Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)(27)

“You will have to anoint the daughter, Nara,” Iktan said. “We can arrange the ceremony to happen after the funeral.”

“An inauspicious time,” Haisan complained. “Your disregard for tradition is already controversial, Naranpa. To hold an investiture for a new matron days before the solstice while we are still Shuttered will not be popular.”

She rubbed a hand over her forehead. Investing any new matron was one of the oldest duties of the Sun Priest. “What would you have me do?”

“Wait until after the solstice,” Haisan urged.

“And leave the seat of matron empty?” Abah protested. “Carrion Crow without a ruler? The Speakers Council without its required four?”

“Only for a brief time.”

“Twenty days,” Abah countered. “Enough time for certain factions to gain traction while the Speakers Council is hobbled.”

“Nineteen,” Iktan corrected unhelpfully. “The sun will rise soon.”

“Even if I waited to anoint the new matron,” Naranpa said, “we cannot assume it would be her daughter. The surviving council members will want their say.”

“And the heavens will have to bless her,” Haisan said.

“We can make the heavens bless whomever we want,” Iktan said.

Haisan drew in a choked breath. “Enough with your heresy, tsiyo! Stop this talk, or leave!”

“I will say who leaves,” Naranpa growled, “and neither one of you is so lucky. But truly, Iktan, stop provoking him.”

“I am simply advocating for the priesthood to take a more direct manner in deciding rulership of the city. Isn’t that what you have been asking for, Nara? A more hands-on approach?”

“Not like that. Our opinions do not matter. We interpret the stars—”

“With our opinions. It is the same.”

“It is not.”

“And what if the Speakers Council suggests someone else besides the daughter to rule, hmm? What then? Will you look to your star charts and challenge them?”

That brought her up short. She was already on very thin ice with the traditionalists. Would she dare cross them so openly? She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came to mind.

“Iktan’s example is a sophistication,” Haisan said dismissively. “The Council would never raise someone whom Carrion Crow did not approve of. Why would they?”

“But what if they did?” Iktan argued.

“They won’t!”

The two bickered on, Iktan in an unusually combative mood and Haisan taking all the bait offered.

Naranpa rubbed her thumb and pointer finger along her temples and looked up at the night sky. Already the eastern horizon was starting to pale, just as Iktan had said. She would need to meet with the surviving matrons of the clans to inform them of funeral obligations. She would also propose Iktan’s idea of letting Yatliza’s daughter succeed her mother immediately. That did indeed seem the most reasonable solution. And, after the Shuttering and the solstice, when the sun was returning and the timing more favorable, if the Speakers Council wanted someone else to rule Carrion Crow, they could all discuss it.

“Haisan,” she said, cutting off whatever the man had been saying, “can you work with Eche to start funeral preparations? Which songs to sing in eulogy? The order of the ceremony?”

He blinked, surprised at her command. “I can.”

“Good. I’m going to call for a Speakers Council meeting.”

“At Sun Rock?” Iktan asked.

It was the usual place, but returning to the location of her attempted murder so soon did not tempt. And now she had the perfect excuse.

“No, let them come here. We are Shuttered, after all. They aren’t. They can come to us this time.”

“I’ll attend with you,” Abah offered.

“No.” Naranpa had already anticipated her request and had a serviceable answer for that, too. “The citizens of Tova will need your healing after such a trying day. I want you and your dedicants to be available at Sun Rock to receive them.”

“What?” Her eyes were laughably wide in shock.

“You heard me. Go minister, Abah. To the masses. Soothe our city in its time of need.”

She crossed her arms like a tantrumming child. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Naranpa raised an eyebrow. “Is it ridiculous to care for our people? Were you not just saying that someone needed to comfort Carrion Crow?”

Abah opened her mouth to protest and closed it shut just as quickly. Naranpa suppressed a smile.

“Fine,” the Priest of Succor snapped.

“I’ll come with you to meet the clan matrons,” Iktan said.

Naranpa shook her head. “No.”

Speaking the word hurt. She wanted Iktan to accompany her. Xe would be a comfort at her side, and bringing a tsiyo would certainly remind the clans that the Sun Priest was more than a figurehead. She was convinced that the assassin had come from the ranks of Carrion Crow’s cultists, but she wasn’t ready to accuse anyone outright, particularly with their matron newly dead. Their meeting should be focused on the funeral and succession, not the attempt against her life. Nevertheless, perhaps she could manage to discuss both.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Was she being stubborn for no reason? She trusted Iktan. Of course she did. But she didn’t want to appear to depend on xir so much. She needed to do this by herself, perhaps to prove to herself that she could.