The Palace was all atwitter. The subject on whose wings Rumor now sped? Nothing less than the return of certain travelers, the most notorious travelers in all of Mendellia. Tongues that had got a good warming-up when the young Dictator and his pretty assistant were spotted arriving back from their sudden and mysterious trip, now had material aplenty for a full workout when the unmistakable outline of Terra Group's Red Home came cruising in to its secret (in a manner of speaking) docking place on the east of the island. Mendellia had missed its celebrities, especially the ones in Terra Group that no one was supposed to know anything about. How nice to have them back within view again! Oh, had you heard yet the news about the Terrans, what they were up to on that secret mission so many of them had gone on? Grace yes, but what about Lord Atner and that Lady in Waiting? The way I hear it . . . .
Thayer, closeted in his office, sighed as Lenka (restraining herself to only the slightest of blushes) notified him of the rumors she'd heard so far.
"People will talk, my Lord," she said gently. "But they'll soon latch on to some new scandal. I hope you don't take the gossip too seriously."
"Yes, but think what that new scandal's likely to be," he growled. "Now that Terra Group is back. . . ." He locked eyes with her until she closed hers, remembering Paris.
"Who but us saw?" she reminded him. "I've heard some gossip about what Terra Group's mission could have been, but none that even seems to acknowledge it was Paris they were sent to. Certainly nothing about . . ." She trailed off and glanced down, leaving the word "kiss" unsaid like a hair-triggered device set to explode anytime it came too near the anguished Dictator.
"Believe me, it'll be found out," he insisted. "If not specifically . . . what we saw; still, rumors will start now that . . . they are back, in everyone's eyes and minds. For one thing," he paused, then took a deep breath and dared to voice it, "perhaps no one but us saw them kiss in Paris, but what will the world now see them do in Mendellia?"
"Behave with discretion, I should hope!" Lenka flared. "Surely they realize this is not Paris. Surely they know better than to--"
He shook his head to cut her off. "Perhaps, but I'm no longer inclined to trust them for discretion. What discretion I can hope for must come from my own actions." He stood abruptly and headed for the door. "Wish me luck, then."
"What will you do?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," he said, grinning in a way that gave her a strange sense of hope. "But I don't think they will like it!"
He saw them before they saw him, which turned out for the best. There is an interior courtyard in the High Palace not far from the district of it that houses Terra Group; all around this, there runs a broad gallery, several floors high, balconies on some, merely wide arches on others, but all with a splendid view looking out over the shrubberies. Thayer, rushing along one of these galleries in hopes of reaching the Batcave before caution could set in, saw them in the courtyard and paused.
They were sitting side by side on a bench by the garden path, his fiancée and his friend. Thayer thought at first to go on rushing straight down into the courtyard and confront them there, but his pause turned into a full stop when he took note of the other member of their party.
Thrown off stride, he found himself back in his own office, glancing at Lenka through dazed eyes, before he had quite assimilated what he had seen.
"Raymond's sure Cheriss is the mother," Becki reported.
Josh frowned as the infant, in absence of a decent pacifier, fixed its tiny gums on his finger. "Yeah, but we already knew that. Zee identified her."
"Zee is not a lie detector."
"Why would Cheriss give us someone else's baby?"
"I don't know. But it seemed best to verify."
"Overachiever," he teased.
She pretended not to hear. "More to the point, Raymond's sure that he is not the father. He doesn't know who is."
Josh thought for a moment. "How long ago was she born?"
"About a week, I think. Maybe slightly more."
"And how long has Cheriss been on Terra?"
"Um . . ."
"Longer than nine months, would it be?"
"Oh, I see what you're getting at. But I don't recall if we were ever told when she arrived here."
"So she could have been pregnant before she came . . . or not. Doesn't help us much."
Becki shrugged, upsetting the baby in her lap slightly. "Does it matter who the father is?"
"Maybe he could point us to the mother!"
"Maybe we should just find the mother and ask her who he is!" she grinned.
"Sounds like a plan," he laughed.
"Oh," Becki said, "that reminds me. Here, hold her a second. . . ." She passed the baby off to Josh and rummaged in a pocket briefly. "This was bundled with our little Agen souvenir. Something about it seems familiar, but I'm not sure. . . ."
Josh handed the baby back to her and, in exchange, received the half- locket that Becki had found. Immediately he recognized what was familiar about it, and drew in a breath of surprise. "Familiar, indeed. I know where we've seen its like before." He stood up, pocketing the locket, and helped Becki with her armful to stand as well. "We'd better go find Vickie."
"A baby," Thayer repeated in amazement.
"That's one rumor I hadn't heard yet!" Lenka exclaimed.
"No rumor. I saw the child. I--" Thayer winced, recalling the first thought that had crossed his mind, seeing the two he'd once trusted huddled protectively over that tiny bundle. Had their betrayal gone so far?
Lenka's cool-headed presence had the welcome effect of distilling ridiculous thoughts. "Of course it couldn't be hers, I suppose," Thayer tried to convince himself.
"Rather odd if it were!" Lenka agreed.
"Good grace, it was just a week ago she arrived in Mendellia, and there was no baby then."
"Nor any sign of one so soon to arrive," Lenka smiled.
"And yet. . . ." He frowned and buried his face in his hands.
"Thayer," Lenka soothed, hesitantly laying a hand on his shoulder, "you mustn't do this. You know better. There's some other explanation for this baby. We don't know all that happened to Terra Group in Paris."
"No, we don't!" he exclaimed. "Nor what happened before Paris!"
Lenka sighed and sat down across from the Dictator, watching him as his mounting despair matched her mounting concern for him. Only days ago-though it seemed months now-she had advised him that his relationship with his Queen must be built on trust. Now, as one disappointment piled on another, fueling his suspicion and fears, she began to wonder whether he could ever again trust the woman he had chosen for his own.
It all depended on one thing: whether or not Thayer's worst suspicions were true. If so, decency demanded he break off the engagement; but if not-The truth shall set you free, Lenka reminded herself. And as the Dictator steadily wound himself into imprisoning cords of distrust, his assistant began to formulate the plan by which she would pierce the rumors and buy for him the truth.