Ecdysis

“That cunning mutt!” Anaise exclaimed indignantly. “The next time I see Lita’af I will rip her ears off!”

“Your friend, right?” I scratched my head in recollection. “What did she do?”

“She set this whole thing in motion, that’s what she did! Lita’af Hikmat was the one that saw my new spell used against her runed table. And she was quite direct in her desires back then. I am sure that recent events with our Goddess finally gave her enough leverage to influence her mother.”

“It’s not enough,” Yeva whispered.

Anaise turned around. “What?”

“It is not enough. This ‘Kamshad pup’… what is his name?”

“Muramat Nishad.”

Yeva nodded. “Whoever this is, he isn’t just one of many Kamshad males, or Domina would’ve brushed him off with ease. I have been reading codices on Emanai in my spare time, and there are very few offerings that would make Aikerim Adal pause. But one of them would be the direct child of the Pillar Matriarch.”

“Exactly!” Anaise exclaimed. “Not only is he one, but he has a rather bright Spark and—“

“He is taken,” Yeva suddenly interrupted her.

“Wha—!“

“A male of his status would have Manors vying for him since he was born. Especially now, since he is of marriageable age. I am more than sure there is another Manor, a Pillar one most likely, that currently feels betrayed by this sudden move. And I am more than sure Kamshad Matriarch knows that too.” She pulled her blindfold down and glared at the wermage with her silver eyes. “She wouldn’t risk such a move if she wasn’t sure that the result would justify the consequences. Perhaps she received some assurances beforehand.”

Anaise clenched her fists. “You dare…!”

“Anaise,” Irje butted in, “you can’t dismiss that this looks extremely suspicious to us. One of the most prestigious Manors just offers you a husband, mere days after you’ve proclaimed Erf as your first in front of the Goddess.”

“What do you want me to say? That I’ve personally asked for him? Fine! I did it! I lay on the couch beside hers and openly inquired whether he was still available! But I did not do it yesterday, nor the day before — I said it more than a tenday ago and in the presence of the one he was promised to!”

Her tail swung across the room, knocking an empty cup off the table with a buffet of wind. “Back when I wasn’t sure if I would still have Erf around! Back when I was expected to declare my first while being forbidden to do so by my grandmother. I chose neither — I riled Mushaf up so that Kishava would demand me to back off. And I did — ensuring that constant requests to know my first would cease in turn! Or did you expect me to know that Goddess would summon us and witness my proclamation personally!?”

“But why would Kamshad act so brazenly against Kishava?”

“Because of my mother!” Anaise roared.

Before Yeva could say anything else, Irje placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. “There is a history that isn’t written in codices, Yeva. Aikerim Adal didn’t obtain Tarhunna by… ‘appropriate’ means, if you know what I mean. You can even say that she stole him from Samat. That earned her some begrudging respect from Emanai as a whole and a certain bad will from the Samat Manor. It also fed the gossip around the city for years to come. Kishava wouldn’t be angry at Kamshad for reneging on the deal — they would be angry at the new thief of Kiymetl.”

“Alright,” I leaned in myself, “I think I have heard enough. Irje — thank you for your mediation. Anaise — you haven’t done anything wrong. None of us could have known what the future would bring to us and we all acted based on the knowledge we had at that moment. None of us can judge you for not knowing the future.

“Yeva…” I sighed.

“Right,” Yeva nodded and bowed to Anaise. “Anaise Hilal. Please, forgive my words. I said them in a moment of jealousy, forgetting everything you have done for the sadaq so far.”

Anaise stared down at her in silence for a second, only to harrumph and plop back onto her sofa. “Make sure that this is the last time you make me feel like an intruder in our own sadaq.”

Yeva flinched but didn’t say anything.

“To a certain degree, it is also my fault.” They all looked at me. “I was privy to the incident that Anaise referred to, yet I didn’t inform either of you about it. Nor did I encourage Anaise to do so, despite that situation affecting the future of all four of us and not just me, Anaise, and Aikerim.

“But let’s put the blame game aside for a moment. Do we all agree that any additions to our sadaq without our consensus are unwelcome?”

I received silent nods in return. “Good. That means we are all on the same…slate and we can tackle this issue together. Now. As we just determined — we are being forced to choose between two equally unwelcome options. No matter the choice we make, one of the Pillar Manors will end up offended by our choice. In the meantime, Kamshad Manor will win in both outcomes. Either they ‘succumb to the tricks’ of the ‘Divine-touched’ Anaise Hilal and be the first Pillar Manor to gift her an ‘actual’ husband, or they gain leverage over the Kiymetl Manor.”

“Yes…this does sound like the Kamshad Manor,” Anaise sighed. “They do like their tricks.”

“These are no longer the blunt attacks by a Heat-addled Amanzhan Irada — our opponent is smart and calculating. And this is why I do not think that we should take either of these options.”

“Do you have something in mind?” Irje asked.

“Nothing immediate but, on my way here, I spoke with Shahin about my dilemma. She told me it is possible to postpone this decision by absence.”

“I am not going into exile!” Anaise exclaimed. “Especially not into the lands of Yusuf!”

“I do not think that is prudent either,” I agreed. “At best, we would be trading one headache for another, and I do not trust Esca to remain impartial in this. But it got me thinking — who is the most notorious marriage truant in Emanai?”

“Ugh, not him again.”

“But think about it. From what I’ve heard, his Spark alone is enough for Pillar Manor Dominas to consider throwing themselves at him. Amanzhan aside, I’ve seen it in person when we went out to save my family. My previous Domina was just small fry for him, but this wasn’t the case in his early years.”

Anaise smiled somewhat forlornly. “His early years were riddled with military service. Albin Chasya would emerge from one campaign only to dive right into the next one…”

“Precisely!” I grinned in response. “I was planning on getting my freedom relatively soon anyways and you have seen my real armour in action — this rushed departure wouldn’t make it too risky of an endeavour! There is no consensus within our sadaq while I am absent and no choice could be made. In the meantime, this Manor can accrue enough political momentum to weather the refusal. If we would have to refuse at all — I am sure that the Kamshad Manor would recognise our move and cancel the offer themselves.”

Anaise blinked as she stared at me while Irje was scratching her head.

“What?” I blinked at her in response.

She laughed, got up, and fell on top of me. “Oh Erf, you silly, silly man! Do you really think that a Pillar Manor would recognise an equal sadaq? Where a male murk can tell a Domina-to-be what to do to? Even if they do recognise that we aren’t lying, nothing stops them from proclaiming it as a simple underhanded ruse.”

“Well, fuck.”

Anaise smirked. “No, you aren’t fucking Muramat Nishad. We’ve already established that. Because I will join the arms of Emanai myself. While they might scoff at our version of a sadaq — they can not do the same for my duty to the Goddess.”

“That wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“Yes, I know. But this is what I had in mind when you spoke of it.”

I frowned. “You do realise that this isn’t a decision one should make at the spur of the moment? The only reason why I even bothered to entertain this idea was due to the fact that I was preparing for it anyway.”

“And you think that I wasn’t? Erf, almost every wermage is expected to spend time holding a bow or an oar. Especially within the Pillar Manors. There are a number who do not, but they are expected to show their gratitude to Emanai in some other way, like funding a civil project. And they would still be looked down upon. Female wermages simply do it at a later time — once we have a child or two — that ensures the continuation of the line and additional prudence in battle, for there is more to protect.”

I glanced at the other two, hoping to hear any other suggestions.

Irje shrugged. “It is only military duty, Erf.”

“People tend to die in the military.”

“People tend to die everywhere, Erf. Might as well live a virtuous life rather than cower and hide,” Anaise said with a huff. “Or do you expect us to send you all alone? You are more likely to face a front-line battle than any of us as a male murk. Even as the Alchemist of Kiymetl.”

Anaise glanced at Irje and sighed. “I had thoughts about going with you for a while. Despite our daily training, Irje is still lacking in her archery. An expected situation — archery is an art that takes years to learn — but, as we are rushed in our decision, it is no longer enough.”

“How long do we have to make a decision?”

She shrugged. “To inform Kamshad — a day or two. There is some leeway for preparation but they would not be happy to still see me in Samat after a tenday.”

I grunted. “Then we need to hurry.”

XXX

“I know what you want to say, and I am sorry.” Yeva sighed when we ended up alone. “It all made so much sense in my mind that I didn’t bother to think of what it would look like.”

“Come here.” I pulled her close. “You don’t need to apologise to me at all. I understand. And I know where your thoughts are coming from.”

“You do?” She frowned in my arms. “Are you jealous too?”

“It is not jealousy, Yeva. This isn’t about her being a third wife — you were the first to even broach the idea that I should seduce her, remember? Your distrust comes from her being a wermage.”

Yeva looked away. “I am dealing with Shahin, and Isra too.”

“Yes, the two wermages that are technically beholden to you through me. The ones that you can simply tell to go away and they would be forced to oblige. Something that you can’t do with Anaise, which is why you tend to avoid her — I have noticed.”

“So what do you want me to do? Trust every wermage around me? I don’t know how you were treated at the farm, but I had plenty of experience with their arrogant and cruel kind! I listened to my mother wither away in my arms, only to be sold off as a disposable slave — cheap but good enough to last a night of ‘pleasure’!”

“I don’t want you to do that, Yeva. Be suspicious! Expect them to look down on you and try to use you at every opportunity. More than anyone else, even. While they are humans like us and they can be greedy and cruel just like everyone else, they have magic under their disposal. That is what makes them so dangerous — some of them can be like kids, born with a gun on their hips. It would be absolutely foolish of you not to be wary.”

“So…”

“Look at me. Do you think I am powerful? I fought a surprised Ramad Qasam to a standstill — not just any wermage but a husband of a Pillar Domina who had just returned from his military duties.”

Her fingers traced the tiny slits on the top of my back, the covered receptacle where one of my batteries was slotted into and the main origin point for my skinsuit. “You are.”

“Do you think that Aikerim isn’t worried about my power? She knows I have it and she also knows that she can’t even tell how much power I have. She is worried — she said it to my face. But, instead of killing me or shackling me to an alchemy bench or a blackboard, she trusts me not to betray her. Because I am now the husband of her daughter. She knows that it is in my interest to see this Manor prosper.

“Anaise isn’t dumb enough, nor am I naive enough, to think that our union was built on love and passion alone. Our sadaq brings more to her than she does to us; I bring more to her as a murk husband than she brings me as a wermage wife. There is no shame in admitting this. If all Anaise wanted was companionship and my dick inside of her from time to time I am sure that you would’ve organised some ‘bath trips’ for both of us without making ripples through wermage society. That is what companion slaves are for, after all.”

I let my thumb brush her cheek. “I don’t want you to trust Anaise, the wermage. Or any wermage. I want you to trust Anaise, our wife. Don’t trust Aikerim, the Domina. Trust Aikerim, the Mother-in-law.” I paused for a moment. “Although, now that I’ve said it, that sounds more ominous than Domina.”

Yeva couldn’t hold back a giggle. “It does.”

My hand slid down and cupped her butt through the tunic. “And trust me, your husband. Not my plots, but my needs and wants. I’ve grown greedy over the days. I walked the forbidden garden that is my sadaq and I have realised that I will not tolerate intruders, nor any attempts to pluck the beautiful flowers inside of it.”

She licked her lips. “Would you like another tour?”

I gave her a kiss. “Not right now, unfortunately. Many tasks are needed to be done as soon as possible and we have to break the news to Aikerim.”

XXX

“Absolutely not!”

“But mother—”

“Is this your solution!?” Domina gestured at Anaise while glaring at me. “To send my daughter away just because you fear the competition?”

I shook my head. “Muramat Nishad is an annoyance, not competition. And I will be going too.”

“Yes, send my firstborn daughter and my daimon away at the same time!” Aikerim’s sarcasm was palpable. “Why didn’t I think of that!?”

“I have seen him stand against my werbow, mother,” Anaise butted back in, “with that armour of his. And suffer no damage—”

“It doesn’t matter how tough or strong he is! Have you forgotten the decree of the Goddess? I can’t send him away until we know what tasks she has for us.”

“What if I leave later?”

“Kiymetl can’t dictate what arm of Emanai you would join. You wouldn’t be serving together if you went separately. And then what? Do you think that half of the Pillar Manors would just collectively shrug their shoulders and sit idle while you are prancing through the Forest? Do you think that you are so smart to think about military duty to the Goddess? The Kamshad Manor wasn’t founded yesterday and Sophia had her brother play that trick for decades! This isn’t about you, or your sadaq. You might come back to this Manor gone!”

Anaise gulped and sat back down.

I scratched my chin. That was a dilemma I hadn’t bothered thinking about. Strategically speaking I was planning on leaving my rear without proper protection. It wasn’t something that Navigators would usually think about with our very mobile and very sapient tree-ships, but it was something that I, Erf, should now consider.

I knew that Aikerim was a strong Domina and could put up a fight against other Manors if it was necessary. And I knew that it probably galled her to admit that the situation might be worse than it looked.

Because other Manors were gearing up to face not only her but her daimon and a Divine-touched daughter of hers. Right at the same time when she would have neither.

“This is why I will remain behind,” Yeva spoke up suddenly. “Let the rest of my sadaq go, while I take the place of your Alchemist.”

We all glanced at her. I wasn’t particularly surprised by her staying as we had discussions about this for a while, but I didn’t expect her to step into my role.

“You?” Aikerim raised her eyebrow and leaned closer. “And can you actually do his part?”

Yeva pulled her blindfold down and looked at Domina with her reflective eyes. “Yes. Whether we are talking about mathematics, engineering, or alchemistry, I can do everything that Erf currently can — many of the gifts that were presented at the Feast were made by me. Personally.”

She looked down for a moment and then glanced at Anaise. “We all help our sadaq in our ways. Some of us can do it by venturing forth, others — by staying behind.”

“What about your freedom?” Anaise asked.

Yeva’s hand reached out and touched a golden medallion on her neck in the form of a tree. The symbol of my ‘purchase’ of her from Aikerim. “What about it? As long Erf is free, his children will be free in the eyes of Emanai as well. And I am already being treated like a person by everyone that I care about. There is no dire need for me to seek freedom and this Manor and our sadaq would benefit more with me being here.”

I glanced at Yeva and raised my eyebrows in a silent question. Seeing her nod I turned back to Aikerim, who was watching us in silence.

Contemplating.

“Aikerim Adal. Aren’t you tired of all this? All these other Pillar Manors that think they can do anything simply because their lineage is longer? You are part of the Seven, so why is Samat sending Collectors? Why is Enoch telling us what we can and can not buy? Why is Shebet demanding from you what is rightfully yours? Why does Kamshad think that they only need to present you a treat and you will come running?”

Her tail jerked to the side and I received another glare. But she said nothing in turn, waiting for me to continue.

“Because I am. I am tired of having to worry about the future of my family. I am tired of the attitude given to my wife. Of the attitude given to her Manor. To you. Do they think that they know what you are capable of? I say they are dead wrong! They worry that you have a ‘daimon’?” I gestured at Yeva, “You already have two! They are covetous about your Divine-touched daughter? We will provide so many gifts that the Goddess will invite you for dinner!”

“Erf!” Anaise shrieked.

“This Manor is the boulder on top of the mountain.” I ignored the outrage. “The initial push already happened, all it needs right now is but a little bit of time to gain speed. To become unstoppable. I am not heading into the Forest just to gain freedom anymore. The addition of Anaise to our sadaq made that point rather moot. I am doing it for my family so that no one else can claim them, perhaps even serve their time myself and give them true freedom in the eyes of Emanai and not just a partial release into being my subject.

“I also do this for Irje and Anaise. Do you know what I expect to see in battle?”

“Glory?”

I shook my head. “Death. I expect to see corpses and carrion. Of other murks, but also wer and, possibly, wermages too.”

Aikerim frowned. “Why?”

“To know what makes you different. To know what keeps us the same. To give what I have, not just to Yeva but Irje and Anaise as well. To you, perhaps, if you would be willing. If I can make myself as strong as a wermage — how strong do you think your daughter will be?”

“Don’t say it…” There was a warning in her voice.

“I won’t. But the likes of me are called Navigators for a reason. We lead the ships, but a ship is more than a piece of wood — a ship is also its crew. And it is my duty as a Navigator to find, elevate, and promote it. Those that I’ve vetted as worthy, not some ride-alongs looking for free handouts.”

“So, a ruler.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “You can say that, but it is a bit more complicated than that. Don’t ask me if I intend to rule your Manor — I do not. What you have and what I seek aren’t the same thing. And it is much easier for me to cooperate with you rather than fight you and then waste my time trying to rein your domain under my rule. Or even worse — to try and change it.”

I looked her straight in the eyes. “Let us join the arms of Emanai. Use this moment of respite to leave your adversaries in the dust. Allow me to read Anaise’s spellbooks and I will help her design spells that Emanai has never seen before. Spells that she can show off in battle and awe enemies and friends alike. Isn’t that much better than lying here and wondering whether we should write apologies to Kishava or Kamshad?”

Her fingers gripped the air and I, once again, found myself flying.

“Swear to me,” Aikerim growled into my face as she held my khalat in her fist, “that not a single hair will fall from her head. That she will return healthy and capable of bearing children!”

“Mother!”

“Not now, Little Moon.” She turned over to me. “Swear!”

“I will lay down my life for the sake of my wives. There is a medical grub currently gestating in the bio-printer — with it, I will have access to drugs and ointments that many would call magic. Tonight, Isra Haleh will cast a proper anvil — one strong enough to forge new styles of armour with alloys never seen in Emanai. One for Irje and one for Anaise. And they will be runed aplenty.”

My hand covered hers. “I will do more than a promise, Aikerim. I will show you.”