The Jade Star of Athering

Bellica Agate-3

Rain-Looking shook her head. "Only half."

Agate frowned. "How did you become Queen, then?"

Another shrug of Rain-Looking's elegant shoulders. "Priestesses wanted so badly, I think. Ixile'a suffered long time. Need change."

Agate let out a long, gusty sigh, and rubbed her face tiredly. This meeting, her confrontation with her own past, was not what she had expected on accepting the mission from the Queen -- but it was what she had feared. She stood at the edge of a precipice, a long, steep hill falling away in front of her until it dwindled into darkness. Something was pushing from behind and she felt powerless to stop what must happen next.

Let go, and trust in Me, came a voice into her head, deep and loving yet filled with darkness. Agate nearly wept while questioning her own sanity. It had been so long since she'd heard Ixchel's voice that she'd often wondered if she ever had heard it, or if that, too, had been a dream.

She nearly laughed when she looked up, and when she spoke again it was in fluent Ixil.

"We are not stupid women, you and I. Shall we discuss how a girl not of Ixile'a descent became their Queen, while a daughter of the almost-dead royal family became an Atherian bellica?" She smiled and Rain-Looking returned the gesture.

"It is you, then. I had thought, from the look of you. Some stories tell of your death, but I never gave credence to them." Rain-Looking took another sip of her fruit drink before continuing. "I suppose the next question is which one of us is really Sho-qoot-Bak."

Agate was shaking her head before Rain-Looking finished speaking. "You are, High One." It was the closest approximation to Your Ladyship in Ixil. "I do not know what my path is, but it is not that."

There was a long pause, during which Rain-Looking stared at Agate. For whatever reason Agate did not feel nervous, or even upset. By rights she should have -- she had just betrayed Queen and Country by revealing her knowledge of Ixil to Rain-Looking -- no matter if the other woman had already known it. That was hardly the point. What would matter in the long run, when Agate had to present her report to Yarrow, was Agate's actions. These actions will put me in a fine mess indeed. Still, she felt nothing but calm.

Rain-Looking's next words changed that. "I do not hear Her voice. I never have. I feel nothing when I pray to Her, or speak to Her. It's as if She will have nothing to do with me, though I beg for Her guidance."

Agate stumbled over her next words, awash in confusion. "I don't understand -- you're Sho-qoot-Bak. Ixchel should speak to you." And if She doesn't, what does that make me?

"Officially, She does." Rain-Looking looked at Agate with sky-blue eyes, her mouth in a grim smile. "You are the only person who knows what I've just told you."

"Why trust me with such knowledge, High One?" Agate was flabbergasted. If Rain-Looking's people ever found out, the consequences would be dire.

Rain-Looking's eyes flicked upwards and her gaze rested on Agate's forehead. "You bear Her mark."

Instinctively Agate's hand flew to her head, to cover the scar that disfigured her face. She'd never gotten over the reactions it usually provoked. "It's just a scar. I tripped when I was a child onto some jagged rocks."

Gently Rain-Looking moved closer to Agate and pulled the bellica's hand away from her face. With her other hand the Ixile'a Queen traced the mark the scar left on the bellica's skin, and Agate had to suppress a shudder, but not one of revulsion. Rain-Looking's eyes met Agate's again, but the woman's hands remained where they were -- one holding down Agate's, the other lightly tracing the scar. "How many people receive scars that form a perfect glyph, and remain fresh and un-faded for how many years?"

"Four and twenty," Agate whispered, barely able to believe it had been that long.

"Four and twenty," Rain-Looking repeated in the same whisper. "A long time for a scar to stand stark-white against such dark skin, even in the cold northwestern climate."

Agate frowned, and pulled Rain-Looking's hand away from her face. "How did you know where I was stationed?" How did Rain-Looking know anything about her?

Rain-Looking looked away as she sat back on her large cushioned throne-bed and tucked her long legs underneath her. "I did not say I was not in contact with any God. Only Ixchel."

Agate swallowed again, this time with nervousness. What Ixile'a God would take interest in her besides Ixchel? And why would She convey anything to a complete stranger?

"Who, then? And why?"

Rain-Looking shrugged again, and despite her nervousness Agate found herself entranced by the grace and elegance in the younger woman's every movement. Briefly she wondered if Rain-Looking had ever danced. It would be a gorgeous sight to behold.

"It would be a bad omen, if anyone else knew. But for some reason, I find myself trusting you." Rain-Looking's eyes flicked up again to meet Agate's, and Agate felt the connection again – she was meant to know Rain-Looking. And help her? Or hinder?

Her query brought no answer from Ixchel, so she waited patiently for Rain-Looking to speak.

"I have no choice in which Gods speak to me. You know that." Rain-Looking sighed and paused. Agate held her breath, as if she almost knew what was coming next. "Hunhau. His Lordship Death. He is not a kind God...but He is the only one I know."

Agate let out her breath and looked away. She wanted to cry for some reason. Why? She barely knew Rain-Looking. Why should she feel so strongly for a woman she'd just met? Yes, connection, that word keeps ringing in my head – but honestly, Ixchel, can't you give me a little more to go on? I have a job to do, for Someone's sake. Tell me the next step.

Again, no answer came. She was talking in the dark. I've done as much for the past two decades. I'm sure I can improvise.

"May I call you Ha' Ilik?" Her question caught the other woman off-guard -- perhaps she hadn't realized that Agate would figure out that 'Rain-Looking' was an Atheē translation of her name. Rain-Looking -- Ha' Ilik -- nodded, and Agate went on. "I want to help. I feel I must. Tell me why you came here – what you want. I will do everything in my power to make my own Queen hear your case. She's not pleased you attacked one of her towns – you'll need to do extra convincing now."

Ha' Ilik nodded and suddenly Agate saw just how young the other woman was – she couldn't be more than twenty. This Queen looked scared and vulnerable. Despite the warnings her mind shouted out, Agate's heart leapt at a chance to help Ha' Ilik, to serve her.

She felt her loyalties shifting, pebbles sliding down a slow incline, and cursed whatever force had sent her to this place.

My dear, you know it's no good cursing Me. Now shut up and listen.

Agate resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Ixchel's sudden response and focused her attention on what Ha' Ilik had to say. Her career and the comfortable life she'd built for herself in Athering depended on it.