What Once Was Eden: Chapter 6 Part 2 of 3
#15 of What Once Was Eden
What Once was Eden is Book Two of A Ship Called Hope, the prequal trilogy to my Sajani Tails series. The books are part of the Terah game world by Rossi Publishing Games. You can find the print and digital versions of the first book here. The Amazon Kindle version is also available, as well as one for Apple Books. You can search Chaaya Chandra to find me.
The books posted here are not self contained so you'll want to start on book one Fugitive's Trust. (Also called A Ship Called Hope, the original title) Fur Affinity or Weasyl.
Before she rose to be the pirate queen of Terah, Sajani was a rather selfish and uncaring petty criminal. Sent to Rhidayar to go to school, the fifteen year old wants nothing more than to return home to her friends and continue her shadowy lifestyle.
When the chance presents itself, she takes up with an escaped vykati slave and tries to make her way back to Drtithen. What should be a difficult trip quickly turns deadly when the human nation not only mounts an all out assault on the young pair, but also begins to prepare to go to war with Vharkylia.
Notes on the previous installment.
One interesting challenge with this trilogy wasn't exactly planned. It was more something that happened, possibly on a subconscious level, but more likely just completely unplanned. You don't see the villians. You can't. The real villians are fear and distrust. It's part of a central concept for the design of Terah: there is no inherent evil. I've talked a little about it before. Faux Scent has an evil character in it, so it's not something that doesn't exist in the world, but it is something that is chosen on an individual level and most are good. You learn about the King of Rhidayar's motivations in the next book, but he actually has a good reason for what he's doing. Zant's motivations pretty much remain a mystery to everyone but me.
Zant is a good person. She wants good things for everyone, she's acting on some information that took place off screen as it were, but if I were to put that scene in, it'd drop a lot of tension that I need to have happening. Suffice it to say, she doesn't see Sajani so much as competition as just annoying.
Art (c)2020 Golden Druid, LLC and Rossi Publishing Games
Story (c) 2020 Chaaya Chandra and Rossi Publishing Games
What Once Was Eden
Chapter 6 (Part 2 of 3)
By Chaaya Chandra
Just as the three were finishing up, Zant turned to Gregor, put her hand on his shoulder and asked, "Can you do me a small favor?"
The male wolf started stuttering badly, but managed a quick, "Yes."
Zant looked really confused by his response but pressed forward. "I'll be pretty busy this morning. I wasn't able to see my sister yesterday and she was supposed to have some stuff ready for me. Could you please stop by Sajani's tent and see if she has it? It'd save me some time. I'll meet you over by the corral when you're done."
Gregor nodded and turned to leave.
The copper wolf was about to leave with him when Zant said, "Oh Sajani, I had a small favor to ask of you too."
Doing a favor for the other she-wolf wasn't on the top of her list, but she grit her teeth and answered civilly--mostly for the sake of Gregor who was still in sight. "Of course," she said quickly. "What can I do for you?" She sat back down and tried to smile at Zant.
The gray vykati's smile looked a lot more sincere than what Sajani's did, she was sure. "I was just wondering..." Zant began. "Gregor's stuttering..."
The copper wolf laughed. It was loud enough that she noticed a few people look over at her. "You don't know?" For Gregor's sake Sajani tried not to sound condescending. She failed.
Zant looked a little hurt by the laughter and question. The other she-wolf looked down at her hands. "No," she said shyly. "Is it so obvious? I try to..."
Sajani felt bad. A part of her was trying to hurt Zant's feelings, but now that she could see the gray vykati's reaction, there wasn't any pleasure in it. She quickly stopped her laughing and said softly. "I'm sorry. That came out badly." Looking at the other young wolf made her realize how true Alonzo's words were. Zant looked timid and frightened. She'd obviously been putting on a strong face the day before, but now... Her compatriot had taken a lock of her long black hair and was twisting it between her fingers. Sajani had lever looked at her very closely before. The gray fur was windblown and rough, and the hair wasn't much better. At one point, the copper wolf would have looked down on someone with fur and hair like that, but now...she felt really bad. She put a hand on Zant's shoulder and said, "Seriously, please forgive me. I'd..." she almost said that she'd hate to have Gregor think badly of her but realized that wasn't the real reason.
Zant had no way of knowing what was going through Sajani's mind. Her expression was one of confusion and hurt.
The copper wolf continued. "I'm sure it's just really obvious to me because our time before the desert. It's not like I had much else to do other than think about things like that."
A timid smile crossed the other wolf's face. "I kind of envy you that time," she said, but she didn't elaborate.
Sajani really didn't want to know more about what was meant. "I think," she began, "it has to do with how little he's been around other vykati, particularly female vykati."
Recognition dawned on Zant's face. "Oh!" she said. She started to smile, but it quickly turned to a frown. "I figured something was causing that or I wouldn't have bothered asking. I didn't realize_I_ was..."
The look of sympathy that came to Sajani's face was spontaneous and well meant. "Well, you have to have noticed that he's not upset at you about it. I've only seen him be upset twice and it was mild in comparison..." to my fits, she thought.
Zant's frown deepened. "He seemed pretty upset yesterday when he was talking to me."
Sajani waved her hand, "Oh that," she said quickly. "I think he was more caught up in us arguing..."
The other vykati interrupted. "Last night, when he came across me while looking for you."
For a brief moment, Sajani was happy to hear that, but it passed very quickly. "How?" she said slowly. It wasn't exactly the right question.
Zant gave a wry smile. "Since he never stuttered, I was curious what caused that. At first I thought maybe he did that when he was upset, but when he didn't stutter last night..."
Sajani shook her head, "As near as I can tell, he doesn't get upset, at least not for long."
"I don't know," Zant said slowly, "he seemed pretty mad at me." She started picking at her hair again.
A small part of the copper wolf envied the other wolf her long hair. Hers would eventually grow back. It'd just take time. The temptation to ask what had Gregor so upset was pretty strong, but with a lot of effort, she was managing.
"He's very protective of you," Zant said. "I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise, given how much you had to depend on each other these last weeks."
Sajani caved. "I realize it's totally none of my business, but given I've never seen him angry for much longer than five seconds, what...?"
"I'd really rather not talk about it," Zant said shyly.
"Well," Sajani said honestly, "he didn't say anything to me about it." She told the other she-wolf the story about Gregor's response to her eating all the food.
Zant's eyes widened and her ears lowered slightly. "Well, he..."
They were interrupted by Farleesha. She patted each of them nicely on the shoulder. "Good to see you two being civil. I'd have never thought it possible after everything else." The merchant kept walking out the tent.
If she was really honest with herself, Sajani realized, she wouldn't have thought it was possible either.
Sajani met up with Gregor at the corral, Zant left to start her work monitoring the teams and so the other two youths wandered over towards Sajani's tent to start tearing things down. Her tentmates were still at breakfast, so the copper wolf took the opportunity to ask Gregor about his conversation with Zant.
She was very surprised by his response. He was still upset about things. "I told her not to talk about it with you," he said angrily.
There was a part of Sajani that wanted to use that to get Zant in trouble, but she decided she was more interested in what was really said. "She didn't tell me," Sajani said truthfully, making sure the words were spoken at a normal speed. "But there were a few things said in passing that, added to what you said this morning had me curious."
He glared at her. That was definitely new.
She smiled, hoping that might calm him. "Hey friend," she started, "I'm not trying to get you mad or anything. I was just curious. You don't have to tell me anything."
Gregor didn't calm much. He started pacing. "I want to be friends with her." He paused and said very defensively, "You're a great friend, Sajani and nothing will change that, but I'm really excited to be out of that school and meet more people."
She smiled at him. The last few days had left her really needing to have that friendship affirmed. Up until that moment she wasn't aware she needed that, but once it was said a lot of extra weight seemed to drop.
"She made it sound like all you cared about was what you could get from me! She has no idea how much you've done--no idea the sort of person you really are!" This was a first. He seemed very upset, almost as upset as she could be.
Something stirred deep inside the copper wolf and she realized that what she was being accused of doing, hadn't been too far from the truth. Seeing that hurt. "But," she said slowly, placing an arm on his shoulder, "I..."
He stopped his pacing and looked directly into her eyes. His face softened. In a very calm and kind voice he pleaded, "Don't start that," he said, "I know who you were. Zant has never met that person. If you really did view me as nothing more than a servant, would you have supported me while I walked? Would you have risked yourself to save me from the river?"
Sajani smiled, "I couldn't leave my friend..." Her former friends had all left her. Worse, they'd pushed her into the river. If it hadn't been for meeting Gregor, she probably wouldn't even know what being a friend meant.
"But who you were would have definitely left a servant." His smile was very broad.
"I'll never leave my malik," she said with conviction. She took his hands in hers.
"I'll never leave my kalura," he answered.
Farleesha's voice came from a distance. "Less flirting and more work," she shouted.
The two separated and started tearing down the tent.
Benayle took the seat that was offered to him by Lady Mishil. "You have some news for me?" he asked politely.
They were meeting in the Minister's office this time. Unlike his own office, this one reflected the status of the owner. The desk was made of a highly polished dark wood and was large enough it had to have been built in place--no way to get it through a door. Behind it was a high back leather chair and to either side of that was the flag of her office and the Vharkylia national flag. Light streamed through lace curtains that covered a window that was easily four times the size of his own office window. The curtains and valance were of silk and colored in a pattern of gray and red.
"Not much, I'm afraid," the she-wolf said slowly. She took a seat next to his and pulled a folder off her desk. One of our 'inside' agents was able to get two small bits of information. I figured they're interesting enough that you'd want to know."
"Ok," he said. "I have no idea what you mean by that first part, but let's see what you have."
Mishil sighed. "Sorry, Ben. I get used to speaking the lingo here and forget how often you actually get involved. An inside agent is a non-vykati local. We call him Orange."
The Alpha nodded. He really didn't care what any of that meant. "So what do you know?"
The minister opened the folder. Inside was a single sheet of paper. "We know that Gregor arrived at the Bahadhra Orphanage on the 15th of Chandra, 1457. So..."
Benayle thought that was very interesting. "One week before the attack on Altaza. Now if we could just find out where he came from."
Mishil smiled broadly. "Well, we do have that too, but it's not as helpful as either of us thought it'd be. He came from the Bahadhra College of Arcane Studies. Orange has no idea how long he was there."
That told the old wolf absolutely nothing. "Under the same name?"
Mishil nodded. "Gregor. It's an odd name. Makes me think he had to have been raised in Zenache, where the name is much more common."
That didn't feel at all right to the Alpha. "No," he said carefully. "I think we want to start checking for his name here, in Vharkylia."
Mishil blinked. He could tell she didn't agree, but he knew from experience she usually trusted him. "We'll find fewer of that name here than we would in Zenache at least. Any suggestions on where to start?"
He was listening to his marrow's voice and it was being pretty silent on that question. "Not really. Probably easiest to start in Drtithen."
"I'll get with the Home Ministry for the census data," Mishil said confidently. "Hopefully he was still in Vharkylia in 1450."
Benayle nodded, "...and hopefully his parents answered the door that day."