"That's most generous of you, Mandughai. Trade is an important part of my program." Kati tried hard not to show her excitement, but her voice betrayed it, and so did her aura.

"There are other things as well, but they can wait. I also want to talk to your father. Yesugen, could you see if our other guests are ready to come in? They have just arrived."

Yesugen frowned. "Yes, mother, but Kati and I must talk, soon."

"Of course, dear. In private."

Yesugen pressed her lips tightly together, then turned abruptly, and marched out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Mandughai seemed to listen for something for a moment, then suddenly beamed, leaning close and taking Kati's clenched hands in her own.

"Kati," she said softly. "At last I can touch you, see you face-to-face as a person, not an image. All these years with you, and here you are, a woman, an empress of both this world and the place of creation. Who could know that by simply looking at you?"

Gently, she coaxed Kati's rigid fingers to relax, folding them out, and stroking the palm of one hand with a thumb. She looked into Kati's eyes and said, "Ah, that's what I want, not the red of wariness and suspicion, but the green that links you to our common ancestors. My blood is in you, Kati. If only you could have been my own child. You're a comfort to this old woman."

Kati's heart softened from the touch on her hand. "You're not so old," she murmured. "Your hands are soft, and smooth."

"Yours are hard, and calloused," said Mandughai, "but now we touch, and are real to each other, not phantom images or thoughts. We only have a little time, and it may be we'll never see each other in person again. Kati, I want to hold you for just a moment, if you'll let me. Please?"

Mandughai stood up, and Kati with her, wincing from a stab of pain in her leg. After sitting rigid, feet flat on the floor, her leg had begun to throb fiercely. Mandughai took a short step and put her arms around Kati, pressing against her with surprising strength, her mouth against Kati's ear, whispering to her.

"My dear little girl, my Tumatsin, I'll always be with you, until my last breath. Whenever you call, I'll be there, not as the empress of your childhood, but as the woman who holds you like her own daughter. From now on, I'm not Mandughai to you, but Abagai, the woman."

"Abagai," said Kati softly. Her hands had moved of their own will, and now rested lightly on Abagai's back.

"Call me, and seek the advice of your father as you grow in experience. He loves you with a devotion I'd not thought possible for him."

"I will, Mandu-Abagai. I'll always seek advice, and listen to it."

Abagai squeezed her gently, then released her and held her by the shoulders. "There is another you'll listen to, a man who also loves you and waits outside now with great impatience."

"Huomeng! He's here?"

Abagai laughed. "Your eyes glow wonderfully at the sound of his name, and your spirit softens with your love for him. For some moments, when you first arrived, I felt and saw a hardness in you that frightened me, but now it's gone. Don't allow your spirit to become hard, Kati. The love and compa.s.sion within you can yield a power greater than what you bring from the gong-shi-jie."

Kati nodded solemnly, for now there were tears in Abagai's eyes. Kati's heart seemed to crack, and she embraced Abagai tightly, their cheeks pressed together. "I've had three mothers in my life, not one. All have been good to me, but at times I've misunderstood them."

Abagai struggled from her grasp, eyes filled with tears as the door opened without warning, and Yesugen was standing there.

"They've arrived, mother. Should I bring them in now?"

"Yes, please," said Abagai sharply.

Yesugen gave Kati a sour look, but closed the door immediately, and went away.

Abagai put an arm around Kati, and walked her slowly towards the door. "I'll try to find more time for us before I leave, but there's something I must say while my daughter is distracted. Beware of Yesugen, Kati. For the moment, she is subdued by her fear of what you can do, but it won't last. She's also jealous of you, and I must take the blame for that. Deal cautiously with her when she comes to power. We have different agendas, and if she had her way now, she'd round up all the many emigrants from Lan-Sui, our dying inner planet, and move them here to be rid of them. She's hard inside, and militant like her late father. She believes in force, not persuasion; she will not respect your compa.s.sion, but only the power you can wield. Remember that."

"I will," said Kati. Her leg was throbbing horribly now, as if nerves there had suddenly awakened after being cut by the sword. "How long before she takes your place?"

Abagai opened the door, and Kati fought a limp as they went to the elevator.

"Some years, yet, without mischief on her part. Most of the people are still behind me. Yesugen's support has come from her field commanders, and the governor of Lan-Sui. Still, it'll be all too soon, and then there will be you and Yesugen to finish what I've tried to begin. I want all the people united, Kati, not just here, or on the worlds around my violent star. Our suns are a pair, Kati; they are one system. I want all our people united, and what you do on Shanji is only the beginning. You are the one to do it, not Yesugen. You or your successors; perhaps your own children."

They reached the elevator, and Abagai embraced her again. "Remember I'm ready to come to you when you want me. And remember this day, but don't dwell on it. Use love, patience and persuasion when you can, but don't forget the powers you have. Build on them, and be ready to use them as you did today, if necessary. You've seen horror today, and I hope you'll someday forgive me for forcing this war. I hope you'll forgive yourself if you ever have to do battle again. Dear Kati, I wish you well!"

Abagai hugged her fiercely as the elevator door opened. Kati kissed her softly on the cheek, and said, "You're still Mandughai to me. We will not be apart until the breath is gone from both of us."

Kati stepped into the elevator, but Abagai's back was to her as the doors closed. She felt sadness at leaving, was determined to see Abagai again before she left, and then there would always be those times in the gong-shi-jie. She felt pain, from her leg. She checked it, saw no bleeding, only burned flesh in and around the deep cut. She moved her hand over it, taking heat from the air, but it only hurt worse.

When she stepped out of the elevator she was limping and saw Mengmoshu and Juimoshu approaching, Yesugen in the lead. Juimoshu smiled, but her father looked grim. He took her by the shoulders, but did not embrace her, not in front of Yesugen. She felt him nearly bursting with the urge to do it anyway, even if it destroyed the image others had of him.

"There's blood all over you!" he said gruffly.

She smiled, reached over to touch a hand on her shoulder. "My leg is hurting badly now. I think there's dirt in the wound."

"Mengyao is with the flyer. He'll take you right back for treatment. We'll talk tonight."

Juimoshu ran a hand down Kati's arm as she pa.s.sed silently by her, Yesugen waiting impatiently in the elevator, and then the doors were closed, she was hobbling alone to the loading ramp and painfully down it. She saw Mengyao standing near a flyer. Grinning, he raised a fist at her. She was filthy, b.l.o.o.d.y, and exhausted. Perhaps he found her appearance amusing.

Movement from her right, a man intercepting her at the base of the ramp. It was Huomeng, and tears came to her eyes at the sight of him.

Huomeng looked her up and down, then held out his arms.

"It looks to me as if you've had another one of your terrible days," he said.

Kati limped to him, and threw herself into his arms.

Mengyao finally came over to separate them, check Kati's wound and get them into the flyer. He lifted off gently as two more shuttles came in to land beyond the others. Soldiers of Mandughai were already loading their horses.

They circled the valley, part of the field of battle still littered with the dead, the rest scorched black by Kati's purple light. The ranks of Moshuguang, Hansui and Tumatsin now sat in cl.u.s.ters where they'd been when she'd left them. Mengyao flew low, wiggling the stubby wings of the craft, and Kati waved to the men through the clear canopy. Mouths opened in cheers she couldn't hear over the whine of the flyer, and a thousand swords were raised.

They lifted up, up, far above the dome of the city, and began settling down towards it. Huomeng's arm was around her, her head on his shoulder, and for a moment she could see the eastern valley, the tunnel into the mountain, the three peaks, and far beyond it the shimmering sea in the yellow light of Tengri-Khan.

Her home. Her place. Shanji.

EPILOGUE.

Kati was awakened before dawn by the baby's pounding on her bladder and got out of bed. Huomeng mumbled something in his sleep and flopped over on his back, an arm draped across his face.

She put on a robe to ward off the morning chill, went out to the balcony overlooking the city from the imperial suite, and sat on the stone bench there to watch the sky brighten. Tengri-Khan was up, but still behind the mountain. The distant summits of Three Peaks were already dully illuminated in deep red, and only Tengri-Nayon was visible in the sky.

Kati sighed, and ran both hands over her distended stomach. There was further movement within her, something hard, perhaps a heel, making a little wave across her flesh. "Ooo, you are so active this morning! Yesui, my darling baby girl! I think you're in a hurry to be born."

She patted her stomach softly, and the movement ceased, but only for a moment. Now it felt like a hand, with little fingers exploring, a tickling feeling, and warm. Kati placed her hand at the site, and returned the warmth. She closed her eyes, and felt the child's presence in an abstract, instinctive way, like knowing that someone is in a dark room with you without seeing them. No visions, only a kind of alertness, and she knew her thoughts were received, without response.

The doctors had verified her child was a girl, but somehow she'd known it before then. Kati had named her Yesui because she liked the sound of it, and Huomeng had agreed with her. It was a sweet name for a child conceived the night before a battle that had left her mother scarred on one leg, Kati thought. It could have been no other time, for she'd spent two weeks regaining her strength, and then they'd restrained themselves from coming together until after their second wedding in the Kereit ordu by the sea.

Less than a year since war and death, and now the Empress of Shanji was nearly bursting to bring forth new life. The time had pa.s.sed so quickly; she was just getting started in her duties, and now there would be a delay while her child was born.

The Emperor had lingered on for three months after being informed of his son's death, and Weimeng had been there for his final breath. Mengmoshu had taken over the duties of court, and continued his lobbying with the n.o.bles until the body of w.a.n.g Shan-shi-jie was interred in a mountain vault next to his son's. A vote by the n.o.bles had been solicited by Kati's father, and one month after the Emperor's death, Kati-formally w.a.n.g Mengnu-Shan-shi-jie-was installed as Empress in a quiet ceremony attended by n.o.bles, Moshuguang, and Weimeng. Yang Xifeng had refused the invitation, and still remained in the private suite Kati had provided for her, mourning over the loss of husband and son. The woman had completely withdrawn, and Kati feared for her sanity, but until Yang Xifeng responded to Kati's probing there was nothing she could do to help her.

Kati caressed her stomach, and talked to her child while Three Peaks changed from red to orange. "People will think you're born too soon, or they will know the truth, but I'll not be the first n.o.ble girl to conceive before marriage. When you're older, you can tell them you're a love child, Yesui. They'll understand that." She laughed, and the baby moved inside her. Again Kati felt a relaxing warmth there.

Their civil marriage had been the signing of two papers, but Goldani would not stand for something so simple. She'd given them a great feast in the Kereit ordu; the hills had been covered with the gerts of visiting Tumatsin, and their first real night together as husband and wife had been spent in a ger within sight of the graves of her parents by the sea. They had placed green stones there before leaving.

So much in a short time: a.s.sembling her cabinet, the first meetings, the first arguments, requests for travel to visit her people in the east, Huomeng slaving away to understand the workings of Mandughai's gift shuttles before attempting to fly them, and now childbirth.

"I'll make them give me time for you," she said to the baby. "I'll not allow you to be cared for by a servant, and if they insist on a meeting when you're hungry, I'll suckle you right in front of them. Do you hear me, Yesui? Tickle, tickle."

Kati tickled her stomach; something pressed back, and was gone. Again, there was the feeling of a presence in her mind, a watchful, alert presence. Somehow, it made her feel wonderful. "I want to hold you in my arms right now, and show you what there is to see outside of your tight little place. I want to show you the stars, especially a big orange one that's home to a special lady I already miss. I know she'll like you. Do you see the picture of her I hold in my memory? Now, I'll put another picture beside her. See? That's me, Yesui. You're inside me, now, and my body feeds you. I'm your mother, Yesui."

The baby was now very quiet, as if listening to her.

"I wonder about what you'll be like. Will you inherit any powers from me? Will you have the intelligence and impatience of your father? I promise you will not grow up alone. There will be a brother or sister for you to fight with. It will keep you from being spoiled."

Kati caressed her stomach, but the baby didn't respond. "I think you're listening, Yesui, and seeing the things I show you. Do you see the Three Peaks out there, glowing in morning light? That was my favorite place when I was little. Our sun is behind me. Would you like to see it close?"

The idea had come suddenly. Could her baby go with her on a mental journey? Could there be harm if she tried it? A short journey, so if Yesui were left behind, her mother's presence would be missing for only a minute or so.

"There's a place I go to, a beautiful place with swirling colors, and time doesn't move there. I'll show you our star, and let you touch it if you can. It's a test, Yesui. Watch, now. Watch for the pretty colors."

Kati breathed deeply and closed her eyes, moving slowly, leisurely, so that Yesui might follow her steps if she had the gifts of her mother. She didn't rush to the matrix of purple light-points, but held it there, floating in black void and letting the points grow steadily larger.

We aim for one point, but any will do. We enter at any point, and it will be marked for our return. Slowly, now; getting closer.

A flash, and the swirl of color was there, the purple vortex by her, the deep red of Tengri-Khan's nearby.

Are you here? Do you see it? The purple light? All the universe, the stars, planets, galaxies, were made from this light. Isn't it pretty?

There was a presence with her; she could feel it, and looked for a signature.

Do you see me, Yesui? I show you what I look like to your adopted grandmother in this place we call the gong-shi-jie, the world of light, the place of creation. Do you see my green eyes? What color are yours, Yesui? Show me. Show me you're here!

A wispy tendril of green extended from the vortex leading to herself, still connected there, wavering uncertainly as if fearful of moving further.

Yesui? Is that you? Come with me. We won't go far.

Kati drifted slowly towards the vortex that was Tengri-Khan, and looked back.The green tendril was hurrying to catch up with her.She could barely restrain her joy, and focused hard to keep from being drawn back to herself. Oh, Mandughai! My little girl is with me in the gong-shi-jie, taking her first steps here! Come quick!

There was no response, but now the tendril of green was with her again, close, wavering like a flame. Kati imagined her own aura reaching out to envelope it protectively.

Come with mother, dear.

The flash of transition, so fast, and she was in real s.p.a.ce. Would she ever learn how to slow the transition? She concentrated hard, for in real s.p.a.ce there were no signatures, not even visible auras, only the mental presence drawing energy from the place of light.

It was there again, but only as a feeling she hoped was not imagination. It was a feeling that she wasn't alone.

Tengri-Khan was close, and active. Three prominences issued from it, and there was a flare spouting near the equator, blowing a hole in the outer atmosphere and spewing ions through it. The flare was hot and bright, and Kati moved north of it to a cooler prominence, reaching out to touch the flame, and draw a wisp of it to her, the wisp a cloud of hot gas the size of Shanji.

Touch it, Yesui. Feel it. It cannot hurt you. Here, I'll bring it closer.

The cloud drew near, swirling madly, and cooling as it came, becoming deep red.

See how pretty? This is a piece of a star, Yesui. Your star. It keeps us warm, and gives us life on Shanji, so we'll leave it here to do its work for us. Follow me closely, now. We're going back.

Now was not the time for another attempt to bring ma.s.s with her, and Kati didn't even consider it. She made the transition with some apprehension, not certain that Yesui had even been with her in real s.p.a.ce. There was an instant of fear, and then she saw the little, green tendril wavering there, its tail still attached to the deep red vortex of Tengri-Khan.

Did you come with me? Did you see the star, or stay here? This is enough for a first time, and Mandughai still hasn't come to see you. Let's go back, now. Stay close.

The tendril detached from the vortex, and followed her back to the signature of her true self on Shanji. As she descended into it, she looked back to be sure the tendril was right with her, and saw a dark shape writhing along behind them like a snake.

The flash of transition, and then a thunderous crash that echoed all around her. She felt a wave of heat on her face and opened her eyes, nearly blinded by a column of light rising up from Three peaks as if there had been an explosion there. The light dimmed rapidly and she saw a swirling cloud of dust and glowing gas ascending from the peaks to form a flat-topped, roiling ma.s.s high overhead. The thunder went on and on, and her child was kicking furiously inside her.

"Kati! Kati, where are you?" The voice was Huomeng's.

Kati gasped, and put her hands on her stomach. What have I done? The pounding was terrible. "Quiet, quiet; we're here, now, and it's safe. We're together again." She willed calmness, and brought heat to her hands. The baby pushed up against both of them, but still moved back and forth, as if rocking inside her.

"There you are! What happened? What's that?" Huomeng knelt at her side, pointing to the sky.

"I don't know," she said, her voice quavering.

"It looks like an explosion on the peaks! I thought we were under attack again! Are you all right?" He put an arm around her, placed a hand on her stomach, his eyes widening. "It frightened the baby, whatever it was. Doesn't that hurt?"

"Yes, it does, but it's my fault. Something happened- when we came back-I don't know."

"What?"

Kati looked at him solemnly. "I took Yesui to the gong-shi-jie. I wanted to see-I wanted her to see Tengri-Khan. I wanted-"

"She was there with you?"

"I-I think so."

Huomeng rubbed her stomach, and leaned his head against her arm. "I think she's calming down, now."