Quibble, 68. Jah (ii)

Lurah glimpses a mysterious plot afoot and receives life-changing news. Quibble learns about im-hel-qah, the Far’s ritual combat.

Oct 23, 2025

68. Jah (ii) @Lurah

“—not be seen, so take care the lamp is always shut,” the nah was saying to Luht as I entered her tent.

“Nah, I am here,” I said, giving im, before either of them could notice me.

Sen-aht-nah-lapi spared me only a glance, then pointed to the large scroll spread before her and said, “We found water here. It is the most likely place to find him now. If you do, hurry home with him as quickly as you can. He is in great peril.”

“I go, nah,” said Luht, and he left the tent, his face stony as he passed me.

The nah moved the silver paperweights on the table and rolled up the scroll, then sat back in her chair with a sigh and said slowly, “Holding court, I would think I may at least count on my nahli-sah not to steal im from me.”

When I did not reply, the nah glanced at me with annoyance and made a careless gesture of im in my direction.

“I am sorry, nah. I was distracted with translating, several people were speaking, and I forgot your im. It will not happen again.”

I gave im. The nah pursed her lips.

“Very well, Lurah, it is forgiven. Let us forgo im now. Tell me what you know of this Ayzhed who calls herself Qeht.”

“She is a good listener and a quick learner. She has perfect memory. If her Djer-stone is any use to her, I have never seen her take it out, but I believe she often touches it. Her hands are ever in the pockets of her cloak.”

“A Djer’s cloak,” the nah mused. “I wonder if the Isleh know of this – an Ayzhed who is really a Djer. It is possible she has given the stone to Alnasl, though.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Enough of what you know, Lurah. Say what you think of her.”

I considered it. “I think she tells the truth. For her own part, at least. She knows nothing of a plot by the Djer.”

“You are so certain she is no liar?”

“I am well acquainted with liars, nah.”

The nah smiled, but her words were laced with scorn: “I do not have your luxury of certainty. What do you think of the Djer? Is he honest, too?”

“He seems so, but I cannot be sure. No one can read such eyes as his. And I have not forgotten what Djer do, either.”

Now the nah’s glance was sharp, probing. “Yet you stay my hand when I would kill a Djer,” she observed.

“When you would kill an unarmed wanderer asking for say,” I answered. “As a sah, I enforce the law.”

“Then enforce it!” the nah scoffed, rising from her chair and facing me squarely. “Return to your charges. Learn if the Ayzhed still has the Djer-stone. If not, send word to me. And of course send word of any emergency, but do not come again yourself until I send for you.”

“I go, nah.”

I turned to leave, but the nah said at my back, “You have become a friend of the Wahn, but remember whose side you are on, Nahli-aht-sah-lurah. Soon, there will be a war. This game of bones only hastens it. When it comes, you will lead sah in battle. You will have great hel, not to mention spoils.”

Rounding on the nah in surprise, I said, “Nah, you disfavor Nahli-aht-sah-luht at some risk. He will not take it kindly.”

“I have my uses for Luht. In you, the Qahlif gave up a good commander.”

Descending the dunes to the mouth of the box canyon, I pondered what the nah’s uses might be. Luht’s mission to find and fetch home Halim-aht-sah-emrah puzzled me. Emrah knew to be on the lookout for signs of Djer. We all knew Djer could travel where they wished at the speed of thought. Sending rescue after Emrah seemed more likely to place him in peril than deliver him. The nah was impetuous but not such a fool. So what was Luht’s real mission? And why did the nah think it necessary to warn him to shutter his lamp as he rode abroad?

“Quibble.”

“Qihbel.”

“Quibble. Qwah, qwah, qwah. Qah. Wahn. Qwuhn. Quibble.”

“Qih— Wih— Qihwih— There is no qwuhn!”

“Then how can you say qwuhn? You have no problem saying ‘question.’ It’s only names you struggle with.”

“Qwuhn! Qwuhn! Qwih! Qwihbel!”

“Better. Quib, not Quih. Like in Itay’s name.”

“Qwibel.”

“Buhl, not bel.”

“Qih— Qwibuhl. Qwibuhl.”

“Now faster. Quibble.”

“Qwibuhl, Qwibuhl, Quibble. Quibble.”

“Yes, that’s it! Now, what did you want to know, sah?”

“Two things. First, do you still have your Djer-stone with you?”

“Of course,” Quibble said, producing the stone from her cloak’s large left pocket. “You told me not to let anyone touch it.”

“Good.”

“And?”

My thoughts wanted to fly everywhere like rain.

“Sah?”

“In the jahli-ri’s story, Vega spoke of another Djer, her friend, who bore the name Rasalah as a Far.”

“Rasalased, the lady of control.”

“Lady?”

“She’s a Djer-nah.”

“Is?”

I had tried to be like stone, but perhaps my face or voice betrayed me. A sudden change came over Quibble – the dawning of a realization and, close on its heels, a look of sympathy.

“Is,” Quibble insisted. “Who is she to you?”

My grief too much, I turned away to gaze out over the dusk-shadowed valley. It was the hour before dawn, and the waking birds were filling the air with song. I closed my eyes and let the sound wash over me.

“My sister-qeht, born with me,” I said at last. “I believed she was uhn-qah. But if she is now a Djer-nah, then she must be my enemy.”

“By no means! She took Vega’s side against utter control. I knew her in the Large Spiral. I’ve known her a long time, sah. She’s a stern lady, yes, and I think she must be a fierce fighter, but she’s no murderer.”

I did not know what I felt. Grief had not left me, but happiness was with me. Joy and sorrow sang together like sky and earth in a sandstorm.

“Now, sah, you’ll answer my questions,” said Quibble.

“They were a tribe, and that is why, of all Far, the Sen hate Djer most,” I told the Qeht. I spread my hands to encompass all we saw under Far-nah-sol, who was peeping at us from the peak of a distant mountain. “The Sen ruled this valley. They prospered on the route between the North and East, but Djer kept stealing their children. Perhaps because Ahnk-say-ur is so near, the Djer preyed on the Sen more than on any other Far. The Sen fought the Djer a long time, but at last they had to appeal to the Aht for a place in the East where they could live in greater safety. To gain say with the Aht, they gave up their wealth to the tribe. Though now the daughters of the Sen have grown wealthy again in war, they have never forgotten the Djer’s war on them and what it cost.”

“A genocide. That’s it. Lapi fears a genocide.”

I put my hand on my sword hilt and gave Quibble a sharp sideways look – what she called a skance.

“Never say the nah’s name unless you say it all,” I warned. “Either call her Sen-aht-nah-lapi or just nah. Whatever you think of her, she is nah. She will not suffer insult from you, jahli. Any other nahli-sah would bring you before her now.”

Quibble nodded, then went on: “What did the nah take from Asreh? You know what I mean.”

I had dreaded this question.

“The nah laid claim to everything of real value belonging to the Wahn – almost all they had but their tents! That is how you have found Asreh so impoverished, hardly able to give her jahli anything.”

“Why?”

“Sen-aht-nah-lapi is planning a war, a great war. Her mother Sen-aht-nah-lupah left her much wealth. She recruits nahli-sah with it. But now that she has everything of the Wahn’s too, every year she travels north to trade it for the Uhta’s steel. The steel of a thousand whispering swords.”

“And what are you doing about it, sah?”

An even more dreaded question.

“I am not sure I can do anything. The nah has an argument sound in law, though she cited the law of the Isleh to take her nahli-qah’s possessions. Sehlim-aht-ri-qahf was opposed to that, but the nah put it to a vote of all the Aht. It was impossible for the Aht-ri to win. You see, the nahli-sah also get votes.”

“And, as a sah, beyond the law you can do nothing?”

“Yes.”

“You’re the nah’s spy, correct?”

“Spy?”

“You’re answering every question she asks you about us.”

“Yes.”

“Which means, if I grasp things rightly, you’re our spy as well.”

“In im, if I am candid with one party, I must be equally candid with the other. The nah asked both my knowledge and my opinion of you, and I answered. I am now at liberty to tell you all I know and think.”

I bared my blade and kissed it.

Quibble smiled. “Tell me about im-hel-qah.”

“Equals honor blood,” I said as I sheathed my sword. “It is ritual combat, a fight to the death only if the first drawing of blood is fatal. Qah ends it. There are strict rules, which we sah enforce. In im, the strong may not challenge the weak, since they are not equals. The weapons have equal range. In hel, no one may give a combatant a weapon, and if a weapon is lost, the opponent must let the combatant pick it up. When the sah see blood, we shout qah. Then both combatants must drop their weapons at once and move away from each other. If a combatant is mortally wounded, it is a qahli’s duty to give mercy. Before im-hel-qah, each combatant selects a way to die and a qahli to do it.”

“A friend to kill you?” Quibble said, her mismatched eyes widening.

“Would you rely on your enemy’s mercy?”

“What happens if someone breaks the rules?”

I laid hand to hilt and sliced a fingernail backwards across my throat.

“If Asreh challenges the nah to im-hel-qah, do you think she can win?”

“No. According to the law of the Aht, the challenged may name a champion, and then the challenger may do likewise. But I doubt the nah would name a champion. Why give up her clear advantage?”

“And supposing Asreh loses but she doesn’t die, what becomes of her?”

“Having challenged the nah to im-hel-qah and lost, she will lose her shield as jah outright. All her jahli will have to find other shields. If Asreh finds no jah willing to take her above their shield, she will become nahli, at least until a new Aht-ri is elected. Then, if the nah has her way, the Aht will cast Asreh out. She will become uhn-say.”

“And then?” Quibble said.

“I cannot speculate about what the nah intends to do,” I replied cautiously, “but I can tell you, as uhn-say, Asreh would not have the protection of the law.”

“The nah could have her murdered, you mean?”

I nodded. We journeyed in silence a while.

“The law of the Aht,” Quibble mused. “Tell me, sah, what are the rules of im-hel-qah among other tribes?”

“Much the same. What I have told you is common with all the Far. Beyond that, there are only a few minor variations.”

“Tell me all of them.”