“ Au,you are rash, Chimele. To destroy this world would have sufficed, although it is a faceless vaikka.You have committed yourself too far this time. You will lose everything.”
“That is mine to judge.”
“It is,” Thiane conceded, “until it comes to this point: that there be a day remaining, and you have not yet acted upon your necessities. Then I will blame you, that with Tashavodhstanding by in harathos,you would seem deliberately to provoke them to the last, threatening the deadline. There will be no infringement upon that, Chimele, not even in appearance. Any and all of your interference on Priamos will have ceased well ahead of that last instant, so that Tashavodhwill know that things were rightly done. I have responsibility to the Orithanhe, to see that this ends without further offense; and should offense occur, with great regret, Chimele, with great regret, I should have to declare that you had violated the decrees of the Orithanhe that forbade you vaikkaupon Tashavodhitself. Ashanomewould be compelled to surrender its Orithain into exile or be cast from the kindred into outlawry. You are without issue, Chimele. I need not tell you that if Ashanomeloses you, a dynasty more than twelve thousand years old ceases; that Ashanomefrom being first among the kindred becomes nothing. Is vaikkaupon this man Tejef of such importance to you, that you risk so much?”
“This matter has had Ashanomein turmoil from before I left the dhis,o Thiane; and if my methods hazard much, bear in mind that our primacy has been challenged. Does not great gain justify such risk?”
Thiane lowered her eyes and inclined her head respectfully. “Hail Ashanome.May your dhisincrease with offspring of your spirit, and may your sracontinue in honor. You have my admiration, Chimele. I hope that it may be so at our next meeting.”
“Honor to Mijanothe.May your dhisincrease forever.”
The projection vanished, and Chimele surrounded herself with the control room a brief instant, eyes flashing though her face was calm.
“Rakhi. Summon Ashakh up to Ashanomeand have him report to me the instant he arrives.”
Rakhi was still in the midst of his acknowledgment when Chimele cut him out and stood once more in the paredre.Isande, who had waited outside rather than break in upon Thiane, was timidly venturing into the room, and Chimele’s sweeping glance included both the kamethi.
“Take over the desk to the rear of the paredre.Review the status and positions of every amaut and mercenary unit on Priamos relative to Tejef’s estimated location. Daniel must be reassigned.”
Had it been any other iduve, even Ashakh, that so ordered him, Aiela would have cried out a reminder that he had been almost a night and a day without sleep, that he could not possibly do anything requiring any wit at all; but it was Chimele and it was for Daniel’s sake, and Aiela bowed respectfully and went off to do as he was told.
Isande touched his mind, sympathizing. “I can do most of it,” she offered. “Only you sit by me and help a little.”
He sat down at the desk and leaned his head against his hands. He thought again of Daniel, the anger, the hate of the being for him over that child. He could not persuade them apart; he had tried, and probably Daniel would not forgive him. Reason insisted, reason insisted: Daniel’s company itself was supremely dangerous to the child. They were each safer apart. Priamos was safer for it, he and the child hopeless of survival otherwise; leaving her was a risk, but it was a productive one. It was the reasonable, the orderly thing to do; and the human called him murderer, and shut him out, mind locked obstinately into some human logic that sealed him out and hated. His senses blurred. He shivered in a cool wind, realized the slip too late.
Aiela.Isande’s presence drew at him from the other side, worried. He struggled back toward it, felt the physical touch of her hand on his shoulder. The warmth of the paredreclosed about him again. Too long in contact,she sent him. Aiela, Aiela, think of here. Let go of him, let go.
“I am all right,” he insisted, pushing aside her fear. But she continued to look at him concernedly for a little time more before she accepted his word for it. Then she reached for the computer contact.
The paredredoor shot open, startling them both, and Mejakh’s angry presence stopped Isande’s hand in mid-move. The woman was brusque and rude and utterly tangible. Almost Isande called out to Chimele a frightened appeal, but Chimele looked up from her own desk a distance away and fixed Mejakh with a frown.
“You were not called,” Chimele said.
Mejakh swept a wide gesture toward Aiela and Isande. “Get them out. I have a thing to say to you, Chimele-Orithain, and it is not for the ears of m’metanei.”
“They are aiding me,” said Chimele, bending her head to resume her writing. “You are not. You may leave, Mejakh.”
“You are offended because I quit the meeting. But you had no answer when Kharxanen baited me. You enjoyed it.”
“Your incredible behavior left me little choice.” Chimele looked up in extreme displeasure as Mejakh in her argument came to the front of the desk. Chimele laid aside her pen and came up from her chair with a slow, smooth motion. “You are not noticed, Mejakh. Your presence is ignored, your words forgotten. Go.”
“ Ashanomehas no honor when it will not defend its own.”
Chimele’s head went back and her face was cold. “You are not of my s ra,Mejakh. Once you had honor and Chaxal was compelled to notice you, but in his wisdom he did not take you for kataberihe.You are a troublemaker, Mejakh. You threw away your honor when you let yourself be taken into Tashavodhby Tejef. There was the beginning of our present troubles; and what it has cost us to recover you to the nasulwas hardly worth it, o Mejakh, trouble-bringer.”
“You would not say so if Khasif were here to hear it.”
“For Khasif’s sake I have tolerated you. I am done.”
Mejakh struggled for breath. Could iduve have wept she might have done so. Instead she struck the desk top with a crash like an explosion. “Bring them all up! Bring up Khasif, yes, and this human nas kame, all of them! Wipe clean the surface of this world and be done! It is clear, Orithain, that you have more m’melakhiathan sorithias.It is your own vaikkayou pursue, a vaikkafor the insult he did you personally, not for the honor of Ashanome.”
Chimele came around the side of the desk and Isande’s thoughts went white with fear: Rakhi, get Rakhi in here,she flashed to Aiela, and reached for the desk intercom; Aiela launched himself toward the two iduve.
His knees went. Unbelievable pain shot up his arm to his chest and he was on his face on the floor, blood in his mouth, hearing Isande’s sobs only a few feet away. The pain was a dull throb now, but he could not reach Isande. His limbs could not function; he could not summon the strength to move.
After a dark moment Chimele bent beside him and lifted his head, urging him to move. “Up,” she said. “Up, kameth.”
He made the effort, hauled himself up by the side of a chair and levered himself into it, searching desperately with his thoughts for Isande. Her contact was active, faint, stunned, but she was all right. He looked about when his vision had cleared and saw her sitting in a chair, head in her hands, and Rakhi standing behind her.
“Both of them seem all right,” said Rakhi. “What instructions about Mejakh?”