H.R.H.

“Actually I've known them for a long time. They work for my father.” She had finally been honest, which was something at least. “When I told them I was coming here, they both volunteered to come, too.” And had subsequently been assigned the job, which of course she couldn't say. “We went to Russia together, during the hostage crisis in Digora. The woman who was running the Red Cross station there was remarkable. I fell in love with her and what she was doing. I decided after that to come here, and so did they.” Christianna's face grew serious and sad. “I think that night changed a lot of things for all three of us. So here we are.” She smiled at her new friend. She liked Fiona a lot. Everyone in the camp did. She was a warm, easy, open person, and worked tirelessly at her job, which she said she loved. Like many of the others, she was in love with Africa, too. It was a magical place, and addictive once it got into your blood.

“What was the woman's name?” she asked with interest.

“Her name is Marque.”

“Of course. I know her too. Everyone does. She comes here sometimes. She is Laure's aunt, that's why she's here. Laure had some sort of broken engagement, or failed marriage or something. She never talks about it. But the rumor is she came here to recover. I'm not entirely sure she loves it, or maybe she's just unhappy. That sort of thing is hard. I was engaged once, too”— she giggled again—“for about ten minutes. To a terrible man. I ran off to Spain for a year to get rid of him, and he married someone else. Terrible bloke. He drank.” Christianna smiled and tried to look sympathetic. It was a lot of information to digest at once, and she was so jet-lagged and tired, she was afraid that she would inadvertently say something she shouldn't that would give her away, that she was a princess and lived in a palace. The thought of doing that made her shudder. She didn't want any of that infringing on her life here, and hoped it wouldn't. It shouldn't happen if she was careful. She just had to be aware of what she said at first until she got used to her new life.

“Do you have a boyfriend at home?” Fiona asked her then with interest.

“No, I don't. I just finished college in the States in June. I've been hanging around home since then, and then I came here.”

“What sort of work do you want to do when you go back? Medicine? I love midwifery myself—maybe you should come out with me and have a look. It blows me away every time to see a new life come into the world. It's truly a miracle, and always exciting, even though once in a while it's sad, when something goes really wrong. It happens. But most of the time it's happy.”

Christianna hesitated at her question. “I was thinking about public relations. My father does that, and actually he's in politics and economics a bit, too. I like business a lot. I majored in economics in school.” It was all true, to a degree, depending on how you viewed it.

“I can't do math at all. I can barely count,” Fiona said, not entirely accurately. Christianna knew it had taken her seven years to become a midwife, including nursing school, so she must have been a decent student, or at least a persevering one. And she obviously loved her work. “I think business would be too boring,” Fiona said honestly. “All those numbers. I love working with people. You can never predict it, especially here.” She lay back on her bed with a sigh. She was going out that evening to visit patients, and usually tried to rest for a while before that, so she would be fresh and alert. She had a number of patients who were about to deliver at any moment. They were planning to send runners if she was needed, and she would go out to them in the ancient Volkswagen bug that had been at the camp for years. For Fiona, it was a thrill each time a new life came into the world. And here in Africa, she saved babies' and mothers' lives more often than not. The conditions she worked in were primitive beyond belief. She was good at what she did.

Christianna lay on her cot quietly for a few minutes. She wanted to get up and unpack and look around. She was too excited to sleep, but for a moment, her body felt heavy, and her eyelids began to flutter. Fiona looked over at her and smiled. She seemed like a sweet girl, and Fiona had to admire her for coming to East Africa at her age. It was a pretty brave thing to do, and just as she looked over at her, Christianna's eyes opened wider again, as she glanced at Fiona on the next cot.

“What about the snakes?” She sounded worried, and Fiona laughed out loud at the question.

“Everyone asks that the first day here. They're scary, but we don't see a lot of them.” She didn't tell her that a puff adder had slithered into the tent two weeks before, but usually they didn't. “We'll show you pictures of which ones to look out for. You get used to it after a while.” Fiona saw more snakes than most of the workers in the camp, since she was out in the bush a lot, visiting her patients.