The Days of the Golden Moons (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 5) (2 page)

Chapter 3

Caroline

Kira
was purring like a kitten.  “That man is so hot,” she panted and fanned herself
and then she started purring again.  We were following the Lady Berkan across
this immense Palace to rooms in one of the servant buildings.  We were going to
be servants.  That was fine by me.  All my life I had been serving somebody or
something in one way or another.  I started out taking care of my mama and my
thirteen siblings and then spent the last thirty years nursing anyone who
needed caring for.  At least now I wouldn’t be wiping dirty bottoms or changing
oozing bandages.

The
Lady Berkan was a nice enough lady with bright orange hair, a wide round face
and as much strength in her spine as anyone I ever met in all my years in
Spaceforce.  That would include Captain Katie who I was starting to think must
have left her spine somewhere back on the Discovery. 

Lady
Berkan had met us when we changed to an Imperial spaceplane at a spacebase
orbiting Cascadia III.  Neniver, who was once a pilot on the Discovery going by
the name of Zem, and Marisa, Katie’s old roommate at the mental asylum went off
with Thad to a SdK hospital while the rest of us boarded the most opulent
spaceplane we had ever seen.  Lady Berkan introduced herself to us and then
helped us change into these beautiful silk dresses we were wearing now.  She
fixed our hair and then gave us a brief course in protocol and etiquette.   Lady
Berkan told us, she was one of the few that spoke English and was in charge of
the Empress's staff.  That would be my old friend Katie who was right about now
running around some forest pretending she was a cavewoman or some such thing.

“How
is Madame doing?” Lady Berkan asked as she did up my hair.

“How
do you think?” I replied, shaking my head and messing up my styling.  “I think
she’s got more brain damage than we originally thought.”

“At
least she's alive,” Lady Berkan sighed.  “It's been hell.  I know Madame will
come back soon and then things will get better.”

“I
hope so,” I said though I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of hell being an
empress could be. 

“You'd
think she'd want to come back for Shika even if she is still steaming about
HIM.”  Lady Berkan turned her attention to Noka, picking up strands of her
short blue hair and frowning at it.

“Katie
said Shika didn't need a mother after all this time,” I replied, admiring
myself in the nice lighted mirror.  Considering my age and the last dozen years
in the mental asylum, I didn’t look too bad.  A good hairstyle and makeup, as
well as a pretty dress, could do wonders for anyone.

“Oh
no,” the Lady Berkan continued.  “That boy needs a good whopping or two from
his mother.  Getting it from me doesn't quite do the trick.  He's off living
with his granddad now though so hopefully he's working out his issues there.”

“His
granddad?  Dr. Ron, I mean, HIM has a father?”

Lady
Berkan laughed and gave up on Noka.  She disappeared into the dressing room for
a moment and came back with a head scarf, pinning it into Noka's hair.  “HIM
has a real father and had a real mother,” she continued.  “It's a long and
complicated story about an arranged marriage between a Prince and Princess.”

“It
sounds like a fairy tale,” Noka said, smiling at herself in the mirror, turning
her head this way and that, so the scarf shimmered and floated around her.

“Well
it was, sort of,” Lady Berkan replied.  “Because they did fall in love with
each other.”

“That's
so sweet,” I declared.

“Well,
then it wasn't,” Lady Berkan frowned.  “Then it became quite horrid.  Would you
like a scarf too, Caroline?”

“Sure,”
I replied.  I felt like a princess with my own pale blue scarf floating around
me.  “But now you've got Ron, HIM, as your emperor and he's sure the epitome of
a handsome prince.”

“Yes,
but he's turned into quite a monster really.”  She sighed, and adjusted the
scarf in my hair, laying it flat across my shoulders.  “We all thought he was
the beauty, but he really was the beast.  Of course, he always was a beast. 
Most of us just didn't realize it.”

“He
just needs to fuck someone,” Kira said, wedging herself in between us so she
could admire her own self.  She pulled the bodice of her dress down to show off
her double cleavage.

The
Lady Berkan gasped either at Kira’s comment or her cleavage.

“Kira!”
I scolded while Noka giggled.

“Well
it's true,” Kira shrugged and blew air kisses at the mirror.  “I like men who
are beasts.”

Lady
Berkan’s eyes turned hard.  “I must beg your pardon.  I have spoken out of
turn.  I have been confiding in Miss Caroline because I know her to be Her
Imperial Highness’s dear friend.  What I say to you, I say in confidence as a
member of HIM's family.  My husband, Lord Berkan is HIM's cousin.  You have no
such relationship with HIM, and you will not speak casually of HIM in my
presence.  If you do not show proper respect to both the Emperor and the
Empress, I will have you removed from this ship, the Palace and the Empire if
need be.”

I
stared at Lady Berkan in amazement, my mouth open wide enough to catch a whole
passel of flies.

“You
can do that?” Kira whispered.

“In
a heartbeat.”  The Lady Berkan lifted her chin and haughtily left the room.

Once
we got to the Palace, after what the Lady Berkan said, was an unbelievably low
wait time of only twelve hours, we were ushered into the Emperor’s office.  All
of us were good about doing as we were told.  We stayed on the floor.  We
didn’t speak unless spoken to.  We didn’t use any familiar terms even though my
tongue slipped a few times and I almost called him Dr. Ron.

When
we came in, he was leaning against this huge desk by the windows and smoking a
cigarette.  He wasn't dressed all that fancy, but then it was about 3AM and we
were his last appointment until 7AM.  Certainly, he looked older than the last
time I had seen him fifteen years ago but so did I. 

He
asked me a few questions about the mental hospital on Derius II.  He asked what
drugs Katie had been on and the dosages.  He asked who ran the hospital, and he
wanted to know how we got out.  I told him about recognizing Katie and easing
her off the meds.  I told him how we stole the guns and then Katie blasted us
out through the laundry room.  He smiled a little at that.  I told him how she
was going to kill the Big Doc but then said that was for him to do and I asked
him for mercy for the guy because even though he was on the take, he really
wasn't all that bad to the patients.

The
Emperor asked how Katie felt and if she was in any pain and I told him that
there were scars on her legs and her records said she had surgery for breaks,
but she was moving about pretty good and he should have seen the way she took
on the guards.  Just before we finished, he told us that we could stay here at
the Palace and serve Her Imperial Highness if we would like.  I liked and so did
the others.  When he was finished asking questions, he waved his hand and a man
came and whispered that we should leave.  We stood up and backed out like we
were told to.  Lady Berkan met us out in the hall. 

I
was a little disappointed, to tell you the truth.  I thought that, at the very
least, he would acknowledge that we used to be friends a long time ago.  Maybe
he might even recollect how he and Jerry and I sat around the pub drinking beer
and waiting for Katie to get off duty.

“He
looks very sad,” Noka said.  “Stop making noises, Kira.”

“Oh,
I want that man.  I could make him happy again,” Kira moaned.  “I could make
him so happy.”

“He
is not available,” Lady Berkan said sharply. 

“But
I am Lady Snooty Pants,” Kira smirked.  “And that counts for a lot.”

Lady
Berkan stopped walking and turned on Kira.  She raised her hand, and a guard came
forward.  “Please remove…”

“No!”
Kira gasped.  “I'm only trying to help.  Ron looks like…”

“Don't
help,” I snapped.  “Don't say whatever you are planning to say.”

“Alright,
alright,” Kira simpered.  “How is it that little Katie ended up with all the
goods?”

“One
does not end up this way,” Lady Berkan sniffed.  “One is born to it.”

“Captain
Katie was not born to be an Empress.  She was just some chick from Earth who
got lucky.”

“You
don't know that.”  Lady Berkan indicated three doors.  “Take which ever room
you wish.  Caroline, Lord Taner, the Lord Chamberlain will speak with you
around 10AM.  Lady Kelli will fetch you and show you to his office.”

“Thank
you, Lady Berkan,” I said and I curtseyed.  Then I went inside the most
beautiful apartment I had ever seen and collapsed on the bed.  When I woke up
and saw this beautiful room again, I thought I must still be dreaming.

Chapter 4

Jerry

I
grew a beard for the first time in my life.  I wasn’t practicing medicine any
more.  I wasn’t in Spaceforce.  I could do whatever I wanted. 

I
tried to let my hair grow out too.  I had this idea that I wanted it in a
ponytail, in the back.  Not like Ron’s used to be.  I wasn’t copying him.  I
just wanted a different style to go with my new clothes.  I wore tie-died
shirts that I bought at the farmer’s market, and flip flops on my feet which
was great for my bunions and corns.  I wore Bermuda shorts everywhere because
it was always warm and I didn’t give a damn who saw my pale hairy legs. 

Anyway,
growing my hair out didn’t really work because it was too curly and tended to
get puffier rather than longer.  Also, I had developed a bit of bald spot on
the back of my head and my dandruff seemed to get worse with the more hair that
I had.  After a few months, I got a haircut and figured the beard was the best
I could do.  I let it grow pretty long even though food kept getting stuck in
it.

This
was great, I told myself as I sat on my deck and looked out at the ocean.  This
was perfect.  The only problem was, I had nothing to do.  I was bored out of my
mind.  I hung around the library and hung around the market and then came back
and watched the vid for a while. 

Something
was going on between Rehnor and Rozari.  The Empire had sent a few ships over
there, and nobody knew why.  They were floating around in the Rozarian star
system, and the Alliance was telling them to get out but not very forcefully
because they still hadn’t come up with a way to deal with the Empire’s EMP
control. 

I
shut off the vid.  They could all go blow each other to hell for all I cared. 
I picked up some smooth rocks that I found on the beach the other day and kept
in a corner of my deck.  I decided to paint flowers on them instead of
listening to the news.

I
painted a lot of flowers.  I was good at painting.  I had been a pretty good
surgeon.  I had nice tight stitches, and so I was pretty good with a paint
brush too.  I got myself a book from the library, an encyclopedia of flowers,
and as I copied each one, I taught myself about them.  Echinacea treats
infectious diseases and wounds as well as boosts the immune system.  Calendula
controls inflammation with antibiotic, antiviral properties.  Hawthorne treats
angina, congestive heart failure, and heart rhythm disturbances.  Before I knew
it, I had a hundred different rocks with a hundred different flowers on them
drying on my deck.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all these rocks
or all this knowledge, but they looked nice enough and so I kept painting.

One
day, I was in the farmer’s market and was picking up some fresh vegetables for
dinner.  I had become a vegetarian too.  I didn’t really have a reason for
doing it other than it seemed to go well with my new image.  One morning I just
woke up and declared myself a vegan.  Even though most of the meat products I’d
eaten in my life were synthetic, I decided no more animal flesh would cross my
lips. 

So
there I was going from stall to stall with my basket, loading it full of fresh
kale, turnips, rutabagas and broccoli when I passed a stall with a guy selling
fish.  There was no way I was going to eat a fish.  My vegan lifestyle absolutely
forbid it, but the guy look familiar enough that I had to stop and look at
him.  I stared at the guy for a really long time but couldn’t figure out how I
might have known him.  He was older than me by a good twenty years with long
black hair streaked with gray.  He was tall and well built, strong even at his
age, with medium dark skin with a slight reddish hue.  He slapped what looked
like a salmon onto the counter and in a matter of minutes, filleted it for a
woman while she counted out four dollars.  Then he wrapped the fish in brown
paper and handed it to the woman, tossing the fish head and tail to a cat that
patiently waited for it in the back of the stall.

“Can
I help you?”  He asked when he noticed me staring.  He had deep brown eyes,
nearly black, so they seemed to be without a pupil.  I shook my head.  I had no
clue who he was.

“Sorry,
I don’t eat flesh,” I replied.

“Your
loss.”  He shrugged and reached behind him to prepare another fish for the next
woman in his line.

Now
that I was an expert on painting flowers, I decided to grow them.  I bought a
bunch of pots, filled them with soil and compost and set them out on my deck. 
Because I made it my goal to grow as many flowers as I had painted, my deck was
quickly overrun with pots, and I had to bring my chair back inside because I
had no room any longer to sit. 

At
that point, I figured I should probably get a new place, so I walked around
town looking for a small house not far from the beach with a decent size yard. 
I found one I liked directly on the beach.  It had a really nice front porch. 
It was furnished and included a couple of Adirondack chairs that were perfectly
positioned to stare out at the water.  I was ready to rent it and went back to
the agent with my deposit but she told me that a lady already lived there and
had signed a six month lease.  I should check back in a few months to see if
she was still there.  The agent thought she seemed kind of flaky.  If she took
off, I could have it. 

This
place was my second choice and probably worked out better anyway.  It was right
on the edge of town and had a nice big parlor which I later made into my
office.  About a month after I moved in, after I had perfected the art of
making flower tinctures, I hung up a shingle and called myself Dr. Moonbeam,
Spiritual and Natural healer.