Tien in peace.
“You are a fighting woman,” said Tahneh quietly. “You must stop that soon.” She meant the nursing. Female fighters had to be ready to fight again as soon after giving birth as possible. Not for the first time, I resented the restrictions of my high status. I wanted to care for my child myself.
Tahneh laid a hand on my arm. “If I had ever borne a child, I would want very much to care for it myself in my own way. I don’t envy you the separation, but it must come.”
“I know.”
“He has been holding off the ceremony so that you could have more time with the child.”
I looked at her, startled. “That I didn’t know.”
The old woman whitened. “I thought not. It is a kind of gift that he’s giving you. I am not certain that it is kind. The longer you wait, the harder the separation will be.”
“Are you saying I should tell him that I’m ready?”
Tahneh flared yellow. “Not unless you are. I wanted only to tell you what I thought you might not realize.”
I looked down into Tien’s face. “I wish I was still working as an artisan.”
“If you were, you would not have had his child.”
“So. Things never fit together as they should. I will tell him.”
“You are certain that you trust Gehnahteh and Choh? You will be at ease leaving the child with them?”
“I trust them. We had our differences when I was with them, but they were kind. Certainly kinder than they had to be to a foreigner.”
“I spoke with them.” Tahneh’s body went white for several seconds. “They were overwhelmed. It was the old story proven true.”
“Old story?”
She brightened more and settled back to tell it as I had known she would. “In the time of the empire a woman, a judge, was charged by her husband with consorting with a nonfighter, an artisan. She insisted that she was innocent, but her husband had more blue and he was very jealous. The artisan, a member of his trade family, was unusually large and possessed some beauty. The husband beat a false confession out of him, then killed him. The council of judges caused the wife to be painted red all over, and given to an artisan family so that she could serve them and get her fill of such people. The artisans treated her kindly—more kindly than they were commanded to treat her. In time, the woman realized that she was pregnant. Everyone assumed that she carried the artisan’s child and plans were made to kill it when it was born. No one but the two artisans showed her any color but yellow. Her husband renounced her completely and began a liaison with another woman. Then the woman gave birth to a child too blue for anyone to dare to kill. And as the child grew, it became, clearly, a young Hao. The woman was vindicated beyond any doubt and she showed yellow to her husband and found a new man. Her child, she gave to the two artisans who had been kind. That child grew to be one of our greatest leaders.”
I smiled. “This might not be quite like the story then. I doubt that Tien is Hao.”
“She may be. But even if she is not, her coloring will place her high—she was bom so dark! And she is Diut’s daughter. There will be honor for Gehnahteh and Choh. And much honor for you, Alanna. The people pester you now, but also, they honor you. If I had borne a child, they would behave this way. Both you and Tien are of interest to everyone—more than interest. Tien might someday be their leader.”
The ceremony was held in a huge gathering room beneath the living quarters. The only people absent were those unlucky enough to be on watch in the mountains outside. Tahneh presided, standing tall and regal. The people fanned out in a wide half circle around her, fighter and nonfighter together, ignoring clan differences for once since no specific clan was welcoming this first child. Everyone welcomed Diut’s child.
I was wearing my usual pants and short tunic made from soft leather and a wide blue-green fur cloak. But all my clothing was new, made for me since Tien’s birth. Diut had given it to me just as I was about to dress for the ceremony. He still gave gifts, but he had been very subdued about giving these. The separation was not going to be easy for him either.
In my new clothing, I knelt beside Diut on a small pallet of fur on the stone floor. Tien slept peacefully in my arms. To my right on a similar pallet knelt Gehnahteh and Choh. Behind them were all the people. Before them stood Tahneh.
“We meet to welcome a first child,” said Tahneh, her strange quiet voice reaching out to the corners of the room.
“May she be the first of many,” replied the people in unison.
“We meet to welcome a fighter.”
“May the young fighter grow strong and increase the strength of the tribe.”
“We meet to welcome a woman-child.”
“May the woman-child be fertile, and in her turn, help to replenish the tribe.”
Tahneh lowered the pitch of her voice slightly. “We are an ancient people. The Kohn empire was the handiwork of our ancestors.”
“We are a new people,” said the many voices. “In each child we welcome, we are reborn.”
“There is a color for welcoming,” said Tahneh.
The people blazed luminescent white.
“And there is a color for life.”
The people glowed a swiftly uniform green—the green of healthy mountain vegetation washed clean by rain.
