CHAPTER 15
Hypothesis verification (part 2)
"I knew it!" Nara exclaimed, her tears overflowing as she smiled from ear to ear. "It was obvious the moment I saw her. And such bravery, at such a young age!"
They were all talking at once now, sounding both excited and relieved. Kyna, who had been so curt and reserved before, actually grinned at me.
"I'm so sorry I doubted, Excellency," she exclaimed. "You can have no idea what a relief . . . how important this is to everyone, what it will mean for both Mars and--" She broke off abruptly with a glance at Shim, who I saw had raised a warning eyebrow. "That is, we're all very happy," she concluded.
"We are indeed," Shim said quickly. "We do apologize for putting you through this, Excellency, but we had to be sure. Now, we are." He rose and bowed deeply to me his right fist against his chest. Everyone else did the same.
It was all I could do to keep my mouth from falling open. Shim was easily the most impressive person I'd ever met, and he was bowing to me? It seemed so backward.
"I don't get it," I said. "If all you needed was a blood test, why didn't we do that as soon as I got here tonight?" It definitely would have made for a less stressful evening!
Everyone in the room stared at me, various degrees of shock on their faces.
"Oh, but my dear," Nara began, bobbing up and down.
Shim silenced her with a wave. "Again, we forget you have none of the cultural traditions--taboos, if you will--that we take for granted. Are you aware that among Martians, the taking of human life is our greatest prohibition?"
"Yes. The Stuarts told me about that." Though if that taboo really worked, I'd still have grandparents, and maybe even parents, of my own.
"I assume they did not tell you that the prohibition extends to the taking of blood. Blood is tied so closely to life that, even though we are now more scientifically advanced--especially by Earth standards--we still cannot easily overcome our ingrained aversion to spilling it, even for legitimate medical reasons. Because of that, we have gone to great lengths to develop medical tests that do not require removing blood from the body. On Mars, it is so rarely necessary today as to be almost unheard of."
"Except in the case of verifying lineage for each new Sovereign," Allister said. "The ritual you have undergone here tonight has proven indisputably that you possess that lineage. It was necessary."
"Not necessary to all of us," Nara declared staunchly, making me smile. I was really starting to like her, even if she did gush. "My dear, I wish you could understand what it means to me--what it will mean to everyone--that we've found you after all of this time, after believing the ruling line of the Royal class was extinct. It's . . . it's . . ." She gestured with her hands but seemed unable to put her feelings into words.
"An enormous boon to the resistance, at the very least," Kyna finished for her, her expression as approving of me now as it had been skeptical before. "You will be a symbol of hope to them, Excellency. Something to energize them and to focus their efforts."
"Yes!" Nara agreed enthusiastically. "We must get word out at once! The Council can use MARSTAR to notify all Echtrans, while sending--"
Panicked, I put up both hands, stopping her. "Wait! I don't want to be a . . . a symbol. And I'm definitely no political leader! I'm only a sophomore in high school. And I don't know anything about . . . well, Martian history and politics and stuff."
Dr. Stuart put a hand on my shoulder. "She's right. We're moving much too quickly. Though we need to begin planning our next steps, surely there's no need to disrupt Marsha's--Emileia's--life immediately. As she says, she is only fifteen, too young to assume the throne even if all obstacles were removed. She needs to get used to the idea, to be allowed to grow into whatever role she may eventually take."
"I agree," Shim said. "She will have much to learn over the years to come, but as a youth, her normal development should still be permitted. Right now, the most important thing is that she remain safe." He swiveled around, looking seriously at each person in the room, in turn. "That completely rules out MARSTAR. In fact, those of us here must speak of this to no one whose loyalty we cannot trust absolutely. For the truth to be known prematurely could be disastrous in more ways than even I can imagine."
"Agreed," Kyna said, though now she was frowning. "But Shim, you can't seriously mean to leave her here in this unprotected little hamlet, now that her identity is proved? As you say, her safety is paramount. We must relocate her at once to a place where she can be properly guarded."
"I agree," Allister said firmly. "As the one Royal representative of the Council present, I consider myself personally responsible for the Sovereign's safety. Appropriate measures must be taken immediately."
There was a murmur of agreement from a couple of the others. My panic, which had subsided for a moment, surged back in full force. Relocate me? And safe from what, exactly? Before I could ask, Shim put up a hand.
"We can work out such details later," he said. Allister started to sputter a protest, but Shim silenced him with a glance, then turned to me with a kindly smile. "If it should become necessary for you to take any sort of active role, my dear, we will of course let you know, but I don't anticipate that happening just yet."
Relief flooded through me, and I saw Rigel relax visibly as well. Allister looked like he had more he wanted to say, but he didn't dare interrupt Shim.
"Of course," Shim added, "I must caution you not to speak of this to anyone else. I presume none of your, ah, non-Martian friends have any suspicions?"
I shook my head emphatically. "Of course not! They'd just think I was crazy. I definitely won't tell them, or my aunt or uncle, either."
He smiled again and, as before, the contagious warmth of it reassured me. "Good. It is important that you do nothing to draw attention to yourself. Should your existence become generally known, there are those who might seek you for . . . less than benevolent reasons."
Before I could ask what he meant, Dr. Stuart spoke. "We should get you home. I did promise your aunt that we wouldn't keep you late, as it's a school night."
A glance at the antique clock on the mantel showed it was a quarter to nine. Had I really been here more than three hours? I nodded and stood.
"It . . . it was nice meeting you all," I said, the words sounding lame--inadequate--even as I spoke them.
As one, they all rose and bowed to me again, their right fists over their hearts, Rigel's parents included. Even Rigel inclined his head, and that bothered me even more than all these adults treating me like royalty--which definitely weirded me out.
Then they weirded me out even more by chanting, in unison, "Benevolent Sovereign, scion of Sovereigns, steer the future of our people."
At least, the grownups did. Rigel didn't, which was good, because it made me feel like I'd stumbled into some bizarre cult, with me at its center. Almost immediately, though, the weirdness dissipated as they all smiled and acted normal again, and Rigel's mom ushered me out of the room toward the front door.
Rigel came along, though I noticed Allister frowning after him.
I waited until we were out of the house to say, "Okay, so what was that about? Because I'm not sure I've ever felt more awkward."
Dr. Stuart patted my arm. (Rigel, I noticed, still didn't touch me, though I needed it more than ever now.) "I'm sorry about that, dear. It's the traditional farewell to the Sovereign, and none of us Echtrans have had occasion to use it for, well, decades, expatriates that we are. It was a way for us all to reconnect to our heritage. I'm sure it was a bit disconcerting for you, however."
"Um, yeah, a little." That was putting it mildly.
I was still feeling strange and disoriented as we got into the car, but then Rigel slid in next to me in the back and put his hand on mine--for the first time today--and suddenly I wasn't worried anymore. Tentatively, not sure whether this would last or not, I smiled at him, and he smiled back. Then he whispered, so low that I doubted even his mother could hear him, "I'll explain soon, I promise."
With his hand on mine, and that promise to cling to, I felt better than I had all evening.
They got me home just before nine, which meant Aunt Theresa didn't have any reason to complain. Still, her expression was sour when I greeted her.
"Your friend Brianna called," she informed me. "Twice."
"Oh, thanks." With all that had happened, I'd completely spaced our fight and tentative truce on the bus. "Can I call her back now?"
"I suppose," she said, looking pointedly at the clock on the stove. "Don't talk long."
Nodding, I quickly dialed Bri's number. It rang five times before she picked up, and I imagined her standing there, checking the caller ID and debating whether to answer.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Bri, sorry I wasn't home when you called."
There was a brief silence. "Yeah, your aunt said you were over at Rigel's. You didn't say you'd made it to that stage yet."
"It happened after Friday, and you and I haven't exactly talked much since then," I reminded her. "But I don't know about 'stages.' His grandfather is visiting and Rigel wanted me to meet him, that's all." I felt terrible lying to her when I was trying to patch things up, but what choice did I have?
"All? That sounds pretty big to me," Bri said, some of the old excitement creeping back into her voice.
We talked for another ten minutes or so, and by the end of the conversation, I felt like we'd gotten at least partway back to being best friends. I hoped it would last, but after tonight's events, I was starting to realize that our friendship could never be what it was before. There were just too many things I couldn't tell her. That I couldn't tell anyone.
Ever.
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