Reign of the War Queen: A Tale of Two Times, #4

By JBS Palmer

Rhoda and Ricardo now head the Clan's War Thing, opposing the Circle of the Foe. So, Martin is able to end Yohanna's lockdown at Antonia's house, and he and General Smith can deal with the nearby cache of Soviet-made atomic bombs. The atomic bombs fit into Rhoda's plan to deal with a political faction in the Soviet government in a way that dovetails with rescuing Evelyn from the clutches of the Foe. Now, Hans, Isabel, and Leo, who have learned the tragedy of Ottilie Kruger's War Thing, have time to work through their separate and dangerous life-changing opportunities to join the new War Thing.  With a little help from Rhoda, Ricardo establishes himself incognito in the Keep of the Ancient Foe, adjacent to New City University.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Lad Press
• Release date: Jul 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223377665

JBS Palmer

JBS Palmer lives with family and a hoodwink of cats in Idaho.  He is a graduate of Oberlin College and has a PhD in biology from the University of Oregon.   Retiring from a career in science and industry before the turn of the century he brings the insight of long experience into the yet to be critically acclaimed semi-historical saga, A Tale of Two Times, a tale to stir mind and heart about Earth’s Province and the surrounding unseen supernatural world, the gates of which are held by the Keen Makers of the Clan of Thiuderieks.  A Tale of Two Times is being released in nine tantalizing volumes.  He also has written two books of mind-stretching Thought Verse which speaks in the Venn intersection of supernatural religion, philosophy and science.   Old Wine and New New Wine was published in 2022 and The Spiritual Thing will be released by April of this year. The author's portrait is by Mari and the cover is by Mariel, both talented young women of his clan.

Book preview

Chapter 1 ~ Coronation

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~1~  Mom?  Dad?  It’s me!  Ricardo opened the front door to his parents’ home in San Antonio, and light poured from the doorway to join the light shining from the house’s windows.

We’re in the kitchen, Ricardo.  It was his mother’s voice.  We’re working on a stew, and we’re stewing over some work.  Come in here and tell us about your day at Home Ranch.  We’re so happy that you've come here instead of going straight back to your apartment.

From their parked car, Martin and Victoria watched Ricardo  enter the house along with their daughter Rhoda.  Victoria, who had been leaning across Martin to see them better, squeezed her husband’s hand as the house door closed behind them.  Dropping her head onto his shoulder, she closed her eyes.

In the house, Rhoda slipped past Ricardo and entered the kitchen before him.

Ricardo’s father, Ricardo Miguel, was eagerly watching the kitchen doorway for him, from the stool on which he was perched at the far side of the kitchen worktable.  Rhoda stepped into the kitchen, smiling gloriously, and he was struck speechless.  Ricardo arrived at once behind her, with his forefinger to his lips, so the former New Jersey trash collector remained mutely staring.

What were you saying, dear?  Xochitl, Ricardo’s mother, was standing at the nearer side of the table with her back to the two young people, cutting beef into cubes for a stew while Ricardo’s father, having diced all of the vegetables, was waiting to brown the meat.  Wearing their kitchen aprons, the couple had been enjoying the late evening coolness and each other’s company while preparing a stew for their next two days’ dinners.

Rhoda stepped up silently behind Xochitl and gently touched her shoulder.  Expecting to see Ricardo, Xochitl turned—and the knife dropped from her hand.  Rhoda’s enigmatic perfume seemed to flow from the warmth of her smile as she placed her hands on either side of Xochitl’s head, and Xochitl saw that Rhoda was nearly as tall as Ricardo!  Rhoda kissed the astonished woman’s cheeks.

Ricardo’s mother had never before felt the strange delight of Rhoda’s intimate touch; it opened to her a vision of a whole new country:  From majestic mountains, sparkling sweet torrents tumbled joyously into clear, sunlit rivers which flowed through lush green valleys strewn with lakes, and continued beyond them into cultivated plains.  Xochitl shook her head.  She moved to clean her bloody hands, but Rhoda grasped them.

In Spanish Rhoda asked, Xochitl Antonia Hernandez y Chavez, will you have me as your daughter?

Yes, if you will let me clean my hands so I can greet you properly, Rhoda Maria Ortega y Knox.

Together they washed their hands at the kitchen sink and dried them at either end of the same towel.  Then they folded each other into a warm and natural embrace, and together they wiped away their tears.

After Rhoda had greeted Ricardo’s father in the same way, he responded with a huge, wordless bear hug, to which she submitted meekly.

Mom and Dad, Rhoda and I were betrothed before the whole Clan this evening.

Several seconds of silence followed Ricardo’s announcement.  Then Xochitl asked, Rhoda, was your unusual greeting a part of your Clan betrothal ceremony?

Ricardo answered for Rhoda, standing with one arm around her and one of hers around him.  Yes, Mom, it was part of a...uh, special betrothal ceremony.

Ricardo, why did you hesitate when you said that?

Because, said Rhoda, the same ceremony made us co-Heads of the Clan.  Rhoda shrugged, as though accepting it as one of those things which happen now and then.

"Yes, Mom; Rhoda and I share the Headship with one mind.

Xochitl looked closely and seriously at each of them.  Ricardo, she said, the work that your father and I were stewing over is yours.  He and I put together what he knows about the instruments you took when you left so suddenly, with what I had heard from Wilson's mother, so we were speculating that Knox Aviation must have discovered some ...’rogue nuclear devices’.  She had cast a sharp look into Rhoda's expressive face as she was saying, Knox Aviation, knowing with certain intuition that her new daughter had let Wilson’s mother unknowingly act as a channel of communication to her and to the Guild, so that they would know the things which Rhoda wanted them to know.

Under Rhoda’s trusting gaze, Ricardo said, Rhoda discovered five Soviet atomic bombs stashed in a mountainside near New City.  They’d been stolen from their Soviet keepers by arms merchants, and we retrieved them yesterday.  We’ve turned them over to the US military, and we’re working with the military now to restore the bombs to their proper owners.

Xochitl slit her eyes at him.  All in a day’s work?

Proper owners? asked Ricardo Miguel.  You’re going to give them back to the Russians?

Essentially, Dad, but that's a long story involving both serious Clan affairs and Soviet politics.  What we’re saying is that now the Ban of Swords is lifted and Rhoda and I share the War Thing as well as the Headship.

Ricardo, said his mother, you said, ‘with one mind’.  Does that mean with one heart, too?

With one mind, Mother, but in two hearts; otherwise, how can we love one another? (Rhoda was testing Mother in addressing Xochitl; it was what she sometimes called Martha.)  Rhoda pressed closer to Ricardo, giving him a look of wholehearted admiration.

Xochitl’s heart was moved.  She said, Please, Rhoda Maria Ortega y Knox, just call me ‘Mom’.

Miss Knox, are you the Goth War Queen?  After receiving a glance from his wife, Ricardo Miguel added, Rhoda, my new daughter.  Kneeling, he took Rhoda’s free hand and kissed it.  He rose and said, Had I known that you’re royalty, I wouldn’t have given you a bear hug.

Oh, Dad, here’s a bear hug from me!  Rhoda lifted Ricardo’s father right off the floor, astonishing him with her strength.

Ricardo laughed, I’ve already learned to be careful about how I treat Rhoda.

Well, I think none of my ribs are broken, Son.

Rhoda grinned.  Oh, Dad, I have a delicate touch; all of your bones are safe with me.  Taking Ricardo’s arm, she added, Ricardo’s, too.  Maybe.  She kissed Ricardo heartily, causing him to blush and his parents to laugh.

You’ll be the War Queen when you wed—and you sure do have the strength of arms for it!  Ricardo Miguel gingerly touched his fingers to his ribs, grinning at Rhoda.

Rhoda replied to him lightly, but also with real seriousness, If we were royalty, we would be the Prince and Princess of the War Thing.  I’ll never be a War Queen, because we’re co-Heads of the War Thing.  And we live in a kind of bittersweet tension, because our betrothal has to extend until a time after the Ban of Swords is reinstated.

Ricardo explained, with the same sort of resignation to their condition, We’re the protectors of each other's chastity until the Ban of Swords is reinstated, because being in a condition of betrothal is necessary for sealing our Headship under Atawulf’s Counsel.

Xochitl thought she detected a trace of cunning in Rhoda’s soft and love-filled laugh when she added, And the Headship was necessary so we could become betrothed.

Xochitl decided to ask neither the meaning of Atawulf’s Counsel nor the reason for the Ban of Swords being lifted.  She knew that her son’s train had left the station for an unimaginable destination.

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~ 2 ~  Standing on the tarmac of the Aeronauticas airfield not far from Home Ranch, Rhoda and Ricardo watched the Bush Hopper fading into the night sky.  Martin and Victoria had flown them from the Aeronauticas field to San Antonio, where Rhoda and Ricardo had completed the Head Thing by obtaining Ricardo’s parents’ blessing.  After returning them to the Aeronauticas field, Martin was now flying Victoria back to Home Ranch, and he would soon return for Ricardo, with whom he would fly to California.  Rhoda would fly herself to the East Coast in her Greased Lightning.

The Clan’s War Thing was now Rhoda’s and Ricardo’s, and events were in motion according to their plans, which were currently mostly Rhoda’s.

The hangar behind them was the one from which Rhoda’s Workshop opened.  Ricardo’s Workshop opened from a hangar on the other side of the airfield.  Rhoda said, Ricardo, before Daddy returns we need to take a Keen Makers' moment and open Hamner's Casket.  It’s been waiting for us ever since you put it in my Inner Sanctum at the request of Fr. Sigurd.

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Fr. Sigurd had been told by Ottilie to see that Hamner's Casket was placed in the Inner Sanctum of her successor.  He had protested, But who is she?  Ottilie, how can you know when the next War Thing will be called?  It may be long after I die.  The truth was that Sigurd’s greater anxiety concerned secretly keeping that most valuable of all Goth relics in his own possession.

Ottilie had replied, You will live long enough, and you will know when the time comes, my good Mentor.

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You haven’t opened it in all of these years?

Honey, it can be opened only by the Keen Maker of the War Thing.  That’s you and me together!

You know, Rhoda, what you’ve told me tonight makes me think that Ottilie Krüger’s the one who sent the Casket to you, by way of Fr. Sigurd.  He asked me to put it in your Inner Sanctum, but he didn’t tell me why.

"You’re right.  Fr. Sigurd was obeying the War Queen, and he didn’t really know why she was asking him to do it.  The Casket always comes, by some means, to the Keen Maker of the War Thing.  Pyron gave it to his apprentice Winfred Wahl because he foresaw that Winfred would be the Head of the next War Thing.  Then Winfred gave it to Ottilie after he had made her War Queen.

Ricardo, when I discovered later that it was the Casket of Hamner that you’d left for me, I realized that what you’d said to my father about my vocation being in the place of Valkei and Ottilie was very likely inspired by the gods who keep the Casket.

Oh.  That bit about vocations did seem to just come off the top of my head.  I didn’t know what the Casket was about, then.

Well, honey, I didn’t like it when you said that to me on my Release Day, but since then I’ve thought it over, and I’ve taken it to mean that you, too, were meant for the War Thing—at my side.

So, did that insight help you decide to make use of Atawulf’s Counsel tonight?

Yes, Ricardo, it sure did.

Rhoda, when you said in front of everyone that I am your vocation, I knew that you were referring to what I’d said back then, so then I said that you’re my vocation, too.  I didn’t need Ambrose to tell me how brilliant you are.

Thank you, dear; I’m not above being flattered.  But now we need to open the casket so we can start off our War Thing on the right foot.  Trust me to know what to do next.

Rhoda, I trust you more than I trust myself.  But I’ve got a lot of questions, and the biggest one is:  What did you really want my Lintel for on that day when Wilson called me.  I’m sure it didn’t help us handle the atomic bombs.  ...Was that only two days ago?

It’s been a very long two days, honey.  I needed your Lintel for today.  I wanted us to be One House as Keen Makers, so we could work more closely together, and I needed your Lintel to make that happen.

But, Rhoda, we need to be married for that to happen.  If I’d even thought of that...

Well, I wasn’t sure that you’d take it from your Workshop here in Texas, to mine in California, when Wilson passed my request to you.

Sweetheart, it seemed to me then that, if you really had some atomic bombs to deal with, the Lintel was a small matter.  You’re right, though:  If I’d had time to think it over, I might not have surrendered it to you.

I’m awfully pleased that you did.  Aren’t you curious about how it returned from my Workshop in Ontario to your Workshop here in Texas, as if by magic?

Of course I am.

Well, dear, I carried your Lintel though the Great Maze, which traverses the Commons now.  I presumed on your love for me to persuade the Arch Power of the House of Men to let me pass through the House’s courtyard to your Inner Sanctum, and that was the hardest part!

Ricardo shook his head, full of admiration for his own dear Rhoda.

Rhoda took his arm.  You lead, she said.  I’ll follow you into our One House.

Ricardo kissed her forehead, and one of her hair ribbons tickled his nose.  Sweetheart, do you make your own perfume?  Its scent communicates your Self Sign to me.

Yes.  I make everything that lies on my body.  You’ll be the one exception—if we survive our War Thing.  Honey, I’ve been in the Commons earlier today.  I’d fabricated a Pathway for Manuel to use to get to my Inner Sanctum, and this afternoon I brought him and my mother to the Commons, planning to show them my Workshop and begin Manuel’s transformation, building into his full stature in the Commons.  I didn’t know that my Denizen ‘sisters’ from the House of Women had altered the passage I’d worked on so hard.  They made it open outside my Workshop instead of into my Inner Sanctum.  Before I knew it, I’d pushed Manuel, in his wheelchair, ahead of us to just outside my Workshop, where he had to wait several days for us.  My ‘sisters’ took care of him, and Manuel said they told him they’d altered my passage in order to be able to pick my brain.  They contrived for it to take three days of Manuel’s time for my mother and me to take just a few steps through the last part of the Great Maze.  And while he was waiting for us, my ‘sisters’ read orthogonally all of the Strands that they could, in my Living Memory.

Ricardo was awed by Rhoda’s domestic familiarly with the most dangerous place in the Cosmos, and with some of its Denizens.  Sweetheart, I haven’t ventured any farther into the Commons than I can get with a length of Commons Cord attached to my Back Gate!

Rhoda kissed him tenderly, his dearness causing tears to spring to her eyes.  With me as your guide, honey, you’ll soon learn your way around.  Here’s my Front Gate, and your hand is my key.  Let’s find out what’s going on inside.

Ricardo opened the Gate to her Workshop, and they passed into the spacious Antechamber with its several Workspaces.  Taking her hand, Ricardo led Rhoda along the Wending Way toward her Inner Sanctum.  In one of the Antechamber‘s Workspaces, a Device in the form of an aircraft was taking shape, and Ricardo, looking at it in its current state, thought that it might resemble a World War II fighter when it was completed.  They walked past it silently, and he led Rhoda by the hand under her own Lintel into the Inner Sanctum of her Workshop; his intention, by this act, was to proclaim to the Powers of the Keen Makers that it was the Workshop of their One House, and to confirm the joint ownership on which Rhoda had presumed in her petition to the Arch Power of the House of Men, on her way to restoring Ricardo’s Lintel.

Rhoda and Ricardo stood together hand-in-hand in the Inner Sanctum.  Oddly, they were able to see only each other and a little of the floor under their feet.  Smiling quizzically at Rhoda, Ricardo asked, Is this our Workshop of One House?  I was expecting to enter your Inner Sanctum, Rhoda.  Or...  Can you see it, even though I can’t?

No, Ricardo; it’s empty for me, too—except for you.  Let’s wait.  They watched and listened, sensing the movement of the Airs.

"Rhoda, look!  Here’s the Casket of Hamner now, right next to me, on the table where I put it on your Release Day.

I see it too, Ricardo, and I see your Threshold behind you.

Now I see yours behind you.  Is this our joint Antechamber?

It must be.

Should I pick up the Casket for you?

Oh, yes!

Rhoda had never once touched the Casket of Hamner, hoping against hope for this moment.  Now Ricardo was solemnly presenting the Casket to her.  She received it joyfully in her hands.  Then its weight in her hands rapidly left it; she felt only its unyielding surfaces.  She said, Casket of Hamner, bring forth that which is most needful in the War Thing for Ricardo, my Betrothed, and the Casket opened in four square petals, as it had opened decades earlier for Ottilie.

Rhoda looked up from it into her beloved’s eyes.  Ricardo, please take from it, whatever the Casket offers you.

Carefully, Ricardo lifted out a gold and silver circlet which was adorned by a single radiant diamond.  Together they stared at it, knowing that this was the Device called the Crown of Valkei.  Rhoda closed her eyes for a moment, breathing a deep sigh.

While Ricardo had been removing the crown , Rhoda had released the casket, which remained hovering in the space between them as Ricardo solemnly said, I must crown you, my love!  This Crown of Valkei is for you.

Rhoda crossed herself and knelt.  Ricardo set the crown slowly and gently upon her head.  Then he grasped her shoulders and raised her up, looking intently into Rhoda’s eyes—and suddenly their eyes sparkled, a wave of mirth passing between them, before Ricardo took Rhoda’s head tenderly between his hands, kissing one cheek, and then the other.

Playfully, Rhoda broke Ricardo’s hold on her head, saying,  Let’s see what the casket has for me to do, my love.  She reached into the hovering Casket of Hamner and withdrew another circlet—a plain, thin band of carved wood which broadened at a simple, cunning twist adorning its front.  Ricardo’s eyes widened, and he, too, sighed.  Crossing himself he dropped to his knees, and Rhoda solemnly crowned her betrothed.

Rhoda’s sigh had been drawn from her by recognition of the Crown of Valkei, which was believed to have been worn originally, in the deep past, by Ingundis the Fair.

Ricardo’s involuntary, Ohh... had been elicited by his immediate recollection of an obscure reference, the only mention of a crown having been worn in the first days of the Clan:  His head was crowned by a single edge.  The head to which the fragment referred was believed to be that of either Thiuderieks or Thorismund, and the crown’s single edge indicated its bearer’s keen wit.  The wooden band which Rhoda had removed from the Casket twisted to form a Möbius strip—which has only one edge—proclaiming itself to Ricardo to be that ancient Goth crown.

After settling the crown upon Ricardo’s head, Rhoda said, Rise up my good man, and mirth bubbled again between them.  They were, for a moment, little children feeling thoroughly pleased with their make-believe, holding each other’s hands and leaning back to admire each other while swaying together from side to side.

Then, rapidly, things began to grow visible around them in this place which they had mistaken at first for the Inner Sanctum of the Workshop of their One House.  They had thought next that it was a joint Antechamber, but now they saw that it was, in fact, the interior of a rustic family home, oval in shape, with high rafters converging above them.  Scattered about the packed-earth floor was hand-wrought wooden furniture, and wooden cabinets stood open against the rough plank walls, waiting to be filled.  The place appeared to have been used little or not at all, having been abandoned on a bright morning in which it still lingered.  It was covered by neither the grime of ages nor even a little dust, so they knew that soon after the place had been built in Earth’s Province, it had been withdrawn into the Commons.  In the center of its floor was a large open fire pit ringed with well-dressed and well-set stone, and within which was a large oven.  Firewood was neatly stacked nearby.  At the convergence of rafters above them was a smoke hole, above which a rain cover showed yet no stain of smoke.  The fresh, hand-hewn planks of the walls were set diagonally between the large posts supporting the rafters.  The shutters of the many glass windows were open.

This ancient family living space would serve also as a Thing House.  From the windows they saw that the house was built near the summit of a high, broad hill, and from the open entrance door they saw a garden and an orchard.

Look, Rhoda; there are the Thresholds of our Workshops, at either end of this room.  Is this an ancient Head Family Thing House?

It was meant to be a family dwelling, Ricardo.  ...But not ours.  We can’t conceive children in the Commons; they wouldn’t be complete.  Rhoda’s voice suddenly dropped to a near-whisper:  Ricardo, don’t let go of my hand!  The Provinces of many gods are beginning to weave into this House’s Plenum; we could become separated!  A fearful apprehension had begun to encroach upon her initial wonder.

You’re right! Ricardo’s voice was even more hushed than Rhoda’s.  This is a dangerous place, Rhoda.  We need to return to your Inner Sanctum, now.  The Plenums of those Provinces are beginning to stir and mix in here, and this Thing House may become scattered throughout the Commons!

Rhoda nodded, gripping his hand tightly.  She saw that they were nearer to her Threshold than to his, and she was just able to discern a way to it through the increasingly turbulent, expanding nexus of Plenums.

Had they stirred them up, like fine dust in a room which has not been disturbed for centuries?  Rhoda knew that Provinces at their Plenums’ limits are sensitive to disturbance and can become active on their own.  Now, with sudden and increasing violence, many Plenums bearing their gods’ naked Self Signs were undulating against one another, twisting and intersecting, eating away at the Plenum of the Thing House.  Ricardo whispered, Rhoda, cast a Net to your Threshold as a Pathway; I’ll cast a Net behind us to my Threshold as a Shield!

Ricardo's Shield acted as a sail, the rising turbulence striking it like a wild windstorm, and Rhoda’s Pathway fell downward like a turbulent mountain cataract toward her Threshold, ahead of the following windstorm.  Their hand grip was Keen Maker-strong, squeezing out all Provinces but the War Thing’s, which enveloped them completely as they were hurled head-over-heels into Rhoda’s Inner Sanctum.

Rhoda and Ricardo lay on the Inner Sanctum’s floor, feeling the storm of Provinces’ Plenums raging outside the entrance, unable to pass through.  They picked themselves up, their hands still tightly gripped.

Rhoda, you have a very strong grip for a woman!

Basking in the glow of Ricardo’s approving smile, Rhoda replied, The better to hold you with, my dear.  She wrapped her other arm around him and hugged him long and fiercely.  That was close, my Prince of the War Thing.  We do have a thing or two to learn.  I do hope no one was watching!

Yes, my Princess, we both mistook the Province of that ancient Thing House for our new Antechamber, and stepped right into it together—with one mind, right or wrong!

Ricardo, we were in the Thing House of Thiuderieks!

Yes, I agree, but how did we get the power to step so far into the past?

Our crowns?  They’re still on our heads!  Ricardo, let me examine yours; it looks different.  Why didn’t they come off in all of that tumbling?

And yours looks different, too, but you look lovely in yours; I’m sure mine does less for my appearance.  Ricardo removed the wooden circlet and gave it to Rhoda to examine, and she handed her crown to him.  Silently, they examined each other’s crowns.  This crown is an Archetype, Rhoda.  I’m sure the one I removed from the Casket for you was a Descendant.

That’s true of your wooden circlet, too.  I think that explains the sudden violence of the Plenums:  The Archetypes were placed on our heads, and they consumed the Descendants.

And us, too—nearly.  Rhoda, who placed them on us?  I can’t remember those moments very well, before the turbulence hit us.

You really can remember them, honey.  Because we were seeing with our Makers’ vision, we were seeing all of those gods’ Provinces at one time, and it’s only because we weren’t paying attention to them, that they’re a confusion in our memories.

I see that you’re right about that, sweetheart, but how can I make sense out of my confused memory?

You can resolve all of those visions into one single vision.

Okay.  How do I do that?

It’s easy.  We’ll share our Living Memories of seeing each other clearly within that confused context.  Then I can resolve your memory of the confused context in which you saw me being crowned, and my memory of the confused context in which I saw you being crowned, into a single clear picture of our crownings.  In that resolved picture, the identities of those who crowned us will be clear.

You are clever, Rhoda dear.

I know.  Now I’ll intone a Goth Chant which will allow me to perform that resolution of our two confused memories of the crownings.

Okay.  Are we going to exchange our Living Memories while you’re chanting?

Yes.

Each holding the other’s head between his or her hands, they looked into the other’s eyes, into the space of the Chant.  There, they saw themselves being crowned.

Rhoda, I’m seeing your Vision as well as my own!  Who are those people?

Oh!  Ricardo, the beautiful Black woman who’s crowning me is Denizen Aretta.  She’s Ottilie’s intimate counselor.

Is the man who’s crowning me also someone from Ottilie’s War Thing?

No, honey.  It’s someone from the most recent War Thing which was headed by a man.

That would be Frederick Knox’s War Thing.

Right, and you were crowned by Frederick himself.  I’ve studied his journals well, so I recognize him.

Ricardo shook his head.  I’m learning a lot.

You’ll catch up, honey.

Ricardo began to look around him.  Rhoda, this is your same old Workshop!  It hasn’t been received by the Powers of the Men’s House as the Workshop of our One House.

You’re right, Ricardo.  I hadn’t even noticed.  And we both thought my Workshop was our new, empty Inner Sanctum—a new beginning for us—and then we both thought it was our joint Antechamber.  We were mistaken together.  Well, if we survive our War Thing to have children, they won’t be able to play one of us against the other.  We do seem to have one mind.

They might easily fool both of us though!  Ricardo took Rhoda’s hand and kissed it.  My Princess, we’ve survived our first mistake together.

Do you think, Ricardo, that our violent coronation in the Thing House of Thiuderieks has identified us to the Powers of the Commons, and given us a place among them?

I see what you’re thinking, Rhoda:  We can’t really be One House until we’re married, but we have been received in the Commons as co-Heads of the War Thing, so we’re ‘One House’ as co-heads, but not by our betrothal.

"Yes, my love, and so we still have Makers’ secrets and our bodies’ secrets to keep from each other in our War Thing.

Ricardo wondered what Rhoda meant by Makers’ secrets.

My father will be returning for you soon, she said.

They removed their crowns and set them in the Casket of Hamner; the Casket closed and settled back onto its table.  Then, taking Ricardo’s arm, Rhoda led him over her Threshold and into the Antechamber.  Honey, there isn’t time for me to show you around my other chambers here, with their wonderful views of the Commons.  We have too many pots threatening to boil over.

Unseen, they passed the aircraft Device which Rhoda’s crew were fabricating in offset time, and Ricardo saw now that it had the form of a Messerschmidt 109.  His perception of the Device’s Niche and its implicit Design had vastly improved since his earlier sight of it.  Yet, as they were not truly One House, he was constrained by Maker etiquette from asking Rhoda questions about it.  Then Rhoda smiled enigmatically at him, conveying to Ricardo the meaning of her recent words about Makers’ secrets:  Things which they both knew and had agreed upon might be discovered by the Foe and used to his advantage against them, whereas things which each contrived secretly from the other, but trustingly as lovers—without agreeing to this in so many words—might confound the Foe, to their advantage.

His insight showing to Rhoda in his eyes, Ricardo said, I’m your apprentice in this business.  When they came to the Front Gate of the Antechamber at the Aeronauticas field, Ricardo impulsively swept Rhoda off her feet and carried her in his arms; she threw an arm around his neck and kissed him.  I’ll open the Front Gate with my free hand, she whispered into his ear.  As Ricardo carried her onto the airfield in Earth’s Province, Rhoda’s bodily weight suddenly vanished; he gripped her tightly, fearing that she would float away.  Sighing with pleasure, she closed her eyes and relaxed completely in his arms, and her weight returned.  Ricardo set her on her feet, and her eyes shone in the lights of the descending Bush Hopper.

Martin stepped down from the Bush Hopper and walked toward them, carrying the travel bag packed for Rhoda by Victoria.  Seeing Rhoda and Ricardo waiting for him with their arms wrapped around each other, he remarked, You two look like you’ve had an eventful time while I was taking Victoria home.

Oh yes, Daddy!  Ricardo can tell you the details.

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Martin, my son, be so kind as to introduce me to the new member of the War Thing.

The voice was in their heads.  All three of them heard it.  Rhoda and Martin knew whose voice it was, but Ricardo blinked in surprise, looking quickly at Martin and Rhoda.

Smiling, Rhoda looked up, raising her arms, and then she curtsied to the invisible one.  To Martin she said, Please, Daddy, introduce Ricardo.

Heart Shield, please meet Ricardo.

Martin and Rhoda heard Ricardo’s voice in their heads:  Heart Shield, I am honored.

Martin’s voice said, Heart Shield, I think you must know my daughter already.

Yes, I have known her from the moment in which she following  Atawulf’s counsel today, in your office.

Rhoda greeted the god in English rather than in Old Goth:  Glad ta meet ya agin, pardner.  Ma sisters send thur greetins, too.

Martin and Ricardo flinched.

Rhoda chuckled.  With gods, it’s best to be down-to-earth, she said.  Then she addressed the god formally in Old Goth:  Heart Shield, we accept with great pleasure your counsel in our War Thing.

It would not be a War Thing without my membership, daughter.

Heart Shield, you cannot but know what it is that we have next in mind to do.  I believe that we are within the ethical norm established by you and Thiuderieks.

Yes, I do know your plans, Daughter, and it is my judgement that they are within the ethical norm.  Your authority as co-Heads has been acknowledged by the other gods, and, my good persons, we are all well met, for all of my Thane-gods are party to our current conversation and to the adventure of the co-Heads tonight.  May the grace of God carry our War Thing through its trials.  Farewell, for your present moment.

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After long hugs with the two men in her life, Rhoda flicked away a few tears and picked up her travel bag.  Wilson, coming to them from the Knox Aviation hangar, exchanged with Ricardo a glance of friends who understand each other.  He said to Rhoda, Miss Knox, your Greased Lightning is reconfigured and it’s waiting for you.  Rhoda followed Wilson to the hangar.

The Greased Lightning disappeared from sight.  Ricardo said, Your daughter is an independent woman, Martin.  I hope I’m not in over my head.

Ricardo, we’ve got to make do with who we are.  Martin was thinking of Ottilie.  Clapping Ricardo’s shoulder he added, You’ll catch up, Son.

The warm feeling of Martin’s hand on his shoulder reminded Ricardo of the profoundly moving presence of the Heart Shield.  Can a human being be personally present to a more august and high-ranking god?  The Heart Shield had said very little to them, but Ricardo felt that he and Rhoda had revealed much to the god.  He knew that the Heart Shield’s role in the War thing was to advise them regarding that which was due to the gods.  Offering no advice to them about what they should do or how they should do it, he would tell them only whether or not their plans rendered their due to Sunderer, his Thanes and the humans of his Circle.

Ricardo sensed, however, that there was more than this disinterested service of justice implicit in the Heart Shield’s presence in the War Thing.  Rhoda’s use of the words, ethical norm established by you and Thiuderieks implied to Ricardo that the Heart Shield had a personal interest in this affair.  The Heart Shield’s godly role, as Ricardo had learned in his early Goth studies, was to determine the equity of all transactions among creatures.  But how are the personal transactions of the Heart Shield judged?

As Ricardo was turning his mind away from these thoughts, Martin roused from his own reverie, in which he had been comparing his daughter Rhoda to Ottilie.  He realized that he had naturally called Ricardo, Son.  It was Ricardo who had spared Martin the personal agony of losing his daughter in the way in which he had already lost his first love, into the very small sisterhood of tragic War Queens.

Dad, what’s the plan, after we get to California?

Martin opened the door of the Dart.