Ganne


17 - A Queen In The Wilderness.


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Oh Dear Goddess...  She needed a drink.

Genella drew the riding cloak tighter about her shoulders against the
gusty breeze.  She shivered at the damp chill of the air.  Her insides
were churning unpleasantly; were there anything inside, she would have
vomited it up by now.  She set her teeth against the waves of nausea, and
moved out from the moaning pines, towards a swell of ground, bare of
trees.

A lowering sky hung over the valley which stretched obliquely away to her
right.  A fine drizzle was falling.  The world was coloured in tones of
grey and green.  Pines clothed the slopes of the valley, fading into a
rain misted distance.  It was a Goddess awful dismal panorama, matching
how she felt.

Genella struggled up the steep slope to stand by a twice life sized statue
set upon the hill-top.  It was a likeness of a great Ganne, who had lived
a century and a half ago.  The weathered pillar of carved marble rested on
a three-tiered granite plinth.  Genella stood a long moment staring up
into the face.  The serene expression seemed to taunt her.

With a weary sigh, Genella dropped her head.  Her shoulders slumped.  She
collapsed onto the plinth, and buried her face in shaking hands.

Oh Dear Goddess...  She NEEDED a drink.

Genella was so sunk in her misery, she did not notice the Doctor's
approach.  He paused beside her.  A grin stretched his mobile features.
His teeth seemed to glow in the gloom.  "Hello there," he greeted
breezily, shoving his hands into the pockets of his great coat.

Genella quailed.  His unrestrained cheerfulness made her insides churn.
She stared up at him, wondering what madness had come upon her when she
had felt a genuine enthusiasm for this foolish expedition.  Had it been
only the Doctor's contagious optimism which had lifted her up and whirled
her along in his wake?  Could she have been that easily led?  She shivered
with more than just the cold.  Even the boost to her spirits, which she
had derived from just being close to this strange man, had waned.  That
power, which came off him in waves, now seemed inadequate even to hold at
bay the depression set upon her by this miserable morning.

The Doctor noted her wretchedness.  He squatted down in the wet grass,
examining her closely.  Her face was deathly pale.  A look of concern
entered his expression.  "Are you alright?  You look a little rough," he
asked.

No," Genella said.

"Is it the Ganne Harmonic?  I can up the power on the shield, if that
would help?"

"It's not that," Genella said.

The Doctor grew thoughtful.  He asked, "what is it then?"

Genella looked hard at him.  "You know what my trouble is," she said.

He nodded, encouraging her to go on.

"I, I need a drink, Doctor." She was appalled at the desperation in her
voice.  Genella squeezed her eyes shut.  She bit her knuckles, trying to
control the trembling in her hands.  She felt utterly desolate.  The
hopeful path she had set foot to, encouraged by the Doctor's presence, had
led her into a dreadful wilderness.  Genella was beginning to think she
would never find a way out again.

"Here, have a jelly baby.  It might help."

Genella opened her eyes to see the Doctor proffering a crumpled paper bag.
She sat back, staring in puzzlement at it.  The Doctor rustled it
invitingly.  Genella extended a tentative hand, and delved into the bag.
She drew out a small lump of gelatin moulded into the shape of a styalised
baby.  It was the most awful bilious green.  She had to bite down hard to
stop from heaving.

Nonetheless, at the look of encouragement in the Doctor's face, she put it
into her mouth.  It was sweet.  Amazingly, Genella felt better on the
instant.  With the tangy sweetness on her tongue, the day seemed suddenly
brighter, the air suddenly warmer.  Despite herself, a wan smile tugged at
her lips.  Once again, the Doctor had ridden to her rescue.

"Doctooooor, where are you?  We're almost ready to go," Sarah's voice sang
out from the trees down-slope.  A moment later, Sarah stepped into view.
Spotting the pair on the hill-top, she trudged up the slope.  She was
clutching the riding cloak closed about her against the rain, which was
growing heavier by the moment.  With her free hand, she was trying to keep
her loose hair from her face.

Sarah stopped before the statue, paused a long moment to glare at the
Doctor's back, before sitting beside Genella.  She looked at the woman,
noting how pale she looked.  Sarah asked, "how much longer is it going to
take to get there?"

"Another three days, at least...  If nothing goes wrong."

Sarah stared morosely at the curtain of heavy rain sweeping across the
valley.  "Three more days of this...  I hope the weather improves."

"I am afraid that is somewhat unlikely," Genella said.  "When it sets in
like this at this time of year, it can rain for weeks on end."

Sarah sighed, and got up to inspect the statue.  The arms were stretched
wide as though to embrace the land.  The face held a look of achingly
unreasonable serenity.  "Who was she?" Sarah asked.

Genella glanced up at the face.  She got up and bent to inspect the
inscription.  "Sandrona Bah Dishone," she read aloud.  "My...  Ummmm?...
My great, great grandmother."

Her interest suddenly piqued, Sarah studied Genella's profile, before
returning her attention to the statue.  Behind the styalised serenity and
weathering, there was definitely a family likeness.  She asked, "your
great, great grandmother?  Was she important?"

Genella nodded.  "In her day, yes.  She was the foremost Earth Speaker of
her age.  Chair of the Ganne Council for nineteen years, and a hereditary
Queen in her own lands."

Sarah looked the woman at her side up and down.  She could not quite
suppress the unkind thought that the family had come a long way down since
their glory days.  It was an unworthy thought, and Sarah felt a little
flush of shame.  She asked, "what is a statue of her doing right out here
in the middle of nowhere?  I mean, who is going to come all the way out
here to look at it?"

"It's a tangible statement of her claim to ownership of the land," Genella
explained.  She turned slowly, an arm out-flung to indicate the pine
forested slopes.  They reached away into an uncertain distance, fading
into the rain.  "All this," she went on, "all this is...  was...  Dishone
land.  My family once laid claim to all the land north of the Great River
as far as the Gynarchy in the north, and west to the Vardenai.  But that
was before the curse fell on the land."

"She looks so kind and serene -" Sarah observed - "almost like a nun."

"She was a vile dictator," Genella said evenly.  "She has become a byword
for harshness and draconian proclamations among the commons."

"But," put in the Doctor, who had turned and now stood behind them, gazing
up at the face over their shoulders, "she was never needlessly cruel or
vicious.  She certainly had a talent for political expediency; but she was
the Queen of the Ballan Tah through some pretty difficult times."

Genella cast a quizzical expression upon him.  Sarah was aware of a slight
buzzing inside her head - something she had come to associate with the
Ganne being exercised.  At last, the sensation abated; and Genella spoke.
"You make it sound as though you knew her?"

"Oh yes.  Oh yes, indeed," the Doctor said, nodding.  He spun suddenly on
his heel.  "Come along!" he exclaimed.  "It's time we were moving." His
scarf fluttering in the wind, his hand clamped over his hat, the Doctor
plunged off down the slope.

Sarah pulled the cloak tighter about herself, and stomped off after him.

Genella watched them go.  There was a thoughtful expression on her face.
There was something very peculiar about that pair, she decided.  For a
fleeting instant, she had almost gotten a glimpse into that dazzling mind.
Although he could not be Strong in the Ganne, the Doctor had shields
against Ganne intrusions the like of which she had never seen.  Somehow he
was able to extend this shielding to Sarah - at least to cover those parts
of her mind that held thoughts of him.

It was a puzzle, but one for another time.  She shrugged, pulled her cloak
about her, and set off down the hill towards the trees, where Marlek and
Sergeant Garron were waiting with the horses.


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