Chapter 78:
By the end of the night, it was over. Vek could scarcely believe it. He reached out and wrapped his four-fingered hand around the chain-links of the filigreed hanging chair he was sitting on. Rock-god, was it real? Was Vek really sitting here? It wasn’t a dream?
He glanced over at Zedid who was perched on a back stool nearby. She was laughing at him. “You don’t have to act like it’s holy!”
“I just can’t believe it,” Vek replied.
From the looks of the other serfs in the lounge, he wasn’t the only one. Nearly everyone was sitting on and touching the furniture rather gingerly. Vek could see most of his squad gathered together around a firelightplace near the end of the lounge, all of them looking a little stiff as they glanced around. As for the lounge itself, well, it was a massive space, stretching out across the entire floor. Vek couldn’t help but marvel as he looked up at the soaring ceiling and across at the conversation pits and clustered chair-and-table-settings and even daybeds. All theirs, now. Not just for him to woodwork and clean for the use of the Rajas, but for his use.
“I heard from one of the magistrates that this is where we’ll meet now in the evenings, everyone from our barracks,” Zedid responded. “And that we can pick whichever dorm we want to sleep in.”
“I want to sleep here,” Vek said. He pointed at one of the daybeds below the awning windows through which the sunlight was fading fast. “Right there. Watch the sun set and everything.”
Zedid shook her head, smiling. “The ceiling here is too high up for me. I want a bunk bed – but a Rajas one this time!”
That sounded nice too. Actually, any sort of bed sounded good right now to Vek. Nobody had gotten any sleep since the start of daysleep, and it was now the end of sunwake, a full twenty-five hours later. At least things were wrapping up now. Some squads in other parts of the castle were still out there, clashing with non-Free Serf Eenta soldiers, but on Zone 14, all was quiet. They’d followed the plan – how long ago it seemed now, to Vek, the hours he’d spent with his squad being coached by Anzana on what to do and where to go when the Uprising happened! – and it had worked out perfectly. Most of the non-Free Serf soldiers and servies they’d encountered, in fact, had surrendered at once. Once they heard their patrons were dead, some of them had even joined in. Which Lady Nari had predicted, of course. Rock-god, how he loved her! It was all because of Lady Nari that the Uprising had happened, all because of her that it had even been possible. She was the reason Vek was sitting on this hanging chair right now, rocking back and forth, back and forth, slowly, to sleep…
He didn’t know how long he slept. When he woke up, Zedid was gone. He jumped at once to his feet, rubbing his eyes, feeling ashamed. How could he have fallen asleep while the Uprising was happening? That wasn’t good anti-casteist behavior!
“I told them to let you rest.”
Vek started at the sound of Anzana’s voice. She was sitting across from him on a biscuit-tufted chair with bolster arms, one just like the many Vek had made as a woodworking servie. She looked tired too, but content. Outside the awning windows it was dark. There was a daysclock hanging on the wall above the firelightplace, but it was too far away for Vek to be able to tell what day or time it was. There were enough serfs slumped out on the beds and sofas and even on the carpet, however, to let Vek know that it was probably nighttime.
Relaxing back into the hanging chair behind him, Vek grinned at Anzana. “It happened,” he said.
“Yes,” she replied, smiling. “I admit I was anxious when we got the summons right after you went off to see Lady Nari, but I guess I didn’t need to be.”
“She’s so perfect.” Vek was only half-listening to Anzana; his thoughts had returned to Lady Nari. “She wasn’t angry at all, even though I deserved it. She –” Vek stopped. He’d been about to tell Anzana that Lady Nari had given him a new position, that of interrogator, but no, he had to be more careful than that. Wasn’t it a flaw of his that he couldn’t stop talking? Lady Nari had overlooked it for long enough. He had to be better. Like he’d just said. It wasn’t good anti-casteist behavior.
Instead, Vek decided to share with Anzana the conclusion he’d come to earlier, right after they’d finished locking the last of the Rajas into the barracks. “She forgave me for losing the Promised Daughter.” He lowered his voice. “And thinking about that… about how it happened… I think I got too close to her.”
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“To the Promised Daughter you mean?”
Vek nodded. “I called her by her first name, I treated her like she was a friend. I shouldn’t have done that. She’s a Rajas. And look, I’m not glad she’s missing, but I am glad, at least, that I’m not with her anymore. I want to be a good anti-casteist and I wasn’t when I was with her.”
“A good anti-casteist?” Anzana repeated the phrase. “You got that from Pakat, the magistrate, from his speech? The one he gave to all of us in the cafeteria after we’d finished transferring the Rajas?”
“Uh…” Vek frowned, trying to remember. “I’m not sure. I guess so?”
“You haven’t used that phrase before, so I was wondering where you got it from. Anyway, you’re right that it’s important to be careful who you’re close to. I’m glad you’re thinking about it.”
Vek grinned, happy with the compliment. “Everything is going to be perfect now.”
To his surprise, Anzana didn’t smile and agree with him. “Don’t get too comfortable.”
“What do you mean?”
She made a wry face, then leaned sideways against one of her chair’s bolster arms. “There have been reports, that’s all. Of trouble out in the villages.”
Vek was suddenly uncomfortable. He felt like he should change the subject, that the topic was casteist somehow. But surely it couldn’t be wrong to simply listen to what Anzana had to say. “What kind of trouble?”
He watched as Anzana glanced over her shoulder before she continued. “Apparently some of the crop villages have been refusing to give up their harvests. Over the past few years, because of poor soil conditions, they’ve been producing less and less, so the Xhota have been giving them fewer credits, which means they haven’t been able to buy as much food for themselves as they used to. Why not eat all our own vegetables? Why not eat all our own rice? At least then we’ll eat enough! That’s what they’re thinking. But the castle serfs, the soldiers and servies, they aren’t going to follow a patron who can’t feed them. If food gets shorter… well, it won’t be good for Lady Nari.”
Vek’s unease melted. Anzana was looking out for Lady Nari, that was all! He shook his head in disbelief, half at himself for doubting Anzana, half at Anzana. He’d experienced this before, flashes of intelligence from her that always made him wonder why she was just a squad leader. “Rock-god, Anzana, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you this, but you should really be a magistrate. You could help Lady Nari so much more if you were!”
“Where I am is best.”
Vek was about to argue with Anzana about it when he glanced up and saw a shadow cross her face. She looked nervous now, as nervous as Vek had been feeling a moment ago. He couldn’t for the life of him though imagine what Anzana might be nervous about. He opened his mouth, closed it, then shrugged his right shoulder. Should he say something? What could he say?
Finally, a tight smile crossed Anzana’s face, and she spoke. “I’m old, you know. And Lady Nari needs young magistrates, younger ones than me. Don’t bring me up to her. It wouldn’t be best. She knows where I am, and she’s happy with my position.”
“Oh,” Vek said. “Okay.”
He was still confused, but he was also still tired. Besides, he didn’t like how scared Anzana looked, how sad. He didn’t like noticing how the skin on her arms sagged or how sunken her eyes were. He didn’t want things to be bad right now. The Uprising had happened! Everything ought to be – had to be – was – perfect.
“I’m going to find a dorm and sleep some more,” he said out loud. Then he frowned. “Or actually I should get up and help with the Uprising!”
Vek was relieved when Anzana smiled. Now she looked more like the squad leader he knew and trusted. “No, no,” she said, scolding gently. “You sleep. We’ve got long days ahead of us, get all the rest you can while you can. I wouldn’t bother finding a dorm room, either. Just go back to sleep here.”
Vek yawned. That sounded like a good idea. He lay back down on the hanging chair. It was too short to hold his entire body but on his side with his knees bent he fit just fine. Anzana was smart to tell him to sleep, he did need to make sure he was ready to tackle tomorrow. She really was the best squad leader in the entire bio-dome. Vek was so glad he’d shared with her about the Promised Daughter. It had been bothering him for a long time now, how close he’d gotten to her. Now he felt better about it. The Vek who had gotten too close to the Promised Daughter, the Vek who had lost the Promised Daughter, that was the old Vek, the pre-Uprising Vek. The post-Uprising Vek would be better – smarter – more anti-casteist.
Because that was one thing Anzana was wrong about. She was very smart, but she was wrong when she said things could go bad for Lady Nari. Things wouldn’t go bad for Lady Nari. Things would go perfectly. The Uprising had happened. Everything was going to be perfect now. Perfect, it was going to be perfect, it was going to be perfect…