understood it to be the right name so I accepted it. We are often unmoored, or tossed, or in danger of drifting, you and I. Our names suit us. You surely didn’t want to be called Rocky or Sandy or some such thing, did you? But, do you remember what he asked us on that day?”
“It’s all a blur.”
“He asked, ‘What do you love, and is your life worth that love?’”
“Ah yes, I do remember.”
“How did you answer him?”
“I said I loved the Wheel Clan, and that my life was worth that love.”
Ephan lifted his studier’s sack. “Can you love our people still? I find no honor in this. And yet, they are my people, who found and fed me. I must stay at their side. All this day as we traveled back and forth, bringing them keening poles, branches, and crystals—did you see how hopeful and happy the Iden looked?”
“They called us their saviors.”
“And now, we kill. And yet, if we refuse, what will we say when Nahas challenges us?”
CHAPTER 11
THE FEAST BETWEEN THE WHEEL CLAN AND THE IDEN WOMEN
Rain was speaking in a Peacock dialect Maharai found easy enough to understand but her discourse was on the war, and Maharai had no interest in war. She only wished to know which of her unmarried sisters would join her and Ktwala in the Wheel Clan.
The beautiful Gidea was already married. Nunu was too old, but she loved Ktwala and might accompany them if Maharai begged very hard. I will cry and pretend to lose my breath, Maharai thought. Then Nunu will leave Grandfather’s side and come with us. Gidea would grieve to be separated from Tolika, but Lan had assured Maharai that the Wheel Clan’s tower science was so great, both longhouses would frequently meet.
Only when the conversation turned to marriage did Maharai tune her ear to listen.
“Why should warriors not share a woman?” Rain defended the Wheel Clan against Gidea’s worry. “Our women are few, our little ones happy and well-fed. Warriors are worthy of wives. They reclaim land from the forest and from wild animals. If it weren’t for our warriors, what would happen to the Wheel Clan?”
Maharai tugged at Rain’s hem. “What if the king tires of my mother?” she asked Rain. “Will he marry someone else he loves better? And what will happen to Mother when he no longer likes her? Will he send her uncovered into the night as Chief Kalli did to his first wife, and his sixth wife, and his twelfth?”
“You know Peacock Clan history well,” Rain said.
“Old Jion taught me.”
“Well, then, know this. Nahas has a good heart. Not a weak heart, mind you, but a good one. He will not harm your mother. I will tell you how good your future father’s heart is. Sometimes he has even allowed non-warriors to marry.”
Maharai didn’t think that was particularly good.
“If the women are past the age of child-bearing, and if a man wants her.” Rain offered Maharai a round wooden platter filled with small red fruits and fermented salted meats.
The platter’s engraving elicited a gasp of delight from Ktwala who immediately praised it.
“Soon, you Iden women will learn this craft also,” Rain said. “You’re our queen now.”
“What happened to the king’s other wives?” Maharai asked. “Did they die in the war? Or did he tire of them and give them to others? And how many did he have and who did he love better? He has two sons and an adopted son but I see no wives.”
“Ruanna was a primary wife,” Rain said. “She belonged to Nahas alone. He loved her greatly. She was Netophah’s mother. Hinis was the wife he shared with his brother. Psal was the child of that bound three.”
“So Psal may not be Nahas’ son?” Ktwala asked. “He might be the son of Nahas’ brother?”
Rain straightened her back. “That hardly matters, but you will understand our ways soon. This is how the matter went. Ruanna could not bear little ones at first. In the meantime, Nahas and his brother had made an alliance with a Macaw clan and both men married Hinis. After Psal’s birth, Ruanna became pregnant with Netophah. After Netophah, Tanti. Then Ruanna died. A terrible, sudden death. Then Nahas’ brother, Psal’s other father, died. Then Nahas’ other brother died. Only Nahas alone of his five brothers survived. Those were terrible times, but with Hinis’ help, Nahas retained his kingship of all the Wheel Clan. Because of Hinis, Nahas rules many of the fertile regions of Odunao. And what chief in our clan or any clan can wrest it out of his hands?”
Maharai frowned. “Mother, don’t marry into this family that has such bad luck.”
“We will bring them better luck,” her mother said. “And enough of your questions.”
“Hinis and four of the king’s children are all dead,” Rain said. “Killed at the beginning of the war.”
“Who do you war against?” Gidea asked. “You speak of the war but you do not tell us who your enemies are.”
“An evil scattered clan,” Satima said.
“That is what you said before,” Gidea responded. “Has this evil clan no name?”
“They have a name but we do not speak it. Among our people, to speak the name of our enemy is to empower them.”
“Ah,” Ktwala said.
But Maharai said, “Old Jion never told me about this particular belief of yours.”
“Did Old Jion know all the wisdom and beliefs of the Wheel Clan?”
“He said he did,” Maharai answered.
“Our Nahas wants peace during the rest of his reign,” Satima said. “A complicated, scheming power-hungry woman would be burdensome. Give him a simple woman with simple joys, one who will sleep at his side and help his mind to rest, and our king is happy.”
“My mother is very simple,” Maharai said, and smiled because her mother’s sweet simplicity had been apparent to the king.
Once more the conversation began to turn to war; Maharai stood up. She tugged at her mother’s braid. “Mother, I wish to see what the men in our longhouse are doing.” True, but she also wanted to see Netophah, whose gentle soft touch continually played in her mind.
Rain answered before Ktwala could. “The people of our clan also believe that when clans become allies, the men of both clans should be left alone to understand each other. The women, also, should learn each other’s ways. This is also the belief of your own clan, is it not?”
“True,” Ktwala agreed. “I remember the old days. Before the elders in our longhouse argued and left us night-tossed. We would visit a Ruined City in the Grassy Plains. There our women would feast with Wheel Clan women. How we would laugh and sing into the night free from the world of men!”
“Those
