Authors: Robin Roseau
"Traitor!" I yelled at her, but she laughed at me.
We played cat and mouse for a while. I managed to dunk all of them, including Malora, although I also was dunked several times. Still, I was doing well when one considers the odds, but as Beria had predicted, I was growing tired.
It was Omie who finally caught me, and then my sister latched onto my back, wrapping arms and legs
around me and hanging on tightly. I struggled to free myself, but they dunked me, letting me up for a few seconds at a time until I was too exhausted to fight any longer.
"Bring her here," Malora ordered.
"Give me your feet," Omie ordered. "Or you're going under again."
I sighed and lifted my feet to her. She clasped then,
then Beria slithered past me and grabbed one of my feet from her warrior. The two of them dragged me to Malora that way, making sure I slipped under the water several times in the process.
They dragged me right in front of Malora, still hanging onto my legs. I struggled to keep my face out of the water.
"What have you learned, Maya?" Malora asked me.
"That you cheat," I said, grinning at her.
I was expecting her response and had a breath of air before she was pushing down on my head. She held me under water for a goodly amount of time before pulling me back up.
"Care to answer again?" she asked me while I panted for air.
"That you're afraid-" That was as much as I got out before I went back under, this time with little air, but I avoided taking a breath of water.
She held me under until I began tapping on her hands, and then she pulled me up right away.
Malora let me catch my breath. "Now, what have you learned, Maya?" she asked.
I turned to look at her. "Honestly? I didn't know there was a lesson. I thought we were all having fun."
"So you didn't learn to come to me when I order you to?"
"If I had done that, would we have had all this fun?" I grinned at her.
"Let her go," Malora ordered. Immediately Beria and Omie released my feet. "You two go chase each other around or something. I haven't washed my companion's hair yet."
Omie said, "Tag, you're it!" to Beria and began swimming away frantically. I knew my sister could catch her, and I didn't worry about them after that.
Malora gestured and we moved into shallower water. She began washing my hair, speaking quietly. "You need to be gracious tonight."
"We'll see," I replied.
"I'm serious, Maya."
"I know you are. I promise to be at least as gracious as you would be under similar cir
cumstances."
"Maya," she said warningly, "when I was a companion-"
I turned around to face her. "Do you really want to finish that sentence? Do you want me to remind you I have had not one demon in my head, but two? Should we see if I can summon the second one back?"
"No!" Malora said instantly. "Don't even kid about that."
"Who was kidding?" I asked. Then I turned away and let her finish washing my hair. "I told you, I'll be at least as gracious as you would be. But I am the queen's companion, and I will not let your companion be ill-treated. Furthermore, if she is cruel, she'll be getting salted fish and I will not be visiting this village again. As is, I will not step foot in the garden again under any circumstances."
Malora sighed but finished washing my hair.
By the way she was touching me, I could tell she was upset; stress made the voices worse. I turned around and moved into her arms.
"Let's not fight," I said. I kissed her neck. "You missed a spot."
"I didn't miss a spot," she said.
"Yes you did. Go looking for it. I'll let you know if you get close."
She chuckled. "I am not playing hide the soap with you right now."
"I was thinking fingers."
We jollied each other into better moods, but soon it was time to climb from the water.
* * * *
I decided being gracious should start immediately. I joked with Meena and the other companions. I told a few "when Beria was a baby" stories. I asked Loren if she had any stories about Malora before she was queen, pulling Nori into that game as well.
In other words, I made Malora very nervous. She leaned over to me near the end of the meal and asked, "What are you doing?"
I grinned. "Being gracious. Isn't that what you wanted?"
Finally, the meal ended, the companions clearing the tables and cleaning up. I continued to joke with the companions, telling a few Malora stories too quietly for the warriors to hear us, but the resulting laughter carried.
Upon our return to the tables, Loren stood and said, "You are awfully jovial for a companion who has not yet heard her sentence."
"It was an unintentional, minor mistake with no lasting damage," I said. "I am sure anything you have planned will be entirely in keeping with the severity of the crime."
Loren blinked at me before saying to Malora, "Your companion is quite vexing."
"That she is," Malora agreed.
Loren turned back to me. "I wouldn't suppose I could convince you to talk back to me."
"I talk back to Malora on a daily basis, so I'm sure if you say something stupid, I'll be sure to correct you."
There were titters at that.
"She's not very reverent for a companion speaking to a village chief," Loren complained to Malora.
"She's not very reverent for a companion speaking to the queen very often, either," Malora agreed. "You're free to try to elicit greater reverence from her, but make sure she doesn't take it out on me later."
I crossed my arms and watched both of them. Loren looked at me with pain in her eyes, and I realized she had something special planned. I just wish I knew if it were a joke on me, or a joke on Malora.
Then she brightened. "Of course," said Loren, "you did desert your duty before you had permission."
"Oh, oh," said Malora. "I bet she has a response to that one."
"Chief Loren," I said. "Is it not the duty of every companion here to see to it the garden takes no undue damage?"
"Yes," she said. "Absolutely."
"And is it not also true that history suggests my presence in the garden leads to unintentional but certainly undue damage?"
"I could argue that," she added brightly.
"Well then, would it not be my duty to remove myself from the garden once it became evident that my presence in the garden was detrimental to the long term health of the plants in the garden? And thus, I was doing my duty to remove myself from the garden before I did any further damage."
Nori snorted, but no one outright laughed. Loren glowered at me but then brightened again. "I could argue you should not have been in the garden in the first place, and you should have removed yourself even before you did additional damage."
"I would agree with you, Chief Loren, except once is an accident, and it wasn't until there were two incidents that it became obvious a third wasn't far away. However, I think it's safe to suggest I should never be allowed into the garden again."
She frowned, watching me. "Do you admit, Maya, that your actions directly led to damage to the plants in my garden?"
"I admit that I unintentionally uprooted two or three flowers, but that Meena was able to replace them into their beds."
"Do you admit that you understood damage to the garden carried punishment?"
"Yes, I believe I understood that rule."
"Then, as the damage was unintentional and relatively minor, there is no need for more than five strokes across your bare back."
I stared at her, my jaw dropping. Everyone had grown still. She was going to whip me for it?
"Come," she said, and she turned towards the practice grounds, the location of the whipping post. She got five steps, and I spoke out clearly.
"No."
She froze in place, stood there for a moment,
then turned around, scowling.
"Would you care to repeat that?"
"What part of 'no' wasn't clear?" I said. "You are not touching me with a whip."
"You are refusing my judgment?" she asked.
"Yes."
She began to smile. "Queen Malora, would you agree that refusing to submit to the village chief for justice carries greater punishment than a few unintentionally damaged plants?"
"Yes," said Malora.
"Good," Loren said. "Maya, strip."
"Not happening."
Malora got up from the table and turned to me. "Maya, do what you're told."
I stared at her for a moment then slowly began removing my clothes, sitting on a bench to take off my boots. Malora gestured, and Beria hurried over to take my clothes from me, folding them carefully. I was hurt and angry with Loren and Meena and livid Malora was letting them do it.
"Blindfold her, Meena," Loren ordered. Meena stepped forward holding a cloth. She was
grinning, I let her wrap the cloth around my eyes but kept my curses to myself. I had thought Loren and Meena were my friends, and I didn't think Meena would have been grinning if this was going to be terrible, but I was still angry.
"Bring her," Loren said. I felt Meena take my right arm and someone else stepped
to my side to take my left. I was then led forward but quickly grew disoriented, having no idea where they were taking me.
We came to a stop, Meena and the other woman supporting me. "Bind her hands and feet," Loren ordered.
I was starting to get scared, but I didn't resist while they tied my hands together in front of me and then my ankles together. "Lift her and put her in," Loren said.
Strong Amazon arms, two on either side of me, lifted me into the air. I whimpered, and then I was lowered again, my feet dipping into cold water. I felt cold wood at my back, and then they were lowering me in.
The water came up to my waist. I reached out with my hands and found more wood; I was in a wide barrel of water.
I felt someone step closer to me and then I heard Loren's voice speaking quietly. "Close your eyes, Maya. Do not open them until you have permission."
I nodded understanding and closed my eyes.
"I understand you can hold your breath for a very long time," Loren said. "So this next part should be easy. Take a big breath and then don't breath in and don't swallow the water."
I took a breath, and Loren ordered, "Dunk her. Hold her down for a count to twenty."
Twenty
? Easy.
I felt hands on my shoulders, pushing me down, and I relaxed my legs, sliding into the water. As the water reached my chest, the hands moved to the top of my head, and a moment later I was fully submerged.
Whoever was counting counted slowly, but it still wasn't very long before the hands removed themselves from my head. I decided to offer a moment of pettiness, and I didn't stand up. But then there was a hand in my hair, pulling me up, and I stood.
"Hold that breath," Loren said. Someone wiped my face with a towel, and then Loren said, "You may breath now, but keep your eyes closed
.
The
y lifted me from the barrel, and that's when the laughter began. I blushed immediately. I didn't know what had just happened, but I was sure I wasn't going to like it.
"Keep your eyes closed," Loren ordered, and a moment later, cold buckets of water were poured over my head, as if the dunki
ng in the barrel wasn't enough. Then hands were on my, drying me. They pulled the blindfold from my face, washed it, then blindfolded me again. I kept my eyes closed throughout.
The hands grabbed my arms again. Someone untied my legs but kept my hands bound, and I was led back to the dining area, the laughter continuing. I couldn't make out many individual voices, but Beria's
laughter was at least as loud as anyone else's, and I thought I detected Malora's and Nori's as well. Both the people holding me were laughing as well.
They were all getting salted fish.
Last year's salted fish.
We came to a stop and Loren said
quietly, "Thank you, Maya, for refusing the first punishment. I've had this planned for a very long time, but you were right. It's well out of line for a few damaged tulips. It is quite in keeping with refusing my judgment." Then she removed my blindfold and told me I could open my eyes.
I was standing in front of a full-length mirror. The Amazons didn't have many, so it was impressive to even see one.
What was even more surprising was my own reflection. From head to toe, I was purple. I stared.
I stared at my reflection, and in the background I saw the other Amazons, still laughing at me.
I finally turned to Loren. She wasn't laughing but she was grinning madly. I held out my wrists to her, and she untied them.
"It'll begin to fade in a week or so," Loren said. "As much time as you spend in the water, you won't be able to tell in a few weeks."
"Malora begged me to be gracious," I said quietly. "I promised to be at least as gracious as she would be. I wonder how gracious she'd be if she were the one standing here. What do you think?"