Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Liliana and Devorah were practically in hysterics by the time Fiera returned to her room. “What has you two so worked up?” she asked.

“Fiera, where have you been? We looked in to check on you and you were gone,” Liliana said. “One servant told us you’d been seen fighting with Lord Benoit and Lord Nakano. Another said you were crying. A third said Lord Nakano was bleeding after you spoke with them. We weren’t sure what was going on.”

“If Lord Kuen was bleeding after our earlier conversation, it wasn’t because of me,” Fiera said. She looked down at the brooch in her hand. “I think at least one of our misunderstandings has been resolved, though I have no doubt I’ll still be struggling through several more with him.” She held up the pin. “I’ll want this in a prominent place on my dress tomorrow – well, tonight, I suppose, given that it’s 0300.”

“You have breakfast with Lord Benoit and Lord Nakano in four hours, Fiera,” Devorah said.

“How are Aoi’s stylists dealing with her death?” Fiera asked.

“We stayed with them until her body was sent back to her House. They went with it. They left about an hour ago,” Liliana said. “They were really broken up about it. They adored Aoi. They said she was really sweet and treated them with such kindness and respect.”

“Aoi and I both shared the same ideas that if we treat our stylists with great respect we’ll be respected in turn. At least, that was what one of our conversations while we were indentured was about.” Fiera shrugged and locked the phoenix brooch in her jewelry case. “We learned the hard way what bad stylists can do to you. Or rather, she learned it the hard way and I witnessed what was done to her. Poor girl got Kosta, Nyx, and Luna on our way in from Sorus.”

Devorah winced. “I worked with Kosta for a while. He was horrible to the indentured he got put in charge of.”

“Fiera, before we shove you in bed and sit on you so you’ll get some sleep before your breakfast meeting with the two lords, could you answer something for me?” Liliana asked.

Fiera took the hint and returned to her bed. “What is it, Lil?” she asked as she settled herself as comfortably as possible.

“Were you responsible for Cambria being liquidated?” Liliana watched her closely, waiting for an answer.

Fiera sighed. “I suppose, indirectly, I might have had a hand in it. I didn’t do it on purpose, and you can verify this with Xenon. If I’d had the ability, I would have taken on Cam’s debt too so the trio could have stayed together. Cam did some stupid things and, thanks to my preference for a particular gown I’d been given, she got a little too huffy. So Master Iacchus took out his frustrations at her idiocy on her, and then he liquidated her.”

“Cam and I usually met for lunch every time she came in,” Liliana said quietly. “When I found out from Cali she was liquidated, it hurt. A lot.”

“I can only imagine,” Fiera said. “I’m sorry, Lil. I wish I could have saved her. But I was in a precarious position myself and I didn’t dare give Iacchus Santorini any reason to regret his decision of purchasing my debt from Ekatarin Vukovic.”

“Wait, you got picked up by the Blonde Butcher and she sold you to Master Iacchus?” Devorah asked. “You’re very lucky she didn’t just sell you straight off to the mines, Fiera. She does that with most Colony-born indentured she’s sent to retrieve.”

“Aoi and I were both sold to Master Iacchus. He sold Aoi to a different House. Something about my coloration being unique made her decide to sell me to the Pleasure Houses, I guess. At least that’s what she said.” Fiera yawned. “All right. I’ve got a few hours to sleep before I have to get ready. You two can sleep in if you like. I’m more than capable of dressing for a breakfast meeting.”

“Are you sure?” Liliana asked.

Fiera laughed and nodded. “I used to let Xenon and Cali sleep in all the time, assuming I could convince Xenon to take the break. I usually do simple for breakfast and elaborate for the evening.”

“All right, Fiera.” Devorah took Liliana’s arm. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Dev. Both of you go get some sleep.” Once her stylists were gone, Fiera rose once more. Sleep wasn’t going to come tonight, and she knew it. She would nap in the afternoon, and that would have to suffice. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d attended a party after passing a long night.

Fiera started pacing. Movement always helped her think. The fragments of that piece of her that broke free during the fight earlier with Kuen told her that she’d never been sedentary in her life before now, even when reading. She’d somehow found a way to convert a broken down holo unit into a portable reader so she could read and work at the same time.

Yet she didn’t ever remember doing that. A name kept circling in her head: Rezouac. What was that name? She knew they were a prominent family on Sorus with eleven children, just like her parents, but they’d come out of the famine with no problem. Eire Rezouac and his wife Alena kept some of their crops in large greenhouses in order to better protect them and were able to meet their obligations that way. The bombardment had damaged the greenhouses, but not to the point where the crops had been lost.

Fiera rubbed her wrist. The Silver Fox emblem being seen as a sign of radical anti-Core terrorists was problematic now for her as well. Perhaps she should remove, or at the very least alter, her tattoo. Yet her father had been so proud when she got it.

She stopped. Her father was dead. He was dead before she got it. How could he be proud of her? The image of him standing there, grinning, as she gritted her teeth and refused to cry out while the laser tattoo gun burned the image into her flesh was still there though. Hair as red as hers that had gone silver, silver eyes, skin turned olive brown by years of working in the sun, bulky build developed from his years of playing kericopac rather than the lifetime of farming she’d known him for – this was her father.

A sudden thought made her pick up a pad. She pulled up the planetary registry of Sorus and called up the image of the Rezouac family. The pad slipped from her fingers and bounced off the floor. She staggered back several steps until she was sitting on the bed. “What in the name of all the stars is going on?”

The image was six years old, according to the article, and it included the patriarch Eire, his wife Alena, and nine of their children: Keoni, Phelix, Fiera, Marc, Neven, Teigue, Muirne, Joana, and Siobhan. Fiera’s own face was scowling at the camera while the rest of her family was laughing, something that was completely natural for her.

Fiera jumped to her feet and scooped up the pad again before allowing herself to curl up on the bed. She stared for several long minutes at the holo image.

“You stars-cursed bastard,” she whispered. “You’ve used DiME on me to make me forget you. Why?” Then she thought of all the sessions with Lady Kakoric. “Starfire, I’m going to kill her. And you. I can’t have agreed to this. I’m not that suicidal. I’ve never been this stupid. That I know.”

What could she do to unlock herself though? Or should she even try? Was it worth becoming Fiera Rezouac again? Or should she just stay Fiera Molohaney, the Blue Butterfly of Bouarus? Who was Fiera Rezouac? Were any of the memories she had real? She buried her face in her hands, letting the pad slide onto the bed.

Once Fiera regained composure, she erased all evidence of her search from the tablet. There was no reason to give High Admiral Benoit any more information on her than he absolutely needed, though if he was monitoring what was searched on the premises, he already had that. She went into the bathroom and turned on the water as hot as she could. She decided, the next time the wife of Councilor Kakoric came to visit her, she would ask her questions and hopefully get some answers.

After a long, hot shower and another high protein snack to make up for the fact she wasn’t sleeping, Fiera felt a little better. She went through her familiar stretching routine and then bathed again. She took care to braid her long hair into the myriad tiny braids she planned to utilize that night and entertained herself by watching a holo while she worked. For breakfast, she just tied them off with tiny bands. For dinner, she’d consider either beads or feathers or something equally as flashy.

Fiera did her makeup and then slid into her favorite blue gown, the one she’d first worn as an indentured servant. She slipped the sea opals on – gifted to her by Iacchus after her first successful job – and pulled on a pair of sturdy but comfortable dress shoes. She sighed. It wasn’t as good a job as Xenon or Calixtra would have done, or Liliana and Devorah for that matter, but she looked presentable and that was what mattered.

Gaspare was waiting for her in the garden. “Kuen will be a little late,” he said.

“I expected as much,” Fiera said. “We were up until 0300.”

“Did you ever get back to sleep?” Gaspare asked.

“No, but I was able to keep myself busy enough.” Fiera touched her braids. “These kept my hands occupied while I entertained myself watching a holo.”

“Excellent.” His eyes dropped down to her chest, where the phoenix held her shawl closed. “I see you received quite the gift from him last night.”

“I did,” Fiera said. “I think it was an indication that we can at least be civil with each other. I don’t know that we’ll ever be friends, but we can have a reasonable working relationship.”

Gaspare pulled out her chair for her before passing her a cup of coffee. She buried her nose in the cup, reveling in the earthy scent of the dark liquid. “She looks like a cat who has found itself in the cream,” Kuen growled as he fell into the chair next to her.

“It’s coffee. Coffee is far superior to mere cream.” Fiera sipped the steaming liquid and sighed. “I don’t get this often with how expensive it is. But I love it.”

“Coffee is cheap,” Kuen said.

“Perhaps for someone who has no need to mind how many credits they spend. For me? I can’t justify spending thirty credits a kilo for something I drink only on rare occasions.” Fiera sipped the coffee again.

“Thirty credits a kilo?” Gaspare asked. “You do have expensive tastes.”

“I like quality and the coffee grown in the Core has a bitter metallic taste. I need to get the stuff that comes from the Colonies.” Fiera shrugged. “I pay the thirty credits a kilo or I do without.”

She saw Kuen was staring at her chest. “That looks better on you than me,” he blurted before downing half a cup of coffee.

“I should hope it does,” Fiera said with a laugh. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“I did,” Kuen said. “Did you?”

“No.”

Kuen passed her a plate full of bacon. “Then you will need this as much as I do.”

“Food is very much appreciated, Lord Kuen.” Fiera struggled not to load her plate down with as much food as she wanted. Kuen shared a look with Gaspare that she didn’t understand, and both men piled more eggs, bacon, and fruit onto her plate.

“You are a heavyworlder, Fiera,” Gaspare said. “We know heavyworlders. Emotional stress, lack of sleep, and a stubborn denial of self all go hand in hand with all of your kind regardless of where you come from.”

Fiera’s lips quirked and trembled. “It does seem to be a characteristic of our evolution rather than our homeworld,” she agreed. She wiped her eyes with the edge of her shawl. “I’m still struggling with losing Aoi this morning.”

“It is never easy to let go of a close friend,” Kuen said. “I still have not entirely given Nafisa up, though she has been dead for eight years.”

“Kuen, I think she’s heard us speak casually enough by now that we can drop our formality around her,” Gaspare said. “Unless you object to the casual nature of our speech?”

It took Fiera a moment to realize he was talking to her. “I see nothing wrong with it. Talk as you please. You know I won’t say anything about it.”

“You are an incredibly honorable young woman, Fiera.” Gaspare raised his coffee mug in her direction.

“I try to be.” She rubbed the wrist with the tattoo. She saw Gaspare’s curious look. She sighed and showed it to him.

“Interesting choice for a tattoo,” Gaspare said, his expression unreadable.

“I was made aware of that fact last night.” Fiera was quiet while she ate. Neither of the two men said anything either as they also polished off their breakfast. They both looked at her as the last plates were taken away. “You two seem to be expecting me to say something. What do you want to know?”

“Why you look almost identical to Fiera Rezouac, oldest daughter of the suspected Silver Fox of the Duyelia Sector?” Gaspare tossed a tablet on the table and showed her the exact same picture she’d seen the night before.

“That’s a very good question, Lord Gaspare. To be honest, I don’t know.” Fiera rubbed her temples. “I’ve been trying to sort that image out since I saw it last night. My family, except for my twin and my youngest brother, died eight years ago. That is a firm fact in my memories. I can remember every painful moment of those eight years.” She tapped Phelix. “Except this is my twin, and I know there’s another younger brother. I also know this picture doesn’t show the two youngest Rezouac children. Their youngest is a boy who would be the same age as the younger brother I have a firm memory of.”

“Do you recognize any of these others?” Gaspare asked.

“I don’t, and I don’t know why we’d be with the Rezouac family when our last name is Molohaney. I can’t remember ever working for them either,” Fiera said.

“Do you know anything about the Rezouac family?” Kuen asked, refilling her cup.

Fiera nodded. “Everyone on Sorus knows the Rezouacs. They’re one of the most prominent farming families on the planet. Eire and Alena, they own something like fifteen parcels of land just on their own. Their oldest son was married and if Keoni and his wife follow tradition, they’ll have added another five parcels of land to the Rezouac farm. If two more of their older kids marry, they get ten more parcels before the other children have to hie off and find themselves something else to do.”

“Oh?” Gaspare looked at her with real interest. “Why is that?”

“Thirty parcels is the most any single family can own on one farm. Now, that doesn’t mean that, say, this one-” she tapped one of the adolescent boys “-can’t get married and start his own farm right next door to his parents’ farm. If they should decide on their own to merge their fields and work together, there’s nothing against that. Which means that while he has his own five acres of farm, essentially the Rezouacs could expand their farm beyond the thirty parcels allowed by law.”

“How did Eire and Alena get so much land to begin with?” Kuen wanted to know.

“It’s Alena’s land, mostly,” Fiera said. “Hold on. This is public knowledge, if you know where to access it.” She sent the request to the Sorus Planetary Repository. A few minutes later the full story of the Rezouac family popped up. “Here it is. Alena’s parents were the ones who helped settle the planet. Alena, her twin brother Lanre, and a young man named Eire joined them at some point.”

“Does it give Eire’s last name?” Kuen asked.

Fiera shook her head. “No which is odd.”

“What does any of this have to do with the Rezouacs having so much land?” Gaspare asked.

“Siobhan and Teigue Rezouac, Alena’s parents, wanted to go back to Icrtara. Siobhan gave Alena her ten parcels and Teigue gave Lanre his ten parcels. Eire got five parcels for being a new settler, and when Eire and Alena got married, they combined their parcels. Keoni gets five parcels for being a farmer by trade, even if he’s currently listed as one of the active guards on Sorus Station.”

“Why would he get that if he’s not actively a farmer?” Kuen held out his hand and she passed him the tablet.

“First, Sorus Station guards only serve half the year. The other half they have to find some other way to keep themselves busy. Half a year on the farm and half a year on the station would work well for him because both keep him active. Second, he needs somewhere for his wife and any children they have to live. They’re probably staying with Eire and Alena. She’ll be working with Alena at the house or with Eire in the fields – depending on what her career path is.” Fiera nibbled on the end of one of her braids. “Knowing what I do about the family, I’d guess she’s probably working with Alena.”

“What does Alena do?” Gaspare asked.

Fiera shrugged. “I have no idea. I know she’s always surrounded by kids, some hers and some belonging to the farmhands.”

“What about Eire?” Kuen asked.

“Eire? Nobody knows what he does. If he’s not out in the fields he’s off world doing whatever it is he does to earn the money that keeps the farm going,” Fiera said.

“You know a lot more than you think. That’s the most we’ve been able to learn about the Rezouacs, and we have people trying to get intel on the family,” Gaspare said as he took the tablet back from Kuen.

“You don’t have anyone who has access to the Sorus Repository. You can’t bludgeon your way through it. You have to take the time to put in the proper request or they’ll just turn you down. But that’s how the Arpathi have always been.” Fiera grinned. “Sorus is one of the few worlds that still works closely with the Arpathi, and they’re the ones who manage planetary security for the citizens of Sorus.”

“I need to go put in a call to my father. Fiera, I hope you realize that the information you’ve given us will be used to put a stop to the Silver Fox of the Duyelia Sector. We think it’s Eire Rezouac,” Gaspare said.

“Don’t you dare attack his family. Even if he is the Silver Fox, his family doesn’t deserve to be tortured just to satisfy your desire to stop him,” Fiera hissed.

“Fiera, I won’t make a promise I can’t keep but I will at least ask my father to leave the family as a whole alone.” Gaspare rose and left the other two sitting at the table.

“Fiera, have you ever heard of DiME therapy?” Kuen asked.

“I have, and don’t think I haven’t considered that something like that might have been used on me.” Her voice grew soft and almost frightened. “Lord Kuen, I’ve been struggling with that since I realized who I was looking at in the image. I want to believe that it’s just a coincidence that I look like her, but Fiera isn’t a common name. I can’t ignore the fact that something like that could have been done.”

“If that’s the case, then who could you be reporting to?” Kuen asked.

“I – I have an idea, but I don’t know just yet,” Fiera said. “I need to make a call. I just don’t want it overheard by all of the myriad spies the Benoit family have on their comm system.”

Kuen stared at her for several breaths before pulling a personal comm unit out of his pocket. He popped the panel off, pulled a single wire loose, and put the panel back in place. “Now my mother and Lakshmi can’t listen in, but you only have a short period of time before they call me to find out why my comm is broken again,” Kuen said.

Fiera snatched it from his hand and called Lady Kakoric. “Fiera, I heard you were on Cova for three days. I do hope your journey has not ended too early,” Lady Kakoric said.

“It hasn’t. In fact, I’m enjoying myself so much I might just attach myself to Lord Nakano permanently, as I’ve heard he’s moving in with Lord Benoit,” Fiera said. Kuen made a gesture, and she tapped another part of the comm unit. Lady Kakoric’s sputters could be heard in the garden. Fiera grinned and Kuen stifled a laugh.

“Fiera, my dear, you cannot possibly be considering such an action,” Lady Kakoric said.

“Why not? I rather enjoy Lord Kuen’s…company of an evening.” Fiera’s long pause sent Lady Kakoric into another round of spluttering and wheezing.

“I really do not think I can permit this, Fiera,” Lady Kakoric said.

“As you do not own my contract, are not a patron of mine, and have no real hold over me, I don’t care two stars for what you want Lady Kakoric. I heard from my House Master you were asking after me again and I thought I’d best put an end to our relationship right now. I want nothing more to do with you, as I have found two patrons who better suit my needs,” Fiera said.

“Fiera, I was hoping to avoid having to do this so soon after our last visit,” Lady Kakoric said.

“Do what?” Fiera’s eyes narrowed and even Kuen’s posture radiated suspicion.

“The silver fox of Sorus sends the greatest salubrious salutations to his most virtuous progeny and asks that the Duyelia phoenix awaken herself, shake off the chains of oppression, and speak her wisdom into the ears of this most worthy vessel,” Lady Kakoric intoned.

The broken part of Fiera’s mind blossomed and would have overwhelmed her consciousness if she hadn’t expected it. Fiera closed her eyes and seized hold of her former persona as well as her new and, for all intents and purposes, shoved them together into one being.

Fiera took a few deep breaths. “Much appreciated, Lady Kakoric.” Even her voice sounded different now that she was ‘awake.’ “I was hoping you would be foolish enough to do that for me. Give my da my regards and tell him I think he’s a vapor brained bastard and can rot in the heart of the Duyelian star for all I care.” She tapped the comm and it went silent.

“I take it I am addressing Fiera Rezouac?” Kuen asked.

“Oh, you’re still talking to the Blue Butterfly,” Fiera said. “Lady Kakoric didn’t count on the fact that I know a bit more about DiME than I think she expected me to.”

Kuen looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”

Fiera handed him back his comm. “DiME only remains intact if the person in question doesn’t have an inkling that the persona they’re wearing isn’t a surgically implanted mask. Once they realize it, they can push the mask to the side. Something broke free last night, Lord Kuen. It woke me up a little. Talking with you and Lord Gaspare shook me out of it just a bit more. Lady Kakoric using my trigger phrase just finished the process. I took my DiME created persona, my original personality, and the aspects of both that were conflicting, and smooshed them all together into one being.”

“Fiera, is your father-?”

“Yes, Lord Kuen. My father is Eire Rezouac, the Silver Fox of the Duyelia Sector.” Her hands clenched into fists. “And right now, if he were standing in front of me, I’d beat him to a bloody pulp, and it would take a grand gesture from the universe to keep me from killing him.”

“Would you like to go somewhere you can take out that physical aggression on someone who can fight back without fear of repercussion?” Kuen asked.

“Who?”

“Me. I owe you for slapping me last night.”

“You deserved it,” Fiera growled. “But yes, let me change out of my dress and I would love a chance to beat you into the mats.” Kuen chuckled, irritating her even more – if that were possible. “I’ll meet you in the practice area.” He strode off, whistling. Fiera stalked back to her rooms.