“Really?”
“Didn’t you know that when you agreed to have one inserted?” Valentin asked disbelievingly.
“No. No one asked me. It was just done to me. But it had to be. Before I came to the Empire, I was ignorant of all languages, but Earth ones and I had no translator,” Ellie explained.
“I see. If you marry me, I’ll give you a choice.”
“What do you mean?” Ellie asked. “Don’t you have a translator like mine?”
“Not exactly. I have a galactic translator of unknown origin.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ellie knew by the way he said ‘unknown origin’ that it would mean something to anyone who knew something about the galaxy.
“It means that the Empire isn’t tracking me or recording me or anything else. That as far as my translator goes, I’m a free agent. And I can turn it on and off at will.”
“Why would you want to turn it on and off?”
“I don’t want it popping on when I’m with you if you say something I might not know, I want to learn the word, not just hear an Alliance translation. And other times, for example, when I think it might be useful to learn to speak some of the men’s language in the Empire. My translator can translate about a quarter of it, but it’s better to just learn it, you never know when it might come in handy in the galaxy,” Valentin explained.
“Why do the Imperial men have their own language and why don’t the translators work for it? It doesn’t make sense. Surely, it’s a huge liability as they control the fleet,” Ellie asked.
“Legally it’s a compromise as part of the Contract. But, in practice, Imperial women always forget what the men are capable of when they have been pushed too far.” Valentin could see from the look on her face that she had no idea what he was referring to, so he changed the subject to something that concerned them both. “Here on Reima Two men and women are equal. There is no Contract. You would have no more rights over me than I over you.”
“That sounds refreshing,” Ellie said honestly.
The servant returned with Ellie’s drink and handed her the glass with a light blue across the bottom and cold orange colored liquid inside. She thanked the servant and then said to Valentin, “To our Marriage Pause, the most exciting…” she was going to say, ‘the most exciting thing I’ve ever done but that wasn’t true, stealing away to the Empire was possibly more exciting. “The most electrifying thing I have ever done. Thank you for the opportunity.”
Valentin looked at her seriously and held his drink up, “I see I have a lot of work to do if I’m still just an opportunity.”
“I have two weeks and I have learned my lesson from just jumping in without thinking.”
Valentin took a sip of his citrus drink and hoped that by the end of the two weeks, everything he planned and everything he was would be enough for her to consent to be his wife. But he had to accept that even if everything went perfectly, she still might say, ‘no’.
Ellie broke his train of thought, “Since you speak both Alliance and English can you tell me why the action of love and the word ‘love’ is forbidden?” she noticed he bristled a little when she said it.
Valentin took a sip of his drink contemplating this. He knew the answer of course, but no one had ever asked him before so he needed to articulate it first, “Falling in love or having someone love you is such a special experience that can end just as quickly as it began, which, I think, makes people superstitious. We feel that if we mention it casually or often that it’ll be taken away from us or elude us. To use the word a lot shows that we are careless, greedy, and don’t respect the strong emotion for what it truly is, a gift from brutal life. The only thing worth living for, that spark,” he made serious eye contact with her across the table, “one of the most precious gifts to our species.”
Ellie was entranced with his eloquent description of the custom and blushed thinking of how many times he had accidently used the word ‘love’ since moving to this side of the galaxy.
Valentin continued, “On Reima Two, we believe we will lose the uniqueness of it by overuse, even by just saying it. But in the Empire, people believe that if they mention it too much the gods will think they are ungrateful and literally take love out of their lives and their families’ and friends’ lives permanently.”
Ellie thought that was ridiculous, but she didn’t say so. Humans had customs the rest of the galaxy thought were ridiculous too, “Thank you for explaining it. I understand now.”
“Any other cultural or linguistic questions?” Valentin probed half-jokingly.
“What does the Alliance word ‘slave’ translate to in English?”
Valentin smiled, “Yes, that’s a tough one. I don’t know why your translators choose the word ‘slave’. I would translate it more as ‘angel’ or ‘acolyte’.”
“What do you mean? They aren’t otherworldly the slaves, are they?” Ellie was confused everyone in House Rega looked completely mortal to her.
“They are flesh and blood just like we are, but they devote their whole lives to the Imperial gods. They are supposed to maintain the godliness of the Empire through simple tasks that’s why they are always around. They not only maintain the buildings but the people in them so that you may all walk in the gods’ light.”
“And there are no secrets. The slaves in House Rega knew everything about me and just came and went as they pleased.”
Valentin smiled, “Because they are not slaves at all, it’s such a bad translation, they are like, fairies that are meant to keep an eye on everyone’s moral and religious behavior. Doing chores is something they chose to do if they want. But they actually have more freedom and control over the Empire than anyone else.”
“How so?” Ellie didn’t believe him.
Valentin realized that he couldn’t explain this satisfactorily to her now, “I don’t think there is anything I could say that would make you believe me right now. But take my word for it,” he touched one finger to his heart, “slaves are the essence of everything the Empire is. They always have the final word.”
“Why would Mir chose to become maximum class then? If he is a god? And marry a human?”
“I’m not religious and so the god of peace is a mystery to me. Why he would chose to marry a human? Well, why not? Is he not a man who wants a wife? As for his switching classes, I’d say that he merely wanted to see the galaxy, which is something I can whole-heartedly agree with.”
“Have you ever met him?” Ellie asked.
“No, he’s a low-level officer. I have had no reason.” Valentin looked at her puzzled face, “Do you believe in the gods? That your mother is truly with them in the Afterlife?”
Ellie took a sip of the sweet citrus drink, “I don’t know. Part of me wants to believe that she’s still alive somewhere and another part of me hopes this is all just a bunch of stories that a civilization refuses to let go. But when I come to the god of peace, how can I deny it? And now with what Babette or Sif has done I wonder if my mother will return too?”
“Do you think about your own mother being brought back often?” he wanted to know how much she knew about the rumors.