The Nine Oceans

Chapter 14

Opat

May Stongre smiled over the garden fence at her beautiful boy. He was walking outside today, keeping his head and skin covered as she'd instructed, his slow steps no better than an old man's shuffling. In a year from now, if all went according to plan, she would be able to stop poisoning him and his hair and skin would be healed enough for him to walk about outside without coverings. It would be nice to see his features returned to their natural colours, too.

She stepped into the garden and let the gate bang quietly closed behind her. It was the only sound made by her arrival. Poul stiffened and only turned his head, but his eyes crinkled as he smiled and his shoulders relaxed as soon as he saw his grand aunt standing there.

"I thought you were Milessa coming back." His smile turned down at the ends.

May flicked her hand as if knocking the unpleasant name of his sister out of the air. "She likely won't return until after dinner," May assured him, sitting on a nearby bench so she could rest her tired feet. "The lists I sent ahead from Nauq before wasting another day on that twit girl at the palace will take all day to fetch. Part of tomorrow as well, if she's as slow as usual."

"Good," Poul said, his frown lifting slightly as he nodded agreement with his grand aunt about his sister's slowness.

May couldn't blame him for hating his sister. Milessa had been a mistake on her mother's part, and the girl was next to useless as anything other than the purpose May innovated for her once discovering the girl had some promise which could be trained into being talented.

Well, her meagre promise could be made into a talent if training her was actually worth the time it would take.

"I planted more rumours on my way home today," May continued. "There won't be anyone here who's surprised about her growing jealousy of the Prime. And the alchemist – you remember Tony Farn? – he muttered his own new rumour to me about the list I'd sent her shopping for last week before I left for Nauq. He cautioned me to check her rooms for the items she'd bought if she was still intended to work at the palace next month."

Poul chuckled as he sat down. He knew better than to laugh. Laughing would make him cough, and coughing would lead to hacking up blood again. May caught his chin with her finger and pressed gently to turn his face toward her. Of all her relatives in each generation between May and Poul, he was the first smart one; the one with vision. It was a pity he was a man. She could have simply replaced the Prime had he been a woman. But, he was charismatic, intelligent, and ambitious. May was certain the past twenty years grooming him for she needed of him would not be wasted.

"There's the smile I wanted to see," she crooned to him as she studied the compounding effects that her poisons were creating. His skin had paled enough, but his hair was remaining stubbornly grey. A shade lighter, though, and she would be able to bleach it entirely white. His eyes she could do nothing for without blinding him, so she was grateful he had the extremely rare colouring that he did. Green eyes were less common than the albino pink in the known world, so she was certain his eyes would make his claim for true Prime bloodlines even stronger. Two more treatments, at most, and he would be passable as albino. Just over a month and she would be able to begin finishing the preparations her mother had started and then died for.

Poul was completely stone headed when it came to having promise or being talented, which was another drawback, but he made up for it by having May guiding him. It was an insufferable incident of birth making both Milessa and Ban inherit strong promise. The shear number of potentially talented people in Opat was something May worked hard every day to ensure never came to anyone's knowledge but her own. Isabelle's lackeys would surely intervene to keep the twit as Prime should her promise be discovered and trained into talent.

"My hair is still grey," Poul stated, as if reading her thoughts about his appearance.

"Grey isn't a problem," she assured him. "Some bleach will whiten it enough to have your outside looking just as perfect as your inside already is just in time for Milessa to be settled into working at the palace."

"Everything in due time, right Auntie?" he asked, the desire for praise lighting his features in the most attractive ways.

"And our time is nearly due," she said, beaming at him. He kissed her forehead, like the good son she'd adopted him to be after killing his parents when they proved not to share in her vision of how glorious the world could be once it was repaired by May's hand. "Continue your walk, sweet boy. Gain a bit more of your strength back."

"When is my next treatment?"

"In two days."

"Why not now?" he demanded.

"Patience, Poul," she said, brushing her fingers along his cheek. "The time will feel slow to pass, but the moment will come quickly now. If we rush anything in the next weeks, you'll die from the poisons which are helping you."

"I'm tired of waiting," he pouted.

"I understand. Have you decided what to do with your twit girl after she's given you a pale heir?" she asked, changing the topic to something they hadn't spoken of yet. She'd saved this conversation for now, when the time was getting close and she knew he would need a distraction from his impatience.

"After?" he asked, genuinely confused. "She's useless after," he said with a shrug, dismissing the idea of keeping Ban any longer than needed.

May smiled at him. "Once you have a pale child to raise properly, and you're able to undergo your astonishing transformation to the same skin and hair tones as the people you govern, only her necessary duty is completed. Her use as entertainment for you, as retribution for the years you've been denied your rightful place as Opat's Prime..." She let her voice trail off. She could see this new idea planted in his mind was already growing rapidly. May brushed a kiss to his cheek, light as a butterfly's touch. "I'll leave you to your meditations."

She smiled upon seeing her parting words were barely noticed over the volume of his thoughts. May stood and let her feet carry her inside. She was tired after her trip to the palace. The trains always made her feel exhausted, and having to stay an extra day in Nauq had been such a waste of time. Mostly she wanted to lie down, but there were too many things to be done. Most importantly, she needed to start the initial preparations now to be ready for Poul's next treatment in two days.

Her trade would be so much easier if she could write things down and have Milessa do much of the tedious preparation. It was best nothing be traceable, though, in case anyone ever got suspicious. May's mother had made that mistake, and her final years were expended in prison after being deemed too old for any of the mines and too evil to be allowed a swift execution. The knowledge lost... such a waste. Everything tangible had been burned.

May went directly to her study so she could finally set down her burdens. Packing around the case of healer's remedies soon wouldn't be necessary, thank goodness. Leaving a place for it by the door in here meant only having one set of shelves, and that limited the amount of stock she could keep on hand. A quick glance ensured the study was tidy and the stool for her case hadn't been moved this time while she was away. At least Milessa had kept this part of the house passably clean.

Before getting started on the first tasks, May paused and cast out her thoughts to discover where her grandniece was. As expected, Milessa was dutifully shopping. Her friend Linar was with her. May cut the connection quickly, scowling at the work table in front of her. It was such a waste of talent that the traits May needed in useful children resided in these three twits she was forced to keep around.

She took a deep breath and smoothed her pants under her palms. With barely any luck at all, in less than a year none of these useless girls would matter. Her calm smile returned with the knowledge the little parts they were set to play could be filled by the small number of others May had available at a moment's notice should anything... unfortunate happen to any of these three twits. Soon, now, Poul would be positioned to ascend as Prime, Milessa would be doing her part abroad, Linar would likely follow after Milessa like the stay dog she was so both those annoying girls would be someone else's problem, and May's lifetime of work would finally come to its rightful culmination. She would spend her final years in ease, enjoying the success she'd curated in fulfillment of the prophecy she'd been born to complete.