I have two important exams tomorrow, so naturally my mind decided that writing this chapter was far more important than focusing on schoolwork. Several nuances of Copper Isles history are my own creation, comments on the new details are welcome.
Lady Lioness: Chapter Fifteen
Even when Thayet was infuriated enough to spit out K'mir curses, she was still the most beautiful woman Alanna had ever seen.
Alanna, being sensible, had retreated to the edge of her room to work on her embroidery for the second day in a row. She wanted to stay out of Thayet's way without entirely leaving the princess. Buri had also taken a post near the wall, but she was sharpening a wicked-looking knife that George would be sure to admire. Salma had left the room to find tea ('or maybe something stronger,' Salma had confided in a whisper). As little as Alanna liked alcohol for its taste and its effect on her Gift, perhaps this would be an appropriate use. It did calm some people down, but Alanna didn't want to risk the slight chance that it might make Thayet all the angrier.
When Thayet had her fill of pacing and cursing, she took the empty chair next to Alanna with an embarrassed air. "I suppose you think I'm being oversensitive."
"If the man I had a wonderful tea with threw me over for Delia, believe me. I wouldn't be nearly so restrained," Alanna said honestly. Her monogramming of the handkerchief had quickly evolved into an elaborate border of gardenias.
"It isn't as if I've set out to court someone before." Thayet's anger had cooled into something much quieter. "I do suppose that it would be shallow to focus on looks, but I can't help it. That's all that boys cared about before."
"We all need to be a little petty sometimes, Thayet, or we'd be petty constantly and just deny it." Alanna set her embroidery frame aside, now that Thayet was in the mood to talk to someone who was actually in the room. "I am sorry about what happened, but I can promise you it's not entirely as it seems. Delia has been carrying a torch for Roger since her debut. I saw the look on Roger's face when you danced with Thom last night."
"You really think…"
"I know, Thayet," Alanna promised. "Roger told Delia to take care of this, and off she went." Delia would do anything Roger wanted, which was all the more disturbing when it involved Alanna's always-obnoxious brother. "Be careful, though, because you don't want to get Thom back only to have Roger after you. I imagine that if you waited a little, my brother might become available." That probably would require Roger's death. There was no way she could trust any prison to hold him.
Regicide was a terribly easy thing to plan. Somehow, an assassination alone seemed too easy, even if George did control some of the best cutthroats in the business. Roger was too powerful for such a venture, and Alanna couldn't send someone to die in the attempt. Poison had a similarly negative connotation, even with George's band, and that left few options for just how she was to depose him. He had too many allies and too much power for a mere court trial to be enough.
"I won't have you hurt," Alanna said several long moments later. She knew that Roger wouldn't be so gentle a second time. The attack on George had been a warning, but a retaliation against Thayet would do all that it could to destroy the looks that had captured Thom's attention. Sometimes, Alanna hated the part of her that could predict just how Roger might think, but it was undeniably necessary when dealing with a madman.
Thayet hesitated, but Buri was far more direct. "Alanna. What are you planning?"
"The two of you have enough trouble here, Buri."
"The two of us have your close friend to thank for our safety, Lady Alanna. Should you need us…" Thayet gave the effortless impression of curtsying, though both she and Alanna were seated. "My title is of no use here without being formally granted asylum by Roger. I will take your direction, I think, or I shall drive Buri to distraction with the irritation of losing the first boy I wanted to keep."
"I don't understand that at all," Alanna admitted. "I don't mean that as an offense to your tastes, but my brother is far from the friendliest of men."
Thayet propped her chin in her hand as she thought, taking her time to choose the correct words. "I suppose it is that difference that I like. He is sweet with me, when not distracted by Roger or by Delia or by who he thinks he ought to be. Everyone has thought that he had only one path, and that path never was supposed to involve me.
"He is stubborn, yes, and can be rude, but he's intelligent and thoughtful. He isn't so distracted with looks that he resorts to subterfuge to win me to his bed. Beyond that—he has potential," Thayet decided, finally finding what she truly meant to convey. "He is someone right now, but he's going to change, soon, and I'd rather have him changing for the better. Delia and Roger might like the worse version, but I want him to be better than the unhappy man that he is."
Alanna was entirely taken aback at someone seeing so much in her stubborn brother, and something in her melted at just that moment. If anyone was to have her brother, she wanted it to be Thayet. "Well," she said, wondering what else there was to say than 'I want you be my sister-in-law.' "You've convinced me, then. Our first step will be to see what Roger really wants, with Delia keeping Thom occupied."
"Beyond keeping Thayet away?" Buri asked. "I imagine Delia would keep Thom out of trouble, and into a trouble of her own. Rumor in the servants says that Delia's all but pulling her skirts off just two hours later."
Alanna grimaced, knowing just whose direction that would have been. Her brother was rather shy, but Roger was not, and neither was Delia. "Delia knows she won't be queen, but I suppose she would content herself with being the king's mistress."
Thayet's expression was much the same as if Alanna had pronounced that Delia was a serial murderer and a kicker of kittens. "All I did was dance with him! We had tea his morning, but that hardly is the occasion to get to tumbling in less than a day."
Alanna kept her hand to her pendant, a recent habit when discussing anything inflammatory. "Roger likes control nearly as much as he likes himself. Thom is his squire, he'll prefer that Thom is in Delia's hands so long as Roger pulls Delia's strings. What I want to know is Roger's lists of alternatives for his queen. He will need one with the country so disjointed, and he cannot force me to cut my mourning short." She left unsaid that there were many old, forgotten laws with which a king could take his chosen spouse from any of his fiefs.
"The international gossip is that Roger is a friend to the Rittevon house," Buri said unexpectedly. "I was talking to George and Raoul about political gossip, and the name Josiane came up."
"Isn't she insane?" Thayet asked politely.
"Most of the Rittevon line is mad, I think," Alanna replied, already recalculating just what Roger might have in mind. Most of the Rittevon line had also infuriated George's patron god, which could only work in Alanna's favor. "At least one in a generation is so obviously insane that they require being locked away, and all early indicators say that Josiane will be that candidate."
"I heard it's a curse." Buri hadn't said nearly so much the day before, but Alanna supposed that she hadn't proved herself to the fierce tribeswoman. "K'mir legend says that when the luarin went to the Copper Isles, Mithros and the Great Mother listened to the prayers of their people. They banished the god of the Copper Isles."
Alanna frowned, thinking of all that she had learned of the Copper Isles. The amount was far less than she had known about Carthak. "There were already people living there," Alanna remembered, wondering why it had never seemed so important before.
"The raka," Buri agreed. "Their god was forced to leave them, in presence, but it's said that Kyprioth helps what inbreeding doesn't do for the Rittevons."
Alanna swore that she felt something as the words were said, some glimmer of being that she couldn't begin to describe, but full contact with the ember hadn't shown her anything. She still wouldn't put it past Roger to listen in on her in a way that her totem couldn't follow. "Thank you, Buri. I think I'll go look up a few things in the library."
"Alanna, you're pale as a sheet!" Thayet said, taking Alanna's wrist before she could stand. Even against Thayet's creamy skin, Alanna's pallor was obvious. "Are you alright?"
"I had a strange feeling," Alanna said, seeing no reason to deny what had just happened.
"You started just after I said the god's name." Buri peered at her curiously, for once not treating Alanna as a potential danger to Thayet. "You're sensitive to the gods?"
"So far it's only been a sensitivity to one god," Alanna admitted. "I'd rather not talk about it here," where Roger could overhear, somehow.
"Let us walk you to the library, please," Thayet said, gently pulling Alanna to her feet. "I am quite interested in what your books will say of Sarain, and after Buri humors me we can go watch her knight tilt at the little competition just before dinner."
"He's not my knight," Buri muttered, flushing. "Let's get you to the library."
Alanna kept her mouth shut, leaving all the gentle teasing to Thayet. Buri didn't look all that bothered by the implications that Raoul was very fond of her, and it did cheer Thayet out of her earlier funk. For her part, Alanna learned the whole sad history of the Conquests of the Copper Isles that had turned the welcoming tribes into the slaves of the invaders.
Alanna's hand clenched so tight around her ember-stone that her hand hurt. This wasn't right, Alanna thought loudly, not caring that she was contradicting the Goddess. Your people prayed to you, but do you always give children what they will?
There was no answer, but a quiet pulse from the ember gave Alanna the feeling that she would have her answer soon. Alanna gulped, not sure she was ready for the wrath of a goddess, but the only event in the next half hour was Faithful appearing in the library to cuddle in her lap.
When Buri and Thayet left for the tournament, Alanna was unsurprised to find Liam Ironarm come out from the darker parts of the library. "Milady," the Shang teased, his lilting voice making the title into a pet name. As long as he kept 'kitten' out of it, Alanna didn't mind. "I would imagine that you would care to avoid the celebratory feast tonight? Mistress Cooper believes you might be in need of some healing."
Alanna frowned, finding an odd inflection in those last words. "You disapprove of healing, Master Ironarm?"
"It's a weakness for those in my field, milady. Natural healing's stronger, and magic's a cheat."
"Hm." Alanna set her books in neat stacks for the squire in charge of minding the knights' library. "You made a bad choice in me yesterday, Ironarm. I'm Thom's equal for magical strength and I'm a healer by trade."
Liam looked inclined to agree about a poor choice even before meeting Faithful's eyes. He started to step away, but caught himself. "You're going to make some man very happy someday, milady, but it won't be me. I'll still walk you over to town, if you like."
"We can make a group of it," Alanna suggested. "I'm not hiding. Coram wants to visit Rispah on his night off, I would think, and I could find some sort of help in the stables." Faithful took that as his opportunity to hop onto her shoulder, settling comfortably against her neck. She did find Coram on her way, and by the time she reached Moonlight's stall, the mare was ready to go.
"Thank you, Sarge," Alanna said as he lifted her onto the mare. Most ladies rode side-saddle, but riding astride was permissible with just the right skirting and the right way to get onto the horse. Sarge happened to be the best help a lady could hope for in getting onto a horse of moderate height.
"I think I'll be comin' along," Sarge said, nodding to Liam. It appeared that Liam had met all of her friends during his brief stay in town.
No one else was mounted, so it was an odd procession that made its way to the Lower City. Normally a woman on horseback would be a favorite target, but there was a subdued air in the streets, with few people outside even at just half a bell to six. Her escort of three strong men would have been more effective had there been anyone to intimidate away.
The three of them were careful of her safety, but all of them withdrew to check through the stables when Old Solom waved Alanna inside. There was little use in games of 'Aly' when Roger already knew all too much.
"His majesty has a guest, but you'll always be welcome," Solom said formally. The old bartender had always treated Alanna as if she were a queen, not just a lady, and she had always been fond of the man in return.
"Thank you, Solom. I'll head right up."
George's guest had an unfamiliar voice, but it wasn't all that surprising given just how many people her friend knew. Alanna's steps up the main stair were light, but both George and the visitor slowed when they first heard her.
From her view at the top of the stairs, she only had a view of George, but it was more of a view than she was accustomed to seeing. Alanna had only a moment to appreciate the planes of her friend's bare chest before his breeches were suddenly gathered around his ankles.
Alanna clapped a hand over her eyes a moment later, but that moment was all any self-respecting healer would need to know more than was at all necessary. She had done quite enough healing on male patients to know the rough mechanics, as well as the rough appearance, but hadn't exactly desired a demonstration with her best friend.
Alanna was only distracted from her embarrassment by a booming laugh that seemed to shake the room. "She is a fine-blooded one!" the voice crowed.
When Alanna dared to look, George was glaring good-naturedly to the corner of his room while redoing his belt. "As I could've told ye, guest of mine, without any of your tomfoolery. She's the one what heard your name, I'd wager?"
The guest was a lean man with firm muscles and with short salt-and-pepper hair over a broad nose. She supposed she should say that he appeared to be a man, that was, because her emberstone was glowing without any kind of attention from Alanna. "You're one of hers? Knew there'd be some downside."
"It's a pleasure, I'm sure," Alanna said tartly as the god blatantly sized up the size of her chest. She'd read enough of the Copper Isles to know who this had to be. "Hello, Kyprioth."
"She's sharp enough," Kyprioth said to George before turning the full weight of his gaze on her. Alanna might have faltered without Faithful so near. The cat yowled at him, saying something that everyone in the room could understand it.
Leave her be, Kyprioth! Faithful's voice sounded like thunder. You and I know well that my mistress was deceived, and that your tricks were part of that doing!
Kyprioth sighed elaborately. "I lost a wager, that's all, but I do admit to underestimating the man's devotion." He glanced to Alanna, offering an explanation as if atoning for some earlier wrong. "Mithros I understand, his people won the war and that's what he practices. The Goddess was led all astray by one of her pawns—one much like you, as it happens. Humans that change the world.
"So long as the Goddess's precious luarin mind her temple, my people will live under their feet."
Faithful leapt down from Alanna's shoulder, striding forward until her housecat was the size of a tiger. No, trickster. The Goddess had given her pawn one chance to redeem himself, by giving his own child to replace the raka child he had killed in cold blood. You tried to have the man kill his child, instead.
Kyprioth yawned widely, showing far too many teeth. "Considering that he had killed seventeen children already, I would have thought he would find the mission easy."
He killed himself, fool! That child was left alone in the Goddess's temple, and that was the last direct influence she was allowed on that island, Faithful growled. That was her last chance to subvert Mithros' will, which is stronger after blood has been spilt in war.
"Enough!" George said, stepping between panther and god with no sign of fear. "Kyprioth, you yourself have said that it isn't time to change the past yet, and would you really discuss it before the Goddess's chosen? Faithful, we can talk when my bedroom isn't crowded and lacking in pants."
Kyprioth chuckled, immediately distracted from his earlier anger. "That was a good one, Cooper, glad your lady-friend had a look. You mortals, always so shy."
"I am a healer," Alanna said tartly, not willing to let Kyprioth tease her further. "Is there a point to your visit, or do you enjoy harassing your potential supplicants?" That drew Kyprioth's interest. "I need advice, as it happens, and it seems that you would be the best source… if you were interested."
Faithful reverted to his normal size as Kyprioth considered the offer. Her cat leapt back up to her shoulder as if nothing unusual had happened, nuzzling affectionately at her cheek like he was nothing more than a housecat.
"I hope you've the sense to keep this one, Cooper," Kyprioth said with a wild smile. "I like her, and I'll steal her away if you don't."
"It's a temporary offer, Kyprioth," Alanna clarified. She had read enough in the library to guess how to gain the god's interest. "I already have the permanent interest of one god, and that's quite enough. You just happen to be a master of tricks and traps, and I thought you might be interested."
"I'm listening," the god said.
"Princess Josiane will have a grand introductory dinner tomorrow evening. I'm sure you would hate to have such an occasion entirely disrupted, especially if it implicated Roger. The king wants to open up trade with the Copper Isles, again, never mind that they keep slaves." Buri and Thayet had known more of Tortallan politics than Alanna, an oversight that she planned to fix as soon as she found the time. "Roger killed the prince, Kyprioth, and all I need is proof."
"In return for…"
"I imagine that unhappiness on Josiane's part would be worth the small bother," Alanna coaxed, careful to never presume too much with a god. The ember had long since fade, making her hope that she wouldn't earn the Goddess's anger through the gambit. "We have a Saren princess that could do with an introduction, and I guarantee that Thayet will outshine an inbred harridan with the poor taste to consider Roger's offer in marriage."
"I can give you a chance only." Kyprioth looked uncharacteristically serious. "The likelihood of that chance depends on what you'll give me, and I think you might not mind the steepest price all too much. You've a slay-the-dragons streak in you—not that most dragons need slaying, mind, but you don't like injustice and you like mending problems.
"I can give you everything you need to succeed, if you'll give me one of your children."
"In what sense?" Alanna asked immediately.
Kyprioth grinned, all teasing happiness again. "Oh, nothing too much. I just want the best-suited of your children to lead a teeny-tiny rebellion against the legally rightful king, putting a half-raka queen on the throne and restoring my people to their old autonomy on the isles. Don't worry too much about any imminence, the queen I want isn't born yet. I've an eye on getting the beautiful mother to catch the eye of a clever lord."
"Like mother, like child," Alanna said thoughtfully. Any child of hers that was interested could do a lot of good, even with the danger involved. "A chance for a chance," she said after a moment's thought. "You give me the chance to depose Roger, permanently, you get to make the offer to any number of my children after their sixteenth birthdays. If they accept, you have yourself a champion."
Kyprioth held out a hand, looking her in the eye. Only experience seeing the Goddess kept Alanna steady on her feet as she looked into the barely-controlled madness of a trickster god. Alanna shook his hand just before he disappeared in a flurry of colorful lights.
George caught her before she fell backward and down the stairs. "Very well played, lass," he said admiringly. "Just the kind of bargain he'd like, and I imagine one child of yours would want to go right an old wrong."
"I think he took something out of me," Alanna said wearily, too woozy to react when George picked her up against his still-bare chest. It was a nice view, after all.
"We'll get you a bite to eat then have somebody bundle you back to the palace when you're a bit perkier." George descended into the sudden chaos of the Dancing Dove without seeming to care how many people were yelling for answers. He didn't react until she was settled in his usual chair by the fire.
"Quiet, you lot!" he called, instantly inducing calm that extended to even Coram. "We just had a little run-in with an old friend of mine, and he's a bit of an odd duck. Solom, get the lady some lemonade sweet as ye can make it and as much as she wants to eat. Coram, you come and keep an eye on her or you'll not settle. Liam and Sarge? We'll have a word up in my room."
Alanna sipped her too-sweet lemonade until she felt halfway human again, and wondered just what she had done. She was almost afraid to put a hand to her ember-stone, but she would never be able to win without courage.
When Alanna rested her hand against the ember pendant at her throat, it pulsed warmly, and seemed to restore all that Kyprioth had taken. Alanna smiled before tucking into an early dinner. Roger should watch his back. Beyond her many friends and allies, Alanna had two gods on her side.