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Hunt's Table
Chapter 23: “Is… is Sukren there?”

Chapter 23: “Is… is Sukren there?”

Chapter 23:

But they had.

Mayah sat down with her back to a row of books and buried her face in her hands. She was very tired. She hadn’t been able to sleep at all after getting dragged out to say goodbye to Sukren. Instead of her original plan of sleeping in, Mayah had gotten out of bed as early as could be considered normal and gone straight to the clinic. Ul had greeted her. “Can I help you?”

“Is… is Sukren there?”

“No, he’s not. He was out already by the time I woke up.”

Later that day, Mayah checked in again, and received the same response. “He’s still not here. Hasn’t been in all day.” Now it was almost dinnertime and Mayah had to get up and go eat, it was very important for Rajas to eat regular nutritious meals, but by Sarana, she couldn’t, not today, she couldn’t force herself to shuffle through the line then sit by herself in a corner table, all alone, not today, not today!

Don’t worry, don’t worry, you’ll get seeded soon, you’ll become a senior princess soon…

Normally it helped. Normally the knowledge that all this had to end at some point got her through. That was how Mayah’d managed the past two years. Escape to the library, lose yourself in a book, and when it’s over and you’re back, remind yourself that this won’t last forever, that if you’re a good girl, you’ll get to become a senior princess someday.

Today though, it wasn’t working. Today Sukren was gone, he was missing, he was disappeared.

Who even cares? she thought despondently. Who even cares if I become a senior princess – if I don’t have Sukren?

Oh Sarana, the thought of him truly being gone forever was too much to bear. Mayah turned and grabbed a random book off the shelf behind her. She opened it to a page in the middle and blindly began reading.

Patronage was originally limited in nature. In exchange for fealty, established doctor-priests and regents would offer protection to their younger and newer castemates. Nowadays, however, the practice of patronage has expanded to the point that Chenta and Eenta castle serfs – servies and soldiers alike – are also entering into the patronage of older and more successful doctor-priests and regents.

This was good. This was exactly what Mayah needed. Meaty, heady knowledge that she could bury herself in to forget her life.

Even serf greenhouse villages have begun to have patron Lords and Ladys, although the relationship between villages and their patrons is looser; a patron can poach a village away from its original patron by offering gifts and other inducements. In the castles, however, patronage is for life. Indeed, to have a patron is to have life, as only serfs under a Lord or Lady’s patronage are shielded from the abuse serfs can legally be subjected to.

Mayah settled in further, leaning back against the shelves behind her. Already she could feel her pain subsiding. A little escape, that was all she needed, just a little escape…

Serfs can lose patronage by committing a crime. These serfs are then indentured out to other patrons who are required to take them on as shadow members of their own patronage. A shadow member has all the duties of a patronee but none of the rights. Anyone can do anything to them. It is legal to turn them away, to rob them, to assault them.

Most end up killed by other serfs.

***

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She made it to dinner after all, and on time too, but ate as fast as she could before going back upstairs to the library. Lately Mayah had started taking her meals in a Zone 16 cafeteria so she didn’t have to spend hours going back and forth between the library and the cafeteria in her dorm’s zone, Zone 8.

It wasn’t against the rules to do so. Mayah wouldn’t have done it if it were; she cared very much about keeping up her health through regular nutritious meals. It did also help that nobody seemed to notice her absence. Oh, the regents still took roll call in class, but they only cared about her attendance, not about what she did when she wasn’t in class. Now that Sukren was gone, no one would care.

Now that Sukren was gone…

All at once it hit her – the fear, the grief, the sense that she was spinning out of control. Holy Sarana, now Mayah wouldn’t even have the pills anymore! She got them from Sukren! Once her envelope ran out, that would be the end!

Bowing her head, Mayah slid off the hanging chair on which she was seated. Collapsing onto the short-woven rug beneath, she grabbed with both hands the threads poking out of it and began counting them. One, two, three, four, that’s good, that’s better, yes, keep going, one, two, three, four...

***

You’ll be seeded soon. You’ll become a senior princess soon. You’ll get out soon. You’ll –

Mayah slammed the book in her hand down onto the desk. No! she screamed silently. No more! I can’t take this anymore! No! No! No!

She couldn’t accept it. That was what was wrong. Everything else that had happened to her, Mayah had learned how to let go. She knew how to shrug her shoulders, how to turn her heart away. But Sukren disappearing? No!

There’d been no sign or word of him for eight diurnals. Eight diurnals, four whole weeks, that was how long it had been since Sukren’s departure. And yes, departure was what Mayah would call it. Not disappearance. He’d come to say goodbye to her, hadn’t he? Who did that before they were disappeared? Sukren was out there somewhere. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, believe otherwise.

Oh, but what did it matter? Mayah closed her eyes. She could feel despair washing over her once more. A familiar bucket of water was being dumped on her head, the same old stinking liquid dousing her out. Mayah had to follow the rules. She had to. Otherwise she wouldn’t become a senior princess. And that was what she needed to become.

Tears were pressing against her eyelids, threatening to spill over. Quickly Mayah wiped them away. More than once since Sukren’s departure she’d stood at the edge of a balcony and wondered what it would be like to climb over and let go.

She took a shuddering breath. I can’t do that, I can’t. I’m a Rajas, I have a duty. I have to try to give birth to a queen. I can’t throw myself away.

But I also can’t keep on going like this.

Mayah took another shuddering breath. It was true, and admitting it helped. She couldn’t keep on going like this. Even if she were seeded tomorrow, it wouldn’t make a difference. She wasn’t going to last the rest of the day. She wasn’t going to last another second. Something had to change.

She had to find Sukren.

Fear immediately washed over her. How could she find Sukren and still follow the rules? How could she look for a doctor-priest and still prepare to be seeded? Mayah wavered. Then she shook her head. She would have to find a way.

And at any rate, wasn’t her first duty to her body? Her body, the body of each Rajas, that was what mattered most. Without their bodies, the bio-dome would die. Mayah had to make sure she took care of herself, and if she needed to find Sukren to do that, if she needed Sukren to keep herself from throwing her body away, well, it was her duty, then, to find Sukren. For the sake of her own senior princessship, she had to find him.

It was like… it was like Sukren was her personal bio-dome. If the bio-dome disappeared overnight, wouldn’t all the Saranai look for it?

She’d still have to be careful, of course. She’d still have to follow all the rules. She’d…

A smile touched Mayah’s lips. She couldn’t help it. It was too funny! Here she was, being such a worry-worm about finding Sukren in a good Rajas princessy sort of way, when she had no idea how to even start looking for him. What, was Mayah going to go up to the nearest Eenta soldier and ask if she had disappeared a Chenta doctor-priest recently? That would definitely be against the rules!

I’ll start with the doctor-priest’s lounge, Mayah decided, the shadow of a smile still on her face. The one he used to go to, on Zone 8. And then maybe the butterfly balcony. And also the Zone 9 clinic he worked at. There’s got to be some clue, somewhere, for me to pick up on.