Paiokp took several days to recover from the shock. Ey had done it. Ey had told the family the truth about eir curse. And they had not kicked em out or even been angry with em for hiding the curse. They had listened to Lefeng’s stories of ‘the sun-kissed,’ and Paiokp still didn’t know how to feel about that.
Only barbarians would be foolish enough to seek out the sun’s touch! Paiokp spoke from experience both of the pain and long recovery and the way it destroyed eir life.
It was almost a relief to learn that Paiokp’s family wasn’t foolish enough to believe it, though they didn’t dismiss it outright as Paiokp had expected. Tsouchm had suggested that maybe the sun liked the farwalkers in a way it didn’t like the town dwellers and that was why the sun’s touch was a blessing for them.
Lefeng hadn’t been happy but had to admit it was a possibility. But ey stubbornly insisted that ey had seen no sign that Paiokp was cursed.
Which was when Chotaikytsai had said the most shocking thing of all — that it didn’t matter. Whether Paiokp was cursed or not didn’t matter, Paiokp was family and they wanted em to stay.
Paiokp was still trying to understand the strange current when Kolchais came home from market one day, shaken and strangely exuberant.
Lefeng, ever the watchful-one, immediately went to the gate to make sure whatever had happened did not follow Kolchais, prepared to cause more trouble. Paiokp went to Kolchais and helped em put away their purchases before asking, “Tell me about it?”
“My- my once-parent was at the market. Ey was trying to upset me, trying to, I don’t know. Ey accused me of shaming my former family — as if it wasn’t their fault they kicked me out!”
Paiokp listened quietly, stroking Kolchais’ hair as the words spilled out of eir spice to be.
“Ey always did this, attacked with words until I felt battered and didn’t know what to believe, but I thought of what Lefeng would say, what you would say, and I managed to stand up to em, make em back down!
“And now I don’t know how to feel.”
With those words, ey burst into tears.
After Kolchais calmed, the family gathered around the hearth. Chotaikytsai had taken to sprinkling sweet smelling herbs over the coals, filling the house with fragrant smoke. It had taken Paiokp a while to get used to the scent, but now it smelled like home.
“Yes,” Chotaikytsai said after Kolchais told eir tale, “I know who ey means. ‘Tsawaw’ eir name is,” and ey spat into the fire as ey said it, literally consigning his name to the coals. “Ey is the council representative for the Distance-Runner family and one of the leaders of their guild.”
Paiokp gaped. Chotaikytsai tended toward moderation in word and action, Paiokp for em to levy such a curse… But then, with the way the person had treated Kolchais, and it sounded like it wasn’t the first time… Paiokp found themself in agreement. Let that one’s name be lost and stripped from them. But if ey was a guild leader…
“What is going on in the council?” Paiokp asked. Ey hadn’t paid much attention, sure ey wouldn’t still be here to see the results anyway. But maybe… maybe.
“We have the full support of the threadcrafters guild,” Chotaikytsai answered. “And strong support from the merchant families and traders. The rest of the council is split. If the vote were held today… I don’t know how it would fall.”
“What happens if they vote against us? What do we do then?” Paiokp didn’t realize ey had spoken aloud until ey realized everyone was looking at em. “What?”
“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you talk about the future,” Kolchais said with a tremulous smile.
“And I think,” Chotaikytsai said, poking the fire up a bit, “That we’ve all been trying not to think about it. What will happen, I mean.”
Kyatchais had brought eir work to the fire, keeping eir hands busy with the family craft as ey had once done with eir spindle. It made Paiokp warm to see it, a sign of how fully the SilentSpinner had become part of the family even if it wasn’t official (might never be official). “We should think of it,” ey said. “That way it doesn’t surprise us. Surprises aren’t good.”
Kolchais stood, leaning on Lefeng’s walking stick. No sign of eir tears marred eir face now, but eir grip on the staff was white-knuckled. “I’ve been thinking about it a bit. We could just stay here, couldn’t we? At least for a while?”
“Yes,” Chotaikytsai nodded. “As long as I am alive, we have a right to this compound and they can’t force us out of it or the city.”
“That gives us time, at least,” Kolchais said. “We could petition again in a few years.
“We could go elsewhere,” Lefeng said. “There are other cities, or we could go to one of the villages. Maybe one of those damaged by the wave would welcome a new family.”
“Or start a new village? Several of the family-less I’ve spoken with have been working on forming traditional families. A group of us could go together.”
“There are,” Paiokp says reluctantly, “Other lands. We could talk with one of the long-ship traders, see what they can tell us about Agreti or Palluo. If we could make a life there.”
“So.” Chotaikytsai says. “We have options. Let us explore them. Talk to our friends and families. Learn what we can of other places. Of who might be willing to help us go there or go with us.” Ey grinned, “This might even give me something to threaten the council with. The traders will not like it if we take our new cloth to another city. Let us try it and see what we can do.”
Paiokp agreed along with the others. What else could they do?
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