“Did you sleep well?” Duke Bejuk found a quiet moment to ask Rae after Duke Ashem had finished complaining about how late in the day it was, and how little had been done. He was distracted by tending to the Shana, suffering from mild chest pain, which afforded Rae and Bejuk a moment of privacy. 

“Very well, thank you for your help,” Rae said.

They were being received in the Shana’s palace, which aside from being overrun with five little girls, was just as Rae remembered it. The drawing room was laid out to take tea with guests, just as his mother had done it. Translucent curtains drifting gently in the wind, with the gardens just beyond. The light reflected off the duck pond, painting a kaleidoscopic mural on the ceiling above the tea table.

Rae barely knew anything of his sisters other than their names. Nuna, Jiwat, Viseka, Komao, and Lim, born in that order. That was the day he first caught glimpses of them, playing in the water and sneaking sweets from their mother, just as Rae had once done. The littlest ones didn’t seem to understand what had transpired to bring Rae here, nor who Rae was but he caught the eldest sneaking furtive glances at him. Nuna, born only a few months after Rae left the Shak’s camp. 

“Sebi told me you seemed very tense. I have an idea for a better treatment, but we’ll have to finish today’s business first,” Duke Bejuk said.

Today’s business was:

1. Choosing a suitable location for the late Shak’s final resting place.

2. Preparing the body for burial. 

3. Organising the construction of the memorial. 

Duke Ashem had most graciously taken responsibility for number three and Rae was all too happy to hand the body off to Duke Bejuk. That left Rae to find the proper place, a task he dreaded doing alone.

Rae had almost resigned himself to that fate when Gaori finally made his appearance. 

Duke Ashem, who had been forced to show at least a little restraint in expressing his disapproval to Rae, spared no mercy on Gaori.

“Go easy on me, I’ve never travelled so far, nor been so exhausted in my whole life. It’s downright cruel to not let a person get a proper rest,” Gaori said, so shamelessly that even Duke Ashem was dumbstruck. Rae struggled to suppress his grin.

“Duke Ashem, where is young master Ven today?” Rae asked the question he had been wondering all morning. 

“He’s gone down the mountain to make trouble,” Duke Ashem said, with a venom that Rae had previously suspected was only ever directed at him. 

“Make trouble?”

“All the pretty ladies on the mountain like to host uncle for tea, so he goes down a lot,” Viseka, one of the little Shali, who had been clinging to her mother’s sleeve, explained. If it wasn’t already clear to Rae, the way Duke Ashem’s and the Shana’s faces twitched at the mention of “tea” was all Rae needed to confirm his suspicion.

“Lucky bugger! I could do with something to eat, but I’m sure you’ll be putting me to work right away, given how late it is,”

Duke Ashem and Duke Bejuk were not going to offer Gaori any sympathy, but Rae was able to convince them that he would be most useful, or the least trouble, accompanying him to the back mountain.