Kinrove smiled. He did not move, but I felt that he leaned closer, and that he could see, not just Soldier’s Boy, but me, Nevare, hidden inside him. He held out two fingers toward us, like open scissors, and then closed them together. The gesture seemed fraught with magic. “A joining makes a path,” he said, and I felt threatened. His eyes peered more sharply. “A man cannot dance if his left foot tries to go one way and his right another. The dance happens when a man is in harmony with himself.”
“I know a way to drive the Jhernians away!”
Her voice cracked on the words, but it was emotion that made it do so. The young female Great One ensconced in a chair across from Jodoli spoke. She stood, spreading her arms wide. When she did so, the bright yellow and black robe that she wore billowed out around her, amplifying her considerable girth. I was sure it was a contrived gesture to make her seem larger than she was. I was grateful that she had attracted attention away from me, even though I felt Soldier’s Boy’s annoyance that she had interrupted the challenge between Kinrove and himself. Beside me, Olikea released a pent breath. I wondered if she was relieved or annoyed.
The female Great One drew a deep breath. She folded her arms at her elbows, bringing her hands in to touch her ample bosom. The bright fabric billowed again as she bade him, “Speak to me, Kinrove! Or rather, listen! I know a way, and I have come here to speak to you of it! You were reluctant to allow me to come in, and since I have arrived, you have given me no chance to be heard. You fritter away our time with food and pleasures and trivial gossip. You make me wait as if I am of no consequence at all, even though I have told you I bring the words of not just my kin-clan, but the dissatisfied of many kin-clans. Then he appears”—and she waved a disdainful hand at me—“and you forget entirely that I am here. Why do you trouble with him when I am here? He is of the Plain-skins. He is the enemy. Someone has marked him as if he were of the People, but how can he be? Vermin beget vermin, not stags. If you wish to show us something of your power tonight, do so by killing him. Be rid of him, Kinrove. He but does what Jhernians have always done; they come, they take what is ours and use it to evil ends. He has usurped our magic and done us no good with it. Begin to find your ultimate solution by killing him and then finish it by listening to me!”
She looked directly at me then, and I felt, as Soldier’s Boy did, the buffet of her power. He’d had sufficient warning to set my muscles and not stagger back from the blow, but her intent was clear. She’d meant to at least knock him down and humiliate him in front of the others if not do physical damage. I think it was the first time I’d met the eyes of another human being and actually felt the hate emanate from them.
“Stop!” When Kinrove spoke that word, I felt what the soldiers in Gettys had felt the night I had stopped them before they killed me. It was a word of command backed by more magic than Soldier’s Boy could resist. I hadn’t realized that Soldier’s Boy had mustered his magic to use against the girl. Perhaps he had done it more intuitively or instinctively than as a planned reaction. But in that moment, he dropped his guard just as a numbed hand releases a weapon. Across from me, the girl spasmed as if doused with cold water. I saw her take a deep, quivering breath. Then she retreated a step, with her two feeders coming swiftly to help her take her seat again. I could see that she was shivering and angry. Her teeth were bared in her fury, or perhaps clenched to keep them from chattering. I looked at her and thought that I would not have chosen to make an enemy of her.
Soldier’s Boy found his voice and spoke more boldly than I would have under the circumstances. “I did not come here to be insulted and attacked.” He gestured to Likari and Olikea to follow him and turned toward the door.
Behind us, I heard a flurry of steps and then frantic whispering. We were nearly at the tent flap when Kinrove spoke behind me. “This is not the meeting I intended, Nevare of the Plain-skins. Turn back, Soldier’s Boy. Let us welcome you, and let us speak together.”
Soldier’s Boy turned very slowly. It did not escape him that a feeder, older and more gloriously robed than the others, stood at Kinrove’s side. Galea, without a doubt. She clasped her hands before her, looking both anxious and hopeful. Soldier’s Boy spoke.
“I am not ‘Nevare of the Plain-skins.’ I am not completely Nevare, though I will answer to that name. Soldier’s Boy is an awkward name, for it names me as belonging to the Gernians. But I am of the People. I bear the marks of one of the People. I was accepted by the elders and instructed by Lisana. I have left the folk that I was born to, left the lands where I grew, and traveled far to come to you. If you do not wish to accept me, then speak to the magic that summoned me. Say to the magic that made me a Great One that you are wiser than it is, and would have me leave.” Slowly he crossed his arms over his chest and then stood silently confronting Kinrove as if daring him to commit that blasphemy.