Foreword
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This book will cover the Bennet/Darcy story from late 1822 to, probably, the end of 1827 (could be more could be less…).
It will include, as usual, a few new (some of them real historic characters) characters who will in the covered years and beyond play a role in conjunction with the core of the Bennet/Darcy family.
It will often deal with the twelve last children born within the family. As you've probably already guessed those twelve are the ultimate level of upgrade and *Link* will play an important part within the Darcy Galaxy.
We'll see Ishalon coming back with new ideas and new plans to resurrect his own species of Humanity.
We will witness Sunteu's grow into a confident player as she understands more and more of the new Chinese Political landscape.
We will follow the Dark Council's efforts to implement what they believe could make the world better within their very own territory.
And, last but not least, we will have the great pleasure to assist at India's encounter with the Bennet sisters.
Well there will probably be more but, since as I write these lines, not a word is yet written, everything should be possible…
Good read and thanks for the reviews.
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D'Arcy family tree (as of 1822)
Augustin Marie d'Arcy (1725 † 1792) + Ludivine de Saint Onge (1738 † 1794)
- Robert Louis Philippe d'Arcy (1745 † 1792)
- Geoffroy Aymé d'Arcy (1759) – 11 children
[also known as Ru Quonru in the province of LangZeu where he was in the employ of Peu Tshomai)
- Isabelle Marie (1762) + Antony James Ruthledge (1759)
- Jamie 1795
- Christian 1795
- Ludivine 1796
Bennet Family Tree (as of 1822)
Edward Bennet 1751 + Fanny Gardiner 1758
- Jane 1778 + Geoffrey d'Arcy
- William 1801
- Betty 1801
- Sarah 1812
- Jonathan 1812
- James 1820
- Cassandra 1820
- Elizabeth 1779 + Fitzwilliam Darcy
- Geoffrey 1801
- Janet 1801
- Charles 1820
- Charlotte 1820
- Mary 1781 + Gerauld Duroc - Emilie 1792 (first marriage)
- Rebecca Rose 1804
- Napoleon 1811
- Alice 1820
- Godefroy1820
- Catherine 1784+ Charles Bingley Biorna
- Deirdre 1804
- Rupert 1810
- Louisa1820
- Caroline 1820
- Lydia Georgiana 1820
- Lydia 1785 + Donald Gordon
- Matthews 1812
- Clemens 1812
- Aileen Jane 1820
Edward Gardiner + Adeline
- Emma 1793 + Mikhaïl Apraxine (Russian Prince)
- Boris Sergei 1818
-Tatiana 1821
- Alicia 1795
- Thomas 1797
- Philip 1798
- Georgiana Darcy + Charles Douglas
- Regina 1804
- Fitzwilliam 1809
- Robert 1815
- Maureen O'Sullivan + Geoffrey d'Arcy
- Alexandra 1802 + Alexandre Bonaparte
- Sean 1812
- Gwenhyfar 1812
- Yasmina Hosmanli Hanedani + Geoffrey d'Arcy
- Bouran 1818
- Ayïda 1818
- Ann de Bourgh + George Darcy
- Lionel 1813
- Joan 1813
- Catherine 1820
- Arthur 1820
- Caroline Bingley + George Augustus Herbert 11st Earl of Pembroke
- Gwennhifar 1804
- Charles Augustus 1810
Others
Tilana + Rob Roy Kealey
Teenara + Richard Fitzwilliam (marriage July 1821)
- Theodora (January 1822)
- Constantine (January 1822)
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Book Six: Mind over Body
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Prolog
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Chinese Bulletin of Historical Sciences (International Edition)
Editorial by Her Exalted Majesty Lady Qin
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Ten years ago, the world was about to forget that we existed. Worse, we were ready to let the world forget us! We were so sure to be at the center of everything, we were so sure to have reached the height of what culture and civilization could provide that we just went on ignoring what was happening outside our little bubble of Chinese Cultural satisfaction.
And hadn't we been rattled awake we would have gone on sleeping until one of those scheming outsiders -those we call Barbarians- would have been near enough to blow us to hell. Because said Barbarians had used our two-century-long sleep to follow into the footsteps we've placed three centuries ago.
And I am as guilty now as I was ten years ago. Because I was in the same Cultural Bubble as everybody else. I was, if I'm allowed to be honest, dumber than anyone living outside of the Middle Kingdom and so were my husband and the rest of the Manchu Elite.
And, even if it looks like I should, I will not condemn said outsiders for having had those thoughts. I would have had the same if I had seen an elderly sleeping Giant who if awake and up would have crushed me easily but who made me the gift of letting me try and kill him.
I'm not proud of the thought but neither am I ashamed.
It's the way of Mankind. The strong takes over and the weak is taken down.
Qin was asleep and was offering them an easy way to get rid of her.
It would have been her fault and they would have been right to try and kill her. Why risk to see the sleeping giant wake up and rouse when you could get rid of him while he insisted on ignoring the small threat you were representing?
So, ten years ago, most of the world powers were lurking at the Middle Kingdom with greed and malevolence in the eyes. But, considering our History and military strength still with respect and worry.
Ten years ago, we were just like those old rich lonely people having no longer the courage and the will to risk their fortune to build a better future. And that unused wealth had only one fate: to be stolen by their greedy neighbors.
Because with each passing year Qin was losing its edge and we were losing a little more of our vitality.
Luckily for us, ten years ago, Ru Quonru, the best known long-nosed Barbarian of the whole of Qin's history decided that my husband's proposal was worth to be considered.
As you all know today, he had lived amongst us, learned quite a lot of our languages and, by being a trusted retainer of the Imperial Household had deserved to become a member of the Imperial retinue.
Add to that he had begotten a daughter with one of ours and there was still a chance, whatever had happened meanwhile, that he could be won to Qin's side to further her cause.
Yonglin Emperor made the offer and Ru Quonru accepted to remember the time spent with us and the memories shared. He answered to his daughter's call and chose to help the new Emperor the Fates had chosen.
The rest History has shown.
Together they stood up and fought for our Empire's future.
And if the fight began as an attempted coup it ended up as a counter-revolution seeing the Emperor and his allies fighting against his fellow Manchu rulers who, with the passing centuries, had become even more bigoted than the Chinese Elite of old.
And if it took years until the last rebel was beaten and beheaded, it also gave Qin the time to catch up with the rest of the world in those matters invented and nurtured by ancient Qin i.e. science and technology. Because, even if my husband's enemies blamed him for his reforms, they never even intended not to equip their soldiers with the same efficient weapons he had at his disposal.
Today, because of them, there are factories all over the Middle Kingdom and Qin is richer than ever before.
Today, Qin rules over more territories than ever before.
Today, our army is experienced, equipped with the best available weapons and second to none.
Today, Jiutian Xuannü is floating over the Middle Kingdom showing to the whole world that Qin is back on Earth, on Sea and in the Air.
Today, since the dynasty is secured in his power with already seven Princes and ten Princesses following the Path of Wisdom, Qin is now in the position to go a step further.
I am, being a woman, excluded from any official rank or office. I still have the power to influence my Husband, but it will never be because I have an official position that allows me to provide advice.
And that has now to change.
We've already managed quite a few changes in the Middle Kingdom to give women a more secured and safe life.
No longer are baby girls crippled in any way.
No longer can they be sold to whorehouses by their own parents.
No longer have the parents to pay huge dowries to marry their daughters.
No longer are the girls excluded of the Elementary and Intermediary School systems.
Those were necessary first steps.
Now comes the time when girls with enough knowledge will be allowed to compete against their male counterparts to enter the Imperial Administration. And should they score better results than their male competitors, I do swear that they will be offered positions related to their actual scores. Up to positions in the Forbidden City.
Here we are. In the eleventh year of Younglin Emperor's reign and we are right behind those Empires who have begun the race ten years before us. We are not yet there but soon the Middle Kingdom will be at its rightful place: the top!
But let's not fall back into our usual complacency. Our competitors have learned from our mistakes and they won't let us catch up with a smile and a tap on the shoulder. We are competing for world domination and even if we have good relations with our fellow Great nations let's never forget that in that business there are no friends, only common interests.
We're back and soon we will be leading the race but when we look at all the steps we still have to climb, we see stairs that look like never ending.
And that's because they have no end! The stairs we have chosen to climb are the stairs to knowledge, wisdom and progress and they will only end with Mankind's disappearance.
Qin's destiny is, has always been, in the Heavens, at the top! With all the others behind us, hurrying to catch up with Qin's achievements.
We are not yet there, but we will…
That's my family's promise to our people.
.
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Chapter One: Business as usual… Or not…
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November 1822
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Pemberley
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Why this way around?
Ludwig van Beethoven let out a long sigh and ended his current line of notes. He quite loved the kids' questions and was, overall, very satisfied with their musical understanding. But the fact that they weren't in the least impressed by his tantrums did have a few inconveniences.
Like being disturbed while working at another masterpiece.
Because I like it this way… I feel that it is more catching than the usual, more classical way. The intermingling of slightly different themes with each instrument amplifies the whole sequence into something epic and uplifting.
Do you know that you play your music in your mind with the whole orchestra in action?
He was always surprised to hear a different inflexion in the voice. He knew, of course, that they were twelve different minds gathered into something different but within the Gathering there were currents. Multiple currents.
The last current who had asked was the Bingley sisters' undercurrent. Those three had a real love for music and could, if they ever decided to be real composers, be rather successful pseudo-musicians. Of the Salieri or von Weber sort.
Of course, I know… I'm writing a symphony. I need to project each instrument's bout of music into my mind's construct. It's the only way to get it done correctly. I don't only want them to play together I want them to lift each other up into new heights. It is not a Choir; it is a musical symbiosis.
You are the only one who manages that… All the others begin with the general theme and from there extrapolate to include one instrument after the other.
That's because I'm a real genius. They are talented dabblers. I think music, they write it…
It's a shame that sort of thinking cannot be used in Physics…
Who says?
Ludwig couldn't help but smile. They came and went without really thinking about what they wanted to do next… As now, they were no longer focused on him and his music. They were still there, listening to his mind's weaving of music because the Bingley sisters loved to 'listen' to his compositions and share it with the rest of the *Link* but a part of them had gone elsewhere to discuss how his way to create music could be used to enhance their thought process.
They were always looking at ways to be better. It was in a certain way frightening. For them boundaries didn't exist. They were really persuaded that there must be ways to turn around what looked like an impossible feat and they wouldn't relent before having found it.
They had changed him, too. They were the first kids he had caught himself liking. No, that was wrongly said…
He had nothing against kids. Well nothing more than against adults. But since he had always hated Human Beings it wasn't a real feat. What was sure was that their offspring was even worse! They were, all in all, dumb creatures focused on trivial matters, who were unable to understand what he was doing and how he was thinking.
The Darcy toddlers, at least when they were linked, were something totally different. He could understand how they worked, and they had shown multiple times that they could understand him. And he loved to be able to discuss music with someone who wasn't a complete musical idiot. And what he just has discovered about the way he was thinking his music was, indeed, mindboggling. He did indeed use one instrument to lift another one… Could it be enhanced more? Were there instruments who could support more than one other?
A part of his mind began to work on that problem while the rest focused on the current symphony. An ode to Beauty and Benevolence he would offer to madame d'Arcy as a personal gift. He felt that there would be a sad undercurrent in the work. A sadness born out of his frustration to have, finally, found a brethren soul who was clearly already ensnared by another genius…
He sighed.
He knew his fight would end in defeat, but he wouldn't surrender without a battle. He would use his work to send her a message.
He felt that he could introduce that current by adding another layer of instrumental weaving. It would be his chef-d'oeuvre… Before the next one who, as usual, would be even better.
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You've hidden the best part of your theory, haven't you?
Lionel looked up from his paper and sighed.
He loved his cousins/brethren but having a telepathic bad-behaving brood always lurking in the shadows of his mind could be annoying. Especially when he was focused on finding the solution to his latest spacetime equation.
We are not bad-behaving, protested the *Link*.
Neither are we lurking… You were so focused on your equation that you began to broadcast all over the landscape. We are not responsible for people's mental shouts calling for our attention.
Most of the time we don't even consider dealing with them, but your mind is always spinning around scientific problems. It's challenging.
And we've found a solution, if you are interested…
I'm not, grumbled Lionel. This was my personal challenge. I wanted to crack it myself.
Which is a very dumb way to look at science, said another undercurrent of the *Link*.
Probably his own brethren who were always berating everybody when the problem was about science.
What's crucial in science is to overcome the problem to go further. Not whose been the one to crack it! Those egotistical egomaniacal thoughts of yours are an absolute waste of time.
Even more so since you never speak about your successes to anybody!
That was clearly the d'Arcy sub-link. They tended to be, like they father, on the righteous side of judgments.
Once a problem is solved there are always others that can be discovered. Insisting on doing it yourself is just putting the whole of Mankind on a losing path.
Once more Lionel sighed and surrendered to the mass of concentrated persistence.
Alright, what have you found?
As usual, they were kids after all, there was the undercurrent of pride suffusing the *Link* when they had found a solution for a difficult problem.
You've forgotten about the part of your early work that was dealing with vibrations. We think we've found a way to introduce the vibration element into your current problem and it provided us with another layer of unknown matter components.
Which was what you were looking for, weren't you?
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Lambton Institute of Technology
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- She's a healthy little girl and she really doesn't deserve such a sad frown from her mamma…
Jane who has been present for little Sishi's birth had been visiting at least once a day and had been quite insistent with the mother that there would be no crippled feet within a British territory.
Hiehwa hadn't been happy about it but she hadn't insisted since in Lambton there was no specialists able to do the crippling according to the rules. She hoped that they would be back to Beijing in time to do the deed soon enough not to traumatize her daughter.
Jane who had no difficulties to guess Hiehwa's thoughts sighed.
- You know that we will do whatever is in our power to have these ugly habits of crippling girls not only forbidden but outlawed…
For once, Zongsan's wife protested.
- It is our ancestral custom and you have no right to force your barbarian ways upon us… It's what will elevate her from being a mere peasant girl with a rich father.
Jane who had tried for weeks to get the young mother into understanding her point of view was no longer very receptive to the woman's resistance.
- It's not only our right, it is our duty to eradicate that awful torture! And, have no hope that we will not insist, we will succeed! Chinese aristocratic girls will have the same possibilities than their western counterparts and the most important thing to do is to protect them from their mothers' criminal habits.
- Those are our ways, protested Hiehwa. We are happy as we are. Nobody's allowed to force her ways upon us. We will resist…
That brought Jane to laugh out aloud and to become a little bit irritated with the young mother.
Whose refusal to see the insanity of her argument was quite annoying.
- Resist? And how will a cripple who's unable to even walk normally resist to somebody like me who's not only able to walk, to run and to jump but can easily hit anybody's face with a huge range of different kicks?
And to make Hiehwa understand what she meant she stood and made a little demonstration of what she could do even while wearing winter clothes.
- That's what a safe and sane girl should be able to do with her feet! And your silly habits deprive them of those wonderful athletic possibilities.
She frowned at the petite little woman who was showing quite a great and annoying strength of character.
- I'm, all over the world, a well-known and powerful shaman, what we call here a witch. And I'm the witch whose first, foremost and compelling duty has always been the protection of women. That duty is even greater when it comes to protect baby girls from torturers. It's my duty to protect them against their mothers' indoctrination and that's exactly what I'm going to do with the help of Lady Qin and her mother Lady Niohuru. I'm quite sure that the Empress and her mother, who, because they are Manchu both have normal sane feet, will be able to convince the China's mothers about the necessity to stop those aberrant customs.
She forced herself to calm down.
Clearly Chinese and Manchu women had the gift to make her lose her temper.
She looked Hiehwa into the eyes.
- With your help it would be so much easier. You've seen that girls with normal feet are the norm here and that they can live more interesting and fulfilled lives than those poor cripples who are detained and encapsuled in what is nothing than a jail with another name. You've come and you've seen how normal women can become real partners of their husbands. Not only protected jewels hidden away by jealous men. Won't you give your beloved daughter a future of self-realization and success?
Seeing Hiehwa's stubborn frown, she sighed.
- You, even if you are restricted in your moves, could decide to be at your husband's side to offer China's people another future! He's refused to follow the old Emperors' anti-technology edicts to fight for the Middle Kingdom's future. He's taken every imaginable risk to do what he thought necessary to be ready when his people would understand that their current position was dumb and crippling.
She balled her fist.
- And it paid. He came out of his ordeal, the Emperor's First Councilor and a rich man able to convince your father to let him marry you. It could the same for you and by becoming more than a stooping doll you could help all your sisters. Because if it is your mates who force you out of the public life, it is your approval and lack of revolt that makes this crime last. If you stop supporting that awful custom, you could be like your husband a precursor. You could be the one who stood up against that silly and criminal practice to allow China's women to live something else than the lives of mute and concealed cripples? Your daughter has because of you and the courage you will show, the chance to be amongst the first Chinese females who will appear on the fore front of history…
- To be crushed by our enemies…
- Perhaps, conceded Jane. So, her choice is to be crushed now by her own mother while she is unable to defend herself or to be crushed later by enemies she will know and, because she won't be a cripple and will be backed by her family and a bunch of powerful allies, be able to fight and defeat!
It was Hiehwa's turn to sigh.
- You fight dirty…
- For my sisters and those I love I show no mercy for the wicked. I don't want to avenge past wrongdoings. The past is the past and bygones are bygones. What is important is the future and the future must be based on accepted inequalities not imposed ones.
Jane shook her head when she saw Hiehwa's surprised look.
- That's always a point most modern feminists don't fathom. I don't want equality between men and women. Never wanted it because I knew that it would be dumb and dangerous. Because women have specific roles no man will ever be able to cover. And I have proven on six occasions that being a mother is an important role when it comes to give the next generation the best chances. I want women to have choices like man always had. Or should I say rich men? Because the poor, be they men or women, never had a lot of choices. So, sharing wealth had been my family's first mission. A mission we brought to a successful end in most of British territories. Now, everyone who has the will to climb the social ladder has the same possibilities. Be they men or women. And with all the open possibilities they will have the choice to go one way or the other without seeing anyone frowning at them.
She smiled at Hiehwa.
- Some will choose to become business tycoons or spymasters or even cobbler. But most will bear in mind that being a mother is what we have been create for. What our body wants us to be. Some will have jobs only men had had until now. And because they have the will and the skills they will climb to the very top of their profession. But most, I'm sure of it, if we offer their mates enough wages to have their families live in comfort, will chose to be, for a decade or two, a loving mother and the only unbiased educator their children deserve.
She shook her head.
- Equality is only possible between two identical individuals. As soon as there are differences between two Human Beings, equality is no longer possible. And it is a good thing since I have no desire to see my sisters armed with rifles to be sent into war or equipped with picks to be sent into the mines. I have no desire to see a world where half the bosses would be women just because some scheming idiot has discovered that Mankind has the same number of women than men and that equality asks for it. What I want is, when a woman has proven that she is better in the skill set she has chosen, that she receives everything that belongs to her because of her knowledge and skills. And should women show and prove that they are better leaders I want to live in a society where nobody will begrudge them their leadership even if female leaders are more numerous than men. Equality is a double-edged weapon the French revolutionaries have brought up because of what their Kings had created in the past. And as you probably know it had cut both ways. Our world will not be about equality, it will be about justice. And for Chinese women to have that justice they need to be safe and uninjured.
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Lambton Institute of Technology, Doctor Fanny Bennet lecture.
Main Auditorium.
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- Look around you, ladies and gentlemen, what is immediately apparent?
The hundred and six students following the surgery conference Doctor Bennet was holding every Tuesday morning, did, of course look around them.
Soon one of the students asked for the floor.
- Yes Emma?
- All five front rows are student-free?
Mrs. Bennet couldn't help but laugh out aloud.
- That's indeed the case. And why is that, dear?
There was a lengthy silence and finally a young man asked for the floor.
- Yes, Steven?
- Because we don't want to be seen as sucking up to the teachers?
Mrs. Bennet made a face but ended up nodding.
- Let's consider that your answer is the right one and let's go on. But you probably know that I know everyone of you and that nothing that you did while following this curriculum is ignored by me or any other teacher here. So, no need to try to hide in the shadows of the back rows.
She looked at the few scores of students.
- What other weirdness can you see within this auditorium?
Another female student asked for the floor.
- Go on Laetitia, what do you find weird?
- There are only twenty-four men following your curriculum…
- Indeed, there we are! That's what I wanted you to see and now the immediate follow-up is: why? And to be a little more precise in my inquiry I have a question about the University. How many students do we have currently on the campus?
Quite a few hands came up.
- Stewart, it's your turn to show up.
- One thousand and three hundred twelve, Doctor…
- How many girls and women within those thirteen hundred people?
- Four hundred and ten, said Stewart who had a knack for statistics.
- Which means that around twenty percent of all female students are facing me, today. Do you have an idea why?
- Because we care, said a girl in the last row.
- Exactly, Judith. It's because we care, and we feel compassion while most men only roleplay it.
There were a few grumbles. And Mrs. Bennet's smile increased even more.
- Indeed, you roleplay it. Compassion is not a character trait Humanity has bred into its menfolk. And it is easy to understand. To kill your neighbors, you need to have as little compassion as possible. It is not your role to feel for your tribe's foe, it is your role to get rid of said foe as soon as possible. Thinking about him as a mate, a husband or a father is counterproductive when it comes to slaughter him as soon and as swiftly as possible.
She looked at the few young men sitting in front of her.
- That's why I'm proud to have those twenty-four men facing me and having chosen to go on with their medical studies. Because compassion is a good thing to enter our job, but it is not always what is only needed. There are moments when compassion is an obstacle to make the hard decisions your patient will need. And that's why I hope that we will always have a minimum of young men choosing our career. We need both points of view and there is only one way to get those, having both genders working together within the Health Center.
Mrs. Bennet took a long breath.
- You probably know that my daughters are and have been for a long time, some time even without me having even a hint about their struggle, defenders of woman-man equity.
She smiled at the frowns on most of her students' brows.
- And you heard me well when I spoke of equity because as my daughter recently forced me to understand she's never been in favor of equality between men and women… Equity is the right term and it must be what we all stand for. Equality is a myth and, worse, is physically impossible even between two same aged men. One will be smarter and the other stronger and treating them equally will either favorize one of them or, in a worst-case scenario, make both their lives a lot more difficult.
She looked at the increasing number of frowns facing her.
- I see you frown, and you are wondering why I'm telling you that when today's topic was how to organize and manage a special crisis emergency shelter. What has gender to do with building and managing an emergency shelter.
She shrugged.
- Nothing if you look at the way to organize it, everything if you look at the way those in need will use it.
She pointed at the little crowd facing her.
- Twenty years ago, eighty-two of the students present in this auditorium would, had they had the same age as today, have been working as maids, cooks or had they been married with children as wet-nurses. Some would have been toiling in factories where they would have been exploited till their premature death. Probably while trying to give birth while being exhausted and ill.
She looked at the five ladies who, even if they were wearing the same clothes as every other student, could clearly be identified as members of the gentry. The fact that they were scattered all over the Auditorium spoke volumes about the solidarity that existed between the little group of students.
- A little group of us would have spent its time making idle chat, playing cards, and waiting fervently for the next ball.
She shook her head.
- All in all, eighty-two of us…
She smiled.
- Let's say eighty-three of us, would have done either useless and boring things, or dangerous and life-threatening ones. And here we are after having chosen the most extraordinary profession of all. The one who, aside from God, is the only occupation that can be lifesaving. But even if we are the happy beneficiary of our time's most extraordinary change there are regions, even here in Great Britain, where time has stopped and were women are still toiling in the fields or are being exploited by unscrupulous land-owners.
She clicked on her board and photographs of last summers' earthquake in Turkey were soon sliding through.
- And should you have to intervene in those regions you will need to remember that our vision of the world, even if it is the vision that will, in the end, prevail, is not to be forced upon others. That's why, until you are sure that the people you are going to help are in acceptance of our world-view, it will be a man who plays the role of the manager and that examinations are always done by doctors of the same gender as the patient. Only necessity and emergency must push you into doing it any other way. And, for the exact same reason, you will never go into any detail about who's doing what in your OP rooms. The patient and the patient's family do not need to know who did what within the safety of the field hospital's rooms.
She pointed a warning finger at her little crowd before pointing at the rumble the pictures were showing.
- What they don't know will not upset them. So, wherever you are, even if it is in the center of London, if you work with an emergency squad, you never explain anything, and you don't speak outside of secured rooms about what has happened on the inside of your OP rooms. And, even if some outside helpers seem open-minded and smart, you don't include them in briefings where you speak about what you have done and what you are going to do.
She tried to convey the urgency of her words.
- We have lost good people because they hadn't fathomed that for some fanatics, those who follow strict religious rules in particular, killing an unbeliever who has done things that are forbidden by their holy word, is not a sin but a deed God approves.
She changed the picture to show a squad in emergency clothes.
- We did lose people, ladies and gentlemen. Not a great number. Only seven, but those seven were the first and the last we accepted to sacrifice on the altar of our principles. We lost seven people and within the following month we changed what had to be changed to avoid any repetition of that awful incident.
Another view of what the doctors and nurses wore in the beginning of the Health Centers' creation.
- As you see, in the beginning it was easy to see gender differences. Now it is no longer the case. In every of our Health Center, wherever it is, there is no longer a difference between men's garb and women's garb. We all look the same, we all wear masks and goggles and rubber gloves and our nametags no longer give any hint about the wearer's sex. Not only because it is medically safer for everybody but also because it protects us from outsiders. We are not men and women; we are doctors and nurses! That's how it works and that's how you must always act. Don't ever believe that men or women will, out of gratitude for having been saved or having seen a loved-one saved, forget to condemn you for even a small religious slight. That's not how Mankind's working and to avoid foolish deaths it is always safer to follow the safety protocol from day one to the moment you climb on the Center's evacuation Airship.
Conal O'Rourke, one of her best students and a real artist with a lancet, asked for the floor.
She nodded in his direction.
- Why do we go on sending squads in lands where they are risking their life?
Mrs. Bennet could feel in the mood of the class that quite a lot were wondering in the same direction.
- Because we swore to help the ill and injured and because we are the best to save lives. Even lives of bigoted idiots are worth to be saved. Who knows, those bigoted idiots will, perhaps, one day, paly a major role to avoid a war or a massacre…
O'Rourke who had lost quite a huge number of family members to the great English repression of 1798 and who struggled to see anything good in any English teacher, insisted immediately. He was not the most obedient student…
- Or they could be responsible for just that…
Mrs. bennet shot him a warning frown but choose to answer nevertheless. Because it was important to made them understand.
- They could but that's not to us to decide. It's not a man or a woman's past that will send us at his side to help him, it's his need for medical treatment. A man, a woman or a child who's suffered injuries ceases to have a name or a nationality to become your patient. And that will change only the very day he or she's back to health and is, because of that, able to give you his or her argument about what's opposing you. Meanwhile you will have done everything in your power to save him or her…
She looked Conal in the eyes.
- Will that be a problem for you, Conal? Will there be a temptation in your heart to make one of your patients pay for his or his relatives' alleged crimes?
- Of course not, Doctor Bennet, protested Conal. I still have a lot of hatred within my heart but if Mrs. d'Arcy has been able to show restraint, I will be able too.
Mrs. Bennet forced herself not to smile. Young Conal was a touchy Gael and he would have taken the smile as a personal slight.
But the fact that Mrs. d'Arcy was Maureen and Madame d'Arcy Jane all over the known world amazed her each time she listened to a conversation where her daughter or one of her sisters was spoken of. Nobody would acknowledge that her son-in-law had three wives. At least not officially. Jane was Madame, Maureen was Misses and Yasmina was Sayyideti.
- I'm glad to hear you say it Conal because even if we don't do politics in the Centers and we welcome all those who want to learn the real job of a doctor, we don't hire those who show a lack of tolerance…
- I don't lack tolerance, Doctor. I just struggle with the losses of my past. Deep in my heart I do think that there have not been the adequate punishments against those who have committed atrocities… I won't let my frustration hurt an innocent, but my heart is still bleeding.
Mrs. Bennet didn't try to assuage the young man.
His frustration was genuine and, in a certain way, normal. He had lost his parents and seven of his siblings to a bunch of Scottish arsonists disguised as soldiers.
Such circumstances tended to increase small worries into great frustrations.
But Ireland as a country and the Irish as a people had chosen to forgive and had accepted to enter the Union on a vastly different foundation than what existed before.
And Fitzwilliam Darcy, with the help of Charles Bingley, had made the whole thing possible. They were family now and even if crimes had been committed in the past, those crimes had been forgiven in full knowledge of the fact that Ireland wasn't a colony but an equal part of the British Isles.
- Bleeding hearts, I understand. Blind revenge, I don't, said finally Mrs. Bennet. It has been two difficult, if fruitful decades, and like you quite a few Irish still have problems with the fact that Ireland hasn't chosen independence. But this is the new reality we live in. Wille you be able to adapt to it, Mr. O'Rourke?
- I think so, Doctor Bennet…
- Good, Conal because you are, with your twenty-three male friends, a particularly important part of what the Health Centers' future will be. The world is not ready for an all-female medical staff and neither am I.
She looked up towards the rest of the small assembly.
- Because, even if females are more drown towards care and healing, it does not mean that we will ever be able to renounce to our male counterparts. As I explained earlier men and women don't react in the same manner and don't base their rulings on the same bases. Women will privilege what they feel while men will try to base their proposals on logic and facts. And, to make good decisions, both approaches need to be looked at. That's why, especially in zones where danger could appear, we will do our utmost to send more men than the actual proportion on outside missions. Not because we believe women less competent but because emergency missions often need more brawn than a day-to-day city center.
She searched those of her students who had the leadership skill that would jump them in commanding positions.
- Which won't give men any advantage in getting ruling positions. Within a staff it will always be the best and the most competent who will be placed in a command position. Gender won't play a role, I give you my word. I have played the favoritism game earlier in my life and it has been dire enough to cure me definitively from such a temptation. I'll know who the best for the commanding positions are and I will act in accordance with it.
She looked at the interested, and sometimes worried, faces.
- Do you have questions? We still have half an hour… Don't be shy and shoot.
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Pemberley, Library
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- Look, said Mr. Bennet to his counterpart at the gameboard, go is clearly a lot more complex that I thought…
Sunteu looked up from the board and upped her brows.
- It is just a strategic game of the Chess sort, said she finally. They say you are quite good at Chess. You'll soon get the knack for it. I haven't played for a lot longer, you know? It's only recently that father taught me…
- I remember, I was there, smiled Mr. Bennet. I got the exact same lessons. But you still are better than I.
- I tend to be a little more focused then you, that's all. And I don't like to read books so playing go is a welcome way to spend time between two training bouts on the dojo.
- Don't you ever tire of those constant training bouts?
She looked up and seemed genuinely surprised.
- No, I don't… I need to perfect the more complex moves father has taught me. And to become a real Master training is the only path. One day it could be vital.
- You are training, and you are teaching…
- I need to teach to Ounnga the intermediary moves. She's not yet good enough at the basic ones to become a real practitioner. Even a mid-level assassin could easily get at her in her current form. We still have a lot of work to do…
She let a smile appear.
- And I have discovered that I like teaching to young ones… Especially young ones who have such extraordinary physical abilities. They will be able to bring the art of unarmed combat to heights we can not even imagine.
- And you are teaching Maureen in advanced swordsmanship…
- She's a soul-guard, she needs to be better. I want more than seeing her give her life for her soul-mate. I want her to survive against even the most awful odds! And she has the right spirit to do it!
Mr. Bennet, put another stone on the board. He didn't exactly know why it was the case but he was feeling that he was already losing.
- You are probably right, Maureen has an iron core that won't ever give up.
He couldn't help but laugh aloud.
- It is rather funny but in a certain way, in my mind, my Jane has really two consorts. And I must say that I love both of them.
- Consorts?
- It is another way to say husband or wife without the gender trap… And since, contrary to Yasmina, she's a lot more than just Jane's sister wife, I like to call her that. It's my discreet way to let her know that I'm satisfied with my Jane's choices as mates. I indeed love both of them, not in the same way, of course, but it is Maureen that I'm most proud of. That girl should have come out of her early life as crazy as humanly possible but her mind resisted thanks to a sanity I wouldn't have thought conceivable.
He shook his head while his smile disappeared.
- Even after all these years there are still people who frown at their relationship. But, luckily for them and Jane and Maureen had developed a sort of blindness in that field, they no longer even notice said loaded frowns.
Sunteu who still was a virgin and whose sexual life has always been smothered and ignored still had an idea of Jane and Maureen's real relations. There were looks and glances that were revealing of their feelings. She wasn't sure how such relationships were looked at in the Middle Kingdom. Probably with a blaming frown. She would have to ask Oungga -Lady Qin, as she was about to be called- to get a clearer idea about that whole thing.
A small smile crawled on her lips.
Her relationship with Ounnga had changed these last weeks. Lady Qin was no longer showing reluctance to have Sunteu at her side -well more behind her- frow sunset to sundown. And since they had been here in Britain where no real enemies could be found it had been an easy change.
Even Ounnga who had been disinclined to have a perpetual shadow at here side had discovered that having a trustworthy friend with whom sharing thoughts had been a welcome change to her life. Sunteu had a lot to learn about protocol and correct court behavior but she was a well of knowledge on China's real world. And since she knew Beijing in and out, she had been Ounnga's guide -and protector- whenever the young Empress had chosen to visit some specialized shop.
Having Nightcrawlers as willing friends and means of transport had been, for Sunteu and Ounnga, a real game-changer. To say the truth, they had become dependent of Fluffy's easy and safe mode of transportation. They both knew that it wouldn't last once they were back in Beijing but, meanwhile, while in Britain they had used -and perhaps abused- it quite often.
Once you're upgraded, you'll be able to call me through mind-talk, said the very well know voice in her head. And since the situation is slowly becoming quiet and non-threatening on the Kazakh front, I find myself bored more often then not. Call me and I'll get you where you want to go.
Are you always listening?
Not always but when I'm bored, I switch my mind into that new clue-searching mode I recently borrowed from the kids' *Link*. They do it all the time and I do agree with them that it is a cool feature. When somebody thinks about Demons or Demonology, I'll get a signal and I focus on it…
I wasn't thinking about Demons.
You were thinking about me, I included myself and Speedy within the clues I'm looking for. It is always a good idea to look at the thoughts of people who focus on you! Either they need your help, or they are plotting against you. In both cases it is important to get the information as soon as possible. It could be life-saving…
It won't happen very soon, thought Sunteu. First, I'll have to marry and bear a child… Which means at least three years.
You are in no hurry, dear. The bug is at the same time a curse and a blessing. Once upgraded, you will be very different, you'll see. Make the most of those coming three years to live the life of a normal -if that is even any longer possible- wife and mother.
It still baffles me to think about marrying Yonglin! I'm…
Of the best blood available on this planet, Sunteu, interrupted Fluffy. It is Yonglin Emperor who's the real beneficiary of your incoming marriage. And he knows it quite well, believe me. But, to stop the next silly thought to even appear, he never was reluctant to consider the marriage. It is his will to create a dynastic link that made him consider it, no doubt there, but the moment he saw you in the flesh he was instantly physically fascinated with you. Ounnga isn't a weakling but she, nor any other of Yonglin's three concubines, has any of your animal athleticism. Your soon-to-be consort was thinking about some horizontal sport in conjunction with you even before his decision to make you his wife was fully conscious.
She was called out of the conversation with Fluffy by Mr. Bennet's worried question.
- Why that deep frown, dear?
- I was speaking -or thinking, whatever- with Fluffy. She was alluding to my animal athleticism…
- Which is an undeniable fact, dear. You are the most impressive woman I've ever met.
- Bullies are impressive…
- Bullies are overbearing, not impressive. You are not impressed by them you are frightened of them. And to stop it right there because we spoken about you Mrs. Bennet and I, whatever those foolish Chinese men think, they are nothing but idiots. You are indeed impressive because of your height and your brawn, but that's not the core of why you are able to impress the people you meet. You have a charisma that draws people to you. You are a born leader and, which doesn't spoil anything, your mixed ethnicity makes you even more impressive since it adds a layer of exoticism to your natural beauty…
- Beauty?
- Of course, beauty. The fact that your Chinese brethren hide their women's real features behind a crust of white and red paints is very revealing that conformity is everything they crave. Their lack of imagination and open-mindedness, probably born out of fear to be in possession of something the Emperor would lust after. Conformity is their overall God, and they all want to have the same pretty, fragile and harmless dolls who look exactly the same. You, you can't be hidden behind a crust of paint, you have your own personality that will always shine through and dazzle them. You don't need artifacts and tricks to stand out of a crowd, just go on being yourself and those idiots will soon discover that there is power in differentiation.
Sunteu took a few seconds to digest Mr. Bennet's words.
She wasn't in agreement with him, but she knew that she was, like everybody else, the result of her upbringing and in the part of the world where she came to see the light, a girl like her was considered ugly. She could admit that here, it wasn't the case and even like it. And the fact that, despite her ugliness, Yonglin had decided to take her as a wife had done wonders to up her self-confidence. As Ounnga loved to say, even if you aren't a beauty you still will be the ruling Emperor's wife. That will always convince them of your importance.
And should they forget, call me, and we'll teach them not to go on in that direction…
Thanks, you're kind to propose!
You are my best friend's sister. He's not born the idiot who will survive to have scorned either of you.
Now that she was less grounded in her own problems another fact came up.
- You really believe that everybody is afraid of the Emperor?
- Everybody is afraid -or should I say awed- by authority. But when said authority is embodied by a mortal man who has every right to do whatever he wants without having anybody showing him his limits, being scared is, in my mind, a good policy and a necessary survival trait.
He bowed over the board and took Sunteu's hand.
- It will be you mission to convince Yonglin and his wife that a reign of terror is not what's best for a modern Nation. Be it only because you will lose your best brains who will emigrate towards countries where authority is existent but no longer subject to abuse.
- Not showing enough strength will push the more ambitious of the clan Leaders to believe they are dealing with a weak ruler. With all the usual consequences…
- Let them come out and reveal their lunacy! But I really think that after what is about to happen in the Middle Kingdom, nobody still alive will believe that your soon-to-be husband is weak and undetermined. Those houses which had plotted against him with the Russian Cossacks have already lost their ruler during the fights in Siberia and are about to be crushed by the Emperor's Police officers' onvestigations.
- There will be more of them…
- Of course, there will be more of them, but the more the better, dear! Your soon-to-be husband needs them coming out of the shadows to have a legal pretext to get them beheaded. Assassinations, even if it is an easy tool must definitively be restricted to the real emergencies.
She was about to speak but he interrupted her.
- I know he's able to do it just out the whim of his power, but that's not what he must show. He must show that he won't stop crushing his opponents but that he will do it by using visible legal methods. If you want your husband to avoid ruling by fear he must show authority only within clearly known borders. And since today there clearly are no borders, he'll have to build them.
- As I said, he will look weak…
- I will disagree on that point, dear. Unrestrained violence is the real indicator of a ruler's weakness, showing confidence while doing what must be done to get the Middle Kingdom out of its current depth will be a show of real strength.
There he stopped and smiled.
- And don't forget that your soon-to-be husband has allies. And some of those allies are not only powerful but also merciless when it comes to protect their family. You and those others you'll select to become Yonglin's wives will add another layer to his credibility and, in the long term, his power. Make him understand that you are at his side and that, even if you are only women, you count. He's still too immerged in his cultural machismo. That needs to change, and it will be your duty to implement that particular change.
He became more severe, but his eyes went on sparkling.
- It will probably take years but if we do what must be done to succeed, we'll haul your country out of the mud it is now stuck in. I can't say that I will ever understand the way you Chinese think but I'm quite sure that those we've had the pleasure and the honor to welcome here will play a role in furthering China's evolution.
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Next Chapter: Pemberley Institute for Political Studies