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“Why does everyone keep looking for my opinion in these meetings?” she asked him, exhaustion making her feet drag. “I know I’m a guardian heir, but still.”
“You’re the one who pushed for this alliance,” Pyetar explained. “They see you as the most motivated to hold it together.”
And yet she couldn’t make her clan understand the importance of working together. Of accepting each other.
Iryana shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. I’m a guardian.”
“But you were also a soldier. And you’re the one who made sure the other settlements could retreat. They would likely be dead otherwise, and they know it.”
Iryana took a shuddering breath. It was all too much.
“I need to talk to my captains,” he apologized.
Iryana nodded, waving him off.
That night, Iryana found herself gathered around the fire-forged lantern with her friends from the brigade in one of the shared rooms. Vabihn was letting Soyara and the kids sleep, but he was clearly wired. It had been a long few days.
Vaneshta had just finished detailing a new training routine she had come up with, though none of them had really been listening, when there was a quiet knock.
“Can we join you?” Hadima asked from the doorway. Iryana went to nod, and then realized it was Kladara by her side.
She blinked in surprise. Kladara of all people?
Iryana looked at the others, but no one seemed to object.
“Of course.” Iryana waved them in, scooting over so there was room on the floor. Kladara looked visibly uncomfortable, but whatever Hadima had done to convince her to join them had got her through the door.
Iryana offered a grateful smile to Hadima who looked completely drained. She fit right in.
They were all worried, Pepha most of all. Her spine was rigid, her willowy body folded in on itself as she hung her arms around her knees. The dark braid that grazed her shoulder was fraying where she kept picking at it.
“Why don’t we play a game?” Mezhimar suggested, glancing at Pepha.
It seemed such a strange thing to do while the gods fought for the fate of the world.
“The ground in here isn’t flat enough for dice,” Vabihn grumbled.
“Definitely not,” Kladara agreed, offering her opinion tentatively. Very unlike Iryana’s hotheaded cousin.
“What about truths?” Lidishta suggested. “We take turns asking each other questions, and we have to answer truthfully, or you lose.”
It was a popular game within the water-forged settlements; she had seen a few of them playing. Some of them had forgings that could decipher truths from lies, though. They would just have to trust each other, she supposed.
“That doesn’t sound like much of a game.” Vabihn frowned.
Iryana decided she could use the distraction. “I’m in.”
“You chose the game so you start it,” Vaneshta told Lidishta.
Lidishta straightened, looking around the group as she chewed her lip. Her eyes landed on Kladara. Iryana tensed.
“Your brother is the only one of your generation married, yet there are a handful of you that are of age. Why aren’t more of you marrying and having kids? Isn’t that normal with the ketsan?”
Kladara shifted awkwardly and looked at Hadima and then at Iryana, as if hoping someone would help her. Iryana held up her hands—she was on her own with that one.
“Marriage for guardians is… a bit different from the rest of the ketsan,” Kladara finally said, cheeks turning red. “If you marry someone from a clan, you forsake all your other ties and become part of the clan. The only people we’ve really interacted with outside our own family during the last decade or so are the volunteers from the settlement who come to help for a season or two. And most of the ones who settled down with us are older or already married. There, uh, haven’t been many interested in shackling themselves to the border. It’s dangerous. Tonhald got lucky with Teshya.”
“Well, that sucks,” Lidishta mumbled. The tension in the room seemed to dissipate slightly.
