AS HE MET HER ONCE A-MAYING
As he met her once a-MayingThere on beds of violets blue
And fresh-blown roses washed in dew,
Filled her with thee a daughter fair
So buxom, blithe, and debonair.
Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollility.
--John Milton, "L'Allegro"
The room was unmistakably that of a young girl. The walls were rose-hinted white and the carpet was pink. The bed had ruffled pillows and skirts and a flowered spread. The furniture was white and the desk covered in homework, real paper and not an electronic comppad. Several stuffed animals lounged at the foot of the bed; lions, tigers, bears amongst the tamer kittens and rabbits.
A thoughtful observer who knew the habits of teenaged girls would rapidly have noticed that something was in fact quite wrong. The music discs by the stereo were of landmark forms of music from human history; madrigals, classical, some selections of American folk, a connoisseur's overview of rock and roll. Examples of the pop music currently enjoyed on Side 3 were conspicuously absent.
Also absent were posters of actors or musicians, or posters at all for that matter. The art on the wall was framed, original, and tasteful. A few were by the occupant herself; landscapes of the area around her.
Nor were there any entertaining magazines or books to be seen for perusal. The titles of the books stacked neatly by the bed would have been the last and most conclusive giveaway. They were textbooks and monographs on biology, genetics, and chemistry, with one seemingly out of place volume on dog breeding.
To anyone who actually knew and understood the purpose of the teenager in the room, the book on dog breeding would have made perfect sense.
The girl was 15. She was a little taller than average, large boned but with the toned limbs of an athlete. Her blond hair was cut short and her eyes were bright blue. Her face was wide and very northern European, her expression blank.
She was called Vala. She'd had another name once, when she was very little, but she'd long ago forgotten it. That didn't bother her. Vala meant "chosen" and she was a firm believer in calling things by their descriptive terms.
People were coming. Vala couldn't hear them, but she didn't need to. She pushed the flowered covers aside and pulled a light-blue robe over her nightgown. She was standing ready when the locks were undone and two of her handlers came in, followed by a third woman who Vala knew but rarely saw.
The adults called themselves teachers, servants, and bodyguards. Vala knew they were handlers and thought of them as such, though she never voiced it. The few who could share her thoughts agreed with her. It was tolerable to her, though. Better that she bear these handlers than risk what happened two years ago.
Vala watched as they set two trays on a table. One was her breakfast. The other…
The third woman uncovered the other tray. Dame Alyda von Neustadt was tall and elegant, her gray hair upswept and fastened at the back of her head. She wore a black skirt and the black jacket of a bio-scholar, her double-helix armband declaring her vocation for all to see.
Vala pushed the sleeve of her robe towards her shoulder. Had she been a lesser human, her inner arm would be scarred from hundreds of similar injections, but Vala was anything but "lesser". Her veins were as resilient and quick to heal as the rest of her body.
"You're such a dutiful girl," Dame von Neustadt said. She picked up a large syringe and began to fill it from several ampoules. Once that was done, she placed it and an elastic band on another table and stood back.
Vala picked up the elastic band and wrapped it around her left arm. She took the syringe and with no hesitation, slid it into a vein. Her nose wrinkled slightly as it sank into the skin but otherwise she didn't react. She depressed the plunger, pulled out the needle again, put it down on the table and showed her arm as proof she'd injected herself.
"That's my princess," the woman told her, smiling. "Here's your breakfast. We'll be up for you in an hour."
"I'll be ready." Vala turned to her breakfast tray, already feeling the effects of the drugs.
Now that she had control, she usually didn't need them, which was a relief. She didn't mind the dry mouth or drowsiness, although the fact that sometimes they upset her normally-perfect digestion was vexing.
It was the numbness, like Novocain of the awareness, which she hated. Even before her Awakening she had been able to sense the world around her, and it was like ambient noise or a subtle perfume in the air. She'd be able to feel the presence of the other girls in the facility, the population of the cylinder, and their cycles of sleep and waking. She would even be able to tell if the chef downstairs had been in a bad mood from eating the food he'd prepared.
Today was a special day, though. Today she'd be out in public, so she couldn't be allowed to sense these things, for her sake and that of the Volk.
She started eating immediately, since the drugs on an empty stomach gave her the dry heaves. Vala couldn't risk that sort of humiliation. Today was the Taiding, the Field of May tournament, at the end of which she would meet her husband-to-be. It wouldn't do at all to meet him while gritting her teeth against nausea.
Although he'd hardly be in his most appealing condition after the grand melee either, she told herself. He'd be sweaty and bloody, and probably wounded. She smiled; all the more reason to be the most beautiful, appealing version of herself. Such a man would deserve a perfect May Queen.
Tradition had been upheld flawlessly thus far; there had been fifteen miniature May pine trees lined up before her door early this morning. Vala knew that this would be the first and last time more than the usual single tree would ever be placed for her; they had been so stealthy about the placing that Vala had not even woken from slumber. It was no mean feat to evade her detection, much less those of her handlers, especially at night. She never saw their faces, but she knew all of their names. None had failed that small test, to come as close as her door without being caught in the attempt.
The groundskeepers had moved the tiny pine trees in their decorated pots elsewhere, but Vala knew they would never dare destroy them until it had been determined which one was worthy enough to exist for her. The others would be burned. It was proper.
By the time she finished breakfast, Vala resolved herself to being beautiful and appealing, although her personality would be lacking. As always, the drugs made her feel stupid. Without her Talents, she couldn't access half of the information from around herself as she normally could. If this was what it was like to be an ordinary girl of New Koenigsberg, she'd pass on it, thank you very much. It must be as bad as being one of the cattle people she'd never seen, but always heard about.
Although her groom, whoever he was, wouldn't understand what it was like to have her Talents either. She reminded herself of that and remembered her position in the scheme of things.
Her handlers came back in to help her dress. Vala inhaled softly to begin to draw the knowledge of today's weather from their minds—and the soft leaden wall of the drugs stopped the effort dead. She sighed and asked in her quiet, seldom-used voice, "What is it like outside today?"
As one of the handlers pushed over a clothing rack on which hung a long green dress, Dame von Neustadt answered, "Sixteen degrees Fahrenheit, with a bit of a wind. You may wish to wear the cape."
Vala unzipped the dress and laid it on the bed. She removed some underwear from the dresser and slid out of her nightgown and robe as casually as if she had been alone. A long linen shift went on next, followed by the green dress. It was silk, taken from the silkworms that were one of Zeon's main sources of revenue, and embroidered all over with tiny flowers. A matching elbow-length cape went with it. Finally, she picked up a crown of dried wildflowers and placed it on her own head, adjusting it in the mirror.
She turned around and spread her arms slightly. "How do I look?"
Dame von Neustadt strode over and pinned a brooch over Vala's left breast; a tiny thing, a red and white shield, with a tiny silver key beneath a golden crown. Vala had owned it all her life, though no one had ever spoken of why. Despite its mystery, it seemed right that it be present, vivid amongst the green. "Like the most perfect woman in Earthsphere, dear girl."
Vala, who liked things to be referred to by their proper terms, approved of this description.
It was always pleasant to be off the "school" grounds. Vala leaned against the car door, eagerly watching the streets go by. There was so much to see outside the facility where she lived, people and parks and stores. So many of them. While she was hardly one to wistfully long for more than her lot in life, Vala had to admit she'd enjoy a chance to see the outside world, just out of the curiosity raised by her education.
She smiled as she saw another Maypole in a green space. After she married the winner of the tournament, she told herself. There would be no better company for exploring this domain than the man who would rule it.
The car reached the Field. It slowed to a crawl and rolled through the fairgrounds, past beer gardens, craft stalls, and stages where people did the traditional dance her mind recognized as "Threading the Needle". Vala smiled widely, watching. It did look like they were having fun, and she wished she could reach out her mind and feel it along with the revelers.
The car pulled into a driveway underneath the stands beside the tournament grounds. The car stopped and the driver came around to help Vala from it. Dame von Neustadt, who was sitting across from her, raised a hand and said, "No. Allow me." She stepped out, pushing the driver aside as she did so, and reached out for Vala, her hand covered in an insulated glove. Vala took it and exited.
She followed the adults, who went in through a door under the stands. She stepped out into the box, and was immediately delighted by it. It was shaded with a green balcony, the wooden floor was covered in an oriental rug, and the chairs were of medieval-style heavy dark wood with thick cushions.
As Vala entered the box, the people in the stadium started to cheer. She looked around in puzzlement, trying to see where the competitors were coming out. Seeing her confusion, a man wearing a black armband with the golden helix chain of the bio-scholars leaned nearer to her said, "They're cheering for the May Queen, my dear."
"I couldn't tell," Vala confessed. Without prompting, she walked to the front of the box and raised her hand in greeting. The cheering became louder, a veritable storm of sound, and she wished she had her Talents enabled, craving the feel of their love and admiration for her. Then she turned around to take her seat, settling back into the cushions. She had been warned the event would be fairly long, and watching a gang of heavily-armoured young men bash each other with archaic weapons only interested her inasmuch as it would prove the mettle of the winner.
There was trumpet fanfare and the fifteen Elector-princes entered the field, clad in steel and bearing the weapons of the duel; axe and sword, flail and hammer, all dulled to prevent unnecessary permanent injury, but still quite capable of inflicting terrifying damage. Vala felt her smile fade. One of these boys was going to be her emperor and her husband. She'd known for years that this was going to be the great goal of her life, but all of a sudden, with her fate looking her in the face, she felt overwhelmed. This was real. It wasn't the fantasy future she'd quietly held to herself, locked in privacy in her head. At the end of this event, she'd meet the man she would marry, and for whom she would bear children.
No other potential future had ever crossed Vala's mind before, and none did now. She returned their salute as May Queen and waited for the action to begin.
The first thing that struck her was that it was loud. Big metal weapons struck against armour, or each other, along with the shouts of the men fighting. They gathered into groups at first to strategically attack and defend, but the groups started to lose individual fighters fairly soon. When the number was smaller and the stakes started to rise, then things would get really interesting.
A memory rose in Vala's mind, triggered by the sight of another man going down, lying in submission at his vanquisher's feet. She had been 13, her mind a turmoil of voices, images, and thoughts that weren't hers, striking out at any source of invading personality that came her way.
Running down the hallway in terror, Vala had held the sides of her head, sure it was about to explode, full as it was with all the presences, all the awareness, none of which was hers, and none of which was aware or even caring about her existence.
At that moment, Vala had learned the true meaning of Hell. It was a relief, however tiny, as the normals around her grabbed their own heads in pain, screaming as their brains literally exploded inside their heads, for one instant before death having her in their heads as much as they were in hers.
Vala had once seen a picture of a bumper sticker about it being difficult and lonely at the top. It had made her scoff. Whoever designed that sticker had no idea.
Soon, the loneliness would end. A clear possible winner was emerging, a man in a red and white striped surcoat with the lion of Hesse rampant upon it; four had fallen to his hammer alone. He and a friend were holding their own against the few remaining. Vala propped her chin on her fist as another of their opponents flew through the air to land with a clatter of steel and chain. They seemed like two people who had known each other a long time, and it would not be pleasant when they had to turn on each other. Still, if they couldn't bring themselves to do that, they had no business being Emperor, much less her mate.
They were finally the last two men standing, as the rest had lain down in submission. This was something Vala was glad not to be feeling, because the Hessian was the stronger and exhibited no hesitation in using his warhammer against his friend, who absolutely refused to yield. When the hammer failed, the Hessian used his fists, pounding on the helmeted head of the last, who continuously staggered back to his feet time and again. She could hear the dominant man's voice, and while she couldn't make out words, his tone sounded as if he was pleading for the other to give up and lie down. She looked around at the crowd, who had fallen completely silent and were leaning forward, eyes round. For once, she and they were on an equal level, and she'd concede that without resentment. This was a moment on which history was turning.
With a last blow that stove in the helmet's faceplate, the other man went down and didn't move, his sword finally slipping from his gauntleted fingers. The Hessian pulled off his helmet and dropped to his knees, immediately going to the aid of the other man. Vala leaned to the bio-scholar on her left to ask, "Who are those men again?"
"The one on the ground is Reinhardt von Seydlitz of the House of Brandenburg-Preussen. Our future Emperor is Dietrich von Mellenthin of the House of Hessen."
"The foster brothers," she said. She knew them all by heart and rote.
"Yes." The man seemed almost disappointed at the outcome.
"How tragic," Vala had never had siblings, but she remembered the grief and resentment she experienced every time she out-tested another one of her schoolmates. For it to be a foster brother, and to have to beat him into unconsciousness, with the entire universe at stake…
…This von Mellenthin was most definitely the man of Power deserving to be her mate.
Von Seydlitz came out of his stupor. The other thirteen men were already kneeling. Two of them helped von Seydlitz up, and they all knelt in a semi-circle at the victor's feet as he accepted their words of fealty.
Later, he came to her box. Vala stood and walked forward to meet him. Von Mellenthin was about 5'10", only a little taller than she was, with short blond hair now matted with sweat and dirt and the brightest green-blue eyes she'd ever seen. She would rush to mix her paints to match that colour when she got home, thinking a Frisco Bay blue-green might be close but never close enough.
"My Lady," he greeted her, his voice a smooth baritone that sank to the bones. He wasn't even out of breath. She was impressed.
"My Emperor." She bowed low. "You fought well."
"I had suitable inspiration."
"The will to Power."
"Among other things." His grin was hypnotic, dangerous to trust.
"I live to serve you and the Race."
"I trust you to do so, even as I do." He reached out and took her hand. The people surrounding her gasped; even though he was still wearing gauntlets, metal conducts. Even more shocking, he leaned over and kissed her hand.
Vala braced herself for whatever might happen. This, too, was a test, for this path had before led to despair; others had come before this man, and their lot was death.
Von Mellenthin didn't faint or stagger or have a seizure. In fact, as his lips touched the back of her hand, Vala managed to feel his mind even through the blockages of the drugs.
This one had courage, ambition, and no mercy. This was one who would make the universe kneel and beg for his clemency. Those who had exiled their people from their kingdoms on Earth would pay, and she would be at his side at the reckoning.
A small voice inside her, the only voice inside her, whispered to her the truth she had waited her whole life to hear.
With him, I can be free!
He raised his eyes back to her face, though he kept hold of her hand. "I would have your name, if you please, my Lady."
"I—" In spite of everything, she was taken aback by his request. "I am called Vala, my Lord Graf von Mellenthin."
His eyes flickered over her brooch. "Vala it is, then. Vala von Bremen, light and hope of the Sixteenth House."
She smiled at him. He smiled back. Then he had to leave, and her face fell. She wanted him to stay, talk to her. He was worthy of her and she needed to be near him.
"Do you like him?" Frau von Neustadt asked Vala when von Mellenthin was out of earshot.
"I don't understand the question," said Vala, unable to take her eyes off his retreating figure.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I bet this one was a surprise to everyone!
This story originated from a conversation HDS and I were having in summer of 2003. He was complaining that he knew von Mellenthin had a fiancée, but was having a hard time coming up with anything about her. Her name was Vala, she was bred to be a high-powered New Type, and that was about all he had. Then he went to Fort Irwin for six weeks.
While he was there, this story just downloaded itself into my head. One minute I was doing something stupid at work, and the next minute this New Koenigsberg story was in my brain, almost whole and entire. I wrote it over the course of a weekend.
The problem was, of course, that HDS hadn't known about this, much less given his consent. When he got home I shamefacedly sent it to him, adding that because I'd been so audacious as to write in his universe without his say-so that if he wanted to kick me from here till Tuesday that was his right and due.
Not only was he not angry, he seemed kind of relieved that someone had taken the burden of this story off him. He made some additions, inserting the many German words that I don't know, describing the Taiding, and putting in more details about von Mellenthin himself.
Then I proceeded to sit on this story for a year and a half. Until this moment, the only people who knew about it were HDS and myself. It was a real struggle, resisting the temptation not to grin at people and utter the cryptic words, "There is a sixteenth House." But resist it I did. I hope it was worth the wait.