Every male straightened his shoulders, their chests puffed out, at the thought of their Lord seeing them as an asset.
Her eyes fastened on Master Kaspar. “Yet this room… it shames the Lord that has shown such faith in you.” She saw the shock on every male’s face as their eyes frantically traveled around the room.
“Betelgeuse is the ‘Hunter’s’ planet. Our males learn to hunt, track and train here becoming some of the most feared warriors in the universe. That is not an easy thing to accomplish nor something you can do and remain clean. Yet that does not mean that the place they retreat to after a hunt, the place where they discuss and learn from their ‘brothers’ in arms, must also be filthy. They deserve better than that and we are going to give it to them.”
“You.” Isis pointed at a random male. “What is your name?”
“Jael… Jael, my Lady,” the young yellow male stuttered.
“It is an honor to meet you Jael, now tell me, what do you see when you look around this room?”
“My Lady, I see the entrance hall for House Rigel.”
“What else Jael?” She saw his eyes move to Kaspar. “You are speaking to me Warrior Jael, not Master Kaspar. I am asking your opinion.”
“I am not a Warrior Lady Isis,” Jael told her bowing his head in shame.
“You are still in your training?”
“Yes my Lady.”
“How long have you been in House Rigel?”
“Two years Lady Isis,” Jael replied.
“Then I would say you are on your way to proving yourself Jael, as those found unworthy are quickly weeded out by my Lord. Now tell me, if this,” she made a sweeping gesture around the room, “was a room that reflected on you personally what would you change?”
“I, well my Lady, the windows. The dirt on them blocks the light but if they were clean…”
“It would make the floors look that much worse.”
“Yes my Lady,” he said ducking his head as if he were waiting to be punished for speaking the truth.
“You are correct Jael.”
Isis’ words had Jael’s eyes shooting to her in shock.
“Jael, I want you and three others to go retrieve ladders so the windows can be cleaned. The rest of you,” Isis turned her gaze on the remaining males, “I want you to move this furniture to the side so the floors can be properly cleaned and that means the entire floor, including the corners, there will be no dirt left in this room.”
Silence reigned in the room for several tense seconds before Jael grabbed the arms of several males next to him and after giving Isis quick bows, they headed out to get the ladders. Another group went to move the furniture. While several stood next to Kaspar, who hadn’t moved.
“Is there a problem Master Kaspar?” Isis asked, her eyes narrowing on the unmoving males.
“No, my Lady,” Kaspar replied.
“Good, so since you forgot to bring the necessary cleaning supplies with you, why don’t you and the males at your side go retrieve them. That way they will be available for those that are doing as I requested.”
“Yes my Lady,” Kaspar said through clenched teeth then giving her only the slightest of bows, spun on his heel, storming from the room quickly followed by three other males.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Oryon stood hidden in the shadows of the upper corridor that overlooked the entrance hall, his eyes following Kaspar. He had trusted that Vali would see to his mother’s safety but still… he needed to make sure for himself and the private corridor that led from the Lord’s Wing to his command center was the perfect location to observe from. The corridor allowed a Lord quick access to his command center in times of trouble. It also allowed a Lord to see and hear who was in his hall without being observed. Over the years, Oryon had learned a great many things this way, such as Kaspar’s barely shown respect for his Lady.
He would have to keep an eye on the male, for while Kaspar had been with House Rigel for many years, he was known to have a short temper and didn’t take criticism well, especially not from those he felt were beneath him.
Oryon had tolerated him because he had believed Kaspar ran House Rigel well, now he would have to rethink that with Isis pointing out things he had missed. Perhaps it was time for a change.
Seeing Vali look his way Oryon realized his second male had known he had been there all along. Vali was good that way. He trusted his senses. Turning Oryon proceeded onto his Command Center confident Vali had everything under control.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Kaspar couldn’t believe he was following the orders of a female.
Lady of House Rigel or not.
He was Warrior Kaspar, Master of House Rigel. He had been making sure this House ran efficiently for years. That this female thought, she had the right to criticize how he carried out his duties was an outrage! She had ordered him to fetch the cleaning supplies as if he were a train…
Lord Oryon should have gotten rid of her years ago, after she presented him with a second male, for after that, there was no reason to keep her. If he had, Kaspar might have been able to secure a female of his own but no female would consider him, no matter what he had to offer, because she was in this House.
Returning to the hall, Kaspar forced a benign expression on his face, one that he had perfected over the years that masked his inner rage because he knew that the time would come and this female would pay for all the lives she had ruined.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Isis smiled as her gaze traveled around the entrance hall. The windows now sparkled, letting in so much light that the energy crystals set in bowls along the walls could be conserved for night use only.
Betelgeuse’s sunlight revealed every scratch and scar left on its ancient floors by generations of warriors crossing it to warm themselves at the freshly cleaned fireplace. Isis loved every imperfection for it showed this room was used, not just a decoration.
Turning her eyes to the furniture that had been polished to a high shine her smiled turned into a frown. Moving to the closest chair, she inspected it closer.
“Master Kaspar!” Isis shouted over her shoulder. “Come here, please.” While she added the please no one doubted it as an order, including Kaspar.
“Yes my Lady?” Kaspar forced his voice to remain pleasant.
“Why is this furniture in House Rigel?” she demanded pointing to the array of furniture that had just been cleaned.
“My Lady?” Kaspar gave her a truly confused look.
“This furniture isn’t solid adhmad. Why?”
“Of course it is!” Kaspar argued.
“No. It is not!” Isis gave him an angry look, if there was one thing she knew it was adhmad. Her manno had taught her how to recognize all its different varieties in his shop along with what it looked like finished. What she was seeing here was low quality adhmad covered with a thin layer of high quality adhmad to fool the eye that it was of higher quality. “This,” Isis touched the grain of a worn spot on the arm of the chair, “is peine from our southern region. It is not used in furniture such as this because it is easily damaged. Someone has covered it with a thin layer of dair,” she touched the darker grain that has not been worn away, “to make you believe it is solid dair.”
“You are wrong,” Kaspar argued back. “I personally inspect every piece of furniture made for House Rigel.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be Master of House Rigel if you are this easily fooled.” Isis fired back. “Jael, tip this chair back.”
Jael hustled to do his Lady’s bidding as the others silently watched.
“Do you see this?” Isis pointed to the underside of one of the chairs legs, the two different colors of adhmad were easily seen by all. “Who ever made this, left it this way, so you would know it was not solid dair. If you had ‘inspected’ this as you claim you did, then you would have known this wasn’t solid dair. I want every piece of furniture in this room tipped.” Isis ordered looking at the other males. “I want to ins
pect each and every piece.”
“You are questioning me!” Kaspar couldn’t believe it. No one questioned him. “Questioning my abilities!” He took a threatening step towards Isis, who quickly took a step back.
“One more step and I will end you Kaspar.” Vali’s low growl had every male in the room freezing. Turning, they found Master Kaspar’s eyes bulging and a thin trickle of blood running from his neck as Vali pressed his sword against Kaspar’s throat.
“Vali,” Isis spoke to her second male in a soft, calm voice. “Ease back.”
“No one,” Vali continued to growl, pressing harder against Kaspar’s throat, “threatens my mother and lives.”
“Vali. Please.” Isis tried again, carefully placing a hand on his sword arm. She’d never seen her offspring so enraged. Vali was her calm, steady one but right now, he was vibrating with rage.
“What in the name of the Goddess is going on?” Oryon demanded storming into the entrance hall.
Oryon had spent the morning dealing with the dozens of decisions that had been left undecided in his absence. Some were important, such as training schedules, and which young males he would be willing to accept for training. Those were decisions that only the Lord could make. Others, he wished others could, such as from which farmer they would get their vegetables from this month and where the replacement linens would come from. As midday drew near, he decided it was time to see how things were going in the entrance hall. Finding Vali with his sword at Kaspar’s throat wasn’t what he had been expecting.
“This male,” Vali spat out, his eyes never leaving Kaspar, “threatened my mother.”
“He what?!!” Oryon growled lowly and was quickly at his Isis’ side, framing her face with his hands, his eyes searching hers. “Isis?”
“I am fine.” Isis told him, putting a reassuring hand over his.
“What happened?” Oryon demanded.
“Master Kaspar became… upset when I questioned his ability to distinguish quality furniture from inferior.”
“Furniture?” Oryon’s eyes flew to all the tipped furniture in the room.
“Yes,” Isis told him.
“You do not believe these are worthy pieces to be in House Rigel?” he asked then looked to Vali. “Lower your sword Vali.” When Vali didn’t immediately do as he had ordered, Oryon growled at him. “Now Vali! I want to hear Master Kaspar’s response.”
Slowly Vali lowered his sword but he did not sheath it.
“You questioned my Lady’s ability in judging furniture Master Kaspar?” Oryon asked in a deceptively calm voice.
“Sire,” Kaspar croaked out, his hand going to his injured throat. “I was merely trying to explain to your Lady that she was mistaken. I was only moving towards her to point out why. Warrior Vali overreacted to my move.”
“Really?” Oryon eyed his offspring knowing Vali never overreacted. If he sensed a threat, there was one.
“Yes my Lord,” Kaspar said.
“You question my Lady’s knowledge of furniture?”
“My Lord, I know I shouldn’t have because of her position but when she was so obviously wrong, I felt it was necessary to correct her. It is understandable of course, I mean she is female.”
Oryon silently stared at Kaspar before speaking. “Did you know, Master Kaspar, that my Isis’ manno was the Master Cabinetmaker for House Tornio?”
“I…” Kaspar’s eyes flew to Isis and found her staring back at him, standing tall and proud. “No my Lord, I didn’t.”
“He was a rare male, was Master Geb, he believed that his female offspring should be knowledgeable and educated. He taught her many things. One of those things was his own craft, that of working with adhmad.” Oryon let his words hang there before turning back to Isis. “Show me what you have discovered my Lady.”
Isis looked at Oryon for a moment then turned to the piece in question. “This chair is made from peine, covered with a thin layer of dair.” She pointed to the different woods as she spoke. “I don’t believe the maker of this ever intended for someone to believe it was solid dair. If he had, he would have put a thick piece of dair on the base of every leg so no one inspecting it would know.”
“Yet there isn’t,” Oryon said.
“No, it isn’t.”
“The other pieces?” Oryon let his eyes traveled around the room.
“I haven’t inspected them yet.”
“Please do so Isis, I need to know what we are dealing with.”
Nodding, Isis turned and carefully began to inspect each piece that filled the entrance hall of House Rigel and felt her anger grow. Every piece in this room was the same as the chair, substandard furniture. Why?
Oryon crossed his arms over his chest and silently stared at Kaspar as Isis inspected the furniture.
“My Lord,” Kaspar began.
“Silence!” Oryon ordered. “We will wait to hear what my Lady discovers.”
“But my Lord!”
“Do you want to meet my sword Kaspar?” Oryon growled gripping the hilt of his sword. “Because I promise you I will draw more blood than that pitiful trickle that my male did.”
Kaspar stiffened at Oryon’s words knowing that when Lord Oryon drew his sword he would strike true and Kaspar wasn’t ready to meet the Goddess this day.
Seeing Isis approach, Oryon turned his back on Kaspar.
“What did you discover my Isis?” Oryon asked in a strong but gentle voice.
“It is all the same, peine covered with dair but I also found a craftsman’s mark.”
“Who?”
“A Master Bard.”
“Bard?”
“Yes. You know him?” Isis asked.
“He is my Master Cabinetmaker. Kaspar?” Oryon’s eyes pinned the male he had trusted to run his House.
“Sire, I have no knowledge of how this could have happened.”
“Are you not the Master of House Rigel?” Oryon demanded.
“Yes my Lord,” Kaspar responded.
“Are you not in charge of running and obtaining the furnishing for this House?”
“Yes my Lord.”
“Yet you claim no knowledge of this.”
“No, my Lord… I mean yes my Lord,” Kaspar stumbled over his words. “I have no knowledge.”
“Gather your accounts Master Kaspar and meet me in my command center in twenty minutes.”
“Yes, my Lord.” Spinning around on his heel, Kaspar all but ran from the hall.
“Get this crap out of my House!” Oryon ordered the remaining males who quickly rushed to do their Lord’s bidding. “Vali, escort your mother back to our chambers and remain with her.”
“Yes manno.”
“Oryon.” Isis put a gentle hand on his arm, frowning.
“I want to know where you are and that you are safe while I sort this out Isis. Something isn’t right.”
Isis wasn’t sure what Oryon was sensing, but she trusted him. “Alright, but may we take several of the trainees with us? We can use this time to sort through the furniture in my old chambers and have the appropriate pieces sent down for the entrance until replacements can be made.”
“Isis…” Oryon couldn’t believe what she was saying.
“I think my manno would be extremely honored to have what he built used in your entrance hall.” She looked around the room. “He used to tell me stories about the hunts he had here as a young warrior.” Moving, she allowed her hand to caress the silky texture of the mantle, knowing her manno had done this exact same thing sometime in the past. “How he loved to sit in front of this fireplace with the Emperor’s manno before he was Emperor and tell their stories…”
Isis, lost in her memories, was unaware of the effect her words had on the other males in the room. Their Lady’s manno had once sat here? He had been friends with the last Emperor? Their respect for her grew.
“The honor is mine Isis,” Oryon told her quietly. “For your manno was a truly fit, worthy and a talented male.”
“He w
as.” Isis felt her eyes fill as she remembered her manno, remembered all he had given her and it was so much more than furniture. He was the one that had told her, she had the right to stay with just one male, if that was what she wished. He told her that he would support that decision, no matter the offspring she presented if her male made her happy.
Isis’ own mother had wanted to stay with just him but when her first offspring had been female the pressure from her manno and the promises of what other males would offer for sharing her ‘gift’ with them, had become too great and she had left. Isis didn’t think her father had ever truly recovered.
Years later when her mother came to help Isis present Ull, Isis discovered her mother had always regretted that decision. It had changed her, she was no longer the gentle female her manno had always told her about; she had become a spiteful and bitter female that after each offspring Isis presented, had encouraged her to leave Oryon. By the time Isis had conceived Zev, she had refused to allow Oryon to contact her, preferring to stay alone and have a Healer assist her.
It had been a difficult time and her presentation had not gone well. It is why Isis believed she had never been able to conceive again, even though she was still young enough too. It hadn’t mattered to Oryon, but she’d always wanted to give him a female.
“Isis…” Oryon reached out cupping her cheek, when he saw her eyes cloud over and fill. He knew she had been close to her manno, closer than any female normally was and that she still mourned him. It was a tribute to the male Geb had been. Oryon wished he could say the same about her mother.
Nurit had been a conniving female and it still amazed Oryon that she could have produced such a wonderful female, as his Isis. Every time he called her to assist Isis in her presentation, Nurit had demanded more and more tribute, not caring that Isis would suffer without her. She hadn’t liked that Oryon had visited Isis after she had conceived, stating it was inappropriate. Oryon could have cared less what Nurit thought. Isis was his female. She carried his offspring. It was what Isis thought that mattered and she wanted to see him.