472 - What they’ve unleashed

If Veresinga was shaken, it lasted a bare moment at most, and left his face the same. I began to think he had little in the way of feeling, like a reptile. That made him ideal for me in my panicking, a perfect counterbalance.

“You can promise a more informed answer and hand your supporters a gift-wrapped reason to delay the vote, if you wish,” he said. Invoke Alchaen’s expertise, he meant, which would mean waiting for letters sent back and forth; of course with A-niah couriers, now, the delay would be less than he was likely thinking.

“But how does delay benefit me? What if it’s interpreted as evasiveness?”

“Deferring to an expert is hardly evasion. If you answer the bulk of the questions in a largely satisfying manner, with a little time it will sink in and probably sway some swing votes. Advocates do this with juries on a routine basis.” Naturally, he’d see Assembly as a very big jury.

“Right. I think I know what I will write. The third thing…” I showed him what Assembly must be going on that I had, two articles in the Pages, and he skimmed them fast.

“It is all written assuming the reader has familiarity with this ritual. Could you tell me more about what the Ritual of Ascension, the Ten Tens, is?”

“I don’t know that much, tell the truth. Which doesn’t look good, I know...” I told him what I knew. He’d been inside the Great Temple once, it turned out, accompanying Angali when she’d been curious how the roof was held up.

He furrowed his brow, which always made a narrow line. “Does it relate to the commotion in the Pages where you visited the Temple? If the argument with the Fenjitzas was true, where did you find the words?”

“When I had the slaves spared, you mean? Oh, it was true, he did indeed argue, as if I were proposing some blasphemy. I had no idea what to do. The words... it was the same as when I get inspiration for a plan or a move on the field; I hear the sound of...” Did I ever imagine in my life I’d be explaining this to an advocate? “Well, let’s just say, it’s the sound of sacredness to me. Of All-Spirit. And a sensation of a flash of light in my mind... and they came to me.”

He pursed his lips. “I think I need to ask this straight out, Chevenga. Do you believe in the Arkan Gods?”

Gods... might Assembly decide I was insane, just for that? There was nothing to answer but the truth, however. “Yes,” I said.

He looked surprised, but only for an instant, again. “Can you tell me why?”

I told him, in fair detail, since he always liked detail, about the dreams, and then how I’d found Itasas and he had come with me to give me counsel. “He is absolutely clear, by the way, on what They, especially Selinae, were training me for,” I said. “But he will not tell me, since in the dreams They would not. It’s not Their will that I know, he says.”

“This sounds important to you, and you’ve announced your intention in the Pages,” he said. “So for your response to Assembly, we need to decide how you’d like to describe it and how you want to present your reasoning.”

“How I’d like to describe it and present my reasoning is however makes me seem most sane.”

“Explaining its importance to the populace is important,” he said, without missing a beat. “The more our control of this vast land hinges upon their religious devotion, the better for your purposes here. Sane people, even religious ones, don’t take unnecessary risks, but this one could be seen as necessary, or at least one with a strong benefit. The Fenjitzas was truth-drugged, correct? Were the Ten Tens discussed?”

“He was truth-drugged specifically about the Ten Tens,” I said. “He is not setting up to kill me through it because he does not know how; he is leaving it to the Gods and already conspiring as to what to do after my death.”

“That’s good. We could attack this one in two stages: first, we show strict athyel that they have nothing to fear. Second, we explain your dreams and show that those who believe in the Gods should also be confident. Simply being religious doesn’t make one insane.”

“I worry about those Servants who feel that being religious in any way that isn’t common in Yeola-e is insane... especially in a semanakraseye. Don’t ask me if they are a majority in Assembly... I have no idea.”

“It’s probably in your interest to learn. It’s an issue you’re likely to face soon, even if this isn’t the spark.”

“How? By having each one asked? They might not even know themselves... it has never come up before.”

“By asking people you trust. By trying to get a feel for the pulse of the crowd.”

“But they are in Vae Arahi, and I am here. I’d have to get someone else to do it for me; and as I said, no one is going to know until they start thinking about it, based on my answer to them... All right. It’s not going to help for this round; but it might for the next. I’ll do what I can.” Artira was the main person I had in mind, of course—if she didn’t think I was out of my mind—as well as three or four others.

“You have the first move, when you describe your dreams. How much have you discussed your spirituality with them in the past?”

“It never much came up... it was all procedural and political things when I was first semanakraseye. There are a few who are closer friends, but they think of me as one who is somewhat touched by All-Spirit. I’ve never spoken to them of... the Arkan aspect. Silly me, to think of it as not being their business.”

“You were keeping your mind on saving Yeoli lives while you fought those who invaded and abused our land,” he said, sternly. There was no being down on myself, even facetiously, and getting away with it in his presence. “We both know your time now is hardly free, but consider it your first opportunity to bring it to their attention.”

“Opportunity... such a kind word. It makes it sound as if I have a choice.”

“It is kind. Use it in the letter, let it suggest that you would have let them know anyway as soon as you could find a moment.”

I laughed hard enough that it came out a snort. “Good idea.” Advocates… We were close enough now, I decided, that I could say it aloud. “Advocates...” I was right; he grinned wryly.

“Assembly doesn’t normally have much to say about a semanakraseye’s beliefs, do they?”

“Well, it doesn’t tend to come up, as I said… with mine, or generally, historically.”

“And this is an unusual situation.” My entire life has been an unusual situation, I thought. “If you appear too strongly Arkan you’ll upset the same people we were discussing earlier… you could share what you’ve experienced and explain that you would like to do the ritual primarily for what it would mean to the people, without emphasizing what it could mean to you.”

“Well... maybe this is relevant, Veresinga: the first dream was the night after I set foot on truly Arkan soil, with the army. But I was in Arko for two years before that—in the Mezem—and saw nothing of the Arkan Gods but statues. I didn’t care about Them, didn’t think They were my business, wanted nothing to with Them. And They did not appear to me.”

I had never thought of this before; it came to me as I spoke it.

“That’s delicate. Emphasizing that They seem to have appeared only when you were open to Them would make sense to someone religious but would remind the rest how nutty they consider religious people…”

“I can tell you why it was… it’s coming clear to me now, though it wasn’t at first.” I spoke the thought as it came. “It’s because I was going to become Imperator. I was going to be in the service of the people of Arko. That wasn’t the case when I was a Ring-fighter... some might say I was in their service, but it was not chosen, but compelled.”

“That’s a good explanation, but it may be tangential enough to answering their question about why you intend to undertake the Ten Tens that you can ignore it.”

“No it isn’t!” I jumped up out of my chair; I had to pace. “It’s central. You have to think of the Gods of Arko being to the people of Arko what All-Spirit is to us... the spirit of Their will, if you see what I mean… that’s why They came to me.”

“It would be good to make the point that you feel this ritual is important to truly winning the Arkan masses, to become a leader who can influence their morality and way of life. But you may not have to go much past that.”

“It is important, it is central, to them. Assembly could ask any Arkan, if they wanted testimony on that...” That was like inviting the investigation again. And yet, as he was saying, if I answered enough questions thoroughly beforehand, I was more likely to head it off.

“All that covers your third action, I think,” he said, though I had a feeling he didn’t fully understand. He’s not much on spirituality himself, I thought; that’s why. It was not his calling. “That brings us to the question that has really caught my attention. There are some fundamental disconnects between the way a semanakraseye works and the way an Imperator works, and I’m sure Assembly has not seen all the implications. So first, I will ask you directly: do you intend to cooperate?”

“You have to ask me? There’s no answer they’ll accept other than ‘yes.’ I thought that was a one-worder. What am I going to say? ‘No’?”

“If you chose to, the army would support you, and if Assembly removed you, Arko would still follow you. Especially after you complete the Ten Tens.”

I froze, feeling as if all the bones of my spine had fused together like ice. I looked at his face. It wore the same expression as ever, earnest. I heard the words again in my ears. All-Spirit… did he read my mind?

I saw him see the look on my face. His eyes did not soften, though. “Chevenga, I don’t believe you have chosen this path. But anyone who thinks the situation through can clearly see that it is available to you. Assembly is refusing to see what they’ve unleashed.”