Chapter 477 – Blessings

“If we want him to step down, we need a replacement,” Ekkiba said slowly. “There are several Et’Tarts who could manage the chiefship, but who would stand for it when Proven is clearly the best option?”

“Anyone who doesn’t spend enough time around him,” Inspector Ivorha said heavily. “There are a number of things that haven’t been managed correctly during his tenure as Chief, but they’ve all been … easy to dismiss. I’m thinking that it’s not that they were minor but that Chief Proven didn’t think they were important. Like Sophia herself, did you know that she’d never met the Chief before?”

“I told Silvi about her months ago,” Ekkiba answered. “I figured that by now … why wouldn’t he…?”

“No idea,” Ivorha answered, “Unless he had some idea that she would be less impressed by him than the rest of us. More likely he just didn’t feel like it. He is not the most active of Chiefs.”

“Which may be for the best,” Ekkiba agreed. “I’ll talk to Ibiwen when he gets back; can you talk to Josei and Loyth? Between the five of us, we can probably figure something out.”

Ivorha nodded. “We can try. It won’t solve their issue, though.” He inclined his head towards Sophia. “This is ours to solve, but thank you for pointing out the problem. I should head out; Ekkiba can stay and catch you up on anything you need to know. You’re Kestiben’s tutor, after all.”

He leaned down and whispered something to Ekkiba as he left. Sophia couldn’t hear what he said, but she wasn’t paying that much attention anyway; she was far more worried about being given primary responsibility for Kestiben’s magic tutoring.

Sophia hoped her teaching would be worth it, but surely anything would be better than what Chief Proven was teaching. He might know some techniques or spells that were useful for Kestiben, but it was obvious that he’d never learned actual control over his magic. She’d already started Kestiben the same way she was originally taught, and the same way she taught Dav, small games and tricks with aura that led to better control. “I don’t think we need that much? We’re planning to trigger an Event on the fourth branch to get access to the fifth so that we can talk to Archon of Stone Issvako, but that’s all we have planned at this point. I should be able to work with Kestiben after that, while the Gateway is being built.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Ekkiba said with a sigh. “Look, I appreciate what you’ve done already, you don’t have to teach Kestiben if you don’t want to. You helped crystallize a lot of things that didn’t seem quite right into a clear picture; I feel like I should have realized the Chief’s influence months ago, but I guess that’s exactly what he can do. I mean something a lot more important. The Chief should have offered it to you, especially since you’re wingless … though I know you don’t feel that way, and you do have the Lifeweb. You’re an Et’Tart, this shouldn’t be this hard; it’s just that every child should know what I mean, so it’s hard to know what to say. You … were you serious when you asked what a Blessing is?”

“Yes?” Sophia wasn’t sure where the badger matron was going. “I get the feeling you mean something different when you say that word than what I mean when I say it.”

Ekkiba nodded. “Blessings are unique to Archons, the same as the Lifeweb is. Kestiben, you should know the saying. What is it?”

The young winged badger loosened his grip on Sophia’s arm and scooted to her side, then turned to face his mother. His left arm scooped under Sophia’s right arm and he held on with his other paw as if for comfort. “Uhh. Blessings? Wings and Web, Gifts and Secrets, Blessings bring us together?”

Ekkiba’s muzzle shifted into a clear smile. “That’s the one! Good boy.”

Kestiben clutched tighter at Sophia’s arm. “You’re not going to make me go back to Proven?”

“No, even if you don’t learn anything from Sophia, you will never be taught by Proven again.” Ekkiba looked a lot older as she sighed. “I should have listened to you earlier when you said that he felt like worms in your head. I think I tried to, but every time I went to talk to him, it didn’t seem important. I think I know why that is now, and it’s not your fault.”

Kestiben buried his head in Sophia’s shoulder.

Sophia reached around to rub his back with her left hand. She was barely able to reach his shoulder, but that was enough for the young badger to start to relax.

Ekkiba sighed. “So, Blessings. The best way I can explain it using human customs is adoption, but it’s much more than that and not solely for parent and child. One reason for a Blessing is a child born without the Archon’s reach into the Lifeweb; they are Blessed when they are accepted into the Clan, which will restore their ability to reach the Lifeweb and guarantee that their wings grow well. Another is marriage; it’s common for unBlessed Archons who marry to Bless each other as a way to symbolize forming a new family. That is rather important when the two lovers would not otherwise be compatible.”

Sophia blinked. “That’s why Archons vary so much, isn’t it? You Bless people and bring them into your Clan or family as full members and then …”

“And then their children can Bless others,” Ekkiba agreed. “The Blessing makes Archons of those who are chosen. It is not spoken of to outsiders who are not asked to join us; legends say that is part of what led to the War of Two Mimirs and the Pretender’s War. You are not an outsider, for you stand in the Web. Leo is your brother, and Dav … I should not speak in front of Dav, but I have no doubt that you will invite him.”

Connections clicked together in Sophia’s mind as she thought about the history of the Suras. They were nearly human, but there was that hint of something else that varied from Clan to Clan. Between that and the fact that all of the True Demons supposedly came from modified Suras lineage, pieces were starting to fit together. They’d lost the Lifeweb from breeding with humans over the millenia since the world was found … which meant that the human population they encountered was far larger than the Suras population, true, but it also meant that the Suras were fertile with outsiders. That was easily explained by the Blessing Ekkiba was talking about.

More than that, there was a device, a Trial, on Suratiz that had to be keyed to an Asuryan … and that granted those who completed the Trial something based on the Asuryan it was keyed to. That sounded an awful lot like a Blessing. “It’s not just wings, is it? There are other Blessings?”

“Of course,” Ekkiba answered easily. “Ibiwen granted me a way to turn my fur to steel, while I granted him bones that are light yet unbreakable. Blessed gifts like that are more likely to be passed to one’s offspring, as well; so far Kestiben has shown no sign of reinforcing his fur but he hasn’t broken a bone yet and he is not a careful child. Is that … I mean, Inspector Ivorha said that he would also be willing to grant you Blessings if you wished. I believe he feels that it is the Chief’s responsibility and since he is not doing it, we should.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Sophia admitted. “I’m Suras, and Suras plus Archon is Asuryan. I’m beginning to get the feeling that that was originally done with Blessings … it might explain why we don’t have them anymore. Asuryans were forbidden … the rule is long gone, but if it came with a prohibition against Blessings, maybe the method was forgotten.”

She could be wrong, but it explained so much. If Blessings supported the Lifeweb, it explained why the Lifeweb disappeared on Suratiz. It also explained why the Archons were so much more varied than the Suras; the Archons were still accepting new blood in a way the Suras no longer could. It was also a good explanation for the Asuryan Trial, another way of handing out Blessings after the original way was lost. If Sophia remembered her history correctly, the Trial was deliberately hidden for a long time after its creation because it required an Asuryan, but it was entirely possible that it was also hidden because it was too close to a forbidden Blessing.

That wasn’t the worst part of it, though. The worst part was how Suras outside his family reacted to Sophia’s father simply because he was Asuryan. They didn’t even have to be told; he could be in his essentially human shape, which looked very much like any other Suras. It didn’t matter; the moment they paid any attention at all to him, they treated him like he was important. They knew he was Asuryan before they could possibly know.

There was a power to being Asuryan. It was probably the reason Asuryans were once forbidden on Suratiz. They were somehow involved in the war that drove everyone off the homeworld, but that was all Sophia knew for certain. She could guess more, and she’d bet that her greatest grandfather Senkovar knew more, but she never asked. The Suras didn’t treat their history the same way people on Earth did; history started with the settlement of Suratiz and the traditions of your Clan, not with what came before.

Sophia was fairly certain that accepting an Archon’s blessing would make her Asuryan even if she didn’t accept the wings, which meant she’d hold that sort of social power. It was one she didn’t want. She was already in enough trouble as the Empress of Kestii Tower; she didn’t want to end up with some sort of power on Arcatiz as well.

If she could grant a Blessing to Dav, on the other hand, she knew exactly what she wanted to Bless him with: her tolerance of the Origin. Sure, he had more tolerance than most, and she could probably protect him if all they were doing was stepping through a well-defined Gateway, but she wasn’t confident they would be and he was pretty messed up by his transit through the Origin after Cliff’s dungeon was destroyed. He hid it well and it was nothing compared to what happened to the three bandits, including Taika, but she didn’t want him to be hurt by it again. “So … do you think I could give a Blessing?”

“Of course!” Ekkiba answered easily. “And if you want to wait on receiving a Blessing until you marry, that’s definitely your choice. It’s just, uh, Dav won’t be able to Bless you …”

“Can you Bless me?” Kestiben spoke up into the awkward silence. “You feel warm and comfy in my head, like a warm blanket on a cold night. If you Bless me, I’ll always know you’re there the same way I always know Mom is there.”

Sophia sighed. There was no way she wanted to saddle a child with the responsibilities that came with being Asuryan, and that was before she considered how Chief Proven would probably react to feeling instinctively driven to respect someone else. “I don’t think that would be a good idea, little one. It sounds like being Blessed is a one-time thing, so you should save that for when you meet someone who’s worth it.”