World Whisperer

by Rachel Devenish Ford

  "What is this?" Ben asked.

  "Tea made from vera berries and fermented with the theto mushroom," he told them. They looked back at him blankly.

  "Never mind. It's just a bubbly drink." They had the look of stunned people, and Jabari took stock of the room again. There were over one hundred men, women, and in some cases, children, walking around or sitting on cushions. In the corner musicians played flute and drum, and the room rang with light from two hundred lamps and the voices and laughter that bounced off the stone walls. It was ever so slightly intimidating if you had never been to court before. He turned back to them.

  "They're all just friends, sort of," he said. "But come this way and we'll find Aria and your quiet corner."

  He led them through the room, weaving between people in gorgeous clothes, to greet his parents and the other elders.

  "Welcome," his mother said, with Karah by her side. "Congratulations on your reunion. We have not seen one before, and we knew we had to invite you here to observe."

  Jabari flinched. He loved his mom, but she could be so… courtly. He kissed her cheek and rounded his eyes at Isika. She smiled and bowed her head, then darted a quick glance at Jabari's mother and Karah. They were dressed in robes covered in glittering stones. The whole room sparkled. Jabari took Isika's elbow and continued walking through the room with her, Ben on her other side. He nodded and greeted people he knew along the way. He didn't love being at the palace like he loved being in the wild while he was seeking with Gavi, but he had grown up here, and it was as easy as breathing to him. Like a game.

  He stopped near the back of the room and looked around for Aria. Beside him, Isika rubbed at her temples and closed her eyes.

  There she was. She was only half a head shorter than Isika, but she looked more like a child without her bow and quiver. Her many braids were coiled around her head, and she wore a deep orange tunic.

  "There you are, little sister," Jabari said, using the familiar way of addressing younger girls in Maween. "Greetings, Jabari," Aria said, bowing her head slightly. Her voice was soft and hoarse. She was still such a little girl in many ways, though she was in the place between two ages, neither young nor old. He felt sympathy for her and pity for the others, so he straightened and took charge.

  "Reunions go better when we fill our bellies," he said. "Let's eat!"

  They sat in an alcove in a corner of the room, beside one of the low tables. Jabari sank into the cushions, taking a sip of another drink, this one a spiced tea. The spices warmed his stomach. A servant brought platters of food with flat bread and spicy meat, a plate of tomatoes and a bowl of fruit. He did love the food in the palace. They ate, and Jabari watched Ben and Isika as they chewed slowly to savor the food, leaning toward each other to comment on what they were tasting.

  "Good?" he asked.

  "I've never tasted anything like it," Isika said.

  "That doesn't tell me whether it's good or not!" he laughed.

  "It's amazing," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "But you don't need me to tell you that."

  Aria wasn't eating much or meeting anyone's eyes. She cleared her throat after a while.

  "So we have a brother named Kital?" she asked.

  Isika nodded, her face immediately stricken. The lamplight reflected in her eyes, which were very serious.

  "And you followed him?" Aria asked.

  "Yes, but he isn't here."

  Aria looked at Jabari.

  "The rescuers may have been attacked," he said, his words soft. "We leave tomorrow to find him."

  Aria sat up straighter. "I want to go too."

  "Aria…" Jabari said, his voice a warning. "It's not a good idea. You have your studies, and you're not ready for seeking."

  "I want to go. He's my brother too," Aria said again. She held her head high when she said it, and her eyes were like flint. Jabari's shoulders sagged. Stubborn people; he could see her resemblance to Isika now. It would be a journey filled with children, then, because he knew that Ivram wouldn't deny Aria the right to find her brother. He shrugged.

  "Take it up with Ivram," he said, and both Ben and Isika looked at him with wide eyes. He put his hands out, palms up. "I'm not in charge of this journey," he said. "I can't tell her whether she can come or not."

  Isika looked like she was going to argue, but which way he didn't know. She didn't said anything, though, and he watched her hands clench and unclench around the fabric in her lap a few times before she straightened them and smoothed her crumpled tunic.

  They ate in silence for a while, then Aria had another question.

  "How is our mother?"

  Isika gasped and Ben looked down at the ground. Jabari didn't know where to look. This was a lot harder than he had thought it would be. Isika leaned forward, getting closer to her sister. Jabari saw the physical resemblance between them when they were near each other. Something about their forehead and their eyes. Aria was lovelier, but Isika looked stronger and wilder, as though she belonged in a forest. Aria's eyes were guarded as Isika looked into them. Jabari felt horrible as he understood that Aria didn't like her sister, perhaps even felt hatred for her. She had been cast away.

  "She died, Aria," Isika said, and Aria's guard slipped. Tears filled her eyes and she sobbed. Isika reached across the table and caught her hand, holding it tightly. "After you were given over she never recovered. She died two weeks later."

  Aria's took deep breaths and blinked tears out of her eyes, dashing them away with the back of one hand. "Who took care of Kital?" she asked. "Father?"

  "No," Isika said. "I did."

  Aria had been looking at her plate, but at that she glanced up at her sister, measuring. Jabari saw that she was really looking at Isika, her eyes still wet. He saw her taking in what Isika's life had been while Aria had been in Maween, learning new ways, finding a new family who took care of her.

  "It was hard," Isika said. "I missed you so much, I missed Mother so much I felt like I would die. But I had to take care of Kital all day and all night when he couldn't sleep. Father would yell at me to make him quiet, and sometimes I couldn't and I had to walk the grounds with the street dogs." She glanced at Benayeem. "But I wouldn't change it, wouldn't give him to someone else. He was my baby."

  Aria watched her with a serious look on her face, then stood abruptly. "I need to go. I'll see you in the morning." She walked away, paused, then turned back to them. "What will you do?" Her eyes were accusing. "When you find him, will you go home?"

  "Back to Father?" Isika asked. "What do you mean?"

  "No," Ben said. "We're staying here."

  "You understand that we can't go back, right?" Isika asked Aria. The younger girl towered over the three of them on their cushions.

  Jabari nodded. "The poison-landers would send them away again, little sister. Or worse."

  Aria gave one short nod, then left, slipping through the crowd in the great room, a brief blur of orange and Jabari didn't see her anymore. When he looked at Isika he saw tears in her eyes and he looked down at his food, not hungry anymore.

  They walked back through the great hall on their way out. Isika and Ben were dragging, and Jabari felt half dead, ready for bed and sleep. He tried not to think about the fact that they would be leaving again at first light. As much as he loved seeking, he wouldn't mind a few more days of rest. Gavi caught up to them in the hall.

  "How did it go with Aria?" he asked.

  Jabari waved his hand in a way that meant, just okay, and Gavi nodded.

  "Where were you?" he asked.

  "With our parents, Yab, where do you think?"

  "Is Mother fretting about us leaving tomorrow?"

  "Again, what do you think?"

  "Better you than me, you've always been better at taking the mother guilt." Gavi stuck a finger in Jabari's ribs and Jabari shoved back, knocking him into Ben, who laughed and pushed Gavi away. It turned into a bit of a wrestling match, there in the palace hall, until Isika's voice broke through.


  "Ben!" she called, her voice high and urgent. She had stopped somewhere behind them and was standing, eyes riveted to one of the many murals that lined the halls of the palace. There were scenes of deer and birds and ships on seas, but Isika stood before the large portrait at the base of the tall staircase. She stood with her hand covering her mouth, and as they hurried back, she turned and stared at Jabari with frantic eyes.

  "Who is this?" she asked. Ivram walked toward them from the dining hall, where the feast was still in full swing. Jabari met his eyes, then turned to look at the portrait Isika was staring at. He knew the painting as well as he knew his own face, he had seen it all his life: a tall, thin woman with skin as black as night, her eyes like stars in her face. An Othra sat on one of her shoulders and her hand was on the head of a tall deer-like creature that stood beside her. She wore impressive robes in the painting, flowing like water, shot through with every color in the rainbow. But it was her face that Isika stared at.

  "It's our queen," Jabari said, his voice soft. Ivram reached them then, his silverwood staff in his hand. The end shone blue.

  "This was painted just before Queen Azariyah was taken from us," Ivram said. "Why, what is the matter, child?"

  Isika was shaking. "For a moment I thought it was my mother. She has the very same face, here," she pointed at her own brow, "and here," and put she put her hands over the lower half of her face. "Do you see, Ben? She looks like Mother." Her words ended in a sob, and Ivram's staff flashed white in the dim hallway, nearly blinding Jabari.

  Benayeem nodded, slowly, his eyes fixed on the painting. Jabari and Gavi stood staring at the two of them, then Jabari cocked an eyebrow at Ivram.

  "Uncle?" he said.

  Ivram heaved a deep sigh. "I think it's possible," he said, "and even likely, that you are the grandchildren of our lost queen." His staff glowed bright white, energy crackling off of it. Jabari had known the words that would come from Ivram's mouth, and he heard them now with a sinking in his stomach, as though they had been written down many years before and handed to him here, to read at last, to know for truth. He shook his head. He had been searching for the queen for many years. It couldn't be that she was dead. It couldn't be that Isika was her grandchild. Isika wasn't right at all. He heard the wings of the Othra as they drew near, and then he was shocked, because he heard Isika's voice in his head as she called to them.

  Help me, she said, without speaking aloud.

  Don't be distressed, child, Efir answered, and the words echoed in Jabari's mind. We're here.

  CHAPTER 24

  Somehow, despite the confusion and aftermath of Ivram's statement, the discussions with the regent and his wife and the other elders, Efir managed to impress on Karah's mind that Isika and Ben needed rest. In a blur of steps and whispers they found themselves back in Dawit and Teru's house. Teru showed Isika to a room that had two beds, one with Ibba already sleeping in it. Isika left her bed empty and crawled into Ibba's. The little girl smiled in her sleep and Isika threw her arm around her and sank thankfully into oblivion.

  In the morning she smelled cinnamon and coffee. Ibba was gone. When Isika reached into the kitchen, she found her little sister sitting on the stone cooking bench, chattering away to Teru, who bent over the stove in a soft gray robe. Ibba's hair had been braided into dozens of tiny braids with bright stone beads threaded on the ends. When she shook her head, her hair clattered. She grinned at Isika.

  "I wondered when you would wake up!" she said. "You slept forever!"

  "I did?" Isika teased, reaching out to feel one of the beads, and laying her hand softly on her sister's cheek. "We certainly couldn't wake you up yesterday evening."

  Isika took at good look at Teru as the older woman turned and smiled at her. She was of medium height and a little plump, the kind of woman you could lean on while she stroked your hair, and she was beautiful, with high cheekbones and soft eyes. Isika sighed. She wanted to stay in this house and and let this woman care for her.

  "Come and eat, child," Teru said. "Then you can dress in your travel clothes. I hate that those elders are taking you away so soon, you had such a day yesterday, and no time to recover." Isika squared her shoulders. If she wasn't careful, she could let Teru's sympathy absorb every bit of her willpower, and she needed hard-faced strength. She sat in the nearest chair. The table was laid with the same bright ceramic plates she had seen yesterday. She picked up a plate and looked at it curiously. It didn't look like the rough clay ware of the Workers at all.

  "How do they make this so thin?" she asked.

  Teru laughed and said, "When you get back I'll bring you to the master potter's workshop, and you can see for yourself."

  "They make these here in the city?"

  "Yes, like everything else. The master potter is an old friend of mine from school days. I'll introduce you."

  She was bustling around the kitchen, gathering food. When she came to the table, Isika set the plate down so Teru could lay several spiced pancakes and a pile of thin-sliced mushrooms on her plate. The mushrooms were fried lightly, rich and full of flavor. Isika ate quickly, piling wild fruit jam on her pancakes, nodding at Ben, who appeared from the back of the house, his eyes sleepy. He took a deep breath at the sight of the food on the table, then popped his eyes at Isika.

  She knew how he felt. This was a big change, to say the least. They had gone from one meal of porridge a day to multiple meals of fresh, aromatic food. Isika could see a difference in herself and her siblings. They were stronger and more sure with their bodies. She hoped they were ready for whatever this journey would bring.

  After they ate, Teru brought out Isika's new traveling clothes; another tunic and pair of wide-legged pants, but dark brown and made of a tougher material, with pockets in the tunic and orange embroidery on the collar and hems. After Isika put them on, Teru handed her a belt to buckle around her waist. It had several pockets as well. In one Isika found a compass; in another a knife. Then Teru handed her a tall pair of boots, like the ones Jabari had been wearing on their last journey. They were made of the softest leather, and Isika loved them immediately. She laced them over the wide pants, all the way to her knees, and afterward, she stood and looked at herself in the mirror while Teru rebraided her hair so that it wrapped around her head, no loose hair hanging. She looked like a warrior. All she needed was a bow or a knife. She walked out to find Benayeem with Dawit, dressed almost identically to her, except instead of a tunic, he wore a shirt. Teru handed Isika a scarf.

  "This will come in handy," she said. "You can wrap it around your head if the sun is beating down on you," she showed her, "or use it as a towel, or wet it if you are too hot." Isika wrapped it loosely around her neck and looked at the kind older couple. Teru handed them each a bag of food. Isika glanced inside and found a water flask, bread, meat, and nuts.

  "How can we thank you?" she asked the kind couple who had taken them in.

  "By coming back so we can really begin our life together," she said. "Now you three need to go. You're supposed to meet the others at the palace, and I dare not go because Ivram will receive a tongue-lashing like he has never had in his life if I get my sights on him."

  Isika smiled and impulsively reached out to give the older woman a hug. She smelled like flowers and warm skin, a motherly smell a little like Isika's own mother's.

  She swallowed past a tight feeling in her throat. "What do we call you? I haven't even asked."

  "You can call us Auntie and Uncle. Or Auntie Teru and Uncle Dawit if you want. But Auntie and Uncle will do."

  Isika smiled and gave Auntie Teru's hands one last squeeze. "We will come back, Auntie. Come, Ibba," she said. "The regent wife is waiting for you." Ibba sat on a cushion on the floor, pulling a piece of string along for a kitten to pounce on.

  "I'm not coming," she announced. "I'm staying here with Auntie."

  "No, you said that you would come and stay with Laylit," Isika said.

  "Oh, but I changed my mind," she said. "And I'm staying h
ere."

  Isika felt like she was getting a glimpse of what it was like to work with herself. She looked at Auntie. Teru shrugged. Isika thought quickly. She didn't want to start the journey by dragging Ibba somewhere she didn't want to go. Surely the regent wife would understand and not want to uproot the little girl again.

  "Okay," she said, "you can stay here. But behave."

  Ibba waved from her place on the floor. Isika could tell it meant nothing to her that Isika had given her permission, because Ibba hadn't planned to come in any case. Isika gave Ben a look, and he frowned back at her. He looked worried.

  "I think we're going to see a side of Ibba we haven't seen before," Isika said.

  "A side of all of us," he agreed, "but I'm a bit worried, Isika. The regent wife isn't going to like that."

  Isika shrugged. "She'll have to accept it."

  They waved their way out the door and Isika looked back at the little house on the side of the hill as they climbed down. Auntie Teru and Uncle Dawit stood in the doorway with their arms around each other, and Isika realized how hard this must be for them; their son had gone on a journey like this and had never come back. Isika gave a final wave and her heart leapt to see them raise their hands in a wave of their own.

  Ben could see a crowd waiting outside the palace as he and Isika drew near, walking down the steep path. The regent and his wife were there, as well as several more men and women dressed in the robes of elders. There were others in traveling clothes, and Ben assumed they were the rangers who would accompany them. Then there were Jabari and Gavi.

  "Welcome, travelers," Andar said from the top of the palace steps, a smile on his face. He was tall and imposing, standing with his wife, who shone and glittered in the sun. Her robes were covered with tiny pieces of mirror, and they caught the morning light, flashing in their eyes.