A Husband's Qualifications
"…What?"
Faced with such unyielding finality, Dumuzi found himself at a loss for words in a way he never had before. He stood there like a fool, mouth half-open and staring blankly, when Inanna delivered the finishing blow.
"In case you didn't understand, I'll say it properly. I have no intention of marrying you, Dumuzi."
"…Does that mean you're choosing Enkimdu instead of me?"
"No."
When Inanna shook her head, the expressions on Ningal and Utu's faces grew even stranger. Disappointing as it was, they had been prepared to accept Enkimdu — but their daughter's refusal to choose anyone at all left Ningal fretting.
"Inanna, Dumuzi is the god of shepherds who tends and leads flocks. He would treat you well, just as he does his own sheep — like a father or a mother would."
"What I want is a husband, not a nursemaid. And isn't treating a wife the same way you treat livestock the real problem here?"
"…"
Inanna had struck the heart of the matter. For a moment, Ningal could think of nothing to say.
"Then you have no intention of marrying at all?" Utu asked.
"I don't plan on spending my whole life alone in an empty room either. And why do you and Mother assume I don't already have a man in the first place?"
Neither Utu nor Ningal had ever truly believed Inanna lacked a lover. With a temperament like hers, the strange thing would have been if she weren't already enjoying some man's company.
"We're not talking about someone you see casually. We're talking about a companion who will spend a lifetime at your side."
"That's — what — I'm — saying!" Inanna bit off each syllable. "I'm asking why you keep assuming I don't already have a husband!"
"Well…"
Utu still failed to grasp her meaning. It was her mother, Ningal, who first caught the implication beneath her words.
"…You already have someone you've taken as a husband?"
"Is that all you think it is? His child is already growing inside me."
Inanna rubbed her belly with a face full of happiness. At that, a silence settled over the gathering. The pregnancy itself was surprising enough — but far more shocking was the expression on Inanna's face. Ningal, Utu, Ninshubur, and every other god not present — including Nanna — none of them had ever known Inanna was capable of looking like that.
"Then why bother gathering suitors at all?" Utu had gone past mere disbelief into outright anger.
"I wanted to see the faces you and Mother are making right now."
"You little—!"
Just as Utu was about to explode, Dumuzi — still unable to let Inanna go — inserted himself into the conversation with spectacularly poor timing.
"Just who is this person you love?"
"Why do you care?"
Inanna found Dumuzi's clinging tiresome. By this point, any normal person would have known to back off.
"My appearance may be humble, but I am confident I can offer Lady Inanna a great many things. Had you chosen Enkimdu, I would at least have understood."
"Confidence is fine, but does it really matter whether you understand or not?"
"Please, tell me. Who is the one Lady Inanna has chosen?"
At Dumuzi's clinging persistence, Inanna sighed. Still, part of her wanted to seize this chance to show Sunya off before everyone.
"You'll understand once you see him yourself. Why I love him — why I have no choice but to love him."
Introducing Sunya to her family on this occasion wouldn't be so bad, she thought. And then Dumuzi ruined the moment.
"Is he a general like Lord Ninurta, by any chance?"
"No."
"Or a brilliant mage like my father, Enki?"
"Not that either."
"Then a sage who has greatly influenced the advancement of civilization?"
"No."
"If not that, is he wealthy enough to pile gold and jewels into mountains?"
"…No."
"Then what kind of person is this one Lady Inanna loves?"
Faced with the situation, Inanna found it difficult to simply speak Sunya's name. Near Mount Ebih he was known as a sage, but he was all but obscure. How many among the gods had even heard of him? And Sunya possessed virtually no wealth to speak of. She had turned down gods of fine lineage and outstanding renown one after another — if word got out that her husband was penniless and unknown, Sunya himself might become a laughingstock.
She glanced around. Ningal and Utu were watching with considerable interest. Even for Inanna, the present situation had grown uncomfortable.
"…He isn't famous, so you wouldn't know him. He lives simply, so he doesn't have any particular wealth either. But he's an incredibly wonderful and kind man."
"How could some nobody like that possibly…?"
There was some emotion mixed into the words, but Dumuzi harbored no particular malice. He had simply gotten a little heated. Inanna, however, took it differently.
All expression drained from Inanna's face. It was not a snarl of rage but a look gone cold and empty — and the eyes that went with it sent a bone-deep chill through everyone who saw them.
It was not a voice heard with the ears. Even as a fellow god, Dumuzi found the pressure so crushing he could barely breathe.
"I— I mean, that is…"
Fortunately, Utu stepped in front of Inanna in time.
"Calm down, Inanna."
"Have you considered that the fundamental fault lies with you for gathering suitors in the first place — Dumuzi and Enkimdu included? You were the one who insulted them first."
"…"
He was right. If she let her temper run wild here, not only would she look foolish — Sunya would as well. Inanna drew a deep breath and managed, just barely, to rein in her fury.
"Farmers, shepherds — all of you, get out of here. The festival is over."
Once the uproar had settled, Utu's attendant Niginna approached Ninshubur.
"We're basically on break right now — want to grab a beer?"
"I'm still on duty. Kindly refrain from slacking off."
"It's not like the young lady is going to call for you anytime soon."
Ninshubur was standing guard outside Inanna's chambers. Given how she had sulked in the past, there was a high chance she had shut herself in a corner of the room and wanted nothing to do with anyone.
"…A servant's duty is to be ready to run the moment her master calls, whenever that may be."
"Honestly, you can be so rigid sometimes."
"You're the one who's gotten far too loose, Niginna."
The two of them grumbled back and forth. They had known each other for a long time, bound by the shared lot of serving the Anunnaki. Calling them friends would not have been wrong.
"More importantly — you knew, didn't you?"
"Knew what?"
"That the young lady has a man stashed away. Or wait — in this case, is 'hidden husband' the right way to put it?"
"…"
Knew? Of course she knew. Ninshubur even knew that the man in question was a human. But saying here that Inanna was head over heels for a mere mortal would only fan the flames of scandal, so she said nothing.
"So you did know."
"Think whatever you like."
"Fine, fine. We'll leave it at that. I won't ask any more."
After that, the two goddesses fell into idle talk — daily life, current affairs, the banquet held last time, the dispute between Enki and Enlil, and various other topics of gossip. Both Niginna and Ninshubur were capable, loyal attendants, so neither said anything that might disadvantage their respective masters.
"So, speaking of which — have you ever slept with a human?"
And somehow, the conversation wandered into crude bedroom talk.
"I beg your pardon?"
Sunya flashed through Ninshubur's mind and she flinched inwardly, though she let none of it show.
"Have you coupled with humans?"
"…I have not. And more to the point — do you really need to say something like that out loud, here?"
"What's the harm? The soundproofing in this place is excellent."
"Even so… No, never mind. What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing much. Just that humans aren't half bad as partners, is all."
"I see."
"The semen does smell a bit fishy, but you get used to it surprisingly fast. In some ways, it's even kind of arousing, you know?"
"Ah. Yes. I see."
This woman really is a pervert.
She was about to dismiss it and move on when something struck her as odd.
"A… fishy smell, you say?"
"Yeah. I don't really know how to describe it, but there's this weird fishy scent to it."
"…Not something more like a floral fragrance?"
"Pfft! Floral fragrance, my ass. Humans are different from gods — most of them smell pretty much the same. I even remember ones who didn't clean up properly and reeked of rotten body odor."
"…I see."
Ninshubur sank into thought. She might have been fretting over nothing — but something about it nagged at her all the same.
It's ridiculous to get worked up over the smell of semen alone, but…
She had never sensed any divinity from Sunya. Was it even possible for a god to conceal their divinity that thoroughly? And yet, if it were possible, things would start to make sense. Above all, Inanna had never once said that Sunya was human.
Isn't this rather dangerous?
A god who could hide their divinity. Possibility aside, it was hard to look upon favorably. For the gods, the magnitude of one's divinity was — bloodline excepted — effectively one's rank. The reason the Igigi were treated as lesser gods, unlike the Anunnaki, was precisely their feeble divinity. Deliberately suppressing the emanation of one's divinity could only mean impure intentions… or that the person could not openly declare their true identity.
The young lady… she already knows everything, doesn't she.
Ninshubur's head ached. She genuinely wondered whether an entity of unknown identity should be allowed to remain at Inanna's side. But the conclusion was always the same.
Trust the young lady. She has always managed her own affairs properly.
Ninshubur let out a sigh. She had a feeling that troublesome things were about to unfold before long.