Chapter 8
Sheiji gasped, “That’s not…”
“No,” grinned Sui-Tsai. “Not her.” He laughed as if it were a hilarious joke.
Now a young girl stepped forward. The woman pushed her gently forward and then followed slowly.
The girl took a few steps forward and stopped. The woman pushed her forward again. She seemed to summon all her courage and walked forward to the front of the room.
She had dark skin, Sheiji noticed, darker than his, and thick, black hair that fell in a braid nearly to the floor. She had large black eyes that darted from one place to another. She was very small and thin, nine or ten years old, but she looked younger. Hevanan, most likely, thought Sheiji, they were small people.
She stopped several yards in front of Sheiji and began to bow in the Hevanan style, by placing both heels together and bowing low with both palms up. Then she caught herself and fell on her knees with her face pressed hard to the floor. Her servants followed.
“You may rise,” said Sheiji.
The girl, startled at Sheiji’s voice, lifted her head. There was a look of bewilderment on her face and Sheiji could tell she did not speak Tekelonnese.
Sheiji opened his mouth to translate his sentence into Hevanan, for the Hevanan language had been part of his studies, but he caught a slight shake of the head from Fa-Ying and caught the meaning. He could not give away the secret of his training.
“Does anyone speak Hevanan fluently?” Sheiji asked awkwardly.
“Your Majesty,” a young Hevanan woman spoke up, bowing before Sheiji and speaking to him in Tekelonnese. “I speak your language, Majesty.”
“Will you tell…the princess, here, that she may rise?” asked Sheiji.