Jessa was toying with the remains of her breakfast. Torah sat next to her, tapping a finger in annoyance. "Just eat it," he said in exasperation.
"I'm full," she replied, yet again. The children and Mia had gone off to program work. Horach, Bona and Torah were discussing some cropland that needed to be harvested, when he wasn't nagging her to eat. She was mostly staring out the window at the terraced gardens behind the villa. Torah pulled his ever present cell phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. He tapped it, put it up to his ear and said "Hold," then strode from the room.
Jessa saw her chance to escape. "I'm going back upstairs," she told Horach and Bona, who barely glanced at her. When she got back out into the atrium, she could see Torah through the front windows. He was pacing back and forth on the porch. She turned toward the stairs, but then glanced out the back again, at the gardens. They seemed much more inviting in the late summer sunshine than her molecular biology program. She wandered out back and began climbing among the terraces, expecting Torah to emerge at any moment, looking for her. She had come to understand that when he took a voice call, it was probably something important, but he was also usually quite terse, at least in her presence. Her fingers reached for the choker about her neck. It wasn't like he couldn't easily find her when he did finish his call. She reached the last terrace and continued to climb up the steep hillside. Above her, at the top of the hill she could hear the whir of the wind turbines, spinning deceptively slow in the gentle wind.
When she topped the hill, she walked to the nearest turbine and leaned against the cool metal, studying the array of the wind farm. The blades were quite long, and the turbines fairly closely placed. If she remembered correctly, that meant the winds were mostly gentle in this area, without turbulence being a major concern. She wondered if Torah's family owned the wind farm and the power it produced. There was still so much she didn't know. They had talked about harvesting this morning. There were no fields in sight from where she was standing. How much land did they have? She found herself gazing off to the southwest, toward her home; what had been her home.
"You shouldn't be up here," Torah said from behind her.
She started and turned. She hadn't heard his approach over the sound of the turbines. He was breathing hard, like he had run all the way up the steep hill. But he didn't seem mad, as he watched her warily. She walked toward him. "Is everything all right?"
"No." He ran his hands through his hair. "Come down off this hill. The turbulence can be dangerous."
Jessa bit her tongue. She had calculated the wind speed and the turbulence as she watched the blades turn. But it was obviously not a good time to argue the relative dangers. She obligingly joined him and followed as he led the way down the hill. "What has happened?" she asked softly, not really expecting an answer.
"I... We need to go back to Dusseldorf."
She trotted a few steps to pull even with him so she could see his face. "Torah? What is it?"
The strain in his face was obvious now that she was closer. "One of my team members has been killed."
It felt like the information had been wrenched from him against his will. "I'm sorry, Torah."
He glanced at her, his jaw working. For just the briefest moment, she thought she saw a flicker of anguish in his eyes, but then the ice cold persona was taking over his features. At least this time, it didn't seem directed at her. "Servants are packing for us. We need to leave as soon as possible." He glanced at her. "You should change into a gown." Then he sighed. "And Mother has asked to speak to you before we leave."
Jessa almost stumbled in surprise. Shonah had barely spoken to her since her arrival. Jessa rarely even saw her except at dinner, when she mostly ate in silence, watching the rest of the family. Torah took her arm when they reached the top of the terraced garden. He trotted down the steps between the terraces, both pulling her along and supporting her from falling.
When they reached the atrium, he pushed her toward the stairs. "Go dress, then Mother is waiting for you in her sitting room." He headed off in a different direction. Jessa hurried up the steps and found servants packing, even as Torah had indicated. There was a small bag for him, as he had a full wardrobe at his apartment in Dusseldorf. There was a much larger bag for her. The thought of someone else picking out her clothes and underwear filled her with dismay, but she knew Torah would be mad if she wasted time to interfere with the servants' work, so she bit her lip and went to find a gown for the trip. She made hasty work of dressing, then hurried back down the stairs to knock timidly on Shonah's sitting room door. A servant opened the door to let her in, then left, closing it behind her.
Jessa bowed toward Shonah and waited for permission to approach. The frail woman waved her to a chair. Jessa knew that Horach was Shonah's older brother, yet she looked at least twenty years older than him. Her failing health, while it hadn't conquered her yet, had certainly beaten her down over the years. Jessa sat and folded her hands in her lap. "My Lady," she said quietly.
Shonah's sharp eyes studied her. When she finally spoke, her voice was raspy but strong. "I love my son." She paused to let that sink in. "And you have confounded him at every turn."
"I don't know how to be what he needs me to be," Jessa said softly.
"Hush!" Shonah commanded her, and Jessa could hear echoes of Torah in that dictate. "Have you figured out what he is, yet?"
Jessa gave her a puzzled frown. "I don't know what you mean."
"Your papers say you have an IQ of 140. How can such a smart girl be so stupid?"
"I'm not stupid," Jessa protested. "But I can only learn what the Council allows me to learn. You Circles have hidden so much from us."
"There is learning. And there is figuring out." Shonah leaned toward her. "You have been gifted with an excellent brain. You need to use it to start figuring things out before you get my son killed."
Jessa paled. "I'm not trying to get him killed," she whispered, shaking her head.
"Your stupidity will get him killed," Shonah insisted.
"If he would answer my questions, tell me what is going on, then I could help him," she argued.
"He doesn't owe you answers. You owe him trust. But at every turn you defy him."
"No! I've tried to be obedient, to do what he tells me to do."
"You defy him in your heart. I see it. He sees it. When he most needs to think of nothing but his job, he is thinking about you. It got him shot, this time. Next time, it may be fatal."
