Commitment Hour

Teggeree called over his shoulder into the council building. 'All in favor of killing the Neut, say, 'Aye.' '

A dutiful chorus within answered, 'Aye.'

'Motion passed.' He turned back to the First Warrior. 'Carry out the sentence… and try not to break the noise bylaws, there are children sleeping.'

'It's not that easy, mayor,' Bonnakkut insisted. 'The council should discuss this.'

'He's right,' Leeta added. 'You don't appreciate the nature of our visitors.' She cast a glance at Rashid.

'Still sticking up for Steck, are you?' Teggeree said to Leeta. Then he sighed. 'All right, Cappie woke us all anyway. We can afford to talk about this for the thirty seconds it deserves.' He held up the lantern and gestured toward the door with his free hand. 'Everyone into the hall.'

One by one, we mounted the steps. I let Rashid and Steck go ahead of me. They climbed the stairs awkwardly, Rashid's arm still around Steck's shoulders. As the Neut passed Teggeree, It nodded Its head and smiled. 'Dear little Teggie. Mayor now, are you? I knew you were bound for great things.'

The mayor's face curdled in exasperation. 'What do you want me to say, Steck? Welcome home?'

Steck only smiled and passed into the hall, squeezing tight under Rashid's arm. I made to follow, but Teggeree put a fat hand on my chest. 'Not you, Fullin.'

'Fullin?' Steck hissed, turning to stare at me. 'Back at the creek, you said you weren't Fullin.'

But Teggeree pushed into the hall and closed the door in my face before another word was said. Confused, I gazed at the blank door for several seconds.

Its paint was cracking. It needed a new coat.

'Something wrong?' asked a voice behind me. Cappie.

I turned slowly. She stood two steps down the stairway, leaning against the wooden rail that served as a bannister. With her arms propped back against the railing, her breasts pushed out against the man's shirt she wore.

At that moment, I realized there was something about a woman in man's clothing. Something arresting. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Cappie, of all people, looking desirable. I could hardly believe it.

'Nothing's wrong,' I said, gazing at her. 'Nothing at all.'

She rolled her eyes. 'You're being obvious again.'

'What's wrong with that?'

'The past few months you've barely looked at me. As soon as I dress like a man, you start drooling. What does that say, Fullin?'

'Nothing.' With an effort I tore my gaze away from her, turning instead to look at the shadowed fishing boats rocking on the dark lake water. 'Bonnakkut was suggesting some ridiculous things about you.'

'What things?'

'Stupid lies.' I checked her face for signs of guilt. Nothing. It was a thin soft face, attractive in its way, but at this moment very guarded. Maybe I should have asked outright if anything had gone on between her and Bonnakkut, but I couldn't ask Cappie anything outright anymore. I turned back to the darkness and mumbled, 'Bonnakkut is such a turd.'

'He's not that bad,' she said. I couldn't tell if she was defending him or just contradicting me. Lately she'd got into the habit of disagreeing with me, purely for spite. 'What did Bonnakkut say?' she asked.

I shook my head. Offended as I was at Bonnakkut's insinuations, I didn't want to discuss them with Cappie. I didn't want to discuss anything with her. But I couldn't help saying, 'Leeta claims you volunteered to take over as Mocking Priestess.'

'Someone has to,' Cappie replied. 'Doctor Gorallin found lumps in Leeta's breasts. Both of them. This is her last solstice.'

'That's too bad,' I said, in that immediate, automatic tone of voice you always use when you speak of death. But a moment later, I thought about the slow dance in the woods, and said again, 'That's too bad.'

'So Leeta asked if I'd be her successor,' Cappie continued. 'I'm tempted, Fullin, I'm really tempted. Tober Cove needs a priestess, as counterbalance to the Patriarch's Man. Besides,' she said with a half smile, 'the wardrobe suits me. If you think I look good in suspenders, just wait till you see me wear milkweed.'

I had a vision of Cappie and me on a bed slathered flank-deep in milkweed silk… which could be interesting… if she wore the suspenders too.

'So you're going to Commit as a woman?' I asked.

She grimaced. 'I've tried to talk about this for months, Fullin, and you've just avoided the subject.'

'You've been after me to say what I'll do. You never mentioned what you want.'

'Because you never asked!'

'I figured if you'd made a decision, you'd tell me,' I said. 'Why would you keep asking what I intend to do, when you really wanted to tell me what you intend to do?'

'Men!' Cappie flumped down on the top step and made a show of burying her face in her hands. The too-big sleeves of her father's shirt dangled around her slim wrists like puffed cuffs. It's odd how something as simple as dangling sleeves can make you want a woman, when everything else makes you invent excuses to avoid her.

I sat beside her on the step. 'Do you really want to become the next Mocking Priestess?'

She lifted her head. 'We holy acolytes describe the job as just 'Priestess.' The 'Mocking' part is more of a hobby… when the Patriarch's Man says something so boneheaded, you can't help but hit him with a dig.'

'So you're going to do it?'

'Why shouldn't I?'

I shrugged. My first reaction had been to oppose the idea. It wasn't just that the priestess was a figure of ridicule among the men in town. The priestess also had a lot of errands to run — consecrating babies, attending to the dead, telling stories for children, teetering on that uncomfortable wooden stool in the back of the Council Hall while the male Elders held their meetings. Cappie wouldn't have time to do the chores a wife should do… and despite everything, I still pictured myself married to Cappie after we Committed.

Everyone in the cove expected us to get married. They said we were the perfect couple.

But when I thought about it, Cappie becoming priestess had its good points too. For one thing, it would be an excuse not to marry her, an excuse the rest of the cove would understand — the priestess wasn't allowed to take a husband, since that might create a 'conflict of interest.' On the other hand, the priestess wasn't expected to be celibate either; Leeta supposedly had a sex life, judging by the way people occasionally winked when talking about her. With Cappie as the next Mocking Priestess, I could bed her if I wanted (say, when she wore men's clothing), but never have to tie the unforgiving knot.

Another good thing about Cappie taking over from Leeta: it would shut Bonnakkut out of her life. The women of the cove would hate to see their oh-so-serene priestess associating with the First Warrior, just as the men would hate their manly First Warrior spending time with a puddinghead priestess. Even if I dumped Cappie, I could be sure the cove would never let her take up with Bonnakkut.

Then too, if Cappie wanted to be priestess, she'd have to Commit as a woman. That left me the option of Committing as a woman too, an easy way out of any 'obligations' people might think I had toward Cappie. I'd often thought about Committing female — if nothing else, I wouldn't have to work much. Dabble around the house, take care of my son Waggett… and make buckets of money playing violin on weekends. Of course, if I were a woman and Cappie the priestess, she'd think she could lord it over me; but I wouldn't be the first woman to distance herself from the Mocking Priestess.

Cappie was still waiting for my answer: did I want her to take over from Leeta. 'If it's what you want,' I said, 'it's okay with me.'

She looked at me curiously for a moment, then nodded. 'Thank you. Very generous.'

Frankly, I expected more gratitude. Enthusiasm. Showering me with kisses of appreciation for giving her permission. Of course, then I'd shrug her off in annoyance, but I wanted her to make the gesture.

We sat in silence for several minutes, side by side on the steps. The time was about two in the morning, but I felt too tired to turn and look at the clock on the Council Hall steeple. Would the Elders expect Cappie and me to go back to the marsh when this was all over? Or could we just head for the house we shared on the west side of town?

Cappie must have been thinking along the same lines. 'If they really want us to stay out here all night,' she muttered, 'they could at least lend us a deck of cards. Leeta says most council meetings are five minutes of business followed by three hours of poker.'

'That would be Leeta living up to the 'mocking' part of her job.'

'But why are they taking so long to discuss this?' Cappie growled, glancing at the closed door behind us. 'Ask anyone what to do if a Neut comes back from exile, and you'll get a real short answer.'

'It's different if the Neut comes bearing gifts.' I told her how readily Bonnakkut took the Beretta and how he sucked up to Rashid thereafter. I may have exaggerated a bit; who said I had to cast Bonnakkut in a favorable light?

By the time my story was done, Cappie was scowling fiercely. 'So they're in there right now,' she said, 'and Rashid is handing out presents to the Elders.'

'Probably,' I agreed.

'But the Elders wouldn't take bribes, would they?' She paused. 'Well, Leeta wouldn't.'

'Depends what the bribe is,' I answered, in what I hoped was a worldly-wise voice. 'Leeta might turn down gold… but suppose Rashid has some high-grade medicine from down south. Vaccines or antibiotics straight from the Spark Lords, something that could save lives for years to come; perhaps even get rid of those lumps in Leeta's own breasts. And all Rashid wants is to watch the ceremonies tomorrow, then go away. Do you think Leeta would refuse a deal like that?'

'Leeta wouldn't take medicine just for herself,' Cappie said, 'but for other people… for children… do you think Rashid really brought something like that?'

'Rashid is a noble,' I replied. 'At one point Leeta called him 'Lord Rashid,' like she recognized him or his name. If he's an aristocrat from Feliss, he might have access to the medical supplies that the Sparks give to Governors. Or he might have enough money to afford something just as good as medicine. Seeds for a strain of wheat that can survive a spring snow. OldTech equipment for fishing or farming. Or a refrigeration machine for the perch-packing plant. My foster father said they had refrigeration machines in Feliss, OldTech inventions that ran off sunlight…'

The Council Hall door swung open. Laughter ho-ho'd its way out to the porch. Cappie gave me a look that made it clear what she thought of people who laughed after taking bribes from Neuts.

Three seconds later, Teggeree and Rashid swaggered out, the mayor's arm around Rashid's shoulders in much the same way that Rashid had walked so long