is that – At the station? Don’t tell me it’s here, in this window.
The Kantine furrowed her eyebrows incredulously.
– I am. I can best imagine what my replacement will be doing. – giggled the Omillian servant.
– Swamp-deads… A secretary! Nooooo. I don’t believe it…” Ami was taken aback.
She had a huge and growing desire to sit down on the floor with her bags and try to digest what she had heard. It wouldn’t hurt to take the bags off, anyway. It would be a little easier.
– Exactly, a replacement. – confirmed Lucille, still not understanding the reason for the confusion.
– It’s a dumb case! I mean… It’s… Gee! I have to be a secretary?! – once again, not believing what she had heard, the Kantine clarified.
The blood rushed to her cheeks.
“No surrender, no retreat.”
– Aren’t you… not a secretary? – wondered the truthful one. – It was a matter of exchanging those involved with archives and documents to simplify the process and perhaps bring it to a common standard. You weren’t told what you’d have to do here?
– No, they didn’t. They were afraid I’d refuse, I guess… Or maybe they just forgot about it. I’ll make it come true with my moronic, self-righteous boss. Rotten pokers…” Ami snorted annoyingly. – I’m… an operative. An enforcer. An escort… And this… This is different! I definitely won’t survive sitting down. Or your station won’t.
She paused to catch her breath after her irritated tirade. Then, with a chuckle, she added:
– “I think these walls have seen more than that, though. And our staff secretary won’t give up his seat to anyone. He doesn’t allow anyone to manage his archives, even seals them for his time off. “So as not to make a mess.”
– How I understand him! I have to do the same, because after time off, I sometimes can’t go into my room – there are stacks of plates and additional work for a small cycle all over the floor. Ah… Oh, my. – Lucille was horrified in the mirror. – I’m the one who’s going to have to do the operational work?! That would be… weird. And I don’t really like unnecessary fuss and bustle. I’ve been avoiding temple combat training with Moki for a while now. Of course, we’re not the only ones. It’s usually pretty quiet in Omill. I don’t think all this creepy, traumatising stuff will ever come in handy. Still, I wouldn’t want to be reminded of what it’s like to be on duty and in surgery right now.
Neither of them wanted to be in the other’s shoes.
– Oh, don’t worry. – The Kantine’s decent woman brushed it off. – There are no incidents more serious than tavern brawls or dangerous creatures walking around in the middle of nowhere. I haven’t been doing anything more dangerous than counting caravan sacks, inspecting trampled fields and chasing through the woods after a crazy townswoman who escaped from the temple hospital under medicine lately. Swamp boredom… The last really serious thing happened before I even got to the service…
– Sounds reassuring. – exhaled the secretary. – The crazy townswoman, however, does not inspire confidence.
– She was unarmed and a danger only to herself. She could get lost in the woods or fall off somewhere… The most you’ll have to do now is to be the judge in a dispute between a couple of pissed-off townsfolk – whose vegetables are more productive. – Ami nodded. – It’s a regular Kantine argument. There could be a scuffle.
Lucy nodded cheerfully in response.
– A timeless Kantinian classic! Just like in the old textbooks and stories heard long ago… And nothing has changed. True to tradition. And the secretary will still have to give up his seat. – hummed the Omillian. – Otherwise the whole point of the exchange programme is lost.
– It’s already irretrievably lost if I, without skills and aptitude, am going to be involved in such a job here. – Ami waved her hands. – And with my level of Omillian. I can understand what’s written better than what’s said, but the fact that I’m used to writing on cloth and don’t know how to use your tablets won’t help me do my job better here. Neither will the stress that comes with sitting down…
– I don’t think you’ll have to do much writing on your own. Not unless you keep a journal. – Lucy suggested. – More like compiling and cataloguing what someone else has already written. You should be able to read the spines when you’re looking for them. If we’re having this conversation. Your language skills are pretty good. Especially for a Kantine.
– Thank you. Yeah, it’s incredibly difficult to get non-horticultural books and reference books.
– Oh, by the way. Is that why you were sent here? Not many people in Kantine speak Omillian as far as I can remember…
– Yes, that’s right. That’s why I’m always the first traveller. And the only one who doesn’t know, but is at least interested in other languages. And culture. The rest of us are drowned up to our ears in domestic worries and love for the fatherland. They don’t want to come out, because it’s warm there. And safe.
The secretary chuckled. Apparently she knew the Kantinian anecdote Ami had just referred to.
– I can see that you’re an agile person… And inquisitive. – Lucille noted. – Which is also rare for a Kantine. I know what I’m talking about. I have a Kantine aunt. She rarely goes out of town, and her command of Omill is many times weaker than yours, though she communicates regularly with her Omill sister, my mother, by letter. That’s why I know Cantonese, by the way. How did you learn it from textbooks? Did you live in Omill? Did you visit your family?
– If only. All from books. Then in practice, mostly listening to local speech on my work trips. Once in a while. There’s nothing complicated about Omillian, and especially Prime, in my opinion. It’s insanely difficult to get hold of any textbooks, yes. It’s like some mysterious individuals don’t want us to establish communication at all. With all these… Second-rate characters. Mangling our beautiful original language. Such an annoying tendency to complicate simple things… all my life I find myself with the feeling that many things could be made much simpler. But there’s no way… Speaking of complicated things. You have kin in Kantine, am I right?
– Yes,” she smiled. – I’d love to see them.
– …And I’ll be glad not to see mine for a while. – Ami grinned. – We’d both be at an advantage, if it weren’t for one unfortunate thing…
– A couple of unfortunate things. I don’t gravitate towards operational work either. Let’s… get the details straight. – Lucy pointed to the entrance. – Milo’s coming back. Alive and seemingly whole… I’m always amazed at how he does it… A genius at diplomacy. And cunning.
She waved to the head of the Temple Complex’s Truth Squad returning to her office. As he approached, Ami noticed that the edges of his headdress were still slightly darkened. But, it was unclear if this happened to them now or if such incidents were commonplace for Milo and his hat.
– Milo. The replacement from the Kantine has arrived. Amelia. And she wants to go back already. – Lucy introduced the guest.
– Because of Finnian? – The Omillian sighed