Ashan looked about to reply when Aleverak raised his hand to forestall him. He looked at Jardir, and his aura went cold. ‘If the Deliverer sees fit to allow some women to become Sharum, then that is how it shall be. But your decree did not negate the duties of a daughter and wife that are prescribed in the Evejah. For did not Kaji himself command their obedience?’
Inevera’s aura changed to one of amusement at the thought. Everam knew, she was anything but obedient. Jardir snorted and immediately regretted it as he saw how the sound had offended proud Aleverak.
‘Wise words, Damaji,’ he said quickly, and relaxed as the man’s aura was mollified. ‘It is true I can bend my words if I wish.’
‘Then bend them!’ came a shout from across the room.
Jardir looked up as Hasik belatedly shouted, ‘The Holy Mother!’
Kajivah, still in sleep blacks, stormed into the room with his sisters Imisandre and Hoshvah in tow, three auras showing as one in outrage. Next to him, Inevera’s aura went cold with fear, all sense of smugness gone.
Interesting, he thought, eyes flicking to his wife and watching the threads of emotion that connected her to Kajivah. She believes my mother can sway me when even my counsellors cannot.
Looking back to Kajivah, Jardir couldn’t deny his wife was right to worry. His mother had occasionally been vexed with him over the years. He was no stranger to that. But never had he dreamed his divine mother could direct such fury at him.
‘This is your fault,’ Kajivah said, drawing gasps from around the room. ‘This is what comes of refusing your nieces the white.’
Asome nodded. ‘It was enough you told the world they were not worthy of Everam’s grace. Now you decree they should man a spearwall like common warriors?’
Jardir felt his temper flare. He pulled the edge of his white outer robe, revealing the black beneath. ‘I am a common warrior, my son. As is your elder brother.’ He glanced at Jayan’s aura, not surprised that the boy did not care what he decided. His eldest son did not want the headache of women warriors, but neither did he consider the issue worth crossing his father over. He was content to stand by and enjoy Asome’s suffering.
‘There was a time when you begged to be a warrior, as well,’ Jardir told Asome. ‘I mourn the loss of that boy. His honour was boundless.’
‘I have led men in the night,’ Asome said. Jardir regretted the insult when he saw how deeply it cut at his son’s spirit, but now was not the time to coddle.
‘From the rear,’ Jardir said. ‘You are a master tactician and general, my son, but you have not felt the rancid breath of an alagai on your face. If you had, you would have more respect for the spear.’
‘Father speaks truly, brother,’ Jayan said. His aura made his motivations clear, attempting to appear wise while currying his father’s favour and kicking his brother for the pleasure of it.
Jardir cast a displeased glance his way, and saw Jayan’s aura shrink. ‘Everam bless me if I could meld the two of you together like silver and gold to make a fitting heir.’
‘I have always respected the spear, my son,’ Kajivah said. ‘I raised you to do the same, did I not? Everam knows it was hard without Hoshkamin …’
Inevera’s aura was so exasperated she might as well be shouting, though only Jardir could sense it. To the rest she was studying her painted nails as if they were more interesting than the events at hand. She knew better than to force Jardir to choose between them publicly.
‘But I also taught you to respect women,’ Kajivah went on. ‘To protect and cherish them. To keep them safe in the night, and provide for them. Now you will make them fight? Will you ask children to take up arms next?’
‘If I must, to win Sharak Ka,’ Jardir said, and even Kajivah sputtered to a stop at that.
He looked around the room for further thoughts, his eyes lighting on Shanjat. He had known the man since they were children in sharaj together, and had fought and bled beside him in the night countless times. The kai’Sharum’s aura was conflicted, but Jardir could not glean its meaning without more information.
‘And you, Shanjat?’ he asked. ‘What does your heart tell you? Do you wish to see your daughter take the spear?’
Shanjat knelt before the throne, laying his spear next to him. He put his hands on the marble floor and pressed his forehead to it. ‘It is not my place to question your decree, Deliverer. It is also not my place to question Damaji Ashan’s feelings regarding his daughter, nor Dama Asome his Jiwah Ka.’
He lifted his forehead and fell back on his heels. ‘For my part, if you had asked me yesterday, I would have shouted at the thought of women beside me in a spearwall, or trusting one with my back in sharak.’ He looked at Shanvah, and his aura filled with love. ‘But I cannot deny that when I watched those two warriors fight, it was glorious. I can think of none, even Spears of the Deliverer, who could have fought better. When they unveiled and I saw my daughter’s face, it was not shock or anger I felt, it was pride.’
Shanvah returned her father’s look. Jardir could see in the emotions connecting them that she barely knew the man — ignored by him in favour of her brothers and taken from his household early to train in the Dama’ting Palace. Until now, she had felt little for Shanjat, but with his words, a thread of love went out to him in return.
Jardir nodded, considering.
Inevera cleared her throat. ‘Husband, with respect, you have consulted your clerics and counsellors. You have consulted the fathers, you have consulted the mothers. You have consulted the husbands, you have consulted the brothers. You have even consulted the alagai hora. You have consulted everyone and everything, save the women themselves.’
Jardir nodded, beckoning the would-be Sharum’ting forth. ‘My beloved nieces,’ he said as they knelt before him, ‘know that like Shanjat, your honour is boundless in my eyes. But I cannot deny I fear the idea of you out in the night. If you wished to prove something to me, you have proven it. If you wished to honour me, and your bloodline, you have done so. Nothing more is needed for my esteem, and I would not see you pushed into this life by some,’ he glanced at Inevera, ‘or fleeing to it from others.’ His eyes flicked to Asome. ‘And so I ask, is this truly what you want?’
Both women nodded immediately. ‘It is, Uncle.’
‘Think well on this,’ Jardir said. ‘Your lives will change forever if you take the spear. You may look upon the Sharum and see only the excesses they are allowed, but those excesses come at a heavy price. There is glory in the night, but there is also pain and loss. Blood and sacrifice. You will see horrors to haunt you, awake and asleep.’
The women nodded, but he went on. ‘It will be even harder on you than on men. The male Sharum will expect you to be weak, and will not wish to heed your commands. You will be challenged, and have to be twice the fighters your male zahven are until you have their respect. This will not be easy, and I cannot help you there. If men fear to strike you only because they fear me, they will not respect you.’
Ashia looked up at him. ‘I have always known Everam had a different path for me than He did your daughters. Now, having stood in the night, I know. If I shame my husband, then dissolve our union that he may find a worthier Jiwah Ka. I was meant to die on alagai talons.’
Shanvah nodded, taking Ashia’s hand as the morning’s first sunbeam came in through the windows. ‘On alagai talons.’
You will gain warriors in the night, Inevera had said, but lose others on the morrow. But what did it mean? Did it mean he would refuse them? Or that his men would rebel at the thought of fighting alongside women?