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were a woman
who had visited her. Without a doubt, she was using the same polite
expressions as Charni so she wouldn’t make him feel vulnerable or
proud.
    As for the second lie, she
had perceived her mother’s impatience two terms after the other
women had told her about Chaid Khasat. In fact, her mother had
spent alarms waiting for Qjem! How could she make her voice sound
so calm and absent-minded? And Charni knew it specifically involved
this elderly man because she had often heard her say (and curse)
Qjem’s name.
    “ Mother,” she said, using
the proper form of address for when they had visitors, “I’m
home.”
    “ Oh, my daughter. Come
here. Greet your mother.”
    Interesting.
    Normally she ought to wait until the
visitors had left, but with that gesture her mother not only showed
that she wanted her present, but after the greeting she wrote on
her skin to stay. Charni guessed she did that because the man would
not notice she was there.
    Incredible.
    He had perceived her many times and had just
perceived her now, and still she could not fail to be surprised.
How was it actually possible that men could not sense more than one
presence in a room unless it made a noise so loud that even her
sister in the next room could hear it?
    “ Forgive me, Qjem, for not
attending to you immediately, but I needed to feel my daughter and
make sure she was well. Please sit wherever you want. This is your
house, as you know.”
    “ I’d prefer to remain
standing,” he said while he attempted to localize Kesha’s voice to
get as close as possible. “And don’t worry, I’ve often observed
that women love to hug each other. Besides, we’re talking about
your daughter. So take your time.”
    Observe , another word men used a lot. Curse it, when would they let
her learn about men’s language and not just the words that they all
shared?
    Her mother wrote on her
skin to stay quiet and make not a single sound. Then she said to
the old man: “Thank you, Qjem. But please, tell me if you’ve come
here with a solution for what I’ve told you about.”
    “ To begin with, Kesha, I
want to make it clear that I would never take something like that
lightly. A Ksatrya is not merely faithful to his code, he protects
his women because you are weak and vulnerable, but also
valuable.”
    Charni felt her heart race
and her face grow red. Weak? Weak? Since when? Wasn’t it thanks to
women that the men who lived in this world did not die of hunger,
illness, or madness? They could not take care of themselves or
learn to cook, wash, clean, or simply walk through the world
without breaking things that they passed on their way. They only
knew how to shout, fight, and spill information, as if they were
two-cycle-old girls who were afraid to be away from their mothers
for a long time. Why, curse it, wouldn’t his mother set him
straight?
    Her mother immediately noticed that her
daughter was tense and, with a caress, urged her to calm down.
    “ A Ksatrya who breaks this
rule,” Qjem carried on, “not only ceases to be a man but is worse
than an animal, and we will not tolerate it. Imagine how difficult
it is for someone like me to believe that one of us is capable of
something like that. I have no reason to doubt you, but based on my
experience, I know how women are naturally insidious and vengeful,
so I have my concerns. And although I know you have nothing in
common with the women I’ve seen outside, I know it’s your nature,
and I can’t ignore it.
    “ So, since it was possible
to commit a terrible mistake against an innocent man, I will give
him the benefit of the doubt. Believe me when I tell you that I was
the first person who wanted to solve this as soon as possible,
whether it involved an injustice or such a brutal act. So I ordered
my men to watch him for several days, but he did nothing
suspicious. Still, because I believe you and see no reason why you
would lie to me, I rebuked him and, just the same, gave him the
opportunity to