Chapter Eleven
Lying on his bed, immersed in samad state, Ran-Del became aware of his grandfather’s presence. He pulled himself back to consciousness, breathing in deeply, and feeling the dull throbbing in his left arm.
Isayah stood beside his bed.
“Grandfather,” Ran-Del said weakly. He would have stood to greet his grandfather properly, but the older man crouched down and held him by the shoulders as soon as he sat up. Ran-Del took a quick glance at the open ceiling flaps and saw by the sun that it was early in the afternoon.
“Stay where you are,” Isayah said. “Tell me what happened, Ran-Del! Your grandmother is so deep in samad state I feared to disturb her. How did you get the burn on your arm?”
Ran-Del’s voice caught in this throat as he said the words. “Great-grandfather punished me for refusing to obey him. He ordered me to go back to the city with Stefan Hayden. He wants me to marry Francesca and leave the Sansoussy forever.”
Isayah's eyes burned brightly with fury. “I knew there was something wrong! I was only an hour away from the village when I felt it. That’s when I discovered that my escort was there to keep me from returning. What did Father do?”
Ran-Del leaned against the roof pillar and related the events of the night before.
Isayah sucked in his breath when Ra-Del finished. “You agreed to go with the outlanders?”
Ran-Del shut his eyes. “Yes, Grandfather.” He opened his eyes and let out a ragged breath. “I said I’d marry Francesca and live with her in the city. In return, Great-grandfather told me that I could come back sometimes, to visit.”
Isayah uttered an expletive that Ran-Del had never heard him use. “He kept at you until you agreed to it, right then and there? He couldn’t wait, not even a day?”
“He didn’t want to wait. He told Grandmother he had sent you away to spare you punishment.”
Concern seeped into Isayah’s rage. “Is your grandmother all right? Did she interfere again?”
“She’s fine. She’s tired because she treated me for most of the night, trying to make my arm heal as much as possible.”
Isayah looked down at Ran-Del’s left arm where the skin was red and puckered. Nascent scar tissue ran in a straight line of thick ridges down Ran-Del’s inner arm to the metal band on his wrist, then blossomed out to cover his palm and his fingers. It looked very tender, but it looked as if it had had weeks to heal instead of hours.
“Your grandmother worked very hard,” Isayah said. “I don’t know if I can do anything for you, Ran-Del, but I’ll try.”
The curtain over the door whipped back, and a brown-haired woman straightened up and strode angrily into the room. “Do you know what your father has done, Isayah Jahanpur?”
At the sight of her, Ran-Del struggled to his feet, standing with his head bowed, waiting.
“I know now,” Isayah answered her with icy calm. “I didn’t know what he planned when I left here yesterday.”
“He’s given Ran-Del away like a hunter whose kill is too big to eat by himself—as if he had no use for him, so these outlanders might as well have him.”
Ran-Del flushed but said nothing.
His grandfather didn’t argue. “I’m going to see my father now,” he said, with a formal bow. “I’ll leave you alone with Ran-Del.”
The woman stepped aside so that he could leave the tiny room. Tall, well into her middle seasons, she was aging gracefully. She wore her thick chestnut brown hair in wide braids pinned on top of her head and moved with quick, efficient movements that Ran-Del remembered well even though he hadn’t seen her for months. Even with his eyes downcast he knew she was coming closer. He waited respectfully for her to speak first.
“I wish I could say that it’s good to see you, Ran-Del,” she said. “But I don’t really feel it in these circumstances.”
Ran-Del raised his eyes and kept to the traditional greeting. “It’s good to see you, Mother.”
She embraced him. Ran-Del held her tightly with his good arm until she pulled away from him.
“Let me see your arm,” she commanded.
Ran-Del held out his left arm and his mother inspected the damage.
“That woman did a good job.” She sounded regretful at having to admit it. “It must have hurt a great deal.”
“It did,” Ran-Del said. “But it feels much better now.”
Laiza touched his face gently. “So, you’re going to marry this stranger and go away from us forever?”
Ran-Del swallowed as he recalled his capitulation. “I had no choice, Mother. Great-grandfather would have cast me out. Even your clan would have honored his decision. What else could I do?”
She laid her hand on his cheek. “Do you care for this woman at all, Ran-Del?”
Ran-Del looked away. He wished he knew the answer himself. “I suppose so. Francesca’s not unpleasant or unkind.”
Laiza’s mouth tightened into a hard, straight line. “She had better be good to you, or she’ll have me to deal with, no matter how far away her city is.”
Ran-Del took her hand. He could feel her caste bracelet under his thumb—a brown bead for her native family, one blue one for the Ramakdawala, a clan stone for the Standing Rock Clan, and four green beads, for her four children. There were no white beads because her mother and grandmother were both dead, and there was no sky-gold bead because she had no psy talent at all.
“I always used to think the old man blamed me when you didn’t inherit much of his gift,” Laiza said. “I hope that’s not why he’s giving you away like this.”
Ran-Del shook his head. “I don’t think so, Mother. He has only two descendents, and he's always known how many glass beads we each have.”
His mother’s face took on a sour look. “He’ll have more descendants soon enough.”
Ran-Del frowned. “More descendants? But my children won’t be Sansoussy, and there’s no one else but–” He broke off in surprise as he guessed her meaning. “Grandfather?”
Laiza nodded. “The old man means to order him to take a second wife.”
“What young woman would tie herself to a man Grandfather’s age—” Ran-Del stopped himself as he realized there was one young woman among the Falling Water People who would be more than willing.
His mother put her arm on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Ran-Del. I know you wanted her, but you’re better off without her. She looked like she’d eaten a whole plate of cakes, she was so pleased with herself.”
“Bettine will marry Grandfather?” In the back of his mind, anger and intense jealousy exploded into rage. It disturbed him to feel that way about his grandfather, and he was glad that his mother had no psy sense, so that she couldn’t feel it, too.
“She’s agreed to do so,” Laiza said. “It only remains for that dried up old stick to persuade his son to obey him.”
Ran-Del drew his brows together in a tight frown. “I hope Grandfather keeps his head. If Great-grandfather gets angry with him, he may decide that Grandfather isn’t too old to punish.”
His mother moved her arm to encircle his shoulders. “It’s hard for me to worry about any of them. They took you away from me once, and now they’re going to do it again.”
Ran-Del sighed. The only good thing about going to the city was that he would no longer be pulled in two directions between his mother and his clan. “I wish I knew why this was happening, Mother. I wish I knew what it was Great-grandfather saw in his vision.”
The Sixth Discipline Page 37
