Page 38 of The Surviving Sky
“No, let me,” Iravan burst out, voice scratchy.
“No,” Airav said. “It can’t be one of us,Kiana—wehave to sit in judgement of his arguments. And it certainly can’t be you, Iravan. That would be a conflict of interest.”
“It’s not,” Iravan protested. He cleared his throat. “Please, it’s the best use of my resources. I’m not going back on the Disc this flight, not after what I’ve been through. I’m most invested in clearing my name. And I’m the only one to feel the Resonance. Let me do this.”
“It would still be a biasedreport—”
“Itwon’t—Please—”
“Let him do it,” Chaiyya interrupted, putting a hand on Airav’s arm. “Biased or not, we have to sit in judgement. If we’re not convinced, it’s all the same.”
Airav frowned. “We’ll have to make a healbranch vow. It’s the only way for us to be impartial to his findings. But you can’t make such a promise, Chaiyya. If you break it, the ashram’s healbranch won’t respond to you anymore.”
“I’m still going to.”
“It will poison you instead of healing you.”
“I know, Airav.”
“You’d waste away, Chaiyya.”
Chaiyya’s round face twisted in a sardonic smile. “It’d be the same for any one of us if we broke a healbranch vow.”
“The rest of us aren’t pregnant,” Airav pointed out. “How do you think your wife will react if you tell her you endangered yourself?”
“Not well,” she admitted, tiredly. “But would you let me judge Iravan if I didn’t take the vow?”
Airav shook his head, disturbed.
“Precisely,” Chaiyya said. “I won’t recuse myself, Airav. Word the terms and conditions as you see fit, but let Iravan investigate and let us be about it.”
For a moment, everything hung in balance. Iravan watched them, Laksiya’s expressionless face, Airav’s sonorous breathing, Bharavi’s grim eyes. Then Airav nodded, and one by one the others did.
A simple twining pattern began to grow on Airav’s arms. Between the chairs, a thin white stem emerged, then split into five branches that reached for the councilors. All of them extended their hands, and the branches twirled around their wrists forming wooden bracelets.
“In three weeks,” Airav said, “I vow to render judgement on Iravan’s findings about his theory of interference in trajection.”
Iravan tucked his trembling hands under his arms. Three weeks. The shortest standard duration for any investigation. Airav must think him a lost cause already. The trial was not merely about the results of the investigation; it was about becoming worthy of the council again. A deep shame rose in Iravan.
“I vow to pervert neither my interpretation,” Airav continued, “nor my understanding of Iravan’s findings. I vow to base my judgement not on my friendship or kinship with Iravan, neither on hostility or rancor, but on Nakshar’s preservation, first and alone. If his claims are insufficient, I vow to enforce appropriate punishment as dictated by Nakshar’s laws, my conscience, and the rest of the council.”
“Agreed,” the others murmured.
The branches snapped away and retreated into the floor. A white bracelet gleamed on each of their wrists along with their rudra beads.
“Well,” Laksiya grunted. “I suppose now we’re all in for it. The judgement will be as much of us as it would be of him.”
Chaiyya rose ponderously. “Make your best case to us, Iravan. We’re on your side. If there’s logic to your theory regarding this Resonance, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Airav rose too, digging into the pockets of his white kurta. He withdrew a tangle of rudra bead necklaces and bracelets and handed them back to Iravan. Iravan gripped them hard, breathing in their scent before looping them around his neck and wrists.
“For what it’s worth,” Airav said, “you’re still a councilor and a Senior Architect. It’s time to act like it, my friend.”
A woman of few words, Laksiya merely nodded at Iravan. She walked away with Airav and Chaiyya, their chairs melting behind them.
Kiana stood up, her chair dissolving as well. Her eyes looked wary behind her spectacles. Her cane tapped on the ground soundlessly. “I’ll alert the sungineers’ lab that you may be around to ask questions, shall I?”
“Thank you, Kiana.”
