by R. Cooper
Taji ought to feel more grateful Trenne was there, and not irritated that Trenne was probably going to pass out soon. At least Olea Rinnah had not stared much at the hurat assigned to protect the IPTC ambassador. She had, it was true, but then quickly turned to Tsomyal to ask about their journey and what they thought of the capital.
Rinnah didn’t behave like someone about to become engaged, or tied, or however her brother would have put it. Taji didn’t have a lot of basis for comparison, but he would have expected either excitement, or at least some nerves.
Like Koel Eriat however, nothing as low class as an emotion crossed Rinnah’s face as the ambassador asked if it was polite to congratulate her. It was Mos who startled, the faintest twitch that gave away her surprise.
If Mos, who poured Rinnah’s tea for her and welcomed her guests, hadn’t known about Larin’s intentions for his sister, odds were good Rinnah hadn’t either.
“Thank you, but no, not yet.” Rinnah looked down at the data device in her lap for a moment. Taji also sought out answers that way when he didn’t know what else to do with himself. “He has invited the Koel,” she went on. That had nothing or everything to do with the situation, Taji supposed. “And some others of his circle.”
If Rinnah wasn’t going to react, Taji could always watch Mos, who was very still now. He couldn’t blame her. He had seen some of the emperor’s circle, and he wouldn’t want anyone he knew to be tied to them either.
“Perhaps I will get to congratulate your brother as well, in my time here.” The ambassador drank cold spiced tea as if they actually enjoyed it. “Do you think he will soon? Even for a species with no urgent biological imperative, it seems an important business to put off. An emperor ought to have an heir, if not a secure alliance. Perhaps it soothes his worries to know you are here.”
If Taji hadn’t spent all night reading, he might have been utterly lost. But he was starting to see what they were circling around in their slow diplomatic fashion. If an emperor wasn’t replaced via assassination, then they usually had an heir. Babies could result from informal relationships, and be chosen to rule, but it was rare. Mostly because there was no secure alliance, no other strong noble house to support them. That’s what tying seemed to mean in most cases. A sort of contract for an alliance, often temporary, although some lasted lifetimes. Larin hadn’t tied himself to anyone, even briefly. That meant his most likely heir was still his sister.
What Taji didn’t get was why he’d marry her off, so to speak, and not himself. If she had offspring, they’d still be in line to be emperor unless Larin had his own. She looked no older than Markita or Taji, so she had years to pick out a mate if she wanted one. Taji would take those years, if he was in her place. If the birthrate was really such an issue, then she could end up tied to someone for a very long time.
If Larin had some other reason for pushing this on his sister, Rinnah didn’t share it with them. “I grew up with many of the younger Koel. Our families have been near for many generations.”
Taji didn’t know how she meant that. Rinnah’s expression told him nothing. But the ambassador commented that they had found the Koel pleasant and then Rinnah glanced down at her data device again. Taji thought it was a nervous tic.
Translator devices, he scoffed internally. They missed things like body language, every time. Even visual aids for nonverbal cultures were so focused on the mimed words that they forgot to check for facial expressions.
He shook his head.
“What is it?” Rinnah startled him by addressing him directly. She used Anglisky, Taji realized in the next second, although her use was halting. “I chose the wrong word?”
Taji glanced wildly at the ambassador, then met Rinnah’s dark eyes. “You could say “close” to the Koel, instead of “near” to them. With distance, they mean almost the same thing. But with relationships, “close” is used. But I understood you.”
“Close,” Rinnah repeated, as if processing. Her ears straightened, sudden and happy. “Thank you.” Taji smiled back automatically at the unexpected display of emotion. “I have been trying to learn your language. I find it confusing, which is perhaps because it has so many influences. But that is what makes it the language most used in inter-system trade, I assume.”
“It’s only because I grew up speaking it that I don’t also find it confusing,” Taji assured her. “And even then, the version we use is different from the one at IPTC headquarters. Everyone has their own regional markers.”
“I hear that you speak ‘Asha.” Rinnah tipped her ears forward with interest. “And with a strange accent.”
Taji looked to Mos, who kept her blank face this time. He faced Rinnah again. “I am learning,” he said, honestly. “I knew the language used on your moon first.”
“Mr. Ameyo knows many languages, and is always available if you have any questions.” Tsomyal was subtly amused. Taji knew that tone. “Discussing words is his favorite activity.”
Rinnah’s pleasure dimmed, but only slightly. She returned to using ‘Asha. “I am not certain I will have much time. But if Mr. Ameyo pleases, I would like that.”
Taji assumed there was no point in asking her to use his first name and tried to remember he wasn’t supposed to react to things. Despite that, he kept smiling as he ducked his head in agreement. “Mr. Ameyo pleases.”
“Olea Rinnah will be relentless,” Mos remarked quietly, in a tone both teasing and fond.
Taji shrugged. “I don’t shut up. Sounds perfect.”
Rinnah dropped her attention to her data device and lost her good mood. “It seems my brother has arrived. Mos.”
Mos smoothly got to her feet and left the room. Rinnah turned to Tsomyal. “He will be on his way here. You may stay if you wish. If not, you will likely not meet him again until tomorrow.”
“I have no urgent business elsewhere.” Tsomyal was almost friendly. “And I have not yet finished my tea.” But they looked pointedly at Taji. Taji quickly got rid of his smile. A second later, he twisted around to check on Trenne.
Trenne answered Taji’s concern with a slight nod. Taji thinned his mouth, not at all reassured to know Trenne was used to being treated badly. He turned back in time to see Rinnah watching them with interest, although her gaze skittered away from Trenne.
“Rinnah!” Larin Emperor’s voice broke through the silence of the room before he set foot across the threshold. Taji went to assist Tsomyal in order to put off facing him. The emperor was occupied with greeting his sister anyway. Modern ‘Asha filled the room. “You changed your hair since the last time we spoke. Should I call you rheh now?”
“Larin.” Rinnah slowly rose to her feet. “Nikay,” she added, barely hesitating over the name. Taji straightened. Larin was currently with only a fraction of his retinue; his friend Nikay was with him, along with a few others.
“You have met the I.P.T.C. ambassador! Good. I thought it was time the I.P.T.C. saw more than the capital city.” Larin regarded Tsomyal curiously. “Ambassador, you appear tired. Was the trip too much?”
“The trip was nothing compared to the journey to your lovely planet.” Tsomyal’s insults were hard to spot, at first. Taji was used to them and did his best not to grin. The ambassador had crossed systems to get here. A few hours on a flier were not much in comparison, even if Larin was right and they did appear tired.
Larin’s ears didn’t even twitch. “Rinnah has been a good host, I hope. You and your…security people are settled?” Larin looked right at Taji before Taji could glance away.
Larin was dressed informally, probably for travel, in a short, thick robe, with no soria at all. With the rest of his clothing so tight it was difficult not to notice the strength of his body, the muscles in his legs. It implied he was more active than Taji would have thought.
“Their rooms are ready.” Mos slipped back in to join them.
Larin didn’t acknowledge her. “I think you will enjoy it here, Ambassador. There will be much to see. You and your assistant
should have a tour. View the woods, if you feel comfortable there. Rinnah can tell you the history of the Olea—she knows it well. Right, ‘Nah?”
Taji almost jumped at being mentioned, but the ambassador carried on politely. “Olea Rinnah seemed very knowledgeable.”
“She does,” Larin agreed. “Rinnah, the clever, knows more than all of us.”
“Larin.” Rinnah wrinkled her forehead. “That is exaggeration.”
“Only because of my pride in you. A true Olea. Fit to be emperor if I were ever endangered.” Larin’s words were not sharp and yet the tension in the room increased.
Taji licked the taste of tea from his dry lips, and Larin focused on him—or his mouth. For one moment, it was hard to tell which.
“Are you frightened, ithuman?” Larin’s tone softened. It, the prefix to mean short or small or little, and human, an IPTC word that Shavians had taken directly. Little human. Just the nickname Taji needed, and one that drew attention to the fact that the emperor was everything a Shavian was supposed to be—namely, large and intimidating. “There will not be any danger for you. And if there is, I can protect you.”
Someone in his retinue, Nikay perhaps, made a small sound of amusement and it reminded Taji to blink. He wet his lips again reflexively. He looked away and found Mos watching him. Taji was not meant for diplomacy. That was obvious.
“Look at how much he gives away with his gaze alone, Rinnah.” Larin released a long breath. “How dark his beauty is, how his lips are always parted as if to speak. He must have so much to say, but he does not share it with me. Not like the other humans of his I.P.T.C., is he?”
“Mr. Ameyo is unique. A fortunate find for the I.P.T.C.” Ambassador Tsomyal tipped their head to one side, almost kindly, except for how it wasn’t. “We do not mind the help of fortune, from time to time.”
Larin made a vague approximation of a human smile and some of his friends laughed politely. “You are much more entertaining than the last group sent here by your coalition.”
Taji frowned. He hadn’t met his predecessor, but the man was dead. So was Trenne’s former commander here, and no one should find that entertaining, or not entertaining enough.
“There it is again!” Larin practically crowed. “What a shehzha he is, as if he was born to it.” Larin waved one hand languidly at the sound of his sister’s sharp gasp. “Some are meant to be emperor, and some are meant to give, eh, Rinnah?”
Rinnah was stillness itself except for how tightly she held her data device to her chest. “If you do not mind, Larin, the ambassador had some tasks to attend to, and was preparing to leave me when you arrived.”
Ambassador Tsomyal didn’t refute the lie. “I look forward to speaking to you tomorrow, Larin Emperor.”
“And you. Taji Ameyo, will you be leaving as well?” Larin pronounced Taji’s name as softly as the handful of other Shavians who had ever said it.
He knew Taji’s name. Taji felt caught unaware and then distantly annoyed because Larin wanted him to feel that way.
“I have to work,” he answered, not nearly loud enough, although of course everyone in this room would hear him.
“You work?” Larin turned to his friend Nikay. “He has work.”
“My whole life.” Taji looked between them. “Most do, in the universe. I should escort the ambassador to their rooms now.” He had no clue where their rooms were, however.
“Amazing,” Nikay commented, as if Taji was a new kind of cheese.
“If you like, I will show you to your rooms.” Mos came delicately forward. “I have already seen to the rest of your people, Ambassador, and I am happy to make certain that you are comfortable. You, as well, Mr. Ameyo. I have arranged a room that will hopefully suit you and Sergeant Major Trenne.”
Taji blinked a few times as he mentally translated and re-translated her words. He had evidently been assigned a room with Trenne. It had been a long, long time since he had shared space with anyone, much less someone he couldn’t be around without making a fool of himself. But he nodded to cover how his thoughts were racing and then glanced to Trenne.
Trenne’s gaze was like iron. Taji nodded again, this time to let Trenne know he was okay. “Yes, of course,” he said faintly to Mos without turning.
“Trenne?” Larin echoed, as he followed Taji’s gaze. “The hurat?” His voice rose on the word, before falling back to something measured and precise. “How truly interesting. What has the hurat done to deserve such a pleasure?”
Trenne slowly took his eyes off Taji to focus on Larin. He didn’t speak. He didn’t blink. He was Trenne—like them but not one of them, grave and still, decorated with patches honoring battles across the galaxy.
“Humans and their whims.” Larin might sound idle but he kept his attention fixed on Trenne. “But one hurat cannot be enough if you are still capable of working. Was it curiosity?”
“Larin, you do not disrespect a shehzha’s choice, no matter if it is…you do not.” Rinnah seemed genuinely shocked.
Taji opened his mouth, then closed it. His cheeks were stinging with humiliation. Whatever a shehzha was, he hadn’t realized his choice was so obvious. Trenne had to know; Taji had accepted that forever ago. But not everyone else. Not strangers.
Trenne glanced to him and Taji quickly turned to the ambassador.
Ambassador Tsomyal drew themselves up. “Trenne is the leader of my security team as well as a highly valued soldier of the I.P.T.C.”
“Really? They have not gotten carried away? Neither of them? Not even the human, who is so wild already?” Larin pronounced each word as if testing Trenne’s reaction. “Does this animal not know how to woo you, little Taji? I could demonstrate. It might be interesting.”
“Larin!” Rinnah’s voice cracked. The sound brought Taji’s attention sharply back to her. Not even Phyta had lost that much control, and Taji couldn’t help his racing heart. “They told me you had—”
“I had what?” Larin faced his sister again at last. He was calm in every way she was not and seemed pleased by it. “What did they tell you?”
She shook her head and regained some of her calm. “You cannot possibly honor all of them, Larin. You cannot.”
Nikay laughed. Taji’s stomach turned.
“Who needs to honor them?” Larin told his sister, so careless it was almost hateful.
Rinnah’s data device fell from her hands. It dropped onto a cushion before sliding to the floor. Mos exhaled as if she’d been struck. Taji looked at the emperor’s smug face and clenched his jaw until the ambassador tugged lightly on his sleeve to indicate he should move.
He heard the ambassador making excuses, bidding the emperor and his sister a good night, but for once Taji said nothing. He kept his gaze on Mos’s dark braid as she led them to their rooms, and then on her soria when she paused as if she had more she wanted to say. In the end, she left them in the ambassador’s quarters without another word.
Taji waited until the ambassador was seated, and Trenne began to prowl through the rooms in a security sweep that the others had probably already performed. Then he spoke.
“Trenne.” He did not look up. “Tell me what shehzha means.”
Trenne stopped in his tracks.
Chapter Five
TAJI LAUNCHED into speech when it became obvious Trenne wasn’t going to. “I looked up shehzha, you know. No one from IPTC bothered with a cultural explanation, but I can tell you it sounds a lot like the word for ‘give’, which might mean something like ‘giver’ or ‘one who gives.’ And, if that is so, in context, it sounds sexual. Perhaps even a sexual insult.” He crossed his arms. “Now you go.”
Trenne looked incredibly good in a room like this, surrounded by beautiful, fine things, with a giant bed behind him. But he was tense.
Ambassador Tsomyal glanced between them. “From what I understand, a shehzha is not allowed in public except in rare circumstances. It’s a highly revered, almost sacred, position, especially to the nobility, although it does not see
m to be permanent. I do not know about the lower classes. I’m sorry.”
The lower classes were not high on IPTC’s list of concerns for the moment, so Taji let that go. He stayed focused on Trenne without responding to Trenne’s grave expression. “So Koel Phyta’s mate is his shehzha—and his spouse?”
“Yes.” The ambassador’s throaty voice got deeper. “Koel Phyta is doubly honored.”
“But he’s not her shehzha?” Taji followed the chain of logic as far as he could.