Just when Nebula started showing skills and signs of recovery. It's not easy being Nebud o! I have a feeling Chuspecip will not survive.

@cassbeat I didn't do anything oh, it's other people, not me

@eROCK247 I agree oh, it's not easy being Nebud either oh. As to whether Chuspecip will survive...

Part 4
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I watched helplessly as Arexon’s healer placed a metal probe through my offspring’s wound. That probe was made of pansophic metal which mapped information from the brain and conducted it through the metal to the receiver on the other end. The healer was bent over Nebula, who lay with its stomach pressed against the bed. They’d had to use pansophy to remove its motions, that was the only way they could get its convulsions to stop.

The healer grunted, then it took the probe out and stood to its full height. Its silver earrings shook as it reached for its bag. One if its green hands disappeared into that bag and came out a few moments later, with a white gauze and a brown jar.

“What is that for?” I asked, when the healer removed the lid from the jar, scooped out a silverish glob and applied it to my offspring’s scalp.

“A coagulant, sirga, to stop the bleeding.” The healer replied without taking its gaze off the back of my offspring’s head.

I frowned. “Would it not be faster to use pansophy?”

The healer shook its head. “An infant’s lifeforces should not be polluted with foreign ones. When there are other forms of healing, those are preferred.”

I remained silent then, watching as the healer finished applying the ointment. When it was done, it wrapped the white gauze around my offspring’s head. I waited till the healer was done with its ministrations before I reached for my offspring and turned it back around.

Its eye was closed. It had not been left with enough motion to even move that. Any motion in it would have contributed to its spasms. I knew this, still it felt very strange to see my offspring this unwell. The breaths coming out of its nose were dawn out and its chest moved in palpitations.

“It will sleep soon.” The healer said.

I moved away from my offspring and turned to face the uspec. “When will you return its motion?”

“When it wakes sirga. It must eat…” the uspec broke off, “may we speak sirga?”

I nodded.

Juke was standing by the door. It was one of the few uspecs who’d been in the entertaining room during the attack, and hadn’t been injured. Thankfully we hadn’t lost anyone. Amongst my honoraria, Binna’s injury was the most severe. The dagger that had pierced it hadn’t passed through any organs so with a little growth, it would be back to fighting form in hours. My gaze flickered over to Nebula. I shook my head. It had protected me. It was my job to protect it, but it had protected me, and now it was lying motionless on its bed, with a gauze around its head. It was only a month old, much too young to suffer through all that it had.

I led the healer through my suite, to my office, then I offered it a seat. The healer remained standing, it stood at attention. A pious healer, but also a soldier. I had cause to be grateful to Arexon for having one such as this in its army. I shivered at the thought of the risk we would have had to take to find a healer if we didn’t have one that we trusted.

“Gratitude, captain.” I said to the healer, suddenly painfully aware of the fact that I did not know its name. It had come to my offspring’s aid, and I did not know its name.

“I only did my job sirga,” it said, still standing at attention.

“Be at ease,” I commanded.

It relaxed slightly, but I doubted that this soldier knew what it meant to be at ease.

“Your offspring’s brain is malformed, sirga, that is what I saw through the probe.”

“From this injury?” I asked. Was an infant’s brain so fragile? I did not know nearly enough about brains of ones so young, or really brains in general.

“Primarily from polluted lust. The injury only served to exacerbate the symptoms.”

I moved towards the first chair I could find and collapsed into it. I’d gone searching through tomes and never even thought to consult a healer. I did not think of healers until an ailment was life-threatening. I was a terrible progenitor. First, I’d let my offspring go on trips with Marcinus. Granted, I hadn’t known it was happening, but I was progenitor, it was my job to know. How much more would my offspring suffer because I did not know enough? How much would it suffer from the company that I kept? Once, I’d trusted Marcinus with my life, now I could not even trust it with its own safety. Was this the fate of all who I associated with?

I forced my mind from those thoughts. “What is the treatment?”

“There is no treatment, sirga, only management. Infants are young and malleable. The exposure to lust tricked your offspring’s brain into attempting to create the lifeforce itself in order to prolong the pleasure associated with it. This triggered the development of the abnormalities that have now malformed its brain.”

I did not understand. Why couldn’t healers speak plain? “So, it will always crave lust?”

“No sirga,” the healer shook its head, “that is an adult’s conundrum. It will not crave it because its brain believes that it is creating it. It is basically making its own lust, but uspecs cannot make lust and so what its brain interprets as lust is actually just the firing of atypical neurons.”

“What does that mean? Will it never speak? Will the spasms continue? Is there no way to remove the abnormalities?”

“No, sirga, there is no way to remove the abnormalities without removing necessary parts of the brain. Rather, there is no way I know of. There are healers who specialize in surgeries like this, but none have successfully performed the operation without leaving lasting impairments.”

I groaned. It all came full circle. I had taken Marcinus’ center eye and thought that the worst consequence to myself would be the loss of a valued friend. If only I had known that this would be the consequence, my offspring impaired for the rest of its life. If only I had known.

“Do not be disheartened sirga. You stopped its ingestion of polluted lust early enough that it will not be insane. It still has enough healthy brain matter to form speech and perform basic functions.”

“Basic functions.” I spat the words out like the curse they were. “Will it fight? Will it wield a sword? How will it rule Lahooni when its time comes?” I demanded. I placed my head in my hands and stared down at the brown floor. “Tell me that the spasms will stop. Tell me that at least.”

There was a long silence before the healer finally said, “I am sorry sirga, the spasms will not stop. It will have a hard life sirga, but it will still be able to function.”

Still be able to function. I closed my eyes. I was too hurt to feel the anger I should have at Marcinus. It was my fault in the end. Marcinus had only descended to lust because I had taken its center eye. If I had not done that, Marcinus would not now be what it had become. And my offspring? I grieved for it.

“I will be back tomorrow to return its motion. Once it starts eating, the healing will begin. Soon the bleeding and convulsing will stop, and it will be better.”

I barely heard the healer’s retreating footsteps as it left. I stood up from my seat and walked back to Nebula’s room. When I got there, I dismissed Juke. The uspec wanted to stay, but I could not bear it. I needed to be alone with my offspring. I thought I would weep. Juke left, but the tears never came.

I stared at my offspring. It was asleep. I watched it sleep. I sat beside it on its bed, determined to keep all dangers from it. But the dangers were already there. Who could I blame? Marcinus for its addiction to lust. Why had my offspring followed Marcinus in the first place? How hadn’t I known that it had gone? Whenever I was around it never left with Marcinus, I knew that, so it must have gone when I was not around. But why? What would drive Nebula to go with Marcinus? Unless Marcinus had lured it. Had Marcinus orchestrated this whole thing knowing the damage that it would do and the pain it would cause me? I smiled sadly, what a beautiful revenge. It was much better than killing me. Death was easy, living with the guilt of my offspring’s impairment was not.

My mind filled with images of its throwing arm. The way that it had thrown my dagger at the imp who sought to attack me. Skill like that could not be taught. It was engrained. It would have been a great warrior. It would have surpassed me.

I looked down at the sleeping form, at the smooth green face, with only the single eye in its center. At the little nose, at the lips underneath it. My gaze went down to its neck, bare, and featureless. I remembered then that it was irirakun of five, as Checha had been. Its bare scalp would grow horns, its neck would fill with scales, its chest would be covered with spikes, tentacles would sprout from its waist and it would have a kute tail. A kun of five with an arm like nothing I had ever seen before. The aim. The spasms. It would never fight. How could one with spasms wield a sword during battle? How would it command the respect of the port it would one day own?

It would. Somehow, I swore it to myself. Uspecs would respect it or they would die. They would bow to it or they would die. Nebula lived. That was all that mattered, it lived, and it would continue to live. If its life was destined to be hard, then it was my job to ease the burden. At least it lived. Everything else was surmountable.

I sat there all through the night and just watched it sleep. I memorized every feature on its face and took note of the bends in its ailerons. I learnt every aspect of its body. When the healer returned, I was still thirsty to know more of it.

“Salutations sirga,” the healer greeted. “You do not look like you got any sleep.”

I glanced up at the uspec, watching as it walked in. My offspring’s room was away from the boundaries of the dwelling. There were no windows here for natural lighting. I hadn’t thought of that before.

Musa walked in behind the healer, bearing a wooden tray. The sight of the imp reminded me that I had to talk to it. There was much to discuss after the attack. I had to know what had been said in that harsh umani tongue and understand why it had chosen to stay with me instead of healing its people. But now was not the time. My offspring’s health was foremost in my mind, everything else came second to that.

“Good morning master,” Musa greeted. It placed the tray down on a table.

I got up and stretched. Then I walked over to the tray. There was a cup filled with a cyan liquid I immediately recognized as nama milk. It was supposedly good for infants, I could not stand the stuff, but my offspring liked it. My eyes darted to a platter filled with sweet buns and dried jejas. The buns I approved of, the jejas, I did not. The last thing on the tray was a bowl of some horrid looking grey gruel. I picked that bowl up and sniffed at it. I was immediately repulsed by the smell. It wasn’t exactly foul, but it was certainly not aromatically pleasing.

“What is this?” I asked.

The healer responded before Musa could. “Brain food sirga. Herbs mixed with grains and tiho. Your offspring must eat it to heal.”

Tiho was one of the few types of meat that I had never tried and was not particularly keen on trying. It was a strange shell-creature that lived in quicksand. Tiho was cooked in the shell. I’d watched Arexon sucking the meat out of the shell once, and had gracefully rejected its offer to try some. This was what my offspring was to eat? I picked up a small spoon from the tray and scooped some of the grey gruel. Then I put it into my mouth and barely resisted the urge to spit it back out.

“It will never eat this.” I stated.

“It must.” The healer stated emphatically.

“That is why the sweet buns and the milk are here too. It can eat them all together.” Musa’s assurance was oddly comforting. I nodded in thanks.

When I turned around, Nebula’s eye was open. It was staring at me. I walked back to the bed and sat beside it.

“Salutations my precious Nebula.” I greeted it. This was how I greeted it when I saw it in the morning. It was a greeting I had borrowed from the sibling’s Binna and Fabiana.

Nebula smiled at me. It made to rise, but the healer appeared, and stopped its motion with a hand on its chest. “We should not excite it sirga, it is still prone to convulsions until it is fully healed from its injuries.”

I nodded.

Musa placed the tray on a stool beside Nebula’s bed. “Breakfast young master.” It gave it the cup of milk first.

“Only a little, mind you, don’t let it drink it all. The gruel is the most important.” The healer was quick to point out.

“Yes domina.” Musa lifted the cup to my offspring’s lips. I moved around it so that I could support it. I didn’t want it to choke on the cyan liquid, so I propped it up, and made it lean against my chest.

I watched as Nebula swallowed the liquid. Musa pulled the cup back, then made a small sandwich of dried jeja and sweet buns. Nebula ate that to. The gruel came next. Musa sat in front of it and scooped up a small spoonful of the grey gruel. It spoon-fed my offspring. Nebula took the contents of the spoon, and then it spat it out. It spat the grey gruel on Musa’s shirt.

Nebula let out a gurgle of sound and then it began to spasm. Its entire body jerked. I tried to restrain it, but that did not stop the jerking, I was only able to keep it from hurting itself. The back of its head slammed against my chin.

The little food it had managed to eat came out. It threw the cyan milk up with the creamy bun and the yellow jejas. A good deal of the thrown-up food landed on my thighs. I still kept my arms around it, but it continued to convulse. It frothed at the mouth. Blood mixed with white foam streamed out from its lips.

“Should you take away its motion?” I asked, worried that it would reopen its wounds.

The healer shook its head. “The convulsion will pass. It must eat the gruel, if not the convulsions will only continue, and its injuries will not heal.”

We waited for the convulsion to pass and then we tried feeding it again. Each time it took the food it liked but as soon as we put the gruel in its mouth, it spat it out and began to convulse. We tried buttering the bun with the gruel to lessen the bitter taste, but that didn’t work. We tried diluting the gruel with nama milk, but even that didn’t work. Nothing we tried worked. The more it convulsed the worse the convulsions became until the last one lasted for such a long time that the healer decided it was safest to remove Nebula’s motion.

“What about putting thoughts of wanting the gruel into its head?” I asked when I’d become desperate.

“No foreign lifeforces should enter the infant. Pansophy is not meant for one this young, especially not for one suffering the effects of polluted lust.” The healer reminded me of its earlier words. I thought of the motion, then I remembered that it was my own offspring’s motion that was removed and returned, never anyone else’s.

“We will try again later. It must eat the gruel sirga.”

I nodded in affirmation that I had heard the healer’s words. For a long time, I just sat there, holding my offspring in my arms. The healer had made it clear, before leaving, that if Nebula didn’t eat the gruel it would die. I did not know what to do. I was trained to fight. Show me my enemy and I would kill it, or I would die trying. I could fight with sword and cutlass, even with the hoe-spears that I’d been trained to use as a serf soldier in Chiboga. Fighting was what I knew. Killing was what I knew. I knew nothing of sick children.

We tried several more times that day, all with the same abysmal results. Nebula would not eat the foul-tasting gruel, and each time it spat it out, it convulsed. I begged in ways that I had never begged before. It could understand me, that much I knew. Nebula had no trouble understanding instructions. I begged it to eat, I promised anything and everything that I could think of. I threatened, I cajoled, nothing I could do or say was enough to keep Nebula from spitting out the gruel and convulsing. A whole day passed in which I held it in my arms and begged it to eat. I even prayed to Chuspecip. I, more than anyone else, knew how weak it was. Yet I prayed to it, I reached for its voice within me, it just wasn’t strong enough to reach back.

I didn’t clean the vomit off my body until Nebula went to sleep that night. At that point it was already caked up and dried. Once I was clean, I went back to its bed. I did not sleep that night either.

The next day was more of the same.

“You should eat, sirga,” Juke brought a platter of my favorite meals to me. I threw the platter against the wall and terrified the young uspec, but it did not run away. It just went about cleaning up the mess I’d made.

When the second day passed and my offspring still refused the gruel, I was beyond desolate.

That was when Marcinus came.

It appeared standing by the door to my offspring’s room. There was an escort of Arexon’s soldiers with it.

I do not know how I stayed on the bed instead of flying towards it and wrapping my hands around its throat. Perhaps the pieces of Chuspecip in me were stronger than I’d thought, strong enough to keep me from killing Marcinus.

It did not even look like itself. Its eyes were red and appeared swollen. As soon as it saw me, sitting helplessly by my offspring’s side, it laughed. I clenched my jaw. Its laugh was like my offspring’s spasm. It laughed, but there was no mirth in its gaze. Then it heaved after laughing, licked its lips and looked around the room, its pupils shifting rapidly. My offspring could not stop its spasms, but Marcinus could. All it had to do was stay away from the lust for a few more days. A few more days and the longing would be sufficiently reduced.

I looked away from the uspec, disgusted.

“I know how to make the child eat the gruel,” it stated without preamble, “but it will cost you.”

It was my turn to laugh without mirth. My gaze turned to Marcinus. I rose an eyebrow and waited for it to speak.

It jerked its head back and laughed without smiling. “I need lust.”

My dagger was on my belt, so close that I could just pull it out and throw it at Marcinus’ neck. What stopped me? “You need the emetic,” I spat out, “it will remove the longing, for a while at least. We have enough emetic to get you through till the longing drops.”

Marcinus’ tongue darted out of its mouth. It licked its lips and laughed. “No, no emetic, I want lust, I need lust.”

“Look at yourself!” I snapped. “Aren’t you disgusted?”

It stopped laughing and picked at its face. Its eyes flicked wildly, as if they were following a ball bouncing off the walls. “What is disgust, my friend? Aren’t you disgusted, my friend? Friends.” It laughed. “Do you want to save your offspring or are you content to watch it die? What is it to you if I take lust? What is it to you?!” It screamed the last question out so loudly I feared my offspring would wake. “What is it to you? Your offspring brings you joy, lust brings me joy. You want your joy and I want mine. What is it to you?”

I shook my head. “As if you know anything that could help,” I growled.

“Maricus.” Its eyes glazed over. “I know.”

Maricus? Who was that? “Take it back to its suite.” I ordered the soldiers. They forced it away and it squealed and scraped and fought every step of the way. Polluted lust had turned Marcinus into that. I looked at my offspring, and Marcinus’ question came back to me. Aren’t you disgusted, my friend? Marcinus said ‘my friend’ like an accusation. It was right. Maybe that was why I couldn’t kill it; it was my fault. It was all my fault.

Dis update got me crying in ekun egbere

Innocent Nebula and graceful Marcinus...this is very painful.

things are becoming soo baad.... nebula who is supposed to be a trophy for nebud is now a burden.. marcinus is beyond redemption... chuspecip silent... still no mutiny from the plenum soldiers... i am guessing a miracle will happen soon... #fingers_crossed.

Sad updates ☹️��

@ayshow6102 doh, I'm sorry, maybe this one will make you smile in ekun egbere

@eROCK247 I agree ohh, the way everything has unfolded...it's very very painful oh. CHai!

@Skywalker909 Well, I don't know if Nebula is meant to be a trophy, but Nebud said I should tell you that Nebula is not a burden Anyway, I'm with you hoping for a miracle soon

@Smooth278 I agree

Part 5
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Two more days passed, and my offspring still refused to eat the gruel. I could not eat. Juke bore the brunt of my anger. It kept bringing me food and I kept throwing the food away. How was I supposed to eat when my offspring was dying? Musa and Juke cajoled me into leaving my offspring’s room. I don’t know how they managed it.

I stepped out onto the veranda behind my room and saw the sky for the first time in four days.

Uspecs in my honoraria were sparring. I heard the swords clashing. Darlin fought against another two-band noble. Darlin, unsurprisingly, won. But the other two-band noble was good. I looked back at the entrance to my room. Juke stood in front of it, with its arms crossed, blocking the way as if it could stop me if I tried to reenter.

“You promised to spend at least five minutes outside, sirga.” The young uspec reminded me.

I glared at it, but it did not move. Something about its stubbornness made me think of my offspring, withering away on its bed. Would it die here, on the inter-port trail, in a sludge dwelling? Was that to be its fate? I turned my gaze back to the sparring.

Binna went against Cantonia.

Cantonia couldn’t even last two minutes before being disarmed. I spat on the ground, disgusted.

“I should send Juke in to fight against you, Cantonia, maybe then we can pretend that you actually have some value here.” I spat the words out. Uspecs in my honoraria laughed and Cantonia appeared mortified. It stormed off.

I turned my back on the sparring and walked back into the room. Cantonia’s deplorable fighting had only served to further sour mood. If Juke stood in my way, I couldn’t say what I would do to it. It must have sensed my mood because it wisely stepped away from the entrance.

“It was not wise to mock the noble Cantonia like that, sirga.” Juke spoke softly.

I ignored it.

I paced my room. All I wanted was for my offspring to eat the gruel. That was it. I wanted it to be well, I wanted it to heal. I could not live with the loss of another offspring. The first one I had barely known and even its death had hit me hard. This one was mine. I knew it, I loved it, I could not lose it. I reconsidered Marcinus’ offer. Then I shrugged it off. An addict would say anything for its high. Polluted lust. I wanted to wipe the entire existence free of that plague.

I marched into my office and stopped short when I saw Cantonia sprawled indolently on one of the few lounging beds in it. This was where the uspec had stormed off to? Instead of going to better its skill it had come to lie about in my office?

“I have a grievance to bring to your attention, sirga,” the uspec said, as soon as it saw me.

My patience for Cantonia right now was at about the same level as my patience for Marcinus. Marcinus at least I felt guilty for. Cantonia I would happily kill without losing a night’s sleep over it.

“Get out of my office.” I snapped.

The uspec rose from the bed. Its eyes narrowed at me. “You should not make me the butt of your jokes. I understand that you spent the majority of your life in a Hakute slum, and so I can forgive your lack of decorum, but only up to a point. You are not the recognized imperial of Lahooni yet, and if you are not careful, you may never be.”

I stared stupefied at the uspec. Surely it could not be so foolish as to threaten me. I took a step towards it.

“I’m sure you spoke in haste, noble Cantonia, won’t you like to apologize to the imperial?” Juke’s voice rung through the room.

I took another step towards Cantonia. My offspring was dying, and it chose this moment to antagonize me? I would kill it. I’d had enough of Cantonia. Enough!

“Sword skill is not the only skill that exists, Nebud. You should not be so quick to insult those that do not share your gift. I may not be talented in fighting, but I am quite skilled in a very large number of things that could cause you a great many complications.”

That was it. I pulled my dagger out of my belt and threw it at the hand the uspec waved as it spoke. The dagger pierced through Cantonia’s hand, and forced the hand backwards, pinning it to the wall behind it.

“My hand!” It shrieked, its wide-eyed stare looking in horror at the blood gushing out of its hand.

As soon as I reached it, I wrapped my hands around the uspec’s neck and squeezed. I squeezed till its green face bloated, till it could no longer breathe. Its tongue hung out of its mouth uselessly.

Small green hands grabbed onto mine and tried to break my hold. Juke’s efforts were useless. I felt the stilling of Cantonia’s pulse beneath my hands. A few more seconds and it would be dead.

Sharp teeth bit deep into my arm. I instinctively released my hold on Cantonia’s neck and struck Juke so hard across its face that it was lifted off the ground.

Cantonia was drawing in air like it was actually going to live. I reached for its neck again.

“If you kill a Lahooni noble without just cause, the other nobles in your honoraria will leave you. The Lahooni nobles will never allow you to become Kaiser. Please reconsider sirga, when you are Kaiser, you can do whatever you want, but till then, you must be careful.” Juke spoke in a rush.

I was a breath away from Cantonia’s neck. Just a breath, but it was enough time to consider Juke’s words. How much did I want Cantonia dead? Not enough to lose Lahooni over its corpse. I wasn’t thinking clearly. My offspring was in the next room barely alive and this was the time Cantonia chose to annoy me? I pulled the dagger out of its hand, enjoying the sound of its cries of pain as the blade moved.

Once it was free, the uspec darted away. It ran to the curtained entrance. “You make enemies where you should be making friends.” It said. I threw my dagger at it. This time I planned to miss. The dagger clanged uselessly against the wall by the curtain, but Cantonia did not hang around long enough to see the dagger fail.

I walked to the curtain and picked up my discarded dagger. Then I turned my gaze on Juke. It was kneeling on the ground with its hand over the side of its face. I sighed. “Come here.”

Juke rose. It approached me warily.

I took a hold of its arm and pulled it down. Then I pressed a finger against the cheek I’d struck and the uspec yelped. There was blood on its lip. “Apologies, young majestic, I should not have struck you.”

It nodded regally at me. “Apologies, imperial one, I should not have bit you.”

I’d forgotten about that. I looked at my arm and saw blood and teeth indentations. The little demon had actually drawn blood. “What a fine pair we make,” I teased.

“Perhaps next time we can settle our dispute the honorable way, with swords.”

I laughed. It was the first time that I’d laughed since the night of the wrath’s attack. “You’ll have to learn how to use a sword first, won’t you?”

“Then you’ll have to teach me.” It replied, unfazed.

In ten years, I could see my offspring like this. Brave, standing up to me, undaunted. With spasms. If it even lived that long. I would take the spasms, as long as it was alive. I needed it to live.

I patted Juke’s shoulder. “I will,” I promised.

Its smile was so bright you’d think I’d promised to make it a duke. “Gratitude sirga,” it bowed. “I won’t let you down. I’ll be the best fighter in the entire honoraria. I swear it!”

“I don’t doubt it.” I squeezed its shoulder and turned to go back into my offspring’s room.

“Shall I bring you something to eat now sirga?” Juke asked. “You haven’t eaten in days.”

I shook my head.

Nebula looked so tiny in its bed. It lay without motion. Before, I’d been able to tell by the regularity of its breathing if it was awake or asleep, even when it had no motion. Now it all appeared the same. I sat on the bed beside it and just continued to watch it.

Hours passed and I couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than sit there and watch. I was terrified that if I looked away, even for a second, it would not be breathing when I looked back.

“The young majestic says that you refuse to eat.”

My head snapped up at the sound of Arexon’s voice. Musa walked in with it and I saw Juke’s head poke out from behind it. I scoffed at that. “Juke is reporting me to you now.”

Arexon pulled out a chair and sat on the side of the bed beside me. Musa went to sit on the bed on Nebula’s other side.

“The young majestic clearly believes that I am wise and worthy of being paid heed to.” It stated dryly.

This was the first time that we’d spoken since the debacle with Marcinus. The words that I had spoken to Arexon that day…I regretted them. “Forgive me sirga, I did not mean the words I said,” I broke off and looked away. My voice sounded small.

“It is nothing Nebud, already forgotten,” Arexon swore, “but this matter about your eating…”

“I cannot eat when my offspring is dying.”

“Do you know that Juke hasn’t eaten since you stopped? It didn’t tell me that, it was other nobles in your honoraria who told me. Juke only told me that you weren’t eating because I questioned it about its fast.”

I shook my head. “I did not know.” If I had known I would have ordered it to eat. Of course.

“This is what it means to be a leader Nebud. Your people look up to you, they take their lead from you in ways that you may not fully know or realize.”

I nodded. “It will eat.” I would force the food down Juke’s throat if I had to.

“Marcinus came to me, it says that it knows how to make your offspring eat the gruel.”

I scoffed. “Marcinus wants lust.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean it’s lying. What can it hurt to hear what it has to say?”

I didn’t want to believe that Marcinus could actually have a solution and that it would blackmail me for it. It was Marcinus’ fault that we were here in the first place. “And if it’s lying?”

“It doesn’t get anything.”

I sighed and turned to stare at my offspring. It was still breathing. I nodded. “Okay.” I wasn’t expecting much.

“Musa.” Arexon called.

“Yes domina.”

“Go and tell Moat to fetch Marcinus, and the parcel. Then get the healer and the gruel.”

“Yes domina.” Musa stood up and left.

I turned to watch Musa leave. We needed to talk. My gaze turned back to Arexon. “If we let Marcinus leave, it could get itself killed on one of these lust trips.”

“It won’t be going anywhere.” Arexon stated.

“But, how…” I stopped talking when Arexon shook its head.

“I’ve taken care of it.”

I frowned at Arexon’s cryptic reply, but then my attention moved back to my offspring. It was still breathing.

And it was still breathing when Musa returned with the healer and the gruel. There were no sweet buns on the tray, just a bowl of gruel and a spoon. The healer saluted Arexon before going about the job of returning my offspring’s motion. It looked so weak and dazed when its eye opened and it met my gaze. So weak, and so pained. I placed my hand on its forehead and stroked the skin. It tried to smile but even that gesture appeared as a spasm. I felt as if my heart was being ripped from my chest. I could not watch another offspring die.

It was the twisted laughter that let me know when Marcinus arrived.

“Talk,” I spat at it.

It shook its head, its tongue darting out of its mouth. It licked its lips as if in preparation for a feast. “I need assurances first.”

“Moat!” Arexon called.

The soldier appeared. It saluted Arexon and waited for the ‘in clover’ order. Once the order was given, the uspec reached into the small satchel bag it carried and pulled out a strange contraption. It looked something like a metal egg. Moat removed the top of the egg slightly and white fumes drifted out of it. The fumes weren’t nearly enough to travel to the side of the room I was in, but I could tell from Marcinus reaction what it was.

“Polluted lust,” Arexon explained, “as pure as I could find it.”

I closed my eyes and nodded.

“Now speak!” Arexon ordered, in a louder voice.

“Mar – Maricus.” Marcinus said.

I opened my eyes and frowned at it. “Who is Maricus?”

Marcinus’ tongue darted out of its mouth. It laughed its sick laughter, the one that came without it smiling or showing any other signs of mirth. “My offspring.”

My eyes widened.

“Dead.”

My gaze dropped.

“One of Manus’ noble sycophants killed Mara, my swan. I sought revenge and Manus decided to make a sport of it. It ordered us to fight it out in the hatch. Maricus was the product. Manus introduced my offspring to lust before it was even a day old. Healers said the foul-tasting gruel was the only cure. I tried for days to make it eat it. When at last it saw me eating the gruel, it ate it as well. It was already too late by then. Maricus died. One week out of the hatch.”

Maricus died. Anger, loathing, betrayal, sorrow, guilt, so many emotions and they all roiled in me. Marcinus had seen what lust had done to its own offspring and it had allowed my offspring to imbibe a worse version of that lust. The hatred I felt for Marcinus in that moment rivalled that which I felt for Fajahromo. Marcinus had done this knowingly. It had known what lust would do to an infant; it had known. Did it hold me responsible for killing its offspring as well as its progenitor? Was that why it did this to me? To my innocent offspring!

Arexon’s hand was on my chest, holding me down, before I’d even made the conscious decision to leap for Marcinus’ neck.

“Take it away,” Arexon ordered, “if it’s lust it wants, then let it drown in it. Get it out of here!”

The soldiers followed Arexon’s order. They shuffled Marcinus out and I heard the sound of its hysterical laughter. “It all comes full circle!” It screamed.

This was Marcinus, the uspec that I had called friend. It did this to my own offspring. It planned this.

“Try it,” Arexon said, “try it, before it’s too late.”

I did. I forced my mind away from thoughts of killing Marcinus. I felt guilty, I was guilty, I’d taken its eye. But when it came after my innocent offspring, it had crossed a line. It should have come after me! No, Marcinus was no friend of mine. I would kill it. Just as I would kill Fajahromo. At the end, only one of us would be left alive.

I took the bowl of gruel and the spoon from Musa and sat on the bed opposite my offspring. Musa sat behind it. It propped its weak body up and its weakened eye stared into mine.

I took a spoonful of gruel and shoved it into my mouth. It was still as disgusting as I remembered it, but after four days of not eating, I could actually taste the sweetness of the grain, somewhere deep, deep, deep, underneath the bitterness. Or at least that was what I tried to convince myself. I took five more spoons of the gruel before lifting a quarter-filled spoon to Nebula’s mouth.

It felt as if everyone in the room stopped breathing.

Nebula took the gruel. It opened its mouth and took the gruel. I waited for vomit that never came.

One spoon after the other, I fed myself the gruel and then I fed it to my offspring. For each spoon it saw me eat, it ate some of its own, until finally, the bowl was empty.

“Get milk! And sweet buns!” I ordered to no one in particular.

Moments later, Musa appeared with a cup of milk and a platter of sweet buns. I fed that to my offspring and, after four days of throwing up and convulsing, it ate it all, and kept it all down. There were spasms, a few in its legs and arms, but no convulsing. No frothing from the mouth. Just peaceful spasms. I’d never thought I’d be happy to see my offspring spasm, but considering the alternative, I was overjoyed.

After it was done eating, it fell asleep. Its body stopped moving of its own accord, unaided by having its motion removed. I exhaled in relief.

“The worst is behind us now sirga,” the healer reassured me.

I smiled gratefully at it.

“I think your imperial will eat now, young majestic.” Arexon smiled at me when I turned to face it. Then it jerked its head to Juke.

I turned to find the young one staring at me. I still could not believe that it had refused to eat because I had. What would inspire it to do such a foolish thing? I nodded in affirmation of Arexon’s words.

Juke squealed in delight. “Yes sirga. Right away sirga!” Then it ran off.

Arexon stood. It walked over to pat me on the shoulder. “That is one loyal noble. What did you do to earn that level of loyalty in so little time?”

I shrugged. Damned if I knew.

Arexon chuckled. “If you would allow me to give you a word of advice, loyalty like that should be rewarded.” Arexon’s gaze flickered from mine, to the imp arranging the dishes and utensils on the table beside Nebula’s bed. Then it looked back at me and smiled. It patted my shoulder one last time before turning to leave.

“Gratitude sirga,” I said, “I am grateful for your friendship, even if I don’t always show it.”

Arexon chuckled. It shook its head at me and walked out of the room.

I turned to find Musa staring longingly at me. “We need to talk,” I said to it.

It nodded. “Tomorrow maybe? It’s been a long couple of days for us all, and I think you should get some rest master. After you eat of course.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Musa.”

It stopped short and blubbered. Had it really been that long since I’d expressed gratitude to it? “Of course, master,” it blurted out. Then it picked up the dishes and utensils and was gone, but not before I saw the wide smile on its face.

I turned to stare at my offspring. Its breathing appeared stronger.

“Your food is in your office sirga.” I heard Juke call out.

I stroked my offspring’s cheek one last time before leaving the room. I walked behind an excited Juke who was doing its best not to appear excited.

When I looked at the food on my desk, I burst out laughing. “Is there any food left in the cooking room?”

Juke appeared puzzled. “But you haven’t eaten in days!”

I sat on a chair by my desk and kicked another chair out. “Eat with me,” I ordered, before it could leave.

Its eyes widened. “Really?”

I nodded. “Really.”

Its wide smile touched its outer eye. It sat on the chair I’d offered and grabbed a leg of fried sky fowl. It was munching noisily on the meat as it reached to pour wine from a decanter into two cups. My eyes narrowed on the cups. It had brought two cups, which meant that it had expected me to eat with someone else. What a cunning little thing.

I took one of those cups and picked a leg of fried sky fowl for myself. “Tell me a story, Juke.”

It plucked a strip of meat hanging out of its mouth, tore it off, and shoved it fully back in. “Which story? The one of how the great Chacip, the first of your line, founded Lahooni and built a bounteous garden that all, from the lowliest of commoners, to the loftiest of nobles, could pick from?”

If I succeeded in reclaiming Lahooni, I would have forever to read of the nobles of my line. I shook my head. “No, tell me a story of your life. Your happiest day.”

“My happiest day was when you granted me the honor of joining your honoraria.” It said in reply.

I smiled. “Then tell me about your second happiest day.”

“Oh,” its mouth rounded, “that’s a long one. It started underneath the Blessed Connection, in the field of Chacip’s garden. It was right after a disseminator told me the tale of Chacip’s procreation, how its intense desire to create one out of its own form, led it to forsake the usual bout and instead make itself the offer in the hatch. I was walking with my siblings and my progenitor when…”

Juke rambled on happily and, after the roller coaster of watching my offspring fighting for its life then finally make a turn for the better, it brought me a surprising amount of joy to listen to the young uspec speak.

Always a pleasure reading update ObehiD... The worst is over and now Nebula can live again, Mercinus is no friend of ours I swear it and it should die for it treason but if Nevus can still think properly he should recount Mercinus' sacrifices.

I'm finding myself smiling as I type. This was beautiful, Obehi!

Thanks for the update obehid, I wish I could say the storm is over for nebula but........ Anyway your reply was off key the ekun dere cancelled the smiling u put because ekun means tears, but as you predicted this update got me smiling in Erin egbere, dats if anyone knows how it sounds.

Thanks for the update. Marcinus went too far this time.

I'm following, still

the worst is over.... very good update it is..it really got me smiling.. i'm guessing a showdown is coming up... great work ma'am..

@phoenixchap always a pleasure to be read I agree with you about Marcinus. It's gone too far, but I really hope that Nebud remembers how it was before the lust and everything that has happened to make it the way it is now

@OluwabuqqyYOLO thank you!!!

@ayshow6102 Ahhh, I see, well, I'm just happy that you were smiling in something egbere lol. As for the storm not being over for Nebula...well, we shall see.

@eROCK247 thank you for reading! I agree, chai what lust has done to Marcinus.

@HotB Glad you're still here!

@Skywalker909 I'm happy that this update got you smiling, it got me smiling too A showdown is coming, but how close it is...I guess we'll see

Part 6
--------

I swerved right in time to dodge the pointed edge of a wooden sparring sword. My attacker advanced. I let it attack a few more times, studying its advances. I noted where its attacks appeared too timid, the swings that it faltered on, and the legwork that kept it from following through. Then I turned the tables and began to advance on it. I noted the movements it made in retreat. There were times when it waited an extra second longer than it needed to. I spotted those prolonged lapses and took advantage of them, using each opening to knock the uspec off its feet.

It always rebounded quickly, lunging to its feet for more.

I worked it hard, until it was so sore that its movements became clumsy and it heaved for air. But I didn’t stop until it bent over and vomited a film of cyan wretch onto the ground.

Darlin laughed. “We’ll make a fighter out of you eventually, young majestic, once you’re able to keep your food down, that is.”

Other uspecs around shared Darlin’s mirth. I watched closely to see how Juke would take the teasing. It panted, with its hands on its knees. It was soaked with sweat.

“I look forward to that day, dignified one,” Juke replied good-naturedly, when it had enough air in its lungs to speak. Then it forced itself to stand tall. “Shall we go again sirga?” Right as it said those words, its legs buckled underneath it and it fell to the ground.

The roar of laughter that came from the uspecs sparring around us was almost deafening. I stretched out my arm, waited for Juke’s hand to clasp with mine, then I pulled the young uspec to its feet. I had to hold onto it for a few seconds before its legs stopped shaking. It had been a hard day’s training. Perhaps I had pushed it too hard for its first day of training? I did not think so. It might have been its first day training with me, but it was not its first day of sword training.

I released its arm. “Clean that up,” I jerked my head towards its vomit, “then drink some okun and rest. Not too much okun mind you, you’ll only be resting for a bit. We need to build your muscles, you are too scrawny, that’s why your limbs are giving out. A brawler’s training will put some muscle on you.”

“A brawler’s training,” Binna’s raised voice drew curious gazes. The sounds of clanging swords ceased. “Surely you jest sirga.”

I shook my head. I’d already learnt how little nobles thought of brawling. They considered it a virtue to be skilled with a sword, but brawling, to them, was best left to the lower classes. It was why most of them were so skinny. Darlin was of course a notable exception.

“You could all do with some brawler’s training.”

Binna said nothing, it just looked away.

“Go on,” I patted Juke on the head to get it going.

“Now that you are done playing with the child, would you like to spar, sirga?” Darlin teased.

The uspecs laughed.

Juke stopped short on its way to the dwelling. It turned around and narrowed its eyes jokingly at Darlin. It lifted its clenched fist in the air and said, “You jest now, dignified one, but one day, you will all beg for the privilege of sparring with the majestic Juke.” Loud guffaws greeted its words.

I smiled at the young uspec, approving of how freely it took the teasing. There were not many amongst the nobles in my honoraria who would allow themselves to be teased as Juke did. I suddenly caught Cantonia skulking about along the fringes, close to the outhouses. Why did it not surprise me that the uspec was not here, learning how to fight? I glared at it and withdrew my gaze before I gave into the impulse to end its life. I was still angry at the words it had said to me the previous day.

I may not be talented in fighting, but I am quite skilled in a very large number of things that could cause you a great many complications.

If the uspec did anything to hinder my chances of reclaiming my port, noble or not, I would cut off its head. The audacity of the uspec to threaten me, in my own office, when my offspring was fighting for life! I forced my mind away before I did something I’d regret, like throw my dagger at its neck.

“One day your fighting skill shall be legendary, Juke, I do not doubt it for a second.” Binna said.

Juke gave Binna a very deep, and very showy, waist bow. “Thank you, Binna.”

These two had been friends long before joining my honoraria. They were the offspring of the most powerful nobles in my port. Apparently, Fib, Binna’s younger, was very close to Juke. They’d grown up together.

“Till then you’d better get on with what the imperial one asked you to do,” Darlin said, laughing.

Juke looked at me and squealed. “Right away sirga!” It screamed and then ducked behind a curtain. I liked how quickly it was moving. It would recover from the muscle soreness soon, and then it would be able to begin some pugilist sparring. I studied Binna. It would learn to brawl as well. The others I would not order to train, but Binna I would. I did not like the idea of anyone besting Binna or Juke simply because they were not well versed in all forms of fighting.

“Sirga?” Darlin prompted.

I turned to my favorite sparring partner and nodded. We fought with blades. As soon as the sounds of our clashing metal rung out, the other uspec’s resumed their sparring.

I worked up a fine film of sweat sparring with Darlin. The uspec was very good. It knew me well enough now not to give anything less than a hundred percent when we dueled. I would take advantage of any and all weaknesses. We’d both caused each other several injuries over our month of sparring. The first one had been necessary. I’d noticed that Darlin was pulling its blows and so I’d allowed it to cut me so that it would see that the world would not end if I was hurt. It had not been so long ago that I was the banneret in Katsoaru sparring with Marcinus and worried that I would cause the imperial one harm. Just the thought of Marcinus was enough to foul my mood. I found myself attacking with even more vigor than was normal for a friendly spar.

But Darlin held its own.

We transitioned from swords to fists. When it came to pugilism, there were not many that could beat me. I had been forced to learn in the pits of Hakute. Years fighting for my life on a weakly basis made me hard to defeat. I grabbed onto Darlin’s hand, when it’s aim proved a little too wide, and I twisted. I didn’t put enough force in it to break the arm, but it was enough to cause pain. Darlin did not cry out. I released its arm and took a blow to the side of my face that I had not seen coming. Darlin’s attack made me smile, it was one I had taught the uspec. We traded blows for a good long time, long enough for the both of us to get a nice exercise. Then we clutched each other’s forearms in the embrace I had been taught by Fabiana and its line.

“One day I shall best you sirga,” Darlin warned.

I chuckled. “Maybe, but not today.”

Darlin laughed. “Not today.”

We released our holds. “I need to collapse onto a bed!” Darlin yelled. There were a few snickers, but most of the uspecs were focused on their sparring. “What do you say sirga? Have I worn you out?”

I shook my head. I had spent four long days by my offspring’s bed doing nothing but watching and praying that it would survive. Now that it had taken a turn for the better, I found that I had all my pent-up anger at Marcinus driving me on. I was not yet even close to being tired.

“Who will succeed where I have failed?” Darlin called out. “Binna?”

Binna was standing on the outskirts, taking a break from its spar with another majestic, the offspring of a lower rung duke. It shook its head.

“Ah! Cantonia! Yes, surely after all your heated words last night, you are ready to challenge the imperial one?”

Challenge me? I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. The thought of Cantonia challenging me. What a joke! I’d gotten a better challenge from Juke who was less than half Cantonia’s age. The uspec did have all of its outer eye sockets formed and four of them filled. But knowing Cantonia, it had probably bought those eyes.

Cantonia’s jaw clenched. It glared at me and stormed off. What I would give to hold that uspec down and free it of those eyes from which it had turned its fuming glance on me.

“Binna!” I called out instead, allowing Cantonia to skulk away, like the coward it was.

Binna rushed forward. This was not my first time sparring with the uspec. As soon as it reached me it pulled out its sword.

I stopped it. “We will brawl.”

Its mouth flopped open. “Brawl?” it asked, incredulously. “Surely, sirga, you jest.”

“No, I do not.” That was all the preamble I gave before I snapped the uspec’s head to the side with my fist. After that Binna rose its fists up and I took it easier on the uspec. I wanted to teach it, not to beat it, though the first often required the second.

By the time we were done, Binna was bleeding and furious at me. Any other uspec, I would have ignored. But Binna had its older sibling to thank for the care which I showed it.

“You may not always have your sword, Binna, you must know how to fight without it.”

It managed to stop looking at me with such vitriol. “I am not good at this sirga,” it sulked, “it is not a noble’s way of fighting.”

I took a deep breath and then released it. I placed my hand on its shoulder. “Perhaps, but I ask it of you. Do you refuse to learn?”

It glared at me and then looked away. “That is not fair, sirga. You know I cannot refuse you.” I knew it. It cared greatly for me for the same reason that I cared deeply for it. We were both bound to each other by its older sibling, Fabiana.

“Then you will learn pugilism.”

“I will do so because you demand it, but I will be very reluctant.”

I squeezed its shoulder and then patted it on its aileron. “I am sure I’ll find a way to beat the reluctance out of you.”

It scoffed. “I’m sure you will sirga.”

I smiled. “Take a break, we’ll continue when I’m done with Juke.”

It bowed to me and walked away.

I was just about to call for Juke when I saw a brown body appear in front of me. Musa. It carried a wooden bowl filled with okun in one hand and a towel in the other. The imp stopped in front of me. There was something about its countenance when it stared up at me. It was odd, the arrangement of its facial features.

“Domina Arexon sent me to summon you, master.”

I nodded. That would explain the towel and the okun. Arexon could be quite particular about things. It wouldn’t want me sitting in its office with sweat pouring down my body. I put my hand into the bowl and splashed some of the warm liquid on my face. Then I took the towel from Musa and began wiping at my body as I walked towards the dwelling. I stopped in front of Juke and left orders for it to spar with Binna. I would have said Darlin, but I did not think Juke was ready for that yet. Even when it was trying to be easy, Darlin fought savagely, it was a savageness I wholeheartedly approved of, but one Juke would wilt under. Binna would be gentler. I was still toweling off my sweat when my gaze happened upon Musa. It was still staring at me with that strange look on its face.

I frowned at it. “What is it?”

Its eyes widened. It shook its head. “Nothing master,” it said, warily.

Our relationship was not what it had once been. Despite myself, I thought fondly of the days when the imp had teased me. When it came down to it, I had survived as long as I had because of Musa. It had taught me the graces which allowed me to pass for banneret. I imagined how uncouth I appeared to my nobles and thought about how much worse it would have been if I had come to them as I’d been when I first stepped out of the pits of Hakute. They would have laughed off my claim to the line of Kaisers. It had lied to me, it had destroyed the relationship we’d had. Our relationship had been so strong that I had risked my own life to save its own. Whenever I thought of Nefastu I felt the wounds of Musa’s betrayal twinge. It had lied about so much. But then it had remained with me when the wrath came. Even with what little fondness I showed it, it had chosen to remain with me. And it had been denounced by its people.

I flicked the end of my towel against Musa’s arm. “Speak.”

It smiled, but there was a deep sadness in that smile. It shook its head. “It’s nothing master, it’s just that seeing the way you were with your honoraria, brought up feelings I’d thought I’d buried.”

“Feelings?” I prompted.

“It was like I was seeing master Calami in the flesh.” It choked on its words. “Forgive me master. It just…it took me by surprise.”

I was suddenly finding it hard to swallow past the lump in my throat. Musa saw my progenitor in me? The mighty Calami. It had not lived long enough to become a mighty one, but it had been mighty in the tales that I was told of it. And now Musa said it saw that in me? I thought about other things the imp had said, like in the room-vault in Damejo, where it had said that I was not what the other uspecs of my line had been. I shook the thought away, choosing not to dwell on that.

“We need to talk,” I stated, after long moments of silence.

Its head was bent. “I know master.”

“About the wrath’s attack,” I clarified.

Musa turned to stare at me. “I know.”

I nodded. We’d reached Arexon’s suite. I stood outside and toweled off the rest of my sweat. Then I gave the towel to Musa and walked into Arexon’s suite. There were soldiers on guard in front of the curtains to its office. They saluted me as I walked past them.

Arexon stood in front of its war map. It had a deep frown on its face as it stared at the pieces.

“Sirga?” I called out.

Arexon’s head snapped up. It urged me forward with an impatient gesturing of its folding fingers. I approached it cautiously. “What is it sirga?”

Arexon looked up from its war map. “How is Nebula?” It asked.

I smiled. “Recovering sirga, gratitude.”

It nodded, then it jerked its head at a parchment left on the end of a lounging bed close to its war map. “I did not want to bother you with it before, but now that your offspring is recovering, you can read Manus’ message.”

I walked over to that lounging bed, picked up the parchment and sat to read it. “Manus sounds like it is one missive away from urging the plenum to send reinforcements to Katsoaru.” Which was good news. Except that we needed Marcinus to write that missive. It had to be in the uspec’s hand with the uspec’s identity used to sign off. I did not want to think of Marcinus.

“We are doomed.” Arexon stated dryly.

“You should not be so pessimistic sirga.”

Arexon crossed its hands over its chest and fixed me with a level stare. “If Chechin had withdrawn the Monachooni troops from the plenum’s forces, then we would stand a chance and even then our chances would be slim. Perhaps if you could pull out some lit okun we would be able to improve the odds in our favor, but spectra doesn’t work on the inter-port trail.”

“It would take a lot of spectral energy to kill that many troops.”

“And you cannot be more than one place at a time. If we do decide to use your lit okun, we would have to send you to a port. Whichever port you chose to stay in would be safe, as long as you stood guard all hours of the day with your lit okun in hand, but that is not possible. The plenum would trap you in that port and attack the other port. If you stayed in Lahooni, Chiboga would fall, and if you stayed in Chiboga, Lahooni would fall. They could kill you. Lit okun kills many, but not all. All they’d have to do was use swans to find out who amongst their troops were immune and they would send the immune soldiers after you…” Arexon stopped talking. It was as if we both reached the same realization at the same time.

It slumped onto the lounging bed beside me.

“That’s what they’ll do to build their bridge. They’ll use the draco, the Lahooni frosted beast, to find out who’s immune and only send those immune to the smog sand in to build the bridge. Is it possible? To test for immunity without killing them?”

Arexon nodded. “Damn!” It swore. “It only takes emotions to do it. All they need is a hooni kun, one who can communicate with the draco through anger. The draco can show them who amongst them is immune and who isn’t.”

Damn! I found myself repeating Arexon’s earlier curse. The smog sand was the only thing keeping the plenum from overrunning Lahooni. If they could build their bridge with only those immune, then they would complete it faster. “Maybe they don’t know about the draco test yet.”

“They know.” Arexon dispelled whatever hope I’d had. “Frosted beasts are awfully loyal. We know the plenum Kaisers are irirakuns of five, and giving that Checha told you its offspring are irirakun, I think it’s safe to assume that the plenum has a great many irirakuns fighting with them. They will have many who can speak with the frosted beast, we just have to hope that they haven’t yet found a frosted beast that would be willing to aid them.”

“I should send word to Jukien,” I said, “to warn it.”

Arexon turned to stare at me. “The Jukien that refused to hand your port over to you?”

My eyes narrowed. I nodded.

“The sooner you start thinking like a politician, the better things will be for you, my friend.” The sting of Arexon’s sharp words were abated by the ‘my friend’ moniker it attached at the end. It was very rare to hear Arexon refer to me as such, and each time it said the words, I felt my chest fill with pride.

“Jukien is loyal to Chuspecip.”

Arexon scoffed. “Fabiana is loyal to Chuspecip. Loyalty cannot be bought or swayed. Whatever its reasons, when forced to, Jukien, like all the other nobles in your port, declared itself Kuworyte. I am not saying that they don’t regret their choice. Obviously, the presence of your honoraria shows that your nobles do have some allegiance to Chuspecip. But in a choice between sure death and serving the plenum, Jukien chose serving the plenum. If you send it word that Lahooni is surely to fall and you along with it, it will choose the plenum again.”

“Chuspecip lives, I will return it to this existence, it is not sure death.”

Arexon gazed at me as if it could see into my head. “I am not Uspecipyte, I place no trust in your founder, I trust you. Don’t insult my trust by lying to me now.”

I looked away. “Chuspecip lives,” I mumbled, “it just grows weaker by the day.”

“And how long till it no longer lives?”

“I don’t know.”

Arexon stood up and began pacing the room. “We need to stop hiding out here and start fighting. We cannot wait for Chuspecip to come to our aid. If the founder was so great, it would not have allowed itself to be caught in the first place.”

I found myself rushing to Chuspecip’s defense. It was for its loyalty to my line that it had been captured. But even captured, Chuspecip was great, wise. It was thanks to Chuspecip that I had gotten to this point. I tried to explain Chuspecip’s cunning to Arexon.

I explained how I was led by Chuspecip to finding Marcinus’ swan Mara. Chuspecip needed Manus to be made heir and it had used me to ensure that it happened. If Marcinus had been named heir, Manus would have killed it. While I longed for Marcinus’ death, Marcinus’ life and freedom was a threat to Manus, a threat which was going to help divert part of the plenum’s forces.

Then there was Chiboga. I explained how Chuspecip, while weakened, and unable to form a true link with me, had still been able to use me to expose Arexon’s pansophy. I’d thought of it as a slip, but it had not been. The timing had been exact. I had ‘slipped’ right on the day before the plenum would have entered Chiboga, right on the night when Sophian was holding a feast and Sophila was getting befuddled by lust. Chuspecip had drawn me to Sophila’s suite by showing me the white fumes. Sophila’s suite had been sealed off and so there hadn’t been any white fumes, but I’d seen fumes and I’d found the perfect opportunity to take Sophila’s eye. It had all been Chuspecip acting through me. The timing had been so perfect because exposing Arexon’s pansophy had forced Sophian to show the extent of its disregard for Arexon which in turn gave the uspec the license to kill it and take control of its port. All of these things had to happen for us to be where we were now.

Then there was Damejo. I even saw Chuspecip’s hand in my fight with Fajahromo. It had been a lot of my anger pushing me to fight, but there had been Chuspecip as well. Chuspecip had wanted me to lose it had wanted me to go to Nefastu, but that was still a mystery to me. I did not know why Chuspecip had been bent on me going to Permafrost. It wasn’t for Animaon’s eye. Animaon would have found me if I hadn’t gone looking for it. Chuspecip had been absent on that cursed road, absent throughout Nefastu and I still didn’t understand how that was possible and why it had forced me to that path. But of all I understood, I saw Chuspecip’s hand driving my life from the moment I stepped into the green room on the Isle of Brio. It had even united me with Musa.

Arexon whistled when I was done. “Perhaps your founder is as great as you say, Nebud, but if it is too weak to fight, then we are on our own.”

I shook my head, shocking even myself by the words I said. “Have faith, sirga, Chuspecip is not down yet. It gave us a mission on this inter-port trail, and we must accomplish it.”

Arexon chuckled. “If anyone else told me to have faith in Chuspecip I would laugh in their face. But if the founder could make a believer out of you…” Arexon broke off. “Let’s just say this. If your founder comes to Chiboga’s aid the way you claim it will, I will forever be in its debt. But if it doesn’t…”

“I will not abandon you, sirga. If for some reason Chuspecip fails us, I will be by your side, fighting to the death alongside you.”

“And your port?” It teased.

“We will join Lahooni and Chiboga and be co-Kaisers.”

Arexon laughed. It was not possible, we both knew it, but we laughed as if it was. The plenum would slaughter my people before we could make it across the inter-port trail to reach Chiboga.

“So then we continue with your founder’s game. We send a reply to Manus.” Arexon stated.

I nodded. “Have faith sirga.”

Arexon shook its head and laughed. “Will you give that lesson to Marcinus?”

Whatever good humor I’d had quickly went away.

“Ah,” Arexon sighed, “that was rather tactless of me. Forgive me Nebud.”

I nodded. “I know its importance, but I cannot stand its presence without killing it.”

“Of course.” Arexon stated. “I will send Musa to it. Marcinus has a strange fondness for imps. It forces itself to be on its best behavior whenever your imp is around. Though for an uspec with so much lust in its brain, best behavior is still questionable behavior.”

I glanced up then and found Musa standing quietly by the curtain. How much of our conversation had it heard? “I’d meant to speak with it,” I began and then rethought. “You’re right sirga, send Musa to it, I can speak with my imp later.”

“Good.” Arexon rose. “Come Musa,” it called as it walked over to its desk.

I stood up as well and watched Musa go to Arexon. “If you will excuse me sirga?”

Arexon nodded. “Of course, dismissed.”

I laughed at that. Its soldiers called it general, well some of them did. Some called it mighty one, others called it general. None of its soldier called it high one. In their minds, it was already Kaiser of their port. And as the Kaiser was also the general of the army, they’d accorded both to Arexon. Its back was turned to me, but I couldn’t resist the urge to give a teasing salute after it ‘dismissed me’. Musa saw and smiled. I smiled back at the imp, nodded to it, and then turned and walked out of Arexon’s office. Musa and I would talk later.

I had uspecs to train, but I decided to go and check on my offspring before going back outside to spar.

When I walked into Nebula’s room and found it empty, it was as if history was repeating itself. No. No. Would it have gone to Marcinus suite? If Marcinus had invited my offspring for more lust, I would kill it. I didn’t care how much we needed it, I would kill it.

I walked out of my suite in a blind rage.

“Sirga?”

I saw Moat salute and stopped to salute back at it.

“Are you alright sirga?”

“My offspring, Nebula, it is with Marcinus again.” I spat the words out.

“No sirga, it went outside, it is with your honoraria. The general gave orders that the imperial Marcinus was not to be allowed near your offspring if you were not present. There are soldiers watching the imperial Marcinus’ suite, none of them would allow your offspring in, sirga, none.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. “Gratitude Moat.”

It saluted and I rushed past it. Leave it to Arexon to ensure that the past was never repeated. Was there anything that Arexon was not worrying about? I thought of the oath I’d made spontaneously to it. Lahooni was my responsibility, but I would do everything in my power to aid it. I would fight by its side if it came to it. After all that Arexon had done for me, I owed it everything.

A loud gurgle of unintelligible sound greeted my arrival. I smiled when I saw Nebula standing between Juke and Binna. Darlin was bent to a squat in front of it. It made gestures and seemed to be speaking to my offspring. The Lahooni tongue was the only one that Nebula understood, but, thanks to the Chiboga soldiers that we lived with, it could understand a few boga phrases. My nobles had no problem with communication. Nobles learnt to speak in all the tongues, it was part of their expensive educations.

I stopped behind Nebula. Darlin gave it a dagger and just as Nebula carried it, its arm began to spasm.

I sighed. “Should you be out of your bed?” I picked the little uspec up and tried to take the dagger from it, but its spasming hand held on, surprisingly strongly, to the thing.

“Sirga,” Darlin gave me a neck bow, “I was just telling our young imperial one that it is going to be a great fighter. It’s just thrown my dagger three times clear through to its target.”

I did not know if I wanted Darlin filling my offspring’s head with lies. It would not be a great fighter. I didn’t want it to be disappointed when it finally learnt of this hard truth.

I was about to say so when Darlin said, “One of my agnates had a spasm like the young imperial. Its epics are the tales of legends. My agnate learned how to control the spasms. It could push it off so that it only happened every so often, and never when it was in battle. Mastering pansophy helped to move the spasms around too. Soon, my agnate was able to use its spasms against its foes. I have several tomes on its journey, perhaps you would like to read them young imperial.”

Hope came alive in me. I felt my offspring’s head scrape against mine as it bobbed a nod. It was excited. That nod developed into a spasm. Its head jerked forcefully up and down.

“Don’t fear when it is like this, sirga, the spasms will pass. If you fear for it, and see it as less for it, it will pick up on your feelings and feel the same.”

My offspring’s head jerks slowed and then finally stopped.

I smiled at Darlin. “Gratitude. Could I borrow those tomes you mentioned, on your agnate’s journey?”

It smiled at me. “Of course, sirga. I’ll send word to Lahooni to have copies made and smuggled out for you.”

I smiled. “I am truly grateful.”

“Sirga!” Binna’s loud call jarred me. I turned to face the uspec and then lifted my gaze when it pointed to the sky.

There was a battalion of green dots descending from the sky and flying to land right into our compound.

It seemed that, after all this time, the plenum had finally caught up with us.

I gritted my teeth and reached for my cutlass.

***Double post removed by author***

I was wondering how chuspecip came to live in Nebud....

Ummnn still following

@cassbeat that's part of the last brio mystery. There's a link they're born with and it was activated when it went to the green room in the isle of brio.

@doctorexcel ummnn that's good to know

Part 7
--------

Have faith, I’d said to Arexon.

As the first uspec landed and I made out the familiar profile of the shun face with the missing center eye, I had cause to think of my words to Arexon as oddly prescient. I looked at the horns and the fraise, and I smiled, releasing my grasp on the hilt of my cutlass.

“Fabiana!” Binna screamed from behind me.

My excitement doubled. I had not even seen Fabiana, my focus had been solely on Animaon. Now my eyes darted all around, each one moving independently to scour the new camp of arrivals.

There was Fabiana. Binna ran madly to its side. They enveloped each other in an embrace filled with blatant filial devotion. My smile widened. The green dots just kept coming. It was the rest of my honoraria, with the contingent of soldiers that Arexon had sent to accompany Fabiana. I was yet to count them, but their superior numbers showed that they had taken little, if any, casualties.

That wasn’t all.

A frowned when I saw the new arrivals carrying imps with them. And not just a handful of imps, but a large number of them. At least forty imps were born into our compound. While some uspecs carried imps, others carried coffers, some cheap and wooden, others quite remarkable, appearing like mine, as if made from hardened fogs.

By the time the last of the uspecs landed, we were all cramped tightly together. There was a bustle of activity. The voices were loud. The nobles in my honoraria embraced in greeting, welcoming friends they hadn’t seen for weeks, friends that we’d all honestly thought were dead. Arexon’s soldiers embraced.

“Imps!” Darlin screamed. I could not see it in the crush of people, but I would recognize its voice anywhere. “Cantonia will finally have a reason for cheer!”

The laughter that followed Darlin’s proclamation was deep and long lasting. I even found myself laughing a little, despite my disgust for the subject of the joke. I heard my offspring share in my mirth. It thumped my shoulder with its right hand and then continued to thump it for a very many seconds after. I tried not to let the worry that accompanied my offspring’s spasms to show. But I breathed easily when the thumps against my shoulder stopped. Darlin’s words from earlier came back to me then. My offspring could still be great despite its spasms. I tried to cling to that hope.

“Sirga!”

Fabiana forced its way through the throng of people. There was a bit of space around me. I had become so used to the respect I was accorded that I did not even think much of that space. Fabiana dropped to its knee in front of me and bowed deeply.

“Salutations, mighty one,” it greeted, “I have returned.”

Fabiana was still the only one who called me mighty one, already acknowledging me as Kaiser where no other seemed willing to.

I handed my offspring over to Juke and then reached for Fabiana. I ignored the call of ‘pansophy’ from my ring as I grasped the uspec on its upper arms. I lifted it up and embraced it as its sibling Binna had done.

“Welcome, majestic, welcome.” I screamed with delight. “Welcome!” I flung my hand over its shoulder, threw my head back, and laughed. I could not hear Chuspecip in my head, but I could feel it smiling down on me. “We did not know to expect you.”

Fabiana grinned widely at me. “I feared as much when I did not get a response to my missives.”

I frowned. “What missives? We received none.”

Fabiana appeared confused. “I have been sending them every day since I left, just as we agreed to.”

“We received no messages, precious one, none at all. Why do you think we are all so overjoyed to see you?” Binna said, once it had managed to push itself through the crunch of bodies to the circle around us.

“Assiduity!” I heard an unfamiliar voice bark out the order.

I almost snapped into salute as so many of the soldiers did.

“Spread out!” I heard a voice give the order. “Make way for the mighty one.”

The ground trembled from the thud of feet stamping against the hard sludge ground. We’d bought this compound for all one hundred and fifty of Arexon’s soldiers and the hundred nobles in my honoraria. There was room aplenty for all. My eyes darted on a sturdy imp form and I remembered the imps and Animaon. I had to speak to it. What was it doing here? And where had the imps come from? Why did it bring them? So many questions.

A space was cleared between myself, and the entrance to our dwelling. The soldier’s who’d marched off had gone to fill the back and sides of the compound. Arexon waited till there was ample room before it made the voyage to me. It marched forward with my imp and two of its soldiers walking in its wake. Even Marcinus had come out. I averted my gaze before I was tempted to do it harm.

All the soldiers saluted. Arexon stopped a good distance away from me. It saluted and then brought its arm down. “In clover.” It’s voice in that moment had the rare quality of being low yet loud enough to carry through. The soldiers’ arms came down.

“Welcome back!” Arexon bellowed. “It’s good to see your horrid faces again.” It grinned and its soldiers, and a good many of my nobles, myself included, laughed. “Not that I had any doubt that you would return. While one can never be sure of the strength of a Lahooni noble’s blade, I know I can always count on my soldiers.”

Its soldiers cheered loudly, and my honoraria booed jestingly. Arexon and I laughed. It was all said in fun and no one took it seriously.

I rose my hand up and the voices quieted down. I reached for my cutlass and said, “shall I show you the strength of a Lahooni noble’s blade?”

This time my honoraria cheered madly. They hooted and screamed for a duel.

“Only if you want to embarrass yourself in front of your noble honoraria,” Arexon teased.

“Perhaps another time, mighty ones, after we’re all properly rested and fed, and can truly enjoy the sport of watching two great titans clash swords.” Fabiana interceded. It received a great many boos for its efforts.

Arexon laughed. It walked forward and placed its hand on Fabiana’s shoulders in embrace. Fabiana did the same.

“Welcome back majestic one,” Arexon announced, “and I am truly grateful that you brought my soldiers back to me in one piece.”

Fabiana bowed deeply to Arexon. “It was my honor to lead them sirga.”

“Moat!” Arexon called out. “Dismiss the soldiers and see that they are well fed.”

“Yes sirga!” Moat yelled in reply. It snapped out a salute and went about the job it had been given.

With the soldiers slowly retreating to the pond and the outhouses, there was enough space cleared for me to finally focus on Animaon. Animaon’s eyes met mine and it bowed to me. That bow, coming from a pious one, earned a murmur of appreciation from my honoraria. My lips parted to call out to the pious one but another loud cry came before mine could.

“Halima!” Musa screamed. “My God, it cannot be! It cannot be!” Tears streamed from my imp’s eyes.

I watched completely befuddled as it made its way to an imp standing a few paces behind Animaon. The imp was dressed simply in a short brown tunic. I could see from the mounds on its chest that it was a female, the umani gender in contrast to Musa’s male. Once Musa reached the imp, it dropped to its knees in front of it. It wept as if it was in mourning.

The imp knelt in front of it. It pulled Musa into its arms, and then they…my eyes narrowed…I had seen this with the imps in the Mine of Aurelion. Musa and the other imp kissed. They held on tightly to each other’s face and they kissed with so much passion that I could not help but wonder at the identity of this new imp.

“How is this possible?” Musa asked, once it pulled back from the other imp. “You were sapped. I was there when Salin gave the order. I saw you taken away. I saw the yielders take you to their room and…”

“Domina Animaon saved me, Musa.”

Musa appeared stunned. “But then…why didn’t you come back for me?”

“It wasn’t safe Musa,” Animaon said, “it wasn’t safe for her to come back to you. When it was safe, I could not.”

Musa glared at the pious one. “What do you mean you could not? I thought she was gone!”

“It was not the founder’s will for you to be reunited just then. It was not its will.” Animaon’s gaze turned to me and I understood then that Chuspecip kept them apart so that I could find Musa in a position to come to my aid. I remembered its tale from so long ago. We’d been in Katsoaru when it told me of its love. I remembered thinking how strange a concept love appeared then. But now, now I understood the love of which it spoke. I loved many. It came as a surprise to me to know this, that I was one that now had love. I loved my offspring foremost, that one before all others. But there were others I would not see harm come to. Arexon for one, and Fabiana, and, my gaze turned to the imp, yes, even after its betrayal, I still cared deeply for it. Now it clung to the imp who’d won its love.

“You had no right!” Musa screamed.

I frowned at it. Animaon had every right to do whatever it pleased with the imp. Animaon spoke up before I could. “Maybe, but I am just a servant Musa, as are you.”

Musa’s mouth snapped open. The other imp, Halima, I reminded myself, it placed its hand over Musa’s mouth before the imp could say anymore. Its empty sockets rose up and then stopped on me. “Forgive it master,” it pleaded, “it speaks out of turn.”

Musa’s gaze snapped to me, as if it had completely forgotten about my presence there. It looked at me for a while, the black emptiness of its sockets boring into me, and then it looked sullenly away. Interesting.

Again, I began my efforts to speak with the pious, Animaon, and again I was interrupted by an imp.

“Master Cala?”

I turned to find an imp emerging from the group of imps that stood behind Animaon. This imp was one that I had met in Katsoaru without having any inclination of how fond I’d been of it.

“Chike.”

Its mouth hung open. “My God!” It exclaimed. “Master Cala!” I found myself being poked and prodded by an imp. The effrontery. Why did I not stop it? I could not say. “The brawn on you! You must be a great fighter now master, without me. Do you remember when I promised to teach you how to fight? I was going to train you as I’d trained your progenitor master Calami. You did just fine without my aid, didn’t you?”

It was an odd sensation. Now that I had the memories from my first months, I remembered the imp fondly. I thought of how we’d played together, and I did indeed remember the promise it had made to train me. Chike was of a height with Musa, but where Musa was lean, Chike was muscular. Still, I did not like to be prodded, and I liked it even less coming from an imp. I pulled myself away from the imp’s inquiring hands.

It seemed shocked, and then it bowed its head. “Forgive me master,” it said.

I didn’t say anything. I made my way around the imp, to the pious one, Animaon.

“Salutations pious one,” I greeted with a bow. “Your presence here comes as a surprise.”

“Yes,” Arexon drawled beside me, “especially after you promised to cart yourself off to the Isle of Shuns.”

Animaon laughed. “Salutations high one,” it bowed to Arexon, “imperial one,” it bowed to me, “the founder had other plans for me.”

“And you couldn’t have told us of them?” I asked.

“Would you have believed me?” it replied with a question of its own.

I exhaled. It was right of course, I wouldn’t have believed it. I could still remember the days of Damejo. I would have laughed in its face if it had tried to convince me that the founder was the voice in my head and that the founder used it too. I could not begin to guess at Animaon’s relationship with the founder, but I made the decision to speak with it later, about what it sensed of the founder’s strength. I’d known as soon as I’d put Checha’s eye in, and my link with Chuspecip had been completed, that Animaon had received a strong dose of the founder’s lifeforms when my sire had lanced its scale into the pious one’s neck. How strong was that dose though? Strong enough to hear the founder as I did? Or to just receive the little nudges that Chuspecip had given to me before our link had been solidified.

“And the imps?” I found myself asking.

“Mostly pious slaves who’ve been liberated by the uspec’s of your line over time. All of them are sworn to your line, about half of them served loyally until your sire was slaughtered and they thought you dead along with it. The other half are free imps who the uspec’s of your line gave patronage to.”

What was it with my ancestors and these imps? They had been benefactors to the wrath and now that same wrath was planning an invasion. The wrath that had attacked me and put my offspring in bed for four whole days. If I’d been likely to trust imps before, the wrath cured me of that. I turned to stare at these imps and saw in their gazes the same look of hope that Chike’d had when it first recognized me. I was going to disappoint them, I was not one like Calam or Calami who’d been obsessed with coming to the rescue of their traitorous kind. I looked at Musa and sighed. I cared for it, and had mostly forgiven it, but it did not disprove my point. It was a traitor, planning an in invasion with the funds that my own ancestors had so benevolently given it. Once I became Kaiser of Lahooni, that kind of imp charity would cease to be.

“And the coffers?” Arexon asked.

“Clothes…” Animaon began.

“Clothes?” Arexon appeared stomped.

“Imp clothes.” Animaon clarified. “And food and all the wealth that the mighty Calam left in my keeping.”

“I do not need this wealth.” Even with the fortune that it cost to feed and shelter so many uspecs, I still had much more wealth than I could spend. And with the fabled wealth of Lahooni waiting for me, even my entire port could not spend the fortune that I had inherited.

“It is not for you Nebud, it is for the high one. The high Arexon will need it, I imagine.”

Arexon appeared startled. It shook its head. “If it belonged to the mighty Calam, then I have no claim on it. It belongs to Nebud.”

“It will go a long way in funding your war, high one, it is the founder’s will that you have it.”

I really had to talk to Animaon about this link it still seemed to possess with the founder. Arexon turned to stare at me and I nodded. I certainly did not need the wealth, or the cumbersome load of carrying those coffers around.

“How much wealth are we talking about?” Arexon asked.

Animaon leaned forward and whispered, “thousands of worth,” so low that only Arexon and I could hear.

Arexon whistled.

My eyes widened at the amount. Thousands of worth, that was a lot, but not nearly as much as the wealth that my line had left me.

“Perhaps we can take this inside sirgas, I would like to collapse onto a lounging bed.” Fabiana’s words broke in or our exchange.

“I believe my soldiers will have dinner prepared soon. Although,” Arexon’s gaze glanced hopefully at the imps, “it is soldiers’ fare and not really great food. If you have any imps that can cook, pious one, our stomachs will be extremely grateful.”

“Of course domina,” the imp that Musa had clung to rose to its feet and bowed to Arexon, “we will make ourselves useful.”

“They are not mine,” Animaon said, as the imp mobilized others. “Those that are slaves belong to your line Nebud, they belong to you.”

I looked away from the horde of imps. Once, when I was much younger, and much more foolish, I had dreamed of owning slaves. I’d thought to be a master wearing a whip on my belt as most did. I’d become a master but never bought a whip. My relationship with Musa had been such a rollercoaster so far, that I did not look forward to owning or managing any more imps. Especially after Permafrost, and everything that the wrath had put me through, I did not much like their kind.

“Darlin!” I called out.

The uspec rushed forward.

“See to our nobles. The highest ranking will of course be given rooms in our dwelling until those are full, then the rest will be in the outhouses. See to their comfort and we will send word when the meal has been prepared.” I turned my gaze to the imps that now gazed at me. According to Animaon, some of them were free, some weren’t. All owed patronage to me now. “And find someone who knows how to manage all these imps.”

“I think we’ve finally found a job that Cantonia can do well.” Darlin teased.

I chuckled. Most of my nobles laughed, but Fabiana didn’t. Its eyebrows pulled together in a deep frown, which only deepened further as Darlin trudged off yelling, “Cantonia!” out at the top of its voice, much to the enjoyment of most of the nobles.

“You should not let them make a jest of the noble Cantonia this way sirga,” Fabiana cautioned.

As far as I was concerned, the entire world could make a jest of Cantonia and I would allow it and encourage it.

“Juke,” I called.

The young uspec came forward, carrying my offspring in its arms. I hadn’t expected Juke to carry it. Juke was so small I was terrified they would both buckle under the weight, but Juke held itself well.

“No!” Fabiana squealed. It plucked my offspring from Juke’s arms and tossed it in the air. Nebula squealed, its limps flapping as it rose and then fell. I wanted to warn Fabiana to be gentle with it, then I thought of Darlin’s advice and refrained. Fabiana threw it up two more times and I could not tell if the movement of its limbs were normal or spasms. “The imperial Nebula, how big you’ve grown.” Fabiana placed the young uspec on its feet and then bowed low to it.

Nebula got so excited it began clapping and laughing. I wasn’t surprised when its clap turned into a spastic affair.

Fabiana turned to me. “What’s happened to it?” it asked, its voice filled with concern.

“It suffers from spasms.” I explained.

“No!” Fabiana’s gaze filled with horror. “I am so sorry sirga.”

I nodded, and then looked away. Juke had taken it into its arms again.

“Please take it to its room, Juke, I think its had enough excitement for one day.” Especially the day right after it began to heal.

Juke bowed and turned to leave.

“Is that your offspring master Cala?”

“My name is Nebud, I don’t go by Cala.” I replied to Chike. “And yes, that is my offspring.” I turned to Fabiana, “let us go inside. There are snacks until dinner is ready.”

Fabiana still had that look of horror and pity which had been brought on by my offspring’s affliction. Fabiana meant well, but it showed me how the world would see my offspring. It would forever be someone that others looked on with pity.

I led our much smaller group into the entertaining room in the dwelling. We still had much to discuss. There was the matter of the messages that Fabiana claimed it sent, but which we had not gotten. Then there was Animaon and what exactly it had been up to and why it was here now.

We’d barely placed ourselves onto the lounging beds when a one-band noble from my honoraria came running in. It was one of the ones who’d gone with Fabiana and had only just returned.

“Imperial one!” It screamed, “majestic one! Come quickly! Cantonia is using pansophy to wipe away Darlin’s thoughts.”

I was stupefied. This time Cantonia had gone too far. It would die. First it threatened me and now it tried to use pansophy on an uspec I admired, one that was of actual use to my honoraria. I jumped off the lounging bed I’d laid on and rushed through the dwelling. When I burst out into the sludge area surrounding the dwelling, I found Cantonia kneeling over Darlin with its hands on the uspec’s chest. There was an open satchel bag beside Darlin with several tubes spilling out from it.

I pulled my cutlass out of my sheath and immediately rushed over to my noble’s defense. I placed the sharp edge of the cutlass against Cantonia’s neck. As soon as the uspec felt the blade, it took its hand off Darlin and rose. I let it rise, but I did not move my cutlass from its neck.

“What is the meaning of this?” Fabiana barked. “You are nobles, Lahooni nobles! You embarrass yourselves and our leader.”

Darlin gasped for air. It jumped to its feet. “I found this one carrying that satchel bag, sirga,” it pointed at Cantonia, “when I went to search for it to give it the task of seeing to your imps.”

I noticed that some of the imps were still standing there, where we’d left them. They stared impassively at the tableau.

“It was startled by my presence. I tried to ascertain what it was doing and the moment I reached for it, it pulled the satchel bag back. So, I snatched the satchel bag from it and sought to examine the contents. Cantonia then touched me. I do not have pansophy, but like every noble, I have been taught to know when pansophy is being used on me. I had no weapons on me and I could not beat the leach the way it deserved when it showed no qualms with using pansophy on me, against my wishes. You know pansophy is a contact magic sirga, any attempt to beat it, would only have provided it more contact to use its magic on me.”

Fabiana took a step towards Cantonia. “How dare you use pansophy on a noble without permission? You know it is strictly forbidden! And for a Lahooni noble…you dishonor us, noble Cantonia, you dishonor us.”

Cantonia wanted to speak. I stopped it. “Binna, examine the contents of the bag the noble Cantonia was caught with.”

Binna dropped to its knees and picked up several tubes. It gasped. “Precious one, are these the missives that you sent us?”

I frowned. Fabiana reached for a tube. It gasped as well. “Yes, these are the missives I sent. I sealed them so that only your identity could open them, sirga.”

“What were you doing with those?” I growled at Cantonia.

“There are weeks’ worth of these here. Weeks, sirga, weeks!” Binna exclaimed, lifting several of them up in its hands as it rose.

Darlin’s eyes widened. “You took them Cantonia? You hid them? But why? To what purpose?”

I pushed my cutlass deeper into Cantonia’s neck. “Confess your treachery you swine.” I spat out.

Cantonia glared at me. I couldn’t believe the effrontery of this uspec.

“I did not take them.” It snapped.

“So, Darlin did not find you with them?” I asked.

“I found the bag.” It said. I scoffed in disbelief.

“Why then were you trying to use pansophy on Darlin when it caught you slinking around with the bag? Why didn’t you just explain yourself?” I demanded. I didn’t know why I bothered. I’d been looking for an excuse to kill the uspec and it had finally given me one.

Cantonia’s eyes narrowed at me. “I did not take those missives and I do not need to explain myself to you.”

“I do not believe you.”

“Of course not.” It spat the words out at me. “Because I do not know how to wield a sword and have no desire to learn. If I could challenge you, as Darlin does, you would not question my honor.”

“Your honor?” I almost laughed at that. “What honor? You used pansophy on another noble without permission. Where is the honor in that?”

“Fine, where you’re concerned, I have no honor.” Cantonia snapped angrily at me. “How I have come to loathe you. You have no respect for anyone who does not approach life as you do. You are nothing but a brute. You may have noble blood in you, but you are a commoner at heart, and all of Lahooni will see it. Mark my words, they will all see it.”

“Fine last words.” I said, enraged. I pulled my cutlass back, ready to swing it and cut off the fool’s head. Finally, I would be rid of Cantonia.

Cantonia laughed. “Even in this you show yourself! You may kill me, but you have no right, and they will all see it. They will all know it! I am a noble and you don’t butcher a noble without cause.”

Fabiana placed a hand on my wrist, stopping me before I could swing the blade and finally be free of the plague that was Cantonia.

“It is right, sirga,” Fabiana said, “the only crime we can prove it committed is using pansophy against another noble, and that crime in and of itself is not punishable by death. It has proven that it cannot be trusted so you are within your rights to banish it.”

“Banish it?” I glared at Fabiana. “So that it can disclose our whereabouts to the plenum?”

“Daze it first.” It was Animaon who spoke this time. “That is what the mighty Calam would have done. Daze it, and then banish it. By the time it recovers from the daze, we will be long gone, and it will not be able to tell anyone of our whereabouts even if it wanted to.”

I stared from Fabiana’s imploring gaze to Animaon’s controlled one. There were a handful of my nobles out now. They watched me. This would be my first judgement as their imperial, their soon to be Kaiser, how I handled it would be discussed as long as I lived. I wanted Cantonia dead, but I was big enough to realize that the only harm it had done to me was that it had insulted me. Was I going to be an uspec like Sophian who punished another uspec for speaking freely? I still had the scars on my chest to remind me of how Sophian had dealt with insults.

I pulled my cutlass down.

“What is this dazing?” I asked Animaon.

There was an imp standing behind Cantonia. As soon as Animaon nodded, the imp placed its hand on Cantonia’s shoulder. Cantonia screamed while the imp touched it. When the imp released its hold, Cantonia appeared befuddled. It stared at me and all the other uspecs as if it had never seen us before.

The imp bowed to me and then withdrew.

“Its thoughts and memories are scrambled.” Animaon explained. “It takes an uspec without pansophy close to a month to put the thoughts back in the right order. For one with pansophy it would take anywhere from a week to two. By the time it realizes what happened to it, we will be gone from here.”

“Cast it out,” Fabiana ordered. Two nobles ceased the dazed Cantonia and pushed it out of our compound. They chased it off.

“What if it remembers sooner?”

“It won’t.” Animaon stated. “That imp is very skilled with thought and memory. You may forget about Cantonia, you will never have cause to think on it again. That I can promise you.”

Animaon was as bound to Chuspecip as I was. I knew that it would not allow anything that could risk our mission. I nodded. It wasn’t death, but I would have to be content with never gazing on Cantonia’s face again.

We all turned to return to the entertaining room. Arexon stopped me before I could follow in Fabiana’s wake.

“You place too high of a trust in your nobles,” it said, “Fabiana means well, but it is soft. You should have cut off Cantonia’s head. That’s how you deal with traitors Nebud, you caught off their head.”

I watched speechless as Arexon walked away. Who was I to be? Arexon expected one thing while Fabiana expected another. There was no pleasing both. I had to believe that listening to Animaon and Fabiana had been the right thing to do. Animaon would not lead me wrong. It served Chuspecip as I did. I trusted it implicitly. I just hoped that the decision to let Cantonia live would not come back to haunt me.

I hope letting cantonia live won't come back to haunt Nebud.... By the way this one longggggggg update Obehid... Thanks to you...

Getting more interesting. I think we are gradually approaching the stage where obehid will switch off the sound effect, flash the light to indicate action time and give us the gangan gangan gan gan-unnn sound. Weldone obehid.
coro or no coro i dey your back (3 feet back) social distance tins

Who intercepted the missives? How did Cantonia get them in its possession? How is Chuspecip faring? What're the plans of the Plenum? How prepared is Nebud for the upcoming battles? Will Nebula be able to master its spasm and become the great fighter its talented to be?

So many questions running through my mind.

Thanks for this coronatic update obehid, I kinda think the future is gonna b bright for nebula, I suspect darlin is setting up cantonia and cantonia has discovered who the traitor is amongst them when he used panasophy on darlin, I don't trust darlin again