67 - In Shade and Cleaned Water

The main city of the Nadumon seemed to be centred on a single hut, on a raised dais, that was shaped like a tube cut in half and their national dress appeared to be mostly robes in wild, acidic colours, covered with an open pure white, knee-length coat with long sleeves.

There was also an elaborate pocket on the breast of it, with a liner edged with gemstones, full of quills and pencils.

There was a ubiquitous head-piece as well.  What looked like a half-crown of metal that appeared to be held to the left or the right side of the head as if glued there somehow.  From the half-crown, a fanciful set of wires hung an elaborately wire-wrapped eyepiece or crystal, some had a gemstone of one colour or another suspended before their faces.Their hairstyles were also extravagent with dye and beads.

Werfas leaned over to Ky, confident that his veil would hide what he said.  “The ambassador never wore anything like those costumes.  But all the Nadumon I’ve ever seen have a face-tattoo that looks like the shadow of one of those head-things.”

“You’re right.” Kyrus scanned the ‘welcoming’ crowd.  Every second or third person in it had a variation of the tattoo, ranging from a single line of decoration across their forehead, to a half-face inking.  The ambassador in Milar had had a thin line across the forehead, almost un-noticeable.

The welcoming crowd was very quiet for a supposedly spontaneous turn-out to see the entourage of not just one, but two heads of state.  “I suppose we should be glad they aren’t all armoured up and ready to fight things out on the spot.”

“Yeah.  They probably want to get us all drunk and then slaughter us in our sleep.”

“Shhh.”

Kyrus thought that his da looked splendid in the Emperor’s parade armour... it was obviously not meant to be used on a battlefield, entirely made out of varying sizes of bush-dragon scales and spines, reinforced with reddened wire, so he was all gold and red, with all the glitter and flash of the breeding-scales making him hard to look at.  But even if it was armour made out of flash, it was still armour should someone try to fling a spear or fire an arrow. His concession to their ‘peaceful’ visit, was to have his head bare, his helmet, with the crystal ridge and crystal tipped spines, was slung on its loop on his saddle. Over his head, the gold banner of Lainz flapped and cracked in the wind.

The armour was light and strong, since Ky was wearing a silver version of it and it was nothing like the metal scales he'd been expecting when he was first told he'd be wearing armour as well as his father.

His step-da looked pretty impressive too.  His armour was dyed sand-sheet leather, and black neo-silk. Next to the Lainz solid sheet of gold, the Milari tailed banner crackled higher, the white tails making sharper noises.  In a solid mass behind them, every Amir for every hundred men carried their unit’s sun crystals... the fist-sized chunk cut and polished throwing rainbow points of harsh light everywhere.

The group on the steps in front of the hall opened up and the Nadumon Heads came to the fore.  Their head-gears were all jewelled and every one of them carried a smooth-polished flat stone about the size of a book.  Two women, three men.

“Greetings, to the Heads of Nadumon,” Ilax said, in clear, if heavily accented Nadu... which was like both Lainz and Milari.  “It is with relief that we, who have travelled so hard and long under the brutal sun of an alien world, find ourselves met with shade and promise of rest, by other humans.”

Ky wasn’t sure but one of the women frowned at the formal words that set the all firmly into the category of ‘traveller/stranger in the desert’, not ‘antagonists/enemies’.  The Nadumon could answer back differently and kick off the war right here, but they clearly hadn’t been expecting that anyone Milar or Lainz knew the right words to use in the first place.

There was a long silence and the Heads looked to their stone tablets, except for the young woman who stood in the position of First. She never took her eyes off either of Ky’s dads, but raised a hand to touch a gemstone at her throat.  When she opened her mouth her voice was astonishingly loud.  “To humans who offer no threat to the safety of this installation, we offer shade and cleaned water.  Should the peace be broken, then it will become the firm opinion of the Heads of these Departments, that those doing so are not and never had been human, but tissue samples to be properly disposed of.”

Ilax’s naked face didn’t show any kind of reaction, other than mild interest, and his voice carried almost as clearly as hers. He’d been dealing with the Nadumon before so he surely wouldn’t get insulted by being told a warrior was a defective tissue sample to be disposed of.  “Of course.  The rights of human beings to peaceful conduct is a truth universally held.  We thank you for your gracious offering of clean water and shelter.  While under your roof we are in your debt and in your hand.  I offer my name, Ilaxandal Vania ah Ruikert, surdeniliarch Milar.”  He swept a hand out and neither of the birds shifted so they could touch fingers.  “And this is my husband, my inamour, His Radiance of All Lainz, Kyrus Talain.”

There was a murmur through the crowd.  They must have heard rumours.  The Heads would have known from their ambassador, but they didn’t have the lin so the common folk would only have gossip and rumors.  Here were both men and publicly acknowledging their connection.

“I am Amia Filchang, Occupying the First Office.” She looked to the left and right at the other Heads and her chilly demeanor thawed just a fraction.  “Let us continue our discussion under shade.”