Trinket (Reverse Harem)

A Lesson In Civics

The interior of the High Temple was entirely stone and prescious metals and gems. The walls were lined with carvings and statues. Even the huge, domed ceilings were carved and painted with scenes from stories.

The vast aisle lead to a center circle. My keepers brought me slowly up the aisle, their arrogance and carelessness gone, replaced by seriousness and respect. Our footsteps echoed in the vast cavern.

Itek held out a hand to stop me from going farther once we got to the center. The floor was a solid blue circle of a mysterious blue stone polished smooth. Maybe it was a metal? Then radiating out of it were many points, each one a different metal or stone or substance. The surrounding stones were all a mysterious white-flecked gray that reminded me of a thick fog.

"The Ruling Seat," Itek explained. "Where the clans meet to conduct matters."

"Formally," Korr corrected. "Much gets done outside the Temple. We only come here when we want the gods to overhear."

His tone was dry.

"What are those?" I asked, indicating where the floor stepped up onto a dais. On the dais, which I guessed was for speeches or such, there were two small statues of the same pattern on the floor, except each was only one half, with the blue sphere and only a few arms, while the other was the outline of the circle with most of the arms. Like someone had decided to make a crescent Moon out of the symbol, placing most of the Moon and some of its light on one side, and the rest of it on the other side.

"You are that ignorant?" Korr asked.

"She's a foundling," Itek said sharply. "Be patient. Don't assume some backwater enclave saw to her education. They might not have any to give her."

Ethat tapped his claws on the stone.

Korr shifted, then relented. "All the clans—shifter and human—have a place at the Seat, which is the ruling Council. Every generation, one clan agrees to produce a female heir, and the other clan produces the male heir. Those two are supposed to become consorts, and lead the council, possessing certain powers. It is also how the earliest hybrids occured."

He indicated the statute that contained the blue body to be the female half, and the arms to be the male.

I narrowed my eyes. "So a political Churn."

"It's a little more complicated than that, but essentially, yes," Korr nodded.

"Who is in control right now?" I asked.

"A male raven. There is no female heir." Itek said.

"... that sounds like that's a problem."

"It's a problem."

"Who was supposed to produce the female heir?" I asked.

"That's also muddled," Korr said.

"I'm confused."

"There are rituals and contests to decide who gets to produce the heirs," Korr said. "The outcome of the past two contests were... disputed. There are questions about the legitimacy of the Raven's claim this cycle, and the female heir, who was supposdly to be supplied by the hippocampi," Korr glanced at Itek, "was found dead under strange circumstances. The past few cycles have been..."