Page 30 of Taken to Nobu
A memory comes on so hard and fast it gives me whiplash.Malik and Everett smile at me as they pass by. Loudly enough for me to hear, Everett says, “She used to be so fuckable. Too bad that alien wrecked her.” “Pussy’s probably too loose to bother with now.” They laugh until I advance on Malik and punch him square in the face. I fight the both of them and leave them with two bloody noses, one bloody lip, and three black eyes. The first moment I understood how good it felt to fight. And win.
“It doesn’t…make me seem dirty? Used?”
Surprise again. Tre’Hurr opens her mouth, but it’s Ka’Okkari who speaks. He stands up, away from the wall where he’d been leaning. His tone is grim, expression set in a more severe mask than I’ve seen it thus far. “Has someone said as much to you?”
I shake my head. “Not here. On Nobu.”
Red flashes in his forehead and I struggle to hold his gaze, but refuse to break it. I don’t want to seem weak. I don’t want to seem dirty.Especially not tohim —but he hasn’t seen me in solars. Maybe he thinks the same thing colony kids do. Maybe he’s done with me after the chaos I caused, the lives stolen too soon.
“The answer to your question, Xhea, is nox.” He says nothing more and I nod weakly even though I’m not sure I believe him.
Va’El makes a crude, angry sound before he rasps, “It honors us all to hear of the upcoming tsanui, in which the fallen Bo’Raku will be condemned. It is honorable that it was granted by the Raku.”
The knot in my throat makes it hard for me to do anything, but I have to know. “What is that?”
“You forget, my Xiveri, she does not know our customs.” Tre’Hurr gently lays her hand on her partner’s arm before rearranging the furs covering him to the waist.
My heart squeezes. I remember…The Okkari arches over my body, protecting me from the cold biting at my skin. He calls me warrior. Later, I look down on his head, that strip of white hair amidst so much black. I tell him I need him and it’s the truest thing I’ve ever said aloud.
“Excuse me, my Xhea,” Va’El says, sitting up a little taller as his Xiveri mate places her arm on his shoulder.He lives for her. What do I live for?“The tsanui is the warrior’s right to revenge. For his crimes, the one you know as Bo’Raku has been removed from his position. He is known now by his slave name, Pe’ixal and is on trial for his betrayal of the Raku and the Voraxian people. He was involved in illegal trading with the King of Kor, as far as we were told, and was also complicit in the abduction of the Rakukanna and her advisor.”
I clench at that, remembering how I’d felt hearing Miari and Svera’s harrowing story when they were abducted by the Niahhorru king using an off-planet transport device never before heard of. If Svera’s protector Krisxox hadn’t been left alive, and he hadn’t managed to plant a tracking device in Svera’s communicator, they might never have been found.
“The trial was set to take place on Voraxia, however, our Okkari has requested that Pe’ixal be brought here so that he may undergo the tsanui before his trial.”
My whole body catches. I feel the sweat on my lip consume my whole face, my neck, my chest. I waver where I stand, reaching out to catch somethinganythingbefore I fall. Suddenly, Tre’Hurr is standing in front of me, her arms on my arms. Touching mekindly.She’s guiding me to a pillow and thrusting a cup of something warm into my hands.
“Be calm, my Xhea. You are safe. He can bring no harm to you. Never again.”
“Bo’Raku is coming here?” I can’t breathe. I’ve thought of seeing him dead in a million ways, but when he didn’t appear on top of the mountain, I’d forgotten what it would be like to see him living.What will that do to me?
“Calm yourself, Xhea. You will not need to be near him, or even see him,” she says as if reading my mind, “It would not dishonor younotto attend the tsanui.”
“What happens during the tsanui?” I finally manage to choke out in between sips of this strange, earthy tea that smells of colony sand and a little of Okkari.
“The ceremony will constitute a fight between our Okkari and the exiled Bo’Raku, Pe’ixal.”
“A fight? A fair fight? But why? Why would he do that?”Why would he do thatfor me?
Color flashes for a moment in her brow and she bows slightly. “My apologies for the emotional display. I simply forget that humans are not fully aware of the power and effects of the Xanaxana. It would be impossible for me to explain other than to say, it is no question that the Okkari would do this for you. Exacting the tsanui against one who harmed my Xiveri mate would be instinctual for him.”
“As it would be for me,” Va’El adds. He takes Tre’Hurr’s hand as she settles again at his side. He brings it to his chest where he holds it. I stare. I stare hard. My mouth dries and I cling to the warm drink in my hands, sipping gingerly as spicy aromas zap my taste buds. We don’t have tea like this on the colony. Tea that’s not tea, but thick and syrupy and spicy and calming all at once.
“But the Okkari could lose…”
“Nox.” This time it’s Ka’Okkari, standing a few paces away. His face is still so very stern. “The Okkari is the fiercest fighter Nobu has, and cannot be bested in a tsanui. It will be a fair fight, but you need not fear. Xaneru is with him.”
“Then what happens?”
“Then the Okkari will exact whatever punishment he deems fit. He will likely exile Pe’ixal to Nobu’s endless ice ocean, though this he will need to agree upon with Raku, the Rakukanna, and the other xub’Raku. It is not known how far Pe’ixal’s influence with the outer planets extends and they will want to ensure that he cannot be a harm to Voraxians or humans wherever he is placed. You will never see him again.”
“I meant…what happens to me? Will I be exiled with Bo’Raku?” My voice trembles. The idea terrifies me. Being trapped alone with him in an icefall I can’t possibly survive by myself. Hunting and being hunted while I face off against khrui and hevarr and monsters unknown. Svera’s Tri-God speaks of paradise. But it also speaks of hell. This would be mine. Alone with the tormentor who haunts my dreams in a cold white dungeon.
Tre’Hurr and Va’El share a look. She shakes her head. “But my Xhea, why would you be exiled?”
“Because I hid Mi…” I stop myself, remembering what Svera told me about names. They are a protected thing here, only shared among mates and close kin. To share Miari’s now would be to disgrace her. “…the Rakukanna.”
Everyone’s ridges in the room light up in different colors. Tre’Hurr stutters as she speaks, “My Xhea, it is true that for keeping the Raku from his Xiveri mate, you and the human advisorSverawill be tried, however there is no chance that you would ever beexiled. The trials for you and the Svera will involve trials by combat. There will be no tsanui or anything of the like. You will have the opportunity then to choose your champion or your opponent. The Okkari will champion you and as Ka’Okkari well put, the Okkari is the greatest warrior Nobu has ever seen. He will not fail you.”
