever I’d been trying to wash away still wasn’t gone.