“How is the stranger coming along in learning our language?”

Vasiliki glared at her mother. “His name is Alex.”

Her mother examined her knife’s blade. “Who cares?”

“He cares!” Vasiliki cried, exasperated. “Mother, over the days I have worked with him, I have come to see that he is as smart as we are.”

Queen Kyrene frowned. “Vasiliki, how many times must I tell you that no man is as smart as we are. They are good for nothing but slaves. Why do you insist on forsaking our ways?”

Vasiliki frowned. “Mother, do you not think that I can see how our numbers decline? We have only a thousand women left to our numbers when just four years ago, we were two thousand strong.”

Queen Kyrene shrugged. “We had a plague. It’s under control now.”

“No, mother. That’s not the reason. It accelerated the problem, but it wasn’t the only cause. It’s because we deny the natural order of things. We despise men, but they are an essential part of our existence. Without them, we would die out. We are fools to treat them so.”

Queen Kyrene glared at her daughter. “Vasiliki, you will not speak to me of these things.”

Vasiliki threw her hands up. “Yes, that’s right. Vasiliki don’t talk about this. Vasiliki don’t talk about that! Anything that makes you even vaguely uncomfortable, you order me not to speak of it.”

Queen Kyrene’s jaw clenched. “I am trying to do what is best for you, Vasiliki. If the tribe finds out what you have been saying to me in private, they will surely kill you, and nothing I can say will have any effect on their decision. Please… Obey me in this for your own sake.”

Vasiliki trembled. “Mother, is it not true that our numbers are declining?”

Queen Kyrene nodded. “Yes. It is. Fewer children have been born of late, and fewer of them are girls.”

Vasiliki nodded. “I understand. And you know why, don’t you?”

Queen Kyrene’s brilliant green eyes wavered from Vasiliki’s and she looked down at the ground. “Yes. I know why. It is because our people… I… despise the very ones who give life to the women who run this tribe, hunt for it, and do all manner of other things. It is how we have always been taught. Why would we abandon it now?”

“Because it will be our death, Mother. Our extinction.” Vasiliki whispered.

Queen Kyrene looked up. “The tribe would kill both of us for mutiny if we were to suggest that we go to the method of marriage. Of putting men on a level with women. Or perhaps we should make men above us as so many of the other cultures around us did.”

Vasiliki smiled thinly. “I never said that we should necessarily make them above us. But certainly equal to us. They are human beings too. They have thoughts and feelings.”

“And how would you know this?”

“Because I have seen it in Alex. He catches onto our language so quickly. He’s only been working on learning it for two weeks and already he has enough of a working knowledge to converse with me. An animal could not do such a thing.”

Queen Kyrene nodded. “Alex certainly is different, Vasiliki. But what of the men in the village? Do they have feelings? Whenever I see one of them, they seem to me no better than one of our dogs. How can you see differently?”

“Mother…” Vasiliki sat down beside her mother and took her hands. “Those men are like that because they have given up hope. We use them however and whenever we want for whatever we want. They have no control over their lives. Instead, they are slaves. Think about it. Just for a minute. How would you feel if you were forced to obey someone else, a man, say? What would you feel if you knew that you would die the moment you displeased them or did the smallest thing that did not fall in accordance with their laws?”

Queen Kyrene frowned. “I would hate those who had enslaved me. I would fight!”

Vasiliki nodded. “At first, yes, but if you were beaten, slapped, and abused anytime you offended or didn’t obey the slightest rule, what would you do?”

“I suppose I would either kill myself or do whatever I had to to please my master.” She made a sour face.

“Precisely! Those men that you call beasts. We made them what they are. Because we have beaten them and trodden them under our feet, they have no will left, no hope. But there is still the resentment, and that is going to lead do an uprising eventually. The slightest spark or hint of hope, and they will rise up.”

“But, if they are so trodden down, Vasiliki, it would have to be a major spark, indeed to get them to rise against us. And we are trained warriors. They couldn’t hope to beat us.”

“A few still fight, mother. They will not lie down easily. Yes, we have the weapons, but desperation will not fuel our actions as it will theirs. Never underestimate a desperate person, man or woman, Mother.” Vasiliki put her hands back into her lap, releasing her mother’s hands.

Queen Kyrene nodded. “I understand. And yet, there is naught I can do, Vasiliki, my daughter. I have to continue traditions. Someday, perhaps, you will change things. And then, perhaps not. It will be your choice then, not mine.”

Vasiliki nodded. “I must go and speak with Alex. We are to start our research on the Way today.”

Queen Kyrene sighed. “Very well. Watch yourself my daughter. I would not see your death because of this. Choose your battles carefully as I have taught you. Do not fight the ones you know you will not win.”

Vasiliki smiled. “You taught me that, yes, but you also taught me to fight for what is right even when it looks hopeless. And so I will.”

Queen Kyrene raised a hand to object, but Vasiliki swept from the room before she could.

***

Alex noticed that Vasiliki was strangely quiet while they started their research that afternoon.

He kept glancing up at her, expecting her to speak, but instead finding her looking absently out one of the windows in the adobe library, paying no heed to the old text settled on her lap. Something was obviously wrong, but he couldn't figure out what.

He knew what was a problem for him. If he didn't succeed at finding a way back out of this dimension, he would end up stuck here and who knew what the women here might decide to do to him in punishment.

But Vasiliki was the Queen's daughter. She should have no such problems. Yet he sensed that there was something bothering her. He had an idea that perhaps she had had a spat with her mother. After all, they didn't seem to get along very well. But why would she be so distant if that was the case?

Unable to take it anymore and tiring of trying to decipher the words on his page, he looked up and again. Her silence and distance was irritating. Finally, he spoke. "'Liki?"

She snapped out of her daze at the sound of his nickname for her. "What?" She frowned.

"You tell me what. You're staring off into the distance, and you've not accomplished a single thing in the last two hours."

She glared at the table, her irritation plain now. Then her look softened as she glanced up at him. "Sorry... I will focus. Let's get back to work."

He shook his head. "Fine, but what's wrong?"

"Not your problem." Vasiliki shrugged.

Alex sighed. "You're my friend... Or at least, I think you are... And it matters to me if something is bothering you."

She ran a hand through her hair, playing with the loose braid she wore. With a sigh, she murmured, "I had a fight with my mother. She didn't like something I said."

"What did you say?" He stared at her, a frown on his brow.

She reached over and playfully swiped her fingers across his forehead. "Don't frown... If you do, the lines will get stuck there..." She teased.

He rolled his eyes, laughing. "So... What were you arguing over?"

She hesitated, pulling her hand back and staring at the table in contemplation. Biting her lip, she stole a glance up at him. "Just... Over stuff..." She waved her hand vaguely. "Why don't we go back to work?"

He shrugged. There was obviously something she wasn't telling him, but if she didn't want to tell him, he wouldn't push. It wasn't his place to pry into her secrets and private life. She was his friend, yes, but in a place like this, even simple friendship could be a dangerous thing.

He had no intention of stepping over the line or pressing her beyond her patience. Not just because she was his friend, but also because she was the daughter of the Queen. If he upset her and she accidentally - or perhaps not so accidentally - told her mother about it, he could end up in a lot of trouble.

And Alex did not have a death wish. Not yet anyway. He wanted to leave this place with his head firmly attached to his body and breathing without any mortal injuries. Preferably, without any injuries. But he couldn't hope for too much, now could he?