The Age of Light (The Ava'Lonan Herstories Book 1) (28 page)

Soku was not surprised. Nor was she surprised that
the Trader requested a conference face to face rather than through
Trade’Marms
.

She indicated acceptance to the aide, who took the
reply back out. Then she gestured for her scribes to gather the records and
agreements and return to the Doan
Lan’mba
where she
would look them over later. Last she dismissed her
Trade’Marm
from further duty this turn.

Thus, alone in the empty balcony, she gathered
herself and her wits, and rose to meet with the Ottanu Queen.

She stepped through an
av’tun
to the private
lain
set aside for her use for just
such meetings. The Ottanu Queen was already there, her attendants minimum.

The Ottanu rose and bowed low out of respect. At the
moment, because of her disgrace, Soku’s standing was higher than her own. Soku,
every sense sharpened and on alert, bowed in return, then sat first as was her
present wont. The Ottanu had a reputation for being crafty and cunning, and
ruthless. Having never faced the Ottanu Queen across the Trade table before,
Soku kept her guard up. The Ottanu Queens also had a reputation of being master
manipulators, though lacking in subtlety. As Tokia sat opposite her across a
low, narrow table, Soku kept a close watch on her. They took the ritual drink
of the Sisterhood pact and then lay the cups aside.

“Peace and light upon you,” Tokia intoned, her voice
low and humble. One would think, to hear her, that she never had, and was
incapable of, issuing challenge at the
Bolorn
. “How fare
you and yours?”

“Peace and light upon you,” Soku replied, making her
eyes visibly guarded as she regarded the Ottanu from under thick lashes. An
insult under most circumstances, as it implied mistrust, this guarded pose was
almost to be expected here. And Tokia could not take offense, not until she was
proven right about the Heir. Caution about one in disgrace could not be
faulted. Not that it made much of a difference to Soku whether Tokia would take
offense or not - she never planned to do any serious Trade with the Ottanu.
Still, it was unwise to leave a trail of enemies in one’s wake.

“I and mine fare well,” she continued, letting her
posture show the slightest rigidness that the Ottanu might take for unease and
uncertainty about this private, unscheduled
lorn
.
It was rather overt, not in keeping with the subtle dances of formality that
the royalty of the Realm usually partook in. But then again, the Ottanu did not
take much to subtlety, and the whole point in this case was to ward Tokia out
of her impending
Yakan’tsu
. Let the Ottanu think that
she unsettled the Doan enough in to betraying small signs of discomfort. “How
fare you and yours?”

“I and mine fare as well as can be expected,” Tokia
replied genially, ignoring Soku’s apparent reticence, and even smiling a bit.
Was it a small smile of some small triumph?

“To what do I owe the honor...?” the end of the
question hovered, as if to say that ‘honor’ it definitely was not. The implied
insult was neatly negated by the fact that Soku had spoken first and had
presented an opening to her guest, forgoing the right to make Tokia explain
herself in the ensuing silence. If Tokia noticed either, she tried very hard
not to show it.

“Ah, Sister, I have heard
melae
that you intend some masterful move within the Circles, a piece of brilliance
that would bring much gain to all involved.”

“Perhaps,” Soku replied noncommittally, not rising
to the flattery. She could not play herself down too much, otherwise the
grounds for her reputation and credibility would be put in question. “But then,
the nature of
melae
being what it is...”

“But to every rumor, therein lies a seed of truth,”
Tokia countered.

“Perhaps,”
Soku said again, admitting and betraying nothing. Right about now she expected
Tokia to change tactics, coming from a completely new direction. This was a
strategy as old as time; but it was still effective, when done properly. And
how it was done depended on the skill of the player, and her grip of finesse.

“Sister Doan, I feel that we are all connected, we
who share similar circumstances,” Tokia said, as if on cue. “I believe that we
should use this bond to unite ourselves. Through unity, there is strength -
there is power.” This last was said in a semi-dramatic tone as if she dangled
some great treasure before Soku, or imparted some great secret. Soku decided to
nibble; perhaps Tokia could be goaded into unwittingly showing her lot.

“Power?” She said with just a touch of derisiveness.
“Unity? Power for what purpose? Unity against what enemy? We are already
united. The way you group these words, Sister, implies a threat of some kind.”

“Perhaps,” Tokia said from behind half-closed eyes
and a tight little smile. “There are many forms of power, Sister, and many who
would use them, for good or ill.”

“Yes,” Soku agreed, looking her straight in the eye.
“I can see that there are.” She could not resist an opening like that. She just
hoped that Tokia understood the barbed comment for what it was. A slight
tightening of the other’s lips said that she did. “And just what sort of power
do you speak of, Sister?” she asked, again presenting an opening.

Tokia gave her calculating look, as if wondering
whether her seeming hostility were a facade to cover interest.

“The power, Sister, to bring change. To say what
should be. To dictate one’s own future. Like the death-ant, those that have
little influence alone can be an unstoppable wave when banded together.”

“Dictate one’s own future? No one dictates the
future of
my
Tribe save myself and the will of the Goddesses and the
Supreme One.”

“Don’t they?” Tokia sat back with a smile that
seemed the tiniest bit smug. “Tell me, Sister, who has the most say in
governing policy? Who must act as go-between for us if we do not come to the Ritious City to Trade? Who holds most of the
wealth and power, Sister?”

“The Greater Queens,” Soku answered.

“Aye, Sister, by accident of birth and virtue of
proximity, those who rule the Inner
’lons
control most
of the resources of our Realm while we hang on to the fringes.”

Which is, of course, totally twisted logic, twisted
to suite Tokia’s needs and give strength to her arguments,
Soku thought,
though she did not refute it yet. “That is the way things have always been,” she
said, her voice devoid of most expression.

“Yes, that is so.” Sharp black eyes looked up at her
from beneath dark lashes and brows. “But that is not the way things must yet
be,” she said softly.

Soku smiled. Tokia believed that Soku would have no
answer to her argument.

“Sister Ottanu, I’m afraid that I cannot completely
agree with your assessment of things. True the Greater Queens have more say in
governing policy, but then, those policies generally affect them more
dramatically than they do us. If there is a policy that affects us all equally
in dispute, we all have equal say. And the Greater Queens who are our
correspondents in Trade do this as a service, as any other service one might
pay for... it would not be difficult to set up one’s own courier service, just
more expensive, and more inconvenient. And as to the Greater Queens holding
most of the wealth and power - well, they were established first, and only
after the Family Exodus were the Lesser Tribes established; by then, there was
only so much land left to claim without cutting into the
Av’Touched
lons.
And some of the Greater Tribes
did
donate land when
their land holdings became too large. We who wanted to rule as separate Tribes
rather than Main Families in another’s Tribe had to be content with what we
were able to claim. And as our new Tribes were not nearly as large as the older
Tribes we came from, we did not need to hold nearly as much land or as much
power.” There. Perhaps not as sound an argument as it could have been, since it
was spur of the moment, but it did poke serious holes into Tokia’s own
theories. Had she had time to do research on her points, she could have made
them airtight and irrefutable. But then, she suspected that this would not
matter, since she was sure that Tokia, once refuted, would not turn to arguing
semantics, but rather would try a different approach altogether. Patience did
not seem to be a strong point of the Ottanu, either. And once again she proved
to have read the Ottanu right.

Tokia looked nonplused at having her carefully woven
logic torn to shreds. And there was something else, a flicker of something
white hot, a screened, smoldering rage perhaps. Then her features snapped into
a totally different expression, one begging indulgence, as if they had not been
discussing something else just a moment before.

“Sister Doan - I believe that we can be useful to
each other.” She paused, and Soku wondered just how she would phrase her
petition to be admitted into the pending
Yakan’tsu
.
Seeing, that is, that Soku had never really admitted to one existing. She could
not prevaricate and say that there was not, nor would there ever be one - to
sunder the truth was without honor. She could only do as she had, not admitting
to its existence.

“The possibility has been raised that you perhaps
seek to amalgamate some of our Lesser Sisters into a
Yakan’tsu
that would have control over their own cross-Territory Trade, and set up
networks across the Queendoms. That is not so very different from my own goals
- however that I went about trying to achieve mine the wrong way.” She sounded
properly contrite, but Soku was not fooled. She had not rescinded the challenge
nor made reparations for the damage she had caused; indeed she tried even more
diligently to bring others to her banner. That was, in part, what this meeting
was all about. “An agglomeration of our causes would greatly strengthen and
broaden each, in a mutually beneficial relationship that has no draw-backs that
I see - that is, if you
do
go to petition such a thing. If not, there is
no reason why you should not now.”

Soku wanted to laugh. Tokia had abandoned all
subtlety and was being as direct as protocol permitted. And then an insight
came to Soku of why Tokia might desire this union so much. If the High Queen
approved Soku’s plan, then it would have a legitimate base. And if it joined
with Tokia’s, then Tokia and her cause would share that legitimacy, which might
be of use in the future. The thought chilled Soku. If any others were to ally
with Tokia, and bring her into a
Yakan’tsu
that won
approval, then she would be twice as powerful and influential in her cause as
she was now. Such a thing could not be permitted.

“And - what have you to offer - if I were to bring
about such a petition - that could convince me to let you - with your present
standing - merger with any cause I might advocate?” She permitted herself to be
more direct than she normally would be, since Tokia had set the precedent.

A flicker of confusion crossed the other’s face, as
if she had already made the offer, and Soku had missed it. Then realization
dawned on Tokia. Power evidently was not the type of bait Soku preferred.

“Connections,” she said bluntly, on uncertain
ground. A very bad place to be when negotiating any type of deal. “Concessions.
Financial backing.”

Soku remained silent. These were the offers of one
whose original bid had not made the easy hook expected. Tokia made several
other offers, growing more and more prodigious until she was to the point of
asking Soku what she wanted. No, subtlety definitely was not her strong suit.

“Sister Ottanu - ours has never Traded with yours,
but the reputation of the Ottanu precedes you. Each has her own way of
business, as well one might; each differs, and truly, what would Trade be
without diversity? But some ways of business do not go well with others; those
that conduct business and Trade one way may not wish to collocate with another
of some other way. As you see, our paths, before now, have never crossed... and
would not have, except for your coming here.” There, let her chew on that. Soku
had effectively told Tokia that if the Doan
were
to form such an
alliance, it would be composed of those Queens
who conducted business and Trade similar to the way the Doan did. And that
those Queens, like Soku, would be abhorrent to
let one who conducted affairs the way the Ottanu did into their midst. She
watched Tokia chew that over, the barest flickers of emotion flowing over the
Ottanu Queen’s face. To Soku, those flickers shouted rage, outrage, and a deep,
driving need to win Soku over.

“Sister -” it was not quite a growl, “think of how
strong we would be! We would have the wealth and power to write our own laws
and destinies with such overwhelming change upon us! We would be able to
weather the final throes of
Ava’dan
and emerge
as the new powers that be. Think, Sister! We are masters of Trade; there are
those of us that surpass the Greater Queens in skill and oath-claim, but are
constrained to our lot by laws and tradition! Together we could redraw the
boundaries to our liking! All that we could want and ask for is there for the
taking!”