by Mel Dunay
“If she wants that, then yes,” Vipin growled. “But there will be time enough for her and I to figure that out later, after this case is closed.”
He was slightly flushed, and his hands were balled-up fists on his knees. His eyes had hardened into that challenging stare he’d given Jabar. Rina had the feeling that her father taunting him really hurt him.
Paa smirked, as though getting Vipin to show his teeth had been the object of the exercise. Rina knew Vipin had just buried himself even further in her father’s bad graces, but she didn’t care about that right now, only about the fact that he seemed hurt.
They still had two nights and two and a half nights before the ritual. Rina, Vipin, and Paa talked over the details of approaching Amita’s father, Harish, and agreed that it would be best done that afternoon, shortly after lunch.
At that time of day, Harish would normally be working on things which he found boring, and if a messenger was sent this afternoon, with Paa asking to consult with him on a “sensitive issue,” he would probably accept.
“The village gossips would probably think I wanted his and Amita’s opinion of this anthropologist my daughter’s been hanging around with,” Paa said. “Given the...unsubtle way you acted when the two of you rode into town.”
“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response, Paa,” Was all Rina said.
“The two of you should have lunch and go get cleaned up and dressed before I take you over to Amita’s father,” Paa said. “After all that time spent in goatsheds...and barns...together...I'm sure you need it.”
The cleaning and primping allowed Rina to spend time with her sister Shirna, and with Maa.
“From what you’ve said of him, he seems like a very nice man,” Maa said of Vipin.
“But don't feel like you have to take up for him just because Paa doesn’t approve of him. You have to make your own decision on this, not just obey Paa or rebel against him.”
Shirna said that Vipin was “dreamy” but was more interested in telling Rina all about her plans for college.
Finally, in the late afternoon,Rina managed to catch up with Vipin. He was standing at a window, staring out across the rooftops of the houses to where a bulbous stone dome rose above them. The dome belonged to the shrine of the Guardian Spirit, the Mountain King.
“I wanted to apologize for what Paa said,” She told him.
“Why, it is the kind of thing most fathers do, if they care about their daughters, even if they trust them to make their own decisions.”
He smiled slowly. “Besides you did say you didn’t care who gossiped about us.”
“I still don’t. But it seemed to me that what he said hit a nerve with you. I’m trying to find out why.”
He took her hands and pulled them up against his chest.
“You are a very beautiful woman,” He said, “But the most beautiful thing about you is that you don’t hate the Oldblood in me.”
“You’re not a monster,” She said. “You’re a decent person who can beat the crap out of monsters. I don’t think anybody could see you go up against a creature like the Mountain King’s sister, and not be glad of what your ancestry gives you.”
His smiled shyly and looked down at her hands.
“Thank you,” he said. And then the smile faded, like the moon hiding behind a cloud. “Not everyone feels like that.”
A dreadful idea dawned on Rina. “The priest’s daughter you were talking about-her family rejected you because of this.”
“She...could not bear the idea when I told her.” Vipin said. “She was afraid of me. Later, when the government gave me a medal, I sent it to her in a box with a note. I was young and foolish, and I thought the medal proved that I was not a monster. But her father sent it back, with a note of his own.”
“He wouldn't even let her write to you?” Rina was incredulous.
“She did not want to write to me, he said in the note. He thanked me for my service to our country, and telling me that his caste was not allowed to intermarry with the Oldbloods. It was, he said, worth remembering in case I ever found myself in such a situation again.”
Rina pulled her hands free from his grasp and hugged him. He hugged her back fiercely.
“I don’t know if I’m worthy of you,” He said. “I don’t feel like I’ve known you long enough to understand what you might feel for me. But the way you take everything in your stride, always ready to find a new way forward...the way you faced down Bhana because you were afraid for me...I know you are the kind of person I want by my side. But I don’t know how that would affect your own career...”
“Oh, hush, that’s the easy part,” She said.
“I just have to time my ‘hunting for inspiration’ trips to coincide with your time in the field, and just travel with you that way. But I would want you to do some modeling for our menswear collection, when we're not out in the field.”
“That might be the hard part,” He admitted.
“Not as bad as you might think,” She said. “You’re beautifully put together, and that feline body language of yours is just perfect for modeling.”
The sound of Maa clearing her throat made them jump apart.
Maa watched them with amusement. “Lunch is on. Nobody should have to face Amita’s family on an empty stomach.”
They went downstairs and found Paa already seated at the table, eating quickly and quietly. Rina’s sister Shirna the aunts discussed dressing Rina up for the ritual, in between gulping down food.
Paa glared at Vipin as he sat down on the bench that stretched along one side of the table. Rina slipped in beside Vipin on the bench and and squeezed his free hand beneath the level of the table. Vipin squeezed back. Paa glared all the harder, as if the table were made of glass instead of wood, and he could see straight through it.
It was an excellent meal of cheese and root vegetables on barley flat bread, with caramelized milk sweets for dessert. Vipin praised Maa’s cooking and Paa’s cheese to the skies, as most people did when they tried either.
Maa smiled when he did, but Paa just frowned and muttered something about “shoe-kissers” under his breath.
Then one of the aunts said. “Paa, you haven’t picked out a proxy groom yet for Rina.”
“I have. Him.” Rina pointed to the man sitting beside her.
Paa half-choked on a mouthful of food, sputtered, and glared.
“When was that decided?” he demanded.
“Earlier today,” Rina said, even though she and Vipin had only discussed this in very general terms. Vipin nodded, loyally backing her up.
Paa opened his mouth, closed it, and then glared some more.
“Isn’t he the best choice, given what we discussed?” Rina asked.
Paa was still for a moment and then grudgingly nodded.
“Isn’t your friend an anthropologist who's up here to observe our rituals?” The other aunt asked.
“Yes.” Rina wasn’t quite sure where her aunt was going with this.
“And doesn’t that require him to be on the outside, observing?” The aunt went on. “Not participating?”
“When we talked last night, he decided he could learn a lot from actually participating,” Rina said firmly.
“If outsiders are allowed to take this role,” Vipin piped up nervously.
“Of course, they are,” The first aunt said. “Every college student here brought up her boyfriend from down below so that they could have fun together on the wedding night.”
Rina blushed, but she suspected without turning her head to confirm the fact, that Vipin was blushing almost as hard.
“I don’t see why Rina should be one of those girls.” The first aunt shook her head.
“I don’t see why she shouldn’t,” Shirna said with a smirk.
“I don’t believe in casual relationships,” Rina said, as severely as she could manage. “That’s not what taking Vipin as my proxy groom is about.”
“I do not need those images running
around my head at lunchtime,” Paa said sharply.
“But...” One of the aunts began.
“This morning, Maa and I and Rina...and Vipin...discussed Rina's adventures getting here. She had close encounters with a wild animal, a drug dealer, and a creep. Vipin saved her from all those dangers. If she wants him as her proxy groom there is no more to be said about it.”
His glare traveled from his sister to his wife’s sister to his youngest daughter. “Now, is that clearly understood?”
He got two yeses in response, and then looked at his younger daughter, staring dreamily into the distance. He sighed in exasperation.
“What did I just say, Shirna?” He asked.
“It sounds so dramatic,” She said. “I wish things like that would happen to me.”
Vipin looked at her sadly. “No, you don’t, Miss Shirna. Things like that are terrible while they’re happening and there’s no guarantee that you can rescue yourself or someone else can rescue you.”
Something like that had gone through Rina’s mind when her sister first spoke up-only Vipin got there first.
But she also couldn’t help thinking now: at the same time, I’m glad to have it to remember.
Watching Vipin try to keep Amita from fondling him in her ‘sleep’...the weight of him on top of Rina when he shoved her and Amita out of the way of the falling boulder...the speed and grace with which he took down Jabar...the grip of his hand when she helped him up after the fight with the Old One...that morning in Utiva’s barn...she wouldn’t say that everyone ought to have experiences like that. But she wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
After lunch, Rina, Vipin, and Paa set out for Amita’s family’s house. Rina remembered Amita’s father Harish as a fairly skinny, distinguished looking man, but he had gotten even fatter than the mayor of Stayout since last time she saw him.
They laid out the problem in terms of “man-eating panther or something worse” instead of “Old One” and implied that Vipin’s cover as an anthropologist was to keep poachers doing anything stupid. Amita promptly decided that his aversion to her company was just an attempt to maintain his cover.
Amita even sort of supported Rina’s story of having seen the thing on the cliffs after the boulder hit their luggage. Sort of.
“I didn’t see it-Rina was the only one who did,” Amita said. “But this isn’t something she just made up after the fact, Paa.”
“Thanks,” Rina said, and tried not to make it sound too sarcastic.
“So what do you want me to do?” Amita's father said at last, when they had explained everything to him and apparently more or less convinced him of the truth of what they were saying.
“Come with us this evening to meet the Gnosha,” Vipin said.
Harish frowned. “What good would he do? Seems to me he was a lot weaker against this...Bhana...thing than the two of you were.”
Vipin nodded. “The Stetemo Queens prefer not to send their warriors to deal with humans, and so Zekull is a builder, not a fighter. I had hoped they would make an exception in this case, but we must work with what we’re given.”
“So why did you want their help at all?” Harish asked.
“The Gnosha went to war with the Old Ones long ago, and won. Because of the way Hive memories work, they have not forgotten how to fight creatures like the Mountain King, and Zekull has access to those memories.”
Harish looked skeptical until Paa chimed in with: “That’s part of why we came to you. Very few people up here in Thundermouth have ever seen a Gnosha, but you’ve actually met them, done business with them from time to time. We needed to talk to someone with a wider vision than the rest of the council.”
Harish stroked his chin. “What time did you have in mind?”
Rina told him.
“I think I can manage that,” He said.
“Is there any chance we could talk to the council before then?” Paa asked.
Harish shook his head. “Too many of them are busy preparing for the ceremony.” He said.
“What about the families who have daughters participating this year?” Rina asked. “Isn’t there some way we could get a message to them? They should be warned, and given the option of pulling their daughters out.”
“If we waive the fines for withholding a bride from the Mountain King this year, it would make it harder to enforce it next time.” Harish argued.
If we do this right and leave the Mountain King's body somewhere people can see it, there won't be a next time, Rina thought.
“But sir, lives could be at sake here,” She said. “Surely that must be our first concern.”
“I agree with you, young lady, I’m not sure the council will, though.”
“If we lay it all out for the families, I think a lot of them would be willing to pay the fine and just pull their daughters out,” Paa said. “More revenue for the town that way.”
“True,” Harish said. “I’ll visit a few people this afternoon, see if I can arrange for you to talk to the brides tomorrow, at the rehearsal. After we visit with the Gnosha, I’ll see about convening the council and talking to them.”
“Thank you,” Vipin said. “I’m going to scout the area above the village, see if I can find the place where the Old Ones live in between the mastings. I will meet with you and Zekull this evening at the meadow.”
Rina explored the area around the outside of the town with Vipin. They didn’t find anything that looked like a cave or a dimensional gate.
“What does a dimensional gate look like, anyway?” She asked, as they walked back down to the meadow around sunset, to meet with Zekull, Paa, and Harish.
He shrugged. “Trust me, you would know it if you saw it.”
“That’s helpful.”
“Imagine a chunk of night, shaped like a sphere or a slab, with colored lightning dancing silently over the surface,” Vipin said. “Or a place where space seems to pulse and bend in on itself.”
“That’s...only slightly more helpful.”
“As I said, you would know it if you saw it. Ah, there’s Zekull now.”
Rina could see the Gnosha also. Paa was standing with Zekull, staring up at the Gnosha with his arms crossed, looking ill at ease. He had done business with the Stetemo Hive once or twice, and paid them the occasional toll as well. But he tended to be uncomfortable around them.
“There you are,” Paa said. “Have you heard from Harish?”
“Not yet,” Rina said. “Why are you worried?”
“Call it a hunch,” Paa said. “I’ve had to work with him and the other council members a fair amount over the years, and sometimes I just know when they’re about to make my life difficult.”
“Here he comes now,” Rina said, pointing to where Harish was climbing the path up to the meadow with the local constable in tow, and a third man wearing handcuffs who seemed familiar, somehow. Rina realized with a shock that it was the drug dealer they’d crossed paths with just before leaving Stayout.
“There’s the guy,” The drug dealer said, and pointed out Vipin. “That’s the one who owes me money!”
“It’s not true! There was...a drug dealer who rode up past Skymarket with us on the bus, and told this guy that Vipin and I were the ones who would pay him.” She didn’t want to start accusing Amita just yet.
The constable said stolidly: “This man and his Gnosha accomplice are accused of using two local women as unsuspecting drug mules, including yourself. You will be interviewed after the Mountain King's marriage.”
Vipin smiled sardonically. “I assume you have a functioning radio, constable? And plan to radio in a report on this? You might want to verify whether or not I actually work for the Ministry of Culture.”
“Of course,” The constable said, somewhat flustered.
Rina understood what Vipin was up to. By getting the constable to verify his credentials, he was gambling that his employers would get him released in a timely fashion. But would it work?
“What are you wai
ting for?” Harish said. “Arrest them.”
Vipin suddenly pulled Rina into a tight embrace.
“What if he doesn’t let you out in time?” She asked.
He kissed her neck and whispered into her ear.
“The Mountain King will still have to come through me to get to his brides. There isn’t a prison on this peak that can hold me when I get going.”
“Enough of that!”
The constable snapped and pulled him away. He was a short but sturdy man, strong enough to handle almost any of the village rowdies. Even so, Rina did not think he could have dragged Vipin off of her if he hadn’t come willingly.
She looked over at Zekull. “Isn’t there anything you can do?” She asked.
He swiveled his head from side to side in the Gnosha-style head shake she had seen him use before.
“My orders are to cooperate with the human authorities in situations like this, until my identity can be verified and I am released. The Queens are negotiating with your politicians right now, and they do not want any complications. I am sorry.”
As the constable led his charges away, Rina turned towards Harish, her face burning with anger. It was all too clear what had happened.
The drug dealer had shown up, demanding his money from Amita, Amita had thrown Vipin under the bus but either she or her father had decided to let Rina off the hook, probably because Paa had enough clout in the community to make trouble if anyone started persecuting his children.
Or they knew exactly what card Rina would play if pushed too far. And in any case, Harish probably hadn’t done anything about warning the brides’ families.
“I’m sorry if this crook made you fall for him,” Harish said, withering a little under the combined glares of Rina and her father. “But I can’t do anything for him now.”
“You don’t have to, he’s innocent and he knows how to prove it,” Rina said.
“Then I fail to see...”
“I want to talk to you about your daughter. I’ve told my story about the drug dealer Vipin and I met on the bus-I haven’t said whether the dealer was a man or a woman.”
Harish’s eyes glittered with anger. “You wouldn’t dare. You wouldn’t get very far.”