Humans liked things to be absolute. Serrin preferred them in balanced and nuanced shades. Humans would try to force “final” solutions, often with terrible results. Serrin would prevent them, and maintain balance by playing the ends against the middle.
“Maldereld reborn,” some were calling Rhillian now, listening to her pronounce on such matters. One great female serrin general had built the first version of the Saalshen Bacosh from the ground up, and now two centuries later, another would expand on the project, and hopefully improve it. Sasha had little doubt that she would, for so much had been learned in that time, from bloody, painful lessons. Rhillian seemed utterly absorbed in her work, and Sasha found some pride in the thought that their many struggles together, both with and against each other, had shaped and prepared her for this, what would be the great defining purpose of her life.
Sasha was saddest to part with Sofy. For all her strength, Sofy had not a warrior's soul, and Jahnd's aftermath had left her shaken and fragile. Sasha missed Jaryd deeply, and mourned for him, yet as a warrior herself she knew that Jaryd's loss should be rightfully placed amongst that of a pantheon of heroes, whose glorious deeds would outlive them all. Such a death was to be celebrated more than mourned, yet Sofy did not see things this way.
She had declined Damon's request for her to return with him to Baen-Tar, and remained in Tracato, to bury herself in the task of rebuilding. The latest news before Sasha's departure from Tournea had been that Sofy was appointed by the new Rhodaani Council to the role of Protector of Rhodaani Arts and Treasures, whatever that meant. Sasha reckoned that Sofy would take it to mean more than it was intended to. She had great goodwill amongst Tracatans, as the Princess Regent who had tried to save them from her husband and nearly died for it. Even amongst the Rhodaani nobility, some still considered her Princess Regent, despite the extinguishment of noble title across all Saalshen-occupied Bacosh. Thus she could finally play her much sought-after role of peacemaker, as Rhodaani nobility attempted to resettle into their lands while weathering the understandable resentment of non-noble Rhodaanis. Princess Sofy (her reverted and more accurate title) could keep them safe, and advise them on how not to upset the resettling Rhodaani populace.
That task would be easier, of course, now that Alfriedo Renine had accompanied Damon to Baen-Tar, as much for his own protection from his people as anything else. But having abandoned his claim for the lordship of Rhodaan, Alfriedo was in need of somewhere safe to stay, and to continue his education, and Lenayin had seemed the ideal location, given his ongoing fascination with the Lenay people. Whether the somewhat fragile and intellectual boy would continue to love Lenayin, once exposed to its more brutal expectations of masculinity, Sasha did not know.
But Sofy, she was confident, would love it in Tracato. Sofy had always wanted to make things, and in Tracato she had a palette on a broad scale. There were libraries to see rebuilt and restocked, the Tol'rhen to repair, the Mahl'rhen to see resettled by serrin occupants and serrin treasures, and new masters to be found for the many schools.
And in the meantime, she could be Lenayin's representative in Rhodaan, and perhaps even the most senior for the entire Saalshen Bacosh-Damon would see her well endowed with coin on top of whatever the Rhodaani Council were granting her, and she could keep her own court and advisors, and gather a centre of Lenay power and influence in one of the Saalshen Bacosh's most powerful cities. From there she could also keep contact with the one part of Petrodor that King Steiner did not control-the dockside-and help to spread Nasi-Keth and serrin influence there, and elsewhere in Torovan. An unusual role for an unmarried princess, perhaps, but these were unusual times…and for certain there would be no lack of handsome and powerful male suitors. Sasha did not envy such men, however. They would be competing with the memory of one of Lenayin's finest heroes. But hopefully, some day, one of them would measure up favourably, and her little sister could be truly happy once more.
The party arrived in Baerlyn just before dark, and found a grand celebration prepared. There were introductions for her new friends, happy reunions with old ones and a tearful reunion with Lynette Tremel, who had been working Sasha's ranch the whole time she'd been away.
“Andreyis met a girl?” she exclaimed now, hearing this news for the first time.
“That's why he's not returning,” said Sasha. “At least not yet. Perhaps one day.” They sat together in the Steltsyn Star, having deflected promises of great tale-tellings for another day, for she was too tired, and she had so many accumulated tales it could take her until the next morning to work through them. Now the rest of Baerlyn busied themselves getting to know Errollyn, Aisha, Yasmyn, and the Ilduuris, allowing Lynette and Sasha a little time alone, in one corner of the very noisy inn.
Lynette had had a year to come to terms with her father's death, on the battlefield of Shero Valley. It had been some months since she'd learned of Jaryd's death at Jahnd, which had saddened her also, though she'd not known him long. Sasha was proud of how well Lynette coped, for she'd loved Teriyan dearly, and missed him still. It was a common fate for the women of Lenayin, to lose their men upon the battlefield, and she bore it stoically. But now she was sad to learn that her old friend Andreyis was not in Sasha's party, though pleased that he was well.
“Her name is Yshel,” Sasha explained. “She is serrin and talmaad, eighteen years old…”
“Serrin!” Lynette gasped.
“And Andreyis is quite convinced she is the most beautiful girl in all the world. She was hurt at Jahnd, she had some burns to her body, but she's recovering well and her scars are fading. Last I heard they'd joined Sofy's court at Tracato. It's a new world in the Bacosh, and they're both young and smart. Who knows where they will end up?”
“A girl like that fell for Andrey,” Lynette sighed. “Who'd have thought?”
Sasha smiled. “She has red hair. I'm sure you were some inspiration.”
“I should have just grabbed him, shouldn't I?”
Sasha laughed. Lynette had never had any interest in grabbing Andreyis before. Women were blind sometimes, only noticing a man after he became unavailable. “I don't think Andreyis would have known what to do if you'd grabbed him before,” she chuckled. “But he certainly does now.”
The following morning, after a night spent at the inn, townsfolk accompanied the party out to empty fields higher up the Baerlyn Valley. Here by the little stream, Sasha's Ilduuri friends examined the site she'd been thinking of for more than a year now. The ground was sloping, but they insisted it was not a problem; they could dig a flat foundation, and build wide and long.
They loved the valley. It was steep enough to remind them of Ilduur, yet more rugged and wild. Already they were discussing plots for their own houses, to the curious enthusiasm of the locals, now contemplating the large changes that their most famous resident had brought back to the village.
“Much will change,” Sasha told village headman Jaegar as they stood together on the slope, and looked over the wonderful view down the valley. Its jagged, pine-strewn ridges were even more lovely than she remembered. “A Tol'rhen in Baerlyn will mean this is not a sleepy little village any longer. In time it might even become a proper town, with wealthy folk, large buildings, and everything.”
“Good,” said Jaegar, with genuine approval.
Sasha was a little surprised. “You won't be sad to see such changes?”
Jaegar shrugged massive shoulders within his heavy coat. “Everything changes. Some changes are sad. But for all your rustic life out here, Sasha, you've never been poor, and you don't really know what it's like. But you've seen Torovan now, and the Bacosh. You know how poor we still are up here.”
“Oh, you'd be surprised,” Sasha said wryly. “In both lands massive wealth is matched only by extraordinary poverty; I saw people there for whom Baerlyn is luxury.”
“Even so, folks here would rather have more. Build a Tol'rhen here, and they will. Trust me on this.”
“I always do.”
The Ilduuris were gesticulating as they explained to others, through Aisha's translation, what the finished building would look like. Large, seemed the general agreement.
“Besides,” Jaegar added, rubbing his hands against the cold, “it's not like you're building a slaughterhouse. Should be pretty.”
“I'll make sure it is,” Sasha assured him. “It will probably take about five years, if we get the coin we're promised. But we'll not wait five years before opening. Saalshen's promised me many teachers-I said I'd send for them once I got here and finalised my plans. Then we start recruiting kids.”
“What criteria?”
“Haven't decided yet. We need some nobility and wealthy folk, obviously, for politics. Need high folk to have a stake in the Nasi-Keth. But talent has to count for a lot, too. Willingness to learn. And I want some girls,” she added, with a sharp look for emphasis.
Jaegar smiled. “I've four daughters. Take one, please.” Sasha laughed. “Who pays for it, exactly?”
“The good King Damon,” said Sasha. “He's promised us gold.”
“So we're paying for it,” Jaegar said drily.
Sasha smiled, knowing local opinion of the king's tax. “Aye, but so are the Hadryn.”
Jaegar snorted a laugh. “And good luck to your brother collecting that tax up north this year.”
“Aye,” Sasha sighed. “Another thing to have a war over. That and Koenyg's bitch Hadryn wife claiming the throne for her son.”
Unfortunately, it was most likely the truth.
After the inspection, Sasha took Errollyn, Yasmyn, and Aisha up to their new home at the ranch. There Sasha reintroduced herself to Kaif and Keef, her enormous boarhounds, who became so excited to see her they had to be restrained. And then the horses, whose number had indeed increased. Torovans had been buying a lot of horses, it seemed, and paying good money for breeding them, too. Though it sobered Sasha to think that at least a few of the horses she'd raised at this place would have marched with the Torovan army against Saalshen.
Errollyn, Yasmyn, and Aisha loved the ranch, and spent some time exploring, marvelling at the enormous views of the mountains to the south, and at the thick forest above the cleared pasture slope. Sasha told them of the animals that lived there, of the wolf pack with dens in the next valley across, and took them to see the waterfall and rock pool hidden amongst the trees to the west, freezing cold now but lovely for swimming in summer. Lynette told them that Jaryd had loved that pool when he'd been here two summers ago, before the Army of Lenayin had marched. Sasha thought she would name it for him, Jaryd's Falls, and have Jaegar and some others up for a traditional remembrance. A freed spirit liked to return to the places where it had been happy in the previous life, and in that happiness could be enticed to rejoin the living world in birth once more.
After lunch, with tea in hand, Sasha settled on the south-facing verandah with Errollyn to take in the warmth of the midday sun and admire the view, while Lynette showed Yasmyn and Aisha more secrets of the ranch. Errollyn looked utterly relaxed. He'd never liked cities much either, and at the prospect of settling here for some considerable time, he looked as though all the tension had fled from him.
Sitting beside him, Sasha knew how he felt. There was a lot of work to do, and trials ahead. Damon's kingship was not yet secure, and she was a vital pillar of his support. The north would doubtless rebel, as soon as they settled their internal disputes over who their great lords now were, and probably there would be civil strife and battle. The provincial lords had been hammered at Jahnd, yet would certainly regroup and press again at their claims for feudal rights in Lenayin. To the far north the Cherrovan threat always loomed, Torovan was now a problem rather than just a source of gold, and the new Bacosh was one giant experiment in a new form of civilisation that no one was certain would work.
Nothing ever truly ended, and returning home felt like more of a beginning than a conclusion. But there were wonderful possibilities ahead also, born of the sacrifice of so many heroes. Things that were worth fighting for, and dying for if necessary. She'd learned, these past two years, that she needed that more than anything. Something worth dying for. Something worth living for. In Lenayin, those two things were usually the same.
“That sun across the mountains is just magnificent,” said Errollyn, shading his eyes against the distant glare.
Sasha nodded, smiling, and for the first time in years felt completely at peace.
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Haven atobas-4 Page 60
