Soldier at the Door(203)
She didn’t notice. “So the Administrator of Culture is writing a new history book . . . do you realize no one’s teaching the stories of Terryp anymore? I didn’t see any mention of him in the sixty pages of the Full School description, he was the most important historian of the Middle Age! Who else and what else will they eliminate? Guide Hierum was mentioned only once. I’ll be fascinated to read the new and enlightened explanation of how Idumea came to be.”
Perrin let out a low whistle. “Ah Mahrree, Mahrree, why do you like to get into such discussions so late at night?”
“Because it’s the only time the house is quiet.”
He sighed. “Weren’t you going to kiss me a few minutes ago?”
“Is that all you can think about right now? Our entire future may be changing, and Perrin, what if we don’t notice it?! What if we someday discover we’re . . . on the wrong side?”
There. It was out.
He sighed louder. “There’s not going to be any kissing, or even any hope of arguing, until you get this resolved in your head, is there?”
“We’re arguing now!” she declared, a bit put out that he didn’t seem worried about whose side they were on.
“No, this is debating—loudly,” he said patiently. “I was suggesting the kind of arguing that begins with kissing.”
Mahrree kissed him quickly on the cheek.
“Well that was hardly worth the effort . . .”
“So what do we do?” she asked earnestly.
“Well, first, I come over here to face you properly—”
“No! I mean, how do we expose the Administrators, preserve the truth, and save the world?!”
Perrin chuckled. “That’s a little more than we can expect to accomplish tonight, my darling wife. I have a much better chance at kissing you, but now I’m beginning to doubt my odds of succeeding at that.”
She giggled sadly. “I supposed you’re right. About fixing the world, that is.”
“There’s one thing we can do,” he said. “We can make sure we’re not touched by whatever may be coming.”
“Nor our children,” she reminded him.
“Nor our children, I agree. In our house we will discuss and believe whatever we want. We can recognize for ourselves that the sky is dark and threatening with a storm obviously on the way, and explain to our children that the rest of the world has been conditioned to believe it is blue, despite all evidence to the contrary.”
She kissed him quickly on the lips. “Have I told you lately that you are the most perfect man, and that I love and adore you more than words can express?”
“That kiss is still inadequate for the perfect man. And, if you insist, you can even believe the dinner leftovers can evolve into something as handsome as me, and I’ll explain to our children how their mother is a little odd at times.”
Mahrree giggled. “I’m odd? Mr. Let-Me-Put-My-Boots-at-a-Perfect-50-Degree-Angle-to-the-Bed?”
He chuckled. “Just as long as no one outside of our house ever finds out what we discuss inside the house, we should be all right.” He sighed. “It’s simply too big a battle to fight, Mahrree. The two of us against the twenty-three Administrators? Definitely not good odds.”
Mahrree had heard that excuse before, and she tried to ignore it.
“Hmm. At least the forests are still quiet,” she mumbled in resignation. “At least that’s one less battle we have to fight.”
Perrin slipped his arm under her. “Mm, yes. At least the forests are still quiet. And the soldiers know how much I love a quiet forest, especially at night. But they don’t know entirely why.”
She giggled as he pulled her close and finally claimed his kiss.
---
Barker was waiting when the man in the black jacket reappeared. He trotted over to the fence and began his slow climb.
“Up, up, up. Well done, well done. Jerky again, but you seemed to enjoy that. Sorry about being late. Didn’t realize messengers showed up this hour of night. But it figures—we’ve had nothing but delay after delay. Alongside, now, alongside. Hope you’re ready. Long night ahead of us, boy.”
Chapter 22 ~ “Now, how do I go about putting an end to all of this nonsense?”
Mahrree was getting breakfast ready the next morning when she saw the flashes of blue come over her back fence and run towards the kitchen door. Immediately she knew there’d be no announcement that night at the amphitheater about the new taxation. Something bigger would be occupying the Army of Idumea.
“PERRIN!” she called, and went to open the door for the two soldiers.