‘Is that what you wish?’
‘Why do you keep asking me? What did you come here for anyway, LaLa? I certainly didn't invite you.’
The Watcher came closer in slow careful steps. At least inside the bathhouse he had the decency to get about like a normal man instead of simply vanishing from one place and appearing at another. Tsen gazed out into the steam-hazed gloom. They were alone. If the Elemental Man decided he was to die then that was what would happen. Nothing could stop it, yet mostly he felt annoyed at the intrusion and despondent about the day as a whole. Fear? No, no space for that any more.
‘It is important that I know.’ The Watcher stared at him, all pretence of servitude momentarily gone.
‘Why, LaLa? Why? Why is it your business at all?’
‘I am owned. I am Quai'Shu’s slave, Sea Lord-in-Waiting.’
‘Ha!’ Tsen laughed. ‘An exquisitely expensive one. Are you free when he dies?’
‘I will serve whichever sea lord follows him.’
‘Yes, well, I suppose I can see how there would be flaws in Quai'Shu’s scheme otherwise, eh? An unstoppable assassin bound as a slave but free upon his master's death? Yes, I do believe I see a weakness or two in that. Other sea lords hate us and fear us, LaLa. You make us unique and some would see us fail simply because we have you. And now the dragons. It's as though Quai'Shu has set about acquiring a menagerie of monsters. Unfortunately, the other thing that makes us unique among our peers is our debt. I could sell you, I suppose. That might steady the ship.’
‘Will you do that, Baros Tsen T'Varr?’
‘No.’ No, he knew that already. ‘You'll be the last thing I let go. Right after I let some other grasping lord have Quai'Shu’s dragons.’ He drained his glass, poured another and looked the Elemental Man hard in the eye. ‘I asked Quai'Shu several times how he managed to buy you and he wouldn't give me an answer. If I'm going to own you, LaLa, I want to know: why did your masters give you to our lord? It can't just be money otherwise the Vespinese would have gone and bought a dozen of you just because they could. Your masters wanted something in return, something only Quai'Shu could offer, and they wanted it enough to do a thing they've never done before or since, something that upsets the balance they strive so earnestly to keep. What was it, LaLa? Do you even know?’
‘Our lord bought a service from one of my kind. This one failed.’
‘No, no, LaLa. You can do better than that. Elemental Men don't fail, and if they do then another one comes to do the same work, and if needs be then another and another until it's done. And then they go away again. What did your masters want from Quai'Shu? More to the point, what are they going to want from whoever follows him?’
‘Our sea lord has a vision.’ The Watcher spoke softly. ‘We are a part of that. Where it goes, I follow.’
Tsen laughed. ‘Bringing dragons to Takei'Tarr? That's what your masters wanted?’
The Watcher bowed his head. ‘I cannot say, Hands of the Sea Lord, for I do not know.’
‘Really?’ But that's why you stand beside whoever keeps that vision and nurtures it, isn't it? And that, of course, is why I do too. ‘If that's the case then your work is largely done and so is mine. I won't sell you, LaLa, but we need the money. Can I hire you out? Is that allowed?’
‘The Elemental Masters would likely be displeased.’
‘Why? Because it would be stepping on their toes? Breaking their monopoly?’ But Quai'Shu must surely have had the same idea. He'd never done it so there was surely a good reason. Would they have had him killed? Ach, there is so much more to this than money!
Ah, but that's what makes it so spicy and unusual and interesting and why you're going to play along, even against your better judgement, isn't it?
Quiet, you. Although. . ‘I am left to wonder, LaLa, how many of us are puppets and who pulls our strings. Thoughts?’ You were a suspicious-minded old man, Quai'Shu. Did you ever wonder who was the tool and who was the craftsman here? Of course you did but you let it happen anyway. So you must have known what it was. Pity you went mad before you chose to share your thoughts.
The Watcher bowed. ‘I am but a servant.’
‘Of course you are.’ And exactly how do I go about spying on a man who can turn into the wind and the rivers and the earth again? Oh, of course! I hire another one, and from the same masters! Surely that can't possibly go wrong at all, can it? His lips settled into a wry pucker. ‘I see there'll be no answers for me today. But, LaLa, whoever takes Quai'Shu’s cape, they will need to know. Is that why you came? To see if it would be me? Well I don't know if I want it.’ Of course I do. ‘And even if I did, whether I can get it.’ Yes, a bit more to the point that.
Tsen sank back into the bath. He turned and slid across to the other side so the Watcher was behind him. ‘Since you're here, you can make yourself useful. Usually I talk to Kalaiya when I have days like today, but as she's not here I shall use you instead. Since you're nothing like her, I suggest you keep back in the shadows, and if you absolutely have to say anything, do it in a nice falsetto, and for the love of the sea please don't actually express an opinion on something I say or you'll ruin it completely. I shall call you Not Kalaiya until I'm done. Are you still there, LaLa?’
‘I am, Hands of the Sea Lord.’
‘I asked for falsetto! You didn't even try!’ He laughed. ‘Oh, then just don't speak at all, Not Kalaiya. Listen though. Whoever is sea lord must decide quickly what these dragons are worth. I want to keep them but they must be put to good use. They're tools of war, Not Kalaiya, useless without one. They must show their worth, but where is the war? My lords mocked our little hatchling today. They were turned against our scheme to use the dragons against the Ice Witch. Whoever did that turning I think must have another war in mind, perhaps a very different one and one that none of us yet see. Find out who did it for me, Not Kalaiya. Ask Jima Hsian. Find out why and what it is they want from us, for little monsters must grow into big monsters, and the bigger they are the more terrible they will become. And there is another matter: Quai'Shu, the alchemist, his dragons, that blasted slave who can ride them, even Chay-Liang. You must watch over all of them and keep us alive.’ Had he just told the Watcher that yes, he did have the will to become the next sea lord even if it meant he went to war with Chrias Kwen? But he already knew the answer to that. The little hatchling had bewitched him. His dragons would change the world, and for all he was a t'varr, fat and happy and sleepy in his bath and with his wine, he was still a crocodile. He put down his glass, sighed and stood up. There were no slaves here, no one to robe him. He preferred the solitude.
‘We have no money, Not Kalaiya. We drown in debt to half the other lords of the Great Sea Council and they all know it. They'll strangle us and starve us and bleed us until we fail; and then while we're dying but before our heart quite stops beating, they'll fall on us and carve up our corpse. That is how they will try to take my dragons. If we fight among ourselves for our sea lord's power, we only make it easier for them. That's the truth of where we are.’
The Elemental Man came closer and offered Tsen a towel. Of course it is. But we'll still fight.
‘The others won't see the debt. They'll be blind to it — a t'varr’s problem for when the dust clears. Every one of them would trade our dragons to have Quai'Shu’s cape. All of them except me because the dragons are all I have.’ Tsen wrapped the towel around himself. It was like putting on a fur. ‘So somehow we make them show their worth and start the bargaining. We must begin by putting Shrin Chrias Kwen in his place. Firmly so.’