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Back in the Royal Grove, before we departed for Narses, I met briefly with the captain of the fairy warrior group escorting us. We discussed the pair of mages that Oberon was sending along as a countermeasure against Demon Blindness. She found it frustrating that her people couldn’t be trusted without having mortals along to keep an eye on them. I knew the feeling. Nobody brought it up around me, but obviously those mages would be keeping an eye on Serera, Dilorè and me as well.
She pointed out that the mages would also have to investigate Amana. As much as I would like to trust my sister, we had no idea how the Demon Blindness parasites infected fairies, and we only knew that they could prevent a fairy from identifying a demon. We had no idea what other effects they could have on her. They might be able to change her perception in other ways, or alter her behavior. I could explain Mára’s overt hostility to me when we first met as a consequence of the Fate Magic targeting me, but it could also have been somehow due to the Dark spirit possessing her. Amana could be suffering some mental distortion due to spirit possession as well.
I already knew she was not wrong that the body lying in state in the Great Hall was our older sister Inda rather than Mother, because I knew from Mother herself that her body lay well north of us, in the mountain ranges of the Oserian Highlands. But Amana’s version of events concerning the attack on Narses were a different matter.
After all, Viscount Amalis had a point. It seriously strained credulity that the entire attacking force, including a diversionary force of illusionists and flying beasts to allow the force to escape, had been smuggled into the shipping basin under the noses of the city’s security. No matter how surly and dislikable he seemed, his opposition to her claims was not unreasonable. He had every reason to doubt her.
Unfortunately, Oberon’s mages were still with the fairies, not with us as we gathered around Inda’s coffin. They couldn’t help clear Amana of suspicion until later. But I had done what I could while we descended from the top floor, cranking my spiritual vessel up to maximum strength and carefully inspecting Amana in secret on the way down to the Great Hall. I detected no Dark spirit in her, but without a previous opportunity to inspect a fairy whom I knew was infected, I couldn’t say for sure what such a thing would look like. Fairies are, after all, a sort of blend of spiritual and material being. Trying to pick up on the bit of spirit that didn’t belong inside the fairy could not be easy.
That was why I was still struggling with how to proceed while the staffers raised the lid on Inda’s coffin.
I looked down upon my sister, whom I never saw in life.
She looked horrible. Well, she was a mummy without wrappings, in effect. If you’ve ever seen a photo of Ramses or Tutankhamun, you have a rough impression of what she looked like. Her hair, which would have been some garish Anime color in life, had turned the color of dirt, and her skin was a slightly paler shade of the same. Her skin,drawn tight over her cheek bones in a horrifically emaciated fashion, gave the impression that she had slowly starved to death. I recalled pictures of Jews as they were rescued from German concentration camps as I looked at her.
She lay with her hands folded neatly over her chest. The Dorians had dressed her in a beautiful kimono. I noticed that it was closed backwards, with the left side crossed over the right, as is their tradition for dead bodies. In life, you wear your kimono with the right half crossing over the left.
Her ghastly condition was the result of all the mana evaporating from her body. I was looking at what would happen to my own body eventually, what had already happened to my body as Senhion. But with magical and monstrous living beings, a remnant of mana imprinted on the physical component still lingers after the majority disperses. That trace is composed of the exact mana signature that the being had in life. I could indeed see, without any doubt, that this wasn’t Mother.
A weird emotion swelled up in me. Until this moment, this sister whom I never met in life was just a theoretical concept. Now that I saw her distinctive signature, that no other fairy could have, not even if she had been born with an identical twin, she became a real person. And I understood in my heart that a sibling had been robbed from me before I could come to know her.
I resolved to make Amana or Oberon introduce me to every sister still living. It was a plan born in a moment of clear reason… I thought, until I noticed my vision blurring and distorting.
Rob’s arm suddenly was gripping me firmly around the shoulders while sobs began quietly vibrating in the back of my throat. I had to wipe tears out of my eyes.
“Damn…” I heard Dilorè mutter. Across from me, I could see Serera shaking her head, her cheeks also wet. They both were staring down at the same mummified fairy. Of course, they both had also known her.
I forced my voice to stay steady as I said, “Lady Serera, please set up a [Realm of Silence]. And Colonel, please have the soldiers step down from the dais. We have important matters to discuss.”
“Are you going to tell us the truth yet?” Lord Orgo, the Viscount Amalis, demanded.
Once Serera’s magic enclosed us, I told him, “The truth, My Lord, is that my sister is dead. Please give us a moment.”
Rod was glaring at him, so he wisely didn’t respond.
I drew in a steadying breath, thinking over what to say, and realizing a very sticky problem, if the locals believed that this body was Mother.
Blinking the remaining tears out of my eyes, I nodded and looked over at the viscount once again. “These two fairy knights knew my sister, and can confirm my words. This is indeed not Mother… not Her Grace, Sasara.”
His bushy eyebrows lowered as he demanded, “Then where is our duchess? Why hasn’t she returned to show herself to us?”
Rod was scowling in thought. We had been keeping Mother’s death a secret, until we could recover her body, and he must have been pondering the same problem as I was. Whom do we trust with the information?
I made the decision for him. “My Lord, we were withholding this information until we could recover His Majesty’s body, but I will entrust you with it.”
“My Lady…” Rod started to say, then frowned.
He recognized the problem as well. After all, it was a thorny situation. The people here already believed Mother was dead. We couldn’t just tell them, “No she isn’t” then turn around a day or two later and say, “Oh, my bad. She’s really dead.”
They had Inda’s body already lying in state because people here in the castle believed she was Mother. Even though no official announcement had been made outside, the rumor was surely spreading. At the very least, the local nobles had to be told the truth.
I admitted, “We already know that Her Grace has perished, because we know that she was with His Majesty Owen when he died. She was mortally injured while defending him.”
“The report was that a fairy knight was with him?” Lord Orgo noted, his eyes narrowing.
“I was,” Serera replied, her tone dark. “Her Grace came to our rescue when the demons had us surrounded.”
“Let’s not talk about the details for now,” I cautioned her.
Inda and Mother were probably dead as a result of Mother panicking. She was supposed to stay in Narses, trusting Serera and the Orestanian Army of Atianus to defend Owen. Instead she took off for Atianus, then learned with her magic on the way that the attacks already happened, and that Owen was kidnapped and headed in the other direction.
If Mother had stuck to the plan, I admit that Owen would still be dead, and perhaps Serera would have died as well, but Mother’s moment of panic had cost her and her daughter their lives. I didn’t want that to become apparent, so I decided to change the subject.
“Lady Serera was nearly killed as well,” Rod stated firmly. “She only managed to struggle home by the favor of Heaven. We need to leave it at that, and discuss what we must do next instead.”
“We need to recover the bodies as soon as possible,” I stated. “We need the temple to identify them.”
Rod told Orgo, “You understand why we wanted to keep Her Grace’s death a secret, My Lord?”
Until the temple could perform the death rites and put the stamp of their authority on the passing of Owen and Mother, the rebels could produce counterfeits of them, body double ‘prisoners’ whom they could use to fake surrender agreements or sap Loyalist morale. They could claim that the Royal Augurs had perjured themselves under orders from Ged, faking their confirmations of Owen’s death. As long as Mother’s death was not also confirmed and Owen’s body was not recovered, they didn’t yet dare try to do such a thing. But with rumors of a certain Lord Mayor of Narses and his people having a body lying in state and claiming that it was Mother, the rebels might become bold enough to produce a fake Owen without a fake Sasara at his side.
The viscount became nervous. “Your Highness, we have not made any announcement yet…”
“But rumors of a body lying in state are spreading,” I stated. “Far too many people already know. We need to recover Mother’s body as soon as possible, and switch them. Once we have her here, we’ll send Inda home in secret and announce that Mother died defending Narses.”
I noticed a slight curl to Rod’s lips, and realized I was making the decisions that were probably his to make. Blushing slightly, I added, “With your permission, Your Highness.”
“I permit it,” he nodded. “It would be best not to confuse those who believe Her Grace is already lying here, after all.”
“I would like to start that mission as soon as possible,” I told him. “The sooner we get going, the better.”
“And what do you mean by ‘we’, Your Highness?” Serera demanded.
“Well, of course, I have to go!” I retorted. “Mother’s barrier…”
“Tiana!” Rod interrupted, with a sharp tone. I had been about to say Mother’s barrier will only open for her daughter. But of course, that was information of the highest secrecy. Even if I trusted everyone else, Viscount Amalis and his entourage were still risks.
Rod had a very dark frown for me. I cleared my throat and kept my mouth shut.
“I will go,” Amana stated, her eyebrows raising meaningfully.
That’s right. Amana is also Mother’s daughter…
“But you’re in charge here!” I protested.
“I can entrust that to His Royal Highness, naturally,” she stated. “He came here to take over command, after all.”
Rod had not come here expecting to have no generals in town, though, but the arm still around my shoulder squeezed, warning me not to argue…
“And you should avoid flying into danger, Your Highness,” she added, her eyes flicking down momentarily to glance meaningfully at the pendant resting in my cleavage.
I grew puzzled and Rod sighed. He told the rest, “My Lord, My Ladies, I need to discuss something with my fiancée in private. Will you allow us to walk by ourselves back upstairs?”
Which is why I wound up with Rod and separated from the rest as we returned to the salon on the top floor.
“What is it?” I finally said, once I decided I had given Rod enough time to ponder his words.
“The Fairy King and I discussed it this morning,” he said. “He wanted to keep you in Tëan Tír, but agreed to let you go only on the condition that I ensured that you and your babies remained safely away from the front. There is no way I’m letting you fly into enemy territory.”
“Wh… wha…” I stammered. “What?”
Morrígan and Briareos both believed that my spiritual energy was supporting Mother’s pendant. It’s not like it would instantly fail if I took it off, but it would last much longer if I kept it on, and we had no idea how much longer it would last if I took it off. But to call the souls occupying it my babies…
“Even though you aren’t pregnant yet,” he answered my unspoken thoughts. “It’s time for you to start treating yourself as if you were. They are already depending on you.”
