Disclaimer: I don't own TB, FB, PSOH, or anything else you recognize.
Chapter 9—Friday
Lekhuma Seki closed his shop at noon in order to prepare for that night's banquet. It was Setu's welcoming party. Despite feeling winded all day, Seki worked furiously, sparing no expense. In the morning, he placed a large catering order at the Three Seas restaurant in the downtown district, which specialized in fine cuisine from Hoth, Gogotha, and Zi Alda. The wide variety of foods, he hoped, would satisfy everybody, including his guest of honor's refined palate. Between the familiar Hothan foods and the hearty yet plain Zi Aldan dishes, the child Kedi ought to be able to eat well, too. Naturally, he would take charge of the desserts himself.
Yes, he had invited Kedi, his older brother, and Halina as well. Seki felt it was high time that all three should meet more of the Dzuni. He had felt it in his bones last night as he watched the mountains obscure more and more of the incandescent sun—his death approached faster and faster. Keeping two Dzuni confined to their Shoma estate basement apartments was all he could muster the energy for now. He gave thanks that the phantom wolf appeared to have heeded its master's request to leave him alone. He would be able to avoid the traitor's death that befell Sakurazukamoris who were judged incompetent by the demons.
Of course, Sharlen—whom he had sent to pick up the food—and the remaining two maneaters were dithering far too much with Halina. The fools. He could not afford for them to pass up their one opportunity at happiness, especially now.
Seki paused in his plate setting as an invisible vise squeezed his lungs. Gasping and sitting in the nearest chair, he sat upright to give his diaphragm more room to expand. The discomfort subsided quickly, and he opened his eyes again. Yes, he could not let the maneaters miss their opportunity. Many times in the past, maneater Dzunis had simply turned to each other for love and sex, and that had often worked well. However, while Sharlen could undoubtedly adjust to homosexuality, Dhuzel and Setu would not handle it well. Seki did not want Sharlen, one of his dearest loved, to go through such awkwardness and pain.
Deciding to rest a little longer just to be safe, Seki's thought chain ventured on to deeper motives. Of course, Halina provided a perfect opportunity to ensure the continuation of the Sakurazukamori tradition. All the family lineages that had yielded Sakurazukamoris before the curse's era had petered out over the centuries. Halina held no magical abilities herself, but from his studies as a youngster, Seki knew that the most powerful Sakurazukamoris resulted from utterly boring and normal mothers. He had been such a one—otherwise, he wouldn't have survived this long. It didn't matter whether or not the fathers had any magical abilities. Only the mothers, who gave their blood and flesh to their infants, mattered. With the spiritual realm still in such tatters, Seki felt it absolutely imperative that a strong sorceror reappear swiftly.
It was unprecedented for a Sakurazukamori to be born into the Shoma family. Alas, Seki had not planned for his sudden death, and the clock ticked away very loudly in his ears. "Sakurazuka Sezuko," he whispered to himself, "you must be strong a while longer." With great effort, Seki lifted his heavy-feeling body out of the chair, and resumed the task of setting the great dining hall table. He would bring out his finest silver for the platters and serving ware, he decided. This would be his last banquet—afterwards, he would become too weak to give any others.
He arranged the utensils, lining them up perfectly with the napkin edges. Fingering one delicately painted china plate, adorned by an image of a writhing dragon, Seki sank into deep thought. "Two weeks," he finally said aloud. "That will be the best time to make it." Zian, who'd stepped into the room to ask him something, looked at him quizzically, not understanding the cryptic utterance.
They lied to their parents to slip away to the banquet. Rhezu told his father he would take Kedi out to a special brother-brother dinner. Khoru told his parents that he and Sheleru were going to see a movie, and Sheleru told hers the same thing. Even so, her mother, Hotohori, couldn't refrain from raising her eyebrows at the good dress Sheleru wore. Sea-green silk was far too good for a movie. An exchange of glances with her husband Khosure told her that he agreed.
"I was just in the mood to wear it," insisted Sheleru, laughing nervously. At that moment, Khoru rang the doorbell, and her parents' concern lessened slightly when they saw Khoru in his usual jeans and t-shirt. His arrival saved Sheleru from a potentially damaging interrogation by Hotohori, who could wield questions as well as her surgical knife at the hospital.
Eventually, the four reached the teashop safely, although Rhezu arrived late due to a minor rear-ending. Despite his illness, Seki didn't fail to remonstrate him. "Darling Rhezu, you must stop scowling in such a frightening manner. This is a joyous occasion." He gave his saintliest smile, causing Rhezu's mood to blacken further. "I am sure your father will forgive the damage to his car soon."
"Like hell he'll find out."
"Your younger brother may be too excited to keep quiet," chuckled Seki weakly, watching Kedi frolic with Sira's shadow Derga. "He has become quite attached to the jaguars already, I see."
"Jaguars? Are they dangerous?" hissed Rhezu. An offended growl sounded from below his waist, and he turned his head to meet Zeisna's disapproving appraisal. The older shadow tossed his head and strutted away.
"Only if Sira tells them to attack you," answered a man flippantly. "So we finally meet, Rhezu." A deathly pale man with bluish-black hair came up to the policeman. "My name's Shoma Sharlen. I've heard a lot about you from Halina and Tatara. I'm one of the maneaters, by the way," whispered Sharlen conspiratorially, leaning into Rhezu. "I know I look a little pale right now, but I'll be fine once I get a little blood inside me. You seem like my type, Rhezu." Leaving the grinning vampire behind, Rhezu sought out his partner's familiar violet hair.
He found Tatara speaking with the restaurant chef and a muscular tanned man, whom he presumed to be a Dzuni as well, by the banquet table. The strange man and Tatara seemed at ease, exchanging internal jokes Rhezu understood nothing of. The chef, on the other hand, looked as awkward as Rhezu felt. He obviously didn't know many of the Dzuni here, judging from how closely he stood to the tanned man. For a moment Rhezu felt a pang of sympathy, then he remembered the lost teens, and his heart hardened again.
"Rhezu," said Tatara, sensing the hesitant presence behind him. The borustang gestured curtly for him to come into the group. "I believe you already know Thoshetu, which is his proper name, from the restaurant. Setu for short." They inclined their heads politely while eyeing each other suspiciously. "And this is Shoma Dhuzel, one of the maneaters. The one who was teasing you earlier is Sharlen."
"You heard what he said to me?" muttered Rhezu out of the side of his mouth. Despite the lowered voice, the animal senses of Dhuzel and Setu picked up the utterance easily.
The tips of Tatara's mouth curved up ruefully. "You are not his type."
"Sharlen has very clear preferences for certain blood types," added Setu, watching Rhezu's reaction intently. "You strike me as too tense for his taste." Dhuzel put a warning hand on Setu's shoulder, and he reluctantly backed off. While he glowered at Setu, Rhezu noticed platinum blonde hair roots that hadn't existed before. So the cannibal chef had dyed his hair black as a disguise.
"No one's getting arrested," said Tatara softly. "And Rhezu, leave him alone."
"Yes, you don't want to become easy prey for us, Rhezu. Oops, sorry." Sharlen's fingers flew to his mouth in an exaggerated expression of alarm. "I forgot I wasn't supposed to tease the policeman with bad maneating puns." Tatara heaved a sigh, and even Dhuzel couldn't stifle a snicker. Setu beamed, exposing unusually pointed canines. The sight sent a cold ripple down Rhezu's spine, and he imagined those canines biting into the Ghumani boy's thick thigh muscles. As if reading Rhezu's mind, Setu said, "No, I always cook my food first. You get more flavor that way."
The door in the back of the living room opened, revealing a fashionably late Halina and ending the conversation's turn towards the gruesome. A relieved Dhuzel and a suddenly ecstatic Setu rushed to Halina right away, but Sharlen lingered. "I hope we didn't spoil your appetite, Rhezu. As much as we both hate Seki, he does know where to get the most magnificent food. Hm, Setu's fallen in love hard with Halina already." Sharlen winked at Rhezu, and then he joined the group by the door.
"You see?" asked Tatara. "They aren't as terrible as you think. Just give Setu room—he's been hiding from the police too long to feel comfortable around us yet."
A small hand tugged Rhezu's shirt when he was about to nod in grudging acquiescence. "Come on!" piped up Kedi, cheeks flushed from chasing Derga. "Seki says dinner's ready."
Magnificent food, indeed. A long table for thirteen diners had been covered in a lustrous, feather-light ivory silk tablecloth. The vibrant figures on the painted chinaware stood out clearly against the simple cloth. Rhezu saw that his plate contained a painting of a boar running through a forest. He guessed that Seki seated him there on purpose, since he was the boar's son. Kedi had the scarlet dragon. None of the elegant plates portrayed the Dzuni animals of the younger generation, only the ones that Rhezu was already familiar with at the Shoma estate. His father had once taken him inside the Dzuni banquet room, and he'd walked all around the enormous blackwood table examining the intricately carved chairs and staring at the antique tapestries. It was one of the few times Rhezu was allowed a glimpse into the secret world of the Dzuni; no outsiders were admitted to the New Year's Dzuni banquet.
Seki had decided to forgo courses, which were too cumbersome for him to handle. Instead, he put all the salads, soups, sides, and main dishes on the table at once. He sat at the head of the table, watching patiently with hands folded in his lap as the bowls went round. He observed everyone taking generous helpings of the juicy tropical fruit arrangements, choosing delicious cuts of the meats he had labored to keep hot, and scoop up healthy spoonfuls of Zi Aldan squash and greenery from rainy Western Hoth. Throughout the banquet, Seki smiled, which mystified most of the diners as usual. Only Sharlen and Lafidzi, from long practice, could perceive a deep sadness.
At first conversation stalled, since everybody expected Seki to say or do the thing they'd thought he summoned them for. Gradually, as the guardian calmly cuts his own food and remained silent, they turned their attention to the newcomer and the three outsiders. Zian peppered Setu with probing questions, and Halina and Sharlen joined her, though they chose somewhat more tactful queries. Dhuzel kept a morose silence as Setu recounted his life drifting from one country to the next. Kedi, sitting with Sira, helped her feed the jaguars table scraps.
Rhezu sat with Tatara, next to Seki. Khoru and Sheleru claimed the seats across from the policemen.
"How long have you two been friends?" asked Sheleru, eating a sumptuous sea bass dish.
"Not friends," corrected Khoru curtly, not taking his eyes off his plate. "Partners."
"Oh, partners," laughed Sheleru. "Tatara, you didn't tell me you were gay." This provoked a loud laugh from Sharlen and the other Dzunis down the table, who all overheard.
"We're police partners," said Tatara flatly.
"Seki, how in the gods' name did you pay for all this? It's too damn good to come from someplace cheap," garbled Rhezu through a full mouth of meat stew. An amused look played across the host's even features as he watched his guest shovel in the food like a starving barbarian from the mountains.
"He doesn't need to pay for it," mumbled Khoru audibly, raising his eyes for the first time.
"Khoru!" Tatara glared at him, exasperated. Seki shook his head in appeasement. "It's all right. We have a natural compendium of wealth, after all. We do not want here."
"So how do you get the money?" asked Rhezu.
"I do dislike discussing money," remarked Seki. "It is highly crass, in my opinion. I have noticed that those who talk about it most are the ones most desperate to show it off." Rhezu rolled his eyes. No use pressing when Seki was in a pontificating mood. Instead, he scanned the table. Kedi was obviously enjoying himself with the shadows. The silent, black-haired girl on the other side of Sira grabbed Rhezu's notice. Elbowing Tatara, he asked, "Who's that?"
"Lafidzi. The one I told you about." Rhezu gazed at her steadily, and, feeling his gaze on her body, the delicate woman's hands stopped picking at her food and she returned the look. For a fleeting moment, Rhezu saw his mother sitting in that chair, and then her contours melted back into Lafidzi's. He blinked, and half-smiled awkwardly. There seemed to be no better way to thank her. She and her "third eye" stared at him a while longer, then returned to the food.
"She understands," whispered Sheleru, who watched the whole interaction. "You don't need to speak to her for her to know." Her eyes misted over with sentiment. By now Rhezu was getting used to everyone seemingly knowing his thoughts and actions. He'd been around Seki long enough, he realized. "Why can I see her real form now?" he asked Tatara.
"You know who she is now," shrugged the borustang. "You'll probably flash back and forth between your mother and Lafidzi, though."
Dinner went on for an hour, the conversation ebbing and flowing steadily. Then, Seki conjured the empty bowls and plates out of sight, and exquisite dessert displays—candy bowls, cakes, pies—replaced the dirty dishes. The desserts took another forty-five minutes. When everybody had sated their appetites and were sitting back in their chairs, Seki finally stood up. Any remaining chatter instantly died down. The moment had come.
"This has been an absolutely wonderful dinner." He smiled, almost to the brink of showing his teeth. No one was accustomed to such a deep smile from him, and most of the Dzuni felt a little frightened. "I could not have asked for the night to go more smoothly than it has. But doubtless as you know, I rarely do anything without having a purpose in mind. Tonight, I have two very important announcements to make.
"I know that four of us are not here." Rhezu had counted only nine Dzuni, and he knew there were thirteen among the younger generation. No one had bothered to tell him where the rest were, maybe because of his close proximity to Seki. "I will talk to the rest on my own; there is no need to inform them yourselves." The brown eyes swept over the table warningly, and locked with Sharlen's defiant maroon eyes. "It is essential that none of them be given the wrong information." The maroon eyes flickered, and Seki knew that he'd called Sharlen's bluff. The young man really didn't understand what was going on.
Seki bent down carefully to the floor, and when he straightened back up, his hands cradled an ornately carved wooden box. Everyone stared at it, even Kedi—blackwood items were a true rarity. The box was relatively small—the size of a large man's hand in length and width, and a little over half a hand deep—but no one could tell how much Seki needed to strain to keep the heavy receptacle aloft. "Here is an object that all of you, except for our honored guests, are familiar with. Or, should I say, you are familiar with the box itself. I have never permitted anyone here to look inside." Halina surreptitiously glanced around the table, and saw shocked and panicked expressions on every Dzuni's face.
"I am afraid I've been rather dire with my past warnings." Seki smiled bemusedly, taking in his audience's reactions. "It is only an egg." He laid the box gently on the tablecloth, and lifted its top to reveal an ostrich-sized egg resting upon a blood-red velvet cushion. The egg appeared quite ordinary in its slightly yellowish coloring, and two separate cracks snaked across its girth and from its narrow end.
The maneaters, seated at the opposite end from Seki, had all stood up to view the egg better. Disbelief gradually overtook the fear that had been on Dhuzel and Sharlen's faces. Lafidzi's eyes had widened momentarily, but now she seemed as serene as ever. The jaguars started breaking their protective ring around Sira, Zian and Kedi, after they saw that the egg would not explode or shoot a stream of poison. "That's what you told us never to touch, or it'd kill us?" gasped Dhuzel. Setu and Halina exchanged puzzled shrugs.
"Do you remember Honlon?" Seki asked Dhuzel, in the same tone one uses to ask the time of day. He repeated the question when he only received a jaw drop from Dhuzel.
"Y-Yeah. Yes, of course I remember her," stuttered Dhuzel. "I mean, what you told us about her."
"Do you think you could repeat it for the benefit of our guests, please?"
At first Dhuzel stumbled, uncomfortably confused. "Honlon is a four-headed dragon, er…fr-from Gogotha, I think…Yes, from the mountainous strip of land between Hoth and Gogotha." Then he found his balance. "But she has four heads only while in her animal form. Each of the heads has its own personality, and Honlon retains all four personalities in her human form. Though her human form has only one head, the personalities appear at different times and can speak for themselves. That's what I remember, Seki."
"She's got multiple personality disorder?" asked Rhezu.
"My dear Rhezu, that is not accurate, and it has so much stigma attached to it," chastised Seki. "You did a good job, Dhuzel, sit back down. I shall explain what the egg has to do with Honlon. Right now she has only two of her four personalities. Her Dzuni demon possesses the first one. The second personality is the same as the mother who gives birth to the Dzuni. The remaining two come from whoever touches the egg after she is born.
"The two cracks you see in the egg here," continued Seki, pointing into the box, represent the Dzuni demon's and the mother's personalities. Once a third person touches the egg, another crack will appear. When the fourth and final person touches it, the egg will break open, and all four of Honlon's personalities will be fully awakened.
"This is a dangerous duty entrusted only to the Sakurazukamori. I am responsible for making sure the right sorts of people touch the egg. If an evil person were to infect one of the personalities, there is no telling what would happen. However, I did not take such drastic steps to safeguard the egg from you because I thought you were evil. Quite the contrary—you seem to have turned out well."
"I'm flattered you think so highly of us, Seki," drawled Sharlen, balancing his fork on his fingertip. The fork slipped and clanged onto the plate.
"Where's Honlon?" whispered Kedi to Zian. She turned to Sira, who didn't know how to respond, either.
"I have raised Honlon separately, both for your safety and hers," continued Seki. "But I will leave in a month, so it is time for her to rejoin you soon." He placed his hands under the box, intending to lift it. As his arms tensed, their muscles deflated. No one noticed because his last statement caused an uproar.
"Leave us?" repeated Tatara. "What do you mean?"
Giving up on the box, Seki said softly in Zi Aldan, "It means, Tatara, that you must go to the Shoma estate."
Tatara's cheeks worked for a moment, distress etched clearly in his face's tightness. "There's nothing for me there," he responded desperately. Rhezu furiously wished he hadn't forgotten so much Zi Aldan since high school; he'd never seen his partner lose himself this much.
"I see," said Seki to Tatara softly, nodding slowly. Sharlen's ears picked up everything, and he passed it on to the others unabashedly. "We have to go to the Shoma estate?" Halina heard the shock in Dhuzel's voice. She saw the younger girls sitting in their chairs numbly, staring at Seki with their mouths open. Even Lafidzi seemed frozen.
"It's about time, Halina," whispered Sharlen, smiling. She could tell it was a bravado smile, though—his eyes didn't glint at all. He was just as caught off guard as the rest.
"Rhezu." The buzzing dropped at Seki's commanding voice. He held his hand out, palm outstretched, and motioned to Rhezu to take it. "What do you want?" demanded Rhezu. Seki didn't move. Gingerly raising his hand as though he were about to stick it in a bowl full of slimy noodles, Rhezu obeyed. Their hands met halfway, and Seki's felt comfortingly warm. The skin was slightly waxy, though, observed Rhezu.
"Ugk!" he grunted as Seki suddenly pulled him forward with a firm grip around his wrist. Their neighbors jerked back in their seats, and the chairs scraped the wooden floor. Rhezu felt his fingertips touch a hard object. For a long time, he could only see his fingers on top of the precious egg, with a new crack steadily extending from his ring finger. The fissure kept growing until it joined the one around the egg's girth. "Gods, Seki!" Rhezu heard someone exclaim. "What're you thinking? He has a terrible temper!"
The chandelier's lights blinked, and yelps filled the air as the room jolted violently once, making the china ring and clatter. Then, all was calm again.
"Congratulations, Rhezu." The smooth voice filled the graveyard silence. "You're the mother of Honlon's third personality now."
The egg turned icy to Rhezu's touch, and he pulled his hand back instantly, examining it. The old scar from a broken window still graced his palm—nothing had changed. "Seki, what the hell was that?" he yelled. "An earthquake?"
"A very minor one, I assure you." Seki set his wine glass right side up again. Miraculously, it had survived intact. "When the egg breaks finally, there will be a worse one. I shall have to supervise the event very carefully." Six pairs of eyes stared at Seki incredulously, and Zian deftly led a whimpering Kedi out of the room.
"And why am I the mother?" hissed Rhezu.
Halina sat in the backseat with Sharlen as Dhuzel drove her home. Setu looked out the passenger window at the passing Lhasa neighborhoods. Nobody talked; the night's happenings left them shellshocked. Soon the car pulled up to Halina's apartment building on the edge of Mhagenu, the area where the Shoma estate was located. Sharlen walked her to the door.
As the key turned in the lock, Halina paused and said, "Sharlen, don't you think it's strange that Seki never touched the egg himself?"
The vampire shrugged, his skin luminescent in the moonlight. "Maybe there's some arcane magical rule forbidding him to." He chuckled briefly. "Or maybe Seki didn't trust himself. Curious, isn't it? Have a good night, and don't let the vampires bite."