by Eden Wolfe
Rose smiled, “It will be perfect.”
Leadon's face darkened. Rose heard the blood accelerate in Leadon's brain, she tried to understand the sudden change, but there had been little to hint of worry or danger until now.
"Maeva is coming," Leadon said, her voice low.
"Maeva?" Rose froze. "Here, she's coming here?"
"Yes, I do not know why. It can't be related to you, can it?"
Rose scanned her memory. "No, it's not possible. She hasn't known of my movements since I left Geb on the day the new Queen was crowned. I have felt her at times, but - ” Rose stopped. She didn't know how to explain the sensation to Leadon. The years she and Maeva had been connected despite their separation. The pull they both felt to one another. Code of mother perfected in the daughter, but for a moment of weakness that had changed everything before her birth. A moment that had warped Rose into the woman she'd become.
Rose took Leadon's hand, her white skin glowing against the rich earth color of the Ganese Chief. “I will be careful. I have always been stronger than her. I just didn't know it until I had to."
"We have much to discuss, Ariane." Leadon leaned forward, her hand squeezing Rose's tighter than anyone had done before. "This is just the beginning.”
“Just the beginning,” Rose whispered in affirmation. So much richness between them already, Rose knew this was more than a union of allies. She bowed her head and then ran out of the hut. Out into black night, running faster than eyes could capture, she ran back to her tent in the trees, back to the home she’d made in her child’s heart.
He would be waiting for her.
21
Maeva
Maeva rode on the donkey's back. She'd refused to take a coach and refused to be accompanied directly. She would ride as a commoner to show her unity with the people. It would show her humility, her simplicity. It was a strategy that Ariane found laughable before waving her hand and sending Maeva back to her little room on the second floor.
At first, the beast was hard to manage. Her trip past the East Fields had been difficult and long. She'd begun regretting her choice. By the time she'd gone to the Lakes District a few weeks later, she understood better the donkey's way. Rather than trying to manage the animal, she had to not manage it at all. She just had to ride. She'd passed nearly two months winding around mountains and coast, through the various settlements. The donkey was her constant companion. Once she'd surrendered to the animal's gait and given up trying to direct it, the gentle sway was surprisingly soothing, more so than that bumpy coach she had taken on all her official visits.
For the unofficial visits, she had always run. It was faster and more covert than any coach.
Many of her senses had begun to numb with time, though they were only in their very initial stages of decline. Maeva had at least another forty good years. Idia had died at shortly over a hundred years old. Maeva intended to outlive her mother.
Though she wasn't sure she wanted to.
She distracted herself with the donkey's sway. The landscape evolved. The dust of the Central Mass turned into rocky terrain with swatches of green in the distance as she headed east. She came closer to Gana, a day's ride away. The green fields extended for as far as she could see, agricultural fields for as far as she could smell. She arrived at the last checkpoint before Gana, surprised to find her legs stiff from disuse.
I could have made the trip to Gana in just over a day on foot. But I cannot trust myself and now is not the time to have the people catch on to our ways. Ariane would have my head.
"Madam Maeva, you are most welcome at checkpoint A6."
Madam. I don't think I'll ever get used to being called Madam.
A broad woman with standard brown hair and green eyes bowed. Maeva waved absentmindedly.
"Yes, fine. Hello. Where am I to stay?"
The guard stood up and Maeva could finally appreciate the size of the woman. Wide shoulders and thick thighs, she'd obviously been designed for the Queen's Guard.
"Are you a Gillard?" Maeva asked.
"Yes, Madam. Helen Gillard."
"I see. Do you compete in the summer games?"
"Yes, Madam."
"I think I saw you last year."
"I won at discus."
"Yes, I remember now."
Helen Gillard's shoulders drew back with pride. "I'm honored. I was most pleased to enter the Guard under your reign, Madam. That had been a good period for the Guard."
I wonder what she means by that?
"Yes, well, times change and we must change with them."
"Yes, Madam."
"Now take me to my sleeping quarters."
The mattress was common, lumpy, and stiff. Maeva didn't sleep. The thought of going to Gana, where Aria had spent so many years, made something flutter in her stomach. How many times had she traveled to Gana to see Aria? She couldn't count. Was it Gana that had given her such depth of character? How could she have turned out so differently from the others? It had to be the nurtured aspects of her life, for the nature of them was identical. Especially with the Strangelands one, of course. They were more than identical. A single existence living in two bodies.
Maeva attempted to regenerate to fill the time. She sought out the cells from the inside, sensing where there was weakness.
She saw through her veins to the center of her arteries. Blood moved well and healthy. No blockages to be concerned about, not since that time around the coronation. How lucky she had been to find the clot, hiding within the curve of her hip. She had arrived upon it through her internal consciousness like a boulder.
Imagine if that had been allowed to progress. I must take better care. It could have killed me, or worse. Left me handicapped, dumb, mute. What horror that would have been. I must be more careful.
She arrived upon her abdominal muscles. They had always been taut and toned. Her core was essential to her state of mind as well. Kept her upright, kept her mind clear. Her posture erect.
She sent the blood to her abdominal walls, thrusting in, splitting the cells, and creating anew. The flesh welcomed the birth of new life within. She strengthened the muscles with a conscious and targeted application, breaking and re-growing the fibers stronger than they had been before.
She remembered watching the two, Aria and Ariane of the Strangelands, as newborn babes, passing between them the innate knowledge of growth. As one developed a new skill, it transferred to the other. The other grew muscle and skin and flesh, it was soon reflected in the first. The two had held each other with eyes so captivated, each consumed by her perfect infant double, there had been no place for Maeva as Mother between them.
That was how she knew the two had to be separated.
And that was how she'd had the idea.
Three Future Queens. Three separate upbringings. The true Queen would emerge the stronger of the three. One in East Gana where the tradition of raising Queens was old and strong. One in West Strangelands where she would remain a secret amongst the sisters, in isolation so she would be dependent on no one but herself. And one, born as an incubate, like herself, to stay close to the capital and the women within it.
It had made so much sense.
So how did it end up so very, very wrong?
Lucius. It all came back to Lucius. There never should have been two in her womb. One natural birth. One incubate. The decision would have been easy, Maeva had thought. One would be more adapted than the other.
So she'd thought.
And then Lucius had interfered. A double womb birth, all his idea. All in the name of saving Maeva. All in the name of preventing another disaster. All to prevent another "Rose" from occurring.
Rose. It had all been Maeva's fault. None of the three should have been born. It should have been Rose. The first Ariane. The Queen Child had been alive and well in her pregnant belly when she'd jumped off the cliff at Rainfields. She hadn't intended to, hadn't wanted to, but the call had been so strong, the voices so full of lies, the mirage calli
ng her forward so real.
She'd fallen over the edge, not even realizing it before it was too late. She'd prepared for her fall, knowing she would regenerate her broken body. She had no fear for herself.
But the child.
Oh, how that child suffered. She suffered in the fall and she suffered as I rebuilt her inside me. And she's suffered her whole life because of it. Deformed face, deformed spirit, deformed life. Red hair like the fire that has burned my heart ever since.
Maeva couldn't blame Lucius for everything. She'd been the one who'd killed her first Ariane and brought her back from the dead. There was no escaping the consequences.
The first Ariane calling herself Rose now, the name suited her. The softness of petals. Red like Rose, not red like fire, blood, anger. Rose.
Maeva closed her eyes.
Where are you, sweet Rose? Where have you gone? It has been so long you have not appeared through the window. I don't feel you anymore. Come visit me again, Rose. Come back again, my precious first-born.
A streak of light entered the tent where Maeva was lying in the checkpoint. Morning entered in red hues. Maeva prepared her overnight satchel and left for Gana before breakfast.
She paused before the gate into formal Gana territory. That gate had been Aria's limit. She recalled seeing Aria's face through the bars as she'd approached. Aria, always waiting for her. Always wanting her there. Maeva never questioned that Aria loved her.
There were no lookouts along the fence; they'd always been more for show anyhow, but it was unusual.
The time of day where the lookouts change, perhaps? Or an event in Gana of which I was unaware?
Maeva didn't know what event it could be, but then again she had been surprised by much she had seen on her travels. In the five years since she had been Queen, the landscape had evolved across Lower Earth. Mortality rates had risen, some counties hadn't received food stores in months and were living off rations. The administration of the country had slipped. Maeva had noted it all for her report to Ariane.
Ariane had been right to send Maeva; the people relished the opportunity to entreat the former Queen with their pleas and requests. Arms reached out to her, asking for healing, though she had no such power for them.
She could heal herself, that was the gift of her code, the element of the sequence that had been added from generations earlier. Send new blood, split healthy cells, grow and strengthen from within. But it was a gift for her alone.
She realized now that it was a selfish gift.
A selfish gift whose consequence was the voices of the past that lived in her. The voices had little to say on her tour of the counties. Maeva wondered how the Queens of old had led in such troubled times. Previous generations certainly had it worse on Lower Earth than they did now. But when she sought answers from within, the voices were uncharacteristically quiet. Maeva wondered if the old queens had ever traveled outside of Geb at all. Or perhaps the suffering of common people had not been a concern of theirs. There was no asking such a concrete question of the voices; she would never know. What she knew was that she was on her own. They would offer no help in interpreting the conditions of Lower Earth. She had to rely on herself to propose something that would be acceptable to Ariane.
The task was not self-evident.
Gana was her last stop before her return to Geb.
She scaled the entry gate.
Her feet landed firmly on the dirt behind, and a wave crashed over her, a sensation so strong that she was struck, nearly thrown down to the ground.
Rose?
Can it be? Rose in Gana?
It couldn't be Aria; any scent of Aria was gone years ago along with her cold body, tossed into the ocean for her watery, silent funeral rites.
Am I recreating this? Why would Rose be in Gana?
Then again, why would Rose be anywhere? Maeva had tried to locate her, made delicate inquiries on the sighting of any deformed children. Despite Rose's more than thirty years of age, others would see her as no more than a girl. Maeva was certain she was no longer in Cork Town, but then where, and what for? Rose had no business, no calling, no reason, which made her sudden departure all the more perplexing. And finding her - near impossible.
Perhaps she felt in Queen Ariane what I only came to know after. Rose always had been more sensitive than I to people's true characters.
A gathering of Ganese was underway a hundred feet in front of her. She walked to the crowd of about fifteen who dispersed just as she approached. They were a sight. Fifteen towers of women, their thick hair carrying them even taller, they walked with the grace of deer. Their piercing dark eyes. How long it had been since she'd seen dark eyes in Geb except for Irene. It had become too easy to forget that Irene had hailed from Gana. She had adapted to the Geb lifestyle as though she had always been there.
A woman approached Maeva, her head cocked. "You appear to be looking for someone."
"I am."
"Are you a visitor?"
"Yes," Maeva nearly laughed, "I am Maeva, the former Queen of Lower Earth."
The woman in front of her stumbled backward. "Queen Maeva? I must find the Chief for you. I will find her right away. But the gate is shut. The gate is shut, isn't it? We lock it during our briefings. How did you - "
"Please find the Chief immediately. And send someone for my donkey. He's still waiting on the other side."
"Yes, yes, Queen. Former Queen." The woman ran, her hand on her head.
Maeva strolled further into the center of the village. Nothing had changed. The dirt under her feet kicked up in the same way it used to. The vines continued to grow up the trellises. Pines provided shade. There appeared to be more West Ganese in the village than she remembered. They stood out. She only ever recalled seeing a few wandering in amongst the more modern Easterners. Now the population appeared nearly equal.
Curious. They are blending. I always expected that the West would want to branch off on their own. Irene was supposed to quench the bubbling rebellion, but she'd lost any credibility with Habana by then. And Batrasa only sparked the spirit of independence further amongst both sides of Gana.
A woman wearing the light-colored pelts of feral deer strode slowly on her way. Her legs were long and her shoulders relaxed. The leather glowed against the dewy shine of her dark skin. There was no mistaking who she was.
She was the spitting image of Irene.
Yes, exactly like Irene at the age when Maeva had sought her out from Gana.
Maeva felt like she'd gone back in time thirty years. She had to remind her heart not to flutter at the image of young Irene before her.
She is not the same woman. She does not love you as Irene does. Do not be confused by the identical glint in her eye. It is borrowed from strong genes.
"Maeva. I am Chief Leadon."
"Indeed you are. I know your face."
Leadon tilted her head. "Will you be staying with us?"
"Yes. I will stay for at least one week."
"I see. Let's walk."
Leadon led her through the village. Curious eyes looked up at that from various daily activities, plucking chickens, sharpening knives, and swords over a fire, a woman doing the wash. Maeva tried to smile at all of them, but she didn't know if it came across as genuine. She was distracted.
Rose. I feel her. It must be her.
"Have you been to the river, Maeva?"
"Many times. Aria and I often met there." She hadn't wanted to mention Aria. That was not the purpose of her visit. Discussions of Aria could derail more than she was ready to manage. Queen Ariane, as far as the Ganese knew, was the Aria they had watched grow within their borders. She had been careful to keep the story alive amongst the Ganese. She had to be careful not to shatter the illusion she'd spent so long building since the coronation.
Leadon was quiet at the mention of Aria. Maeva watched the Chief's face as they walked closer toward the river, but it gave nothing away.
Just like Irene.
The rus
h of the river came closer with each step.
"I knew Aria," Leadon finally said.
"Oh?" Maeva would be more careful with her words.
"She was a friend of mine."
Reinforce the Queen, the Ganese must remain on our side. She knew Aria, she will love Queen Ariane.
"Do you not consider her still a friend?"
Leadon looked at Maeva with an expression she couldn't read. "I do."
"A reigning Queen has many complicated relationships. I would know. Queen Ariane has not come to Gana, but that doesn't mean - it doesn't mean she loves you any less."
Prepare your words, Maeva. The girl is not stupid; she comes from Irene's stock. If you stumble, she will see it.
Leadon kept her eyes firmly on Maeva. "The Queen's sentiments towards Gana are ambivalent."
"This is only because she is managing at a level across Lower Earth. She cannot favor one county over another."
"We are not a county. We are a nation."
"Yes, yes." Maeva waved her hand, then slowed down her words. She was involuntarily becoming dismissive, and that approach wouldn't serve her either. "Of course. The Ganese have an exceptional role in the history of Lower Earth."
"And in the governance of Lower Earth. You'll recall it's our Land Sages who to this day predict the harvest."
"And with remarkable precision."
"We are not a relic of the past."
"I hope you read no such allusion in my words."
Leadon kneeled by the river. "There was a time this river was all but dry." She let her fingers drag in the currents. "The fish had changed their course to adapt to the more nutrient-rich tributary further north. It was Aria who brought them back."
"Aria?"
"As a child."
"How?"
"She put her fingers into the water, just like I'm doing now, but it wasn't so deep. Then she waded, up to her knees. I was so little at the time, I watched from behind a tree. She rearranged the river floor, moved stones, large stones but not so large that she couldn't move them. She was always stronger than anyone else her age. She rearranged the smallest of currents. And that was all it took. It had to be at just the right location, but she knew the spot. Our Sages never could have predicted it. The change was subtle, but profound."