Child of Venus Read Online Free PDF Page B

recorded her intentions before carrying them out and placed the speech in the public record. I didn’t want you to see that—I was afraid it would be too upsetting. Chimene took her own life, Mahala. She chose to die.”
    Mahala was not sure she understood. “But why?”
    â€œBecause she felt that she could no longer be Ishtar’s Guide. She’d made a lot of mistakes, you see, and many other people suffered for them. I didn’t understand then why she took her life, but now I think she saw it as the only way to atone for her deeds, to show people how sorry she was for her actions. That’s what I believe, anyway, that she finally saw what was right, that it was best to leave the future of Venus to others. Some loved her, and some hated her. Maybe it would have been harder for people who took different sides back then to be reconciled now if she were still living among us.”
    Risa’s head drooped, and the lines around her mouth and eyes seemed deeper. Mahala suddenly felt how old her grandmother was. Her thoughts were on death now. How could anyone choose to die? It seemed to her that anyone alive would struggle against death for as long as possible.
    â€œThere was a time, after your mother’s death,” Risa continued, “when I wondered if my own son could ever forget what her followers had done to him, if he would ever forget the suffering the people around his sister caused.”
    Mahala thought of her uncle Dyami. He had been a prisoner in Turing during the darkest time of the Venus settlements and had organized an uprising against his captors in the early days of the Cytherian Revolt. She knew this only because she had picked it up from others, since Dyami himself never spoke of his experiences. He was a quiet man; with his chestnut hair and tall frame, he looked much like his father Sef, but he lacked Sef’s quick smile and easy manner. Kind as Dyami was, he held himself apart from others during his visits, and Mahala had sensed that he would not welcome questions about his time as a captive.
    â€œYour mother believed,” Risa went on, “that there was something
beyond death, that it wasn’t the end, that another life would follow this one. I’ve
always found such notions foolish, but maybe that was another reason she decided to die. If I had
known what she meant to do, maybe—” She bowed her head. “Her last message is in
her public record. I didn’t want you to see it—I’ve read a transcript of what she
said, but I’ve never been able to listen to it. But when you’re older, it might help you
to understand why she acted as she did. She spoke of her regrets, of her shame at being misled by
those she loved and trusted.”
    This was too much for Mahala to absorb. If Risa understood what Chimene had done to herself, then why had she been so secretive about it?
    â€œHow did she do it?” Mahala asked.
    â€œShe was found with a knife. She’d slashed her throat. She bled to death before she was discovered.”
    Mahala shuddered. “And my father?”
    â€œHe died a short time before your mother did. His record will tell you that his body was found in Chimene’s house and that a drug of some sort killed him. A physician who was with my daughter at the time confessed that she was responsible for his death, and that woman took her own life soon after that, so a hearing was never held.” Risa sounded as if she were rattling off a statement at the start of a public Council meeting. “Your father was the enemy of many here, and I didn’t mourn his loss, but maybe he was also sorry for his deeds at the end.”
    Risa got up, sat on the bed, and drew Mahala to her. “What they did,” she said, “whatever suffering your parents caused, has nothing to do with you. Don’t ever feel that you’re less because of it. It was ail over before you took your first