“You will learn. Unfortunately, the Empire is still very much on a fundamentalist kick spurred on even more by the influx of human women that has put it into overdrive.”
“They do require a lot of prayer,” Ellie commented. “But it’s not as if it hurts anyone.” She never thought that she would be defending the Empire’s religion, but here she was.
Valentin sighed and looked out the window, “It hurts us all because the Empire rules the galaxy. There was a time when the Empire led the galaxy through peace.” He looked at her face expressing disbelief. “I know it’s difficult to believe, but it’s true. People were peaceful because they only worshipped the goddess of home and she required very little of people in terms of worship.”
“What happened?”
“The god of peace refused to pay homage to her. He wanted to be released from his eternal circle of mortal life, which had been a punishment from the goddess of home. That is when people began listening to the other gods and one in particular rose in power to rival the goddess of home.”
“The god of war,” Ellie said.
“Exactly.”
“You talk about them like they are real,” Ellie commented.
“I don’t know if they are real gods, per se, but other beings, without form, possibly, I don’t know. They do exist though, there is no question of that.”
“And the god of peace? He married a human and she came back. I read about it.”
Valentin looked serious, “I know. But he didn’t bring her back alone. Another human helped, so it begs the question about some gods being on Earth as well. Anyway,” he paused, “the gods are the last thing I want to think about right now.”
Ellie looked away and out at the picturesque landscape below. She couldn’t help but think of her mother and wonder if she were trapped with some other aliens who assumed themselves to be deities to rule over the Empire. That in death, her mother had traded one prison for another. Ellie wanted to change the subject then as well, “So, Marriage Pause then, what have you planned for today? I’m not so tired now that we are out and I must admit, I’m looking forward to feeling the sun on my face.”
Valentin smiled kindly, “I’m glad to hear you say that. Today I thought we would have an easy day at home and then dine at an incredibly special restaurant for supper. But we can do whatever you want.”
“That sounds perfect,” Ellie said looking out the window again. “But it all looks so wonderful. I don’t know if I can just sit at home when there’s so many new things to explore during the day.”
Valentin smiled as the transport landed outside his large, brightly colored compound. His guards were already out of their transport and ready to escort them in.
“Do you always have your guards with you? Is Reima Two dangerous?”
“Reima Two is very safe. I’ve my guards with me because I have you with me and I worry that Admiral Jei might try and steal you away,” Valentin said as the gates opened and they began to walk through the compound.
Ellie thought about Jei’s lack of communication, “I think he must be busy with something else. He didn’t even send me a message. It’s not like him.”
“You forget, he is abiding by the rules of the Marriage Pause,” Valentin didn’t elaborate. He knew Admiral Jei was trying to bring Ellie’s mother back to life with the help of Jesse and Mir. How they did and how they would spin it might rock the Empire right into Admiral Tir’s hands or out of reach from them. Everyone was curious as to whether Jane Johnson could be brought back to the living because she would be able to answer everyone’s question about who the gods really were. Mir had over his past lives hinted at things here and there to suggest that they were beings from another dimension. Valentin sighed a little, he didn’t like keeping this from Ellie, but he wanted her to focus on him, not think about the what-ifs about her mother. There was nothing Ellie could do to help bring her back and it would only mean disappointment for her if Jei was unsuccessful or worse if they were successful but the High Council decided to punish them all with death for breaking the rules about reanimation. “Did Jei have a strong opinion about the fines we incurred from the Yoli victor’s reception?”
“Jei surprised me actually. He told me that he knew what it was like to be young and to be taken in by such a romantic setting. He only seemed to be upset that you were an Outcast. That was all.”
“I’m surprised, but then again, I guess, when you get to be over 200 years old you are more patient with certain aspects of growing up and life.”
“Are you insinuating I’m a child? What does that make you? You are only roughly ten years older than I am.”
Valentin stopped walking, leaned over and kissed her cheek lightly, then put his hands in her hair and looked directly into her blue eyes, “No, you wouldn’t be here if you were a child. You’re a young woman of age capable of making choices about your own destiny, even though you did lie to me about your age at the victor’s reception. I knew you weren’t old enough to be there.”
Ellie was lost in his blue eyes, “It was only a few days difference.” Both their bracelets when tingly and then she said, “A week and a day.”
Valentin squeezed her hand, then let go and began walking again. She easily fell into step next to him.
“I was speaking more of the fact that if we live to be as old as Jei, we will think back on our time now as if we were children as we will have only lived 10 and 20 percent of our lives at this point.”
Buildings of orange and green began appearing. Small little houses that Ellie guessed served one purpose or another. “Is your home like an Imperial House? There are lots of people here and lots of little houses that remind me of an Imperial compound.”
“Yes,” Valentin answered. “As I said, on Reima Two, we do a lot of things that are similar to Imperial culture. Houses are one of them.”
“What’s the name of your House?”
“Interestingly we dropped names but only have numbers, which of course shift according to rank.”
“Okay, what’s your number?”
“One.”
“Is that the first or last?” Ellie asked, again feeling ignorant.
“Honestly?” he replied sarcastically, but then realized she was serious. “One is the best,” he replied evenly.
“Oh, congratulations,” she said not knowing what else to say, but feeling she should say something and at the same time feeling foolish for not having anything more elaborate. She chided herself for missing this important detail when she was reading about Reima Two.
Then they began walking on a small cobblestone path on a beautifully manicured garden towards the large Main House and Valentin said, “We could have used a holo rickshaw to get here, but I wanted to walk up with you in this moment and take it slowly, to show you what we could share together.”
Ellie looked at the Main House. It was large at least 10,000 square meters. It appeared smaller than the Main House of House Rega, but more colorful, decorative, and elegant. The house was colored rust orange with light blue details, just as she had seen on the computer on the Song. However, those pictures didn’t do it justice, standing here, smelling the garden, the warm sun on her face and the comforting humidity in the air. “And this is all mine for the next two weeks?” she asked ironically.