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edenfallingI wrote a bit more about Ekanu this week, though this excerpt is from much later in her life, after she's already spent several years traveling. It's also a lot more open-ended than the other snippet, since it seems to be part of a longer episode instead of a self-contained scene.
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Diplomacy, Part One
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On her first day in Shimat-Mek, Ekanu walked straight from the harbor to the Palace of the Sun despite the blazing desert heat. Upon arriving, she took another hour to walk around the palace before deciding upon the appropriate door. Inside, a series of clerks passed her through a chain of tiny stone rooms before one finally took her petition for audience, dipped his stone seal in ink, and stamped it.
"What now I should do?" Ekanu asked in halting Saimlat. She was never good at languages until she'd breathed them for several months, but it was polite to make an effort and might win some favor.
The clerk glanced up in surprise. "Leave," he said in Common. "When your fate is decided, a messenger will contact you."
Ekanu leaned forward, resting her hands on his desk. "And how will you know where to find me? I haven't taken a room yet."
"The Sun sees all. Now leave." The clerk flicked his pen at her and refocused on his documents, dismissing her from his reality.
Ekanu let herself out, back through the chain of tiny rooms, noting that nobody paid attention to her despite her clear unfamiliarity. This wing couldn't be anywhere near the actual residence of the Son of the Sun -- not that she particularly expected to see the priest-king himself, but these clerks were clearly very low in the power structure of Shimat-Mek.
She found a room over a somewhat disreputable waterside tavern and traded her skill with voice and guitar for a reduced price. She also learned why the messenger would have no trouble finding her: all businesses in the city were required to send weekly reports to the palace, and all foreign visitors had to register specially at the palace.
So she walked back to the palace the next morning before the midday heat, and registered.
Who was she? Ekanu Thousandbirds, musician, citizen of Estara, currently serving as a representative of the University.
And why was she in Shimat-Mek? To petition the Son of the Sun on behalf of the University, which wanted to found a chapterhouse in the city.
On whose authority? The High Council, and specifically Master Irova of the Motherhouse in Vinaeo.
Yes, that Vinaeo, just across the Glass Sea.
Yes, there was already a chapterhouse in Kurem -- the University thought it would be beneficial to have chapters on both sides of the Kaitaru and didn't want to favor one nation over another.
Actually, this was all in her petition for audience. Could the clerks look at it instead of asking her?
Apparently not. Her petition was wending its way through one branch of the bureaucracy and the registrars had no right to disrupt its stately progress. She would simply have to hope her registration reached the petitions department before her petition was accepted or denied. Ekanu wondered what might happen to a resolved petition if the clerks had no delivery address. Would it make the rounds again? Would they simply burn it? Would they send it to a department for erroneous paperwork? Would it be filed away for a hundred years?
Six days later -- she took it as an auspicious sign -- a messenger appeared at the tavern during the afternoon lull and presented her with a summons. Her petition had been tentatively accepted, and she would meet an inquisitor the next morning to determine whether the University was compatible with the teachings of Kasu-Mek, the Sun Himself, and with the Son of the Sun, his representative on this earth.
Ekanu washed carefully that night. She even unbraided her hair for cleaning, though she didn't have the proper herbs for the anointing and had to substitute a pinch of ash mixed into her own blood -- she hoped the spirits would understand. Her dress was chosen to show no skin, and its stark blackness was relieved only by a blue sash. She folded a yellow sash into a passable headscarf, removed her earrings, and examined herself in the warped mirror that hung in the washroom.
There was nothing she could do about the tattoos on her knuckles, but she thought she shouldn't offend anyone's sensibilities otherwise. Time to face the inquisitor.
As the sun's first rays slanted over the city walls, the palace door swung open to swallow her.
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Inspired by the February 2![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
15minuteficlets word: examination
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Beyond that, nothing of particular interest has happened over the weekend. Well, I started a Draco monologue, but that's WAY on the backburner after a number of other things I ought to finish.
---------------------------------------------
Diplomacy, Part One
---------------------------------------------
On her first day in Shimat-Mek, Ekanu walked straight from the harbor to the Palace of the Sun despite the blazing desert heat. Upon arriving, she took another hour to walk around the palace before deciding upon the appropriate door. Inside, a series of clerks passed her through a chain of tiny stone rooms before one finally took her petition for audience, dipped his stone seal in ink, and stamped it.
"What now I should do?" Ekanu asked in halting Saimlat. She was never good at languages until she'd breathed them for several months, but it was polite to make an effort and might win some favor.
The clerk glanced up in surprise. "Leave," he said in Common. "When your fate is decided, a messenger will contact you."
Ekanu leaned forward, resting her hands on his desk. "And how will you know where to find me? I haven't taken a room yet."
"The Sun sees all. Now leave." The clerk flicked his pen at her and refocused on his documents, dismissing her from his reality.
Ekanu let herself out, back through the chain of tiny rooms, noting that nobody paid attention to her despite her clear unfamiliarity. This wing couldn't be anywhere near the actual residence of the Son of the Sun -- not that she particularly expected to see the priest-king himself, but these clerks were clearly very low in the power structure of Shimat-Mek.
She found a room over a somewhat disreputable waterside tavern and traded her skill with voice and guitar for a reduced price. She also learned why the messenger would have no trouble finding her: all businesses in the city were required to send weekly reports to the palace, and all foreign visitors had to register specially at the palace.
So she walked back to the palace the next morning before the midday heat, and registered.
Who was she? Ekanu Thousandbirds, musician, citizen of Estara, currently serving as a representative of the University.
And why was she in Shimat-Mek? To petition the Son of the Sun on behalf of the University, which wanted to found a chapterhouse in the city.
On whose authority? The High Council, and specifically Master Irova of the Motherhouse in Vinaeo.
Yes, that Vinaeo, just across the Glass Sea.
Yes, there was already a chapterhouse in Kurem -- the University thought it would be beneficial to have chapters on both sides of the Kaitaru and didn't want to favor one nation over another.
Actually, this was all in her petition for audience. Could the clerks look at it instead of asking her?
Apparently not. Her petition was wending its way through one branch of the bureaucracy and the registrars had no right to disrupt its stately progress. She would simply have to hope her registration reached the petitions department before her petition was accepted or denied. Ekanu wondered what might happen to a resolved petition if the clerks had no delivery address. Would it make the rounds again? Would they simply burn it? Would they send it to a department for erroneous paperwork? Would it be filed away for a hundred years?
Six days later -- she took it as an auspicious sign -- a messenger appeared at the tavern during the afternoon lull and presented her with a summons. Her petition had been tentatively accepted, and she would meet an inquisitor the next morning to determine whether the University was compatible with the teachings of Kasu-Mek, the Sun Himself, and with the Son of the Sun, his representative on this earth.
Ekanu washed carefully that night. She even unbraided her hair for cleaning, though she didn't have the proper herbs for the anointing and had to substitute a pinch of ash mixed into her own blood -- she hoped the spirits would understand. Her dress was chosen to show no skin, and its stark blackness was relieved only by a blue sash. She folded a yellow sash into a passable headscarf, removed her earrings, and examined herself in the warped mirror that hung in the washroom.
There was nothing she could do about the tattoos on her knuckles, but she thought she shouldn't offend anyone's sensibilities otherwise. Time to face the inquisitor.
As the sun's first rays slanted over the city walls, the palace door swung open to swallow her.
---------------------------------------------
Inspired by the February 2
15minuteficlets word: examination---------------------------------------------
Beyond that, nothing of particular interest has happened over the weekend. Well, I started a Draco monologue, but that's WAY on the backburner after a number of other things I ought to finish.
