8 — The Test
It was a flurry of activity. I swam upstream in the rapids.
There were new shipments to receive, catalogue, and organize; fresh plunder from one of Jossimer's latest campaigns. There were designs for displays to iterate on and descriptive texts to draft, submit to the Benefactors for approval. There were older drafts with notes to revise, proofread, and resubmit. There were validated texts to engrave and mount.
There were artifacts not quite fit for display that would be recorded and either put into storage or taken away to be destroyed. There were items that were
meant
to be destroyed that I would instead discretely pass on to Grégoire for safekeeping.
There were other staff-people to manage; there were schedules to draft and payroll ledgers to update. Did we have enough security? Were there enough attendants to see to the needs of the guests, especially the extra
super special
upper-crust ones?
One was now standing right in front of me. Charles
Phaeros
, my favorite leash–holder.
“Ugh,” he belched, seeing a closed office door, and then me. “You.
Girl
. He in there?”
I beamed.
Fuck this guy.
“A pleasure to
meet
you sir I'm afraid he's currently
very
occupied and has asked to
not
be disturbed but I can tell him you dropped by if I may just get your—”
“Get my
what
? I'm the
mayor
of this city. This museum exists under my authority! Don't you know anything? Were you born yesterday? I swear, where does Daelus find these
charity
cases. Your
master
is to be at my convenience at all times. I demand—”
“Oh
goodness
I am deeply sorry it's just that all of you upper class folk look
alike
to me and from your attire I didn't recognize you as someone administrative. I can certainly
ask
if he can fit you into his schedule but it may take a
moment
so I'm afraid I must request that you to wait in the lobby. In the meantime may I offer you a
breath
mint?”
He blinked and stammered. He knew he had been insulted, at least
twice
, and from his reaction this was a new sensation for him. He looked like he was coiling himself up to verbally destroy me, like a head of a jack-in-a-box.
My heart was racing. I did
not
in a million years expect it to be like this. I felt entirely unburdened. I was free of the social mores that I hadn't even realized had been keeping my personality stifled. I had
no
idea I had the ability to behave this way. I hadn't even realized I wanted to. It was
euphoric
.
My mother had been correct. I
did
have a belligerent side — and I
loved
it.
“Settle down, Charles.” A woman's voice came from behind the still blustered mayor. It was Delphiné, another delegate — the fabled
third woman
. “Allow me to handle Daelus. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable in the lobby. I'll let you know how it goes.”
He frowned deeply at Delphiné, and seemed to decide that if he was going to lose this round, he'd rather lose to a member of his social class. He exited my office and threw himself into a seat in the nearby lobby.
Delphiné stepped behind my desk as if she owned it, going right for Daelus' office door.
“Excuse me,
ma'am
, but he's—”
“Oh, don't worry sweetie, he won't mind a
bit
. You're new aren't you? I love your face.” Suddenly she was touching the back of my neck. I felt my entire body go hot. “I have questions about a draft for one of the plaques. It will just take a moment and I'll be out of your hair.” She
was
in my hair. Literally. Fingers sliding between curls.
I took the curl back. I didn't like my hair being touched without permission. I didn't like that I liked it when
she
did. “Alight,” I said.
This was slightly unorthodox. Normally business with Delphiné was conducted via her entourage envoys. She almost never came in person. Plus Phaeros here too? Something was
up
.
“Thank you, sweetheart. I'll remember you, by the way. Loved hearing you turn Charlie's tongue into a fish.” I felt my skin get even warmer. Any more and I’d boil. I was not used to compliments and I liked the way she was doing it. I liked that she was the one who was doing it.
She was in the office with him now. With
me
. I shifted my focus to the interaction.
She clicked her tongue. “He's on the warpath, and here you are yet again jumping in front of his cavalry charge.” Her entire demeanor had changed. She was back to the version of herself Daelus knew;
chiding
.
Her delegated role was propaganda. Often this meant boosting the reputations of the delegates themselves, but just as often it was her job to manipulate public opinion in the other direction. Daelus imagined that this gave her enough influence to shield her from Phaeros’ wrath. Daelus had no such protection.
“What fresh failure have I stumbled into
?”
Daelus asked, feeling resigned, but not hesitating to let his frustration show in his tone.
“Daelus. How many plaques have been rejected by the Benefactors this month? You're ignoring their directives.”
“Every time I receive their feedback I do what's asked,” he protested.
“And yet you continue to show a lack of alignment with their vision. They're growing tired of offering you the same
type
of feedback.
“You're making
my
work harder. I should be the one storming in here, exhausted by you. But you're far less lucky than that. You're Phaeros' problem and when you make the Benefactors unhappy, he's the one they scold. You are well aware of how much he enjoys that.” She then tossed him a clipboard with several pages of text attached, dripping with red ink.
Daelus sighed, and nodded. “So, we're going to display these items without mentioning Jossimer's conquests? No mention of how the items came to be in our fair city? Gifts from, how did they ask us to put it —
developing
cultures, is that it? And you're ok with that?”
She stared blankly at him. “What else?”
Daelus shrunk. “No more comparative analysis of the techniques and technologies of other cultures with our own. We are more advanced, stable, and prosperous. Our way is the only way of life. Did I get that right?’
Her voice lowered, her eyes intense. “Daelus, you have no idea how hard I work to protect you from your little flights of fancy.”
“Yes, I'm sorry. I mean, thank you.”
She nodded. “Trust the process. We brought stability to our land and now we will bring stability to the world. I do my part, and you do yours.” She pushed up from her chair, and moved to the door. “I enjoy working with you, Daelus. Let's keep it that way, please?”
I
did
want to keep it that way. I felt conflicted. Whatever side she was on, I wanted to be on too, but it wasn't adding up. What did anything we were doing have to do with
stability
?
She emerged from Daelus' office, and grinned wide as she passed me, on her way back to the lobby where I could still see Phaeros waiting. “What’s your name,
love
?”
“Sheam,” I said, anxiously.
“Well, Miss
Shaem
,”
“
Sheam
, ma’am. Rhymes with
gleam
.” I corrected, and then was terrified that I had done something remarkably foolish by correcting a delegate. But then, why had I felt so confident while insulting Phaeros, who held far more status and power?
“Sheam, gleam, like a
dream
,” she said, crisply, and playfully, her grin wide and her eyes glowing. “Keep up the good work, Miss Sheam. You'll do wonderfully here.”
Fuck
.
But then my flustered state cracked open and a deeper excitement bubbled out. She looked
right
at me. She
touched
me. She was close enough to
smell
me. Entourage have that scent. She either didn’t notice it or everything else was so complete that she didn’t clock it. She had
no
idea I was an entourage. Or if she did, she didn't show any signs.
It was true. I could do this. I passed the test.