Healing the Bloodlands

"How could you even ask that?" Emma shot back, backing away and looking as though she was about to run.

"That's what Cindy thought," Sarah said as explanation for the question, for the kiss, for everything.

"And that's all it took?" Emma asked. When Sarah's mouth opened but nothing came out, Emma turned and ran. Sarah's calls for her to wait, to listen went unheeded.

Sarah wanted to run after her, to explain everything, to tell her how she felt, but she didn't even know what she would say. That had been all it took. Not for Sarah to turn to other prospects as Emma thought, but for Sarah to question Emma's intentions. Was she so without faith in Emma that Cindy's words were all it took for her to doubt the woman. Sure, it was Sarah's doubt in herself and her own worth that had manifested itself, but there was no denying that in the end it was Emma she had questioned just as much as herself. She'd had something wonderful and she'd let her fear get in the way of happiness.

Disgusting. Emma had called her disgusting. And at the moment she felt every bit the part. She fled in the opposite direction. She found uncle Arthur's room and had the door closed before the tears came. Tears for Emma, tears for Lily, for the men she'd killed and watch be killed, for the men, women, and children of the Bloodlands who had died, for the immense pressure resting on her shoulders to fix all of it, and for years of self-doubt and abuse she'd endured as if it didn't bother her.

Uncle Arthur held her and consoled her until she'd confessed every sin and fear to him. She imagined it was far more information than he'd ever really wanted to know about his brother's only daughter, a girl he thought of as his own child, but he took it all in great stead. Much of it he knew of course, it was the details that she had not spared that she'd expected to make him pull away. When she finished her story, he brushed the tears from her cheeks and patted her head. "Poppet, you are the most capable and loving woman I have ever met. You will solve this with the same unerring compassion and intelligence that you bring to every aspect of your life. You have a strong head on your shoulders, a great heart in your chest, and a good vision for the Bloodlands. Go share those with them. Tell them what you think and how you feel and if she feels about you the way I think she does, everything will come together."

Sarah gave a small smile and rubbed at her red eyes. How did he always know the right thing to say? She hoped it ran in the family, because she had a lot to say.

With Arthur's help, Sarah called all the servants together into the front foyer. Standing on the entry stairs, she could just barely see every servant but her eyes kept going back to the short woman dwarfed by the crowd, who refused to meet her gaze.

"I have several announcements," Sarah said in a voice she hoped was more leader than master. "First, I have been made the new mayor of the Bloodlands and am now responsible for the land and the people who rely on it. I have a plan to return the land to its former glory without any bloodshed. In a word: fertilizer, but more on that later. Many of the families were lost in the violence of a few nights ago and all have been left without a head of household. This brings me to my second point. The land of the deceased families as well as the Fallows will be given to you. Couples will receive their own plots while larger plots will be given to what are called cooperatives, or groups of people who share in the responsibility and profits of the land. You will be trained on how to be a head of a Bloodlands' family as will the new heads of the old families. You do not have to stay here and I will understand if you never want to set foot on the Bloodlands again. But if you do stay, if you accept a grant of land, you will be expected to help restore peace and goodwill to a destroyed community. In exchange for this land, I expect two things of you. One, that you will take care of each other and the people that were once your masters. Innocent children have been left orphans and families have been torn apart. Two, that you will give me your loyalty. I need a constituent base that will support me and I have no idea what kind of hate I will be returning to from the remaining families of the Bloodlands. You owe me nothing else beyond those two things: loyalty to me and care for each other if you stay, which brings me to my third and final announcement."

Sarah took a deep breath and focused on the woman who still refused to meet her gaze. "It has been brought to my attention that some of you think my actions with Miss Emma have been an effort to obtain payment for my services to you. None of you owe me anything, least of all Emma. I have been sleeping with her because I love her and will continue to love her whether she returns to the Bloodlands or not. The choice is hers just as it is all of yours."

Emma's green gaze rose to meet Sarah's soft brown eyes. Despite the fact that the whole room was looking from one woman to the other, Sarah felt as if it were just the two of them again. "I love you," she said, putting every ounce of herself into those three words. "I was scared. I've never loved anyone, never been loved by anyone. There's only you."

A whole new stream of tears had started down Emma's cheeks. She crossed the room, servants stepping aside to let her past. She climbed the stairs until she was at Sarah's level. "No one is loved by you, but I am. No one loves you, but I do." Emma adapted the lines from after their first kiss as best she could. "I love you Sarah Weatherly."

The two kissed to the cheers and hoots of the crowd gathered below them. Anywhere Sarah went, Emma would follow her. She'd be her right-hand woman. They had seven thousand acres to save after all and all the shit that came with it.

Epilogue:

Emma and Sarah's carriage rolled up to the small farm cottage. It was much smaller than Emma remembered, though she supposed age and something grand to compare it to, did that to the house you grew up in. The roof was old and should have been replaced the last time she was here. The fields looked good, Emma was happy to see. There wasn't a lot of land, a dozen acres or so but it was farmed with hours of love and devotion.

"Emmy!" A small voice called from the door of the chicken house. Sophie would be ten now. The last time Emma had seen her she'd been seven and had just reached Emma's hip in height. The girl bolted through the fenced in front yard, sending chickens squawking and flapping to get out of her way. She threw open the front gate, but turned to close it behind her and make sure the catch was in place. Even if the fields were on fire, you locked the gate behind you to keep the chickens in and any other critters out. Sophie ran the rest of the way to Emma and leapt into her arms to be swung around in a laughing, squealing hug.

"Can this really be my Soph?" Emma asked, gently squeezing Sophie's nose with a honking noise. "You're so big." She rested the girl on her hip, carrying her towards the house despite the fact that she was about two-thirds Emma's size.

Sarah hurried forward and got the gate for them so Emma could keep both hands under Sophie as she walked. She was sure to close the gate again when the three had passed through, even snagging a chicken with a death wish as it tried to get by. "Not on my watch," she chuckled letting the hen go once she was sure the gate was locked again.

Emma glanced across the small yard, struck by how little things had changed. It seemed everything outside of this little patch had gone to Hell and back, but somehow her memories and reality matched in this one piece of Earth.

An old brown dog, lay next to the cottage door. He lifted an eyelid to consider the intruders and wagged his tail in recognition of Emma. "Good boy," she said giving him the same soft welcome she always had. She was sad to think that he probably won't be here the next time she came by. Certainly not if coming by was as rare as it had been the last almost nine years.

Her mother and father met the trio at the door. Emma had sent them a letter telling them she was coming. She sent a letter along with a bit of money every couple months. She'd made sure to get one sent just after returning to the Bloodlands with Sarah. News spread quickly even over such distances and she hoped her letter would reach her parents before news of what had gone down. Her parents rarely sent a reply, but that letter had received a lengthy one, asking Emma to come home and leave that terrible place. Emma had tried to explain some of why she couldn't leave. She'd mentioned Sarah, but had left out the important details. That had been nearly ten months ago. She hoped to break the news to them in person. Her parents were practical but very traditional and she had no idea how they would take fact that their daughter was the lover of a female mayor.

Emma had warned Sarah that her parents might not be especially welcoming. They would be suspicious of her for her wealth and status long before they found out about any sort of "indiscretions." Sarah brushed off the warning though Emma could sense the nervousness in her lover over the whole journey to the small farmhouse.

The reason Emma and Sarah had given for their visit was a tutorial on good farming practices. The Bloodlands had come a long way with what Emma and Sarah could piece together, but the new planting season was upon them and they needed more if they wanted to keep the Bloodlands' families happy and healthy. Emma's family had passed down that knowledge from generation to generation while Sarah's ancestors were killing each other.

After introductions, in which 'Master Weatherly' told Emma's family to call her Sarah and received skeptical looks, Jerome and his two youngest sons led Sarah through the fields describing each step in the cultivation process from pre-planting to post-harvest. Emma hung back with Sophie and her mother, Anne. She wanted to hear about her brother and sister who were now each married and living off in other provinces and to reassure her mother that the Bloodlands were a safe place where she needed to stay. Jerome might be the head of the household, but Emma knew who made the important decisions about the family.

Sarah and the male members of Emma's family returned just as Emma's conversation with her mother had reached the subject of the odd, tall woman. "She's brilliant, mama." Emma said, knowing Sarah could hear her. "She saved all of the servants when the masters planned to kill us. She risked her life to preserve ours and then when she became mayor she distributed the lands, enforcing peace and equality among former servants and masters."

"She gives me all the credit, but it was Emma who saved everyone that night, including me," Sarah objected. She took the chair that Anne offered and sipped from the glass of water Sophie brought her. "I oversee seven thousand acres. I govern fifty-eight households. I have the largest fortune among them, almost equal to all fifty-eight combined." Sarah said matter-of-factly. "With the farming techniques you have shared with me as well as those I have read about, the Bloodlands will be some of the most profitable in the province. With my land plus the dues paid by the households under my mayorship I will make more money than any other mayor in the province."

Oh my God, Sarah, what are you doing? Please shut up, just please shut up! Things had been going so well. Okay, no they'd been quite mediocre, but her family had finally stopped saying "Sarah" as if it were a foreign word they were afraid of mispronouncing. She'd warned Sarah that money and status would make her family uncomfortable and now the woman seemed to be doing everything she could to rub those two things in their faces. She was trying to stare her lover down. Get her attention just enough to flash her a 'stop it!' look. But, Sarah made no indication of stopping any time soon.

"My position gives me the ability to pass local laws and regulations as well. I may also call upon a small standing army pulled from the families under me as well as provided by the province in exchange for the taxes I pay every year." Sarah paused and everyone seemed to squirm uncomfortably in their seats, especially Emma.

Sarah took a deep breath and despite Emma's silent pleading opened her mouth again. "I'm sorry if it was rude for me to say any or all of that, but in my culture when someone wants to marry a woman and get her father's blessing, they have to prove that they can care for and protect the woman. I have the wealth and the power to do just that." Sarah didn't pause, clearly not wanting anyone else to get a word in before she presented her full case. "I understand that yours is a dowry culture. Therefore, I would like to offer you fifty acres and fourteen cows for your daughter's hand in marriage."

For a slow count of three, the whole household just stared at Sarah. Emma wasn't sure she was even breathing. Finally, Anne spoke, her voice and expression full of utter confusion. "Can you do that?"

"Which part?" Sarah asked, she looked completely calm, though Emma could see her rubbing sweaty palms on her trousers in slow rhythmic circles. "The dowry or can I marry her?"

"Both." Jerome answered.

"Yes, to both." Sarah answered, the circles on her trousers becoming slow squeezing. "I have the assets to give. The Bloodlands aren't as fertile as yours, but with a little time, attention, and know-how they'll get there quickly. And, as mayor I am allowed to change any local law as long as it doesn't contradict provincial law. The Bloodlands may not allow marriage between a master and a servant or between two women, but the province has no such laws."

Probably because they never thought it would come up, Emma thought, surprising herself that she was able to process that when she was still struggling to wrap her mind around one simple fact. "You want to marry me?"

"Yes," Sarah breathed. This time she didn't skip the part she should have said when she invited Emma into her bed for the first time. "It's an invitation, but the choice is yours." She turned to Jerome, "And yours." Technically she had the power to marry Emma with or without their blessing or acceptance of her dowry, but Emma was sure that was not how Sarah wanted to do it. She wondered exactly how long Sarah had planned to make this visit a marriage proposal. Probably since she had suggested the farm tutorial a couple months prior.

Jerome, Anne, and Emma's siblings were still staring at Sarah with slightly gaping mouths. Emma figured Sarah must be getting used to it by this point. "I'm only worth about two cows, Sarah." Emma whispered trying to explain that Sarah's gender and position weren't the only things making her family look like a tray of drowning fish.

"No, honey," Sarah corrected, shaking her head, "You are worth more than every cow in the world."

Emma gave a small, tearful smile. Sarah hadn't picked fourteen cows and fifty acres because it was what she could afford or because it was how much she thought she needed or even because she thought it was the norm. Sarah had picked what she felt was the highest amount that wouldn't make Emma's family drastically uncomfortable. She'd missed her mark by a fair margin.

"I love you," Emma whispered, drawn to Sarah. She rose from her chair to close the foot or so of space between them.

"I love you too," Sarah whispered, closing the last of the distance between their lips.

Emma pulled back after a second, realizing that she was kissing her lover in front of her family. Even if the woman was her fiancé, or hopefully so, it seemed like an inappropriate thing to do at the family dinner table.

"Say yes," Emma heard her mother say almost under her breath.

"Wh-what?" Jerome stammered, looking from his wife to his daughter and back.

"Say yes, Jerome." Anne repeated. "Look at them."

Emma was pretty sure her father was looking at them and didn't think it was helping.

"I've never seen Emma so happy in her life." Anne continued. "It's not about the dowry or anything else about this woman. It's about that look right there." Anne was pointing at Emma's face where Emma was sure she had a broad grin, passion flushed cheeks, and eyes that burned with love. "Say yes." Anne said for a third time.

This time, Jerome did as his wife instructed. "Yes."

Emma ran to her father to hug him and then her mother for a much longer embrace.

A small brunette girl danced up to Sarah and drew everyone's smile as she asked, "Does this mean you're going to be my sister too?"

"Yes," Sarah laughed, leaning down to the girl's level. "As long as that's okay with you."

"Will you bring Emma around more often?" Sophie asked.

Sarah seemed to take the question with full seriousness. She held out her right hand to shake and said, "I promise."

"Good, then I approve." Sophie said, taking Sarah's hand in her own and giving it a vigorous shake.

Sarah looked up from one sister to the other and smiled that bright, brilliant smile. Emma didn't think there was anything she didn't love about that woman.