Crossing the Line
Jul. 12th, 2013 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feredarStory: Crossing the Line
Year: 987 FY
Characters: Nolani, Lonura, Kesshare, Ineku, Isshiri, Eliri, Mussena, Kirana, Amassa
Warnings: Murder and attempted murder, brief reference to animals eating a newly-dead person, brief ableism/internalized ableism, brief torture
19. East
Lonura wrapped her arms around Nolani from behind, resting her chin on the princess's shoulder, as they watched the horizon to see if her brother would finally be back today.
"I didn't want him to go out there," Nolani said.
"I know," Lonura replied quietly. The sun was setting in their eyes--they were east of Feredar, after all--and it made it hard to see if there were any shadows trekking towards the capital. "I don't think we'll see him if he comes tonight..."
She sighed. "I know. It's just...we got the letter days ago, he should be here by now, shouldn't he?"
"Travel can be unpredictable," Lonura pointed out. "But we know he's coming, and I'm sure he'll be here soon. I don't think we need to worry for another week or two."
Still uncertain, Nolani nodded. "You're probably right..."
Lonura smiled, and rested her head on her lover's shoulder. "We can stay out here and keep watching, if you want."
Nolani smiled back, and turned to kiss her. "Thank you," she said, then turned back to the western horizon.
14. Sunrise
Home. Home, at last.
The City grew out of the sands and held the light, and Isshiri gave an unexpected sigh of relief. He never thought he'd be this glad to come home.
And, even after everything he'd seen, a part of him was already itching to get moving again, but here he was, and for now, he was grateful.
From here, he could fix things. Well, not personally (well, maybe, he'd have to argue with Mother about that) but he could at least give the people who could fix things the kick in the ass they needed. And he'd see his father and sisters again, so there was that.
He let out a long slow breath and nudged his camel to get moving again.
He might not be safe, but at least he was home.
3. Sylph
Nolani's arms flew around him like silk, and he hugged her back, as warm and tight as he could. "I missed you," he said.
She just nodded against his shoulder, and pulled back. She was smiling, but she was worried. "You look..." She shook her head, and pulled him close again. "I'm glad you're home."
"Me, too," he said. "How are you? What have I missed here?"
"I'm all right. So is Kira. Mother is...well, she's mother." She shrugged. "I have a new favorite."
Isshiri blinked. "The same one, all this time?"
Nolani flushed. "Since a few weeks after you left. Her name is Lonura, I'd like to introduce you, as soon as you're ready."
He smiled. "Of course. I hope she makes me happy."
"She does," Nolani said, and there was something soft in her voice that Isshiri was pretty sure he'd never heard before, through all of his sister's lovers. "She does."
5. Blown away
Isshiri studied himself in the mirror. He looked...well, he knew how bad he looked, even after the time he'd stayed in the Islands. Somehow, with all the trappings of his rank around it, he looked thinner, wearier, even more like a lost, broken soul cast on the wind.
Maybe that would play to his advantage, with the Council. Though he didn't like thinking about it that way.
"Your mother wants you to meet privately with her and the King, before the Council meeting," his father was saying.
Isshiri reached up and rested his fingers against the scar where his collar had been until Riluke had cut it. He didn't have to imagine very hard to picture his mother's hard eyes falling on it, and calculating.
Despite himself, he shivered. "No," he said. "I don't want to go through it any more times than I have to."
"All right," his father said. "I'll let her know."
"Thank you." Isshiri finished lacing up his shirt, concealing, if only for a moment, his scar.
23. Atmosphere
"No, Lord Eliri, I don't think Sorell's looking to expand," Isshiri said, as patiently as he could. "Not yet, anyway. From what I could learn, he looks after his own first. It's his son we really need to worry about."
"But Sorell isn't that old," Eliri pointed out, still stubborn. "Who knows when Prince Kellom will actually be our problem? I say we wait until then."
Hidden by his sleeve, Isshiri clenched his fist. "We can't. Because by then, worse plans will be in place. I said I didn't think Sorell was looking to expand--not that he was unwilling to lay the groundwork for it so his son could."
"But you don't know that for sure," one of the other Councilors pointed out. "You only know--forgive me--what you experienced."
"And what I heard, and what my friend heard through the grapevine."
"Why isn't he here to add his insights?" Eliri pressed.
Because you wouldn't listen to him, Isshiri wanted to snap, but his mother answered first.
"Because he is a water-mage, Lord Eliri," she said, deceptively mild. "He cannot survive the desert."
Eliri looked distinctly disgruntled, but subsided.
"I agree we should act," the Councilor who'd questioned Isshiri's lack of sources--Ssulide, that was her name--said. "I just believe we should make sure we are doing so for the right reasons. Whatever Sorell's long-term plans--or Kellom's--what we can be sure of is that the system that has been implemented there in recent years is wholly unsustainable. A civil war in Feredar brings strain to the rest of the world, particularly ourselves and Asendar. And this...toxic ideology, if unchallenged, may spread."
Isshiri nodded, though that wasn't the real reason he wanted this. It wasn't that he was out for blood, not exactly, he just...there were some things that couldn't be left alone.
"Thank you, Isshiri," his uncle said. "I think we've heard enough from you."
Isshiri bowed, and slipped out of the Council room as quietly as he could.
Please, please, please let them make the right decision.
12. Father Sky
Once the door had closed behind his grand-nephew, Amassa surveyed the table, trying to gauge exactly how many people were opposed. To his eyes, there was only one clear move to make--he deeply regretted, now, having sent Isshiri there, but hindsight was ever-perfect. And, particularly with Ssulide behind him and Kesshare, the others were now falling in line.
There were a few still unconvinced, and a (thank the gods, smaller) few still mulishly opposed. But many--but most--would back the war, when he ordered it.
He would, of course, continue the formality of debate, but he could relax now, knowing it was largely decided.
"Before we decide to act upon Prince Isshiri's intelligence as he has asked," the King began, "I believe we must carefully determine how we will finance it. Should we agree, where would we begin?"
The Council began to clamor, and he sat back, letting them sort out the first petty arguments amongst themselves. Only Kesshare--unsurprisingly--and Eliri--worryingly--did not participate. Amassa noted that, and kept half an eye on the two of them, but most of his focus on keeping track of the arguments.
The final decision rested with him, of course, but the more people he had at his back, the likelier it was the operation would succeed.
25. Energy Flow
"You've heard what the King is planning?"
With enough liquor to loosen tongues and enough tapestries and smoke to provide anonymity, Eliri's companion had no reservations about answering. "It's madness."
Eliri nodded. "I agree. We don't have the resources to commit to a foreign war that could last decades."
"And I'm uncomfortable with the precedent it sets," the other agreed. "If we go about toppling regimes we find abhorrent..."
"Who's to stop someone else from finding us abhorrent in the future?" Mussena, Eliri's sister, who had been silent until now, agreed softly.
Eliri shook his head--he didn't think it possible that anyone would dare take on the City of Glass, precedent or no. But he needed the others to agree, because the problem was there, regardless of the reasons behind it, so he didn't argue. "So, what can we do?" he asked.
"The King," Mussena said, toying with her glass, "is acting on recently-acquired evidence. If that evidence were to disappear..."
"Murder the prince?" their companion asked, warily.
"Is he too great a price to pay?" Eliri wondered aloud. "He's not in the line of succession, and his sister is healthy."
"There might be upheaval in the short run," Mussena added, "but once the dust settles..."
"Very well," the third said. "But you will arrange it. I will ensure that the King is persuaded against this course once the evidence is taken care of."
Mussena bowed her head slightly in assent, and Eliri watched the other glide out of the room. The two of them locked eyes for a moment, and Eliri felt his heart thrumming in his throat.
There would be no turning back now.
20. Yellow
Isshiri liked Lady Lonura--she was tall, with amazing eyes and a welcoming voice, and she wore a soft, sunny yellow dress that made the whole room seem brighter. He could see why his sister was so taken with her, though not quite why Lonura was different from the others.
Because she was--and it wasn't just how long she'd lasted, though that was obviously a part of it. Even in the first few weeks of heady attraction, he'd never quite seen his sister smile like this. So even if he hadn't liked Lonura, he would have been happy she was with Nolani.
And she was gracious to him without being patronizing to her glamorous lover's incomplete little brother. Some of Nolani's favorites were, or asked awkward questions--though Nolani usually dropped them pretty quickly if she found out.
But Lonura didn't do any of those things, and he liked spending time with her. He was pretty sure his sister couldn't do much better, all considering.
He wasn't particularly devout, but he sincerely prayed Lady Lonura stuck around for a good long while.
8. Smoke/Fog
Eliri waited in the shadows outside the prince's room, shifting his grip on his knife. The boy would be back soon, and he'd have an opportunity. If he was lucky, he could get away clean, even. No one would be the wiser.
The prince might even be drunk--Princess Nolani wasn't known for particularly wild parties, and this was only a private dinner to meet her oddly long-lasting favorite, but he could hope.
Eliri heard the prince's uneven footsteps approaching, took a deep breath, and once again shifted his grip on his knife. He sent up a quick prayer that everything would go as planned, that the prince would die with minimal pain--none of this was his fault, of course; he was a principled youth with only the desire to help, he likely had no idea of the disaster he had brought with him--and that Eliri himself would escape clean.
He saw the prince's shadow flicker around the corner, took a deep breath, and lunged.
11. Sword
Isshiri felt something sharp and almost molten smooth slide into his side, and then out, and a starburst of wet heat against his side.
His leg gave out beneath him and the prosthetic slid with him. He felt like he was moving through icy rain again, trying to get his hands over to--he was bleeding, he had to stop the bleeding.
He heard the chiming whisper of bare feet along the glass and struggled to keep focus, try to recognize who it was--why is this happening what did I do what did Mother do why is this happening--and either he was growing colder or the glass beneath him was growing hotter, and the lights faded out around him until all that was left was his blood soaking his shirt and dyeing the glass beneath him, and then nothing.
4. Scent the air
Something was wrong.
Nolani had no idea how she knew it, or what it was, but she knew something was very, very wrong.
"'Lani?" Lonura was worried, paused halfway through unpinning her hair.
"...something's wrong," she said. "I don't...something's wrong."
Lonura was instantly by her side. "Do you need help? Guards, medics...someone?"
She shook her head. "No, I...nothing's wrong with me, I don't think, I just...something..." She shook her head again. "I probably imagined it," she said.
"Is there anything you need to reassure yourself? Or anything I can do?" Lonura asked.
Nolani hesitated. "...I need to check on Isshiri. I don't think...there's no one who would..."
Lonura took her hand and kissed it. "Let's go to his room and see."
Grateful, Nolani squeezed Lonura's hand. "Thank you," she said, and led the way out of her room.
13. Sanguine
"I did it, it's done," Eliri said, breathless, stumbling into Mussena's room.
His sister stared at him, horrified, and he faltered.
"This is what we wanted, this is what we--"
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed.
Now Eliri was annoyed. "We wanted this, 'Ssen, it was your idea that I be the one--"
"And you came here, directly, drenched in his blood, leaving gods alone know what kind of trail--" Mussena cut herself off, hands tangled in her hair. "My gods, Eliri, how could you be this stupid?"
Eliri began to see her horror, and scrambled to think back. "I didn't--there wasn't any trail, there wasn't any proof, and even if there was--even if there was, there's no proof it's me, he didn't see me, I got him hard and fast and he was bleeding too fast to know for sure--"
"We'll have to hope you're right," Mussena said, grimly. "Strip, I have a spare set of clothes for you. We'll burn these."
Eliri nodded, and scrambled to do as he was told.
"You'd better pray he never wakes," his sister said, as she called a flame and touched it to the drying blood.
2. Breath
"Oh, my gods!" Nolani shrieked, and ran and nearly fell in the blood pooling around her brother. "Oh, my gods, oh gods, oh no oh no Isshiri, Isshiri please, please please no please please..." She scrambled to find the source of the bleeding but there was so much it was everywhere and no sign of...no sign of...
She pressed her head to his chest and felt it rise, and sobbed. "Oh, gods, Isshiri, oh gods, keep breathing, please, please just keep breathing I need you to keep breathing..."
"I'll go for help," Lonura was saying, somewhere above her, but Nolani barely heard it, tearing up her skirt to make a pad--she found the source, a gash in his side, and then suddenly there were guards, and someone from the infirmary, and they pulled her away, and she was still crying and half-naked now.
Lonura was there again, slipping under her shoulder to support her, and Nolani couldn't quite make her legs work to follow.
And then she saw the trail, heading away from the infirmary.
That will show me who did this, it was like a thunderbolt, clearing her mind.
She stood up straight, pulling away from her lover, and began to follow it.
17. Incense
"I'm sorry I couldn't bring warning," Kirana said, arms folded serenely in her sleeves. "I only saw it happen about an hour before. I came as quick as I could."
"It isn't your fault," her mother said. "Will he live?"
Kirana shook her head. "The pathway splits in too many directions. He may, he may not."
"So I should plan for both eventualities."
"That would be wise."
Kesshare nodded. "What else can you tell me?"
Kirana hesitated. "Watch Nolani. She'll be...volatile."
"But of course," Kesshare said. "Will she cause much damage?"
"More forks."
Kesshare sighed. "Can you tell me who was involved?"
Kirana shook her head. "You know I can't."
She shrugged fluidly. "I had to ask. Are they planning to attack anyone else?"
That, at least, Kirana answered. "It's unlikely."
"Then they wanted to remove evidence in favor of the war," Kesshare mused.
"You understand the politics better than I," Kirana said neutrally.
Kesshare smiled. "Thank you. Go see to your father and sister, I'm sure they'll need you."
Kirana inclined her head in silent assent, and glided out of the room.
16. Masculine
"'Lani, we should get--"
"Shh," Nolani said, but she didn't make Lonura go back. "We're almost at the end, no more talking."
Distress clear in her grey eyes, Lonura subsided, falling back behind her, and Nolani crept closer to the door where the blood trail ended.
There were two voices inside, one male, one female. The female one sounded tight and angry, the male desperate and annoyed.
"...and he was bleeding too fast to know for sure--"
Nolani hissed a breath. She knew that voice--Lord Eliri, who had just taken his House's seat on the Council, after his older sister turned it down.
Everything went red, and her heart pounded in her ears. But she couldn't act now, she couldn't just charge in there and--
She took a deep breath, and reached back blindly for Lonura's hand. Lonura, bless her, was still there, and gently tugged her back.
This time, Nolani followed her, doing her best to tamp down her blinding rage. First, she had to make sure Isshiri would live.
Then, she'd make these bastards pay.
24. Consciousness
It was three days before Isshiri finally opened his eyes. Kirana had, by then, returned to her temple, and Mother was busy, but Father and Nolani had been beside him more or less continuously and Lonura visited often.
When he woke, his sister's favorite was singing, and it was sweet and calming and somehow washed his pain away.
"Isshiri!" Nolani said, when she noticed his eyes were open. He felt her warm hands envelop his, and he squeezed as best as he could. It hurt too much to move more than that, or to talk, but he wanted to reassure her as best he could.
His father, beyond words, took his other hand, and he faded back into the darkness, supported by the two of them and wrapped in Lonura's soothing voice.
6. Bird
Lady Mussena kept hawks, and had taken her brother and called their companion to her mews to discuss what to do next. Eliri was hovering nearby, nervously fretting with a glove while she tossed tidbits to her favorites. Neither of them said anything. Both could feel the disaster looming--while Isshiri hadn't yet identified Eliri, and no one seemed to have followed the trail to her rooms...
"We may have a problem," she said, without preamble, as soon as the third in their aliance arrived.
"I would say it is a certainty," the other said, mildly.
Mussena shook her head. "Not just the obvious. Eliri may have been identified. And he came straight to my rooms when the deed was done. No one has retaliated yet, but..."
"But the chances are high."
Eliri winced, but didn't argue.
The other considered for a moment, then shrugged. "We should not meet again. It may be that nothing will come of this, but we shouldn't take chances. Particularly since it is possible that Mussena and I have not yet been compromised."
Eliri jerked at that. "What about me?" he demanded.
The other turned cold, unblinking eyes on him. "If there is a price to pay for your poor judgement, then you will pay it, either by law or by mercenary. I am not going down with you, and if you try to name me..." A cold smile. "My reach is longer by far than yours." With that, the third turned and stalked out of the mews.
"Mussena--" Eliri tried, but he found his sister had turned her back on him. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked defeated, and he thought he heard her crying.
She was abandoning him, too.
He felt like he was already dead.
9. Shift
"I'm told you're who to talk to about eliminating problems."
The small, golden-eyed man smiled up at her. "Have a seat."
Nolani slid into one across the table from him, with a beer she had because she was in a tavern and needed to blend in more than for any actual drinking. "I'm also told you're discreet."
He laughed, low and surprisingly pleasant. "No one will know we spoke."
"Good."
"I must say, though, I'm surprised you've come to me." He had no problems with drinking, and was savoring his own beer. "You've eliminated your own problems in the past."
Nolani shivered briefly, then shook her head. "I don't have the heat-of-the-moment cover this time. People will be watching me, and I can't afford to be caught."
He nodded, and gave a toothy grin. "Just give me the name, and the silver, and your problem will be gone by the end of the week."
Nolani pulled a money-bag out--deceptively small, but heavy. "Two names. Eliri and Mussena, of House Dilalin. A brother and sister."
"I know who they are," he said, then weighed the purse, and smiled. "Done."
21. Superficial
Lady Mussena was found first.
She was found late in the morning of the fifth day after Prince Isshiri was stabbed. She was lying, spread-eagled, on her back in her mews, her face purple and distorted, eyes open and bulging. There was a thin red line across her neck, and scrabbly defensive wounds along her arms. Three of her nails were broken.
She had been garotted.
One of her favorite hawks had gotten free of his cage, and was tearing into her vital organs when her assistant came in to feed the birds. He shooed the bird away, but a great deal of damage had already been done.
He closed her eyes and covered her up as best he could, wanting to provide her some modicum of dignity before he summoned the guards.
The investigation could find nothing.
No one had yet connected her to the attempt on Prince Isshiri's life.
10. Flight
Lord Eliri was found two days after that, in the bathing room of an obscenely expensive oasis resort, several miles away from the city. He was found with two knives on his person, and several more scattered on the floor about him. There were no visible wounds on his body, and no sign that he had put up any kind of struggle. The body, however, gave off a particularly foul stench, and his tongue had turned an eerie shade of green.
There was broken glass and spilled wine next to him, though none of the resort staff could remember him calling for it, or giving it to him unasked. It was clear, from all of that, that he had been poisoned.
By then, too, Prince Isshiri had managed to give a vague description of his assailant, who matched a general description of Lord Eliri. People began to whisper, how Eliri had been so firmly set against the coming war in Feredar, and why else would he have abandoned the capital--particularly since the last anyone had seen of him had been just after the prince had awakened--if not because he feared getting caught?
There was no proof, but there was only a vague and uninterested investigation into Lord Eliri's death. It was commonly accepted that he had been behind the attempt on the prince's life, and some kind soul had relieved the Crown of the mess of a trial.
Only his sister would have mourned him, anyway, and she was already dead.
18. Intellect
"Kesshare, this is not something to be proud of!" Ineku insisted, and she waved a hand dismissively.
"Nolani has neatly handled a threat to our family in a way that does not tie directly back to her, or us. It is no different than when she killed Ulore, and you weren't displeased then."
"Yes, I was," he insisted. "And it is different."
Kesshare arched an eyebrow. "How?"
"Then, she walked in on your cousin setting her little brother on fire," Ineku said.
"I am well aware of the facts of both cases, Ineku."
"She didn't hire a man to murder two people in cold blood last time!"
"And if Ulore had escaped her alive," Kesshare said calmly, "we would have had to take care of the problem coldly. We cannot allow people to harm our children, Ineku, you know this."
"Do not," he said, "try to trick me into approving of our daughter hiring a mercenary murderer!"
"Nolani is a grown woman, Ineku," Kesshare pointed out. "And she has good instincts for protecting what is important."
"What if she'd been wrong?" Ineku asked. "What if they hadn't been responsible?"
Kesshare shrugged. "Mistakes happen. And I am not entirely certain she is responsible for Lady Mussena, in any case. But the one I am certain of, she was right, and he needed to die. No harm was done."
Ineku stared at her for a long moment, but chose not to argue any further.
Probably for the best. This, Kesshare knew, was one of those things she and her husband could never agree on. And there was no stopping it now, so the argument would only cause needless strife. He left her then, probably to seek out their elder daughter.
She did not try to stop him.
7. Vaporous
"Nolani, what did you do?" her father asked, calm but taut.
"...how did you figure it out?" she asked, not bothering to deny it and not quite...not quite ashamed, because she in no way regretted what she'd done, but...she did feel at least a little bit guilty, that the doing of it had so obviously hurt her father.
"Your mother," he said.
"Oh," Nolani said, a little relieved at that. She'd more or less expected her mother to figure out what she'd done. Mother would either be proud that she'd handled the threat or annoyed that she'd handled it by herself. "I...Papa, they hurt Isshiri. I couldn't..."
"There was another way, Nolani," he said, still sounding strained and--what hurt the most--disappointed.
She blinked back tears. "He...all I could think about was 'Sshiri in that pool of blood, or...or at the base of his bookshelf and the smoke, Papa, I couldn't...there wasn't any other way that would have..."
Her father sighed, and opened his arms to hold her. "You shouldn't have...Nolani, there are things that you should never do. I raised you better than this."
And it's simple for you, Papa, because you stay out of the political part of it, she thought, but didn't say. You fix people, you never have to punish them. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Papa," she whispered.
He held her tight, and while she could tell he wasn't entirely happy with that apology, he didn't ask her for any other.
1. Wind/Breeze
The funerals for Lord Eliri and Lady Mussena were poorly attended. The third conspirator was not among those few who were there--while no one had made any threatening gestures yet, and the King and Crown Princess and the court as a whole seemed to accept that the two of them had been acting on their own, it wouldn't do to be overconfident. There would always be a sword dangling overhead, just waiting for someone to uncover a long-lost piece of evidence. No matter how careful the cover-up had been, no matter how thorough, there were always cracks in every surface. Even if they couldn't be seen without a great deal of effort and magnification.
Still, as time passed and there was no knife in the dark, no air-depriving cord, no poisoned wine, the last of them began slowly to relax and let out a long-held breath. The conspiracy had failed--the war would still happen. Even if a second attempt were organized, it wouldn't stop things now.
So, the last conspirator sat back, basking in the desert wind, and began to plot out exactly how now to prevent that the disaster they had tried so desperately--if with painful futility--to avert.
15. Spring
Despite what looked like early progress, it was nearly spring before Isshiri was finally back on his feet--so to speak--again. There hadn't been a second attempt, or anything like that, but the bleeding had been hard to control, which had left him weak and especially vulnerable when the injury became inflamed. According to Lonura--he'd grown fairly close to her over the past few months; she often came to sing to him, which somehow eased the pain--she had lost count of the times, especially in the first six weeks, when they'd been told he likely wouldn't live until morning.
But here he was, seven months later, nearly free of pain and back to more or less full strength. Despite all the odds. Issiri smiled slightly at himself--he'd always been good at beating impossible odds, after all.
And now...
Well, now that he was well, he was starting to think he should leave again, head back to Feredar, find out what had happened to Mel, see the war he had helped start through to the end. He wanted to be a part of it.
A part of him, especially since it was why Lord Eliri had stabbed him, even needed it.
Resolved on that, Isshiri began to plan how he'd convince his mother to let him go.
22. Vicious
"I imagine you thought you were terribly clever," Kesshare mused. "And I suppose you were, to a point."
There was no answer from her captive, other than struggling against the ropes. But Kesshare knew what she was doing, though she had never put it into practice in quite this way.
"You thought you could hide behind pretending to support the war effort. You thought you could hide behind the Dilalins." Kesshare smirked. "Eliri wasn't bright enough to come up with this, and Mussena too bright to try it without significant backing," Kesshare continued. "Nolani was satisfied with the two of them, but I..." She smiled, and she knew, from the way her captive shivered against the restraints, that it was sharp and vicious and appropriately deadly. "I did my own investigation. And now, at last, I have found you," she murmured. "And, because I am better than you and your pitiful tools, I have made sure there will be no witnesses."
Delicious fear spread in Lady Ssulide's eyes, and Kesshare felt a brief thrill of pleasure.
"I don't care what politics are involved," she continued, heating a poker and getting ready to begin. "No one harms what is mine."
Year: 987 FY
Characters: Nolani, Lonura, Kesshare, Ineku, Isshiri, Eliri, Mussena, Kirana, Amassa
Warnings: Murder and attempted murder, brief reference to animals eating a newly-dead person, brief ableism/internalized ableism, brief torture
19. East
Lonura wrapped her arms around Nolani from behind, resting her chin on the princess's shoulder, as they watched the horizon to see if her brother would finally be back today.
"I didn't want him to go out there," Nolani said.
"I know," Lonura replied quietly. The sun was setting in their eyes--they were east of Feredar, after all--and it made it hard to see if there were any shadows trekking towards the capital. "I don't think we'll see him if he comes tonight..."
She sighed. "I know. It's just...we got the letter days ago, he should be here by now, shouldn't he?"
"Travel can be unpredictable," Lonura pointed out. "But we know he's coming, and I'm sure he'll be here soon. I don't think we need to worry for another week or two."
Still uncertain, Nolani nodded. "You're probably right..."
Lonura smiled, and rested her head on her lover's shoulder. "We can stay out here and keep watching, if you want."
Nolani smiled back, and turned to kiss her. "Thank you," she said, then turned back to the western horizon.
14. Sunrise
Home. Home, at last.
The City grew out of the sands and held the light, and Isshiri gave an unexpected sigh of relief. He never thought he'd be this glad to come home.
And, even after everything he'd seen, a part of him was already itching to get moving again, but here he was, and for now, he was grateful.
From here, he could fix things. Well, not personally (well, maybe, he'd have to argue with Mother about that) but he could at least give the people who could fix things the kick in the ass they needed. And he'd see his father and sisters again, so there was that.
He let out a long slow breath and nudged his camel to get moving again.
He might not be safe, but at least he was home.
3. Sylph
Nolani's arms flew around him like silk, and he hugged her back, as warm and tight as he could. "I missed you," he said.
She just nodded against his shoulder, and pulled back. She was smiling, but she was worried. "You look..." She shook her head, and pulled him close again. "I'm glad you're home."
"Me, too," he said. "How are you? What have I missed here?"
"I'm all right. So is Kira. Mother is...well, she's mother." She shrugged. "I have a new favorite."
Isshiri blinked. "The same one, all this time?"
Nolani flushed. "Since a few weeks after you left. Her name is Lonura, I'd like to introduce you, as soon as you're ready."
He smiled. "Of course. I hope she makes me happy."
"She does," Nolani said, and there was something soft in her voice that Isshiri was pretty sure he'd never heard before, through all of his sister's lovers. "She does."
5. Blown away
Isshiri studied himself in the mirror. He looked...well, he knew how bad he looked, even after the time he'd stayed in the Islands. Somehow, with all the trappings of his rank around it, he looked thinner, wearier, even more like a lost, broken soul cast on the wind.
Maybe that would play to his advantage, with the Council. Though he didn't like thinking about it that way.
"Your mother wants you to meet privately with her and the King, before the Council meeting," his father was saying.
Isshiri reached up and rested his fingers against the scar where his collar had been until Riluke had cut it. He didn't have to imagine very hard to picture his mother's hard eyes falling on it, and calculating.
Despite himself, he shivered. "No," he said. "I don't want to go through it any more times than I have to."
"All right," his father said. "I'll let her know."
"Thank you." Isshiri finished lacing up his shirt, concealing, if only for a moment, his scar.
23. Atmosphere
"No, Lord Eliri, I don't think Sorell's looking to expand," Isshiri said, as patiently as he could. "Not yet, anyway. From what I could learn, he looks after his own first. It's his son we really need to worry about."
"But Sorell isn't that old," Eliri pointed out, still stubborn. "Who knows when Prince Kellom will actually be our problem? I say we wait until then."
Hidden by his sleeve, Isshiri clenched his fist. "We can't. Because by then, worse plans will be in place. I said I didn't think Sorell was looking to expand--not that he was unwilling to lay the groundwork for it so his son could."
"But you don't know that for sure," one of the other Councilors pointed out. "You only know--forgive me--what you experienced."
"And what I heard, and what my friend heard through the grapevine."
"Why isn't he here to add his insights?" Eliri pressed.
Because you wouldn't listen to him, Isshiri wanted to snap, but his mother answered first.
"Because he is a water-mage, Lord Eliri," she said, deceptively mild. "He cannot survive the desert."
Eliri looked distinctly disgruntled, but subsided.
"I agree we should act," the Councilor who'd questioned Isshiri's lack of sources--Ssulide, that was her name--said. "I just believe we should make sure we are doing so for the right reasons. Whatever Sorell's long-term plans--or Kellom's--what we can be sure of is that the system that has been implemented there in recent years is wholly unsustainable. A civil war in Feredar brings strain to the rest of the world, particularly ourselves and Asendar. And this...toxic ideology, if unchallenged, may spread."
Isshiri nodded, though that wasn't the real reason he wanted this. It wasn't that he was out for blood, not exactly, he just...there were some things that couldn't be left alone.
"Thank you, Isshiri," his uncle said. "I think we've heard enough from you."
Isshiri bowed, and slipped out of the Council room as quietly as he could.
Please, please, please let them make the right decision.
12. Father Sky
Once the door had closed behind his grand-nephew, Amassa surveyed the table, trying to gauge exactly how many people were opposed. To his eyes, there was only one clear move to make--he deeply regretted, now, having sent Isshiri there, but hindsight was ever-perfect. And, particularly with Ssulide behind him and Kesshare, the others were now falling in line.
There were a few still unconvinced, and a (thank the gods, smaller) few still mulishly opposed. But many--but most--would back the war, when he ordered it.
He would, of course, continue the formality of debate, but he could relax now, knowing it was largely decided.
"Before we decide to act upon Prince Isshiri's intelligence as he has asked," the King began, "I believe we must carefully determine how we will finance it. Should we agree, where would we begin?"
The Council began to clamor, and he sat back, letting them sort out the first petty arguments amongst themselves. Only Kesshare--unsurprisingly--and Eliri--worryingly--did not participate. Amassa noted that, and kept half an eye on the two of them, but most of his focus on keeping track of the arguments.
The final decision rested with him, of course, but the more people he had at his back, the likelier it was the operation would succeed.
25. Energy Flow
"You've heard what the King is planning?"
With enough liquor to loosen tongues and enough tapestries and smoke to provide anonymity, Eliri's companion had no reservations about answering. "It's madness."
Eliri nodded. "I agree. We don't have the resources to commit to a foreign war that could last decades."
"And I'm uncomfortable with the precedent it sets," the other agreed. "If we go about toppling regimes we find abhorrent..."
"Who's to stop someone else from finding us abhorrent in the future?" Mussena, Eliri's sister, who had been silent until now, agreed softly.
Eliri shook his head--he didn't think it possible that anyone would dare take on the City of Glass, precedent or no. But he needed the others to agree, because the problem was there, regardless of the reasons behind it, so he didn't argue. "So, what can we do?" he asked.
"The King," Mussena said, toying with her glass, "is acting on recently-acquired evidence. If that evidence were to disappear..."
"Murder the prince?" their companion asked, warily.
"Is he too great a price to pay?" Eliri wondered aloud. "He's not in the line of succession, and his sister is healthy."
"There might be upheaval in the short run," Mussena added, "but once the dust settles..."
"Very well," the third said. "But you will arrange it. I will ensure that the King is persuaded against this course once the evidence is taken care of."
Mussena bowed her head slightly in assent, and Eliri watched the other glide out of the room. The two of them locked eyes for a moment, and Eliri felt his heart thrumming in his throat.
There would be no turning back now.
20. Yellow
Isshiri liked Lady Lonura--she was tall, with amazing eyes and a welcoming voice, and she wore a soft, sunny yellow dress that made the whole room seem brighter. He could see why his sister was so taken with her, though not quite why Lonura was different from the others.
Because she was--and it wasn't just how long she'd lasted, though that was obviously a part of it. Even in the first few weeks of heady attraction, he'd never quite seen his sister smile like this. So even if he hadn't liked Lonura, he would have been happy she was with Nolani.
And she was gracious to him without being patronizing to her glamorous lover's incomplete little brother. Some of Nolani's favorites were, or asked awkward questions--though Nolani usually dropped them pretty quickly if she found out.
But Lonura didn't do any of those things, and he liked spending time with her. He was pretty sure his sister couldn't do much better, all considering.
He wasn't particularly devout, but he sincerely prayed Lady Lonura stuck around for a good long while.
8. Smoke/Fog
Eliri waited in the shadows outside the prince's room, shifting his grip on his knife. The boy would be back soon, and he'd have an opportunity. If he was lucky, he could get away clean, even. No one would be the wiser.
The prince might even be drunk--Princess Nolani wasn't known for particularly wild parties, and this was only a private dinner to meet her oddly long-lasting favorite, but he could hope.
Eliri heard the prince's uneven footsteps approaching, took a deep breath, and once again shifted his grip on his knife. He sent up a quick prayer that everything would go as planned, that the prince would die with minimal pain--none of this was his fault, of course; he was a principled youth with only the desire to help, he likely had no idea of the disaster he had brought with him--and that Eliri himself would escape clean.
He saw the prince's shadow flicker around the corner, took a deep breath, and lunged.
11. Sword
Isshiri felt something sharp and almost molten smooth slide into his side, and then out, and a starburst of wet heat against his side.
His leg gave out beneath him and the prosthetic slid with him. He felt like he was moving through icy rain again, trying to get his hands over to--he was bleeding, he had to stop the bleeding.
He heard the chiming whisper of bare feet along the glass and struggled to keep focus, try to recognize who it was--why is this happening what did I do what did Mother do why is this happening--and either he was growing colder or the glass beneath him was growing hotter, and the lights faded out around him until all that was left was his blood soaking his shirt and dyeing the glass beneath him, and then nothing.
4. Scent the air
Something was wrong.
Nolani had no idea how she knew it, or what it was, but she knew something was very, very wrong.
"'Lani?" Lonura was worried, paused halfway through unpinning her hair.
"...something's wrong," she said. "I don't...something's wrong."
Lonura was instantly by her side. "Do you need help? Guards, medics...someone?"
She shook her head. "No, I...nothing's wrong with me, I don't think, I just...something..." She shook her head again. "I probably imagined it," she said.
"Is there anything you need to reassure yourself? Or anything I can do?" Lonura asked.
Nolani hesitated. "...I need to check on Isshiri. I don't think...there's no one who would..."
Lonura took her hand and kissed it. "Let's go to his room and see."
Grateful, Nolani squeezed Lonura's hand. "Thank you," she said, and led the way out of her room.
13. Sanguine
"I did it, it's done," Eliri said, breathless, stumbling into Mussena's room.
His sister stared at him, horrified, and he faltered.
"This is what we wanted, this is what we--"
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed.
Now Eliri was annoyed. "We wanted this, 'Ssen, it was your idea that I be the one--"
"And you came here, directly, drenched in his blood, leaving gods alone know what kind of trail--" Mussena cut herself off, hands tangled in her hair. "My gods, Eliri, how could you be this stupid?"
Eliri began to see her horror, and scrambled to think back. "I didn't--there wasn't any trail, there wasn't any proof, and even if there was--even if there was, there's no proof it's me, he didn't see me, I got him hard and fast and he was bleeding too fast to know for sure--"
"We'll have to hope you're right," Mussena said, grimly. "Strip, I have a spare set of clothes for you. We'll burn these."
Eliri nodded, and scrambled to do as he was told.
"You'd better pray he never wakes," his sister said, as she called a flame and touched it to the drying blood.
2. Breath
"Oh, my gods!" Nolani shrieked, and ran and nearly fell in the blood pooling around her brother. "Oh, my gods, oh gods, oh no oh no Isshiri, Isshiri please, please please no please please..." She scrambled to find the source of the bleeding but there was so much it was everywhere and no sign of...no sign of...
She pressed her head to his chest and felt it rise, and sobbed. "Oh, gods, Isshiri, oh gods, keep breathing, please, please just keep breathing I need you to keep breathing..."
"I'll go for help," Lonura was saying, somewhere above her, but Nolani barely heard it, tearing up her skirt to make a pad--she found the source, a gash in his side, and then suddenly there were guards, and someone from the infirmary, and they pulled her away, and she was still crying and half-naked now.
Lonura was there again, slipping under her shoulder to support her, and Nolani couldn't quite make her legs work to follow.
And then she saw the trail, heading away from the infirmary.
That will show me who did this, it was like a thunderbolt, clearing her mind.
She stood up straight, pulling away from her lover, and began to follow it.
17. Incense
"I'm sorry I couldn't bring warning," Kirana said, arms folded serenely in her sleeves. "I only saw it happen about an hour before. I came as quick as I could."
"It isn't your fault," her mother said. "Will he live?"
Kirana shook her head. "The pathway splits in too many directions. He may, he may not."
"So I should plan for both eventualities."
"That would be wise."
Kesshare nodded. "What else can you tell me?"
Kirana hesitated. "Watch Nolani. She'll be...volatile."
"But of course," Kesshare said. "Will she cause much damage?"
"More forks."
Kesshare sighed. "Can you tell me who was involved?"
Kirana shook her head. "You know I can't."
She shrugged fluidly. "I had to ask. Are they planning to attack anyone else?"
That, at least, Kirana answered. "It's unlikely."
"Then they wanted to remove evidence in favor of the war," Kesshare mused.
"You understand the politics better than I," Kirana said neutrally.
Kesshare smiled. "Thank you. Go see to your father and sister, I'm sure they'll need you."
Kirana inclined her head in silent assent, and glided out of the room.
16. Masculine
"'Lani, we should get--"
"Shh," Nolani said, but she didn't make Lonura go back. "We're almost at the end, no more talking."
Distress clear in her grey eyes, Lonura subsided, falling back behind her, and Nolani crept closer to the door where the blood trail ended.
There were two voices inside, one male, one female. The female one sounded tight and angry, the male desperate and annoyed.
"...and he was bleeding too fast to know for sure--"
Nolani hissed a breath. She knew that voice--Lord Eliri, who had just taken his House's seat on the Council, after his older sister turned it down.
Everything went red, and her heart pounded in her ears. But she couldn't act now, she couldn't just charge in there and--
She took a deep breath, and reached back blindly for Lonura's hand. Lonura, bless her, was still there, and gently tugged her back.
This time, Nolani followed her, doing her best to tamp down her blinding rage. First, she had to make sure Isshiri would live.
Then, she'd make these bastards pay.
24. Consciousness
It was three days before Isshiri finally opened his eyes. Kirana had, by then, returned to her temple, and Mother was busy, but Father and Nolani had been beside him more or less continuously and Lonura visited often.
When he woke, his sister's favorite was singing, and it was sweet and calming and somehow washed his pain away.
"Isshiri!" Nolani said, when she noticed his eyes were open. He felt her warm hands envelop his, and he squeezed as best as he could. It hurt too much to move more than that, or to talk, but he wanted to reassure her as best he could.
His father, beyond words, took his other hand, and he faded back into the darkness, supported by the two of them and wrapped in Lonura's soothing voice.
6. Bird
Lady Mussena kept hawks, and had taken her brother and called their companion to her mews to discuss what to do next. Eliri was hovering nearby, nervously fretting with a glove while she tossed tidbits to her favorites. Neither of them said anything. Both could feel the disaster looming--while Isshiri hadn't yet identified Eliri, and no one seemed to have followed the trail to her rooms...
"We may have a problem," she said, without preamble, as soon as the third in their aliance arrived.
"I would say it is a certainty," the other said, mildly.
Mussena shook her head. "Not just the obvious. Eliri may have been identified. And he came straight to my rooms when the deed was done. No one has retaliated yet, but..."
"But the chances are high."
Eliri winced, but didn't argue.
The other considered for a moment, then shrugged. "We should not meet again. It may be that nothing will come of this, but we shouldn't take chances. Particularly since it is possible that Mussena and I have not yet been compromised."
Eliri jerked at that. "What about me?" he demanded.
The other turned cold, unblinking eyes on him. "If there is a price to pay for your poor judgement, then you will pay it, either by law or by mercenary. I am not going down with you, and if you try to name me..." A cold smile. "My reach is longer by far than yours." With that, the third turned and stalked out of the mews.
"Mussena--" Eliri tried, but he found his sister had turned her back on him. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked defeated, and he thought he heard her crying.
She was abandoning him, too.
He felt like he was already dead.
9. Shift
"I'm told you're who to talk to about eliminating problems."
The small, golden-eyed man smiled up at her. "Have a seat."
Nolani slid into one across the table from him, with a beer she had because she was in a tavern and needed to blend in more than for any actual drinking. "I'm also told you're discreet."
He laughed, low and surprisingly pleasant. "No one will know we spoke."
"Good."
"I must say, though, I'm surprised you've come to me." He had no problems with drinking, and was savoring his own beer. "You've eliminated your own problems in the past."
Nolani shivered briefly, then shook her head. "I don't have the heat-of-the-moment cover this time. People will be watching me, and I can't afford to be caught."
He nodded, and gave a toothy grin. "Just give me the name, and the silver, and your problem will be gone by the end of the week."
Nolani pulled a money-bag out--deceptively small, but heavy. "Two names. Eliri and Mussena, of House Dilalin. A brother and sister."
"I know who they are," he said, then weighed the purse, and smiled. "Done."
21. Superficial
Lady Mussena was found first.
She was found late in the morning of the fifth day after Prince Isshiri was stabbed. She was lying, spread-eagled, on her back in her mews, her face purple and distorted, eyes open and bulging. There was a thin red line across her neck, and scrabbly defensive wounds along her arms. Three of her nails were broken.
She had been garotted.
One of her favorite hawks had gotten free of his cage, and was tearing into her vital organs when her assistant came in to feed the birds. He shooed the bird away, but a great deal of damage had already been done.
He closed her eyes and covered her up as best he could, wanting to provide her some modicum of dignity before he summoned the guards.
The investigation could find nothing.
No one had yet connected her to the attempt on Prince Isshiri's life.
10. Flight
Lord Eliri was found two days after that, in the bathing room of an obscenely expensive oasis resort, several miles away from the city. He was found with two knives on his person, and several more scattered on the floor about him. There were no visible wounds on his body, and no sign that he had put up any kind of struggle. The body, however, gave off a particularly foul stench, and his tongue had turned an eerie shade of green.
There was broken glass and spilled wine next to him, though none of the resort staff could remember him calling for it, or giving it to him unasked. It was clear, from all of that, that he had been poisoned.
By then, too, Prince Isshiri had managed to give a vague description of his assailant, who matched a general description of Lord Eliri. People began to whisper, how Eliri had been so firmly set against the coming war in Feredar, and why else would he have abandoned the capital--particularly since the last anyone had seen of him had been just after the prince had awakened--if not because he feared getting caught?
There was no proof, but there was only a vague and uninterested investigation into Lord Eliri's death. It was commonly accepted that he had been behind the attempt on the prince's life, and some kind soul had relieved the Crown of the mess of a trial.
Only his sister would have mourned him, anyway, and she was already dead.
18. Intellect
"Kesshare, this is not something to be proud of!" Ineku insisted, and she waved a hand dismissively.
"Nolani has neatly handled a threat to our family in a way that does not tie directly back to her, or us. It is no different than when she killed Ulore, and you weren't displeased then."
"Yes, I was," he insisted. "And it is different."
Kesshare arched an eyebrow. "How?"
"Then, she walked in on your cousin setting her little brother on fire," Ineku said.
"I am well aware of the facts of both cases, Ineku."
"She didn't hire a man to murder two people in cold blood last time!"
"And if Ulore had escaped her alive," Kesshare said calmly, "we would have had to take care of the problem coldly. We cannot allow people to harm our children, Ineku, you know this."
"Do not," he said, "try to trick me into approving of our daughter hiring a mercenary murderer!"
"Nolani is a grown woman, Ineku," Kesshare pointed out. "And she has good instincts for protecting what is important."
"What if she'd been wrong?" Ineku asked. "What if they hadn't been responsible?"
Kesshare shrugged. "Mistakes happen. And I am not entirely certain she is responsible for Lady Mussena, in any case. But the one I am certain of, she was right, and he needed to die. No harm was done."
Ineku stared at her for a long moment, but chose not to argue any further.
Probably for the best. This, Kesshare knew, was one of those things she and her husband could never agree on. And there was no stopping it now, so the argument would only cause needless strife. He left her then, probably to seek out their elder daughter.
She did not try to stop him.
7. Vaporous
"Nolani, what did you do?" her father asked, calm but taut.
"...how did you figure it out?" she asked, not bothering to deny it and not quite...not quite ashamed, because she in no way regretted what she'd done, but...she did feel at least a little bit guilty, that the doing of it had so obviously hurt her father.
"Your mother," he said.
"Oh," Nolani said, a little relieved at that. She'd more or less expected her mother to figure out what she'd done. Mother would either be proud that she'd handled the threat or annoyed that she'd handled it by herself. "I...Papa, they hurt Isshiri. I couldn't..."
"There was another way, Nolani," he said, still sounding strained and--what hurt the most--disappointed.
She blinked back tears. "He...all I could think about was 'Sshiri in that pool of blood, or...or at the base of his bookshelf and the smoke, Papa, I couldn't...there wasn't any other way that would have..."
Her father sighed, and opened his arms to hold her. "You shouldn't have...Nolani, there are things that you should never do. I raised you better than this."
And it's simple for you, Papa, because you stay out of the political part of it, she thought, but didn't say. You fix people, you never have to punish them. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Papa," she whispered.
He held her tight, and while she could tell he wasn't entirely happy with that apology, he didn't ask her for any other.
1. Wind/Breeze
The funerals for Lord Eliri and Lady Mussena were poorly attended. The third conspirator was not among those few who were there--while no one had made any threatening gestures yet, and the King and Crown Princess and the court as a whole seemed to accept that the two of them had been acting on their own, it wouldn't do to be overconfident. There would always be a sword dangling overhead, just waiting for someone to uncover a long-lost piece of evidence. No matter how careful the cover-up had been, no matter how thorough, there were always cracks in every surface. Even if they couldn't be seen without a great deal of effort and magnification.
Still, as time passed and there was no knife in the dark, no air-depriving cord, no poisoned wine, the last of them began slowly to relax and let out a long-held breath. The conspiracy had failed--the war would still happen. Even if a second attempt were organized, it wouldn't stop things now.
So, the last conspirator sat back, basking in the desert wind, and began to plot out exactly how now to prevent that the disaster they had tried so desperately--if with painful futility--to avert.
15. Spring
Despite what looked like early progress, it was nearly spring before Isshiri was finally back on his feet--so to speak--again. There hadn't been a second attempt, or anything like that, but the bleeding had been hard to control, which had left him weak and especially vulnerable when the injury became inflamed. According to Lonura--he'd grown fairly close to her over the past few months; she often came to sing to him, which somehow eased the pain--she had lost count of the times, especially in the first six weeks, when they'd been told he likely wouldn't live until morning.
But here he was, seven months later, nearly free of pain and back to more or less full strength. Despite all the odds. Issiri smiled slightly at himself--he'd always been good at beating impossible odds, after all.
And now...
Well, now that he was well, he was starting to think he should leave again, head back to Feredar, find out what had happened to Mel, see the war he had helped start through to the end. He wanted to be a part of it.
A part of him, especially since it was why Lord Eliri had stabbed him, even needed it.
Resolved on that, Isshiri began to plan how he'd convince his mother to let him go.
22. Vicious
"I imagine you thought you were terribly clever," Kesshare mused. "And I suppose you were, to a point."
There was no answer from her captive, other than struggling against the ropes. But Kesshare knew what she was doing, though she had never put it into practice in quite this way.
"You thought you could hide behind pretending to support the war effort. You thought you could hide behind the Dilalins." Kesshare smirked. "Eliri wasn't bright enough to come up with this, and Mussena too bright to try it without significant backing," Kesshare continued. "Nolani was satisfied with the two of them, but I..." She smiled, and she knew, from the way her captive shivered against the restraints, that it was sharp and vicious and appropriately deadly. "I did my own investigation. And now, at last, I have found you," she murmured. "And, because I am better than you and your pitiful tools, I have made sure there will be no witnesses."
Delicious fear spread in Lady Ssulide's eyes, and Kesshare felt a brief thrill of pleasure.
"I don't care what politics are involved," she continued, heating a poker and getting ready to begin. "No one harms what is mine."