Tamora Pierce, Dovasary
Characters: Dove, Aly
Summary: A missing scene from Trickster's Queen. Dove learns that Sarai has gone.
Dove lay on her bed in the pavilion, eyes open and unable to sleep. Sarai is gone. The enormity of that unchangeable truth was a weight that crushed her flat to her mattress, unable to move, almost unable to breathe.
Sarai is gone.
The words circled within her mind, over and over, and for once she let them; for once she allowed her sharp brain to dwell and stagnate over what could not be changed, because the alternative was to allow in thoughts that were at once too frightening and too exhilarating to name.
What would the raka rebellion do? she wondered, staring without seeing into the dark. The raka need a queen.
She shied away from that instantly. Sarai is gone.
The night passed with unbearable slowness, as Dove lay silently in the dark and tried not to hear her stepmother’s sobs. At last she was able to doze, exhausted by the strain of keeping her quick mind blank and numb. She woke when the jungle birds began to call at dawn, and sat up quietly in the half-light.
As if her movement had jarred it loose, the thought she had so carefully avoided all the long night blossomed within her mind, rooting itself deep before she could even think to stop it.
I could be queen.
The idea shivered through her body, chilling her skin and resonating within her bones. She hugged her knees to her chest as the truth of it threatened to tear her whole world apart.
Dove had never been entirely comfortable with the conspiracy’s determination to keep Sarai out of the plotting. She had tried her best not to think how odd it was that the leaders did not trust their future queen enough to involve her in their plans. She had watched Sarai grow increasingly mule-headed, unreasonable, and dangerous to her family with misgivings she could hardly admit even to herself. But now, in the faint morning chill that had goosebumps prickling across her body (she refused to believe it could be fear), the thought rose again with new certainty. Dove had never thought Sarai would make a good queen.
The thought did not taste as bitterly of disloyalty as she had feared. Sarai had proved her point by running off with the Carthaki. But she, Dove, had been a member of the conspiracy since they reached Rajmuat. She had discovered it all on her own, and she had contributed wisely to its plans. The more she learned about the extent of the organization, about the desperate hope and anger and fear of the raka, the more she wanted to do everything she could to help them succeed. And now…
I could help everyone, if I were queen, she thought, clenching her hands tightly. All the injustices Sarai protests so righteously, I could help fix. Maybe not everything, certainly not all at once, but I could make people listen to me, I know I could.
I want to be queen.
She stood up abruptly. She could not keep sitting here, letting her emotions keep her petrified and unmoving. She had to go to the raka leaders. She had to talk to them, convince them that she could fulfill their dream even better than her sister.
But at that moment Aly came in with the other maids, and when Winna announced where Sarai had gone, the disbelief and hopelessness she saw on Pembery and Boulaj’s faces made her doubt. The revolution had been planned with Sarai in mind. Who was she to step in and try to take it for herself?
Aly crossed the room in front of her, searching for Dove’s missing shoe. The sight of her strengthened Dove’s resolve. She must talk to Aly. If it was indeed possible for Dove to be queen, Kyprioth’s messenger would know.
She snagged Aly for a walk as soon as they finished dressing. They walked in silence to a stream. Dove’s thoughts burned beneath her skin. She would burst into flames if she did not say something. Hesitantly, she murmured, “They act like it’s the end of everything.”
Aly turned to look at her. “But it isn’t,” she said. “It could be the beginning.”
An emotion too strong for relief and too fierce for joy boiled up within her veins. Aly saw it. Aly saw that there were two half-raka Balitangs, and that one of them was ready to take her place in the prophecy. Aly did not believe all hope was lost.
She hardly recognized her own voice as she answered. “How may I convince them?”
As she saw Aly’s cunning face turn thoughtful, considering Dove’s question not as an impossible dream but as a tricky puzzle she had yet to figure out, Dove thought she might explode from sheer emotion. There was no riddle Aly could not solve. The god’s messenger believed in her ability to rule. And even before Aly began her answer, Dove felt a certainty so deep it could have been a reassurance from the god himself.
She would be queen. She knew it within her bones, within her twice-royal blood. And for this one moment of certainty, Dove knew she would fight until the end of her days.
Summary: A missing scene from Trickster's Queen. Dove learns that Sarai has gone.
Dove lay on her bed in the pavilion, eyes open and unable to sleep. Sarai is gone. The enormity of that unchangeable truth was a weight that crushed her flat to her mattress, unable to move, almost unable to breathe.
Sarai is gone.
The words circled within her mind, over and over, and for once she let them; for once she allowed her sharp brain to dwell and stagnate over what could not be changed, because the alternative was to allow in thoughts that were at once too frightening and too exhilarating to name.
What would the raka rebellion do? she wondered, staring without seeing into the dark. The raka need a queen.
She shied away from that instantly. Sarai is gone.
The night passed with unbearable slowness, as Dove lay silently in the dark and tried not to hear her stepmother’s sobs. At last she was able to doze, exhausted by the strain of keeping her quick mind blank and numb. She woke when the jungle birds began to call at dawn, and sat up quietly in the half-light.
As if her movement had jarred it loose, the thought she had so carefully avoided all the long night blossomed within her mind, rooting itself deep before she could even think to stop it.
I could be queen.
The idea shivered through her body, chilling her skin and resonating within her bones. She hugged her knees to her chest as the truth of it threatened to tear her whole world apart.
Dove had never been entirely comfortable with the conspiracy’s determination to keep Sarai out of the plotting. She had tried her best not to think how odd it was that the leaders did not trust their future queen enough to involve her in their plans. She had watched Sarai grow increasingly mule-headed, unreasonable, and dangerous to her family with misgivings she could hardly admit even to herself. But now, in the faint morning chill that had goosebumps prickling across her body (she refused to believe it could be fear), the thought rose again with new certainty. Dove had never thought Sarai would make a good queen.
The thought did not taste as bitterly of disloyalty as she had feared. Sarai had proved her point by running off with the Carthaki. But she, Dove, had been a member of the conspiracy since they reached Rajmuat. She had discovered it all on her own, and she had contributed wisely to its plans. The more she learned about the extent of the organization, about the desperate hope and anger and fear of the raka, the more she wanted to do everything she could to help them succeed. And now…
I could help everyone, if I were queen, she thought, clenching her hands tightly. All the injustices Sarai protests so righteously, I could help fix. Maybe not everything, certainly not all at once, but I could make people listen to me, I know I could.
I want to be queen.
She stood up abruptly. She could not keep sitting here, letting her emotions keep her petrified and unmoving. She had to go to the raka leaders. She had to talk to them, convince them that she could fulfill their dream even better than her sister.
But at that moment Aly came in with the other maids, and when Winna announced where Sarai had gone, the disbelief and hopelessness she saw on Pembery and Boulaj’s faces made her doubt. The revolution had been planned with Sarai in mind. Who was she to step in and try to take it for herself?
Aly crossed the room in front of her, searching for Dove’s missing shoe. The sight of her strengthened Dove’s resolve. She must talk to Aly. If it was indeed possible for Dove to be queen, Kyprioth’s messenger would know.
She snagged Aly for a walk as soon as they finished dressing. They walked in silence to a stream. Dove’s thoughts burned beneath her skin. She would burst into flames if she did not say something. Hesitantly, she murmured, “They act like it’s the end of everything.”
Aly turned to look at her. “But it isn’t,” she said. “It could be the beginning.”
An emotion too strong for relief and too fierce for joy boiled up within her veins. Aly saw it. Aly saw that there were two half-raka Balitangs, and that one of them was ready to take her place in the prophecy. Aly did not believe all hope was lost.
She hardly recognized her own voice as she answered. “How may I convince them?”
As she saw Aly’s cunning face turn thoughtful, considering Dove’s question not as an impossible dream but as a tricky puzzle she had yet to figure out, Dove thought she might explode from sheer emotion. There was no riddle Aly could not solve. The god’s messenger believed in her ability to rule. And even before Aly began her answer, Dove felt a certainty so deep it could have been a reassurance from the god himself.
She would be queen. She knew it within her bones, within her twice-royal blood. And for this one moment of certainty, Dove knew she would fight until the end of her days.