At noon, Soldan-Shah Omra reopened the doors of Olabar’s main church with great ceremony. His protocol advisers had staged the event carefully.
The applause of the crowd sounded like a sigh of relief after so much tension. Omra’s father had sealed the entrance on that terrible night when Villiki had fled and Ur-Sikara Erima had taken her own life. For two weeks now, the towering main church had stood empty. Even though Omra directed his anger toward the corrupt priestesses, not the church of Urec itself, the people were unsettled.
After today, their stable course would be set once more and life would return to normal.…
In the past week, behind closed doors, Omra had given the cowed sikaras strict instructions to choose Kuari, former emissary from Inner Wahilir and wife of Soldan Huttan, as their new ur-sikara. He himself would install Kuari in her new office. Those concessions were the price of freedom for the priestesses.
Now, with both of his wives at his side, Omra stepped up to the fern-embossed doors with an air of authority. The people drew a hushed breath. The soldan-shah turned to the blacksmith he had chosen, speaking loudly enough that his words echoed back to the crowd. “Strike these chains away and open the church doors. Only fresh air and sunlight can cleanse the poisonous shadows from these halls.”
With an iron mallet and chisel, the blacksmith snapped a link and pulled the chain away with a loud ringing rattle. Two palace guards grasped the curved bronze handles and pulled open the massive doors. Light poured into the darkened church.
As arranged, Kuari stood just on the other side of the entrance, as if she had been waiting there for weeks. A matronly woman with broad hips and square shoulders, she wore the embroidered scarlet robes of her new office. Her neck and wrists were adorned with golden-fern jewelry, and her hair was pulled back and secured with a jeweled ringlet. Hers was not the exotic dark-skinned beauty of Erima from Lahjar, nor was she a seductress like the previous ur-sikara Lukai. Kuari was stern but fair, a powerhouse who looked capable of leading the church through this time of turmoil—in partnership with the soldan-shah.
“Our holy church welcomes you, Soldan-Shah Omra, descendant of Urec.” Kuari emerged from the gloom of the entrance into the sunlight, holding a tall staff capped by a polished fern.
Omra stepped closer to the woman. “I searched for a wise and fair ur-sikara to replace those who inflicted so much damage upon the church. And I have found her.”
During the preparation for his announcement, he had spoken with her at length, interviewing and then interrogating the woman to understand her attitude toward power, politics, and the church. Exactly as Istar had suggested, Omra found Kuari to be a sensible woman—more so than most of his own soldans. As the two had grown more comfortable in their private conversation, she told him chilling and unbelievable stories about her own training as a sikara. From her personal experiences, she understood the deep rot in the church of Urec; in fact, he suspected she might impose more substantive reforms than the ones Omra had requested.
She spoke in a clear, penetrating voice. “The corrupt ones have been rooted out, and my first act as ur-sikara is to excommunicate them from Urec’s fold. They shall no longer be blessed by the light of the Golden Fern.”
Hearing this, the people whispered with awe.
“Our church is pure again,” Omra said. Kuari bowed her head as he completed the ceremony. “With the endorsement of your soldan-shah and the blessings of Urec, I hereby invest you in your office as the leader and mother of the church.”
Istar and Naori waited on the step below the carved wooden door. Omra turned to his First Wife, who handed him the golden Amulet of Urec, which had always been the property of the ur-sikara. Kuari leaned forward so that he could slip the medallion over her head. “Help us all to follow the Map.” The Amulet rested comfortably on her ample chest, gleaming in the sunlight.
After Tukar’s funeral ceremony, when Imir had chastised him for worrying too much about Ishalem and not enough about the rest of Uraba, Omra had pondered much until he realized that he had a solution. When he offered the idea, Kuari had immediately endorsed it.
He spoke to the people now, “Because Ishalem is our holy city, Ur-Sikara Kuari will establish her residence in the new main church there. Ishalem will become the center of the religious world, while I will remain in Olabar to govern our secular realm.” It would be an efficient balance and separation.
Kuari rapped the heel of her staff on the flagstones, giving the next announcement. “As the mother of the church, I am now forced to give up earthly comforts. I can no longer serve as the wife of Soldan Huttan. Instead, I will take up residence in Ishalem and fulfill my new role.”
Omra did not let his smile show. Neither Kuari or Huttan had voiced any objections to severing their marriage ties.
“The ur-sikara and the soldan-shah must work together to defeat our enemy, who attacks us both in this world and in our faith.” He raised his hand, and Kuari reached out to clasp it, presenting a unified front. “In a week’s time I will sail with Ur-Sikara Kuari to Ishalem, where we will consecrate the new church. From her new home, she will guide us all.”
Kuari was perfect, he thought. He would thank Istar again for her wisdom. After all the recent chaos, Omra felt that the internal politics of Uraba were finally stabilizing.
Now all he had to worry about was the Tierrans.