Ran followed Beng Shan back to her tent. Her warriors had left to escort Seiza back to the border. Ran had considered following, wanting to hear more about the proposition Seiza's leader had sent him with, but his aunt's frown had stopped him.
To Seiza, she'd probably looked considering, tempted, but Ran had known her long enough to recognize her "I'm humoring you" face. She used it a lot with the elders, usually right before she went and did the exact opposite of what they wanted.
Her tent was empty. Beng Shan had never married or had children of her own, and unless Ran and his siblings were staying with her, her tent was usually quiet, simple. Peaceful.
She had a long slab of dark wood, cut and sanded down until it was smooth as silk, that she laid across her knees to use as a writing table. Most of the tribe used large community tables, but Beng Shan, and Beng Shai, had always preferred to write their letters in private and had carried theirs with them for years.
She'd never turned Ran away, though, so he followed her in without hesitation. "Do you think he's true?"
Beng Shan glanced at him as she sat down and pulled the slab of wood over her knees. "Do you think he was?"
Ran frowned. Seiza had looked confident and calm, like there was nothing here that impressed or intimidated him, except when the warriors were pulling him away. He'd looked like every other stuck-up rich man from the stone cities that occasionally came out to the prairie to trade and turned up their noses at their way of life. But Beng Shan usually only turned his questions back at him when she thought he'd missed something. What had she seen that Ran had missed?
As he mulled it over, his aunt smiled. "I think he believes he is true. And perhaps, for his own world, he is. But he is not of our world, and he is not true here."
"Then he's not true there either," Ran concluded.
Beng Shan shook her head. "He probably is."
"How does that make sense?" Ran demanded. "He cannot be true and untrue at the same time."
"Why not?"
He scowled. "Because that doesn't make sense. You can't be two opposite things at once."
Beng Shan smiled. "You can. You will find, as you grow, Ran, that people are rather infuriating that way." His scowl deepened as he crossed his arms. She picked up her ink pot and shook it. It was almost empty, but there would be enough for one last letter.
"Who are you writing to?" Ran demanded.
"Lord Ye."
"The Stone Fortress?" Ran frowned, confused. "Why? Are you warning them?"
"Yes." Beng Shan had learned to write to keep track of the family stores during winter after her mother's hands had swollen too much to do it. She was the only one of her dozen sisters who knew how to write, and she'd worked hard to keep it, handling all her family's correspondence. That was how she'd gotten so close with Beng Shai when they were both young. She sharpened her quill as Ran sputtered.
"But why? They killed father!"
"He died in battle, Ran."
"At the hands of him! That lord!"
Beng Shan could understand his anger. Her own father had died in battle against the stone fortress, too, and there was a period of time after that when she would have happily burned that place to ash, but one thing she had learned in the years since was that people died in battle, whether they deserved to or not. It was different from someone being killed in an accident while hunting, or a blood feud, or an assassination. Those all had a person with singular responsibility, but battle was a chaotic mess of confusion, aggression, and desperation where no one person could realistically be blamed for anything that happened. Even the hatred between the Bandri and the stone fortress couldn't be blamed for what happened. "Lord Ye has been nothing but apologetic."
"So what?" Ran was furious, and Beng Shan could remember that anger.
"So we cannot sacrifice the well-being of the tribe for personal grudges." She reached out and took his hand, squeezing in reassurance. "What happened was an accident, and Lord Ye has kept his word thus far; there is no reason to take such a risk now. We need help for the winter." She paused. "This was what Beng Shai wanted. You remember that, don't you? He wanted peace with the stone fortress, and he was willing to die to achieve it."
"So he just gets away with it?" Ran looked terribly young then, betrayed by the world and the way it worked for the first time.
"He acknowledged his responsibility for what happened. He makes no secret of it. There is no way we could hold him accountable beyond that anyway. But he is trying to make up for it."
"Then why do they want to kill him?" Because Ran wasn't so young that he hadn't understood that part of Seiza's message.
She couldn't help but sneer. "For the same reason, some of the elders wanted to be rid of Beng Shai. Greed. It says little about his actual ability to lead."
Ran slumped. "Oh."
Beng Shan put her quill to paper and then paused. It occured to her that Ran had little experience outside the tribe. He had been relatively sheltered by Beng Shai, who'd been desperate to protect the last reminders of his wife. She'd been planning to send a warrior with the letter, but Ran was fifteen. Skilled on a horse and with a bow, and curious. So terribly curious, although he denied it.
And Kai Low was in the stone city, and he would look after him. Perhaps it would be good for Ran to see more of the world outside the camp. To meet Lord and Lady Ye and other new people.
"You will take my letter," she decided.
Ran looked surprised and then panicked. "What? You want me to ride to the stone fortress?"
Beng Shan nodded. "It would be a good experience for you. And your uncle is there. Would you like to see him?"
Ran was silent. He did miss Kai Low, but he didn't want to leave. He loved it here, and there were his younger siblings to consider.
"I will look after them." Beng Shan assured him. "You don't have to stay away forever, but the journey will be good for you. Go pack your things."
She sent him away, knowing he would brood the entire time he prepared and probably come up with several arguments, but she'd made up her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced it was the right decision. Ran was in line to lead the Bandri someday, and they were never going to be isolated from the rest of the world again. Regardless of how he felt, he needed to see it.
She put her quill to the paper and carefully spelled out her message to Lord Ye.
Lord Ye, forgive this short letter. I know little, but that an envoy of your city arrived today and offered to slip my warriors into your city under the guise of darkness. He claims his name is Seiza and that he serves a powerful family in your fortress. Do with this information what you will; I will not be wasting my resources on such folly. The letter bearer is my nephew, Ran Orlo. He is Beng Shai's son and Kai Low's nephew. I place him in your care.
Beng Shan of the Bandri
~ tbc