Laura
Pearl had arranged for me to be picked up at the border and taken to meet her mother Isobel, who was temporarily staying in a house thirty minutes from the border. Isobel was in her fifties and the dark circles under her eyes made her look like she hadn’t slept since the earthquake. She was the chairwoman for the Council of the Motherlands and even in her sleep-deprived state, she had an aura of sophistication around her.
“Laura, thank you for coming back to us in this stressful time. It’s so kind of you to offer your help. May peace surround you.” She stood up from her comfortable chair when I entered the room. Besides some long cracks in the ceiling and one window being covered, the room didn’t look too bad.
“May peace surround you too.” Since Isobel looked like she was about to drop, I gestured for her to sit down.
“We just finished the negotiations an hour ago, and I’ve been briefing the rest of the Council members since then.”
“How did it go?” I asked and sat down on a stool across from her.
Isobel looked out the window, her eyes glazing over. “The immediate threat of war has been avoided, but the price we paid terrifies me.”
“What do you mean?”
She refocused and tilted her head. “Laura, we could use your knowledge on how to deal with the men of the North. Don’t think I’m not aware that they have a large advantage with my daughter being Khan’s adviser. If we hadn’t had Athena talk Khan out of having seventy-five percent males on the Council…” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “The thought of one male on the council frightens me.”
“Khan isn’t a bad ruler,” I said in an attempt to comfort her.
Isobel’s eyebrows arched up. “Khan is a dictator who doesn’t want to hear about democracy, but at least there will be two rulers in the Northlands.”
“Excuse me?”
Leaning back in her chair, Isobel sighed. “Khan insisted on males on the Council. I suppose that we’re better off including Motlander males on our own terms. The alternative at this moment is to risk being invaded by Nmen who would close down the Council altogether. From now on we’ll have to pick boys to be trained as Council members. Potentially we could have fifty percent males on the council in as little as ten to twenty years. When that happens, Khan has to appoint Pearl his co-ruler.”
I jerked back. “But what about Magni? He’s the second in command. I don’t think he’d ever agree to that.”
“I don’t know how Khan will explain it to him.” Isobel’s voice lowered and her face fell into a sad expression. “My heart goes out to you, dear Laura. I don’t like to be negative and say upsetting things about your husband. But with the anger Magni displayed in the meeting today, I don’t blame you for running away in the first place. That man is truly frightening. At least you don’t have to worry about him now. You never have to see him again. Feel free to build your life here with us.”
I shifted my balance from one foot to the other. “I’m not trying to get away from Magni. I mean, sure he’s got a temper, but he’s also caring and good to me.”
Isobel lowered her eyebrows. “Interesting. I’ve heard about this phenomenon. You’re not the first woman to defend her abuser.”
“What do you mean abuser? Magni never abused me.”
“Then I must be misinformed. I was told he admitted to hitting you.”
“Spanking me, not hitting me.”
Isobel moved in her chair. “I don’t understand. What is the difference?”
I shrugged, not knowing how to explain something that I’d never questioned. “To me there’s a difference. If Magni hit me across the face, I would be furious with him. The spanking is just something men do. My father did it to my mother, my sister’s husband does it to her. My best friend Laila Michelle gets spanked by her husband too. It’s not a big deal and it doesn’t hurt much.”
Isobel reached for my hand. “It’s never okay for another person to lay a hand on you. Never.”
“Then why are you touching me?”
Her eyes dropped to our hands. “No, I meant, it’s never okay for someone to hurt you.”
“Magni doesn’t hurt me.”
There was pity in Isobel’s eyes. “It’s okay, Laura. In time you’ll come to see things more clearly.” She moved back again, holding a hand to her forehead. “And to think that we just agreed to Motlander women being allowed to enter relationships with Northmen. Pearl insisted that Khan doesn’t hit her, but from what you just told me it sounds like he’s an anomaly and Magni is the standard.” Her chest heaved in a deep intake of air that she exhaled with some noise. “May our women who join the Nmen forgive us for not protecting them from their own stupidity.”
I forgave Isobel for the insult to my people since she was overtired and stressed out with all the changes happening.
“Pearl told you why I’ve come back, right?” I asked.
“Yes, yes,” Isobel straightened up. “And we could use your help chasing the bad men who escaped us at the border. The good news is that four of them have already been captured. The last fifteen we’re still chasing and we have leads on some of them.”
“Good.”
“Under normal circumstances we wouldn’t allow someone without mediator training to do this kind of work, but nothing about this situation is normal, so we’ll make an exception. The only thing is that I’ll need you to leave your weapons here. Pearl told me you’re carrying lethal weapons and we don’t allow those.”
“But I need them in case the men are armed.”
“We don’t kill people in the Motherlands.” She pointed to a table in front of us. “You can put your weapons there and I’ll make sure they are returned to Magni.”
“No,” I exclaimed, “that will only make him worry more.”
“All right, then we’ll just lock them up for now. For your safety and for practical purposes, however, we’re teaming you up with one of our most skilled mediators. His name is Hans and he will make sure to supply you with a numb gun and a net gun. That should be sufficient.”
“I don’t need a partner.”
“Whenever there is a physical threat involved, our mediators always work in teams. We’ve already established four other teams working on finding the last fifteen Nmen. You and Hans will make up the fifth team, and you have nothing to worry about. He has years of experience and comes with the highest recommendations from his previous area. If it comes to a confrontation, Hans will defend you.”
“I can fend for myself.”
“Of course you can.” Isobel looked up when a knock on the door was followed by a woman entering with a bowl and a glass of water in her hands.
“Sweet Isobel, you really must eat something.”
“Ah, yes.” Isobel swung her hand to the plump woman and looked at me. “Meet Linda, who has been a wonderful host to me since the earthquake.”
“I’m Laura,” I said politely.
“I know. Isobel told me about you, and I’m sorry to intrude upon your meeting. It’s just that Isobel is putting everyone before herself. She hasn’t slept more than an hour, so I’m being a mother hen and making sure she at least eats a little.”
“That’s good.”
“Would you like something to eat as well?” she asked me.
“No thank you, I’m fine.”
As Isobel began to eat what looked like a vegetable soup, Linda dried her hands on her pants and gave me a smile. “Hans is eager to meet you, should I ask him to come in?”
As if summoned, a man smaller than me came into the room. He had long dirty-blond hair that was braided, and an awful lot of make-up on. “Did someone call my name?”
“Hello,” I said and accepted his outstretched hands in a formal greeting. “I understand that we’re teaming up to go after the missing Nmen.”
“That’s what I’m told.” Hans’ eyes darted around the room. “It’s a good thing that I’m here. I have a lot of experience with large brutal Nmen.”
“Really?” My eyebrows rose up.
“Hans was assigned to be Finn’s personal mediator while he was here,” Isobel explained before taking another spoonful of soup.
“Ah, I see. But I wouldn’t call Finn large or brutal. He’s one of the nicest men I know, and he can’t be more than six-two since he’s only about four or five inches taller than me.”
Hans couldn’t be more than five-five and leaned his head back. “Yes, well, but you’re very tall for a woman.”
“I’m a woman of the North. We’re all tall, just like our men.”
“All I’m saying is that I’m experienced in dealing with Nmen, so you’re in good hands.”
“Great.” I pointed to the door. “Should we get going? We’ve got work to do, right?”
“Yes, of course.” With a look of importance, Hans addressed Isobel: “We’ll report back to you as soon as we catch the criminals.”
She gave him a tired smile. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”
As soon as we were outside, Hans steered me toward a scratched-up drone. “Were you happy that Finn found you while he was here?”
“I guess so, why?”
“I should mention that I was the one who located you for him,” Hans said. “Finn didn’t think I could do it, since others had tried and failed.”
I got the reference to Magni and frowned.
“I’m only telling you to make you understand that I’m very skilled and can get results others can’t.”
“Good for you,” I said unimpressed. If this toad thought diminishing Magni’s attempt to find me would make us friends, he was wrong.
“I should also tell you that Finn wanted me to give him your address and I flat-out refused.” Hans’ hand cut through the air to underline his point. “I stood up to him and made it clear that I would never pressure you to meet with him.”
“Really? You stood up to Finn?”
Hans shrugged. “It wasn’t hard. Finn has the deepest respect for me, and I would say he and I became very close while he was here.”
I doubted that was true, but kept my answer civil. “Good to know. Now can we look at the leads and get going?”
After climbing inside the small drone, Hans used his wristband to project a list of names for me to see. The Nmen were rated according to level of danger and Hans pointed to the bottom of the list. “Let start with Luke.”
Luke wasn’t one of the five Khan had deemed dangerous. He had no criminal record, so I pointed to the top of the list instead. “No, let’s go after Devlin; he’s a nasty piece of shit who spent time in jail after stabbing some guy in a bar once. Definitely not someone we want running around in the Motherlands.”
Hans’ fingers fiddled with his lower lip. “Maybe we could pick someone else to begin with.”
“Are you scared?” I asked.
“No, of course not. It’s just that you’re not a trained mediator, and I would like to see you in action before we go after the worst criminals. I’ll need to know how much you have to lean on me.”
I looked Hans over. The guy slumped in his seat and after knowing him for less than ten minutes, my guess was that he had spent more time on his make-up this morning than he’d spend on fight training in his entire life.
“All right, then let’s start with that guy in the middle of the list, Jonathan. According to my sources he’s a thief with questionable morals. But he only has a few fights to boast of.”
Hans frowned. “Who in their right mind would boast about fighting?”
“It’s a saying. Do you have any leads on him?”
Hans searched his information. “Yes. Someone reported a break-in in New Munich and the thief was described as having a large scar that fits his description.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to start from the bottom of the list?” Hans asked with a hopeful tone. “With this being your first time tracking down criminals, we should start out slow. At mediator training they always encouraged caution.”
“I’m sure,” I said. “And caution isn’t really my thing.”
Hans’ smile was stiff. “Right. It’s the same for me. Some people call me a daredevil.”
I suppressed a laugh. “Well, come on then, Daredevil. Let’s find Jonathan, shall we?”