03 - Rogue.pdf - VARIETY - Monkey14

Dedicated to all brothers everywhere.

Chapter 1

As YOU MIGHT EXPECT FROM A PLANET WHERE THE INTELLIGENT

species were reptiles, Darconia was hot, dry, and lack-

rocks. Lots and lots of rocks—as far as the eye could

see, and then some. The palace was built of stone, as

were all of the other buildings in the capital city of

Arconcia, which made you feel only slightly cooler once

you were inside.

"Should have listened to my mother," I muttered.

"You're much too timid, Kyra!" she had said. "I can't

even imagine you traveling alone." My father's comments

had been similarly discouraging. "No point in compound-

ing one mistake by making another," he had said. Not

having an artistic nature himself, he hadn't approved my

choice of music as a profession. "And when you get there,

they'll walk all over you, just like everyone else does!"

Mom had thrown in for good measure. But I'd found the

courage somehow, and here I was! And what, I thought to

myself, was a humble piano teacher from Upper Sandusky

doing so far from Earth, about to be introduced to a lizard

queen in a remote corner of the galaxy?

For that matter, when was the last time you heard of any-

to the teacher herself, not one of her students who went

ing in natural beauty—unless you happen to be fond of

thing interesting happening to a piano teacher? I mean

on to find fame and fortune as a result of her outstand-

Have you—ever?

Well, I certainly hadn't, so when I ran across an ad

for teaching the daughter of an offworld queen, I was

intrigued. So what if the locals were all reptilian? It still

seemed preferable to teaching the sons and daughters of

no one in particular here at home. Interstellar travel had

long been common, but I'd never been offworld before,

and the idea of space travel appealed to me. It was a

chance to see other worlds and other species, because if

my information was correct, Darconia was a very long

way from Earth.

Maybe the fact that none of the musicians I knew—

even those who participated in the galactic music

scene—seemed interested in the job should have been

the first clue that I should have avoided it myself. But

sometimes, you just have to go with your gut instincts,

and my gut was telling me to go for it. If nothing else,

it would look good on my resume—I mean, my student

would be a princess, after all—and if I ever wanted to

get beyond teaching at the primary school level it might

be helpful.

I'd been teaching for all of the ten years since I left

college armed with a degree in music education. The of-

fers to teach at the university level hadn't exactly been

pouring in, largely due to the fact that I'd never gotten

up the courage to apply for that level of job—and I had

yet to teach anyone who was even minimally gifted. De-

spite having been hailed as a promising new talent in my

own school years, I hadn't built up enough of a reputa-

tion to attract any really good students, and since I was

ing musical instruction. Think about that for a minute.

going nowhere, I figured I might as well go nowhere

I had no love interest to leave behind, either. Love

and I were virtual strangers, and though I'd been through

the usual series of unsatisfactory relationships most girls

experience, there had never been one that I truly regret-

ted having lost. I guess I should have known that giving

piano lessons wouldn't put me in the way of meeting

many eligible bachelors, but that never occurred to me

when choosing my life's work.

I doubted that I would find true love in my new job,

either, but I would at least get a taste of what life was

like on different planets, and that sounded romantic

enough. I'd done some research—though the informa-

tion I'd found was a bit sketchy—and it all sounded fine

to me. Darconia was a relatively peaceful planet and,

although having royalty in power rather than an elected

government seemed a bit backward, the fact that the

Queen wanted her child to learn to play piano spoke of

at least some degree of culture.

The strange thing was that while keyboard players

weren't uncommon on any world, the ad had specified

that the Queen wanted a well-qualified, young, and unat-

tached Terran female. That was me. Why the requirements

were so limited was a mystery, but I decided that a Queen

could afford to be as choosy as she liked.

None of that mattered on the morning I waved goodbye

to my parents and embarked for Darconia. I was leaving

Earth for the first time, and no matter what happened, it

was exciting! It was raining heavily, and my flight was

delayed due to technical difficulties—but I was young

and resilient and not particularly superstitious. My fellow

somewhere else—if you catch my drift.

03 - Rogue.pdf

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