Social Testing

A Spontoon Universe Story of Millicent Bryzov-Wei.

© 2010 Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter One

‘To appear at Lady Lawrence’s tea party, two pm, without fail’‘ Millicent reminded herself as she stepped from her rented cab. London in 1937 was certainly nothing like the Spontoon’s. Certainly Casino Island, in the middle of its greatest tourist season was nothing like busy London on its calmest day. And the scent of London left a great deal to be desired. Not only that, but she very much missed Tatiana. Tatiana, who had started her third year at Songmark just last month. Who, with Millicent’s own small offerings would be assisting in the Major’s great play. A play that the housecat knew would put the both of them in greatest of danger. Absently paying her cab driver Millicent turned towards the waiting doorway. Greatest danger, death. Yet she knew now that even a slow painful death could not possibly match that time with the slavers, and the permanent changes that had been done to her. Tortures that both her mind and body had experienced in full, tortures that she still had not told her wife about.

Shaking those memories away, she walked up the clean steps to Lady Lawrence’s London home, stopping at the final step. Millicent took time to inspect herself, she was only a few minutes early and was wearing her very best dress. It was one of three provided by Tatiana with her own funds before the feline had left Spontoon. It had just this morning been carefully cleaned by her personal maid and assistant, the vixen Monica. Monica of course was the young vixen that she had beaten, then impressed back in the Red Room on Spontoon. But certainly her best dress was nothing compared to what she was about to encounter. Still her tutor, a very handsome elderly bulldog and a long time friend of her father she had discovered, had been quite adamant.

“Lady Lawrence Mrs. Wei, has great influence in the choice of all young ladies involved within the Diplomatic field. Not only those who, as yourself, were mere clerks but also those who would reach for positions such as Diplomatic Assistants. Thus each season when applications are taken she invites all young ladies who are so inclined to a tea party. Not all at one time of course, there are simply too many for her small abode for them to appear at one time. Her word though is well weighed upon the choosing of those who will be assigned such positions and many who felt ready will find their applications dismissed without comment.” He had looked directly into Millicent’s eyes then. “You have marks from Mr. Dassher and Major Hawkins, very high marks young lady. Still a single misstep with Lady Lawrence will wash away all those marks. Thus I warn you to act as you have with myself, as you truly are. Do not try to be what you are not, you will be well trained for that should you be accepted.”

“Which would mean” Millicent remembered saying. “If I do not meet the requirements she has placed for such women that my hopes to advance further than Most Secret Courier are for naught.”

“Quite” he had admitted. “I have no idea as to what those requirements may be. I have accepted many young ladies for training, only to have several shuffled off to other career fields. All for no reason that I could understand nor was I appraised of the reasons why. Always within the first month and always just after taking tea with Lady Lawrence, or their second visit soon after. Thus either you and your maid will still be with me at fortnight end, or if you are very lucky returning to your position on Spontoon. More than likely returning to your family home, to discover some new career for your future. Still this is all as we agreed in advance, thus it is nothing new to you.”

Standing now before that door, who’s other side held her fate Millicent wondered. What possible force could Lady Lawrence hold? Certainly nothing like that held by her mother-in-law though. ‘If I can stand calmly before her in her anger, what simple mortal may frighten me’ she decided. So reaching up she grasped the cast bronze knocker, bringing metal upon metal against each other in a firm, yet non-abusive manner.

When the butler arrived Millicent was amused that the great carved oak door opened without the slightest creak. Someone had missed a very good chance at granting a shivering, forbidding entrance sound effect. Nor was the butler who looked out from that doorway in any way frightening. An elderly greyhound wearing thin wire spectacles, he smiled in a very friendly manner. “Yes?” he asked, in a voice one would expect from a well loved grandfather.

Removing the soft pastel green card from her purse Millicent offered it to him. “Mrs. Millicent Bryzov-Wei, to see Lady Lawrence” she answered in her softest, most friendly voice. “I believe that I am expected Sir.”

Accepting, then studying the card carefully before answering her the butler finally stepped aside. “Please come in Mrs. Bryzov-Wei. You are correctly on time, Lady Lawrence is waiting in the drawing room with her other guests.”

Stepping in through the doorway into the cooler interior of Lady Lawrence’s townhouse Millicent smoothly moved clear of the door, allowing the butler more than sufficient clearance to close it. “Thank you” she said as he took her wrap and bonnet. “You are very kind.” Then she followed behind him as he walked to another room, the Butler having smoothly hung her things with many others of a like as he passed an alcove. Stopping at a doorway he cleared his throat. “Lady Lawrence. Mrs. Millicent Bryzov-Wei has arrived.”

“Thank you Herbert. Please send her in” came a voice that did surprise Millicent. Elderly yes, but friendly. Not the harsh, high society tones that she had expected. When the butler stepped aside Millicent entered that same doorway, pausing to curtsy to the only elderly woman within. Lady Lawrence she discovered, was a pure bred Afghan, though she looked little like the very active Catherine Devinski..

“Welcome Mrs. Bryzov-Wei. Please, there is a chair between Katerina and Sara. We were just talking about events in Europe. I wonder perhaps, have you any opinion of those events?”

Settling down in the last open chair Millicent took a moment to smile to the women to each side of her, noting that two others in the group were as plainly dressed as herself. “I must apologize Lady Lawrence” she confessed, as best she could as she turned her full attention on her hostess. “I do not know what subject that you were speaking of. Therefore I may have no opinion of any worth at this moment.” Her studies at Madam Maxine’s, along with Tatiana and Sergeant Proud had come to the fore. Keeping her from simply prattling mindlessly as she would have not much more than a year ago.

“I see then. Well, we were speaking of the German military buildup. Some of us believe that there will be war, others believe that peace is still possible. Do you have an opinion about this?”

Millicent held her breath. Yes, she did have an opinion. But could she express it here? Most of her sources were of a very secret, and delicate nature. A certain German black panteress came easily to mind, one whom she hoped would become part of her international force supporting Tatiana. “Lady Lawrence, yes I have an opinion” she answered calmly. “Unfortunately that opinion has been formed from knowledge that I am not, at present, free to speak of. Therefore I must withdraw from any conversation in this regard. At this time.”

“I see” the Afghan noted yet again. It was though she were weighing every word Millicent spoke. At least the feline felt as though that were the truth. “May I know whom these persons of apparent interest are?”

“I am sorry Lady Lawrence. I am not at liberty to speak of such things. Should I take my leave now?”

“No no. Dear Mrs. Wei, we all have secrets that we must hold dear. May I please call you Millicent?”

“If you wish Lady Lawrence” Millicent agreed, silently forcing her bushy tail to remain still. It so wanted to flicker about in her nervousness. She noted that a slightly older Otter across from her was having her own troubles with her tail, and was much less successful in making it obey.

“Thank you Millicent. Ladies? As you all know each others names will you be so kind as to supply our last guest with yours?”

“Sarah Birmingham” the vixen next to Millicent announced softly. “Katerina Lewis” came from the otter next to the vixen, and so it went until the last of the seven had spoken their names.

“Very good” Lady Lawrence announced. “Now that everyone has introduced themselves, shall we have tea?”

Two servants arrived, first freshening each woman’s tea, then placing several delicate silver plates stacked with different biscuits. Millicent watched, slightly uneasy as each woman took a biscuit or two. Finally, when everyone had their choice she politely asked Katerina to pass her the nearest plate. From it she selected a single biscuit, returning the plate to the otter. Surprisingly, normal conversation then began. It was, Millicent realized, the same style of conversation that she had heard when attending those parties on Spontoon. Though in truth the most common subject were people she simply did not know, though many of the names were familiar to her. Thus she spent most of her time silent, listening, remembering while using her mnemonic training to place words with faces, faces with names.

“Millicent” one of the older girls abruptly announced. “I see you wear a wedding ring. Is your husband in London?”

“No I fear” she answered gently. “I fear that it will be in the very least two years before we meet again. I have training here, while in Spontoon it is the last year of Academy. Followed by an expedition to China already promised to support a Songmark graduate who is searching for her sister.”

“Do you miss him?” another girl asked.

“Very much so” she answered, dodging the ‘him’ reference, while facing each speaker as she spoke. “We were married just on April twentieth of this year.”

“And do you plan a family” Lady Lawrence prodded.

“Yes we do Lady Lawrence. At least five children, should my body prove strong enough. We wish to have a large family, yet not so large as to stress our ability to provide for them well.”

“I note that your married name is Bryzov-Wei” Sarah continued, probing lightly. “That isn’t a British name, is it?”

Millicent smiled towards the girl, noting the trap. “My maiden name is Holmes” she explained. “Major Bryzov was an orphan who was adopted by a Spontoon Priestess. One Oharu Wei, who came to the islands from Cipangu. You may know the nation better by its European given name. Japan. It is, truthfully, rather complex. As my father is in the Diplomatic Corps and I wish to stand upon my own feet, I took my married name from my spouse. Which is of course normal.”

“Bryzov” came a gasp of near horror from someone. “A Russian Communist?”

“Russian yes” Millicent agreed. “Though not a Socialist. I am still quite British, loyal to Crown and Country. That my spouse is different than I is of no problem to me. We love each other and we are able to live with our differences. Yet in truth, we are more the same than different.” ‘And how much of that is truth would shock many of these cloistered young women’ she thought.

“Amazing” Sarah announced. “Well, I think that we have delved deeply enough into Millicent’s personal affairs for now. And you Brigit, are you still seeing that delightful wolf?”

And so it went, until finally Lady Lawrence ended the gathering hours later by announcing that it was time for everyone to return to their tutors. As Millicent gathered her things the older Afghan gently touched her shoulder. “If you will wait, but one minute?”

“I would be delighted Lady Lawrence” the feline agreed, still holding her things as the other guests departed. When the last had passed out of Lady Lawrence’s home the afghan giggled. “What they would do, would they know that you are married to a woman. Tatiana is a woman, correct?”

“Yes she is Lady Lawrence. Very much a very lovely, and dangerous Lady. She is, I believe you already know, a student of the Leveler and was once as Red Soviet as the blood that courses though my veins. Does this mean that there is no place in Diplomacy for me?”

Laughing fully now Lady Lawrence took one of Millicent’s paws. “Far from it child. I have rarely watched one of your age so dance around a subject, while keeping its core secret from those hunting it. You have been well trained.”

“I shall inform my instructors of your words Lady Lawrence” Millicent promised. “When I see them again.”

“You do just that child. Now. I believe that Lord Bromley is nervously awaiting your return. Please inform him that I would like the pleasure of your company in two weeks time. I fear that this years stock is much hardier than the last ten years, and of greater number. Please do bring your maid as well as I have questions for her. It is rare today for a vixen to allow herself to be impressed, especially one from her social level.”

“I shall do that Lady Lawrence. And tea was very delightful.”

“You are welcome. Good day my dear.”