Maker of Fire

Emily, Sils'chk, Planting Season, 5th rotation, evening of the 4th day

The letters that Kamagishi brought me became the spark that ignited my first big argument with Tom. All the issues we had been carefully avoiding broke free and made both of us miserable.

One of the letters from Kayseo was an invitation to her hand-in-hand ceremony, which would be in Pinisla in just nine days.

"How fast can Spot fly, Tom? Do we know?"

"What?" Tom was already asleep.

I was such a hosehead. I didn't realize he had dozed off. My outburst woke him up. We were in one of the bedrooms in the Cosm guest house, so the bed was more than adequate for the two of us. I was reading my pile of letters before turning in.

"Em, it's getting late. Go to sleep, little mouse. You should sleep," Tom mumbled and then rolled over.

"Kayseo's getting married next rotation, Tom," I continued. He was now awake. His wakefulness was my fault, and I felt terrible, but he needed to listen to me. This was important. "She's getting married, and General Bobbo, who adopted her, is getting married on the same day. It's a double wedding. We're invited. How fast can Spot fly?"

"You woke me up for a wedding invite?" Tom grumbled. "We're trying to launch a fleet of gunboats to invade a foreign empire by Weeding Day, and you want to take time off to go to another Cosm wedding?"

"It's Kayseo's wedding and General Bobbo's wedding, and it's a big deal, at least for me. Kayseo's special. She got stabbed through the stomach trying to protect me, so I owe her big time. I know General Bobbo, too, though not as well as Kayseo, but he's a decent sort. We should be there if we can figure out a way to attend."

"I know you think of these people as friends, Em, but it might not be bad to step back from Cosm society events," Tom grumbled. "I'm not sure it's appropriate for the Prophet who will abolish slavery to be partying with Cosm, who all own slaves. You really need to reach out and get more involved with your own people, Em."

"Tom, Kayseo was the lead healer during my recovery after the Queen killed me, so we're close. She's really important to me. She's also the gal who lost her feet in the Impotuan attack of Pinisla last year, which is why I got rubber going at the Building Shrine in Omexkel. Without Kayseo, there would be no new crutch designs nor walkers nor wheelchairs nor prosthetics nor rubber."

"So what you're saying is that you've already done a lot for Kayseo," Tom sighed with a hint of impatience. "Do you really need to do more for her? She knows you have obligations to the gods. She'll understand if you're not there. Em, we need you here."

"No, actually, you don't. My usefulness is done for now. I've taken Twee home to his people and supported him as a revelator. I bought and brought the fire bricks needed to build furnaces. I taught the Chem how to make iron and steel. I've taught them how to make explosives. I've done my part. I've done all that Vassu asked of me. There's nothing left for me to do besides sit around as a figurehead with nothing more to contribute to the Chem's war."

Tom sat up on his elbows and frowned at me, "You're not thinking about this rationally, mouse. The Chem need Twee, but they also need you. Dammit, Em, haven't you noticed that the Chem worship the ground you walk on? You're their permission to free their kin. You're more than a figurehead, even if you feel like there's nothing left for you to do."

"I'm thinking quite rationally, thank you," I snipped. "I could go back to making nitrocellulose," I pointed out. "We'll need it in Mattamesscontess." I knew he and Twee had plotted behind my back to delay the reconstruction of my lab shack. They intended to drag rebuilding it right up to the fleet's departure.

"We will need it in No'ank," I pointed out, "to blow up a bridge. Kamagishi has seen it; and the Chem do not worship the ground I walk on, dammit."

"Em, it's the godmark thing," Tom explained, as if I was an idiot, which ticked me off. "It affects both the kl'drt and ksh'g'lsht. Remember? Mature Chem can see and feel auras. It's not as bad as the effect you have on silverhairs, but it is noticeable."

"Is that...that..." I didn't want it to be true. "Crapola." Why had no one told me? Did people think I already knew these things? "I didn't know it affected the Chem like that."

"I thought you knew," Tom backtracked a bit.

"I had no idea," some of my energy slumped. I needed to get back to my main topic. "Tom, Kayseo's wedding has nothing to do with the Chem war effort. Kayseo is a dear friend. A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I just want to be there for it. It's important to me."

Tom sat all the way up. "That's a problem. You know we're pressed for time. We need to be at sea in just a few rotations, three or four at the most. The fleet's getting built. The mortar tubes and charges are being stockpiled. The Kl'drt are perfecting their sailing and artillery skills. Twee's been teaching the assault troops his water combat techniques. How can you leave on a jaunt up to Foskos with so little time left before the fleet sails?"

"Tom, it's a two-day flight to Pinisla," I argued, "then one day to recover, one day for the hand-in-hand ceremony, and two days for the return flight. That's just six days, and I have the time to spare. Given that you won't let me pack mortar charges or do any hands-on ironwork, what is there for me to do? Eh? I'm out of things to teach. I have no more construction management to do for building bloomeries and blast furnaces. I'm done with the dictation of Spot's revelation. You and Twee are plotting to keep me from making more nitrocellulose. Everybody, including you and Twee, treats me like I'm going to break if I do anything physical like refining a bloom at the forge, or Galt forbid that I scrub my own dishes. Tom, I will not break if I do some good, honest work. Barring that, why can't I take six days to see a friend get married?"

He scowled at me like I was sour milk, "Fine, it's not like I can stop you if you want to go."

"Just what do you mean by that?" I snapped. "Since when did you start resorting to passive-aggressive tactics? You word choice is ambivalent to hostile, and your tone of voice and body language say you're upset about something."

"Well, your greatness, you just happen to be the high holy mucky-muck Prophet, Saint Emily, and if you insist on irresponsibly running off to a wedding, who am I to stop you? I'm just the schmoo the gods reincarnated to pick up after you and play your wife."

"Tom, that's a terrible thing to say. How can you say that when I've been trying to have decisions discussed by both of us. And I can't just do what I want, you idiot. I have no freedom of choice. Don't you get that?"

"No, I don't get it. The universe is built like a hierarchy, and on Erdos, you are at the very top of the food chain, above even the giants who oppress the weaker races."

"The universe is not built like a hierarchy," I rebutted, "and relationships don't have to be. Whatever happened to couples as a partnership?"

"Don't be naive, your high holy greatness," he snarked. "You can pretend all you want, but it won't change a thing. I'm worse off than poor Asgotl. At least he has a real job, even if it is playing taxi cab to the giant from Coventry. Me? I'm just the hired bed warmer."

"Well, then, mister bed warmer," I snipped back, "I hope you have a nice warm sleep without me." I took my wad of letters, hopped out of bed, threw on a tunic, and walked out the door. If he was going to be a passive-aggressive jerk, I wasn't going to keep him company. I was working hard to build a relationship with him again, but maybe we had grown too far apart. He had died in one of America's nastiest wars. I had lived five decades beyond his death through an abusive second marriage and a dead-end career, which was the rule and not the exception for most women engineers and scientists of my generation. Was the gap between us too wide? I thought things were going well until we got to Sussbesschem, but things had been getting bumpy between us since we arrived.

Usruldes, Sils'chk, Planting Season, 5th rotation, evening of the 4th day

"This is what I dislike about divine intervention," I groused at the Holy Kamagishi as the Holy Moxsef and Holy Sutsusum looked on. "It always ends up making more work for me." Galt had visited Kamagishi in her dreams to tell her to mediate the argument that Emily and Tom had had after the rest of us had fallen asleep.

I looked at the top of Tom's drooping head. "I'll take care of this one," I pointed at Tom. "I will leave our grumpy prophet in your hands since you already know where to find her."

"She swam the slough in the dark to go back to the visitor's huts," Sutsusum shook her head.

"And kept all her letters dry while swimming," Kamagishi added. "Let me see if I can pry her out of her hut. It won't be easy since she's fallen asleep."

"I wish you the best of luck," I told her. "Too bad we don't have any bacon."

"Bacon?" the mystified Moxsef inquired.

"Priestess Healer Thuorfosi would wake Emily by dangling a piece of cooked crispy bacon just out of reach," I told the High Priestess of Vassu, whose attitude toward Emily had improved, though her manner with the Coyn was still stiff. "It is remarkably effective at getting the Prophet out of bed. It's a standing joke at the Healing Shrine."

"Huh," Kamagishi nodded to herself, "so that's why Thuorfosi asked for bacon." She looked at the dejected Tom sitting on the bed, "So, Tom, what did you argue with Emily about?"

"She wants to go to a wedding while we're in the middle of trying to launch a fleet and sail it to Mattamesscontess," said Tom in a flat voice. I had the impression he thought we were being nosy.

"Why is this a problem?" Kamagishi asked, probing for more details.

"Are you nuts?" a clueless Tom tactlessly accused a high priestess of being clueless. "Our work here is more important than some wedding, even if it is a good friend of hers who is getting handfasted. We need Emily here to keep the Chem morale at a high level. She shouldn't run off to Foskos when we need her here."

"Oh dear," Kamagishi made a face that was a cross between an understanding smile and a grimace.

"I don't get you people," Tom muttered just loud enough for all of us to hear, "We're a couple. Couples sometimes argue. This is personal. Why are you sticking your noses into what's private between me and Em?"

"Tom," I crouched down and put my hand lightly on his shoulder, "I know you're upset, but I think you could have been a bit more polite to the Holy Kamagishi." I tried to make my hint as gentle as possible since I had little experience with Tom. To my happy surprise, he deflated and then did the right thing.

"I'm sorry, Holy One," he drooped even further. "I'm not myself right now. Please overlook my rudeness."

Kamagishi crouched next to me so she was eye-level with Tom on the bed, "Tom, this is obviously a difficult time for you. I know you've had your life turned upside down over the last season. You may not be aware, but you're one of Galt's chosen, making you my responsibility. Your well-being is something I worry about. If life is not treating you well, I can't just let it slide. It might seem personal to you, but you and Emily are two of the most important people alive. Your personal arguments could affect the politics of the whole world. That's why we must mend things between you if we can."

Tom dropped his head into his hands and shook it, "Would all of you oversized meddlers please just leave and give me some time to myself?"

The three high priestesses looked shocked. Given that they are part of the twenty-three rulers of Foskos, they aren't accustomed to people talking back or contradicting them. Despite the stress of the current situation, I found their reaction entertaining. I had noticed before that Tom was a man with a streak of bravery. He was not afraid to act even when facing down silverhairs. He was upset and unhappy but still had enough gumption to ask for accommodation.

*Holy Ones,* I mind cast, *given Tom's character, I advise that we give him some moments to himself.*

The three ladies looked at one another. Then, they silently left the room, and I followed them.