Then, to both Guo and Kopporu’s astonishment, the Mother of Demons reached up her—palps?—and stroked Guo’s arms. Guo began to flinch, then—at a sharp whisper from Woddulakotat—froze.
“And you are the Great Mother Guo. So young. I had not realized how young. My warriors did not tell me.”
The demon continued stroking Guo’s arms. After a moment, the arms began to relax.
“So very young, to have taken such a burden on yourself. So much courage that must have taken. And much wisdom.”
Kopporu repressed a whistle of derision.
Courage—yes. Too much, even. But wisdom?
Kopporu began thinking many unkind thoughts concerning Guo’s “wisdom.” Until she remembered the day, eightweeks before, in the big clearing of the Swamp. When the young fool Guo had shown more wisdom than the rest of the people combined. Guo alone—and, Kopporu knew, her young preconsorts.
As long as she keeps her temper. And listens to Woddulakotat, and Yurra.
The Mother of Demons made a strange gesture with her head. Pointing, Kopporu realized, with that oddly flat, armless face.
“And who are these two? Introduce me, if you please.”
Guo’s mantle was rippling with many colors, now. Orange and ochre predominated. Blue—Kopporu saw with relief—was completely absent.
Guo’s voice was hesitant.
“They are named Woddulakotat—he is the eumale—and Yurra. They are my preconsorts. And my close advisers.”
Petulantly, then: “My closest advisers, and the dearest to my heart. Even if some of my people don’t approve.”
Kopporu repressed a whistle. One of the old warriors had made the mistake of lecturing Guo, a few days earlier, on the impropriety of allowing her preconsorts to remain in her mantle once they were out of the Swamp. The necessity of protecting the little males could override custom in the swamp, she had allowed, ponderously, but once they were out of it—well. It just wasn’t done. They were not, after all, properly wedded.
Guo’s answer had been short, to the point, and very rude.
It really isn’t proper, thought Kopporu wrily. But I’m afraid it’s too late, anyway, to save Guo’s morals. I’ve heard the noises she’s starting to make at night. With her preconsorts nowhere in sight. Not even mature—neither she nor they! She’d deny it, of course, but I know the truth. They’re starting to—practice.
A strange noise was coming from the Mother of Demons. Her face was twisted into a bizarre shape.
Humor. That must be the way the demons whistle amusement.
“People are often foolish, Guo. My own husband”—the demon gestured toward a large, roundish-shaped demon nearby— “is my closest adviser also. And, always, the dearest to my heart.”
Guo’s mantle was suddenly tinged with green. Slowly, her own arms began to return the caress of the Mother of Demons.
Kopporu knew, then, that her people would live. And forgave Guo all of her many, many, many sins.
Chapter 25
By the end of the first eightweek, Indira knew that the critical moment had passed. There was still much to be settled, and much, much more to be done. Her life seemed to have become nothing but an endless round of meetings and discussions, and she knew that there was no end yet in sight.
But the details—details! she thought—were not important, now that the central concept for which she had battled had been accepted by all parties.
They would become a single people. United, as one flesh, within the shell of this strange new idea the Mother of Demons had brought to the world, from beyond the sky. The—nashiyonu, she called it.
Already, Indira knew, in all the valleys of the Chiton, the strange new word was being spoken, from the siphons of gukuy from many different tribes and peoples. Many of whom—most of whom—had barely begun to learn the Enagulishuc from which the word derived.
A strange demon word, belonging to a strange demon language. What other word could describe such a strange idea? A people which is not a people. A tribe which is not a tribe. A prevalate in which no clan prevails. (Even, it was whispered, in which the clan themselves barely exist.)
Who, then, is a part of this—nashiyonu? Anyone who chooses to belong. Yes, chooses. It has nothing to do with clan status or birth.