About Sisterland (45 page)

“Faithful.”

Constance was surprised. Nothing had been settled – they had discussed several possibilities, but Faithful hadn’t figured. All of the possible names they had talked about were associated with plants and creatures in the Brown Convolution forest.

Patience made latticework of her fingers, and examined the shape. “Faithful. Not what we were expecting at all.”

“It’s perfect,” said Devotion.

“It’s a wasted opportunity.” Patience turned to Constance. “Has it been sigged yet? If not, there’s still time.”

“It hasn’t been sigged,” said Constance. “But Harper has chosen Faithful, so Faithful is her name.” She went to him, and leaned over the baby in the crook of his arms. “Hello, Faithful. Your name suits you.” She touched their daughter’s dimpled fist. “We’ll go together today and sig her name.”

Constance could log it without Harper, but he was not permitted to do it without Constance. She hoped he wouldn’t raise this discrepancy in front of Patience. At least now his name would appear on the registration, after Constance’s.

“Well, of course, it’s entirely down to you, Constance. I mean, to both of you,” said Patience. “But what if there are tens of thousands of Faithfuls logged ahead of her? You don’t want her to have a long list of numbers after her name.”

“Does she need numbers after her name?” asked Constance. “Couldn’t we come up with another solution?”

Gracious tilted her head to one side. “It’s a point worth discussing. Isn’t it, Patience?”

“We could consider alternatives at our next meeting of the Co-Equals,” agreed Patience. “I’ve never much cared for the 66003 after my name.”

“Two Co-Equals in the family: Goodwill and Constance,” said Devotion. “We’re rising at a dizzying pace. I hope nobody here suffers from altitude sickness.”

“You misunderstand Constance’s role. She’s not exactly a Co-Equal, but she attends meetings and we like to consult with her,” said Patience.

“Her voice is influential,” said Goodwill.

“Naturally. Who wouldn’t listen to the source who’s given us Silence reincarnated?” said Patience.

Constance was used to Patience’s attempts to claim a mystical kinship between the baby and Silence, but this was the first time for Harper. Shock, followed by dismay, chased away by anger, criss-crossed his face. He slanted a challenge at Constance. Her eyes pleaded with his:
Don’t say anything, I can explain
. Rigid, Harper turned his back on her, and took a few paces towards Patience. Constance braced herself for a storm.

Unexpectedly, Devotion saved the day by voicing the protest Patience would never have tolerated from a man.

“What mumbo-jumbo! My granddaughter’s nobody’s reincarnation. She’s a baby. Herself, and nobody else. Besides, that’s a ridiculously heavy burden to place on any child. Those sorts of expectations will gobble the wee mite whole. Don’t you think so, Goodwill?”

Goodwill’s eyes slid away. “It’s only a name.”

“It’s more than that and you know it, Goodwill!”

Gracious spoke up. “Why don’t I hold Faithful, Harper? She must be getting heavy.”

Harper stayed where he was, chin jutting out.

“You must learn to share her,” said Patience. “She might not always be in your care.”

His eyes splintered at Patience, and Faithful squawked at the pressure from his fingers on her chubby limbs. Frightened now, Constance moved forward, on the pretext of lifting Faithful out of his arms. Her face was wreathed in warning. She uncoiled his hands from their baby, and transferred the warm, small body to Gracious.

Gracious rested Faithful against her neck, and sighed with pleasure as the baby squirmed against her. “What a clever girl you are, to have a name that suits you so exactly.”

Harper folded his empty arms, missing his daughter’s weight already. He retreated into a corner and watched Patience, who ignored him.

Shortly after, the visitors took their leave, but the atmosphere did not lighten. On the contrary, Harper rounded on Constance, demanding answers. Why was she allowing their baby to be used as a symbol of Silence? How could she stand by and listen to that ridiculous reincarnation claim?

“It’s only a bit of silliness,” she tried telling him. But when he continued to argue, she said, “Harper, Patience could have Faithful taken away from us with one snap of the fingers. This is part of the deal that lets us keep her with us. And lets you raise her.”

“You used our baby as a bargaining chip?”

“What choice did I have?”

Harper shook his head slowly, silently, sorrowfully. But Faithful squeaked, kicking her feet in the air. And some of his tension ebbed away.

The Silent Revolution continued to put down roots. Baby boys were no longer taken from their sources, while boyplace was closed down and boys were educated alongside girls. Flocks of children, girls and boys, mingled freely: it became commonplace to see them with their teachers on the Buzz, going on educational trips, or walking in crocodiles through the parks, having flowers and plants pointed out. Hutchtown was disbanded, and men began to live in units alongside the ones which housed women, although mixed accommodation was not yet permitted. At least, not officially. However, more senior sisters started asking for male others.

Among these developments came an unexpected shift. With matingplace disbanded, more boys began to be born. It was too soon to call it a trend. There were no guarantees it would continue. Scientists were puzzled by it. But the reversal of rigid mating protocols began to percolate through to the birth statistics.

As agreed, Constance spoke at rallies, polishing the new version of Sisterland, but had no involvement in daily decision-making. She hoped, by influencing audiences, to create a public mood for ongoing change. The risk was that sisters would accept a regime change, but prefer life to continue undisturbed.

“Sometimes, ladybird, I think Goodwill suspects she’s created a monster in you,” said Devotion. She maintained her refusal to join the work of the Silenced. But she was not at cross-purposes with them, either. She was allowed to retire from thought-hatching, because her department was being dismantled, along with thought-mending and crafting.

There were still shapers, however. Their skills were
required. New orders need old hands, as Modesty put it to Constance. She knew it was said tongue-in-cheek. One of these days, she must introduce her source to Modesty – the two of them would get along.

Nowadays, Devotion concentrated on the garden Goodwill had been able to secure for her, not far from their twoser – and on Faithful. She took to bringing Harper some of her wine. Sometimes, after Faithful’s bath, she’d stay and share a glass with him, talking about the herbs she liked to grow, and the vegetables she was experimenting with – his green fingers impressed her. When he expressed an interest in how the wine was made, she offered to teach him.

“More than she ever did for me,” said Constance, when Harper reported it. She alternated between amusement and irritation at her source’s developing relationship with Harper. Of course, it was better to have them on friendly terms. They had not just Faithful, but their love of nature in common. But sometimes they she felt a tiny bit excluded, especially when they were outdoors.

Harper sprang fully to life outside. By the riverbank, he was the first to spot fish or insects, and to point them out. If Devotion was with them, as she often was during strolls with Faithful, her source was always fascinated by what he said – whereas sometimes Constance had to fake an interest, preoccupied with her work for the Silenced regime. Harper could not pass near a tree without drawing attention to the patterns on the bark. “Touch it,” he’d invite. “Doesn’t it feel more real than anything you’ve ever put your hand on?” It felt appealing, of course. But reshaping Sisterland – that was what truly felt real to Constance.

One day, when Faithful was about eighteen months old, Harper suggested a family daytrip, just the three of them – a visit with Faithful to a copse of trees at the end of the Buzz line. Constance had to cry off at the last minute because of a
hastily convened Co-Equals meeting, but Devotion
volunteered to take her place.

That night, when Constance returned home to the threeser, she found Faithful in her pop-up, and Devotion still lingering, chatting with Harper.

“We saw copper beeches. Faithful clapped her hands at their blaze of colour,” Devotion reported. “Didn’t she, Harper?”

“Her face, at the sound of the leaves underfoot! I thought she was going to jump out of my arms!”

“And the way she crunched leaves between her fists, trying to cram them into her mouth!”

The warmth between them was unmistakeable. Constance knew she should feel pleased. And she did. But she also felt left out.

When Devotion went home, Harper said, “Devotion loved the crackle of twigs underfoot – she said it was a forgotten sound in Sisterland. Nothing’s ever allowed to lie where it falls here. I’ve tried to suggest it at work, in the parks, but nobody listens. I told Devotion, and she says the tidiness impulse has been carried too far.”

“Sounds as if you and Devotion had plenty to talk about. All she ever does is scold me for overwork.”

“You do work too hard. You’d have had fun if you’d come with us, Constance.”

“I’d have liked to go. But duty before fun, I’m afraid. I can’t miss Co-Equal meetings.”

“Come and sit down. You look tired.” He perched beside her, and began to rub her shoulders. “Have you eaten?”

“Goodwill always makes sure there’s food at the meetings.”

The kneading slowed. “Constance, do the Co-Equals ever discuss Outsideland?”

“No, we’re too busy with Sisterland. I did ask about the man from Outsideland. I thought I might have been able to do something for him. Too late. He’d been discontinued. Don’t stop, Harper, I’m stiff from sitting in meetings all day.” She rotated her neck, relaxing under his massage. “There’s been a setback. That’s why the meeting was called. I’m not supposed to talk about this – it’s top secret. To do with the Nine.”

“I thought the five who held out were relocated to one of the outer belts? Didn’t they give guarantees about living quietly there?”

“That’s what they promised to do. But Innocence and Temperance doubled back from Grey Disjoint. They headed for Righteous, they’re trying to form a rival government there.”

“Is it really a threat?”

“It’s a thorn in the flesh, more than a threat. All the key institutions are based in Harmony, so they can’t disrupt the machinery of the State. But it’s disloyal. And dishonest. Patience says it’s treacherous, and can’t be tolerated. A solution will
have to be found to deal with them. I suppose they’ll be put under some sort of restraint.”

“You mean Safe Space? Like the woman you talked about in your sleep last night?”

Startled, Constance asked, “Who did I talk about?”

“You called her ‘mother’.”

“The Shaper Mother. She’s on her way to Safe Space, for subversive activities. While she was under house arrest, she tried to slip away and join the remnants of the Nine in Righteous. What did I say about her?”

“‘Forgive me, mother’. You said it over and over. I wiped away a tear on your cheek.”

“I did my best for the mother. I spoke up for her when the Co-Equals were trying to decide what to do with her. I’m sorry she’s gone to Safe Space. I wish it could have been different.”

“Maybe you should have seen her before she was ordered to Safe Space.”

Constance hesitated. “I didn’t want to,” she admitted.

“Because she makes you doubt what you’re doing?”

“She has a particular way with her. She puts me on the back foot. Harper, how do you think the Co-Equals ought to deal with these remnants of the Nine? There was division at our meeting.”

“In the forest, I saw how the hungriest took chances. Their teeth weren’t the sharpest, neither were their claws, but they were the most dangerous animals. They had nothing to lose.”

Constance shivered. “We can’t use force – that’s contrary to everything Sisterland believes in. Yet some kind of action will have to be taken against them. Patience thinks they ought to be arrested, and given treatment to make them understand the importance of obedience. But that sounds like MUM – a barbaric place. We closed it down. You see, Harper, there’s still so much to be done in Sisterland. So much to be decided. Outsideland can wait.”

“It can’t wait. Sisterland has to start reaching out to neighbours. Otherwise, this new Sisterland will be just as inward-looking as the old one.”

Constance stood up, and stretched. “Contact is a good idea, in principle. But not yet.”

“Have you any idea, Constance, how often you say ‘not yet’?”

Despite this minor disagreement, Harper was upbeat for days afterwards. His pleasure in the trip away from Harmony reminded Constance how much sustenance he drew from his forest, but she pushed away the thought. Harmony was their home, and her work lay there. She was helping to shape the future.

Chapter 39

For days, the Shaper Mother’s fate troubled Constance. Try though she might, she couldn’t ignore it. She told herself the distance to Safe Space, thousands of miles away in Black Particle, was an impediment. But she knew she could apply for transport, provided the visit was approved.
Stay away
, said the voice of reason in her head.
You must see her
, argued her residual sense of loyalty.