“Is everybody here?” Gale asked. “Because if everyone’s here, we can get started.”
An uncertain rustle passed through the children sitting in front of him. It was Whisper who said, “I don’t think all of us are here, but there’s also not a time when… we’re all here.”
“That’s true,” one of the other males said. “Now that we can leave the nursery, who wants to stay in the nursery?”
“I love leaving the nursery!” a female piped. “Did you know there’s a mosaic downstairs full of people ripping one another’s throats out?”
“Oh that one was grand!” The male next to her bounced. “So much blood!”
“How did they get that red so bright? It looks real!”
Gale snapped his wings open. Or tried. It didn’t make the impressive noise his father’s did. He settled for saying, more loudly, “Let’s get started!”
“What exactly are we starting?” Maazi asked from the front. Nicely—she was a friend, and had been since Before. “You didn’t say.”
“A meeting,” Gale said. “To talk about the new baby.”
A pause, impressively silent. It was hard to get this many children to be quiet, especially now, when gregariousness was more tolerated, and males and females could mix. Finally, one of the males said, “Uh… so there’s a new baby coming. Why does that matter? Most of us have been here for thousands of new babies.”
“That’s true,” a female said. “It’s never mattered before. Even when it’s been a male.”
“It didn’t matter before because we didn’t matter,” Gale began, only to be interrupted.
“You mattered!”
“Not true,” Maazi said confidently. “Birth order only matters in lesser lords’ households. In the Emperor’s, all male children are equal, because they’re expected to fight one another to win the throne.” She paused. “In the past, I mean. Not anymore. Now, I don’t know who gets to be Emperor after our father. Do you know, Gale?”
“No,” Gale said. “I guess it should be whomever wants to be Emperor most, though.”
“Really?” Vu asked, tentative. “What if that person is the meanest person? Or the one who just likes to be the best because it means they can kick everyone else down?”
A long pause as they considered this.
Shaking himself, Gale said, “We’re not here to talk about who gets to be Emperor next, we’re here to talk about the new baby, the one that’s coming.”
“Maybe that baby will be Emperor,” another female said.
“Ooh, maybe if we get that baby as a baby, we can teach them to be a good Emperor?”
“If we’re going to teach them to be a good Emperor, you’re not allowed to help because you have a tantrum whenever you lose at sticks.”
“I do not!”
Were all meetings this hard to keep going? Gale waved his arms. “This is not about teaching the baby to be Emperor! This is about the new baby being special, so we have to watch out for her!”
“For her!” someone exclaimed, startled.
Finally, they were back on the trail, the one he’d wanted them to course from the moment he’d heard the Mother’s whispered confidences to the new Knife… the very conversation that had endowed him with this bit of news no one knew yet. “Yes. Because the new baby is going to be a female. A winged female.”
A shocked pause. He could see all their eyes going black with it, all except Whisper, whom he’d told because he told Whisper everything.
“I didn’t know winged females were born,” one of the youngest males in the back said. “Don’t they just… happen?”
“No, stupid,” the female next to him said. “We don’t just wake up one day with our arms transformed. We have to be born with wings or we don’t get them.”
Gale didn’t like the way the females were looking then, all pulled back lips and exposed teeth and lowered heads. Like angry beasts. He hastened on. “They’re very rare, and there hasn’t been one here in ages, and it’s very important that we take care of her. Because people who don’t like females who can shapechange are going to want to hurt her. So we should make sure they can’t.”
“We should?” Maazi asked. “Why should we do anything?”
Maazi was his best friend and he’d known her for years, which was why he could tell she was… angry. No, not angry. She was upset. Why? He wanted to ask, but didn’t want to in front of the group. He wanted her to be able to answer without having to worry about other people judging her for it. So he said, “Because she’s going to be with us for a lot of things, especially once she’s done being a baby. And the more people are watching for her safety, the better. Adults don’t see everything. Or hear everything.”
“Neither do we?” a male pointed out.
“No,” Whisper said. “But together, we’ll all hear and see more than we would apart.” He looked up, and for once held his head up straight… though the way he was gripping his tail-tip made it clear how hard it was for him to speak up. “Gale’s right. The new baby has to live. She’s more important than any of us.”
This was digested in uncertain silence. Someone said, “Even the one of us who’s going to be Emperor?”
“Even them,” Whisper said. “Because we already have an Emperor, and we’ll always have an Emperor. But if we’re not careful, we might never have winged females again. Mother told me so. There aren’t many of them, and if all of them die, then… that’s it.”
“Is that true?” Vu asked, yellow eyes wide.
“What does it matter?” another female muttered. “It’s always someone else who’s special, and not us. Before, it was males. Now that we’re supposed to be equal with males, it’s some new kind of female that we can’t be. Why can’t we be special for once?”
Gale began to respond, irritated, until he saw Maazi look away. Was that it? Did she feel left out? Like she wasn’t special? He flexed his wings, and the act made his thoughts run into a wall. Did she want to fly? And never could! Was that it? He glanced at Whisper, who was already looking in his direction. Whisper tipped his head forward, just enough to be seen.
So, he had to say it. Which meant… he had to come up with something. And it had to be true because anything else wouldn’t work.
“You are special,” Gale started, and gulped in a breath.
“Why?” the female in the back said, bitterly. “Because we have more hands to do chores with?”
“No!” Gale said. “No, it’s not about your bodies. Isn’t that what we learned when we left the throneworld? Having wings doesn’t make you better than other people. Just like having more arms doesn’t… doesn’t make you better than the aliens who only have one set. It just means you’re different.”
“Different in a way that means we can’t fly,” the female muttered.
“You can fly, though,” Gale said. “On ships. With guns!”
A pause then, because ships were interesting and ships with guns were automatically better than ships without them.
“Do you mean like the fighter ships? The little ones that only have one person?” Vu asked, thoughtful. “Because that sounds like fun.”
Gale had no idea if that was possible but couldn’t think of a reason it wasn’t, so he said, “Yes! Those ships. And big ships.”
“If wings don’t make people special, then…” His opponent in the back frowned. “Then why is the new baby so special?”
That was a trap he could see coming, at least, because if he said ‘because she can change shape’ that would upset all the females again. Even if it was true. Was it true? He finally looked at Whisper, hoping this time he could get help, and thankfully Whisper had decided he could. “Because the only reason there is a new baby female with wings is because we’ve decided that anyone can be special. That we can change our opinions about who deserves to live and who deserves to die.”
Privately, Gale thought Whisper would make a better Emperor than him. Whisper said he wasn’t interested, and that Gale had better do it, but Gale had made him promise to be Second when Gale succeeded because he would need Whisper’s help.
Whisper’s explanation had bored some of the youngest children, who were pulling at one another’s tails. But the fierce female in the back was frowning, and her top arms were no longer folded quite so stiffly over her chest. “You think this is a… a symbol?”
“Don’t you?” Whisper asked, polite.
“I thought it was just another baby who was better than me,” the female said. “And then, to make it worse, a baby I’d have to protect because they mattered more.”
The way Maazi was looking at her folded legs made Gale realize his friend felt that way too. Was that how all the females felt, all the time? “It’s not like that,” he said. “Because she hasn’t had a chance to matter yet, except like Whisper said, as a symbol. We though, we get to choose how we matter.”
Maazi looked up sharply.
“See, it used to be…” He inhaled and rambled on, hoping he was getting this right. “It used to be that when we were born, all that mattered about us was already decided. The males would fight to be emperor. The females would serve in the harem. Most of us would die, or be enslaved. Now, though… now we get to pick what we do, and what that means. And I wanted to tell you all about the baby because… I want us to pick to be her protectors. Instead of what we would have been before which was… nothing. Or bullies. Or rivals. She’s important because of what Whisper said, it’s true. But we can make ourselves important by being her… her Navy.”
“Her Navy!” Vu exclaimed, startled.
“Don’t you see?” Gale said, to Maazi now who was looking at him. “We’re older and stronger, and we can either use that to be awful to her, or use that to do something good. The way our father’s become good, and made it so that females can fly in fighter ships, and most of the males in the nursery don’t have to end up dead so that one of us can be Emperor one day.”
“Can you be a Navy on the ground?” Vu murmured, tapping at one of her teeth. “It’s fun to imagine. Like… we could move in groups, like bunches of fighter ships…”
“Oooh,” said the male next to her. “A convoy!”
“I want to be part of the imperial nursery navy!” another said. “We need a better name than that.”
“The children-only imperial navy? When should we kick out people who are too old? What age?”
“Who gets to be in charge?”
The children dissolved into excited chatter, including, Gale saw with relief, the girl who’d been challenging him. Which left him with Maazi, who was still watching him in a way that made him uncomfortable, because he could tell she wasn’t satisfied. And that she was a little sad, which was even worse.
As Whisper and Vu rose to join them, Maazi said, quiet, “You know that she really is more important than us. Than any of the rest of us. I heard Mother’s lectures too. The first shapeshifting female baby that isn’t killed or enslaved at birth? She matters more than any of us. She just… does.”
“I know,” Gale said, sitting next to her now that the meeting was mostly done.
Maazi eyed him, perplexed. “That’s it? ‘I know’? It doesn’t bother you?”
“Why would it?”
“Because,” she said. “You’re going to be Emperor one day. You’re supposed to become the most important Chatcaavan in the empire. Why wouldn’t it upset you that someone else matters more than you will?”
Gale thought about that, staring at his hands where they were grasping his ankles. “Father was the Emperor. And then he was a slave. And he’s the Emperor again. His consort was a slave, and now owns a fiefdom and is the Breath of the Living Air. The Ambassador was a wingless freak, and then he killed Third, and now he’s a minister. But he’s still a wingless freak. And aliens were nothing, and now they’re everything, except when they’re nothing like the pirates that attacked us. What does it matter what we are now, Maazi, when we don’t know what we’ll be? All I do know is… we have to choose whether we want to be good… or bad. And protecting the new baby so she can live to be that symbol Whisper explained… that will mean females won’t be seen as slaves, and males won’t be seen as the only people who can change shape. And that will be good for everyone.”
“Are you sure?” Vu asked, hesitant.
“No one can see the future,” Gale said. “But you have to do things anyway.” He paused, then finished, “I hate hearing that, but it doesn’t make it not true. Life isn’t fair.”
“You can try to make it more fair, though,” Whisper said.
Maazi sighed. “I guess you’re right. I just… wish…” She stopped and then blurted, “I wish it had been me. I wish I could fly, and change shape. But I never will. I’ll never be the important symbol.”
“No,” Gale said, and scooted over until he could get one of his wings around her back. “But you matter to me. And to Whisper and Vu and probably a lot of other people. And you don’t know what you’ll be when you’re grown up, Maazi. You might have a title of your own.”
“I doubt that,” she said, but she was thinking about it.
“Let’s start now!” Gale said. “You should be Head of the Navy!”
“Females can’t be guards,” Maazi exclaimed, startled.
“Why not?” Vu asked. “We have four hands. That means two extra sets of claws!”
“You could hold two extra weapons, too,” Gale said. “The Naval Chatcaava do. They fight with guns.”
“Four guns!” Vu said, wide-eyed and dreamy. “That sounds amazing!”
“Did I hear that there’s a Head of Navy?” the female who’d been arguing with Gale said as she joined them. “Because I want to join. I’m Kaavi.”
“Can males join too?” said the male who’d been sitting next to her, called Cloud for the pale mottling of his hide.
“I don’t know,” Gale said. “Maazi’s the one deciding.”
Maazi, wide-eyed, said, “We’d… better have as many people in the Navy as we can, so… sure?”
“Yay!”
As more and more children converged on Maazi, Gale stepped back to allow her to handle them. She soon deputized Vu as her second-in-command, and the discussion erupted in earnest then: whether younger children could join, and what they could do, and what the elder children would do, and how often they’d do it, and what they should call themselves.
“Do you think it will help?” Gale asked Whisper. They were leaning against the wall, well out of the way.
“I think it was the best thing you could have done,” Whisper said.
“Life really isn’t fair,” Gale said.
Whisper smiled sadly. “We already knew that, though. We’ve had eleven revolutions to figure that out.”
Gale didn’t say anything to that. Just tangled his trailing wing claw with his half-brother’s and held wings with him while he watched Maazi and Vu enjoy all the attention they deserved.
After that, the nursery became much more fun. Maazi sent them on missions to watch the guards in the tower and take notes on what they did and what they wore and where they went and how they talked. Vu assigned everyone research on how the imperial navy was structured, and then made up a much simpler version for their organization which… still had no name because no one could agree on anything beyond the fact that a ‘navy’ was far better than an ‘army’ or even worse, an ‘honor guard.’ “Only priests have honor guards, and only because they refuse to defend themselves,” Kaavi had said, sniffing contemptuously. “We all know that the baby is going to be fierce when she grows up, because she’s going to transform into a monster if anyone threatens her.”
Everyone agreed that the baby was going to be able to transform into amazing beasts, ferocious monsters, and exotic aliens in the future, and many a pleasurable hour was spent imagining the details of their charge’s many excellencies. Because of course she would grow up to be the best. How could she avoid it, when she’d already proved deserving of an entire navy as an infant?
By the time the Queen Ransomed went into confinement in the harem, they were, Gale thought, a splendid force. Cloud had even found the officers tabards by telling the Mother they needed some for a game, and then decorating the plain red lengths he’d received with silver cords pulled off the edges of the pillows in the nursery. They’d had to turn the pillows to face the walls to hide the defacement, or stuff them under furniture, but Maazi had declared that an ongoing mission: “We need to mislead the enemy! I read that in a war manual.”
Gale thought he saw one of the attendants eyeing a pillow with amusement, but he didn’t say anything.
“Are we ready?” Maazi said. “Remember, we might be waiting a while.”
“I have snacks.” Kaavi opened the pouch at her waist. “Enough for all of us.”
“I have a blanket,” Vu said. “Though I guess there will be blankets there, but just in case.”
“There will be pillows for sure,” Cloud said. “So we don’t need to bring those.”
“That’s everything, then,” Maazi said. “Let’s go.”
She led the officers out of the nursery: Vu followed, as her second-in-command, and then Kaavi and Cloud, with Gale and Whisper bringing up the rear. It had been Whisper’s suggestion, that they not bring everyone; a new baby would be overwhelmed, he said, by so many people, and there were bound to already be a lot of people in the harem while the Queen Ransomed was laboring. That had been accepted as a wise idea, so the six of them advanced up the stairs, intent on keeping the vigil and bringing back a report of their newest charge to the remainder of the navy, most of which was waiting in the nursery’s front room. Or at least, some of them were. Gale thought most of them would get bored and wander off after a while. Babies took a while to be born.
The Tower’s guards did not change expression at the sight of them laboring past. Gale was impressed, and wondered if he could make his face not move that way, even if surprised. He’d be surprised if he was an adult and a contingent of children in uniform walked past him… wouldn’t he? But then they’d arrived at the harem and passed through the filmy curtains, and everyone there was so busy they didn’t notice the navy, except to offhandedly tell them not to get in the way.
“As if we would,” Kaavi said, disgusted.
“Let’s sit here,” Maazi said. “We’ll have a good view around the corner, we’ll be able to tell when they’re moving around or talking.”
Everyone agreed this was a fine idea, and drew some pillows into position, and there… they sat.
“Should we eat now?” Cloud wondered.
“Maybe we should wait,” Vu said. “Don’t babies take a while?”
“Mother said some babies take days,” Gale said. “And some babies…”
Sudden exclamations from the end of the harem, and laughing and cheering.
“Take no time at all?” Maazi said, bemused. They watched the swirling knot of adults. “Should we?”
“We should wait,” Gale said. “She has to come out of the room first, the one where they have the babies.”
“Oh good,” Kaavi said. “I was worried I’d packed the snacks for nothing.”
They shared the snacks and waited a little longer, and maybe a little longer, and then at last, they saw the curve of a wing as the Emperor’s consort stepped into view. The sun was falling on her through a window, and onto a bundle in her arms, and both of them glowed like… Gale glanced at Whisper, who was watching, rapt—like a symbol.
Standing, Maazi brushed crumbs off her tabard. “What are you sitting there for? The baby’s born! It’s time to start guarding!” And marched toward the Queen Ransomed, tail arched and all four arms swinging purposefully. The rest of them hurried after her, forming into the two columns they’d practiced while drilling. They proceeded all the way to the new mother’s side and then halted, where as agreed, Maazi spoke for them all. “We are reporting for duty!”
Gale liked the Emperor’s consort. She had bright orange eyes, and she was kind, but she was also fierce. If the Emperor had to choose only one female to be his queen, Gale approved of him choosing this one. She peered over her armful now and smiled. “You have come to see the new baby.”
“Yes,” Maazi said respectfully. “And also to watch over her.”
Now the Queen looked more closely at them, and her eyes slowed over the tabards. “Is that so?”
“She’ll need people to look after her,” Maazi explained. “Lots of people. We’re some of them. We’re…” She stopped. “What are you calling her?”
The Queen’s face was tender as she looked into her arms. “Given all that she represents… I thought for now we should call her Hope.”
Maazi exclaimed to Whisper, “You were right!” And then remembering herself, straightened her shoulders and arms and said, “We’re Hope’s Navy.”
“I see that. Would you like to see your charge, then, Captain?”
Maazi tried not to wiggle at the title, but Gale could see her lower body shimmy anyway. It was one thing to be titled by a friend in the nursery… another thing entirely for the Queen of the entire Chatcaavan race to grant you one. “Yes, please.”
The Queen leaned down and peeled back the blanket so they could see the tiny, blunt face and the enormous eyes, cloudy and intent. “Here she is.”
It wasn’t that they hadn’t seen babies before. All of them had, and they most of all, who’d been eldest of the Emperor’s children. Babies had always been a non-event in their lives. But this baby was an event. And not just because she was special in general. But because, Gale thought, he and the other children in the nursery had decided to make her special… to them.
She was Hope, and they were her navy.
“Vu and I will take first watch,” Maazi said to them as the Queen watched with interest. “Cloud, you and Kaavi are on second. That leaves you and Whisper to third, Gale. After that, other people will get a turn. Tell them.”
“All right,” Gale said.
Maazi walked around the other side of the Queen and stood there, mimicking all the guards they’d seen in the halls. Mostly. She looked too excited and proud to manage the non-expression of the males they’d passed on the way here. Vu didn’t even try… she was beaming as she took the position on the other side of the Queen. “Can we see her again?” Vu asked.
“You may see her as often as you wish,” the Queen Ransomed said. “It is only fair, as you are her navy.”
“She took us seriously,” Kaavi murmured as they left the harem.
“Of course she did,” Cloud said. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“Because we’re children!”
“Hope’s only a baby, and she’s already doing great things.”
Gale watched the two of them bounce down the steps, their tabards flapping over their tails. Beside him, Whisper said, “Maybe we should cut slits so the fabric will fall on either side of the tail? It would make it lie flat.”
It probably would, but Gale set that aside, glancing at his half-brother. “Cloud’s right, isn’t he. The baby’s already done a great thing, and she started before she was even born.” As Whisper waited, patient, he finished, “She made us think differently about ourselves.”
“Maybe she did,” Whisper said after a moment. “But you helped.” He smiled and took Gale’s hand. “We should nap. We don’t want to be too tired for our watch.”
“No,” Gale said. He inhaled, thinking about the look in Maazi’s eyes. And blurted out a laugh. “Maazi will throw us out the window if we fall asleep while we’re on duty!”
Whisper grinned at him. “She makes a great captain.”
“She really does. So we’d better do what she says!” Gale followed. “I wonder if I should make her head of the real navy when I’m Emperor?”
“We’ll see,” Whisper said.