Shatterer of Worlds: A Novel

I had to separate Lossepharr and Arronanto this afternoon. They were fighting again. Apparently Lossepharr and Andor had conspired to lock Dennethom in the training dojo after practice today. Arronanto was furious when he found out and attacked his cousin. I’m just glad Arjuna didn’t hear about it, or things might really have gotten nasty. She’s very protective of her older brothers.

Renecke tells me that when he found Dennethom locked in the dojo, he was just seated on a mat, meditating, waiting for someone to let him out. I’m grateful to see that Dennethom is not as impetuous as his father might have been in such a situation. He will certainly make a different kind of leader. He is not a coward, that is for certain. He almost got into a fight with Lossepharr himself, that time Lossepharr was teasing Arjuna about being too small to play with them. He is more of a thinker. Maybe those Arthemian geneticists put a little of their own nature in the mix when they helped Yasana and Chran have children.

Lossepharr and Arronanto were made to stay in and meditate on their wrongdoing, during recess. They were not happy about it. I thought to speak to Katha, Marvena and Yasana about the situation tonight at dinner. However, the moment I brought it up, Lossepharr interrupted me. I would have rebuked him right then, but I was too shocked at his words: “My father has led the Boentu people for four cycles. Why should Dennethom be the next leader?”

I don’t think I have ever heard a silence more profound. Well, aside from my coughing. I shall have to get that looked at soon. I remember glancing at Katha, waiting for him to respond but he said nothing. He just shrugged it off. Marvena eventually had to fill the void, and explain that Katha was not leader of Boentu. That he is merely a Steward. I think Lossy was going to argue the point, and apparently so did Marvena, because she excused him from dinner.

During the whole exchange, Katha just smiled amiably. I asked him what he thought of Lossepharr’s questions and he shrugged. Said “he’s just a boy. Of course he doesn’t understand how it works.” Perhaps Katha’s right. Yet I cannot help noticing the way Lossy has been acting around Chran’s children. And now he’s getting his brothers involved. I just worry that there could be bad blood between the cousins.