She didn't meet my gaze, but instead she stuck very well to the servile nature of her task and position in life, even though I sensed it was not in her nature to be so.
I answered the governor's question as I watched her walk away as silently as she had come, "Not very highly I assure you." I said in complete honesty, as my eyes left the girl to meet the governor's.
He nodded and glanced back out to sea before asking, "Tell me what happened up there in the world above. Are black men still slaves?"
"The North won, if that's what you mean. The South was dealt with harshly and slavery is no more in the sense that it was. The country is united and while there's still tension over color, time to time, for the most part it gets settled and the different sides get along and even intermix with each other. You could benefit from that lesson down here." I finished bluntly.
He regarded me indepthly for a long moment, "You don't pull your punches do you." He said smiling a little.
"No, I don't. I was never very good at lying or stomaching injustice when I've seen it."
The Governor nodded, as the girl came back with a tray of food and set it down. There was something about her face. What was it?
"Thank you Mandy." The governor said and the girl nodded before leaving again.
My eyes met the old man's and his face took on a somber look as he said, "She's my granddaughter."
His granddaughter!
He looked away at the sea again as he explained, "My son raped a slave woman. I don't hold with such practices, but many do it. I am but a voice in the wind against such occurrences, however regrettable they may be."
He looked back to me and said matter-of-factly, "Everything I just said sounds terrible doesn't it?"
"You know it does!" I said with emphasis.
He nodded, "I fear we've become even more barbaric than our former masters. Just as I fear that is the case I also fear that there is no changing it. It's true what I said about being a voice in the wind."
"That is still not an excuse to do nothing, when you know what's right."
He nodded his head and looked out to sea again, "I knew this day of change was coming. Whether it will be a good one or not I cannot tell."
"What happened here?" I asked, as I was curious to know.
The Governor launched directly into the tale of this colonies origin, "The Southern fleet sailed guided by some device for many days and then as the account goes the fleet fell down through the world to land here in this inner sanctum. By all accounts it was a harrowing experience. Several ships were lost, but the bulk of the fleet remained intact. The navigation guide brought them here, which is where they commenced to build their utopia away from the threat of Yankee aggression. Twenty years went past and a sickness befell the white people. Almost all of them were laid low with it, which is when our slave ancestors took control as we were not affected by the illness. Many of the whites were brutally murdered. About a third of them managed to flee. The remaining ones were made over into our slaves as we took the position of master that they had lorded over us. That was fitting justice, but my granddaughter? Where is there any justice for her powerlessness over her own fate that she did nothing to deserve?"