Chapter 53 #3
The table was low in the Seshanamitesh fashion but not of the massive size that was typical of Seshanamitesh furnishings.
It was just big enough to hold a stand that contained numerous strands of beaded necklaces as well as various pots and bowls.
A polished mirror was set above the table.
There was a similar table in the elder palace...
perhaps it once resembled this one. Elder Goya glided across the floor to the table and withdrew the key from one of the pots before hurrying back to the queen’s side.
Zathexa nodded toward Therxian, silently directing her to give it to him.
The elderly female inclined her head and extended toward Alex’s mate.
He looked at the key, as if privately weighing something in his head, before finally accepting it.
“There is one condition, of course,” the queen whispered. “Although no one will be able to get into the room, I may not be able to safeguard it long. After you use the comm—destroy it so that the council may never have a link to deceive the humans above.”
His jaw clenched, and he inclined his head.
“Very well, Mother. But I will not accept your willingness to sacrifice yourself. As much as you long to rejoin your mate, I cannot allow you to do so. You said that you remained to see your duty fulfilled and to guard your offspring. Your duty is not done. I still need you,” he stated, his voice strained with emotion.
“We will leave this place together. We will take the healer to keep your condition stable.”
“Foolish nestling,” Zathexa snapped, but Alex did not miss the affection in her voice or on her face. “How do you think we will all be able to escape to the Vehal? It is too far for me, even if I were carried. In my weakened condition, the sun would be too much.”
“Then we will not go to the Vehal,” he replied as he straightened with determination. “If we cannot escape above, then we will go below.”
A soft gasp left his mother as she stared at him in shock. “Go to the Uralial? Are you insane? They will kill us on sight.”
He dipped his chin. “Do not be so certain of it. All the evidence that we have found shows that they have had access to the elder palace for generations. As often as I have been down there with Alex, they could have harmed either of us at time, or even when I was a nestling exploring, and yet they have not. In any case, I have been considering the matter, and the Vehal are not of the Aglatha. They would not feel a need to get involved in our affairs. But the Uralial are a potential ally that has perhaps been waiting for an opportunity to make a change.”
“It is risky,” Jathella pointed out, and he snapped his gavo in agreement.
“My mother’s entire life was devoted to bringing a change—this alone will always carry considerable risk. Regardless, how is it any riskier than remaining here?”
“But the queen—”
“He is right, Jathella,” Zathexa interrupted with another weak laugh. “You are eager as ever to protect me, but he is correct. It seems that this is the only route forward.”
“Perhaps we can rally the hunters in the colony. If they can return to the upper caverns and wait for our sign, it may also help us.”
“The Algatha has done them no favors, and many likely harbor deep resentment in their hearts,” Zathexa murmured doubtfully. “They are more likely to burn the Aglatha shinara down than save it.”
“So, they may need some creative re-direction,” Alex countered wryly, drawing a ragged laugh of surprise from the queen.
“Believe it or not, justified anger doesn’t necessarily mean that those who have been wronged want to literally destroy everything.
There are many non-gratas who harbor deep resentment toward Earth, but most would never wish harm to our homeworld or our extended families still residing there.
Likewise, there may be those within the colony who want to be part of the change that the Aglatha needs so that young males will never suffer the pain they suffered. ”
“Perhaps so,” Zathexa murmured thoughtfully.
“Very well. You have my permission and support to address them with this request—as if you required it,” she added with surprising humor.
“Now go and do what needs to be done. Jathella, take Kitanara with you and tell the guards stationed near the comm to see to a disturbance outside my nest. You can tell them that I heard something suspicious.”
“Shall I go to the balcony and be obnoxiously ‘helpful’ for the guards in pinpointing the source of the odd sounds we heard,” Elder Goyu offered gleefully.
“My Waena and I are too old for adventuring among the Uralial, but I can be obnoxiously doddering and hopeless. It would be exceptionally amusing.”
“Go on,” Zathexa laughed. “All of you, go to it. We must begin now. We have limited time.”
The queen’s rapidly declining health was the part that was being left unsaid.
If she passed within the palace without securing the passage of royal lineage—and Therxian was captured without any of the rapidly collapsing and overlooked legal protection traditionally afforded to males—the future of the shinara would be left to the will of the council, and the influence of those who supported the measures of cruelty that had increased within the shinara over the last several generations since abandoning the elder palace.
“After we contact the colony, I will start investigating a way into the Uralial waterways,” Therxian added as he turned and extended a hand toward Alex.
“We think we know their access point into the palace, but from there it is a mystery. There must be some clue within the elder palace. But we must start now.”