Chapter 2

Better to take my time getting to the consulate, I decide.  While I certainly want to talk to Pudge, there may not be much I can say … or do.  

For the uninitiated, Briori marriage and family ties can be tricky.  They’re a bit like Klingons in that everyone belongs to a house. But status - be it social standing or career standing - rules over all.  If you’re of lower status, marrying well, or having your children marry well, can be a ticket to the upper classes. Love has little to do with the process.

Sometimes it works out well.  Kendi and Sanda are one of the few love matches.  More often, Pudge’s first marriage is the status quo.  He married Reseli, the daughter of a high-ranking officer, to enhance his military career.  But he fathered Kendi and his brother, Joshi, with a married woman during the course of a decade-long affair.  The woman’s husband didn’t seem to mind; Kendi speaks fondly of his “second father.”

As for Pudge and Reseli … well, we know how that turned out.

***

Kendi’s sitting in Pudge’s office when I arrive.  Bringing him from Briori was a smart move on Pudge’s part; he very capably handles the consulate’s business affairs.

“Evening, Broh,” he says, using the Briori term for “brother.” “Looking for Pai?”

“’Fraid so,” I say. “Mom’s upset, and I’d like to know what’s going on.”

He just nods.  “I know … it was quite a show this afternoon. We could hear Pai and Maman on the other side of the house.”  He shrugs. “Pai’s up in his apartment.  I can’t vouch for him being coherent, though; he went up there with a bottle of Terran whiskey.”

He kindly accompanies me to Pudge’s apartment, where we find him sitting in a recliner; bottle in hand.

He looks up at me. “If you’re here to shoot me, use the phaser in the desk drawer. It’ll be quicker.”

“I thought I’d at least hear you out first,” I reply as I sit in the chair across from him. “Though I can’t promise that Kathryn won’t show up to do the job.”

“I’m surprised Maman didn’t beat you both to it,” Kendi says, handing me a glass of the brandy he scrounged from Pudge’s liquor cabinet. “She must not know where the gun is.”

“So what the hell is going on?” I ask Pudge.

“Second minister dropped dead about six months ago. Too bad, but it happens.  Borglund sent a message yesterday that it was high time I remarried … to present the right image of Briori, you know … and suggested strongly that I should take on Maga, the minister’s widow.”

“You know this woman?”

“We’ve hated each other for 30 years.”

“I believe that started when Pai threw her in a fish pond,” Kendi interjects.

“She deserved it,” Pudge retorts. “She made nasty remarks about your mother, may she rest with the gods.”

Kendi just smiles. “What you haven’t mentioned is that Maga has been Borglund’s mistress for what, 15 years?”

“Oh, let me guess,” I say. “Now that Second Minister is dead, this Maga wants to be Mrs. First Minister?”

“You’re good,” Pudge says. “I should resign and let you be counsel.”

“No, thanks,” I reply.  “I believe there still is a Mrs. Borglund?”

“Oh yes; she’s the daughter of a former first minister, so Borglund isn’t about to divorce her. He’d take a drop in status,” Kendi laughs.  “So he’s trying to unload Maga on Pai.”

“Normally, I’d tell him what he could do with Maga, though he’s probably already done it.  But Borglund basically threatened my position if I didn’t play along.”  He sighed.  “I gave half a thought to marrying Maga and leaving her on Briori to bedevil him, but Gretchen told me what I could do with that idea.”

“I bet she did,” I chuckle.  “Too bad you can’t get Mom to marry you.”

Pudge looks over the top of the bottle at me.  “I’ve tried,” he growls. “She keeps turning me down.”

“She doesn’t want to usurp Sanda,” I say as Kendi busies himself with the brandy bottle.

“She doesn’t have to,” Pudge growls again. “Sanda does a good job.”

“She’s also afraid you’ll want to go back to Briori.”

“Why the hell should I go back? I like it here. Kendi likes it here … at least that’s what he tells me. I’d like Joshi to settle here when he leaves the service.”

“What I think she’s really upset about,” I say as a take a sip of brandy, “is that you’d lose your status if you married her.  I mean, do offworlders have any status on Briori?”

“Bah … doesn’t matter. She’d take on the status of my house.”

“But would that be enough for Borglund?” Kendi mused.

Pudge stopped mid-drink.  “What are you talking about?” he finally sputtered.

“Diplomats marry in the same circles as the military and government officials,” Kendi said patiently. “They all have roughly the same status. Which is also why you were able to get this job after Reseli’s little stunt.  So if Borglund wanted to be an ass … or is desperate enough … he could declare that marrying Maman would lower your status so much that you would have to be recalled.”

“Well, that settles it,” Pudge says, putting the bottle down. “I’m … as you say it … screwed. Maybe I should just get that phaser.”

“Don’t do anything rash, Pai,” Kendi says, patting his father’s shoulder. “Let me think on this a bit …”

 

 

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