Chapter Thirty-Five

 

 

Aren set the book to the side when she heard a footstep on the stairs. Danya appeared a moment later with clean clothing in one hand and an orb in the other. With a frown, she came to Aren and set the clothing at her feet, then left again.

This was not the first time Danya had brought Aren clean clothing. She knew what was going on. There was no way for Danya to see where she was stepping without the light, but she could only carry so much in one hand at a time. The healer, over the course of almost an hour, brought down three buckets of water, a package of soap and a washcloth, and a little scoop to dump the water over Aren's body.

The most time-consuming part was heating the water. Once it was heated and in the chamber, something about Aren's magic kept the water warm. Cold water stayed cold, and, without access to her magic, Aren had no way to heat it up of her own free will.

With all the items, finally, Danya motioned to Aren, who stood and began undoing the buttons. The healer left with the dirty clothing immediately while Aren began scrubbing herself as best she could.

Rewel did not allow her to bathe every day, as she was used to. Not even every other day. Once a week, by Aren's count. There had been one time where Aren hadn't bathed for several weeks, but that had been because Rewel had fallen ill and Danya had to tend to him.

Once washed, Aren slipped into the new, clean clothing.

“I'm decent,” she called to the steps.

Danya appeared and began the process of removing all the items once more. Aren wished there was something she could do to make the woman's job easier, but the chamber seemed to be made entirely of stone. Dumping a bucket would mean it would stay in the chamber and stagnant water was not a good thing—that much Aren knew.

When all the items were removed, Danya returned with a bowl of food and a filled bottle. These she set before Aren and then sat a little ways away.

“I already ate,” Danya said.

Aren picked up the bowl and sniffed it. With a frown she looked into the bowl and poked at a potato, then a carrot. Root vegetables made up a majority of their diet and Aren had become bored with them months ago. In amongst the vegetables were chunks of what looked like meat. She plucked one up between two fingers and placed it in her mouth, chewing as the warmth of meat filled her senses.

Rewel didn't even trust her with a spoon. The man was afraid Aren might try to scoop out his eyes with any utensil she was given. He had reason to worry, though Aren still would have appreciated being able to eat with something besides her hands.

“Deer,” Danya said. “Rewel brought it down last night. There were six of them, he said, grazing on the edge of the village proper. I saw birds this morning, a robin, just sitting up in a branch, singing its little heart out.”

“Robins mean spring,” Aren said.

“It's a great deal warmer than normal. There was the usual amount of snow, making it a great deal wetter as well. The common area is practically a muddy slush puddle. Rewel says in a few days it will become cold again and winter will hang onto the village for a few more weeks.”

Aren watched Danya reach for the bottle. The healer struggled with the cork for a moment before she popped it out and tossed it to the side.

“I'm guessing you don't believe him,” Aren said.

“I just thought maybe a force as powerful as the throne would know the seasonal changes a little better than my idiot cousin,” Danya said, offering the bottle to Aren.

Hesitantly, Aren took the bottle. She hadn't had anything to drink since the solstice. They hadn't wanted to risk Rewel walking in on her babbling to herself. Yet some part of her was pleased when she swallowed the nasty stuff.

“There has got to be a more pleasant way to drink,” Aren said with a cough, setting the bottle on the floor.

“Rewel makes our stuff in a tub in the old witch's house,” Danya said. “Well, he called her an old witch, but I think she was just a woman who never mated and had no blood. He does it because the Others don't like it when he moves things in their homes.”

Aren ate some, drank some, and finally sat with her back against the wall. She picked up the book she had been reading, on warriors. It had been a great deal more difficult to get through, as if it were written only for men to understand. There were many times when she had questioned Danya about an item she was struggling with. The healer explained it as Aren simply not understanding the subject matter.

Reading the book on queens was easy, because Aren already understood what the book was trying to say from first-hand knowledge. Her experience with warriors was a great deal less than her experience with queens.

“A warrior can make a solitary claim which overrides every other claim laid on a person, taking someone on as his one and only concern for as long as they both shall live,” Aren said.

“Yes, typically a person of the gender of their choosing. Warriors have been known to find and claim the one they would breed with. Much like how queens instinctively know who would make a good pair. Queens are always trying to push young couples together and separate those who would not do well together. You're capable of reading people in ways that they cannot even begin to imagine. Warriors can do the same, but only for themselves and for the one that they choose.”

“That makes no sense,” Aren said.

“It makes perfect sense,” Danya said. “Av claimed you, you claimed Av. From what I understand of the two of you, Av has made that kind of a claim on you. Is there any situation you can think of, that Av wouldn't be there to stab someone in the face for you?”

“No,” Aren said, trying to think of a situation. “I think he might even do it just because I was feeling especially violent that day.”

“And no one else has a right to lay claim on you, as he told you before the two of you made your interests clear, he could simply remove anyone who had made a claim,” Danya said.

“That was after I stumbled into his path,” Aren said.

“And that was how he claimed his right to protect. You were his and he didn't care about any other claim.”

“But if a stronger warrior lays claim on me, Av would have to submit to his desires, wouldn't he?” Aren asked.

“Not necessarily,” Danya said. “A warrior's strength comes from physical, mental, and courage. A weak warrior can still claim a strong queen, just like a weak queen can claim the throne.”

“A weak queen can't keep the throne, though,” Aren said.

“In times past, a weak queen has held the throne from the time of her ascent to the time of her death, decades later, living a full, good life on the throne. It's not all about magic. It's also about how much courage you have, how quick you are, and who you know. Who are your allies, can you link to them, would they do anything to protect you?”

“They would, they would do a great deal to protect me,” Aren said.

She picked up the bottle and took a sip. The drink didn't burn as much when it was only a sip, instead of a gulp.

“Warriors are the same way,” Danya said. “They will lay light claims on those they consider companions. Warriors can group up to twenty, which is the number of most army—oh dear, I've forgotten the word. The reason why armies, and even roving bandits, group into numbers of twenty is because that's how many warriors can come together.”

“Then how does an army work together?” Aren asked.

“Let's say Av groups in twenty,” Danya said.

“Well, I don't think there are twenty warriors on palace grounds. Just Jer lives there, really,” Aren said.

“Good example. Av and Jer obviously come together. Whoever Av comes together with isn't necessarily who Jer comes together with. So Av knows twenty warriors who know nineteen other warriors who Av doesn't know, who know twenty others, and on down the line.

“Armies form when a warrior, typically the one who sits the throne, has warriors who he trusts with his life. They have warriors who they trust with their lives and trust not to make things wrong between them and the one who sits beside the throne. Who all have more. There're now levels of warrior groups, all technically leading and submitting to one man through loose relationships within the palace.”

“Av is the one who sits by the throne,” Aren said. “Does that mean he would be bringing an army? Here?”

“No, unless he had an army at his beck and call before he sat beside you,” Danya said. “At least that's my understanding. Just because you take the throne, doesn't mean you get to keep it. Av has to earn the respect of warriors capable of submitting to him, while dominating the others in their group. At the same time, the book seems to imply that the one who is the dominating warrior has to be able to bend in submission to others in his group. It's not his way all the time. If he can't do both, he won't succeed in forming anything more than a loose group of companions.”

“I'll never have an army, then,” Aren said, blowing a raspberry. “I must admit, an army was a little enticing, what with being stuck down here for so long.”

“Not just any warrior can form long-standing groups. It requires a great deal of experience and certain things to happen. Such as the warrior has to have been raised by ranks—doesn't matter the rank—but raised by something besides a commoner to lay the foundation of the give and take that happens in any successful rank's life. Then he has to be able to share, usually something that a warrior only learns if he has a warrior sibling, or grows up among other warrior children.”

“Then he needs to know how to dominate others,” Aren said quietly. “Which I'm guessing you need a trainer to learn from.”

“Trainers teach a warrior how to lead gently, which is a required trait. It's also a trait that warriors need to be able to sit beside a queen.”

Aren picked up the bottle and took another swallow, then grimaced. “I've heard that term before. Telm knows how to do that.”

“Warriors need to learn it to keep a queen contained when she might hurt herself, but also to keep her from seeing she's being controlled. The moment you see the command is the moment you start shouting and throwing things because you're supposed to be in control of your own life. Same thing with warriors. In order for you to be successful, you need to learn how to lead gently, which can only be taught to a queen by a queen. Typically, a queen has to grow up under the rule of such a queen in order to do it properly.”

“Av's father is a trainer,” Aren said. “His mother was a queen, his brother a warrior. He was master to the palace grounds and stepped aside without a fight to allow his father to become master in a bid to keep my parents in line without endangering Av or his claim on me.”

“Did the throne make him as well?” Danya asked with a small laugh.

They had discussed that also. The two women had a great deal of time together and couldn't exactly talk about the weather or new events in their lives.

“No,” Aren said. “Av was a wonderful mistake, far out of the reach of the palace's control. Why do you think Telm sent her daughter so far north? So that the throne couldn't drag her back. The man has always been troublesome, doesn't listen, won't sit still. Nearly killed Em on more than one occasion. Do you know how difficult it is, how much it hurts, to have to kill a bright young queen to keep another on the throne in order to get what you want? No. No one does, no one even cares.”

“I see the drink is setting in,” Danya said.

“Sorry,” Aren murmured.

“It’s fine. Obviously the throne has strong feelings about Av, and is possibly frustrated with him.”

“If it weren't for Av, I might have been killed,” Aren said. She thought on it a moment. “That's not true at all, Jer's a loyal servant. Damn it, now I'm arguing with myself again.”

“Maybe I should leave you two alone,” Danya said with a chuckle.

“Don't you want to know about the weather?” Aren asked.

“Oh, yes. That is right. Is spring coming early?”

Aren thought for a moment. “Yes, it is. Every ten years or so, spring comes earlier than normal. The year is predicted when the year before has a great deal of snow but has been fairly warm throughout, creating a wet spring the likes of which typically carry consumption no matter what mine is buried.”

“Only a little while longer, then,” Danya said quietly.

“Yes, only a little while longer,” Aren said. “But, Danya, when he comes get down. If you don’t get down, he’ll put you down.”