At the House of Peace
Part I
Night falls late on Hiuttu at that time of year; the air was clearing of that kind of musty heat that dominates in the tail-end of summer, and the streets were clearing of the pedlars and beggars who hang around the main square quite late in the evening. It was the time of year when most people, or at least the less Satar types, took a late-afternoon sleep - a practice that would soon recede as the nights grew longer and the air went from musty to stale - and the spurt of activity that came in the evening was every year most acute in the last days of stifling heat. Maybe it was really that everyone was just finally getting into the habit of this kind of sleeping; it seemed, though, like everyone was somehow desperate to milk all the hours they could out of the last days before autumn came. No hullaballoo arose as a ship's crew, finely dressed as one might expect the crew of a great lord to be attired, bronze masks glistening proudly yet hesitantly in the receding daylight, and carrying retainers' staffs, marched - or rather walked, but so, how shall I put it, emulously, that you might well say that they were marching - up from the harbour. They trod on the large cobbled stones, which were all bright in the embers of daylight, in no unison, and stood in no formation: the formation was the natural one of loyal crewmen surrounding the litter of the illustrious Metexares, and all the more impressive just so, and the houses rising above the cobbles framed them elegantly as the start of the sunset blazed below the open vault of the sky.
Metexares came into the House of Peace directly upon the end of the short walk from the harbour; the litter was stood upright in the litter-stand (and you will see that this house was something more than an ad hoc place of assembly for this coterie of lords). The sailors and retainers descended to the cellars, where one supposes they ate their evening meal, but there was no delaying for Metexares. He went alone up the stairs, his swift footsteps re-echoing up the walls and over the wooden floor, and approached the last few steps just as his brother Arbetaxas met him. Rarely, you know, do you see such open joy in a meeting of two Satar men; rarely does any emotion show through the mask; but the moment was fleeting. Every man in the room behind stood from his chair to greet him, as Arbetaxas stepped backwards over the floor to come to a stand with his brother but two paces through the door, while he stood halfway to the great table. In the most formal Satar Arbetaxas spoke:
"O Brother, thou didst send unto us that we might meet that thou might come unto us in this House."
"O Arbetaxas, thou art a noble kinsman, and I honour thee."
"Metexares, we're all met, me, you, the six other Radiant Stars, and all nine of the other men you urged me to summon. You sent for me by one of the best messengers in the whole army, too, and came with all haste from Hanakahi. The matter of discussion must be truly important."
"Important it is, Arbetaxas, and most serious." And he stamped on the floor (in a unique way well-known among the Star as a signal for order). All the lords looked at him like their eyes were fixed in a bright light, and he raised his voice to fill the room with the sound:
"Noble lords, my friends and companions, I will tell you why I have brought you here with no hesitation. The Redeemer, our lord Kartis, hath died and is become like as the stars of the celestial orb, in his old age, of a disease from the south."
Now, for another circumstance or in another land, it might have been time for the long-winded story of his last hours, but that could come later for the Radiant Stars, who knew what would come next, again in the most ancient Satar:
"Before ye, then, I say it hath been established in a former time, when ye did here meet as old age came upon our lord and uncle's head; I proclaim that by my Exatas ye, the Radiant Stars, will acknowledge me your sovereign and declare that I am your Lord, and unto the people who sprung from the north and rose unto the rock of Athas will ye bear witness that I am their lord; and I shall rule according to the laws of the Satar, and mercifully judge and justly defend my Exatas, and protect those who will prostrate themselves unto me from all offence."
"O Brother, I acknowledge thee my sovereign and declare that thou art my Lord." Thus spoke Arbetaxas, and, prostrating himself, acknowledged his brother the new Redeemer. Each man in turn followed him; each had known and been prepared for this to come one day, for this procedure for the appointment of the new Redeemer was not of recent origin. He would yet be presented to the army, but that was almost a foregone conclusion; scarcely ever had the army in recent times even doubted the Radiant Stars' appointment. Each man, then, of the six who were the Redeemer Kartis's nephews, confirmed their allegiance to their lord; each man of the nine other men, mainly the sons of the old heads of families in the Star, pledged themselves too. Then each man arose and stood by the table. Awe filled the room, since for each of them this should never be lived again, and before them stood the bright light of the sky on earth and the right lord of all men.