by Andrea Ring
“The same. I need to…you know, use the…”
“Allow me.” Manoj takes my arm.
“Not until cows shit rubies, Manoj, will I allow you to help me with this.”
Manoj sighs.
Anjali pushes him out of the way. “I’ll do it.”
We can hear them even in the privacy of the bath chamber, which means they can probably hear me. Yuck.
“How’d it go?” Nili asks.
“I owe this all to you,” Manoj says. “So many things I thought were important mean nothing now. It’s like I was blind, looking at the world through one narrow lens, and now…I see things I didn’t know existed. Your friendship has given me so much, Nili. I will always be grateful.”
“You are a good man,” she says. “Tanaya is lucky.”
“I am the lucky one,” he says. “We are engaged!”
“Engaged! Oh, Manoj, congratulations!”
Anjali squeals and squeezes my arm mercilessly. “You’re engaged? I thought you said you were better off without him.”
“Quiet!” I whisper. “I…I didn’t know what I was saying.”
“You said you’d be bored to death being married to him.”
“Will you shut up?”
Manoj appears in the doorway. “Is this true?”
I gulp as I squat unceremoniously over the chamber pot. “I was mad. And hurt.”
He grins. “I’ll just have to spend the next fifty cycles proving you wrong.”
LXI. CHIEF BARUN
Kai leads us to the room where the girls are recovering. My poor Mona, she’s trembling. I take her hand, half to give her support and half to take some for myself. For all her anxiety, she’s dying to see that the girls are fine with her own eyes, and so mercilessly pulls me along though she knows I can walk no faster.
Anjali falls on us before we’re even into the room. Both she and my wife burst into tears, and I simply cling to them.
“Oh, Anjali, we’ve been so worried!”
“We’re safe, Mother,” Anjali whispers. “We’re okay now.”
We both hold her at arms length. “Where are you hurt?” I demand.
She points to her forehead. “Bucked off a horse. A mountain lion attacked us as we rode to safety.”
“Why didn’t Tanaya control the beast?” I ask.
“I tried. But the beast was too overcome with hunger to hear me.”
I look over Anjali’s shoulder. Tanaya is lying on the bed covered in a sheet, her face gleaming with sweat.
Manoj sits on the floor beside her, holding her hand.
“I thought you and Manoj were no longer friends.”
Tanaya laughs and looks at him. “Count on my father to focus on the men rather than the women.”
I ignore her. “Well?”
“We’re together now, sir,” Manoj says. “With your blessing.”
“Enough,” Mona says, going to the bed. “We can talk of you two later. How are you feeling?”
“A bit singed,” Tanaya says. “Nothing a few moons in bed won’t cure.”
“A few moons?” my wife gasps. “What happened?”
“Dragons breathe fire, did you know?”
“Stop this,” I say. “There’s no need for the sarcasm.”
“If I don’t joke about it, Father, I will cry. Is that what you want?”
I blink. “So you have a burn. Rub some ointment on it and be done.”
Nilaruna steps forward. “It is much more serious than that, my lord,” she says. “Perhaps you and I can discuss it in the hallway.”
“Everyone here seems to know about it,” I say. “There’s no need to step out. Tanaya thrives on the dramatic. And this is a way to blunt her mistakes. If I feel sorry for her, maybe I won’t punish her for ruining the most important mission our kingdom has ever conducted!”
“Sir,” Nili whispers. “It is not like that.”
Tanaya and I stare at one another. I’ll give the girl one thing — she’s as stubborn as I am.
And then she whips the sheet off her body.
My wife cries out and runs back to me, burying her head in my chest. I just stare at Tanaya.
It doesn’t…make sense. I cannot see what…no. It cannot be.
No.
I put my arms around my wife and lead us both out.
Mona has a good cry in the hallway, swipes her eyes, and heads back in. She was the always the stronger of the two of us.
I lean against the wall and let my gout-ridden knees fold. I slide to the floor and close my eyes.
LXII. MANOJ
I slip out into the hallway. Tanaya adores her father, and he adores her. I have to make this right.
I almost step on him. He’s sitting with his knees curled under him, his back against the wall, his eyes closed.
I sit beside him and wait.
“Was that the first time you saw…her?” he asks.
“No,” I say. “I saw her wounds last night.”
Chief Barun turns his head to me. “What are you still doing here?”
“I saw them, and then I asked her to marry me. I apologize for that. I should have consulted you first.”
“Did you actually look?” he says. “Did you see?”
“She made me look,” I say. “You know how Tanaya likes to test things, particularly our relationship. She was always poking and prodding it to see if I’d run away. I’ll have you know I never did.”
“No one would blame you.”
“Are you listening to yourself?” I ask. “With all due respect, you are acting like an ass! She is your daughter, and she’s the same woman you trusted to send to the Fangs with absolutely no protection, and don’t think we won’t talk about that later, because we will! You know her worth. You think she’s less of a person now because she’s scarred?”
Chief Barun is silent.
“Answer me!”
His shoulders start to shake.
He bows his head, and then he sobs.
I put my arms around him.
He just sobs.
LXIII. PRINCE KAI
Maja and Aaliyah bow low as Zara announces them. I nod at her to take her leave, and she closes the door behind her.
Nili steps forward and takes Aaliyah’s hands in hers. “I’m honored to meet you, my lady. Maja says we have much in common.”
“I hope that is true,” Aaliyah says. “The stakes are very high. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”
“We are allies, truly,” Nili says. “Please, have a seat. Would you like tea?”
The three of them sit, and I pour tea in four cups. Aaliyah looks surprised.
“We thought it best not to have servants present for this meeting,” I say, “even though we’re quite sure everyone here is loyal. You find it odd that I would pour the tea myself?”
Aaliyah smiles. “To be honest, yes.”
I hand out the cups and take a chair beside Nili. “My arms are not broken. I take pleasure in serving my friends. My mother always told me that a ruler retains his humanity by treating everyone with respect and paying attention to the details. And Nili and I have formed a greater bond, I believe, by doing for each other, rather than having servants do for us.”
“Your mother was wise,” she says. “Maja told me…I am sorry for your loss, Prince Kai.”
“Thank you.”
“Tell us about yourself,” Nili says.
Aaliyah glances at Maja, who gives her an encouraging smile. “That is a big question. What would you like to know?”
“Were you born in Bhutan?” Nili asks.
“I assume so, though I don’t know. My mother died or ran away when I was two. I was left on the steps of a brothel in Bhutan, and the women there raised me. I remember none of it, not those early days nor my mother.”
“Raised in a brothel?” Nili says. “How was that?”
“Better than you’d think,” she says with a smile. “I had thirty mothers. They all loved me, all doted on me, all scolded me in
turn. I couldn’t get away with anything.”
“But a brothel?” I say.
“Indeed. They went to great lengths to hide the goings on of the brothel from me, but of course, their efforts failed. Since they wouldn’t let me participate, I stole a thousand coins when I was fourteen and opened my own brothel across town.”
“A thousand coins?” Nili says. “And they didn’t catch you?”
“They set it up. They wanted me to have a better life, so they all contributed to the pot, hoping I’d take the bait and make something of myself. I think they had something like a flower shop or perfumery in mind, but they all came to support me in the end.”
“At what point did you decide you wanted to change things in Jatani?” Nili asks.
“I’d always known it,” Aaliyah says. “I saw how the women were treated. I saw these powerful men, and even the ones without any real power, shove my mothers’ faces in the mud and call them names and refuse to give them the slightest respect. It wasn’t right.
“I started out thinking I could just get respect for the whores, but brothels are a safe haven of sorts for many untouchables. We feed the hungry. We employ the unemployable. There was a man…he would hang around my establishment, shooing away the dogs who nosed about. I’d give him a meal in the evenings. He was mute, and he wasn’t much to look at, but he was kind and he did me a service. One evening I heard a scuffle and discovered two nobles beating him to death. They claimed he looked at them and refused to tell them his name. He died, bleeding all over the dirt, because he couldn’t speak.”
“I’m sorry,” Nili says.
“Me, too. The next day I bought a nearby building, and I set up a shelter. Anyone could come and have a warm bed and a hot meal, no questions asked. If they were capable, I asked that they do a bit of cleaning, or help with the cooking, or whatever was needed. I could think of no better way for my profits to be spent…but it wasn’t to be. It burned to the ground two moons later, with twenty people trapped inside.”
Maja leans over and takes Aaliyah’s hand in his. She smiles at him.
“Deliberate?” Kai asks.
She nods.
“So what is your goal?” I ask. “What do you want to see happen?”
“I’d like the poorest of us, those without the capacity to take care of themselves, to be taken care of. All human life is precious, and I believe a kingdom is defined not by how well the richest live, but by how well the poorest live. I’d like the monarchy to be abolished. People should be free to rule themselves.”
“That’s never been done,” Nili says. “I know of no kingdom ruled by the people.”
“I agree it cannot be done over night,” Aaliyah says. “But I believe it to be a worthy goal for future generations.”
“Our focus is on the untouchables right now,” Maja says. “They should have basic rights, to own land, to be recognized, to worship in the temples. And magic should not be forbidden. Everyone should be free to exercise their gifts.”
“My father is already set to lift the magic ban,” I say. “He’ll be announcing it next week.”
“But that serves your purposes,” Aaliyah says, “and not ours. Without the other rights, untouchables will have to work that much harder if the nobles have their magic back.”
“New laws will be in place,” I say, “punishing the use of magic which harms others. We won’t let the nobles go unchecked.”
“You will punish the use of magic against an untouchable?” she asks.
“Of course.”
“Prince Kai, do not take this the wrong way…but your father has not done anything for the lower castes during his reign. Why would he change his views now?”
“I will not pretend that your movement has had no influence here,” I say. “You have forced our hand, in a positive way. Nili’s will aligns with yours, and I believe we would have headed in this direction regardless, but our greatest priority right now is to stop a war. And my greatest priority is to protect Nili.”
“I have removed the threat,” she says. “No one associated with our cause will harm either of you. But I would caution you. Nobles will not like the course you’re taking. We may be creating new threats.”
Maja stands. “Kai and I will speak in the other room. We won’t be long.”
I smile at Nili and follow Maja out.
LXIV. NILARUNA
Aaliyah sips her tea. “The prince treats you as an equal,” she says. “I never thought to see it in my lifetime.”
“He’s a good man,” I say. “The kingdom is blessed to have him.”
“What do you think of my profession?”
I set my cup down. “Truly? I think you did something extraordinary with your circumstances. You provide a service to the kingdom. You should be free to do whatever you like.”
“Yes, but what do you think of my profession…for Maja?”
“It is his choice,” I say. “He chose you, and he knew what he was getting.”
“You are not answering my question.”
I sigh. “It’s a bit odd. Maja had no experience with women at all. He’s modest and private. On the surface, you two seem ill-matched.
“But Maja’s cool exterior hides great passion. He has spent three hundred cycles being completely selfless. If he has fallen in love with a beautiful woman who can love him and protect him and support him and show him all the things he’s been missing, he would be a fool not to hold onto her.”
“I am not…I do not practice my profession any longer. I am a business woman, nothing more.”
I lean forward. “You do not have to do that, Aaliyah, not with me. You do not have to justify yourself or explain. When I heard that Maja had fallen in love with a whore, do you know what I said?”
She shakes her head.
“I asked only if the woman was kind and fair and honest. That is all. As long as you treat Maja well, and honor the love between you, we will have no quarrel.”
Aaliyah picks her cup back up and stands, padding to the window. “He still loves you.”
“And I him.”
She laughs. “I never thought I was the jealous type. And I have never once felt insecure. At least, not before this.”
“Have you ever been in love?” I ask.
“Once. When I first started my business and the men…they tell such pretty lies. I had no idea how to protect myself.”
“Love should make us stronger,” I say, “and not give us cause to doubt ourselves, but I think you and I just need some time. Your love with Maja is new and hasn’t been tested. This meeting wasn’t easy for me either, Aaliyah. Look at you. Voluptuous and worldly and full of life and completely independent even though you are barely older than I am…you are everything I am not. I do not even have a reason to be insecure, as Maja and I are over. Yet there it is.”
She comes back over and sits. “I am a good judge of people. Part of that is my experience in my work, and part of that is my magic. There is something in you that draws people, something you were born with. But there is also the person you choose to be. You give of yourself, so completely. You love without reservation or hesitation. Those are strengths I do not have, and may never have.”
“Maja thinks we are alike,” I say. “Do you see it?”
“We have both been hurt by those we trusted,” she says. “We are both scarred in our own way.”
“We are both passionate about changing our culture and fighting for the untouchables.”
We smile at one another.
“Do you believe in karma?” I ask.
“Oh, yes.”
“Me, too,” I say. “But I’ve had a hard time reconciling my accident with my deeds. I was only fourteen when I was in that fire. I wasn’t even old enough to have earned such karmic punishment.”
“Perhaps it’s all in how you view it,” she says. “Yes, it was painful, but what did the accident and your scarring bring? Ultimately, it made you a princess. Instead of a punishment, maybe the gods see it as a
divine reward.”
“Then the gods are crazy.”
Aaliyah smiles. “I am not a religious scholar, but it makes sense, doesn’t it? In the end, you have become one of the most blessed women I’ve ever known. You have wealth, true friends, the love of two good men, the respect of most who meet you…good things are finally happening to you. And I believe you deserve them.”
“The assassins not withstanding, I hope.”
Aaliyah ducks her head. “My lady, I don’t know if Maja told you, but…that was my fault. We saw an opportunity for sympathy to our side if you died a martyr.”
“He didn’t tell me,” I say, “but I suspected as much. Was Maja upset?”
She nods. “But he said you would forgive me.”
”You trust me that much, that you would admit to planning my murder?”
“Never,” she says. “I trust Maja, and he trusts you.”
I stare into my cup. “How much control do you have over the rebellion? Who else is in charge?”
She considers me. “Despite all I have revealed, I will not betray my own people.”
“I will not harm any of them, nor will I have them arrested,” I say. “I only wish to protect Kai and myself.”
“I will tell you only this, that the priesthood is aligned with us. You probably figured that out already, as they are the ones who stopped the use of magic.”
I raise an eyebrow. “The high priest in Dabani?”
Aaliyah sighs. “He’s only a pawn. Bespelled these last ten cycles.”
“By who?”
“By the only I person I truly fear,” she whispers. “I will not even speak his name aloud, or he may hear.”
“A god?”
She shakes her head.
“I will leave it alone, but you should tell Maja. If this man is evil, he can stop him.”
“I will think on it.”
We talk of Indrapur, of my introduction to the palace, of her arrival on the hill. She tells me of the amazing food Maja conjured on their trip, and both our stomachs rumble.
Halfway through our meal, the men return.
And when we’re finished, Kai asks Aaliyah to save him a dance at the feast this evening.