170 - Pray For The Sun To Move

It felt like going into the Ten Tens but there were no records of how an Ordeal was done.  This past year the Fenjitzas had had his priest and acolytes working with the University Historians to try and ferret out any remnant that might make it safer for Minis.

The only thing they had found was variants of the story passed down clandestinely with the gold and black handkerchiefs.  Lie in the Temple under the light of God without water, till you are released. That was the old punitive version.  The Assembly had written Lie in the Temple under the light of the Ten without water, until you gain the God’s Ears, and bring us an answer.

Minis stepped inside after waving at Ky and the babies, immensely grateful for Gan and Fara taking up station on either side of him as he walked up the middle of the Temple.

The choir began the hymn “I Open My Soul” and the crowd streaming in after he’d passed took up the song and the harmony.  Surrounded by his people’s music, Minis felt himself settling into the prayer-like state proper for approaching the Ten.

Ahead, at the top step approaching Muunas, both Radas and Narilla stood waiting, and when he got to them he gave them the two handkerchiefs he held, the black one to Radas and the gold one to Narilla, and in the middle of the hymn he heard people gasp at the reversal.  He and the two high priests had talked of what to do, when the Assembly gave him their writ, but Narilla had been the one to say “It’s a whole new ritual, Minis.  The original was merely people punishing a bad Imperator. The Assembly has changed it to a rite that you offer freely. Offering to do what your line has always been asked to do--“ “—the good ones, anyway.” Radas had broken in.  “—and you need to approach the Ten with faith and humility.”

So now he removed his kilt, handed it to Gan who winked at him. The glass circlet he handed to Farasha.  Then he turned faced Muunas, staring up into his face, arms wide, hands open, the golden seals the only thing on his body.

The glass instrument thundered out the opening chord of one of the deeply stirring arias, echoed by the choir.

"COME TO ME! Come to me, children of the Ten!"

He bent to lay a hand on Muunas's toe before climbing up past the statue’s lap, to the stone hand. There he stopped once more to look into the God's Face, and over into the Goddess's where She stood next to Her divine Husband.

The hand was perfect in every detail, lines and muscles, even the suggestion of calluses and he wondered for a wild moment what sculptor would dare suggest the High God ever worked at something enough to develop calluses.

As he lay down on the warm marble he had another thought that made him smile.  What soothsayer, or hand-reader would ever dare to read the God's fortune in the lines carved into the stone.  He had to stop himself from giggling at the blasphemy and knew that Mikas had to be there because it was the kind of joke He liked.  Thank you fessas God, for helping here.

He laid himself down on his back in the sunlight now streaming down from the Sun slit in the roof. There was nothing else to do but open himself to the light pouring down and biting into his skin.

The hymns the choir sang no longer matched the round of the Ten, but where all chosen for their relevance and to help and support Minis as he lay. Some were more known by the crowd and not all of the congregation would join every hymn.  'Grace' was a favourite and the building nearly shook with the fervor of the singing.  Their music shook him all over as he lay and he thanked the Ten and the people for their passion and will that he succeed.

He could see only the red glare of the sun through his clench-closed eyes and his skin was already beginning to sting.  His prayer first was for the sun angle to change so he would not be blinded or broiled in the first bead. May I pray for more rain? Mella, if you love me a cloud or two would be truly welcome.

169 - Minis is Good At Fixing Things

Kyriala had returned to the Balcony, with both babies on her lap.  She still wore the Imperatrix’s robes that did their best to reflect as if made out of mirrors, but the children had been divested of the gold and silver lace so they didn’t mar them. I love you, you silly man, she thought as she watched Minis pace across the Plaza.

People were celebrating, confused, not sure what they should be feeling.  The Mercier's flooding over to stand by the Temple to be first in behind Minis. All a round the square the vendors that had been set up for Mella’s rain festival weren’t breaking down their booths, but intensely discussing the issue with people from the Ministry Celebratory. Gloves clasped together, head waving to make a point, shoulders twitching to indicate this, or that. They want to stay set up while Minis is doing this… he says it’s a little like the Yeola-e Kiss of the Lake, though the Assembly has set it up to be less lethal. Maybe, but the Ten Tens are fully as dangerous and fickle as Arkan people.

Minis reached the Temple and walked up the last few steps, turned and held up the gold kerchief over his head. She managed to unhook an arm from around Daurama and waved. She felt sick that that nasty man had managed to set Minis up like this, though it could be that the Temple was their only comprehensive solution to this illness.

She thought that proposing to appoint Kallen to the post of Fool was a brilliant way to neutralize him.  Get Mikas and Risae and Muunas Himself to help, love.  Don’t hurt yourself.

They’d talked about it, long into the night, all four together and Gan and Farasha were still in the Temple till her baby was born, so they would be there the whole time and Kyriala would go across more quietly, with less pomp, later in the evening.  She didn’t want to shift people’s attention from where it should be, which was Minis doing this in the spirit of sacrifice to his people.

I don’t like Ilian Kallen or any of his handlers.  His family thinks they are so smart to keep pushing him under our noses, not realizing that we would prefer they shoved a dog turd there instead. She sent a quick apology to Selinae for her crude and savage thoughts.  I have babies right now, but that doesn’t mean I cannot think.  If Kallen accepts the role of Fool, he will be worked very hard. Ah, I saw…

Minis had turned and walked through the open doors, followed by a good piece of the crowd, gold handkerchiefs waving in gloved hands.  The front hall of the Temple was set up with pews out for people to sit and Minis walked up the golden river of tiles, disappearing from her sight.

“Imperatrix.” Matthas Mahid stood just at the doors of the balcony, hands hidden in his priest’s robe sleeves.  He looked thin and quivered where he stood as though some kind of current ran through him that he couldn’t control.  “You know that You needn’t worry.”

“No, Matthas. Failure is always possible.  Very unlikely in this case but I feel what I feel.” She turned toward him slightly.  “Unless you are speaking with the Temple’s Voice?” She didn’t think he was.

“I will go with him. Ergas the Temple needs this. The Imperator, if he is very careful, will be able to help the Temple settle into an entirely new configuration.”

“So the Ten were silent to encourage this to happen? Never mind. Minis is very good at fixing things,” Ky said.  “Even Mahid. Perhaps especially Mahid.” She inclined her head at him and he stood still barely breathing.

“I hear the Imperatrix.” The crowd inside the Temple burst into a hymn, “I Open My Soul”. Matthas looked over her shoulder.  “I must go.”

“Thank you, Matthas.”

168 - Those Who Cry Mercy, Win

It was auspiciously pouring for the last day of Mella’s Festival, but criers had been out all the day before announcing that Minis and Kyriala would speak at noon.  Intharas had put out a special edition of the Pages announcing the twins’ birth and people were out in force, even if they were getting soaked to the skin.  It was seen as good fortune to get soaked at least once, in Mella’s honour.

Minis was in the Imperial Robe and the ancient old collar that gave him a halo of gold spikes, glittering lines of diamonds both white and yellow, and a breastplate of topazes.  He had to smile to himself as he looked over at Ili who was very solemn in the robe Minis had worn for his presentation. Although Ili was a thin rail of a boy compared to how rotund Minis had been.  It was the despair of his nurse that she couldn’t keep the weight on him.  It was all the riding and training he did.

Ky sat next to Minis on the Imperatrix’s Silver Throne, both babies in her arms, nearly buried in the trailing hems, one gold lace, one silver.  “I will present our children,” she said firmly, though she still tired easily, only days after having given birth.

Farasha and Gan were still in the Temple, safeguarding her pregnancy still.  “Horse-clots!” Fara had said. “I’m tired of being pregnant! This last moon cannot come too soon!”

“I’ll be there for you, love,” Minis and Ky had said almost simultaneously. Gan had just grinned and squeezed his wife’s hand. “If I can do it,” Ky said. “With all the cutting and healing and scarring… you can!”

On the Balcony, Minis cleared his throat and Ili turned his head.  “Ilesias, this is a little different for you, hmmm?”

He laughed.  “Big Brother I don’t remember last time!  I was the Blob!”

“Are you all right with…”

“Stinky, all that weight of collar on you is frying your head, even in the rain!” Ili grinned.  “I get to be just a prince now! Gian says that you and Ky are being very efficient producing two at once!”

Minis nodded, carefully, so as not to fall over under his robes.  Atzana brought out the Imperial Line Book and Minis rose to put the Imperial Book next to it under the awning.  Both books shone bright gold even in the rain and the crowd quieted as they saw him move.

“REJOICE, OH ARKO!” He tried not to flinch at the memory of Kurkas’s booming announcement.  His own voice sounded very much like the old man’s.  “I bring you a new Spark of the Sun’s Ray, a new Heir, a new hope!”

His voice, even in the balcony’s amplification, and the heralds all around were drowned out by the crowd’s cheering and Kyriala rose to stand next to him.  Ili took his little gold-draped niece out of her arms and held her up.

The cheering went on until Minis raised his hands.  “I present Inensa Amitza Sinimasina Aan! She is your new Heir in the eyes of the Ten!” The servant pressed the gold ink to her chubby foot as the applause rolled around the plaza, pressed it to the Imperial Line book and then to a blank page laid into the Imperial book.

Intharas was already getting letters from people who were arguing that they didn’t want a female in the direct line, threatening Minis with petitions of impeachment, petitions both for and against.

They washed the baby’s foot though she howled and kicked and complained.  A good sign. Ili picked up the second baby as Kyriala took the Spark back and, to Arko’s consternation, set her to her own breast, though they could only infer it under the silver nursing drape.

“Your new Coronet Regal, Second Born! Daurama Narilla Frenaria Aan!”

Her footprint was dutifully imprinted, in silver ink this time.  She didn’t protest all the passing around, only complaining a bit until she was safely in Kyrialla’s arms again.

People were pulling out wineskins to toast the children and then noticed that Minis hadn’t moved, arms upraised, while the books were carefully taken away and the awning removed.  The rain had ended and tiny patches of blue were visible in the clouds rolling over the Rim.

“People of Arko.” He drew a deep breath and he felt Ky’s hand pat him encouragingly on the thigh, where no one could see.  “The Assembly have heard your cries to the Ten and have directed me to approach the Gods through an Ordeal.”

There wasn’t quite silence, but quiet as people took this in.  Minis pulled out a golden kerchief – how much like a Mezem red or white – and raised it into the air over his head.  “It is now safe for me to approach the Ten, you have Imperatrix, Spark and Coronet.”

He laid the gold handkerchief on the stone in front of him, reached up and lifted the heavy collar up and over his head, handed it to the priests standing behind them all. The confused roar followed him as he turned to go down to the Steel Gate, with Kyriala and the babies.

He only stopped a moment to kiss her, in what privacy they had just inside. “You can do this, love.  The Gods like you,” she said.

Minis’s smile was a little forced.  “I’m just afraid that they’re a little crazy when they try to help human beings.”

“Hush.  We’re with you in spirit.”

“I love you.”

“We love you too.” Baby Inensa kicked him in the chest and he smiled and tore himself away.  The sound of the crowd outside was like a wall that hammered against him when he, surrounded by Dimae’s priests and priestesses as his protection, stepped out onto the top step.

He held out his arms and the priests with him took the Imperial robe off his shoulders, so he stood wearing only a plain linen kilt and the glass circlet he’d created during his Ten Tens. He slowly paced across the bridge raised between the Marble Palace and the Temple, barefoot, wading through the cacophony.  In his right hand he held the gold handkerchief that could kill him, while in his left, the black that could save him.

The sun broke through, shining hard on his head as he walked. Gods couldn't you have had it be overcast a little longer?

He swallowed hard and kept his head up, eyes fixed on the Temple.  This was more dangerous than the Ten Tens.

167 - Your Concern For My Well Being

Minis only paused a moment and continued on past Kallen.  “Assemblyman, speak to me.  I need to cleanse myself before meeting with the Fehinnan Ambassador.  You needn't stay like you were forced to, when we were children.  Please just walk with me to the Baths.  I have certain questions.”

Kallen had been run absolutely ragged by the family up at the Winter Palace, apparently in demand by absolutely everyone. His wife and alesinas were waxing rhapsodic about their stay. You’ve been in training for that kind of social whirl your whole life, Minis thought, snidely.

“Of course, You Whose Whim is the Arkan Assembly’s,” he turned to walk beside.

“Hardly.  More like the other way around, Assemblyperson.  How is it that the committee put to analyzing the Ordeal has come to a conclusion while Assembly is not sitting?  How diligent of them.”

“We did try, Imperator.  These ones labored long.”

“Hmm. And you rushed to inform me the instant my wife was delivered of a healthy heir.” He raised one eyebrow at Kallen as a servant whisked open the first of the doors to the Great Baths.  “I still find myself suspect of your tender concern for my well-being, Kallen.”

The Assemblyman merely sniffed.  “My concern is for Arko, Imperator. As it should be.”

Minis heartily wished that he had Intharas’s gift for loading sarcasm and irony onto single words. “Indeed.” He held out his hand. “Let me see the report.  We will be presenting the babies to Arko at noon tomorrow.  I’ll announce my obedience to my faithful Assembly after that.”

“Of course, Imperator. Of course!” He choked a moment. "Did the Exalted say 'babies'?"

Minis paused at the inner doors of the Baths, ignoring the question.  “Oh. Kallen, what do you feel of the idea of being appointed to be my court Fool?”  Someone who loathes and envies me will surely be willing to say all kinds of sharp things, should I slip up.

A whole plethora of emotions washed over Kallen’s face, for the first time washed blank of calculation, by shock. His mouth hung open. “This one… this one is still an Assemblyman and can’t… well, I could resign or…”

“Consider your prostration done, Kallen. Gehit, and do think about it.” Minis left him standing there, staring after him. Everyone considers him an idiot and shoves his opinions 

down the man’s throat as though he’s a Solstice turkey. Court Fool puts him right under my eye, and any asinine thing he says will be seen as funny. And all those naysayers will keep pumping him full of these nasty tricks, but he’ll trot them out for me immediately.  I don’t have to like the man for him to still fulfill a good function.

He slid into the water and closed his eyes, remembering Tasomimbus with a pang. I don’t have to love everyone around me to be loved. It’s going to hurt seeing Kallen in his official motley. Maybe my household can bear having Riala design something for him that won’t set me off.