At the Border Post

"I don't suppose that you have any papers with you?" Turik whispered to her, as the guards slowly walked over to the coach. "Proof of identity, that sort of thing?"

She shook her head. Why hadn't Turik mentioned the need for papers earlier? He must have known that she was unlikely to have any hidden away in her leotard.

"Then let me do the talking, and don't contradict anything that I may say, however much it may surprise you."

Judging by the quality of his coach and clothes, Turik was clearly a person of some importance, so the senior of the two soldiers walked up to the side of the coach and addressed him respectfully. "Good day, Sir. Welcome to Eramni. Please may I see your papers."

Turik reached into an inside pocket and pulled out an envelope sealed with a blob of red wax that was embossed with a distinctive stamp. "I don't need to look that up in my book, Sir," the man said. "I recognise the device of the Global Information Syndicate. We get quite a few of your people passing this way."

Astra expected the man to open the envelope and read whatever missive might be inside, but he did not. Then it occurred to her that perhaps the man, like most soldiers, could not read. If so, then the system of identifying people by the use of seals was quite a clever one. Instead, the man asked: "If you would give me your name, please, Sir?"

"Turik Dezyan an Kerl."

"And the woman?" the man continued, taking it for granted that Turik was responsible for her.

"Like my driver, she travels under my seal, and I will vouch for her."

"Of course, Sir, but I still need to know her name and her relationship to you. Without papers of her own, I shall need to give her a pass of the correct colour, which she must keep with her at all times, and produce whenever challenged. Is she a noblewoman, free woman, indentured servant or slave?"

Astra did not like the way that things were going. She had assumed that once in the city she could separate from Turik, but it seemed that the place was rather totalitarian and that things might not be so straightforward.

Turik answered the soldier:

1. "This is Alleyne Zara, my secretary, a free woman."
2. "This is Alleyne Zara, my fiancée, a free woman."
3. "This is Alleyne, my servant."
4. "This is Zara, my slave."
5. "Why, this is Princess Astra of fabled, far-off Aqualaria." Now by the Goddess, how had Turik known that?

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