Ann Leckie: She Commands Me and I Obey

She stood there for ten minutes, quietly humming the ninth hour's devotional chant (Her-Breath-Contains had been right, she did not have a singer's voice), while monks and the governors' assistants searched centuries of precedent. But there was, it appeared, no rule forbidding one to cripple one's own teammate.

The fourth White Lily player, who probably had not expected to play at all, took middle court, and the game resumed. Ultimately-Justice moved with astonishing precision and speed, sending the ball crashing from wall to wall. Her own team barely kept pace with her — though there were no more comic mishaps, no more inexplicable ineptness.

It wasn't until the score reached four to four that the people sitting on the Harime wall realized that Sister Ultimately-Justice might actually win. The sound coming from across the court shifted subtly and it set the hair on Her-Breath-Contains' arms standing. He didn't know if anyone else could hear the change, or if he was imagining it.

White Lily scored their fifth point — Ultimately-Justice leaping a meter off the ground to slam the ball straight past Seven-Brilliant-Truths and his bewildered middle and back courts — and suddenly the Harime were on their feet and screaming. The Harime governor sat calmly, as though nothing had happened. He knew from the start, thought Her-Breath-Contains. She came and said she could win it and that's how she got the position. He wouldn't have had anything to lose, all the risk would have been Ultimately-Justice's. Everyone had been so sure, but now Qefahl Brend might lose the seat on the Council of Four, and…

Suddenly Her-Breath-Contains saw what he had done. On the court, Seven-Brilliant-Truths grimaced, moissanite teeth flashing briefly.

Her-Breath-Contains didn't want anyone to win. He wanted the game to stop, and now. He'd known from the beginning that someone would die, that at the end of the game he would watch an actual human being killed on the ballcourt, but it had been so abstract. "Six!" said the novice next to Her-Breath-Contains, in an anguished voice. Six against four. White Lily only needed four points more to win. "If we can score next…" This was another moment when the game could be reset. If Blue Lily could score next, both would start all over at zero. Ultimately-Justice hefted the ball, ready for the serve.

She hit it straight and hard. Seven-Brilliant-Truths, apparently unnerved, brought his arm up an instant too late. The ball slammed into his mouth — a foul. Play stopped. Seven-Brilliant-Truths put his hands on his knees, breathed. Spat blood on the court. Straightened. Ultimately-Justice watched him impassively. She took the ball when it was given to her, served again.

Something had gone out of Seven-Brilliant-Truths, out of Blue Lily. White scored three more times in quick succession — nine to four, another precarious moment. If Blue Lily could score, both sides would return to zero. If White scored, the game would be over. The noise from both sides of the court was louder than Her-Breath-Contains-The-Universe had ever imagined any sound could be. Everyone, it seemed, was standing, shouting, screaming. Except for the out-system merchant, who might well be preparing to direct his bribes elsewhere. Except the abbot Shall-I-Alone-Escape-Death. Except Tetrarch Qefahl Brend, and the governor of Harime Station. They sat silent and still in their seats.

For two more serves, the score stayed where it was. The sound, impossibly, increased. Then White Lily's new middle court knocked the ball up and over. It arced long and high the length of the court. The three Blue Lily players stopped, arms at their sides, and stared at the ball as it landed just behind their goal line. The sound of the spectators — Noage Itray crying out in dismay, Harime in triumph — was like a solid object filling the air.

Sister Ultimately-Justice walked up to Seven-Brilliant-Truths and spoke. It should have been audible, but the sound in the court was so loud that Her-Breath-Contains could only see her mouth move. Her-Breath-Contains looked across to the Harime wall — the Harime governor's seat was empty.

The monk who had been guarding the doorway to the White Lily end of the court came before the abbot and the tetrarch. He bowed and spoke. The noise was still too loud for Her-Breath-Contains to hear anything, but he saw the monk's lips move. Messages, he saw, and the monk held his hands out, one to the abbot and one to Qefahl Brend.

Shall-I-Alone-Escape-Death brushed his fingers across the monk's hand and then his own ear, leaving a gauzy, barely visible membrane. Qefahl Brend waited a moment before following suit.

After a few moments Shall-I-Alone-Escape-Death raised his hand and wiped the device away, and turned to look at Her-Breath-Contains, eyebrow raised. He made a beckoning gesture and Her-Breath-Contains leaned forward. "Accompany me," said the abbot, and rose and strode away.

Her-Breath-Contains followed. The White Lily monk raised his hand casually, as though he were doing something entirely thoughtless, and touched Her-Breath-Contains' ear as he passed. Suddenly Her-Breath-Contains heard the careful, rough voice of Ultimately-Justice. "I would not have done this, but you chose to involve yourself." He started to raise his hand to touch the device, but stopped himself. The recording continued, her voice in his ear intimate in a way that made him shiver. "You are in great danger from this moment forward, no matter what you choose. The abbot will only protect you so long as you display no independence."

Under the stands the noise was muted somewhat and Her-Breath-Contains heard a step behind him. He turned, saw his brother Qefahl Brend. His Breath Contains looked forward again, quickly. "I will help you where I can," said Ultimately-Justice's voice. "But favors come with a price." The message-end tone sounded.

He followed the abbot to a room behind the White Lily goal line, where Seven-Brilliant-Truths and Sister Ultimately-Justice stood, and beside them the governor of Harime, who bowed to Tetrarch Qefahl Brend, but not deeply. Seven-Brilliant-Truths stared at Her-Breath-Contains as he came in behind the abbot.

The governor of Harime spoke. "At this moment Brother Seven-Brilliant-Truths-Shine-Like-Suns is more valuable than you, Governor of Noage Itray. Tetrarch for the moment. Your seat on the Council of Four is lost. You can't regain it without a good ball team. Or copious bribes, which, as you are no longer tetrarch, you may no longer find so easy to afford." Her-Breath-Contains expected an outburst from Qefahl Brend, but there was nothing. The governor of Harime continued. "Noage Itray, and Blue Lily Monastery, needs Seven-Brilliant-Truths-Shine-Like-Suns if they are to have any hope of regaining what they have lost. But they don't need you in particular, Tetrarch."

"Your point?" asked Qefahl Brend, voice smooth and dangerous.

"I have no interest in seeing anyone die," said the governor of Harime. "Least of all Brother Seven-Brilliant-Truths-Shine-Like-Suns. I have been troubled for some time over what seems to be to be our taking the Game's conclusion for granted. I speak not just of the populace but also ourselves, the governors. It was meant to ensure that anyone seeking office truly desired the will of She-Who-Sprang-From-The-Lily, but what does it mean, now we aren't risking ourselves? I suggest a return to something approaching the original terms of the Game. Not your death, Tetrarch, but your retirement to a life of prayer and asceticism. Surely that will satisfy She-Who-Sprang-From-The-Lily. What could be sweeter to Her than lifelong devotion?"

Qefahl Brend gave a bark of laughter. "Do as you like, I have no reason to retire." Silence for just a moment, Ultimately-Justice standing quiet and solid, Seven-Brilliant-Truths still looking fixedly at Her-Breath-Contains.