know things feel very confusing right now, but –”
“Dad, stop. Don’t treat me like a little kid. I’m not a little kid.”
She could hear him taking a deep breath on the other end. “I know you’re not, babe.”
“I’m done with Tamarisk, Dad.”
Yet another pause. “If that’s the way you feel right now, it’s okay”
Becky closed her eyes and held the phone tighter to her cheek. “That’s the way I feel, period.” She knew she was going to start crying if the conversation kept going, so she made up a little lie. “Listen, I have to get to bed.”
“Okay, babe, you go. I love you.”
“Yeah, love you too, Dad.”
“Until again, babe.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “Dad, really, get over it.”
She hung up quickly, put both hands to her face, and cried even harder than she had that morning.
11
Plenium felt a shift. It was as though the entire world had moved a quarter of an inch to the side. He turned toward Folium to see if she’d noticed, but she was busy talking with one of her aides. No one else in the car seemed to be aware that anything had happened, though Plenium waited for it to happen again.
Was the stress of this trip taking a physical toll on him? The first day and this morning had been largely ceremonial, with the king and queen traveling through Tamariskian towns on the route with their retinue and stopping to shake hands and offer good tidings. For the past several hours they’d been crossing farmland. The territory here was nearly all agrarian, with the occasional scientific outpost. There were no real municipalities here. Soon they would reach the Malaspina Bridge, and from there it was less than fifty miles to the Gunnthorn border.
Plenium had not stepped foot in Gunnthorn in more than a decade, and then under very different circumstances, as a foreign dignitary attending the wedding of the former prime minister’s eldest son. There was much decorum then, and the seemingly eternal tensions between Tamarisk and Gunnthorn never surfaced. There would be decorum tonight as well, but no one involved would forget for even a moment that contentious negotiations would begin tomorrow, negotiations that could lead to a long and costly conflict if they failed to produce more beneficial results.
His focus shifted back to the car as he felt Folium’s hand briefly touch his arm.
“Where did you go?” she said, softly patting his bleep for a moment.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Just thinking ahead.”
She nodded with understanding. “We’re prepared, Plenium. We’ve done as much as we can to make this go well.”
He looked into her face and offered a measured smile. “We have.”
They’d worked hard and well over the past week to get to this point. The team of advisors and aides they’d assembled had made it possible to explore this mission from a variety of perspectives – most importantly from the perspective of the Thorns. Plenium had made it an essential part of the workings of the palace to have several people on staff who were experts on Gunnthornian culture. Mistakes had been made in previous generations by kings who’d failed to acknowledge how differently the Thorns thought. At night, after everyone else had gone, Plenium and Folium had played through various scenarios to develop their diplomatic approach as effectively as they possibly could in an attempt to have an answer for every possible Thorn response.
They worked brilliantly together. That hadn’t always been the case. During the Great Blight, an agricultural scourge across multiple regions of Tamarisk, they had done such an awful job of communicating with each other that their marriage nearly withered along with the sickened foliage. Plenium had seen a level of ruthlessness in Folium back then that he’d been unprepared for, and she probably discovered during that crisis that he felt every loss in Tamarisk far too deeply for someone charged with making difficult decisions. While
“Dad, stop. Don’t treat me like a little kid. I’m not a little kid.”
She could hear him taking a deep breath on the other end. “I know you’re not, babe.”
“I’m done with Tamarisk, Dad.”
Yet another pause. “If that’s the way you feel right now, it’s okay”
Becky closed her eyes and held the phone tighter to her cheek. “That’s the way I feel, period.” She knew she was going to start crying if the conversation kept going, so she made up a little lie. “Listen, I have to get to bed.”
“Okay, babe, you go. I love you.”
“Yeah, love you too, Dad.”
“Until again, babe.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “Dad, really, get over it.”
She hung up quickly, put both hands to her face, and cried even harder than she had that morning.
11
Plenium felt a shift. It was as though the entire world had moved a quarter of an inch to the side. He turned toward Folium to see if she’d noticed, but she was busy talking with one of her aides. No one else in the car seemed to be aware that anything had happened, though Plenium waited for it to happen again.
Was the stress of this trip taking a physical toll on him? The first day and this morning had been largely ceremonial, with the king and queen traveling through Tamariskian towns on the route with their retinue and stopping to shake hands and offer good tidings. For the past several hours they’d been crossing farmland. The territory here was nearly all agrarian, with the occasional scientific outpost. There were no real municipalities here. Soon they would reach the Malaspina Bridge, and from there it was less than fifty miles to the Gunnthorn border.
Plenium had not stepped foot in Gunnthorn in more than a decade, and then under very different circumstances, as a foreign dignitary attending the wedding of the former prime minister’s eldest son. There was much decorum then, and the seemingly eternal tensions between Tamarisk and Gunnthorn never surfaced. There would be decorum tonight as well, but no one involved would forget for even a moment that contentious negotiations would begin tomorrow, negotiations that could lead to a long and costly conflict if they failed to produce more beneficial results.
His focus shifted back to the car as he felt Folium’s hand briefly touch his arm.
“Where did you go?” she said, softly patting his bleep for a moment.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Just thinking ahead.”
She nodded with understanding. “We’re prepared, Plenium. We’ve done as much as we can to make this go well.”
He looked into her face and offered a measured smile. “We have.”
They’d worked hard and well over the past week to get to this point. The team of advisors and aides they’d assembled had made it possible to explore this mission from a variety of perspectives – most importantly from the perspective of the Thorns. Plenium had made it an essential part of the workings of the palace to have several people on staff who were experts on Gunnthornian culture. Mistakes had been made in previous generations by kings who’d failed to acknowledge how differently the Thorns thought. At night, after everyone else had gone, Plenium and Folium had played through various scenarios to develop their diplomatic approach as effectively as they possibly could in an attempt to have an answer for every possible Thorn response.
They worked brilliantly together. That hadn’t always been the case. During the Great Blight, an agricultural scourge across multiple regions of Tamarisk, they had done such an awful job of communicating with each other that their marriage nearly withered along with the sickened foliage. Plenium had seen a level of ruthlessness in Folium back then that he’d been unprepared for, and she probably discovered during that crisis that he felt every loss in Tamarisk far too deeply for someone charged with making difficult decisions. While
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