Thawed Fortunes (6 page)

Jain nodded. "But what does that have to do
with the bones?"

"We're not completely sure, there's still so
much about the body we don't understand, but somehow the bones are
involved in the making of the oxygen-carrying part of the blood. If
you change too much of the bones, they no longer produce what the
blood needs. That or maybe it just can't get out once it's made. I
think it is the latter, but there isn't a good way to be sure."

By the time they finished, Jain knew how to
change strands of muscle so that they were marginally stronger, how
to slightly speed up selected parts of a person's nervous system,
and had promised never to reveal what she knew to either the other
Daughters or the healers.

Looking at Va'del's fragile form in the pale
violet light of the time stone, Jain just hoped that it would be
enough to keep him from being killed the next time he faced off
against Be'ter.

On'li tried to lean back in her chair and
relax, but the last item on the agenda for the day was listed as a
petition from one of the Guadel. It was a relatively nonthreatening
description for something that could range from a simple marriage
request to some kind of unimaginable problem that would shift the
balance of power in the Council entirely. Javin still occasionally
teased her about her penchant for expecting the worst, but today
the suspense looked like it was starting to get to him as well.

Tradition held that all petitions remained
anonymous until the actual time of delivery so that the petitioner
couldn't be threatened into silence. On'li knew it was a sound
practice that, along with the ability of village headmen to do the
same, helped guarantee the Council stayed connected to the actual
needs of the People. Even so, that never stopped her from trying to
ferret out what was in the works each time a petition showed up on
the Council agenda.

Her track record to date had been fairly
respectable, but this time there wasn't even the slightest hint of
what the petition was about. None of the unmarried Daughters were
old enough to be considering marriage proposals, and she wasn't
aware of any outstanding disputes that might justify a formal
hearing by the Council.

The large, iron knocker on the other side of
the door announced the arrival of the petitioner and On'li felt her
stomach sink a little further. She spared a second for a brief
prayer that it was at least something less grave than the earlier
news that Bob'ae had been killed while helping mop up what appeared
to be the last group of bandits.

It had been incredibly fortunate that so many
of the bandits had been gone when Va'del and Cindi had attacked
their base, but it had meant the remaining bandits had been
expecting further retaliation and finishing them off had been
messier than anyone had expected.

The loss of one Guadel was bad enough in
normal times, with the other losses that had been sustained, it was
even worse than usual. For the first time in a couple of hundred
years the Council wasn't worried about finding enough potential
candidates to fill out the number of potential sponsors. Instead it
was very much looking like, as a group, they were going to be hard
pressed to find enough sponsors to replenish their ranks.

On'li had spent the occasional few moments
exploring possible ways that she and Javin might be able to use the
need to get more Guadel trained as a way to push through Va'del's
candidacy. Mar'li had been especially hopeful that they'd be able
to line up some allies, but every scenario On'li had been able to
contrive to date instead seemed to actually decrease Va'del's
chances.

A'vril motioned for her husband to open the
massive door that shut the Council room off from the rest of the
world during meetings, and On'li felt another flash of relief that
the other woman didn't seem to be holding any grudges over the fact
that Cindi and Va'del hadn't been punished. For all that A'vril was
woefully naive about the way the world worked, she did have a good
heart.

Almost as one, the Council members turned to
see who followed the Goddess' Arm back into the room. Cindi was
absolutely the last person On'li would have expected. There wasn't
anything prohibiting the other woman from remarrying so soon after
Oh'scir's death, but her prospective husband should have been the
one doing the petitioning. Of course, Cindi hadn't ever been one to
do things in the normal way.

For all that On'li still didn't consider the
other woman a friend of any sort, she found she couldn't generate
the kind of distaste she'd always felt previously. That was at
least partly because of what Cindi had done for Va'del. The other
piece of the picture was that despite being well on her way back to
her old habits, and her old size, she wasn't quite as abrasive now
as she'd been previously. She moved more tentatively too, a bit
like a frightened gurra. It was hard to hate someone who'd lost her
husband and come so close to dying herself. She'd paid a hefty
price on behalf of every single member of the People and some part
of On'li understood that, despite her previous distaste for
Cindi.

Cindi stood in the petitioner's spot at the
table and cleared her throat, bringing On'li back to the problem at
hand. "Honorable Councilors, I appreciate your willingness to hear
my petition."

Everyone at the table nodded with varying
degrees of hostility or warmth depending on how badly Cindi had
offended them in the past. On'li noticed that the head of the
widowed Guadel's bloodline was one of the ones who looked like he
was choking on something particularly nasty.

"In light of all he has accomplished on
behalf of the People, I formally request that trainee Va'del be
admitted as a candidate."

The absolute silence that followed Cindi's
statement was as telling to On'li as the entire Council room
breaking into furious debate would have been. The politically
astute Guadel tried to catch Cindi's eye to motion for her to
withdraw her request.

They knew this was coming.

The only possible explanation was that Cindi
had decided to pursue a petition after Ma'ark and his wife had
refused to champion the idea as the leaders of her bloodline. She
should have known better. Powers knew she'd had plenty of
experience playing nasty tricks on people, a complete novice should
have seen this coming, let alone her.

Ja'dir broke the silence as he rose to his
feet. "Traditionally, one must be married to sponsor a young man.
Rather than asking us to approve your sponsoring the boy now,
wouldn't it be wise to wait until you've selected a husband? After
all, Va'del will no doubt still be here desperately hoping to be
sponsored later, just as he is now."

Javin stiffened beside her, but On'li was too
focused on Cindi's next words to do anything more than place a hand
on his arm.

"You misunderstood me. I'm not requesting
permission to sponsor him myself. He's earned the right to be a
candidate with or without a sponsor after what he has
accomplished."

The smile that flickered across Ja'dir's face
was enough to tell On'li that Cindi had just said exactly what he'd
been hoping she would.

"Why would you make such a
request? Unlike Javin and On'li who are proscribed from sponsoring
while sitting on the Council, you could very easily sponsor the boy
once you've remarried, and do so without any of us stopping you.
Could it be that you
can't
in good conscience sponsor the boy
yourself?"

Her petition had been defeated in that
second, but Cindi apparently didn't realize that. Instead, she
continued on, damaging their cause more and more with each
word.

However, seeing how haunted the once
formidable woman looked, On'li still couldn't hate her. That was
the missing piece. Cindi wasn't just devastated by losing her
husband and nearly dying. She'd seen what Va'del was capable of
when she linked with him, and it was almost more than she could
handle. It was likely that she'd recover with enough time, but
right now the thought of facing that kind of potential violence was
obviously too much for her.

The rest of the meeting went downhill from
there as first one, then another of the Council members realized
that the reason that Cindi was making such an unusual request was
because she was scared of the boy.

It was Per'ce who finally stood and
irrevocably killed Cindi's request. "What is it about the boy that
terrifies you so? Why do you push for his candidacy when you are so
scared for him?"

Cindi shook her head. "It isn't a matter of
fear, just that our natures wouldn't be a good match for
sponsorship."

It was a half-truth at best, but On'li could
see that everyone else viewed it as a blatant lie. The mere fact
that Cindi was more scared of Va'del than of looking like a fool
told the tale. The old Cindi would have married whoever happened to
be available and sponsored him herself after a challenge like that.
All just to prove she was right. The fact that she wouldn't do that
now, with Va'del, was more telling than any other argument Ja'dir
could have come up with.

"Why? Why is it so important to you that he
be sponsored?" Per'ce's normal reserve had completely vanished, and
his dark green eyes flashed as he all but yelled at the trembling
woman before them.

"You don't understand how incredible his
potential is. He's the answer to our prayers. The Goddess is trying
to help us overcome our ever diminishing numbers."

Per'ce shook his head. "We've heard much the
same statement from On'li, but his potential power isn't why you
are afraid of him. It does, however, make your fears all the more
important. I don't know exactly what kind of evil you're asking us
to place next to our hearts, but I for one will not condone doing
so!"

##

Mar'li handed her sister-wife a glass of tea
as the older woman wearily strode into their sitting room.

"Powers, you look bad. I take it that the
petition you were nervous about this morning turned out to be worse
than we expected?"

On'li nodded. "Bless you, my heart. Sometimes
the only thing that gets me through those meetings is the knowledge
you'll have tea waiting for me when I get home, that on
particularly bad days I can have more than one cup if I want,
despite the expense, and that if I were to resign my position on
the Council, you'd probably refuse to ever enter the kitchen
again."

Sinking down into one of the low chairs that
were situated throughout the room, On'li kicked off her light
indoor shoes and buried her toes in the thick, brown gurra-fur rug
that covered most of the floor. "The meeting was so bad that Javin
headed straight for the practice area to work off some of his
frustration. I almost feel sorry for whatever poor guardsman ends
up as his sparring partner. Whoever it is will no doubt pay for the
new tricks he learns with more than a few bruises."

Mar'li seemed to flinch slightly at the
mention of weapons training as she'd sometimes done for as long as
On'li had known her.

"As for why the meeting went so terribly, the
petitioner was Cindi of all people, and she was trying to do Va'del
a favor by requesting he be granted candidate status. She ended up
doing more harm than good."

The younger woman looked confused as she sat
back down in the chair where her weaving was arranged. "I don't
understand; she's from Ma'ark's bloodline. Having someone from one
of Ja'dir's closest allies break with his position that the boy is
dangerously unstable should have helped immensely."

"It would have, except she must have said
something to Ma'ark, or more likely his wife, beforehand. They were
ready and waiting, and they knew exactly how to kill the petition.
For all that Cindi really does believe Va'del should be made a
candidate, she's scared to death to link with him again."

Mar'li shot On'li a look of disbelief,
seemingly at a loss for how anyone could be scared of linking with
a young man as kind and thoughtful as Va'del.

"You haven't linked with him. In fact since
you've never linked with anyone other than Javin, you probably
don't realize how unique you are." On'li waved her sister-wife back
into her seat and poured her own second cup of tea. "You and I, and
all of the Stephens women, are much more comfortable with violence
than almost any of the Guadel from the other bloodlines. Even Va'ma
represents a group that accepts violence more because it allows
them to cover themselves in martial glory than because they believe
in violence like we believe in violence."

"I guess I was pretty scared by what I saw in
Javin's mind the first time we linked."

Something about Mar'li's statement didn't
ring true, but On'li knew from long experience that her shy
sister-wife was likely to clam up or run away if questioned, so she
didn't probe.

"I remember. And that was after you'd known
him for a year, and firmly believed he was the Goddess' gift to
women."

Mar'li blushed, but didn't deny that she'd
been just as smitten when she'd first married Javin as On'li's
words indicated.

"The thing about it is, even your faith in
him, or my faith in him the first time I linked with him, wouldn't
have been enough if we hadn't seen, either through our eyes or his,
the kinds of terrible things that people do to each other.
Ignorance can be cured, but when people hurt the innocent out of
simple malice, sometimes violence is the only legitimate
response."

The younger woman looked for a second as if
she wanted to cry, but she managed a smile and nodded at On'li. "I
guess I shouldn't judge Cindi too harshly then. She doesn't have
either of the advantages we had in dealing with that kind of
potential for violence."

"No, she doesn't. Not only that, but unlike
you or I when we first met Javin, she knows the difference. Old
Oh'scir was about the most peaceable fellow I've ever met. He
pretty much had to be for their marriage to work. She's gone from
that kind of link, to a link with a boy who makes even I'rone look
placid in some ways."