142 - We're Tired of This Crapwax

Diryish lay in the cavernous bed, eyes closed, listening.  His little sisters ringed his neck and wrists and his ankles, exposed under the raised edge of his krashnall silk coverlet.  In the outer rooms of his suite, his human hive buzzed and murmured and the doctor’s monitoring beetles fringed the edges of his pillows in lieu of his hair, jostling for position with the bees collaring him.

Mariush and Homa sat in the exact centre of the doorway, the baby displayed in the middle of her mother’s veil, concentric shimmering circles of gold and blue and silver surrounding her smiling little face.  She’d recovered completely from the attempt to kill her and burbled and cooed at the Hive Lords and Ladies and their zardukar.  Off to one side Mother Thriti sat and a swath of Bruges lace gradually wound from individual strands from a basket on one side of her, through her fingers, to its completed coil into the basket on the other.

You did not think you could bear up the weight of being so radiant, my dear. Diryish’s mouth curled in a smile as he listened to her gentle voice as she stonewalled Billip, who was both trying to ease past her to see Diryish and work his way into her good graces.  “Thank you so much for your careful attention, Naser Basserus,” she said and turned to the man standing next to him.  “Naser Raghnall, I shall of course pass on your good will to his Radiance...” as if I cannot hear them perfectly well from here, Diryish thought with no little irony.  “... thank you so much for escorting my friend, your zardukar.  Hello Fara, thank you for coming.  His Radiance’s doctor welcomes the zardukaro’s response.”

“Anything I can do for my old friend.”  I know you are blushing furiously in the face of your man’s grandfather.  You’re beautiful when you blush. Fara, who was Raghnall’s, Diryish knew from the programming rooms.  She settled down next to the bed with an exquisite salaam.

“Radiance,” she whispered.

“Fara,” he said only a fraction louder.  From this distance the people drifting across, looking in from the outer room, they’d not see her lips move behind her veil and Diryish certainly hadn’t moved.  “I didn’t think you’d get your old man to escort you.  You could just have gone to work the usual ways, with no one the wiser.”

“Diryish.  He’s figured it out... that the zardukar aren't just sex workers.” Her voice quivered.  “Sander Raghnall told me that he would like me to pass a message on to you.”

“Has he now? It certainly took him long enough.”

Fara was confused by his comment but her training carried through.  “I quote: “Diryish, there’s a good dozen of us who are very tired of being tarred with the same crapwax that d’Molfe, Arbunazh, Zurchan and the other unthinking, violent, enlightenedly selfish idiots have been spreading and even glorying in.  These vile asshat -- so called Great Hive Lords -- who use and abuse anyone in their power have been too fraking close to you, especially since everyone is linning about this baby we’re all pretending is my grandson’s.  We need to talk about keeping her safe till she grows up.  You know you’re dying and we know you’re dying so let’s slash open that cap, cut through the beeswax and make sure that Homa and Mariush and my idiot grandson don’t get over-run.” I cease quoting.”

Diryish was quiet for a long moment and then he chuckled. “I am so glad they’ve finally come out of the back of the skep.”

“Radiance?  He said you’d laugh.  He also said “The old sand viper probably knows, but there’s a half a hundred lesser hive lords... the second, third and fourth sons... children if he’s smart... holding things together and are Homa’s power base to keep the great fools from tearing holes in us all.”

“Yes... good.  It’s about time.  Fara... go ask the old fart to come in and ‘sit’.”  He hadn’t moved since she came in, hadn’t opened his eyes.  “Let them all think I’m at death’s door, hmmm?”

“I’m sorry, Radiance... I didn’t lie to him when he said all this...”

“No, no, it’s good.  It means we have a smart, secret group of people to keep things working once I’m dead.”

“Radiance, please don’t...”

He cut her off.  “Fara.  It’s all right.  You needn’t be so careful of my feelings.  I’d be a moron if I didn’t realize that death is chasing me in ever tighter circles.  I can’t outrun it forever.”

She rose, smoothing the silks of his bedcovering as if he hadn’t spoken.  “I’ll get Sander, Diryish.”

“Thank you.  This next little while is going to be very interesting.”  Especially since the whole Empire is linning that I have a grown man coming in, as my Kraganzh.  An endarkened paladin yet.  d’Molfe will scream like he's giving birth to war chicks, beak first.