Mickey Reichert - Flight of the Renshai

Imorelda leaped onto the bed and crawled into Matrinka's lap.

Matrinka stroked the cat, at first absently, then with focused attention. "It's Imorelda, isn't it?"

"Yes." *A true queen. She recognizes my exquisite and exceptional beauty.*

Tae could not help teasing,*What she recognizes is your putrid smell.*

"You're talking to her, aren't you?" Matrinka clearly attempted a happy tone, but she could not hide the deep sorrow that tinged it. *If I stink, it's only because I've been forced into close quarters with an unwashed human for so long."* Imorelda turned her back on Tae, kneading Matrinka's lap as she moved.*I've bathed. Have you?*

"Yes," Tae admitted. "We're conversing, but it's not very nice."

Matrinka's question was wistful, "What's she saying?"

Tae flushed, smiling. "She says I reek."

Matrinka gave the cat a stern look, "Imorelda! That's not ladylike." *Perhaps not, but it is true.*

"Is she still talking to you?"

"To you, actually." Tae tried to think of a tactful way to steer the conversation back to Matrinka. "You miss Mior, don't you?"

"Terribly," Matrinka admitted, but refused to be sidetracked. "Imorelda was talking to me?"

"I think so. She responded to your comment."

"I didn't 'hear' her."

"I'm sorry."

"Why?"Though simple, the question held angst Tae dearly wished he could assuage. More than anything, he knew, Matrinka wanted back the relationship she had shared with Mior.

"I don't know," Tae admitted. "I don't know why you could converse with Mior but not Imorelda. I don't know why none of these other cats shares their special talent. I'm sorry, Matrinka. I don't understand it any better than you. I have no answers."

Matrinka cleared her throat. "Darris thinks Mior's line might be similar to his. The bardic curse passes always to the firstborn." *Oh, so I'm a "curse" now?* *Sometimes.* Tae sent back. "I've always wondered why the bards choose to have children. No children, no more curse." *Having children is curse enough.* Imorelda snuggled into Matrinka's lap.*Nasty things.*

"Do you ever wish you didn't have Subikahn?"

The question struck too close to home. Anger boiled in the pit of Tae's stomach. "Of course not. But I didn't inflict him with a curse either." No, a Renshai torke did that for me. *Leaping on your head when you're trying to sleep. Sucking you raw. The blood, the vomit. And I can't stand the taste of placenta.*

Matrinka continued to defend her decision. "Well, we love Marisole. And she sees her musical talent as a gods-given gift, not a curse."

Glad to forget his own offspring for a while, Tae focused in on Marisole. "The musical part isn't really the curse, though, is it? It's the infernal quest for knowledge and the inability to speak except in arias."

"They can speak; they just can't teach."

Tae waved dismissively. "Spare me the details. I find Darris tedious, but you love him and that's all that matters." He still did not understand Matrinka's discomfort. "You're very lucky, you know. You're a queen, with a wonderful husband who asks nothing of you. How many men would let their wives sleep with lovers and happily claim the children as their own? How many would allow hundreds of cats to roam the palace? A king shouldn't have to entertain visitors in a great hall stinking of urine and vinegar."

Matrinka stared, clearly stunned. "It… stinks?"

"Of course, it stinks. It's full of cats. Don't you notice it?" *Hey!*

"No." Matrinka's voice went small. "I'm… being selfish, aren't I?"

"Not selfish, just determined." Tae sat next to Matrinka on the bed. "I think you gave it your best try; but the next Mior, if there is one, isn't coming from this horde." He made a vague gesture toward the door.

"Maybe Darris' idea?" Matrinka scratched behind Imorelda's ears, to much delighted purring.

"Was Imorelda firstborn?"

"Second, but the only female in the litter."

Imorelda stiffened.*Are you talking about me having babies? Because I'm not having any babies.*

Light flashed through Matrinka's eyes. "I've been thinking Mior's ability was stronger than Imorelda's. Because she learned to communicate with both of us. If we could breed back into the line-" *Are you listening to me? No babies!*

"Careful." Tae's mind went to another line breeding. "Remember why dear King Griff allowed Darris to sire his children with you. You're his first cousin, and he worried that the closeness of your blood would create morons and cretins."

Matrinka rose, still clutching Imorelda, and the blankets fell away to reveal her sleeping gown. Attention distant, she seemed not to notice that only a thin layer of fabric separated her from the man in her bedchamber. Though stout, she still sported pleasantly proportioned curves, and her breasts had grown enormous. "I'm not talking about a brother. I'm thinking more of a great great nephew. If we can concentrate the bloodline, just a little, maybe-"

Reminded of Matrinka's womanhood, Tae looked away. She was the closest thing he had to a sister, and he did not want to start seeing her as a sexual being. *Tell her no! I'm not having any babies. I don't want any babies.*

Finally, Tae addressed the cat,*Why not?* *Because I'll get fat. Like her.* *That's not nice.* *And my nipples will turn all pink and hangy forever.* *Not forever. Just for a couple of-* *Forever. I've seen it. And I don't want to lick any rear end but my own.*

That one baffled Tae.*You'd have to lick someone's-* *That's how you get kittens to make-*

Matrinka whirled suddenly. "I'm sorry, Tae. I'm wasting your time worrying about cats and kittens.You must be exhausted."

Tae wished she had not mentioned it. Fatigue crushed down on him like a lead weight, and it suddenly became difficult to hold his eyes open. The urge to sink into the covers became nearly overwhelming. "I am…" He yawned. "… a bit."

"And I never did tell you why I'm so upset."

Tae gave in, allowing his lids to slide down, though he continued speaking in the dark. "I thought it was Mior…"

"Arturo is dead."

Tae's eyes shot open. "What?"

"Murdered by pirates. Then, I lost my best friend-"

"Lost your…"Tae refused to concentrate on the words and what they might mean. "I thought I was your best friend." The joke was feeble, at best.

"Tae."

Matrinka had his attention.

"Kevral…"

No.

"… is…"

No, no, no! Tae filled in every word he could think of but the right one: happy, different, Renshai, troubled, sick, hurt. He concentrated on an Eastern song, cycling it through his head, anything to blot out that last word.

"… dead."

"No, she's not."

Matrinka set Imorelda on the bed beside Tae. "She's… not?"

"She can't be." Tae heard his own words from a distance. He could not recall forming them, nor deliberately speaking. "It's not possible."

"Tae." Matrinka took his hands. Her palms enveloped his smaller, finer fingers, soft against his calluses. "I saw her body placed on her pyre."

"No."

"She's dead, Tae. Kevral is dead."

Imorelda wove between their arms to climb into Tae's lap, purring comfortingly. He did not ask any questions. He did not want to know.

But Matrinka told him what he needed. "In battle, of course. Against a Northman. The way she always wanted to go."

Tae said nothing. His hands became dead weight in Matrinka's grip. He lowered his head, lids gliding closed again. He wanted to sleep, did not care if he ever awakened.

Matrinka leaned in close. "And her death exiled the Renshai from the West, which is why I have no bodyguards but the men outside my door."

Ordinarily, Tae would have a witty comment about how well the Bearnides had protected their queen from a prowler. He could have killed or kidnapped her by now. But words failed Tae utterly. Even coherent thought eluded him. Only the merciless exhaustion bearing down on him seemed real.