Chapter Twenty-Eight

[No, no, no, no, no...]

Jade blinked, rising from her seat near the fire, needlework slipping from loose hands. She concentrated, slimming her shielding, testing the tendrils that connected her. Not Adam, or Megabyte and Ami...

"Jadina!" Lady Margot caught her elbow, helping her keep her balance before she fell flat on her face. Jade was dimly aware of being lifted and half-carried, half-dragged back to her chair. She ignored the rise of voices, Lady Margot's calling for a cool cloth, the trilling of her maids' concern and allowed her awareness to dwindle to a thread. Ami's thread and the mind-numbing terror she felt emanating outward, spiking the threads of her telepathic consciousness.

[Ami?] Jade warily reached out for that thread, feeling her way along the waves that threatened to subsume her, past the prickles that set a chill in her bones enough to steal her breath. [Ami, what's happened?]

[Jade.] Ami's awareness turned towards her, effectively flinging itself at her mind, all but burrowing past Jade's mental shielding.

The action, so out of character for Ami, increased Jade's rising alarm and she instinctively pushed the other to a mental arm's length. [Ami, what in the world's happened?]

[I can't do it. I won't do it. There has to be another way. There has to be ....] Ami's voice wavered between hysterics and desperation, the random influx of images that Jade received from her friend adding nothing to the cacophony of emotion that was Ami. [Oh God, Jade, this is all wrong. This is so . . . horrible.]

[Ami?] Adam and Megabyte were touching that tendril that connected them, well-meaning concern echoing back down the link.

Ami flinched, drawing away from their gentle probes and closer to Jade. The younger Tomorrow Person drew in a sharp breath, almost reeling from the worry and... yes, fear. Ami was afraid, of Adam and Megabyte, or at least of one of them.

[I've got her, boys.] Jade made her mental voice brisk, and the force of her words surprised even her. She recalled a comment she made to Ami regarding how much Ami played the role of princess, and almost smiled realizing she could play the role of lady just as well. [I'll take care of her... Just back off and give us some space, okay?]

There was a surprised silence, followed by another one of those tentative brushes, a brush that Jade shoved back, zero tolerance. She didn't know what was going on or why, but she did know that Ami was panicked and that Megabyte or Adam, or both of them, were somehow the cause of it. She wasn't about to allow them to cause her friend more pain just because of good intentions.

[Back off.] Jade gave them another shove, holding her mental barrier until she felt one, then the other, withdraw. With reluctance and no small amount of hurt, the tang of it like a bitter metallic after bite, but they did go.

When she was satisfied that they had done as she asked, she returned her attention to Ami. [Now, Ami, please, tell me what's wrong?]

[I'm to be the virgin sacrifice. Literally,] a sharp bark of bitter laughter accompanied the words, and Jade received the first mental image that she could actually make any sense of. Ami, pacing in her chambers, arms swinging at her sides, hands clenched into fists. Some of the absolute heart-rending fear had dissipated during Jade's chastisement of Adam and Megabyte; it was not gone completely, but now it was underscored by frustration and anxiety so strong that Jade could feel her own adrenaline picking up.

Ami had never been so lax in her shielding, or was it that Jade and the others had never been so sensitive?

[Oh God, Jade, I *can't* do this!]

Jade reached out, hoping that she was sending comfort despite her own confusion. [Can't do what?]

The fear spiked for a moment, but only for a moment, then dampened down again. She could see Ami, flinging herself to the couch in her chambers as though the last of her energy had been zapped from her. [I can't marry Adam. There's just no way. I can't do it.]

That's what this was about? That was the cause of the mind-numbing fear and desperation that Ami was projecting strongly enough to cause them all concern?

Jade snorted, and then recalling that she was not alone, she hid it behind a cough. [I did just fine with Marm, thank you. I think you can handle Adam. It's certainly nothing to get that upset about. I thought that something was wrong, that something had happened to you --]

The flurry of images came at her so rapidly as to be disconcerting. The fear and panic rose along their link again, although Jade could sense that Ami attempted to repress some of it. But the images were chaotic and meaningless, things that Jade could not put words to, and some that she wasn't certain she wanted to.

[Ami, have you had too much wine?]

[No, but it isn't a half bad idea.]

[Ami! Nothing can be that bad, especially not this. I think I would prefer Adam to Marm any day of the week and --] Jade absently accepted the drink that was pushed into her hands, absently raised the cup to her lips, her attention still focused on her Ami.

[Jade, please! You don't understand!] Ami's 'voice' carried the wail of desperation again, and she could tell her friend was barely holding it together. [They want ... they expect ... the whole of two kingdoms . . . by the gods, Jade, they want the marriage consummated!]

At that announcement, Jade discovered that when choking and sputtering on water, it was wholly impossible to continue to be a dignified lady.

***

By the time that Jade was able to escape from the attentions of Lady Margot and her maids and find an excuse to visit Ami in her bedchamber, her fellow Tomorrow Person was much more calm and collected. Evidently, the initial panic attack had subsided, leaving behind an Ami who was more angry than afraid, more frustrated than desperate.

Gone were the familiar trappings of Albarasque and the Temple of Damiaren, the veils and the shawls embroidered with holy symbols. Ami paced the length of her bedchamber, barefoot and clad in nothing more than the simple vestite of Albarasque, a light halter which bared enough skin to make even the most bold of Stibornan women blush, and loose fitting pants that landed just precisely on the hips and cuffed a good, immodest height above the calf. The very fact that Jade had reacted with embarrassment to Ami's outfit when she first saw how the other girl without the shoufa or kitara, told her precisely how much she was becoming acclimated to this world.

"This is so sodding ridiculous," Ami grumbled, her words an unending tirade that she delivered to Jade's ears as she paced the length of the room, the charmed bracelets on her ankles chiming furiously with every well planted step.

Jade rolled her eyes, watching her friend make umpteenth circuit. She silently bemoaned her friend's rough treatment of the rugs and was happy that Ami at least chose to have her tirade barefoot. Lady Margot was going to be appalled when she saw all the threads the Albaresquan princess had kicked up in her frustration. She would have been even more appalled had she heard the language Jadina's delicate ears were being exposed to. But, then again, Jade imagined that Ami would have had her mouth cleansed thoroughly, or been forced to down some horrible tasting concoction if Nynie heard the words that the Damiar Princess said.

"This is so not even funny. This is --"

"Historically accurate?" Jade offered from her spot on the sofa, interrupting Ami's ongoing litany of cliched and descriptive phrases.

The words brought Ami to a halt, the other girl's head swinging to level a glare at Jade. "It's *not* fair. How can they even ask someone to do this?"

"Ami, they're not asking *someone* to do this," Jade pointed out, feeling the very edges of her nerves begin to fray. This was far more than she was prepared to deal with, far more than she *wanted* to deal with. As if it wasn't bad enough that she was here, married to Megabyte, playing Lady of the Keep and trying her hardest to keep Lady Margot -- and most especially the Damia Reina and Damiar Roleran -- happy. Pacifying Ami was the last thing on her mind. Not that she didn't feel for her friend, she truly did. She didn't know what she would have done in Ami's position -- probably been just as upset and frustrated -- but her patience and empathy were wearing thin. "They're not asking at all. They're expecting the Damiar Princess Amideira to do this because she's supposed to. For the sake of her country and the sake of this treaty."

"To Hermion's fires with the treaty."

Jade blinked, more taken aback by that curse than any other Ami had uttered. That was a curse Jade had only heard in passing, a reference to the god of death and destruction, and it showed her that she wasn't the only acclimating ... no matter what Ami might have protested otherwise.

"You don't mean that."

Ami looked at her again, as though preparing to argue the point, but she did not. Instead, she exhaled deeply, her shoulders slumping somewhat. "No, I don't mean it." Her friend sank to the sofa, idly tracing patterns in the material of her pants, "I don't want to start a war, Jade, but I don't know how I'm supposed to do this. And don't dare give me that drivel about how it's Princess Amideira. She's not here, and I am, and we both know that."

"You could always lie back and just think of Albarasque," Jade suggested glibly.

"I see spending so much time around *my mother* has given you her sadistic sense of humor," Ami replied frostily.

Jade flinched, liking neither her friend's tone nor the ice cold in her eyes. "And you used to have a sense of humor."

.Ami shook her head, beaded braids rattling as she made a sound that hovered between a laugh and a sob. She pulled her legs up onto the sofa, hugging them to her chest. "Now I'm turning against my nearest and dearest. Do you see what this is doing to me?"

"Have you even thought about ... well, talking to Adam?"

Ami laughed loudly and bitterly. "Oh yes, I was thinking about popping over and joining him for tea just so that we can compare notes."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Ami..."

"And just what do you expect me to say to him, Jade? Oh, sorry I can't handle being married to you? Or the thought of having intimate relations with you -- "

Jade choked a bit, the very thought of Adam coupled with Ami's chosen words making a blush start viciously up her neck.

"--makes me feel sick to my stomach. Oh, yes, Jade, I'm sure he'll understand that. And I'm sure his father and mother will too, not to mention my mother and grandmother--"

"All right," Jade held up a hand to stop what was clearly going to become another tirade. "I get the picture. So talking to Adam is out for now. And so is running away. So what are you going to do?"

Ami leaned back with a sigh. "I don't know. I've tried talking to Grandmother and Nynie, tried talking them out of this humiliating sheet business. And of course, Nynie got me all excited when she said that she agreed that the sheet business was bad ... right up until the moment that she mentioned a few spells that can be used to ... divine... certain things."

"Spells?" Jade squeaked, not at all liking the sound of a spell that could inform others of things of a more intimate nature.

Ami, however, continued as though she hadn't heard the interjection. And it was quite possible that she hadn't. "If it weren't for that, then we could just go on and pretend like we were a normal married couple. But that would be too easy."

"Well, even if there weren't spells," Jade made a mental note to ask Ami for further details on said spells in the future, when her friend was in a mood to be more forthcoming, "I don't think that you would be able to talk anyone out of 'the sheet business.' I mean, from what I know, it's not just a tradition, it's a rite of passage. Every married couple has to go through it. Even Marmion and Jadina."

"Yeah, which you were fortunate enough to miss out on! I mean, could you imagine sleeping with Megabyte?"

If she hadn't been flushed before, she definitely was now. Jade studied her hands, letting her silence and her red face answer Ami.

"I mean -- " Ami was floundering now, sounding completely mortified.

"Ami," Jade spoke up quietly. "I hate to sound like a rude and uncaring wench, but it really is just one night. I know you and I know Adam, and I know that you can both deal with this. One night to make sure that the treaty is satisfied and then no one will really care whether you two are sharing a bed or not."

"At least not until King Martine and Queen Carrina want grandchildren. Or until my grandmother starts to wonder why I haven't produced an heir. Then what do I do, Jade?"

Ami seemed so young at that moment, so young and miserable while Jade felt older than she had any right to. Somehow for this one moment their roles had reversed and Jade was thrust into the role of trusted older sister, the role that Ami had always worn with seeming ease. Jade was seeing for the first time just how much patience and expertise it required, two qualities she thought herself severely lacking in. She was just sixteen years old. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to be the married Lady of a Keep or ready to run after crotchety poisonous royals. And she certainly wasn't ready to be looked to as the one who supplied all the answers.

All these thoughts and feelings crossed her mind but she voiced none of them. Instead she reached out and covered Ami's hand with her own, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Ami. Like we always have. Together."

***End of Chapter Twenty-Eight