11
ANNANI
Annani took the papers from Kalugal with surprisingly steady hands, perhaps because she did not expect any profound revelations from the inscription, but Kalugal was right about the text being written in the old language, and she got excited.
She had not seen it written in so very long that deciphering the script was an effort. Like a schoolgirl, she had to focus on each symbol and sound it out in her mind.
The problem was that the symbols were imperfectly rendered—understandable given that Fenella, Kyra, and Jasmine had been drawing what they had seen rather than writing it—but the underlying structure was there, waiting to be deciphered.
Her fingertips traced over the penciled lines as she began the slow work of translation. The first symbol was clear enough, though Jasmine's version showed it slightly more angular than it should have been. The second required more thought. Was that curve meant to connect to the line below it, or was it separate? She compared the three drawings, looking for consensus among the variations.
"What does it say?" Kian's voice broke through her concentration, tinged with an impatience she recognized all too well.
"Patience, my son," she murmured, not lifting her eyes from the papers. "The old language is not like modern tongues. Each symbol carries layers of meaning, and the way they combine can change the entire message. I must concentrate."
She sensed rather than saw Kian's frustrated shift, but he held his tongue. The rest of the room remained silent, the weight of their collective anticipation disturbing her focus.
The third symbol crystallized in her mind, and with it, the beginning of understanding. Her breath caught as the meaning began to unfold before her. Could it truly be...?
"Mother?" Amanda sounded concerned. "Are you alright?"
Annani did not answer immediately, too focused on confirming what she thought she was deciphering. The fourth symbol, the fifth—yes, yes, it was becoming clearer. Her heart began to race with excitement.
The final symbols fell into place like tumblers in a lock, and the complete message revealed itself to her. For a moment, she could only stare at the papers, scarcely able to believe what she was seeing.
"Blessed be the memory of the most radiant princess who was taken from us too soon," she read aloud.
There was a collective intake of breath from her audience, but Annani was not finished. Below the inscription, there was a name that made her vision blur with sudden tears.
"Esag, son of Agnon."
The papers trembled in her hands as the full implications crashed over her. Esag was alive. Khiann's best friend still lived.
"Who is Esag?" Ell-rom's question came from her left.
Annani set the papers on the side table beside her chair, needing a moment to compose herself. When she looked up, she found every eye in the room fixed upon her.
"Esag was Khiann's squire," she said, her voice steady, but emotion colored her words. "But he was much more than that. He was Khiann's dearest friend, despite the difference in their stations. They were as close as brothers."
She paused, gathering the threads of memory that stretched back over five thousand years. "Esag was also the great love of my dear friend Gulan's life—or Wonder as you know her now."
"Isn't she happily married to that tall Guardian?" Kyra asked.
"Yes, she is, but as a young girl, she was desperately in love with Esag, who was also a redhead." Annani laughed. "My dear friend seems to have a thing for red hair." She patted her own long locks. "Back then, though, she was very different from the confident female you all know as Wonder. She was shy and reserved, embarrassed about her height and her tremendous strength. Never mind that those were the exact qualities my parents had chosen her for. They wanted my companion to be an added layer of security." Annani smiled. "What they did not know was that I pulled poor Gulan, who was a very careful and reserved girl, into taking part in every conceivable mischief I could think of. But back to Esag. Once I started seeing Khiann, Gulan was seeing much more of Esag, and she would blush whenever he spoke to her. It was quite endearing."
"Did he return her feelings?" Jasmine asked.
Annani's smile faded. "Esag liked Gulan, and he enjoyed her company, but he was engaged to be married to another—a match arranged by his family when he was barely more than a boy."
She could still picture Gulan's face whenever someone mentioned Esag's intended bride, the way she would wince and try to force a smile.
"Gulan convinced herself that Esag did not love his fiancée," Annani continued. "Which was true enough—he found Ashegan vapid and vain. But not loving his intended did not mean that he was willing to give up all the status and wealth that the match secured for him and his family. He had his younger sisters to think of, and the matches they could secure if he was mated to the well-connected Ashegan."
"So, what happened?" Fenella asked.
"Gulan held on to the hope that Esag would break the engagement. She waited, certain that eventually he would realize they were meant to be together and end things with Ashegan. But then she learned that Esag had set a date for his wedding with his intended, and her heart broke. It could not have happened at a worse time, either, right before my wedding to Khiann." Annani's voice caught at speaking her beloved's name.
She could still remember the despair in Gulan's eyes, but back then, Annani had been too preoccupied with her upcoming nuptials and the happiness bubbling inside of her to pay closer attention to Gulan and realize that her friend was falling apart.
