Leslie Moore - Griffin's Daughter

“ Father, don’t…” Ashinji pleaded, then fell silent as Lord Sen rose up from his chair, arms crossed, a scowl creasing the corners of his mouth and eyes. Lady Amara remained seated, legs drawn up child-like, on the couch beneath her. Jelena risked a furtive glance at her face, trying in vain to decipher the emotions hidden beneath that smoothly beautiful mask, but she might as well try to read the face of a marble statue.

Sen took a breath as if to speak, but Amara put out her hand to touch his arm, stopping him. “Husband, wait,” she murmured. “Listen to what our son has to say first.” Sen’s scowl deepened, but he deferred to his wife’s request, nodding his head in permission for Ashinji to continue.

“ Father,” Ashinji began again. “Don’t be angry with Jelena. This was not her idea. I had to talk her into it. She wanted to wait until she found her elven kin, but I convinced her that she did not need to in order to marry me.” He paused to take a deep breath before continuing. “I love Jelena…more than my own life,” he declared. “I truly believe the One set her in my path so I would find her and the two of us could join our lives.”

As he spoke, Jelena kept her attention fixed on Ashinji’s face. His eyes burned with such intensity that she feared he would ignite the very air around him.

Sen’s expression softened. “This girl saved my life, ‘tis true,” he murmured, “and for that I owe her. But… marriage! Great Goddess!” He began to pace back and forth, shaking his head. “I have always been a tolerant man…a fair-minded man. You know this!” he insisted. “I was raised to believe that all of us, okui and hikui alike, are equal in the eyes of the One.”

Abruptly, Sen stopped pacing and turned to look at his son. “I…I can hardly bring myself to say it, I’m so ashamed,” he said softly. “But I must, nonetheless. Ashi, I know you love this girl, but…”

Jelena’s heart sank.

I should have never let Ashi talk me into this! I was such a fool to let myself believe, even for an instant, that we could ever be together!

“ She’s hikui and therefore unsuitable for the son of Lord Sen Sakehera. Is that what you’re trying to say, Father?”

Sen looked away, as if he found the heat of his son’s anger and disillusionment too much to bear.

Ashinji threw his head back and a bitter laugh escaped his lips. “So, when it comes right down to it,” he said, “everything you’ve always said you believe about equality is all lies.”

Sen flinched as if stung. “This isn’t easy for me, Son!” he shot back. “I hate that I feel this way!” His eyes begged for understanding. “I must ask you this…Have you considered what marriage to a hikui would mean?”

Ashinji closed his eyes, clearly struggling to rein in his emotions before speaking. “Yes, Father, I have,” he replied with the barest tremor in his voice. “I’ve given it a great deal of thought. I’m just a poor army captain, a second born son, not even worth considering…Why does it matter whom I marry?”

“ How dare you say that!” Sen hissed furiously. You are a Sakehera! Any child of my House, no matter his birth order, is worthy of consideration!”

Fervently, Jelena prayed for a hole to open in the floor beneath her and swallow her up.

“ Husband, please…Calm yourself,” Amara soothed. “Ashinji meant no disrespect. He is just trying to point out that he needn’t be bound by the same considerations that his brother was.”

“ Thank you, Mother, but I can speak for myself,” Ashinji interjected firmly, though his eyes shone with gratitude for her support. He met his father’s anger unflinchingly and said, “My point, Father, is that I am not the Heir…Sadaiyo will inherit your title and all of your lands, not me. It will be his child, his okui child, who will carry on your direct line, so you needn’t worry. There will be no taint of human blood to sully the future Lords of Kerala.” He moved to stand beside Jelena, who had remained sitting on the floor throughout the entire exchange, frozen in place and too mortified to speak.

“ Stand beside me, my love,” he urged gently, holding his hand out to her. The steadfastness of his gaze infused her nerveless legs with the strength they needed to lift her up. “I’ve always been a dutiful son to you, Father,” Ashinji said quietly, “but in this, I cannot obey. If you won’t give us your permission, I’m prepared to give up my place in this family and leave Kerala so that Jelena and I can marry and have a life together.”

Ashinji’s brave words touched off the spark that lit the fire of Jelena’s own dormant courage. Boldly, she met Lord Sen’s anguished stare, and said, “My lord, never did I wish for me to come between you and your son, please believe! I am so grateful for all you and my Lady Amara have given to me. I do not want Ashi to give up his family, and I do not wish to leave Kerala myself…” She paused to look into Ashinji’s eyes, and added, “He has made up his mind that he loves me enough to do this thing, and I love him too much to give him up now.”

Sen exhaled sharply. Something within him seemed to yield then, and the storm brewing in his eyes subsided. He sat down on the couch beside Amara and covered his face with both hands, his shoulders slumping wearily. He remained so for only a moment before looking back up, first at Ashinji, then Jelena. With an air of resignation, he turned to Amara and asked, “Do you agree to this match, Wife?”

“ I want our son to be happy,” Amara replied, and gently, she laid her hand atop his. “It was not so long ago that you rode through the gates of a certain mage school to claim the woman who had stolen your heart, Husband. We angered a great many people that day, as I recall.”

“ This is different, as you well know!” Sen growled, but Jelena could see his resistance crumbling.

“ It’s no different…Not really,” Amara insisted.

“ I know I am not what you would choose for your son, my lord,” Jelena spoke up. “I am kinless and… hikui …it is true. I wish I had a father to speak for me, but I don’t. There is only me to speak for myself, and I say to you that my love for your son is pure, even though my blood is not.”

Sen rubbed at his chin and frowned slightly, but Jelena had the distinct feeling that his thoughts no longer focused on his objections to Ashinji marrying her. Rather, he seemed concerned about something else entirely, something that he wished to keep hidden.

“ Once Jelena is my wife, she will belong to this family,” Ashinji said, “and who her father is won’t matter.”

Jelena felt confused by the sudden, overwhelming certainty that Lord Sen knew exactly who her father was. If he knows, why is he keeping it from me when he promised that he’d do everything he could to help me? Jelena wondered. Is he trying to protect me?

No, protect my father’s reputation, most likely.

Aloud, she said, “My lord, my father and his family will have nothing to fear from me, if I do find them. All I want is just to know who they are.”

Jelena fell silent and together, she and Ashinji waited while Sen brooded. The quiet of the sitting room was disturbed only by the little sundry noises that always fill up spaces when there is no conversation to mask them-the sweet tinkle of wind chimes, the distant caw of a raven, the creaks and groans of the castle itself as it settled down more comfortably upon its wooden bones.

At last, Sen pursed his lips and turned to his wife. “Well, I s’pose we can’t stand in their way, can we?” he said gruffly.

“ We could, but what purpose would it serve, other than to hurt our son and the girl who saved your life?” Amara replied. She laid a tender hand against her husband’s cheek. “I think that we must give this gift to our son and to the girl he so obviously loves.”