Playing God(46)

Neys and Silv's inner home was a sprawling dwelling under half a dozen peaked roofs. It had been continuously added on to for the past four generations. Four little daughters ran around the yard, playing games of tag with laughing arms-sisters.

At the door, three servants hurried to set out cold drinks and help Neys and Silv strip out of their armor, but no other sisters came forward. Praeis bit her tongue. When she had last been here, there had been nearly two dozen Cesh, counting aunts, mothers, and sisters. She looked at the empty room and wished desperately for a way to go off and be quietly sick with her daughters.

If the horror of her realizations showed on her skin, Neys and Silv gave no sign.

“Shall we take your daughters to meet ours?” asked Neys as she handed Praeis a glass of sweet, scented juice.

Praeis took her greeting sip. It tasted marvelous, and she wanted to gulp the rest of it.

“It will have to be later,” she said. “I need my own to be here for this.” Resaime's ears pricked up with pride, and she squeezed her sister's hand. Thieareth just looked solemn.

Praeis sat down on the nearest divan and kept her daughters on either side of her. Generally, everyone thought Res was the smart one, but Praeis was now sure that honor belonged to Thieareth. She just hoped Res would listen to her quiet sister in days ahead.

“So talk with us, Arms-Sister,” said Silv, as she and Neys sat close together on one of the sofas, now wearing only bleached white shirts over their belly guards. “Tell us how we can help you.”

Praeis nodded. “I need to know what my sisters have gotten themselves into.”

Neys sighed. “That's a good question. When the Queens-of-All agreed to the Confederation, they didn't have a lot of support down at the shoreline. They still don't. Senejess and Armetrethe came out early and loudly against it. The guess is they retained their position under the Council of True Blood so that somebody could keep an eye on them.”

“That and the fact that no one could legally strip their name from them without creating a real ruckus, even after …” Neys glanced at Res and Theia.

“After what Jos, Shorie, and I did,” Praeis finished for her. “We all know what I did, and we all know, Arms-Sisters, I'd do it again.”

“Oh yes,” said Silv solemnly. “We know that.”

“Listen, Arms-Sisters,” Praeis leaned forward. “I have been commissioned by our Queens to start building real support for the Confederation. But there's more to it than that. There's got to be some reason they wanted me back in the fleet.” She swallowed and forced the words out. “It may be because I am eminently expendable.”

Both Res and Theia started at her words. Praeis bowed her head. “I'm sorry, my daughters. But you needed to hear that. You are in this with me.”

“Yes, Mother,” whispered Theia.

“It can't be true.” Resaime's face was tight and still. “You've fit the pieces wrong, Mother. There is another way to make this picture.”

“Maybe,” she rubbed Res's shoulder.

Neys's ears dipped and straightened. “There are currents here we can feel but can't map yet.”

Silv snorted and tugged her sister's ear. “Thank you for speaking the obvious, Neys. Praeis, let me ask you for a plain answer.” Her ears and eyes focused completely on Praeis. “What do you yourself think of the Confederation?”

“I want it to work,” said Praeis. “I don't know if it can, but I want it to, and I will do what I can to help.” Her ears flickered back and forth a moment before she could still them. “And you, my Arms-Sisters? What do you think?”

Neys took Silv's hand and held it tightly. Praeis could see the currents of feeling pass between them in the ripples of their skin. Loneliness burned sudden and sharp in the back of her mind.

“We are dying,” said Neys flatly. “The Great Family, the near families, the ’Esaph and all their hangers-on, all of us together.” She stopped and her ears dropped backward. “I have wished the ’Esaph all dead, but my soul is a good accountant and won't let me ignore the costs.” She grimaced and swept her arm out. “There are more of us than there are of them. It is possible some of our Great Family will be alive when the plague has killed all of them. But I think the ancestors would howl if we counted on that.” She shook her head. “We need this plague gone. We need the Humans to do that. The incomprehensible Humans will not hear our history with the ’Esaph. Very good. We do this thing for the same reason we have always fought the ’Esaph, because we have to.” One fold in her right cheek jumped. “Those who work to kill the Confederation are working to kill their sisters.”