by R. Cooper
Taji stared, wide-eyed as his brain abruptly decided to work at full capacity again. They were all waiting—for him, because he wasn’t an insignificant translator anymore. He was a shehzha with honor worth fighting over.
Or, no, Trenne was supposed to be guarding his honor, but Trenne wasn’t here. In his place were Lin and Nadir and two members of the Guard used to protect the emperor himself.
Taji gave Lin a jerky nod and began to walk. She and Nadir fell into step with him, Lin at his elbow, Nadir behind. The Imperial Guards were in front, so they ended up leading the way. The lack of comment on that from Lin said volumes about the feeling between the security teams. Nadir and Lin were treating the presence of the Imperial Guard like an insult disguised as an honor.
Trenne had hinted at the situation, but Lin and Nadir had been embarrassingly quicker to grasp how it would be. Of course, they’d been stationed here longer than Taji.
No wonder they were dressed up and being respectful. Either they were all in enough danger to require the extra security, or, more likely, Larin was implying IPTC—and Trenne—were not worthy of a shehzha, and Trenne’s team had taken exception to that.
The two Imperial Guards moved too quickly and had to slow their steps to keep Taji within a reasonable distance. They didn’t speak to acknowledge that, or spare a glance for Taji’s leg. Nonetheless, they slowed, and the downward-upward flick of Lin’s ears was both smug and disdainful.
The jangling nervous tension beneath Taji’s skin intensified.
He was in over his head. He couldn’t convincingly be anyone’s plaything. The Sha were going to find him wanting, and that would only make things worse for Trenne. How was Taji supposed to do this and pay attention to the emperor for the ambassador? He should have discussed this more with Trenne last night, not allowed his feelings to keep him silent. Trenne already knew how Taji felt about him. Taji shouldn’t have gotten embarrassed and stopped asking questions. Now he had no idea what to do and no way to ask without the Guards hearing.
“Are you well, Taji shehzha?” asked one of the Guards, turning briefly without changing stride. Servants moved out of their way without being told. Their gazes stayed on Taji as he passed them.
Taji realized he was breathing hard. He tried to force himself to be calm. “I am fine.”
He had no idea what else he might have said if the same Imperial Guard hadn’t interrupted. “We can send for him, if the need is great.”
Whether this was a test of Taji’s ability to work or not, Taji spent a long, obvious moment imagining Trenne with him. The thought helped him breathe easier, even though he wasn’t actually Trenne’s shehzha. Taji was merely someone who Trenne had once promised to take care of at a time when Taji had been panicking just like this.
Lin cut a worried look to him.
Taji immediately shook his head. “I am fine. Truly.”
He didn’t want to know what Nadir and Lin thought about that.
The Guards carried on as if the issue was settled. They led Taji and his two reluctant bodyguards the way he and Trenne had come last night after leaving the ambassador’s room, and then they took a wide, carved staircase up toward the surface.
As he walked, Taji stared at the Guards’ uniforms and tried to focus on any details to give him a history, but he couldn’t see anything. The emperor had an army—well, what was left of the empire had an army, and the Imperial Guards were probably the elite soldiers. But they didn’t wear insignia or patches. Just identical gray, unbelted sorias with slightly different arrays of weaponry in their sashes. They walked in unison, communicating—he assumed—through the minute movements of their ears. Which was fascinating in itself: a probably coded, unique language that would not be taught to outsiders. And they served the empire, unto death.
Those who had recorded Shavian history were vague on the times that had been necessary, or failed, and why, and continued to hold the Imperial Guard in a sort of awe.
Taji’s strange little group of escorts emerged from the stairs to the surface, into a cold mist. A clamoring roar from the ocean below echoed through the air, distracting Taji from the deep green vines with pale yellow thorns that covered the sloped, curved walls around them.
The ground was covered in lit up, oddly warm stones, and a thin, blueish moss that disappeared beneath more vines. The path, if it was one, led around several large domes constructed of something smooth and solid-looking. These domes were not built out of the rock or the cliffs, but set on top of it, in some kind of pattern.
He stared in surprise at two of the Koel in the shadow of yet another circular building. Eriat and Talfa stood apart, with Mos between them. Mos was in red again, and barefoot. Talfa was also barefoot, although in deference to the cold weather that Mos was clearly used to, both Talfa and Eriat wore long-sleeved short coats over their soria.
Eriat was a different figure without his wall of Koel history behind him, in the grim light of morning after hours of travel. He had no servants or Guards, only Talfa for support, and Talfa was a surprise. Taji had thought Gia was one of the Koel who had been forcibly invited. Perhaps she was, but hadn’t been brought along on a morning tour of Olea greatness. Eriat did not look like someone who could have crossed an ocean, or taken part in the conquest, or any of the warring afterward. He looked tired and a bit cold.
In contrast, tall, plump Talfa, in patterned gray and indigo, seemed unconcerned about their environment. Talfa was once again without a knife on display. They stood, dark and striking, and didn’t appear to be listening to whatever Mos said. Talfa’s attention was on the Imperial Guards and Taji.
Taji abruptly realized that the arrival of the Imperial Guards meant more than the possibility of IPTC employees being locked up or executed. The Guard obeyed the emperor’s whims, as long as those whims served the empire, and the Koel were not here willingly. But Talfa didn’t react other than to focus on Taji with vague surprise as Taji and his odd retinue came to a stop.
“Taji Ameyo is the shehzha of the I.P.T.C. soldier accompanying Ambassador Tsomyal,” Mos explained smoothly, but in a tone that made it seem as though the Koel already knew that. Of course, they didn’t. Taji had been nothing but a translator to them, if they recalled him at all. But they clearly remembered Trenne, though they hadn’t spoken to him.
Eriat lost control enough to make a small noise. Talfa studied Taji again, with sharper interest.
Mos continued smoothly, “The emperor has chosen to honor him.”
Taji didn’t know how bizarre it was for two elite soldiers to be following around an insignificant human, but he would guess it was probably about as unheard of as a hurat being allowed to have a shehzha. Mos seemed to be trying to end any conversation about it before it could start.
“Yes,” Eriat said despite that, “as we are all being honored with this visit.”
For a second, it was as though no one breathed. Then Talfa made a graceful gesture with one hand. “Taji Ameyo?” they pronounced softly, as if Taji’s name mattered now. “Not shehzha? And you stand before us and continue to assist the trade coalition?”
Eriat didn’t quite sneer in disgust but his displeasure was clear. He glanced toward the Imperial Guards, and then at Lin and Nadir, who had come up to stand at either side of Taji. The sight made him pause.
“You are well today?” Mos asked, and Taji startled.
“Um, yes? I will do, anyway.” Taji nodded, then realized that his words would translate but not their meaning. Lin’s small, vexed exhale said this was the wrong answer anyway. He tried to hurry past it. “We are going to see more of the palace? It is called the playground of the Olea? It is certainly luxurious for a place that was largely literally carved from rock. Then up here you have…whatever these buildings are, and an entirely different plant life than what I saw in the capital. Still beautiful!” he tacked on quickly. “But not what I was expecting.”
“You are a human male?” Talfa wondered aloud, and barely flicked an ear in Eriat’s dire
ction when Eriat made a noise again. Talfa considered Taji, then Nadir, then Taji again. “We apologize. We failed to watch over you when you were in our home. We did not realize you were shehzha. You were very contained…until the end of that meeting. How interesting.”
“Oh.” Taji had no clue what he ought to say in response, polite forgiveness or a challenge to a duel could have been equally acceptable. He finally tipped his chin up. “My honor was already safe.”
Eriat went stiff, but kept any objections to himself. “Talfa,” he warned instead, as if Talfa had erred in some way. Talfa went quiet. Satisfied, Eriat turned to Mos. “Olea Rinnah will join us?”
“Yes,” Mos answered placidly. “While we wait, I have been instructed to show you some of the original settlements.”
Shavians were far too used to holding conversations while surrounded by people who were heavily armed. Taji was the only one of them not carrying a weapon, and forlornly hoped his data device could at least be used as a shield if needed. Not that anyone would hurt him, according to Trenne. Not on purpose.
Then again, Trenne had also sent two soldiers with him and warned him away from the emperor. Just because the Sha didn’t like to harm a shehzha didn’t mean they wouldn’t. It wasn’t as if the role of the shehzha was that important, culturally. It couldn’t possibly be. Taji hadn’t even heard of it until recently.
“Original settlements?” He tried to focus on that. “Is that what these are?” He waved at the vine-covered domes.
“No, these were constructed afterward.” Mos did not give the construction a specific date. She spun gracefully on her heels and stepped lightly over every thorny vine. “This way, please.”
No one moved. So Taji took the first step to follow her and everyone else sprang into motion. It was as though an entire army went with him, albeit an army that moved fairly quietly. “So what are these?” he pressed, while resigning himself to more walking.
“I believe they were dwellings for lower servants.” Mos tossed her head and her long braid swung behind her.
“The original Sha brought servants over with them?” Taji couldn’t help his surprise. “Or was that after they initially started to settle here?” He didn’t add, and slowly sweep their way across the continent, destroying everything in their path. The ambassador would have been proud of him.
“Some did,” Mos affirmed. “Other servants were born here.”
Taji frowned a little, then frowned harder to see they would be heading down more stairs and back inside the rock. He took a last look at the plain, undecorated domes, and tried to think where they were in relation to the rest of the palace, which was still largely underground. “They lived separate from you? And outside? Like animals?”
He shut his mouth hard after that last word.
He’d known what conquest meant, of course, but he hadn’t really considered the years afterward, and the survivors.
The people on this side of the continent probably weren’t Trenne’s people. Most of them had been absorbed into the lower classes over time, not sentenced to be eternal outsiders from the glorious culture of the Sha as some kind of punishment.
The stairs Mos led them down were narrower. The Shavians had to walk single file, although Taji was fine. As fine as he could be with a stone staircase jarring his leg with every step. The way was lit artificially, as well as with bioluminescent moss or algae that seemed to have been encouraged instead of scraped away. The air was warm, as if even this passageway was heated.
He stumbled once and Nadir caught him, only to release him immediately when both Imperial Guards turned at once.
Apparently, Taji was not to be touched. Trenne had failed to mention that. Maybe he hadn’t known.
“Was this passageway meant for the servants to use?” Taji called out to distract everyone from Nadir’s mistake.
Talfa huffed, almost amused. “You have a lot of questions about servants.”
“Do the Olea think we are here to serve them?” Eriat inquired, with undoubtedly false politeness. “Is that why they show us these passages?”
Mos’s voice gave away nothing. “There are many tunnels. They existed when the Olea arrived here.”
“Really? I have to tell Trenne,” Taji murmured without thinking. The pitiful attempt at conversation died away again. He tried to catch Lin’s eye, and when that was impossible, looked up as much as he could for hints about how the tunnel and stairs had been carved.
“This way, and have care, please.” Mos used a gentle tone. “The Olea extended these tunnels and built their first homes above them. These were to retain control of this area, as well as provide a place for other Sha nobility as they arrived from across the sea. The original settlements were abandoned after some time, which is when much of the palace was built where it stands now, at the southern edge of the cliff, and beneath it. The family quarters are there, although a later Olea general built gardens down on the hills on the northern side of the cliffs. In addition, there is the grove above the sea, where the first Sha are believed to have landed.”
Mos timed her speech well. Daylight flooded into the tunnels as the steps grew briefly steeper, and then they were all outside, in the heart of what Taji assumed was the grove itself.
‘Grove’ was misleading. He had expected plants, but not stone ruins surrounded by garnet-trunked, slender giants, and twisting, gnarled black trees filled with huge, spiky blooms of cerise, that somehow hung on despite the occasional fierce wind. More green and yellow vines wrapped around rocks eroded and smooth, trailing in and away from the edge of the cliff toward a small, open building of blue and white. It was almost too much color against the gray sky. The clouds obscured the planet’s rings, but enough light shined through to tint them violet. Against that sky, the Imperial Guards would have blended in if not for the stark beauty of the trees.
Taji stopped, uncaring if the rest of the people with him had to stop, too. His leg ached and this was a sight worth stopping for. “You almost forget,” he commented. “When you’re learning, you can forget these things are real. That they still exist, and live, and affect even what we are doing now.”
“Ameyo?” Lin asked in confusion.
Taji flinched. He’d been speaking to Trenne, who was obviously not with him.
Taji had spoken to himself a lot, on the moon, on the long trip out here, all those nights in his room in the ambassador’s house, but never expecting an answer the way he just had. One night with Trenne had spoiled him already.
“Nothing.” He clenched his jaw and pressed onward, although walking up so many stairs had not been good for him.
This time he could practically sense the displeasure from the two Imperial Guards. They didn’t care to see his limp, probably because they had been told to take care of him. And yet they couldn’t touch him to help. How frustrating for them, Taji thought without sympathy.
“Shavians,” he whispered, and several pairs of ears flicked toward him.
“The history of the empire itself, zealously guarded by the Olea—until today.” Eriat stopped walking. “Such honor shown to us.” He did not sound honored.
Taji supposed it couldn’t feel good to be the head of the Koel, forced out here so a higher-ranking family could shove their imperial credentials in his face.
Talfa made an aborted movement, as if they wanted to keep going but had to stay with Eriat. Taji looked to Lin, then hobbled onward. If he was here, he was going to see the ruins up close.
“Oh, great,” Nadir muttered in Anglisky, apparently forgetting Shavians would hear him and also that any translating devices would repeat that literally.
“Yes, it is!” Talfa said in ‘Asha as Nadir passed them. Nadir paused, taken aback. “I can see why they chose this place,” Talfa continued dreamily. “Taji Ameyo has made me think of those already here. I—”
“Talfa.” Eriat turned around to stare at his young cousin. “Olea Rinnah has arrived.”
At that, Taji turned as well. It was only when
his four bodyguards all stopped to do the same that he remembered them and how ridiculous he must look.
Olea Rinnah had a pair of Imperial Guards with her. Two Guards were more than enough for the sister of an emperor. Taji glared significantly at Lin for a moment. Lin unapologetically stayed at his side.
Rinnah stepped away from the stone building with her Guards and another tall Shavian figure behind her. She wore loose pants under her green soria and had shoes on. The politics of shoes among the nobles was something Taji fully intended to figure out whenever he had time. Yesterday, he would have said Rinnah wasn’t interested in politics. Now, he wasn’t sure.
She glanced over the assembled group, nodding to Eriat and Talfa, then freezing for one second when she saw the Imperial Guards with Taji. An embarrassing mistake for someone of her background.
