Queen of the Eight Banners

Part 4, Scene 4 - Past

Together, they sent messengers to the Eight Banner city, providing more details to what transpired the previous night, and ordering the vast majority of officials and Banners to make the journey south to the Gui Imperial city.  Ilha knew if this was to work, they would have to occupy the Gui capital at least for a time.  Though in truth she had a feeling they would be moving the Eight Banner capital entirely and resettling here.  The Gui were a large, wealthy, and well-organized people.  If left to their own devices, she had no doubt there would be a full-out war within the decade.  In order to be one people, they would have to be one.  She could see no other way.

So she called for every Banner's leadership to make the journey, and to bring however many divisions from within their own Banner as they saw fit for a peaceful occupation here while their own capital was left defended and in capable hands at home. 

Then, after some discussion with Dorgon and Jumara, she sent another contingent to their Bannermen watching the surrendered Rebel Gui army still out in the field. With a battalion of Bannermen and women in the Gui Imperial capital and a unit guarding their camp here, their resources were spread thin--and would only be thinner if they sent another.  Yet the idea of sending to the Imperial City for Gui troops to watch Gui prisoners set her teeth on edge.  They did not need the Gui Imperials and the Gui rebels to decide it would be a good idea to set aside their differences and fight against the Eight Banners now. Not after all they had been through, not when she was so close to establishing peace between their peoples.

But should she be worried that Dorgon seemed to sincerely agree with her orders?  Granted, it was smart to give their Bannermen another shift's worth of guards, but--

No, Jumara was in agreement, too. She would just have to trust her judgment in this.

By the end, she was so worn out she could barely see straight. All her thoughts were a tangled mass of yarn, knotted and incoherent. Still, she kept a confident smile on her face as long as she could, kept weight on the balls of her feet, let her body find its own way back through the camp to her tent.

She parted her door, slipped inside. Her gaze immediately sought out Ojombi and found his napping form curled up on his bed. She stumbled towards him but a hand caught her arm.  She jerked back, her heart skipping a beat.

Nomin's face filled her vision.

"You are sick, Khatun. Do not worry. I will take care of him," Nomin said, enunciating the words slowly in Hu.

Ilha swallowed hard over the knot in her throat and the ache in her heart. She wanted to protest, but Nomin was right. She was ill, she needed help, and she certainly did not want him to get sick, too.  She'd lost a father and a husband. She did not want to risk losing her only son.  "Thank you," she murmured in Gui, an ache in her heart.  Then she let the girl steer her to her bed and help her down onto it. 

Despite the afternoon light drifting in overhead, despite the stomach-stirring smell of their meal cooking over the fire, the moment she relaxed she was asleep.