The Maelstrom's Heart, page 12
I nodded. Then I remembered she couldn’t see me. “I understand.” I sighed. Being inside was suddenly making me a little claustrophobic. A ride with Farukan would have been nice right about then. “This is a lot to take in,” I said. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to rest for a bit in my room.”
“Of course,” Tesia said. “We’ll get everyone else settled. And maybe something to eat. Some refreshments.”
I went upstairs and down the hall to the bedroom that was mine. Ancaera and Vaelir hadn’t shared a room and I’d taken Vaelir’s. His taste had been a bit garish for me, but I hadn’t bothered to change it. I didn’t turn on the lights. The curtains were open, letting the starlight in through the glass-paned doors that led to a balcony.
I walked out to the balcony and breathed in the cool air and looked up at the stars. I still searched for the old familiar constellations, the Big Dipper. Orion. But Daoine had its own constellations, and I still had trouble with them.
“There you are,” a soft voice said from below. “Good girl! I knew it wouldn’t take you long.”
I looked down and saw a hooded and cloaked figure. She was slightly stooped and made her way to the bottom of the stairs that led up from the yard to my balcony.
“Who’s there?” I asked.
“Oh, give me a moment,” she said. “Be right there.”
Her voice seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. She finally reached the top of the stairs and planted herself in a chair. When she looked up at me, I recognized the old woman who’d come by my cell at Dimétrian’s estate.
“Yeravi?”
“Oh, you remembered,” she smiled. “Very sweet of you.”
“What are you doing here? How did you get here?”
“Oh, I have my ways,” she chuckled. “I just wanted to check in on you. We never got to have that lunch, you know. What’s the matter, dear? You seem distressed.”
I laughed, “Compared to last time you saw me?”
“True,” she nodded. “But that was different. Now I would think you would be happy. You’re no longer a slave, after all. And you certainly made a fool of Dimétrian. Not that he needs much help in that area. But we can’t pick our family, can we?”
I shrugged.
“Oh, now,” she clucked her tongue. “Not very happy at all. Why don’t you take a seat and tell old Yeravi what’s bothering you?”
I still didn’t know anything about her or whose side she was really on, but she had seemed friendly enough. How had she gotten here? It made no sense.
“Don’t worry, dear,” she said. “Whatever you say to me will be held in the strictest of confidences. That great-grandson or nephew or whatever he is, won’t be hearing of it from me. Did you get some bad news?”
“No,” I shook my head. “Not exactly.” It wasn’t bad news, so why was I not happier? “I’d thought it was my fault.”
“You thought what was your fault, dear?”
“When Dimétrian caught me,” I said. Should I even be telling her anything? I guessed it was alright; I wasn’t revealing anything secret, and it helped to talk with someone who wasn’t involved. “I blamed myself for not seeing it. For not stopping it. My friends were hurt. Killed.”
“Ah, yes,” she nodded. “I can see how you would feel that way.”
“But I found out that he used some spell to hide. There was no way I could have known or done anything.”
“But doesn’t that make you feel better?” she asked. “Make you not feel guilty about it?”
“I suppose. In a way,” I said. “But it doesn’t really make it any better. Mooren is still dead. Tesia is still blind. I’d thought there had been something I could have done to prevent it. That I’d just messed up. But somehow, finding out that there had been absolutely nothing I could have done made it even worse.”
“Ah, I see,” she nodded. “I knew you were a deep thinker, my dear. You see things others do not.”
“It just makes me think, what was the whole point of trying if there is no way to succeed?”
“A valid question if ever I heard one,” she replied. “Have you found an answer for it?”
I shook my head.
“I’ve been around for a very long time,” she told me. “And I have seen many people grapple with this same question. Some continue the struggle because they don’t know what else to do, even though they know they will fail in the end. They know there is nothing they can do, and they just keep suffering with the fight anyway.”
“That doesn’t sound particularly pleasant,” I said dryly.
“Others choose to make the best of what time they have,” she said. “To be with friends and family. It certainly seemed to be easier for them than for the others.”
I could see that. “My family is on another world,” I said. Though that was only partly true. I did have a family here, too. “If I could get back to them now… But I can’t.”
“Can’t you?”
“This spell… this barrier… I guess it’s really hard to get through,” I said. “But we have been trying to work on learning to make portals so we can try.”
“Now that sounds like a worthy effort!” She nodded. “Perhaps that would be a better place to focus your energies.”
“Maybe,” I agreed.
“All this other nonsense will work itself out,” she said. “You mark my words. It’s all so dramatic now, I know. And I don’t mean to make light of those who have suffered, but usually, just a bit of patience is all that is needed for things to turn right. But figuring out how to get home? That is something you can do.”
“Maybe so,” I nodded.
“I’m sorry for your loss, dear,” she said rising from her chair. “There really was nothing you could have done to change things. Nothing at all. Perhaps if you hadn’t been fighting so hard, it could have been different. But we’ll never know. Have a good night, my dear. You won’t tell Dimétrian I spoke with you, will you?”
“No,” I shook my head. “Why would I?”
“Oh, good,” she nodded. “He can be so tiresome about things he doesn’t understand. Have you told your friends about our talk the other night?”
“No, I haven’t mentioned it.”
“Really?” She seemed surprised. “Well, you know them better than I do. Perhaps you’re right. Don’t worry, I won’t let on you’ve been keeping a secret. I wouldn’t want to upset them. I do still hope we can have that lunch sometime, dear.”
She went down the stairs and walked into the night. What a strange old bird she was. How was she going to get anywhere walking at night? At her age? I went down the stairs after her.
“Yeravi?” I called. I walked in the direction she had gone but saw no figure, no movement.
I went back inside. I still wasn’t feeling talkative, but I decided to join the others for something to eat. Yeravi had definitely given me something to think about.
CHAPTER TWELVE
RISPAN
For Jasena, the switch to Workers Guild had been, at least from what she showed, about strategy and power. Zorina seemed to support the concepts on their merit; she believed in them. In only a few days, Zorina had become an integral part of the Free Trade movement, and her grasp of strategy took things to a new level.
“You need to step outside of the shadow of this Raven persona and take one of your own,” she said to me. “We need you to appear as an official representative of Su Lariano, and we need to get you into the Minister’s Meeting.”
“I’m not much of a diplomat,” I shook my head. “We need a better option.”
“There’s no time,” she insisted. “The Ministers need to understand the full repercussions of their choices. Vague rumors of Su Lariano’s attention aren't enough.”
I was following her logic; I just didn’t relish stepping out of the shadows. I’d come to enjoy my clandestine role. Once I took on a public role, I would lose my anonymity.
“I’ll relay that back to Su Lariano and see what they say,” I told her. “I have to contact them in a few minutes. It’s not really my call. I can’t just claim to represent Su Lariano unless it’s true.”
There was no way we could have effectively coordinated if I hadn’t revealed my ability to communicate with Su Lariano. Our inner circle, such as it was, all knew about my little comm-dev. I had a report to make today, so we should have an answer soon. As volatile as things had become in Pokorah-Vo, we had switched to daily check-ins.
“The Ministers’ Meeting is tonight,” Zorina pointed out. “We need to start preparing you. When you walk in the room,” she said, “You must capture everyone’s attention. And even when they aren’t looking at you, you want them remembering you are there. Jasena often used this strategy.”
I remembered. And she had been very effective with it. She’d been larger than life. I certainly couldn’t manage it in the same way she had. I would have to develop my own style.
“What would work for me?” I wondered out loud.
I’d actually been thinking along similar lines when I’d gotten that hat for Mira to wear as Raven, but I hadn’t considered anything for myself. She was the one who’d always been the center of attention, whether it was as herself or as Raven.
“You need to be loud,” Zorina said. “But not ridiculous. Strength and confidence must be portrayed at all times.”
“No more hiding for you,” Bavrana grinned.
“We’ll see,” I told her. “We don’t have our answer yet. I haven’t even asked yet.”
“Well, you’d best get to it,” Bavrana said. “Meanwhile, I’m going to get a team of tailors over here. I was very attentive to Ulané Jhinura styles when I was in Su Lariano. Particularly for officers and those in high positions. We’ll have something ready, but they’ll need to see you for sizing.”
“Great,” I sighed. “The last merchant I talked to about styles sold me a very expensive collar for Bijoux.”
Bavrana and Zorina shared a look.
“What?” I looked at them
“You go get your permission,” Bavrana smiled. “Leave us to the planning.”
There was a small office that Bavrana sometimes used for private meetings. I put my feet up on the desk and activated the comm-dev on my finger. Dzurala answered immediately. After giving her my update, I told her about what Zorina had said. There was a long stretch of silence and I wondered if Dzurala was still there. The connection did still appear to be active. Finally, I heard her voice in my head.
“Alright, you are now officially a Diplomat of Su Lariano. As befitting that position, you are hereby granted a field promotion to Commander in the IIB. Don’t commit us to anything outside of what we have already agreed. You’re already very familiar with our official policy regarding Pokorah-Vo.”
“I’ll let you know how it goes,” I told her. “And the Raven business?”
“Réni will need to take over,” she said. “Not as Raven but running the trading operation.”
“I’ll go over it with her.”
“And Rispan?” She paused. “Don’t mess this up.”
The connection went inactive before I could respond.
Don’t mess it up?
Her confidence in me was overwhelming.
When I returned to the main room, I found Bavrana was already in discussion with several people, and they were sketching out some designs for some kind of jacket. I was almost afraid to look at what I was getting myself into.
Bavrana looked up at me when I walked in. “They said yes,” she nodded. “I knew they would.”
“I hope the ministers aren’t going to be able to read me as well as you just did,” I complained. “I am now a Diplomat and they promoted me to the rank of IIB Commander. I’m still not sure this is a good idea.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “You’ll be fine. But we need to see Bijoux’s collar or leash. We don’t want the colors to clash.”
“Why would…” I was starting to get the idea. “Yeah, alright. That’s sure to get everyone’s attention.”
We spent the afternoon strategizing while the tailors worked. By evening, they had me fitted into a pair of high-waisted dark grey slacks worn over shiny black riding boots. A white shirt was tucked into the pants and on top of that was a military-style coat that matched the slacks except for scalloped trim at the cuffs and at the lapels, if you could call them that, that were a dark red that was several degrees brighter than the red of Bijoux’s collar but complemented it rather than clashed.
There were also bright gold buttons on the cuffs and along the open center, as well as the gold epaulets of a Commander. A dress sword hung from a shiny black belt at my waist, and a black sash hung diagonally across my chest. The short, standing collar of the coat also bore the emblems for the Su Lariano Diplomatic Corps as well as the Investigations and Intelligence Branch.
I examined myself in a mirror. All in all, I cut quite the imposing, military figure. Not bad for an orphan from the streets of Su Lariano. I felt a little like a fraud, though. I’d come far, but how much of that was only because of Mira?
Bavrana noticed my scowl. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure I earned it.”
“What?” she asked. “The field promotion?”
“That,” I nodded. “Even the job in the first place.”
“You don’t think you’ve done well?”
“It’s not that,” I told her. “I know I’ve done well on my job, but I think I only got the job in the first place because of my association with Mira.”
“Ah,” she nodded. “I’ve overheard your conversations. Forgive me if I’ve misunderstood, but didn’t you get on the first mission to Pokorah-Vo because you volunteered for it?”
“Sure,” I nodded. “I figured it had something to do with Mira, so I volunteered.”
“And the powers that be chose to accept that, yes?”
I nodded at that.
“And then on your mission, didn’t you show a lot of initiative? Working with Gralbast to gather information? And didn’t you rescue the last Queen of the Astonil clan? Discover an underground city of Ga-No-Me Ri as well as make contact with the Chados?”
“Well, yes,” I nodded. “It sounds pretty impressive when you put it that way. But a lot of that was just blind luck.”
“It always is!” She laughed. “No, dear boy. You’ve gotten where you are from your own efforts and not on anyone else’s coattails.”
“But Commander?” I asked. “At my age?”
“It’s a bit of a jump,” she nodded. “But appropriate for the shift to Diplomat. Don’t second guess it. Own it.”
She was right. No matter how I had gotten into these different situations, I had proven myself. At least to the point of being trusted with this.
“Alright,” I said, needlessly straightening my jacket. “Let’s do this.”
We had decided that I would just crash the meeting and that Bavrana and Zorina would be with me as my guests. We would also bring Veselek and a guard detail from both guilds. By intent, we arrived just after the meeting had started. I gripped the coil of Bijoux’s leash, but it wasn’t attached to her collar.
The Ministers’ Hall was on neutral ground in one corner of Market Square. I thought back to Jasena’s performance when she’d entered the Guildhall. She’d been marvelous. I took a deep breath to prepare myself, hoping I could do half as well. I pushed through the doors to the meeting room, and we didn’t hesitate. There was a raised stage area where the ministers sat in an arc while also facing a large seating area for the public. Today, the public area was empty.
“What’s the meaning of this!” Shegaruv demanded. “This is a closed meeting!”
“Don’t mind me,” I smiled as I approached the front row of seats. “Please, carry on!”
Bijoux leaped up onto the stage area and several of the Ministers jumped up from their chairs. Bijoux simply lay down at the edge of the stage and yawned; her point made.
“Guards!” Shegaruv yelled. “Kill that thing!”
“Ah, ah!” I objected. “I wouldn’t advise that. Not at all. She’s quite gentle as long as you don’t get violent. But if you push her,” I shrugged. “I can’t guarantee your safety.”
The guards hesitated, looking to Shegaruv for direction. They clearly did not like the idea of attacking a jahgreet. Shegaruv waived them away, glaring at me.
“Who the zergané are you?” he demanded.
“Oh, that’s right,” I smiled at him. “We haven’t been introduced, have we? I am Commander Rispan, Investigations and Intelligence Branch of Su Lariano. I am in Pokorah-Vo as a representative of the interests of our city and of our relationship with our many neighbors in Daoine.”
That really got their attention.
“Commander Rispan,” Hrangan spoke. “Is it your intention to make an official statement to the Council of Ministers?”
“Not at all, Minister,” I shook my head. “I would not presume. However, since your meeting today will no doubt discuss matters vital to our mutual interests, I thought it best to hear your words directly rather than rely on rumor or second-hand reports. I’m sure none of you would want to be misquoted on any of these matters? Please proceed as though I weren’t here.”
“This is highly irregular,” Shegaruv argued. “And you have two Guildmasters with you! They have no place here!”
“Oh,” I looked at him with all innocence. “You mean Bavrana and Zorina? They have consented to be my hosts while I am in Pokorah-Vo. I wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without their guidance. They have proven invaluable in explaining local customs and traditions.”
“As long as you take your seats and don’t interrupt us,” Okéla shrugged, “I have no issue with your presence.”
“Nor I,” Kivalek spoke up.
“Can we get back to business?” Hrangan asked them.
“Thank you,” I bowed graciously.
“I object to this!” Shegaruv slammed his fist onto the table.
“As do I!” Julek put in. “We’ve had enough Ulané Jhinura interference lately.” He looked at me suspiciously.
