Quester amongst the flowers 16

 

Chapter 16

 

Kiliana was the first to see the rapidly-approaching war zeppelin. To be fair, she was looking for it, as she could feel the minds of Eusebius and Lukas converging on their position, and was delighted.

“Ma’am, may we watch the Winged Hussars arrive, please?” she asked Miz Corvinia, who had been going through the intricacies of a dance named, coincidentally, Winged Drop, a spiral dance of couples.

“It is unlikely that any of you will have that opportunity save on a documentary on the box,” said Miz Corvinia.

“Ma’am, they are here now. Justiciar Quester called them in.”

“Here? Now? Oh my goodness! Girls, girls, cluster out onto the patio, grab your wraps, we cannot lose this opportunity,” cried Miz Corvinia.

Kiliana had been a little too busy to have properly observed the winged drop of Hussars on their jet packs into the arena on Araklion, but what she had seen had been an exercise in the sublime, and she was glad of the opportunity to observe it properly as a spectator.

The middle class were also in an ideal situation to view, having been collecting kit, and Miz Peta lined them up neatly to await the arrival of the Angels, in their splendid red armour. Hawlus took the opportunity to interrupt his own lesson with the seniors to lead them outside for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and an act of piety in welcoming the blessed servants of the Empire.

“Sing, girls, as the first one touches down, “Blessed Abe has sent us Angels to guard us from above,” he called.

The first splendid figure touched down, and the oldest girls lifted their voices in song. Kiliana joined in, and so, with a pause, so did many of the others. Eusebius took off his helmet, and saluted the singers, as he moved briskly to one side for his fellows to touch down and join him.

Quester and his team had come out of the gymnasium as well, joining in the hymn, and walked towards Eusebius. They made the sign of the eagle to each other. Then Eusebius caught Quester wrist to wrist and pulled him into an embrace.

“Little brother!  Lukas wants to know what manner of girl you have wished on him as a servant.”

“A troubled child who has been taught to despise the devout, I fear,” said Quester. “I thought being around an atmosphere of quiet devotion would teach her more than some penitentiary; she does not know why she is doing wrongly, and the point of a penitentiary is to bring penitence. But how can you repent of a sin you do not understand?”

“So true,” rumbled Eusebius. “Ah, Burdock, my friend! Purity! Where is little Kiliana?”

“Posing as a schoolgirl,” said Quester. “Which, of course, the poor child should be. I am debating whether I should leave her here.”

“You’d break her heart,” said Eusebius, bluntly. “She isn’t a schoolgirl and hasn’t been for years. She’s grown up the hard way, and she’s older than I was at that age, I assure you.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” sighed Quester. “I should give her the choice of recreating her damaged childhood years, though.”

“I wager she won’t accept it, though,” said Eusebius. “Come, man! You have awakened the woman in her, and it isn’t as a schoolgirl that her eyes turn to you. And dare to tell me you do not feel the same!”

Quester blushed.

“I almost kissed her but it was in the wake of the tarot, and partly in the grip of the mind of a deviant,” he blurted out. “I did not want it to begin that way, and since... there has been little opportunity.”

“Make an opportunity,” said Eusebius. “You can more easily keep a trained Psion as your helpmate as your wife; before someone in the Judiciary thinks that as you are a Psion, your assistant should be reassigned to someone who is not.”

Quester was shocked.

“I... I had not considered that,” he said.

“No, so consider it now,” said Eusebius. “Court her if you will, but I will be marrying both of you when we have done here.”

“Yes, Chaplain,” said Quester.  He hoped Kiliana would not think this too heavy handed; he fancied she could make any husband well aware of her dissatisfaction if she felt any... if, indeed, she was ready to be tied to someone, especially someone with a grim job like him.

“I have to arrest the parents of my young prisoner, and those of another of the girls who has been consorting with a group of fraudsters,” said Quester.  “I have also a list of families who have mocked the Blessed Abe, but I feared that taking ordinary lictors, who can be bribed or browbeaten, to arrest members of the Elite Xk would mean that half of them would laugh them off, buy them off, bully them, or make sure that their friends were informed to extract them. It’s why I have set up holding cells here, not in one of the places where friends at court might get word, and extract them before I can hold adjudication on them.”

“Wise,” said Eusebius. “You could use ‘Sword of Sarmatia,’ if you need to do so.”

“I wasn’t sure I could get your aid, or more than perhaps the loan of some militia,” said Quester. “I do have adequate facilities, I have half a dozen prisoners, plus the deviant I was called in to find, and whose file is waiting to be sent in, along with a report that heresy has diverted me on a hunt for heretics. Cayban is going to file my paperwork for me, and take the pervert in for justice, with my recommendation that he join the Shackled.”

Eusebius nodded.

“It’s about all you can do with deviants,” he said. “Remove their minds. They cannot repent of what they see as normal.”

“Ah, I am glad you concur,” said Quester.

“I wish to thank the girls for their singing,” said Eusebius. He gestured, and Quester smiled to himself that the mighty Psion Chaplain felt a need of gesture to enhance his psionic skills as Eusebius used voice control, that his voice might travel clearly to every ear.

“My thanks to the girls and staff of the Nantsia Daviona Regina Academy for your warming welcome and excellent singing. My brothers and I are heartened in our stern duty of rooting out heresy, and we thank you for your support.  May you be blessed in the eyes of the god-hero and his saints. In His name!”

“In His name,” murmured girls who at least knew the response, even if there were those less devout. Kiliana had turned in a list of those girls who appeared less than enthusiastic, and Ambria had spoken of those of her parents’ friends who equally scorned the state religion. Not all of them had children at the school, so they were extra names.

It would be a terrible scandal when it came out, but a Justiciar was permitted, indeed, ordered, to turn aside from any other task if he or she came upon the hint of heresy.

But there would be those ready to censure him for doing so when the heretics were potentially politically powerful. And those who would punish him by stripping him of his assistants to send them elsewhere.

Well, he could protect Kiliana through marriage, and if she was not ready for any more than marriage in name, he could live with that.

Quester wrote a personal note to Zadok, who, thought Quester, would probably have his back, asking for an assignment at some distance once this was over, so that the brouhaha could die down as there might be, as he put it delicately, a degree of fallout over the heretics he was pursuing.

Cayban could also take in his fraudsters, barring Jessica’s parents, and be covered with the glory of success of clearing up a seven-year-old heist, the authors of a more recent one, and those of the ongoing defrauding of government by fractional accounting.  Cayban need not be touched by the clearing out of the Elite.  Of course some of the priesthood and Judiciary would be secretly pleased that someone was willing to point out to the Elite Xk that they were not above the law, but they would be even happier for their own magenta shoulders to remain clean of the fall-out.  Even if there was worry about the growing impiety amongst the wealthiest.

No point delaying.

“Here are the names and addresses of those I want brought in,” said Quester.  “I deputise you all as members of the Judiciary for the purpose of arrest and search and seizure. Please take a card which I have had printed to identify you as my proxies in this case. Bring in any adult you find, and make sure there are care-takers for any children. At the Vanrensul household, the housekeeper, Carine Dale, is to be treated with respect and it should be made clear that she is not under arrest, but is asked to attend.” He smiled, grimly. “I will, myself, arrest the Stayvuhsanti, with Burdock and Purity.”

“And an Angel Militia honour guard,” rumbled Eusebius.

“Thank you,” said Quester, inclining his head.  His sense of the ridiculous almost made him chuckle, and he wondered if Kiliana felt like this, appreciative but slightly irritated, when he was being overly protective of her.

 

 

oOoOo

 

The lesson the girls in Kiliana’s class had after break was to have been flower arranging, and when Kiliana looked at her timetable, she fled to the toilet to throw up, violently.

Jessica went after her.

“Kerria? Killie, I mean? What is it?”

“F... flower arranging,” said Kiliana. “I... I saw the photos of how he arranged the flowers he killed.... and read in his thoughts what he p... planned for me. I...” she heaved again. Jessica rubbed her back. Kiliana managed to get herself to the water-fountain to rinse her mouth.

“Come on, girls, what’s going on in here?” demanded Miz Peta, coming in, her eyes narrowing to see Kiliana in tears in the embrace of a taller girl.

“Flower arranging,” said Jessica, tersely.  “And as he used to think my name was Jasmina, I don’t think I will ever be able to face the class again, either. But Killie is a Psion, Miz Peta, and saw what he planned to do to her.”

“Blessed Abe!” said Miz Peta. “I’m going to take the pair of you for a brisk walk around the grounds; wrap up warmly.  There isn’t time now to change for a quick game or a run, but a walk will do you both the world of good.  Is anyone else affected, do you know?”

“I don’t think any of the others who might be targets have any idea, Miz Peta,” said Kiliana. “Jessica knew she was at risk because of her idiot father getting her name wrong, and I was bait.”

Miz Peta shook her head.

“How could that Justiciar be so callous as to make you be bait!”

“He didn’t; I volunteered,” said Kiliana. “I’m not a little girl like the others here my age are; I’ve seen too much of life, and most of that was before he made me his ward, so please don’t start.”

“Very well, my dear, I can see that he inspires great loyalty,” said Miz Peta. “But we cannot let this blight your lives.”

“No, but it will take a little time to come to terms with it, for both of us,” said Kiliana. “I like painting flowers, hard though it is, and I won’t let him take that away from me. But his... arrangements... of the girls... it didn’t touch me until it was going to be me.”

“And if it hadn’t been her, and if she hadn’t been so brave, it would probably have been me,” said Jessica. “He had been talking to me in that... that caressing voice, and looking back, it’s how he talked to...” she bolted into a stall, and it was Kiliana’s turn to rub her back and offer soothing murmurs.

Jessica rinsed her mouth.

“A good walk; yes,” she said.

“I’m no child psychologist, but I know that talking about it is supposed to help,” said Miz Peta.  “I can ask the principal to get a therapist....”

“I will talk to Leo,” said Kiliana. “Jess, will you do so too, or do you want a stranger?”

“To be honest, I’m as happy to talk to Miz Peta, if she permits,” said Jessica. “Because you’re nice, but practical, ma’am”

“Well, that’s a nice compliment,” said Miz Peta. “I confess, my idea of a good flower arrangement is one which has heaps of blooms in toning shades and isn’t lopsided.”

Kiliana managed a half-hearted giggle.

“I looked at the instruction booklet for the class, and it seemed awfully...” she let the phrase hang, searching for a word.

“Precious,” said Jessica. “Nuances of meaning in the angles and all that sort of thing.”

“Sounds daft to me,” said Miz Peta, cheerfully. “If you want to have houseparties where the arrangements are important, there’s nothing wrong with hiring someone to do them.”

“Exactly,” said Kiliana.

They pulled on coats and scarfs, the day being very cold.

“I’ll see the principal and tell him that you two are to be excused the lesson, because of the trauma,” said Miz Peta. “I’m sure you can read about it on your own time if you want to.”

“I’m trying to cope by imagining the living forms of unlikely flowers being arranged,” said Kiliana. “Like Miz Rubia, with the softer floral parts artlessly dangling to one side, and the harder stems raised.”

“My dear girl! I should chide you, but the idea is so ridiculous,” said Miz Peta. “How will you arrange me?”

“As a single formal bloom, upright in a tall vase where its grace may be appreciated in its single stem,” said Kiliana. “I read the book through when I thought I might have to pose flowery comments to get anyone talking, but it came out without much prodding.”

“Well, I confess, I like a vase with a single tulip or rose,” said Miz Peta. “Dear me, I wonder how much one’s favoured arrangements say about oneself?”

Kiliana managed a more natural giggle. “Justiciar Quester’s tastes in bouquets runs to the combination of herbs which taste best,” she said.

“Very practical,” said Miz Peta.  “Am I going too fast for you?”

“No, it’s too chilly to hang about,” said Kiliana. “This was an awfully good idea, thank you, Miz Peta, I feel a lot better for the air on my face.”

“Now, do you want a note to take the afternoon off lessons as well, or do you think you will be able to cope?” asked the gamesmistress.

“It’s music; shouldn’t be a problem,” said Jessica. “Killie?”

“Oh, I am keen to have music lessons, I know nothing about it, other than a few sailor’s shanties, and hymns,” said Kiliana.

“Miz Brossa isn’t too stern,” said Jessica. “Yes, it is nice being out in the air; thanks, Miz Peta.”

Two happier girls returned with an appetite for the midday meal.