Page 71 of The Moon Blessed King
‘Yes, but the ants have no shape. They are…invisible ants,’ Cieli continues. She sounds and looks terribly uncertain still.
Fen cannot help but think of the stark differences between helping Cat in Altas and what she and Cieli did for the refugees along the road. ‘When Cat did it, it felt like…he had revealed a greatwell that just needed to be filled with water,’ she tries to explain. She felt his touch in every person Elician allowed her to reach, and she only needed to gently bring the equilibrium back to where it belonged. Cat drained the well of all its excess and she made it right. ‘And Marina…it wasn’t like that.’
‘Marina already knows this illness. But for Cat…by now, Fen, you’d think you’d have realized just howtrulyexceptional our dear stello actually is.’ Zinnitzia sneers. ‘Elician too, for that matter. Out of curiosity, what was the reaction in court to this plague?’ When Fen tells her, she sighs. ‘Perhaps it’s for the best they’re more focused on chasing their prejudice once again…’
‘They were almost calling for Cat’s head. Adalei had three lords stripped of their titles—’
‘But they haven’t realized yet it was Elician,’ Zinnitzia intercedes. ‘What do you imagine they will do when they realize this is all Elician’s fault? It was his power that allowed those pendants to work in the first place, ensuring an undying army could march all through Alelune to Altas with their Reaper slaves ready to do battle against those unable to protect themselves. He’s the one who continued to resurrect Lio time and again. He’s the one that brought all of Altas back to life. He upset the balance between life and death from the very start, and now here we are. If he had not resurrected anyone at all, as I told him time and again – we never would have been here. And sooner or later, the courtwillrealize that themselves.’ She says the last bit so quietly that she is certain the words won’t carry outside their room, but the hair on the back of Fen’s neck stands on end and a cold sweat breaks out across her skin as she waits for a startled shout of confusion or any sign that someone could be listening.
‘It’s not…’ she tries to argue, but Zinnitzia, like Marina before her, is uncompromising.
‘We all warned him what resurrection would do, what the consequences would be. He did it anyway.’
‘Why aren’t there any consequences if a Reaperslaughtersan entire city then?’ Fen spits out. And Zinnitzia laughs.
‘How do you know there haven’t been? In any case, why do you think Reapers are not allowed on battlefields, Fenlia?’ she asks. ‘Why do you think the gods have forbidden it? Actionsalwayshave consequences. We’ll learn about theirs one day, I’m sure. In the meantime, we can count ourselves lucky for now because wedoknow how to reverse this plague. But make no mistake: we won’t be able to save everyone. And every death that occurs? They would not have died if Elician had not given Alelune the means to use his powers in the first place,andif he had not seen fit to resurrect an entire city from the dead. Even without the pendants…one way or another, this plague was coming, and it is his fault.’
‘He didn’t cause this on purpose,’ Fen whispers. ‘I don’t know how they made those pendants – but he wouldn’t have let them if he knew what would happen or if he could have stopped it. I know he made the best choices that he could, and—’
‘Your loyalty to him is charming, but it does not matter whether it was on purpose or not. Or if, in hindsight, he would have done something differently. And it isn’t going to mean a damn thing once the people realize how this truly started. And make no mistake, there have always been those who want more direct control over the throne than they have now. He has just given them a perfect reason why their cause is right, especially since he is once again in absentia.’ Fen’s hands curl into fists. Zinnitzia stares right back at her, unflinching and uncompromising. ‘You haven’t asked yet about what ended the last plague. Why we haven’t just snapped our fingers and made things right like we must have done way back when.’
‘What ended the last plague?’ she asks bitterly.
Zinnitzia is slow in responding, choosing her words very carefully. ‘The god did,’ she says, pausing between each word. ‘Marina and I made a pact with our deity. We promised balance, and the plague was lifted in response.Wewill not be listened to a second time, aswe have clearly failed in maintaining that which we were meant to protect. Butthatis what is needed. Balance. And if you’re truly going to try for inoculation, Elena…perhaps finding a way to managethatwould be best.’
‘You…you’vespokento Life?’ Fen asks. She has never heard of anyone speaking to Life. Cat swears he has seen and spoken with Death, butLife?
‘It hardly matters now. If you want this plague to be over, all we can do is work to regain the gods’ trust in us. Trust that we will agree tobalance.But trust is fast to break and hard to rebuild. This plague is going to get worse before it gets better. The only thing we can do is move forward.’
‘And hope that somehow the gods trust we’ve foundbalance?’ Fen hisses.
‘Yes. And for that to happen…Fen, I’m elevating you to a cleric of Kreuzfurt. I want you to be responsible for teaching the Reapers and Givers here how to overcome this plague.’
‘What?‘ She cannot be serious. Shesimply cannot. ‘Are you insane?’ The Reapers and Givers of Kreuzfurthateher; she isn’t too fond of them either, for that matter. And if any of the Alelunen Reapers come to help here – she knows she will not be able to do much better by them in turn.
Zinnitzia sighs. She pinches the bridge of her nose, then asks: ‘Elena…Cieli…may we have the room?’ It is phrased as a question, but Fen’s companions comply as though it’s an order. They step out like chickens rushing for the shelter of their coop, foxes already seen lurking in the distance. Fen’s temper flares once more. Her fists clench and unclench. The door clicks shut, and Fen opens her mouth to speak, but Zinnitzia always needs to get the first word in. ‘Do you remember the day you came to Kreuzfurt?’
It is not the question Fen was expecting, and it catches her off guard. She finds herself stumbling on the script she had formed, the one decrying Zinnitzia for everything that has led them to thismoment in time. The one that furiously screeched:Why are you doing this now?She says, ‘Yes,’ but before she can say more, Zinnitzia continues.
‘I thought you would be the first one since Marina and me to figure it out. You were so close so many times.’
It’s as if Zinnitzia is having a different conversation than Fen. ‘Figurewhatout? What does this have to do with me teaching your precious Givers?’
‘Everything,’ Zinnitzia sighs. ‘Do you know why I pushed you so hard, Fen?’
‘Because you’re a sadist?’
Zinnitzia laughs. It barks out of her mouth as she tosses her head back. She leans further against the desk and shakes her head, even though she is smiling at Fen with something that disturbingly seems likefondness. ‘No,’ she replies. ‘I took no pleasure in tormenting you. It’s hard to enjoy tormenting anidiot, after all.’
Fen snarls at her. ‘You cannot call me that. I’m—’
‘Exactly what you were when you were eleven years old and first stepped into Kreuzfurt,’ Zinnitzia informs her, utterly impassive. ‘You have atalent, Fen, an ability that is so unique and so extraordinary that you cannot see past your own idiocy to realize it. You spend so much time looking at what everyoneelsecan do on instinct that you don’t look at what youcando.’
‘I don’t know what I can do.’
‘Yes, you do. You did it all the way to Himmelsheim. So, explain it to me,’ Zinnitzia beseeches. ‘Explain it to me like you’ll be explaining it tothem, because the Reapers and Givers that are here now, in this city, are going to have to listen to you. You’re one of the only people who knows how to fix it. So, you’re going to have to explain it.’
She does not want to explain. She has questions of her own. ‘Why didn’t you combine the Reaper and Giver Houses to begin with? You fought this plague once before. Why would you keep us separate if we might have to work together one day?’
