Downtime

Khavin turned over and stretched, blinking his eyes at the sunlight pouring through the window of his bedroom. Alisi would already be up, probably out in the greenhouse, watering her plants. He’d have to get up in a while himself to see to the pets, at least the ones that couldn’t take care of themselves. Khavin sat up, yawned, and idly put his hand down to scratch his familiar behind the ears, eliciting purrs of contentment from the dark feline. Errdak flowed to the floor as Khavin stood, and followed him to the window. The comforting presence of the panther at his side reminded him of Schuyler and her riding tiger.

He could remember bringing the beast back with him, after his trip to Halta with Balthasar when the battles between the Haltan and Linowans had grown worse then they’d been in decades. Khavin admitted that at least a return to ‘mere’ constant raiding was better then a full-blown war between the two peoples. And thwarting that Circle of Abyssals in their highly unoriginal, but almost effective, plan had been fun. He acknowledged too that the Linowan, whatever their vile nature drove them to, were people of the Threshold and they, as much as the Haltan, were covered by the Sun’s dictate to protect those people. Alisi had reminded him of that more then once, saying that he had to rise above his early prejudices. The Haltan had allowed him to take one of the riding tigers for Schuyler. She’d been quite pleased with the gift, and the tiger had taken to her instantly.

Thinking about Schuyler and Halta took Khavin back to the earliest years of his time with the Circle, right before and after the death of the Father of Darkness. After their fight with the Deathlord, he’d spent most of his time in Nei’Roh working with the traders and Admiral Sand to find more trade routes to River Province. Then the Fertile Band’s barbarian tribes had begun to cause problems. After Schuyler had worked herself into a royal snit worthy of any Dynast, she’d gone with him and Swan to resolve the dispute. The violent, hot-tempered Dawn-caste proved able to work with the barbarian tribes far more easily then either he or Swan, even with their diplomatic skills. She had a natural connection to the desert people, even though they were not of her own tribe. The three of them had achieved a major victory, turning violent barbarians into the first non-Rohan members of the Rohan Empire.

His pride in the warrior-woman’s abilities had been somewhat diminished when she had been so virulently opposed to allowing any of the Terrestrial Exalted, especially Earth-Aspects, to attend the New Deliberative. The rest of the circle, of course, had over-ruled her, but she’d been furious. She’d cooled down, after a while, but had made herself a right pain in the ass during already sticky times, with Harborhead’s dissolution and the Kirighasti’s protests about the lack of equal rights and citizenship in the Rohan Empire. They had turned the victory with the barbarians into a mess, infuriated that barbarians gained rights and citizenship before they did, and Schuyler had been sour about that too. Balthasar did most of the work, pushing legislation making the Kirighasti full citizens, Khavin had mostly encouraged legislators. Illhousen and Schuyler had been pleased to assimilate the former Royal Guards into their troops, giving Schuyler temporary command of the group. Khavin smiled as he brushed his teeth, remembering the sight of Schuyler in a military uniform. He snorted, spraying his mirror with foam. He wiped the mirror clean quickly, grimacing at Alisi’s reaction. For someone who loved plants and the dirt they grew in, she was oddly fussy about household cleanliness.

He thought fondly back to the first time he’d met her, 30 years ago at the first meeting of the New Deliberative. She’d been one of the many Outcaste Terrestrials, one of the younger Exalts attending as well. But that hadn’t stopped her from getting into a shouting match with one of the Northern Solars and threatening to slip a venomous serpent into his bed to replace his mistress, as well as stating he wouldn’t notice and if he did he ought to thank her. Alisi’s tongue was still sharp, and she loved little more then a good shouting match. She got along too well with Illhousen sometimes, as Khavin did not think training his wife to command soldiers was a good idea. But she did better then he could, and she’d even been picked to lead an expedition to the Nameless Lair of Ma-Ha-Suchi mere months after they were married.

Alisi’s mission had been one of the worst experiences of his life. He’d bid farewell to his wife, expecting her back in a few weeks, maybe a couple of months. It had taken eight full years before she and the others returned from the ancient Lunar’s lair. He’d been almost silent at the two Deliberative meetings between, fighting the Wyld Hunters of the Second Meeting half-heartedly and barely rising from his depression to greet Yurgen Kaneko at the Third Meeting. Even Great Forks joining the Larisian Republic was hollow for him, with Alisi gone and possibly dead. When she returned to Nei’Roh after eight years…he could not bring a happier memory to mind.

Khavin glanced at the portrait of the three of them, himself, Alisi and their daughter Shining Lily that he kept on the dresser. Seven years old the first time she’d met her father, Lily had nearly given Khavin his first heart attack. Now Lily was almost 30 and for ten years had been training with Illhousen, taking after her mother and joining the Legions. Khavin had been thankful that during the battles with Suchi and the short invasion of River Province by the Bull, Lily had been too young to even sign up for training. He knew he’d send her into it one day, she’d gone to fight in a few skirmishes before, with Suchi’s barbarians as the encroached on the Southeast. The same year Lily had joined the Legions, the Fourth Meeting had been held. Alisi had been having the time of her life before he and Azenath were able to bring the meeting to order.

Cutting short his reminiscence, Errdak pushed his head insistently against Khavin’s back, urging him to get moving. Giving the panther another good scratch, Khavin pulled his shirt on and headed downstairs to let the other animals out.