Thirty years later he knew that he did. It had taken quite a while but he'd found a certain peace again. And so would it be so bad to give in to wisdom and let it all go and live a long quiet life somewhere doing the things I love? But the more he looked at Rin, the more all those old memories kept coming back and the more he knew that yes, it would. Ah, the follies of pride.
‘I've explained matters as succinctly as I can to Sea Lord Quai'Shu,’ said Vey Rin. ‘He doesn't seem to be terribly. . coherent.’ Overhead the dragon twisted in somersaults, jinking and rolling into a series of tight turns far too fast for a lightning cannon to follow. Rin wasn't really looking — didn't seem to care at all — but Tsen often came out to watch the dragon when it flew now. Not that he wanted to actually get onto the back of the thing — the thought made him shudder every time — but he did find himself wondering what it felt like up there. He'd sailed sleds over the desert after all, him and Rin and the rest of them. From what he remembered, it had been a lot of fun.
‘Quai'Shu has lost his mind, Rin. He and coherence parted long ago and you knew that before you came.’ Charades and masquerades. Is that all we are?
‘At least he's still alive. How much longer before your wager with your friend Meido is done?’
‘A little under two months.’ Your friend Meido? What have you promised him? He wondered at his own irritation. Would Meido be so bad? Of all the rest, would he really be so bad? No, he wouldn't. So why not just let him have it? But he couldn't. Why? Because I can do better, damn you all, that's why. And because Meido would give Shonda what he wants, and for some reason I simply can't bear to let you have these monsters, Rin. Because you and Shonda never really changed.
Rin shook his head. ‘My brother is growing impatient. He doesn't wish to wait for two months. He wonders with whom he should speak regarding matters that affect the future of our business together.’
Tsen watched the dragon, a distant speck in the sky now. With her. With that. He wondered, as always, if today would be the day she simply didn't come back. ‘I suggest the Great Sea Council, my friend. Or for matters less public, perhaps my Lord Quai'Shu.’ Tsen smiled, though Rin knew him far too well for that to work.
‘I didn't come here to be mocked, Tsen.’
‘And I won't be the one to set that monster on Dhar Thosis. I see no profit in it.’
Rin shrugged. ‘All debts paid and you see no profit?’
‘Oh, if my dragon is destroyed by Senxian and his stone titans and his lightning cannon then you'll find some other way to keep me in your pocket; and if by some miracle my dragon destroys his city, the Elemental Men will rip both of our houses to pieces and I shall be too dead to even wag my finger at you and say told you so. Perhaps I might ask them to take my corpse to yours and re-enact the scene. How many thousands dwell in Dhar Thosis?’
‘Many. How many thousands dwell in Bom Tark, Tsen?’
A scream rang out from one of the towers. A welcome distraction from an uncomfortable thought. Rin had put a slave in a cage up there and lined it with silver to draw the eyes of his jade ravens, his messengers to and from Vespinarr while he was here. One was perched on top of the cage now, the size of a hawk but with feathers of a deep iridescent green and an emerald beak like the emerald of Rin's glasship. Rin kept his eyes on the dragon while Tsen watched the bird. The jade ravens made his skin crawl; he'd been glad to be rid of them after Quai'Shu lost his mind and now Rin had brought them back again. They came from Qeled and they were, as far as Tsen could tell, fitting ambassadors of their realm. The silver drew the raven to the cage, but it was the slave it was after. The bird hopped down and squeezed through the bars. The slave kicked out but the raven was too quick. It flapped and jumped and dodged and pecked the man on the foot. It couldn't have been more than a tiny puncture but the slave only had time for one pitiful scream as he turned green and then shattered, transformed by the bird's poison. The jade raven poked at the debris and began to devour the fragments, the broken chunks of what had once been flesh, pecking at them then hopping from one to the next like a crow. From a distance it seemed as though the birds turned men into glass, but that wasn't true. Hard and brittle but more of a resin, like amber or Xizic. Tsen shuddered. More monsters. As if we don't have enough of them. He had a dim idea that someone at the Great Sea Council had said something about letting them loose to trouble the Ice Witch. A thing already done? He wasn't sure. But if we do then I'm quite sure it won't be the Ice Witch they devour.
Rin was watching the dragon come in to land. It came down hard. Tsen didn't know whether it was the dragon or the rider that liked to do that but they did it every day, and so every day the castle shook to its core. Wherever you were, the stone trembled under your feet to tell you that the monster was back. Zafir threw off her riding leathers and swaggered past them, hips swinging. Rin stared after her. ‘That's some slave you have there.’
‘Yes. I suppose so.’ Every flight was the same; and after every landing, after the dragon announced its return, she sauntered across the eyrie in front of everyone with such a fierce magnetism that every slave and Taiytakei alike stopped to stare. Look at them. All except me and the alchemist. It's the dragon, you cock-brains, not her!
‘But she is a slave. Send her to me.’ Even Rin. Tsen shook his head. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
‘I'd keep my distance if I were you,’ he said quickly, before Rin let out something stupid that he'd have to make up for later by driving Tsen even harder into his corner. ‘She kills. Even when Chrias Kwen wouldn't take no for an answer it cost him one of his black-cloaks.’ Now there was a thing he still hadn't made into any sense. They had loathed each other before and now they loathed each other even more. He struggled to imagine what Chrias had been thinking, making such a fool of himself. Did he see it as some unkind little victory? If he did, Tsen thought he was wrong. Her eyes say otherwise, Chrias my dear sweet enemy. Her eyes say it was hers. Not that I much care, but I do wonder how that can be. What has she done to you? Something bitter, I hope. You brought it on yourself and so you deserve it. I'd ask but — wait — I can't, because you're not here, because you're off assembling a fleet and an army for our dear friend Rin while he helps you into Quai'Shu’s cape. Not that I'm supposed to know anything about that. . He tried to hide his unease behind a laugh. Rin didn't much like it but as far as Tsen was concerned he could choke on it. ‘I wouldn't wish to explain to Lord Shonda why he's suddenly missing both his brother and his t'varr. I imagine he'd be irked.’