Or to take his pledge of alliance.
It was hard to keep his calm. But he stood there expressionless, having realized exactlywhat he’d been playing with when he’d taken Jase to Ilisidi.
He’d walked right into an operation of some kind, a thorn-patch where atevi could feel their way and he had to find it by sheer logic.
Did it feelright to Banichi and Jago right now? Did it feelright to Ilisidi and Cenedi? Or were atevi on one side or the other reaching some pitch of decision that would come crashing down?
Hadn’t he said it? The ship would send another one. So would the island.
No. No. Tabini couldn’t count on anyonemore on his side than he was if he shot Deana and demanded the backup to her. Which might say something about his own sanity—but it wasan atevi consideration, for a species that feltsomething about man’chi and its direction: a lord didn’t attack his own—ask them to die, yes, send them to die, yes, but not without gain to him and his partisans.
Either Tabini was very sure of Ilisidi—now—or ready to take a loss that would not be inconsiderable to his power, a sacrifice of a very major piece for nogain commensurate with the loss.
“So,” Ilisidi said in a tone of restrained anger. “If your man’chi is to the Barjidi, ifyou have sought the paidhi-aiji, perhaps you will deliver your information to the paidhi.”
The boy’s glance at him was instant and distraught. “I wish you to deliver what you have to say to the aiji-dowager,” Bren said, “as a lord in whom I have confidence.”
Clearly the boy looked marginally relieved. But scared. And going through layers upon layers in his mind, surely. He bowed one more time.“I heard people plotting against the aiji, nand’ dowager. I haven’t lied, nand’ dowager.”
“Young and foolish,” Ilisidi said. “What have you observed?”
“This human person. These pilots. Radios that move about the countryside and operate on the trains.”
On the trains, Bren thought in surprise. Of coursethat would be one way to get a broadcast into some remote village, trains passing through, radios operating on the public bands, on or off by turns.
But Tabini had to be aware of such things going on.
So must Ilisidi.
“Who would do such things?” Ilisidi asked.
“People who say the aiji is turning us over to humans.”
“Oh, and one day, one certain day some internal computer chip will make all our machines fail as the ship rains death-rays down on us and the humans pour off the island to ruin us—have you heard that one, nand’ paidhi?”
“No, aiji-ma, I have not.”
“More rational ones say that the ship itself is meant to fail, to bring down the government by that failure, and that the means will be a technical fault introduced through the designs themselves.”
He had heard that argued soberly in the council rooms of the legislature. “There are numerous reasons that’s not the case, nand’ dowager.”
“One has confidence in your confidence, nand’ paidhi. But you are sopersuasive.—What do yousay, young man?”
“About—”
The cane banged the pavement. “Your wits, boy! What werewe talking about?”
“About the aiji turning us over to humans, nand’ dowager.”
Ilisidi leaned forward, her hands clasped on the cane. “Do youbelieve it?”
“No, nand’ dowager.”
“Does your father the lord of Dur-wajran believe it?”
“No, nand’ dowager. We are—”
“—in the man’chi of the Barjidi.”
“And to all who support the aiji, nand’ dowager.”
“Does birthing the ingrate’s fathersettle me in the Barjidi man’chi?”
“If you will it to, nand’ dowager.”
Clearly the boy was losing his composure but not necessarily his wits. But a game of wits with the dowager was not one any boy could win.
“Say that my ingrate grandson and I should have the same interest,” Ilisidi said, leaning back, carefully skirting the question of whether she had an overlord, which was private and privileged information, but she admitted, for the first time he had ever heard, to associationwith Tabini. After years living among atevi a human could begin to hope he had the straight of it. “And say that your father, within the man’chi of the Barjidi, has sent his son to Shejidan—”
“My father never sent me—”
Bang! went the cane. “The hell, boy! Your father sent you when the assassination of lord Saigimi shook the inattentive out of bed from here to Malguri! You flew immediately to Shejidan, accidentally arriving inthe flight path of the aiji’s plane, and were involved with the tightened security so you could by no means deliver your message, which you have regularly attempted to inflict upon the paidhi! Am I correct!”
There was a small silence, a chastened demeanor. “Yes, nand’ dowager.”
“Why now? Why not earlier?”
“Because we didn’t know the aiji might not know. Because if it wasimportant, the aiji should know, nand’ dowager.”
“Going quickly and by stealth through the skies.”
“Yes, nand’ dowager.” The boy bowed his head. “I broke the law. I knew I broke it.”
“And broke it again coming here!”
“No, nand’ dowager. I took the train.”
Rarely did anyone get a reaction from the dowager when she was in thismood. The brows went up and crashed down, hard. “I mean coming through the barriers, young man! How did you know to come here!”
“It’s all over—” The boy took a breath. “All over the province, all over the country, I think, nand’ dowager.”
“You, young man, will go with my security, you will stay in your room, and in the stead of your father, who is in the man’chi of my ungrateful grandson, you will take orders from me, do you hear, or I will shoot you with my own hand.”
“ Yes, nand’ dowager.”
“Take him elsewhere!” Ilisidi said, and members of her staff collected the young man. “See he gets supper.”
The boy put up no argument about it. And Ilisidi, leaning on her cane, rose with a frown on her face.
“By train, indeed. Before we took off this morning, the boy left the capital. And changed trains.—nand’ paidhi.”
“Aiji-ma.”
“Radios. Radios, do you understand?”
“I have heard the rumor.”
A wave of Ilisidi’s hand. “To bed, to bed. Don’t concern yourself with tomorrow. We’ll go riding. Perhaps we’ll have a look at the sea and satisfy this intemperate young man you’ve brought me. He’s beginning to be interesting.”
He hesitated, then thought better of questioning Ilisidi.
“Aiji-ma,” he said, and turned and went for the steps, thinking that he had to get a few minutes alone with his security.
He heard someone behind him. He didn’t want to look and find out until he reached the privacy of the floor above.
Then he turned.
“Jago-ji.”
“Nand’ paidhi.”
“Nand’ paidhi,” he echoed, in not-quite-mock despair. “ Talkto me, Jago-ji.”
“My room,” Jago said.
He wasn’teager, now, to get himself into interpersonal maneuverings. But hehad a roommate. So did she, but Banichi was downstairs. Jase was in bed, and not, besides, the person he wanted to overhear a frank talk between himself and the aiji’s security about the aiji’s grandmother—besides, twice, his room was probably bugged.