Azaria by J.H. Hayes Read Free Book Online Page A

should have waited until we were alone. I know how private she likes to be. She's looks angry...
    Daneel thought quickly. "You and that lovebird ogre, Luzon. I saw the look he gave you. I thought he was going to rip your head off for stealing that last hare."
    Azaria's agitation evaporated as she played along. "Oh yeah. What's his problem, anyway?" She was constantly amazed at how nimbly her best friend could talk herself out of a mess.
    ---
    Azaria turned in early that night, although Daneel did her best in keeping her out. She knew Dogahn and Tiriz were going to stay up late with some of their friends and a secret bag of poison - the favored fermented drink. As much as she wanted to, Azaria resisted. She’d worked too hard in the preceding moons training for the Long Run to imperil her chances on a frivolous night.
    As she approached her shelter, wondering if her mother had retired early also, she heard hushed voices inside.
    "I agree with you, Azerban. But there's nothing you nor I can do," she heard Hadir, her father’s acolyte say. Azaria instinctively drew her hand back, afraid to interrupt.
    "And now the precedent has been set, Hadir. I fear what we've allowed to happen once will now continue. How can we foresee the effects of our inaction? I should never have allowed myself to be a part of this."
    "Azerban, listen to yourself. It is you who are not thinking clearly now." Azerban started to object, but Hadir interrupted him, "Let me just finish, Ta'araki. Had you not taken part you would have alienated yourself. They are already suspicious of you. What good can it do to further distance yourself now?"
    "You may be right, my friend," Azerban said. "Except I'm not sure Takur completely agrees with Fahim either. He is intimated by her. Perhaps my objection would have emboldened him to stand up to her. We need to gather those who agree with us, and then we can confront her when she next tries something like this, with or without Takur's blessing."
    "Your talk is dangerous, Azerban, and it has little chance of success. There are too many loyal to her, whether they agree with us or not. You know as well as I do that she hand-picked many of the Ta'araki, pushing camp leaders to accept them. There are more Ta'araki now than ever and many of them would never have joined the Order if it were not for her. Some camps have four or even five because of her. It seems now any idiot can become Ta'araki, if they just appease her."
    Azaria became aware she was eavesdropping and felt guilty. Pushing the flaps aside, she ducked her head inside. “Oh, hello Hadir. I didn’t know you were here. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can come back.”
    “No, Azaria, come in,” her father said, eyeing her suspiciously. “Hadir was just leaving. And I need to find your brother.”
    As she pivoted to let them pass, Azaria nodded and smiled but kept her head down, sure her father somehow knew she’d been lying.
    Sleep proved elusive that night. Her mind kept turning back to the conversation she’d overheard. It was gratifying to know Hadir and her father didn’t completely approve of the act she’d seen them carry out at the Temple, but she wasn’t completely placated. The agitation in both their voices was obvious. It was scary to discover her father, whom she’d always known to be so sure in his path, was now so distressed.

3
    Azaria’s people called themselves Natu and consisted of a collection of many camps ranging in size from tens up to two hundreds of members each. They'd once been a nomadic culture, but with the construction of the Great Temple, a requirement for greater permanence was created. They were still primarily a hunter-gatherer society and were just beginning to domesticate certain varieties of grain - mostly wheat and rye - but they experimented with almost every species they came across. Although canines had already been domesticated and incorporated fully into many cultures, they hadn't yet tamed any of the Earth