Shanji. Part 9

Juimoshu put an arm around her. "There is a very nice lady who is anxious to meet you. I think you will like her, Kati, and she wants very much to take care of you. Her baby died, you see, and she is quite lonely. She has lost someone just like you have. Shall we go now?"

Everything was happening so fast. Kati nodded her head numbly, for it seemed all was decided for her. She stood up with Juimoshu, who again took her by the hand. They walked towards the door, and then Mengmoshu called out, "Wait a moment."

The man knelt before her, close, and looked straight into her eyes.

The three of us will be your teachers, but only in matters of the mind. There will be other teachers as well. We are all your friends, Kati, and in time you will have many friends here. Although we keep you here, do not think of yourself as a captive. The day will come when you will determine your own course of life. In the meantime, we will teach you, and if there is something you wish for, you only need to ask for it.

But I wish to go HOME! I want to be with Da and Baber!

I understand. In time, I will help you find them again. And when you're a woman, if you wish to live with the Tumatsin, it will be so. In the end, we are all one people. Remember that. All one people. But you are in the hands of First Mother now, and your destiny will be decided by Her. We are only servants, Kati. Believe in First Mother, who has spoken to you. Listen to Her carefully when she speaks to you again.

I will. Then I will ask her why my mother is dead. Kati met his gaze solidly and he blinked, but then he reached up and touched her cheek.

You can talk to me anytime you wish, child.

He stood up, made a motion with his hand, and Juimoshu led her away.

The feeling of great warmth had been there again. Suddenly, the man had affection for her, but why? He was the leader of the trio; she had sensed the other two pausing for his questions, deferring to him. That vision of Ma, in his head, not hers, something about it had changed his feelings, had made a connection between them. Again, she was confused.

Juimoshu led her to two bra.s.s doors at the end of the hallway and pressed something on the wall. A trooper was standing there, fully armed and armored, his gaze fixed straight ahead. The doors slid open, revealing a cubicle in bra.s.s and they stepped inside, the doors closing them in. Juimoshu took a piece of metal, poked it in one of several slots by the door and turned it with a click. Kati's stomach suddenly seemed to rise, and she gasped, involuntarily squeezing Juimoshu's hand. Just as quickly, her stomach settled again and the doors opened.

Two guards faced them, rifles across their chests, faces tense and alert. They nodded, Juimoshu pausing briefly before they stepped out into a hallway curving left and right along the arc of a great circle. The walls were painted in gold, the carpet thick, and red. They turned left, walking past painted portraits of men and women in regal dress, tapestries showing gardens and mountain scenes and villages that were surely not Tumatsin. There were no gerts, but white huts cl.u.s.tered around central squares with pools in their centers and fields of grain stretching to the far distance.

It seemed they walked far before coming to a huge door out of black wood, and Juimoshu knocked softly on it. The door was opened by a young woman wearing a yellow robe, hair rolled into buns on both sides of her face. Kati thought she was pretty. Was this the woman?

"We are expected," said Juimoshu.

"I know," said the woman. "She was too excited to sleep after you came back again last night. And this must be Kati." The woman gave Kati a beautiful smile, and beckoned for them to enter.

"This is Tanchun," said Juimoshu, "First-Servant of Lady Weimeng, with whom you'll be staying."

Tanchun bowed low, hands folded, a gesture that surprised Kati and made her feel uncomfortable. So she nodded her head, and managed a faint smile.

"This way," said Tanchun, and she walked gracefully ahead of them, as if floating.

The place was not one room, but many, and Kati had never dreamed of such beauty and luxury existing. The first room had a floor of black polished stone, a low table in its center surrounded by cushions, couches and chairs along three walls beneath mirrors with gilded frames. They walked left under an arch to a second room, walls painted yellow, three women sitting behind desks, working at machines with illuminated screens. They were filled with a script Kati had seen on wall hangings in her own ger, but could not yet read, for education of a Tumatsin girl began in her seventh year. Everywhere they walked, the floors were black stone.

There was a third room like the first, then one with a closed door, then another set of double doors, high and black. Tanchun went to those doors, and knocked three times.

"Enter!" said someone, quite loudly. Kati was feeling an excitement, and it was not her own, though she was nervous.

Tanchun opened the door. "They are here, Madam."

"Please bring them in!" said a woman.

Kati squeezed Juimoshu's hand hard, and gasped at the sight of the opulence before her: the red carpet, the colors of the wall hangings, the huge, golden, canopied bed on one side of a huge room with high ceiling. A woman stood up from behind a black table in the center of the room. Tall and slender, she wore a yellow robe that showed the curves in her body. She was not young, or old. Certainly older than Ma. Her hair showed no grey, and was in side buns like the style of her servant, but her face was not so round as Tanchun's. She had a beautiful smile, and stretched out her arms as she walked towards them.

"You have finally brought her, mother. It seems I've been waiting forever." She put her arms around Juimoshu, and hugged her fiercely.

Mother? This is your daughter?

Yes. She is a good woman, Kati, and she has lost a child. She wants to take care of you, and I want it, too. I want it for both of you.

The woman knelt before Kati, and grasped her hands.

"This is Kati," said Juimoshu.

"I am Weimeng," said the woman, her eyes moist and sparkling. Emotions poured from this woman: joy,

love, sorrow, elation, a jumble of feelings that were overwhelming yet somehow comforting, so much so that Kati felt herself smiling.

"Oh, mother, she's beautiful! Has The Son of Heaven been consulted about this? Does he know?"

"I have spoken to him early this morning and he has given his approval," said Juimoshu.

"Then it's not a dream, and she is really here. My little girl is really here."

The joy of the woman was coming in waves, but there was something else. Something about a dead child-

"She is called Kati, daughter. That is her name," said Juimoshu.

"I know. I know. Kati, they say I can take care of you while you're here, and it's something I want badly.

Would you stay with me, live with me here? I have a room just for you, a place for your privacy when you want it. I know you can be very happy here. Will you stay?"

What could she say? Everything seemed planned and decided for her. "If you wish it," she said.

"Oh, I do! I do! Weimeng embraced her tightly, Kati's arms at her sides, stiff at first, then relaxing. The

woman's cheek was smooth against hers, and wet with tears. There was a sweet fragrance in her hair.

Weimeng released her and wiped the tears from her own cheek. "Come now. I will show you your room." She took Kati's hand, and they went to the closed door, Juimoshu following silently behind.They went to the door near the entrance to Weimeng's suite, "This is your place," said Weimeng, and opened the door dramatically.

It was not one room, but three, and Kati was stunned by the sight. A room with plush, golden carpet, couch, three chairs and table, walls red, light from globes hanging from a bra.s.s chandelier, two mirrors with gilded frames making it seem even larger than it was. The mirrors were colorless, unlike the ones of polished bra.s.s she was used to. Through an arch there was a bedroom with drawers in plain walls, a porcelain receptacle and shelf with running water before a large mirror opposite a canopied bed shrouded in fine, gold net. Adjacent to it was a room in porcelain, with black stone flooring, gla.s.sed-in cubicle, with a fancy toilet and a huge, sunken tub. Colorful bottles sat on a shelf surrounding the tub, and the air was filled with sweet odors of herbs and other things she didn't recognize.

Kati looked at it all in a daze as Weimeng led her back excitedly to the first room. "Now, I will show you the best thing," she said, smiling.

In each room, one wall was curved outward, like the surface of a sphere. Weimeng pressed a b.u.t.ton of metal on one wall, there was a buzzing sound and the light of Tengri-Khan flooded the room. The wall opened up like a mouth, and there was a clear panel there, like a piece of the city's tent. She looked outside, and saw the entire city sprawling below her, the tent still high above her position. She could see the valley and the great cliffs and the mountains far beyond. She could see the three peaks that were one.

"I have kept these rooms for guests, and you are the first to use them. Now these rooms are yours."

But Kati, clutching at the window sill, was lost in the sight of the mountains.

"Tanchun!" called Weimeng. "Have the fitters arrived?"

"Yes, Madam. Two are here, waiting," came a distant voice.

Tanchun arrived, Kati's leathers stacked neatly in her hands. "These have been washed, Madam," she said, and put the leathers in a drawer, opened a sliding panel on one wall as they followed her into the bedroom. Two women appeared at the archway, carrying heavy books and a metal case. They bowed deeply, and waited.

Juimoshu touched Kati's shoulder and the girl looked up at her. "Now is the time for me to leave," Juimoshu said gently. "We will give you some days to get used to your new surroundings, but then there is work for you to do. One of us will come for you. In the meantime, remember to practice each night with this, as we instructed." She gave Kati a small, fat candle, and the metal fire-tube, and showed her how to use the tube.

Then she left.

Weimeng was issuing a stream of orders to Tanchun and the other women, and everyone was hurrying. They took off Kati's robe, and the women measured every part of her body, writing things down, and then they showed her a thousand pictures of robes and suits, gowns and shoes, all manner of colorful clothing in the thick books they'd brought. Weimeng sat on the floor with Kati, arm around her, and pointed to the pictures.

"Do you like that?"

"It's pretty," said Kati.

Weimeng tapped the picture, and the women wrote something down.

Over and over again. So many clothes, all beautiful. The process seemed to go on forever, and when the women finally left they bowed deeply, broad smiles on their faces, seeming quite pleased with themselves. It suddenly occurred to Kati that everything she had liked in those pictures would soon be hers.

Tanchun served them lunch back in Weimeng's suite. There was bread and cheese, strips of meat mixed with vegetables and ropy starch that filled Kati to bursting. And they talked as they ate, about everything, including the sad things, but for the moment, at least, it was hard for Kati to be sad. The joy and feelings of love coming from Weimeng seemed to drown it all out.

But there was a point, when Kati talked about Ma, that she began to cry. She was surprised when Weimeng cried with her, tears flowing freely. The woman reached across the table, held Kati's hands in hers and said, "You cry for your mother, I cry for another, but now we have found each other, and neither of us need ever be lonely again."

And Kati knew it was true. Ma and Sushua were gone forever, but she was still alive, and Da and Baber were still out there, perhaps searching for her even now. Hadn't Mengmoshu said he would help her find them someday? Her presence was bringing joy to Weimeng, and that was a good thing. And there were things to learn about this place, things to learn about herself.

She remembered the emerald eyes of Mandughai, the voice in her head, saying, 'There are things I would have you do when you're a woman.' Had Mandughai brought her to this place? Was there a purpose in all that had happened to her?

That night she was exhausted, and Weimeng had allowed her some private time before she would come to prepare her for sleep. Kati got out her candle, lit it, and stared at the steady flame for sometime, but it did not make her drowsy. She put out her hand and imagined the bridge of light. The yellow tongue of flame was instantly there. She felt its heat, but kept it constant by slowly drawing back her hand to an arm's length. The blue flame grew until the candle was hissing, dissolving before her eyes, and then she jerked her hand away. The candle had burned down to a stub in minutes.

The exercise was easy, and perhaps they would be able to find something more interesting for her to do.

Weimeng came to tuck her into bed, and Kati felt as if she were floating on a cloud. The woman's hand stroked her forehead as her eyes closed, and as she drifted off she heard a whisper close to her ear.

"Sleep well, my baby. My darling Mengnu. Mother is here."

Mengmoshu spent the entire afternoon and evening correlating all reported Tumatsin births over the past seven years. It was late when he found what he was looking for: a daughter Kati, born to Temujin and Toregene in the unnamed ordu near the three peaks, the ordu that had served as a Tumatsin reconnaissance outpost for several years. Born in the season of last frost-seven years ago. His apprehension grew as he searched further.

He found that Toregene shared the lineage of Manlee, the woman whose eyes could be green when she desired it, the woman who led the spiritual life of the Tumatsin.

Toregene. Her smiling face above a loved child. Her twisted face beneath a man who forced his seed into her.

And now a child, only seven, with the powers of a mature Searcher, and something far beyond that. A child now placed in his care.

He could not eat, and went to bed early.

He prayed for hours, perspiration pouring from him.

Finally, the matrix of light appeared, the pattern of sparkling stars that signified Her presence. And then the emerald eyes, without a face, opening up to gaze at him.

I feel your agony, Mengmoshu. Let it flow from you, for there is much to do.

First Mother, in my zeal to do your work, I violated your principles. I forced a woman, and now there is a child from it. I do not condone your method, Mengmoshu, but you saved the woman's life and the child is something entirely new. She gives us hope for moving to the next step.

Then I am the father?

Of course. There can be no doubt of that. She is the child of your body, but she must not know this now.

You must keep it from her, and that will be difficult. She already sees deeply, and I will begin work with her soon. I feel her even now. She is exciting, Mengmoshu. You have served me well.

I feel remorse, and guilt about her mother.

Then feel it, and let it pa.s.s. Love your child, and teach her all you can. I will do the rest. You are her father, Mengmoshu. Now you must act the part.

The eyes closed, the stars flickering, and then there was darkness again. Mengmoshu lay still for a moment, his mind raging. He willed calm, bringing himself to a state near sleep, then reached out to a place nearby.

Kati, are you there? Can you hear me?

There were no thoughts, only a vision of the mountains as seen from a window in the palace dome. And there were no sorrowful cries that night.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

PURPLE LIGHT.

Weimeng could not understand why Kati wished to ride a horse, and she was horrified by the idea of it.

"That is a thing for men and older boys, dear, certainly not for little girls. And if you were hurt, I would never forgive myself."

"I love horses," protested Kati. "I was riding them by myself when I was four, and I want to ride again. Please, Madam. Please."

There was purpose in her protest and her pleadings. First of all, her eighth birthday was only a week away, and Weimeng was particularly generous on such occasions. Kati wanted a horse, but how could she obtain one if people around her felt she could not, or should not ride?