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Scales & Shadows Ch33: The Emerald Palace
🕑 Added 2023-06-16 00:41:39 +0000 UTCPhaeliisthia tipped under us, and Sire Tyaniis slid out of the saddle first, leading Ssiina by the hand out into the plaza in front of the Emerald Palace. Chin and posture high, pointedly ignoring the crowd and rapidly approaching taaniir, she beckoned dismissively to me and Kyrae. Her and Ssiina coiled in the plaza facing the palace gates, and Tyaniis’s face before she turned bore a stony expression I couldn’t read, situated under hard eyes.
Even knowing that our sire’s demeanor was part of our plan, I couldn’t help but stiffen against just how well Tyaniis could act dismissive. She reminded me of the ussen Kyrae and I would encounter on occasion in the markets of Ess’Siijiil: aloof, distant, and cold.
Tyaniis wasn’t like that, though. Surely not to just to us, but also—
“Come on Issa,” Kyrae hissed, dragging me by the hand out of Phaeliisthia’s saddle.
I went first, carrying her down because her short legs wouldn’t reach comfortably. Down here on the ground, the overly orange clothes Phaeliisthia had given us for flying were warming rapidly. While I kept my hood on and reveled in the heat, Kyrae already looked uncomfortable—or maybe the sweat was from nervousness.
Warm clothes aside, playing the part of demure children who wanted nothing more than to remain unnoticed was shockingly easy to slip back into. Even if we weren’t really children anymore. My posture shifted—less confident and more afraid. My eyes strayed from the sun-warmed paving stones to the guards only briefly, then away and down. A loose fang threatened to pop down as I bit my lip, the action showing a lack of custom to formality.
I couldn’t let the fang pop down, though. Ke’lania didn’t have fangs and I was outsized for a lania’el of my age after a year of proper meals and horrifyingly regular, awful sleep.
I had to keep up the charade. Before the others here, we were insects. My powers, my curse, felt comforting in that moment. Something that, until it killed me or worse, could not be taken from me.
Kyrae’s hand slipped around me, and I realized that wasn’t quite true. Now, I knew how to act in this setting—if without practice. I was no blind worm crawling around; I was hssen like those before me—just in disguise.
I have a power over those who do not know, I realized.
Unfortunately, I was too scared to really think about more than not screwing up my role. Which, for now, meant staying quiet. Bundled as I was for flying on Phaeliisthia’s back, my torso was unrecognizable, and my brilliant emerald scales had been sullied a greenish brown by paint.
Behind me and Kyrae, Phaeliisthia beat her great wings, and the wind forced my torso to bend forward as Kyrae took a knee, holding herself up by her pale-knuckled grip on my hand. To shouts of all sorts, our tutor ascended into the sky, and I dared to glance up at her furtively.
The sun-aligned serpent dragon gained height rapidly, then wheeled and flew off toward the river, dipping below the buildings. Doubtless, she was touching her tail to the water of the Hssyri river—a symbolic gesture of respect to the river that gave Jii’Kalaga life.
One of two rivers, I thought glumly.
“I must see the Jii’Hssen. She is to know that her sister is in need of her sage advice,” Tyaniis said in a harsh tone, skipping any preamble. When the taaniir, dressed in bright greens and blues, failed to respond immediately, our sire clarified with a single word: “Now.”
I expected to have to talk our way in through the taaniir. I expected chaos and people mobbing us with questions or worse. But none of that happened.
The taaniir in front lowered their head, feather-plumed hat bobbing in the gentle breeze of the courtyard. “I will see the Jii’Hssen informed of your arrival, Hssen Tyaniis. You may wait where you please.”
Our sire nodded. “See it done.” She slithered forward still holding Ssiina’s hand, and she turned to beckon Kyrae and me. “Come.” The word was cold, and my sire’s eyes were predatory.
Hssen.
This is what it truly means to be hssen. The crowd didn’t matter: ssen’iir, ssen’kaa, kss’kaa, even ussen. All were below my sire. No one was above hssen outside of the Temple, and even then what was coded in law was muddy in practice.
After bowing low with Kyrae, I slithered forward, towards the impressive wall surrounding the palace, and its massive, shining bronze gates. I wanted to hold my head high like Sire or Ssiina—to hold myself above all the people who once held me with contempt.
But…
My hand on Kyrae’s tightened. Thinking deeply like this wasn’t something I used to do—not something I currently did. So I couldn’t say why I felt wrong for wanting to lord over others. Not until I thought I spotted a familiar face in the crowd for a fraction of a moment.
Ynna, my boss and one of the few who took me in. She was ssen’kaa—a tradesperson, and I just… couldn’t see myself looking at her with disdain like how my sire looked at the crowd. I wanted that respect, that fear, but not from her.
The crowd edged closer as we moved toward the gate, but a single cold glare from Tyaniis sent most of them scurrying. The remainder were reminded of the royal taaniir when they moved forward, and that was enough.
Those same taaniir closed around us, and my hearts sped up. My hands shook, and Kyrae’s went cold in mine despite the heat. Taaniir, or tanir if you wanted to disparage them and say the word faster—even if it lost its meaning—were never something good in our old life. Here still, they glanced down at us with nearly the same eyes as Tyaniis, judging.
“These two are with me,” Tyaniis said, and the stares shifted—no longer open with their contempt.
Our sire didn’t explain herself, and I realized she didn’t have to. As we slithered (and walked) inside, I caught Ssiina stopping herself from reaching for my other hand. Twice.
Right now, she and Tyaniis were hssen, and I was not. Ssyri'zh Onussa’s fear in her own garden seemed more reasonable now, as did Ussyri Noksi’s cautious air around my sire. Not only that, I reminded myself, but Sire Tyaniis was once a candidate for Jii’Hssen.
The position didn’t come open often, perhaps every century or so when the Jii’Hssen chose a successor and retired—or failed to and passed back into the cycle of reincarnation. To me, now, Sire Tyaniis was no cold hssen, but a loving parent who had discovered her flaws and was trying to work through them.
For Jaezotl’s sake, I’d gotten into a splashing fight with her in the pool in front of the estate not a week ago—the day before Ussen Anqi had shown up and ruined everything. I squeezed Kyrae’s hand. Jaezotl, please do not forsake my family.
The prayer I gave to Jaezotl was longer, and we were through the gates by time I finished. The massive brass ornaments closed behind us with a soft clang that belied their size and importance. Where we were now was sacred ground: the confluence of the Hssyri and Greatriver.
I noticed heavy stone gates to the sides, drawn open. Those were a much stronger symbol and I shuddered. War had never found Ess’Sylantziis, as its founding was after the end of our unification. But that didn’t mean people had forgotten—or that it couldn’t happen. The recent collapse of the human empire came to mind, though its name slipped from me at the moment.
When I tore my eyes from the gates, I saw before us a wide, straight path leading into overly-manicured trees and plants. There were flowers on some, and all looked healthy and vibrant in a way that was so unlike the stone mass of the city outside.
But I couldn’t appreciate it. All I could do was judge this garden against Phaeliisthia’s, and I found it wanting. The plants were each alive, but the garden itself wasn’t—even if bird calls sounded from time to time.
Still, I acted the part of someone in awe, stopping short of gaping. We were being watched closely now more than even before. Once we were officially hssen, any perceived weaknesses here would be used against us, and Tyaniis had given careful instruction as to how we should shape those opinions.
Being underestimated was good; being ridiculed was not.
Through the trees, the palace soon emerged. Taller than Phaeliisthia’s estate by at least an entire floor, and significantly larger, the Emerald Palace properly took my breath away. With wings and angled walls, it spanned across my whole view, the front separated from the garden by a neat, wide strip of a low, flowering ground cover.
Little golden flowers competed with the shining green brilliance of the palace itself. The lower floors facing us were mostly walls, interspersed with glass windows, each with small displays of bright colors. Some showed flowers, and others serpents or rivers.
The walls themselves were covered in precisely-fitted slabs of a bright green stone, and what had to be real emeralds dotted both window frames and the sculptures of serpents and lamia that rose from corners and jutted from archways.
The upper floors were much more open, even from this side, with open-air windows and columned walls, some places shuttered with fine-looking wooden slats. The roof at the center rose up above in a squat dome capped with a spire designed, clear even from here, to look like Hse’Aazh.
And this was just the main entrance; there were many other wings if Ssiina’s stories were to be believed. I almost whispered to her that she undersold the palace, but I remembered my “place.”
Soon. Soon this will be my home.
Tyaniis slithered up the ramp with us following. An open-air entrance hall, decorated lavishly, held several servants, two of whom moved to open the massive front doors for our sire and Ssiina. They let them fall behind the pair and Kyrae and I had to scramble—mostly me because of my long lower body—to fit inside before the doors closed shut behind us with a soft boom that echoed faintly.
The foyer was massive. Two ramps wound up and to the sides, flattening out for the middle and top floors. Straight ahead were an immense pair of doors I had to assume led somewhere very important.
Could the Emerald Throne be right through those doors? I knew that the Jii’Hssen saw anyone of lower class than ussen at a different building nearby and outside the palace, as no one lower than nobility was allowed within its walls without hssen permission. Although most former Jii’Hssen rarely left these walls, the current Jii’Hssen Ssyii was a more public figure than her predecessor, and I desperately wanted that to be a good thing for me—and particularly for Kyrae.
Like the temple, magical lighting was used inside the Emerald Palace. Here however, it was more refined, in small sculptures of brass that held and directed the green-tinged flames. Sire Tyaniis led us wordlessly down a wide side hallway, passing the windows I’d seen from the outside. The stained parts of the glass cast a radiant, colorful light on the dark wood of the interior walls. A mural ran the length of the hall’s ceiling, and narrow pedestals holding colorful sculptures and painted pottery sat between windows along the outer wall at even intervals.
We passed a few servants between here and in the entrance hall, each dressed in utilitarian silks of neutral, dark colors. They looked upon Kyrae and me with surprise and disdain both, and I had to fight the urge to stare rudely back at them. Right now, they too were above me.
My frustrations were finally allowed to ease when Tyaniis opened the door to a side room and led us in. The nearby servant seemed surprised and shocked that my sire would do so much as open a door, but his apology was cut short by Tyaniis asking for refreshments, reiterating that she needed to see the Jii’Hssen immediately, and asking for some quiet in the sitting room.
The servant bowed and quickly left.
The moment we were inside and the door had been closed by another servant from outside the room, Tyaniis let her shoulders drop. She tensed them again while checking the room, and then relaxed when she found it empty.
Well, empty of people. The room was lavish beyond anything even in Phaeliisthia’s estate. A low table of rich wood, shaped like an immense scale, dominated the space. Silk-lined coils were dotted around it, the kind with a central pillar to loop around.
More sculptures lined the walls, and the stone ceiling was painted with a vibrant scene prominently featuring a black viper in a tree, sunning itself. If the coils weren’t enough, cushioned divans rose slightly from the floor around the outer walls. The room had no windows, but made up for it with an abundance of magical light that cast the place with a greenish glow that created an effect not dissimilar to standing under a canopy of leaves.
I rarely saw my sire use magic, but she traced a quick sigil here, seeming satisfied before she spoke. “Dyni will no doubt find us shortly. Until then and until the refreshments arrive, we may talk freely. Firstly, I want to apologize for your reception into the Emerald Palace today, daughters mine.” She directed her voice at Kyrae and me. “Please, rest a moment. Until we’re interrupted, you may speak and act freely.”
I nodded, still in character for the moment, and moved to coil my aching body by the table. Ssiina intercepted me, wrapping arms and tail around me in a hug that almost sent both of us to the floor.
“Sister!” she cried. “I am ssso sorry you were received so coldly, little sister. Never again will I let you suffer the indignity of being treated below your class.”
“Ssiina…” I hugged her back. “That’s… thank you.”
She responded by mumbling and rubbing her cheek against mine.
Kyrae, dislodged by Ssiina’s attack of affection, moved to sit cross-legged on the ground by the table, between two coils. Tyaniis tutted and grabbed a cushion from the divan, placing it before my sister.
“I will see to it in the future that our rooms are fit for your form just as well as mine.” Our sire coiled at the pointed “head” of the table and lowered her head. “My apologies for taking you all here—this was the first room I could think of, and I did not want us to suffer acting so distant a moment later.”
When Tyaniis raised her head again, she looked at Ssiina and me and smiled. “To see all my daughters here… Ssiina, dear, I do not think I will ever be able to truly apologize for the warmth I denied you this past decade.”
Ssiina stopped rubbing her cheek against mine. “Sire… I…”
A series of sharp raps at the door cut off whatever Ssiina was going to say. Tyaniis gave my sister and I a moment to separate and coil by the table before she gave a curt command to enter.
The door opened, and a bowing Dyni slid inside. The bodyguard quickly closed the door with her tail, and slid next to Ssiina.
“You may speak, Dyni,” my sire said, starting to roll her eyes before slipping a regal mask into place.
Dyni weaved a quick sigil of her own, the motion so fast I almost missed it. “Thank you, Hssen Tyaniis. I hurried here the moment I saw a great dragon landing in the plaza outside. I had heard of Ussen Anqi’s departure to Uzh after you left. What came of it? What of your suspicions?”
“My suspicions were correct, and I fear on all counts,” Tyaniis replied.
“Then she was the one who brought that to Ess’Siijiil?”
“Or one of her allies,” Tyaniis answered. “I do not yet know if Ussen Ssyt is among them. We learned no more in that area.”
Ussen Ssyt? If I remembered the somewhat familiar name right, she was the ruler of Kii’Hssiil, where Ess’Siijiil was.
Dyni gave us sisters a warm look and bowed low. “Hssen Ssiina, Hssen Issa, Hssen Kyrae.” She glanced at Tyaniis without raising her upper body. “I take it you are here to inform the Jii’Hssen of your daughters?”
“I am,” Tyaniis agreed. “And two of you will have to learn not to startle when addressed so formally.”
I hadn’t even realized.
“I will, Sire,” Kyrae said, her voice burning with determination.
I nodded, then smiled wider than was polite. “As will I.”
Tyaniis matched my smile, though her eyes flicked to the still bowing Dyni.
Before I could, Kyrae bade her rise, and the bodyguard did so with a smile. “When will we discuss your next steps, Hssen Tyaniis?”
“Soon. My daughters, if everything goes according to plan, will attend Phaeliisthia’s tutelage for another year, then Ssiina will have her coming-of-age debut and the three of them will attend at the Spring of All Life. I intend, much as it pains me, to take my own path as I uncover what needs to be brought to light.”
“Understood, Hssen Tyaniis,” Dyni slithered to one side, taking an alert position near and behind the door.
Moments later, another knock sounded. This time Tyaniis inclined her head to Dyni who opened the door. Two servants entered, bringing tea, sliced fruit, and cured meat. My hearts cried for the too-cooked strips of meat so alone and naked without lovely oils or rice flour coatings.
Dyni sampled each item quickly, before nodding and stepping aside once more as the servants rose.
“The Jii’Hssen will see you shortly, Hssen Tyaniis,” one said. “She is preparing to receive you as we speak.”
Tyaniis frowned. “I see. Return here when she is ready.”
“Of course.” The two lania’el servants bowed low to the ground and retreated, closing the door softly behind them.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” Kyrae mumbled after they had left and Sire Tyaniis had formed another sigil.
“Let us eat,” our sire said distantly. “I believe my sister has understood the intent behind my message and will receive us alone.”
I placed several strips of meat onto a plate while Dyni poured the tea. Ssiina took a good portion of the fruit for herself, nervously eating the slices whole, unlike the usual overly-small “formal” bites she usually took.
“Your intent?” Kyrae asked
“Sister knows I would never come to her for advice, Daughter mine,” Tyaniis smiled.
Huh? I took a sip of the tea and found it both chilled, which I didn’t like, and sweet, which I also didn’t like. More meat then. The first strip wasn’t bad. More flavor than I thought would be present was held inside, and while faint, the spices were enough to at least notice.
Ssiina swallowed. “Your words to the taaniir in the plaza?”
“Just so,” Tyaniis said proudly, giving me an expectant look.
I looked up, swallowing my bite of several strips of meat. “Huh?”
Tyaniis’s stern look shattered into a laugh she failed to stifle with the back of her hand. “You really need the extra year with Phaeliisthia, Daughter mine.”
I blinked. What did I miss?
