Kelly Robson: The Waters of Versailles

In Kelly Robson's novella The Waters of Versailles, former soldier Sylvain de Guilherand has found a place for himself at the court of the Sun King through his skill in plumbing - providing fresh water and toilets to the court. But his expertise depends on an unequal - and possibly coerced - partnership that is fraying at the seams, as are the pipes that supply water to the toilets of the court.

Sylvain, we discover, has enticed a nixie away from her mountain streams and is using her power over water to ensure that the waters of Versailles flow smoothly and the pipes never leak. But when the old soldier he keeps to entertain and communicate his needs to the nixie dies, the orderly functioning of the palace plumbing begins to fail, and Sylvain must deal with the nixie - a childlike being who is eager to please, but who misses her friend - himself.

At the outset of the story, Sylvain has everything he ever thought he wanted - the favour of kings and nobles, and the favours of many of the ladies of the court. But he is also cynical, and callous toward those on whom his social-climbing success Really depends. Much of the charm of this waterpunk story lies in the depiction of a frivolous and status-obsessed court side by side with Sylvain's slow development of understanding and empathy for the nixie he formerly sought only to use for his own aims.

I was also rather amused at the frank - and quite historically accurate - discussions of toilets and their functions, and the public use of them. This was, we must recall, a time when the real Sun King would take a shit while holding court whenever it pleased him.

The novella can be found on the Tor website:
http://www.tor.com/2015/06/10/waters-of-versailles-kelly-robson/