The Choosing (The Pruxnae Book 1) (17 page)

Snow fluttered
to the ground in ever faster sputters. Ziri cast a wary eye at the gray clouds
accumulating in the sky above Alna’s back yard. “You know, when Ryn first told
me about Abyw, he said the sky was blue. So far, all I’ve seen are clouds. Are
you sure there’s a sky up there?”

Alna lowered the
insulated cup of hot herbal tea she was sipping. “Wait until summer, when the
snow begins to melt and the sun warms the air. You’ll see your blue sky then.”

“Hunh. I’ll take
your word for it.”

Alna set her cup
on a nearby stone table, used, she’d explained, for drying fruit and herbs and
other outdoor work. “Ready?”

Ziri shrugged
the stiffness out of her shoulders. Every afternoon, she and Alna escaped the
press of suitors and indoor chores, and trained in the flat yard behind Alna
and Gared’s house. The clothing Ryn had pressed on her during their trip from
Tersi protected Ziri from most of the cold and wet. It did nothing to impede
Alna’s blows. The older woman unleashed them with the same fierce dedication
she applied to every chore she tackled. Ziri had yet to break through Alna’s
guard.

Tyelu would be
worse. Everybody said so. Several suitors had even used that as a bargaining
chip. One had bluntly added, “Should you choose me, Lady Ziri, my female kin
will graciously give way during the Choosing. You’ll have no such consideration
from the hard-hearted Tyelu. Do you really want to suffer her wrath when you
don’t have to?”

The back door
squeaked open behind them. Ziri glanced over her shoulder and bit back a sigh.
Tyelu bounded down the steps toward them wearing an unfastened knee-length
leather jacket over a tunic and pants, both black. Her bright blue eyes fell on
Ziri and her mouth twisted into a sneer. “Practicing, are we?”

Alna moved to
stand beside Ziri. “You shouldn’t be here, not while we’re training.”

“I came to see
if the outworlder wants to visit Ryn’s homestead with me. He sent word asking
me to check on his home, said he and Papa would be delayed a few more days.”

“Byungar’s been
tending the molnog, Ryn’s and ours both.”

Tyelu shrugged.
“Ryn wants me to walk through, make sure everything’s secured, check behind
Byungar. We’ll be back before dark.”

Ziri bit the
inside of her cheek. She hadn’t said she’d go and had no reason to outside of
curiosity. Her beloved plants were here, she had enough clothing and yarn to
last a while, and her curiosity had gotten her into enough trouble recently to
curb it, at least temporarily. She was on the verge of telling Tyelu no when
Alna spoke.

“I’ll expect the
two of you for the evening meal, then, and no bickering.”

Tyelu’s upper
lip curled into a sneer. “No promises.”

“Try,” Alna said
firmly.

Ziri placed a
hand on Alna’s forearm and squeezed gently. “We’ll be fine. I need to visit
Ryn’s anyway, just to be thorough. I should know what I’m getting into,
shouldn’t I?”

Tyelu snorted,
and Alna cut a hard-eyed stare at her daughter. “Behave.”

No matter how
hard she tried, Ziri couldn’t believe Ryn’s sister had it in her to behave. She
followed Tyelu through the house into the street beyond and stopped short. A
hovercar was parked along the curb. There’d been plenty of similar vehicles in
the small port outside Hrelum and a few inside, but this was the first one
she’d seen in use since entering the peaceful village.

Tyelu strode
through the gate and climbed inside. “Come on, softy. I don’t have all day.”

Ziri scowled.
“I’m not soft.”

“Scared of
machinery?”

“Hardly.” Ziri
edged through the gate and around the hovercar, and boosted herself inside,
fastening the door securely behind herself. “I assumed only the most wealthy
owned them.”

“We are the most
wealthy, around here, anyhow. Papa’s the chieftain of this province, Mama’s a
good manager.” Tyelu shrugged and punched the ignition. The hovercar’s engine
purred to life. “Nothing like the tyrl, but we do ok.”

“But Ryn is…”
Ziri pursed her lips together. Nothing she’d learned about Ryn had led her to
believe he was wealthy. Comfortable, maybe, but hardly rich. He was too careful
with his possessions, and though the
Yarinska
was a sturdy ship, it was
old and a little shabby. Maybe she’d been wrong, but she could hardly discuss
it with the prickly Tyelu. “How far to Ryn’s home?”

Tyelu flipped
switches. The hovercar lifted off the ground, and a tick later, she eased it
into the street, maneuvering carefully through four-legged beasts and humans
alike. “Close enough to walk, if you don’t mind the hike. I had to run into
Fevl or I’d be on foot. We’ll come back that way unless you’re too weak to make
the trip.”

Ziri flopped
back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you bring me along
so you could insult me?”

Tyelu grinned.
“That’s just a side benefit.”

“I bet.”

“Ryn asked me to
bring you. He’s worried you’ll get lonely or something.” Tyelu rolled her eyes.
“As if you could with all those men hanging around.”

“It’s not like I
want them there.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I don’t. I
didn’t ask for this, didn’t ask to be kidnapped and dragged halfway across the
galaxy…”

“We’re not that
far from Tersi.”

“…and I sure
didn’t ask to be insulted every time I turn around,” Ziri snapped. “I don’t
know what you’ve got against me.”

“You’re not good
enough for him.”

The harshly
spoken words cut through the air, silencing Ziri in mid-word. She closed her
mouth and glanced out the hovercar’s side window. The buildings were thinning,
giving way to rolling hills covered in a thick blanket of fresh snow. Molnog
dotted the landscape, their black wool easy to pick out against the lighter
ground.

Tyelu exhaled a
shaky breath and her hand tightened on the steering stick. “He’s a good man.”

“I know that.”

“No, you don’t.
All you see is that handsome face, the dimpled smile. I bet you don’t care how
he got those scars on his face or how hard he’s worked to overcome his past.”
Tyelu shook her head. “You’re weak and soft and useless, and you’ll never fit
in here, never. He deserves better than that.”

Tyelu’s words
stabbed through Ziri. An odd pressure filled her chest, lurching into her
throat, choking her. She hadn’t fit in on Tersi, either, never had, and she’d
tried so hard. Aboard the
Yarinska
was the first time she’d ever felt at
home. It was the first time in her life she’d ever felt truly useful. Even at Book
Ends, she’d been aimless, restless, uncertain of her place, biding her time
while learning everything she could from Mag.

Funny. She’d
thought she’d found her place there, and would’ve kept on thinking that if Ryn
hadn’t stolen her away and shown her something so much better.

She swallowed
her tears and folded her hands in her lap. “What would you have me do?”

“Choose somebody
else.”

“And if Ryn
wants me, truly wants me?”

“Then Wode help
him.” Tyelu jerked her chin toward the road in front of them. “There it is.”

The approaching
buildings were set into the base of a hill along the edge of a large, fenced-in
pasture. The closest structure was a wood and rock cabin, constructed in a
style similar to the homes in Hrelum, though much smaller in scale. A single
chimney graced the steeply sloped roof. Another building appeared to be a barn
or storage shed, and it was nearly as big as the house. A third, smaller
building sheltered rolls of cured hay.

Tyelu parked the
hovercar near the cabin and switched it off. “Come on, then. Time’s a-wasting.”

They exited the
vehicle and trudged through accumulated layers of snow and ice to the cabin’s
entrance. Tyelu knocked the snow off her boots and unlocked the front door,
leading Ziri inside. “Careful with your feet. He’s still working on it.”

Ziri shut the
door and studied the room they were in. It was much more spacious than she’d
thought it would be, given the structure’s size. Like Alna and Gared’s home,
everything was made of wood, the floors, the walls, the ceilings, everything
except the large rock fireplace set into the far wall. A comfortable sitting
area was to her right, a kitchen area to the left. The two were separated by a
long, sturdy wooden table surrounded by high-backed chairs on three sides. A
bench was pushed under it on the side next to the kitchen and a finely-made,
blue glazed vase sat squarely in the center on top of a woven mat.

“It’s lovely,”
Ziri murmured, and it was, exactly as she’d expected it to be.

Tyelu snorted.
“Should be for all the work he’s put into it. Come on. Need to check the back.”

Ziri followed
Tyelu through an arched doorway set into the far wall to the right of the
fireplace. They entered a short hallway. Another arched doorway was on the left
and yet another was at the far end, both tightly closed.

Tyelu toggled a
switch on the wall and light flooded the space. She slipped through the door on
the left. Ziri peeked through it to the room beyond. A large, wooden bed sat in
the middle of the room along the wall to the right, facing a width of carefully
set stones, the back side of the fireplace in the great room.

It was the only
piece of furniture in the room, though it wasn’t the room’s only contents.
Three storage crates were stacked on top of one another against the far wall
between two doors, three of the ones Ryn had packed her things in when he’d
kidnapped her. She wandered through the room behind Tyelu and ran a hand along
the side of one crate. He really had intended to keep her, hadn’t he? Why else
would he bring her personal belongings into his home?

Tyelu stuck her
head into one of the doors and grunted. “Bathroom. Waste of space, if you ask
me.”

Ziri bit her
tongue. Being on the wrong end of Tyelu’s temper once that day was enough. She
peeked into the other door and discovered a closet, half filled with both her
and Ryn’s clothing stacked neatly on shelves or hung from a wooden rod running
the length of one wall.

“Done here,”
Tyelu said.

Ziri whirled,
facing the other woman. “I’d like to see the rest of the property, if we have
time.”

A shrewd gleam
lighted Tyelu’s blue eyes. “I just bet you would.”

Ziri lifted her
chin and stared Ryn’s sister down. “Alna advised me to measure every candidate
carefully. I owe Ryn the same consideration I’d give another man, more even.
He’s been very kind.”

She bit the
words off and pivoted on her heel. Onu’s breath. It was useless trying to
explain anything to the hard-headed Tyelu. Better to expend her energy learning
more about Ryn and the home he’d built in anticipation of gaining a wife, in
anticipation of gaining Ziri.

She stiffened
her spine. Ryn was a good man, as good as any other she’d met on Abyw, and he’d
chosen her out of the thousands of unattached women living on Tersi. She
wouldn’t dismiss him out of hand simply because his sister wanted another for
him. Though, how Ziri would make it past Tyelu on the Choosing field, she had
no idea, and the lack of knowing worried a hole in her gut through their
inspection of Ryn’s property and all the way back to Hrelum.

* * *

Ryn propped his
back against the wall of the meeting room and stifled a sigh. Gared had dragged
him two systems away in the middle of Ryn’s courtship of Ziri.
Important
business
, his second father had insisted. Instead, they’d spent three days
trading social niceties with Domorian dignitaries.
How’s the family?
Younglings doing ok? Weather here sure is pretty
, and on and on until Ryn
was ready to punch the next person instigating that kind of irritating small
talk. What was wrong with getting to the point and moving on? Not a thing, as
far as he could see, but no. When he’d suggested just such a tactic, Gared had
leveled a steady gaze on him and said, “Patience, son.”

Ryn had a
feeling Gared was talking about more than the trade deals he was negotiating.
Since creeping out of Ziri’s bed, all Ryn wanted to do was return there, hold
her close, make love to her until she gave in and agreed to pick him during the
Choosing. He rubbed his palm over the sweet ache swelling inside his chest.
Ziri, his forever. A man would be lucky to have such a woman by his side.

A colorfully
clothed aide strolled up pushing a refreshment cart and offered Ryn a beverage.
Ryn waved the youngling away. The Domor were an alien humanoid species. Unlike
the Sweepers, they were peaceful, intelligent, thoughtful. They maintained a
stabilizing presence in that region of the galaxy, in part through trade, at
other times through a technology far more advanced than most of the human
cultures scattered throughout the twelfth quadrant.

Their biggest
flaw was their endless fascination with ritual. Every time Gared visited Domor,
their hosts insisted on observing not only their own protocols, but Abywian
ones, too, extending what should’ve been a day-long meeting into a week’s worth
of bureaucratic displays.