Mahnshooth- chapter 5

It was not very early that morning when Guild Master Oonray Chisotahn called Bigto for the first time. The young man ran upstairs and opened a hidden door in the wall at the end of the dark corridor and almost slipped before reaching his master's bedroom. He knocked and waited for the raspy voice to call him from inside. Bowing as he entered the dark room, the young man waited.

"Well, it's about time", the old man sniffed. He was almost 300 years old, his deathly-pale face wizened, with a malevolent gleam shining in his pearly green eyes and a despiteful smirk over his rather squared jaw, his nose curved like a predatory's beak. Bigto rushed to open the curtains, the room suddenly glowing in a flood of lake-light. The old man grumbled.

"Could be careful about that! My eyes aren't what they used to be…"

"Forgive me, Navah Chisotahn", Bigto bowed, but rolled his eyes impatiently as soon as he had turned to tie the curtains differently, "I had forgotten".

"Right", the man snorted, "now where's my breakfast? Forgot to bring that up, didn't you?"

"Fanaah is preparing it".

"Right", he repeated, "now get me out of this thing", he threw his richly embroidered covers away from him and struggled to get down from the large bed. Bigto helped him up silently and went at the other end of the room to open the big closet.

"I'll be in grey today, but don't forget my Linguists' robe", the old man looked thoughtful.

"Again?" Bigto slightly turned. The Guild Master had stopped wearing bright colours for the past three years, but for the past month, had only worn grey or beige. The reason to this change had left the entire household perplexed, but no one dared question Oonray Chisotahn on anything- let alone his choice of clothes.

"Why, you got a problem with that? I'm the master, you're the servant- and don't you dare forget it", the old man's eyes gleamed with anger. He looked much taller and imposing standing than sitting. Bigto nodded and muttered an apology.

Fannah came some time later. The old man was still in a bad mood, which basically meant things weren't out of the ordinary. In fact, it was just yet another boring day at the Chisotahn household.

"Your children enquired about your health", the young woman bowed after having set the tray on the small table near the window, where her master was seated and reading a bunch of letters. He snorted.

"Tell those blood-sucking parasites that I've never felt better and that they're not about to get anything from me!"

The young woman nodded and left, sighing and already thinking of a way to repeat those words in a politically correct manner to the "blood-sucking parasites".

"How is father?" Pahrahth came up the steps just as she was going to take the small door to the lower floors. She hesitated.

"He is… well. But he does not want to see you. Any of you", she added as the young man rolled his eyes and already knocked on the door.

"Thank, Fanaah".

"Who's that?!" The old man's voice shrieked.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", Fanaah's tone of voice changed all of a sudden, as though she wasn't speaking to her master's son anymore, but Pahrahth, just another person in the hallway.

"This is urgent", he looked over his shoulder, frowning.

"Pahrahth, I-"

"Not now, can't you see- later, I promise you Taygahn, later", his voice changed as well as the look in his eyes, becoming softer. Then, looking back at the door, he opened it with a bang and simply walked in. Fanaah sighed and shook her head, leaving.

"What- ah, Pahrahth", the old man's voice became deeper as he calmed down, pronouncing his third son's name with scorn.

"Father". The younger man's voice was equally scornful. It was quite a picture: the old man sitting upright, finishing his food, while a much younger version of himself was glaring at him too, standing right in front of that table in bright red Legislator clothes, his arms crossed over his chest.

"What have you come up here for? Yet another request? No, no, let me guess… money, that must be it, money. Unless you want me to use my influence on master Rihl'nay to silence someone- a group of people, maybe? Trust the Relyimah to ensure someone's reputation… no, you tell me, my son, what is it you want this time?"

"I… I need you to loan me a bit of money. I promise to give it back and the rest I owed you as soon as the conference is over. You see, I know people, very important people who-"

Oonray stopped his son in mid-sentence with a wave of his veined hand.

"Yes, yes, I've heard it before. Well, the well is dry, my son. I refuse to loan you anything anymore. And you can tell your brothers and sister the same thing".

"But you don't understand! If I don't pay them back, they'll-"

"Ah, so I am not the only one to have given into your pleas? And now, it is up to me to save you from your benefactors? Indeed…" The old man chuckled, "I won't give you another coin. Let that be a lesson to you and the others. And if trouble ensues, well I'll simply deny all responsibilities".

"Like you did when mother died", Pahrahth grinded his teeth. The old man's face decomposed itself for a moment; in a fraction of a second, he had grabbed his son's wrist and was sinking his long white nails into the man's pearly skin. Pahrahth yelped but couldn't wry his hand from his father's iron grip.

"Don't you dare say that eve again, you dirty Bahro scum!" He hissed then let him go. The legislator whimpered and rubbed his bleeding wrist.

"Now GO! I don't ever want to see the sight of you until my 300's birthday!"

Pahrahth slammed the door shut behind him just as Zhaltis was coming up from the dining room to do to the library's floor. The much younger brother grinned, looking up at him from the polished staircase.

"Aw, how touching, Pahrahth seems to have troubles with daddy! I hope he didn't give you a spanking!"

"Oh shut up, will you!" Pahrahth roared and took the servants' corridor. Zhaltis frowned but said nothing and went to the library.

Jumping several flights of steps at a time, Pahrahth finally reached the servants' quarters. He almost bumped into Bigto who was coming out of his brother's room.

"Master Pahrahth, wha-"

"You didn't see me here", the man his age snarled. The young servant shrugged and left. Pahrahth then rapped on the door on the left. A young woman opened it, her dark eyes wide.

"Pahrahth, what are you doing here?"

"I said I'd talk to you later", he smiled boyishly. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Come in quick before Nyaloth sees you. She'll sure wonder what's gone through your head!"

He stepped into the small and barely furnished room. It was dark, without any windows, just a large yellow bulb above the simple bed. There was a desk on the right with a dirty stool, and a broken wardrobe. Fanaah seemed to be the only thing there that wasn't made of dark wood and glowed in her pure-white uniform.

"What did you want to see me about?" she asked, coming closer to him and making him sit on the bed. He carefully untied her veil and let her long dark hair fall in shiny waved down her back.

"I needed to talk to you… it's been a while", he ran his hand through it, his voice low and soft.

"It's been too long… three years since you left. A lot has happened in three years. Your father-"

"Shhhh", he put a finger on her lips, "I don't want to hear anything about my father. I want to know how you've been".

She blushed and bowed her delicate head, smiling at the thought of the last year she had seen Pahrahth… how he had confessed his love to her, how they had made plans, how he had sworn he would never let her live a pitiful servants life, how he wanted her to be a great lady, part of the higher classes…

"I've been… just like when you left me", she smiled again.

"I want things to change…" he went on playing with her hair, then running a finger along her jaw line, "but for that… I will need my father's help".

"Why?" she looked up, her face suddenly worried.

"Oh, nothing. Something to settle".

"And then… will we be able to marry?" she grinned, resting her head on his knees and looking up at his face upside down fondly. His once tender expression twitched into fright, then something else she couldn't quite grasp.

"Err, it's complicated…" he looked away, his voice tailing off evasively. She got up and frowned.

"What is it, Pahrahth? Have things changed?"

"No, not at all, my love, it's just… complicated".

There was a short silence during which they could hear Bigto close the door and say goodbye to some visitor before she spoke again.

"You promised me something before you left, Pahrahth. I am now asking you a question: has anything changed over the years?"

"Yes", he sighed after a while.

"Well, I am waiting for an explanation", she added after he had paused some more.

"I… things are different now, Fanaah", he looked away again, "I am not the petty legislator I used to be. I am Guild Master now".

"So I have heard", the girl sniffed.

"I have many responsibilities and have become very close to high members of the society! The king is beginning to know me, I… I cannot-"

"Marry a simple servant?" Fannah's eyes filled with tears, which she blinked away with rage, "especially a servant of Pento descent. How degrading, of course you can't take the risk of people talking behind your back when you are just starting to get a brilliant career! I was such a blind fool… why did I even listen to you? I should have known", she got up and grabbed her veil, pilling up her hair at a startling speed to tie it up again. Pahrahth looked at her with disappointment, then stared at the floor, biting his lower lip.

"I knew you wouldn't understand…"

"WHAT?! YOU'RE the one that doesn't understand! I've been patiently waiting for you to come back THREE YEARS in a home I wanted to leave a long time ago! I'm thoroughly fed up of working for these people and yet… and yet I waited and waited for you to come back, your promises being my only hope of-" she stopped in mid-sentence, shaking her head and crying.

"You don't understand!" Pahrahth protested, "I LOVE you!"

"But you can't imagine spending the rest of your life with me. That's supposed to be love? Forget it, Pahrahth, this discussion is over- and I've got work to do. In the kitchen… where I belong", she cried and slammed the door. Pahrahth blinked foolishly and stayed there for a minute then shrugged: how was an mixed servant supposed to understand that HE, Pahrahth Chisotahn, a pure D'ni and brilliant guild master of the upper class, had bigger responsibilities?

Bigto was leaving the great hall, shaking his head when his master called him again. Sighing, he rushed to the second floor, where he found him in his study, reading and translating texts from Ahrotahntee languages to D'ni, dressed in his white linguist's hooded robe.

"Yes, master?"

"I will be expecting another guest today", he snarled.

"Alright. Is that all?"

"No. Make sure my children are notified when master Rus'beh from the legislators arrives. Call them… 25 Tahvo after he was led to this room".

Bigto raised an eyebrow but did not ask questions. "Very well, master", he closed the door. Downstairs, Fanaah's eyes were red.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing…" she replied, taking out a large bread out of the oven. Lady Nyaloth, the cook, was making strange "tutting" sounds and shaking her head.

"You youngsters don't know who to trust- and often forget about social statuses".

Bigto frowned and looked at each one of them in turns before asking: "have I missed something again? You need some sleep, Fanaah… and don't come close to Pahrahth until that bloody birthday is over".

"Oh, Bigto, please…" she wined.

"No, you heard me! I'm fed up of seeing you being treated like a servant by this man you call your fiancé-"

"But that's what I am, Bigto, a servant", she looked away.

"To the Chisotahn family, yes. But to the man you are about to marry, that is simply unacceptable!" Bigto's grey eyes flashed like thunder. Tears began to roll down the girl's face again.

"But that's the point, Bigto, I'm not going to marry him…"

"The bastard", Bigto whispered, lady Nyaloth coughing sharply to cover that up, frowning with disagreement. "So he's finally brought you back on your two feet? Told you the truth, hasn't he? Couldn't you tell he was lying all along, Fanaah? I mean, WHEN will someone like Pahrahth-"

"I KNOW I shouldn't have trusted him like that, but I wanted to believe in him so much", her shoulders shook with each tear that fell from her dark eyes. Bigto hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear.

"It's about time you learnt to make the difference between the people who really care about you and those that don't care".

"Well, I hate to be interfering with such a touching scene of friendship", lady Nyaloth coughed dryly, "but the day's barely started and we already have lots to do!"

Fanaah smiled and wiped her cheeks dry, getting out of Bigto's grip.

"Thanks, I really needed a friend's support. You've always been there for me… thanks".

"No problem", Bigto left the kitchen, his face a little sulky. "Friend", he thought. "Yeah right!"

* * * * *

It was then he heard the loud knocker on the front door. He sighed and opened the small slit at eye level, asking the same boring questions he always asked.

"Yes?"

"It is Shereen Khosheh", a feminine voice replied from outside. He blinked, trying to make out the figure standing in the backlight's features. She was barely over 25, with jet-black hair that curled messily under a rust-coloured veil that was loosely wrapped around her head and shoulders, showing her hairline and neck. She hadn't changed from her short stay at the fortress and still wore a commoner's skirt and long-sleeved top that lacked embroideries and studded stones and pearls, small printed geometrical patterns adding a touch of elegance to the otherwise dusty and simple clothes. What he noticed, though, was that bright silver jewellery was shinning under her veil and that her eyes, which deeply contrasted with her dark face were of an amazing colour he had never seen before. Perhaps the most beautiful thing about her proud and perfectly symmetrical face, those eyes were a mix of dark green, blue-green and bright gold veiled with grey.

"Ah… yes. My master was waiting for you".

The girl entered the hall and took off her roughly decorated ankle-boots, keeping the delicate slippers she wore under them. Bigto wondered from which strange culture she came from, but did not dare ask, and accompanied her up the white polished steps.

"What a beautiful house", she nodded with satisfaction, "master Chisotahn has indeed good taste. Not that this can compare to- never mind", she quickly stopped herself from revealing something to a servant and waited by the study. Bigto knocked three times.

"Who is that?"

"Your guest", the young servant replied.

"Oh, come in!" his voice was much jollier. Bigto closed the door as soon as the strange girl had come in.

"Shereen!" Oonray cried, getting up from his seat.

"Oh, I've missed you so much!" Shereen started crying in his arms.

"Hush now, my child", the old man petted her hair in a fatherly way, making the rough veil fall off her head and rest around her shoulders, "tell me everything… how is your mother?"

Tears ran even faster down her brown face and she wailed harder, her arms hugging him tightly. "She is no more! She is gone, Kebabu, gone!"

The man's pale green eyes began to water and a large tear dropped on the floor as his powerful shoulders began to shake.

"Is she? Ray'Annaah… Yahvo keep her soul, Yahvo keep her soul… when did this happen?"

"A year ago. I… I was there in time to see her last moments, to tell her goodbye…"

The old man's eyes went on crying, but his shoulders did not shake as much and he looked straight again, "that is good. How I wish I had been there… more often. But things were keeping me here…"

"I know, it's not your fault", Shereen wiped her eyes.

"What else happened while you were away? I have been trying to get news from you, but you know how the messengers in such situations are…"

They sat at his desk and she began telling him everything about her and her home Age for the past three years.

* * * * *

When they were done talking, Bigto led her out and went back to the library, where he had been dusting some books. It was only after lunch and much later in the afternoon that he was startled by the sound of someone linking. Remembering what his master had said, he bowed to the attorney in his legislator's clothing and showing him where the study was.

"Ah, master Rus' beh! I was worried you wouldn't come!" the linguist's face brightened and he gave a sly look at Bigto who nodded and left.

25 Tahvo later, he went downstairs, where his master's children and their spouses were talking, in the living room.

"Grand Master Oonray wishes to see you all up in his study", he bowed respectfully. They all exchanged looks.

"What does the old duffer want now?!" Tahl'Avis sniffed with disdain at the servant.

"Tahl'Avis!" Lehnah shot him a dark look, getting up.

"What, I'm only asking", her brother lazily crossed his legs across the floor.

"I do not know what your father wants", Bigto replied, "but he asked me to call you".

"Let's see what the old fool's up to", Pahrahth got up and stormed upstairs, closely followed by the others. He opened the door without knocking and found his father and the older legislator still talking. The man in red he recognised as a sort o lawyer was already standing, ready to leave, and shaking his father's hand.

"And if you need any more help with further changes", he seemed to add to a previous conversation, "feel free to send for me or come to my office at the Guild Hall".

"Thank you very much, master Rus'beh, but I think that will be the last correction I'll ever need for my testament- WHAT are you all doing up here?!" he suddenly roared at his children. They blinked in unison.

"But YOU called for us just seconds ago", Tahl'Avis cried.

"Did I say you could come when I was working with a guest? WHERE did you flush your education, Tahl'Avis? Down the lake? And YOU", he turned to Pahrahth, "I thought I had told you something this morning!"

"But YOU CALLED US!!!" Pahrahth roared back.

"Out, out, OUT ALL OF YOU!" the linguist shrieked with rage, then turned to his friend:

"Forgive my impudent children for barging in like that, master Rus'beh", he apologised. The blond man shook his head nervously, already rushing past the crazy family and towards the library;

"No harm done, Master Chisotahn, no harm done!"

"So, what did you call us for?" Tahl'Avis asked.

"Nothing, I didn't call you", the old man lied. Bigto gasped but said nothing- here, his masters had all the rights and he had none. Pahrahth had seen his change of expression, on the other hand, and glared at his father furiously.

"LIAR! WHAT have you done to your testament?!"

"But that is none of your business, my son", Oonray smiled deviously. His sons glared at him with growing rage.

"I honestly don't care about what you do with your belongings", Tahl' Avis whispered in his meekest voice. His father snorted.

"Really? As long as you get the mansion! But my property is mine, and mine only! Remember that… all of you!" He flashed each one of them a terrifying glare and walked away.  They stared after him, his tall but slightly limping white-robed figure storming away up the bright white polished stairs to his room. Furniture shook when he slammed the door. Zhaltis smirked, about to comment, when they heard an elderly female voice call them from downstairs.

"Master Tahl' Avis, Pahrahth, Zhaltis, Lady Morneeth and Lehna! Dinner is served!"

They shrugged and went back down, Pahrahth and Tahl' Avis' faces dark with firm resolution as their thoughts raced from what their father had said.

* * * *

Dinnertime had been a little ruined by a rather awkward silence. One could have heard a pin drop in the cold but richly furnished dining room. Morneeth and Lehnah kept on exchanging looks as the others only talked to ask for salt or meals to be passed down to them. They were glad when it was finally over and Lehnah was only too glad to find an excuse to slip away to her room.

"I'm fairly tired. I think I'll get some sleep", she weakly smiled.

"You sure? The view's beautiful over the lake with the night lights", Zhaltis sounded disapointed. But she shook her head.

"I've seen it a thousand times".

"Me too, I've a growing headache", Tahl' Avis ran a hand through his dark hair. Pahrahth smirked.

"Indeed. What father said must have frightened you".

"And you too, big brother", Zhaltis chuckled as he served himself a glass of wine. Pahrahth gave him a disgusted look.

"Oh, shut up and stick to your business, will you? What have you come for anyway if it wasn't to get something out of father?"

"To show my wife what my charming family was like", he grinned with pure hypocrisy. "Aren't they simply wonderful, darling?"

"I… I think I'll go read a bit upstairs", Morneeth coughed, "it's been a long time, I'm sure the two of you have a lot to talk about. And your father has such an incredible library", she followed Lehnah upstairs. The two remaining brothers turned to the balcony and opened a window, stepping outside. The air was cooler, and the lake black as some queer molten metal and barely moving, tilting the boats at the far-off docks from side to side, the churning noise of metal hulls softly tinkling in the distance. The other islands were all surrounded by a low red mist, Ae'Gura brighter than the others with a myriad of little star-like lamps that shone cold red light throughout the city. It was pretty silent now and they could ear a low buzz of voices coming from the other islands. Sound always echoed in caves, and always "carried" on water. Pahrahth sighed.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Zhaltis nodded. "Not exactly the way I remember it, but still… special. I've often thought of coming back to D'ni, but never really did. I've been there twice in the past seven years or so for business, but that's all. Morneeth hasn't even been here for at least twenty years either".

"And are you still… a vulgar cloth merchant?" his brother snorted.

"What? Oh, yes, I forgot how you and father- Tahl' Avis too, probably- consider jobs that aren't part of a guild- a major one, that is. Shocking, good for lower-class scum, but not a Chisotahn. Well, yes, I still am, and I've never regretted once. I find it much more interesting than staying here stuck in an office all day long with other snobbish masters… no, I love what I'm doing".

"Indeed. And I bet you apreciate having to deal with Ahrotahntee", Pahrahth muttered the last word with disgust and glanced down at his glass as though it were responsible for a stomach ache or his brother's disolute ways.

"Yes, and what is wrong with that? Please enlighten me, dear brother: are the Loshemanesh laws not clear? They may not appear to be our equals for lack of writing- the Art, that is- but appart from that? They are all men like us. I see no problem in letting them join our guilds, being part of our society just like us, and even-"

"WHAT?! Are you- no wait, no use asking: you ARE insane! Completely out of your mind! WHAT have we done to deserve this, Zhaltis? Because you are surely doing- and saying- all these things to shock us… there has got to be a reason- and it all has to stop at once!" Pahrahth was so angry his tighter grip broke his glass. He looked surprised and released the delicate thing as it crumbled away and dropped to the garden below, a dozen little cristal shards gleaming in the red light.

"Look what you made me do", he muttered.

"I've never tried to shock father or anyone else", Zhaltis' piercing blue eyes shone with anger, "that was back when I was a teen and ran away from home. It's all over now. I am a man, and I have nothing to prove anyone anymore. Might as well get used to it", he finished his wine with a single sip. Pahrahth's look was murderous.

"Don't you dare forget that I am your older brother and now a Guild Master, as well as someone very close to our king- Dimath the great, may he live forever", Pahrahth barely bowed his head when he recited this. Zhaltis chuckled.

"Oh yes, great indeed. Well, he'll have to prove himself before I say that. No one's born to be great, Pahrahth, one becomes great over time, from things they've done. As for you and your closeness to the king- please, you've only spoken to him a few times. And he doesn't mention you at any important speech or on any special occasion. Don't consider yourself any greater than you are. It could only damage your reputation and career by ridiculising you".

"Because I'm the one that's ridiculous here, Zhaltis?!" Pahrahth's voice rose even higher. Zhaltis set his jaw in a firm line and set his glass on the low table inside the room, his brother following him and shutting the window behind him as he did so.

"That was only a piece of friendly advice, that is all. I wasn't trying to vex you".

"Indeed", Pahrahth snorted again, his face red, "you know what, Zhaltis, you're just a dirty-"

"Please don' t yell like that, Pahrahth", Zhaltis hushed him, "you've taken too much wine and-"

"WHAT?! That's, that's…" Pahrahth was even redder with rage, aware that his younger sibling was laughing to himself, "the last stroke! I don't want to see you until tomorrow- in fact, I wish you'd never came back. You were always a troublemaker, now you'll only bring mahem in your wake!" He stormed out of the room and ran upstairs. On the way to his room, he glanced in the library and saw Morneeth there, reading a Ronay classic on the double couch. She looked up and for a second, their eyes met. He looked away and went on walking in long, angry strides, slamming the door behind him.

"Have you goten into an argument with your brother again?" Morneeth asked her husband when they were in their room. He threw his purple and silver cloak across the bed without a word, but his eyes were dark and deadly, and she sighed, guessing the answer.

The entire household was now quiet. Down at the servants' quarters, everyone was thankful to get some rest. Lady Nyaloth blew a match and arrainged the tiny, cheap candles around the small altar in her dreary room made of recycled materials: boxes, broken pots, parts of ornate plates…

"Iiiii… Bahrehltahn bivahreeuahl…" she began humming, then singing the soft, low-keyed hymn as low as possible, dropping to her knees and resting her uncovered grey-haired head on her old flat chest with respect;

"Kokoozahem rehtomahn oglahn…"

She paused, closing her eyes for a few seconds of silence between each verse when she heard the door open with a crack. Bigto and Fannaah, both in night gowns too on each of Nyaloth's sides looked over their shoulders as his twin, Hehvtee, entered the room, still dressed in his gardener's uniform. His face was a little red with embarrassement.

"I… I'm sorry I'm late- and sorry to interrupt. I was making this for the shrine", he took his hand from behind his back and showed them a little mobile he had made with the bits of Pahrahth's glass he had found in the garden. The young man had managed to cut them as neatly as possible in interesting geometrical patterns and had carved some of them while he had painted others with religious symbols of D'ni. The others nodded and made him space to kneel.

"What beautiful work", Fanaah smiled as he ceremoniously hung it above the messy altar, under Nyaloth's watcheful gaze. It twirled around its thin cord and sent thousands of colourful rays everywhere, each pattern being enlarged on the floor, walls and furniture.

"Try make an effort, next time", Bigto whispered. His brother shrugged as Nyaloth ushed them.

"Shhh! Now, where was I? I forgot…"

"Gah…", Fannah began singing the verse she had left while the others hummed the low-keyed note;

"Gah rehnayteeokh tehrom gahro…

Kokroeet trehgahlon me neetsahvaytahv".

Once they were done, they all had a moment of silence to add their own intentions and rose.

"Oh Yahvo, please deign look over this household, and protect it on these special times that reunite a broken family for our master's second year of wisdom!" Lady Nyaloth added before blowing the candles out.

"Yahvo bless us all", the others added and left, wishing each other good night, knowing the next day would be another tough one.

It was only at midnight they heard something strange. A blood-curdling yell, followed by a loud thud and a crash. Pahrahth then called Bigto, who came rushing and told the others not to worry, that he would be back quick. It was only when the city guards came to take away their master's body that the servants understood what had happened.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, this isn't possible! No… master Chisotahn… I can't believe it…" Nyaloth cried. Fannah grimly took her in her arms.

"Yahvo keep his soul… Yahvo protect us all", she whispered prophetically.

And yet over the great dark lake, people were either sleeping peacefully, either chatting excitedly in the dimly-light streets, totally carefree and unaware that somewhere, a murderer was on the lose.

* * * * *