617 - Things Went White

Things went white in my sight for an instant. When I came to myself I was on my knees.  He grabbed my hands.  “I’m sorry... I thought I should warn you... treason though some might see that as.”

I pulled my hands free and went to my face in front of him, hands locked in my hair.
 
“No no, Minis, gehit, I mean... don’t do that...”  I felt his hand on my arms, trying to raise me.

I couldn’t breathe.  I just couldn’t breathe.  They thought I was as big a threat as my father... and would make Virani-e my enemy.

“There has to be... there has to be something I...” I struggled for breath.  “There has to be something I can do, something I can say.”

“I don’t know... I thought of every argument  I could think of.  Of course I don’t want to do it, but you know... semana kra...”

Payment for my sins... Here was the disaster that the Gods had planned for me.  Of course things had been too easy.  The Gods had planned this all my life.  I drew myself up onto my knees and tried to hide my too-easy tears.  I’d go to Hayel this way. 

“You’ve warned me.  Thank you, Virani-e.  You should wait until Kallijas isn’t Imperator, he’d feel bound to oppose you...”  I looked up at him.  “This... isn’t some kind of... crazy nightmare is it?”

“No,” he said.  “I wish it were.”

“A... joke?”  It was a forlorn hope.  I set my teeth. I felt that I was ghastly, on the edge of collapsing.

“A joke?” Anger flared in his eyes, and his hand went to his sword-hilt.

“If I piss you off enough you’ll be able to more easily do what your people demand.”  This was how I was going to go to Hayel, was it?

He drew the sword blurring fast as I said it and I didn’t have time to even twitch... but there was no blade on the hilt.  He held nothing but the empty, bladeless hilt in his fist.  “Then again,” he said, looking at it thoughtfully, “it could be a joke.” Now a grin twitched on his lips.  I fell over again.  And this time I did faint.

**

I felt drops on my lips, tasting the medicinal preservative of arnika and calming essence both.  There was a familiar arm under my back, cradling me.  My hearing was a bit late coming back but I could distantly hear someone saying “Oh shen, I’m sorry, lad... I’m sorry...”

“You fikker,” I said when I struggled back up to myself.

“I deserve that,” he said.  “And worse.” He helped me to sit up though the world was a bit wobbly and strange still.

“It was a joke.  Of course it was a joke.  If your Assembly did choose that this wouldn’t be the way you’d warn me.”

“Oh, you’d have heard a boatload of chatter beforehand... I thought that would be how you’d catch me.  I mentioned Jitzmitthra... I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would throw you that much...”

“S’all right..” I managed to sit up out of his support.  “This is exactly what I’ve been worried about the past moon.  All the worries... you know.  Am I good enough.  You put your thumb on it exactly.”

“Us making war on you?”

“Not likely which is why I was so startled.  But... I managed to sleep maybe a bead last night.”

“You owe me one... one of sufficient magnitude that I dread it.”

I had to smile.  “It will take a lot of thinking to come up with one.”  I shook my head and looked at getting up.  Virani-e fitted the sword hilt back into its scabbard with a smack and offered me a hand up, which I took.  I was steady enough on my feet.  I took a deep breath.

“Sukala will laugh her guts out when we tell her this one.”  I said.

“You mean when we tell her how you reacted,” he said, with that grin of his.

“Of course.”  I felt as if my centre had been cored out hollow and hadn’t yet been put back.  The whole Yeoli entourage probably knew.  Forzak it. Another reason for them to laugh at how ridiculous I -- and by extension all Arkans were --. Ah well.  It wasn’t as if anybody got any respect during Jitzmitthra.  And perhaps Virani-e had been nice enough not to hold me up for ridicule by his people.

I glanced at him, still wearing that smug smile, his hand still gently on my shoulder.  I’m going to get you. I am so going to get you.

**

Kallijas was in the Greater Baths when I plunked my drained self down on the edge of it.

“Minis?  Are you all right?  Did something happen?  I thought you were with Sheng.”

Of course he’d see.  “Oh, yeah.  He played a joke on me. I was an idiot and believed him and passed out.”

“Passed out?  What on the Earthsphere did he do?  Here... you need some calming essence?”  I slid from the edge of the bath into the water next to him, rested my arms and chin on the edge.

“No, I had lots and smashweed too.  Whackweed.  He convinced me that Yeola-e was going to war with Arko again... because they didn’t like the way I would take the Empire.”

“Whaaaaat? But how could...”  He heaved out a breath.  “I know, I know.  He can be completely convincing.  That whoreson.”

“If I’d not been tangled in my own fears I might have seen through it.  He couldn’t  know I’ve been chewing myself up inside...”

“Ehh... I don’t know.  He is sensitive to that kind of thing.  He might have known without knowing... same way he can go for a weak point without knowing it’s there when he’s fighting.”

“He apologized.  But now I have a problem.”

“Yes.”  He nodded, knowingly.  “How to take sufficient revenge upon him.”

“Without things going too far.”

“When he’s pushed it so far himself, yes.”

“I shouldn’t ask.  But I will.”  He laughed.  “Do you have any ideas, Kall?”

“Oh, you know me... I’m not in the slightest bit devious!  But I am certainly available as an accessory, to make it convincing.  Try Skorsas... he’s more clever that way.  There are any number of other people who would help, I would think.”

I grinned at him.  “Oh... yes.”  I flung myself back into the water and dunked my head.  When I came up again I started laughing.  “My return prank has to be just epic.”

“Yes, it does.  Are you planning to do it during this Jitz, or wait a year?”

“A year will give me sufficient planning time.  Unless I have a brilliant idea... I should focus on my wedding tomorrow.”

“If you do have a brilliant idea for how to do it this year,” Kall said, “make sure you say to him, ‘I am so going to get you back... I have a whole year to think of something truly epic.’”  That made me laugh harder.

“And you say you aren’t devious!”  I pulled myself out of the water and sat on the edge.

“Ehh... I have flashes.”

“Should I be evil enough to consult with Grandfather do you think?  His sense of humour is as dry as Virani-e’s.”

“Oh, absolutely.”  Relish was so rare an expression on Kall’s face.

Convince me that his country was going to come and crush mine again? Well, he’s certainly ner -- hmmmm.