Freebird
"She is not in at the moment."
The large fellow who said the words served as her butler, bodyguard, henchman. Obermann was a man of many services. Anyone with half a brain would know his statement as a lie. No matter. I had gotten her curiosity, and she would want to know why I came. As a freebird, I was used to odd jobs like this. Without bothering to reply, I turned on my heel to leave.
Suddenly, my scalp burned with my hair pulled, and I uttered a cry more in shock than in the pain. Obermann had grabbed my hair and shirt in his haste. "Ow, what are you doing?" I exclaimed. He wasn't usually this violent. With me, that is. He and I had a long history.
Obermann released me immediately with as much shock as I displayed. Turning to face him, I rubbed the back of my head to assuage the pain. He looked at his hand in confusion, as if he didn't understand how his body worked.
"I'm sorry. I don't know... I didn't mean... You can stay and wait for her."
I assented, and he led me into the manor. A young woman cleaning the brassware spotted me and stared open-mouthed as we passed. Her reaction was nothing I hadn't seen before. Just one of the many reasons I rarely visited this part of the city.
We entered a waiting room that held two couches and a large mirror. I had no doubt that the mirror was one-way glass, and that she sat in the next room watching. I could confirm it easily. Instead, I leapt over the back of the nearest couch and seated myself with my back toward the mirror. I adjusted my hair and kept my middle finger visible to the mirror. If Obermann saw the gesture in the reflection, he didn't bring it up.
Obermann chose to sit on the opposite couch. With a flirtatious smile, I patted the seat next to me. "Dirk, why are we never on the same side?" My question hinted at more than just his seat, and he knew it.
"You know why."
I did because I was part of the reason. If things hadn't turned out the way they did, neither one of us might be around today. I said nothing and looked away. I realized afterward that I had used his first name. Not a lot of people used that name nowadays. He had to have noticed the slip. Obermann stayed where he was.
"Why the visit?"
I held up my hands. There was no point withholding now. Even if she couldn't hear our conversation, Obermann would pass on the word in short order. "My employer wants to know which consul is funding the raids in the south quarter."
"A heavy accusation. Why do they think she knows the consul?"
I shrugged. I never cared for politics like she did. But a job was a job. My employer had obviously exhausted other options, and the only person left that could hold the information was her. Assuming that I would be best equipped to deal with this case, they hired me. A mistake on their part. No one was ever prepared to deal with her. A chime echoed through the manor.
"She must be back now."
She had been home since I arrived, but only now she wanted to hear me. I stood up, but Obermann put a strong hand on my shoulder and pushed me down gently. He meant to talk to her first. Without bothering to shut the door, he left me alone in the room. After a few moments, I stood up and followed him. She would be able to see me through the mirror, but she had to have known that I wouldn't stay put. I made my way into the hall, and headed in the direction of the mirror. I stopped at the first door I came to and listened for voices. I had chosen aright for I heard them speaking, but couldn't make out the words.
"Come in. Stop skulking around out there," she said loudly.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Unsurprised, Obermann remained positioned by her desk. As I walked forward, I looked around the room and spotted the window with the view to the previous room. No doubt she had seen everything. "Nice to see you. It's been a while," I said as I moved toward the desk.
"I know how you really feel, no need for pleasantries," she said with a wave of her hand, dismissing Obermann. He left the room without addressing me. "Is it not ironic that your profession has such a name when your services come so high?" She gave a short laugh.
Her joke wasn't very funny, so I shrugged. "I assume you know what I came for. What do you want for the trade? I have authority to barter with gold or information we have at our disposal."
She shook her head. "Do I look like I need money?" she said condescendingly. "You came here for information. Try again."
I hated it when she did this. She expected me to throw out random answers so that she could shoot them down until I finally hit upon what she really wanted. I was done playing her games long ago. So instead, I waited silently. I had a feeling this meeting would not end well.
She broke the silence first. "The only thing I want right now is something more valuable than money or information."
I had a good guess where she was going, but she couldn't expect me to agree. It was ludicrous. If I had to go back to my employers and tell them ‘no deal', I would. I turned to leave without saying a word. She wasn't worth any.
"And if I released Obermann in full with compensation?" she said with a sickening sweetness. "It would be more than a fair trade on your end, and the consul is a bonus."
Surprised, I stopped in my tracks. Was she being serious? I turned around. "You'd really give up Obermann?" The last time I had been here, I had approached her about him, and she had adamantly refused to consider anything.
She ignored my question. "Yes or no," she said with finality.
Her offer was genuine. The trade was more than fair, and Dirk Obermann would be free. But I needed time to consider. I needed counsel. Who could advise me? I wondered what Obermann would say. Would he forgive me if I agreed? Would I forgive myself? Thoughts raced through my mind while she impatiently harped on me to answer now or her offer would expire. I knew that if I waited too long, she would reduce her offer. "Done," I whispered and hoped I had made the right decision.
Nothing immediate happened, but even I noticed a significant change in both our moods. After a moment of silence, she mused, "We are really not all that different, you and I."
"I'm nothing like you," I said quietly.
"Oh?" She batted her eyelashes. "Why do you say that?"
"You use people," I said. She had done so from the beginning. I remembered how often she had manipulated me, until I had finally extricated myself from her grasp. "People aren't commodities."
"I am merely trading one thing for another," she said smoothly. "You do it every day. What do you think you did today? And eight years ago?" Obermann. She cocked her head at me in amusement.
"That's different..." I started to say. But I wasn't so sure anymore.
Author's Note
Dream-inspired. June 2014
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