Leslie Moore - Griffin's Shadow

“I feel very dumb,” Jelena mumbled.

“Nonsense, girl,” Amara retorted. “You’ve never been pregnant before, so you’ve no cause to reproach yourself.” She looked toward the stairs. “Where are the twins? They know I’m waiting on them…Girls! Girls, come now!”

In a flurry of shrieks and giggles, Mariso and Jena came hurtling down the stairs at the sound of their mother’s voice.

“I’m taking the girls into the city to get them some new clothes,” Amara explained. “They grow so fast…” She shook her head in mock despair. “It seems as if I’m replacing everything I have for them every few weeks!” The twins, as usual, were chattering bundles of energy, each girl mirroring with uncanny precision the movements and mannerisms of her sister.

“You’d better go or they’re going to burst!” Jelena exclaimed, laughing.

“I’ve sent for some fresh food for you, since you barely touched breakfast. It should be here any moment… Yes, yes, girls! We are going now!” Amara gave Jelena a quick peck on the cheek, then herded her little daughters out the door.

Jelena’s hand crept up to her cheek to touch the spot where Amara had kissed it. The skin tingled a little, as if a residue of her mother-in-law’s Talent had been deposited there. Until now, Amara had shown little inclination toward physical affection with Jelena other than the occasional pat on the hand. It felt deeply significant, this breakthrough, and for the first time in their brief history together, Jelena knew with certainty that Ashinji’s mother accepted her completely.

“I hate to leave you, love, but I’ve got an officer’s meeting I must attend,” Ashinji said. “We’ll tell Father about our baby tonight. He’ll be beside himself. Two grandchildren in one day!”

“Of course, you must go. I understand,” Jelena replied. “I’ll just…um, maybe go to the stables and visit Willow. She must be very restless by now. She’s not been ridden since we arrived.”

“I’ll see you tonight, then.” Ashinji kissed her and departed, leaving Jelena alone in the stillness of the now deserted apartment.

A knock at the door broke her reverie. She opened it to find an elderly hikui man holding a tray. A young hikui woman stood behind and to the side of the man. Jelena pulled the door open a little wider to admit the pair.

“Your meal, my lady,” the man murmured as he swept past her to place the tray on the dining table. He bowed once, then exited, leaving the woman standing alone by the open doorway.

Jelena regarded her with curiosity. “Is there something you need?” she asked.

The woman-a girl really-nodded, all the while looking past Jelena’s shoulder into the room. “I was sent to serve Lady Sakehera. I am supposed to look after her daughters,” she answered in a pleasant, contralto voice. “My name is Eikko.” She bowed her head. Jelena guessed her to be about nineteen years old, plain of face and tending towards plumpness. She had wrapped her dark brown hair in a neat bun at the nape of her neck.

“Lady Sakehera and the twins just left. If you were supposed to accompany them into the city, you’re too late,” Jelena replied.

The girl gasped, her hazel eyes wide with distress. “I was told to be here promptly at the ninth hour! I know I’m not late! Oh, this will reflect badly upon me!”

Jelena couldn’t help but feel a rush of sympathy for the girl. “It’s going to be all right, Eikko,” she said soothingly. “Lady Sakehera left early. She must have decided she didn’t need help after all.”

Jelena paused to study the other girl’s face. She could see, beneath the distress, a frank curiosity in the young hikui’s eyes- curiosity about her.

She made a quick decision. “Please come in, Eikko. I would very much like to talk to you.”

“Oh, I really shouldn’t…” the girl said.

“I won’t keep you long, I promise,” Jelena assured.

“Well…all right. But I really can’t stay. I need to go tell my boss what happened.”

“Are you hungry?” Jelena picked up a sweet bun from the breakfast tray and offered it to the young servant.

“Oh, no!… I’m not allowed,” Eikko replied, shaking her head.

“Not allowed to eat breakfast?” Jelena responded quizzically.

“Not allowed to eat in front of you …” Eikko’s voice trailed off and she lowered her eyes.

Suddenly, Jelena understood. “You know who I am, don’t you?”

“Yes…Your Highness.”

Jelena shook her head in astonishment. “How is it that you know? My father has made no public announcement…I certainly haven’t gone about flaunting it…How can you know?”

Eikko seemed amused at Jelena’s bewilderment. “Servants talk, my lady,” she replied.

Of course! How could I possibly think my identity would remain a secret from the one group of people who know everything that goes on here? Jelena nearly laughed aloud at her own foolishness. “I should have known the answer to my own question,” she said.

Eikko shrugged. “Perhaps, Highness.”

Jelena frowned. “Please don’t call me that. I’m really no better than you.”

“You are the king’s daughter, my lady. That makes you a princess,” Eikko said, her tone indicating that she didn’t understand why Jelena could not see the simple logic of the situation.

“If you knew more about me, I doubt you’d feel the way you do. I’m hikui, same as you…an ordinary person.”

“Whose father just happens to be the king,” Eikko pointed out. “No, my lady, you are far from ordinary.”

Jelena sighed and picked up a sweet bun. Realizing the draught the doctor had given her had done its job, she hungrily bit into the bread. Noticing Eikko surreptitiously eyeing the food, she asked, “Have you eaten yet this morning?”, and when the other girl shook her head, she added, “Please have something. I insist.”

“No, my lady. I really am not allowed. If my boss were to find out, it would go badly for me.” Eikko’s eyes implored Jelena not to ask again.

Guilt poked Jelena like a sharp blade. “I can’t sit here and enjoy my meal while you go hungry,” she muttered, dropping the half-eaten bun back on the tray. She shook her head in dismay, remembering how Sateyuka’s words had confirmed the painful truth of how her fellow hikui were treated.

“Are all the servants in the castle hikui?” Jelena asked as she settled into a chair by the window.

After a moment’s hesitation, Eikko sat on a floor cushion. “All of the lower-downs, are,” Eikko replied. “The bosses are mostly okui, of course, though a few of us have made it up to that level.”

“The okui serving here don’t mistreat you, do they?” Jelena asked carefully.

Eikko framed her answer just as carefully. “The king doesn’t knowingly allow any of his servants to be mistreated, your Highness, but…things are as they are.”

Jelena sighed. “Maybe now, when the okui see that the king has a hikui daughter and that he loves her, things will be different,” she said quietly.

“Perhaps,” Eikko replied. “I really should be going, my lady. If I don’t report back soon…” The servant girl climbed to her feet.

“Thank you, Eikko, for staying and talking to me,” Jelena said, rising to her feet as well, “even if it was only for a little while. I’ve had so few opportunities to talk to other hikui,” she added. “I hope we’ll have another chance.”

Eikko’s warm smile transformed her plain face into something resembling loveliness. “I hope so, too…Highness.”

Jelena flinched. “I…I would rather you didn’t call me that,” she said. “I really don’t deserve that title.”

Eikko remained silent as Jelena escorted her to the door. Just before stepping across the threshold, the hikui girl turned to face Jelena. “Yes, you do,” she whispered, her eyes alive with unspoken meaning, before she hurried off.