Bactine (23 page)

"Mr. Zacharias," he said, "we have collected some items for you to try on. If you would be so kind."

Had Daniel's life depended on the vibrance in Gaguran's voice, he would have keeled over then and there. He got up and looked at the 'items'. There were two suits in the collection that would be sort of okay, so he tried one of them on. It was dark red lined with silver thread and the least obnoxious of the two.

"We could not locate a decent shirt in your size so quickly, so this will have to do," Gaguran said. He picked up a sort of scarf and held it up. It was earth brown and had a strange, maze-like pattern in it.

Daniel had to sit down, so Gaguran could wrap it around his neck. How the mouse did it, he had no idea, but when he was finished it actually looked very good. Daniel checked himself in the mirroring windows.

"This will do, sir," said Gaguran. "Alas. Your footwear... " he sighed.

Daniel's yellow sneakers did indeed scream out a bit. "We'll say it is the latest cry, Mr. Slindris, if someone asks."

"Cry, Mr. Zacharias?"

"I am sorry. It is an Earth expression."

"I see. Well, please remember that you are not on... Earth... here."

Daniel tasted the disgust in the man's words. "Of course, Mr. Slindris. You are right."

Gaguran opened the door and waited for Daniel to leave. His displeasure was evident.

Daniel walked out of the room and into a surprise. The large room where Clelem had spoken with the other gentlemen was now nearly empty. Only Clelem, Gaguran and he were there. And Rayko, whose face conveyed a total lack of joy.

"Mr. Zacharias," Clelem said, "I have asked my daughter to keep you company for the remainder of the evening."

Rayko glared at her father with murder on her mind. Nothing less. "I am not going to do it," she hissed.

"Mr. Zacharias," Clelem ignored her, "the music will start soon. I assume you dance?"

Daniel was lost. He knew some dances, but wondered if any of them were even allowed on this planet. "A bit, sir."

Clelem lightly pushed Rayko in the back. Just enough to make her stagger towards Daniel, who caught her.

She looked up at him as if she wanted to bite him. "I am going to step on your toes," she promised. "And I am not going to like this."

Clelem and Gaguran walked out of the room.

"I am sorry, Miss Dandra ko Galem, I did not intend this."

Rayko stepped back and folded her arms over her chest. "You'd better not. I don't like you and you don't like me. Let's at least agree on that."

"Wholeheartedly," Daniel stated.

She nodded. "Good." Then the change in her stumped Daniel. She suddenly had the sweetest smile on her face. "Shall we, then?" For a moment she looked herself again. "Don't get any wrong ideas, Mr. Zacharias." The smile returned and she held up her arm, for him to take.

Arm in arm they entered the main hall, where musicians were taking their place. Rayko's appearance seemed to be magnetic: within moments there was quite a crowd around her and Daniel. Rayko seemed in her element, being the centre of attention. As soon as she noticed that this was not Daniel's game, she seemed to be aiming at directing most of it towards him.

Most of the guests had no idea who Daniel was. Rayko was quick to tell everyone what a wonderful hero Daniel was. The guests then tossed all kinds of questions at him, many that he had absolutely no answer to. Rayko, Daniel was certain, was enjoying this to no end.

A few times, Daniel noticed Gaguran walk by. The man's face showed bad weather, and that seemed to get worse at each passing. Daniel was not happy about that, the man and he were not the best of friends already, and it was painfully clear to him that he was where Gaguran wanted to be. If only the man knew how much Daniel would like to trade places.

The first notes of music drifted over the crowds. Heads turned, people moved to the side to clear a part of the hall, and the first couples stepped on the suddenly available dance floor. The music also took away the attention of many people around him and Rayko, so he had some time to look at what was happening on the floor.

A punch on the arm brought his attention back to the daughter of his employer. "Miss?"

"You are supposed to be paying attention to me," Rayko hissed, "not ignore me like this." To make her point, she stepped on his toes. Then, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Oh, I would love to dance. Will you dance with me, Mr. Zacharias?"

Daniel felt doom crawling up on him. But he'd go down fighting. "Of course, Miss Dandra ko Galem. I'd be delighted."

The guests opened up a corridor for them, as they walked to the dance floor. One of the people that saw them go had murder on his mind.

The last few steps to the dance floor suddenly brought a grin to Daniel's face. The music had changed, and he actually knew (well, remembered) a dance that could work here. As long as his dance partner would cooperate. And that, he knew, would be the hard part.

The first minute of dancing was absolute disaster, which he had expected. But Rayko had been truthful when she'd said she would love to dance: she really did. Daniel noticed that suddenly her resistance dropped, and his toes were not attacked anymore - at least not on purpose. Daniel and Rayko were turning and turning, and she genuinely laughed at his surprised face as suddenly the music was gone.

Her smile disappeared for a moment as he grinned also. "I warned you about getting the wrong ideas," she reminded him with a sweet voice. "And I want something to drink."

"Of course, Miss Dandra ko Galem. Allow me..." He held up his arm this time.

"I hate you," she whispered with a smile, as she took his arm and let him guide her off the floor and to a servant who carried beverages of all kinds and colours.

Soon there was a swarm of people around them again, all hungry for Rayko's attention. Daniel was spared a lot of questions this time and he listened to the people. He noticed that many of them were sucking up to Rayko, probably hoping that she would put in a good word for them with her father or something equal. He also noticed that Rayko was clearly skilled in this game and dodged the requests by commenting on garments, jewellery or things she knew about the people that addressed her.

The musicians, six of them in light brown suits, using instruments Daniel never had seen, started playing again. "Miss Dandra ko Galem, would you like another dance?" Daniel asked in a lull of the conversations.

"Oh yes, please." She flashed him a smile and off they were, to the dance floor. That seemed to be the place where most hostility would cease. She even apologised, once, as she stepped on Daniel's toes.

After the dance they stayed on the dance floor, as the musicians announced another piece of music, which they immediately started into.

Rayko flushed. "Oh no, not this."

"What's the matter, miss?" Daniel said.

"I can't dance this one. Take me off the floor. Now."

"Too late," Daniel decided. Many people were revolving and rotating around them, it would mean breaking through them. "Hold on."

"What?"

Daniel lifted her off her feet and started turning them around to the music in a rather ad lib fashion, but somehow it worked with the music and the other dancers.

"Put me down! You are making me dizzy! Watch out, there are- whaa... Stop this!" Her stream of whispers became more frantic and also louder. "Don't drop me, you big lug!"

"Be silent, will you?" Daniel said. "I am not going to drop you, and if you talk any louder the whole hall will hear you. Play along the way I did."

"I hate you," Rayko stated, and put in a few attempts to kick his shins, but stopped that soon after finding out that it hurt her toes more than him. Her volume had gone down again, though.

After the music ended, he gently put Rayko down again and offered her his arm. She was fuming, and it took her all her willpower and then some to keep smiling as he escorted her off the floor again.

The comment that came after them, "Such a handsome couple," did not improve her mood. Daniel was not sure what he should do with it, so he ignored it. They arrived at a table with expensive-looking glassware filled with exotic liqueurs and small saucers that held all kinds of snacks.

Daniel stared at it all, as Rayko grabbed a saucer and a glass and pushed them into his hands. "Here. Look as if you enjoy it."

"Thank you, miss," he stammered.

"No need. At least that way you keep your hands off me," she grumbled as she picked up a glass for herself.

"You looked so nice, out there," a lady's voice said. It was Clelem's wife, Ugidra, who was suddenly standing next to them, her hand resting on the arm of Warlem who looked far too smug.

Rayko pretended to be very busy picking out a snack.

"Thank you, Mrs. Dandra ko Galem," Daniel did his best. "Your daughter is very easy to dance with."

"Oh, she is," Warlem pitched, "sometimes it is as if she's swept off her feet in a dance." His face did not lose its smile as his sister cast the glare of death onto him.

The music started again.

"Maybe you would like to dance with someone else, dear sister?" Warlem said. "I see Mr. Slindris is all alone at the moment."

"I'd rather die," Rayko shared, "or dance with the lug again for that matter."

Warlem smiled and nodded. Her mother frowned. "Mr. Slindris is a respected man, Rayko, you could be more friendly towards him."

"Never," Rayko was determined. Daniel wondered if he should share that he agreed with her sentiments, but decided against it. This was not the place, the time nor the company for that.

The evening went on, and at a certain point the first guests started to leave. Daniel and Rayko had found a middle ground where they could maintain a truce. Most of that was located on the dance floor, but after the musicians had stopped playing, they had taken to mingling and walking around. Clelem, they knew, was watching them. Or rather: her.

They found themselves sitting on a couch, not too close together. From where he was sitting, Daniel saw the senator in his green robe, lying on a couch, sound asleep.

Rayko was rubbing a foot that hurt.

"Did someone step on it?" Daniel asked.

"Hrmf," she replied. "No. Your shins are too hard."

"Do you want me to-" He stopped mid-sentence.

"No. Not in your lifetime," she snapped. After a moment, she looked at him. "What were you going to suggest?"

"Rub your foot for you."

"I can rub my own foot, thank you very much," she snorted. She slipped her foot in her shoe again. "And you should stop seeking every opportunity to touch me."

Before Daniel could respond to that, a few guests came up to Rayko to say good night. She got up, Daniel did so as well but held back a bit. He still was the stranger here, the outsider.

Clelem came walking to them. "Ah, daughter. I see you did what I asked of you. Very very good. I hope you had a good evening, Mr. Zacharias?"

"It was a nice evening, Seigner, thank you. I should take my leave now, though," Daniel said.

"I understand," said Clelem, taking his daughter's arm. "We will go and bid our guests a good evening."

"Thank you, sir, for the invitation. And for the talk. I'll go change and find my way out, sir."

Clelem nodded. "Do tell my wife you are leaving, before that, Mr. Zacharias. It would be appreciated."

"Certainly, sir. Miss Dandro ko Galem..." Daniel nodded and walked off to where he saw Ugidra, Clelem's spouse, where he said goodbye to her. Then he went into the side room where Clelem had so unceremoniously shoved his daughter into his arms. He shook his head. That was behaviour of the man he had never expected. Just before he entered the next room, where his own clothes were, he heard his name.

"Mr. Zacharias." It was Rayko's voice.

Surprised he turned. "Miss Dandra ko Galem."

She stood half in and half hidden behind the opening of the door, her hand resting against its frame. "I just wanted to tell you that it was nice to dance with you. I still hate you, but I thank you. It did save me from worse."

This confused him. It probably showed from his face, because Rayko added: "No, this is not something my father told me to say. Have a good evening, sir." Then she vanished back into the hall.

After changing, Daniel went through the hall quickly. He looked for Rayko, but only saw Warlem the poet standing with his parents. The young man winked and waved as Daniel passed.

On the way home, Daniel tried to figure out what had happened that evening, but fatigue and the drinks made that an impossible task.

Everyone was on board of the Pricosine, wondering what had happened to Daniel's mind. He was arranging long sticks and pieces of sail, tying everything together with strings.