Seasons of War

to Chaburi-Tan and all the other cities, to Danat and Eiah and the shape of the future. By the time the sun sank in the western hills, he had almost forgotten Idaan.
    His sister waited for him in the apartments Sinja had found for her. She looked out of place among the sweeping arches and intricately carved stonework. Her hands were thick and calloused, her face roughened by sun. Some servant had arranged a robe for her, well-cut silk of green and cream. He considered her dark eyes and calm, weighing expression. He could not forget that she had killed men coldly, with calculation. But then so had he.
    ‘Idaan-cha,’ he said as she rose. Her hands took a pose of greeting formal as court, but made awkward by decades without practice. Otah returned it.
    ‘You’ve made a decision,’ she said.
    ‘Actually, no. I haven’t. I hope to by this time tomorrow. I’d like you to stay until then.’
    Idaan’s eyes narrowed, her lips pressed thin. Otah fought the urge to step back.
    ‘Forgive me if it isn’t my place to ask, Most High. But is there something more important going on than Maati bringing back the andat?’
    ‘There are a hundred things that are more certain,’ Otah said. ‘He may manage it, but the chances are that he won’t. Meantime, I know for certain of three . . . four other things that are happening that could unmake the cities of the Khaiem. I don’t have time to play in might be .’
    He’d meant to turn at the end of his pronouncement and walk from the rooms. Her voice was cutting.
    ‘So instead, you’ll wait until is ?’ Idaan said. ‘Or is it only that you have too many apples in the air, and you’re only a middling juggler?’
    ‘I’m not in the mood to be—’
    ‘Dressed down by a woman who’s only breathing because you’ve chosen to let her? Listen to yourself. You sound like the villain from some children’s bedtime story.’
    ‘Idaan-cha,’ he said, and then found that he had nothing to follow it.
    ‘I’ve come to tell you that your old friend and enemy is harnessing gods, and not for your benefit. It’s the most threatening thing I can imagine happening. And what’s your response? You knew. You’ve known for years. What’s more, knowing now that he’s redoubling his efforts, you can’t be bothered even to consider the question until you’ve cleared your sheet of audiences? I’ve held a thousand opinions of you over the years, brother, but I never thought you were stupid.’
    Otah felt rage bloom in his chest, rising like a fiery wave, only to die with the woman’s next words.
    ‘It’s the guilt, isn’t it?’ she said. When he didn’t answer at once, she nodded to herself. ‘You aren’t the only one that’s done this, you know.’
    ‘Been Emperor? Are there others?’
    ‘Betrayed the people you loved,’ she said. ‘Come. Sit down. I still have a little tea.’
    Almost to his surprise, Otah walked forward, sitting on a divan while the former exile poured pale green tea into two carved bone bowls.
    ‘After you set me free, I spent years without sleeping through a full night. I’d dream of the people I’d . . . the people I was responsible for. Our father. Adrah. Danat. You never knew Danat, did you?’
    ‘I named my son for him,’ Otah said. Idaan smiled, but there was a sorrow in her eyes.
    ‘He’d have liked that, I think. Here. Choose a bowl. I’ll drink first if you’d like. I don’t mind.’
    Otah drank. It was overbrewed and sweetened with honey; sweet and bitter. Idaan sipped at hers.
    ‘After you sent me away, there was a time I went about the business of living with what I’d done by working myself like a war slave,’ she said. ‘Sunrise to dark, I did whatever it was I was doing until I could fall down at the end half-dead and too tired to dream.’ ‘It doesn’t sound pleasant,’ Otah said.
    ‘I did a lot of good,’ Idaan said. ‘You wouldn’t guess it, but I organized a constabulary through half of the low towns in the north. I was actually a judge for a few years, if you’ll picture that. I found that meting out justice wasn’t something I felt suited for, but I kept a few murderers and rapists from making a habit of it. I made a few places safer. I wasn’t utterly ineffective, even though half the time I was too tired to focus my eyes.’
    ‘And you think I’m doing the same thing?’ Otah said. ‘You don’t understand what it is to be an emperor. All respect for whatever you did after Machi, but I have