🚀 go-pugleaf

                   [[Continued from Part One]]



     Tamlin stared at the report in her hands.  She was pale white.
     "Any questions?" Geld asked immediately behind her, whispering
in her ear.  He was amused, she could hear it.  "Personally, I
think this is excellent work, don't you?  You know, any fool can
lie.  It takes *skill* to *fabricate.*"
     "Carmen didn't kill Krieg," she said, trembling slightly.  "You
did."
     "Mm-hm.  So I did.  But she *did* poison Tombolo.  She *did*
manipulate events to her own ends.  Didn't she?"
     "I... never wanted him killed.  I was going to displace him.  I
didn't need--"
     "Oh Tamlin Tamlin Tamlin... you're so cute when you're naive,
you know that?"  He slipped in the chair next to Tamlin, and leaned
across her lap, covering the report.  "She was never working for
you.  She slept with you.  She encouraged you.  She did what you
wanted on the surface... and you did what she wanted beneath it.
Tell me, was the sex worth it?  When you're having sex with someone
who's betraying you, it better be astronom--"
     "Shut *up,*" Tamlin snapped, eyes tearing.  "Shut up.  I don't
believe you.  You faked the records of Carmen killing Krieg, you
could fake--"
     "All this?  Every little detail?  All the things that sound so
*right* to you?  Mmm?  Sure I could.  Tell yourself that.  And
while you're at it, stop replaying all your pillow talk and tender
conversations.  Stop trying to figure out what she meant and what
she didn't.  Stop asking yourself if she was pumping you for
information, while she was pu--"
     Tamlin slapped Geld, as hard as she could.
     He stared up at her, and his smile broadened.  "Welcome to the
big leagues, Miz Edo.  Welcome to the real world.  You started down
this path, and somehow you though you could stay all squeaky clean
while you walked it -- you were going to displace Tombolo because
you had *vision* and he didn't.
     "Well guess what.  It's not about vision.  It's about power.
And getting power means getting dirty.  And that's where I come
in."
     "Why are you doing this to me?" Tamlin whispered.
     "'Cause I need you, Miz Edo.  You're going to give me what I
want.  As an extra added bonus, you get to win where you were going
to lose."
     "And if I refuse to help you?"
     "Heh.  How?  What're you going to do?  Call Megacorp and say
`oh, Carmen didn't kill Kreig, this mysterious man did, and he
planted all that evidence and made it look like a bad erasing job.'
And at the same time convince them that Carmen didn't tailor an
entirely new poison to Tombolo when she did?  They'll want to know
how you know.  They'll want to know what you had to do with all
this.  They'll suspect, and they'll move, and they'll learn that
you had Daxton Smythe killed--"
     "You know about that?  How?  How do you know--"
     Geld clucked quietly.  "Tamlin, for the moment, just sit back
and enjoy the ride.  'Scuse me, I've got to take care of a few more
details."

                          >>>***_***<<<

     "I know it's not your name, formally," Diana said, moving to
Tami and embracing him.  An embrace he returned, though with some
reserve.  "I'm so sorry, Tami.  I'm sorry I didn't come sooner.
I'm sorry I let you think I was dead.  I'm sorry I didn't formally
bond with you until now.  There's been so much to do--"
     "Yes," he said.  "There has been.  And you have done quite a
lot, haven't you?"
     "Tami..." she closed her eyes.  "I know all this has hurt you.
You'll understand, I promise.  You'll see what we're trying to
do... it's time.  It's time you were bonded.  Time you learned your
part in all this--"
     "Part in all this, yes," Tami said, and slowly let go of Diana.
He stepped back slowly.  "That is precisely what I want to
know...."
     Diana looked down.  "I didn't anticipate this much bitterness,"
she said.  "I didn't think I'd hurt you that badly... I know there
was cruelty in letting you think I was dead--"
     "Cruelty isn't a problem for you, Diana.  I know this now.
Ambimelan?"  He turned and walked to the sideboard at the edge of
the Library.  "It's all part of the game, isn't it?"
     Diana blinked.  "This isn't a game, Tami.  This is--"
     "Isn't it, Diana?  Aren't we all just pawns to you?  Isn't that
the whole *point?*"  Tami's anger finally broke through his love
and his horror.
     Diana blinked, startled.  "Tami," she said, a touch sternly, "I
had thought this would be a happy--"
     "You thought wrong, Diana.  You thought completely wrong.  If
you had come ten minutes earlier, you would have been right.  But
for the first time since I've known you, you mistimed your
entrance."
     "Ko'velt... I expect that to be--"
     "We are not Bonded, Diana.  I did not agree to a formal Bond.  I
offered it, but we did not formally complete it.  I said `I *would*
Bond with you.'  Not `I *had.*  And I am more grateful than you
could know that we did *not.*"
     Diana blinked again.  "Tami... I... through all of this, I've
known I could count on you.  I've known that you would support me.
What's changed?  Why are you--"
     Tami spoke very quietly.  "What happened to Leiphali and
Elizabeth, when your little resistance had them?"
     "You... know I am involved--"
     "It's the only thing that makes sense.  And if you've agreed to
help them, you've gotten very high up in their organization by now.
You're too good at playing Chi'velt to have done anything else."
     "Playing?  I don't think I like your tone--"
     "Yes.  *Playing.*  I *understand* now, Diana.  I thought that
you had learned to love our way of life.  That you had embraced our
customs, as though they were your own.  You did not.  You have not.
You've taken their form, but underneath you're just like the rest
of the damnable *U* *C* *P.*"
     Diana leaned slightly forward, her face setting.  She was hiding
pain.  Tami knew that.  He knew she loved him as much as he loved
her.
     But he would not submit to her pain.
     "Would you mind telling me what you mean.  In simple language?"
     Tami turned, and advanced on Diana.  "Simple language, Diana?
Very well.  While under your resistance's `generous hospitality,'
Leiphali and Elizabeth bonded.  I can see that doesn't surprise
you.  In fact, he impregnated her.  He acted as Chi'velt to her --
a clear violation of his bond to me.  I am willing to believe
Leiphali had no choice in the matter -- it was Bond to her, or it
was let her suffer.
     "But he couldn't come to me.  Instead, it destroyed his
foundations.  His beliefs.  Why is that, Diana?  What could so
terrify him that he could not retreat to me?
     "And then I realized what could.  The idea that I would be
confronted with the Bond.  The idea that his Bond could be used
against me if he didn't agree.  Blackmail.  You used *blackmail* to
force Leiphali to hide something he learned, to blacken what should
have been pure between him and Elizabeth... and that in turn drove
a wedge into his soul!"
     "Tami--"
     "Shut *up,*" he roared.  "You *tormented* a Ko'velt!  *My*
Ko'velt!  The one I loved most!  You used him to further your...
petty... little... *designs.*
     "Just like the U.C.P.  Or Megacorp.  You're not Rialton.  You
have no morality.  Just Dominance.  Well, submission -- even more
than love -- *requires* trust.  And I will never trust you again,
Diana."
     Diana stared at Tami, mouth open.  Too shocked to affect the
Chi'velt's calm any more.
     "The eternal difference between you and I, Diana, is that you're
willing to use and misuse subordinates `for the greater good,'
whatever that is.  I understand, in my heart, that the Ko'ti expect
to serve well, and in exchange be freed from the pain that Chi'ti
can so easily inflict."
     "Do I get to speak?"
     "Of course.  I owe you that much."
     "Tami, I wasn't in any position to sacrifice any advantage at
that point.  I was new.  I hadn't established a strong House yet.
There were Chi'velts ready to tear me down and dominate me.  I had
to--"
     "Dominance is within.  They could only dominate you if you
submitted to them.  You needed no *advantage* beyond your will.
But you don't understand that, do you."
     "I wish I could be so idealistic.  Don't you understand Rialto's
on the verge of tearing itself apart over the UCP?  Over Megacorp?
The stakes are too high to take chances.  Leiphali had learned too
much to just let free."
     "Then you should have killed him.  Better that than force him to
betray me in the name of a Ko'velt I had no way of knowing he was
responsible for."  He poured himself a glass of ambimelan.
     "I couldn't *kill* Leiphali," Diana snapped.  "Kill your
favorite Ko'velt?  I *love* you, Tami!"
     Tami turned and looked at Diana.  "And I love you, Diana.  That
hasn't changed.  But I will not submit to you, now or ever.  I will
not trust you, now or ever."
     "Tami... I... don't *ever* want it to come to a battle of
dominance between us."
     "Oh, it won't.  Of that I'm certain."
     Diana blinked.
     Tami sipped his ambimelan.  "We have established I can't
dominate you, Diana.  But thanks to you and your precedent, I don't
really have to.  One House sets the rules of engagement, Dumont
ti'Resistance.  You set them.  I can but follow them.  Mancoti?"
     Speakers came to life.  "Do I get to speak?" Diana's voice
asked.  "Of course," Tami replied, "I owe you that much."  "Tami, I
wasn't in any position to sacrifice any advantage at that point--"
     "Enough," Tami said aloud.  The recording cut.
     "You... expected me to come?  You recorded--"
     Tami laughed.  "No.  I had faith in Mancoti, who I knew would
listen and observe me during my deliberations.  When you arrived, I
knew he would record.  He is my Ko'velt, Dumont ti'Resistance.  I
know him, and he knows me.  And when I needed to, I counted on him.
And now you and I are even, dirty little blackmail for dirty little
blackmail.  If you or your resistance contests me, all of Rialto
and the UCP learns you're a traitor.  That you faked your own death-
-"
     "That wasn't my idea."
     "You agreed to the plan with your inaction.  It doesn't matter.
Tell me, ti'Resistance -- what would my betrayal of your trust cost
you?"
     Diana stared, eyes burning.  "Quite a lot.  For more than just
me."
     "So it would.  This isn't really a balance to your crime, Diana.
You're not Ko'velt to the person you're really attacking.  But it's
the best I can do on short notice.  Get out of my House."
     Diana opened her mouth slightly.  "Tami," she said, a slight
quaver in her voice.  "I never meant to attack you through
Leiphali.  I never thought you'd see all of that this... this way.
I... *love* you.  I don't love any of them."
     Tami opened his mouth, and met her eyes.
     What he was going to say died on his lips.  For one moment, he
saw the woman he'd known for a decade.  The woman he had
respected... the woman he had held back feeling for so long....
     Slowly he walked to her, and they embraced, kissing.
     Tami whispered into her ear as the kiss ended.  "I will love you
forever, Diana... but I am the su'Rialto."
     "And I will love you forever, Tami... and I have to serve Rialto
too.  My way."
     "Then... we have no more to say.  We won't see each other again
as allies, while this goes on."
     Diana shook her head.  "Then don't speak," she said, pulling
Tami close again, and loosening his tunic.

                          >>>***_***<<<

     Leiphali ate quietly, watching Sen and Rilia.  Their familiarity
was obvious, despite the fact that according to Sen, they had not
spoken in person for twenty years.
     "Is that when all of this happened?" Leiphali asked?"
     "Yes," Sen said.  "Our failure on the plains is twenty years old
tomorrow.  Much has happened, since then."
     "That much I understand... what I don't understand is what
happened next.  Rilia... forgive me my intrusion, but right now you
seem... to have so much more depth than I've seen in you for--"
     "For so long.  Yes, Leiphali, I know.  This is all... very
painful.  Even after two decades, I can feel the crush of my
failure.  A failure which led Rialto to the crisis we're living in
right now -- a crisis of stagnation when we should be evolving."
     "This... marked you, I take it?"
     "Yes... at first, I fled.  Fled all of it -- fled the pain, and
fled Sen's eyes, and fled... myself.  I threw myself into my
clearly defined role.  I was a Ko'velt.  Very well, I would *be* a
Ko'velt.  I threw myself into my bond with Tami... with the
formalities and rhythms of my position as his wife and subordinate.
My sister Challisar respected me for my devotion... no one
suspected it was all to flee the pain... to bury the Questor for
knowledge and enlightenment who had been too deeply cut with the
truth in my soul."
     "But that wasn't enough to eliminate the pain?"
     Rilia looked up at Leiphali.  "It was... for a while.  But then
something changed."
     "What?"
     "My Chi'velt found himself bonding to another... one who was the
perfect Ko'velt.  One whose love for him wasn't tainted by the need
to flee himself.  One who was always there, one who Tami could
lower his defenses to and reveal his true face, late into the
night.  I was his wife, but I was not his primary Ko'velt.  I
was... *one* of his Ko'velts."
     "You... mean--"
     "You, Leiphali.  You came into Tami's life and service, and
suddenly I was subordinate even to his priority."
     Leiphali bit his lip.  "It is not for the Ko'velt to dictate--"
     "Don't *quote* Khai'khkka to *me,* Leiphali," Rilia snapped, the
pain flaring in her eyes.  "I had the path of the Ohm, and I
*failed.*  I was the perfect Ko'velt, and it wasn't *enough* for my
Chi'velt!  What did I have left?  The philosophy of my role?
*Philosophy* was precisely what I was *fleeing.*  I managed to
submerge even the memory of my spiritual experiences deep in
myself, but that wasn't enough when Tami had another favorite -- so
I dulled the ache with ambimelan and pleasure.  Maybe I was
worthless as a Ko'velt, but I was the wife of the su'Rialto.  I
could have whatever I wanted or needed.  Fine --     I let pleasure
and hedonism kill the pain, and I *liked* it.  And if I sent Sen
messages and information as I learned it, I managed to do it rote -
- almost paying no attention to the significance of what I was
doing.  Since Sen never contacted *me,* it almost didn't matter."
     Leiphali stared at Rilia.  "I... why did you come back, then?"
     Sen looked up from his meal, his eyes burning into Rilia with
the question.
     Rilia looked down into her food.  "Sen contacted me.  A single
sentence, which cut through alcohol and hedonism and slashed
through buried and suppressed memories.  It cut to the Truth... to
who and what I was... and could be.  Twenty years I'd run, but with
that sentence I was returned.  I had *to* return."
     Leiphali nodded.  "Just like I had to leave."
     "Right.  When you bonded to Elizabeth, you violated something in
yourself.  When you were threatened with it, it bled away your core
-- you had to flee that.  That's another difference between your
path and mine.  You're fleeing towards the Truth.  I was fleeing
*from* it."
     "Do you still resent me?"
     Rilia looked down.  "Of course.  Not only did you out Ko'pi me,
you've got a chance to succeed at being Ohm'velt where I failed.
In everything that's ever meant a damn in my life, you've exceeded
me.  What's not to resent?  To hate, even."
     Leiphali nodded.  "I'm glad I know that.  It almost clears the
air between us."
     "Almost?"
     "Yes.  All that remains is for me to tell you I've always
considered you a selfish little bitch that dishonored Tami,
Challisar, and everything else you've ever been involved with, and
whom I seriously considered smothering with a pillow while you were
passed out on the couch."
     Rilia snorted.  "Why didn't you?  That would have solved
everything for both of us."
     "The usual.  It wasn't my place to interfere between you and
Tami."
     Rilia nodded, and glanced at Sen.  He nodded as well.  "That's
the core of your problem, Leiphali.  It's what you've got to
overcome before you can get any success with meditation and the
ceremonies Sen's been teaching you.  I suppose it's why I'm here."
     "What's that?"
     "You're bound by the rules.  The society.  You're locked into
order.  Order can't give Balance to Rialto -- it's where we are,
not where we have to be."
     "What are you saying?"
     Rilia snorted.  "I'm saying that before you can be a better
aspirant than I was, you have to *stop* being a better Ko'velt than
I was.  One or the other, Leiphali.  You can't have both."

                          >>>***_***<<<

     Geld smiled, looking at the report from Edinburgh.  Perfect.
     It was time Eduard Tombolo learned how to stand on his own two
feet.


                   [[Continued in Part Three]]





--
Beta-Cit Eric Alfred Burns    | "To write good satire, be sure that you
<sabre@awenet.com>            |  choose a target that truly bothers you.
(sabre@eyrie.org>             |  If you're indifferent to something, you
Writer Type, Poet Boy         |  lack the motivation to make fun of it
Maine Expatriate              |  effectively."
Gadfly-for-Hire               |                  --Esther M. Friesner