Pendant of Fortune (21 page)

They handed him their papers. After a cursory glance at each, he handed them back and waved them along. The buggy clattered over the paving of the plaza and stopped behind two others in front of the church. The bells started to ring just as Volle and Helfer stepped down to the ground.

The front of the church, in contrast to most of the surrounding buildings, was made of limestone, pitted and scarred with age. The seven figures over the entrance were familiar, though he noticed that the Mustela figure was more obviously a weasel than he’d seen elsewhere, and was in the favored position to Gaia’s right. The Cathedral in Divalia had six larger and more ornate House statues, but they were not part of the structure, and whenever a new king was chosen, a team of workers went through the laborious task of moving that king’s House statue into the favored position.

Helfer saw where he was looking. “They’re fixed,” he said shortly. “Alister was worried about that, but I told him there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Volle nodded. “It’s a beautiful church, though.”

“
I love the Cathedral, but this has its own charm. It’s smaller and closer. It is, however, very warm. I’ve fallen asleep more than once.” He grinned.

“
Try not to sleep this morning. I don’t think the King would approve.” The main doors of the church looked to have been newly crafted, with the same workmanship as the table in the dining hall. The reliefs depicted the Birthing in one panel, in which Gaia was cradling a litter of six cubs, and the Legacy in the other panel, in which she was instructing the six Ancestors in the care of the world she was bequeathing them. The words “Love One Another” were set above the scene in an inlaid lighter wood. Volle ran a paw along the smooth finish as he walked in under the watchful eye of a cougar guard, and admired the detail in the inlays.

“
This looks like the work on the table in the dining hall,” he whispered to Helfer as they walked past the door.

“
Same artisan,” the weasel replied. “He was delighted to be doing the work, especially knowing the King would be seeing it. He did the bureau in my chambers, too, remember that?”

Volle did, but didn’t comment further as the warmer air of the church enveloped him. Though it was larger than the dining hall, it was not as well ventilated, and the scents of all the attending people, trapped inside, circulated and mingled and assaulted his nostrils. It took him a few seconds to get used to the dizzying flood of aromas, and then he was able to look about and notice the structure of the building he’d stepped into.

The room’s floor was hexagonal, and there was no doubt as to which of the Houses the front segment was dedicated to. A large statue at the other end of the section depicted a cheerful, naked male weasel, about twice life size, with his paw outstretched as though he were strewing flower blossoms over the congregation. To the left and right, wooden screens hid the rest of the church, but Volle knew he’d find one sixth dedicated to each House. The wooden screens looked new and temporary, but the pews in front of them were ancient and weathered. Volle wouldn’t have been surprised to find that they were the originals from the first erection of the church.

The pulpit where the Cantor stood was of the same limestone as the outside of the church, a gracefully arcing balcony set about five feet above the floor. It was vacant at present, as were about half the pews, but the rest were filled with weasels and some skunks, dots of black in the uniform brown.

“
There’s Laya.” Helfer sighed and waved, and began trudging toward the front pew. “See you after.”

“
Thanks.” Volle headed to his right. The Canid section was around the other side of the wooden screen, already populated with several people he knew. The pulpit at the front looked similar to the one he’d seen in front of the weasel statue, but there was no statue behind it. Instead, a lovely painting of a stern-looking wolf in a flowing robe had been placed there. The glow around the wolf’s fur and the deliberate blurring of his muzzle markings made it evident that he was Canis, though Volle had never seen that particular painting before.

He made a short obeisance to the painting and then walked down the rows of pews. He caught Tish’s scent before he saw the wolf, but before he could turn to join him, he caught another scent and the hiss of his name. Turning, he saw Lord Dewanne and Ilyana waving to him, and a small cub next to Ilyana looking at him with a curious tilt to his muzzle.

He slid into the space next to Ilyana, behind Lord and Lady Dewanne, and arranged his tail behind him, aware of the cub’s inquisitive gaze but waiting for Ilyana to make the introductions. She did so quickly.

“
Volle, this is Volyan. Voly, this is your father.”

The cub got down from the pew and walked carefully around Ilyana’s knees. He was wearing a simple tunic, belted at the waist, and nothing else. Volle could see Ilyana’s blood in the graceful sweep of the cub’s muzzle, or at least the promise that it would grow into a graceful sweep, but the large ears reminded him more of himself. The wide eyes he smiled down into held a fox’s natural curiosity and the cub’s own innocence, as well as poorly-hidden enthusiasm. And his scent and the cant of his ears told Volle that he was nervous, though he was controlling his tail’s twitching fairly well.

“
Pleased to meet you, sir.” He had a slight lisp, but it was obvious he’d been practicing the speech. He extended a short paw up to Volle.

Volle smiled and clasped the paw. He’d last seen the cub at the age of one and a half, a meeting Volyan certainly did not remember. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time,” he said with a warm smile.

The cub’s muzzle broke into an answering smile, wide and joyful. He clambered up onto Volle’s knee and then hesitated, ears a-twitch, until Volle pulled him close and hugged him.

He’d never hugged a cub of Volyan’s age before, but he found it surprisingly easy. He smiled over the cub’s shoulder at Ilyana, and noticed that she had a strange expression on her muzzle. She was smiling, but her ears were half back and her eyes were distant. He only saw the expression for a second; when she noticed him looking at her, the smile filled out and her ears came up.

“
Volyan,” she said gently, “get down. It’s time for services to start.”

“
Yes, mum.” The cub disengaged his arms and leaned back, and tried to get down. When he slipped, Volle caught him and helped him down. He kept his wide eyes and warm smile on Volle as he edged back across his mother, then stopped and looked at her as though an idea had just occurred to him. “Can I sit here?” He pointed to the small space between Ilyana and Volle.

“
Of course.” Ilyana smiled at Volle, but her ears slipped back a notch again. She slid away from him, and only as she moved did he become aware of something in her scent that he hadn’t noticed before. It was very faint, and disappeared before he could identify it. Then Volyan was climbing up onto the seat and sitting neatly between Volle and Ilyana, and he forgot about the scent.

The cub kept his tail still and kept his paws folded neatly in his lap. Volle could tell that he was trying to keep his attention forward, but his ears kept swiveling back to his side, and Volle caught him sneaking peeks backwards even after the Cantor had started speaking.

The Cantor was a tall, stately fox, and Volle was impressed by his quiet assurance as he surveyed the crowd. His voice, when he began the greeting, was light enough that Volle could hear the voices of the Mustelid and Felid Cantors on either side, but it had a musical quality that he found entrancing. He almost missed the words for listening to the cadence and rhythm of the fox’s voice, but he knew the greetings by heart anyway and repeated the responses faithfully along with the rest of the foxes, wolves, and coyotes in attendance.

They sang a prayer to open the service, and then the Cantor began the reading. It was from the Book of Gaia, which Volle knew well, and concerned the Sacrifice. He told of Gaia’s coupling with Skye, Lord of the Heavens, while He was bright, Her terror when She realized that He was also the Darkness of Night, and of Her determination to keep Her children with Her, safe from the Darkness. “And though each of Her children brought Her great delight, and Her loneliness was abated, so did Gaia look around and see that the world was dry. She required nothing to live, but Her children required food, and water, or they would die. And so of Her tears She drew water, and of Her flesh She drew food, and thus were Her children sustained.

“
But as they grew, even Gaia’s tears and Gaia’s flesh could not keep them nourished. So She gathered Her children together and said, Behold, my children, I give to you the world. I must go into the world so that you and your children may thrive. Therefore, do not weep for my going, for I will always be a part of the world you live in, and you will always feel the love I bear for you.”

As he spoke, Volle kept glancing down at Volyan. The cub’s attention was captured by the Cantor for a few minutes, then it wandered and he glanced back at Volle, snapping quickly back to the front when he saw that Volle was watching him. Volle grinned and tried to pay attention to the sermon, but couldn’t keep from looking at the cub’s ears and the solemn expression on his muzzle.

The Cantor described Gaia’s last walk through the world after She had bid goodbye to her children, and how She gave of Herself piece by piece. “To the bare rocks She gave Her fur. And with each hair She shed, a patch of grass sprang up, sweet and green. And the creatures that lived upon Her fur became the creatures of the grass, and they bore sweet flesh upon which Her children could dine. Bare of skin and shivering, Gaia gave of Her skin to the fields, that they might bring forth all manner of good harvests. And Her blood flowed into the valleys and became our lakes and rivers, and where Her bones fell, mountains sprang up. Her two eyes rose to the sky, where they watch over Her children still, and the tears She shed to leave them became the stars that glitter in the sky.

“
And Her voice echoed to Her children, and they listened.

“
And Her words were these: Lo, my children, this is your world. Love one another as I love you, and remember that you are the keepers and the tenders of the world. Do not take my gifts in vain, and do not begrudge them to one another, for they are yours to share equally. I will always be with you in love, but where there is not love, there I am not, therefore love one another and remember that this is your legacy: my fur and flesh, and my love, always.”

“
Blessed be Gaia,” Volle murmured along with the crowd.

“
And what do we learn from this?” The Cantor closed the book and looked out at them. “The nobility of sacrifice is the highest form of love, and the acceptance of sacrifice is the duty of the loved. Our sacrifices need not be on the order of our Mother’s sacrifice, because our love cannot be as great and pure. But when we give of ourselves for those we love, She lives in us and Her Legacy is fulfilled. Whether that means giving up the last portion at supper,” his eyes twinkled as he looked around with a smile, as though he knew that that was not an issue for most of the royal court, “or giving up a treasured possession, it is all a part of the same, and that is the acknowledgement that love is more important than any of these material things.”

Volle could hear the other sections of the church already beginning the “Our Mother,” and so did the Cantor. His large ears flicked straight up, and he raised his paws. “Thank you for sacrificing a little more of your time. Your love is welcomed and appreciated. But let’s not fall behind, eh? Canis would want us to be at the front of the pack. But since we cannot be, let us blaze our own trail.” He started the hymn from the beginning, rather than joining in with the other sections, and Volle found himself grinning as he sang along.

Volyan was looking up at him again as he sang, and Volle rested a paw on the cub’s back. He was impressed that the cub knew not only the tune, but most of the words as well, considering the song was in an ancient language (its actual title was
Dicit a vocibus omnis
). They sang all six parts, one for each House, and then were sent to mingle with the Herbivores as a symbol of the unity of the Houses. Volle didn’t know any of them well, but he did see the rabbit who’d been spying on them and avoided any contact with him.

“
Lovely service,” Lord Dewanne said outside. The Canids had largely dispersed, but the foxes had remained together. Volyan insisted on following Volle around, so they and Ilyana were talking with Lord and Lady Dewanne while Volle waited for Helfer to disengage himself from Laya.

“
Oh, it was.” Ilyana smiled. “He reminded me of the Cantor we had in our local church in Divalia. Very personable. Oh, hello, Cantor. We were just discussing how much we enjoyed your service.”

The Cantor stood at least half a foot taller than even Lord Dewanne, who was otherwise the tallest fox there, but he didn’t menace or intimidate with his height. “Thank you so much,” he said in his light voice. “It is nice to be able to give a sermon to Canids. I mean, we are all brothers under Gaia, but love of pack is often lost on the weasels here.”