There Before the Chaos

by K. B. Wagers

  I sent Hao a quick note with my smati telling him we weren’t holding dinner and to hurry his ass up.

  His snappish reply, “I’m on my way,” came back almost immediately.

  Zin and the other members of Team One were already in the room, Indula and Iza smiling at me as they left. Johar made a beeline for the waiter and had drinks ordered before I’d even finished saying hello to Zin.

  We were settled at the table enjoying our drinks when Hao walked in. Emmory caught him by the arm.

  “Thank you,” he said. “For being there for her the other day.”

  Hao answered him with a sharp nod. “She is my sister, Ekam, I would move the heavens for her.”

  “Where have you been?” I raised an eyebrow at the bottle of vodka and glass already in Hao’s hands.

  “I had something to do.” Hao tossed back what little was left in his glass. “Johar was supposed to tell you.”

  “Don’t get snarly with me,” Johar countered. “I’d figured you told her you were going to be late. I’m not your damn messenger.”

  Hao threw a hand in the air and refilled his drink. Vodka splashed into the glass, but I kept my mouth shut at the way his hand shook and the tense set of his shoulders under the dark blue of his long-sleeved shirt. Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to talk about it now, not in front of an audience.

  Johar seemed unconcerned by Hao’s behavior, and I let her take the lead on the conversation by telling us all about her trip to the islands. She hadn’t gone so far as to start dressing like an Indranan, instead still in her customary black pants and sleeveless top, but from the sounds of it Johar’s little vacation was turning into something more long-term.

  “You’ve settled in well,” I said with a wink, lifting a bite of the lemon dessert to my mouth. “Is Rai going to be angry with me for stealing you?”

  Johar’s partner, Bakara Rai, was the head of a criminal syndicate that rivaled Po-Sin’s. Their on-again, off-again relationship had been going for as long as I’d known them. Rai could be a touch possessive, but Johar frequently did her own thing.

  Shrugging, Johar rolled her glass between her long fingers. “I think he’s angrier with me at the moment, to be honest. I told him yesterday I was staying in Indrana.”

  Hao fumbled, the clatter of his silverware on the plate breaking through my own surprise. “You told him you were staying here? Are you sure—”

  “I know my own heart, Cheng Hao.” Johar cut him off, her face serious.

  “Staying as in, moving permanently?” I asked, breaking up the staring contest that had unexpectedly started between them. “I knew you were looking at property, but I thought—”

  “Staying as in retiring from my life of crime and settling down.” Her laughter bounced around the room like bubbles, and the joy in her words was even more surprising to me. “However, yes, I like it here. I put in my citizenship request yesterday; I’m surprised someone didn’t tell you. I have enough money to survive for quite a while, and Indrana has a lot of options for me to make more.” Johar winked. “In more legitimate ways than I have traditionally participated in. Plus, I am too old to continue to go running around in space getting shot at. That used to be fun. Now it’s more fun to have dinner with people I know for a fact aren’t going to try to kill me.”

  “You’re going to make me cry.” I threw my arms around her neck and hugged her.

  “Aren’t I kind for waiting to tell you until we’re in private?” Johar squeezed me tight and then released me.

  “You are.” My smile was a bit watery, but I managed to keep my tears under control. “This explains a lot, actually. I’d wondered why Emmory was okay with you hanging out with the BodyGuards so much and why nothing had been said about you coming with us on this trip.”

  “It’ll be a fine chance to see the whole of your empire.” Johar shrugged again. “Or at least a decent chunk of it.”

  “I’m glad. I really am.” I raised my glass in her direction and drank, the wordless toast more fitting than anything I could think up on the fly.

  “Besides, it sounds like interesting times ahead.”

  “Gods help us,” I murmured. “I haven’t recovered from the last round.”

  Johar tossed her drink back with enthusiasm, but Hao didn’t drink. My mentor stared morosely into his half-empty glass, his eyes shadowed with a sorrow I didn’t understand.

  18

  The small temple on the palace grounds that contained the massive statue of Ganesh had been undamaged by the explosion of the main building. It was a small mercy that the statue I loved as a child, and the one I swore an oath on to stay and help Indrana as an adult, had survived Wilson’s trap. I’d been here repeatedly over the last six months, and my BodyGuards were well used to my one-sided conversations with the elephant-headed god.

  It was early; shadows still gathered in the corners and the cool night air lingered, heavy with moisture, within the structure.

  I wrapped my blue-gray sari closer around myself and leaned forward to press my forehead against Ganesh’s foot. “Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha.

  “Om Gam Salutations to the Lord of Hosts,” I whispered, sitting back on my heels and folding my hands at my heart. “Gajaananam Bhoota Ganaadhi Sevitam. Kapitta Jamboophaala Saara Bhakshitam. Umaasutam Shoka Vinaasha Kaaranam. Namaami Vighneswara Paada Pankajam.

  “Grant us safe passage, Lord Ganesh, as we set out on this journey around my empire. Grant us peace and open the minds of those who are closed to us both at home and out in the black. Help me settle our empire firmly into peace so that the ones who come after me will not have to suffer heartache and loss.”

  Ganesh stared down at me with that unchanging mix of amusement and pity on his face that had always been there.

  “I am here,” I said. “And I will remain here until the empire no longer needs me. That is the duty we agreed upon; I know now what I was meant for and I will do my best.”

  The sigh slipped out of me and I bent forward again, the smell of durva grass filling my nose as I rested my head against the edge of the dais. “Open my brother’s heart, Father. Open his damned stubborn mouth. I want to help him, but I don’t know what’s wrong.”

  Hao had taken off shortly after dinner last night, a move that didn’t entirely surprise me but frustrated me nonetheless because it meant I hadn’t been able to corner him about just what in the fires of Naraka was wrong.

  “Majesty.” Emmory’s voice was low, but I could hear the urgency running underneath it.

  “What is it?”

  He tilted his head to the side and I caught a glimpse of Caspel standing just beyond the columns. Emmory held his hand out and I took it, touching Ganesh’s foot one last time with my free hand before I rose and walked away.

  “Caspel.”

  “Your Majesty, I’m sorry for bothering you.” Caspel’s bow was perfunctory, the kind he gave me when he was distracted.

  “What’s happened?”

  “The Shen hit another Farian outpost. About an hour ago just outside of the Persuor system.”

  “Same as the others? How many Farians?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Several thousand. There was also a group of Solarians visiting, and we think possibly an Indranan citizen.”

  I muttered a curse in Cheng that made my Ekam’s eyebrow shoot upward. “When can we get confirmation, Caspel?”

  “I’m working on it now. We think it was this young woman.” He put her photo up on the nearest column, the image wavy with the textured marble. “Gatani Tsai, a graduate student at the Persuor Fudan University.”

  “Why would she have been at the outpost?”

  “That I don’t know, Majesty.” Caspel shook his head, his mouth pulled into a frown. “The Solarians are understandably furious. There’s been no response from the Shen, and the Farian fleet presence has already tripled in the Solarian arm of the galaxy the last six months. I don’t like the idea of it increasing even more, but it’s almost guaranteed with this latest atta
ck. How long before the attacks start closer to home?”

  I rubbed at the bridge of my nose and sighed. “Get me a confirmation of Gatani’s death before we go public with any kind of statement. I’ll find Alba—”

  “I’ve already messaged her, Majesty,” Emmory said. “She’s at the hotel waiting for us.”

  “Let’s head back, then. We’ll need to draft a statement in response. Caspel, do we know where Gatani’s parents are?”

  “They’re on the third planet in the Persuor system, Majesty. I have someone headed to their house now.”

  “I’ll want to speak with them as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Caspel bowed and moved away at my nod.

  “I hope it’s not true,” I whispered to Emmory.

  “I know, Majesty,” he replied, and put his hand on my back as we headed for the aircar.

  That afternoon we sat in my main room at the hotel. Dailun and Johar were there. It didn’t surprise me that Hao was not. He’d nearly killed Fasé after Cas’s death, and it was probably better they weren’t in the same room.

  Emmory had called Iza just after Caspel’s news, and she brought the two Farians back to the hotel. I hadn’t told my maid that Fasé was on planet, but it was worth it to watch Stasia’s greeting die in her mouth when I stepped aside to reveal Fasé, and the way my maid had launched herself through the doorway into the Farian’s arms gave my heart a happy little ache.

  “You are, if it is at all possible, more sentimental than my honored cousin, jiejie,” Dailun had whispered. I’d touched my temple to his and hit the panel, closing the door and giving them a few precious moments alone.

  Now Stasia was back to her duties while Fasé and Sybil sat together on a pair of chairs near the fireplace as we waited for the others. Caterina came through the door, followed by Zaya Prajapati, the head of the Ancillary Council. She had a round, dark face and wide eyes much like her mother’s, and I knew from experience she was extremely intelligent and could argue a point to death. Which was decidedly not like her quieter mother.

  Caterina raised a black eyebrow as she took in the assembled group, but didn’t say a word and took a seat next to Alice with a murmured greeting.

  “I appreciate you all coming at such short notice,” I said. “Recording of the following conversation is not allowed, so if you will all switch off your smatis I would appreciate it.” I waited a beat and then continued. “Two things. First, the Shen hit an outpost in the Persuor system. An Indranan student from Persuor Fudan University, Gatani Tsai, was killed. We received confirmation from the Solarians approximately two hours after the attack. I have already spoken to her parents.”

  Alice folded her hands together and touched her fingertips to her heart, lips, and forehead. The gesture was echoed by the other Indranans in the room.

  “The second is, in about an hour, the request for political asylum made by Fasé and Sybil here will become public record. I expect a furious com link from the Farians within thirty-two hours after that.” I looked at Caterina and Zaya. “I also expect the councils to approve the request before I get that com.”

  Caterina frowned. “Majesty, we just finished telling the Farians we didn’t want to involve ourselves in their business. Now you—”

  I held a hand up, cutting her off. “I’m not going to deny that I have some personal reasons for that request, but there are other things at work here. It’s in Indrana’s best interests to allow Fasé her freedom, and our long-established precedent of welcoming political refugees is well-known.”

  “Will it cause problems with the Farians?” Alice asked.

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “They have bigger issues facing them, as we all know. Fasé has done this empire a great service. She’s not a criminal, according to Ambassador Notaras, and I see no reason why the Farians would push the issue. But if they do I will handle it.”

  “Your Majesty,” Zaya said. “You could have easily messaged us about this matter. What is the real reason we are here?”

  “We don’t know enough about the Farians, and what we do know is what they’ve told us. Almost none of that involves their dispute with the Shen,” I replied. “Fasé is going to fill us in about the history between the Farians and the Shen and about just why the Farians have been so friendly to Indrana all these years.”

  Fasé stood, her hands folded at her waist, and recounted the same story I’d heard from Dio until she got to the part where the Shen had come to Faria.

  “Fasé? Did you just call them ‘my ancestors’?”

  “Yes, Majesty, why?”

  “Colonel Morri said that the Shen came to your world and murdered your gods. That they lied about being long-lost kin? She didn’t say they were actually Farians.”

  Fasé’s smile was sad. “She’s not entirely wrong, Majesty, and she wasn’t lying to you. She just doesn’t understand the whole story because she’s been lied to all her life. We all were. She believes that the story she told you is true.”

  “You believed it once,” I said.

  “I did. Then I met you and snatched him from the edge of the underworld.” She gestured at Emmory standing by the door. “And everything changed.”

  Fasé paused, searching for words, and said something to Sybil in Farian. Sybil sat beside her, her hands in her lap and her pale gaze locked on the floor. She replied to Fasé’s question with a nod, and Fasé looked back at me.

  “It was terrifying to see and not understand. Worse still to come home to Faria, where everyone looked on me as an abomination. I realize now that my return home was necessary. I wouldn’t have understood what had happened and what is happening without Sybil.”

  “Fasé’s choice to save your Ekam resulted in a shift in the energy inside her.” Sybil picked up the narrative with such ease that I wondered how many times they’d practiced this conversation. “This is the gift from our gods for our devotion, but it is a gift with strings attached. We are not to spend the energy uselessly. We are not to use it on ourselves or other Farians, not without express permission. When we use it on humans we are only supposed to heal with it, never kill, and never interfere in the natural order of things.”

  “You mean bring people back to life,” I said.

  “Yes, or extend their life.”

  “Sybil, we’ve been told the Farians come to humanity as a mission. That you are called to share your energy with us or it will consume you?” Caterina asked.

  “Yes, this is true. It was commanded by the gods.”

  “What happened before humanity existed?” I asked, picking up on the direction the matriarch was headed. “Wouldn’t you all have burned up from the energy before us?”

  “Oh no, Majesty.” Sybil smiled. “We gave it back to the gods; we still do that for the gods who are left.”

  “I didn’t mean to start a rebellion,” Fasé said, suddenly looking sad. She mustered up a smile and straightened her shoulders, a gesture I was intimately familiar with when I wanted to shore up my failing confidence. “I just wanted to share what I had seen. Bringing Emmory back was like ripping a screen away from the universe. I—it still gets tangled at times, but I can feel it here that the only hope for all of us is to put aside this ancient conflict and face the storm together.” She pressed a hand to her heart.

  “Pulling us back to the original discussion for the moment.” I cleared my throat, my own heart beating a little quicker at Fasé’s words. Intentional or not, it was easy to see why people were following her if she’d been speaking with that sort of conviction back on Faria. She reminded me of Cire in that moment, as gentle as my sister and yet still a leader. “The Shen are Farians.”

  “They were, Majesty, but not anymore. When those first Shen returned to us, they weren’t Farians any longer.”

  “Fasé, you’re back to not making sense.”

  Fasé laughed. “I can always count on you, Majesty. Promise me you will never stop calling me out. If things continue on their present path, I will
be surrounded by people who will think everything I say and do is priceless and precious. I don’t trust myself not to let that go to my head. But you, you will never lie to me.”

  “I won’t,” I promised, surprised to realize I meant it. “The story she told me is true?”

  “Yes, it’s just missing details.”

  “Such as?”

  “The Shen weren’t some strange travelers who lied about being our distant cousins. They didn’t randomly attack our gods to steal their power. They had that power. They were our kin. They were sacrificed into space, left to die by the gods themselves.

  “They returned for vengeance for those who did not survive. Those who returned killed the gods to claim their revenge and to take their blood. Then they left again. They evolved, changed from what you are familiar with as Farians. They bore children with humans, taught them how to use the gifts, strengthened themselves with your resilience and—” Fasé grinned at me. “Your somewhat stubborn nature. They rejected the dogma and strictures of Farian law and faith. They believe in the chaos of the universe.”

  “The Shen are part human?” Caterina asked.

  “Some of them yes, and part Farian. The others are technically Farian, but they have chosen to be something different. They are Shen.”

  “But how?”

  “The normal way, I would assume. Though I suppose with the kinds of technology lately—”

  “Not how do they make babies, Fasé, I’m relatively aware of how that process works,” I said, and waved a hand in Alice’s direction.

  Emmory choked, and I threw a wink at Zin as he slapped his husband on the back. Alice covered her mouth, but her giggle slipped between her fingers and Caterina sighed heavily.

  “Oh, good,” Fasé sighed. “Because honestly, that’s not really my area of expertise.”

  It was Gita’s turn to choke, my Dve making a noise that sounded like she was fighting back laughter, and I shot her a look first before glancing past Fasé at Caspel.