Free Warrior and Witch by Marie Brennan Page B

Eikyo whispered.
    Satomi took a deep breath. “So. Ruriko tells me you’re due to be tested in two days.”
    Eikyo nodded.
    “We can still go through with that. In fact, we
should—
show everyone that the business of Starfall hasn’t been disrupted.”
    “Aken—” Eikyo’s head had come up in surprise. “But with Shimi-kane gone—”
    “Just Shimi,” Satomi reminded her. “While she’s suspended, you need not use the honorific.”
    “But—can you even do it, without her?”
    “Of course,” Satomi said. “It even happens more often than you might think. There have been times—not many, but a few—when a Prime couldn’t attend, for one reason or another. Critical business elsewhere, or sometimes illness.” She smiled at the student’s clear confusion. “You’ve never heard about it, of course. We bring in one of the Keys in her place, with an illusion to make her look like her Prime. Even the witches whose tests were conducted by a Key don’t know it happened to them.” Arinei had been one such, though Satomi would never tell her.
    “Shimi’s departure will not stop our work,” Satomi continued, putting more confidence into her tone than she felt. Half of keeping life normal was convincing people it
was
normal. Though that would be a lost cause with Eikyo, in a minute. “We’ll appoint one of her Keys to stand for her—without an illusion, though, since everyone’s well aware that Shimi’s not here. You’ll be tested in two days.” She smiled at the student. “I hope you’ve been studying.”
    Eikyo turned pale, but she nodded.
    The smile faded from Satomi’s face almost immediately. “This, then, is where the chance for you to help comes in.
    “You said to me yesterday that you’re a student, and not as much use as a witch. Well, I have witches who support me—not enough, but some. And one new witch, her pendant still warm from the silversmith’s workshop, won’t tip the balance much. But you stand at a crossroads where—if you are willing—you may take a path that no one else can.”
    Eikyo’s lips went suddenly white as she pressed them together.
    “I am asking you,” Satomi said quietly, “to participate in a lie… and become a Cousin.”
    She thought she saw Eikyo sway. What were the odds that the girl would agree to it? Satomi hastened to offer an explanation. She did not expect it to do much good, but she offered it anyway. “The Cousins are a vital part of Starfall, yet we know terrifyingly little about them. They do not confide in us. They do their jobs; they clean our rooms and halls, prepare our food, defend us when we need it. Such has been their lot nearly since our line began.
    “It was a few generations after Misetsu that the first woman lost her memory and her chance at magic in the test. One by one, others followed. What should be done with such women? We must either send them out into the world, or keep them among us. In the world, they would be alone, with no kin or friends to help them. Among us, at least, they need not start from scratch.”
    Eikyo
was
swaying on her feet. Satomi took her by the arm and guided her to a chair; the student sat without any sign of awareness that she was moving. The Void Prime went on, softly. “We don’t mistreat them. You know that The ones who fail their tests pick what jobs interest them, and learn their trades; how many people in other domains have that much choice? Many of them have children, and then those children either follow their mothers’ trades, or choose something else. They stay here because we are their people.”
    At her own words, she laughed softly. “Or so we tell ourselves. We don’t really
know
why they stay.
    “And there are more things we don’t know. Doppelgangers have survived in the past; they
had
to have had a Cousin’s help. The Cousins themselves claim not to know anything about that—but can we believe them?” Satomi cast a glance at one of the books on a shelf behind her desk. It