Fear's Union

Chapter Fourteen

-Anejo-

Three little questions rolled around Anejo's head. That was all. Just three questions and a mountain of intrigue. Three questions and Kato had, in truth, answered none of them. The man was an enigma.

Question one: 'what was he doing in Ahan in the first place?' The answer: it was a suggestion from God, from Rhanna himself. The manner of Kato's confession suggested it was an engineered response; suspicious. But he also didn't look like a liar, and that meant that God was involved somehow. That made even less sense.

Number two: 'what was encouraging Ahan's enemies to unify against them?' That one was easy, apparently. It was the Gathering Dusk of course. Simple.

But it wasn't simple. Dusk was little more than a fairy-tale used to scare unruly children, so it couldn't be that. Could it? Then again the chief sensor of Ahan had been pounding that drum for years now, and no-one had listened. Maybe Aleña had been right all along. Maybe. But if the chief sensor could not prove his own claims, then she stood no chance of bending ears. That was not a fruitful avenue for her.

Finally, the big one: 'How did the Delfinians creep through?'

It was the Nadari. The damned Nadari. That was a huge implication.

She had been ridiculed by her brother - and rightly so - for her naivety, but she was wasn't going to be completely undone. There was a deeper subtext that needed digging up, but everyone was too nervous to dig. Civil war was a high price indeed, but if the alternative is expensive enough then surely it was a worthy exchange?

But there was a problem: that cost was impossible to ascribe, which meant the price was impossible to measure. She needed information and she suspected Kato had it. No, she was sure of it. How did he have that information? It intrigued her mischievous side.

But no! She would do this properly. The last thing she wanted was to get into more trouble. Then again, the others had to see what she did, but they would never listen to Kato. Some feuds ran too deep. The threat from the Nadari was very real, very real indeed, and someone needed to pull at that thread. So why not her?

Damn it! Why would no-one else reach that obvious conclusion? It seemed strange. Was it wrong that her mind took this direction?

Her brother entered the room and she watched him strut towards her. He glared at her. "What are you doing here?"

"My duty."

"Or Keles's duty."

She hadn't been expecting respect but baulked. Then again, was this really so surprising? Her brother was always like this. She stayed silent.

He sat on the further side of the table, his golden locks tightly woven into a tail. The siblings were of a similar appearance, but where she was silvery and cold, Felip was somehow warmer. His eyes were blue, but they were warm, like a lagoon. Her own irises were icy like a frozen pool, but looks were deceiving in her case; she burned with bright ambition. Felip always stood in her way.

She ground her jaw, but now was not the time for an argument with her brother. She dropped her head and inspected the table that she was sat at. It was just wood, but she stared nonetheless.

"What are you doing here?"

She looked up at her approaching grandfather. He had the same family markings again, but with a worn silvery edge. He still stood tall and straight, remarkable for a man of his years, and he walked towards her with magnificent authority.

"My duty―"

"Your duty is to House Jinq. You have no place here."

"The Mandahoi need a voice."