politics rears its head, a king becomes all business. Dras and Algar
had obviously stopped thinking of me as a woman. For them I was
simply another council member.
My isolated childhood had not prepared me for the concept of
racial differences, and I’m not talking here about purely physical
differences. Alorns tend to be tall and blond, while Tolnedrans tend
to be short and dark. All other differences are largely cultural. Alorns
are encouraged to enjoy a good fight, while Tolnedrans are
encouraged to make money. I discovered early on in the discussions that
Angaraks are encouraged to be afraid of Torak – and by extension of
his Grolim priesthood. Despite some superficial differences, there’s a
Thull lurking at the bottom of every Angarak soul.
So long as Torak’s people had remained in Mallorea, they’d posed
no real threat, but now that the Murgos, Nadraks, and Thulls had
crossed the land bridge, the alorns felt that it was time to stop just
talking about the Angaraks and to start doing something about
them.
It seemed to me, though, that everyone else in the room was
missing something. They appeared to hate all Angaraks
indiscriminately, paying far too little attention to the cultural differences that
made Angarak society much less monolithic than it appeared on
the surface. The typical Alorn’s approach to any problem is to start
sharpening his battle-axe, but I saw at the outset that the only thing
direct confrontation would accomplish would be the solidification
of the Angaraks, and that was the last thing we wanted.
I was right on the verge of triumphantly pointing that out when
mother stopped me. ‘That isn’t the way to do it, Pol,’ her voice told
me. ‘Men are afraid of intelligent women, so suggest instead of
announcing. Plant the seed of an idea in their minds and let it grow. They’ll be
much more likely to come around if they think the idea was theirs in the
first place.’
‘But -‘ I started to protest.
‘Try it my way, Pol,’ she said. ‘just point them in the right direction
and then tell them how wonderful they are when they do it right.’
I I think it’s silly, mother, but I’ll try it.’
My first rather self-effacing suggestion had to do with establishing
trade relations with the Nadraks, and much to my surprise that
went down rather smoothly. I sat back and let the alorns discuss
the notion long enough to forget where it came from, and then they
decided to give it a try. Then I planted the idea of making some
overtures to the Tolnedrans and Arends, and Cherek and his boys
accepted that as well.
In his sometimes misguided history of the world, my father notes
that I enjoyed politics. He was right about that, but he missed the
real point entirely. When father uses the word ‘politics’ he’s talking
about relations between nations. When I use the word, though, I’m
talking about the various subtle ways a woman can get men to do
what she wants them to do.
If you want to see an expert in this art, go watch Queen Porenn in
action. The real genius, however, is Queen Layla of Sendaria.
We met off and on several more times that week, but our most
important decisions were made in that first session. When I realized
that the men were going to spend most of their time chewing old
soup, I let my mind wander. I considered mother’s revelation, and
the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. There are
differences between men and women, and the obvious physical
differences are the least important. The differences in our minds are
far more relevant.
Bear-shoulders offered to take father, uncle Beldin and me to the
Sendarian coast in his war-boat, but the night before we were to
leave, uncle Beldin changed his mind about that. ‘Maybe I’d better
go back to Mallorea and keep an eye on old Burnt-face instead,’ he
said. ‘The Murgos, Nadraks, and Thulls are just an advance party, I
think. They aren’t going to be able to accomplish very much without
reinforcements from Mallorea. Nothing’s really going to happen on
this side of the Sea of the East until Torak orders his armies to march
north from Mal Zeth.’
‘Keep me posted,’ father told him.
‘Naturally, you clot,’ Beldin retorted. ‘Did you think I was going
to go to Mallorea just to renew old acquaintances with Urvon and
Zedar? If Burnt-face starts to move, I’ll let you know.’
it was midsummer by the time father and I reached the Vale, and
the twins were eagerly awaiting our return. They’d prepared a feast
for us, and we ate in that airy, pleasant tower of theirs as evening
settled golden over the Vale. I’ve always liked their tower for some
reason. Father’s tower is messy and cluttered, uncle Beldin’s is
fanciful on the outside, but quite nearly as cluttered as father’s on the
inside. The twins, however, had the foresight to build closets and
storerooms on the lower levels of their tower, so they can put things
away. Father probably won’t care for this comparison, but his
tower’s very much like a single room set on top of a pole. It’s a
solid stone stump with a room on the highest level, and uncle
Beldin’s isn’t much better.
After we’d finished eating, uncle Belkira pushed back his plate.
‘All right,’ he said, ‘now tell us about the wedding – and about this
monumental change in Polgara.’
‘The change in Pol is easy,’ father replied. ‘She just slipped around
behind my back and grew up.’
‘Young people have a habit of doing that,’ uncle Belkira noted.
‘There was a little more to it than that, father,’ I said. ‘Beldaran
was always the pretty one.’
‘Not really, Pol,’ uncle Belkira disagreed. ‘She’s blonde, and you’re
brunette. That’s the only real difference. You’re both beautiful.’
I shrugged. ‘All girls want to be blonde,’ I told him. ‘It may be a
little silly, but we do. After I realized that I’d never be as pretty as
she is, I tried to go the other way. When we reached Camaar and
she and Riva finally met each other, I saw that how I looked was
the farthest thing from her mind, so I cleaned myself up.’ I laughed
a little ruefully. ‘It took me hours to comb all the snarls out of my
hair. Then we reached the Isle of the- Winds, and I discovered that
I wasn’t as ugly as I’d thought.’
‘That might just be the grossest understatement in history,’ father
said. ‘Now that she’s cleaned off all the dirt, she’s moderately
presentable.’
‘More than moderately, Belgarath,’ Beltira said.
‘Anyway,’ father continued, ‘when we reached the Isle of the
Winds, she stunned a whole generation of young Rivans into
nearinsensibility. They absolutely adored her.’
‘Was being adored nice, Pol?’ Belkira teased.
‘I found it quite pleasant,’ I admitted, ‘but it seemed to make
father very nervous. I can’t for the life of me understand why.’
‘Very funny, Pol,’ father said. ‘Anyway, after the wedding, we
had a talk with Bear-shoulders and his sons. They’ve had some
contacts with the Angaraks, and we’re all beginning to grope our
way toward a greater understanding of the differences between the
Murgos, Thulls, and Nadraks. We can thank Pol for that.’ His
sidelong glance was as sly as mine had been. ‘You didn’t think I
noticed what you were doing, did you, Pol? You were very smooth
about it, though.’ Then he looked ruminatively at the ceiling.
‘As Pol so gently pointed out, we’re more likely to have some
luck with the Nadraks than with the Murgos or Thulls. The Thulls
are too stupid and too much afraid of the Grolims to be of much
use, and Ctuchik controls the Murgos with an iron fist. The
Nadraks are greedy, though, so a bit of judicious bribery might
win them over – at least enough to make them a useful source of
information.’
‘Are there any signs that more Angaraks are coming across the
land-bridge?’ Beltira asked.
‘Not from what Bull-neck’s been able to discover. Torak’s
evidently biding his time, waiting for the right moment. Beldin went
back over to Mallorea to keep an eye on him – at least that’s what
he says he’s going to do. I still think he might want to take up that
discussion about white-hot hooks with Urvon, though. Anyhow, he
pointed out that the Murgos, Nadraks, and Thulls are just an
advance party. The game won’t really get started until Torak decides
to come out of seclusion at Ashaba.’
‘He doesn’t have to hurry for my sake,’ Belkira said.
We spent the next couple of weeks giving the twins greater and
greater detail about our visit to the Isle and about Beldaran’s
wedding. From time immemorial the twins have very seldom left the
Vale, largely because, as Beltira humorously notes, ‘somebody has
to mind the store.’ We’re all a part of the same family, however, so