Worries

It wasn’t until the next day that I finally got to see a little of Nallen’s world. I was used to wearing blouses and skirts from my days working on The Street in Manhattan, I was not used to actual dresses, but that was what Nallen arranged. The last time I had worn a dress I had been eleven or twelve and my family was attending a cousin’s wedding. I broke up with Jack before any of the high school formals.

I grumbled some for show but Aneeka helped me get into the thing. It tied up the back, just like hers the day before. Whoever came up with back-tie dresses was a sadist who should be tortured forever! Back-zip dresses it’s at least possible to use a strap with a hook on the end, but ties all but require help. She wouldn’t even let me do my own makeup, wouldn’t even let me face a mirror as she worked.

My grumbles ceased when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Aneeka had done an amazing job with my face! Some kind of dark charcoal coloring made my eyes appear as though they were at the bottom of deep wells and I don’t think I’d ever done mascara so well, my lips were pink but it looked natural - other than being extra-shiny - not painted on. Unlike Aneeka’s this dress was black, leaving everything above my armpits completely bare - good thing support was built-in, no way I could wear a bra! I think I would have revolted if it’d shown any cleavage but the design hugged my upper chest nicely. The bottom hung to mid-shin, pleats allowing it to billow out nicely. A matching cloak was included, in case of chills. I was also glad not to go through the rigamoral of the garter-belt and stockings, I had liked the look but they just seemed like too much work. Actually, hosiery was simply absent today. A different pair of black panties had shown up, thankfully still not a thong. I would be glad when I could pick my own clothes again, although I suspected that the styles I was used to - especially pants when not working - were part of my past, no part of the future. Thankfully, still modest heels.

The thing that shocked me most was that there was a handgun in the purse! I had never seen a gun in person, well carried by the police - but never being used - or maybe in some museum, but those would have been disabled, right? I had wondered why the purse was so heavy then set it down, shaking. “I can’t ... you expect?”

“What? Oh, that. Everyone goes armed here ... well, not slaves. That’s illegal even if the master agreed. But anyone free goes armed as a matter of course.”

I shook my head in denial, “I’ve never...”

“Good thing we have the teacher then. You should have Nallen take you shooting first, just so you see what a difference it makes.” She winked conspiratorially, “Just think, having him standing close behind you, his arms wrapped around you guiding your hands.”

“Doesn’t it seem ... I don’t know, spooky ... having your mind scrambled like that?” I did my best to ignore her imagery, I didn’t want to flood my panties.

“Like I said, real memories are immune, go shooting afterward, those are real memories. Different example, Betwan can’t be taken from you, you’ve been using it, thinking in it. Every time you do re-enforces that it is real memory.”

I shook my head - as if that ever actually made confusing information fall into place! “I suppose. Still seems spooky.”

“Just don’t go anywhere without at least one of us around until you get that lesson. Any freeperson caught outside unarmed /will/ be taken before the Counsel. The results of that could be ... severe. Nallen could certainly buy the judgment but why take the risk?”

“Your Counsel is that corrupt? And what about when Nallen took me out on the balcony, wasn’t that outside?”

“Oh no, this would all be open, by the time someone arrives for their hearing the verdict is already decided, this would simply be deciding outcome. If someone wanted you they could bid and if they won you would be theirs ... a for-real slave. Nallen would simply have to out-bid anyone who found you of interest. I’m sure he could, but ... there are certainly those who would love to embarrass him. As for the balcony, I believe he told you it wasn’t entirely safe, the dragons are only one such danger.”

“But if I have that,” I nodded toward the purse, “then I wouldn’t be unarmed, right?”

“I can’t let you have it, not while you’re untrained. The range would be different, safety protocols and being watched.”

That’s when Nallen came back to the bedroom, no doubt curious about what was taking us so long. He was so rugged, I don’t think I’d ever seen him wearing ‘outside’ clothes before. His dark green long-sleeved button-down shirt showed off his wide shoulders, buttons tight around his wrists. Dark blue pants - not jeans I’m sure but beyond that I’m really not certain - held up with a wide black leather belt hugged snug around his tight ass. He was wearing calf-high boots, boots! He’d been clean-shaven last night but now had dark stubble covering his chin and jaw. It was such a very different look from anything I was used to in Manhattan - well posers maybe, but I was all but certain that Nallen could back up the boast his body made.

Aneeka rushed over, grabbing his hands, “Oh, Master, she’s not ready for this! She’s never been shooting, never even seen shooting in-person!”

Nallen gave me a thoughtful nod, “Okay, I was going to take you out on the lake but that wouldn’t be a good idea. We can still go meet my parents, they need to know the woman I’m marrying.”

“Wait ... what if ... what if they don’t like me?”

“Doesn’t matter. The ceremony is only for the public anyway ... and your folks, I suppose. We’ve already bonded.” At my puzzled look he went on, “I’ve something in my pocket, I’ll think about it, you tell me what it is.”

It was perhaps the strangest thing I’d experienced to this point, like someone adjusting an old-style broadcast TV antenna. There was a flickering image, suddenly clear. “A folding pocket-knife,”I said, not nearly so certainly as the clarity of that image.

Nallen smiled, “pre-xactly.”

Aneeka looked surprised, “That fast? I mean, usually couples can do that but it takes time ... months, sometimes years before...”

“Ninety-seven percent. That actually means something.”

“So when did this ... bonding happen? I had my suspicions.”

“When do you think?” Nallen waggled his eyebrows, chuckling again.

I blushed but couldn’t be angry. I could /feel/ his vast amusement, particularly amused with Aneeka’s disbelief.

“So are you both ready?”

“You should take her alone, I can see Mom later.”

“I’d been wondering why Aneeka seemed to be skipping out on her own preparations. She had fussed so much, getting me perfect but she was still wearing my discarded robe from last night. She came over, draping the cloak around my shoulders then leaned in kissing me softly on my cheek. “Don’t worry, they /will/ love you. Even with my ... status ... he needs an actual wife. They’ll be amazed with the augury result.”

I was still a bit uncomfortable with a doorway just appearing but at least this time I didn’t almost jump out of my skin. Aneeka waved as Nallen took my hand leading me through to ... I would have stopped if he hadn’t continued tugging my hand.

Unlike the training center this was definitely someone’s living space. It was clean, orderly, but still there was simply a lived in feeling to everything. I would call it a great room if pressed to apply a name, it had to be at least fifty feet long and more than thirty wide. The ceiling was open to the underside of the roof, which was sloped perhaps a foot rise for three run. The wall on the low side had to be more than fifteen feet tall, and that wall was floor-to-ceiling window! I mean exactly that, I did not see a single support anywhere in the middle of that entire fifty foot length, it appeared to be a single pane of glass. And the view out that window! I couldn’t see what was around the house, of course, but outside the window there was a stretch of lawn and then a lake. The far side, I guessed about two miles away, was a forest-covered mountain. I could not see a single sign of humanity beyond the lawn, not out on the lake, not on the far side. I had known Nallen was rich - I still wasn’t sure whether the funds I had used for Aneeka’s dress were ‘mine’ or ‘ours’, that his parents were likely even wealthier but this was so far beyond anything I’d ever seen as to be unimaginable.

I had not noticed the couple sitting relaxed in one of the numerous furniture groupings. The room could host everything from private meals for cuddling lovers, close meetings of five or six through to vast parties - I didn’t care to guess the upper limit there. My feet felt rooted to the spot when they both stood; Nallen, still holding my hand, wouldn’t leave me behind though - I was forced to move or fall flat on my face.

It was very comforting to see that they were a real family not some distant caricature, Nallen hugged first his father - quick but tight - and then his mother; He actually picked her up and spun them both around before setting her back on her feet. I stood there, fidgeting, not at all sure what to do with myself. I hadn’t even been told their names!

Nallen’s father turned to me, looking me up and down. I felt ... something, I recognized the feel of a thaumaturgic scan but wasn’t sure what he could be looking for. A quick glance at Nallen - still busy with his mother, the rat! - then back to me before settling very serious on his son, “I don’t believe it, she’s an even better match than Wanallee and I.”

Nallen’s mother, evidently Wanallee, broke away from her son. That same sense of being scanned, much briefer this time, “Wow. Ninety-seven percent, almost ninety-eight.”

Nallen had followed when his mother examined me, I rushed over hiding under his arm, “Why is that such a big deal? I mean I understand it’s high but Aneeka and your reaction still seems ... excessive to say the least.”

“It’s his power, Nallen is perhaps the third or fourth most powerful thaumaturge alive - his father Mern is one of the very few above him - the fact that you are such close personality matches indicates that you very probably match his power as well. I’m only ninety-three with Mern, still well above average. Even more, the closer two people are the easier they find it to share power, to boost each other’s work. You’ve probably already seen him do things few could match - there are less than ten living now who can wrap space to form doorways.”

You don’t mind that I’m an off-worlder, that I have no idea what’s going on? That while I’ve done a little with this thaumaturgy since getting here - communications - I’d never heard of it before coming here?”

“It doesn’t matter what either of us think. That kind of match ... he would renounce us before abandoning you,” Mern was chuckling now. Then he did something I’d only ever seen in movies. Mern stepped close, then bowed slightly before lifting my free hand in both of his, kissing the back of my fingers, “Welcome to family t’Laptrour.”

I was going to dismiss the gesture as something archaic, nice but meaningless, but then I remembered Aneeka explaining just how important family was here. “Thank you, sir.”

“I’m not ‘sir’ to you, not ever. ‘Father’ if you must, ‘Dad’ if you can, ‘Sislonno t’Laptrour’ if you don’t want an answer.”

Wanallee shoved her husband’s shoulder, “Be nice, dear.”

“Thought that’s what I was doing.”

Her attention turned back to me, “How about you have Nallen show you around this place then we get together for lunch in a couple hours? He knows where everything is, I do mean everything, even the things he’s not supposed to, probably especially those things.”

It wasn’t a castle - nor a palace - but there were definite fortification-type features to the landward side. The geology seemed rather odd, the lake was on a shelf, the training center balcony was actually somewhere in the same cliff! There was a wide stretch of land at the same level as the lake then a long break in the land, first the cliff shading to a broad slope. The original reason for building here was that it was right at the top of that slope. It gave a great view of approaching enemy forces, would force them to fight uphill, had plentiful water - even food, I was told the lake had plenty of fish. It wasn’t until Nallen took me up one of the parapets - no longer used as a watchtower - that I at least understood the lay of the surrounding land.

It was late fall in the northern hemisphere on Earth but here on Alllands it was the middle of spring. The snow was gone except for on the mountain across the lake - the land was a verdant green, it was practically possible to /see/ the plants growing, life blooming - not really, I know, but again it was so much different from Manhattan. Manhattan was always growing - changing - busy, but it was always directed human growth. Even though I was more than a mile away from the valley floor it was still amazing, I had never seen such an open space. Behind us, on the shelf level with the lake, fields had been plowed and planted, row after row of sprouts straining for the sky. The valley floor was the same, but of course I was too far away to get any but the barest idea of what was going on down there. Given the talk of dragons I was surprised that the parapet’s fortifications didn’t extend skyward.

There was also an actual dungeon. I shivered, imagining being locked in those bonds. It was strange, the prisoner rack had certainly been effective - no way was I getting out on my own - but it still felt like ‘play’ restraints compared to these heavy iron cuffs and collars. This equipment dated from before thaumatology, requiring keys - or even a hammer! - to open. I imagined mentally-ill prisoners, kept down here for years, moaning while struggling against the chains. I was glad to get out of there, even though I knew Nallen would never actually treat me like that there was still an uncomfortable knot low in my gut. Not entirely a knot of fear, either.