Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [5]
Tapestries covered every wall. Woven images of tall graceful trees, red flowers like the outer door. Grass as bright yellow as the hallway flowed through the wall hangings. A vine exploded around the edges of the scene, heavy with thick purplish green leaves and oblong orange fruit. Every color looked fresh, as if when touched it would still be wet. it wasn’t just lifelike, it was brighter, bigger, richer; more than the real thing. Or so Troi thought.
She couldn’t imagine nature giving such colors in one place at one time. One thing about naturally occurring plants, they always seemed to match. The colors melting together, completing each other. Mother Nature did not clash.
Picard pulled off his mask, and the rest of the Federation party followed Suit. Troi was relieved to feel the air on her face again. The straps cut into the sides of her face.
‘You honor us with bare faces. I can only return the honor.”
Talanne pushed back the hood of her robe. Closed cropped brown hair curled around her face protection. She lifted the mask off in one smooth, practiced motion. Her skin was a slightly darker shade of gold than Basha’s had been, a deep amber, but her face was nearly identical in bone structure.
There was none of the smaller jaw, or narrower face that differentiated human males and females. “It has been a long time since I have been in a room full of this many bare faces.”
‘Is it your custom to cover the face even indoors, where the air is breathable?” Picard asked.
‘Yes, Captain. In times of war you must expect the unexpected, like a bomb blowing out the wall and exposing you to poison.”
Worf stared round the room. “Is this common?”
‘It hasn’t happened in over fifty years, but too many children were injured. It is one of our few rules.”
‘Then we can safely go without the masks indoors,” Picard said, with only the hint of a question to his words.
‘Yes, Captain. Our people will stare, and think it strange, but with their faces covered you will not be able to see them stare, and they are all too well trained to question your customs.”
Picard wasn’t sure how to take that. “If we are breaking a sacred custom, we can wear the masks.”
‘No, Captain, please, let it remind my people of what we have given up. Enough of this,” Talanne said, “I noticed you admiring our wall hangings.”
‘Yes,” Picard said. “They are extraordinary.”
‘It is an art form at which we excel. One of the few nondestructive things we do well on this planet.” The bitterness in her voice was thick enough to cut. To Troi, the emotion was like a twisted thing, almost painful.
‘The wall hangings are what we have instead of windows. None of us wish to be reminded of what we have done to our world. Looking out Upon this desolation, this death.” Talanne shook her head. “Allow me to offer you some refreshment.
She moved to a small table that held a crystal decanter and five glasses. The liquid inside was a deep purple. “I will send for more glasses. My husband was unsure how many of you there would be.”
They had to practically huddle around the table to have room to lift their glasses. “I mean no disrespect, Colonel Talanne, wife of Basha, but is it really necessary to have so many people in the room?” Picard said.
The three robed guards were instantly alert. Hands tightening on weapons. Worf noticed it, and was reaching for his phaser.
Talanne raised a hand. “At ease. I am sorry, Captain. You have my bodyguards worried. It is customary that if one leader has bodyguards, the other has an equal number. It is only wise.”
Picard nodded. “Ah, because I have three guards you must have three guards.”
‘Exactly.”
‘I too am a guard,” Worf said.
‘But you are a Commander, an officer, are you not?”
‘I am.”
‘We cannot have equal numbers of officers. The crowd would grow too large.” She smiled and raised a glass. “Besides, if you have too many officers in one place, it is too great a temptation.”
‘For assassinations you mean?