her instruments 02 - rose point (31 page)

“It would take a great deal more than that to make someone with your dower a poor choice,” Liolesa said. “And for my enemies, the temptation to win you from my side is overwhelming. I’m surprised Surela hasn’t made it clear to all and sundry that you are hers first, and anyone else must wait on her suit before attempting you.”

“It is enough to make me beg Reese for passage off-world tonight.”

“Ah, no,” she said with a laugh. “Don’t abandon me yet, cousin. Not with the game afoot! You sense it, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said, though he was unwilling to say more around so many.

“We might discuss it later,” she said. “Perhaps you’ll be fortunate and people will assume you’re paying court to me.”

He stared at her, appalled, found the wicked humor wreathing her aura in silver sparks utterly preposterous. “You’re not serious! Has Araelis been filling your ears with wild ideas?”

She grinned. “Of course she has. It’s one of her charms, that she fears nothing, least of all my position.” Observing his expression, she snorted. “Please, cousin. Me, marry? When have you known me to have that sort of patience?”

He exhaled. “Pray you, don’t frighten me thus.”

She tapped his glass lightly with a finger. “Drink, cousin. You are too tightly wired, if you are ready to take such things for truth. Did Araelis approach you already?” At his pained expression, she said, “Oh, don’t fear. She has been at me as well, and she should know better. As should you. But do come later, and carry me your impressions.”

“As you will, cousin.”

“Mmm, yes. As it should be.” The merriment that pierced her aura was as good as a wink, and she was away, back to mingling among the crowd. He fortified himself with another sip of the wine and followed her example, steering well clear of Surela and reflecting that he would have a humbling experience to relate to Urise on the morning. His hard-won calm had lasted perhaps half an hour.

He did find it odd that he had not seen Thaniet in attendance on her lady. She had been presented, but was now missing. Perhaps at last she’d found the moral fiber to part herself from Surela. Would that it be so.

“That must be Felith,” Irine said at the sound of the knock.

The Harat-Shar began to rise, but Reese waved her back to the table. “I’m closer.”

“Thanks, I’m kind of comfortable here.”

“Kind of,” Reese said, wryly; the twins were intertwined, going through the book Felith had brought back from the library and comparing unintelligible Eldritch words in it to the text in the atlas. They were hoping to find some basis for understanding the written language, but Reese thought it more likely they’d uncover the lost archeological temple of Mars. None of them were linguists. Amused, she went to the door and opened it on an unfamiliar Eldritch woman who shrieked at the sight of her.

Reese leaped back, startled, then lunged forward. “Wait!”

The woman was already in flight down the corridor. Reese gave chase because she hadn’t yet pursued a woman in a fluffy gown and that was no doubt a necessary part of her role in this farce. Fortunately, fluffy gowns and tiny heels were a lot more trouble to run in than pants and boots. Reese drew abreast of the woman and then ahead of her and stopped, throwing her arms wide. “Stop!”

The woman came to a halt, gasping for breath, her hand pressed to her throat. “A human!” she cried in accented Universal.

“Not a poisonous snake or a rampaging bear,” Reese pointed out. “So you can stop looking like I’m going to drink your blood, all right? Who were you looking for?”

“I was not!”

“You knocked on our door,” Reese said. “Why’d you do that if you weren’t looking for someone?”

“I must have made a mistake,” the woman said, breathless. “If you will excuse me?”

Reese stood aside to let her pass, but not before noting the little pin on the square-cut neck of her bodice: a silvery-gold creature on green, like a lion but with hooves. She frowned and headed back.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t Felith,” Sascha said. “What with the screaming and all.”

“Are there any hooved lions on green fields on that map?” Reese asked.

Kis’eh’t flipped back to the right page and scanned it. “Sure, here. This big parcel.”

Reese frowned at it. “Well, all right. I know she’s associated with someone with a lot of land. The question is... who?”

“Felith would know,” Sascha said.

“Felith’s not here.” Irine put her chin in her palm.

“I have an idea,” Reese said. She went into her room and returned with Allacazam under her arm and the telegem in her hand.

“I’m pretty sure Allacazam won’t know,” Irine said.

Reese snorted and handed him to the tigraine. “Here, put him in the sun, he hasn’t been getting enough to eat.” She sat next to Sascha at the table and tapped the telegem. “Reese to
Earthrise
. Malia, come in please.”

“This is
Earthrise
... sorry, Captain Eddings, Malia’s asleep. Should I wake her?”

Reese stared at the gem. “Um, who are you?”

“Taylor Goodfix. I’m another of the endless Tam-illee the Queen’s got tucked up her sleeve. I help maintain her fleet.”

“Her fleet?” Sascha said, leaning in. “How many ships are we talking about here?”

“Oh, don’t get any notions about a navy or anything. There are only three, and the clan keeps them out in Alliance space, doing normal courier routes. We are an incorporated messenger service, it helps with the bills.”

“And the cover,” Sascha murmured.

“And the cover,” Taylor agreed.

“How did you get on my ship? How... what...”

“Malia asked me to keep her company, Captain, so I Padded over from the observation post. I figured while I was here I’d do a little fixing? Nothing serious, your engineering compartment is ship-shape, my compliments to your crew there. But little things, like leaky vents and blinky lights that aren’t blinking.”

“That’s... nice of you,” Reese said. “But I have no budget for repairs—”

“Don’t worry about it, ma’am. I like to have something to do and everything else in the area’s fine.” A hint of frustration crept into the woman’s mezzosoprano. “There’s so much I could be doing and can’t that it’s nice to have some kind of project, no matter how small.”

“If you’re sure...”

“Absolutely, please. Think nothing of it. Or if you must, consider it a gift from the Queen. Now, what can I do for you? Should I wake up Malia?”

“No,” Reese said. “Let her rest. We just wanted to ask her about a heraldic device.”

“Oh, I can tell you about those. We all learn when we join the Tams. What have you got?”

“It’s a silvery-goldish lion with hooves on a dark green field,” Reese said, and they all leaned in to hear the answer.

“Oh. OH. Asaniefa, that is. The Queen’s mortal enemies.”

“Figures,” Irine said with a sigh.

“Do you know all the rest?” Kis’eh’t put in. “It would be nice to have the full list.”

“Oh sure. You have something to take notes?”

Kis’eh’t tapped her tablet. “Whenever you’re ready.”

As Taylor ran down the list, Reese leaned back with her arms crossed over her chest, frowning.

“Upset about Hirianthial’s enemies finding out about us?” Sascha said. “Or about someone inviting a stranger onto your ship without asking you first?”

“It’s kind of hard to be offended at someone who decides to do repairs for you for free,” Reese said.

“I’m surprised that part didn’t upset you, actually,” Sascha said. “That she’s not letting you pay for it.”

“Yeah, well, there are better things to be upset about than someone being nice to you,” Reese said, massaging her forehead. When she looked up she found both the twins staring at her and managed a weak smile. “What can I say, I’m learning. Trying, anyway.”

Irine blinked, then reached across the table and rested her hand on Reese’s arm. “You’re doing great.”

Reese patted the furry hand. “Thanks.” She sighed. “Besides, I know a little of how she must feel. Looking down at this world and thinking of everything she could do to help and not being allowed.”

“I can’t imagine what a clan of Tam-illee could do to this place,” Sascha said, bemused. “Between their talent for engineering and their fanatical focus on reproductive medicine...”

Irine said, “I’m surprised the Queen hasn’t brought them in anyway...!”

“Reese?” Kis’eh’t interrupted. “Can you think of anything else you want to know from Taylor?”

“Sure,” Reese said. “Hey, Taylor-alet... why hasn’t the Queen turned you loose on this world? You set down far away enough, no one would know. It’s not like they have satellites or anything that could possibly find you.”

“I don’t know.” Taylor’s frustration returned. “I haven’t ever been told a reason. The Lord—that’s Lesandurel Meriaen Jisiensire, our Eldritch—says the time isn’t right, and that to start an endeavor wrongly is to doom it. But they’re superstitious that way.”

“It sounds like something they’d say,” Reese said. “All right. Are you sure you and Malia are fine up there?”

“Now that we have someone to play cards with, sure. Call us anytime, Captain. She’s lovely, your
Earthrise
, we’re both delighted to be ship-sitting.”

“Thanks for taking good care of her,” Reese said. “Reese out.” She tapped the telegem, then drummed her fingers on the table.

“What are you thinking?” Sascha asked, tilting his head.

“That maybe the Queen thinks now is the right time,” Reese said. “And also that there are two foxes on my ship, and I’m not up there, and that’s weird. And finally that I’ve scared some woman beholden to Hirianthial’s enemies straight back down the stairs. Maybe I should tell the Queen her surprise has been spoiled.”

“It’ll have to wait, won’t it?” Irine said. “Isn’t there some big event going on right now? She’ll be busy.”

“This evening then,” Reese said. “I can ask Hirianthial to take me to see her.” She glanced at Kis’eh’t. “Did you get what you needed from Taylor?”

“More than that,” Kis’eh’t said. “She’s also told me the political disposition of all these Houses.” She tapped the map. “Here, look. You got the Galare in the center here, around the palace. To the north and south, she’s got enemies. But in the south she’s got Jisiensire squeezing them in the middle, so they can’t expand any further. In the west she’s got a lot of neutral parties, but they’re hemmed in by this mountain range.”

“What’s up here, then, above Asaniefa?” Reese asked.

“Nothing,” Kis’eh’t said. “Apparently these areas here are all the property of noble families that have petered out. So Asaniefa’s expanding into Imthereli’s old territory, for instance. Jisiensire could move south too, into some of these abandoned areas.”

“Still, if the Queen wants to hem in Asaniefa, she should have an ally up here in the north,” Reese said. “What’s this area? It looks like it was someone’s once.”

“Taylor didn’t know,” Kis’eh’t said.

Reese frowned. “And this really is all there is?”

“Yes.”

“Blood in the soil,” Reese said, soft. “We might be too late to save them.”

The function proceeded much as he remembered such things going: slowly, and involving a great deal of talk that revealed nothing more substantive than the latest opinion on the newest divertissement. Given Eldritch constitutions, ‘newest’ meant at least a decade old. He drank a great deal of wine, discreetly watered, smiled politely at far too many young faces and wore more guarded expressions before old ones. The families that counted themselves Galare allies had little by way of news to share; sixty years was not long enough for more than one or two babies to have been successfully conceived, and deaths, while less rare, were also infrequent. Liolesa’s partisans remained much the same in strength and conviction since last he attended a winter court; her neutrals remained unmoved, and her enemies, of course, were stalwart.

How did they breathe through so much stasis?

He tarried there for several hours, though he quit the gathering before it began dispersing near supper. He had never had much patience for the courts, and being among the out-worlders had not improved it. His bootsteps echoed in the large, empty corridors as he left the hall behind, and the murmured conversations faded as he passed onward, toward the nearest stairwell and up it, to the second floor. Did his stride quicken as he approached the
Earthrise
crew’s suite? And if it did, who could blame him? It would be good to speak with people who used speech to exchange meaningful information, rather than to manipulate the emotions of their auditors.

It was Irine who opened the door, and upon seeing him her pupils dilated. She called over her shoulder, “He’s here!” Before adding to him, “Have we got a lot of questions for you, arii.”

“I shall endeavor to answer,” Hirianthial said, startled by her gravity. He entered and halted at the sight of the group clustered around the atlas, data tablets scattered amid the anachronism of Eldritch porcelain cups. “Ariisen? You have a look of consternation?”

Kis’eh’t looked up at him and said, “You people are dying, aren’t you?”

He stopped, felt the noise in his head rising. Cautiously, he said, “Perhaps you might elaborate.”

“We’re thinking there’s only about a hundred thousand of you left at most,” Kis’eh’t said. “That’s our generous estimate. Mine is closer to half that. Maybe less.”

Reese said, “Is it true?”

Sascha, studying him, said, “Maybe you should sit. By the fire, it’s gotten cold. Maybe we can all sit by the fire.”

“And drink something,” Irine added. “Why is it cold, anyway? Isn’t it afternoon?”

“Sun’s on the other side of the palace,” Kis’eh’t said, collecting her tablet and cup and heading for the hearth. “It’s not like the buildings we’re used to, Irine. There’s no climate control.”

Irine grimaced. “I should have brought more socks.”

Sascha pulled her over. “Come on, I’ll keep you warm.”

They resettled by the fire and nearly as one looked at him, waiting. How much had they derived from a solitary atlas? God and Lady. And yet, if they had, how much grief would it save them all for him to simply explain it to them? He sat in one of the unoccupied chairs, stretching one leg out to work the ache out of the joint. “Your suppositions are correct,” he said finally. “Though I could not give you an exact number. I doubt anyone knows, save perhaps the Queen and her minister. There is an imperfect census, she would have the data.”