The shadow moved around the garden sundial noticeably before I found my words again. “I—wha… hssssss.”

Or not.

Ssiina laughed at my state, though she did push herself up higher to look over my head at the fallen ssyri’zh. “Will she be alright, Sister?”

“I… hsss… maybe?”

“Maybe?” Ssiina cocked her head to one side. “Shall we fetch someone from the temple then?”

I shook my head rapidly. Next to me, Kyrae also shook her head—making Ssiina laugh again. For all her practiced diction, her laugh made the hssen seem real.

Maybe that was what helped pull me out of my stupor. “Uh… I have extra food if you want some—I mean if you can eat street food like this.”

“I’d love to!” Ssiina said brightly, slithering around me toward the table.

Onussa stirred at her approach, lifted her head, and then bowed formally when she realized the hssen was coiling next to her. The ssyri’zh didn’t prostrate herself—even I knew that those of the temple were technically above even the royals. Tell that to any self-important ussen from a minor family though…

I wonder how much of what I know from overhearing high class people complain about nothing is actually true?

“Issa?” Kyrae asked softly as Ssiina took a seat.

The hssen girl snatched a big fried piece from my still-overloaded plate. I watched her hold the food as if touching it would bring her physical harm, but give it a curious sniff anyway.

“Kyrae?” I asked. “What’s gonna happen?”

My sister squeezed my hand and took a hesitant step back toward the table, pulling me forward. “I think…” she started before whirling around to face me. “I think we’ll not want for food again, Sis.”

I smiled at her and felt my eyes grow wet. I wiped at my eyes with my sleeve, appreciating the softness of clean cloth. “I hope so, Sister.”

“I know so, Sis!” Ssiina said, swallowing a bite of fried something. “This really isn’t bad, honestly. It’s a little different from what I’ve eaten the other times I’ve snuck away, but not terribly so.”

Onussa gave Ssiina a surprised look, opening and closing her mouth. Probably doesn’t want to chastise a hssen. Ssiina stuck her tongue out at the ssyri’zh and Onussa paled before stifling a giggle and reaching for what was left of her own food.

“Do you sneak away often?” I asked, sitting down. “Also, I think that’s water rat.”

“Oh, I—” The last of my words hit Ssiina and her eyes went wide, slowly looking down at what was left of the fried rat.

“They skin the rat and gut it first—really they’re not bad!” Kyrae chimed in. “They’re a really good deal if you’re broke.”

I nodded, taking another fried rat and opening my jaw, swallowing it two bites.

“You!” Ssiina puffed up. “You’re not really telling the truth, are you?” she accused us like she’d caught on to a prank.

“We are, Ssiina,” Kyrae said seriously.

I nodded as well. It’s just a rat, Sister.

Ssiina looked at Onussa for help. The ssyri’zh sighed and looked skyward before replying carefully. “I believe that is water rat, but many vendors raise them and they are no less clean than other land fare.”

The hssen eyed the rat suspiciously. I assumed she’d throw it away, but to my surprise she closed her eyes and finished the rest of it before reaching for what was clearly a fried river fish.

“So do you sneak away often?” Kyrae asked, her voice almost a whisper.

Ssiina nodded. “I do. Ever since, well, ever since Issa’s kidnapping and Mother’s death, Sire’s been very protective. A-and the rat’s not… bad. Really. I wish you hadn’t told me though.”

“Mother’s death?” I asked, surprised.

I find out I’m royal and have a family, and now I also find out my mother’s dead!?

Ssiina looked for something to wipe her mouth, found nothing and pouted, before her smile turned wistful. “She died trying to stop whoever took you from taking you. At first—it was assumed you’d died as well, and no ransom was ever communicated.”

The hssen’s emotion was too real—she had to be telling the truth. She gained only my sympathy were she to lie, and she didn’t need that right now.

I found myself tearing up. “I… I wish I could have met her then. If you’re telling the truth, I wish I could have thanked her for trying.”

Ssiina nodded solemnly. “She’d like that, I think.”

At Ssiina’s response, Kyrae leaned over and wrapped her arm around my upper body, just above where scales met skin. I leaned into it. Ssiina’s eyes glinted and she slithered over as well, hugging me from the other side.

I let her. The silk of her robe was smooth and she smelled like lotuses.

We ate and talked about mundane things until my pile of food was finally gone.

Finishing the last fish, Ssiina turned to me. “Sister? I heard something about a curse, but Sire wouldn’t tell me more. Despite your gauntness and charmingly uncouth manner, you do not strike me as ‘cursed.’”

I glanced at Kyrae for approval and she nodded. “Something gave me shadow powers, but whatever it is wants something from me—or wants me. I don’t want to do anything big, but I can show you what I mean. Watch the sundial and—”

“Stop,” a firm, but high-pitched voice interrupted.

I stopped and felt someone slide through the shadows. I’d felt something earlier, but I’d been trying to ignore the shadows. The revelation that I was hssen of all things had taken more than enough of my attention to miss the owner of the voice.

Still, I turned to look at saw a very small lania’el woman descend from the tree above and behind me, uncoiling from the trunk. I saw sheathed short blades by her hips and bulges in her tight, foliage-colored clothing that were probably other weapons. The short-haired, dark-skinned lania’el had green and brown scales, almost mottled, and lean muscle showed along her tail.

“Dyni!” Ssiina exclaimed.

“Hssen Ssiina,” Dyni bowed low.

“Y-you followed me!” Ssiina exclaimed.

“Hssen Tyaniis’s orders, Hssen Ssiina.”

Ssiina pouted. “How long were you waiting up there?”

Dyni glanced at me and when our eyes met, I felt a chill. “Since you decided to give your escort the slip.”

“Then why didn’t you stay hidden?”

“A direct order from Hssen Tyaniis: Hssen Sseti is not to call forth the powers tied to her curse.”

“Surely a simple demonstration wouldn’t hurt?”

Dyni shook her head. “It would.” The scary bodyguard then turned to me and bowed nearly to the ground with her upper body. “My apologies for addressing you informally, Hssen Sseti, but I must abide by your sire’s orders.”

“I… that’s okay,” I replied, not wanting to anger her. “I don’t need to risk it I guess.”

Kyrae clung closer to me and stayed quiet, Onussa had firmly removed herself from the conversation, and Ssiina seemed content to make me handle whatever was going on. Dyni stayed bowed.

“Uhm, you can stop bowing?” I asked hesitantly.

The bodyguard rose and narrowed her eyes at me, but said nothing.

I narrowed mine back. “What?”

“Your etiquette is lacking, Hssen.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Well sorry Kyrae and I pretty much raised ourselves!” I snapped. “Weren’t you eavesdropping anyway?”

Dyni bowed again. “My apologies, Hssen Sseti. I meant no disrespect.”

“Get up,” I sighed.

She rose, and although she hung her head, I could see her eyes were still wary.

“Are you going to say that we need to leave to meet Sire?” Ssiina asked Dyni.

Dyni nodded. “Yes, Hssen Ssiina.”

Ssiina haved an exaggerated sigh. “Fiiine. At least you let us finish eating before jumping us.”

I could swear I saw a small smile play across Dyni’s lips, but she returned her expression to neutrality before I could know for sure. “Are you ready then, Hssen Ssiina and Hssen Sseti?”

“Could you call me Issa, please?” I asked, hoping politeness might get her to drop with the name that wasn’t really mine.

“Not among those who know who you are, until Hssen Tyaniis gives approval.”

At least she didn’t use Sseti again. Although it’s not like I hate the name.

“That aside, we’re ready. Right Issa and Kyrae?” Ssiina asked.

I gulped, suddenly nervous. I wish we could just stay here. “Yes. I’m ready.”

“Me too,” Kyrae added, smiling at Ssiina who returned the gesture.

Dyni looked at Kyrae curiously than at Ssiina.

“I am certain myself and Issa will be able to convince Sire to adopt Kyrae,” Ssiina said, rising from her coil around the table. “You should come as well, Ssyri’zh Onussa.”

Onussa startled at being addressed, then bowed. “Yes! I mean, of course, Hssen Ssiina.”

I found myself following Ssiina back out through Onussa’s home. When we reached the door, I whispered at her, “Do we always have to do all the bowing and formal stuff? Because I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand that.”

Ssiina giggled. “It’s terribly inconvenient at times, yes. Among family and close friends, formalities are often relaxed.

“Does that mean we can stop with all this stuff, Ssiina?”

Ssiina pulled open the door and laughed.

I followed after her. “That’s not an answer, Ssiina! Ssiina?”

***

Not a block out from Onussa’s house, Dyni pulled Ssiina aside and said, loud enough for all of us to just make out, “You know that… Issa’s situation must be kept secret according to Hssen Tyaniis’s orders, right Hssen Ssiina?”

Ssiina’s mouth had twisted. “Is this an order I can disobey?”

Dyni didn’t laugh—the stealthy bodyguard just shook her head. “No. Hssen Tyaniis was very clear.”

Ssiina had turned to both myself and Kyrae and started to offer a bow before stopping herself. “I’m sorry you two, but we’ll need to act like you’re ssen’iir around my escort when we find them. I cannot afford to displease Sire in this way.”

The way she’d spoken made me smile. “I’m used to it, but you’ll owe me.”

“I will, yes.” Ssiina shifted her tail and started forward again.

“So what did you get in trouble for last time?” I asked.

Ssiina blushed and sped up. “T-that’s none of your business?”

I almost pried deeper, but Kyrae shushed me. I opened my mouth to protest, but she pointed to the few people who’d already taken notice of our conversation.

Simply standing on a back street, even in a nice district, Ssiina and Dyni stood out.

“Fiiine,” I protested to Kyrae. “I’ll let it go.”

Our motley group made our way down the street toward the ever-present monolithic shape of the Grand Temple. It wasn’t long before we were met by what I could only assume was Ssiina’s ditched escort. Like her, they stood out painfully, all the more for how they’d tried poorly to fit in.

“I apologize for our failure, Hssen Ssiina,” one of several well-dressed, and well-armed, guards said with a deep bow.

Ssiina waved it away. “Stand. I needed to be alone—and I had Dyni with me.”

Dyni gave a shallow bow at being acknowledged.

I stayed more or less hidden behind Onussa, and Kyrae behind me. Guards for my other sister or not, they brought back memories of near misses and of other, less fortunate thieves.

You’d have to be crazy to try something with these people around. They’re wearing armor for Jaezotl’s sake—metal armor!

Ssiina motioned for them to move to her flanks and gestured in the direction of the Grand Temple. The guards formed up, and politely, but insistently, gestured for Ssyri’zh Onussa to shift away. They didn’t even pay Kyrae or myself more than a glance.

We were acknowledged, tested, and dismissed in a single moment. The feeling was somehow both comfortingly familiar and infuriating, but Kyrae and I kept quiet as per our deal. Really, I was more surprised than anything that I was going along with all this nonsense.

But… my scales were clean, my shirt was soft, and my belly was full.

Unfortunately, the fact Onussa kept us trailing behind Ssiina’s increasingly attention-drawing entourage caused more and more attention to pile onto us as we slither (or walked) along. Dyni flitted between guards, and I caught snippets of her conversation with the largest ke’lania who seemed to be in charge.

“Hssen Tyaniis… an interest… my place to say… open knowledge soon enough.”

A little bit of tension in my lower body I didn’t know I’d been holding released. It seems we haven’t been lied to about everything, at least.

“Can… we? Can we get herbs for Kyrae now?” I spoke up haltingly, trying to aim my question at Ssiina through her guards.

Next to me, Onussa gasped. “Oh no! Kyrae, I’m terribly sorry! In all the chaos I’d forgotten…”

Ssiina looked over her shoulder, but it was her bodyguard who replied. Well, she replied after glancing at Ssiina who gave a nod.

Dyni nodded at Kyrae and me. “I will fetch them, and Hssen Ssiina will cover the cost.”

“Thank you,” Kyrae whispered, looking at Dyni while giving my hand a squeeze.

The bodyguard nodded again and slipped away into the crowd. We continued on, Onussa offering another, softer apology which my sister accepted. The idea of someone apologizing to us, even someone as nice-seeming as Onussa, just didn’t feel real.

Dyni returned shortly with a sizeable sack of clean fabric tied with string. Flicking out my tongue, I smelled a faint, earthy sort of scent. Kyrae’s hands shook as she let go of mine and accepted the bundle, and she looked to Ssyri’zh Onussa questioningly. With a soft smile, the Ssyri’zh opened the bag as Dyni melted once again into the crowd—this time among the guards still surrounding us.

She sniffed, then with her tongue, and held a dried, green-brown leaf up out of the sack and into the light. My sister sighed as if in relief, and I realized she must not have trusted if the herbs were the right thing. I felt a little warmth toward Dyni—and Ssiina by extension—growing now that they had done something truly kind for my sister. Onussa explained how to take them, but I hardly followed—we were getting close to our destination and I was starting to feel nervous again.

Kyrae could tell me later how to take the herbs—if I even needed them. Truthfully, I didn’t really know much of anything about “ra’zhii.”

Once we reached the temple, Kyrae and I split the stairs and ramp like when we’d left, holding hands the whole way. Onussa held onto the sack of herbs for now, although I did see Kyrae taking some moments before we’d reached the ramp.

For now, I’d pretend not to have anything to do with Ssiina, but nothing would stop me from staying close to my sister Kyrae. At the top of the ramp, we passed under the largest symbol of Jaezotl I’d ever seen, its ivory fang and emerald-crusted scale gleamed in the midday sun. Ssyri’taaniir flanked the door, their armor shining only a little more brightly than Ssiina’s “disguised” escort. I’d missed the sight on our way out, and coming back it only served to stir my stomach.

Ssyri’zh Onussa hurried us along inside, while Ssiina’s entourage parted the crowd ahead. Once inside, Onussa took the lead, acting as an escort to all of us, even as the hssen’s guards eyed me with suspicion.

Once again, we moved through hallways lit by sconces, though this time we stayed lower and larger—the size of the halls and rooms inside the massive black stone ziggurat beggaring belief. It wasn’t long before we entered a small, lightly furnished room. I moved to coil around a provided resting place, but a guard motioned for me to stop.

Ahead of us was a door of dark wood, and beyond it, I could just make out muffled voices, cast into shadows and filtered through to me. I couldn’t hear more than their tone, but both seemed… excited. Anxious maybe?

Next to the door, a ssyri’zht dressed much like Onussa was coiled and waiting. Onussa spoke to him, mentioning Ssiina and including me as someone of interest to Hssen Tyaniis. Seemingly, satisfied, the ssyri’zht left, sliding around and back into the hall, closing the outer door behind himself.

With that, Onussa took a deep breath. “If Hssen Ssiina, Issa, and Kyrae are ready to enter, Hssen Tyaniis and Ussyri Noski are waiting inside.”

Ssiina nodded and Kyrae copied the motion. She elbowed me, and I nodded as well.

“Very well,” Onussa answered formally. “She drew the door open and led Ssiina inside first, followed by Dyni and then Kyrae and myself. Ssiina’s escort stayed in the outer room.

With danger in front and behind me, I couldn’t help but feel trapped, and reached toward the shadows almost reflexively, until Kyrae grabbed my arm. “It’s okay Issa,” she whispered. “I’m here, and for what it’s worth Onussa is too—and I think Ssiina might be on our side.”

I gulped and nodded. “Thanks, Sis.”

Even with her reassurance, I felt the shadows in the corners of the room, although in this place they seemed distant. Bright as the sconces inside were, there were no shafts for light this deep into the Grand Temple. No corner was truly lit. I could even feel—barely—the thin gaps between the well-fitted stones. I resisted a shiver and slithered in last before Onussa closed the door behind my tail, quick enough that I had to draw the tip inside.

The three lamias in front of me blocked me and Kyrae’s view, but I could now clearly hear an authoritative voice I didn’t recognize. The pitch wasn’t quite as deep as Ussyri Noksi’s, but it had the same formal quality as Ssiina. Albeit, this voice had a dangerous edge.

“Ssiina,” the voice addressed Ssiina without title or preamble.

“Yes, Sire?” Ssiina replied nervously.

“We will discuss your punishment later.”

Ssiina sputtered. “But—how… Yes, Sire.” She stepped aside meekly.

Through the gap and around Onussa’s shoulder, I got my first look at Hssen Tyaniis Ssyri’Jiilits.

She had Ssiina’s eyes. In color, shape, and despite all odds—emotion as well. Her eyes searched me and for all my difficulty reading people, I could tell both hope and fear lay behind them. Her face was similar to Ssiina, but not quite the same: a bit darker and more mature, her defined nose and high cheekbones complemented the way her lips were pulled thin and the lines of makeup traced her whole jaw.

Her black hair was done in a single long braid, capped with a gold loop and pulled over one shoulder. The loop wasn’t the only gold—or emerald—on her. Whereas Ssiina dressed to “blend in,” Hssen Tyaniis had dressed to show off. The robe she wore was colored deep gold and green, with purple thread at the seams and gems or gold in prominent places. She wore ample jewelry, although far less than many ussen of kss’kaa I’d stolen from in the past. The jewelry she did wear—earrings, a choker, and bangles under her sleeves—more than made up for any absence with the sheer wealth on display.

More than any of her posturing, however, what made me want to hide away was her size. Hssen Tyaniis was longer than any ke’lania I had seen, but her dark emerald-scaled lower body almost had the more slender profile of a lania’el.

Kelaniel.

Sure, Ssiina was too, but she wasn’t as… much. Ussyri Noski was large for a ke’lania, but Hssen Tyaniis had at least two or three Kyrae’s of length on even her.

“Sseti…” Hssen Tyaniis whispered, the soft sound a complete contrast to her imposing presence.

Noksi glanced at me, and Ssiina nodded proudly.

“I… can’t—no. You cannot be real, can you?” Tyaniis asked, sounding… hurt. Her coils shifted, slowly, as she leaned forward, her pale gold eyes boring into mine.

I didn’t know how to respond. Of every way I imagined this meeting could happen, none were like this.

“I…” I started, not finding my courage until Kyrae’s arm wrapped itself around my waist. “I don’t remember much. A garden, maybe? I’m… I’m sorry.”

Hssen Tyaniis shook her head. “Sseti… I… am sorry, Daughter mine. I did not think you yet lived—I assumed some sort of deception, despite the word of Ussyri Noksi and of your own nanny. But I was wrong. I know it is you, Sseti, even if you do not remember.”

“H-how can you tell?” I asked cautiously.

“Your eyes,” Hssen Tyaniis replied sadly. “They’re just like hers.”