23. Sullha
SULLHA
Tomek burst into the kitchen, dragging Leehy by the hand.
"Nana doesn't believe me. Tell her what you said about Yaaf, Mama."
"He is moving to the village," Sullha said. "Him and his seven friends."
"To our house," Tomek said.
"Not to our house. He didn't say that."
"He can share my room." Tomek bounced on the heels of his bare feet. "He can have my bed, and I will sleep on the couch. It's big enough for me."
"That's very generous," Leehy said. "And where do you propose his seven friends sleep?"
Tomek considered it. "The kitchen closet?"
"All seven of them?"
"Yes. One on each shelf," he said with a straight face.
Sullha laughed. "They are too big for those shelves. They will fall off."
He frowned. "So, we build a big closet of beds in my room, with big shelves, and put mattresses on them. I'll ask Bowen to help us. He knows how to build stuff."
"I'm sure he does." Leehy ruffled his hair. "But he will need a plan. How about you make a drawing to show him what you have in mind?"
Tomek's eyes brightened. "I will draw a picture." He took off running to his room.
"So, what did Yaaf tell you?" her mother asked once Tomek was out of earshot.
Sullha let out a breath and let her shoulders droop. "It's complicated."
"Ah." Her mother nodded sagely. "That requires a cup of tea. Come." She motioned for Sullha to follow her into the kitchen.
Once the tea was ready, they took it to the living room and sat on the couch.
"Explain what's complicated," Leehy said.
Sullha wrapped her hands around the warm cup and repeated word for word what Yaaf had said, what Voset had suggested, and how she'd replied.
Leehy pursed her lips. "When you say the two of you will work it out, what does that mean?"
"I don't know. We are not at that stage yet. In the beginning, he will visit me here, and I will visit him at his place. We can also meet at the café, the lookout point, or even the Hobbit Bar."
Leehy's brows went up. "I see you've given it a lot of thought. I didn't even know there was a lookout point. Where is it?"
Sullha chuckled. "I thought you'd be more interested in hearing about the Hobbit Bar.
It's in the newest section of the village, where all the important immortals live.
The Clan Mother and her children, the council members, and the Head Guardians.
The lookout point is just a little spot with a great view and a bench to sit on and admire it. "
"I see," Leehy said. "When we were still on the island, I wouldn't have known what those things meant, but after watching endless hours of television, I know why people go to a lookout point or a bar. They usually end up in bed together. Is that what you want?"
Her mother didn't understand the language used during all those hours of watching, but some things didn't need translation. Regrettably, none of those shows could explain what she needed to tell her mother, and she really didn't want to have that conversation now.
Sullha had planned to wait, gather all the women, and tell them at once so no one would accuse her of hoarding secrets again. But her mother was asking what she wanted, and she couldn't answer without explaining the bigger picture.
Sullha set her cup down. "There is something I need to tell you, but before I do, I need you to promise to keep it to yourself for a while."
Leehy nodded. "I won't say a word to anyone."
That was good enough. "Do you remember what I said about the wilting and that it could be reversed?"
"What about it? Did you make an appointment for us with that lady who will make me look young again?"
"No, I didn't, and it has nothing to do with hair and makeup." She looked at her mother until Leehy met her gaze. "You know that almost everyone in this village is immortal, right? Including the women?"
Leehy nodded.
"How do you think that happens?"
Her mother frowned. "I don't understand what you're asking."
"We were told that women can carry the immortal gene and pass it to their children, but they cannot become immortal themselves. So how did the women in this village become immortal?"
"They were born that way. Like the harem ladies. They are the daughters of gods."
Sullha shook her head. "Only some of the females in this village are the daughters of gods, and the Kra-ell are another story that's too complicated to explain right now.
The harem ladies were not born that way.
They were Dormants like us, and they transitioned.
The same is true for the rest of the immortal females in the village.
We can turn immortal, Mother. We always could, but we were lied to. "
Her mother didn't look as stunned as Sullha had expected. She must have suspected something already.
"I guess they have advanced technology," she finally said. "Knowledge that they brought from the time of the gods. They know how to turn dormant females into immortals."
In a way, that was true, and Sullha could have ended the conversation at that, but she was tired of keeping secrets.
"It's true that they brought the knowledge from the time of the gods, but the method does not require anything that is not available on the island.
We could have transitioned the same way the boys do.
We were kept human on purpose so we would keep producing children.
It had nothing to do with being unworthy in the eyes of Mortdh.
It was all a big lie because fertility drops to almost nothing after a Dormant turns immortal, and Navuh needed immortal warriors for his army.
He needed breeders who kept producing. Dormant doesn't mean having less potent genes or being inferior.
It means that the godly genes are inactive and need activation, and it applies equally to males and females. "
Leehy laughed, which was the last response Sullha had expected from her.
"What's funny?"
"You are. Someone's fed you a bowl of nonsense. We can't fight an immortal male as the boys do. We are weak females. That is what makes us inferior."
Sullha wanted to roll her eyes but stifled the urge. "So, how were the village females who were not born immortal transitioned?"
"I don't know." Leehy threw her hands in the air. "As I said, they have advanced technology, and that includes knowledge about activating dormant genes."
"It's done with a venom bite, Mother. The same as for the boys.
The difference is the trigger. Boys have to fight older immortal males while females have to have sex with them.
That's why immortal males were not allowed in the enclosure.
Navuh wanted to ensure that we stay dormant and keep popping out children. "
Leehy opened her mouth, then closed it, and opened it again. "So, you are telling me that if I want to stop the wilting I have to go to bed with an immortal?"
"Yes, but you choose who you want to be your inducer, and if you don't want to transition, no one will even try to convince you to do it."
Leehy grimaced. "Why can't they just extract the venom into a syringe and inject us with it?"
That was actually a good question, and Sullha had no answer for it. Why hadn't she thought to ask Margaret?
Because she didn't want to be injected with a syringe. Because she wanted Yaaf.
"I don't know," she admitted. "Margaret only talked about sex with an immortal and said that the venom bite is very pleasurable. She didn't say anything about syringes."
Leehy looked down into her tea. "That's because to her, sex was about pleasure, so she couldn't understand someone like me who would rather have a syringe." She looked up at Sullha. "I don't know how you can still crave it."
"I didn't before Yaaf. I love him, and that makes all the difference."