The woman set her mouth in a sour line and managed a grudging curtsy. “I shall see to it, Edame-nai. If your guest could wait in the small salon, I shall send a servant to her shortly.” Then she retreated, back stiff, before the witch could say anything further.
Edame made another sound of vexation. “I swear, that woman lives to make my life difficult. She hates me.”
Miryo shot her a startled look.
Edame noticed; her scowl vanished, and she grinned at Miryo. “Lionra’s really not that bad. I just give her a hard time. Come, I’ll take you to the salon.”
They had barely settled themselves on the comfortable divans in the salon when, as if summoned by magic, a servant appeared with iced fruit juice. Edame waved him away as soon as he was finished pouring. Then, toying with the stem of her goblet, she eyed Miryo. “I never did accomplish my original goal, did I? What are you in town for?”
Miryo sipped her own juice to buy herself time to think. Edame continued to watch her intently, which did not make it any easier. “Well,” she said at last, taking a gamble, “I’m afraid you’re just going to have to live with your curiosity.”
Edame looked sour. “In other words, you’re not going to tell me.” Miryo nodded, and she sighed heavily.
“You, I think, are trying to take all the fun out of my life. I bet you’re going to end up in Air. You’ve got their habits already.”
Miryo tried not to breathe a visible sigh of relief. Judging by her behavior so far, Edame was mercurial enough that she might have reacted much worse. How someone so seemingly unstable had gotten to such an important position was baffling.
“I’m assuming,” Edame continued, “that you’re not in a Ray yet. Yes?” Miryo nodded. “I thought so. You don’t look as overwhelmed as most of the newly fledged do, but you’ve still got that faint air of ‘just out of Starfall.’ Whatever you’re doing, enjoy this while you can; after you join a Ray you might not get to wander around very much. Unless you do pick Air, of course. Do you have any idea what you’ll choose?”
The torrent of words was hard for Miryo to sort through, as tired as she was. She stifled a yawn and forced her mind to focus. Just because Edame hadn’t pressed her earlier question didn’t mean she wouldn’t still try to get information.
“Not really,” she said as soon as the threat of the yawn had passed. “I have quite a while before I need to choose.”
“Wise child. You can change Paths, you know, although some Rays are more lenient about that than others. But I’d have to ask a Void Head to remember the last woman who convinced the Primes to let her switch Rays. They really don’t like letting you do that. So be certain you know which one you want before you commit. Take the whole time if you have to, but be certain.”
Miryo sipped her juice and wondered if Edame regretted her own choice. She certainly didn’t seem to have the temperament for playing at politics—but she was a domain adviser.
She did not get a chance to investigate this. A servant entered then and curtsied. “Katsu, Nai, if you will follow me, the room is ready.”
“I’ll come with you,” Edame said, standing. “Lionra’s a good woman, but I want to be sure the room’s acceptable.”
More stairs than Miryo cared to think about later, the servant led her into a small but well-appointed sitting room. “Your bedroom is through there,” she said, indicating a fretwork door, “and here is another for your servants. There is a private bath behind that door.”
“Indoor plumbing and heated water,” Edame said with a wide smile. “I love my Ray.” She strolled around the room and made an ostentatious show of checking the mantel for dust. “It’ll do,” she said at last. “Tell Lionra I thank her. I know it’s difficult, having to arrange things on such short notice.” The servant curtsied again and departed, closing the door behind her. “Even though it’s her job,” Edame added.
The door opened again almost immediately and the Cousins entered, laden with the bags. Miryo showed them the rooms and left them to unpack. Edame was standing in front of the sitting room’s fireplace, looking restless. “Thank you,” Miryo said to the Fire Hand. “This is much better than that inn.”
Edame snorted. “Of course it is.” She cocked her head to one side and studied Miryo. “How long are you staying?”
“I was planning on leaving tomorrow.”
“Stay one more day. You look like you could use the rest.”
Miryo hesitated. She wanted to be on the road; she felt that any delay would cause her to lose the faint pull she had been following so far. But nine days in the saddle had left her feeling as though her spine had fused into a solid rod, and a rest would be more than welcome. “All right. I’ll leave the morning after next, then.”
“Excellent. I’m told my Lord and Lady have arranged for some special entertainment tomorrow night, although they refuse to tell me what it is.” Edame flashed another quick smile. “I shall leave you to your rest, then!” With that, the Fire Hand swept to the door and out, leaving Miryo to collapse gratefully onto her bed’s feather mattress, not even pausing for a bath.
Long years of habit prevented her from sleeping late. Miryo was up not long after the sun, and she awoke feeling unbearably grimy. The rains on the coast had not made it over the hills, and the dust on the road the previous day had been appalling. That, combined with the sweat of a night spent indoors in a lowland summer, made her skin crawl.
Her first task, then, was to clean herself. Once that was done, Miryo felt much more inclined to face the day, and the volatile Fire Hand who would no doubt track her down during it.
Sai was in the sitting room when Miryo finally emerged, clean and dressed. “Where’s Kan?” she asked the Cousin. “Checking on the horses?” Sai nodded, not looking up from the split she was mending in a saddlebag. She still hadn’t spoken in Miryo’s presence. Cousins were quiet, but she took it to extremes. Miryo left rather than engage in another fruitless attempt to start a conversation.
Once out of her room, she wasted no time in getting lost. She debated asking a servant for directions, but decided to wander for a bit longer; she wasn’t too hungry yet, and the one task she wanted to accomplish today needed no special rush.
She emerged into an unfamiliar hall just as Edame began descending a staircase at the opposite end. “There you are!” the witch called out, hastening her steps. “Come with me. I’m off to see if I can discover what is afoot for tonight. Surely someone here knows; the servants know everything.”
“Actually,” Miryo said, forestalling her, “I was wondering if you could do me a small favor.”
“Certainly! Provided you don’t want me to convince Iseman to declare war on anyone.”
“Nothing like that. I was just wondering—do they employ a court artist here?”
Edame snorted. “Every Lord and Lady in the east, and a lot of less important people, employ court artists. There are two here. One does tedious landscapes and the other specializes in overly flattering portraits of spoiled noble , children. Do you have a preference?”
“The latter, if that’s all right.”
“Certainly.” Edame gave her a curious look. “What do you need done?”
Miryo quirked an eyebrow and smiled.
“Your business again, is it? Miryo, I swear to the Goddess, you keep your mouth more tightly closed than any woman I’ve met. But so be it. I’ll take you to Ryll. You’re in luck, actually; he, unlike his colleague, is awake at this hour. Tothe never rises before noon if he can help it. And all his landscapes are sunsets because of it.” Even as she spoke, Edame set off through another door, taking Miryo through a confusing knot of hallways before halting in an archway. “Are you in, Ryll?”