"Eshuumina, your turn," called the instructor.
Standing, Eshuumina spared Inyoninko a sideways glance and smirked at seeing red eyes watching her. She strode down the central aisle to the front of the class but as she faced them, she clasped her hands behind her back, legs shoulder-width apart. Staring straight at Inyoninko, she raised her chin, closed her eyes and breathed in, yet when she breathed out, she did not speak. She did not speak even as the whispers started. "Eshuumina," the instructor called, "Your speech."
She opened her eyes. "I can't," she announced looking to a far corner.
"Why can't you?"
"I'm listening." He said nothing and she looked over, dark blue settling on him. "The first step, in any conversation, is to listen."
She looked to Inyoninko. "You want to blame me for yesterday. Don't you?" She glanced at Iejei. "Last night. I was told I should apologize but then I remembered Amitirzh's words on forgiveness and understanding." Her gaze swept over the class. "She said. Why is it, in the eyes of Uurenshi, there is no right or wrong?"
Dark blue flitted from face to face. Aside from Inyoninko and Asakay, of course everyone else was familiar. Amitirzh, their patron deity, was the god of gossip and storytelling.
"She is reason! But she doesn't know right and wrong. So are they emotions? Where do emotions come from? Why, they're the second likeness of Uurenshi. The second likeness of reason is emotion. But if it's still Uurenshi, then where does blame come from? If she who is reason and emotion cannot decide that an act or person is wrong, so then?"
Eshuumina turned to Inyoninko. Dark blue and bright red eyes stared at one another. "If I speak of wrongs and blame in our history. Surely you wouldn't understand. Not all of it, right? It's not as if you've learned the Way of Amitirzh. We haven't learned the Way of Shsyryo."
She backed away and looked to everyone in the class. "But we all know the Way of the Divine One! Our Shtenamuunin. And everyone knows. Even Shtenamuunin has committed wrongs that we, mere mortals like us, can't condemn." She glanced at Inyoninko.
"The Divine One once purged life from this world. She doesn't regret it. The Divine One once abandoned us to darkness, disease and famine. For more than a thousand years and she doesn't regret it. The Divine One cursed us all from the beginning of time to the end of worlds! And she doesn't regret it!" She checked to see if crimson red was still glaring at her. "But you forgive her."
She looked to the class. "Is it because she is our Divine One? Is it because her power and self are infinite? Out of fear. Out of awe. Out of habit. Why do we forgive this mother of all mothers? But we will all forgive her." She was answered by nods and murmurs of agreement. Even Asakay inclined his head to her when she looked at him, but when she looked to Inyoninko, those red eyes now the color of fresh blood were cold. "To you, what I did was wrong. So what if I can explain myself or if I was justified in my actions. So what if this is our culture and our ways, or if I was fulfilling the request of the Yrtorleihw governor. I had the choice."
She watched as Inyoninko sat up, red eyes never straying. "I had the choice. Didn't I? To strip them as I did. To tell their story like I did. To let them be humiliated. Dirtied. And chased out. I had the choice!" She leaned back and started shaking her head. "You've decided I'm wrong. Because to you, to Shsyryo, I committed the worst wrong anyone can commit. I cast them out. I humiliated them and degraded them as people."
She looked away, glancing over Asakay and the rest, not missing the glance towards Inyoninko.
"Last night. I reviewed the words of Amitirzh. To Maluurzh, her other half, she said. Why, how many a time yet have you frightened me with your violent ways? You do not speak with your displeasure, so how am I to do what will not displease you? I will simply do what I do."
Eshuumina looked over and watched Inyoninko as she resumed the stance she had first assumed before, hands clasped behind her back, feet shoulder-width apart, back straight but with her chin up and her eyes open. "So I will listen. Speak to me. Inyoninko."
For a moment, there was only silence then a round of applause swept through the room. Even the instructor applauded her but Inyoninko, Uuzhit and Asakay were quiet. She was smiling as she looked back to Inyoninko until she heard, "That's not what Amitirzh said."
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