Lest you all think I wandered off...I have been editing! Here's a great scene that foreshadows much of what's to come. Chief Fisheagle and her pet Raccoon Nosey have just died and Midnight has passed through the first wave of grief.
Hawk looks thoughtfully at me, still silent though as if he knows somehow there’s more.
"I just feel that there is something else for me to be doing. Something that better suits my nature." I look down at my hands, then up at Hawk with an embarrassed grin. “I crave some action. I have felt most useful when I have some critical mission to accomplish. I also miss being outside, doing physical things. If I sit at my desk all day, I’ll get round like…Nosey.” I choke back another round of sobs, blink my tears away. Hawk squeezes me tight, holding me safe. After a time silently struggling with my feelings, I continue, “At the same time, I feel guilty for not wanting to be Chief, as Fisheagle asked.”
“If he had known how you are feeling, he wouldn’t have asked it of you. I think you need to circulate around. See what projects are on the go. Talk to people about what needs doing, or what is planned. You will find a mission. There are so many things happening that I can’t keep up with them all. But to do that, you will have to get off this bed and get out in the sunshine! Find some trouble to get into. That will make you feel better!” He grins.
I smile back. “You’re right. But what will we do for a River chief?”
He falls silent “I will consult with the community and see if they want me to become Chief of the River People. If they consent, I will do it. You need to speak with Shin, as Fisheagle asked, and visit the map room, with a thought to where your talents and inclinations would be most useful.”
“Perhaps some cha’ and conversation in the lodge. I might even find Shin there. The walk will do me good as well.” I look him in the eyes. “Thank you, for the talk and the comfort. I don’t really feel better, but now I have room for some good thoughts in my heart and mind, and you have guided me to a plan, perhaps a path out of the dark lands of loss.
***
I do find Shin at the lodge. He has his own table in a corner that allows some privacy and for once he isn’t already talking to someone, so I slide into the seat across from him. He smiles, tentatively, sympathy bridges the culture gap. "Come for more sage advice on the workings of gods, spirits, and men's minds?"
I actually laugh. "Of course, oh source of wisdom and dirty secrets!"
Shin grins back, an evil sparkle in his eyes. "Glad to see you back with the living. The dead are so depressing."
That strikes right to the source of my pain. I sober instantly, lose the smile and nod my head. "I need some action. I've been stuck behind a desk for way too long. I thought that you and I could put our heads together and come up with some nefarious scheme to make the world more to our liking. It has gotten a bit untidy, and you know how I hate that."
His lips quirk at one corner and he looks at me straight. "I have been thinking about that devious mind of yours lately, and what a waste it is to leave that talent leashed. You would be wasted at administration." He pauses a moment, scanning my expressions. "I didn't think you would be available just yet. How are you really?"
"Hawk helped me through it. I'm sad, but thinking about the future, and I'm focused, or will be, as soon as you come out with your idea!"
He bows his head at me in acceptance of my assessment. “He is good for you. I hope he is solid enough to endure. Here's my thought. It's not really fleshed out, but the woman who took command and out thought the enemy at Highwater at every turn, is more than capable of figuring it out as you go."
His voice lowers, forcing me to lean in to hear. "You know that the Norse are facing a cultural shift that they don't want. We will have to find a home for them. They will not play well with our people, so we can't just settle the Norse in the middle of them. Still, they are fabulous allies for what will come to us later." He pauses for a long breath. "South of us there is a strip of land connecting us to another continent as big as this one."
I feel my eyes go big and round. "I've heard nothing of this!"
"No one has, except my spies. They range farther afield than the scouts, and we found some old stories and a map from the Empire that tell a tale. Song ships have been down the west coast before, but that was a closely guarded secret that somehow got lost for a long time. The spymasters of the day felt that it was knowledge whose time had not come yet. Zahn's voyages were...unexpected. As soon as word came of new goods from the east, we knew that the time has come, whether we are ready or not."
"You still work for the Empire then?" My attention level rises to extreme.
"Spymasters have always worked for the good of the Empire, whether the Emperor knew about it or not. There have been good Emperors, and some not so good. Someone had to keep the Empire safe regardless. We are currently in a cultural and economic high. That is one sign of impending disaster. Sure enough, the nomad tribes, the Liao to the north and the so-called Xia northwest of us, are considering invasion, and they have the numbers as well as the will. The Empire is at a peak of culture and civilization never seen in the world before. This is a sign that a fall is inevitable...unless..."
"The Alliance..."
"Yes. Alliance works both ways, you know. I admit to having mixed loyalties. I wish to protect the Empire, even from itself. This is a task of honor, which I have long since taken up willingly. I have also come to love and admire what the Alliance is becoming. You are a truly new kind of society I feel that same need to serve and protect it. Fortunately, there is no conflict at this time. I dearly hope matters stay that way."
I look deep into Shin's eyes. I see no wavering or other signs of dishonesty, but then he is a Spymaster. "I believe that you have been truthful, as much as you can be. I will keep your secrets unless I sense betrayal. Then I will deal with it as I see fit at the time, and you know how I like to deal with problems." I beam a brilliant grin at him, but my eyes are cold and glinty like midwinter ice.
Shin bows his head a notch, smiling gently. "That is my hope. With training, you will become at least as devious as I am, and women are often better at this trade than men. You will learn some things that you will wish you hadn't, and some things that will haunt you. My last bit of general advice for today is to keep that warrior mindset that has served you so well and add to it the skills that I will teach, and the knowledge base that I will give you. Never become comfortable in any situation. The ones you would most like to trust are the ones that can take you down."
I shiver a bit with that last warning but nod. "I will take your words to heart, dear friend. Where do I start?"
"I suggest you start in the map room. Much is changing on the walls. Try to burn it all into memory. You don't know where you might end up, and you may have to find your way out of somewhere that you haven't been before, in a hurry. I spend an hour a day in there. You have also gotten a bit soft, physically. I will have one of my men work out with you every day. He will show you our martial arts, which are quite sophisticated. That will make for an excellent story for any that are curious what you are doing. You have time."
"Thank you Shin. I will do my best. This sounds like exactly what I need right now." "If there is nothing else, I think I will wander over to the map room and see what is new!"
He nods, with a twist of a smile. "How does Hawk feel about all this? You two make a great team. Does he feel the same?”
That takes me by surprise. “We talked, and he seemed willing to stay here, but he wasn’t happy about separation, and neither am I, for that matter. He has been my partner and right hand. I Shin in the eyes. “Thank you for thinking about him. I wonder…”
