She smiled dutifully at his spirit. It was not as easy as Rakhi said, and she did not miss the trembling of his hands, the pain in his eyes; and for Chaikhe, katasathe, such proximity to a half-sra male must be torment indeed. But of the three remaining nasithi-katasakke this pairing had seemed best, for Ashakh’s essentially solitary nature would have made asuthithekkhe more painful still.
“Chaikhe is really bearing up rather well,” said Rakhi, “but I fear I shall have Ashakh to deal with when he sees her on Priamos and knows that I have — in a manner — touched her. I really do not see how we will keep this from him if he is still to direct Weissmouth operations. He will sense something amiss a decad of lioi distant.”
“Well, you must advise Chaikhe to avoid harachia. Ashakh must remain ignorant of this arrangement, for I fear he could complicate matters beyond redemption. And do not you fail me, Rakhi. I have been confounded by one dhisais male human, and if you develop any symptoms I insist you warn me immediately.”
Rakhi laughed outright, although he flushed dark with embarrassment. “Truly, Chimele, asuthithekkhe is not so impossible for iduve as it was always supposed to be. Chaikhe and I — we maintain a discreet distance in our minds. We leave one another’s emotions alone, and I suppose it has helped that I am a very lazy fellow and that Chaikhe’s m’melakhia is directed toward her songs and the child she carries.”
“Rakhi, Rakhi, you are always deprecating yourself, and that is a metane trait.”
“But it is true,” Rakhi exclaimed. “Quite true. I have a very profound theory about it. Chaikhe and I would be at each other’s throats otherwise. Could you imagine the result of an asuthithekkhe between Ashakh and myself? I shudder at the thought. His arastiethe would devour me. But the direction of m’melakhia is the essential thing. Chaikhe and I have no m’melakhia toward each other. In truth,” he added upon a thought, “the m’metanei misinformed us, for they said strong m’melakhia one for the other is essential. I shall make a detailed record of this experience. I think it is is unique.”
“I shall find it of great interest,” Chimele assured him. “But it would be a great bitterness to me if harm comes to you or to her.”
“The novelty of the experience is exhilarating, but it is a great strain. I wonder if the m’metanei predict correctly when they say that the strain grows less in time. Perhaps the converse will occur for iduve there too. I surely hope not”
“As do I, nasith. Will you go rest now?”
“I will, yes.”
“Only do this: advise Chaikhe that Ashakh will be within Weissmouth itself, and she must remain in isolation and wait for my orders. I am summoning up all ships save the two that will remain in port. Mejakh has cost us. I fear the cost may run higher still.”
“Ashakh?”
She ignored the question. “May your sleep be secure, O nas.”
“Honor be yours, Chimele.”
She watched him go, heard the door close, and rested her forehead once more on her hands, restoring her composure. Rakhi was the last, the last of all her brave nasithi, and it was lonely knowing that others had the direction of Ashanome, that for the first time in nine thousand years the controls were not even under the nominal management of one of her sra. She bore the guilt for that. Of the fierceness of her own arastiethe, she had postponed bearing the necessary heir until it was too late for the long ceremonies of kataberihe, and vaikka had taken heavy toll of those about her. Mejakh was gone, her sra on the point of extinction: Khasif and Tejef together. Tamnakh’s sra was in imminent danger: Ashakh and Chaikhe and the unborn child in her; and if Rakhi sra-Khuretekh suffered madness and died, then the orith-sra of Ashanome came down to her alone.
She felt a keen sense of m’melakhia for Tejef, for the adversary he had been, a deep and fierce appreciation. He had run them a fine chase indeed, off the edge of the charts and into likatis and tomes unknown to iduve. And Ashanome’s victory would be bitter indeed to Tashavodh, dangerously bitter.