Jane was surprised that the restaurant wasn’t completely empty as it was well before the hour for the evening meal, but then she remembered that middling class people could eat whenever they liked and Jade had, like her marriage, set up the restaurant equal to all classes, so there would most likely always be people here and a few people working in the kitchen. It made her wonder how far in advance Jade had known about the ancient law of three husbands and that she would invoke it.
Jane was led to the back into the kitchen and offered a seat at what Jade referred to as their ‘Chef’s Table.’ It was a table that gave a full view of the kitchen and privacy from other patrons in the outer restaurant. The slaves that were working in the kitchen noticed Jane and gave her seven seconds of reverence as a goddess reincarnate and then went back to work.
Jade herself was not at the restaurant as she was on honeymoon with her maximum class husband, Captain Ota, a man Jane knew from serving with him on the Kzi. She was pleased for Ota as she remembered telling him that if he wanted to court Jade, he should give her something she personally would like, not just the standard Alliance jewelry. Apparently, he had taken Jane’s advice as rumors swirled that he had helped her secure this prestigious location for her restaurant. Jane surveyed the kitchen for a minute, and she was impressed that it seemed to run smoothly even without its head chef to oversee things.
It wasn’t long before Kara came in. She was wearing casual human clothing, “Jane!” she cried. “I can’t believe you are back from the dead! And I am so glad I didn’t have to go to the Grand City Temple. The High Priestess gives me the creeps. Every time I look at her ceremonial sword, I think, ‘You could at least clean off the dried blood.’ Barbarians, but I’m so glad you’re back!”
Jane couldn’t help but smile at the statement, “Yes, the gods wouldn’t let me stay.”
“And welcome, to the first human owned restaurant with the dumb name and all,” she gestured to around them. “But it does serve real human food, so I guess it is fitting. I’m so glad you didn’t want to meet at Leld. I was worried that after spending so long in the Afterlife with Alliance gods they might have made you go completely Alliance.” Kara was only half joking. She didn’t’ really believe in the gods or the Afterlife, but she had insisted that Jane become a god and frankly she didn’t know where Jane’s spirit had been while she had been dead. She had thought a lot about it in the last few hours but still coming to no firm conclusion, however if she were pushed, she would say Jane’s brain was dead until it wasn’t, and the rest were just fanciful dreams.
“I am the goddess of humanity after all, thanks to you,” Jane replied. “And as for going completely Alliance, I, as I did in life before, must walk in both worlds, Alliance and human.” She stopped herself before saying, ‘It’s a curse I cannot escape from.’ Then she changed the subject back to the restaurant, “I agree it’s a ridiculous name, but Jade’s done very well for herself. I hear she even has a second location in Alba.”
“Yes, apparently her human sister in-law is running it, but I hear she does more socializing with eligible men in House Rega than managing Human Food Two. You should talk to Jei about that. We don’t want people thinking that cuisine from Earth isn’t the best, because it absolutely is,” Kara said confidently.
“I’m sure Jade’s sister in-law has it all in order. It’s difficult allowing someone else to take care of your second child,” Jane replied referring to Human Food Two as Jade’s second child. She had met chef’s before Jade, and they weren’t the easiest people to please when it came to their recipes and their restaurants. And knowing Jade, Jane had no doubt as to whether she was running the second restaurant, even from a distance, with constant supervision and the upmost care. “It’s good that some human young women are enthusiastic about meeting eligible Alliance men, isn’t it?”
Kara rolled her eyes at Jane and then said, “Speaking of children, Jane what the hell were you thinking using those volunteers for more human children that you were just going to give away to Alliance families? I know that I don’t have much room to talk, I’ve done a lot of questionable things in my life, but I hadn’t expected any of that from you. Did Doctor Anu use her influence to trick you into it?”
Jane expected this, “No one used any influence on me. I made that decision with a clear and logical mind. I was thinking about the good of everyone here in the Empire, both Alliance and human. Most human women were finding it exceedingly difficult to meet the impossible cultural standards set by the Empire. I thought if they were raised here, in the culture, they wouldn’t have the same problems. If you look at the contracts those volunteers signed with the Empire before they left Earth, they did all agree that their physical bodies would be citizens of the Empire.”
“That’s taking things too literally, I’d say. You have become way too Alliance, even before I made you a goddess,” Kara said a little bitterly.
“And I’d say things worked out very well in the end. Those volunteers had female children to give them more leverage in the Empire. Jade herself ended up with three husbands, one of which is her slave lover, which would have otherwise been forbidden to her.”
“Yes, but you stole eggs from those women and were going to give away their babies that were genetically theirs to alien strangers without their knowledge. I find it irrelevant that Mara saved the outcome and gave them power to better their lives. The fact remains what you did was immoral,” Kara said. She left off saying, ‘And had you not been my friend and died anyway, I might have killed you for it myself.’
“You’re right, I should have asked them all. Most of them would have agreed, especially if there were some UCs thrown into the bargain. The problem was that Imperial laws forbid the use of artificial wombs and all. It was too big of a risk that someone would say something if we would’ve asked in advance,” Jane explained her need for secrecy. “As for the volunteers, some of them still chose for their children to be raised by Alliance families.”
Kara wasn’t a mind reader, but she noticed Jane’s face expression change after her last statement, and she knew that Jane was thinking about her daughter Ellie and what her fate might be. Ellie had been left with Jei, the only human on Alliance Planet Two to be raised. And now she was with a man no one really knew. Obviously, it was worrying for Jane if Ellie was at the mercy of someone that treated her in the same calloused way she had treated the 1,000 women volunteers from Earth, “Are you thinking about Ellie?”
“How can I not? I only wonder if fate will repay me for what I’ve done to those other women.”
“Not yet I don’t think. And you’ve already paid fate a bit as you died,” Kara said trying to add some humor to their conversation. “But seriously, don’t worry. I’ve met Val the Outcast, the man your daughter stole, I love the husband stealing, by the way, and as far as I could tell, he’s as honorable a man as a man can be for someone outside the Empire.”
“How is that supposed to make me feel better?”
Kara shrugged, “It’s the truth and you know what I mean. Don’t act as if this place is some utopia to look up to.”