by D. D. Chant
Astra felt a warm hand enclose her own and leaned against her stepfather’s comforting warmth. After a few moments she stopped trembling and rested her head against his shoulder with a sigh. Somehow she felt reassured and safe.
Her eyes rested on the soldier occupying the front passenger seat, and she frowned. She’d never been more afraid than when he’d calmly suggested that her foster family be sent back over the border. She had never felt such terror, not in all the years that they had lived under the shadow of Councillor Ladron’s displeasure.
Even when under the stress of public disapproval, of walking a tight rope that had never seemed properly anchored, she never felt that searing fear. Not even when they’d run from the Tula security forces, or dropped from the sky in the Drone. During all those hardships there had always been hope. Hope that they could stay balanced, hope that they could reach safety, hope that they would survive.
Yet with a short dispassionate phrase, the Una soldier had destroyed her hope that everything would be alright if only they tried hard enough. It had been replaced by a cold certainty that no matter what they did, in the end they couldn’t escape.
Yet he had seemed genuinely regretful in the face of Petta’s distress. When he’d seen the horror in the girl’s eyes his expression had changed, and become much gentler. His voice as he had assured Petta that they would stay together had held warm reassurance. He had behaved with the tender concern of an older brother.
Astra shook her head.
She knew that her people had no love of the Tula, so why had Shin Uel Ne Phoenix shown Petta such kindness?
Perhaps more perplexing: why had her little sister’s knowledge of Una customs displeased him?
Chapter Fifteen
The Una
Kai sat alone in his apartments, staring at the jug of wine before him. He clutched at a thick glass tumbler, heavily gilded and set with polished gems, and thought back to the second he had heard Shin’s words.
Aya was back.
His fingers tightened on the glass. Shin had contacted him with the news before the Headmen, a serious breach of protocol that Kai was more grateful for than he could say.
It seemed Aya had not come back alone. His lips thinned; she had brought her Tula keepers with her.
Kai remembered putting the phone down, walking to his father’s study, and imparting the news to him and Rem. Then he had locked himself into his room with only wine for company.
Kai didn’t drink.
He didn’t enjoy the taste of alcohol, and he disliked the way that overindulgence stripped away inhibitions. He had always believed that nothing made a man more ridiculous than a belly full of wine.
He’d been wrong: Aya was making him appear foolish in a much more effective way.
He drained the glass, grimacing as he swallowed the bitter liquid, and reached out for the jug again. This was his time to weep, his time to hate and, as bitter of spirit as he was, it was most certainly his time to drink. He needed something to take the edge off his anger, to bring him some measure of calm.
He lifted the glass, but as he brought it to his lips he groaned, and set it back onto the table.
This wasn’t working. He had been foolish to suppose it would, to think that anything could make him forget.
For as many years as he could remember, Elder Headman Amajit had sought to absolve him of his hate and bitterness, toward the House of Singh in general and Aya in particular.
The Elder Headman had shown Kai logically that he needed to leave both hate and bitterness behind in order to progress. However, it was still there, clawing away at his insides like a terrible hunger.
Kai had finally come to realise that there was nothing logical about either hate or btterness, therefore the emotions could not be overcome with reasonable argument.
He sighed, turning back to the table and tracing the pattern on the goblet.
He had yet to find what they could be conquered with.
“Kai? Can I come in?”
It was Rem’s voice coming from the other side of the entrance, slightly hesitant. Kai rose, opening the door, and stood aside so the young man could enter. Rem looked at the jug of wine on the table and the slightly pulled out chair with interest.
“Been drowning your sorrows, Kai?” He moved to sit down on the raised dais before the fire.
“Some such thought did cross my mind. However, I determined that it was unlikely the world contained enough wine to accomplish the task satisfactorily.”
Kai sat down and watched Rem studiously trace the pattern on one of the cushions. He looked better than he had earlier. When Rem had received the news of his sister’s return he had gone white with shock, his eyes taking on a dazed and blank glaze. Yet now he seemed to have recovered a little.
They sat in easy silence for a while, listening to the sound of the wind outside.
“What will you do?” asked Rem after some time had elapsed.
“What will you do?” countered Kai.
Rem shook his head.
“I don’t know.” He tilted his head to one side and met Kai's gaze. “She is my sister, Kai. No matter what, and even after all that has happened, she is still my kin. Nothing can change that.”
Kai nodded. He knew how Rem felt about his sister, knew that despite everything Rem loved her and wanted a reason to forgive her. Kai felt more like strangling her for what she had done, for the disgrace she had made him and Rem bear every single day.
He had a sudden memory of Rem aged nine, returning home from school dusty and bruised, practically choking on his rage and misery after being taunted about his traitorous sister.
Kai’s hands clenched into fists. He remembered his own impotent anger that he couldn’t shield Rem from the harshness that existed in their world.
Rem had always been excluded. As a result, he was a sixteen year old man with friends a decade older than himself. The only friends he called his own were Kai’s friends, the men that had stayed loyal to him through all the disgrace.They had taken Rem under their wing and treated him as a younger brother.
Kai’s anger boiled again as he thought of all the ostracism that Aya had brought on Rem, and he looked toward the glass that was still full on the table.
Unfortunatly that distraction had proved useless. He doubted that he could force any more of the vile brew down his throat.
He didn’t understand how, despite all, Rem could be so forgiving. How could he still love the woman who had reduced him to this state of shame? Rem had fought for her. It had become a well-known fact that no one could slight Aya Uel Ne Singh before her brother and walk away.
Rem had fought almost constantly during his mid-teens, hitting out without a thought to the consequences for himself.
He hadn’t always won, but neither could it be said that he'd been beaten.
Kai himself had fought too, but his reasons for doing so had been different. He’d been defending his own honour, not hers. Also there had been times when the challenge had been made in front of Rem, and Kai had answered it because he didn’t want to see the boy flattened.
“Will they let me see her?”
Kai shook his head.
“No, and you will not be able to vote either. Not you, me, or Father,” he paused bitterly. “We are considered too close to be objective.”
“What about Yul and Arata?”
“Although they are your older sisters’ husbands, they will be permitted to participate in proceedings.”
Rem sighed, the sound betraying his relief.
“Then at least there will be someone on our side.”
“Define ‘our’ side,” retorted Kai dryly.
Rem looked his friend over. His gaze was not accusing or angry, they understood each other better than that. However, it was the frown of someone gathering his thoughts.
“I don’t want her hurt.”
“And I don't want anyone other than me hurting her,” agreed Kai with heavy emphasis.
Rem's eyes na
rrowed.
“If you hurt her you’ll answer to me.”
Kai raised his eyebrows, taking in the younger man’s smaller frame.
“I think you’ll find that, as my wife, Aya answers to me.” His voice held a condescending note. “And I answer to God alone.”
For a moment there was silence between them, and Rem looked sceptical.
“And Elderman Di Ye and my father,” added Kai judiciously.
“All the while you call my sister wife, you also answer to me,” responded Rem firmly. “In all things that pertain to her, anyway.”
Kai shrugged.
“A moot point, as I do not intend to beat her. I’m just saying that if anyone was to have that pleasure, it would be me.”
-----
Rem smiled a little at Kai’s matter of fact words. He knew him well enough to know that Kai would never raise his hand to a woman. Kai was angry with Aya, but he would never forget the principles that told him that to visit harm on a woman was cowardly and obscene.
Rem could not recall his father, mother, or the sister that had bound this man to him as brother. He had been a baby when the Tula had attacked Hope Valley, destroying his home and killing his parents and two older brothers.
His sisters Li Lin and Jia Li had been making their monthly visit to the houses of their Bonded husbands, and had therefore been safe. He could not recall anything that had happened, but had been told that his nurse had managed to escape the attack with him.
With their parents gone, there had been much discussion among the Una Headmen over what should be done with him and his sisters. Eventually it was decided that his sisters should go to live with the families of their Bonded husbands, and that he should live with the Bonded family of his captured sister.
Rem had never known anything but life within the Sen family. It had always seemed to him that after losing one father, nature had sought to redress the balance by gifting him two more.
He smiled a little over his thoughts. When he had first arrived at Sen House, Kai had been in his early teens, a little young for the mantle of fatherhood.
Hyun Jae Uel Ne Sen had treated him as a son and neither he, his wife Rae, or Kai could have been more of a family to him than if they had shared the same blood.
Yet Kai had been more to him; not just a father figure, but also a brother, a mentor, and a friend. When he had been sick, it had been Kai that looked after him. When he’d cried it had been Kai that had comforted him, and when he’d been bullied it had been Kai that had fought for him. In everything Kai had been there for him, so when it came to discussing Aya, Kai’s bitterness never angered him.
He understood Kai’s feelings, and did not hold them against him. More importantly, he knew that Kai would be just in all his dealings with Aya, because Kai was always just.
“What did Aunt Rae say?” asked Rem at length.
“I thought it best that my mother hear the news from my father.”
Rem smiled.
“Coward.”
“Anything you like, Rem.”
Again they were silent and then Rem laughed.
“What is it?”
“I know the first thing she’ll do!” Rem boasted breathlessly.
Kai quirked an eyebrow.
“Aya must be what, twenty-six now?” asked Rem. “And you are an only son that must continue the family line. Your mother will open up Dower House.”
Rem watched with interest as his friend’s face lost all its colour. Suddenly Kai stood, returned to the table and drained the wine in the glass still standing upon it.
“If the Headmen forgive her, it will be expected that you will take your wife home.”
Kai looked vaguely revolted and, discarding the glass in his hand, drank deeply straight from the jug.
Rem grinned as he watched his stricken friend, and pulled up his legs, crossing them and resting his elbows on his knees before propping his chin in his hands.
Kai eventually surfaced, spluttering and coughing.
“The idea doesn’t please you, Kai?” asked Rem innocently.
Kai tried to glare, but as he was still choking and his eyes were streaming, the effect was somewhat less than satisfactory.
“Your mother will not be pleased if you try to wriggle out of your obligations to the Uel Ne Sen line.”
Kai sank into a chair and groaned.
“After all that has happened she will welcome her with open arms! Why must she be so forgiving?”
“Not something I wish to complain about, Brother. Her forgiveness came in very handy during my misspent youth. Yours too, as I recall.”
Kai sent him a scathing look designed to crush, but Rem had grown up with that look and was immune to it. He smiled and reclined on one elbow.
“You could always take her to live with you for a while before she takes up her position as my wife, Rem. You, at least, want her.”
“Aunt Rae’s forgiveness would not reach that far: she’d skin me alive!” Rem shrugged. “Besides, everyone would assume you had sent her home to me in disgrace, and I will not have that shame added to my family if you please.”
Rem frowned. For a man to send his wife home to her kin was the ultimate insult for the Una, not just to her, but to her family as well. Rem knew that while Kai would have no trouble disgracing Aya like that, Kai would not bring that shame on him.
Rem sauntered forward and placed a hand on his Brother of Bond’s shoulder.
“I'm going to bed. My advice to you, Brother, is that you don’t let her bother you,” he intoned patronisingly. “She’s not worth it after all.”
Indignation lit Kai’s eyes as he recognised the words he had spoken the day he had found Rem beside the river. Rem found himself captured in a headlock.
“Think this is funny do you?” asked Kai, tightening his hold against Rem’s struggling.
“Hysterical!” responded the boy promptly, his voice somewhat muffled.
Kai held on for a moment longer and then released him. Rem pulled away, his brown hair sticking up at crazy angles from his head, and hovered just out of Kai's reach.
“Sweet dreams, Brother,” he offered sweetly as he slipped out of the door.
He heard Kai grunt with pretended ill humour, but he knew his plan had worked. Rem had managed to lift his brother’s spirits. Kai was still angry and frustrated, but not with the blinding fury of before.
Rem had prodded every tender spot, each raw nerve, saying all the things that would have earned anyone else a good beating. He’d had to: it was the only way to get Kai to release the tension building within him.
Kai was too shut off in some things, he kept such a tight leash on his anger that the bitterness ate away at him from within.
Rem knew that he was the only person, except for Shin, that could draw out his anger without fearing for the safety of his skin.
Kai had needed to let off some steam, some of the bitterness that tormented him, and Rem had given him the opportunity to do so.
Chapter Sixteen
Smoke curled through the air, the taste acrid, stinging Astra’s eyes and throat. She was on her back looking up into the sky; it was cloudless and cornflower blue. The sun was shining brightly, warmly, signalling a perfect spring day.
Not a day for fighting.
Not a day for war.
Not a day for burning down houses and killing.
She could hear screaming, shouts, the wailing of women and children.
She realised suddenly that she was screaming herself, screaming against the pain. Her left arm wouldn’t move, not that she was sure she wanted it to; it hurt too badly already.
She lifted her other hand, staring in numbed shock at the blood that covered it.
Was it her blood?
She screamed again but couldn’t move. Hot tears ran down the sides of her face. Out of her peripheral vision she saw more Tula soldiers emerging from the forest on the rise, the sound of their descent like a thunder that shook the ground.
&nbs
p; She closed her eyes, wishing for her mother, wishing that she was still at home, wishing she’d not thought to pick the Puschkina that grew at the entrance of the forest. Scalding tears squeezed between her lids and forged a path down her cheeks to pool in her ears.
She started at a gentle touch on her shoulder, and opened her eyes quickly. One of the Tula soldiers kneeled beside her, his visor open, showing a pair of golden brown eyes.
Astra shrank away from his hand, crying harder until her sobs rose to a scream.
“Astra! Hush, Astra; it's all right...”
Astra started upright, pulling away from the hands that held her gently. She was shaking, and she could feel sweat standing cold on her brow, sticking her hair to her face.
“Let me go!”
-----
Uri Va Dic Toban recoiled from the wild look in her eyes. Astra seemed to be shaking off the last clinging tendrils of sleep, but she was still gazing up at him in cold panic. She looked dazed, confused and very, very scared.
“I... I'm sorry.”
Astra’s voice was trembled and she raised a shaking hand to her hair, pushing the thick mass back from her face.
“Are you all right?” asked Uri.
Astra nodded quickly, biting her lip, and avoiding his gaze.
“It was just a dream,” she murmured.
Uri lifted his hand and stroked her cheek.
“It's okay, Astra.”
She shuddered and wiped away an errant tear as it began to make its way down her face.
“I know. It was… It's just there was so much blood.” Her voice was dead, lacking any emotion.
Ben could hardly believe that this was the same woman who had been so self-contained, who had calmly stood up to him and to Councillor Ladron.
He felt Leda standing beside him between the seats.
“What is it, what’s going on?”
Leda's face was tight as she reached up and felt his brow.
“You’re much cooler now. How do you feel?”
Ben shrugged.
“Better than I'm almost certain I look.” He touched his eye tenderly. “What's my rash like?”
