Duna
Duna had just lain down for sleep in the bunk in her quarters when she heard a soft knock at her door.
Kunas, she thought despondently as she opened her eyes. She groped for the lamp on her nightstand, lit it, and got up. Finding the robe that hung by her bedside, she pulled it on and walked toward the door.
Tying up her blonde hair and making herself somewhat presentable for whomever it might be, she cleared her throat. “Enter,” she said loudly. Either Kunas, she thought, or someone even more unwelcome.
As the wooden door creaked open, she was pleasantly surprised to find that she was wrong. The messenger, Eowen, looking worn from his journey, stepped inside.
“General,” he said with a deep bow.
Duna waved him off immediately. “Stop,” she said, beckoning him inside. “Bowing makes me uncomfortable. Did you find my sister?”
“I did,” Eowen answered, his smooth features lined by the lamplight’s dancing shadows. “The queen is well, and asked after you.”
Duna waved it away. She hadn’t spoken to Lena in years, and after the way the two had last parted company, she was surprised that her sister would deign to speak her name at all. “Did she agree to help us?”
“She did, General. The Sharian fighting force—”Before he could finish the sentence, a second set of footsteps made their way into the room, along with an unwelcome face.
There he is, Duna thought.
“Ah,” Kunas said, “I did not mean to interrupt. My apologies.”
Duna gave him a look of contempt, one she knew came too easily when the Master Khyth was around. “I’m sure,” she said with a sneer. Turning to Eowen, she dismissed him, saying, “I’ve heard what I needed to. If there is nothing more, you may return to your post.”
The messenger began to bow, caught himself, backed away awkwardly to the door, and was gone.
“Kunas. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Duna asked as she shut the door behind them.
“I bring good news, General.”
“Oh?” she asked, motioning him to sit at the small wooden table near the corner of her quarters. Though she was general now and could rightfully accept the quarters that Tennech had abandoned the moment he fled the forest of Kienar, she had not yet felt right occupying a house so close to High Khyth Yetz. Instead, she chose to stay in the visiting officers’ quarters, which were at the top of the spiraling stairs that descended into Khala Val’ur, keeping her closer to the surface and farther away from the High Khyth.
She adjusted the burn of the lamp on the table so that its light filled the room. “Sit,” she said, motioning at a chair. “Tell me what you know.”
“I met with an emissary of the Xua’al clan,” he said, making himself comfortable.
“And what did this emissary have to say?”
“First, that the Xua’al are willing to help us in the battle against the other Chovathi clans.”
“Good,” Duna said with a nod. “What else?”
“They want us to help cut down the numbers of all other Chovathi clans, leaving the Xua’al as the sole remaining clan.”
Duna leaned back against her wooden chair, crossing her arms and taking the chair’s front legs slightly off the ground. She narrowed her eyes and looked away, remaining silent for a moment while she thought.
Then she looked back at Kunas. “Are you suggesting that we back a Chovathi coup?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.
Kunas smiled a tight smile. “If you want to put a name to it, I suppose that’s what it is,” he said.
“So we’ll be doing their dirty work,” she said flatly.
“Perhaps,” Kunas said, extending his pointer finger, “but the Xua’al will be indebted to us.”
Duna looked away again and, pursing her lips, considered this for a moment. Certainly it would be better to be on good terms with one Chovathi clan than hostile with all of them. And cutting down their numbers would surely be a good thing, she thought.
She flicked her eyes back to the Master Khyth. “And you think this is a good idea?”
In the back of her mind she knew that Kunas’s good ideas and her good ideas were not necessarily the same.
“Indeed I do,” Kunas replied. The flickering light of the lamp made the Khyth’s swirling eyes look like wildfire. But when Duna’s expression didn’t change, he leaned in. “The Chovathi are nothing like you think, General Cullain. They are intelligent creatures. They have thoughts, needs, and desires—just like we do. And, just like us, they have a longing for stability and order.”
Duna chewed on this. She placed the front legs of her chair firmly back on the ground and stood up. “And you think that this alliance will put the odds in our favor?” she asked.
“I do.”
“Then,” she said, “I believe we can help each other.”
Kunas stood as well, pushing back the small wooden chair he had been seated on and looking Duna in the eyes. “More than you know, General. The Chovathi can be a mighty ally if we let them.”
Duna scoffed at this.
“I don’t trust them, Kunas, but I do trust you to make the right decision,” she lied.
“Your trust is well placed,” he said with a bow of his head.
Knowing the Khyth couldn’t see her expression, she said, “I’m sure it is,” with a roll of her eyes. “I will tell Yetz that we plan to march on Ghal Thurái, and that the Chovathi will be among our ranks. I want you to take three of my captains to finalize this deal with the Chovathi. Can you do that for me?”
“Of course, General,” he answered with a sweeping bow.
“And, Kunas,” she added, eyeing him carefully, “I want to demonstrate to the Xua’al that trust goes both ways.” She paused before saying, “I want the final word to come directly from their matriarch to you.”
Kunas looked up at her from his bow, seeming genuinely shocked by this request. He probably was, but Duna could never tell.
“General,” he began, hesitation in his voice, “the matriarch . . . well, she never leaves the nest.”
“Very well,” she said as she made for the door. “Then do it in the nest.”
The Master Khyth looked stunned. “I . . . will see what I can do,” he said.
“Good,” Duna replied as she opened the door and nodded him out. “Dismissed.”