The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin

Author:N.K. Jemisin [Jemisin, N.K.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Romance, Fantasy, Adult, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780356500775
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

28

Mercy

Just after dawn, Hanani went into Mni-inh’s tent and sat down. He, newly awake and bleary-eyed, took one look at her face and came fully alert. “What happened?”

Hanani told him of the Prince’s first lesson, though she omitted her moment of panic afterward. When she spoke of being hurtled into the realm between, and the vision of herself committing violence, Mni-inh’s eyes widened.

“It was a child,” she said, her hands knots in her lap. “A toddler, or a very small older child. I would never harm a child, Brother. I know the things in Ina-Karekh are reflections of ourselves, but what I saw was not in Ina-Karekh. We were in the realm between dreaming and waking. Have you ever heard of this before?”

“Not precisely.” He scratched at his chin, where a scattering of stiff hairs had grown overnight; the sound was very loud. “What you experienced sounds like a true-seeing—a vision of something that will actually happen”—Hanani’s belly tightened further at this, but Mni-inh quickly shook his head—“but I’ve never heard of that happening in the realm between. Only the Goddess can create worlds, whether in waking or dreaming. The realm between is eerie, but should be empty.” He sighed. “But this fits something else I’ve suspected.”

“Which is?”

“Well …” He sat back on his cushions, a half-rueful look on his face. “I’ve heard, in roundabout fashion, that there is a reason the Hetawa supported the Sunset Lineage these many years. King Eninket was not the first to disgrace the line, after all; they’re men, with the same weaknesses and failings as any other. But it has something to do with them, that lineage, in particular.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” He gave her a wry smile. “There are some secrets that only the Council and the Gatherers are privy to, and—Well, you know what the other seniors think of me.” He sighed. “But I’m told that, years ago, no one was surprised to find that Ehiru—who was given to the Hetawa by his mother, to save him from Eninket—turned out to be one of the most powerful narcomancers in recent memory. And I do find it interesting that Nijiri, who has been one of the chief voices counseling appeasement of the Kisuati all these years, changed his tune when Wanahomen began his campaign.”

And Gatherer Nijiri had been particularly interested to see that Wanahomen had tried to save her, Hanani recalled. Perhaps his lineage is worth salvaging after all.

“I also find it interesting,” Mni-inh said, “that every Prince we have ever had—every one, so far as I can tell—has had the dreaming gift in some measure.”

Hanani blinked. “Even King Eninket?”

“Oh, yes. His gift was weak, but there. And a handful, including First King Mahanasset, were quite powerful, and mad as rabbits before the Hetawa aided them. We took some of those, like Ehiru, for ourselves—but not all. You watch that Wanahomen.” He waggled a finger at her. “He hides it well; may not even be aware of hiding it. But with a gift like his, his soul must wander between waking and dreaming all the time.

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