Praeis dipped her ears in silent agreement.
Vaier Byu took another swallow of tea. “You can, I think, also understand this. There are those who say the price we have negotiated for the salvation of our Great Family is too high. They say we will not all die from the diseases spread by this new weapon, or even from the famine that may, or may not, be coming. They say we should not bind ourselves to those who have shed our mothers’ blood and robbed us of our mothers’ souls. There are many who lay out these opinions. More, we fear, than there are of those who agree wholeheartedly with us and Confederation.”
“Among these,” said Aires Byu, “are your blood sisters Senejess and Armetrethe.”
Praeis bowed her head. Oh, Sisters, what have you been doing while I've been gone?
There are not many of us, Praeis Shin,” Aires Byu went on, “who can stand out against our sisters. But you have before, and you are now.”
Praeis raised her eyes and opened her mouth.
“Do not say you don't understand.” Aires Byu leaned forward. “You went against your sisters when you traded Urisk Island and four thousand lives for a swift peace. You are an isolated, alien thing in this respect.”
Praeis felt her fingers curl and her ears try to fold up. She held herself rigid. The Queens spoke nothing but the truth. She could sit and hear it. She could. Her daughters leaned closer to her. She felt their warmth and drank it in. They knew the story, most of it anyway.
Aires watched all this, but the set of her ears did not change. “Yet, you can build accord like no one we have ever met, and we have met masters of the art. You can deal with enemies and make them come to terms.
“We sit isolated here for the propaganda of holding our Ancestor's city. Our people work among those who are building consensus against us, in an attempt to bring them to our side, but there is little they can do to sway whole families.”
Praeis licked her lips. “There is a group of Humans called the Bedouin who have an ancient saying that describes us well. They say ‘me against my sister, me and my sister against my cousin, me and my cousin against the world.’ ”
Vaier Byu laughed. “Very good. Who knew the Humans understood such things?”
“Praeis did.” Aires Byu dipped her ears again. “Praeis knows many things, and she will tell them all to her Majestic Sisters, will she not?”
Praeis's ears flickered back and forth. “About the Humans, Majestic Sister, or about my blood sisters?”
“Ancestors Mine!” Ueani hurled a scrap of rice cake into the heating pit. “You're being asked to spy for us, Praeis Shin. To get out there and find out who's with us and who isn't. To subvert those who aren't over to our side, if you can, and to give us their names if you can't. You have your own friends out there. Get them. Work with them. We cannot allow this disaster we've created to fall apart. There are too many dead bodies and unattended souls out there as it is.”
Praeis's jaw hung open. She panted, but got control of herself and closed her mouth. Theia pressed close to her side, and, reflexively, Praeis wrapped an arm around her.
Vaier and Aires Byu both glowered at their sister.
“I don't care!” Ueani Byu jumped to her feet. She began to pace back and forth, working figure eights around the chairs. “We've had enough subtlety here. We are the Queens-of-All, and there's no one to hear our voices but cooks and shit cleaners! We've got to get out of here, back into the thick of our lands and people, but we don't know where we can go in safety or whom we can trust. You”—she stabbed a finger at Praeis—”are going to find out for us! You are going to gather the loyal following we need, and you are going to hand us your living sisters to try for high treason if we tell you to. Yes? Good?”
Ueani Byu stood there, feet spread, fingers flexing. Praeis felt her heart beat wildly. Her nostrils clamped shut and her ears cringed. For a moment, she thought if she refused, her Queen would go for her throat.
Praeis swallowed hard and forced her nostrils open. “Why me?” she asked, ashamed at the weakness in her voice. “It cannot be that my Majestic Sisters have no allies.”
“Because you have traded t'Therian lives for peace,” said Vaier Byu. “We have no one else who has done that. We may require you to do it again. Once before, you were our hands and eyes and did for us things which no one else could, or would do. We can trust you to act for us as we can trust no other.”
So there it was. The real reason she had been allowed to come home. The Queens needed someone who could and would betray her family. Praeis looked at the floor. The harbor islands sprawled under her feet. She panted hard and did not try to stop herself.