Chapter 13
   Let's All Be Courteous
          
     Aeka, Ryoko, Sasami, and the two guardians rode together in the 
horse-drawn carriage towards the palace.  "So what's this place like?" 
Ryoko asked excitedly.
      "Oh, you'll love it!" Sasami said with equal excitement.  "It's the 
grandest house on the planet, and it has a sensational view!"
      "Great!"
      "Yes," Aeka mumbled.  "Great."
      "We're almost there," the driver called from behind the horses.
      "Oh boy," Ryoko said, clapping her hands together with glee.  She 
gave out a loud "WHOO HOO HOO!!!" when the house came into view.  The roof 
was a glorious bright blue and it stood like a medieval castle over all 
the town houses.  The lawn around it was a sparkling green and grand trees 
and ferns grew all around it.  "This kicks ass!!!"
      "Ryoko," Aeka said.  "Try to calm down.  And there will be no 
swearing in the castle.  And try not to bother the servants too much with 
your orders.  You're a guest here, not leader of the house."
      "Yeah, yeah, whatever.  That house kicks ASS!!"
      Sasami gave out a giggle and nodded agreeably.
      "So where do I sleep?" Ryoko asked Aeka.
      "The servants quarters, Ryoko.  You'll be boarding with Helga, the 
nurse maid."
      "What do YOU need a nurse maid for?!"
      "It's not for me.  We do not share this house alone; many families 
live there.  This is quite a large planet, and representatives from all 
over come down to give regular reports.  Those representatives are invited 
to spend the night here after their long trip and some bring their 
families.  The wives are usually caught up with duties to attend to, so 
we have a nurse maid on the premises.  You understand?"
      "Yeah, sure.  Is she nice?"
      "Helga's a very interesting gal, yet not the best around strangers.  
She is a little deaf in one ear and her clenliness has a little to be 
desired."
      "Aeka!" Sasami scolded.  "You really shouldn't talk about her behind 
her back like that.  She's very beautiful in her own way, Ryoko."
      Ryoko didn't like the sounds of this.  "Well, it'll be alright."
      "That's the spirit," Aeka said.  "You will start on your job early 
tomorrow morning, say five AM sharp.  Ok?"
      "FIVE AM?!!!"  Ryoko shouted.  "That's slavery!"
      "Oh, stop whining, will you?  It'll be fine."
      "But isn't that before sunrise?!"
      "Only by very little, and you will wake up long before that, of 
course."
      "WHAT?!!"
      "Well, you need to eat breakfast and everything.  You should really 
thank us for this.  We didn't have to take you in in the first place, and 
we're even offering to feed you."
      "Great," Ryoko mumbled.
      "It'll be alright," Sasami said, smiling.  The carriage pulled to a 
stop and the driver came around to open the carriage door for the ladies.  
Everyone filed out and walked towards the castle.
      "Oh, Ryoko," Aeka said, stopping.  "Your quarters are over there.  
I'm sure you'd like to check them out."  Ryoko looked around her and saw a 
large house close to the castle, a shabby looking place with dead plants 
around.
      "The place is in need of a little furnishing and gardening, which 
will mostly be taken care of tomorrow, but the residents don't seem to 
mind, being from the planet Jimpala and generally used to that sort of 
environment.  Well, we'll be seeing you around eight for supper.  Have a 
good time."
      "Uh, yeah.  Sure."  Ryoko walked to the house and came to a halt in 
front of the door.  Inside she could hear a baby screaming and a mother 
trying to plead with the child.  Ryoko clutched the door-knob and took a 
deep breath and walked into the unknown.
      When she opened the door, the first thing to hit her was the smell.  
It smelt like some giant came in and crapped all over the place.  She put 
her fingers tightly over her nose and looked around.  The smell was so bad 
that it made her eyes water, and tears rocketed down her face.
      Around her, dirty diapers covered almost everything.  She looked 
around and discovered the woman holding the crying baby, apparently giving 
up on the pleas and resorting to rocking it gently and singing feverishly.
      "Hi," Ryoko said, her fingers pressed tightly over her nose.  "My 
name is Ryoko.  You must be Helga."
      "Nah," the woman said, stopping her song and looking up at the new 
comer.  "Me name is Gendah.  Helga upstairs."  The woman pointed towards a 
stair case that was literally black from soaked in dirty diaper mess.  She 
walked up it, holding her nose tighter than ever, and almost slipped on the 
first stair.
      Up the stairs, she heard a loud thump, thump noise, getting louder and
louder as she proceeded.  "Helga?" she wheezed out.
      "Who be calling me?!" a voice sounded down the steps.  The thumping
ceased and Ryoko managed to make it up the stairs.
      "Helga?" Ryoko asked again, risking taking her fingers off her nose.  
The scent nearly made her faint and she shot her hand back up to her face.
      "Ah, you must be that there gal who's bunking with me now, eh?"
      "Uh, yeah."
      "Well, ok.  You take that bed over there, but try not to disturb me
during mine exercises, eh?"
      Ryoko sat down and felt something squish under her.  She decided not 
to look under to see what that was.
      "Sorry bout the mess, though," Helga said, starting to jump up and 
down noisily.  "Something wrong wit the food, and we ran outta diapers.  
But that ok.  Tough you up, eh?  Clean tomorrow, though.  Sure on that.  
You better bathe tonight though.  Miss Aeka might be mad you come in 
smelling like you do.  Ok though.  Bath outside.  You help bathe children, 
eh?  Make you useful."
      Ryoko listened without a word.  She took her fingers off her nose, 
and was finally able to stand it without almost losing consciousness.  She 
thought that maybe she could get used to it.
      God, she hoped so.
         
      As Aeka and Sasami entered the palace, many people were there, 
waiting for them at the door.  Most were servants, all pleasantly settled 
in their rut of palace life, but some were visiting families, delegates 
who expected conformity and civilized life here in the palace.  All were 
worried about the disruption this new visitor might make in their otherwise 
proper lives.
     "Ok, everyone," Aeka said.  "I know you're a little worried because we
have a space pirate staying with us, but she is one of my...dear...friends."  
It took her awhile to get it out.  "I expect all of you to treat her with 
respect and a certain level of kindness which is expected from delegates 
and royal servants.  Let's all be courteous."
     The servants exchanged worried glances and the delegates shrugged
uneasily.  It was clear that they all wanted little reaction with this 
space pirate, Ryoko.
         
     The next morning was the longest one Ryoko had ever been awake through. 
It started bright and early at three AM, with the thump, thump, thump of 
Helga's exercises, sounding like a huge alarm clock.  The last night, 
Ryoko, Helga, and Gendah had spent up til midnight cleaning up the dirty 
diapers and scrubbing the floors.  The new smell of soap and cleaner was 
almost as unbearable as the stink.  When they finally did go to sleep, the 
crying babies had kept them up til almost two, leaving the girls only an 
hour of sleep.  This was little trouble for Helga and Gendah, and they 
started off the day bright and early, waking up at fifteen til three.  
Ryoko, however, was asleep on her feet when they dragged her out of bed 
that morning.
     Breakfast, however, was extravagant, composed of more meats, 
vegetables, and eggs than she had ever seen in one place before.  Yet, by 
the time her mouth finished watering and she was finally let at the feast, 
it was time for work.  She was again carted off, with only two mouthfuls of 
food in her stomach.
     Their job was to take care of the children, all day long, changing 
diapers, feeding them, and tucking them in.  The whole nursery was composed 
of fifteen children, all under one year old, and Ryoko was in charge of 
three of them.  Helga had been nice enough to take care of half of her 
share of babies for the first few days.  As she put it, "At least until 
you get the handle of the chillen, eh?  Make muscle on you and you get 
some patience, yes you will."
     Ryoko watched the women do their thing with silent awe, as Helga and
Gendah passed from one baby to the next with almost lightening quickness,
changing diapers faster than Ryoko's mind could comprehend.  Finally one of 
her babies had a stink, and, being the courageous girl that she was, she 
only hesitated slightly in attempting to change the diaper.  She only got 
it open, however, when the stink from the night before slammed her like a 
bullet exploding from within blackish green splat on the otherwise cotton 
white diaper.  The power of the smell was too much, and she hardly noticed 
the screeching of the infant as she resealed the diaper, the stink safely 
trapped inside.
     "It'll put some hair on your chest, kid," Ryoko mumbled.
     "Nah, deary," Gendah called, her arms full with five children.  "You 
don't do like dat."
     "Yah," Helga popped in.  "You need to do like dis."  Like a flash, 
Helga ripped a diaper off one of the children she had in her arms, and, 
shifting three of the children to one arm, proceeded to change the infant, 
wipe it, and rock it slowly.
     Ryoko could only stare open mouth at the spectacle.
     "Now you try, eh?"  Ryoko looked down at her own crying baby and took 
a deep breath.  Then, with lightening quickness, she ripped the diaper off, 
scrubbed the infant's butt area, snatched up a new diaper, and sealed it 
up tightly.  The infant smiled pleasantly, and threw its chubby little arms 
in the air with satisfied glee.
     "That wasn't so bad, eh?"
     Ryoko let out her breath with a loud gasp and sucked in air greedily.  
"I-I am nuh-never going to have chi-children."
     Just then, another one of Ryoko's kids was howling for a change.
     "It's all in the breath, deary," Gendah said as Ryoko slowly 
approached the child.

     By lunch time, all the children were in bed, and Ryoko was sound 
asleep on the couch in the downstairs room.
     "She'll make a fine servant, eh?" Gendah asked quietly to Helga.
     "Yah.  She tired first, but she get good later, Helga know."
     "Yah."  They both smiled and went upstairs so not to bother the 
sleeping pirate.
     "Should we wake her for lunch?" Helga asked.
     "Nah.  She do good tah sleep.  Not used to like we.  Need rest."
     "Yah."

     At the end of the day, Ryoko had done quite good with the children, 
although she viewed every minute of it as torture.  She wondered just how 
many days she was going to have to do this.  She had missed lunch, had had 
hardly any breakfast, and hadn't had enough sleep to energize an insect.  
She was beat, but she couldn't stand that clean smell that was in the house, 
so she started walking around, exploring the grounds.
     She looked across the fields and caught sight of something off in the 
distance, something that seemed familiar.  She couldn't tell what it was 
from that distance, so she started running to it.  The castle, which was 
right beside it loomed over everything like a king overlooking his empire.  
She finally came to it, a small but splendid garden beside the castle, and 
just looking at it seemed to bring back memories to her, somewhat fond 
memories.
     "Have I been here before?" she wondered to herself, and stepped into 
the garden tentatively.  She looked around to see if anyone was watching 
and found the coast clear.  She bent down and started looking at the 
flowers.  They were all different colors: pink, red, yellow, violet, 
indigo, blue, green, white, and black.  She touched them and sniffed them.  
The place seemed so familiar that she was driving herself crazy thinking of 
when she had been there.
     "You like it?" she heard a voice ask from behind her.  Ryoko spun 
around quickly and came face to face with Aeka.  "Took care of it after 
mother died.  It has lots of sentimental value and I would appreciate it 
if you would kindly get off the Pikanese rose bushes."
     Ryoko jumped back and saw that she had been standing in the middle of 
a small bush of black roses.  "Oh!  I'm sorry."
     "You like it?"
     "Huh?"
     "The garden I mean."
     "Yeah!  It's beautiful.  I keep getting the feeling I've been here 
before."  Aeka looked at her side ways, shrugged, and turned to go back 
into the castle.  "Wait!"
     "Yes?" Aeka asked, turning around.
     "I just wanted to say . . . thanks."
     "For what?"
     "For the job and everything, and for taking up for me at the court 
with Azaka.  You could've gotten me put in for life."
     Aeka looked at her sideways again.  "Don't mention it," she said, and 
turned around to go.
     "I really mean it," Ryoko called after her.
     "I know you do," Aeka said without turning around.  She disappeared in 
the castle doors which were shut tight behind her.
     "I really did," Ryoko mumbled.  She didn't give out thank you's very 
often, and when she did, they were usually sarcastic.  But this time, she 
really and truly did mean it.  She looked again at the flowers for a few 
seconds and turned around to go back to the house.  Dinner was coming soon.