“I know,” Arara hung her head. “I just was so worried about Yegra, and Roel’s clinic is safe enough...” She knew it was no excuse.
“I worry that Sels isn’t taking his duty, or this marriage, seriously.” Sesay fell silent again as they passed several green-robed Healers, then stopped outside a doorway. Arara could smell Yegra inside.
“Sels has a good heart, but he is naive. Roel is taking advantage of this, of him,” Sesay turned to Arara and knelt so that they were eye to eye. Her robes crumpled beneath her. “He won’t listen to me, but perhaps you... Will you talk to him for me?”
Unshed tears clung to Sesay’s lashes. Her pink petals, normally perfectly coiffed, were disheveled. Arara didn’t need to read her thoughts to know that her concern for Sels’s well-being was genuine.
“I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee Sels will actually listen to me.”
Sesay smiled and pulled Arara into a light hug. “That’s all I want. Thank you!”
CHAPTER FIVE
THE COUNCIL
A summons from his mother was waiting for Sels when he returned home that evening from Roel’s. Sels, both physically and emotionally exhausted by the day’s events, was numb when he got there, flopping down without properly greeting his mother or Tukura. He didn’t even take the time to change; blood still stained the left side of his shirt.
“Sels, I’ll skip the pleasantries since I can tell you need the rest.” The Queen’s eyes flashed and her frown deepened. “Were you involved in the fire in the Jegeran Marketplace today?”
“Yes, Mother.” Sels took a deep breath and twisted his hands together in his lap. “It was an accident. I put out the fire and tried to get the puppy I’d burned to help.”
Tukura cocked her head, the same telepathic tell as Jeron; the thought came unbidden, breaking through the emotional numbness he’d been experiencing since leaving Roel’s. He burst into tears, burying his face in his hands while he sobbed.
“I can tell you feel awful about the whole thing. But I have to insist that you issue a formal apology for your actions to the Council. Their next session is in two days. Be ready.”
His mother’s robes rustled and he felt the couch sink as she settled in next to him, drawing him into a hug. She held him until his tears dried out, singing to him like she had when he’d been a little sprout fresh from the garden.
Two days later Sels stood at the entrance to the council hall, speech in hand. Sels clutched the paper heedless of the creases he was putting in it. Only when Arara nudged him forward did Sels move into the throne room. He hadn’t been in this room since the carnage unleashed here by the Yaka’s trained killer birds. The grounds had been thoroughly scrubbed of sap and all the broken chairs replaced, but Sels imagined he could still feel the auras of those killed in the attack permeating the room.
As they descended the bowl shaped walkway into the hall the remaining Council members shuffled to their seats. Unlike previous sessions Sels had attended, this morning the mood was somber and quiet, hushed whispers replacing the previously boisterous atmosphere.
Sels slipped into a front seat nervously fidgeting with his speech as he looked at the three thrones on the stage. His mother’s, larger than the others and carved with wooden leaves and vines, seemed to loom over him. Arara sat down next to him, yawning.
Sels attempted to relax his hands and straighten out the crumpled parchment, when Sesay unexpectedly slid into the seat next to him. The newly smoothed papers crumpled as his fists tightened in surprise.
“Nervous?” Sesay asked, smoothing out her robes.
“Of course I am.” He resisted the urge to snap at her.
“You’ll do fine.” She reached across him and pulled the stack of papers from his shaking fingers, riffling through them before handing them to Recka.
“My speech...” Sels made a grab at the papers but Recka pulled them away and shredded them with his claws, dropping the pieces onto the grass in front of him.
“You’ve got it memorized. Trust me the papers will just get in the way. Once you get started you’ll know what to say.” Sesay gave him a sympathetic smile as she stood up and finished making her way to the stage.
Sels stared at the remnants of his hard work, pushing down a rising flutter of panic. He’d stayed up half the night getting the wording just right.
Arara’s prodding through the bond jarred him from his panic. The sunlight changed from the pink of a new dawn to the bright yellow of a late summer morning as the chambers had filled around them.
Music started up, announcing his Mother’s entrance. She swept down the aisle in a spray of magical wind, arms out to the side, head back, rainbow-sequined robes floating around her lighter than air.
To Sels this show was something he’d seen almost every day of his life, so he was surprised when Arara gasped in delight, a sense of wonder hitting him through their sedyu-bond.
“Wow,” Arara breathed, grabbing the back of her chair and twisting around like a little puppy to stare at the display. The magical breeze swirled down around them, ruffling Arara’s fur. Yegra had done a suburb job at clipping out the burned spots and trimming down the rest of the length to match.
“Her robes are so sparkly! It looks like she isn’t even touching the ground.”
“She’s not. The wind is carrying her.” Sels crossed his arms and looked away. He’d always imagined being like his mother someday, a small part of him had always been convinced that someday he’d be able to do magic like everyone else. Although he was proud that he finally had his own magic, it still disappointed him that he was different. And he didn’t feel comfortable with its destructive nature, not like everyone else’s good magic.
Arara plopped back down in the seat, tearing her eyes off the Queen’s final flourishes.
The Queen raised her arms and closed her eyes, the signal that prayers were about to begin. Sels and the rest of the Council members followed suit, listening respectfully as the Queen sang the morning’s praises to the Sun God, thanking him for another dawn.
Arara grumbled, but seemed to get the point.
The prayers finished the Queen stood. “Greetings, Councilors.” Her magically amplified voice rippled out over the Council Hall.
“Before we start today, my son, Prince Sels, has a few words he’d like to say.”
Sels recognized his cue and stood, making his way over to the stairs to stand on the dais next to his mother. He took a deep breath, but before he could say anything the Queen gestured and Sels’s feet left the ground. It was a peculiar sensation having his body suspended in the air. His stomach flopped for a moment, disoriented by the change. He was glad now that Sesay had taken his papers away, the surrounding wind would have made them impossible to read. He hadn’t known his mother was going to use her magic on him, as it was something one only did for children. By doing so she was marking him as less than an adult.
“Councilors,” Sels began, his voice ringing, magically enhanced by his mother. “I come before you today humbled, to beg for your forgiveness. The other day there was a fire in the Jegeran marketplace that started a riot. A merchant’s stall was set ablaze and a Je
geran puppy killed,” his voice hitched and he paused, gulping, before he could continue.
“I lost control of my magic, starting the fire.”
The hall that had started buzzing with conversation at his mention of the riot fell silent. He could feel accusing stares boring into him.
“I offer apologies for the incident and,” Sels paused. He hadn’t liked this last part but his mother had insisted; “I pledge to remain sequestered in the palace until I have learned control.”
His mother lowered him, offering him a sincere smile as his feet landed back on the boards of the dais. The Kin Councilors stomped their feet in approval and the few Jegera in the crowd howled while Sels slowly made his way back to his seat.
ARARA SHIFTED ON HER seat, pulling her tail around to the other side of her. Already she was tired of sitting here and officially the Council Session hadn’t even started yet.
“Speaker of the Council, we are ready to hear this day’s agenda,” the Queen ordered from her throne. She waved her hand and a wooden podium sprung up out of the stage.
A Kin stood and tottered forward, leaning on a cane and supported by a young female Vine Kin. Arara recognized him from the Queen’s chambers the evening of their interrupted sedyu-bonding Ceremony. Elric, the leader of the Council and second only to the Queen in his political power.
Once he reached the stage, the Speaker spent over a claw-mark of time reading aloud a summary of the last full Council Session, before moving onto the agenda.
Sels sat up at attention; his excitement poured into her through the bond warring with her own profound boredom.
Arara couldn’t really understand what all the excitement was about, but she was glad that Sels had already gotten over the embarrassment of his public apology.
“First, we invite the Jegeran members of the Council up on stage, to allow them to sing the fallen onto their final resting place,” the Speaker announced.
The three Jegeran Councilors assembled in front of the stage. Tukura and Recka joined them, and, after a nod from the Queen, so did Arara. The six of them howled out a haunting aria to remember the ones lost in the attack on the capital.
“Thank you,” Elric said after they finished and resumed their places.
Elric tapped his wooden cane on the stage and pulled a scroll from the pouch at his side. The parchment fluttered in the breeze as Elric shook it open.
“Before we induct the Prince and his bonded, the Council has one matter to attend to; the fate of the captured Yaka, as well as that of the traitor Elders of the Moon,” Elric stated, laying the scroll across the podium.
“Speaker Elric,” the Queen stood and stepped up next to him, “In light of the violence that has rocked Sebaine City in the last week, perhaps the issue of the prisoners should be postponed until the end of the summer.” She swept a hand out towards the half-empty Council Hall. “At least until we’ve had elections and the Council is back up to full strength.”
Last time Sels had observed Council, before leaving to conduct trials for his Sedyu, all the chairs had been filled. Arara had known many died in the attack, but hadn't realized just how many of them were members of the Council.
“I must respectfully disagree,” Elric thumped his cane to the stage to punctuate his sentence. “The riots of this past week show exactly why we need to deal with them. The streets are rife with lawlessness; they think the Queen and the Council are weak. We need to demonstrate what we do to those that defy us and the laws of this country.”
Arara let her shields slip, concentrating on the council hall. Many of the Kin Councilors agreed with Elric sentiments, convinced that a show of force would stop further demonstrations. But Arara had felt the true anger of the Jegera that had attacked Sels and didn’t think things were so simple.
Sels drummed his fingers on his chair, listening as the Speaker pushed for a formal vote.
Arara settled back in her chair, her hackles raised. She had a bad feeling about the whole thing.
The Queen spread her arms, her robes sparkling in the morning light. “Before you vote on the fate of our cousins and former friends, keep in mind that the rebellion sprang up because we forgot the edict of our rule and the point of the Sedyu-Bonding.” At this Tukura walked forward and joined her paw to the Queen’s outstretched hand.
“We are equal, and we should show mercy on those who taught us this harsh lesson: our magic does not put us above the other races, Jegera or Yaka.”
Sels stomped his feet on the ground in approval. On the stage Sesay joined in, as did a few Kin in the audience. Arara was silent. She appreciated the Queen’s words, but where was this mercy at the beginning of the summer when she sentenced Arara to death for accidentally hurting the Prince?
At the podium, Elric’s face darkened as the Queen and Tukura resumed their seats. “Thank you, Queen Seuan, for that interesting analogy. Now, we will take votes.”
Councilors sent folded papers to the podium with their votes and Elric recorded each response on his scroll.
After every vote had been cast, the Queen tallied up the votes from the scroll. With a nod the Speaker stepped aside to allow the Queen to stand at the podium. Arara scooted forward to the edge of her seat.
“As Queen, I bow to the wishes of the Council. The remaining traitors to the crown being held in the dungeon will be publicly executed at the next full moon.
For a moment Arara sat stunned, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Her people, the only other Yaka in the city, scheduled to die in a week. Arara snarled and lunged towards the stage.
SELS FELT ARARA’S INTENTION through their bond so as she moved he pushed forward, tackling her to the ground. Claws ripped at the front of his robe, sap oozing from the wounds they left. Sels hugged Arara tighter as she struggled until she whimpered and fell still. The entire hall had gone silent, staring at Sels as he wrestled with Arara, trying to keep her from hurting someone else in her rage.
When she’d finally stilled they sat up together, Arara clinging to him and shaking. Recka appeared next to them and pulled her from his unresisting grip. All his attention was focused on their bond and the grief and rage that pulsed through it from Arara.
Next thing he knew, Sesay eased him back into his seat. Her hands glowed as healing magic flowed from them closing up the scratches, although there was nothing to be done about his torn and stained clothing.
“Thank you,” he murmured to Sesay when she was finished.
Rather than returning to her throne on the stage, Sesay took the seat next to him. He felt Arara’s presence receding and turned his head to the side to see Recka leaving with Arara still tucked in his arms.
“She needs to control her temper,” Sesay said in a quiet voice.
Sels turned his attention back to her. He agreed, but didn’t want to disparage his bonded out loud in front of the Council. He could already hear murmurs and hushed whispers about his ‘out-of-control’ and ‘dangerous’ Yaka from the Councilors.
“The news just caught her by surprise. We thought there’d be more time,” Sels whispered back to her.
While he’d been talking Elric had resumed his
place in front of the podium. “That little display highlights our next order of business: the addition of Prince Sels and his Yaka Sedyu-bonded to this Council.”
“Normally this step is just a formality, since historically a member of the Royal Family has never been denied the privilege, but,” the Speaker pointed the end of his cane at Sels. “Given the reprehensible nature of the Yaka, as evidenced by the violent outburst of a moment before where she harmed her own bonded, and the Prince’s admitted use of magic to harm an innocent, I move to block the Prince’s right to ever have a seat on this Council.”
Sels closed his eyes. After her temper tantrum and his involvement in the marketplace riots, he already knew what the verdict would be.
“I should just go—” Sels began to whisper to Sesay, but she shushed him with a slice of her hand.
The Queen surged to her feet, eyes flashing. A funnel cloud of wind sprung up around her, whipping at her robe and tearing the parchment from Elric’s hands.
“Speaker, you are out of line!” The Queen’s voice was flat and calm but the wind roaring around her betrayed her fury. “Are you saying my only child is unworthy of his spot on this Council?”
Chaos broke as the men and women of the Council surged to their feet to yell in support of either the Queen or the Speaker. Almost everyone seemed to agree with Elric, but surprisingly to Sels, at least a few of the Kin along with all three Jegeran Councilors were crying to give him a chance.
“Order! Order!” Elric boomed, magically amplifying his voice and banging his cane on the podium until everyone had settled down and retaken their seats.
Sels sunk lower in his seat, imagining hostile gazes assaulting the back of his head.
“Since the founding of this Empire, every Prince and Princess has been granted a seat on the Council when they came of age.” the Queen and Elric stood face to face. A breeze continued to ruffle her vines, but nothing like the gale it had been a moment before.
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