On the Return to Cairo
The doctor kept her mount adjacent to his lordship's beast. "Lord Ava, please allow me to apologize and to ask a question." The face that turned towards him was flushed from the exercise or embarrassment. "I am very, very sorry that I -- we -- have not previously treated you as a full Party member, trusting you with what has been entrusted to us. I did not do so out of mistrust of your dependability.- I allowed myself, too much perhaps, to believe that the subject should be avoided save in absolute privacy, of which there always seems to be too little. It was, nonetheless, discourteous and badly done. I do not know any apology that can make up for that. But I do apologize to you."
One hand gestured dismissively. "It is not necessary," he said, scanning the horizon empty except for the village ahead. "It was not fully your choice. And privacy can be hard to come by."
Madeline: "I must disagree. We in the Party do tend to try for consensus. But it is every individual's choice to comply or not. If the consensual decision is faulty, I feel that the individual is still at fault. I did not argue strongly enough for openness and so involved you in something you clearly feel is a greater risk than should be taken."
"Lord Ava, you have consistently and patiently warned us of the dangers of the Arabian Peninsula, which is much to our advantage. Forewarned is forearmed. Why is it that I should quit the Expedition while you do not? You are innocent of our Yemeni entanglement; I am not. And I feel strongly that any Expedition heading into danger should have along a doctor; lives should not be sadly forfeit when quick action by a trained healer might spare them. Please understand that it is my job to save lives whenever possible, danger notwithstanding."
He studied her for a moment as he considered his answer. "Did you mean that to be a rhetorical question? You and Miss Costarari are in particular dangers in Arabia; that is why I suggest your pulling back. Away from our small group, away from the barely civilized parts of the peninsula, you would not be able to practice the arts of medicine." He sighed and checked his horse's path. "Not that I expect you to follow my advice. I have run into Modern Women before." He nodded to the empty countryside. "But this ancient land has no care for them."
Something in her wanted to protest and, perhaps, it showed in her eyes. Madeline did not think of herself as a Modern Woman, not the way Isabel had claimed to be. She tried to be an honest and useful woman, and she had once intended to also take up the role of a Traditional Woman. Quickly she wiped that thought away. It was worse to be thought a Woman On The Hunt.
As he continued, again he looked puzzled. "War is bad enough, but a civil war is a hundred times more dangerous. If there is really some kind of power struggle going on such that even princes are not safe, then what of travelers? And the Yemeni are particularly cruel to their women. It is far more dangerous than you think."
Madeline acknowledged, "I see. You have more experience than I. But what you say makes it seem more likely a doctor will be needed, if not for us, then for innocent Yemeni caught up in this conflict. I am not a Yemeni woman; surely being an Anglian provides some protection for us all? Does Yemen hold the powers of Anglia in disdain?"
He relaxed; history seemed to be a safe subject. "There have been a few expeditions to Arabia. The first landing, the locals tried opposing us, still under the steam guns of the airships. Perhaps they did not like bagpipe music," he smiled. "Since then, the Anglian Colonial Force can land where it will, but the locals fade into the sands. We could take a place, make a fort...but the peninsula would be merely a convenient stop, not an essential one. Current feeling in the House is that it is better to have an ally and trade than a chattel outpost in a wilderness."
Madeline said, with a blush of shame, "I also acknowledge that we may have erred in keeping Abdul's secret from Scotland Yard. I tried to reach Professor Challenger to tell him and to seek his advice, as he took full seriously the import of the existence of -- troglodytes; but I failed. And -- Abdul's secret had been so kept for several years by his various, um, minders, that I did not think of what the other aspects of keeping that secret might mean. I'm not sure that, even yet, I understand in full measure. My first thought was for his safety -- as it would have been for any child, noble or not, Anglish or not. I do apologize for my ignorance."
"I did not think that Scotland Yard would need or respect the words of a child. Particularly as he seems, from what we have ascertained, to have so little understanding of how or why he was kidnapped. If I had learned anything from him that would have helped Scotland Yard, I would have told the inspector myself. The troglodytes were too sensitive to daylight to have done the deed themselves and, at the time, we knew nothing of the nisnasis or the djinn -- if, indeed, they were involved. It is still a mystery in terms of our having any proof at all as to what happened."
"We have at least, I hope, arranged things so that what extra funds it takes for the simple act of returning the boy home should not be laid to the Expedition's sponsor's account. Honesty compels me to say, however, that some things of use to the Expedition-for-the-Lost-City will get some extra use. The camels, for instance. Please believe me that we did not seek a sponsor simply to enable us to return the boy; that we could have done on our own. But -- to find a Lost City? For that we needed a sponsor and are most grateful to your father and to you."
He smiled at her, wide desert helmet shading his face, making it easier to look at than the bright desert. "Let us hope that it is only the camels that get extra use. The tribes of the Yemeni are wild and dangerous. It is a very dangerous place. And the Omani are even more insular."
The doctor smiled back almost involuntarily. The man's charm was almost irresistible even when her mind should be kept on the seriousness of the subject at hand.
[S: At this point Sheryl believes that Lord Ava has been told everything that Madeline knows about the current novella. Do you believe so too? Should I have actually told the entire story last night instead of trying to short-cut? I know it's hard for you to role-play when you don't know what has been said, but I also know that our set of Players gets extremely impatient at story re-caps..... It felt like I thoroughly botched it last night. So I will recap a little, at least on our plans for the future...]
[GM: I don't belive he knows about Sauniere. Or the fur-capped people holding at a distance behind Po. Or the Indian druid who played the memory for you. And I suspect there is more if I thought about it. I think he knows the main plot points, but still misses several details.]
[S: OK, yes, Sauniere was not mentioned; his adventure seems unrelated to the current Expedition. And, yes, Madeline has of yet thought little about the fur-hats because she thinks they may well be another one of Po's stories. After all, she no longer believes that he is a many-times-reincarnated ancient-man-in-a-teen's body; his behaviour has been too "teenager".
However ... I think that the druid probably _was_ mentioned, if only because Madeline saw that vision too, and so, for once, can absolutely corroborate what Voronika claims. To Dr. Davis, that experience was very significant; heretofore her "scientific side" had to be put into abeyance in order to accept Voronika's visions/ghosts/ etc.. Now she's "seen for herself." Which was a major feature in Victorian scientific attitudes.
Hm. Clearly it's really hard to make these calls when we don't actually play out the "blah".]
Madeline explained, "At this point, our current travels seem to have three parts which are vaguely linked. One is my -- and my current companions from earlier travels' -- personal duty to return our -- um, unofficial ward to his father. Two is our Exploratory Expedition to search for the Lost City. Three is the task accepted from our sponsor's -- um, associates to develop friendly relations with Yemen and Oman. I realize that there might be an 'or' there, but I hope and believe that an 'and' would benefit both Anglia and Arabia."
Lord Ava shook his head. "Neither my father nor his associates gave you such a task as that. There is, in fact, no way you could do so; neither you nor I have any official standing that could develop such relations. In practical terms, you want to avoid establishing relations where they shoot at you, but that is entirely different from what you or your Mister Blake seem to think."
Madeline nodded to herself. "Ah. I had in somewise accepted Mr. Blake's interpretation. It had been he and Mr. Penrington who had talked to Mr. Philby about the Foreign Office's interest in Oman." She paused, then -- her puzzlement obvious -- said, "Otherwise I am not sure why it was that the Foreign Office was interested enough in our Lost City to get us your attention. Not but what I am glad of it," she hastened to add. A pause. "Still... if we are not trying to do something that makes the Omani government look with some favour on Anglian nationals, what does the Foreign Office want of us? They can have no real interest in whether we -- or some other set of explorers -- determine the accuracy of the Ptolomeic co-ordinates."
He smiled. "Well, the accuracy of maps is always important; do not discount your important work on that, Doctor Davis. You have already solved a five-hundred-year-old mystery, have you not? I believe, though, they are hoping for some form of friendly relation with Oman, perhaps an excuse to send an official mission to the country. It is, perhaps, a peculiar way of seeing the world, but I think some of them think that having Oman for an ally would stop the pirates in Yemen without a shot being fired."
The doctor smiled slightly and shook her head. "I am not sure how 'hoping for some form of friendly relation with Oman' differs that much from my thinking our group was to try to 'develop friendly relations with Yemen and Oman.' The Oman part, at least," she smiled warmly. "I am a doctor, not a diplomat. Does 'develop' have a specialized meaning in the Foreign Office? I am hoping any good service we do will help."
He laughed. "Practically everything has a different meaning once the diplomats get a hold of it. The language spoken by the diplomats of the world is entirely different from any other in the world." He sobered up and continued. "They speak of relations from one government to another. In order to do this, there has to be an introduction, of one government to another, by someone. The Foreign secretary could meet the King at a spa or a camel race or anything, but it would not be a contact between governments. It is a peculiar world."
Madeline nodded reflectively, "Ah, now I understand. Then you are, of course, correct that we are not able to 'develop relations' with any Arabian government. We can but hope to create some small favourable opinion of Anglishmen, doing what we set out to form this expedition to do." She admitted, "We have only vague plans as to how any of the three facets of this expedition will be accomplished. We are none of us great planners when there seems so little information available. In simplest form, (1) is accomplished by going to Sanaa and knocking on an appropriate door. (2) is accomplished by going to the Ptolemeic co-ordinates. But our trust in Miss Costorari's metaphysical senses leads us to preface that with the acquisition of as many of the statuettes as possible. (3) may well be accomplished by accomplishing (1) and (2); the former of benefit to Yemen, the latter of benefit to Oman -- in that ancient knowledge is usually of benefit."
One eyebrow went up, and he turned back to look ahead. "I believe you have clues to such an ancient city. But if it has been lost so long, it seems unlikely that the locals care very much about it. Else why wouldn't they have found it?"
The doctor proceeded with confidence, "It may well be hidden in the sands of the desert, forgotten and unrecognized until scientific excavations can reveal the remains -- like some of the cliff tombs in Egypt. That eventual excavation will bring an influx of Anglian money into Oman and many jobs will be available for the natives. Then -- like the pyramids of Egypt -- the find may eventually be a source of tourist revenue as well as a point of national pride. Would that not be of interest to the Omani government?"
"It may." He laughed. "If the city is not then toppled by an earthquake after discovery, as happens in so many of the stories one reads."
"Oh," she laughed as well, "it would not surprise me if the city had already been toppled by an earthquake and that is why it has hidden so well in the sands. But parts will surely be intact and much can be learned by scholars from ruins. It would be a city truly out of Miss Costorari's Arabian Nights tales to not have suffered something from long abandonment."
She mused, "There does seem to be a vague though inexplicable thread connecting most of these tasks. The Yemeni Abdul's tutor received a statue (although the delivery agent died to an Yemeni assassin's dagger, which fact you have given us). A Yemeni merchant donated our 2nd statue to Abdul (or his, um, minders). More Yemeni daggers (if both the red stone and black stone daggers mean the same thing) were found -- albeit in the hands of supernatural beings in a situation similar to that from which we rescued Abdul -- when we rescued the Sa'udi heiress. For which service we received our 3rd statue." She frowned slightly, "There seems no Yemeni link to the 4th Egyptian statue save the former owners knew of each other. The 5th and 6th statues are in Yemeni hands: a sorcerer, the king. The 7th, in Oman, seems without any link at all -- much like the Egyptian -- but has the merit of being relatively close, so we believe, to the city we seek. Just how the supernatural ties in with Yemeni civil unrest is unclear. So too any real association between the supernatural assassin-kidnappers and our statue quest. However, Miss Costorari's vision relates the nisnasis to the City of Brass, so there is somehow a link."
Ava, both eyebrows raised: "I thought your map indicated that the lost city was in Oman, and was historically thought of as Omani. Why are there so many Yemeni connections?"
Madeline shook her head. "That is a puzzle. I have no answer for you. The city must be in Oman, but I have no idea at all how the statues of its gods have come to be tied to Yemen. Does your knowledge of the respective cultures suggest anything?"
He gave a short laugh. "The Omani do not like outsiders. The Yemeni are pirates. That is about the extent of anyone's knowledge of their culture." He shook his head. "Well, there are undoubtedly some in the Saud who know more. But it would take a lot of looking to find anyone who knew much of the Omani."
A worried look shadowed the doctor's countenance. "We will, perforce, have to learn more if our expedition is going to be successful. We will simply have to."
She continued, "There are, I see, at least two stumbling blocks in our current so-called plans: an evil sorcerer and the Omani statuette. The so-called evil sorcerer: is he, in fact, evil? Or is that the prejudice of his neighbors speaking? If we can bring justice to him, we render Yemen yet another service. Just how that can be accomplished by two radiologists, two muscle-men steam magi, 2 mystics of foreign extraction, and a physician-mesmerist, I have as yet no idea. My companions are used to developing plans 'on the fly'."
"How do you intend to answer those questions?" He leaned his head to one side. "And why do you believe I have no role?"
Madeline smiled again, then became serious. "I certainly do not believe you have no role. Your role in getting us sponsorship -- and your willingness to teach -- us -- have already been beyond value. But -- no one could fault you if you chose to withdraw after today, when we have abused your trust so abominably." She stifled a sigh and directed her gaze at the forward horizon. "As to answering questions about the sorcerer.... My first suggestion would be to ask the common people thereabouts. For that again, what command of Arabic you have given us will be invaluable if your aid is not directly available. I cannot believe that it is safe to bring, ah, Abdul to the forefront to act as interpreter. As well, I cannot believe that an unknown native interpreter would be -- untouched by local superstitions the way an educated Anglishman must be. But what suggestions the others on this expedition might have must be explored as well, before we decide how to 'walk into the lion's den'."
She continued, "What we can offer the king of Oman for his statue in order to do him the service of discovering a Lost City in his kingdom, I -- again -- do not know. Perhaps his ancient enemy Yemen can tell us what he might want that we could provide." She shrugged. "You now know how little I know. I will be happy to tell you of this group's previous Expedition in Africa whenever you wish to hear. It may tell you," she swallowed, "more about us as individuals than you could know from our few weeks of current association."
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