The World Walkers: Quiar: Mothar: Tanith: The Breeding Program

[k_a_webb]

Posted in return for a poem by Elizabeth Barrette – if you’re interested in a setting rental or character adoption then these will be the sorts of stories you’ll receive. (Email me for more information on the barter system.)

The creation of chimeras was something everyone knew could go wrong. Tanith sat at her desk, staring at the family trees she had in front of her, making certain that neither of the two chimeras they were thinking of mating had too close a connection or a combination of magics that might not work together if the baby happened to be born with them. As the celestial with the most races in her tree she was in charge of the entire breeding program and that made her even more careful, because she knew how hard it could be to work with all the magics she had within her. Before, when her predecessor was in charge, a couple of mistakes had been made that means she had to be even more careful, especially as a couple of bloodlines were within a generation or two of becoming extinct.

Tanith shook her head and tried to calm herself. Mistakes had been made before, by previous breeders, so it wasn’t something she couldn’t deal with. It just meant she had to start working with the bloodlines she was worried about first, because they couldn’t be lost, and to do that she needed to focus on the family trees in front of her. Focusing was something she’d find much easier if she stopped being angry with someone who’d been banished because of the problems she’d caused. Thankfully her children were being raised by an aunt, so it wasn’t as though they’d lost the whole bloodline, and the mistakes could be rectified. If she kept telling herself that she might actually come to believe it was true.

Being in charge of the breeding program was something Tanith had dreamed of her whole life, hoping that no other celestial would be born before she came of age, and sitting there meant that her dreams had come true, even though they’d come true in a way she wished they hadn’t. She moved on the stool, attempting to make herself more comfortable, before stretching out her wings. Once she’d done that she scrawled a couple of notes into her notebook, thinking that the chimeras they’d chosen would be a good mix if only it wasn’t for the mouse in their bloodline.

Unlike the other recent leaders of the breeding program Tanith had taken some time to travel Mothar, wanting to learn more about the country she lived in. She never mentioned her religion, instead acting as though the religion of the town she was currently in was the religion she’d been born with. It had worked well enough. No one asked more questions than they would have done if they’d have met a chimera outside of Mothar and she said she’d been born out of love, which soon quelled any problems people might have with her ancestry. They wouldn’t have felt the same way if she’d told them she’d born thanks to an Anlainn breeding program that meant she could trace her family tree back hundreds of years.

What Tanith had found was that their openness with the converts who travelled to Mothar wasn’t something many of the towns or cities she’d visited seemed to share. In some ways it was understandable. Having the converts there was something the Anlainns, and their breeding program, appreciated, because it meant they had more bloodlines to mix. Everywhere else they were viewed with a suspicion that bordered on terror, because they’d made the choice to follow the Motharan religion, and that was something she’d never quite been able to understand. A convert always seemed to be more religious because it was the choice they made.

A couple of the more recent arrivals had interested Tanith. Chimeras from other hames sometimes chose to convert to the Anlainn religion, because they felt a connection to it for one reason or another, although they weren’t always comfortable with the idea of the breeding program until it was explained to them. Once they realised the main reason it existed was to make certain that any newborns wouldn’t have to deal with more than they could cope with most converts accepted it. Those who didn’t left, usually with gaps in their memory, which Tanith accepted as a necessity even though she didn’t like it.

One of the converts was a tiger, which was unusual, and the only person he’d told about his tiger half was Tanith. All he’d wanted in return for his honesty was for her to keep his bloodline a secret to all those who didn’t need to know about it. She’d accepted that, because having a tiger as part of their breeding program was something she’d been hoping for, even though she never believed it could possibly happen, and as he was happy to be partnered up with anyone she thought would be a good match she was going to do everything she could to keep him. He’d quickly become a candidate to be bred with one of the bloodlines she was most worried about.

The other was a celestial, although Tanith was certain that was more through luck than judgement, who was half cat and half butterfly. It wasn’t something she would have tried herself, if she’d had a cat and a butterfly to breed together, but they’d been in love, and according to the cat his parents had thought they’d be able to seal that love by having a child. From what he’d told her their relationship had failed not long after he was born, and he’d always felt like a burden to his cat mother, so he left Larnach for Mothar as soon as he came of age. He was on the breeding list with the newer bloodlines, but he’d only be bred once she had some idea of what magics his children might have.

Being in charge meant there were times when Tanith had to research the races who converted to the Anlainn religion and became a part of the breeding program. They weren’t the only sect of the Anlainn religion, but they were the only one who had a breeding program, so she believed they were the best sect. Even though they sometimes made mistakes they didn’t often create insane chimeras who couldn’t cope with the magics they’d been born with. Whenever it did happen they did their best to put an end to whatever mistake they’d made, no matter how hard it was. As the newest leader she had to prove she wasn’t going to fail them like her predecessor had.

Shaking her head Tanith turned to get a couple more family trees out of the filing cabinet behind her and just as she’d drawn them out someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” she called, thankful for the interruption, hoping it would be another of the missionaries arriving back with some new converts.

It wasn’t a missionary, but Tanith wasn’t any less happy when she saw one of the local priestesses-in-training. “Tanith,” Jenelle greeted, bowing her head in respect at the door before making her way fully into the room. “We need to talk.”

“What’s happened?” Tanith asked, Jenelle’s tone of voice worrying her.

“I’m sure you knew that we were still waiting on a couple of babies from during her time in your seat.” As Tanith nodded she shrugged. “One of the babies was born last night and my priestess is worried.”

“Parents?”

“That’s part of the problem.” Jenelle looked around the room as though she was putting off what she had to say and Tanith waited, as patiently as she could, knowing how hard the delivery of bad news was. “We know who the mother is, but the father was a wanderer. Apparently he was a wolf chimera. Unfortunately she had no idea what he was mixed with and I have a feeling it was a race with a magic that shouldn’t have been mixed with the magics the mother’s family has.”

With the breeding program there was a fine line between having too much control and not having enough. Tanith knew it was a line she was going to be walking as long as she was in charge of the breeding program, which would, hopefully, be for the rest of her life. Her predecessor had failed to keep enough control, so there was a chimera with an unknown bloodline.

“Right, we follow protocol.” Tanith hated the protocol, but it was the only logical way of doing things. “I’m guessing you’ve already taken the newborn away from the mother.”

“My priestess ordered it as soon as we realised what was happening. The mother wasn’t happy about it, but she knows protocol as well as we did, and she wants her baby to have the best start possible.

“At least she’s been sensible. Give the baby to one of the wet nurses on the list, because she’ll know what to look for, and then it can be confined until we know one way or the other what’s going to happen.”

Thankfully confinement wasn’t as bad as it sounded, otherwise that would have been one of the first things Tanith would have changed. The baby, when it manifested it’s magics, would be put behind wards that would keep it and the people around it safe if something went wrong. It would still be taught how to use it’s powers because even the worst mixes had turned out to work if the baby was taught how to use it’s abilities as soon as they manifested. Some of the best mixes had failed due to bad teaching.

“Do you know how long it might take?”

“Who’s the mother?”

“Greta, daughter of Halim and Shannon.”

Nodding, Tanith turned to look through her files again. When she found it she tried not to hide her surprise and was thankful she wasn’t facing Jenelle. Tanith hadn’t had a chance to go through all of the files yet, so there were still times when she found that her predecessor had made choices that she shouldn’t have made and Tanith never would. Summoning her calm face she turned to look at J.

“The best guess I can give you is somewhere between six moons and a year.”

“Is something wrong?”

It would have made more sense for Tanith to keep her worries to herself, but the more she looked through the files the more she realised how hard a job she had in front of her, and she needed to talk to someone about it. “My predecessor…” She shook her head. “This is my dream coming true, Jen, and I have a mess to deal with, because she made so many mistakes. I think I might have to put a stop to everything for a couple of moons so I can work out exactly what I need to do, but at the same time I have two bloodlines that I have to save from extinction and that means I have to put them first, otherwise I might lose them.”

“Have you ever heard of delegating?”

“Yes.” Tanith looked at the door. “Do you think I can trust the people she employed?”

“I don’t know, but if you do have that much to deal with then it’s time to get some help. If you don’t think you can trust them with the job you need them to do then hire someone else.” Jenelle smiled. “I know how much you wanted this job, Tanith, and taking it under such circumstances is going to make the whole thing more difficult than you were expecting, but you can do this. I believe in you and the mayor obviously does too, otherwise he wouldn’t have offered you the position.”

“This was so much easier when I was making up my own breeding program.”

“I’m not all that surprised. That was simple, because you didn’t have to deal with anyone else’s mistakes, and what you have to remember is that your predecessor wasn’t the only breeding mother who made mistakes. You have to deal with their mistakes as well.”

Sighing, Tanith looked down at the family tree in front of her. “You’re right about that.” There were definitely choices she wouldn’t have made further back in the family trees. “I’d love to be able to start again, but that’s just not possible, so all I can do is hope that things work out the way I think they should.”

“Everyone knows you’re not going to have an easy job. My priestess says that your predecessor should have been replaced long before she was, but there was no one who could replace her. Very few celestials actually want the job and from what my priestess said there was someone else who should have been in charge of the program, but she chose to walk away instead of taking the position. She didn’t want to be in charge of something that could go wrong so easily.”

“Maybe I need to learn more about the people who did previously do my job, so I can understand why they made the decisions they did.”

“I know there are some records at the temple and the mayor has some records too, although I doubt they’ll be as in depth as the temple records, but I do think that studying both of them together would really help you in the future. I’ve found that reading about the priests and priestesses who were in control of the temple before has helped me to understand what sort of priestess I want to be in the future.” Jenelle shrugged. “I know that my job is a lot easier than yours, so maybe my advice isn’t going to be at all helpful, but remember I am here is you need me, Tanith. You don’t have to deal with everything alone, even if you feel you should.”

“Thank you, Jen. I do appreciate it.”

“My priestess needs to know what you said, but I’ll come back later. How about we go out for a meal and relax a bit?”

Tanith looked down at the family tree and knew that she had too much work to do to take a night off, but if she didn’t she was going to end up burning out before she put all the mistakes right. “That sounds like a good idea.” She smiled at Jenelle. “I think I’ll have a chat with my employees, work out who I trust enough to help me deal with this mess, and then call it a night.”

“I’ll grab a couple of the records from the temple, so you can have a read of them if you feel like it. My priestess did say there might be a records room here as well, because she knows a couple of your predecessors have kept journals, and they might be hidden in there somewhere.”

“Does your priestess know how many of my predecessors were banished?”

“When I get back I’ll ask her. She did say that if you had any questions she’d be happy to answer them, because she’s been in a position like yours before. Apparently the priestess who was training her was banished, as she’d started preaching that the Anlainn way was the wrong way, and in the end my priestess had to take over without full training while having to deal with others who were asking if our way was wrong.”

“I never knew that.” Tanith shrugged. “I think, if I remember correctly, I spent the time when I should have been studying history looking into bloodlines, which I guess is a form of history. Unfortunately it just meant I didn’t study the history of our town or Mothar in general.”

“You did go travelling though.”

“That was more because I wanted to see how the rest of Mothar worked. It’s so very different from our little part of it and I’m glad I grew up here. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if the breeding program hadn’t been a part of it.”

“I kind of want to go travelling, so I can understand more about Motharan religion, but my priestess said that was the problem her priestess had. She’d seen the rest of Mothar and got talking to a Moonjumper who told her about the other worlds, as well as what the fae are supposed to be really like, so I doubt that I’d get permission to go anywhere.”

“No one could sway you from your beliefs.”

Jenelle smiled. “I hope that you’re right. I might put in an application and see what happens, even if I do end up getting turned down.”

“Just be careful out there. Chimeras aren’t viewed kindly and neither is our religion.”

“I know, Tanith.” Jenelle shook her head. “My priestess reminded me of that as well, and she told me to beware of Moonjumpers because they’re just going to lie to me.” She glanced down at the floor for a moment before seeming to gather her courage so she could look Tanith in the eye. “Can you do me a favour? I want to find out if there have been any Moonjumpers in my bloodline, because I think I may have accidentally walked through one of the natural doors.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I definitely wasn’t in Mothar. It was night time and there was a tree growing next to me, but it wasn’t a tree I’d ever seen before. I was too scared to look around any more, so I just turned back, and when I got back through the door it was day again.”

Tanith could see the fear in Jenelle’s eyes. “I’ll look into it, I promise. Try not to worry about it too much.”

“I am worried. It was a rush realising I was on another world and I think, if I am a Moonjumper, I might want to travel the worlds instead of staying here.” Jenelle shook her head. “Even the thought of travelling around Mothar isn’t making me as interested as the idea of travelling the worlds. There’s so much out there.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.