“Abba,” said Chira in a happy voice, throwing her arms around him. And then turning to his equally mystified wife, “Eema!” The woman very woodenly put her arms around her.
Then Rachel, the oldest of their daughters (late teens?), and Chira’s connection, gasped as if remembering or realizing something, and said, “Oh, my dearest sister, I’m so glad to see you safely home!” She threw her arms around Chira with a bear hug. To her younger siblings, she said emphatically, “Is it not wonderful to have our sister home again?”
They gave her strange looks.
“Pretend you know her, and welcome her home,” Rachel whispered fiercely in Hebrew.
The children immediately surrounded Chira and hugged her with feigned enthusiasm.
“The Emperor thanks you,” said the senior guard to the father. “But the Empress requests that you keep your daughters closer to home from now on.”
“Yes, of course, sir,” stammered the father.
The other guard added, “I’d marry this one off as soon as possible. If nobody in Pera wants her, I’ve got some connections in town who would be happy to take her off your hands. Get a great price with those tits.”
“I . . . I’ll take that into consideration, thank you,” said the father.
This man pulled back his helmet to give Avraham a clear view of his face. “Name’s Bruno. Bruno of Hamlin,” he said agreeably. “You can ask for me via the imperial kitchens, the head cook’s a kinsman through marriage.” He winked at Chira and then turned his attention back to the father. “I’ll take fifteen percent commission. Think about it.”
The guards left.
As soon as the door was closed, the younger children pulled away from her and scurried behind their mother, as Chira turned to face the family. Rachel looked delighted, but the father and mother were frowning unhappily and the younger children took their cues from this.
“Thank you,” said Chira in Hebrew, in her most winsome smile. “I apologize profusely for the alarm and confusion I’ve just caused you. Please allow me to explain the peculiar circumstances of our meeting.”
She then revealed herself as working with a witch network. She shared as much as she safely could, and requested their permission to leave the kalonji seeds with them until her associate came to collect them, which she anticipated would be within a day or two. Persuasive narrative is one of her specialties; due to her innate charisma and agreeable demeanor, by the time she’d finished, the entire household had relaxed and adopted a more welcoming air. The family (as we knew from previous Strands) has a commitment to protecting fellow witches, and agreed readily to assist her. In fact, the daughter Rachel pressed her for more information about the witch network she was working with, and expressed a desire to go adventuring with Chira in other times and places, despite Moises’s quiet disapproval.
“When my associate Felix comes to collect the bag, you may speak more with him about it,” Chira suggested. “In the meantime, please be kind enough to send me back to my own home.”
“I shall do that,” said the mother.
“Oh, eema, please let me try,” said Rachel. “I would love to know I can help such interesting people to have such marvelous adventures out in the world.”
The mother was about to agree but Moises interrupted. “Your mother will do it,” he said. “You are too eager.”
Chira smiled at Rachel. “I was like you at your age,” she said. “Except I did not have the powers you have. You will certainly be a remarkable force for good in the world if you make your mind up to be so.” Rachel looked rapturous.
“You are welcome to invade our home but not our daughter’s mind,” said Moises curtly. “Sarah, send this woman back where she came from, before I decide to follow Bruno’s advice and sell her off.”
At 05:10 the morning after her departure, Chira was Homed to ODEC #2 uninjured.
Post by Dr. Roger Blevins to Dr. Melisande Stokes
on private ODIN channel
DAY 627 (MID-APRIL, YEAR 2)
Have reviewed your After Action Reports on Chira Yasin’s series of DEDEs in the Blachernae Palace. All are too long, editorialized, and frankly tawdry. Revise to reflect the professional standards of DODO, and see to it all future reports remain within department guidelines (brief, containing salient facts only).
Allowing a chatty tone, personal timbre, etc. to seep into your reports is unprofessional, Dr. Stokes. As such it is, by the letter of DODO policy, grounds for being placed on a Performance Enhancement Plan, which I need not remind you may culminate in demotion or dismissal.
It might behoove you to review the transcripts of the recent congressional hearings during which we were raked over the coals by various Red State senators for even suggesting that sexual activity might be involved in diachronic operations. In the future, any DOer actions of this nature are to be downplayed to the greatest extent possible that is consistent with accurate record-keeping. This is not a Nora Roberts novel.
—RB
AFTER ACTION REPORT
DEBRIEFER: Dr. Melisande Stokes
DOER: Felix Dorn
THEATER: Constantinople/Late Medieval Europe
OPERATION: Antwerp witch recruitment
DEDE: Retrieve and carry viable kalonji seeds across Europe for sowing
DTAP: Pera, Constantinople, September 1202; Peerdsbos Forest (Antwerp), Belgium, November 1202
STRAND: First (out of a projected three) repetition of this DEDE
Erszebet Sent DOer Felix Dorn from ODEC #2 at 08:10 of Day 627. DOer landed safely in Pera, retrieved kalonji seeds without incident, traveled for two months by foot, river, and stolen horse from Constantinople to Belgium. Many adventures. Did not die. Arrived in Peerdsbos Forest, sowed kalonji seeds, was Homed by Goedele, our KCW of that DTAP.
Note: Witch Rachel in Pera volunteered for diachronic engagement but father disapproved.
Dutifully submitted,
Dr. Melisande “Reads Less Nora Roberts Than Dr. Blevins Does” Stokes
INTERNAL MEMO
From: Dr. Roger Blevins
To: General Octavian Frink
Re: Melisande Stokes
Day 688, 14:12
General Frink—
[REDACTED]
…
INTERNAL MEMO
From: LTC Tristan Lyons
To: General Octavian Frink
Re: Dr. Blevins’s recent statements re: Melisande Stokes
Day 688, 15:02
Dear General Frink:
[REDACTED]
…
INTERNAL MEMO
From: Dr. Roger Blevins
To: General Octavian Frink
Re: LTC Lyons’s response to my (somehow leaked) memo re: Dr. Stokes
Day 688, 15:39
Okie—
[REDACTED]
…
INTERNAL MEMO/EMAIL
From: General Octavian Frink
To: Dr. Roger Blevins and Lieutenant Colonel Tristan Lyons
Re: Leaked memos, etc.
Day 689, 10:19
[REDACTED]
. . . Coming from an academic background, Dr. Blevins, you should know better than to consign anything to writing. I will have to redact most of this correspondence not due to security concerns but from sheer embarrassment.
So you will let it rest there, gentlemen.
General O. K. Frink
Post by Felix Dorn
on “Recreation” ODIN channel