Born a Monster Chapter 269

269 Servant of the Axe – Hearth Week, part II

Chapter Type: Minor Character Developnt

“Actually,” Tang Ning said, “Nui has an interesting story.”

“I really don’t.” Nui Ping said.

“If I must command you to speak, I’ll order you to use the voices.” ng Wa said.

Don’t ask ; to this day I don’t know about the voices.

“All right, I’ll tell it again.” He took a breath, as though before walking across a path of hot coals. “I was born to the farr caste; mother wove baskets, and mats, and the like. She trained on jute. That’s a plant that most regard as a weed. People don’t work with it because it creases easily and has no structural strength. Also, the fact that the stalks are irregular ans that it’s just terrible for fabric.”

“Anyway, jute is regarded as a plant to train on so that you can work with other, better, materials later in life. But, you see...”

“Each woman is allowed three husbands, and six consorts, to bring the total up to nine, or three sets of three. For a noble woman to take those from castes other than the nobles, one of her husbands has to be from Farr caste.”

I blinked. “This is the first I’ve heard of any of this. How are there anywhere near enough n to go around? Do the won share?”

.....

“Won often share.” ng Wa admitted. “And others of us choose to have children without marrying.”

“Although that’s unpopular, unless one is a willow woman.” Tang Ning said, folding her hands protectively over her belly.

“But yes, n are allowed three wives and six consorts as well.” ng Wa said. “The whole thing is so much more reasonable than trying to match a single couple up for life, and then punishing them if they drift apart.”

“Although it does lead to shaful things,” one of the new soldiers said, “such as n marrying n and won marrying won.”

Tang Ning took a controlled sip of her tea. “An issue which was legalized by the Shining Empress over six hundred years ago. Many of her rulings were overturned over the years, but that one has beco accepted. By all but the most devout of traditional sects.”

ng Wa had donned a gauntlet, slamd it into the table before her. “Enough! Nui Ping, please continue.”

“Yes, anyway, selling in marriage to Shigata Sukako for her first husband helped my siblings go to university. Only – she didn’t understand about jute, you see. Shortly after our honeymoon, when we returned to her household, she already had three sections of land converted over into nothing but growing jute.”

“A weed, and here she was having entire farmlands planted with it, to show how much she loved ! Of course, I couldn’t find the words to break that to her gently, so I said only that maybe sothing like cotton or flax might be good for next year. And she agreed, but...”

“I don’t need to tell you how guilty I would feel if I let the farrs grow all that jute without . So I rotated through the farms, trying to be friendly, and treating it as a joke. But when harvest rolled around... It would take years to get through all of the jute she had ordered planted.”

“I didn’t have years, as it turned out. My dear Sukako had a rivalry with Din Ma, sothing about the uncertain lineage of one of her dolls. But it escalated a bit every year, each of them working to sha the other in ways they could claim innocence about.”

Like planting three fields with a weed. Okay, insane yet powerful won. Got it.

“Only Din Ma went too far, or Sukako did. Either way, a man professed that my wife had hired him to slay Din Ma, before being executed for the cri of attempting that. Anyway, nobles aren’t just slain, not on the word of rchants. The provincial capitol dispatched an imperial magistrate. Or, officially, it asked her to look into the matter and she accepted.”

He shuddered, looked like he was going to weep for a mont or two before continuing. “Oh, Sukako was found innocent, of course. Of that cri. But the thods imperial magistrates use... Other cris were discovered, and punished. Her family, the local Din branch, six or seven other local families were put to death for cris as minor as...”

“Ours is not a draconian justice system. Not unless it is enforced, to the letter. Because I had not been a part of the Shigata family at the ti of their sedition... A childhood rhy, common in the region, and it was called sedition...”

One of the female soldiers reached out to grip his arm above the elbow, and he placed his own hand atop hers.

“I was given the option of life, but only if I returned my na to Nui. Sukako was dead, our unborn child with her. Only my mother... there was still great stigma attached to all of those who survived the purge. Once I understood that returning ho was not an option, I chose to serve as far away as I could. There was a need for farrs here, and it was so far away from the rest of the Empire that there has never been a magistrate here.”

“Ah-Ah. THAT will change, once the governnt hears about what has happened here. Anyway, I arrived with papers and seeds that sealed my fate. Jute seeds, from the sa fields I was speaking of earlier. Honestly, my hope had been that they’d gone stale over the seasons. But within a few months, my entire back yard was overgrown.”

“Until the ti of the fire, I made bags, satchels, and sacks. And then, the next day, I had neither a house nor any of the tools of my trade. You know what survived?”

“The jute?” I guessed.

He nodded. “That damn jute. When the option ca to be a temporary soldier, I took it. Gives them ti to rebuild my house. I requested the outer wall, rather than the middle, where they offered us positions. I told them I wanted to be where the action was the most like a fire but...”

ng Wa took her gauntlet off. “We still catch him, looking where his hostead was. But for now, he’s one of us.”

“Wow.” I said. “Both up and down one caste. And you’re what, twenty?”

“Twenty-four, this coming fall.” He said. “If it ends here, it has still been an interesting life. I just... I’m not certain if I loved her, but Sukako made happy.”

“Oh gods, not this AGAIN.” Tang Ning said. “Show of hands, all who say he loved her. See? Majority of hands. You loved her, just admit it and move on with your life.”

“Ah-Ah, I see that we are attracting gazes for having lingered so long. Let us return to our section of wall, and pray for nothing more than dueling fireworks tonight.”

We said our polite goodbyes, and I again couldn’t commit to joining them on the wall.

“Nope, too late, co back tomorrow.” The soldier guarding the Rice Gate told .

Fine. I understood they weren’t to bla, just following orders, yada yada.

“So, you ARE joining us on the wall?” Tang Ning asked. “At least for tonight?”

I shook my head. “Just to the top of the wall, then I’m climbing up the side of the gatehouse.”

“Eh, your loss. Bunch of stuffy champions or us.”

“No, there is sothing I must verify in person. Perhaps after, but also perhaps not.”

Incidentally, I don’t recomnd climbing up the side of a fortified gatehouse. Especially not one crewed by vigilant champions, who know they can die at any mont.

A halberd, swung blindly, caught my nose hard enough to swing my entire head to the side.

[You have taken twelve points of damage. After armor, six points have been received. 18/80 health remain.]

I scread, of course.

“That was not a human scream... Can soone bring one of those torches?”

I closed my eyes. Sunlight is bad, but I had so experience with sudden torchlight as well.

“Little Monitor? Is that you?”

“It is . Could I trouble you for a hand up?”

“I suppose. Here, grab Swan’s Wing.” He extended the halberd to , still dripping with my blood. Whatever I may say against Zi Huang, he had strength in abundance; I was soon atop the Rice Gate.

“That wound doesn’t look that bad up close.” He said.

“It is my fault. Next ti I’ll raise more of a ruckus so everyone knows I’m climbing up.”

“Why was there even this ti? Is this not your duty station?”

“That is sothing I need to take up with the guards at the base level. I trust Captain Feng is still awake?”

“Both he and Wa Fenya are in the dical zone, getting new teeth installed to replace those they are missing. But I am certain Lieutenant Leng is still awake, he checked on us just a little while ago.”

And he was, at Captain Feng’s desk, looking at a ssage scroll as though it might bite him.

“I was not expecting you for two days yet, Little Monitor.”

“I heard sothing that I must verify with you.” I said. “Are we falling back to the middle wall?”

A look of shock and rage crossed his face, but only for an instant. “Step inside and close the door.”