Shadowkill

##

For three days she worked to tighten down the Kuysstead, then she took Aghilo and her baby into her suite, pulled the shades down, and grieved. She was in agony.

That agony filled the house and Shadith was sick with it; she struggled to shut it out, but could not.

Everyone but her was hard at work. P’murr and Tinoopa were running the Kuysstead; the place was busy as a termite mound with the top kicked out, but she had nothing to do but brood.

She was tired of that, so she took the arranga and went to play for whoever would have her.

Aghilo came into the kitchen, stood shaking her head, her hands on her hips.

Housemaids were clustered around Shadith, trading turns singing verses of the joke song she was playing.

Gilli chal looked up, saw Aghilo, hissed a warning. The rest of the maids stopped their giggling, scattered guiltily, ashamed of being caught enjoying themselves in a house of grief.

The Cook stilled the hand that had been slapping vigorously at the table, composed her face into dignified sobriety. “Yes?”

“Chapa Tinoopa, is she around?”

“She went across to the dye shed. Should be back in about ten minutes.”

“Oh.” Aghilo went out again.

Cook got heavily to her feet. “Looks like you’ll be back on the job, Kiz. Scamper.”

Matja Allina emerged from her grieftime.

She was pale and gaunt, but composed.

She carried Baby Paji in a sling that kept him nestled warm against her hip, an innovation she’d gotten from Tinoopa. Irrkuyon custom said the baby was given to a wet nurse after Name Day, but Allina refused to be separated from him. Polyapo protested, the chal stared, but the Matja ignored them.

She summoned the chal leaders to the Great Hall, informed them she was going to the Brushies to get replacements for the men Pirs took with him.

They protested.

She shouted them down. The cool controlled Matja they’d known was gone. What was left was a wild creature who filled the hall with her passion, seemed to suck up all the air until the rest were about to smother.

She lowered her voice and went back to telling how things were going to be.