Queen of Their Colony (Kindred Tales)

And then, finally, Mistress Bodikin clapped her hands loudly and started speaking.

“Many of you are probably wondering why I have called for a Grand Event tonight,” she said, her voice carrying over the suddenly hushed crowd of servants and guards and bodyslaves. “Well, rest assured, that what I have to show you will be a privilege to view—it is something you’ll be telling your children and your children’s children for years to come. Well, if you’re allowed to have children, which most of you are not,” she added. “But no matter—you may speak of it to your fellow servants and that will be good enough.”

The crowd murmured restlessly and Terra saw the maids and servants and bodyslaves and guards shifting from foot to foot. They looked tired to her. Which wasn’t surprising—the lot of them had spent all day catering to the moods and whims of two extremely spoiled women. It was midnight and they were tired and wanted to go to bed, but instead, Mistress Bodikin had ordered them to come here and witness her showing off in some way. No wonder they were restless!

“Servants, bring out my artifacts and my viewer,” Mistress Bodikin ordered.

At once two different sets of servants came out. One set was holding a large heavy viewer in a golden frame and the other set was wheeling a cart with two different artifacts on it.

Terra recognized the first one right away.

The Kat-sat-Suum! she thought. But she already drank from it once! What is she going to do with it now?

The second artifact looked like a delicate crystal ball, so airy and light you could almost believe it would float away any moment. Inside it was a gorgeous pink gemstone carved into the shape of a budding flower with many intricate petals and leaves. The facets of the gem sparkled, spreading rainbows across the surface of the crystal ball that housed it.

“Oh, that’s beautiful,” Terra murmured, forgetting she was supposed to be quiet.

“It is a true Heart-finder,” Rive told her in a low voice. “It looks very different from the fake one Dahlia sought to fool us with.”

“Shh!” Terra warned him, because Dahlia had turned her head towards them for a moment as though she might have heard something.

“These are two of my most treasured possessions,” Mistress Bodikin announced, showing off the cart with the Kat-sat-Suum and the Heart-finder on it. “They both come from different worlds…different universes. And yet they have something in common—I own both of them.”

She laughed loudly and, after a moment, the servants and guards and maids laughed along dutifully.

“Just look at them—one is beautiful and the other conveys youth and beauty,” Mistress Bodikin said at last, when the laughter had faded. “And that is what you’re going to see tonight. For I am going to fill this—the Kat-sat-Suum, a magic relic from a lost universe—with the rare rainwater liquor of the Thumba forest from Triskilon Six!”

As she spoke, a servant handed her the golden chalice and a silver pitcher filled with clear liquid.

“The Kat-sat-Suum imparts youth and beauty to the one who drinks from it and the rainwater liquor is said to revitalize anyone who sips it. Also, it costs more, drop for drop, than pure gold,” Mistress Bodikin boasted to her assembled servants. “Well, is that not a fabulous combination?” she demanded, frowning at them all threateningly.

Once again, the servants and guards applauded dutifully.

“Should she be doing that?” Terra murmured to Rive, taking advantage of the clapping to ask a question.

“Almost certainly not,” he replied. “To begin with, we know she has already drunk of the Kat-sat-Suum once already. Also, the idea of trying to mix two different magical items is a poor one in my estimation.”

Terra had to agree but she couldn’t say so because the weary applause from the servants had at last died away.

“Behold!” Mistress Bodikin announced, pouring the clear rainwater liquor into the golden chalice. “Youth in a cup!”

And she downed most of the liquor in a single gulp and pulled the cup from her lips with a gasp.

“I can feel it!” she exclaimed. “I can feel it working—oh, it’s so much stronger this time! Servants, bring the viewer! Let me gaze upon my own beauty!”

The servants holding the heavy, gold-framed viewer scurried forward at once, getting into position right before the throne.

The place she was standing behind Dahlia’s throne didn’t give Terra a very good view of Mistress Bodikin’s face. But fortunately, all she had to do was look in the mirror at the reflection which showed both Yonnie Mistresses at once.

To Terra, it looked like Mistress Bodikin’s gamble had paid off. Years were visibly dropping away from her face. Her wrinkles all disappeared and her jowls, which had been rather saggy, suddenly became young, firm flesh again. It was impossible to see her hair, since she was wearing her enormous peacock blue wig, but her figure suddenly became slim and willowy and her cheeks took on a youthful flush.