The Way of the Jeep

The Way of the Jeep mindancer

Chapter 1

The street rocked. That was the only word that Jame could think of as her senses were overloaded with pulsing music, brilliant and outrageous costumes and a heady knowledge that she liked what she was seeing far too much. It reminded her of home and a tiny ache of homesickness threatened to emerge. "It took me two years to get you here," Dani said in her ear. "I hope you plan to do more than stare with your mouth hanging open." Jame turned to her friend and smirked. "Can I help it if I come from a very small town out in the middle of nowhere?" A place that knew how to put this street party to shame, she added to herself. "But you've lived in a very big city for two years, you should be used to things like this by now," Dani replied. "You spend too much time-" Jame waved her hand. "Studying. Yeah, I know." "You really do," Dani said. "You gotta enjoy life while you're young." "I know." Jame sighed and followed her taller friend through the costumed crowd. "But if my grades slip even a point my mother will have an excuse to bring me back home." Dani threw up her hands as they passed a pair of scantily clad women, lips locked oblivious to the world surging around them. She glanced back at Jame. "Yet there are some things about you that are a complete dilemma. You are wide-eyed by the spectacle of all this, yet two women kissing in public doesn't even merit a second look." "Huh?" Jame glanced around and saw the women. "Oh, yeah. I grew up in a rather progressive small town." Dani snorted. "More like one of those Northern California communes." "It's a community…of sorts." Jame shrugged and grinned. Dani laughed as a pair of marigolds strolled by. "God, I can't believe some of these costumes. Speaking of, you never did explain yours." Jame looked down at her patchwork of green and brown leather, and armor, with nicely muscled and tan skin exposed in a becoming way. She twirled her intricately carved fighting staff. "This is what an ancient race of women warriors wore." "Like Amazons?" Dani asked as they stopped at a stand featuring colorful fruit drinks. "Something to drink?" "Yes and yes. Cranapple please." Jame looked around and her attention froze on a woman standing not twenty feet from her. She was tall, athletic, and clad in black leather with shaggy short hair as dark as the leathers. If the woman's skin hadn't been so fair, Jame would have guessed a Native American heritage because of her high cheekbones and incredible beauty. As compelling as all this was, Jame's attention was riveted on the hilt that peeked over the woman's shoulder. "Here you go." Dani handed Jame her drink. Jame tore her eyes from the woman and took the drink. "Thanks." Dani groaned. "Oh no. There's Rick. Coming straight for us." Jame squinted into the crowd of Klingons, cartoon characters, and various vegetables. "The one dressed as a banker." Jame stifled a laugh. "He's your friend. You get to talk to him. I just want to check on something over there. I'll be right back." Before Dani could respond, Jame walk-ran in the direction the woman in black leather had gone. Fortunately, the woman seemed interested in leisurely crowd watching and hadn't wandered far. "Uh, excuse me." Jame caught her breath when a pair of night darkened blue eyes turned to her. "Uh…I…" Her tongue refused to work much to her brain's panicked surprise. The woman noticed Jame's costume and her expression turned to profound puzzlement. "Sword," Jame finally stammered out. The woman nodded. "Yes." "But how--?" "From a collector." The tall woman looked perplexed. "That's not possible," Jame muttered, as if to her self. "Nowadays it's not." Gaining confidence from the woman's apparent discomfiture, Jame finally remembered her manners. "I'm Jame Ketlas. In law school." She nodded toward the hill where the University of California sprawled. The woman looked even more confused. "That's your real name?" Jame tried to shake off how odd that question sounded coming from a stranger. A stranger with that particular sword on her back. "You know, I get asked that a lot but not from anyone outside my, uh, nationality." "Nationality," the woman repeated. "Paldar Tigis." "You know that name?" Jame now felt out of reality. What were the odds of meeting up with someone who knew long forgotten history? "My friends call me Tigh." Jame thanked Laur that her jaw only mentally dropped. It was bad enough that she was staring in astonishment at this woman. "That's really your name?" Tigh nodded and looked like she wanted to say something. At least she was making some noises of hesitation and studying her shuffling feet. "Uh…I mean…uh…would you…" "I'd like that." Jame dug into her belt pouch for a small notebook and pen. "Here's my phone number and email address." She scribbled the information, ripped the slip of paper from the notebook, and handed it to Tigh. Tigh carefully folded the paper and put it in her black leather wallet. Then she held her hand out for the notebook and pen. Jame was impressed by the large hands and long fingers - perfect for handling the sword in question. Tigh wrote her phone number and email address. Jame couldn't help but notice that this Tigh was left-handed, too. Not too many knew that the legendary warrior favored her left hand. Jame took the notebook back and looked at the email address. "Are you a student, too?" Tigh nodded. "Ancient History. Doctoral program." "Ancient History," Jame said. "Let me guess. Emoria." Tigh nodded. "How do you study a subject from only a handful of ancient scrolls?" Tigh cocked her head at Jame. "Artifacts. Secondhand accounts." "Most historians think that Emoria is just a myth," Jame said. Tigh shrugged. "History is only what we say it is." "But there is usually some kind of mutual agreement about it," Jame replied, realizing that Tigh finally got out a whole sentence. Tigh shuffled her boots. "We seem to have a mutual agreement about Emoria." "Maybe we can start a trend," Jame said. "Maybe." "Jame." Jame sighed. "My friend is looking for me." Tigh looked down at her feet and nodded. Jame felt a great reluctance to leave the presence of this woman who was the namesake of a great legendary warrior. "Tomorrow night?" She swallowed her apprehension that Tigh would think her too forward. Tigh raised her head. "Tomorrow night," she whispered. Jame tore her eyes away from Tigh's gaze. "I'll give you a call."

"A sword?" Dani poured corn flakes and milk into a bowl and joined Jame at the kitchen table. "You're excited about a sword? Your commune family has a whole shop full of swords below us." "It's hard to explain." Jame munched on a bite of toast. "That sword is a part of my family's history." "The communal family or the real family?" Dani asked. "My real family history." "And this woman has a replica of it?" Jame sighed and stared out the window. The third floor apartment had a nice view of the bay and San Francisco when the fog wasn't in the way. "It's not a replica." "How do you know? All you saw was the top of it," Dani said. "The hilt. And I know." Jame watched a finch flutter around her window feeder. "It was real and it was ancient and it was made by my ancestors for an elite warrior who fought in a terrible war." "I'll have to take your word for it," Dani said. "I never thought I'd ever see that sword in person." Or someone who looked like the person who had owned it. She had heard rumors, centuries of rumors that the descendants of the House of Tigis continued to flourish. That one of the descendants of the legendary Tigh and Jame had returned Tigh's sword to her birth family for reasons so lost that even the made up reasons had passed out of memory. What were the odds that one of those descendants looked exactly like the legendary Tigh? And what were the odds that she was the one who owned the sword and that she was attending the same university as the namesake of Queen Jamelin? "So you're going to Greens tonight?" Dani asked. "Interesting choice." "She's...a vegetarian." Jame almost said Ingoran. She thought it strange how easily the word almost flowed off her tongue. Like something she said all the time. "That tall muscular extremely strong looking woman's a vegetarian?" Dani asked. Jame returned her attention to her breakfast. "Yes. It's kind of a tradition in her family." "Tradition." Dani got up and put her empty bowl in the sink. "Who knew that so many traditions still existed in the land of fast food and cookie cutter everything." "I guess it depends on how strong the traditions are." Jame smiled and put her plates in the sink. Dani glanced at the clock on the wall. "Getting late. Gotta run. See you later." She rushed out of the kitchen and a few minutes later Jame heard the door open and close. She ran the water into the sink and reveled in the few moments of peace with her thoughts. She couldn't keep down the feeling that something wonderful had happened to her and she just prayed that it wasn't just her imagine running free with hope and anticipation. She had to get a grip on herself. It wasn't like she wasn't used to things that most people would call magic or miracles happening around her. But never had anything happened to her outside of her own people. "Jame!" She almost dropped the dish she was drying. Get a grip. "In the kitchen, Seari." A tall young woman with equally strong body and features strode into the kitchen. "We just heard that Celi will be arriving the day after tomorrow. She'll be bringing enough swords and other stuff to fill out our stock for PacifiCon." "Good," Jame said. "Who would have thought that this fantasy craze would make swords fashionable again." "I'm not complaining," Seari said. "Besides those conventions are fun." Jame gave her a knowing grin. "You just like to see all those women in costume." "I find it a rather fascinating social phenomenon." Seari shrugged and managed a straight face for all of two seconds. "You've been hanging around this university town too long." Jame snapped her dish towel at Seari. "Watch it." Seari backed away. "That thing can be lethal in your hands." "I don't have a braid for dish towel." Jame laughed and felt a joy like she had never felt before bubble up from deep within her. Something wonderful indeed.

Tigh glanced at the clock next to her bed and fought down another rise of panic. Come on. It's just dinner. People go out to dinner together all the time. She looked at herself in the mirror on the bathroom door. Was she dressed all right? She didn't even know how she was supposed to dress. At least the black jeans weren't faded and the black crew neck sweater looked neat enough even with the neck of the black T-shirt peeking up at the neckline. She frowned at her black hiking boots. She couldn't do anything about them, since the only other pair of shoes she owned was running shoes. Too much black? She went to several clear plastic bins piled on the floor and stared at them. White T-shirts. Some of the designs on the T-shirts had some color. It was really too cold to wear a T-shirt, even with her black leather jacket. It's not like it's a real date or anything. Tigh had forced that thought through her mind ever since Jame called. It's only dinner. They'll probably talk about the sword. She was prepared to talk about the sword. The panic rose again. Could they talk about just the sword all that time? She paced the small room. I have to think of something else to talk about. What do people talk about? People talk to each other all the time. Why can't I just talk to people? Funny, her tongue-tied shyness never really bothered her like this before. She could talk about specific things, like ancient history and bladed weapons and basketball. But she could never just talk. She spun around and stared at the short hall outside the opened door. Soft unfamiliar footfalls sounded on the wooden steps. Within seconds, a smiling Jame appeared at her door. Tigh was relieved to see that she was dressed in jeans, a sweater, and a brown leather jacket. "Sorry I'm late," Jame said. "My study group went longer than usual. This is a nice room. In fact this is a nice house. I read that a rich amateur historian left it to the Ancient History department. I also read that only the top students get to live here." "Uh." Tigh put on her black leather jacket. Jame grinned. "So I wasn't surprised when you gave me the address to the Ancient History Honors House." "Uh." Tigh motioned to the door. Jame went into the hall and Tigh closed her door. "I've never eaten at Greens. I don't get out much. For socializing that is," Jame said as they walked down the stairs into the living room. A couple of the residents were staring at an action adventure show on TV and interesting smells wafted in from the kitchen. "It must be nice to live in real student housing," Jame said. "I can't seem to get out from under the wing of my extended family." They stepped out onto the front porch. "Too bad it's drizzling tonight," Jame said as Tigh led the way to a black Jeep Wrangler Sport parked on the narrow street. "Glad you have a hard top." They settled into the Jeep and Tigh started the engine. The unmistakable sounds of a woman's basketball game came from the radio. "Can you believe this team?" Jame threw up her hands. "I know this is just an exhibition game, but I can play better basketball and I'm half the size of their shortest player..." Tigh pulled out the parking space and realized that she wasn't nervous any more.

Chapter 2

"We consider Argis to be the greatest of all Emoran commanders," Jame said. Tigh stopped her forkful of greens halfway to her mouth. "Argis?" "She commanded the second Battle of Balderon," Jame said. "She was completely on her own once that battle started and it was her quick thinking and ability to adapt to all the magic going on that made her a hero. Then she went on to command the greatest of all the great Emoran armies in a series of battles between the Northern and Southern Territories." "You consider her greater than Hekolatis, with her string of victories against the Truatians?" Jame cocked her head at Tigh. "You really do know Emoran history. Most people think that Hekolatis' only battle was the one at Balderon." Tigh shrugged. "Anika was also a formidable commander." "With all that fresh Tigis blood in her, it would have been surprising if she hadn't been a great commander," Jame said. "It also didn't hurt that she was a spitting image of her mother." "I sometimes wish I was descended from Tigh rather than Pandon," Tigh said. "If you were descended from Tigh, you'd be an Emoran and we'd be cousins or sisters," Jame said. "I think I like it better this way." Tigh gave her such a dumbfounded look that she tried not to laugh. "Uh, when you put it that way." Tigh found a bit of lettuce to play with. Jame smiled. "So is there any part of Emoria history you're focusing on?" Tigh still concentrated on the lettuce. "Uh, I've always wanted to prove that Hekolatis was never estranged from Emoria." "You don't think that Hekolatis had been estranged from Emoria?" Jame put down her cup of tea. "What about what's in the private royal chronicles?" Tigh looked up. "Have you see these chronicles?" "Uh, no. I can't until I receive the silver pendant," Jame said. "How do you know what's in them about Hekolatis' estrangement?" Tigh asked. "It's one the few things that was ever leaked from the chronicles," Jame said. Tigh took a long sip of tea. "You can blame that on my family, I think." "What?" "We have a copy of the chronicles up to the time Anisa became queen," Tigh said. "What?" Jame sat back in shock. "How is that possible?" "A copy was included in the artifacts that came back to the Tigis clan," Tigh said. Jame felt the certainties of her world implode inside her. Tigh's sword had disappeared not long after Anisa became queen but nothing survived in the chronicles about it except a vague statement that it had been returned to the Tigis clan. "Do you think it's authentic?" Tigh shrugged. "The only way to know is to compare it to the original." "Which won't happen until I have the pendant," Jame said. "My mother may agree to compare documents but she won't tell what she learns." "Would you tell?" Tigh asked. "If it helped your research I would. You really think you have enough evidence to prove that she wasn't estranged from Emoria?" Jame asked. Tigh shrugged. "I'm working on it. I've been piecing together everything written about her and creating a chronology." "That's certainly not much," Jame said. Tigh studied the remnants of her meal. "I spent the summer traveling the world finding as many mentions of anything from that age as I could." "From a continent that no longer exists," Jame said. "Not something you can stroll into the British Library and find." Tigh ran a finger around the rim of her tea cup. "Uh, Emorans were always isolationists." Jame squinted at Tigh. "Meaning?" Tigh sucked in a breath and looked at Jame. "Ingorans always knew about everything in the Southern Territories. That's what made them such great merchants." "And?" "I visited known descendants of those who lived in the Southern Territories." Jame was beyond stunned. "What?" "The Southern Territories is very much alive and well," Tigh said. Jame managed to suck in some air and restart her shocked mind. "All right. I know that some families have kept their history alive. I know that our blade shop proprietors have knowledge of families that go way back. But how did you find out about them?" "As I said, Ingorans have always kept track of what happens in the Southern Territories," Tigh said. "We never stopped our association with each other or with many of the families we dealt with back them. It's like this underground society that never really went away." "Unbelievable," Jame said. "All these thousands of years, we thought we were the only ones from the home continent who kept the traditions alive." "Phytia." "Huh?" "It's what we call the continent now," Tigh said. "After the Phytian Mountains." "Wow." Jame's head was reeling. "You know you've just turned my whole world upside down." Tigh blinked at her. "In a good way. Stunning, but good." Tigh visibly relaxed and grinned.

"You're from Dallas?" Jame sat back in the seat of the Jeep, feeling strangely cocooned in the surrounding darkness and rain streaking down the windows. Dinner nicely nestled in her stomach and her mind finally coped with Tigh's shocking information. Never mind that they weren't actually moving in the line of traffic that stopped them on the Bay Bridge. That kind of back up could only mean a pretty nasty accident. "Highland Park," Tigh said. Jame gave her a mystified look. "The Beverly Hills of Dallas." Jame nodded. "Like big houses. Rolls Royces, Jags, and BMVs." "Yeah. The land of BMW and Mercedes SUVs." "I bet the Jeep is quite a conversation piece." Jame slumped into the seat. Tigh shrugged. "It's a favorite third or fourth car." "At least you have wheels." Jame sighed with the realization that she felt more freedom in the Jeep, even with the top on and windows shut, than she had ever felt. Tigh would probably be incredulous if she knew how rebellious just going out to dinner was for her. "Have you done much exploring around here?" "Over breaks. When I have time," Tigh said. "I've always wanted to go to Yosemite." Jame stared out the rain streaked window. "I grew up in the country, surrounded by forest and deep hollows and rocky creeks but nothing as rugged or as spectacular looking as Yosemite." "Uh, Thanksgiving is coming up." Tigh swallowed and stared straight ahead. The car in front of her started moving. She crept the Jeep forward. Jame sighed and fought back an unexpected frustration. "I have to go home." Tigh darted her a look. "Uh, protective?" Jame stared at Tigh, who kept her eyes on the car in front of her. "Yes." "So, uh, the traditions are still...followed?" Tigh rolled off the bridge and eased onto a side street, relieved to be away from the traffic. "Yes." Jame drew the word out. Tigh sucked in a breath. "Uh, well, maybe I'll see you in the blades shop. Now that I know it's here." Alarm and panic washed over Jame. "What are you talking about?" Tigh looked like she was struggling to maintain a passive expression. "I...Never mind. It's not important." "I want to see you again." Tigh swerved and quickly regained control. She blinked at Jame. "What?" She returned her attention to the road. Tigh's body language shouted louder to Jame than any words and Tigh was engaged in some kind of internal struggle. "I want to see you again. Do you find that so strange?" "I..." Tigh looked miserable. "Look. This is strange for both of us," Jame said. "It's not everyday I meet someone who knows things about me that only my...family knows. But I do have free will and so far the traditions haven't interfered with that." Tigh looked like she was letting that sink in. "You really want to see me again?" Flooded with relief, Jame laughed. "Tomorrow's Sunday. I usually spend the morning studying and then relaxing in the afternoon. I sometimes hang out in the blades shop or the safe house." "Safe house?" "We still maintain safe houses in many cities around the world," Jame said. "Sometimes they support blades shops, others support feminist bookstores and outdoor shops." "You've diversified," Tigh said. Jame laughed. "Yeah. We have to keep up with the times. Maybe we can get together and talk some more tomorrow." "I usually spend the day in the library," Tigh said. Jame grinned. "What a boring studious pair we are. Not like our namesakes, that's for sure. What can we do to get out of our boring ruts?" Tigh pulled into a space across from blades shop. "Is there anywhere you've wanted to go? A little closer than Yosemite?" Jame thought about it for a few seconds. "This may sound funny, but I would just love to go out for a ride. Anywhere." Tigh frowned. "It sounds like you've been pretty protected. Are you sure there won't be any...problems?" Jame sighed and stared at the students milling up and down the popular street. "I admit I haven't pushed it too much. Haven't had much reason to, really. But I also know that most of the protectiveness is more tradition than anything that has to do with our laws." She looked at Tigh. "They got used to me going to Chico State and then here. They got used to me having outside friends, including me offering a friend the spare bedroom in my apartment when she suddenly couldn't afford her rent." "Do any of your friends look like Tigh the warrior?" Jame sighed. "Once they get over the initial shock, they'll be okay. It's like I have dozens of older sisters, cousins, and aunts who just want to keep me safe and tend to forget that I'm not a six-year-old. I've learned to let them react and then wait for them to think it over and decide it's all right." Tigh nodded. "Okay. When should I pick you up?" "How about noon," Jame said. "Then we can have lunch. Come to the blades shop, let my sisters get used to you from the start." "I'm interested in seeing your swords anyway," Tigh said. Jame smiled. "See you tomorrow then." Tigh still looked a little dazed. "See you." Jame slipped out of the Jeep and splashed across the street and between the cars parked in front of the blades shop. She slipped under the overhang in front of an opened side door. A tall woman in a brown blades shop T-shirt and black jeans jumped off of a stool. "Hi, Keran," Jame said. "Seari's been looking for you." Keran went to the door and watched the black Jeep rumble down the street. "I don't remember any of your friends with a Jeep." "She's a new friend." Jame looked down the long narrow corridor-sounded like a typical Saturday night in the safe house. "New friend," Keran said. "I met her at the Halloween street party last night," Jame said. "And you just happened to meet her after the study group?" Jame put her hands on her hips. "No. I just happened to go to her place so we could have dinner together." Keran looked perplexed. "Someone you just met?" "It turns out she has something that used to belong to Emoria." Jame grinned at Keran's widening eyes and trotted down the corridor. She let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the tavern and then walked to a table in the back. Women, imbibing in the legendary Emoran ale, were packed around tables of rough wood. Jame noticed that several local women who had been carefully introduced to the tavern were flirting with Tasra, who had just arrived that day from home. "You just getting in?" Seari looked up from writing in a ledger. Jame sat down across from her. "Yeah. I went to dinner." "Yeah?" Seari took a sip of coffee. "Where'd you go?" "Greens." Seari looked up. "Your McDonald's scarfing study group went to Greens?" A server put a mug of spice tea in from of Jame. "Thanks, Ques." "Need something to eat?" Ques asked. "I'm fine, thanks." Jame returned her attention to Seari. "You know that street party I went to last night?" "I'm not about to forget seeing you walk around in your leathers-armor, staff and all," Seari said. "Well, I met someone dressed as Tigh." Jame sipped her tea. "What?" Sari's expression was beyond amazed. "I met someone dressed as Master Warrior Tigh," Jame said. "Leathers, armor, sword, and all." Seari put down her pen. "What?" "And, by coincidence, her name is Tigh." Jame fought to keep a straight face as Seari seemed to fall into a vat of confusion. "What are you talking about?" "I met Paldar Tigis last night and went out to dinner with her tonight," Jame said. "She's working on her doctorate in ancient history. Her thesis is on the history of Emoria and her special interest is proving that Hekolatis had never been estranged from Emoria." Seari stared at Jame and then relaxed a bit. "Okay. I get it. You're practicing some kind of lawyer thing. That was good. You should get an A." Jame smiled. "You'll meet her tomorrow when she picks me up at noon." "Please tell me you're kidding," Seari said. "I'm not kidding." "And you went out with her before letting us check her out?" Seari struggled to keep her voice down. "Yep." Jame signaled for Ques, who shuffled to their table. "Another tea and another coffee for Seari. Also a basket of popcorn. I have the feeling we're going to be here a while."

Tigh eased out of the Jeep and looked across the street at the unassuming storefront. The word "Blades" was painted across the single display window and a shingle hanging above the door had a crossed sword and bow on it. She stared at the shingle and tried to remember if she'd ever walked that part of the street. Surely should she would not have missed that shingle. She walked across the almost deserted street, reveling in the warm sun after a day of rain. The door stood open and she stepped into what felt like another world. Most people would probably think that the simple decor of swords and knives laid out on soft cloth covering long tables was some quaint old country tradition. Only she knew how old country it was. The only visible indication that she was in the twenty-first century was the small wooden stand displaying the major credit cards on the service counter. A tall woman stepped out from behind the service counters and stared at Tigh. Tigh looked down at herself. She had tried to look as unTigh-like as possible. Black and white baseball jersey and blue jeans, instead of her preferred black. "Do you have the sword with you?" the woman asked. Tigh frowned and shook her head. "I didn't think to bring it." The woman walked up to Tigh and got close enough to study her face. "What are your intentions toward Jame?" Tigh returned her steady look. "To take her to Point Reyes." The woman did not look amused. "I'm not going to believe anything about you until I see that sword and then I'll only half believe you." "Seari." They turned at Jame's voice. Tigh wondered how a voice could be so soft and hard at the same time. Jame really was a princess. "This is Tigh." Jame walked into the shop from an opening in the back. "Tigh, meet Seari, the proprietor of the blades shop. You don't believe that Tigh is a member of the Tigis clan? Show her your license." Tigh pulled her black leather wallet from her front pocket, took out her driver's license, and gave it to Seari. Seari studied it. "Texas. Dallas." She sighed. "Ah, hah," Jame said. "I knew it. You had that look when I told you last night." "What look? Never mind. The House of Tigis settled in Dallas," Seari said. "You could have told me," Jame said. "I had to make sure," Seari said. "I couldn't believe it was really possible. Trigo would kill me if I wasn't diligent." "Your, uh, mother's name is Trigo?" Tigh asked. "She rebuilt the reservoir for Emor. Brilliant engineering." Seari stared at Tigh. "I know," Jame said. "It took a while to get used to." Tigh frowned. "What?" "Hearing an outsider talk about Emoria," Jame said. "You know and understand our traditions," Seari said. "You also know that we'll, uh, bring you to justice if you do anything to harm Jame." "I understand your traditions and I understand about Jame," Tigh said. "Seari, we're just going to have some lunch and see a bit of the area. Enjoy the beautiful day," Jame said. "And discuss that sword?" Seari asked. Jame sighed. "The sword belongs to Tigh. Her family lost track of it centuries ago and spent all this time trying to get it back. She paid a collector a fortune for it." "How much?" Seari asked. "Thirty-five thousand dollars," Tigh said. Seari whistled. "It's priceless, of course, but how did that collector know it was so special." "The black blade and the fact he couldn't place it historically, except that it was really really old," Tigh said. Seari turned to Jame. "It belongs to Emoria. Tigh was Emoran." "Tigh was also Ingoran and she had the sword before she became Emoran." Jame put a hand on Seari's arm. "I know how passionate we are about that sword. No other black-bladed sword has survived." "Is that true?" Tigh asked. "We don't even know how it was forged," Seari said. "I will bring it in for you to study," Tigh said. "The sword is, in that respect, Emoran." Seari gave Tigh a long look and then nodded. "Thank you. It would mean a lot to us." Jame looked between them. "Good. Now let's go play in the sunshine."

Chapter 3

"It says that Sir Francis Drake landed here in 1579." Jame looked up from the brochure and stared at the wide misty beach. The ocean was partially hidden in haze and the lapping waves had an almost disembodied sound to them. "Took one look at the price of real estate and turned the boat around." Tigh led the way to an old log. "The Emorans would have heard about him from the local people if he had stuck around for a while," Jame said as she sat on the log next to Tigh. Tigh looked up from reaching into her pack and stared at Jame. "What?" "The Emorans would have chronicled something about it if Drake had lingered here," Jame said. "Are you saying the Emorans were here then?" "We settled here after the home continent sank," Jame said. "Emoria was high enough in the mountains that we were able to salvage everything of our country. All of our citizens in safe houses came home as the cities they lived in were flooded. When it was apparent that the continent was slowing sinking we built ships on the meadows below Emor and waited until the water rose to them. It took many generations but we were ready when the time came." Tigh looked dumbstruck. "How'd you think we settled here?" Jame asked. "We're not mentioned in any known history." "Amazons," Tigh said. "They established several small settlements that didn't flourish for very long," Jame said. "They all eventually came back home." "Amazing." Tigh pulled out two bulging paper sacks and handed one to Jame. Jame opened the sack and peeked inside. "Oh, wow." She took out a plastic bag holding a sandwich of thick whole wheat bread piled with vegetable slices and some kind of filling and a bottle of juice. "The filling is made out of garbanzo beans," Tigh said. "You made this yourself didn't you?" Jame was delighted. Tigh looked at her own sandwich. "It seemed easier than stopping at a deli." Jame took a bite. "It's better than anything from a deli, too. Where'd you get this bread?" Tigh concentrated on removing her sandwich from the baggie. "It's homemade, isn't it?" Jame laughed. "She can bake, too." "Only bread," Tigh said. "Only this kind of bread." "It's really good," Jame said. "Even I know that it must have taken most of the morning to make it." Tigh stared at the sandwich in her hands. "Thank you." Jame smiled at Tigh's embarrassment. "It's kind of nice to know that you're as sweet and thoughtful as your namesake." Tigh blinked up at her. "What?" "Tigh the warrior," Jame said. "You're a lot like her." Tigh shook her head. "I could have never done the things she did." Jame munched a mouthful of sandwich. "I don't know. Remember, she wanted to become a scholar when she was drafted into the Guards and the enhancements made her a warrior. No one really knows what happened when she was cleansed, except that it didn't work with her the same way it did with all the other Guards." "I keep forgetting about the enhancements," Tigh said. "I wonder how they did that. The enhancements, I mean." "That's one of the great mysteries," Jame said. "Magic is the best explanation but Tigh seems to have been immune to it." "Only after her encounter with Misner, the first time," Tigh said. "Misner?" "When Tigh was sent to kill her," Tigh said. "Misner did something that made Tigh immune to magic. Not on purpose I don't think. Maybe a spell she didn't cast at the other Guards. Tigh may have had a natural resistance to magic to begin with but something Misner did strengthened that resistance." "How have you determined this?" Jame asked. "She used to have long talks with Goodemer about it," Tigh said. "She summarized some of these talks in her journal." Jame swallowed her last bite of sandwich and stared at Tigh. "Her what?" "She kept a journal," Tigh said. "She started it when Anisa and Anika were born." "Don't tell me," Jame said. "It was in the stuff that ended up with the Tigis clan." "Yeah." Tigh took a drink of her juice. "I never thought that we had so much stuff that was missing from your collected history." "Fortunately, nowadays we have scanners and copiers. Although..." Jame sighed. "Some of the Elders are quite possessive about anything that has to do with Emoria. When they heard that a small Emoran dagger was in an antique shop in Fort Bragg, they were really upset when it had been sold before they could get to the shop." Tigh cocked her head. "How'd they find out?" Jame shrugged. "Heko saw it, but didn't have enough money to buy it." "Heko?" "My baby sister," Jame said. "She plays basketball at Stanford." "Stanford?" Tigh said. "Good team. She must be smart." "Like her namesake," Jame said. Tigh frowned. "I know I'd remember a name like Heko Ketlas." "She's a freshman," Jame said. "She really is a baby sister, even if she is as tall as you are." "Does she have the skills of Hekolatis?" Tigh asked. "She's always preferred a basketball to a sword," Jame said. "But she went through her warrior training with flying colors and got her braid." Tigh stared at her with widening eyes. "We still maintain all our traditions." "Uh, I was thinking more of her quickness...like in handling the ball," Tigh said. "You really still do the braid thing?" Jame lifted her T-shirt, revealing a raw leather belt with foot long braids of colored leather tacked on it. "Wow," Tigh said. "Clever." "We gave up dangling them from our belts quite a while ago," Jame said. "Wise decision." Their eyes met and they grinned. "Nice to be able to talk about this stuff," Jame said. "Yeah." Tigh held out her hand for Jame's empty bag and bottle. "It still bothers you that I'm a princess," Jame said. Tigh stood, walked a few feet to a trash can, and dropped the bags and bottles into it. She turned to Jame. "I've, uh, spent my life being a student, getting good grades, doing research, not paying too much attention to the usual growing up stuff." Jame stood and walked to Tigh. "Me, too." "What?" "All of the above. Even in a close-knit community," Jame said. "Being a princess makes it hard to trust any kind of really close, uh, friendship." She motioned to walk down the beach to the ocean, where people played in and out of the waves and collected shells. "So my being a princess bothers you...?" Tigh kicked at the sand as she walked. "I, uh, I'd really like to, uh-" "Get to know me better?" Tigh stopped and looked into Jame's earnest green eyes. "Yeah." "Good." Jame grinned. "Because I want to get to know you better, too." "You do?" Tigh looked so comically surprised that Jame laughed, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to the water. "Come on. Let's go dodge some waves."

Keran slid off her stool and took in Tigh in a wide-eyed stare. "Laur's waterfalls, Jame." Jame rolled her eyes and looked back at Tigh. "An excellent portrait of Queen Jame's family hangs in our royal gallery. You really are the spitting image of your namesake." "And you're the spitting image of Queen Jame," Keran said. "It's spooky seeing you two together." "I think it's kind of neat," Jame said. "Tigh, this is Keran." "Hi," Tigh said. "Hi," Keran said. "Seari's been looking for you, Jame." "What else is new," Jame said. "Come on. Time for you to see a genuine Emoran safe house." When they got to the end of the corridor, Tigh stopped and stared at the tavern. She took in the tapestries and weapons on the wall, the rough-hewn tables and chairs, and the tankards on the tables. Even in the low lighting, she had no problems distinguishing the few locals from the Emorans. The Emorans had a distinctive look about them. Strong and confident looking, most tall enough to make up several basketball teams. Made her wonder about how many other Emorans, besides Jame's sister, excelled at basketball and other sports. "This way," Jame said and Tigh followed her around tables to the other side of the chamber. The Emorans stared at Tigh with amazed and some dumbfounded expressions as she walked by. She felt odd being in a room full of people who knew her true ancestry and who knew she looked like her ancient namesake. She stopped next to Jame in front of a small table against the wall. "Hi, Seari," Jame said. Seari looked up from her ledger. "Are you just getting back?" "We picked up the sword and I convinced Tigh that we serve a very nice green salad, baked potato, and homemade bread," Jame said as she and Tigh settled on the padded back bench across from Seari. "Sword?" Seari looked at Tigh. Tigh put a long black leather bag on the table. Seari stared at it. "May I?" "Go ahead," Tigh said. As Jame ordered their dinner, Seari pulled the scabbard and sword from the leather bag. She sucked in her breath when she wrapped her hand around the hilt and liberated the black blade from the scabbard. Seari ran her fingers over the smooth blade. "It's more magnificent that I could ever imagine." Tigh pulled a folded sheet of paper from her back pocket. "I had a chemical analysis done on it." Seari blinked at the paper, then took it and unfolded it. "Wow." "It's a copy so you can keep it," Tigh said. "Is that...?" Ques stood next to the table with a platter full of food. "A black-bladed sword," Seari said with reverence. "The black-bladed sword." Ques quickly put the food and tankards of ale in front of Tigh and Jame. "You look just like..." Her eyes widened. "Laur's waterfalls." "Ques, this is Tigh. A descendant of a sister of Tigh the warrior," Jame said. "A real descendant? Wow. Glad to meet you," Ques said. "Glad to meet you, too," Tigh said. "That explains the vegetarian food. Wait till Taler hears this." Ques scurried away. Jame grinned. "Dig in. Try the ale. It's genuine Emoran." Tigh looked intrigued and took a sip. "Whoa." "It still packs a legendary punch," Jame said. "Amazing," Tigh said. "This whole place is amazing." "We only let people in who understand our culture," Seari said. "The locals are friends from Renaissance Fairs and fantasy conventions. Some are women we've gotten romantically involved with." "Those tapestries. Do they depict real events?" Tigh squinted at the one on the wall in front of her. "Isn't that the coronation of Trigo? The only coronation that took place in the caverns below the western meadows because Emoria was at war at the time."

"Queen Terle had been killed in battle and they had to send scouts out to find Trigo," Jame said. "Who, it turned out, had been captured by the Creadians," Tigh said. "Her life companion, Nyte, was on her way to Emoria to tell them that Trigo had been captured when the scouts found her," Jame said. "Thank goodness by that time the rift between Trigo and Master Warrior Aglon had been patched up and Trigo had her princess pendant." Tigh grinned. "Then she led Emoria to a spectacular victory against the Creadians." "That is so scary, you knowing so much about us," Seari said. Tigh shrugged. "I'm a researcher." "It's been so fun talking to Tigh," Jame said. Seari touched the hilt of the sword. "You'll leave the sword here?" "Yes," Tigh said. "It couldn't be in better hands." Seari slowly nodded. "Thank you." Jame grinned. "Now let me tell you about the lighthouse at Point Reyes..."

Jame opened the door of her apartment and wasn't surprised to see Dani at the kitchen table surrounded by books and papers. "Hey, Dani." Dani looked up. "Hey. Have fun today?" "Yeah, I did." Jame went into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. "You know, your sisters from the commune were quite an entertainment today," Dani said. "I thought you were afraid of them," Jame said. "Well, after I got over the whole obsession with sharp objects and that growing up in an all women commune has skewed their attitude toward men and that their flirting is harmless..." Jame laughed. "We go back many generations in our traditions and they must be feeling comfortable enough with you to do a little flirting. It's just a way of breaking the ice." "Tell you the truth, it took me a while to realize they were actually flirting," Dani said. "By that time I realized it was harmless and kind of charming." "So what did they do to entertain?" Jame slid into the chair across from Dani. "They were in the back alley playing an odd game," Dani said. "Glak. It's an old old game," Jame said. "I'll tell you, it would really catch on today," Dani said. "But boy, it's fast and furious. And one false move and you could end up in the hospital." "We grew up playing it," Jame said. "Keran tried to explain the finer points of the game to me but, I'm afraid, I was better off just thinking I knew what was going on," Dani said. "Keran." Jame rubbed her chin. "Is she the one who's been flirting with you?" "Actually, no," Dani said. Jame bit her lip. "Not at all?" "No. She was just being friendly," Dani said. "Look. Don't worry about the flirting..." Jame waved her hand. "I'd worry if they didn't flirt." Her cell phone on her belt twittered. "Excuse me." She unclipped it and checked the text message. She then went to the window and looked down into the alley. A battered pickup truck was parked behind the blades shop. "What's up?" Dani asked as she went back to her studying. "A friend just arrived from home." Jame walked to the door. "Better go say hi." When she was in the corridor, she took a moment to rein in an unfamiliar irritation. What was Jaeg doing here anyway? She'd better be here because of the convention. She walked to the other end of the corridor and trotted down the stairs, slowing when she got to the second floor landing. Jaeg's voice, sounding puzzled and agitated, came from the blades shop. She pushed down her irritation and walked to the first floor and through a door into the back room of the shop. A tall woman with gray eyes and short black hair turned when Seari saw Jame. "Jame," Jaeg said. "Hello, Jaeg," Jame said. "Here to help get ready for the convention?" Jaeg blinked at her. "Do I need a reason to visit?" "Uh, no," Jame said. "But you don't usually like to leave home." "You know, I think I'm going to see if Taler needs help in the kitchen." Seari slid past Jame and out the door. "I thought you'd be happy to see me or something," Jaeg said. Jame sighed. "I'm always happy to see anyone from home." Jaeg fiddled with the leather covering on one of the long work tables. "I heard about this Tigh lookalike." Jame threw up her hands in frustration. "I just met her. Friday night." "And went out to dinner with her and went sightseeing with her," Jaeg said. "It's not everyday I meet up with a member of the Tigis clan who also happens to be writing a dissertation on Emoria." "I think the concern is that you just started hanging out with her without letting, at least, the Elders know," Jaeg said. Jame folded her arms. "If there was any concern I would have heard from Trigo or Relia." "Why do you always have to make things so difficult?" Jaeg asked in frustration. Jame sighed. "Jaeg. Why do you keep insisting on pressing your suit?" "Because I know that we're meant to be together," Jaeg said. "When you finally get tired of being out here in the world, you'll be ready to settle down. You'll see that all you'll ever need will be waiting for you at home." Jame stuffed her hands into her pockets and walked to the beaded doorway to the front of the shop. She saw that it was raining again. The lights of the restaurant across the street streaked as water ran down the front window. "Jaeg, you shouldn't pin your hopes on what might happen. There are so many uncertainties in life, you never know what's going to come around the next corner." "The next corner," Jaeg said. "Like a certain Tigh lookalike?" Jame turned to Jaeg. "I know it's hard for you to understand, but it's been fun talking to Tigh. She knows more about what happened in the old world than probably anyone." "I don't have a problem with all this scholarly stuff, but it really bothers me that she looks exactly like Tigh the warrior," Jaeg said. "It's always been weird enough to grow up looking at a portrait of someone who looks exactly like you alongside a life companion and a family. I don't think I could get used to seeing you with someone who looks like that life companion." "We're not Queen Jame and Master Warrior Tigh," Jame said. "We're Jame Ketlas, law student, and Paldar Tigis, doctoral student in ancient history. A couple of students focused on finishing our degrees." "So this is all purely intellectual?" Jaeg asked. "I think she'd make a great friend," Jame said. "Friend," Jaeg said. "You like her." "Yeah. I like her." Jame picked up a sword and gave it a couple of flips. "Nothing wrong with liking people." "You like your friend, Dani, too, but she's straight," Jaeg said. "The reason that she was allowed to share my apartment with me," Jame said. "What about this Tigh lookalike?" Jaeg asked. "Uh, I don't know." Jame felt a strange discomfort that she never considered that Tigh could be straight. She realized that she had meshed Tigh the warrior with Tigh the student. "You don't know?" Jaeg frowned. "You really don't know." "No," Jame said. "We've just talked mostly about Emoran history and women's basketball." Jaeg's brows hiked up. "She like's women's basketball?" "Yeah. But that doesn't mean anything." Jame rolled her eyes. Jaeg looked uncertain and a bit sheepish. "Uh, I guess I might have overreacted a bit." Jame chuckled. "Maybe a little bit." "Well, I'm stuck here for a few weeks because I volunteered for convention duty," Jaeg said. Jame practiced her lawyer blank face to hide how much she wished Jaeg would just go home. "Great. It'll be fun having you around for a while."

Chapter 4

Tigh lifted her legs out of her last pushup and stood on her hands. She grinned and walked her hands across the room. "That explains the obsession with trying to prove myth is history. You let all the blood rush to your head." Tigh lowered her feet and stood. "Hi, Gwen." She bent her knees and rolled onto her back and started a grueling routine of crunches guaranteed to get every ripple in her six pack abs. "God. You're a disgrace to the scholarly community." Gwen grinned and leaned on the door jam. "Rob's car broke down. Again. I have to pick up a book from Karen before class today." "I'll give you a lift," Tigh panted as she continued her reps. "Great. I owe you one," Gwen said. "Half hour?" "I'll be ready," Tigh said. Gwen left and Tigh finished her crunches. She then did her sets of lunges and squats. Her housemates might tease her about her serious fitness but she loved the hours she spent running, shooting hoops, and lifting weights in the gym. She was a scholar in the body of an athlete. Kind of like her namesake. She took a quick shower and pulled on faded jeans, a T-shirt, and leather jacket. After slipping her notes and laptop into her backpack, she trotted down to the kitchen and collected a carton of yogurt and a bag of assorted fruit. "The only person I know who can walk past an open box of donuts and not even glance at them." Tigh looked at the trio at the table. "You turn into what you eat." Jack patted his budding spare tire. "You can say that because you're already the female equivalent of a fruit." Tigh put her hands on her hips and gave him a look. Jack put up his hands. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Besides, you started it." "Good save." Tigh grinned and walked into the living room. She couldn't really be mad at Jack. His brother was gay and he idolized him, to the point, Jack had jokingly confessed that he experienced a period of disappointment when he realized that he was straight. He made up for it by writing his dissertation on the great gay military heroes through the ages. "Ready?" Gwen asked from a couch. "Yeah." Tigh pulled open the front door and grimaced at the dreary fog. "Nice day." "Fall is definitely here," Gwen said. They climbed into the Jeep and Tigh pulled away from the curve. "Turn right up here," Gwen said. Tigh followed Gwen's go lefts and turn rights without even thinking and was surprised when they were on the street where Jame lived. "She lives above the bookstore over there," Gwen said. Tigh pulled into the closest parking place. "I'll be just a minute." Gwen climbed out of the Jeep. Tigh watched as Gwen tried to trot to the bookstore, unable to imagine how one could be so young and so out of shape. She settled into the seat. Gwen's idea of a minute would be at home on the edge of a black hole. "Jaeg really needs to forget about Jame." Tigh whipped her attention to the sidewalk in front the coffee shop next door. Seari and another woman were on the sidewalk and cradling large paper cups. "You really think that Jame is attracted to this Tigh lookalike?" the other woman asked. "Oh, yeah," Seari said. "And according to Jaeg, Jame doesn't even know if she's gay or straight." "So Jame really enjoys her company." The other woman looked thoughtful. "Yeah. It's weird seeing them together," Seari said. "It's downright disconcerting, Celi. This Tigh really does look like Tigh." "We know that Jaeg has always been more serious about Jame than Jame about Jaeg," Celi said. "Jaeg's just never been able to let go." "Look," Seari said. "I'm as protective as the next warrior with Jame, but I haven't felt anything threatening or ulterior with this Tigh. They just seem to enjoy each other's company. I'm more worried that she'll break Jame's heart because she's not interested in women than anything else." Celi rubbed her chin. "Well, she understands our society enough to know that Jame is only interested in women. And she also understands it enough to know that any one of us can confront her about her intentions if things progress without things progressing, if you know what I mean." "Aren't you worried about the reaction at home?" Seari asked. "There's always a possibility that a princess will find a life companion outside of Emoria," Celi said. "But it doesn't happen much anymore," Seari said. Celi put a hand on Seari's arm. "We have to let Jame sort out the way of her own heart." Seari nodded as they crossed the street to the blades shop. Tigh stared dumbfounded at their backs, her mind numb to everything except that Jame liked her. Really liked her. Gwen emerged from the side door next to the bookstore and Tigh shook out of her stunned thoughts. "Sorry it took so long." Gwen slipped into the Jeep. "Campus?" Tigh asked as she pulled away from the curb. "Yeah. If you don't mind." Tigh's mind was too numb to mind or even think and she needed to drive a bit to work through the wonderful thoughts that Jame actually liked her. Thoughts tinged with uncertainty about this person name Jaeg.

"Earth to Jame." Jame blinked up from scribbling notes. Her study group around the small table was staring at her. She had zoned out-again. "I was just taking a vote on McDonald's or hanging at Angie's and ordering pizza," Jimmy said. "Uh." Jame capped her pen as something to do while she returned her thoughts to the present. She'd been embarrassing herself all day but she couldn't keep from thinking about how much she enjoyed the weekend and Tigh's company. "I have to help my cousin tonight." "You've been kind of out of it all day," Susan said. "There's a nasty virus going around. We wouldn't want you to get sick on us." Angie grinned. "We'd never pass." The others chuckled. The joke had started way back in their first year. Jame couldn't help it if she grew up in a society that thrived on a warrior mentality and expected everyone, especially its princess, to be at the top of anything she tried. "I'm fine," Jame said. "Yeah, yeah," Susan said. "I'm sure even you give in to the occasional bug." Jame shrugged. "I've had a couple of colds." The others shook their heads in disgust and they shoved books, notebooks, and laptops into their backpacks. "There goes the perception that communal living is dirty and unhealthy," Angie said. "Far from it," Jame said. "At least the one I'm from." "You sure you can't join us?" Jimmy asked as they all stood and stretched out muscles tight from sitting hunched over books. "Yeah," Jame said. "My cousin is preparing orders for PacifiCon." "That's the best part of knowing you," Angie said. "Being introduced to the ultimate geek fest." Jimmy grinned. "And seeing our normal egghead classmate walk around in ooh-la-la leathers and weaponry." "Even eggheads have their wild and crazy side," Jame said. "And it's always a pleasure to see it every year." Jimmy winked, opened the study door, and walked outside. Cooler air, tinged with the smell of books from the library stacks, flowed into the small room. "He still has a crush on you," Susan said. "It's not my fault that he was born with the wrong body parts," Jame said. Susan and Angie laughed. "I think he likes his body parts just fine," Angie said. Jame shouldered her backpack and stepped into the library stacks proper. "I need to look up something. I'll see you in class tomorrow." The others said good night and disappeared around a range of books and Jame, knowing she didn't want to go home right away, just stood there. She knew what she wanted to do. She sighed and wandered between ranges of books. She wanted to find Tigh. Laur's waterfalls, Jame. What's gotten into you? She's going to think you're some kind of crazy person if you just appear on her doorstep. But she felt vaguely unsettled and restless and knew the only cure was to see Tigh. She sank onto a library stool as her thoughts stilled with the realization of what was going on with her. She was coming down with something all right. Is this what it's like to fall in love? This single-minded obsessive-ness? She raised her eyes to the ranges of books towering around her. What greater irony could there be than for her to fall in love with someone who looks exactly like Tigh the warrior? Okay, let's be rational about this. She stood and walked to the stairwell. Maybe I've just gotten too caught up with the parallels between us and our ancient namesakes. Probably when the novelty wears off we'll just be really good friends. After all, she's probably straight. She stopped on a step and pushed down all the crazy emotions that thought conjured up. Come on, Jame. In this society, the odds are she's straight. She walked into the reference area of the library and without thinking went to the computers that allowed e-mail and sat in front of one. She had always reacted to the stories of Emorans falling for straight girls with great sympathy and, like all Emorans, was certain she would never make that mistake. She sighed as she logged on to her e-mail. I pray to Laur I don't make that mistake. Her inbox filled and she scanned through the messages. She stared at the address of one of the messages and clicked on it.

Hi A descendent of Commander Maur owns a vineyard outside Sonoma. She lets me keep all the stuff I've collected about the Southern Territories and Emoria in one of her out buildings. I was planning to go up there on Saturday and was wondering if you'd like to go along. If you're not busy. Tigh

Jame reread the message several times. Almost laughing at the excitement surging through her. I'm turning into a basket case. She put her fingers over the keyboard and thought about what to write.

Hi That sounds like fun. I've only passed through Sonoma and never stopped there. A descendent of Maur? Amazing. Just let me know when you'll pick me up and I'll be ready. Jame

She read through the message. It sounded normal enough. Friendly. Like a friend. She clicked "Send." Friend. Right. A good friend. A really really good friend. Stop that. It's just a crush at the most.

You're an Emoran scholar. It's only natural to want to study a safe house. Tigh sat in the Jeep in the dark of evening across the street from Emoria's little piece of Berkeley. It's the perfect excuse. She leaned her head back on the headrest and stared at the stars-the rain had stopped and her roof was off. You've never had a problem approaching people for research before. It's research. Objective. Impersonal. "Yeah, right. They're going to think you're there to see Jame no matter what you say and they'll be right." Tigh flipped her small leather-bound journal over in her hands. "But it's research, too. Important to my dissertation." On the other hand, maybe Jame will be disappointed that I'm there just to do research and not to see her. Tigh gave the stars a beseeching look. "What a mess." "Tigh?" Tigh literally jumped and then turned to the sidewalk. "Uh, hi." Jame walked up to the Jeep. "Didn't mean to startle you. I was just going to the bookstore." She pointed two shops down. Tigh slipped out of the Jeep. "I, uh, was just, uh...I saw the parking spot and, uh..." She looked at her shoes. She knew at that moment that she would never be able to lie or even stretch the truth to Jame. Jame put a hand on Tigh's arm and Tigh blinked up at her. "It's okay to drop in. My sisters have gotten used to my friends." Tigh nodded. "It's just the whole Emoran thing makes it kind of strange." Jame laughed. "Believe me, I understand. The bookstore has a book I ordered and then maybe we could hang out in the coffee shop, if you want." "Sounds good." Tigh looked at the journal in her hand and then locked it into the box in the back seat of the Jeep. "I begged off hanging with my study group tonight," Jame said as she led the way down the street. "But I didn't want to go home yet." They walked into a narrow brightly lit store with Gaia's Books painted on the window. "Hi, Jame." A woman with gray streaked hair shuffled from around the counter and gave Jame a hug. Jame laughed. "Are you hinting that I don't come around often enough?" "Something like that," the woman said and then she turned to Tigh and stared wide-eyed. "Tassie, this is my friend, Tigh," Jame said. "Tigh, this is my aunt, Tassie." "Tigh?" Tassie's eyebrows shot up. "Seari told me there was someone who looked like Tigh the warrior but this is amazing." "I'm a direct descendent of Tigh's sister," Tigh said. "Well, then," Tassie's said, "welcome to my bookstore. Look around. If you need any special orders, I'll be happy to fill them." "Thank you," Tigh said. "I'll get your book for you, Jame." Tassie walked to the back of the store and disappeared through an opened doorway. "Tassie is Trigo's sister." Jame absently picked up an issue of Girlfriends and glanced at the table of contents. Tigh looked around and wandered to a display of books. "Nice store." Jame put down the magazine and walked to Tigh. "It does well here." Tigh picked up a novel and looked at the back blurb, put it down and picked up another novel, glanced at the back cover and thumbed through it. "I don't have much time to read for pleasure these days." She put the book down. "I know that feeling," Jame said. "When I get my degree, I promised myself a month of doing nothing but lounging around reading every light novel I can get my hands on." Tigh wandered to a small shelf of feminist nonfiction and peered at the titles. "Read any of them?" Tigh glanced back at the odd tone in Jame's voice and then she remembered the conversation she had overheard that morning. Jame didn't know she was gay. "Yeah. Most of them." "To help with your research of an all women society?" Jame asked. "Actually, for my Master's thesis about women societies and cultures," Tigh said. "Really?" Jame asked. "Exploring women societies seemed kind of a natural choice of subject," Tigh said. Jame looked like she wanted to know more when Tassie rambled out of the back room. She walked behind the counter and checked the price of the book. "This is school related so it goes on the general education tab. You and Heko have been giving me some nice business lately." "We wouldn't think of giving our business to anyone else," Jame said as she handed a green plastic card with a crossed sword and bow holograph glistening from it. Tassie passed the card through a small scanner and punched in some numbers. Tigh couldn't help but think that the modern Emoran society was a lot more interesting and complex than the ancient culture. She picked up the new issue of Girlfriends and pulled her plain black wallet from her pocket. Tassie rang up the magazine. "As a friend of Emoria, you get ten percent discount." "Friend of Emoria?" Tigh asked. "Mostly families of outsiders who have joined with Emorans," Tassie said. "Whose blood has mingled with our own." "I never thought about it that way," Tigh said. "Do you get many customers who are friends of Emoria?" "Occasionally," Tassie said. "Most are from modern joinings. We don't know of many of the ancient families anymore. Except Seari has her merchants list." "I was surprised to learn that my family was on that list," Tigh said. "I was surprised that the list exists at all," Jame said. "The blades merchants have always maintained the traditions of the ancient Emoran outlanders," Tassie said. "Amazing," Tigh muttered. A pair of women sauntered into the shop. Tassie winked at them. "It was good to meet you, Tigh. Stop in any time." "I will," Tigh said. "See you later, Tassie," Jame said. Tigh followed Jame into the cool night. "You didn't have to buy the magazine," Jame said. Tigh shrugged. "I haven't read this issue." Jame stared at Tigh for a moment. "You've read other issues." "I pick it up every once in a while." Tigh was surprised that she enjoyed tweaking Jame. "You do?" "Yeah." Tigh stared down into Jame's night-darkened eyes. "I'm glad." Tigh's heart skipped a beat at Jame's wonderful expression. She blinked away when she realized they were gazing into each other's eyes. Oh, boy. Get a grip. "Uh." Jame nodded towards the coffee shop. Not trusting her voice, Tigh could only nod. The full impact of being liked by Jame slammed into her senses.

Chapter 5

"So you don't like coffee at all?" Jame asked, having to lean across the small table. The coffee shop was typically crowded with students and professors and between caffeine induced intellectual discussions and the piped in alternative rock music, carrying on a conversation was a challenge. "Only tea." Tigh lifted her cup of Chai. "We're raised on spiced tea," Jame said. "Still, some of us develop a taste for coffee, especially since espresso became so popular, but I'm still just a tea drinker. Chai's close enough to our traditional tea to be a nice change without being too alien."

"I usually drink black tea with milk and sugar," Tigh said. "Good for keeping me awake while doing researching and homework." "Do you think geekiness is deeply embedded in our genes?" Jame asked. "Sounds like another subject of study." Jame spluttered a laugh. "Nonstop geek genes." She was delighted by Tigh's gentle smile. "We're not related you know." Tigh blinked at her. "We're not directly related." "We're not remotely related." Jame took a sip of tea. "I'm actually descended from Nohi's line." Tigh frowned. "Heko's cousin? What about Anisa and Anika's descendants?" Jame wrapped her hands around the large mug. "The story of how their line ended is a poignant one. It happened after we settled here." Tigh looked thunderstruck. "I can't believe it." She frowned. "But your name is Ketlas." "Queen Irlis adopted the Ketlas name," Jame said. "It's the traditional name for the direct royal line. It's interesting that the original Jame was born Jamelin Leatas but was given the name Ketlas when she was adopted by Jyak." "What about your sister, Heko?" Tigh asked. "Her name is Ketlas." "Actually her name is Heko Leatas-Ketlas," Jame said. "As you can imagine, we've had to make some adaptations to our traditions to not draw too much attention to ourselves." "Adaptations," Tigh said. "It's amazing no one seems to know about you at all." Jame's reply died on her lips as she stared at the front door. Tigh turned and saw the woman she had seen that morning and a younger woman walk up to the counter. "Great," Jame muttered. Tigh frowned. "Problem?" Jame sighed. "It's just that I was enjoying talking to you. I don't want then interrupting." Tigh looked stunned. "Does that surprise you?" Jame asked. Tigh stared at the mug cradled in her hands. "I, uh, enjoy talking to you, too." "I'm glad," Jame said in a soft voice. Tigh looked up and was captured in the spell of Jame's gentle green eyes. Jame blinked away and glanced in the direction of the counter. Tigh remembered to breathe and returned her attention to her tea. "They're headed this way," Jame said under her breath. "Hi, Jame," Celi said. "Hi, Celi. Jaeg." Jame gave Tigh a wry look. "Tigh, meet Celi and Jaeg. They're here to help get ready for our booth at PacifiCon." "Nice to meet you," Tigh said. Jaeg stared intently at her. "You do look like her. Amazing. Kind of spooky." "I think it's kind of cool," Jame said. Jaeg focused on Jame. "Cool?" "Uh, Jaeg, we need to get back." Celi raised one of the large cups in her hands. "You know how Seari gets when her coffee's cold." Jaeg gave Tigh a long look and nodded. "It was nice to meet you, Tigh," Celi said. She raised an eyebrow at Jaeg. Jaeg took one last look at Jame and then Tigh and followed Celi out of the place. Jame relaxed and gave the ceiling a long suffering look. "Jaeg is jealous." She leaned forward, put her elbows on the table, and caught Tigh's deer-in-the-headlights expression. "That's why she's here. She came down here the moment she heard about you." "I don't understand," Tigh stammered. "Just going to dinner with me makes you challenge fodder," Jame said. Tigh let out her breath. "I know that." "But it's more complicated with Jaeg." Jame toyed with her mug. "She's your, uh..." Tigh lowered her eyes. Jame blinked up. "No. Not really." Tigh gave her a confused look. "We kind of went together when we were teenagers. I went off to college and, well, I realized that I didn't have any really strong feelings for her. When I returned home during break, I let her down as easy as possible. Encouraged her to give some of the other girls who were showing an interest in her a chance." "But none of them were a wizard from a foreign land." "Huh? Oh." Jame softly chuckled. "She's probably feeling a bit like Argis right now. I mean, you looking so much like Tigh the warrior." Tigh nodded. "She's still pressing her suit." Jame sighed and took a long sip of tea. "She just doesn't believe that I'm not interested." "If my presence is causing trouble for you..." Tigh stared into her tea. "Jaeg doesn't have any hold on me. And I can spend time with whoever I want." Jame captured Tigh's uncertain eyes. "Forget who I am. Don't you think we'd make great friends?" Tigh nodded. "I, uh, feel like we're already friends." Jame put her hand over Tigh's. Tigh stared at Jame's hand. Jame, a little alarmed, pulled her hand away. "Uh, I thought...uh..." "No. It's okay. I, uh..." Tigh's panicked expression turned to frustration. "I mean this is okay. I'm just not used to..." She took a deep breath and looked into Jame's eyes. "I'm not used to how I'm feeling." She returned her attention to her tea. Jame put her hand over Tigh's again and Tigh looked up at her. "I'm not used to it either. So I guess we'll just have to get used to it together." Tigh blinked surprised. "You, uh..." "Like you." Jame smiled. "Yeah. I admit to having a bit of a crush." "Crush," Tigh whispered. "Yeah. I know the feeling." "I guess that means we don't have to worry about being embarrassed about doing crushlike things," Jame said. Tigh looked sheepish. "Like sitting in my Jeep across from the safe house." "Or my pulse jumping when I saw a message from you in my inbox." "Really?" Tigh asked. Jame grinned. "Yeah. Pretty hopeless, huh?" "I hope not," Tigh whispered. "I hope not, too." Jame lifted her mug. Tigh lifted hers and they touched them together in a private toast.

"What was that about?" Jame stopped on the bottom step to her apartment. "If you don't like what you're seeing then go home." Jaeg pushed out of the back mud room, where she had obviously been waiting. "Seven years ago you told me you didn't love me and encouraged me to find someone else. But you never found anyone else." "And the last couple of years you've been trying to push your suit," Jame said. "I was sure that you'd return home. To the one who has always cared about you," Jaeg said. "Jaeg." Jame took a deep breath. She was partially to blame for this predicament. She hadn't done anything to really discourage Jaeg because she hadn't been thinking beyond finishing her studies. The last thing on her mind had been finding someone. Especially someone like Tigh. "I'm sorry. But you know deep down that even if I came home without a life companion, I would not be joined with you." Jaeg stuffed her hands into her jean pockets. "I know. I just worry that you're getting too caught up in this coincidence thing. This descendant of Tigh who looks like Tigh. It didn't look like you were doing research tonight." "No," Jame said. "We just met on the street and decided to sit and talk for a while." Jaeg sighed and pushed a hand through her hair. "To tell you the truth I'm a little confused about what I'm feeling right now." Jame cocked her head. "How'd you like to have a cup of tea? Come on up." Jaeg hesitated and then followed Jame to the third floor. Jame opened the apartment door and let Jaeg enter first. "Dani usually cocoons herself in her room studying." She peeked down the hallway and smiled at the closed door at the end. "Come on into the kitchen." Jaeg settled at the table while Jame put water on the stove to boil. Jame turned around and relaxed her back against the counter. "So you're confused." Jaeg played with a salt shaker. "I feel like I'm being disloyal or something." Jame shook her head. "You have to forget I'm a princess." "You know that none of us can forget that," Jaeg said. "You're going to be our queen someday. How could I admit to anyone, much less myself, that I wasn't in love with you?" Jame nodded, finally understanding. "So it would have been a lot easier if I had found someone else when I broke it off with you." "Yeah. Although I didn't think so at the time," Jaeg said. Jame put a couple of pinches of spiced tea into the basket in the traditional Emoran tea pot. She then poured the boiling water over the basket and into the pot, releasing a spicy aroma that shouted home more than anything else for an Emoran. She took the pot and two sturdy mugs to the table and sat down. "And no one showed their interest in you because they thought that we'd get back together as long as I hadn't found someone else." "I don't know if anyone has ever been interested," Jaeg said. Jame poured tea into the mugs and pushed one to Jaeg. "You mentioned earlier about how I may be getting caught up in the coincidence thing. With Tigh." "Yeah," Jaeg said. "It crossed my mind and I even convinced myself that I've been captured by the novelty of knowing someone who looks just like Tigh the warrior." Jame took a sip of tea. "But..." Jame sighed. "But I don't see Tigh the warrior. I see Tigh the graduate student from Texas who drives a Jeep and who is so shy that she can't believe that I want to be her friend." "Friend," Jaeg said. "If we were more outgoing and, uh, more experienced, I have no doubt we would have gone way beyond friends by now." Jaeg's eyes widened. "What?" "I'm not going to pretend that we're not attracted to each other," Jame said. "So you're saying she's not a lady killer?" Jaeg asked. Jame smiled. "I don't doubt she's turned a lot of heads but she probably hasn't noticed." Jaeg took a sip of tea. "Kind of like Queen Heko." "Yeah." Jame swished the tea around in her mug. "I want us to have a chance at whatever may happen. I'd really like it if you could be at least understanding of what I'm going through right now. And I'd really like it if you could be friendly to Tigh." Jaeg bit her lip. "I'll try." She looked at Jame. "It's not that I don't want to be friendly with her, it's just hard seeing you together. I grew up seeing someone who looks like you together with someone who looks like her every time I walked into the palace." "I know," Jame said. "But we aren't the ancient Jame and Tigh. Unfortunately, I'm still a princess and Tigh is having as much problem dealing with that as the rest of you are having dealing with her resemblance to the other Tigh." Jaeg frowned. "What do you mean?" "She knows our traditions too well," Jame said. "She's a bit wary about how much of my life is mine." "I guess my behavior tonight didn't help any," Jaeg said. "Actually, it let us talk out a couple of things," Jame said. "You seem to do a lot of talking," Jaeg said. Jame laughed. "It's different from growing up with someone." Jaeg gave her a weak smile. "I guess it is." "So are we all right with all this?" Jame poured some more tea into Jaeg's cup. Jaeg nodded. "Yeah. I'm, uh...I'm glad you've found someone who might be the one for you." Jame swallowed a sudden rise of emotion. When did they grow up and get so mature? "Thank you."

Tigh trotted up the stairs to her room on the third floor-the only room, since it was a converted attic. At least she had her own bathroom. Sometimes coming from a wealthy family was all right-especially when it could buy a bit of privacy. Leaning against her door was a package. She was always getting something from all her contacts around the world. She picked up the package, unlocked her door, and walked into her room...and just stood there. After a couple of minutes she nudged herself to flip on the light but she couldn't do more than look aimlessly around. It was as if her mind decided that if she couldn't be with Jame, she didn't want to do anything at all. "This is absurd." But she had to admit that Jame's absence really created a hole. "You have it bad." She finally went to her desk and selected a sword-shaped letter opener from her pencil jar. She ran the blade through the tape on the box and peeled back the flaps. A smile touched her lips as she lifted a wooden box from protective plastic pillows. With gentle reverence she opened the box. Inside, cushioned in velvet, was a bracelet of delicate spun metals attached to a silver plate engraved with the Emoran crest of the crossed sword and bow. She picked up the bracelet and studied the fine runes etched on the back of the plate. "'To my arbiter, from your warrior with love forever.'" Something inside her calmed and a rare clarity overtook her mind. Those words were how she felt. It was as if she had commissioned that bracelet instead of her ancient namesake. She carefully put the bracelet back into the box. Now she understood what had possessed her to ask her sister to retrieve it from her collection at home. Her desire to give it to Jame was overwhelming. "But not now. I'll know when the time is right." She put the box on the shelf next to her small boombox and absently flipped on the radio. The last few chords of a song faded to a glaring commercial. "Now here's 'Bound to You' by Shawn Colvin," the announcer droned. Tigh stared at the radio as if hypnotized as the opening upbeat chords filled the room and the lyrics seeped into the raw vulnerable parts of her heart. She sank cross-legged to the floor and remained there long after the last notes of the song died away. The chorus echoed in her mind like a mantra of enlightenment.

I'm bound to you, and all that it means I'm bound to you, there's no in-between It's like the earth below and the sky of blue Are bound to me and you Chapter 6

"I still can't believe that a descendant of Commander Maur has a vineyard in Sonoma." Jame stared at the hills of grapevines, glistening in the late morning sun. "Lucky for me Maureen has an avid interest in Phytian history," Tigh said. "She let me convert an old barn on her property to use as a study and a place to crash over weekends and breaks while I did my research." She slowed the Jeep and turned onto a well kept road next to a large sign with Blue Warrior Winery boldly etched on it along with a painting of a woman warrior in blue leather armor. Jame stared at the sign in surprise and delight. "The Blue Warrior? Wow. I can't believe it." "I told you she was into Phytian history," Tigh said. "Tanley was considered one of the greatest warriors from outside of Emoria," Jame said. "Her story is still told on festival nights." "She must have been great indeed to find a place in Emoran culture," Tigh said. "She lived at the same time as Tigh and Jame." Jame bit her lip in thought. "In fact, she was a soldier of Ynit under Commander Maur." Tigh grinned. "Her story has always been a favorite with Maur's descendants also." They rounded a grapevine covered hill and a stone building resembling a small castle surrounded by several stone outbuildings nestled in the valley before them. As they got closer, Jame noticed a low stone house sprawled on the other side of more grapevines. A parking lot filled with cars was to one side of the road. Tourists were all over the place. "She does quite a business," Jame said. "She came up with the idea of also having a restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and high tea," Tigh said. "With all the competition between the wineries she needed some kind of edge." Tigh drove up to a closed intricate iron gate and pulled down her window, letting the sun- warmed air into the Jeep. She punched some numbers onto a pad and the gate obediently slid open. They drove past the house and a stone and wood horse stable to a renovated eight-sided barn. "Wow. It's beautiful," Jame said. "Many years ago, when I was still an undergrad, I came here to talk with Maureen about Phytia and saw the barn." Tigh pulled the Jeep up to the door. "I made a deal with her. If I renovated the barn, I could use it as a study." "You did this yourself? With your own hands?" Jame jumped out of the Jeep. The base of the barn was about four feet high of rough stone, topped with narrow planks of white painted wood up to a red tiled roof. The windows were on each of the eight sides, all but the two on either side of the door were of a thick opaque glass. She laughed at the door. It was a split farmhouse door with a deep blue on the bottom and a rich purple on top. "The colors of the House of Tigis." "You know that?" Tigh asked. She unlocked the door and opened it for Jame to enter. Jame turned in a circle and took in the shelves, tightly packed with books, scrolls, papers, and various artifacts built up to the rafters. A tight spiral staircase wound to a catwalk at where the second floor would be. An oak desk piled with notebooks and opened books and papers was near one wall. A pair of black leather chairs with a low table between them fronted a pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room and a comfortable looking black leather couch was against the wall opposite the desk. Tigh went to a pair of finely carved small doors surrounded by shelves. She opened one, revealing a small refrigerator, where she put several bottles of fruit juice. "I thought we could have lunch in the restaurant." "Sounds good," Jame said. "This place is amazing. All of this stuff has to do with Phytia?" She went to a shelf and squinted at the titles on the spines of the books. "Laur's waterfalls." She pulled a book and opened it and stared at the page. "This is in the common language." "Yeah," Tigh said. "Most of the stuff here is in the common language. It was passed down using the tracing technique perfected in Phytia to ensure the most accurate reproductions." "Unbelievable," Jame said. "We had no idea that all this rich tradition was still around." Tigh motioned to a chair. Jame sat down and Tigh sat in the other chair. "I've been lucky to find a relatively safe place to put all this but since I met you, I couldn't help but think it belongs in Emoria. What safer place could be a settlement that's been able to stay hidden for thousands of years?" Jame was stunned. "Are you saying you want to donate all this to our archives?" "When I've finished with my dissertation." Tigh looked at her hands. "As long as I can visit it on occasion." "Just visit?" Jame sucked in her breath, mentally kicking herself. "Geez. I keep doing that." Tigh blinked up. "Being presumptuous," Jame said. "I thought we weren't going to be embarrassed by crush induced things," Tigh said. "It's more than that." Jame couldn't contain her frustration. "I really should be treating you like an Emoran. It's so confusing for both of us when I don't act like one." "Act?" "I've had to learn to not act like an Emoran away from Emoria," Jame said. "I've gotten used to being a lot freer in what I say than I would be in Emoria. Normal conversation in this day and age touches on things that are not discussed in the same way in Emoria. You understand our culture and you're hearing an Emoran say things that Emorans would never say to each other, unless..." She took a deep breath. "Unless they had an understanding." Tigh, eyes on her hands, nodded. "Maybe we should just, uh, kind of start, uh, going together." "What? Like going steady?" Jame couldn't help the grin tugging at her lips. Tigh glanced at her and Jame could see a bit of amusement in her eyes. "Sounds like high school." Jame rubbed her chin in thought. "Dating sounds too calculating." "Being an item sounds too commercial." Jame put her hand on Tigh's arm. "Whatever we call it, let's do it." Tigh looked at Jame's hand and then gazed at Jame. "So...we're a couple?" Jame got caught in Tigh's shy blue eyes. "Yeah." "Really?" "Yeah." Jame sat up and pointed to a braid on her belt. "But I can't change one Emoran tradition. This is a warrior's braid." Tigh's eyes widened. "Uh, can I think about this?" Jame grinned. "Only long enough for you to get used to the idea." Tigh looked at her in a kind of wonderment. "Really?" "Yeah." They both jumped at the gentle rap on the door and then they laughed as the pleasant tension between them lifted. "Come on in," Tigh said. The door cracked open and a curly red head popped in. "Hey, Tigh." The door opened all the way and a tall woman walked inside. Her eyes fell on Jame. "Oh my God. That's amazing." "She said the same thing when she saw me for the first time," Tigh said to Jame. "Meet Maureen Kelly. Maureen this is Jame Ketlas." "Wow." Maureen laughed. "This is just too strange. Paldar Tigis and Jamelin Ketlas, here in my converted barn. My grandmother'll be sorry she missed this." "Except we're just modern day students," Tigh said. "Wasn't Commander Maur's last name Kelia? And how do you know what our ancestors looked like?" Jame asked. "Yep," Maureen said. "We settled in Ireland ages ago, so we didn't have to do much to adapt our name. And how I know what the original Jame and Tigh looked like is a story best told over lunch. Which is why I'm here. To treat you to a meal Blue Warrior style." Jame grinned. "That would be great." Jame and Tigh followed Maureen into the bright noon sun. The country air reminded Jame of how much she loved the outdoors. She turned to Tigh, who was shyly glancing at her. "Thank you for bringing me out here." "You're welcome," Tigh said softly. "I would have killed her if she hadn't brought you here." Maureen led them down a dirt path to a gate in the high fence that separated the winery from the farm. "I still can't believe that so many have remembered the old continent," Jame said. "It can't be any more amazing than Emoria remaining intact all these years." Maureen waved as a busload of tourists rolled past them. They walked through the opened double-doors of the castle. Jame laughed at the medieval decor with its brooding stone and shiny sets of armor holding bottles of wine. Large stain glass windows dominated the side walls. She realized that the images in the glass depicted famous scenes from the legendary life of The Blue Warrior. People were crowded around the displays of wine and the tasting bar in the back of the chamber. "Wow," she said. "This is great. Although I don't know what Tanley would have thought to have a wine named after her." "Her modesty was a part of her charm," Maureen said. "The restaurant is through here." Jame noticed that Tigh maintained a quiet presence beside her. Much like what she knew of the original Tigh. "I take it you serve Ingoran." Maureen's eyes sparkled with good humor. "Some of the original dishes." "Really?" Jame turned to Tigh, who nodded. "She knows more about Phytian history than just about anyone I've ever met," Tigh said. "How did you learn it all?" Jame asked. "That's a part of the long story," Maureen said. They entered a large chamber with a high timber-beamed ceiling and long rustic tables filled with happy people. They went to half-hidden circular booth in a corner. "I put this table in so I'd have a place to entertain guests while showing off my place," Maureen said. Tigh let Jame slip in so she sat between Maureen and herself. "Heko would like it here," Jame said. Maureen's eyes widened. "Heko?" "My sister," Jame said. "She's a freshman at Stanford. On a basketball scholarship." "I guess she takes after her namesake." "Oh, yeah." Jame accepted a large menu from a server in a white shirt, leather vest and leather pants. "Except she got exposed to the outside world a little too young because she wanted to go to a regular high school to play basketball and have a chance to catch a college scout's eye." "That was a problem?" Tigh grinned when a traditional Emoran tea pot with a distinctive spicy aroma was placed on the table with three large mugs. "Oh, bless you," Jame said. "I would never consider having an Emoran sit at my table without serving spiced tea. Allow me." Maureen picked up the pot and filled the mugs. "Anyway," Jame said, "we always accused Heko of enjoying the close interaction with the girls in the locker rooms and on the road a little too much." "I'm sure she got more of an eye full than she'd get in Emoria," Tigh said. "Oh, yeah." Jame took a sip of the tea. "This is marvelous." "Thank you," Maureen said. "I'm glad the old recipe that I have is close to the real thing. About Heko. Am I to understand that you still follow some of those quaint old traditions." "At home we're still as strict as ever," Jame said. "But even during the original Jame and Tigh's time, Emorans were freer when they lived outside the Emoran culture. Today, outland Emorans follow a combination of the strict at home and the freedom out here." Maureen looked delighted. "This is so exciting. You have to understand, we really thought Emoria and Emorans were lost to time." "And we thought all of you were lost to time." "Okay. Enough talk for now." Maureen pointed to Jame's menu. "I haven't given you a chance to pick out something to eat." Jame laughed and opened her menu. "Where's the Ingoran food?" "The savory potatoes," Tigh said. "The greens platter is also prepared Ingoran style." "They both look good." Jame closed her menu. "I think I'll try Ingoran." Maureen grinned. "Sounds like deja vu." "A lot of that seems to be going around." Jame gave Tigh an amused look. Tigh gave her a shy smile back. "It must be strange for you two, looking like your namesakes and all," Maureen said. "We've gotten used to it," Jame said. "And there have been some episodes from history kind of repeating themselves." The server returned to their table and they made their orders. "Now, back to the interesting stuff." Maureen's eyes had a playful glint. "Can any of this history repeating itself be shared with a curious amateur Phytian historian?" Jame raised and eyebrow at Tigh and Tigh shrugged. Jame gave her a "you're sure?" look and Tigh relaxed into a smile and nodded. "I guess the most interesting thing is that we have massive crushes on each other," Jame said. Maureen looked delighted. "So you're an item?" Jame and Tigh glanced at each other and laughed. "Sorry," Jame said. "Kind of a joke between us. Yeah. We're an item." "This is so great," Maureen said. "So tell me all about how you met."

"That was fun." Jame walked into the barn, followed by Tigh. "And the food. Whoa. Now I understand why ancient Jame switched to Ingoran. I've never tasted anything like it." "Yeah," Tigh said. Jame turned around and gave Tigh a quizzical look. Tigh looked at the wooden floor. "Uh, before we go back to reality..." She sucked in her breath. "Don't feel like you have to..." Jame got caught in Tigh's gentle, earnest gaze. "I want to kiss you so bad, I can't think of anything else," Tigh whispered. "I understand what that means and it's scary and exciting and feels so completely right all at the same time." She swallowed at Jame's mesmerized expression. No one had ever looked at her with such desire. Ignoring her pounding heart, she lowered her head and found Jame's welcoming lips. She only meant it to be a short kiss but somehow she slipped her arms around Jame and Jame's arms wrapped around her neck and she got lost in the wonderful sensation of Jame's soft lips. Jame finally broke away, breathing as hard as Tigh. "If we don't stop, we're going to end up on that couch," she gasped. Tigh tried to understand what just happened. She had always considered herself a rather passionless person. Calm, steady, not easy to excite...The rapid rise of passion within her was as frightening as it was unexpected. She let out a ragged breath. "Yeah." "Not that I'm complaining or anything." Jame relaxed her arms around Tigh's neck. "That was some first kiss." "I guess going steady was a good idea." Jame laughed and pulled Tigh into another heart-stopping kiss.

Chapter 7

"Seari's looking for you." Keran didn't even look up from the magazine she was reading. Jame rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Keran." She trotted down the narrow corridor to the tavern and paused on the threshold. The crowd was rowdy and noisy. She had forgotten it was Saturday night, even if it was close to midnight. She wound around the tables to Seari's favorite. "Good business tonight." She sat down. Seari looked up from her ledger. "Local's Night." "Ah." Jame had forgotten about that, too. Once a month all the safe house inhabitants invited their local friends for a night of half-priced Emoran Ale. "So, how was the descendant of Commander Maur?" Seari poured spiced tea into a spare mug on the table. "She's really fun," Jame said. "Would you believe her winery is called The Blue Warrior?" Seari looked surprised. "Really?" "And she has a restaurant that serves, let's see, Emoran spiced tea, Ingoran cuisine, Ynitian stew, and Artocian pocket food. The actual recipes, too. It seems her family has been quite keen on keeping as many artifacts from the old continent as possible and, like Tigh, collected quite a bit through the ages." "Amazing," Seari said. "I need to go check the place out." "Maureen would love to see more Emorans," Jame said. Seari grinned. "I think that can be arranged." "Besides the vineyard, she owns a nice patch of land with trees and a creek where she and her friends ride their horses," Jame said. "She has a nice stable of horses. I bet she would jump at the chance to have Emorans doing some riding there." "Horses?" Seari's face lit up. "She'd really let us go out and ride at her place?" "Oh, yeah," Jame said. "She's so into anything Emoran." "She seems to be into warriors if she named her winery The Blue Warrior," Seari said. Jame grinned. "Wait until you see it." "So Tigh keeps her stuff there?" "She renovated an old eight-sided barn and turned it into an amazing library and study," Jame said. "It's filled with books and scrolls and artifacts from the old continent. So much stuff we never knew existed and Maureen has a collection almost as large." "I guess you'll be spending time out there looking through all that stuff," Seari said. "For Emoran artifacts that we don't have." "When Tigh is finished with her dissertation we're going to separate out all the Emoran stuff," Jame said. "And how's it going with Tigh?" "We've, uh, come to an understanding." Seari's eyes widened. "Understanding?" "Yeah." Jame wrapped her hands around her mug. "We just couldn't ignore how we were feeling anymore. By outsider standards we're officially going together." Seari slowly nodded. "At least she understands our ways." "She not only understands but she respects our traditions," Jame said. "You know you're going to have to take Tigh to Emoria," Seari said. "Soon." "I know." Jame sipped the soothing tea. "I'm going to invite her for Thanksgiving." "She'll be at the Con next weekend won't she?" Seari asked. "Oh, yeah." Jame couldn't keep away an impish grin. "She's going to come in her full Elite Guard glory." "Laur's waterfalls, that'll be a sight." "It'll be so fun."

"Thanks for helping us load this stuff." Keran, in her Emoran leathers, stood in the back of the u-haul truck and took another box of leather goods from Dani. "Are you kidding?" Dani said. "Sure beats studying." Keran watched Dani trot into the back door of the safe house. "Forget it, Keran." Jame sauntered up from inside the truck. "She's straight." "Do you really know that for sure?" Keran asked. "Well, considering where she's living, I think she would have mentioned if she were otherwise," Jame said. Keran cocked her head. "How long have you known her?" "For almost as long as I've been here-over two years," Jame said. "And has she ever had a boyfriend?" "No. But that doesn't mean anything. She's here to get a degree," Jame said. Keran crossed her arms. "Has she gone out on many dates?" Jame frowned. "I don't remember any." "Does she talk about boys at all? Even in an admiring-in-passing sort of way?" Jame sighed. "All right. I admit that she doesn't seem to have a keen interest in boys." Jaeg came out of the safe house with another box of leather goods. "How come you guys have the easy job?" "We got here first," Jame said. "Yeah, yeah." Jaeg gave the box to Jame. "Some of us need our sleep." "Tough work hefting a tankard all night," Keran called as Jaeg disappeared back into the safe house. She turned to Jame. "Dani doesn't seem to have a problem living here." "I did notice that," Jame said. "She was kind of afraid of you guys at first but she really warmed up to you and she finds your flirting charming." Keran straightened. "I've never flirted with her." "Why don't you see if she'll go to a movie with you or something?" Jame said. "Become friends. See what happens. She thinks you're nice." Keran blinked at her. "She does?" "You don't flirt with her," Jame said in a low voice as Dani emerged from the safe house. "Another box," Dani said. "Thanks." Keran took the box and watched as Dani returned to the safe house. "A movie, huh?" Jame laughed and then grinned as a black Jeep pulled into the alley and parked. Tigh climbed out and shook out her black leather-armor. Keran's mouth fell open. "Laur's waterfalls." Jame jumped off the truck and sauntered up to Tigh. "Hey there, warrior." Tigh took in Jame's Emoran leathers. "If I'm a warrior, why'd I have to make the first move?" Jame crossed her arms. "Because you didn't have to spend three days in the freezing cold running around the countryside collecting braids and eluding three master warriors." "All I had to do was get a costumer to make this get up," Tigh said. "My way sounds better." Jame grabbed her arm and pulled her to the truck. "You get to help load the truck." Jaeg and Dani struggled out the door with what looked like an unwieldy piece of scenery. "Looks like a piece of Maureen's winery." Tigh went to take Dani's end. Dani stood back and just stared at Tigh. "We build a bit of a castle to make our booth more interesting," Jame said. "Looks like the set of Lord of the Rings," Tigh muttered as she and Jaeg lifted the scenery up to Keran and Jame. "Here comes more," Keran said. Dani held the door open as Seari and Celi carried what looked like a stone castle wall. "This is going to be so fun," Dani said. Half-hour later the truck was packed. "Can't believe we got everything in there," Jame said. "We're getting pretty good at this." Keran grinned. "Practice, as they say." "Okay, who's taking who?" Seari asked. "I think the truck seats three." "I can take four, if someone doesn't mind a less than comfortable back seat," Tigh said. "I can sit in the back," Dani said. "So can I," Keran said. "You sure?" Tigh asked. "It's kind of tight back there." Keran grinned. "No problem." "I'm sure we'll be okay," Dani said. Jame did her best to hide her grin. "I guess we're ready then." Seari handed Tigh a bright green sticker and a pass. "This will get you into the vendor's lot and into the convention." "Thank you," Tigh said. "Trust me, just having you around will draw people to the booth," Seari said. Tigh frowned and looked down at herself. The Emorans laughed. "Reminds me a bit of Hekolatis," Keran said. Tigh rolled her eyes and walked to the Jeep. Seari leaned close to Jame. "She's a keeper." "You bet she is." Jame laughed and trotted to the Jeep.

"Hold it tight." Jaeg pushed that last piece of the castle that surrounded their booth into place as Tigh braced the rest of the structure. "There." Jaeg and Tigh stepped back and looked at the towers and walls of molded stone. Jame, Seari, and Celi hung swords and daggers and leather bracers and tunics and boots. Dani and Keran spread more of the same, plus medieval chess sets and statues of dragons and warriors on the tables disguised with more molded stone. Tigh looked at their neighbors in the cavernous conference hall. A bookstore boasting the latest science fiction and fantasy titles, an exhibit of fantasy art, and wisps of incense rose from a New Age booth across from them. The Emorans had a prime location. They must have paid quite a bit for it. Jame walked up to Tigh. "Been to many conventions?" "Actually, I haven't been to any," Tigh said. "All this is interesting but I've never been a really avid fan." "You'd be surprised at how much some of my sisters have gotten interested in the TV shows and movies," Jame said. "Some of it captures what we miss about having to live in this society." "You're into Lord of the Rings?" came Keran's excited voice. Tigh and Jame turned to the booth. "Oh, yeah." Dani sounded just as excited. "I loved when the elves marched into Helms Deep." "That was so cool," Keran said. "Last year they had a great exhibit here. This year's supposed to be even better. We should go visit it when things get underway." Jame and Tigh wandered to the bookstore, where the staff were still unloading boxes and filling shelves. "Your roommate seems to be fitting in," Tigh said. "Poor Keran is smitten with her," Jame said. "I hope she doesn't get her heart broken." Tigh casually looked at Keran and Dani, who were engaged in an animated conversation. "Dani seems comfortable around Emorans." "I have to admit, I was kind of surprised how she just accepted all the safe house craziness," Jame said. "The women only commune story can only go so far and anyone who's around us long enough figures out there's much more to it than that." "What's her major?" Tigh picked up a book with a fierce woman warrior on the cover and looked at the back blurb. "Anthropology," Jame said. "She's working on her master's." Tigh cocked her head. "And you don't think the safe house is an anthropologist's dream?" Jame laughed. "You're right." "You know, we asked for the booth next to you guys." A grinning man in a full beard and no hair pulled books out of a box and piled them on the table Jame and Tigh stood next to. "You get the biggest crowds. You must work out all year to look good in those outfits." "We challenge each other to keep in shape," Jame said. "Are you doing sword demonstrations again this year?" the man asked. "We've been working on some new routines." Jame picked up one of the books the man was putting on the table. "Is this new?" "Just published," the man said. "Has already gotten rave reviews. We expect it to sell well." Tigh picked up a book. A woman warrior with a challenging stare and in blue leather armor emblazoned the cover. The title read The Blue Warrior. "Maureen mentioned that her cousin was writing Tanley's story. I didn't know she was passing it off as a fantasy story." Jame flipped through the pages. "Wow. This is amazing." "Ready to sell a couple of books?" Tigh asked the man. The man grinned. "Cash register is set up and ready to go. And for being potentially profitable neighbors, you get ten percent off. Pass that on to the rest of your crew." "Can't beat that," Jame said. "I'll extend the same discount for anything at our booth. For your whole staff." "Now that's what I call neighborly. I'm Rick, by the way." He went to the cash register. "I'm Jame and this is Tigh," Jame said. "That'll be twenty-two ninety-five each," Rick said. The noise level increased at the far end of the hall. Rick grinned. "Looks like it's show time."

Swords clashed and the audience encircling the combatants twittered in anticipation. Tigh and Jame slipped past Gandalf and a couple of Klingons to a slack-jawed Dani. Jaeg and Keran danced around each other's swords and broke into a flourish of lightning fast thrusts and parries. The crowd whooped and applauded and then went wild with shouts and gasps when Jaeg and Keran flipped and rolled around the flashing swords with what looked like insane abandonment. They finally stopped with their swords outstretched and pointing at each other's chest. After long tense moments, they whipped their swords into a salute. The audience applauded and shouted for more. Jaeg laughed. "We'll be back at two. And we'll bring a couple more tricks for you." The crowd wandered away and Jaeg and Keran stopped to talk to several women who were acting like excited groupies around them. "That was incredible," Dani said. "You really are a warrior culture." "Oh, yeah," Jame said. "We're raised to respect the blade." "Amazing." Dani had a perplexed expression as she watched a woman feel Keran's muscles in a flirtatious way. Keran took the attention with a stoic but polite expression. Jame noticed Dani's distraction. "A lot of women like woman warrior types." "Interesting," Dani said almost to herself. Jame exchanged a knowing look with Tigh. "Oh my God. It is Tigh." Tigh turned around and her housemates, watching her with delight, were huddled next to the Star Trek table. "Excuse me," she muttered and walked to her friends. Dani laughed. "Look at those girls. You'd think Keran and Jaeg were rock stars." "Goes with the territory," Jame said. "That's the interesting part," Dani said. "I've lived around you guys long enough to feel the very strong kinship among you and when you're out and about you all have some kind of unique, I don't know, charisma or something that people seem to respond to. It's like your chemistry is different or something." Jame hoped she didn't look as startled as she felt. "Uh, that's an interesting observation." "I'm an anthropologist, I find this little society that you grew up in fascinating," Dani said. "You can understand why we're rather guarded about it," Jame said. "Oh, yeah, completely." Dani nodded with vigor. "I wouldn't want to do anything to spoil a good thing either." "So you think our society is a good thing?" "For all your obsession with warrioring, I've never seen a group of women live so peacefully together," Dani said. "Everything you do seems to be based on time honored traditions." The group around Tigh roared with laughter. Jame and Dani watched as Tigh stoically put up with their teasing. "She's the one you saw on Halloween night, right?" Dani asked. "Yes." "Is she a part of your community?" "Indirectly," Jame said. "Everyone seems to treat her like she's one of you guys," Dani said. Jame bit her lip and made a decision. She'd known Dani long enough to know she wouldn't do anything to compromise the safe house or Emoria. Laur knows, locals found out about them when they fell for an Emoran and that could become the case with Dani. "Are you willing to take a vow to never betray our trust?" Dani's eyes widened. "You mean there's a way I can find out more about you?" "Yes," Jame said. "You can even study us, as long as you only write about us in a historical sense. Tigh is writing her dissertation on us." "Really? Wow." Dani eyes strayed to Keran, who looked her way and rolled her eyes at her admirers. "Yeah." Jame smiled to herself. "You can join us tonight in the safe house to watch one of our more entertaining traditions. It's basically a ritual teasing of Tigh for becoming my steady." "You two are going together?" Dani grinned. "That is so cool." Jame looked at Tigh and smiled. "I think it is."

Chapter 8

Dani's eyes widened as she walked into the safe house tavern. "I've only peeked in here before. Wow. And everyone's dressed like you guys." Keran grinned. "You're about to be introduced into the world of Emoria." "Don't worry if you don't understand everything," Jame said. "We have a long long history." She slipped past Dani and Keran with Tigh in tow. She stopped and turned back to Dani. "One word of warning. Emoran Ale is wickedly strong and everyone's going to be imbibing more than usual tonight. The chance for this kind of initiation doesn't happen very often." "I would think it happened quite a bit," Dani said. Keran motioned to a side table. "The night will be filled with revelations." Dani grinned and followed Keran. Jame pulled Tigh to a long table against the far wall. Seari, Celi, and Jaeg were already at the table, along with Tassie and a tall, lean young woman with tousled blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. "Heko." Jame released Tigh's hand and dodged around tables full of amused Emorans. Heko stood and caught Jame in a laughing embrace. Jame looked up at her. "What are you doing here?" "Well," Heko ran her basketball strengthened hand through her tousled blond hair, "I don't have a game tonight and I wanted to meet this Tigh lookalike who has shown an interest in my big sister." "And you even put on your leathers for the occasion." Jame held her at arm's length. "Mother would be proud." "My basketball's under the table. In case someone wants to see my, uh, technique." Heko flashed a rakish grin. Jame laughed and turned to find Tigh having a problem getting around all the Emorans who kept shoving their chairs in her way. "You're all wasting your time. She's not going to get frustrated and lose her cool." "That's not any fun," Ques hollered. Everyone laughed but Tigh was allowed through. Jame grabbed her arm and pulled her to Heko. "Wow." Heko looked Tigh up and down. "You do look like her. The leathers are a nice touch, too." "Tigh, meet my sister, Heko. She flirts with every woman she meets." Jame laughed at Heko's outraged expression. "I hear you're a basketball fan," Heko said. "Yeah," Tigh said. "I look forward to catching Stanford play." "I might even play that game," Heko said. "So far I've been keeping the bench company." "They're just waiting to unleash you on the world," Jame said. Heko crossed her arms. "So you think you're good enough for my sister, huh?" "I can do no more than hope that I'm good enough for your sister," Tigh said. Heko frowned and looked at Jame. "She really is like the other Tigh." "In some ways, yes." Jame took Tigh's hand and led her around the table. Seari got up and let them slide onto the padded back bench to the middle so they could face the room full of attentive Emorans. Ques delivered a platter of Ingoran dishes for Tigh and a plate of Emoran stew for Jame. Loaves of brown bread on the table were already partially decimated as were the sweating pitchers of ale. Seari poured ale into Tigh and Jame's tankards. Celi stood from her place at the end of the table and rapped a knife against her tankard. The women quickly quieted. "As a representative of Emoria and the one who'll have to explain all this to Trigo, I feel it's my duty to raise the first tankard of ale to the brave soul who sits at Jame's side. I admit this is a more pleasurable task than when I had to explain to Trigo that Heko got caught kissing one of her high school classmates, by that classmate's mother." The women laughed as Heko found her tankard interesting. "At least they were only kissing," Seari said. The others whooped and laughed. Heko's cheeks turned pink as she tried to sink down on the bench. "As fun as it is to tease Heko about her love life," Celi said, "we're here to talk about Jame's love life for a change." Jame put her head in her hands and groaned. "Because she's Jame, we have to make sure she's not being taken advantage of by a roguish type." Celi studied Tigh, who was sampling the Ingoran dishes. She turned to Jame, who gave her an amused look. "You could have, at least, tried to fall for a roguish type." "You don't think she looks roguish in those Elite Guard leathers?" Jame asked. "She looks like Tigh of Ingor," Celi said, "who could appear mild and have a sword pointed at you in a split second." Tigh's fork hit the plate as she stood, unsheathed her wooden sword, and pointed it across the table at Celi's neck. Barely a second had been split. The silence was more shocked than tense. Jame blinked up at Tigh's black leather encased muscular body and took in the calm but focused look in Tigh's eyes. A not unpleasant chill went through her. The spirit of Tigh of Ingor was strong in Tigh the soft-spoken Texan. "Okay." Celi, eyes on the sword, drew out the word. "So there is hidden roguishness behind that quiet facade." Tigh sheathed her sword and shrugged. She sat back down and caught Jame's affectionate look. Jame wrapped an arm around her neck and gave her a kiss. The tavern erupted in whoops and cheers. Jame released Tigh and they shared a private smile. "And they haven't even started drinking yet," Celi said. "So it's time we remedy that." She lifted her tankard. "Here's to Jamelin Ketlas, princess of Emoria and here's to Paldar Tigis, descendant of the Ingoran House of Tigis." The women thumped the tables with their fists and drained their tankards. Jame and Tigh clanked their tankards together and sipped the ale. "Isn't Heko a few years too young?" Tigh nodded as Heko put her empty tankard on the table. "She knows the rules. She's not leaving the safe house tonight," Jame said. "I'm sure wagers have already been made about who she crashes with tonight." Tigh raised an eyebrow. "That sounds very unEmoran like." Jame grinned. "She also knows she's not going to get lucky tonight. That won't stop her from flirting with all the unattached women and trying to get them to let her stay with them." "If she's just crashing..." Jame grinned. "Trigo says she regretted letting Heko live in San Francisco so she could go to a high school to play basketball. Heko was just too irresistible for those worldly city girls and she enjoyed their attention too much. Mara, the safe house proprietor, did her best to rein Heko in, but Heko was a good student and a star athlete and never got into real trouble. She just got caught up in being a teenager in America." "So it's never really just crashing to Heko." Tigh took another sip of ale. "Fortunately, she's good-natured about having her advances refused." Jame stood, leaned across the table, and ruffled Heko's hair. Heko grinned at her. "Take it easy on the ale. You're in training." "All right, big sis," Heko said. "You're the only person she'll listen to," Celi said. "Big sisters are always right," Jame said as she sat down. "Always," Heko said, solemnly. Celi sat down and Seari stood up. "In the old days, our warriors would be hurling braids at Tigh, challenging her right to court their princess. Today, we're a little more civilized-at least outside of Emoria. But if we can't have the actual challenge, we can have a master bard tell the story of when Tigh of Ingor met sixteen challengers at once to prove that she was worthy of their princess, Jame." She turned to Tassie. "Would you honor us with the story." Seari sat and Tassie stood and cleared her throat. "It would be my pleasure." As Tassie enthralled everyone with her tale, Jame slipped her hand in Tigh's and squeezed it. "The warriors are going to challenge you tonight. Ale challenges." "I figured as much." Tigh squeezed her hand back. "You're worth it." Jame got lost in her eyes. "I hope you still think that in the morning."

"We're not going to carry you up the stairs." Seari adjusted Tigh's heavy arm around her shoulder. She nodded at Jaeg, who was supporting Tigh's other side. "One step at a time." "Come on, princess." Celi helped Jame up the steps behind Tigh. "Where's Heko?" Jame fuzzily looked up the stairs. "Your couch," Celi said. "With Dani in the apartment?" Jame asked. "Heko was asleep the moment she hit the couch," Celi said. "And you'll be up there soon enough." "Yeah." Jame sighed as Seari and Jaeg maneuvered Tigh onto the second floor landing and through one of the several doors. When she and Celi were at the top of the stairs, Seari and Jaeg walked out of the room. "I'll be out in a minute," Jame said as she went to the doorway. "Door stays open," Seari said. "There are some traditions I don't appreciate." Jame walked into the room and went to Tigh, who was sitting slumped on the bed. "Let's get you out of these leathers," she said. Between them, they managed to get the tunic laces loose and pull the tunic over Tigh's head. Jame laughed at the "Don't Mess with Texas" T-shirt underneath. Tigh looked down. "It seemed appropriate." Jame pulled off Tigh's boots. "I'm going to unlace your leggings." "Your namesake had a lot of practice at that," Tigh said. "For someone who can hardly sit up, your brain is awfully sharp." Jame concentrated on not thinking too hard on where her hands were. "I hate some Emoran traditions." She smirked at Tigh's "Don't Mess With Texas" boxers. "Lift up so I can pull these things off." Tigh lifted and watched as Jame struggled with the skintight leather. "Uh, about that tradition." Jame freed Tigh's feet of the leather and then sat on her knees and wrapped her arms around Tigh. "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Tigh shrugged. "Hang around here. Maybe travel around a bit. My parents are in Europe right now." "Come to Emoria with me," Jame said. "The modern tradition is that the queen has to give her blessing to a princess's choice, if her choice is an outsider. Then no one will insist on leaving the door open and making sure I get back to my own room." "Blessing," Tigh said. Jame smiled. "Meet you, get to know you, decides that she likes you." "What if she doesn't? Like me, that is," Tigh said. "She will." Jame kissed Tigh. "She's not like Jyak."

"Keran found out that I wasn't going home for Thanksgiving and invited me to spend it in Emoria." Dani plopped down at the kitchen table. Jame looked up from typing on her laptop. "She did?" "I've been around here long enough to recognize what I call the burden of tradition in your voices," Dani said. "Your voice is thick with it. And frankly, when Keran asked me, I felt that there's something significant about being invited to Emoria. Even for someone who has a strong intellectual interest in it." "Uh, you've been spending a lot of time with Keran since the convention," Jame said. Dani picked up a salt shaker and played with it. "The others haven't flirted with me since then." Jame closed her laptop and gave Dani her full attention. Maybe it was a good idea to get it all out in the open. "In their eyes, you're showing interest." Dani nodded. "I guess I don't understand the subtleties of all this. I know that two Emorans can hang out without everyone thinking that they're interested in each other." "It's different with outsiders." "You hung out with me for years and no one assumed anything. But with Tigh the assumption was almost immediate. What am I missing here?" Jame sighed. "How do you feel about Keran?" "I like her. She's fun. A great friend." "Do you feel anything that could go deeper than that?" "Deeper." Dani's eyes widened and color crept up her cheeks. "That's what's missing. She's showing an interest in me." "Yes." Jame leaned forward. "Are you interested in her?" Dani stared at her and then looked at her hands. "I thought it was just living here so close to this society, getting caught up in your lives, empathizing with how you feel..." "But." Dani sighed. "I've spent my life more interested in studying than in having a love life. I never worried much about it because I was happy and if the right person came along I'd get married and settle down." She laughed. "As I said, I never gave it much thought." "You never considered that the person would be a woman?" Jame asked. Dani chuckled. "Not growing up in small town middle America. Although I should have been suspicious when I wasn't freaked out by the same sex lifestyles out here. I just thought that it was my good old-fashion liberal upbringing." "Let me tell you something about Emorans," Jame said. "We have a good sense about women and how they feel. It's harder with outsiders, but we're still pretty good at it. As you've probably figured out, individual action is always supported by the group, whether we want it or not. No one felt they had a good enough reason to tell Keran that she was going to get her heart broken." Dani's eyes widened. "Is her heart going to be broken?" Jame asked. Dani blinked at her and then relaxed. "As a princess, I bet you get to have lots of chats like this." Jame grinned. "It's my job to look out for the welfare of my people. If I have to have a chat with Keran, I'd prefer it to be sooner than later. Her heart will be broken, but I don't think she'll want to give up your friendship. Something else to know about Emorans. Love and friendship are very much intertwined. Losing love is bad enough but losing both love and friendship is devastating." "So what if I'm interested?" Dani asked. "I mean what will be expected of me from Emoria." "The only thing that will be expected of you is that you love and respect Keran," Jame said. "How and where you want to live will be up to you two." Dani sucked in her breath. "It's kind of scary but exciting at the same time." "That's how I feel about Tigh," Jame said. "So if I go to Emoria, will the women there assume that we're, uh, together?" Dani asked. "They'll see that there's an interest only," Jame said. "We have a very sophisticated body and unspoken language and they'll know that you're still getting to know each other." "Amazing." Dani looked a little sheepish. "I can't help but let my scholarly interest come through." "Keran's not a warrior, so the burden of the first move won't have to be on you," Jame said. "That's a very odd tradition," Dani said. "Yeah." Jame smiled at how Tigh handled the tradition. "But it makes for great stories. The story of Hekolatis and Zandar is one of the best." "I look forward to visiting your archives," Dani said. "How do I, uh, let Keran know that I really am interested." Jame stood and stretched out her back. "When you're in Emoria and she takes you to see the sunset from Jyak's Pinnacle, pretend you're cold and stand very very close to her." "Stand close? Not encourage her to put her arm around me?" "That's too forward. Just stand so your arms are brushing together. Trust me, for Keran, that will be like shouting how you feel about her," Jame said. "But she may just think, that as an outsider, I don't realize what I'm doing," Dani said. "She'll come running to me and I'll assure her that I have reason to believe that you're interested in her," Jame said. "I know it seems a bit like game playing, but it has allowed our society to last this long without discord." Dani nodded. "Thank you. You're really good at this kind of thing." Jame laughed. "It's a part of the princess job description."

Chapter 9

"Turn right just past that farm house." Jame squinted into the valley fog. Tigh drove past the farm and frowned at a frozen field. "There." Jame pointed to a break in an old-style wooden fence. "Drive into the field." Tigh pulled into the field, holding on as the Jeep bumped, slipped, and swayed. "I guess you don't drive too many luxury cars." Jame laughed. "We only need vehicles when we leave Emoria. Go to those boulders." Tigh maneuvered the Jeep across the field to several towering boulders that looked like they had been sliced away from the formidable bluff that rose up from the edge of the field. "Go around the closest boulder," Jame said. Tigh veered to the bluff and curved toward the boulder and shook with laughter. "Still as clever as ever." "We're experts at keeping our privacy." Jame grinned as they crunched off the frozen grass onto blacktop. "It's clear," Tigh said. "We use water power to create electricity that warms water channels under the road," Jame said. "We've had thousands of years to develop our country and we've been quite innovative." The road disappeared into a cave and Tigh turned on her lights. "The cave is illuminated about a half a mile in," Jame said. "How long ago did you carve out this cave?" Tigh smiled at the lighting after they went around a bend. "Many thousands of years ago." "Really?" "We've made this area as much our home as the original Emoria ever was," Jame said. "How did you keep everyone out?" "We just made sure that no one ventured onto our lands and when the Europeans settled here, we staked our claim early and never let go of it," Jame said. "As far as the government is concerned, this land is owned by the Ketlas family." "Wow." They rounded another bend and Tigh had to stop and blink away the sudden blinding light from the opening maybe fifty feet away. Sun reflected off of snow and white stone. She slowly eased out of the tunnel into a large canyon. "Is this stone really white?" Tigh asked. "Here in California?" "The white stone is Laur's gift," Jame said. "Even on the old continent." "Really?" Tigh was beyond astonished. "One of our well kept secrets." "Amazing." Tigh stopped the Jeep and could only stare as dozens of women appeared out of the tall frozen grasses from behind the spare tree and large boulders. Women in a patchwork of leather and armor and with swords and bows. Jame put her hand on Tigh's arm. "We have to walk from here. All the vehicles are stabled at the far end of the valley." "What about the reception committee?" Tigh asked. Jame laughed. "It's not often a princess brings home a future life companion. They're just being Emorans." "That's what I'm afraid of," Tigh said. Jame squeezed Tigh's arm. "Come on. I'm dying to show you my home." "If you put it that way." Tigh took a deep breath and opened the door. She slipped out of the Jeep and was face to face with a tough looking warrior. "Uh, hi." The warrior put out her hand. "Keys." Tigh blinked at her. "Right." She dropped her keys into the warrior's hand. "Don't worry," Jame joined Tigh, "Kasra will take good care of the Jeep and make sure our bags get to the palace." Kasra looked Tigh up and down. "I heard you're fast with the sword." Tigh put on her best innocent look. "I'm faster with a frisbee." Kasra held Tigh's eyes for several moments. "I think we can scare one up." She brushed past Tigh and climbed into the Jeep. Jame grinned and took Tigh's arm. "Come on." They passed the other Emorans who couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at Tigh. Tigh's attention was on a wall at the other end of the valley. She could just make out the heads of women on the top of it. "Amazing," she muttered. "I have the feeling you're going to wear that word out," Jame said. The snow and white stone glistened in the midday sun. Tigh felt as if she had truly stepped back into prehistory. She had read that people could tell when they were in Emoria and she felt it. This was truly Emoria. She blinked up at the clear and deep blue sky. "Don't planes fly overhead?" "All the time," Jame said. "Laur makes sure that all they see is a California canyon." Tigh blinked at her. "You know, my credibility meter is pointing at overload." Jame laughed. "Just turn that thing off then. It'll only make you crazy." Tigh gazed at Jame. "It's a kind of crazy I can get used to." Jame met her gaze and grinned. "We're entertaining my country women." "Much like our namesakes did." Tigh looked back at the wall and her eyes widened when an opening seemed to materialize on one side near the bluff. "How...?" "Laur decided to be extra careful to conceal the city," Jame said. "My credibility meter just broke." Jame stopped laughing when several older women in Emoran dress strode out through the hole in the wall. Tigh frowned at Jame's enigmatic expression. "What's wrong?" "My mothers and the Elders Council," Jame said. "I wasn't expecting this kind of reception." "Is this a good or bad thing?" Tigh asked. "This is a first for me," Jame said. "I'm sure it's a good thing." The older women stopped in front of the wall and waited, stone-faced. "I'll take your word for it," Tigh said. Jame slipped her hand into Tigh's and they crunched across the snow and frozen grass to the pair of women in front of the group of Elders. The taller of the two was blond and had a bit of both Jame and Heko in her features. The other one had deep black hair and an unwarrior air about her. All the women were staring at Tigh with a kind of awed disbelief. She really hoped that was a good thing. "Mothers." Jame stopped them a pace away from her mothers. "I'd like you to meet Tigh." The tall blond woman bowed. "Well met, Tigh. I'm Trigo and this is Argilon." "Well met, Tigh," Argilon said. Tigh bowed to each of them. "Well met, Trigo. Well met, Argilon." Trigo turned to Jame, a faint twinkle in her eyes. "I'm used to surprises from Heko but I think you've topped her this time." Jame looked at Tigh with affection. "I'm pleased with it." "I hear you're an Emoran scholar," Argilon said. "I spend quite a bit of time in the archives. Perhaps Jame will let go of you long enough for me to show it to you." Jame released Tigh's hand and grabbed her arm. "I'll let you have her, if you remember to give her back." Trigo laughed. "We'll go get them together. Scholars always lose track of time." She looked over her shoulder and up at the wall. "Now, there are a lot of women who aren't going to get back to what they should be doing until you do the traditional walk to the palace." "Ready to see Emor?" Jame asked Tigh. "Yeah." Tigh sucked in a breath, surprised at her nervous excitement. She felt as if she was in an episode of Fantasy Island or something and couldn't quite believe that a city of stone was on the other side of that wall. Jame took her hand and they fell in place behind Trigo and Argilon. The Elders followed at a respectful distance. The wall was a good twenty feet thick and Tigh blinked at the blinding sparkle at the other end of the tunnel. Tigh stepped from the tunnel and tried to remember to breathe as her senses overloaded at the sight of a city of white stone chiseled from the canyon and hundreds of women in the square and on the paths up the cliff walls. Hundreds of women staring at her with stunned expressions. Trigo and Argilon stopped and turned around. A grinning Jame lifted Tigh's hand into the air, and the canyon shook with cheers and shouts from the women. Trigo smiled and they resumed a path across the middle of the square. Tigh was as stunned as the women. Bold colorful murals of Emoran heroes stood several stories high around windows and doors and snaking pathways and flower boxes and waterfall shrines and... "It's amazing." Jame glanced at her. "Don't cry. Warriors don't cry." Tigh wiped a tear that threatened to fall. "I'm not a warrior." "Yes you are," Jame said quietly. Tigh gave her a questioning look just as a group of muscular young women, in full leather armor and swords, pushed through the crowd and strode toward them. Trigo and Argilon stepped aside and fell in several paces behind Jame and Tigh. Tigh glanced at Jame and wasn't reassured by her furrowed brows. The women stopped a few paces away and Tigh and Jame stopped walking and waited. Tigh swallowed and tried to look calm. The women, with their scars and hardened eyes were the real thing. Not the dress-up outland Emorans in Berkeley. These women weren't of her world. "Tomorrow. Seventh sandmark. Sparring fields," the biggest hardest woman barked. Tigh stayed still as the women bombarded her with braids. The women then turned and strode away. Jame stared after them, speechless, as Tigh patiently picked up each braid. Sixteen of them. Jame closed her mouth and straightened as Trigo and Argilon stepped in front of them and continued across the square. Knowing the tradition, Tigh held up the braids in both hands to the silently watching women. They erupted in cheers and stomped the ground. Tigh stuffed the braids into her jacket pockets and took Jame's hand. "I truly never expected this to happen," Jame said as they followed her mothers. "You just said I was a warrior," Tigh said. "In your soul." "I play a mean game of chess." Jame cocked her head. "Why aren't you freaking out?" "I know it sounds crazy, but I think a part of me would have been disappointed if I hadn't been challenged." Jame nodded. "It doesn't sound crazy. This is a dream come true for you." "Yeah." "But this isn't a Disneyland ride. They're serious. You have to fight them tomorrow," Jame said. Tigh gave her an innocent look. "I guess chess is out?" Jame gazed at her and gave her head a shake. "I keep feeling like I'm with your namesake instead of you." "Maybe it's the setting," Tigh said. "So are you trying to tell me that you can do more with a sword than unsheathe it at lightning speed?" Jame asked. "I thought it might help me understand more about Emorans if I knew how to use their weapons," Tigh said. "Why didn't you tell me?" Tigh gave her a sheepish look. "Uh, you never asked." "From now on, feel free to volunteer information." Jame tried to look put out but couldn't keep away her grin. They walked under a stone overhang. The half-dozen palace doors stood open and Tigh stared into an enormous foyer-the white stone glistening in amber light from ancient sconces and glowing nearly transparent stone light fixtures. The source of the light wasn't flame and didn't look like light bulbs. "Tigh's going to suffer from overload for a while," Jame said. Trigo and Argilon actually looked charmed at Tigh's unabashed gawking. "Do we need to get Merla to fit Tigh up with some leathers?" Trigo asked. "Tigh brought her own leathers," Jame said. Trigo frowned. "Emoran?" "Elite Guard." Jame grinned at her mothers' expressions. Trigo studied Tigh. "That ought to be interesting." "She looks great in them. Trust me," Jame said. "We should let you get settled in," Argilon said. "Tigh is in the chamber next to yours." "And remember. The evening meal will be in the television room. The game starts at seven," Trigo said. Tigh gave Jame a questioning look. Jame took her arm and dragged her to the arching corridor. "Stanford is playing."

Jame appeared at Tigh's opened doorway. Tigh was draping her leathers over a chair of twisted wood. "What do you think, so far?" "Do you have to ask?" Tigh was glad to see that Jame was in jeans and a sweater. She wasn't quite ready to put on the leathers in front of Emoria and television night let them off the hook for that. Besides, it would feel odd watching basketball in the leathers of an ancient warrior. Jame wandered into the chamber and walked to a window that overlooked the square. "I have to admit I'm worried about the challenge tomorrow." Tigh walked to her and looked out at the city that glowed in the night-dark in amazing oranges and ambers as if the bluffs themselves were enormous light bulbs. "Wow. How do you do that?" Jame frowned. "Oh. The lights. We're completely powered by a combination of wind, water, and sun and Seeran, about fifty years ago, discovered a way of running light through water. So we put a thin facade of stone over the city with channels behind it to pipe continuously water through the city." "But how does the light get into the water?" Jame turned Tigh to her and pulled her head down for a kiss. "Just enjoy it. Emoria is full of wonders that the rest of the world only knows in science fiction. Now about the challenge." "Is it only touches of aggression?" Tigh asked. "Yes." "And what happens if I get beat?" "Probably go through warrior training before we're joined." Jame met Tigh's twinkling eyes. "Okay. So that's not a bad thing." "What if I was, say, like Dani? A skinny geek with glasses. Would they still have challenged me?" Tigh wrapped her arms around Jame. "They know that you're a warrior in your soul," Jame said. "And they want you to be everything you can be for me. If that makes sense." "Yeah. It does." A deep chime rumbled through the city. Jame laughed. "That's the signal that the game is going to start in fifteen minutes." Tigh shook with laughter. "Heko has certainly made an impact on Emoran society." "She's like a breath of fresh air around here," Jame said. "Come on. Trigo expects everyone to be seated with their meals before the game starts." They went into the corridor and Tigh raised an eyebrow at the guard against the opposite wall. "Kylar's just doing her job. But now we can all go see Heko play," Jame said. Kylar shrugged and followed them. "The television room is actually the palace mess but on game day, the screens are uncovered and the tables are arranged for optimum viewing." "I thought Heko hasn't played much this year," Tigh said. "They let her play for most of the second half against Oregon State last week and boy did she wow the crowd," Jame said. "But even when she played in high school, Trigo bought a couple of really good movie cameras and got permission for us to film those games. So game night has been a tradition for several years." "Amazing." Tigh stared at the galleries that opened off the corridor and remembered that they became war rooms in times of conflict. They walked into a cavernous chamber with glowing lines of illumination that dramatically streaked the ceiling and the floor. The white walls reflected the light but weren't lit themselves. Long tables were filled with chattering women, some in traditional Emoran dress but most in casual modern clothing. Servers rushed between the tables delivering platters of food and pitchers of drink. "Come on." Jame led Tigh around the tables. Women greeted Jame and made embarrassing comments about her free and easy life in Berkeley and her choice of life companion. The joking actually helped Tigh relax. She understood Emoran culture better than just about anything and this knowledge was both comforting and disconcerting for her. This reality was too much like what she envisioned it had been thousands of years ago. They climbed onto a platform where Trigo and Argilon and several other women were seated. "Sit next to me, Tigh." Argilon pointed to one of the two empty seats between her and Trigo. "It's such a treat to be able to talk to a fellow scholar. The outsiders that our adventurous citizens bring home usually are more interested in hiking or fighting or quantum mechanics. The original Tigh was a scholar, too. Amazing. Of course, I hear that Keran is bringing home a scholar tomorrow." "Dani." Tigh settled into the chair and was startled when several covered dishes and a clean plate were put in front of her. Jame leaned on her arm. "It's authentic Ingoran." "Wow." The strong aroma of the powerful Emoran ale filled the air as a server put several pitchers on the table. "Oh boy." She was still recovering from her last encounter with the stuff and that had been two weeks earlier. "You don't have to prove your fortitude tonight," Jame said. "Thank god." Tigh stared at the walls. "What the...?" A thin layer of stone slid up the wall, leaving a white glow in its place. "Some of our tinkerers figured out how to display moving images in the walls with very little loss of quality," Argilon said. A sharp image of outside the arena at Stanford flashed onto the walls-each wall displaying the same image so everyone in the room could see it. "You look like you just fell down the rabbit hole." Tigh blinked at Jame who gazed at her with gentle understanding. "I thought I turned off my credibility meter," Tigh muttered. The image switched to the arena's interior and the sound gradually increased in volume while the starting lineup for the University of Oregon was introduced. When the starting lineup for Stanford ran onto the court, one by one, the women cheered and raised their tankards in support but Heko was an off the bench player and wasn't introduced. "I hope they let her play more minutes tonight," Argilon said. "They've been using her as an off the bench secret weapon to come in when they drop too many points." "Why don't they let her play more?" Tigh asked. Argilon's expression saddened a bit. "She suffers from Hekolatis's curse." Tigh gave her a baffled look. "It's something that happens every once in a while. I'm descended from Hekolatis. Not a direct descendant but her lung weakness somehow became a part of our genetic code, no matter how distantly related we are." "Are you saying that Heko has weak lungs." Tigh watched as the camera swept over the Stanford players on the sideline and Heko, in her warm-ups, was standing and cheering with her team. "She's done a great job of keeping herself strong," Argilon said. "She was the star of her high school team and become outrageously popular partly because she's Heko, partly because she's an amazing player, but also because of the added drama of whether she'd collapse on the court or not." "She collapsed on court?" "Several times," Argilon said. "But as much as it was hard on her mothers, it also showed her bravery and courage to confront the problem to excel at what she loves more than anything. Stanford took her on because of her grade point average and because fifteen minutes of Heko is as good as forty minutes from the best players." "Wow." The game was off to a fast start and Tigh removed the lids from the dishes of Ingoran food and even let Argilon pour ale into her tankard. She reveled in the atmosphere as the women cheered and booed and yelled, "defense." Then eight minutes into the game Stanford sent in a player off the bench. The women jumped to their feet and chanted, "Heko! Heko!" Tigh realized that the crowd in the arena was also chanting, "Heko! Heko!" until the play started. Tigh had never seen Heko play and was surprised at her smooth effortlessness and elegant quickness. Then she realized that the original Heko possessed the same skills. When Heko popped a beautiful three-pointer that was nothing but net the crowd shouted, "Ooooh, Heko!" Tigh turned to Jame. "They started that when she was in high school," Jame said. "And they'll do it when she plays with the WNBA." "Think she'll be able to play for them?" "She'll find a way. Heko's a fighter," Jame said. The chamber rattled from cheering and thumping as the younger Ketlas sank another three-pointer. Tigh relaxed from the ale and from the knowledge that she had stumbled on what was her idea of paradise on earth. Being in Emoria watching women's basketball.

Chapter 10

Tigh looked at herself in the mirror in her room. Wearing the black leathers always made her feel like she imagined Tigh the Terrible felt. Now, in the reality that was Emoria, the leathers felt like a cheap costume rather than a meticulously accurate reproduction. "Wow." Jame walked through the opened door. "You look so amazing in those." She stood next to Tigh and gazed at the reflection of them in their leathers. "Kind of eerie isn't it? To think we look exactly like our namesakes who lived and fell in love and raised a family and ruled Emoria thousands of years ago on a continent that is at the bottom of the ocean." "I feel like a simple kid from Texas in this place," Tigh said. "A pretender to my blood right. You've never compromised yourselves, never had to blend in with different cultures until only the blood and the passed down memories remain. And those half-soaked in legend and myth." "Every single woman in Emoria who has seen you, knows that they've seen a direct descendant of Paldar Tigis." Jame wrapped her fingers around Tigh's biceps. "I am happy you do strength training, though. Our warriors are pretty strong." Tigh laughed. "They look like they can eat me for lunch." "They're not used to playing with outsiders so they'll take the time to feel you out," Jame said. "I hope they take pity on my inadequate skills," Tigh said. Jame grinned. "They'll be fascinated by your technique." "Well, if they have too much problem with it, I'll challenge them to some one-on-one in that basketball court down the hall." "Now that's something I'd like to see." Jame looked out the window. Women were walking across the square and leaving the residences on the opposite bluff and streaming up the paths to the upper meadow. "Looks like everyone's going to be there." "Great." Tigh shook out her arms and adjusted her shoulder armor. "Come on." Jame grabbed her arm. "Wait till you see the ceremonial circle. With all these people, that's the only place big enough for all of them to watch." They nodded to Kylar as they walked into the corridor. Kylar's eyes widened when she saw Tigh and she straightened. Jame's eyes twinkled. "Pretty amazing. Huh?" The palace was deserted as they descended to the entry hall. When they stepped out into the cold mountain air, the square and towering bluffs were eerily empty and quiet. Tigh noticed that there wasn't even a hint of the snow that fell the night before. "I'm not even going to ask where the ice and snow went." "You haven't seen anything yet." As they walked across the square, Tigh looked in all directions, just taking in the temple, the tavern, the blacksmith, the tanner, the...She squinted. The electronics shop, the book shop, the CD shop..."Uh, where's the Starbucks and the Micky D's?" "We compromised with an espresso shop up there." Jame pointed above the CD shop. "But no hamburger joints. At least, not yet." They started up a path bordered by a waist high wall that was trenched and filled with dirt. Tigh imagined that the flowers planted on the walls provided an explosion of color during the Festival of Flowers. Wood paneled doors, split so the tops could be opened to the mountain air, stood inside sculpted out patios, many with bent wood chairs and plant boxes, all painted in earthy colors. "I don't remember seeing many descriptions of Emoran residences," Tigh said. "Our homes are such a personal thing," Jame said. "In case you haven't caught on, we're rather private." "It just feels kind of strange," Tigh said. "I'm writing my dissertation on Emoria and I don't even know something as simple as what a typical home looks like. Because of archeology that's sometimes all we know about a people." "We'll just have to remedy that little hole in your knowledge," Jame said. "We have four days to explore as much of Emoria as you want." "I foresee a lot of revising in my future." Tigh looked out over the square as they approached the last switchback before climbing the few yards to the top of the bluff. The white city of Emor was in deep morning shadow, looking even more unearthly than with the sun sparkling on it. "A chore I greatly look forward to doing." "Spoken like a true scholar." Jame allowed Tigh to walked ahead of her. Tigh glanced back at Jame and walked to where the path cut into the rock at the top and opened onto the upper meadow. She stopped and could only stare. Before her was a meadow of neatly trimmed green grass in front of an enormous circular stone structure, which looked like the top of an amphitheater full of women. Jame stepped past her, took her hand, and led her onto the grass. Tigh touched the grass and pressed her fingers into the rich soil. Warm, like summer. "How?" "This weekend is just for seeing, we have the rest of our lives for learning," Jame said. Tigh turned and got caught in Jame's earnest, affectionate green eyes. "Maybe sometime in our lifetime, our joining will actually be legally recognized." Jame smiled. "It's legal in Emoria. We're citizens of two countries. All that America wants from us is to pay for the privilege of living here, which we gladly do because it allows us to be left alone." "That's only because they don't know you're here," Tigh said. "That's only because they don't care what's here as long as we don't break any laws or cause trouble," Jame said. "Tigh, Tigh, Tigh." Tigh stared at the amphitheater. The women were on their feet, their chants and stomps slicing through the peaceful meadow like a sword. "I think we've been spotted. Come on." Tigh kept from pinching herself as they walked across the summer grass meadow, surrounded by snow. When they paused between the pillars that flanked the opening in the top part of the amphitheater, she knew that she must have been hit by a car or something and was in a hospital, living in a coma induced world. Hundreds of Emorans stood in a coliseum of white stone looking at her and cheering and stomping. Banners with the Emoran crest flapped from tall stone pillars around the structure and the air was pleasantly warm. "When I saw everyone heading up here, I thought they had something like this planned," Jame said. "Just go with it. It's just a bunch of women having some fun." "In a very large, very overwhelming, very ancient hallucination kind of way." Tigh shook out her arms. "I have to admit this is the most interesting thing I've ever done on Thanksgiving." "I guess turkey was never a part of your family tradition," Jame said. "Uh, no," Tigh said. "Not even the tofu turkey served by the Buddhist monks in Dallas." Jame laughed as they walked down the steps. "And you think this is unusual?" The women close to the steps gave Tigh pats on the pack and words of encouragement. By the time she was on the sand-covered ground, she felt much better about the whole crazy spectacle and was even relaxed about it. They stopped a pace away from Trigo, who stood in front of the group of challengers, all making a show of looking tough. Trigo pointed a sword into the air and the only sound was the last echoes of the chanting and stomping. "Tigh of Ingor has earned the right to carry weapons in Emoria." Her voice was somehow picked up and filled the circle. "Since her sword-the legendary black sword-is safe in the hands of Seari in Berkeley, I am honored to present this sword to Tigh as a gift from Emoria. Seari fashioned it from the weight and size of the black sword." Trigo whipped the sword into a salute, and then offered the hilt to Tigh, who could only stare at it in frozen shock. The women erupted with wild shouting and stomping. "Don't cry," Jame said under her breath. Tigh snapped out of it and wrapped her hand around the hilt and took the sword from Trigo. "Thank you." Her voice was hoarse and filled with emotion. "Seari doesn't make a sword for just anyone," Trigo said and then she held her hands up to silence the crowd. "Sixteen warriors of Emoria have challenged Tigh of Ingor to prove her worthiness to be a life companion for your princess, Jame. Her namesake took on her sixteen challengers all at once, barefoot and without unsheathing her sword. Since our Tigh is wearing boots and doesn't have a scabbard, I guess she'll be creating her own story for our histories." Tigh was overcome by the idea that she was truly a part of Emoran history now. "We'll follow tradition and allow each challenger to gauge Tigh's worth," Trigo said. "That means they're going to go easy on you," Jame whispered. "But that doesn't mean you have to go easy." Tigh met her mischievous grin and something clicked inside and her nervousness and tension flowed out of her. The realization washed over her that she was about to indulge her most private daydream when she was growing up-the Emoran challenge. A daydream she had pushed way down to her subconscious because it tapped into a part of herself she was never brave enough to explore. But she could indulge it here. It was what these women expected from her. Trigo put a hand on Tigh's shoulder. "Good luck." "Have fun." Jame kissed her cheek and followed Trigo to the royal box. Fun. Tigh straightened as the sixteen warriors, very strong, very tough-looking warriors lined up in front of her. A woman with cropped red hair stepped forward and crossed her arms. Tigh concentrated on everything she knew about fighting Emorans. The tradition of not unsheathing a sword until a nonEmoran opponent made the first move changed through the ages. But she was sure that challenges outside of Emoria followed the tradition and challenges in Emoria didn't. But she also knew that it was poor form to force an Emoran to make the first move. To strike first grated on something deep within her genetic code. There had to be...She grinned to herself as something she had read long ago seeped into her mind. She positioned herself a couple of paces in front of the warrior and circled her sword around her head and pointed it at the ground. The warrior looked surprised but quickly recovered, unsheathed her sword, and mirrored Tigh's move. Tigh kept eye contact with the warrior and they slowly circled. She knew that fighting was as natural as eating to this woman and the only time she had fought full out with real swords had been with re-enactors in England and she had had enough padding on to stop a cannon shot. "So you've proven you can dance." The woman's eyes twinkled with amusement and confidence. "Let's see what you can do with a blade." She lifted her sword and came at Tigh. Tigh's years of practice kicked in and she crashed her sword against the rapidly incoming blade. She whipped the blades around and with a flick of the wrist dislodged the sword from her opponent's hand. They both stared at the sword nestled in the dark sand at their feet. The woman raised her eyes to Tigh. "That was Heko's trick." "Yeah. I read about it and worked out the mechanics of it," Tigh said. "I suppose you also studied Tigh's moves and Argis's and Anika's and Trigo's and all of our great warriors." The warrior picked up her sword. "The scholars were quite meticulous in writing down the art of swordplay," Tigh said. The woman sheathed her sword and put out her arm. "I'm Argis." Tigh grasped Argis's arm. "Well met, Argis." Argis nodded at Tigh's sword. "Tradition has it that the legendary Tigh was also left- handed." "A legacy I'm proud to share with her." Argis turned to the other challengers. "Is Tigh of Ingor, by way of Dallas, worthy of our princess?" The warriors made a show of considering for a few seconds and then grinned and sauntered up to Tigh. As the crowd of women whooped and cheered, the warriors slapped Tigh on the back and greeted her like a fellow warrior. Tigh tried not to feel intimidated surrounded by sixteen Emoran warriors. She was relieved to see Trigo, Argilon, and Jame walk their way. The warriors stepped away to a respectful distance. "Well done, Tigh," Trigo said. Jame, pride and affection shining in her eyes, went to Tigh's side and took her hand. Trigo and Argilon stood before them. "Good citizens of Emoria." Trigo's voice filled the amphitheater. "The legendary Tigh had to wait six years to gain the blessing of Queen Jyac to be the consort of Queen Jamelin I." She smiled at Tigh. "I'll spare this Tigh the long wait." The crowd laughed. "We've not seen anything but love and respect from Tigh for Jame. And she understands us and knows us in very important ways. Let it be witnessed on this day that I give my blessing to the union of Jame and Tigh and look forward to the day of their joining." The women chanted "Tigh!" and "Jame!" and the warriors hit their swords against their armor and the others clanked together whatever metal they had brought with them. Tigh swallowed down the unexpected swell of emotion as Trigo's words reverberated through thousands of years of Emoran history and somehow etched this moment in some kind of cosmic stone-solid and forever. A tear slipped from her eye and down her cheek. She gave Jame a sheepish look. "Sorry." Jame gently caught the tear with her fingers and gave Tigh a heartfelt kiss. "I envy you a bit. I have to save my tears for private." "As long as I get to hold you while you shed them." Jame wrapped her arms around Tigh. "You get to hold me forever."

Epilogue

"My mother is really looking forward to visiting Emoria." Tigh crawled behind the table and connected all the cables for her stereo system. "Believe it our not, my mothers are looking forward to meeting her, too," Jame said. "Keran! You're incorrigible." Tigh peeked out from behind the stereo and exchanged an amused look with Jame. Dani walked in through the opened door and picked up a box from a pile there. Keran bounded in behind her and grabbed a box. "Will you two have enough room?" Jame asked. Keran grinned. "Plenty of room." Dani smiled at her. "We'll make the room." They went into the corridor. Tigh got up and brushed off her hands. "Good idea to get all the moving done before Christmas. We're going to be doing a bit of traveling before next semester." "Christmas in Dallas, New Years in Emoria, sounds like fun to me." "It's in the attic." Seari's voice wafted up the staircase followed by pounding footfalls. Jame and Tigh walked into the corridor and looked over the landing. Seari and Maureen were running up the stairs. "Hi," Maureen said. "Seari claims she has a harness and bridle fashioned in the style of Balderon." "Like the ones given by the people of Balderon to Argis." Seari stopped and looked into Jame's apartment. "Looking good." "I can't believe you have it in the attic," Maureen said. Seari had a twinkle in her eyes. "Ah, but it's a special attic full of wondrous things." Maureen rolled her eyes. "Emorans." But she couldn't keep from smiling at Seari. "Come on." Seari led the way to a narrow door at the end of the corridor. Jame and Tigh went back into the apartment. "Doesn't Seari live in the attic?" Tigh asked. Jame grinned. "Yeah. It's nice that she's found someone who shares her interest in horses." Tigh looked around the apartment. "Everything fits pretty good." "Yeah. We seem to fit on a number of different levels." "Uh." Tigh pulled something out of her pocket. "It's the solstice and I, uh, got you this." Jame looked puzzled as Tigh took her hand and slipped a ring onto her finger. She studied the light twists of silver around a small blue and a small purple stone. "The colors of the House of Ingor. It's beautiful." She wrapped her arms around Tigh's neck and kissed her. "Now don't move." Jame disappeared into the bedroom and reappeared wearing a delighted grin. She took Tigh's hand and pushed a ring onto her finger. Tigh gazed at the silver band of interlocking swords and bows. "This is wonderful." She wrapped her arms around Jame. "So are you." "I think I'm dreaming but that's okay as long as I never wake up," Tigh said. Jame gazed into Tigh's eyes. "Laur's dreams always last forever."