“Thwa.”
“Then her body won’t bear me granddaughters.”
“Although I wish for daughters, I think other things are more important.” “That’s because you’re young. Daughters give you standing. Look at my sister and me. Who greeted you to her hanmuthi?”
“But Dargu is great mother!”
“And her hanmuthi—however grand—will always lack children.”
“Then you won’t change your mind?”
“Thwa.”
“When I saw Dargu-yat in Taiben, she said you would bless us.”
“Where would she get that strange notion?”
“Perhaps from her muthuri Didn’t you two speak together?”
“We did. And Zor-yat knew my mind in this matter. She sympathized and even warned me of Dargu-yat’s power.”
“What power?”
“Your attraction to her is unnatural. That’s magic’s doing.”
“Dargu knows no magic, though Muth la sends her visions. My feelings come from Muth la.”
“Don’t speak foolishly. Sons don’t understand such matters.”
Kovok-mah summoned his courage, and for the first time in his life, he refused to submit passively. “My chest is strong in this.”
“I know,” said Kath-mah. “Air is heavy with your atur. Whether it is due to magic or Muth la, I remain firm and withhold my blessing. Do nothing rash. Our laws are strict, and even great mothers must bend to them. Heed my wisdom, or your feelings will destroy our queen.”
Three
Dar entered darkness with Muth-pah. As before, the Pah clan matriarch led the way through a narrow cave, which was dimly lit by the embers from a string of fires. As Muth-pah passed each glowing pile, she poured water on it. Steam from the extinguished embers filled the dark space, making it hot and damp. Unlike the last time Dar had entered darkness, they didn’t arrive at a chamber. Instead, the piles of embers seemed to extend without end—a dotted line of faint orange lights in a black void.
Dar and Muth-pah continued to advance while the dark closed in behind them. Muth-pah’s vessel never emptied and the steam grew ever thicker until the way was hard to see. The heat became oppressive. Dar spoke to Muth-pah. “When will this end?”
“How should I know, Muth Mauk? This is your journey.” Muth-pah doused yet another fire, and
when it went out, all light disappeared. Dar cried out, but there was no reply. She was utterly alone.
Dar sat up drenched in sweat and unsure if she was awake or dreaming. Since she had been stabbed, most of her existence seemed dreamlike. Dar recalled her arrival at the hall and wondered if she had truly viewed the spirits of everyone around her and judged their worth. If I did, then there’s one here who should be queen. Yet that mother had vanished before Dar could bestow Fathma. Dar didn’t know who she was, for spirits looked unlike bodies. Dar had recognized no one.
Dar gazed about the dark hanmuthi. For a moment, she thought she saw sleepers in the other chambers, sitting upright beneath sleeping cloaks. She rubbed her eyes, and the rooms were empty again. The only sleeper was Deen-yat, who sat in Dar’s chamber. Dar rose from her mattress to stand and let the sweat dry from her torso. She resolved to bathe first thing in the morning, for she didn’t want to greet her family “snoofa va washavoki”—reeking likewashavoki. Dar suspected that the acceptance she had experienced upon her rebirth would be tested soon. She was no longer simply Zor-yat’s daughter, and she’d be judged by a higher standard. Experience had taught her that mothers lacked the subservience of sons. Though she was queen, the obedience she had received in Taiben might not come so quickly in the Yat clan hall.
Dar walked over to the window on shaky legs. She scraped frost from a pane and peered through it. The mountains gleamed white in the moonlight. The pastures are snow-covered, she thought. Kovok-mah’s goats will be stabled for the winter, and he’ll stay with his muthuri. Dar reminded herself that it no longer made any difference where Kovok-mah stayed. He was unobtainable.
“Muth Mauk, why are you up?” asked Deen-yat.
“Dream woke me.”
“Your flesh is bumpy. Are you chilled?”
“I’m fine,” said Dar. “Air feels good.”
Nevertheless, Deen-yat rose to stand close to her. “You’re still weak. Evil magic lingers yet.”
The healer guided Dar back to the mattress. When Dar lay down, Deen-yat covered her with a sleeping cloak. “Try to sleep, Muth Mauk.”
Deen-yat’s mention of Othar’s magic evoked memories of the mage. Dar’s last sight of him had been seared into her memory—a pair of eyes staring from a charred face. He died, Dar reminded herself And the bones, my greater enemy, were destroyed. She had witnessed both events. I’ve nothing to worry about. Yet after her dream, a shadow of doubt arose.
It was late afternoon and Dar was seated in her hanmuthi, having bathed, blackened her teeth, and dressed in a new neva and new kefs. Following custom, she wore the pair of capelike kefs so her breasts were exposed, although that meant revealing her wound. Zor-yat’s eyes fixed on it as soon as she entered the room. “Muth Mauk, my chest breaks to view your injury.”
“Please call me ‘daughter,’ Muthuri. That name makes me most glad.”
“Yet you’re Muth Mauk now,” said Zor-yat. “How can I forget? Where’s your crown? You should be wearing it.”
“There’s no need for crown. My family visits.”
“All urkzimmuthi are your family now. When my sister became great mother, everything changed. Dargu-yat is dead.”
“Dead?”
“Dargu-yat’s spirit is no more. Fathma changes everything.”
Dar was about to say that she felt no different when she realized that wasn’t true. Although she felt no wiser or mightier, she was imbued with a love for every orc. She also experienced vague, transient memories that she assumed belonged to former queens. “Hai, I’ve changed. But are you still my muthuri?”
Zor-yat smiled. “Of course, Muth Mauk.”
“Then, I’m happy.” Dar rose from her stool and embraced her muthuri though it made her wound ache.
Zor-yat smelled Dar’s pain as she hugged her. “You must tell me all that happened in Taiben. We received tales from that washavoki that brought you here and my sister’s son as well, but only you know everything. Why did my sister die?”
“Black Washavoki poisoned her long ago, then gave her healing magic to keep her alive. That magic clouded her mind so she spoke Black Washavoki’s words.”
“I thought magic was used on her,” said Zor-yat. “So did Muth-yat. I’m glad Black One died.”
“In order to clear her mind, your sister stopped taking healing magic, knowing it would cause her death. She’d been waiting for me.”
“For you?”
“Hai. For mother to receive Fathma.”
“So you could pass it to another?”
Dar recalled hovering on the edge of death and finding no one worthy to receive the divine gift. Was Muthuri there? It seemed likely, so Dar worded her reply carefully. “When I thought I was dying, I tried to bestow Fathma, but.. .but I lacked strength.”
“Then we’re lucky you lived.” Zor-yat appeared to reflect for a moment. “Now that you have strength, you can do what you intended.”
“Do you think another should be queen?”
“Crown is burden, even for those who are prepared to receive it. Look at my sister’s fate.”
Dar sighed. “Hai, but this burden is Muth la’s gift. I shouldn’t refuse it.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure of nothing.” Dar thought how the Goddess Karm had temples with holy ones to guide the people. “Muthuri, is there someone among urkzimmuthi who understands Muth la best? Someone who offers guidance?”
“Hai, my daughter. She’s called Muth Mauk.”
Dar and her muthuri talked long. Dar recounted the events in Taiben as thoroughly as she could, knowing that Muth-yat and many others would quickly hear them. Dar saved one item for last, and as she spoke, she watched Zor-yat carefully. “When I met Kovok-mah in Taiben, I told him his muthuri would bless us. I said this because you told me so. He called me foolish.”