Raiha had only rarely hunted at night, and if she did, she never went far. She was less than inclined to come across a Zith in the middle of the night, but she was too restless to sit still in the quiet of the mews. Neither soul wanted to meditate and focus, something they knew they should be doing. She had gone so far as to gather her things to hunt by the moonlight, taking her suvai and Kanikra’s maces, and prepared to do so, only to set them down on her bed and settle on the floor. The mews were only barely lit with some lanterns, their wicks turned low, allowing it to become a playground for the shadows that the sister souls were so fond of. Tasi dozed in his portable carrier on her bed - they had had a fun evening, at least, or so Raiha imagined as she read to him and to the shadows about the Gods of their world. The geese were in their nest box in the corner, the raptors quiet, and Diallo and Dara settled in the doorway, watching the property below and sniffing the air. She smiled at them - they made a handsome pair, and she was more than satisfied with Dara’s abilities. Raiha would certainly give Dara more time before matting her again, though. Like people, animals needed to rest and recover, else you ended up with weak, overbred animals. Vaguely, she wondered if the Council had ever looked at it that way.
Likely not, Kanikra was dismissive, as always. Why do they care? All that matters is a little blue boy is born. When there is a chance that there is not a little blue boy... why waste time? A weak one is better than none, they think. Weaknesses can be worked out. Weaknesses can be overcome with enough work. Weaknesses can be purged. Imperfections might be healed. Don’t waste your time with it. We will not be sluts to calve for them. Not now. Not ever. Now. Focus. This is important for too many applications for us to ignore it. Besides, Tasival is sleeping. He’ll be fine.
You’re right, Raiha sighed and closed her eyes, adjusting her posture in a few places. The meditation posture needed to enable her to be relaxed and comfortable, but alert and awake nonetheless. This wasn’t a nap time, after all. Sitting up straight on top of the cushion she used for the purpose of meditating, she took up the lotus position, placing her feet over her upper legs in a crosswise position, the soles of her feet pointing upwards. She resting her hands under her navel, her right hand on top of the left, her thumbs only lightly touching to allow her arms and shoulders to relax further still. Raiha breathed out slowly, letting go of everything of the day. She relaxed her back, neck, and shoulders, grateful for the flexibility from her mother’s blood that enabled this. Her head remained well-balanced and over her spine, letting the muscles of her face relax as well, assuming a rather blank expression. She was flexible enough because of the way her joints popped and rolled sometimes, something Meath had told her was called being double-jointed. She never doubted it. Once she was in position, she opened her eyes once again. The goal of meditation was to be aware, after all, and that included all of the senses. Spring cleaning for the mind.
Kanikra was better at meditation than Raiha, considering all the time she had to practice, but her preference was for moving meditation, to fall into the rhythm and exercise, clearing her mind out as she or her sister went through the postures that way. They would like as not get to that later. Even with her eyes open, she focused on the inside first. Everything on the outside was fine, for now. She would meditate on outside sources afterwards. But for now, her focus was on herself, and letting go of what tensions the teenager had found during the day. She exhaled again, releasing that tension out into the universe... giving up and letting go... and followed her breath inwards, through the nostrils, and outwards as it left again. For the next half-bell, her focus remained on that sensation of air coming and going. It helped her see how busy her mind really was, but she resisted the desires to follow some chain of thought or another. In the mean time, Kanikra did the same.
She left the relaxed state when the shadows began to play up, pressing against her and desiring attention, and she nodded slightly before pressing her hands together and blinking, reaching to touch them and let them move around her arms. She always felt better after meditating, and tonight was no exception. Raiha stretched and got up, tucking the pillow under the bed with her foot, and listening to the whispers that came here and from there in Makath, all of them in a symphony of voices, immediately checking on the slumbering infant out of practice. The number of voices hardly bothered her, because she had heard another voice in her head for as long as she could remember, but it was deciphering each of them when they all spoke at once. “One at a time,” she requested gently, looking to the doorway where Diallo and Dara were watching Cugacon’s departure intently, the hair along the big bitch’s spine standing straight up. Diallo remembered his scent from being here, although Dara had been preoccupied at the time with her pups. She didn’t know what such a guest would want, but if they were after Kavala’s child, they were going to have to get through both dogs, her, and the goshawks to do it.
Blue man walking, one of them told her.
An Akalak is here, chimed another. Raiha exhaled and grabbed the weapons on her bed. She knew she couldn’t do much of anything to one, but still. She didn’t know what they were dealing with. Something to hit someone with was better than nothing.
He’s leaving now, reported a third as she lingered in the shadows of the doorway as Diallo and Dara glanced up at her before following the man’s movement. She thought she recognized the back of him, but she didn’t see his face.
He was with the white woman, a fourth, late to the party, announced.
“What did he look like? Old, or young? Any markings on his face?” she requested the information from this latest arrival, arms folded across her chest as she watched from her cloak of darkness, gold eyes following his movements.
No markings, the shadow told her, not like some of the ones in the city. Raiha thought this over, and decided that either way she looked at it, she didn’t much like it.
She watched until he left, until the reports came in from the shadows at the gate had seen him depart for the city. She put the maces back, for now, though she kept the suvai on the wide leather belt that she almost always wore, regardless of everything else, over loose cotton trousers that reached her calves and a short, sleeveless cotton shirt that matched the pants. She had been going for comfort tonight, and it was just one of those nights where black was suitable. She gathered the sling, tucking the sleeping baby into it with quiet movements that had come from practice. She genuinely liked looking after Kavala’s son. Once he was secured, she didn’t even bother with her boots tonight. She was trying to toughen her feet up to the weather, and at any rate, it allowed her to move far more quietly and enabled a better connection with the elements. She wore no jewelry as she left the mews, stepping over the dogs and crouching to cup their maws with her hands. “Guard,” she told her boss dog before straightening, and slipping lightly down the stairs in easy, fluid movements. She wanted to go check on Kavala. It wasn’t that she expected the woman to tell her when she was entertaining, but that she hadn’t seen anyone else around here, and certainly not at this time of night.
“Where did you see them?” she asked the shadow who had told her that the Akalak had been with Kavala.
Where didn’t I see them? Came the reply, and Raiha checked out the bath first. It had been worth a shot, certainly, although she found it empty. But used. Kavala had definitely entertained there, and judging by the... well... the mess... it had been enthusiastic. Or against her will. But if it had been against her will, she was sure she would have heard about it sooner. The Mistress of Sanctuary’s bedroom was empty as well, and so she moved amongst the shadows, feeling them around her skin, like they were part of her. For all of her white hair in its braid, it made her more difficult to spot, had anyone been looking. She went to check the lab, then, and upon carefully, quietly testing the door, found it locked.
That was odd in itself. Kavala never locked those doors unless she was on a trip. But Kavala was not on a trip, and so that meant she had locked the doors of her philtering laboratory. Now we’re talking, Kanikra hissed as Raiha leaned against the doorframe, listening. Something was up. Perhaps this was part of the restlessness that they had felt tonight. That strange doings were afoot, and she needed to find out just what was happening.
“Go,” she breathed in Makath. “Please. See if she’s in there, would you?” she asked one of her usual companions, a shadow that called itself Jitdyn. It always claimed that Akajia Herself had given it that name, so for all Raiha knew, the Goddess certainly might have. The shadow left her hair, and slipped through the crack of the doorway, even as she listened to the murmurs on the other side of the door. Jitdyn returned, taking up its position around her shoulders once again, as if devouring half of her braid, reassuring its Shadowplayer that the Konti that she sought was indeed in the laboratory. But doing what at such a time was the question. She touched the door with her knuckles, gently, twice. “Kavala?”
Raiha.
