Chapter 35
“Do you know why you are here?” Master Wara asked from across the room, eyes cast up and fingers running through strands of
quipu. “In this room with me?”
Nina marveled at the sheer amount of information. It was an entire world contained within one room. It was overwhelming.
“No,” Nina finally admitted. “It seems that I am only meant to obey, not question.”
“Mm-hmm,” Master Wara hummed, and she lost sight of him for a moment as he dove between the bulk of quipu. They were hung
from the walls by small golden hooks, more than she could count, each of them a bundle of varying thickness. She assumed there
was some sort of system, but she couldn’t begin to imagine how he kept track of it all.
A moment later, he reemerged with a bundle of threads in one fist. “Historically speaking, all acllas are chosen ones—for
their beauty or their talent—and are taken to the acllahuasi to be refined and educated so that they can properly serve the
gods. But you are joining the emperor in a different kind of bond, and must therefore be educated in the history and customs
of Vira, as well as those of the acllahuasi.” Master Wara spread the threads over the table and dropped into a seat. “Please,”
he said, gesturing at the seat across from him.
With a sigh, Nina lowered herself. Before she could ask a question, Master Wara leaned forward, his eyes capturing hers with such sincerity that her palms tingled with anticipation.
“Today, I am going to tell you the story of how we arrived at this moment, but it will only be half of the story, as all stories are, and I hope that, by the end, you will feel compelled to share yours.”
All the moments that led her there flashed before her eyes. The fear, the uncertainty, the determination, the desire, the
regret, the acceptance. The acknowledgment of who she was and what she was capable of. The things she was willing to sacrifice
to keep her family safe. She wasn’t sure if she could share her story aloud without giving away all her secrets and damning
herself in the process.
Master Wara didn’t wait for a response before he plucked up a string and began running his fingers over it, the bundled end
in front of her and the rest of the threads fanned out in a curve. The chair creaked as she leaned forward. “Long ago, there
was an Emperor and an Adviser, a Girl and her Sister, and a Scholar.” Master Wara’s eyes focused forward on a spot past Nina
as if he was seeing into the past.
There was a chill in the room, and Nina shivered. The light from the torches danced on the walls, and the shadows shifted.
She closed her eyes and listened.
“One day, the Adviser goes to the Emperor, who has just lost his tayta to an unexplainable sickness, and tells him of the
strange dreams he is having about a girl with unimaginable attay. The Emperor, remembering old myths of madness and favor,
sends the Adviser to find the girl. He will bind himself to her, and together they will usher in an era of prosperity for
their people.
“The Adviser agrees and sets out that very day, traveling far into Icosa where he finally finds the girl in a small ayllu.
The Girl, having never left home, is afraid to journey alone with strangers and makes one request—that her Sister be permitted
to accompany them.”
The softness of Master Wara’s voice drew Nina into a deep lull. His words played behind her eyelids as if she was dreaming.
Or remembering.
“On the journey, the three become fast friends, and when they finally arrive at Amaru Kancha, the young Emperor is filled with jealousy and eager to keep them all close.
He creates a circle of elders—the Emperor, the Adviser, the Girl, the Sister, and the Scholar—even though they are all children themselves, and together, they form grand plans for their people and their lands.
Ideas to unite under a single banner. Tawantinsuyu, they will call it.
“The Emperor will become more powerful than his tayta, and he will please the gods so that they will gift him a long, fruitful
life. But with all this pressure, cracks begin to form. The Girl is not eager to marry the Emperor, and he notices that his
Adviser is overtly friendly with her. And the Sister is distant even when she’s near. Absent in a way that makes the Emperor
wary of her. Because the two seem close, the Emperor asks the Scholar to speak to the Sister and find out her intentions.
“That’s when the Scholar learns her secret—the Girl is not the only one with unimaginable attay. The Sister can see the threads
of life, both past and future, and she knows a blight is coming for their lands.”
A sound pulled Nina back to the present, and she opened her eyes to see Master Wara hesitating, hands hovering over a thread.
She said nothing, only watched as he placed the tips of his fingers on a knot and then shook his head.
“The Scholar encourages the Sister to tell the Emperor. She does, and the five discuss how trustworthy the Sister’s foretelling
can be when all she knows is that a white man will come to destroy them all. The Adviser thinks it is ridiculous. The Scholar
stays quiet. The Girl holds the Sister’s hand with a look of panic in her eyes. Finally, the Emperor says they will take action.
They will build an army to fight the kukuchi.
“And so begins the Harvest, where families are required to provide the chani—children, crops, textiles, and whatever else the Emperor asks of them—to belong to Tawantinsuyu. But it is only the Emperor who wants this, and the other four make their disagreement known. Their circle is fractured. The Sister decides she will not be a part of it any longer, and begs the Girl to leave with her, but the Girl has a secret of her own—she is with child, and it is the Adviser’s.
“But the Adviser is willing to forsake all he knows for the Girl. He loves her more than he loves his duty. The night before
they are due to leave, the Emperor demands an audience with the Adviser and the Scholar. It is there that the Scholar is forced
to reveal to the Adviser that the Girl’s attay can be used to influence. That the love the Adviser feels for the Girl is a show of control over his will.
“The Adviser, at first, is in denial, but the Emperor tells him the true story of how the Ikara were formed, and the destruction
they wrought on the land. The same destruction that will greet them if they fall into the trap once again. The Emperor pleads
with his Adviser to heed his word and join hands, and finally, devastated and heartbroken, the Adviser relents.”
A knock on the door startled Nina, and she jumped in her seat. Master Wara brushed his hand over the table and collected the
strands in a white-knuckled fist. “Come in,” he said brightly, as if he hadn’t just hypnotized Nina into envisioning a past
life.
Kasik’s face slid into view. “The emperor is insisting that Nina needs rest.”
For some reason, Nina was half expecting Master Wara to laugh and brush him off. Instead, the man stood and gave Nina a shallow
bow. “Until next time,” he said pointedly.
Nina had no choice but to leave the room and his unfinished story behind.
There was no rest to be had that night. Despite the exhaustion that blurred her vision and cast a haze over her mind, Nina lay in bed and thought of every worst-case scenario.
Nina would try to kill the emperor and fail. They would go back for Sacha and imprison her for Nina’s crimes. They would strip
her family of their land and force them into servitude, and then they would execute Nina for all to see, as an example of
what happens when someone dares to defy the emperor.
If Nina was truly doing all this to maintain the peace, then she would simply marry Emperor Maicu. Chaska seemed content enough,
with her gowns and gold and freedom to move about. But there was a glint in the emperess’s eyes that spoke of secrets and
facades.
Nina knew there was something she wasn’t seeing, and she intended to dig deeper the next morning at tea, but Chaska never
came. The same stony-faced attendant who brought their tray every morning delivered it alone and without explanation. Nina
drank and ate and spiraled further.
Even Kasik seemed to keep his distance. He was quiet as they walked to the scholar’s wing and Nina had to quicken her steps
to keep close. Even then, the space between them was an ocean. Kasik finally acknowledged her right before he opened Master
Wara’s door. With his hand still on the latch, he turned to her and said, “The emperor has requested that you dine with him
tonight.” He paused, and then added, “In his rooms.”
Nina frowned. “Alone?”
“Yes, alone.” The muscles in Kasik’s jaw twitched. Nina wondered if he felt a certain way about the emperor’s request, or
her naive question. Of course they’d be alone.
He was the emperor—he didn’t need to follow rules of propriety with his future wife, but it also meant that Nina might get the opportunity she had been hoping for.
A chance to try and free Emperor Maicu of his achilla.
It was exactly what she wanted, and yet the burn of nerves spread through her like a wildfire.
It was all she could focus on as Master Wara droned on about the quipu and how to interpret the knots. There were sequences
for each word and number, one string versus two or ten, the length of spaces and the string itself. Her mind was in no position
to pay attention, much less understand. Distractedly, she thought about the story he had told her the previous day and whether
he would finish it, but when she asked, he gave her a noncommittal answer that left her more uncertain than before.
An unfamiliar guard came to collect her from her lessons. “Where’s Kasik?” Nina asked, looking both ways down the hall.
“I have been tasked with escorting you this evening” was all the walla said. Another nonanswer, another stony silence down
another long corridor.
This would be the rest of my life if I stayed, she thought. Nina shuddered.