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“We’ll start a recruitment trial tomorrow,” Terrian says tiredly as we walk into the barracks.
I nod and leave the barracks to head for my room.
I actually thought Selliss was a good addition to Kriseri’s Royal Guard. He was a good leader.
But he was led astray so easily. How could this have happened? What is in the water in Lodra?
My disbelief about Selliss’ actions is strong, but some small part of me can almost understand why he did it.
I’ve been with human women before. I don’t hate them, and I have found some of them attractive.
But to throw an entire prosperous career away from a human woman?
I wouldn’t even do that for a naga woman!
There is no woman in Nagaland, in all of Protheka, who could make me give up something this good. I think angrily to myself as I remember how I led Selliss to Maya.
I know I am not responsible for his actions. But maybe, just maybe, if Kryon and I hadn’t come up with this clearly fucked up idea of having human women for stress release, then maybe none of this would have happened.
“You couldn’t have known.” I have to speak out loud to myself, to convince myself of this truth.
I could not have known that Selliss would fall ‘in love’ with Maya.
“But I still feel like I led him directly to her.”
My words resound around an empty room as I flop down on the bed.
I am asleep within seconds.
I wake up just in time for my shift, and when I arrive in the main room of the barracks, Kryon and Terrian are already waiting for me.
Tomorrow we’ll start selecting new trainees from the recruits who have signed up to join the Royal Guard.
And the next few weeks will be grueling, as we try to get them ready for whatever is coming next.
Because while Lodra may have won the battle, the war is still coming.
Kryon, Terrian, and I discuss Selliss and Lodra as we walk through town towards the border.
“I still cannot believe he would betray his own people for a human woman,” Kryon says. His eyes are narrowed, and he is breathing heavily – signs that he is very angry. “He basically gave up his entire life in Lodra because of a human woman. And then gave up everything he worked hard for here.”
“Because of a human woman,” Terrian and I say in unison.
“I get that they make good playmates. And they’re certainly excellent in bed. But if you wanted a companion that bad – Well, there are plenty of naga women who would do the job just as well.”
“Yes!” Kryon replies to Terrian’s words. “Keep them as pets, but nothing more.”
We all nod in agreement, and then spread out, each of us taking up a post along the border.
I lean against the wooden post and think about Selliss and Maya.
I have never been in love. And the thought of giving myself so completely to someone, so entirely that I’d be willing to give up my life’s convictions, is unthinkable to me.
I wouldn’t do it for a human woman, and I wouldn’t even do it for a naga woman, I think to myself.
And Terrian was right. Human women are great as pets. They’re nice to keep around. And they are certainly much easier to deal with than naga women, who expect the entire world.
I have seen naga men break themselves to please a naga woman, and that is incentive enough to stick to fucking human women.
