Chapter Six: Unwanted Remembrance
As of this morning Ursula was the newest general of the Fou Imperial Army and the only one who was known to be alive. She had expected the promotion for a while, but only halfway; her irrational side had feared that if she truly believed it would happen then fate would ensure that it would not, simply as punishment for her hubris.
During the meeting of what remained of the military high command she pretended she thought it an elaborate joke until at last one of the lieutenants, utterly exasperated, had burst out, "How many times must we repeat this, ma'am? We're entirely serious. You've been carrying the burden of a general for a while now, and this only makes it official. It's not as if there are many other candidates, what with Rasso gone." There had been as usual a wave of guiltily relieved expressions sweeping down each side of the table at the mention of Rasso's premature demise; he had been quite popular with the court at Chedo but not nearly as much with his peers.
She was finally pressed into accepting her new rank, and then all those present had stood and saluted her. General Ursula. That was her title, now, and not just that of her childish dream. Ursula still felt a little thrill and more color entering her face whenever anyone called for her, though she sternly told herself not to let it go too far up in her head.
"General Ursula!"
There it was again. "Captain Tang?"
The new Captain fell into lockstep with her as she began her routine looping throughout the half-repaired streets of Chedo. "General, we just got a report from our me - soldiers in Astana. The Causeway's been fixed. Sergeants Norris and Pasho report civil unrest in the area, possibly due to the apparent departure of the gods. Also, Lord Yuna is as of the time of their report residing in Astana Base with a number of his assistants."
Ursula nodded. "Send a message for him to come here immediately." She didn't think for a minute that he would walk straight into his prison cell, but one had to go through the motions.
She turned in his direction and he saluted without slowing his pace. "Yes, General!"
"All right, any luck with the Purifiers?"
"Er. We've had trouble finding them - most all the hexes have been in Alliance territory until now, so there hasn't been much demand for Purifiers over here."
"Of course. I should have thought of that. Send a small contingent through the Causeway and have them make inquiries. They should give a fair payment for services, carry minimal weaponry and at least try to be polite."
Another salute. "Will do, General!"
She finally asked the question she dreaded. "And the Imperial succession?"
From his expression she gathered he had dreaded it just as much. "We tracked down the third cousin in Chiqua. Looks like he's been dead for a little over a year."
"What was it this time?"
"A boating accident, apparently. From the doctor's report it looks like the boat flipped over, half strangled him, and then bludgeoned him the rest of the way."
"I just hope they took it apart after. A murderous boat is exactly what we don't need. How many left to check?"
"Er. There's his mother. I think."
Now that a new Emperor was needed, it all became so obvious. Just about every one of the late Thirteenth Emperor Soniel's relations that qualified for an entry on his official genealogy was now dead - everything from being trampled by a rampaging Whelk (never mind that Whelks hadn't any feet to trample with) to improperly prepared blowfish. On top of that, he had never married and hadn't even a rumor of an illegitimate child to his name.
She mustn't get frustrated. Maybe some of his relatives had caught on, faked their own deaths before they could be given a true one, and were even now living in hiding, making it a matter of tracking them down. And maybe the First Emperor would re-split from Ryu, march back into Chedo, make himself the Fourteenth as well as the First, and put an end to the suspense.
And he would be welcomed, at that. One of the most surprising things she had encountered during Chedo's reconstruction was how many people who had cursed whoever was responsible for the destruction straight through all the hells ever imagined and out the other side changed their minds when they found out who it had been. Their general attitude seemed to be, "You say it was the First Emperor? Well, he must have had a good reason for it, because he's the First Emperor, after all." She found it somewhat exasperating to see how many otherwise reasonable people promptly turned to putty when the name of Fou-Lu was invoked.
"If nothing else comes up, we'll have to discuss this with the surviving court officials."
He shuddered at the mention of the surviving court officials. "Yes, ma'am."
"But until then, we focus on rebuilding. Understood?"
"Understood, General."
Near noon they encountered another group of Chedo refugees heading in the opposite direction on the road to Kwanso. They ended up sitting together for a rest and lunch, while the refugees pressed them for news. Ryu told them what he could without mentioning just who had cast out the Endless. Ursula had warned him when they left Chedo that not many would take it well. "The world might not need gods," she'd said, "but a lot of people don't know that."
"I've got to feel sorry for the people who lived in Kwanso to start with," said one. "First there's us, and then they've got a whole bunch of military coming in from Astana. There's been a riot, or something."
Cray looked up. "A riot?"
"Yup. Heard tell that one of Lord Yuna's people didn't agree with what he's been working on and called up a screaming mob. I wouldn't envy Lord Yuna right now."
They looked at each other in silence, and the tentative line of route to Astana Ryu had drawn on his mental map grew thicker and darker.
When Ryu approached the gates of Kwanso he was intercepted by a harried woman. "You're not with the court or something, are you? No? Then, I'm afraid you'll have to sleep outside - we haven't any more room in here, what with all the soldiers. I hope that's all right with you," she said, wearing an expression that spoke for itself - it had better be all right, or it will not go well for you.
"That's fine," Ryu said hastily. "I was wondering if I could talk to someone from Astana? About what happened."
She abruptly smiled. "Certainly. This way." As they passed through the gate, he heard her muttering triumphantly - "Ha! Think they can just show up and bloody well commandeer everything, can they? This'll show 'em!"
When he was introduced to the officer that had been in charge of the Astana soldiery, the latter didn't look up at first. "Ma'am, please," he said as his quill moved across the paper, "I'm in the middle of - !" He jumped up, knocking over the covered jar he had been using as a writing surface. The letter fell to the ground. "We've met before, haven't we? You're Captain Ursula's friend, right?"
"Right. I'm Ryu."
"Sergeant Norris, Imperial Army." He bent down to pick up the letter and cursed as he saw the smudged ink. "How's she doing?"
"Fine, last I saw her. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Sure. One of the thaumaturgists was saying that Lord Yuna was the one who'd made the gods gone, and he was going to make his own, and they should stop him, et cetera." Norris shook his head as he righted the jar and continued the letter. "We tried to break it up, but the thaumaturgist had attack magic. Last I saw they'd taken over the Carronade."
"Oh."
"Say, are you going back to the capital anytime soon? We've got to get our report there."
"Sorry, no."
"Where to?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but home." With a detour to Astana.
"Ah. That's too bad." He stared at Ryu. "You're Alliance, right?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"They got the Causeway fixed before it happened - 'course using it's out of the question now, but if we got things settled down, then I don't see why you can't take the quick way back. The thing is…" He grinned tentatively. "We need more firepower to do it. Preferably handled by someone who hasn't got a grandma or anyone else on the other side to get all upset about. Do you know what I'm saying?"
"I think I know."
"Good." He held out his hand.
Ryu didn't take it. "I'll have to talk to the others about this before we can decide." After all, he reasoned, he wasn't saying that he would bring this up with the others, let alone try and persuade them to that course of action.
As it was, he did mention it, discussion ensued, and it was their consensus that they would press on to Astana and decide on their further course of action when they got there. There was, however, some debate about whether they would use the Causeway if or when it was available - it would take less time than a trek northward and a sea voyage, to be sure, but a sandflier was a virtual necessity for the journey from Kyoin to Wyndia, and their sandflier had been left south of Shikk. Votes were taken, and they decided that that decision could wait as well.
Nina approached him afterwards. When they were sitting on the edge of the camp, she said, "I hope when we find Elina's… ah… when we find Elina, I hope it can be open-casket." Her hands flew to her mouth. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that!"
"It's okay. I hope so too."
"I mean - who knows what he did to her… her… you know. Her," she concluded. "You know what I mean, right?"
"Yes. Er." He cast about for something fairly clever but sensitive. As he thought he spotted something promising his mouth was already open and something rather different emerged. "If he has… well, there are people who have businesses fixing people up for that, right? And if he's stupid enough to be around, we can make him do it free of charge, in exchange for Cray not breaking his neck." Once this was out, he instinctively mimicked her hands-to-mouth gesture. Now that it was at a fair distance in his memory, the confrontation with the Sonne landlord made him redden, and this was worse - he couldn't blame it on anyone but himself.
Nina giggled, then quickly became somber. "You're right. I know there're embalmers and things, but…"
But you're wondering what she'll look like when we find her, because that'll be what you'll remember. "I'll see if I can get a sheet, and we'll take it with us. Better than that - I'll get the best and biggest quilt they've got. Okay?"
"A quilt? Why?"
"For, uh, a shroud. You know. Because it wouldn't be that practical to haul a… you know, around, and it might be kind of, er, sticky carrying her around directly, so…"
She clapped her hands. "That's a wonderful idea! Thank you, Ryu."
"It was nothing."
"No. It was something."
"No it wasn't."
"Yes it was."
He sighed and relented. "If you say so. Why don't I go get it now?"
"Oh - if you want to, that's a good idea, but…" She tipped her head and, to his horror, Ryu found himself expecting the bell to sound as she did. "I was thinking maybe we could talk a while longer?"
"Sure. That sounds good. Er." What should I do now? Tell a joke? Try to hug her? Wait for her to do or say something first? And Fou-Lu's memories - you'd think what came before would help, wouldn't it? He reddened as one of the choicer ones made its presence known. It's not helping!
"Er," he tried again. "Nice weather, isn't it?"
She nodded rapidly. "Yes, nice weather."
They sat in silence. Ryu's face grew progressively redder as he fought off all the new images that emerged when he considered what else he could say to her. When he finally spoke, the silence was so thick about them that to break it was an effort. "About the quilt. What color d'you think it should be?"
"I don't know. Maybe patchwork? She was always crazy about patchwork. Once she sewed up this big skirt that was all patchwork, and at least half of it trailed around on the floor when she put it on."
"Really? Half of it?"
"Mm-hm. Only Father and Mother wouldn't let her wear it in public, and then I threw up on it, so she made it into pillowcases, and then -" Ryu listened intently as she elaborated on the tale and laughed at appropriate moments, and when it ended with the disposal of what had by then become patchwork placemats he was sorry it had ended, because it meant silence would settle in once more.
"Say," he said quickly, flinging figurative incendiary magic into the bridge he had just crossed and pushing onward before he could be frozen by embarrassment. "Have you ever heard the one about the Ludian soldier and the Imperial soldier who walked into a bar?"
"No. But you'll tell me, right?"
He told her and she laughed, though he was convinced she laughed not at the joke he'd heard in Shikk but at the way his face had no doubt contorted as he tried to deliver the punch line. Then she told him one of her own, and he laughed as well. They continued like this for some hours.
He was comforted by humor. Of the many memories Ryu had inherited, there was none of Fou-Lu trading jokes with Mami and the bell jingling as she laughed and tossed her head back. This experience at least was his alone.