Darkness Risen (The Ava'Lonan Herstories Book 4) by Ako Emanuel Page B

Soku responded to the vocal cue,
enjoying her Voice’s pleasure at surprising her. Barajini clapped, and two more
assistants came in, leading gliding tables piled high with thick sheaves of
papi’ras.
    “Once word got out that so many had petitioned to
join, many of those who were undecided - decided,” Barajini did not sound smug,
but she did not have to.
    “How many?” Soku could not take her eyes off the
stacks. Barajini dismissed the four assistants.
    “About fifty. Including Indines sul Arine.” The
Voice held up one of the contracts.
    “Set it aside with the other petitions for
consideration,” Soku waved it away. Fifty more of her original one hundred!
That was more than she had anticipated. Then she looked speculatively at her
Voice. “Just - how did word get around?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow.
    Barajini held her hands up. “Much as I would like to
claim such cunning, majesty, it was not my doing. I gathered that the Queens in
our Ya were approached by others, once our claim was cleared. When the questions
became pointed, some of those undecided saw the wisdom of taking the chance on
our venture.”
    Soku contemplated the stacks again. “Hold them all
for a ten’turn, then send the ones most advantageous to us first for approval.
The others we will hold for a while more.”
    It was no bad thing to let those who had agreed
immediately to have a slight advantage over the others. The first eighteen,
including herself, would be able to begin surveying for locations first, and
thus would have their port arches up first. In addition, she could begin
setting up the framework in stages, rather than dealing with all of it at once.
There was so much work to be done!
    *:And Barajini - the protections on our records?:*
Soku fully expected her enemies to continue to try to slip something
incriminating into her records - if she, the progenitor of the Yakan’tsu, could
not get approval, the whole thing would come to naught. Since Barajini’s
attack, special protections had been placed on all the Doan documents, public
and private.
    *:No tampering as of yet,:* the Voice said. Soku
smiled inside and plunged eagerly into the piles of papi’ras.
     
    the light,
delirious but not drunk on the beat of the drums of morn, turned...
     
    A drum beat sounded in the receiving lain, waking
Jeliya, confusing her for a moment as she looked around at unfamiliar
surroundings. She blinked. Where were the walls of her obin’tu? She was in a
well-appointed sleeping lain. Then she remembered. After receiving a reply to
the announcement that they had returned, they had been directed to av’tun to a
vacant guest-house for nobility, outside the City proper. That had occurred the
turn before, and she had slept last eve in a real pallet with real silk
bedding, and had had a real royal meal. Servants had come from the Palace to
attend her. And she wanted to cry for loss of the simplicity of Gavaron’s home.
    The drum was a formal announcement of the imminent
arrival of a visitor. It was not the royal summons but the rhythm of someone
important. Jeliya had half a san’chron to get herself ready. The servants and
maddi came in like a flurry of leaves and descended on her, a whirlwind of bath
water and soft silk wraps and scented oil and lotion. They worked a minor
miracle in the time they had, and when they were through Jeliya felt scrubbed
to within an inch of her life and ready to slide off the pallet from all the
silk on her. Not to mention weighed down by all the jewelry and hair ornaments
so that she was positive that she could not stand even with help. Her egwae
leaders, including R’Kyl, swept in just as her torturers had stepped back to
reveal her. She felt strange in the finery, having been without it for so long.
    She had been half right. She could not stand without
help, but it was not because of the jewelry, but from pure, simple fatigue.
Supported subtly by her brothers, and followed by the other core members of