Tamsin Beech Ch. 11: Fort George

"Let's recap what ye've learnt," suggested Phoebe. She sipped her tea and placed the chipped mug back on top of the Project Chronos binder she'd hung on to, "good mornin'. My name is Phoebe. How are you today?"

Sitting cross legged on Phoebe's bed, Yeonmi chewed her bottom lip for a second as she thought of how to respond, "Gud mornink. My nem is Yeonmi. I ham very well thankyou."

Phoebe clapped her hands together and laughed, "Well done. Very good. Though ye've still got the accent. But my mum always told me that an accent shows people who ye are. Ye should always be proud of where ye're from."

Yeonmi cocked her head on one side, staring quizzically, "Where ... you from?"

Phoebe took a deep breath, "Where am I from? I was born in Penzance. To the south? But I ... left, when I was nine ... just before the, uh ... the Coalition attacked. I kinda picked up my Uncle Hamnavoe's accent. Where ... were you born Yeonmi?"

The North Korean considered for a moment, "I ... born on cargo ship ... on way here."

"Wow. Sailin' all the way to the UK from North Korea! I'm not even sure where that is. Yer leader Kim Napp Gylan had a lot to answer for. Dragging ye all this way."

Was it Phoebe's imagination or did Yeonmi seem to sit up straighter at the mention of the dead leader?

"Well, ye've nothin' to worry about from him now," Phoebe clutched the other woman's hand and squeezed her fingertips, "the war's over. Ye realise it was my cousin Tamsin that actually killed him, don't ye?"

Phoebe hoped Yeonmi wouldn't notice her hands sweating.

"Killed?"

"Aye. Chopped the evil fucker's head off on Kerrera. I would've done the same. To Zakhvatchikov too if I'd had the chance," she laughed, "to think that he was actually Tamsin's grandfather too. Can ye believe that?"

Yeonmi slowly shook her head, her expression unreadable.

. . .

Later that same day, Tamsin invited her Aunt Jessamy to meet inside Fort George's sallyport entrance. The community had sourced two ex-Coalition Tigr all terrain vehicles and a six wheeled BTR armoured personnel carrier - all driven up from the Coalition's Yorkshire colonies to be fuelled, armed and provisioned for a reconnaissance mission deep into Reiver territory.

With no other serious threats to consider, thoughts and attention had naturally turned to Scotland's west coast. They'd all guessed the Reivers might see the Coalition's defeat as an opportunity - as good a time as any to step into the power vacuum and expand their territory. But a dozen warlords and chieftains each leading their own clans and raiding parties would undoubtedly find it a challenge working together. They'd be aware however that the potential reward for their collaboration would be beyond measure - so a combined force of thousands of Reivers wasn't entirely beyond the realms of possibility. They needed to be dealt with once and for all.

If Fort George and other settlements were to flourish, Tamsin and the others needed to know the Reivers' strength. What weapons and hardware might they have? Were there any warlords who could perhaps be swayed into an alliance?

Tamsin kicked the worn tyres of the nearest Tigr as she strolled around it with Angus bundled up inside her padded coat. He sighed contentedly as he burrowed his face into her chest, no doubt searching for a nipple. It had snowed on and off for a fortnight now and one of the first jobs the fort woke up to was clearing snow from walkways and vehicles, "I want you to take it Jess."

Beside her, wrapped up warm in sealskins, Jessamy paused, "You're serious? Tamz, you need these vehicles."

Leonid waved from across the parade ground as he helped a couple of others carry plastic containers of siphoned fuel.

"I know. But I've spoken about it with Leo and we can spare one. You brought down the Coalition Jess," Tamsin turned to face her aunt. In honour of the Reekies who'd died in the battle for Lindisfarne, she'd had her blue woad clan markings permanently tattooed onto her face - the right side now an intricate design of tightly curling swirls and spirals. A mirror of Jessamy Beech's own celtic knot tattooed face, "everyone here owes you more than they can ever give. It's the very least we can do. Take the Tigr. If she's still alive, go find Ada."

Jessamy chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, "It's not too long ago you and your brother would've been making trips like that on horseback Tamz."

"You try finding a couple of horses nowadays."

Jessamy grinned, "Yeah. Look, I've asked Finlayson to look out for Pheebs."

Tamsin huffed, "If Phoebe is anything like you Jess, she's more than capable of looking after herself."

Being careful not to smother Angus, Jessamy wrapped an arm around her niece and pulled her close for a hug, "I guess so. Listen, thankyou. Thankyou ... for everything."

. . .

The next day, Phoebe locked the building's only bathroom door and ran the hot tap. It had taken them months to organise and the water never really got that hot, but Fort George finally had reliable plumbing in each of the accommodation blocks. She washed every day of course. A quick strip wash with coarse soap made from seaweed, while shivering in her own room.

But twice a week there was the option of an invigorating shower or relaxing in a warm bath. Living in rainy Scotland she doubted there'd ever be a need to ration water.

By candlelight, Phoebe kicked off her sealskin boots, pulled off her woollen socks, patched softshell and stepped out of her crumpled canvas trousers. A day's clearing dead bracken from around the fort's walls had left her both grimy and sticky with sweat. But it was a job that needed to be done. Attackers could use the cover to get in close to the walls, so the back breaking work with a scythe was as vital as repairing the stonework or maintaining weapons.

She stripped out of her grubby thermal underwear and stepped naked into the bath as it was still filling, and lay back. The tepid water only just covered her flat stomach.

Yeonmi. All day long as she'd twisted and swung with the scythe she'd thought about Yeonmi. The woman's English was coming on in leaps and bounds. But their relationship hadn't advanced beyond friendship.

The problem was it was difficult to guess what the pretty North Korean was thinking. One moment she'd be cheerful and chatty. Then at the mention of anything to do with the Coalition or its leadership she'd become quieter and withdrawn. Yeonmi still wouldn't say who her baby's father was or indeed anything about him. Phoebe and the others had respected her privacy and thus far hadn't pressed her on the matter.

It was difficult to seduce someone who was a closed book. Not only a closed book, but one written in a foreign language.

Phoebe gazed down at herself, idly stroking the shallow dimple of her navel with her fingertips. She liked the way her body felt. Fit, toned. Growing up on Kerrera had made her tough and resilent. The water from the bath's side tap splashed down on to her right thigh, and she closed her eyes, enjoying the spreading warmth and feeling of abandon.

The pressure of water on her leg and the warmth tingling up through her body inevitably triggered another sensation, as she lay there pondering her one and only English language pupil. Phoebe shifted slightly, sliding down in the bath a little to position her crotch directly under the running water. The force of it surprised her. Despite the cushioning effect of the fine blonde curls there, she could still feel the water beating down on her clitoris, "Mmm ..."

She pictured Yeonmi in her mind's eye, wondering if she'd ever been with another woman. Perhaps that was why the North Korean sometimes seemed a bit offish. Perhaps she was resolutely heterosexual and simply had no interest in taking what they had further.

The soft impact of the water eventually elicited a response, as Phoebe felt her clitoris hardening. Aroused now she shifted again, throwing her left leg out over the side of the bath and hooking her right leg around the taps. With her sex exposed and directly below the gushing torrent, Phoebe moved herself back and forth clutching at her breasts.

The warm water felt like a hot, agile tongue, caressing and pleasuring her with its touch. How would Yeonmi's tongue feel like down there she wondered. Pleasuring her? Feasting on her?

Phoebe turned down the flow of the water so that it pattered more erratically. But it only heightened her arousal, as she could no longer predict where it would fall, or how hard, or for how long. So when her orgasm finally flowed over her, the strength of her response was such that she gasped with surprise. Splashing and writhing in the water, she couldn't stop herself from calling out, "F-fuck ..."

KNOCK-KNOCK!

"Is everything okay in there?"

One of the other women, waiting for their turn in the bathroom. Phoebe froze, instantly embarassed. Had she really been that loud?

"Y-yeah yeah, I'm fine," she called, "jus' stubbed ma toe. That's all."

Shit. If she was going to keep having fantasies about Yeonmi she was going to have to do so in the privacy of her own room. Because it certainly didn't look as if she'd ever experience the real thing.

. . .

Late that afternoon, Tamsin and Leonid watched the sunset from the fort's ramparts, dipping behind the distant Kessock Bridge and the hills of the Great Glen beyond. Winter days in northern Scotland were short and bitterly cold. Luckily this one had been fine and dry with everyone making the most of the few daylight hours. Yeonmi had offered to feed Angus and get both him and Jag-eun Neugdae ready for bed, leaving them both to have a few minutes alone.

"Jess is leaving in the morning," Tamsin announced.

Leonid pulled her close as the icy wind from the Moray Firth blew in the first few flakes of the night's snowfall, "And she's taking the Tigr?"

Tamsin nodded, "One good thing Zakhvatchikov and the Coalition did was to clear and repair some of the major roads leading south. Jess is going to ask questions around their colonies - Scarborough, Bridlington and so on."

Leonid nodded, "You really think she'll find Ada alive?" he looked doubtful.

Tamsin shook her head, "To be honest Leo ... no. But she's Jess's daughter. Or was. I could no more give up on my own child than I could saw my own arm off."

"I understand. You're a fantastic mother," Leonid kissed the top of Tamsin's head, "Yeonmi seems to be a natural too. How she can deal with Angus and ... what's her name, Jagoon?"

"Jag-eun Neugdae," Tamsin supplied, "it means little wolf in Korean."

"Little wolf?" Leonid pulled a face, "strange thing to call a girl. Unless she's expecting her to grow up to be like you."

Tamsin stepped back and frowned, "What? Am I like a wolf? Fierce? Wild?"

"No," Leonid shrugged, "but you can be a bitch sometimes."

Tamsin was speechless for a moment, "Now hold on a min ..."

Without warning, it was as if a new sun had suddenly sprung into being beyond the horizon to the south. An impossibly bright flash of light, blinding white even from many miles distant, accompanied seconds later by a low rumble like thunder.

If they'd been closer, they would have undoubtedly experienced a pleasantly warm breeze, strengthening to a buffeting wind as a boiling orange mushroom cloud climbed thousands of feet up into the darkening sky. Around the fort, others were looking southward - awestruck with fear in their eyes.

Though part of her knew instantly what the flash signified, Tamsin gasped, "Wh-what the fuck was that?"

"I'm not sure," Leonid shook his head, "but we both saw what happened to Birmingham last year. If ... if I didn't know better I'd say someone's just used a nuclear weapon."

"Nukes?" Tamsin's eyes widened. Instinct told her to sprint back to their room to protect her baby son at all costs, "but ... the only nuclear weapons left ... were onboard ..."

Leonid nodded grimly, completing the thought, "The Baekdusan. The North Koreans' carrier ... must be the one ship that got away."

. . .

The sun glinted blindingly on fresh snow several days later, as Jessamy Beech loaded up the last of her belongings into one of Fort George's Tigrs. She'd already postponed the trip after the detonation days before and was now eager to be off. With fuel, ammunition, fresh water and food to last her a couple of weeks she'd resolved to ask at each Coalition colony down the UK's east coast for possible news of her daughter Ada.

Unfortunately her route would now involve a lengthy detour into Reiver territory. Not only had the Soteria satellites caused widespread flooding along the Firth of Forth, but it looked as though Edinburgh itself had been wiped off the face of the Earth. Whoever had survived in the Coalition undoubtedly had a motive - revenge against the Reekies for siding with the resistance.

Jessamy checked her Glocks one last time before holstering them both and putting on a pair of snow goggles. Yards away, Finlayson and Leonid Denisovich helped open the great gates of the sallyport.

"You're still going then?" asked Tamsin.

Jessamy nodded, "Thanks again for this," she pulled her niece into a fierce hug.

"Just ... find Ada and come back safe okay?" Tamsin's long red curls whipped about the blue tattooed side of her face in the stiffening breeze.

"Keep an eye out for rogue Coalition troops Jess," advised Ross, shouting to be heard over the wind, "if it was the carrier Baekdusan that got away - which we're pretty certain it was, they may want to make their move before we get too strong."

Jessamy nodded in agreement. Thankfully no-one in the Coalition would know they'd settled at Fort George, or another Topol ICBM might be coming their way.

Off to one side, the North Korean wet nurse Yeonmi watched impassively, with Tamsin's baby Angus clutched in one arm, and her daughter Jag-eun Neugdae in the other.

Merida hugged her dearest friend, reiterating what Tamsin had said, "Come back safe Jess."

"I will. I promise."

After a polite nod to Finlayson, there was only one goodbye left to make. Phoebe stared silently at the snow at her feet as her mother walked over, "Aren't you going to give me a hug Pheebs?" Jessamy asked.

Phoebe looked up slowly, with tears freezing on her cheeks in the chill morning air, "I'm s-so used to you leaving mum. Wh-why can't I just go with you this time?"

Exasperated, Jessamy blew out her breath in a white cloud, "Because ... it might be dangerous. Because you've already seen too much of the ugliness in this shitty fucking world. I never wanted that for you or Ada. I wanted you to grow up in a safe, civilised place. Pheebs ... you can shoot better than most people I know. You can kill a man with your bare hands. But that's not how it should be. I don't want you to have to live like that. Like me. So I'm asking you to stay behind. Okay?"

Phoebe nodded in silence.

"I'm not saying settle down and raise a family," Jessamy seized her daughter by the shoulders, "I'm just saying that if you stay here at Fort George you'll at least have a choice. If you come with me I guarantee there'll only be one route you can go down. And I don't want that for you. Understand?"

Phoebe hugged her mother, "I understand. Come back safe mum. I love you."

"And I love you too Pheebs. Like Angus said before he died ... I will see you again. This is not where it ends."

With no more loading to be done, Jessamy climbed into the Tigr and with a final wave drove out of Fort George.

Phoebe hurried back to her room to be alone as Ross comforted Merida. Tamsin helped Finlayson and Leonid close up the gates. Standing beside the BTR and remaining Tigr, Yeonmi simply stared out through the open sallyport, alone with her thoughts.

. . .

"Hi Yeonmi," said Phoebe, trying to sound cheerful, "are ye ready for today's lesson?"

At the North Korean's request, Phoebe had come knocking on Yeonmi's door as soon as she'd finished lunch, instead of using her own room.

Jessamy had been gone for several days and after weeks of teaching Yeonmi the basics of the English language, their friendship had advanced no further. And now, with the news that the carrier Baekdusan might be out there somewhere carrying over thirty nuclear weapons, everyone in the fort was on tenterhooks wondering every day if it would be their last.

Phoebe paused for a second in the doorway as she noticed how Yeonmi was dressed. A plain white bathrobe - like the sort that would have been available in more expensive hotels before Thanatos - perhaps scavenged from somewhere in nearby Inverness. It was almost long enough to reach Yeonmi's ankles and she'd had to fold the sleeves over several times.

The room's woodburning stove had made the room comfortably warm but the only illumination came from scented candles spaced about.

"W-where's Jag-eun Neugdae?" asked Phoebe.

"Tamsin and Leonid, um ... babysat?"

"Babysitting," Phoebe corrected.

"Ye, ye," Yeonmi smiled, a twinkle in her deep brown eyes, "babysitting. You ... work today?"

Phoebe nodded, quietly closing the door behind her, "Aye, I've been workin'. We're buildin' pens to hold oor livestock."

"Live ... stock?"

"Y' know, coos? Moo moo?"

"Coos?" one of the fort's scouts had been lucky enough to find a small herd of feral Highland cattle living on the Black Isle near Cromarty. If they could be driven back to Ardersier, there'd be a supply of fresh milk and beef. Yeonmi nodded enthusiastically, "Ah, gachuk. Gachuk. You ... sad now mother gone?"

Phoebe shrugged, "I've got used to it Yeonmi. When I was a wee lass she was always leavin'. Sometimes for weeks. I'll live."

Yeonmi smiled, "Now ... you undress. I give massage."

The sudden change of subject threw Phoebe for a moment. How could you go from talking about cattle to massages in a single breath? "Wh-what?"

Yeonmi indicated the narrow cot, "I give massage. As thankyou for teaching me."

Phoebe had fantasised about scenarios like this for so many weeks, the reality seemed like no more than that - a dream. She dumbly allowed Yeonmi to lead her across the room and begin removing her jacket.

"I c-can manage ... really," Phoebe pulled off her coat then kicked off her sealskin boots. Was this actually happening? But then she'd been offered no more than a massage. Not a relationship or even one off sex. Just a simple massage, nothing more. So perhaps she'd completely misread the situation.

As Yeonmi watched in silence, she removed her thick woollen socks and softshell then finally stepped out of her crumpled canvas trousers. She had to admit that a back rub would be welcome after lugging heavy reclaimed timbers around for much of the morning.

Dressed in just underwear, she turned to face the North Korean, feeling like a lanky, graceless giant next to her, "Now I jus' lie down?"

Yeonmi indicated her patched thermal underwear, "Take all off."

Phoebe frowned, "A-all?"

Yeonmi nodded.

What was there to feel so self conscious about, thought Phoebe. She had a good body and nothing that Yeonmi wouldn't have seen before. Holding the other woman's gaze, she stripped off her thermal top and bottoms then dropped them on the pile of her other clothes, "Now I lie down?"

Yeonmi nodded, her eyes flickering across the curves and valleys, slopes and hollows of Phoebe's naked body.

Then as Phoebe lay down on her back, Yeonmi set a tiny earthenware bowl of some scented oil beside the bed.

"I ... can't seem to relax," Phoebe grinned nervously. She wondered if the pretty North Korean had made a habit of this before coming to the fort. Seducing other women. Or perhaps men? No-one knew anything whatsoever about her past.

"I can help you ... relax," without a moment's hesitation, Yeonmi opened her robe and let it fall to the floor. She was naked underneath.