Read Online The Waters Rising by Sheri S. Tepper - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sheri S. Tepper
Ads: Link
things she would talk to her mother, Mirami, about. Sometimes Mirami laughed at the things she heard.
Today, one of the guardsmen was new, some farmer’s son who was full of questions about Kamfels.
“So the ruler here is Duke Falyrion, is it? I thought that was the son.”
“The duke is Falyrion, the boy’s Falredi.”
“The boy, he’ll inherit the dukedom, right?”
“Right. He’s the child of the duke’s first wife, Naila. The duke’s second wife is Mirami, and she has children, too: a girl and a boy. Boy’s named Hulix. The girl’s called Alicia.”
“So Hulix’d be duke if anything happened to Falyrion and Falredi, right?”
“Right. Boy’s younger than the girl, but sons inherit in Kamfels. Leastways . . .”
“Leastways what?”
“Hulix would inherit unless somebody decides he’s not really Falyrion’s son.”
There was a silence, then the young one said, “You mean . . .”
“I don’t mean anything. Don’t repeat this. You’ll hear it said because it’s often bein’ said. You can’t help what you hear, but you can help what you say. You don’t repeat it because if you’re heard saying it by the wrong person, you’ll lose your head over it.”
There was a nervous shuffling overhead, the younger voice saying, “Well, maybe it’d be better if you hadn’t told . . .”
“If you don’t know what you aren’t supposed to know about, boy, how do you keep from knowing it when somebody says it? Heh? It’s better to know what to say, and that’s easy: you don’t know anything about it. So, anybody says something about who inherits, you just say, ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ ”
“Oh.”
“That’s right. Oh.”
Alicia’s eyes had opened wide. Of course Falyrion was Hulix’s father, and Falyrion was her father. He was handsome and tall and he loved her and she loved him. He even told her that he liked having a daughter instead of another clumsy boy. He gave her wonderful gifts: a music box that played over a hundred tunes. A puppet theater. Of course he was Hulix’s father and her father. What was this guardsman talking about!
The memory came back to her every now and then. She had overheard other conversations later, more important ones, more enlightening ones, but that was the memory that had given her the strange feeling inside her chest as though her heart had forgotten how to beat. That was the memory that kept coming back, even though she had tried different remedies, oak gall and sage smoke and oil of lavender. She remembered every word, just the way she had heard it: the footsteps echoing through the timbers, the cries of the gulls on the fjord—Falyrion, her father, said the gulls came all the way up from the ocean because it was shallower here and the salmon fish were closer to the surface of the water. She remembered the smell of the oil the guardsmen used on their boots. She remembered that Hulix would inherit if he was Falyrion’s son, and she remembered exactly what she had thought at the time. Who else could be his father? He was her brother, and if he wasn’t Falyrion’s son it would mean she wasn’t Falyrion’s daughter and she knew she was! He was her father! Who else could her father be? Usually, when Alicia didn’t understand something, she asked her mother about it. Mirami knew everything, though some things Alicia overheard made her angry. That time, though Alicia couldn’t explain why, she had thought it might be better not to ask her mother.
X ulai wakened early, well before the maids appeared with warm water and long before the hour when Precious Wind usually swept in, comb and brush in one hand, pail of warm water in the other. Precious Wind had begun neatening Xulai when Oldwife couldn’t manage the stairs anymore. Xulai missed Oldwife, though Precious Wind got the neatening done much more quickly than Oldwife ever had. For a moment, Xulai wondered if she’d dreamt last night’s happenings, but when she fished the
Today, one of the guardsmen was new, some farmer’s son who was full of questions about Kamfels.
“So the ruler here is Duke Falyrion, is it? I thought that was the son.”
“The duke is Falyrion, the boy’s Falredi.”
“The boy, he’ll inherit the dukedom, right?”
“Right. He’s the child of the duke’s first wife, Naila. The duke’s second wife is Mirami, and she has children, too: a girl and a boy. Boy’s named Hulix. The girl’s called Alicia.”
“So Hulix’d be duke if anything happened to Falyrion and Falredi, right?”
“Right. Boy’s younger than the girl, but sons inherit in Kamfels. Leastways . . .”
“Leastways what?”
“Hulix would inherit unless somebody decides he’s not really Falyrion’s son.”
There was a silence, then the young one said, “You mean . . .”
“I don’t mean anything. Don’t repeat this. You’ll hear it said because it’s often bein’ said. You can’t help what you hear, but you can help what you say. You don’t repeat it because if you’re heard saying it by the wrong person, you’ll lose your head over it.”
There was a nervous shuffling overhead, the younger voice saying, “Well, maybe it’d be better if you hadn’t told . . .”
“If you don’t know what you aren’t supposed to know about, boy, how do you keep from knowing it when somebody says it? Heh? It’s better to know what to say, and that’s easy: you don’t know anything about it. So, anybody says something about who inherits, you just say, ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ ”
“Oh.”
“That’s right. Oh.”
Alicia’s eyes had opened wide. Of course Falyrion was Hulix’s father, and Falyrion was her father. He was handsome and tall and he loved her and she loved him. He even told her that he liked having a daughter instead of another clumsy boy. He gave her wonderful gifts: a music box that played over a hundred tunes. A puppet theater. Of course he was Hulix’s father and her father. What was this guardsman talking about!
The memory came back to her every now and then. She had overheard other conversations later, more important ones, more enlightening ones, but that was the memory that had given her the strange feeling inside her chest as though her heart had forgotten how to beat. That was the memory that kept coming back, even though she had tried different remedies, oak gall and sage smoke and oil of lavender. She remembered every word, just the way she had heard it: the footsteps echoing through the timbers, the cries of the gulls on the fjord—Falyrion, her father, said the gulls came all the way up from the ocean because it was shallower here and the salmon fish were closer to the surface of the water. She remembered the smell of the oil the guardsmen used on their boots. She remembered that Hulix would inherit if he was Falyrion’s son, and she remembered exactly what she had thought at the time. Who else could be his father? He was her brother, and if he wasn’t Falyrion’s son it would mean she wasn’t Falyrion’s daughter and she knew she was! He was her father! Who else could her father be? Usually, when Alicia didn’t understand something, she asked her mother about it. Mirami knew everything, though some things Alicia overheard made her angry. That time, though Alicia couldn’t explain why, she had thought it might be better not to ask her mother.
X ulai wakened early, well before the maids appeared with warm water and long before the hour when Precious Wind usually swept in, comb and brush in one hand, pail of warm water in the other. Precious Wind had begun neatening Xulai when Oldwife couldn’t manage the stairs anymore. Xulai missed Oldwife, though Precious Wind got the neatening done much more quickly than Oldwife ever had. For a moment, Xulai wondered if she’d dreamt last night’s happenings, but when she fished the
Similar Books
