Conquest of the Underworld
Of late, Ereshkigal had taken to summoning Sunya with increasing frequency.
"You seem able to conceal your divinity. How do you manage it?"
"Why go out of your way to say such strange things to the dead?"
"I mean to reward you for your labors. Is there anything you desire?"
The reasons differed each time. And as always, Sunya answered her questions with quiet diligence.
"There's a knack to it. If Your Majesty wishes, I can teach you."
"When I look at them, I find myself wanting to share the things I wish I'd known sooner. Not that I'm wise enough to be saying such things."
"I'd be grateful if you simply let me pass the time I requested in peace. Haha…"
He answered, and nothing more. He made almost no effort at private conversation beyond that — as though he were deliberately keeping his distance.
"Hey."
Namtar, the queen's faithful attendant, found Sunya's manner deeply displeasing. She quietly called him aside as he walked, and led him somewhere secluded.
"I consider you a perceptive man, Sunya."
"…"
"You must know that Her Majesty has taken a liking to you."
"Yes."
Sunya admitted it without resistance.
"I know full well that for a servant to meddle in her mistress's private affairs is a grave impertinence. But when I see Her Majesty staring into space, lost in a daze unlike anything before — I find it hard to stand by. In all my life, I have never once seen Lady Ereshkigal wear the face of a girl so thoroughly in love."
"Lady Namtar…"
"I know now that it isn't simply fear of Lady Inanna that holds you back. No doubt it is loyalty — or love — for her."
Before Sunya could speak, Namtar dropped to her knees with a heavy thud.
"I beg you. Just once — would you grant Her Majesty your heart, even for a moment?"
"…"
"I am not asking you to marry her. Only once — leave her with a single good memory. No — I will ask it properly."
She pressed her forehead to the floor. From Sunya's position, it was an almost unbearable weight of obligation — and that was precisely what Namtar intended.
By the values of a future age, Namtar's conduct would have been the purest form of social coercion. But this was not the twenty-first century. A goddess, servant though she was, had set aside her pride and fallen to her knees to plead for her mistress's happiness. One could not call it proper — yet the heart behind it deserved respect. Measured against the era and world into which Sunya himself had been born, it did not even strike him as particularly unpleasant.
"Please rise, Lady Namtar."
Sunya lifted her to her feet. Namtar would have liked to dig in her heels — to stay kneeling until he yielded — but his strength was such that she simply could not.
"You already know that no matter how earnestly you ask, I will not do it."
"…"
"Even if I were never permitted to leave the underworld for all eternity, I would never take Lady Ereshkigal into my arms."
"…How can you be so cold? Not even a gesture — not even the pretense of affection? We live forever. Is it so impossible to look elsewhere, just for a little while?"
"Nothing in this world is eternal. What seems endless always finds its end. I have no wish to create, out of a moment's impulse and pity, a wound that will fester for all the time that remains."
"…Is Lady Inanna truly that precious to you?"
"That is part of it. But more than that, it is for my own sake. Others rarely believe it, but I am a rather selfish man."
In the end, Namtar could not persuade him.
Time passed, and the next day arrived — the last of the term Sunya had originally agreed to stay.
"So today is the end."
On that final day, Sunya came to Ereshkigal's study.
"I believe I said that if I was not satisfied, I need not let you go. Do you remember?"
"I remember."
A single word from Ereshkigal would decide his fate. One might have expected tension — yet Sunya showed not the faintest trace of anxiety or restlessness. His face was as still as a quiet lake, betraying no ripple of emotion.
"And if I refuse to let you leave?"
"Then I would remain."
"…You could rot here for the rest of your life."
"I was prepared for that from the very beginning."
Ereshkigal fell silent for a moment. There was so much she wanted to say, and yet somehow not a single word would leave her lips. It had been a very long time since her feelings had risen so high that speech itself failed her.
She rested her chin in her hand and sat still for a long while. Only once she had ordered her thoughts could she open her mouth again.
"At first, it was nothing special. You looked fine enough, but I truly thought nothing of it."
"Is that so?"
"Mm. But the more I saw of you, the more you lingered in my mind."
"…"
"You were useful to me, so fondness grew — and once it did, your virtues and charms kept catching my eye. Those small things piled up one by one, and before I knew it, I had come to like you. In less than a fortnight."
Sunya listened in silence. His face remained as still as ever.
"I understand now why the dead follow you so. Why Inanna is so hopelessly devoted to you. You have a peculiar magnetism that draws people in — whether as desire, as friendship, as a partner in some bargain… in whatever form it takes."
"…I can only be grateful that you would say so."
"As queen of the underworld, let me say this first. Thank you. Because of you, the underworld has grown more peaceful. A measured liveliness in the streets is not a bad thing either. I can feel how much easier things have become."
"Even without me, Your Majesty would have made the underworld more comfortable in time."
"I have no taste for debating possibilities that never came to pass. A sovereign prepares for the future, but must look at the present."
At those words, emotion stirred across Sunya's face for the first time. It seemed to be the word sovereign that had touched him — but Ereshkigal chose not to press.
"One question. Did you know from the start that it would turn out this way?"
"Hardly. At the time, it was nothing more than a simple gamble."
"A gamble… You never struck me as the sort who enjoys such things."
"I don't enjoy them. But not everything in this world moves according to my will. Sometimes one must leave matters to fortune."
"I see."
Ereshkigal tapped the desk twice with her fingers. She looked as though she were deliberating — but in truth, she had reached her conclusion long ago.
"Go. Return to Inanna. I won't say I'm satisfied — but I no longer wish to look at you."
"…Thank you for the hospitality you have shown me all this time."
Sunya finished with his characteristic joined palms, then turned. He was just about to step out of the study when Ereshkigal's voice stopped him.
"May I ask why you chose Inanna?"
"Because she was at my side when I needed her."
"…That's all?"
"That alone was enough."
"Then… if I had come to know you first — would things have been different?"
At that, Sunya offered a faintly awkward smile. But the blue light in his eyes did not waver in the slightest.
"That was unlike me. I just said a sovereign's duty is to face reality. Forget what I asked."
"Farewell, Your Majesty. Should the chance arise, I will visit again."
The door creaked shut, and Sunya vanished from sight. Even afterward, Ereshkigal could only stare blankly at the study door.
"…I never once envied that little thunder-brat before."
For the first time, Ereshkigal felt jealousy toward Inanna. The aftertaste was bitter — an utter, undeniable defeat.
When word spread that Sunya was leaving, the residents of the underworld flocked to him as one.
Sunya soothed them gently and offered his farewells.
"Where there is meeting, there is parting. And where there is parting, there is meeting again. If Lady Ereshkigal permits it, I will visit the underworld once more — so I hope you will not grieve too deeply."
The gatekeepers of the underworld did not bar his way. Once the queen's leave was given, the seven gates swung wide open as if by some quiet miracle. Without difficulty, Sunya rose smoothly back to the world above.
Before long, the tale of a being who had returned to the land of the living without offering a single tribute spread through the world like legend — though neither mortals nor gods could say whether the rumor was true.