“Where did you get such a beautiful gown?” she blurted to hide her fear.
“A friend. The oz’Numae weave them in one piece. My friend tells me that the oz’Numae are a small clan who live on the islands of the Drowned Hope Sea.”
“Then it indeed comes from afar! Where Scowlmoon is on the eastern horizon! A long overland trip!”
“You are a stranger to Sorrow,” said Oelita. “You’ve come from afar yourself.”
“Who on Geta is a stranger to sorrow? Really, you’re not a stranger to me. I read your Sayings of a Rule Breaker long ago,” she lied.
“Zeilar gom-n’Orap tells me you wish to publish a small edition of that book.”
Ah, thought Teenae listening to the eagerness of her voice. I’ve chosen the right snare. She reached into a pocket and brought out a fine book on kolgame strategy printed in Kaiel-hontokae. Bait. “This is an example of our craftsmanship.”
“Beautiful,” said Oelita enviously, turning the pages, fingering the needlework of the binding. There was no paper like this among the Stgal, nor was the printing here as crisp.
“It would please me,” continued Teenae, “if you would care to look over my handwritten copy of your manuscript for mistakes. In your growing wisdom you may even wish to incorporate alterations.”
“I’ve been thinking on this matter all night, ever since Zeilar carried the good news of your interest to my attention. But we’ll discuss business later when we know each other better.”
A little girl sneaked into the room and crawled under the table as if children should be heard and not seen. She spoke in a singsong voice. “Toeimi walks to False Start at dawn. He wishes to know if there is anything you want him to bring back.”
Oelita went to her knees, smiling. “There’s a little shop that carries root-spice just below the stalls of the tinkers. There’s no root-spice in Sorrow.” She glanced at her wrists. “It will help the healing. That’s all, my wee bug.” The girl waited impatiently while she received an affectionate head rub, and then crawled out from under the table and ran off. Oelita turned back to Teenae. “Are you in the mood for a game?”
“Kolgame?”
The holy woman smiled. “I’m a kolgame master. You’ll have a hard time. Perhaps chess?”
“Kolgame.”
Teenae watched the game for clues to Oelita’s character from the moment they threw dice to assemble the many-shaped blocks of the game’s territory. A pattern emerged. The heretic seemed to take over territory only to stabilize her food supply so that the Culling condition would occur less frequently. Teenae countered by occupying key command centers. Surprisingly, Oelita shared the burden of the inevitable impasse conditions among her tenants, making it difficult to eat them. This was an unorthodox defense and astonishingly well played. Oelita could see very far into the future — but it was always better to load your weaknesses onto one tenant and grant suicide. Oelita could have won had she been willing to sacrifice more often but she would cede control rather than lose a tenant and so Teenae’s o’Tghalie mind ruthlessly annihilated her by playing on that one weakness.
And Teenae knew then that the Kaiel could conquer her. Threaten someone’s life and Oelita would be set against herself. She was neither willing to kill to save a life nor willing to stand aside while that life was taken. Such contradictions, intensely analyzed, were always at the fulcrum of Teenae’s shattering attack.
Oelita’s weakness reminded Teenae of the teachings of the kembri-Itraiel. Those who are not willing to kill make tempting victims and thus have chosen endless conflict, while those who are willing and able to kill may always choose a peaceful life. Whosoever values his life becomes enmeshed in the game of saving his life.
Teenae’s own thoughts were more mathematical in nature. A strategist might seek to minimize death, but the attempt to eliminate death invited such a misplacement of resources that the only result must be a higher than minimal death rate. Especially if you were playing against Teenae.
“You have a merciless soul,” said Oelita, conceding defeat with a smile.
“Only when I play kol. Otherwise I’m very tenderhearted.”
“Will you stay for dinner?”
Teenae laughed with pleasure. “I shall be delighted to share your time and bread.”
“Could I send a runner out to find your husband? I’m really quite obliged to him for the help he gave me.”
Teenae was suddenly alert. “Joesai cannot. He’s such a man of business. His time is planned dawns ahead. He’s such a wretched man to live with.” Her eyes were twinkling. “I’d die of boredom without my other husbands.”
“I found him very kind.”
Oelita cooked the dinner over a small ember fire in the central stove of her room. She chatted happily with her new friend about the outside world and books. Teenae noticed that every mention of the Kaiel made her wary.
“You’ve never been to Kaiel-hontokae, have you?” Teenae asked, probing.
“I wouldn’t dare. The Kaiel priests would attack me for heresy. I wouldn’t enjoy the game and they wouldn’t get their coin’s weight; I’d make a tough Judgment Feast.”
“They’re not like that!”
“They’re so sure they are right, so sure of their destiny!”
“But a person who is sure that he is right feels no need to persecute,” said Teenae gently. “It is only those who are not sure that they are right who have a need to harass heretics.”
“So you think it would be safe?”
“Kaiel-hontokae is the one city on all of Geta where there is no fear of dissent.”
“But they are bloodthirsty! They eat children! It’s revolting. I want nothing to do with them!”
“The Stgal ate your children and you have courage enough to preach to them,” said Teenae logically.
Oelita winced as if she had been stabbed. “Pouring oil on yourself and striking a flint to illuminate the darkness of a strange city is a futile gesture.”
“I know Kaiel-hontokae. I would guarantee your safety.”
“I should go,” Oelita thought pensively. She was recalling how much trouble her foolish rage against the Kaiel at Nonoep’s farm had already cost her. “You’ve probably heard that the Mnankrei are after my life. But,” she added angrily, “I should stay and fight, too. I’m afraid.”
“Let me tell you something else. You have influence here. The Kaiel are hungry for influence in this region as you well know. They would bargain with you.”
“What could they offer me? Would they stop their butchering of helpless babies?” she asked bitterly.
“They could offer you time, protection. How long will the Stgal last? It’s a changing world. Your books have made friends in Kaiel-hontokae.”
“I’ll sleep on it. You’ll tell me more about your mysterious city. We hear only the wildest rumors.”
The smell of the food attracted curious children from the neighborhood. Once inside they played with Teenae and crawled all over Oelita. She finally shooed them away but at the door was greeted by a noseless man who had chosen that moment to return one of her pamphlets. The two women talked with him for a while, debating theological points, and then he left.
“You’re so at ease with criminals.”
“He’s harmless!” exclaimed Oelita impatiently. “He stole a loaf of bread from the first harvest after the last famine. A loaf of bread! Have you ever seen a dangerous criminal? The dangerous ones get to make their Contribution-to-the-Race in a hurry!”
“He loves you. You give him hope,” Teenae retreated.
“He needs hope, poor boy. Will you have broth with your meal? It’s profane but harmless. I’m careful that way.”
“A small cup.”
Idly the discussion came back to printing Oelita’s manuscripts. She was eager and trying not to show it. There were other books she considered more important than Sayings. She left her cooking to fetch her newest work from a messy pile and in her excitement to show Teenae the pages she almost toppled her insect boxes with a brisk swing of her arm.