Chapter 3

Zaidna

The Empire of Chalei

Lanae Palace

Rao’s eyes narrowed to slits, and he readied his claws for the attack. The swishing white fabric of his mistress’s skirts came closer and closer, until he thought they were finally in range. He sprang into action, swiping eagerly with both forepaws, but his claws found only air as Sorai veered away at the last second.

Undeterred, Rao slinked back into a low crouch, watching as his mistress continued pacing around the stone pavilion. Sorai was anxious today, and that made Rao feel anxious, too. His pointed ears twitched as he heard padded footsteps coming from another direction. This time, a set of familiar blue skirts came into view. These skirts were coming right at him with no signs of diverting. Rao instinctively pulled his forepaw back and prepared to strike the billowing silk.

But just as he was about to release his blitz, he looked up and stopped short. His mistress didn’t mind his games, but these blue skirts belonged to Kia, Mistress’s mother-in-law, and she minded his games a great deal. In fact, she hated his games and sometimes took to swatting him when he got too close. Rao quickly pulled his paw back and used it to smooth the fur on his chest as nonchalantly as he could.

“You really should sit down and stop worrying,” Kia clucked at Sorai. “Let the servants take care of everything. They already have Tashau’s favorite food made and are preparing your suite so it’s presentable for his return.” She pulled her skirts aside and glowered down at Rao. “Don’t you look at me like you’re so innocent. Shoo!”

Rao nimbly sidestepped Kia’s foot and followed Sorai, who continued to circle the various pieces of wicker furniture under the pavilion.

“He should have been home already,” Sorai fretted, the tinkling ornaments strung in her long, black hair ringing as she stepped about. “I don’t worry so much when he’s traveling along the coast, but every time he goes inland I imagine that one of the rope bridges in the jungle will break and that he’ll fall and hurt himself, or he’ll run into a troop of wild padus and they’ll tear him limb from limb.”

Rao sat down on his haunches. Now he was worried for his master, too. Even though other sazis lived quite happily in the jungles of Chalei, Rao was used to palace life and all the benefits that came with it. He had gone along with his master, Tashau, on a few trips over the years, but he grew tired of all the wild sazis calling out for him in their language, which he had never learned. And nights in the jungle were very scary with the sounds of animals howling, fighting, and hunting without ceasing. He also didn’t like the thought of Tashau setting up camp on the floor of the jungle where the padus could see and smell him. Shivering, Rao stood up and padded over to Sorai, rubbing himself up against her skirt and leaving a loving smear of brown fur across the hem.

“No, no, no!” Kia scolded. “I told you that you could make a mess on anything else that you want, just leave Sorai’s clothing alone!”

Rao folded back his ears and slinked behind Sorai so Kia couldn’t yell at him anymore.

“Rao, you silly sazi,” Sorai chuckled gently. She reached down and gave Rao a few delicate pats on the head. “Maybe you should go play with Faro for a while. I’m sure he’d like some company.”

Rao hesitated for a moment, then hung his head and plodded out of the pavilion, onto the grass toward where Faro was sitting quietly with his toys. He scowled as Faro noticed him and waved at him clumsily. Faro was a sticky, messy toddler, who enjoyed grabbing Rao’s ears and wings whenever Sorai wasn’t looking. When sazis were eight years old, they were fully grown and getting ready to have cubs of their own. Faro was an eight-year-old dalanai who could barely walk and could only remember how to say a few words. Tashau and Sorai always explained that dalanais lived much, much longer than sazis, and longer than any of the other high races, too, so they needed extra time to grow up, but Rao didn’t see the point of being patient. Faro was just a nuisance at any age.

“Hi, Rao?” Faro mumbled, reaching out to Rao with something in his drool-covered hand. Rao sighed and inched a bit closer. Faro was holding a stuffed sazi doll by its tail. The doll looked like it used to have brown fur like any respectable sazi, but now it was a more discolored gray, matted down with years of saliva and abuse. One of its feathered wings was mostly torn off, and the rest of its body had clearly been chewed on more than once. Faro started giggling as he vigorously shook the doll up and down, and Rao noticed that it was even missing one of its button eyes as well as most of its whiskers. Rao growled and turned up his nose, trotting away from Faro and the rest of the hustle and bustle around the pavilion.

He headed past a small fountain, making his way to one of the many winding stone paths that led from the gardens to the palace. Maybe he’d go take a nice, leisurely nap up on a high branch. Or maybe he’d raid one of the kitchens since so many of the servants were outside instead of guarding them. Either way, he’d make sure to—

Rao’s ears involuntarily pricked up as he heard a familiar low whistle coming from behind some bushes in the nearby flower bed. He sniffed at the air and realized that he knew exactly who had made the sound and where he could find him. He quickly scampered over to a group of hedges and stuck his head into one of them. “Fishman!” he exclaimed.

Fishman immediately put a finger to his lips and shushed Rao.

“Sorry,” Rao whispered, climbing into the hedge and crouching down in the shadows just like Fishman. “I forgot that you have those headaches and don’t like it when I make loud sounds.”

Fishman nodded and smiled at Rao, showing all his straight, white teeth. “And how are you, my sazi friend?”

“Very well, thank you.” Rao tilted his head. There was always something odd about Fishman’s face, but Rao couldn’t quite place it. His eyes were round like dalanai eyes, and he had similarly light skin, but he was a bit shorter, more like an eshtan. Oddest of all were his ears. Dalanai ears were pointy on the sides, and eshtan ears were round and hung low, but Fishman’s ears were decidedly small and flat, like open clamshells on either side of his face.

Rao tilted his head even further and smiled. He knew one way to tell if Fishman was an eshtan or a dalanai. Dalanais had tails, even if they insisted on hiding them all the time for some reason. Did Fishman have a tail? Rao thought about asking, but then thought that if he did, it might just make Fishman mad and not want to come around anymore.

Fishman cleared his throat.

“Oh, yes, sorry,” Rao apologized. “How are you, Fishman?”

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“Fine.” Fishman pulled aside a few leaves and peered through toward the pavilion several dozen yards away. “Your mistress seems a bit distracted today.”

Rao nodded. “Master is coming back today! Mistress is making sure she looks clean and nice for him.”

Fishman frowned. “You didn’t mention he was away during my last visit.”

Rao shrugged his wings. “You didn’t ask.”

“I see. I would like it if you would tell me if Tashau is gone next time.”

“Okay,” Rao agreed cheerfully.

“I have a special mission for you today,” Fishman said. He turned to look at Rao with his dark blue eyes.

Rao resisted the urge to jump up and down in excitement. “Oh, do I get fish?”

Fishman smiled and raised a hand into the air. Rao watched raptly as Fishman made a few quick motions and a big, shining fish flopped into view, hovering in midair.

Rao squealed in delight and clapped his paws together. “What do I have to do?”

Fishman reached into the folds of his red coat and pulled out a long silver chain with a dangling jade pendant hanging from it.

Rao was instantly distracted and tried to bat at the necklace, but Fishman quickly snatched it away.

“This is for your mistress. I will not be here for her Naming Day next week, so I would like you to deliver it to her for me. It is important that she knows it’s a gift, but you should not mention my name.”

“Okay, Fishman!” Rao turned his attention back to the fish floating in the air.

“I’m feeling a little generous today,” Fishman continued. “In addition to delivering this gift, if you would also bring me back something of Sorai’s I will give you two fish instead of one.” He waved a hand and the fish split into two equally-sized fish.

Rao’s eyes bulged with glee. “Yes! What do you want from Mistress? Another scarf?”

Fishman paused for a moment. “Perhaps a slip this time. Or something more personal?”

“I think Mistress might notice something like that missing,” Rao pondered aloud.

“Well,” Fishman shrugged, pulling the two fish toward himself and away from Rao. “I understand if you’re not interested in having two fish, but I really thought—”

“Oh, wait!” Rao exclaimed, reaching up to tap Fishman on the knee. “Mistress won’t mind if I just take one slip! It’ll be no problem!”

“All right then,” Fishman replied, allowing the fish to float back enticingly above Rao’s bobbing head. He lowered his hand and dropped the jade necklace into Rao’s waiting jaws. “Remember, this is a gift from me, but don’t tell her my name. I’ll be back in three days.”

“Okay, Fishman!” Rao growled through clenched teeth. He jumped out of the hedge and began trotting back to the pavilion. As he started to approach Sorai, a set of horns sounded in the distance. Master was back! Rao bounded toward Sorai, following her and the servants as they began rushing toward the palace gates.

The gates of the palace complex were already open by the time they all arrived, and a variety of guards and servants had joined them. Rao managed to fall in directly behind Sorai, who easily passed through the small crowd as everyone made way for her. “Make sure you say hello to your father,” she murmured to Faro as they stopped in front of the crowd.

Tashau and a small group of wardens slowly rode in through the gates on naruback. Rao hated narus. To him they were like giant lizards with beaks and claws, completely obedient to the high races but would crush a sazi underfoot without even a thought. He particularly hated Tashau’s naru, which was a much brighter red than the others and with a temper to match. As Tashau stopped to dismount, Rao and the naru locked into a steely staring contest.

“There’s my boy,” Tashau laughed, hefting Faro up into his arms and looking him over. “I hope you haven’t given your mother any trouble.” Faro giggled as Tashau gave him a tickle and a squeeze, before he passed the boy over to Kia, who took him and began herding the onlookers away.

“I’m so glad you’re home!” Sorai gushed. “You were gone almost a full season this time.”

Tashau grunted as he tugged his naru forward by the reins. “It would have taken longer had we not decided to cut through the jungle on the way back.”

“Was there really another raid by the padus?”

Tashau’s expression soured as he handed his naru’s reins to a servant. “I really don’t want to talk about that. I need to rest. I would like some company, though.”

Rao grinned triumphantly as his adversary was forced to look away and follow the other narus as the stablehands led them toward the stables. Sazis might be smaller than narus, but at least they were smart enough not to let people put saddles on them.

“Master, I—” Rao turned toward Tashau, but noticed that he and Sorai had already walked several paces away toward the palace. Rao had forgotten to give Sorai Fishman’s gift! He clamped his teeth down on the jade necklace and quickly moved to catch up.

“—and Faro has started riding lessons,” Sorai murmured to Tashau.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Your mother insists that the son of an emperor must be an expert rider. Frankly, I think it’s a little premature. If narus weren’t so tall I wouldn’t worry so much.”

Tashau chuckled good-naturedly. “I doubt he’d get more than a few bumps. It’ll be good for him! Besides, I started lessons at his age and nothing bad ever happened to me.”

“Mistress, this gift—” Rao tried to interrupt.

“I completely disagree. He’s much too small still.”

“Very well,” Tashau acquiesced. “Would you like me to talk to my mother about it?”

Sorai smiled appreciatively up at Tashau. “Thank you, Tash.”

Rao bumped his way between them, hurriedly spitting the necklace down on the ground. “Mistress, look! A gift!” he exclaimed, hopefully loud enough for her not to ignore him again.

Sorai finally stopped and turned around. “Oh? What’s this?” She stooped down to pick up the necklace, and her face immediately brightened as she ran her hand over the bird-shaped pendant. “How beautiful!”

Rao smiled proudly to himself. “It’s a gift—”

Sorai whirled around to throw her arms about Tashau’s neck. “Jade is my favorite! You brought this back for me, didn’t you? I love it!”

Tashau stared in silent confusion as Sorai showered his face with wet-sounding kisses.

“No, Mistress. It’s a gift from—” Rao gasped and clamped a paw over his mouth. That was too close! He had to be careful not to break his promise to Fishman. He mustn’t tell her that it was Fishman’s gift for her. But how could he do that without letting her think it was from Master instead?

“What, you’re not going to fess up?” Sorai teased. “Then perhaps you’d rather I extract the truth out of you.” She slid one of her fingers down Tashau’s chest, and his face reddened.

Tashau cleared his throat and increased their pace toward the palace.

Rao blinked and sat down on his haunches for a few moments as they left him behind. What had just happened? He shook his head. Oh, no, Fishman was going to be furious if he didn’t deliver the gift properly! What was he going to do?

He chewed anxiously on his tail. Fishman gave him two tasks in exchange for two fish, and at this rate he wasn’t going to complete either of them. When Master and Mistress were alone together, especially after one of Master’s trips, they could be gone for days. What if Rao didn’t get any time to explain the gift or borrow any of Sorai’s clothing before Fishman returned? Rao was going to miss out on fish, and he was so hungry, too! If he ran really fast, would he be able to catch up with Master and Mistress?

Yes! That’s what he’d do. He raced into the courtyard and hurried up the stairs to the third-floor gallery, but Tashau and Sorai had already reached the door of their bedroom suite and were halfway in.

“Mistress, wait!” Rao yowled. “It’s about your—” He skidded to a halt just before his nose plowed into the toe of Tashau’s boot.

“You are not allowed.” Tashau gently nudged Rao back out of the bedroom with his foot and shut the door.

Rao immediately leapt at the door, frantically trying to dig his way back in, but stopped as he heard the sudden snap of the lock. “But your gift!” He fell back and stared sadly up at the doorknob, his ears drooping. “Now I’ll never get fish.”