“Before we start,” Esme said, “I've read a number of old sets of minutes of council meetings. One thing I noticed, as well as a list of who was present, which varied enormously, was the line 'So-and so opened with prayer.' Traditions change and we've not voted on whether we're the High Council of Tesk yet, but as you've agreed I'm chair I propose that we keep that tradition. I also suggest that we record our names, and that for this meeting and tomorrow's of the maybe-high-council we who have the gift formally give full rights of voice and vote to those who might develop it later on during the meeting if we keep on long enough, etcetera. While we're not formally in session, does anyone want to object to those points of order? No? Excellent. In keeping with her stated preference to be first or last, and because if this council is going to work she's been heard saying that it will need bravery, Rena, I'd like to nominate you the task you're totally petrified of. Please pray for us.”
The blood drained from Rena's face. “Me?”
Esme nodded, “We all fear different things, Rena. And six of us are hearing what you're thinking now, remember, and more than six are praying that you'll be able to conquer this fear too.”
“That's silly, to pray that I can pray.”
“No,” Hayeel said, “It's love. Your father wants us not to put you on the spot like this, but he doesn't know what you're thinking. And Esme doesn't know what you said earlier. I expect God wants you to be able to pray in all times and in all places and all circumstances.”
Esme said, “Yes Hal, good idea.”
Hal stood and said, “Father God, you know how hard Rena finds it to pray to you. Give her courage once more to face her fears, to overcome them. Help her know victory, and bless her and all the brave young women here with hearts that desire the things you desire for them, and are repelled by things that offend you. You know their strengths and weaknesses, enable them to work as one, united body, united in dedication to you and in united in thought, no matter what that does to the mental privacy of those around them. Amen. You'll notice I didn't pray for the meeting, Rena.”
In a small voice, Rena said. “God? God, I didn't think I'd have to do this. I'm scared, God. I want change and yet it terrifies me. Help us all be brave. Thank you for bringing us here, thank you for all we've learned coming here already. Make us wise, God. Let us sort truth from lies, right from wrong, corruption from incompetence or ignorance, boldness from stupidity.” Then in a gabble she added “and thank you that I haven't fainted or panicked. Amen.”
“Now would be a good time to get a hug from your dad, Rena.” Isthana said “He thinks you're too old.”
“Let the record say that Rena opened the meeting in prayer,” Esme said to Ada's father, “The rest isn't official. We'll be breaking for refreshments in about an hour, let's check the names are down properly then, and everyone just shout their names out, OK?”
“No need!” Hayeel said, “I've got my seating plan.”
“Excellent. Now... debate on the ... Oh, do I hear a point of order?”
“Urm, you mean me?” the girl who'd suggested the vote of thanks earlier.
“Yes, you were thinking you'd like your vote of thanks on the record?”
“Yes, I would,” she replied.
“Go ahead. Title for the minutes is personal vote of thanks.”
“Before we left, I was on the port with Rena and some others, and we heard from someone that the prices here were high compared to home, and that the reason was that the king of the Isles hardly demanded any export tariff, less than the cost of the inspections, and the captains took barely any profit. I didn't really believe it. But I've seen my dad buying eels, and I watched someone here buying eels too. They were the same barrels, the same quality. There were different taxes, different haggling style. The pretty coins were the same, except there were far more here, far far more. So on behalf of poor, often near-starving Tesk, I want to thank the Isles for not gouging us, for making a loss, even to get us food we need. So, even if none of us end up with the gift we're here learning how wrong the propaganda is. Thank you for that.”
“On behalf of my father, and his father, and his father before him,” Hal said, “I thank you for that recognition. I'd like to say that I'm very glad that Tesk once more has some bold young women contemplating turning their lives upside down. I know that sometimes ignorance is bliss when it comes to the thoughts of those around us, that the filters between mind and mouth are sometimes very important. You have chosen to expose yourselves to what is hidden by those filters, which can sometimes be unpleasant. But sometimes there is less blocked by the filters than you might imagine. Sometimes people are happy for their thoughts to be fully understood even though they can't quite formulate them into words. Sometimes, having someone understand you fully is just incredibly freeing. Ever since the Isles had a king, we've grown up with mothers or grandmothers or sisters who understood us perfectly. My brother Sal has chosen to steer a dangerous course with a girl who understands him almost as imperfectly as he understands her. I'm choosing the safer course, of having a wife who knows I'm not lying when I say she's the most beautiful in this room to my eyes. What I'm saying is that some people will think of hearing thoughts as an invasion of privacy. Others rejoice in being open books. I pray that your families are in this latter category. I want to close this very meandering acceptance speech by saying that generations of thought hearers on the High Council have found that, combined with a populace who listen to their High Council, a little invasion of privacy and the bravery to speak up can stop a lot of stupidity and pain. So I pray that the people of Tesk are as happy to notice the truth and reject lies as you are, and that you are bold enough to speak up, even when old lies and new ones circulate as though they're common knowledge.”
“Some of those rumours will be easy to disprove on some future wedding nights,” one of the few mothers present, Yana, said. “And as long as we all slap anyone that thinks of them for being disgusting perverts and then point out there were thirty or fifteen or however many in the room all coming down with it at about the same time then that ought to be the end of it. Some things are just impossible, aren't they, married men in the room?”
“Urm, indeed, ma'am.” the pastor said, blushing.
“I think I'd better move the agenda on a bit,” Esme said. “Firstly, the motion I suggested earlier. Do I hear any voices opposed to giving every candidate here full voice and vote?”
Ada raised a hand, “I'm only sixteen, the voting age is eighteen. Would me getting a vote invalidate anything?”
“Once you have the gift you have a vote,” Esme said.
“But I don't have it. Won't it encourage the politicians to ignore us?”
“Perception and precedent and acceptability are the issues, aren't they?” Isthana said, then added, “Bethania, can you please stop drawing me? It's really off-putting you thinking about my nostrils. Thank you. I think that the six who have the gift but only second-hand links to Tesk all assumed we'd need to go there to be considered on the council. Esme says the council could decide to meet somewhere else, but it's already been recognised as the council. Is there any precedent for the council to accept the votes of people without the gift?”
“Not that I know of,” Rena said.
“So we'd be doing two new things, and I think that might make it too much for the politicians to swallow. If they don't accept us as the council, then they won't accept our decisions.”
“And they'll assume that's true next meeting too,” Ada said.
“Can we keep to the one topic?” Esme asked.
“They're linked.” Isthana said. “If we give everyone the vote, we undermine the authority of this meeting.”
“If we don't we undermine the authority too.” Rena said “Like you said, Isthana, foreigners don't get to vote from outside Tesk.”
“Fun though it might be to boss the politicians around,” the mother said, “I think that's not what we're here for. We're here to prepare for what we're going to do in the next year or ten. I'm all in favour of giving Ada the vote, but I'm going to try to convince you all not to claim power until the politicians agree we've got it, or we get back home and meet in the council chamber, and everyone knows that Tesk has a high council once more.”
“Do I get to speak against the motion I sort of instigated?” Rena asked.
“About this being the high council? No. First we talk about votes.” Esme said. “Does anyone want to say anything?”
“I don't think we need votes unless we are the high council.”
“Esme isn't allowed to speak but she agrees with me that we're not the high council without you, so you get the vote.”
“The Isles have tried imposing well-meaning reforms on Tesk before now, and look where that ended.” Henela said, “Of course you get voice and vote. Including Ada because she spoke up and most of you want to hide in the crowd and not say anything.”
Velania added “Which is to say, not that there's something inherently immoral about staying quiet in the crowd, but it doesn't help with debates. You get the vote.”
“Actually I'm tempted to suggest there is something wrong in not voicing an opinion on something important.” Hayeel said, “It was not speaking up against lies that robbed the council of its moral authority.”
“Even if it's to agree with everything that's been said? Duh, I want the vote.”
“Point of order, isn't this just a debate for people with the gift?”
“My apologies, I wasn't clear, was I?” Esme said. “Making it up on the spot, I suggest that we give voice to everyone who's a candidate, and then vote to those of us with the gift. But actually... does anyone want to disagree with the young ladies from Tesk getting the vote? Sorry, no, I won't call you young women, in my dialect a lady is either someone with refined manners or a generic term for a noble or equivalent. You all have adequate manners and any of you who end up the on the high council will certainly be noble-equivalent in terms of authority. If you want me to call you a woman you can leave.”
“And if any of you think you might ever need to smash a chair over someone's head.” Isthana said, “ask Esme for tips. She's an expert.”
“That's only expert in the sense of tried it once and it worked,” Esme said.
“Since the average drunken sailor fails to knock anyone out and they practice far more,” Hal said, “I think that makes you an expert.”
“Let's get back to the topic. The motion is that the young ladies from Tesk get to vote. Any voices against? No? Votes for? Chair votes with the majority, motion carried unanimously. The next matter to discuss is, is this a meeting of the high council of Tesk, or is it just a gathering of recruits and maybe setting the tone for future council meetings?”
“My suggestion,” Hayeel said, “is that we first hear from someone who knows, what the High Council of Tesk is, how it operates, what decisions it makes, and so on. Then we can decide if that fits with our plans for the rest of the day. Personally I was idly wondering if one day I ought to go to Tesk and find out what I'd need to do to revoke some stupid laws and also try to kick some boldness into a church or two to preach the sort of life-changing faith that my father never heard, but I certainly wasn't expecting to sit on a formal council today.”
“I want to withdraw my suggestion that we declare ourselves the council,” Rena said, “and I wanted to do it before anyone else got a word in first. Woe is me, I'm second to the duchess of somewhere as big as Tew. But that's what comes of being a lady, I suppose. One must give precedence where it's due.”
“Would you speak about why you wish to withdraw your suggestion?” Esme asked.
“We want to be taken seriously, I expect Hayeel isn't alone in not knowing the duties or authority of the high council, and I while I was semi-serious, I hadn't thought it through and expected it to be laughed off like a joke.”
“Thank you. Would anyone like to speak in favour of this meeting making the claim to now be the high council of Tesk?”
There was silence.
“Would anyone like to speak in favour of today or tomorrow's meeting becoming the High Council of Tesk? Rena?”
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“I've been first enough. I'll go last if I may.”
Velania spoke, “At the moment, we are not meeting on Tesk, and none of us with the Gift are fully of Tesk. I propose that unless there's some other president, the High Council is only considered to be in session when on Tesk, in the council chamber or... or..I don't know,. something that makes it clear that the high council isn't under external duress and that it's not some break-away sub-group of the council meeting in secret.”
Esme said, “According to what I remember of the constitution of Tesk, the high council is quorate when: it is meeting in the high council chamber at a time agreed at a previous council meeting. Or, it is meeting in another place at a previously agreed time and decides it is quorate, or there is more than a majority of council members present and they decide to call an extraordinary meeting and decide they are quorate. A council member is a woman with Teskan blood from at least one parent and the gift.”
“Do they define what 'Teskan blood' means? “, Henela asked, “I mean, there's no declaration that Velania and me don't qualify because we're from the Isles, is there?”
“I've never read anything that says so,” Esme said.
“But surely only people with Teskan blood get the gift?” Ada asked.
“Not necessarily.” Hal supplied, after a long pause “From what I remember, the Teskania says Tesk is such a strange place because the Windward Empire based the doom-guard there, and the doom-guard was basically a breeding programme for scholars and those with a tendency to pick up thoughts, but there's no reason that Dahel shouldn't have the raw... unrefined, if you like, talent that was being culled out of the general population by the doom-guard.
“You've read the Teskania?” one of the girls asked.
“Is that so unusual?” Hal asked.
“Almost all copies were in the hands of nobles, almost all nobles were killed in the revolution.” Rena said. “The academy think they've got the only copy.”
“I know we're going off topic, and I hope our noble chairwoman will forgive me,” Hayeel asked “But can I ask, how many nobles survived and what's their status now?”
“The nobles who survived hid,” Yana said “Their status is still hiding or died.”
“I mean is it illegal to be noble?” Hayeel asked.
“Illegal? No. Stupid to admit it, yes. People still say 'the only good noble is a dead noble.'”
“Can someone explain why? Why do they say that?” Hayeel asked.
“The history book version says it's because the nobility had their power from the king of the Isles.” Yana said, “The high council was not a power any more, its members were old, scared or both. Disgusting rumours we'll still have to face weakened it, politicians banned the king's visits, and then twenty years later broke Tesk away from the Isles. Some of the nobility had said 'this is going to end in economic disaster and starvation,' which people took as support for a counter-revolution. The economic disaster and starvation happened, public order broke down and there were mobs of hungry people roaming the streets looking for people to blame. They blamed the nobles, probably because they didn't have the army protecting them like the politicians did. Quite why the army weren't protecting the nobles is yet to be properly investigated, but for some reason that's never got much political support. It's easier to keep hungry people repeating murderous slogans.”
“Historically, of course,” another of the mothers, Kara, said, “what you said about the nobles having power from the king is rubbish; the nobility were in place long before the king. But that doesn't stop the school books from saying it.”
“Thank you Kara and Yana,” Hayeel said, “I'd like to understand a bit better, could we talk later? Maybe Rena too, with your political studies?”
“OK.” Rena agreed.
Esme stood and asked, “Right, do I bring it back on track to discuss us declaring ourselves the council or not, or does this mark the ideal point to let Hal tell us about the history of the Four Isles from his perspective? You'll notice a few differences to what you learned in school, I'm sure.”
“Urm, before you decide on either, have any of you read the Teskania?”
“I have,” Rena acknowledged.
“And just so I know what to skip or not skip... on the subject of attunements, Esme's mother could only think of one. Hands up if you can name more than two.” Most hands went up, “Three? Four? Five? Six? Seven? Eight? Really, Rena?”
“I've seen two copies of the Teskania. One has a hand-written footnote saying something like 'these are the holy attunements. Just as the doom-guard, the worst mob-leaders make use of the unholy attunements of causing terror, dread, pain and suffering to help them seek out the fear of their prey. Do not fear them, pity instead their soul's fate on the day of judgement, that this counter-revolution returns Tesk from the light of the first revolution to the ancient ways of the doom-guard.' You can probably guess that was not in the academy's copy. And that's why I want to receive the gift, because if you look at it in the light of that, there is a lot of doom-guard thinking in modern politics, and the academy of course.”
“I guess I'm not familiar with doom-guard thinking, but I believe you.”
“We are taught the doom-guard was a terror organisation, and that's certainly their public face. However, they saw themselves as an elite with a high entrance requirements. To join you had to demonstrate superior intellect or the ability to attune. A high level of pride and disdain for others helped too. Once you were in, then it was about realising your maximum potential, and if that meant you wanted to have a dozen ten year-olds to study, then you just filled in the application and one of the searchers went out and as well as looking for potential members of the doom-guard, they'd also pick up a dozen and a half ten year-olds, just in case some died on the way back. I'm not exaggerating, I looked at some of the old requisition forms in the academy archive for my history of politics course. During the first revolution, the academics pretended that they were nothing to do with the doom-guard, they'd just been sought out by the doom-guard and told to solve the emperor's problems. More propaganda. But then the doom-guard were used to politics and propaganda. You're right to say the nobility were around before the Isles had a king, just like the royal houses of Tew and Caneth. Their roots all go back to when the emperor would travel from place to place, to visit his different houses. He had more than the average density of houses of Tesk, of course, as it was the centre of his power-base.”
“Not many people acknowledge that these days, Rena,” Kara said with a warning note in her voice.
“No. But that's about the past not the future and it's about all I wanted to say. This isn't a new thing we're getting into. And this time, the mobs have mostly done something the doom-guard never managed to do before. Things are going to be different.” She looked around at the sombre, thoughtful faces around her and said brightly “So, hand's up if you've noticed we've been here almost two hours, all-told?”
[Esme,] Hal thought, [did she really just accuse the politicians of being the remnant of the doom-guard, and say the nobility are descended from the emperor's harem?]
[Oh, you got that did you?] Esme replied.
[And not from you, as far as I know.]
[Rena is Tesk nobility, Hal.] Esme pointed out [You probably got it from her directly; most people whisper. She really wanted to be understood by people she trusted and was shouting to us.]
[Renela of Resk. Brave of her parents to let her know about the 'ela' in there, and teach her what it means.]
[You worked that out? Well done.]
[He does understand our names, Esme.] Velania pointed out, [ Great-Grandma Sesela taught him pretty well before she died. Just so you know, Vansk is the marshes of Gorp, And Hal's and Henela's Hensk is part of Captita these days. And quite a few hands going up, brother. You're obviously an effective catalyst. Well done.]
“Thank you for that thought-provoking history lesson, Rena.” Henela said, “Great-Grandma Sesela would have been really happy to meet you, I'm sure, but although she lived to a good old age, she died when I was about ten. Now, everyone, as Rena's pointed out, it's time for refreshments. If anyone's starting to get a head-ache, and doesn't like the idea of listening to Hal's talk — as his sister I'm allowed to say he might go on a bit — I'll be happy give you the shorter version sometime.” Esme confirmed to Hal that she was telling people they could avoid joining the high council if they liked, if the thought of confronting the doom-guard was too scary.
“Highness,” Yanesa's mother, the observer for the 'military independence league' — known as the mils, “I didn't really understand a lot of that last bit, but earlier on, one of your 'ladies', here in quite an rude way, I feel, seemed to lay the blame for the actions of past murderous mobs on today's peace-loving political parties. I'm quite confused why you're allowing these impressionable young people to speak their ignorant and irresponsible words quite so freely.”
“One of the reasons that you were called to be here, madam observer, was to notice the lack of non-Tesk influence on the fledging high council.
I felt censorship would be entirely unreasonable in that context. You'll also notice, of course that we've basically dropped the idea that the meetings right now constitute the high council. But I'm interested in your characterisation of your future high council as 'impressionable, ignorant and irresponsible'. It struck me that they were amazingly well informed compared to, say, my own mother, who — as Hal said — was only aware of the single attunement shared by couples. And it seemed that none of them took their lead from baseless rumour, which surely means they are not impressionable. As to irresponsible, in what way do you feel they are irresponsible? Can you justify that assertion at all?”
“Surely it is entirely irresponsible for young Rena to quote that counter-revolutionary footnote, linking the revolution to philosophies of the doom-guard!”
“By counter-revolutionary, I take it you mean the suggestion given to the readers on how to escape the murderous mobs?” Esme said, “You feel perhaps that the author should have just submitted to murder? As an amateur historian I found it a remarkable historical insight into those troubled times, and I certainly mean to ask her if she can get me an exact rendering of it sometime. It's tragic that such an important work as the Teskania has all but been erased from Tesk. We have a number of old copies in the library here, and it's obvious that a reprinting is necessary — you must know that the original was printed here, so it's only reasonable that we reprint it.
But I'll ensure that the footnote is added with a suitable preface. The methods of the doom-guard in locating those with mind-reading potential were horrendous, but I'd much prefer that it be known how they operated than it be ascribed to magic. It also makes it much clearer to me why the teaching I received in the use of the gift included defensive measures. Obviously there were some unscrupulous users of attunements or even the gift during the riots, and the princes and kings of the Isles would be wise to understand those abuses and not be too generous with sharing their catalytic presence with just anyone. But, back to your assertions. You're surely not accusing your own daughter of being ignorant, irresponsible and impressionable?”
“Of course not.”
“I'm glad, since if she were to develop the gift, that would cause considerable tensions at home.”
“She will not be developing the gift, I will be taking her out of these meetings.”
“On what grounds?”
“Haven't I said? This meeting is spreading seditious lies.”
“Madam, as has been made clear to you on several occasions, I believe, I have the full gift of Tesk, and also I am the regent here, and I had to sign the death-warrant for my brother for multiple counts of treason and sedition not three weeks ago. I am very aware of what sedition is. Sedition is when one tries to undermine the authority of a constitutionally appointed person or in the case of Tesk, the high council of Tesk. The only seditious lies I have heard this afternoon have come from your mouth. You knowingly lie when you say that the ladies here are impressionable, what you really mean is that they do not believe the propaganda that you have helped write. You lie when you say they are ignorant. You would like to keep them and the electorate ignorant, and you know only too well the truth of what Rena said, do you not? You yourself have been in meetings where someone called for an investigation about how the army were not present to stop the mobs killing so many of the nobles, and you yourself have repeated that murderous slogan, and encouraged the matter to be dropped. You know why the army were not present, don't you, madam observer? I firmly believe that the high council of Tesk will be holding an extraordinary meeting tomorrow. If it does so, one of the agenda items will be listening to your sworn statement on what you know of the mobs and the killings. I'm sure you know what the penalty is for perjury before the high council. Yanesa, your mother has just decided to flee Caneth on the first boat she can find to avoid testifying. Would you like to say anything to her?”
“Mum, Why? Why run away when you can just tell the truth?” Yanesa asked.
“You wouldn't understand.”
“I tell you what I understand, mother.” Yanesa replied, “I understand that you thought me being here would further your political career. I expect you thought that you could exert some kind of pressure on the high council through me. You almost certainly thought the council would be a lot of simpering little lambs who would flinch away from difficult decisions, like I have done most of my life. So, what I think I'm going to decide is that the high council can interrogate you tomorrow without me, and that the princess regent can lock you up so that you don't run away. I'd love to say that I would be able to guarantee you won't do it, but I can't. I can't let the Tesk down like that. You taught me to love Tesk, mother, and I do. And I love you too. I hate what your party is doing to Tesk, all the changes you're bringing in. They're horrible, and I'd love you to get out of the party.”
“You little fool,”
“You can't get out of the party? What is it, some ancient religion with a death-curse, like in the stories you used to tell me? That's it, isn't it?” She turned away and fell to her knees, sobbing, “Dear Lord God have mercy on my mother!”
“I was wrong, she is impressionable, isn't she?” Yanesa's mother said, “How can she ever believe such a thing?”
“She sees it in your thoughts as clearly as I do,” Hayeel said, as Esme comforted Yanesa. “You cannot leave the party because the party is your tool, the tool of your religion, priestess of dum-semb. You will eventually show the initiation symbols of your religion, but I will describe it to everyone. On your lower back, there is a pattern of small dots, a map of the major cities of the windward empire. Between your shoulder blades there is another pattern which if joined would show the shape of a stylised double-headed axe. Upon the crown of your head, where in days of old you would have been shaven, there is another pattern, depending on which branch you are initiated into, and if you are priestess or high priestess. In the old days, of course these dots would have been lavish tattoos, worn with immense pride and inspiring fear. When Rena spoke of there being doom-guard thinking in the political parties, among the shock at that thought I thought I heard someone sounding shocked that she had been allowed to read those texts. Someone let her read too much, did they? It was meant to be a slow and steady change, was it not? This plan of your predecessors? Reduce the high council to uselessness, remove it, remove the outside influences that might bring people to their senses, destroy the nobility who would have raised the people against you. Mute the church by making faith such a private a thing that even in church people are too scared call sin sin, ashamed to speak of God's wrath against sin and his love for sinners. Emphasize pride in the homeland, so the homeland is above all, and eventually expel God's church from the country where first it was planted. No, it will not happen, priestess of dum-semb. You cannot fight God with politics. But God can use politics to put your religion back in the history books under extinct religions. No wonder you yourself have destroyed or mutilated copies of the Teskania, and were horrified at the thought of a reprinting. Does it not show your marks, priestess of dum-semb?”
“Of course it does!” she replied, “That's where I copied them from. There's no law against getting some tattoos.”
“Some tattoos. are indeed illegal, priestess. At least in some places.” Hayeel said, and her thoughts asked Henela to get Hal to stand ready to stop the woman from escaping or injuring anyone. “Princess Esmetherelda, on behalf of my prince and his father, I must ask that you gag and manacle this priestess of dum-semb, and bring her to trial, if not for violation of your own laws, then for violation of the treaty between all countries that was mediated by lady Rilena of the village of Resk, who became the empress from Tesk, great-grandmother of his Imperial majesty, the emperor of Dahel.”
“Hayeel, you're thinking in your mother's language. I agree she thinks of herself as a priestess of dum-semb, but I do not know what dum-semb is.”
“Yes you do, if not the name. It is the religion of the doom-guard.”
