Rook

by Robin Roseau

  Hessie was full of passion. “We learn everything,” she said. “But my favorite class is art.”

  “Is it?” I asked. “Then you would like Tiera.” I looked over my shoulder. “Hessie enjoys the art classes.”

  “Does she?” Tiera said in her accented Framaran. At my gesture, she stepped into place beside the other girl. “Do you have a favorite medium?”

  “What is that?”

  “Oil on canvas, charcoal on paper, clay, wax?”

  “Oh. I draw, and I’ve done some clay.”

  “Tiera is a sculptor,” I said. “She works in clay and bronze.”

  “Really?” Hessie said, turning to look at Tiera. “How do you do that?”

  The two talked as I watched. We climbed a set of stairs, and then we entered a large classroom, and there was no mistaking: we had entered a music room.

  Some of the students were milling about; others were preparing their instruments. The instructor was talking to a few students. And nearly everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at us.

  Belatedly, the instructor began to curtsey, but Ralalta called out, “No, no. There has been enough of that today.” And so the woman froze, halfway down, before rising slowly.

  “Miss Redland,” said Gwenla, “Do you believe your students are prepared to play a short song for the queen and her household?”

  “Of course,” said the woman. “Of course. Places, girls, places!”

  It took a few minutes. They had to settle into position, finish preparing their instruments, and quickly tune them. Miss Redland moved into position before all of them, cocked her head, and then said, “Brioche, have you been practicing?”

  “I have, Miss Redland.”

  “Have you been practicing enough to play for the queen?”

  The girl looked over at Ralalta then nodded slowly. “I think so, Miss Redland.”

  “It would not do to embarrass Merkel’s School for Girls, Brioche.”

  “I won’t, Miss Redland.”

  “Then come forward,” she said. “Here.” She gestured to a place. The girl, carrying a violin, moved through the other students, coming to a stop in place. “Very good. You, too, Marla. No, no. Leave your cello. You will sing.”

  “Yes, Miss Redland.”

  “Seven’s Aria,” Miss Redland announced. “You should all know it by now.” She lifted her little stick, counted out a beat, and then with a gesture, the girls began to play.

  Except for Brioche, all the girls played from the beginning, and it was beautiful. Then with a gesture, Brioche lifted the bow to her violin. The other girls played far more softly, and Brioche drew the bow across the violin strings.

  Brioche was a far, far, far better player than I was, and I came near to weeping at the song. And then Marla began to sing, and that finished the process. Tears were crawling down my cheeks long before they finished. They were tears of joy, as the song was beautiful, and not sad, filled with joy and hope for the future, a perfect song.

  Then they drew silent, and Miss Redland lowered her stick. I was the first to begin clapping rapidly while I brushed tears away against my shoulders, and then the rest of the queen’s party, including the queen, joined in.

  Then Ralalta nudged me forward, and so I took two steps and offered my own curtsey, brief, but symbolic. “Merkel’s School for Girls can be quite proud of its girls,” I said. “That was beautiful. Brioche, you most certainly did not embarrass the school, and Marla, your voice is magical.”

  Miss Redland smiled broadly. “Thank you, Lady Yallameenara.”

  “You know who I am?”

  “Everyone knows who you are, Lady Yallameenara,” Brioche said.

  “Miss Redland,” said Gwenla. “Thank you. I apologize for offering no notice, but I knew you could handle it. Girls, your next class is cancelled, and we are all meeting in the auditorium. Perhaps Her Majesty will have time to answer a few questions of our students.”

  Then she ushered us from the room, and I brushed away another tear.

  * * * *

  I remained quiet for the next few minutes. Headmistress Gwenla led us to the auditorium. On the stage waited a table and a collection of chairs, and we all sat down. “Well, High Priestess Lady Yallameenara,” Gwenla said. “The queen and I have discussed your needs, but perhaps you would care to share them yourself.”

  “Larien, would you?” I prompted. And so Larien explained what we were doing, and the two discussed our needs. She did a better job of it than I would have, and the two were still discussing details when the bell rang again.

  “Well,” said Gwenla. “We will be inundated with, well, with everyone in just a few moments. I hope you do not mind, Queen Ralalta.”

  “Not at all,” she replied. “We have the remainder of the morning.”

  “Perhaps you could talk about the running of Framara and answer some questions,” Gwenla said. “And then perhaps the High Priestess could use the second half of this time to talk about the Goddess.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Of course,” she said. “I imagine the girls will have questions.” She laughed. “If not, I have plenty.”

  Gwenla wasn’t kidding. The girls entered the room, and the space grew quite loud. We stood up. Juleena gestured, leading an effort to move the table and chairs aside, and by the time they were done, Gwenla was gathering the attention of all the girls, encouraging them to take seats. The auditorium grew quiet, and then she said, “Girls, we have very, very special guests today. Some of you have already seen, and I’m sure most of you know who at least some of these people are.” She introduced the queen, both princesses, and me. Then she invited Ralalta to speak.

  I always loved watching Ralalta when she spoke. It was a beautiful thing, and she held them enrapt. She praised the school and complimented the students. She then spoke about the concept of public service and the responsibilities of leadership before leading a discussion of the most current events. There were questions, and then she said, “Perhaps we can do this again some time, but I’d like to introduce someone else now.” She turned partway towards the rest of us, now seated at the side, watching her. She held out a hand, and I rose and stepped forward. “Girls,” she said. “This woman is my foster daughter.” She spoke for about a minute, finally ending with a lengthy list of my titles, ending with “Lady Yallameenara, High Priestess to the Goddess Yahamala.”

  The girls applauded. I hugged the queen, and then she stepped away to take her own seat. I watched her until she sat and blew me a kiss, then I turned to the girls.

  “Good morning, girls,” I said. I stepped back and forth, moving slowly. “Everything I know about public speaking I have learned from Queen Ralalta. I am still learning, but I’ll do my best.” I paused. “I want to teach you a word. Prestainamatta.” I said it again slowly, one syllable at a time, then repeated it normally. “This word means Goddess, but it is more specific than that.” I talked about it for a few minutes.

  Then I spoke the other eight words, saying them once or twice, and offering a translation.

  “These words are the heart of our devotion to our Prestainamatta,” I said. “The Goddess.” I talked for about ten minutes before I said, “Every morning, I move to the temple in the palace. I pray to our Prestainamatta, and then I pick a word and think about what that word means to me. Today, I don’t know what word I would pick. Change. Life is full of change, but standing here today represents change. Joy. I see so much joy in the faces before me. Earlier I heard a beautiful song played for us, and I was filled with Joy.” I looked around. “Brioche, your violin playing was beautiful, and your voice is equally beautiful, Marla.”

  I may have embarrassed them; I’m not sure, and I’m not sure I care.

  “A gift given. The music played was a gift, given by them, and received by us.” I paused again. “So many of the words of the Goddess apply to this place, and I do not know which one I would pick today.” But then I turned to Gwenla and offered a cur
tsey and then I blew her a kiss besides.

  The girls laughed.

  “Joy,” I said. “Perhaps joy is the right word today. Does anyone have questions for me?”

  Six girls immediately stood up, and it was the headmistress who said, “Yearly?”

  “Is she real?”

  “Oh, yes,” I said. “She is quite real. I have seen her myself. I have touched her myself.”

  Juleena stood up. “And I have seen her make my wife and two of my daughters fly.”

  “Fly?” Yearly asked.

  “Well, float,” I said. “When we greet, she picks us up, and when she is most full of joy, she tends to float in the air.”

  “So she’s real, but no one can see her?”

  “Well, I can see her, and my daughters,” I said. “Others must be satisfied with the evidence.”

  “Which is fully convincing,” Ralalta added.

  “She’s real,” said the girl.

  “She is real,” I said.

  She fidgeted for a moment and then sat back down.

  Gwenla prompted another girl, and she asked, “What does she want?”

  “Well, that is a good question. You know, I haven’t asked. I know some of the things she wants. She wants her followers to live her words, which I have explained to you. She wants to be free to love us, and us to love her. She helps to guide us, and through me, we help to guide the king and queen of Alteara. And I believe Queen Ralalta has enjoyed her conversations with our Prestainamatta.”

  “Quite so,” Ralalta agreed. “She is a very wise goddess.”

  I answered questions for perhaps fifteen minutes, and then Headmistress Gwenla stood up and stepped across the stage to me. “High Priestess, if I were to invite you to teach classes here, what would you say?”

  “Classes devoted to our Prestainamatta?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I-”. I paused. “I believe between my priestesses and I, we could teach a few classes.

  “Excellent,” she said. She turned to the girls. “How many of you would wish to attend these classes?”

  I wouldn’t say every hand went up, but the majority of girls held a hand into the air. And I said, very quietly, “You’re a sly dog.”

  * * * *

  Ten minutes later, the girls dispersed to their next class, and Ralalta said, “Could we tour the grounds?”

  “Am I welcome to join you?” Gwenla asked.

  “Of course.”

  Gwenla led the way, and soon we were walking past the athletic fields south of the school. The open ocean was to our right, and I thought this was a beautiful, beautiful location. “The school owns all this land?” I asked.

  “Where we’re walking, yes,” said Gwenla. “And the nearest land surrounding us is owned by the crown. We have no immediate neighbors.”

  We came to a stop, and I turned a slow circle.

  “Gwenla,” said Ralalta, “I believe I’d like to see the north side as well.”

  “There is less there,” Gwenla replied.

  “I know. If you’re out of time, we understand.”

  “I have all the time you need, Your Majesty,” replied the headmistress. “Shall we?”

  And so we followed a path along the cliff edge, a sturdy fence helping to prevent accidents. “Is this dangerous?” I asked.

  “Our girls are not fools,” said Gwenla. “There is ample space for running and horseplay, but this path is walked, and there is no horseplay within twenty yards. They may break other rules, but this rule they do not break.”

  I nodded. Then we passed in front of the academic buildings, and I realized many of the rooms would have a similar view to mine in the palace. On the north side, it was open space, and a rise. It was Ralalta who led the way, stepping off the path to climb the hill. At the nadir, she turned and looked out to sea. Then she gave a gesture, one I didn’t know. Juleena pulled everyone else away, but she gave me a tiny push towards the queen. I approached, and she gestured, so I closed the distance.

  “Stand here,” she said. Then she turned me before standing close behind me, wrapping arms around me. I found myself looking partly at the corner of the nearest building but the primary view was of the ocean.

  “There are advantages of a temple near the heart of Marport,” she said. “It would be closer to more people. But this position where we are standing is the most attractive I can offer you.” And then she switched to the words of the Goddess. “Joy. Serenity.”

  I said nothing, but I was overcome with emotions.

  “If you preferred Westhaven-”

  “I hated Westhaven,” I said. “And you knew it before you took me. That woman doesn’t know how to spell joy.”

  “There are places inside Marport we could build a temple,” she said. “It will cost more, but you can afford it. You would need to buy the land; I have none I could grant you.”

  “This isn’t your land to grant.”

  “No, but I can make a trade with Gwenla,” she said. “If she asks. She may offer. I don’t know. If you want your temple inside Marport, far closer to the palace, we can find a place. It would be more convenient for you.”

  “The girls would live here.”

  “I think so, yes.”

  “All the girls,” I said. “Mandi and Nissi.”

  “I know,” she said. “They could travel back and forth. It isn’t so far. But I do not believe that is your best choice.”

  “Frankly, neither do I,” I said. “Ralalta, I am not sending anyone to that woman. I won’t do it.”

  “I know,” she said. “But I had to show you. It is a good school.”

  “I’d find a way to open an abbey first,” I said.

  “You’ll want an abbey eventually,” she said. “Perhaps there.” She pointed to the north. “Now, that land I own.”

  I turned to her. “You would give me this land?”

  “I believe I would,” she said. “Yalla, we need to go back to Alteara. The only question is simple: do we have enough of an answer now, and it can wait, or do we make arrangements to return soon.”

  “You’re coming?”

  “Yes. Am I welcome?”

  “Always,” I said.

  “So. Here?”

  “Here,” I said. “Larien! Terél!”

  They moved to us, and we turned to them.

  “Here,” I said.

  “Oh, thank the Goddess!” Terél said. “That other place is horrible!”

  “Larien?”

  “Here,” she agreed. “Did you have to ask?”

  “It is further from Marport.”

  “It isn’t too far,” Larien said.

  I nodded. “We’ll be returning to Alteara sooner than planned.”

  “Good. Who is going?”

  “Good question.”

  That was when Ralalta said, “Would the rest of you join us?” They clustered around, and she looked at Gwenla. “How many students can you take?”

  “We can make room for whatever needs the High Priestess has,” said Gwenla.

  “Some of us will be taking a trip to Alteara to speak with our Prestainamatta,” Ralalta said. “Would you like to join us?”

  “I would be overjoyed,” she said. Then she turned. “This would be a good place for a temple.”

  Return

  When Ralalta made decisions, things could move quickly. My household shrunk, rather dramatically, as all the acolytes, including Mandi, Nissi, and the Altearan girls formerly at Rotaren, and most of the former scribe apprentices moved to Merkel’s School for Girls. That was hard.

  It was decided that Gressa and Tyreen would remain living in the palace, but they would travel back and forth for their own classes. We were able to schedule things so they were gone from early morning until the noon meal, and they returned to the palace for more direct duties to the goddess.

  And then we made plans for our return trip.

  * * * *

  We rode hard: Larien, Terél, my new maids, Ésta and Níta, and
a small, spry honor guard. We cut north-northeast across Framara and entered Alteara far from the ocean. From there, we traveled north. I could have traveled faster alone, although I wasn’t sure how many more years Zana would be pleased with such a trip. However, she was more than fine with this trip, and Hamper as well.

  We reached the Heart of the Goddess ten days after leaving Marport, and our arrival was with almost no fanfare at all, our only witness our Prestainamatta herself.

  I flew from Zana’s back and ran to her, and we held our usual greeting of hugs, kisses, and floating in the air. “I missed you, Yalla,” she said to me. “Thank you for this wonderful surprise.”

  “You felt me as I crossed the river.”

  “I felt you sooner than that,” she said, “But it was still a surprise to realize you were returning to me. Now you must assure me. This is a happy visit.”

  “It is,” I said. “Please, Prestainamatta, will you travel to Lopéna with us?”

  “I would be delighted, but you are too tired to leave tonight, and I believe there are some inside who might be upset if you didn’t spend a night or two.”

  “I believe you are right,” I agreed.

  * * * *

  The Goddess led the way into The Heart, and for once, we traveled at a rate the others could maintain. And we stepped into the dining hall, entirely unannounced, just as everyone was sitting for dinner.

  We were noticed, of course, and slowly, then more quickly, every pair of eyes turned to face us. But it was Féla whose voice was heard first.

  “Yalla!” she screamed. And then she was running for us, Naddí right behind her. They both enveloped me in hugs and kisses, and then Larien and Terél received their own. By then, the rest of the priestesses were clustered around us, and I went from one to the next offering greetings.

  “Is everything all right?” Vérundia whispered into my ear.

  “Yes,” I said. “We’ll stay two nights, and then we’re traveling to Lopéna. It is your choice to join us, although it isn’t absolutely necessary.”