“Ambassador T’sha,” sighed Z’edi, “as one who has represented her city for a long time, let me warn you—if Ca’aed got sick now, you would have nothing to save it with.”
T’sha lost her balance for a moment and drifted away. Z’eth’s words touched her secret fear. She had not even voiced the worry to Ca’aed itself, although she suspected Ca’aed knew. “Ca’aed is strong and has the wisdom of years.”
“The past did not help Gaith. We are flying into the night-side, Ambassador T’sha, and we may not come out.” Z’eth dipped her muzzle. “Especially if we do not have New Home.”
“Ambassador.” T’sha hesitated. “Did I have your vote only because of my promises?”
Z’eth swelled. “No.” The word was strong against T’sha’s skin. “I believe you are correct. We must understand the New People. We must know they have no claim on the candidate world. If a feud began, we could be divided if there were…questions about our right to do as we do. We cannot be divided.”
T’sha felt as if all the air had rushed away from her wings and that she must fall. “A feud with the New People? How can it even be contemplated?”
“If we both want the same thing, and we both have justifiable claims, how can it not be contemplated?” returned Z’eth. “Ambassador, I know that your mother favored teachers from the temples for your education, but you are not that naïve. We have a severe problem. We need New Home. We have New Home underneath us. We must be ready to secure it. We cannot question that.”
Even if the New People truly have a legitimate claim? Ambassador, what are you asking of me? In the next moment T’sha knew, and the realization tightened her skin and bones. Z’eth wanted T’sha to go in and study the situation, as mandated by the vote in the High Law Meet. Then, no matter what she found, Z’eth wanted T’sha to say that the New People had no legitimate claim to the candidate world.
“Ambassador Z’eth…I cannot promise to give you the answers you want.”
“I know that.” Z’eth drifted even closer. The taste and touch of her words flooded T’sha’s senses. “I am not asking you to say anything you do not see. I am asking you to understand how serious this matter is. How deeply we need this done. I am asking you to imagine scars on Ca’aed’s hearts and the ancient walls crumbling to dust on the wind because the life has been bleached out of them. I am asking you to imagine your city in pain.” She paused. “I am asking you to imagine what I have been through with K’est.”
Shame and confusion shriveled T’sha. Already Ca’aed was afraid, a fact that never left her, even though her city had never spoken to her of it but that once. What if…?
“I have never underestimated the dangers,” said T’sha, uncertain whether she was trying to reassure Z’eth or herself.
“I think you have, Ambassador,” said Z’eth, cutting her off. “I am sorry, but I believe what I say to be the truth. You are young, you are rich, and you have all the Teachings behind you. I have only my crippled city and my people promised down to their grandchildren.”
T’sha clamped her muzzle shut. If she tried to speak now, she would only spurt and sputter like a nervous child. Even so, she could not believe what filled the air between them. Ambassador Z’eth wanted her to discover that the New People had no legitimate claim to the candidate world so that if those New People wished to begin a feud over the world, the People themselves would not even consider that the New People’s cause might be legitimate.
Z’eth asked for this without facts, without sight or taste or any other concrete knowledge.
She asked T’sha to tell this heinous lie because she, Z’eth, feared for her city.
No, no, that’s not all, T’sha tried to banish the thought…There is more to it than that. She fears for her city’s people, for all of us.
But even if Z’eth only feared for her city, surely that was fear enough. T’sha tried to imagine Ca’aed as ill as K’est. What would she do? What would she not do?
And she owed Z’eth heavily for her support. Without her, T’sha would not be going to the candidate world at all.
But what was the point of T’sha going to question D’seun’s work if she took the answers with her?
T’sha tensed her bones. “I will remember the touch of your words,” she said. “I feel them keenly. They will not fall away from me in the winds of the candidate world.”
“Thank you, Ambassador,” said Z’eth gravely. “That is all the promise I ask.”